Things Megan Sees

"Roast me a wren to start with. Then, Brisket of Basilisk Treat. My breakfast is “on the house”? What..."

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:14:27 -0400

“Roast me a wren to start with.
Then, Brisket of Basilisk Treat.
My breakfast is “on the house”?
What a curious place to eat!”

- Nancy Willard, The King of Cats Orders An Early Breakfast, via Maria Popova on BrainPickings

"The woman on the road then ceases to be human, as with many on the margins, and instead becomes a..."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:06:00 -0400

“The woman on the road then ceases to be human, as with many on the margins, and instead becomes a barometer, a tool by which the onlooker’s (or reader’s) humanity can be measured or determined. She is an object fetishized by their compassion (rather than, say, the “male gaze”) and the onlooker can choose to save her, choose to watch, or choose to ignore her as her fate plays out; these choices become the heart of the drama.”

- Vanessa Veselka, The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why It Matters, TheAmericanReader.com, via Rookie
Mag

USA: Leading Language Spoken at Home other than English

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:22:56 -0400

USA: Leading Language Spoken at Home other than English:

At first I thought the beige color was “none,” but of course it’s actually “Spanish.” Does this make it more or less ridiculous to force immigrants to learn English in order to be eligible for citizenship?

The Rhetoric in Our Two-Party System is Broken

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:50:49 -0400

The Rhetoric in Our Two-Party System is Broken:

Everything is a War, and we are at an impasse.

"How pessimistic the participants revealed themselves to be, through the survey, was a more accurate..."

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:18:52 -0400

“How pessimistic the participants revealed themselves to be, through the survey, was a more accurate predictor of five-year mortality than income, education, having a disability, being a man (a strike against longevity), or self-rated health. “Foreseeing a dark future,” the researchers concluded, “is beneficial for survival.””

- Lindsay Abrams, A Case for Pessimism, The Atlantic

6th-Grader Hands Out Wads of Cash to Friends from Backpack Stuffed With $20,000

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:18:05 -0400

6th-Grader Hands Out Wads of Cash to Friends from Backpack Stuffed With $20,000:

School administrators confiscated the backpack and the money the student had already given away.

Principles for Living in the 21st Century

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:18:00 -0400

Principles for Living in the 21st Century:

Resilience over strength
Pull over push
Risk over safety
Systems over objects
Compasses over maps
Practice over theory
Disobedience over compliance
Emergence over authority
Learning over education

The page includes a little description/explanation of each principle.

Excellent photos of NYC from above, by Navid Baraty

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:01:00 -0400

Excellent photos of NYC from above, by Navid Baraty

Predictive Policing Technology Uses Crime Data To Make Decisions On Where To Send Police

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:30:00 -0400

Predictive Policing Technology Uses Crime Data To Make Decisions On Where To Send Police:

Predictive Policing technology, developed in LA, is about analyzing data from previous crimes in order to direct where and when to send police officers, and what types of crimes they should look for when they get there.

DNA is Flame-Retardant

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:24:00 -0400

DNA is Flame-Retardant:

The current study was conducting with DNA extracted from herring sperm, but that might be a difficult crop to harvest. Where could we get a bunch of unused sperm to extract DNA from and coat things with? I have no idea. I just have no idea.

The Reason Behind The Name For Game Companies

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:19:00 -0400

The Reason Behind The Name For Game Companies:

“The name Nintendo are three Japanese characters that roughly translates to ‘leave fate to the heavens.’”

Facebook 'likes' predict personal characteristics like race, religion, and intelligence

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:01:07 -0400

Facebook 'likes' predict personal characteristics like race, religion, and intelligence:

“Curly fries correlated with high intelligence and people who liked the Dark Knight tended to have fewer Facebook friends,” said research author David Stillwell.

Michigan Added 17 New Craft Breweries Last Year

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:56:00 -0400

Michigan Added 17 New Craft Breweries Last Year:

“Growth is also being driven by ‘extremists,’ or beer drinkers looking for ever more unique and flavorful beers.”

I think I might fall into that category. Green tea beer? Chipotle beer? Mint beer? Hibiscus beer? Yes, I’ve had all of those.

A Massive Database of Food Label Information to Play With

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:06:00 -0400

A Massive Database of Food Label Information to Play With:

Use their huge crowd-sourced database of information to build APIs based on nutrition/food labeling information. Sounds pretty cool.

New Etiquette for the Digital Age

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:42:00 -0400

New Etiquette for the Digital Age:

It’s now considered old-fashioned to greet and fare thee well on electronic communication; no one listens to voice messages anymore; never ask someone a question you could find on Google in under 5 minutes.

How to disrupt the new etiquette? Use noisy, time-consuming forms of communication and ask people for lots of information.

That sounds about right.

Federally Funded Research Results To Be Openly Available Within 1 Year of Publication

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:11:00 -0400

Federally Funded Research Results To Be Openly Available Within 1 Year of Publication:

This is a positive development for laypersons, researchers, and SCIENCE!

The poetic results of Google's autofill response to the prompt, "women who"

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:41:00 -0400

The poetic results of Google's autofill response to the prompt, "women who":

Women who code

Women who run with the wolves

Women who love too much

Women who kill

Women who age well

Women who are players

Women who act like men

Women who ask for money

Women who attract gay men

Women who are amazing in bed

… and more

Adventure Time Pancakes [PG-13?!]

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:29:00 -0400

Adventure Time Pancakes [PG-13?!]:

This is my dream job. I want to be the person who eats these pancakes.

Creative Ads Inspired by Fairy Tales

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:07:00 -0400

Creative Ads Inspired by Fairy Tales:

Little Red Riding Hood is prominent, but most of them have a unique spin that makes it fun to spot the tale and how they’re using it. My favorite might have been the Wolf standing with his arms outstretched while Little Red Riding Hoods rained down from the sky. I also liked the mash-ups, like where the teen pulls out a cable to jump-start Sleeping Beauty.

- Ben Greenman, Graph #34 for McSweeney’s

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:58:00 -0400

- Ben Greenman, Graph #34 for McSweeney’s