2010 in review: The year for the Mac | Computers | Macworld

2010 in review: The year for the Mac | Computers | Macworld:

The Joy of Stats - Gapminder.org

The Joy of Stats - Gapminder.org: Hans Rosling says there’s nothing boring about stats, and then goes on to prove it. Only with statistics can we make sense of the world and harness the data deluge to serve us rather than drown in its confusion.
A one-hour long documentary produced by Wingspan Productions and broadcast by BBC, 2010.

Five secrets of Open and Save dialog boxes | Business Center | Working Mac | Macworld

Five secrets of Open and Save dialog boxes | Business Center | Working Mac | Macworld:

For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas - NYTimes.com

For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas - NYTimes.com: PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne’s Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved.



That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap.

Gold passes $1,400 an ounce

Gold passes $1,400 an ounce: Gold prices surged above $1,400 an ounce Tuesday as a weaker dollar pushed investors into the safe haven of precious metals.

Shocker: Obama to give America back to Indians

Shocker: Obama to give America back to Indians:

Congratulations, 2010, for fitting in one more completely insane made-up right-wing scandal: Barack Obama is going to give Manhattan back to the Indians! Also the U.N. will help, because grrrr, the U.N.!

Netflix said to be planning 2011 international push

Netflix said to be planning 2011 international push: Movie rental giant could be well on its way to offering its streaming service overseas next year, according to two recent reports.

Roseburg IHOP closes doors

Roseburg IHOP closes doors:

Restaurant goers will have one less place to eat, now that the IHOP in Roseburg is closed. Sunday was the last day the business was open after 10 years of operating, and it will be closed indefinitely.

This Modern World

This Modern World:

Algorithms Take Control of Wall Street

Algorithms Take Control of Wall Street: Artificial intelligence is here. In fact, it's all around us. But it's nothing like we expected.



These sudden drops are now routine, and it’s often impossible to determine what caused them. But most observers pin the blame on the legions of powerful, superfast trading algorithms—simple instructions that interact to create a market that is incomprehensible to the human mind and impossible to predict.



For better or worse, the computers are now in control.



Bradley was among the first traders to explore the power of algorithms in the late ’90s, creating approaches to investing that favored brains over access. It took him nearly three years to build his stock-scoring program. First he created a neural network, painstakingly training it to emulate his thinking—to recognize the combination of factors that his instincts and experience told him were indicative of a significant move in a stock’s price.



But Bradley didn’t just want to build a machine that would think the same way he did. He wanted his algorithmically derived system to look at stocks in a fundamentally different—and smarter—way than humans ever could. So in 2000, Bradley assembled a team of engineers to determine which characteristics were most predictive of a stock’s performance. They identified a number of variables—traditional measurements like earnings growth as well as more technical factors. Altogether, Bradley came up with seven key factors, including the judgment of his neural network, that he thought might be useful in predicting a portfolio’s performance.



Delaware senator Ted Kaufman sounded an even louder alarm in September, taking to the Senate floor to declare, “Whenever there is a lot of money surging into a risky area, where change in the market is dramatic, where there is no transparency and therefore no effective regulation, we have a prescription for disaster.”

Mac 911: Migrating to a new Mac

Mac 911: Migrating to a new Mac: A Macworld readers what to cleanly transfer his data from an old Mac to a new one. Senior editor Christopher Breen has a few tips on migrating data

Installing Snow Leopard: What you need to know

Installing Snow Leopard: What you need to know: Got a copy of Snow Leopard as a holiday gift? Macworld's Dan Frakes as some tips on what to expect when you install the new operating system.

Why, no, -- no, I didn't get a copy of Snow Leopard as a holiday gift. Even though it's the only thing I really wanted. As I repeatedly told anyone who would listen.

The top 12 Civil War books ever written

The top 12 Civil War books ever written: If, like me, you received a necktie with reindeer on it from Santa instead of a good Civil War book under the Christmas tree, then you might try selecting one for yourself from my own list of the top 12 Civil War books, which I offer here in the spirit of the season and, even more appropriately, as the 150th anniversary of the war is about to begin. Perhaps your own observance of the sesquicentennial could include reading one of these books a month over the next year. If so, I can promise you'll be edified by every one of them, even if they do not end up on your own personal list of favorite Civil War books. And something more: there'll be no exam next December.

Appstravaganza: Apps for your new iOS device

Appstravaganza: Apps for your new iOS device: Was a new iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch waiting for you under the tree this holiday season? Congratulations -- now it's time to load up your iOS device with apps. Fortunately, our app experts are here to recommend groups of apps aimed at every interest and occasion.

Cosmologists Discover How Black Holes Can Leak - Technology Review

Cosmologists Discover How Black Holes Can Leak  - Technology Review: That has important implications inside a black hole, they say. Although there would be no route out of a black hole in the 4D brane, Frolov and Mukohyama say it ought to be possible for information to leak out through this shortcut into higher dimensional space and then back to ours. They call this breach in higher dimensional space a brane hole.

Arts & Letters Daily (25 Dec 2010)

Arts & Letters Daily (25 Dec 2010):

George Washington disapproved of it, and so did Benjamin Franklin. The Tea Party wasn't such a good idea the first time around... more

People, we're in deep trouble - Fox News - Salon.com

People, we're in deep trouble - Fox News - Salon.com: In it, Orwell describes the corrosive effect of politicized mass media. In Spain, he wrote, "I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed ... I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various 'party lines.' "

Mac Gems: Dropbox 1.0.10

Mac Gems: Dropbox 1.0.10: Dropbox is an amazingly useful combination of a Web service and a Mac OS X program that work together to make your data accessible from anywhere and to keep it synchronized between your computers.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs: Architect of the most remarkable comeback in modern business history

Apple CEO Steve Jobs: Architect of the most remarkable comeback in modern business history: When Steve Jobs walked on to the stage...

