-
Beware Of Camera! A collection of safety warnings from the sections
of camera owner's manuals you probably skipped past in too much of
a hurry. Go read these important safety tips so that you can take
photographs safely. Includes such gems as, "The rim of the lenshood
can cause injury. Take care not to accidentally strike anyone with the
camera when the lenshood is attached," and "Placing the camera
strap around your neck could result in strangulation."
-
Assicons
- A vehicle that
transforms from bike-like to trike-like depending on how fast it's
moving "would have wide appeal to able-bodied children and
children and adults with special needs." The idea is to provide
the stability of training wheels or a trike only when needed.
"You can get a kid up on two wheels and as long as they're
moving and they're looking where they're going, they're going to
do OK. But once they slow down and stop, they fall over, get scared
and get off. Then you have to start all over again." With this,
as it slows down it changes to trike-mode. (Thanks to
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
syntonic_comma for forwarding me email about it.)
-
The Mathematics of Love: "We were able to derive a set of
nonlinear difference equations for marital interaction as well as
physiology and perception. These equations provided parameters,
that allowed us to predict, with over 90 percent accuracy, what
was going to happen to a relationship over a three-year period."
And, "What's different about what I do, compared with most
psychologists, is that for me the relationship is the unit, rather
than the person. What I focus on is a very ephemeral thing, which
is what happens between people when they interact. It's not either
person, it's something that happens when they're together."
-
Media-Sensitive Glasses: "As part of her Social Defense
Mechanisms: Tools for Reclaiming our Personal Space research,
Limor Fried developed the Media-Sensitive Glasses that automatically
darken whenever a television is in view, so as to protect the wearer
from television's 'hypnotic' effect. The name of this project
originates from the fictional 'Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses' used by
one of the characters in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
-
A tale worthy of Aesop, or at least a fair quantity of giggling.
Some of y'all saw this when lots of people linked to it a couple of
weeks ago; the rest of you put down your beverage and go read
this adorable tale of a cat and a snake.
- Another one that made the link circuit, reposted here for anyone
who missed the pointers to it on the last go-round, a heartwarming
underdog story about
four undocumented immigrants in a Phoenix high school who beat a team
from MIT in an underwater robotics competition.
- Favourite
words not in the dictionary courtesy of Merriam-Webster. (Though
really, a few have been around so long I'm surprised they weren't
already in the dictionary.)
- The
Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries according to
a panel of judges assembled by conservative weekly Human Events.
Commentary and discussion
here (not much yet, listed in case more comments show up),
here, and
here (unsurprisingly, misia's journal is where most
of the discussion seems to be -- I don't think theferrett
has chimed in yet) that I've noticed so far on LiveJournal, and
apparently on Metafilter
as well but I haven't been able to access it today. My suggestion:
go right to
Misia's entry unless you've got a compulsion to read the
site-of-origin before seeing any commentary.
- And finally, the must-read link of this pile (though the snake/cat
story is a very close second):
A wonderful story of human/canine interaction by axiomaxiom.
"We barked and jumped and leaped and panted until the husky gave the
'it's over' signal. She actually came up to me and indicated in dog-speech
that barking time was over. It was so clear, from the set of her ears and
tail. I went down into a submissive posture I'd seen on Discovery channel,
and she resumed her post. I had become a dog. I had joined their little
impromptu pack. So long as I respected the leadership of the female husky,
I was welcome. So long as I obeyed the rules, I could stay and be one of
them. They must have thought I was a dog." And: "I rejoined the
party, laughed with my friends about my sojourn with the dogs, had some
awesome lemon squares and had a good time. I was in a much better mood.
I didn't feel alone at the party any more, I felt part of something."
The reasons for wanting to share this are many -- just o read it. (Take
the time to scroll through the comments as well.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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It doesn't strike me as a "Ferrett's gotta have something to say about this" subject so much as a "this is one of those things Ferrett could write something incindiary and/or thought-provoking about if the mood happened to strike him while the thought was in front of him (and people will have interesting reactions)" one. Don't worry, I'm not trying to goad you or nudge you to write about this, or even trying very hard to predict you. Just hedging my bet in case you do chime in and wind up with a pile of comments two orders of magnitude larger than anyone else's.
The MeFi Thread
Re: The MeFi Thread
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--Axiom
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asphinxiation (n): when you are sick to death of unanswerable riddles
shanghaIM (v): Instant Messaging somebody who's in the process of IM-ing somebody else, causing them to inadvertently type (and possibly send) their message to you
optotoxical (adj): of or pertaining to poisonous looks that could kill, esp. from a spouse
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I'm going to go out and read (or re-read) everything on that list (with the exception of Mein Kampf), just to piss them off.