Dance Marathons

Dance marathon couple, ca. 1925
Library of Congress

HistoryLink.org:

Dance Marathons (also called Walkathons), an American phenomenon of the 1920s and 1930s, were human endurance contests in which couples danced almost non-stop for hundreds of hours (as long as a month or two), competing for prize money. Dance marathons originated as part of an early-1920s, giddy, jazz-age fad for human endurance competitions such as flagpole sitting and six-day bicycle races. Dance marathons persisted throughout the 1930s as partially staged performance events, mirroring the marathon of desperation Americans endured during the Great Depression. In these dance endurance contests, a mix of local hopefuls and seasoned professional marathoners danced, walked, shuffled, sprinted, and sometimes cracked under the pressure and exhaustion of round-the-clock motion. A 25-cent admission price entitled audience members to watch as long as they pleased.

I remember watching They Shoot Horses, Don't They? when I was a kid and being considerably weirded out by the whole idea.

via Blue Siren

stray bullets

Foreign Policy: The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008 Don't miss them this time.

Briton saved dozens in hotel A millionaire private equity broker from London has emerged as a hero who stopped Islamic terrorists from massacring Britons and Americans in their attack on Mumbai.

LAX Tops Nation In Stolen, Missing Luggage Items "Easy pickings?" "Easy pickings." "I wouldn't put anything valuable in LAX" These two LAX employees would only talk if we concealed their identities. "I saw thefts within the first few weeks of working there." They both say there are organized rings of thieves, who identify valuables in your checked luggage by looking at the TSA x-ray screens, then communicate with baggage handlers by text or cell phone, telling them exactly what to look for. (via)

What is truth serum? Indian officials plan to inject captured Mumbai terrorist with the "truth serum," sodium pentothal, but history tells us that the technique isn't up to the task

Particulate Emissions From Laser Printers Do laser printers emit pathogenic toner particles into the air? Some people are convinced that they do. As a result, this topic is the subject of public controversy. Researchers have now investigated what particles the printers really do release into the air.

Black Garlic Introducing a simple food with a wonderfully complex flavor. Black garlic is sweet meets savory, a perfect mix of molasses-like richness and tangy garlic undertones. It has a tender, almost jelly-like texture with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency similar to a soft dried fruit. Hard to believe, but true. It’s as delicious as it is unique. (via)

also:
Two cases of compulsive swearing - in sign language
A Fragment Theory Of Deja Vu
Academics invent a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate (when they were supposed to be writing papers)
Ancient city discovered deep in Amazonian rainforest linked to the legendary white-skinned Cloud People of Peru
Prized sculpture destroyed on trip to Art Basel Miami
How to Stretch a Canvas

don't miss:
The ultimate fate of Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs (via)

viddy:
William Eggleston: I am at war with the obvious

Immersion

(video link)

Wow. If you haven't seen this yet, don't miss it. The NYT Magazine presents this study of the facial expressions, or lack thereof, of kids playing video games. The results are as unique as the individuals - some, a little disturbing, yet funny at the same time.

created by Robbie Cooper

Political Rhetoric, Explained - Steven Pinker

(video link)

Steven Pinker: Language as a window into human nature

stray bullets

Life in Somalia's pirate town This is a more elaborate and lucrative operation than you might imagine. Quite the cottage industry they have going on there, complete with a support system and an economy of its own.

Thanks for the advice on Josh I wanted to thank all of you who took the time to email me with your comments on how best to deal with Josh. They were so good, I thought I would share a few of them with everyone. Including the email addresses of those who were bold enough to use real email addresses. Josh realizes his comments were wrong, he understands why people are upset. He knows he has made a mistake, has apologized and will work with us. Beyond that, its a private issue. What about the people who gave me the following advice? Mark Cuban posts some of the emails he received in reference to the Josh Howard situation, complete with addies.