Michael Moorcock, Epic Science Fiction Master and Hard Rocker

Michael Moorcock, Epic Science Fiction Master and Hard Rocker: Hawkwind wasn't the only band Moorcock wrote lyrics for, though. He was also a fan of New York's Blue Öyster Cult, a fact that should surprise no one. The Cult were sort of the Steely Dan of early '70s hard rock/metal-a bunch of sardonic East Coasters with talent equal to their intellect and a sharp lyrical wit, who dissected the society and pop culture around them while crunching out anthemic, pummeling rock songs like "(Don't Fear) the Reaper," "Godzilla" and "Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll."

2010 moments of pure crazy

2010 moments of pure crazy:

Left Out - Francis Fukuyama - The American Interest Magazine

Left Out - Francis Fukuyama - The American Interest Magazine: This is not, however, what this issue of The American Interest means by plutocracy. We mean not just rule by the rich, but rule by and for the rich. We mean, in other words, a state of affairs in which the rich influence government in such a way as to protect and expand their own wealth and influence, often at the expense of others. As the introductory essay to this issue shows, this influence may be exercised in four basic ways: lobbying to shift regulatory costs and other burdens away from corporations and onto the public at large; lobbying to affect the tax code so that the wealthy pay less; lobbying to allow the fullest possible use of corporate money in political campaigns; and, above all, lobbying to enable lobbying to go on with the fewest restrictions. Of these, the second has perhaps the deepest historical legacy.

Scandalous as it may sound to the ears of Republicans schooled in Reaganomics, one critical measure of the health of a modern democracy is its ability to legitimately extract taxes from its own elites. The most dysfunctional societies in the developing world are those whose elites succeed either in legally exempting themselves from taxation, or in taking advantage of lax enforcement to evade them, thereby shifting the burden of public expenditure onto the rest of society.

These data point clearly to the stagnation of working class incomes in the United States: Real incomes for male workers peaked sometime back in the 1970s and have not recovered since.1

The financial crisis of 2008–09 has only deepened the mystery. The crisis laid bare some unpleasant facts about American capitalism. The banking industry lobbied heavily in the 1990s to further free itself from regulation, a trend that began in earnest with the Depository Institutions and Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. This resulted in, among other things, the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which enabled the emergence of large “universal” banks and a non-transparent market in derivatives. Before the bust in the U.S. housing market, the rapidly expanding financial sector took home some 40 percent of all corporate profits, and yet it was responsible for an implosion that not only wiped out the banks themselves but imposed huge costs on innocent bystanders both in the United States and abroad. It also cost U.S. taxpayers an enormous sum in bailouts.

Indeed, the U.S. financial sector is now concentrated in fewer hands than it was before the crisis.

Hmmm..... It's intended purpose all along?

Videos: Do Electric Sheep Dream of Dancing Fractals? | Underwire | Wired.com

Videos: Do Electric Sheep Dream of Dancing Fractals? | Underwire | Wired.com: Electric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It's run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep," the Electric Sheep comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep." The result is a collective "android dream," an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animations using the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool.

Ten Dumbest Things Celebs Said in 2010 - FoxNews.com

Ten Dumbest Things Celebs Said in 2010 - FoxNews.com:

Rare lunar eclipse expected tonight

Rare lunar eclipse expected tonight: A full lunar eclipse is expected tonight--the first to occur on the winter solstice since 1638. The Earth's shadow will completely cover the moon for about 72 minutes.

Skywatchers expect the eclipse to occur over a three-and-a-half hour period, starting at 10:33 p.m. PT today and ending 2:01 a.m. PT tomorrow.

Cold Plasma Kills Bacteria Better Than Antibiotics : Discovery News

Cold Plasma Kills Bacteria Better Than Antibiotics : Discovery News: Cold plasmas are able to kill bacteria by damaging microbial DNA and surface structures without being harmful to human tissues.

Rare Cosmic Event to Transpire Tuesday Morning | Dr. Kaku's Universe | Big Think

Rare Cosmic Event to Transpire Tuesday Morning | Dr. Kaku's Universe | Big Think: This particular eclipse will coincide with the December winter solstice, the longest night of the year. A total lunar eclipse on a winter solstice is a very rare event: the last one took place over 450 years ago. It might be a good idea to try and brave the cold for the viewing, even if it's for 10-15 minutes every hour or so until it's complete, because you won't be able to enjoy it again until around 2401.

Chicken 2.1b3 - VNC viewer for accessing your Mac over a network.. (Free)

Chicken 2.1b3 - VNC viewer for accessing your Mac over a network.. (Free): Chicken is a VNC viewer, which means that it allows you to use a computer over a network as if you're sitting in front of it. Chicken is based on Chicken of the VNC, but contains a number of bug fixes and some additional features. As with Chicken of the VNC, Chicken features a full-screen mode, saving passwords in Keychain, mouse-button emulation for one-button mice, and many more options.

Total lunar eclipse visible Monday night - latimes.com

Total lunar eclipse visible Monday night - latimes.com: A total eclipse of the moon will be visible throughout North and Central America from 11:41 p.m. PST Monday until 12:53 a.m. Tuesday, the first such eclipse in almost three years.

The next lunar eclipse is June 15, 2011, but North America will be facing the wrong way.

That's my birthday, BTW.

Why the "lazy jobless" myth persists

Why the "lazy jobless" myth persists: During the recent fight over extending unemployment benefits, conservatives trotted out the shibboleth that says the program fosters sloth. Sen. Judd Gregg, for instance, said added unemployment benefits mean people are "encouraged not to go look for work." Columnist Pat Buchanan said expanding these benefits means "more people will hold off going back looking for a job." And Fox News' Charles Payne applauded the effort to deny future unemployment checks because he said it would compel layabouts "to get off the sofa."

