Real-time CO2 simulation map

This map displays the carbon dioxide emissions, birth rates, and death rates in each country, in real time.

The coolest house in the world

I don't remember if this has been posted before, and I know that Ethan at the very least has seen and enjoyed it.

We need this. America needs this.

Barney Frank is a rock star

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was greeted with shouts and boos at a town hall meeting on health care at a senior center in Dartmouth, Mass., Tuesday night, an event that was targeted by supporters of perennial independent political candidate Lyndon LaRouche. But the combative House Financial Services Committee chairman met fire with fire.

In case you were wondering

I am now in San Diego. However, until I have a house and an internet connection, my online presence will be severely limited.

Ever wanted to drop off the face of the Earth?

You are not alone. Turns out that a signficant fraction of missing people are intentionally missing.

The article at Wired details how these folks are hunted down using modern data collection techniques. If you're on the grid, you're probably going to be found. A particularly clever trick:

"Then Klein decided to set up a Web site about the disappearance. Purporting to be asking for tips, it was designed specifically to trap visitors’ IP addresses. Suspecting that McDermott was in contact with at least one confidant from his former life — and relying on the investigator’s maxim that people on the run always monitor the pursuit — Klein blocked search engine crawlers from cataloging the site. He gave the URL only to McDermott’s friends and family. Ninety-six hours later, it started registering multiple daily hits from an IP address in the beach town of Sayulita, Mexico. Klein says he eventually tracked McDermott around South America and contacted him through an intermediary."

One common mistake, as it turns out, is keeping your old personality. Even folks who want to become a new person entirely eventually relax back into the person that they were, and that's when they get caught.

Lenny Cosmos

What if your city's mayor was truly eccentric?

We have plenty of wacky politicians, but none so colorful as he. From the article:

"He makes eccentric suggestions (a statue of Ukraine’s most famous poet should be erected in Africa) and staffing decisions (firing a zoo director for not finding a mate for an elephant), and personal gestures (offering to sell his kisses in a lottery)."

Happy Indian independence day

Let us celebrate the only way I know how: with links.

Turns out small town police aren't the only folks who have a hard time recognizing people; superstar Shah Rukh Khan was recently detained for two hours for having a suspicious name. The trouble was cleared up when an Indian MP got on the phone with customs officials and told them that they don't have to worry about terrorism, SRK wouldn't do that. It would be like if the Indian customs officials detained NPH because he shares a surname with a certain undesirable.

Also, check these guys out: bridges that are alive. Seems like something that you would find in Rivendell. Now I really want to go there.

Finally, if you are in the Philadelphia area, you can go to the Festival of India between 1:00 and 7:00 today. I don't know how well-advertised this is, since even though I knew that it was going to happen I had a hard time finding evidence online for it.

Paul Krugman: hyper nerd

Nobel-winning economist, New York Times columnist, and all-around dreamboat Paul Krugman is, as it turns out, a gigantic nerd.

At Worldcon he had a nice, long conversation with Charlie Stross about science fiction, technology, and all that good stuff. Audio isn't great but some interesting topics are mentioned. It's nice to hear about science fiction from an economic perspective; I find economic arguments for technological prognostications much more compelling than those of bright-eyed technophiles.

Moon walk explained

No, not that one.

Some folks at NASA started examining why astronauts walk so funny on the moon. It has to do with the pressurization of the space suit.

“Space suits are effectively reducing the gravity level by supporting part of the weight of everything that’s being transported,”

It might be a minor thing, but it's neat little look into one of the more prosaic challenges facing space travellers.

I'm Craig!

Hurrr derp derp derp.

News in Brief: what does Sotomayor bring to the table?

Once again, The Onion manages to alter the news enough to make me happy.

Time perception correlated to anger

I was cruising Boing Boing today, and found a neat little bit of psychology.

Suppose you are supposed to attend a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, but it was moved forward two days.

What day is the meeting on?

"If you think it's now changed to Friday, then you're someone who thinks of themselves as moving through time, whilst if you think the meeting is now on Monday, then you're more passive, and you think about time passing you by."

A clever trick indeed. It also tells you something about yourself-- how peeved you are feeling. Apparently.

It also works the other way around: if you think of yourself moving through time, you will become angrier. INTERESTING STUFF. Reminds me of that trick where if you make an expression that is related to an emotion, you will begin to feel that emotion. Our neural hardwiring is really a botched job, with all of these nonsinsical feedback loops. Damn you, Divine Watchmaker! Should have taken a few more classes.

Any thoughts on what else we might want to include in our caravan of wonders?

60 aerial photos

Some of these are really interesting.

Fallout game concept art

A sample for Thomas's character.

Chest Text Reads "The Amazing Mr Brain"

Bipedal dog!

It so crazy!

Killing me won't bring back your honey!

In part of his ongoing series My Year of Flops, Nathan Rabin deconstructs the filmography of the celebrated Mr. Nicholas Cage.

OH MY LORD

Gentlefolk, I believe I have found the best website in the entire interverse.

The vampire's timeless appeal

A speculative article on our perpetual fascination with vampires. Also touches upon the history of vampires in Western literature.

You don't have to agree with the whole article, but it's interesting nonetheless.