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The new “Seven Wonders of Nature” via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz


The New7Wonders campaign has announced the “New 7 Wonders of Nature”, chosen by a combination of public voting and an expert panel led by the former head of UNESCO. National Geographic posted a photo essay of these natural wonders. Above, Iguazú Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina. The others include the Amazon, Halong Bay, Jeju Island, Komodo, Puerto Princesa Underground River, and Table Mountain. "Pictures: Are These the Seven Wonders of Nature?"

Man-made New 7 Wonders of the World - Boing BoingArts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
For the teenage Geoff Dyer, Penguin Modern Classics did not have the subversive allure of drugs, but consuming them was an expression of independence and discovery... more

Ballet shoes as technology via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker


Image: get the pointe III, a Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivative-Works (2.0) image from chrishaysphotography's photostream
At the Atlantic, science historian Suzanne Fischer has a really interesting post up about the development of pointe shoes. In the early 20th century, at a time when all sorts of technologies were remaking the way people lived, worked, and played, pointe shoes were doing the same thing for ballerinas.
In particular, Fischer writes, pointe shoes were almost the dance equivalent of Henry Ford's assembly line – they standardized bodies and turned dancers into a sleek, modern commodity.
Via Alexis Madrigal

Do you remember these sounds? via Stephen's Lighthouse (and other sources)
11 Sounds That Your Kids Have Probably Never Heard by Kara Kovalchik
I won’t spoil your fun by putting any text or pictures in here – the link to Kara’s blog post is at the bottom of this list.

1. Rotary Dial Telephone
2. Manual Typewriter
3. Coffee Percolator
4. Flash Cube
5. TV Channel Selector
6. Record Changer
7. Gas Station Driveway Bell
8. TV Station Sign-Off
9. Cash Register
10. Film Projector
11. Broken Record

Read the full text here
Stephen Abram added a few sounds of his own (but only text not the actual sound)

1. The screeching noise a dial-up modem makes when it's connecting.
2. The ratchet sound of pin-fed printers (along with the paper tear sound of removing the pin-hole edges).
3. The bell at the corner gas station (the one that made the gas jockey come out to fill your tank).
4. Chalk and/or fingernails on a chalkboard.
5. "ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk" of Gestetner or ditto copy machines.
6. The coin return on a pay phone.
7. The sound of winding film in a camera.
8. The sound of the analog gasoline pumps.
9. The sound of an audio cassette going into a tape player.
10. The clicking/popping sounds whenever you closed or opened an older VCR.
11. The sound of an old reel-to-reel tape player.
12. The sound of rewinding an audiocassette tape (or VHS/Beta).

Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
All religions have bloodstained garments, but Scientology has more blood on fewer garments, more pints per believer... more

The Joy of Addiction via Big Think by Big Think editors
Rats who receive a pleasurable sensation when they press a lever quickly become addicted to that lever, neurologists at Johns Hopkins University have found. So strong was the rats’ desire for gratification that male rats ignored female rats in heat and mother rats abandoned their children. Read More
Terrified when I read that the experiments has to be stopped before the rats starved to death. The addiction was stronger than the need for food.

Mind-Reading Is Quickly Becoming Reality via Big Think by Big Think Editors
By scanning the brain, scientists are increasingly able to tell what a person is thinking about. Three recent studies demonstrate the frontiers of real-life mind-reading. The first looked at dreaming and whether certain parts of the brain operate the same whether a person is awake or dreaming. Read More

Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
The greatest director, writer, and producer in the history of radio died this week. They were all Norman Corwin. He was 101... more

The Acme Catalog via HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT by Amanda
See lots of images here
All images from The Acme Catalog by Charles Carney
Thank you to Pulpfactor
This should have been “see lots of other images here” but the damned thing wouldn't stay where I put it on the page!

Lisa Randall Explains the Cosmos via Big Think by Big Think Editors
In Lisa Randall’s newest book, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, [£10.80 on Amazon.co.uk] the renowned physicist explains where the frontiers of science currently rest. Thanks to the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest particle accelerator that smashes atoms together at unfathomable energies …
Read More

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