The idea is that unemployment has nothing to do with structural economic forces or rigged public policies and everything to do with individual motivation. Yes, we're asked to believe that the 15 million jobless Americans are all George Costanzas -- parasitic loafers occasionally pretending to seek work as latex salesmen, but really just aiming to decompress on a refrigerator-equipped recliner during a lifelong Summer of George.

Why, then, is the myth so resonant that polls now show more than a third of America opposes extending unemployment benefits? Part of it is the sheer ignorance that naturally festers in a country of cable-TV junkies.

First, there's what psychologists call the Just-World Fallacy -- the tendency to believe the world is inherently fair. This delusion is embedded in our pervasive up-by-the-bootstraps, everyone-can-be-a-millionaire catechism.

In a nation that typically dehumanizes the destitute Other with epithets like "welfare queen" and "white trash," our self-centered culture leads the slightly less destitute to ascribe their own relative success exclusively to superhuman greatness.

With the labor-market news downright frightening, the still-employed are understandably pining for a defense mechanism to cope with persistent layoff anxieties. The myth of the lazy unemployed provides exactly that -- a calming sensation of control.

The trouble, though, is that the whole narrative averts our focus from the job-killing trade, tax-cut and budget policies that are really responsible for destroying the economy. And this narrative, mind you, is not some run-of-the-mill distraction. The myth of the lazy unemployed is what duck-and-cover exercises and backyard nuclear shelters were to a past era -- an alluring palliative that manufactures false comfort in the face of unthinkable disaster.

Facial recognition comes to Facebook photo tags

Facial recognition comes to Facebook photo tags: New technology in Facebook Photos will suggest which of a user's friends may be in a just-uploaded photo, the first time facial recognition technology has been incorporated into Facebook's consumer service.

Want an online date? Tell her she has nice lips

Want an online date? Tell her she has nice lips: A survey by the dating site Badoo.com suggests that the "Holy Grail of flirting" lies in complimenting a girl's lips. Really.

PlayStations power Air Force supercomputer

PlayStations power Air Force supercomputer: PlayStation 3 processors find an unlikely home in the Condor Cluster, a mega-computer built to undertake highly specific military tasks.

Doctors: We have cured man of HIV

Doctors: We have cured man of HIV:

Tweets are flying with news of a major medical breakthrough: Doctors in Germany have strong evidence that they've cured a man of HIV using stem cells.

The best TV shows of 2010 | Slide Show - Salon.com

The best TV shows of 2010 | Slide Show - Salon.com: "30 Rock"
While most comedies these days cater to the misfits and losers of the modern landscape, "30 Rock" demonstrates how easily the vainglorious narcissist, the deluded misanthrope and the self-defeating neurotic alike can transform their so-called personality flaws into gainful employment.

Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Data - PCWorld

Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Data - PCWorld: I'm not going to lie to you--this is a scary and time-consuming job. Your PC may be unusable for a day or more. You could even lose all of your data.

Navy's Mach 7 gun can kill from 100 miles away

Navy's Mach 7 gun can kill from 100 miles away: The U.S. Navy is testing out a railgun that hits targets with mortal accuracy from some 100 miles away. It doesn't rely on an explosive charge but rather on electromagnetics.

Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Monday | Wired Science | Wired.com

Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Monday | Wired Science | Wired.com: Part of what makes the Geminids so spectacular is that they travel more slowly than meteors from other showers. They can take several seconds to blaze across the sky, and sometimes leave a brief trail of glowing smoke.

The curious pathology of Sherlock Holmes

The curious pathology of Sherlock Holmes: Near the climax of the first episode of the new miniseries "Sherlock," constables from New Scotland Yard are industriously tearing apart the eponymous hero's Baker Street flat. Inspector Lestrade's team has come to believe that the arrogant consulting detective is not only holding out on them in a serial murder case, but is the likeliest suspect himself. Harsh words are exchanged and one officer tosses out an epithet: "Psychopath!" Benedict Cumberbatch, whose lethal glee in the role of Holmes can barely be contained, snaps, "I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research."

Sampras has numerous trophies stolen (AP)

Sampras has numerous trophies stolen (AP): The president of the International Tennis Federation has offered Pete Sampras a replica trophy from his two Davis Cup wins following the theft of much of his tennis memorabilia. Sampras, who won 14 Grand Slam titles, says most of his trophies and other memorabilia were stolen last month from a public storage facility in Los Angeles.

Dec. 9, 1968: The Mother of All Demos

Dec. 9, 1968: The Mother of All Demos: Computer scientist Douglas Engelbart kicks off the personal computer revolution with a product demonstration that is so amazing it inspires a generation of technologists.

California's monarch butterflies in peril (photos)

California's monarch butterflies in peril (photos): Road Trip at Home: Several sanctuaries used to host more than 150,000 butterflies a year. Now the number is as low as 6,000.

Boom! Samsung Sells 1 Million Galaxy Tabs

Boom! Samsung Sells 1 Million Galaxy Tabs: Samsung's 7-inch tablet isn't "dead on arrival" after all. In fact, Samsung has sold over a million of them in less than two months.

Microsoft's voice platform to get a 'brain'

Microsoft's voice platform to get a 'brain': Microsoft's voice team says it's on the cusp of getting its voice platform to understand not just what you're saying, but what you actually mean.

Netflix signs new Disney-ABC deal, shows up doubters

Netflix signs new Disney-ABC deal, shows up doubters: At a time when some in Hollywood are wondering whether Netflix is a threat, Disney hands over TV content to Web's top video rental service. Is Hulu the big loser in this?

Refurbished iPads now up to $100 off

Refurbished iPads now up to $100 off: The 16GB Wi-Fi iPad can be yours for just $429, the lowest price ever. But is it low enough? And should you wait for the upcoming iPad 2 instead?

X Particle Explains Both Dark Matter, Antimatter

X Particle Explains Both Dark Matter, Antimatter: A theoretical particle could solve two big mysteries at the same time: why there is more matter in the universe than antimatter, and what dark matter is made of.