The future of online video The Official Google Blog weighs in. In ten years, we believe that online video broadcasting will be the most ubiquitous and accessible form of communication. The tools for video recording will continue to become smaller and more affordable. Personal media devices will be universal and interconnected. Even more people will have the opportunity to record and share even more video with a small group of friends or everyone around the world. (via)

Journalist retraces the steps of the original 'Zen' author in an engrossing tale Re-enacting the journey from Minneapolis to San Francisco chronicled by Pirsig in his cult classic, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," Mark Richardson digs deep to unearth the motives behind his tormented mentor's search for quality while embarking on a search of his own. (via)

Deletionpedia is an archive of about 63,555 pages which have been deleted from the English-language Wikipedia. Deletionpedia is not a wiki: you cannot edit the pages uploaded here. An automated bot uploads pages as they are deleted from Wikipedia.

Frank Deford: Blemish, Anyone? Bets Show Dark Side Of Tennis (audio and text) In the many years I covered tennis, I heard it all: who was pulling the strings, who was double-dealing, who was taking drugs, who was sleeping with whom. But for all the genial corruption, never did I hear — or know anyone else who heard — that some player fixed a match for money, until Internet betting arrived a few years ago. And, I'll bet you didn't know that Humphrey Bogart was the first person to say "Tennis anyone?"

also:
Britain's luckiest man cheated death 14 times
What's new at the Internet Archive
Personality variation by region (USA) (maps) (via)

Elevator Psychology

Dedroidify

stray bullets

Ebola-like virus returns to Europe after 40 years Marburg is back. (via)

Why Microwave Auditory Effect Crowd-Control Gun Won't Work Experts say you'd fry before you heard anything (via)

Look At the State You’re In: Absaroka In its short-lived attempt at existence, the US state of Absaroka (pronounced ab-SOR-ka) managed to acquire quite a few trappings of statehood: a governor and capital were selected, Absarokan car license plates issued, and there even was a Miss Absaroka 1939 (the first and only one).

Exit Unusual methods adopted by suicide victims, compiled by George Kennan for a report in McClure's Magazine, 1908. Hugging red-hot stoves? You will certainly twist and shout your way through this list from the incredible Futility Closet.

also:
Savannah River Site Eyeball
Interesting Tricks of the Body
Unnecessary Knowledge

viddy:
Epic 2015 The state of the online world in 2015. (via)
In hiding for exposing Tanzania witchdoctors I am living in hiding after I received threats because of my undercover work exposing the threat from witchdoctors to albinos living in Tanzania. (via)
Late George Carlin Interview Good. Don't miss it.
bleep vs blorf. 4 out of 5 children can’t tell bleep from blorf. (via)

stray bullets

Half of US Gun Deaths are Suicides The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.

Don't shoot yourself. It's a nasty business. I knew a guy who shot himself in the head and soon realized that it wasn't going to do the job, so he had to do it again. You might seriously regret your decision at a similar moment. You never know what good fortune tomorrow might bring. Life is precious and you are unique. (via)

Thieves Stealing Manhole Covers Cities and counties are battling manhole-cover thefts, a crime spree that police tie to the weak economy. Hundreds of 200-pound covers have disappeared in three months in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Georgia as scrap metal prices pop up. "It's a sign of the times," says Sgt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, where 28 manhole covers disappeared in April and May. "When the economy gets bad, people start stealing iron." (....) (via)

Diary of a deliberately spammed housewife For Tracy Mooney, a married mother of three in Naperville, Ill., the decision to abandon cybersense and invite e-mail spam into her life for a month by participating in a McAfee Inc. experiment was a bit of a lark. The idea of McAfee's Global SPAM (for Spammed Persistently All Month) Experiment — which fittingly started on April Fool's Day — was to have 50 volunteers from 10 different countries answer every spam message and click on every pop-up ad on their PCs.

John Mullan on the use of explanation as a device in Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory (via)

Wood density explains sound quality of great master violins The advantage of using medical equipment to study classical musical instruments has been proven by a Dutch researcher from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). In collaboration with a renowned luthier, Dr. Berend Stoel put classical violins, including several made by Stradivarius, in a CT scanner. The results are published in the July 2 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. The homogeneity in the densities of the wood from which the classical violins are made, in marked contrast to the modern violins studied, may very well explain their superior sound production.

