Ramblings and webcomics from LeEMS
Do you want to learn something today? If you are anything like me then you like to gather up little pieces of information like hermit crabs collect junk. But this stuff is far from junk: MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials puts MIT Course Materials online for anyone to access. Crazy awesome, or is it just me? I know I’m not getting the lectures, but dude! Kids pay good money to go to MIT.
Speaking of good money. If you really want lectures, Yale’s got some Open Courses as well.
I am absolutely fascinated by eyewear that is designed to augment our most perfect natural abilities to visually process the world around us. I have much less than perfect natural vision abilities. Some of my most stressful dreams have something to do with driving a speeding car without my glasses. I fantasize about waking up some day without needing to put corrective lenses on. I’m horribly envious of 20/20 vision. And thus, when frolicking through science journals, I am helplessly captivated by contacts and glasses that do even more than ‘fix’ vision.
For instance, over on NewScientist (back in 2011 – hello GReader starred list) there are glasses that read the body language and expression of the person you are interacting with and give you clues about the best way to proceed in your conversation. And then on BBC News, animal trials are wrapping up for contacts that stream emails and text messages directly over our vision of the world around us. I imagine a blending of our physical and online existences. I imagine not knowing which is which until the glasses are off. It makes me think of the anime Dennō Coil. It’s a really good anime. I have to watch it through again. And lest you think my mind is not just a repetitive circle, I am going to dig up some posts from the old Bean on exactly the same topic. After the…Continue reading little obsessions
If you are in academia you are probably at least aware of the growing Open Access movement. I think of it basically as Creative Commons for scholars, and this doesn’t really mesh well with the pre-existing publishing model that scholars and academics have been using for ages. The Internet Archive has full text of the “Guerilla Open Access Manifesto”. It’s short and sweet and strong and well thought.
"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves."
I had the flu most of Christmas break. This is one of the few drawings I managed to squeeze out of my mind/hand while I was sick. I found it. And now that the memory of how terribly I felt is almost gone, I kind of like the drawing. It could be a good logo or tattoo for something or other, except that it has my face on it.
The regulator in our living room is stopped right now. The wall across from the TV was not a good place for a chiming clock in the apartment of movie watchers. But gee have I loved time pieces. And I have fallen in love with Klockwerks by Roger Wood. I mean, look at them. Aren’t they beautiful?
The Cartoon Crier, shared on ISSU, is a gorgeous comic magazine and far far from any semblance of a funny paper:
“Sorrow and woe is the focus of this free 36-page newspaper tabloid that highlights the work of The National Cartoonists Society members and of The Center for Cartoon Studies’ community.”
GReader starred items strike again! Introducing the Random conspiracy theory generator. So far my favorite – time in the Alaskan wilderness causes breast cancer in: Verified Facts About The Census Bureau and Unemployment.
While I was trying to snap a shot of her angry face she kept looking away. I ended with with all these pictures and no good one. boo. I suppose it just makes the good pictures of her more amazing:
When no one else is around I read aloud to my pets. Though, I have tested the limits of my reading aloud lately, resulting in a long standing sore throat, I am intrigued by LibriVox » Volunteer for LibriVox. I will probably volunteer and get an assignment and read things aloud so that those things might be listened to by people all over the internets. In my voice even.
Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections: The Fantastic in Art and Fiction is a gorgeous and curious assortment of images and illustrated book pages having to do with Demons, Death, Magic, and all things fantastic.
Yes, something like a second hand item from the GReader starred list. Though, it gives me an idea.
I’ve trumpeted National Novel Writing Month a ton on this here blog. I have enjoyed every year I have participated. Not only have they created an environment of encouragement and commiseration for people who may have never ventured into writing otherwise (my Mother), but they do great things to encourage youth to write as well! We all have stories and NaNoWriMo helps us tell them.
Ok, that was way thoughtful and somber – point is Yay! I don’t have to wait for November to embrace that feeling again. For the first time ever there will be a National Novel Writing Month Spring Writing Marathon on April 13th. Your marathon can be editing, writing fresh, continuing a story, anything. Just pledge what you can, ’cause you want to support the awesome stuff NaNoWriMo does, and then hunker down on the 13th and write write write! I did and will.
Another from the GReader starred list. Usavich is a Russian cartoon about rabbits and? I really don’t know. But it’s hilarious and not focused on language, so completely understandable.
But there is really good content therein. I don’t usually end up in situations where I might be beat up or anything else …now that I think about it – ‘or anything else’ has happened to me. I thought I was just lucky. Ok, so the technique of giving calm but nonsensical responses that Derren Brown describes in Derren Brown’s Guide to overcoming Awkward Situations – Entertainment – ShortList Magazine wouldn’t necessarily also have come in handy when I was being followed around the record store I worked in by a guy who repeatedly told me he liked my shape, and who continued on with other lewd comments and offers to take me home after my shift. That was a long time ago. But, Derren Brown’s advice on other situations is good to have in your head just in case. To sum up: awesome article, and hilarious in its description of the technique.