Victorian-era calculator cranks away

Victorian-era calculator cranks away: The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., shows off its functioning Babbage Difference Engine.

Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. : The Inception of Inception

Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. : The Inception of Inception: More than 80 years before Inception, Buster Keaton’s dreamy silent movie mesmerized audiences.

Nobody represents the American people

Nobody represents the American people: The disconnect between the actions of the government and public opinion is the central fact of American politics today. It doesn’t seem to matter whether liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans are in power. Only minor, marginal reforms ever take place. The basic outlines of American economic policy and foreign policy remain the same, even as Congress and the White House change hands. The changes promised by progressive Democrats and Tea Party Republicans are quickly discarded after the elections.

A new low - blogging a joke

"I'm on my way to my new job."

"It may be new to you, but it's actually the world's oldest profession."

"Hee-hee, he just called you a shepherd."

Just Breathe: Body Has A Built-In Stress Reliever : NPR

Just Breathe: Body Has A Built-In Stress Reliever : NPR: He's talking about modern science, but these techniques are not new. In India, breath work called pranayama is a regular part of yoga practice. Yoga practitioners have used pranayama, which literally means control of the life force, as a tool for affecting both the mind and body for thousands of years.

Living alone can be dangerous for your health - MarketWatch

Living alone can be dangerous for your health - MarketWatch:

Narcissistic Disorder to Be Eliminated in Diagnostic Manual - NYTimes.com

Narcissistic Disorder to Be Eliminated in Diagnostic Manual - NYTimes.com: Finally, the narcissist, who longs for the approval and admiration of others, is often clueless about how things look from someone else’s perspective. Narcissists are very sensitive to being overlooked or slighted in the smallest fashion, but they often fail to recognize when they are doing it to others.

Secretive X-37B space plane ends 7-month orbit

Secretive X-37B space plane ends 7-month orbit: Resembling a shrunk-down space shuttle, the Air Force's X-37B returns to Earth from its debut test flight, pointing the way toward cheaper, adaptable--and perhaps military--missions.

Today's Gemini Horoscope from Jonathan Cainer

Today's Gemini Horoscope from Jonathan Cainer: Gemini, Saturday, 4 December 2010



Your December Monthly Forecast: I can see how close you are now, to reaching a judgement. Your world looks to me, a little like one of those courtrooms in the movies, just after the prosecution has done an excellent job of summing up. The defence is in tatters. Then suddenly, in through the doors at the back, walks a key witness shouting, 'Stop! You have to hear the truth now.' Suddenly, they take all the key facts and put them in a different order to reveal a dramatic new perspective on the matter in question. A lunar eclipse, just before Christmas, is your chance to learn - and benefit enormously - both materially and psychologically - from new discoveries.

NASA Finds New Life Form

NASA Finds New Life Form: Hours before their special news conference today, the cat is out of the bag: NASA has discovered a completely new life form that doesn't share the biological building blocks of anything currently living in planet Earth. This changes everything.

U.S. Army Unveils 'Revolutionary' XM25 Rifle in Afghanistan - FoxNews.com

U.S. Army Unveils 'Revolutionary' XM25 Rifle in Afghanistan - FoxNews.com:

Apple awarded U.S. patent on no-glasses-required 3D display

Apple awarded U.S. patent on no-glasses-required 3D display: Apple has been awarded a U.S. patent for a display system that would allow multiple viewers...

IBM chips: Let there be light signals | Deep Tech - CNET News

IBM chips: Let there be light signals | Deep Tech - CNET News:

Arts & Letters Daily (01 Dec 2010)

Arts & Letters Daily (01 Dec 2010):

With Amazon, the publishing industry is now beholden to a single, profit-obsessed company. What happens when you sell a book like it's a can of soup?...more

Consciousness used to be the crazy aunt in psychology's attic, up there squeaking the floorboards and troubling our dreams of science... more

By stressing exchange as the key mechanism in the success of our species, Matt Ridley underplays education, law, patents, and science. Bill Gates likes Ridley's message, but... more

The new bipartisanship

The new bipartisanship:

North America's forgotten civil war

North America's forgotten civil war:

The War of 1812 is an uncertain affair in American memory and legend. Its touchstones -- the composition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the burning of Washington -- tend to overshadow the roots and consequences of the three-year conflict. Historian Alan Taylor offers a corrective in "The Civil War of 1812," arguing that the United States used the war to consolidate its victory in the American Revolution and become a fully sovereign nation.

No Kinect sex yet, but the potential is there

No Kinect sex yet, but the potential is there: Microsoft's new motion-sensitive controller may not have been designed with adult activity in mind, but to one expert in mashup up technology and sex, it's a no-brainer that the two will eventually meet.

Nissan Leaf Wins Europe's 'Car of the Year'

Nissan Leaf Wins Europe's 'Car of the Year': A jury of 57 journalists chooses the electric car over 40 other models, calling it "the first EV that can match conventional cars in many respects."

Radiation Rings Hint Universe Was Recycled Over and Over

Radiation Rings Hint Universe Was Recycled Over and Over: The Big Bang may be merely the most recent in a series of cosmic births, according to a new analysis of the cosmic background radiation.

MacDailyNews

MacDailyNews: Lion will be the next giant step away from computing as we have known it for the past 25 years."

Full article, with explanations of the four bullet points above, here.

The unexpected genius of Leslie Nielsen - Film Salon - Salon.com

The unexpected genius of Leslie Nielsen - Film Salon - Salon.com: Then came "Airplane!" and ZAZ's short-lived but much-loved 1982 series "Police Squad!," which was reincarnated on the big screen as the "Naked Gun" franchise. Nielsen was reborn as a gray-haired clown. He turned his radio-ready baritone into a comic instrument and played it with gusto.

