:: Via WashPost via Reader (thanks AB!) ::

The article talks about perceptions of Obama in the context of the wright controversy {this reminds me of}

: via This Modern World :

I don’t think the Obama/Wright comparison is a necessarily valid extension of the study. However, I do think the study is an invitation to examine our own perceptions of others in order to make them conscious. Earlier today I linked a picture of billboard defacement in vancouver. These are the sorts of advertisements that lead us to internalize hate. Once I’m aware of this phenomena is much easier to accept and practice the idea that a persons weight has ABSOLUTELY ZERO effect on a persons worth as a human being.

I find the study highly interesting because it’s an example of how good business practice is overshadowed by prejudice. If you’re hiring a new employee you want the best person and you really shouldn’t pay attention to the subconscious perceptions about their weight.

A consigliere (IPA ) is the Italian term for adviser or counsellor. [From Latin consiliarius, from consilium, advice.]

It’s worth noting that I am a bit tipsy from Google’s TGIF beer festivities. so for no reason: BATMAN ON A FUCKING ELEPHANT!!!

Khadr’s case has been on track to be one of the first to trial at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. Khadr, the son of an alleged al Qaeda financier, is accused of throwing a grenade that fatally wounded a U.S. Special Forces soldier.

Military prosecutors had been pressing Brownback to set a trial date, but he has repeatedly directed them first to satisfy defense requests for access to potential evidence. At a hearing earlier this month, he threatened to suspend the proceedings altogether unless the detention center provided records of Khadr’s confinement.

:: via the Miami Herald ::

Insanity! Absolute insanity. Fired for demanding evidence…in a court of law. Fancy that.

:: by Ninja9ine and Jerm9ine via WoosterCollective ::

VooDoo Knickers Tip of the Day - It’s good to carry a sharpie in your pocket, or something more serious.

“They say in the stock market … buy stock in a business that’s so good that an idiot can run it because sooner or later one will. Well, the United States is a little like that. We can take a little mis-management from time to time.”

–Warren Buffet, on Bush and why he’s supporting Obama

A lot of people are coming out of the woodwork to support Obama right now but only because it’s so painfully obvious that he’s going to win the democratic primary. For the record, that’s not really support. When John Edwards says Obama “is a candidate he can believe in”, it’s because he would have trumpeted the same empty bullshit about Clinton if she was winning.

what!?!? No seriously, WHAT!!!??!? I’m just not trying hard enough. none of us are. Shit, I take a bus to work.

:: more fail via the beeb ::

:: Penetrating Brain Injuries via Mind Hacks via Reader (thanks AB!) ::

Notable Dreadlocks on this somewhat nonsensical video about MindShare

:: Full Article via TechZulu ::

My shared items on google reader now show up in the sidebar. Google reader is awesome. I find that fixing it on my facebook friends shared notes is a good way to go.

::: via Techdirt :::

The optimistic technotopia that emerged from the craigslist free posting model may have just slammed it’s face against reality. Hmmm actually maybe it’s not that simple. I think “new times, new problems” is the best way to look at things.

For the record, i got a very awesome bike and had a great interaction with someone off of craigslist the other day, so it’s not all dead. I still know women who post personal ads on craigslist and get hundreds of responses within a couple hours.

The following badge is now displayed on the bottom sidebar:

Thanks to Alxndr of TransportedSF for the heads up on this :) Lots of people are haters on carbon offsets but this little nugget from the website makes a grand point

Dear Yohizzy
MuffPEC (the cartel of muffin producing countries) has used their power and influence to drive up the cost of muffins on the freemarket. They claim that speculator activity will drive the price of muffins to 150 dollars a barrel. Although prices may stabilize as new baking technologies come online and the gumdrop kingdom subdues rebel groups that bombed major chocolate chip pipelines.
Best,
Emo Abe Lincoln

On the road to LA right now for MindShare which is a collaborative geek fest dinner thing which promises to be quite fun. After that I’m heading to lightning in a bottle for fri, sat, sun. Hizzatron and I are discussing a jape to mexico after that. Not sure how much I’ll be blogging emailing. as usual I’m behind, if I don’t email you back, it doesn’t mean i don’t love you. It means I have two jobs and lots of obligations ;) for now here’s a video of hitler planning for burning man (probably only funny if you’re a burner)

For those that have been emailing me I fixed the site loading problem. There used to be a thingy in the sidebar that showed my twitter feed but twitter is notorious for having shitty scalability and being horribly unreliable. Since twitter is down right now the gentle sensibilities of the word press load sequence was constipated. If you’re reading this, it’s fixed. w00t!

Twitter is awesome but tends to be horribly confusing to some people. It took me a couple months to figure out that it’s just micropoetry from friends and interesting people. Granted it can to be misused, I don’t really care if you’re flight has been delayed, but that’s true of any broadcast technology. The thing to note here is that possible misuse and dumbassery is not a reason to avoid Twitter (or facebook or pownce or myspace or whatever) it is a reason to use correctly, wisely and for the benefit of all ;)

anyway, here’s my twitter feed http://twitter.com/nub. add me as a contact and give it a try, it’s a lot of fun…even when their servers are foobar’d and it fucks up my blog.

additionally, panda bears are cute!!

from: bembembang@gmail.com
to: wheatgrass#geemail + a gajillion other people
date: Tue, May 20, 2008 at 11:59 AM
subject: TONITE!! Bem!Bem!BANG! Party at the Star Lounge

From: TittyD ☮ wheatgrass@geemail.com
to: Will bembembang@gmail.com
date: Tue, May 20, 2008 at 1:23 PM
subject Re: TONITE!! Bem!Bem!BANG! Party at the Star Lounge

The Geneva drive or Maltese cross is a mechanism that translates a continuous rotation into an intermittent rotary motion. It is an intermittent gear where the drive wheel has a pin that reaches into a slot of the driven wheel and thereby advances it by one step. The drive wheel also has a raised circular blocking disc that locks the driven wheel in position between steps. One application of the Geneva drive is in movie projectors: the film does not run continuously through the projector. Instead, the film is advanced frame by frame, each frame standing still in front of the lens for 1/24 of a second (and being exposed twice in that time, resulting in a frequency of 48 Hz).

Besides the external Geneva drive shown in the diagram above, there is also an internal Geneva drive. The external form is the more common, as it can be built smaller and can withstand higher mechanical stresses. The axis of the drive wheel of the internal Geneva drive can have a bearing only on one side. The angle by which the drive wheel has to rotate to effect one step rotation of the driven wheel is always smaller than 180° in an external Geneva drive and always greater than 180° in an internal one, where the switch time is therefore greater than the time the driven wheel stands still.

:: Wikipedia is Still Awesome ::

this is big:

:: Via WashPost with a tip of the hat to Democracy Now! ::

This is an important, although typical, point for the way the US has been handling the “War on (some) Terror.” Torture is a total waste of time even for people with no respect for basic human rights BECAUSE IT DOESN’T WORK.

we only use 10% of our brains gets slapped.

:: via Dues ex Machine ::

“Reppin to tha fullest” as someone might say