stray bullets

Exploring a ‘Deep Web’ That Google Can’t Grasp Beyond those trillion pages lies an even vaster Web of hidden data: financial information, shopping catalogs, flight schedules, medical research and all kinds of other material stored in databases that remain largely invisible to search engines.... Now a new breed of technologies is taking shape that will extend the reach of search engines into the Web’s hidden corners. When that happens, it will do more than just improve the quality of search results — it may ultimately reshape the way many companies do business online. (via) (prev)

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci discovered in Basilicata What may be a hitherto unknown portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in middle age shows that the Renaissance genius had piercing blue eyes, a long nose and long greying hair with a droopy moustache.

A design for life (The history of the smiley face symbol) Feelgood corporate logo, acid house icon and txt msg emoticon: one chirpy yellow emblem has kept grinning since the first summer of love. Jon Savage celebrates the life of Smiley.

Q&A: Dennis Hopper I don't spend a lot. Most of my art collection I got by trading it or through knowing the artist. I got Andy Warhol's first soup can painting for $75. I lost it to my first wife.

Gilgamesh for Apes

lexigram for "Enkidu"

Gilgamesh for Apes (all of it; readable by both humans and great apes)

Primate Poetics:

The question becomes: can the ape move away from primordial wordsoup to the solid state of conventional literature. Great apes do have what it takes to be literati: they have self-awareness and empathy, they can deceive and play roles, they can have pleasure, they can mourn and feel sad and lonely, they have great sense of class dynamics... They have other assets in which they surpass us, like a superb short-term memory and a good ear. In fact apes are already telling stories. Gorilla Michael has given us what his keepers believe to be an account of the death of his mother at the hand of poachers: "Squash meat gorilla. Mouth tooth. Cry sharp-noise loud. Bad think-trouble look-face. Cut/neck lip (girl) hole".

brought to us by Social Fiction (updated Oct. 2008)

Hobo Code

In the fraternal spirit of the road, hobos have developed a set of symbols to communicate local conditions. Important information concerning things like food and drink, the disposition of the residents, the presence of dogs and police and even the state of the local jail was codified into a universally adopted picture-language. Hobo signs are still used today. Considering the state of the economy, it might be helpful to buff up.

from Fran's Hobo Page