Scrivener 2.0.2 - Project management, word processing tool for writers. (Shareware)

Scrivener 2.0.2 - Project management, word processing tool for writers. (Shareware): Scrivener is a project management and writing tool for writers of all kinds that stays with you from that first unformed idea all the way through to the first - or even final - draft. Outline and structure your ideas; take notes; storyboard your masterpiece using a powerful virtual corkboard; view research while you write; track themes using keywords; dynamically combine multiple scenes into a single text. Scrivener has already been enthusiastically adopted by best-selling novelists and novices alike. Outline... Edit... Storyboard... Write.

Roseburg couple arrested for public sexual encounter | KPIC CBS 4

Roseburg couple arrested for public sexual encounter: ROSEBURG, Ore. -- A Roseburg Police Department officer was called to the 700 block of SE Jackson Street Sunday evening, after someone reported finding a couple having sex in a backyard visible to the public.

Guernica / Updike Redux

Guernica / Updike Redux: In a previously unpublished interview, John Updike talks about Nabokov and his other literary heroes, why he wrote a book about a terrorist, and why he never expected to be a novelist.

"Boardwalk Empire" recap: Accusations fly

"Boardwalk Empire" recap: Accusations fly: In the penultimate episode of this season of "Boardwalk Empire," Harry Houdini's frequently invoked brother, Hardeen (Remy Auberjonois) finally makes an appearance — upside-down, red-faced and struggling to remove himself from a straitjacket. Later, he performs for a few guests in Nucky's suite, dazzling a smitten Margaret with his sleight-of-hand. "I knew you were deceiving me, but you managed it anyway," she coos. "Deception requires complicity, however subconscious," Hardeen explains. "We want to be deceived."

"Mundus vult decipi."

Why Rosebud?

Okay, everybody knows Rosebud is his sled, -- but, do you know WHY Rosebud is the name of his sled?

Because, in order to really stick it to the Old Man, they were going to make public Hearst's widely-known pet-name for his girlfriend's private parts — "Rosebud."

Takes on whole new levels of meaning now, doesn't it?

It’s official: Google TV is a flop

It’s official: Google TV is a flop: Sony has already slashed 25% off the poorly-conceived 'Google TV'...

The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot

The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot: The FBI is obviously quite pleased with itself over its arrest of a 19-year-old Somali-American, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who -- with months of encouragement, support and money from the FBI's own undercover agents -- allegedly attempted to detonate a bomb at a crowded Christmas event in Portland, Oregon.  Media accounts are almost uniformly trumpeting this event exactly as the FBI describes it.  Loyalists of both parties are doing the same, with Democratic Party commentators proclaiming that this proves how great and effective Democrats are at stopping The Evil Terrorists, while right-wing polemicists point to this arrest as yet more proof that those menacing Muslims sure are violent and dangerous.

But it may also just as easily be the case that the FBI -- as they've done many times in the past -- found some very young, impressionable, disaffected, hapless, aimless, inept loner; created a plot it then persuaded/manipulated/entrapped him to join, essentially turning him into a Terrorist; and then patted itself on the back once it arrested him for having thwarted a "Terrorist plot" which, from start to finish, was entirely the FBI's own concoction. Having stopped a plot which it itself manufactured, the FBI then publicly touts -- and an uncritical media amplifies -- its "success" to the world, thus proving both that domestic Terrorism from Muslims is a serious threat and the Government's vast surveillance powers -- current and future new ones -- are necessary.

And every other step taken to perpetrate this plot -- from planning its placement to assembling the materials to constructing the bomb -- was all done at the FBI's behest and with its indispensable support and direction. It's impossible to conceive of Mohamud having achieved anything on his own.

Against Health - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Against Health - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education: According to de l'Enclos, if a life in the best of vigorous health is without love, it is no life at all, only a long illness. Even health is illness without love; conversely, there is no illness that love cannot cure or make tolerable. At the same time, love is trouble. Like wind, it troubles the surface of the sea, but it also makes navigation possible. The agitation of love preserves the self, keeps it healthy even when—especially when—it is sick. The risk of love, which so often ends in shipwreck, is what keeps a person healthy.

It may be vital to know that cigarettes are bad for your health, but you might at the same time feel, like Sartre, that life without cigarettes is not worth living.

In the historical debate between mind and matter, mind won and silenced the voice of the body; it interpreted the body in terms of mind and considered it a mute machine that only reason could discover. It is time to recover that corporeal voice, to recast the Epicurean thinking that puts pleasure in the place of thought, that imagines bodily pleasure to be a kind of thinking. Good health will then be understood as a consequence of good pleasure, and adult pleasure will be prized, not tabooed; moderated, not censored; indulged, not feared.

Scientists glimpse universe before the Big Bang

Scientists glimpse universe before the Big Bang:

Jihad at Pioneer Courthouse Square | OregonLive.com

Jihad at Pioneer Courthouse Square | OregonLive.com: But that affadavit notes the following:

-- When Mohamud could not get in touch with terrorists oversees, the FBI contacted him.

-- While Mohamud "spent months working on logistics," Denson's story notes, and "allegedly identified a location to place the bomb," he "mailed bomb components to the FBI operatives, who he believed were assembling the device."  Does that mean Mohamud did not build the bomb?

-- The FBI "operative" was right there with Mohamud on Nov. 4 at "a remote spot in Lincoln County, where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a trial run for the upcoming attack."

-- And the FBI transported Mohamud to Portland so that he could carry out the deadly bombing.

So, the way this reads, the FBI assisted him any way they could.

