Ten trivial (i.e non-work-related) items

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Alberto Fujimori defeated evil in Peru. On the other hand, he used evil to accomplish it. Who is to judge? Whom to be judged? Theodore Dalrymple wonders... more

The Vivarium (via Blisstree » Arts & Crafts by Cyndi Lavin) is a treasure trove of digitised rare books, old manuscripts, art, photographs, and other objects of beauty and wonder, all made possible by two Benedictine communities in Minnesota: the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University. Some of the treasures are located in private collections, and The Vivarium was able to secure permission to photograph and document them for the use of scholars and artists in the future. The Ethiopian Manuscript collection is one of these: the manuscripts and scrolls are located in private collections all over North America. Gorgeous illustrated texts, pottery, Syriac manuscripts and artifacts… there's just amazing stuff in this collection, all available online.

Six-potato gatling gun via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Here's a video and how-to for making your own potato six shooter. Family fun at its finest!
The Potato Gatling Gun

Ethics & Overuse of Cost-Free Resources via The Business Ethics Blog by Chris MacDonald
How much water does it take to make a latte? That's the question asked (and answered) in this cool little flash video from the World Wildlife Fund: How Much Water?. The answer: 200 litres (about 53 US gallons). That number is shocking, and it's intended to be. What the video points out is that each ingredient of the latte – from the milk, to the coffee beans, to the paper that makes up the cup – requires water to grow or manufacture it. But the video is a wonderful little piece of awareness-raising, and a good opportunity to highlight an economic concept that is crucial to understanding questions about sustainability.

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
“I’ll scarcely be persuaded that anything good can come from Arabia,” said Petrarch. Little did he grasp the depth of Islamic thought... more ... more

Food ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names are perceived as scarier via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Patrick sez, “I'm a neuroscientist and I've written up in lay-speak a really fascinating little study I came across recently. The gist of the research was thus: people were presented with the names of fictional chemical food additives and asked to judge which ones they thought were more ‘dangerous’. What they found was that the harder it was to pronounce, the riskier it was perceived.”

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Looking for real adventure? Then stay off Mount Everest, where Base Camp now offers hot showers, Web access, TVs, and fresh strawberries... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Literacy, the most empowering achievement of our civilisation, is to be replaced by a vague and ill-defined screen savvy. All in the name of progress... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
W.H. Auden, E.M. Forster, William Empson, and Philip Larkin: four men who lived and died by, with, and for the English language. Steven Isenberg had lunch with them all... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
The killer's blood was on the weapon, but a DNA search yielded nothing. Why not comb through DNA records to find the killer's relatives? Just might crack the case... more

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