Tuesday 23 September 2008

10 more items of passing interest (to me!)

Arts & Letters Daily 17 September
Computer screen reading breaks down with dense argument, modernist poetry, long political tracts, and texts that need careful attention and slow reading... more

Arts & Letters Daily 15 September
The more women and men have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their Mars and Venus personalities seem to diverge... more

Drinking Tea Is Healthier than Water
via Gimundo.com on 14 September
Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is even better for you than water, according to new research.

Arts & Letters Daily 8 September
Why are some countries rich, others poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in England? Why is Africa still mired in poverty?... more

Arts & Letters Daily 8 September
Anti-intellectualism, consumerism, iPods and TV, political correctness, postmodern relativism: are they making today's college students the stupidest generation?... part 1 ... part 2


Acupressure wristband: You're getting sleepy
Posted by Leslie Katz
A new wristband by biomedical device company HBI promises to let troubled sleepers skip the Ambien and still get a better night's slumber. The DreamKeeper 400 relies largely on acupressure techniques, stimulating the median nerves on the inside of the wrist through electrostatic pulses and adjustable vibration.
Read more

Giant Buddha Statue Unearthed in Afghanistan
via Latest news from our site on 10 September
Archaeologists in Afghanistan said they discovered a giant Buddha statue near the ruins of the pair of giant Buddhas, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The archaeologists said the newly discovered statue measures 62 feet tall and features the Buddha in a sleeping position.

Music Taste Can Predict Personality
via Gimundo.com on 7 September
In a new study, a researcher found that the type of music you listen to is a great indicator of your personality.

Movie and film location search engines
via Phil Bradley's weblog by philipbradley on 8 September
I wanted to draw attention to a posting over at Alt Search Engines that looks at movie location search engines. There are three that they look at in detail, and these are:
Famous Locations
Movie Locations
Movie Locations Guide
My preference of the three was the first - a wealth of information well put together and thought out.
I also found Reel Streets which lists British film locations, Hollywood Film locations, Information Britain,and Scotland the Movie.
Another way of tracing locations is to search for the name of a film or television series and add location, or go to Google and do a search for where was * filmed? and either leave the asterisk in for a very broad search or replace it with the name of a particular film that interests you.

The Espresso Book Machine
via Creative Commons by Jane Park on 18 September
Thanks to Peter Suber and The Wired Campus for alerting us to the EBM. You can even watch a video of how the machine works.

GoodGuide will save your skin
via Webware.com by Rafe Needleman on 10 September
GoodGuide is a new product recommendation system focused on "safe, healthy, and green products." It will tell you what chemicals are in your toothpaste, or if your socks are made with sweatshop labour.
The company's real value add is in acquiring the data on the products. The packaging of the data into a site is the easy part, but we think they've done a great job at it.
That's it, simple story. Looks like a great product and service. iPhone app coming, and expansion into other areas as well: Food, toys, electronics, adding to the current lineup of 60,000+ personal care and clothing items.

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