"Finishing the Hat": Stephen Sondheim's magnificent musical memoir

"Finishing the Hat": Stephen Sondheim's magnificent musical memoir: For a sizable tribe of acolytes, there is much to worship, analyze, and debate in the self-effacing but nonetheless magnificent, altar-like structure that is Stephen Sondheim's "Finishing the Hat." In the same way that his sharply psychological and intellectually (as well as tonally) challenging musicals created a new archetype for the Broadway theater, this consistently compelling book -- although burdened with an unfortunate spine-sprawling subhead that overly telegraphs his intent: "Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes" -- attempts to define a new form for a musical memoir, one that weaves biography, commentary and exegesis. It succeeds with radiant intelligence and usually cheerful intensity; Sondheim writes with expected clarity and objectivity, but with an unexpectedly open and humble mien. The authorial voice is not that of a man with a brownstone full of accolades, but that of a man who has something meaningful he wants to pass along after more than a half-century of close observation and diligent participation.

Zeta Woof: You Betcha

Zeta Woof: You Betcha

That's something you don't see everyday: One jackass holding another.

CultureLab: Storytelling 2.0: When new narratives meet old brains

CultureLab: Storytelling 2.0: When new narratives meet old brains: "We are our narratives" has become a popular slogan. "We" refers to our selves, in the full-blooded person-constituting sense. "Narratives" refers to the stories we tell about our selves and our exploits in settings as trivial as cocktail parties and as serious as intimate discussions with loved ones. We express some in speech. Others we tell silently to ourselves, in that constant little inner voice. The full collection of one's internal and external narratives generates the self we are intimately acquainted with. Our narrative selves continually unfold.

The language areas of the left hemisphere are well placed to carry out these tasks. They draw on information in memory (amygdalo-hippocampal circuits, dorsolateral prefrontal cortices) and planning regions (orbitofrontal cortices). As neurologist Jeffrey Saver has shown, damage to these regions disrupts narration in a variety of ways, ranging from unbounded narration, in which a person generates narratives unconstrained by reality, to denarration, the inability to generate any narratives, external or internal.

One compelling study used PET imaging to watch what is going on in the brain during inner speech. As expected, this showed activity in the classic speech production area known as Broca's area. But also active was Wernicke's area, the brain region for language comprehension, suggesting that not only do the brain's speech areas produce silent inner speech, but that our inner voice is understood and interpreted by the comprehension areas. The result of all this activity, I suggested, is the narrative self.

If we create our selves through narratives, whether external or internal, they are traditional ones, with protagonists and antagonists and a prescribed relationship between narrators, characters and listeners. They have linear plots with a fixed past, a present built coherently on it, and a horizon of possibilities projected coherently into the future. Digital technologies, on the other hand, are producing narratives that stray from this classic structure. New communicative interfaces allow for novel narrative interactions and constructions. Multi-user domains (MUDs), massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), hypertext and cybertext all loosen traditional narrative structure. Digital narratives, in their extremes, are co-creations of the authors, users and media. Multiple entry points into continuously developing narratives are available, often for multiple co-constructors.

Finally, there's the neuro-evolutionary perspective. Gazzaniga suggests that the rise of the brain's left hemisphere interpreter provides the evolutionary advantage of continued reinforcement of a new capacity for relentlessly hypothesising about possible causal patterns, combined with an older, right hemisphere capacity to make probability-based decisions. As Gazzaniga puts it, "Once mutational events in the history of our species brought the interpreter into existence, there was no getting rid of it."

My Thanksgiving Pies

The whole idea of Thanksgiving dinner is that you get to dine on leftovers for the next three days, and no snack is complete without another slice of pie.

My Thanksgiving Pies: Along with the turkey, which shall go in the oven at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning with stuffing made from a recipe clipped from The Wall Street Journal, I also volunteered to make the pies. Leslie assured me that, except for the mincemeat, they would be superfluous, since her sister is to bring three more pies and how many pies do you need for eight people? One each seems like a reasonable answer to that question.

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction - NYTimes.com

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction - NYTimes.com:

Oprah: Apple iPad is my ‘number one favorite thing ever’

Oprah: Apple iPad is my ‘number one favorite thing ever’: Oprah announced that the iPad is her "number one favorite thing ever"...

Netflix offers $8 streaming-only option

Netflix offers $8 streaming-only option: The company now charges a monthly fee of $7.99 for streaming only, sans DVDs by mail, and at least $9.99 per month for streaming and DVD-by-mail service.

Apple releases iOS 4.2.1

Apple releases iOS 4.2.1: On Monday, Apple released iOS 4.2, bringing features such as multitasking and unified inboxes to iPads, and adding AirPlay and AirPrint functionality to other supported iOS devices.

Netflix raises prices, introduces streaming-only plan

Netflix raises prices, introduces streaming-only plan: Netflix on Monday raised rates for its DVD plans, and also introduced a new, cheaper streaming-only plan.

Nov. 22, 1963: Zapruder Films JFK Assassination

Nov. 22, 1963: Zapruder Films JFK Assassination: A Dallas spectator unwittingly films the assassination of President Kennedy on an 8mm home-movie camera, contributing one of the 20th century's earliest and most significant pieces of user-generated content. The funerary weekend that follows will be telecast by satellite worldwide in the first giant example of the "global village."

Today's Gemini Horoscope from Jonathan Cainer

Today's Gemini Horoscope from Jonathan Cainer: Gemini, Monday, 22 November 2010
Daily, Yesterday, Weekly, Monthly, Year Ahead
Peace, love, harmony and understanding. Tolerance and trust. What a shame we are not highly-evolved beings with elevated consciousness and superior intelligence. If only we were dolphins we might stand a chance of nurturing such qualities. But we are aggressive territorial, itchy, edgy, monkey-men; we love to squabble, to bitch, to gossip, to whinge and to covet. We have to work hard to transcend these urges. This week, though, you get a glorious chance to make contact with your higher self and profit at every level!

How interesting that he starts out with my private mantra - known only to me. And now, to y'all. "Peace, love, harmony, understanding" y'all.

Getting Kratered

Getting Kratered: "For sensible men I prepare only three kraters: one for health, which they drink first, the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. "Words of wisdom from...

