I’ve seen these photos before, claiming to show archaeologists digging up skeletons of giants. A. Roy King shows how some of the best-known photos were faked.
via A. Roy King
Author: quriosity
Al Bredenberg is a writer, researcher, and consultant living in Raleigh, NC.
Howlin’ Wolf: Why they called it Smokestack Lightnin’
According to Rolling Stone, here’s where Howlin’ Wolf’s song “Smokestack Lightnin'” got its name:
The inspiration, said Wolf, was watching trains cut through the night: “We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning.”
Here’s a video of Wolf himself doing the song, along with a little howlin’:
AB — 22 June 2011
Infographic: What happens on the Internet every 60 seconds
Here’s an interesting infographic giving statistics about the volumes of various activities on the Internet every 60 seconds. The graphic is credited to Go-Globe.com, but I found it at 22 Words. Click on the image appearing here to go to the full-size original:
AB — 21 June 2011
So, are cell phones really destroying the bees?
That’s what you might think from reading a recent headline, says David Sims, writing for ThomasNet Green & Clean — see “Are Cell Phones Killing Off Bees?”
Sims was alerted to an article with the headline, “It’s Official – Cell Phones are Killing Bees.” Sounds pretty definitive, right? Sound science must have finally proven it, right?
Not so much. Drilling down into the sources, Sims finds that,
Favre himself [the researcher] concluded the study did not show that mobile phones were deadly for bees. The most he’d commit himself to was a hypothesis that electromagnetic fields “might be contributing to the disappearance of bee colonies.”
So, whither the bold headline ‘It’s Official’? I think the answer is that science journalism, like most journalism today, has to grab eyeballs, so journalists are motivated to write sensational headlines to attract readership. As a result, all kinds of nonsensical assertions are promoted as “fact” and “proven” when such is far from the truth — see “How the Media ‘Inform’ People What Science Has ‘Proven.’”
Unfortunately, many readers don’t get past the headlines.
AB — 19 June 2011
DIY Printable Bookmark Kit With Nice Artwork From Disney
Most printable bookmarks you find online are pretty cheesy, but this one from Disney is based on some nicely-done artwork.
It’s a bit of a crafts project — took me about a half-hour to do it, as you have to print it and cut it out, and there are two pieces with some gluing and folding to be done. It’s created with kind of a black-humor theme — one piece slides in and out of the other to reveal what happens to the characters.
Here’s what it looks like. Click on the image, and that will take you to a PDF. You should download the PDF and print it out on paper or cardstock — be sure to print in landscape mode so it comes out in full size:
AB — 17 June 2011
Living Buildings: Approaching Net-Zero Environmental Impact
Over at ThomasNet Green & Clean this week, I wrote about the Living Building Challenge — an emerging standard that goes beyond LEED, awarding “Living” certification to buildings demonstrating that they have met 20 ultra-green “Imperatives.” See “Living Buildings: Like LEED on Whole-Grain Natural Steroids.”
In the article, I highlight two Living Buildings now under development in the Northwest U.S. — one of them, the Oregon Sustainability Center, is shown here.
Here’s one tidbit about the Living Building standards — the Imperatives set very strict standards about how far building materials and even services can be transported to a project site. The standards specify that consultants can’t come from farther away than 2,500 kilometers!
AB — 13 June 2011
Can The Economy Keep Growing Without Destroying the Planet?
Over at ThomasNet Green & Clean earlier this week, I explored the topic of “Decoupling” as it applies to economic growth and its connection to environmental damage and the depletion of resources — see “Decoupling: Can Humanity Prosper Without Plundering and Poisoning the Planet?”
The write-up extracts the essence from a report by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The authors lay out the basic argument and data for decoupling. The report’s authors believe that innovation is the answer:
Innovation now needs to be harnessed for resource productivity and environmental restoration… innovations that contribute to decoupling through reducing environmental pressure and contributing to sustainability during economic activities.
AB — 10 June 2011
I’ve Been Driving This Way All My Life, and I’ve Never Had an Accident
Congratulations! You’ve never had an auto accident, even though you drive fast, tailgate, and weave in and out of traffic.
And you’re already 27 — way to go!
You will never have an auto accident. Until you do. Then you will.
Congratulations on your great skill and brilliance.
AB — 9 May 2011
Great deal on this watch — save $58,000.01!
Here’s one of my favorite Amazon products — the Zenith Men’s 96.0529.4035/51.M Defy Xtreme Tourbillon Titanium Chronograph Watch! Generously marked down from $145,000.00 to $86,999.99!
Visit the Amazon product page to read some of the hilarious product reviews. One review titled “$9.95 shipping…..Outrageous!” says:
I had decided on this watch, but then I noticed the shipping charge. Outrageous! I’m shelling out close to 100k, and they want me to take care of the shipping too. Forget it!
AB — 8 May 2010
Are Speculative Bubbles Ever a Good Thing?
Over at Bubbleconomics, I wrote recently about the effect of speculative bubbles on innovation — see “Speculative Bubbles: Good for Innovation?”
For a long time, I’ve thought that the so-called “Internet Bubble” from the 1990s was actually a good thing in many ways in that it sparked technology and business-model innovation and trained a generation in a new way of thinking about business and communication. Networking pioneer Bob Metcalfe agrees with me, as he says in a 2011 presentation:
We saw from the many Internet Era bubbles that investment, speculation, inflation, competition, and collapse are tools of innovators against the status quo. Bubbles accelerate technological innovation.
AB — 6 June 2011
A Thinking Person, a.k.a. Cogit8R 