Random live webcams from the Net (via)

Word Spy: Asian paradox n. The lower than average rate of cardiovascular disease and cancer among Asian people despite a higher than average rate of cigarette smoking.

stray bullets

Why Do You Lie? The Perils of Self-Reporting (everybody lies everyday... mostly at work.)

Potential Plowshare: The 'Magnetic Audio Device' Weapon: A high-powered Magnetic Audio Device that was designed as a non-lethal weapon might have music-related uses, after a demonstration revealed that the music of Queen and Frank Sinatra sounded decent at distances of up to one mile away. Soon: DARPA hits the brown note at Coachella

Practice in front of a bush: Captain Beefheart's rules for guitarists: 1. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere. thanx, Crow

A Goya Tour of Madrid: Hear about the hidden gems of the Spanish master, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, in the city where he lived and worked (via)

Neave Television ...telly without context. I kept expecting something horrible to happen. A bit unnerving but I had to pull myself away. I can't be responsible for any trauma you might sustain from watching this. Lots of other goodies on the main site. (via)

stray bullets

Did the “Hyper” Gene Benefit Our Nomadic Ancestors?; How Sarcasm Works; How to Recycle Electronics and Get Cash Back; Teens use technology to party in strangers' pools. I think they might be doing that near here, too.

Lagniappe: GOOD Guide: to the Shadowy Organizations That Rule the World (keyword: debunk) (reality = rudderless); Check and see who is really linking to you (via); One of the funniest posts I've read in a while.

quote:

"When I first ventured out of the South, I was shocked at how strongly Wallace was associated with Alabama and its people. You know, racism is a worldwide problem and it’s been since the beginning of recorded history, and it ain’t just white and black. But thanks to George Wallace, it’s always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent." — Drive-By Truckers, “The Three Great Alabama Icons”

via Too Much Awesome

Steven Pinker: Language as a window into human nature

Steven Pinker thinks a lot about language and human nature. In this 2007 Pop!Tech presentation he explores the links between indirect speech and social relationships. He manages to break it all down in a relatively simple and lucid manner.

Indirect speech is when we don't say exactly what we mean, but veil our intentions in innuendo, counting on the listener to read between the lines to derive meaning.

It seems like a lot of people live in a world of fairly constant indirect speech. This has led me into trouble in the past. Most commonly, if you tell someone, for example, "That painting needs a little work." many will take this as sarcasm and react differently than you might expect, considering that when you said a little, you were speaking directly and meant that it just needed a little touching up. This is a simpler version of this type of misunderstanding. Others have led to far more complex and distorted exchanges over time.

It's worth the 20 minutes if you get the chance.

Link Souffle

A few items:

Maverick academic Philip Zimbardo says we are all capable of evil. Is he right?

No argument here.

via Schneier on Security
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Cubans Line Up for Cell Phone Service

Watch Cuba closely. It's the new frontier. Because they're pretty much starting from scratch, you'll likely see some interesting technological leap-frogging; straight from the 1950's to the 2010's.

They're blogging and Twittering, too.
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Ray Kurzweil: Making the World a Billion Times Better

Ray Kurzweil is one the the few future thinkers that is persistently optimistic.
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Water, the new oil

Melanie Swan hits us with a real poser: how are we going to manage the world's water situation? She has a few ideas.

Here's another one.

Back in the late seventies, Robin Williams used to joke, "Whenever I want to spend a dollar on a bottle of water, I drink Perrier." People roared with laughter. I did, too. The thought of paying for water was absurd back then.
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How we got from one to 162 million websites on the internet.

PDQ

via Rocketboom
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Ten weirdest computers

Maybe not so weird in a few years or decades or so.

Although, I suspect that Glooper and Mouldy computers will remain weird for some time to come.
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ends

Israel's Stalags

From Beyond the Multiplex:

Taking their name from the Nazi prison camps in which they were set, Stalags were Israeli pornographic paperbacks featuring Nazi themes.

How do you make a movie about a disreputable and totally defunct literary genre? That question never quite gets answered by Ari Libsker's hour-long documentary "Stalags,"

I had no idea.

I did have reservations about posting this, but frankly, I found it too fascinating to pass. Human behavior is always so surprising, unique and varied.

via Gpod