Intel: 1,000-core processor possible | Processors | Macworld

Intel: 1,000-core processor possible | Processors | Macworld: Initial multicore chip architectures depended on a set of protocols that assures that each core has the same view of the system's memory, a technique called cache coherency.

As more cores are added to chips, this approach becomes problematic insofar that "the protocol overhead per core grows with the number of cores, leading to a 'coherency wall' beyond which the overhead exceeds the value of adding cores," the paper accompanying Mattson's talk noted.

Mattson has argued that a better approach would be to eliminate cache coherency and instead allow cores to pass messages among one another.

MacDailyNews: Study finds WiFi makes trees sick; affects all deciduous trees in the Western world

MacDailyNews: "Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands," René Schoemaker reports for Webwereld Netherlands.



"All deciduous trees in the Western world are affected, according to the study by a group of institutions, including the TU Delft University and Wageningen University," Schoemaker reports. "The city of Alphen aan den Rijn ordered the study five years ago after officials found unexplained abnormalities on trees that couldn't be ascribed to a virus or bacterial infection."



Schoemaker reports, "Additional testing found the disease to occur throughout the Western world. In the Netherlands, about 70 percent of all trees in urban areas show the same symptoms, compared with only 10 percent five years ago. Trees in densely forested areas are hardly affected."

Bloomberg reviews Samsung Galaxy Tab: ‘Much less than the sum of its parts’

Bloomberg reviews Samsung Galaxy Tab: ‘Much less than the sum of its parts’: Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Tab costs too much and suffers from a general lack of wow...

Let the tablet wars begin

Let the tablet wars begin:

I just bought my first touch-screen computer that's bigger than a phone. It's the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a device with a seven-inch screen running the Android operating system -- the first serious competitor to the Apple iPad, heralding an era of tablet-based computing that is going to change a lot of habits.

Scientists Convert Information Into 'Demonic' Energy - FoxNews.com

Scientists Convert Information Into 'Demonic' Energy - FoxNews.com: For the first time, scientists have converted information into pure energy, experimentally verifying a thought experiment first proposed 150 years ago.

Hacker Builds Floating Jedi-Training Remote Droid

Hacker Builds Floating Jedi-Training Remote Droid: A hardware hacker has made his own gravity-defying replica of the Jedi Training Remote from Star Wars, the one that fires laser bolts for Luke to intercept when first aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Universe's Quantum Weirdness Limits Its Weirdness

Universe's Quantum Weirdness Limits Its Weirdness: The weirdness of the universe at tiny scales may self-limit how strange quantum physics can be, according to a new study by an ex-hacker and a physicist.

CERN scientists trap antimatter

CERN scientists trap antimatter: Researchers have produced and captured antihydrogen atoms using strong magnetic fields in the Alpha experiment at CERN.

typo analysis - bookforum.com / in print

typo analysis - bookforum.com / in print: Though I never read the book cover to cover, the Chicago Manual of Style took up a lot of brain space during my copyediting years. Section headings suggested good titles for poems or chapters: "Mistaken Junction" (5.63), the vertiginous "Words Used as Words" (6.76). Ostensibly a reference work, it was really a form of secret potent literature, offering some of the challenges and unconventional pleasures of the sort of doorstop-shaped fiction I was consuming back then anyway.

Patti Smith wins National Book Award for nonfiction - National Book Awards - Salon.com

Patti Smith wins National Book Award for nonfiction - National Book Awards - Salon.com: Smith became the rare rock star to win a competitive literary award (Bob Dylan has win an honorary Pulitzer) and the one-time punk rocker offered an old-fashioned tribute to books. She begged publishers not to let the printed page die in the electronic age and recalled working decades ago at a Scribner's bookstore, stacking the National Book Award winners and wondering how it would feel to win one.

"So thank you for letting me find out," said Smith, 63, who now claims an award previously given to Rachel Carson, Gore Vidal and Joan Didion.

First antimatter atoms created and trapped - UPI.com

First antimatter atoms created and trapped - UPI.com: Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have trapped and held 38 anti-hydrogen atoms in place, each for a fraction of a second, the BBC reported Wednesday.

National Book Awards: Rocker Patti Smith takes nonfiction prize - latimes.com

National Book Awards: Rocker Patti Smith takes nonfiction prize - latimes.com: "I've loved books all my life," a teary-eyed Smith said as she took the stage at the gala ceremony in New York City. As a clerk at Scribner's Bookstore, she said, she shelved the National Book Award winners. "I used to wonder what it would feel like" — and here the musician, whose many awards include a place in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, had to stop to regain her composure. "Thank you for letting me find out."

Wisconsin man accused of shooting TV over Palin dance

Wisconsin man accused of shooting TV over Palin dance:

A rural Wisconsin man blasted his television set with a shotgun after watching Bristol Palin's "Dancing with the Stars" routine Monday night, saying he was fed up with politics and Palin wasn't a very good dancer, according to court documents.

Apple’s iOS has nearly three times more games than previous 25 years of gaming combined

Apple’s iOS has nearly three times more games than previous 25 years of gaming combined: How big is iOS as a gaming platform? Very big...

Human brain has more switches than all computers on Earth

Human brain has more switches than all computers on Earth: Researchers at Stanford develop a new imaging method that enables visualization in unprecedented detail of the myriad connections between nerve cells in the brain.

Mac 911: When permissions won't be repaired

Mac 911: When permissions won't be repaired: If you habitually check or repair disk permissions (which, honestly, you don't need to do) you'll find some errors repeated over and over. Apple's advice: Don't sweat it.

iPhone app reveals that sex makes us happiest

iPhone app reveals that sex makes us happiest: Psychologists at Harvard publish results from their widely used Track Your Happiness iPhone app, declaring that "a wandering mind is an unhappy mind."

The Insanity Virus | Mental Health | DISCOVER Magazine

The Insanity Virus | Mental Health | DISCOVER Magazine:

Cable losing subscribers in record numbers

Cable losing subscribers in record numbers: Cable networks lost 130,000 subscribers in the third quarter...

"Green Lantern" Trailer Debuts

"Green Lantern" Trailer Debuts: The "Green Lantern" trailer has arrived introducing movie audiences to the world of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. While it mainly focuses on Hal, the trailer also offers a glimpse of Oa and Hector Hammond.

Statistics don't lie, do they?

Statistics don't lie, do they?:

GefenTV Auto Volume Stabilizer keeps TV volume level

GefenTV Auto Volume Stabilizer keeps TV volume level: Gefen's GefenTV Auto Volume Stabilizer with Digital Audio Decoder stabilizes your TV's audio signal, giving you a consistent volume level while you channel surf.

The Beatles arrive on iTunes | iPod & Entertainment | Playlist | Macworld

The Beatles arrive on iTunes | iPod & Entertainment | Playlist | Macworld:

Meditate for Maximum Relaxation

Meditate for Maximum Relaxation: Mediation isn't just something for yogis or crystal-collecting new age fanatics. It's also something for overworked, gadget-loving geeks.

What We Wish Apple Would Do With iTunes

What We Wish Apple Would Do With iTunes: ITunes is one of the most successful software packages in history. It would seem to be a terrific platform for transforming the media landscape -- if it weren't such a bloated, hard-to-use, overloaded mess.

Movie Soundtracks Mimic Primordial Sounds of Animal Distress

Movie Soundtracks Mimic Primordial Sounds of Animal Distress: To convey suspense, drama & horror, designers of film soundtracks unknowingly produce the same essential sound patterns of animals under duress.

Nov. 16, 2000: ICANN Haz 7 New Top-Level Domains

Nov. 16, 2000: ICANN Haz 7 New Top-Level Domains: ICANN, the global body which decides such things, determines that the web-naming convention should include seven new top-level domains — those few letters that follow the dot in a website's name. Thus are born .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name and .pro. The world shrugs.

Mathematica 8.0 - Advanced mathematics, visualization, and more. (Commercial)

Mathematica 8.0 - Advanced mathematics, visualization, and more. (Commercial): Mathematica... Whether it\'s simple calculations or large-scale computations, programming, or presenting, Mathematica is the tool of choice across the technical world. Throughout industry, government, and education, two million people - from students to Nobel Laureates - use Mathematica to achieve more.

Hewlett-Packard runs out of Slates

Hewlett-Packard runs out of Slates: HP's new Slate 500 is now back-ordered, which the company attributes to "extraordinary demand." One report says it planned only 5,000 units but got orders for 9,000.

Meanwhile, Apple sells 3 million iPads in 80 days.

Facebook's new in-box brings MS Office support

Facebook's new in-box brings MS Office support: Newly unveiled messaging service does a lot of things, including native support for Microsoft's Office document formats. The feature isn't yet live for most Facebook users, but will be soon.

The fascinating morality of "The Walking Dead"

The fascinating morality of "The Walking Dead":

"The soul of man is a dark forest," wrote D.H. Lawrence in "Studies in Classic American Literature." In civilized life, that forest stays mostly hidden, thank goodness; that's why they call it "polite" society, quote marks optional. Stories let us explore the wooded interior -- especially horror, science fiction and fantasy, pop culture's version of ancient folk tales. AMC's horror series "The Walking Dead," based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series, is one of the better folk tales out there. As horror and as drama, it's workmanlike, sometimes more than that. It's slow and drab, its performances range from B-movie sturdy to wooden, and the non-American actors' accents slip with distressing regularity. But as a case study in situational ethics, it's terrific.

Apple teases iTunes-related announcement for Nov. 16

Apple teases iTunes-related announcement for Nov. 16: Apple on Monday altered its homepage and the front page of the iTunes Store to tease an iTunes-related announcement coming on Tuesday.

Welcome to your hamster cage!

Welcome to your hamster cage!: Dave Winer explains. "They make a wide variety of colorful and fun cages for hamsters that are designed to keep the hamster, and their human owners, entertained for hours. When you get tired of one, you can buy another. It's looks great until you realize one day, that you can't get out! That's the whole point of a cage. "And that's what Facebook and all the rest are. "When they say you get to use their social network for free, look for the hidden price. It's there. They're listening and...

Thousands hit the streets for Veterans Day parade

Thousands hit the streets for Veterans Day parade:

The weather was beautiful as thousands of people lined the streets of downtown Roseburg Thursday morning for the annual Veterans Day parade.

I was there. Pictures here.

Coach Bell approaching record: 'I can’t sit still'

Coach Bell approaching record: 'I can’t sit still':

The Roseburg Indians enter playoff action picking up another win against Grant of Portland Friday night--but their chief is also reigning in the record books.

 

He started as football coach at RHS the same year I started high school — 1970. He's still there. I am not — having managed to graduate — eventually.

Facebook's Project Titan: The Gmail killer?

Facebook's Project Titan: The Gmail killer?:

The war between Google and Facebook is going to get even uglier. TechCrunch predicts the latter will announce on Monday the launch of a sleek, integrated e-mailing service, tauntingly calling it the "Gmail killer."

Rare ‘Apple-1’ computer sold by Steve Jobs from parents’ garage goes on sale for £150,000

Rare ‘Apple-1’ computer sold by Steve Jobs from parents’ garage goes on sale for £150,000: The first ever Apple computer that company founder Steve Jobs sold from his parents' garage...

High-Speed Video Reveals Cats' Secret Tongue Skills

High-Speed Video Reveals Cats' Secret Tongue Skills: High-speed videos reveal the strange technique and delicate balance of physical forces cats use to lap milk from a bowl. Unlike dogs, who use their tongues as ladles to scoop water into their jaws, cats pull columns of liquid up to their mouths using only the very tips of their tongues.