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Black-out Google
"We probably all use google several times a day– here's something to consider: When your screen is white, be it an empty word page, or the Google page, your computer consumes 74 watts, and when it's black it consumes only 59 watts. An article about the energy saving that would be achieved if Google had a black screen, taking into account the huge number of page views, worked out at a saving of 750 mega watts/hour per year..." In a response to this article Google created a black version of its search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version, but with a lower energy consumption..." (Tnx to Ms Jamieson for this one!). Check out this
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Boobs not bombs
"The Hillary Clinton for President Campaign celebrated the opening of its new San Francisco headquarters with a launch party that coincided with the Democratic presidential debate on July 23, 2007. The radical activist groups Breasts Not Bombs and Code Pink heard about the event and decided it would be a good opportunity to stage a surprise topless protest to publicize their anti-war message..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Dynamic Abstraction
"Pollock might argue that it's the process of abstraction that’s dynamic, not the end result, which in his case is a static painting. In the hands of New York artist Joshua Davis, however, the end result is never static; by making room for as many anomalies as possible, every composition generated by the programs he writes is unique unto to itself: "I'll program the brushes, the paints, the strokes, the rules, and the boundaries. However it is the software that creates the compositions-- the programs draw themselves. I am in a constant state of surprise and discovery, because the program may structure compositions that I may never have thought of to execute or might take me hours to create manually..." Check out Davis's
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


237 reasons for sex
"After exhaustively compiling a list of the 237 reasons why people have sex, researchers found that young men and women get intimate for mostly the same motivations. It's more about lust in the body than a love connection in the heart. Get the full list: University of Texas study: (pdf)
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


The Dark Art of Phil Hansen
"Phil Hansen is not only tearing down the 'gallery' walls that keep many people from seeing and enjoying art. He's also showing us how it's made -- all on the Internet..."
Consider the following: An image of President George W. Bush devised by hand-painting the names of 1,700 coalition soldiers killed from the beginning of the Iraq War until April 2005. Or: A 7 x 14 foot mural of the Ku Klux Klan, made up from thousands of verses copied from the bible and individually cut out. And how about this: A portrait of the so-called Green River killer, Gary Ridgeway, made by drawing one-inch portraits of each of Ridgeway's 48 female victims in various shades of light and dark, photocopied and cut out into 12,000 tiny squares and then arranged, one by one, to reveal the killer's face. Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Feed the Head
"Sometimes the world is full of things that get you down. What better time to close the blinds, kick up your feet, and make it all just a little crazier? This nonsensically animated head and its bizarre actions call to mind the goofy cartoon film "Yellow Submarine..." Enough said. Now go
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


254 uses for Vinegar. And counting.
"Vinegar. As an Englishman, I had one use for it. I put it on my Fish 'n' Chips. Then I married a girl from Guam and found another use for it...Adobo sauce. Mmmm. But as a frugal shopper, I began hearing whispers of the incredible versatility of vinegar. So I did some research. I was shocked!..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Will My Plastic Bag Still Be Here in 2507?
"Plastic bags have only been around for about 50 years, so there's no firsthand evidence of their decomposition rate. To make long-term estimates of this sort, scientists often use respirometry tests..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


A brief history of the bikini
"When the bikini first arrived, its revealing cut scandalized even the French fashion models who were supposed to wear it; they refused, and the original designer had to enlist a stripper instead..." Read it:
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Goodbye to Newspapers?
"The American press has the blues. Too many authorities have assured it that its days are numbered, too many good newspapers are in ruins. It has lost too much public respect. Courts that once treated it like a sleeping tiger now taunt it with insolent subpoenas and put in jail reporters who refuse to play ball with prosecutors. It is abused relentlessly on talk radio and in Internet blogs. It is easily bullied into acquiescing in the designs of a presidential propaganda machine determined to dominate the news..." Here for Russel Baker's article:
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Wookieepedia
"There's no point in making fun of Wookieepedia, the "Star Wars" Wiki. The folks behind it don't care if you think they're nerds. And make no mistake, these guys are nerds. Only the most hardcore "Star Wars" fanatics will understand half the stuff here. So, why should you bother to check it out when you can barely differentiate between a Jawa and a Jabba? Simple-- it's fascinating..." More of
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


We only describe what female politicians are wearing
"Anyone who reads newspapers with any frequency recognizes the trend: reporters love to talk about what powerful women are wearing. You'll never hear about the cut of Robert Byrd's suit or where Harry Reid got his shoes, but, boy, does Nancy Pelosi look good in that Armani suit. And that Condi Rice has been looking fine, too-- especially in boots. Smart people know that talking about Hillary Clinton's cleavage is a meaningless..." Here for more of
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Jezebel
"Shortly after Gawker Media– the rudest kids on the blogging block– launched a web site focused on women's media, we knew there was going to be some mudpack-slinging ahead in the world of women's magazines. And it wasn't long before Jezebel's editors announced they would pay handsomely for real evidence of the airbrushing chicanery that goes into the covers of magazines like Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and Redbook..." Here for more of
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Untitled Love Project
"An emotionally influenced experiment examining the broken heart. each individual artist will revisit a past relationship through their chosen medium. This project will be supplemented by a book, which will feature each original artistic expression accompanied with interviews, short stories, or journal entries regarding the story behind the conceptual recollection. Vulnerability is a necessity..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Beyond Ramen: A Cookbook for Entrepreneurs
"Forget the microwave burritos: Eat Drink Breathe Like a Start-Up dishes out easy recipes that use fresh ingredients. You've got to be hungry to succeed as an entrepreneur. Well, maybe not literally hungry: A growling stomach is a hindrance to coding as well as business development. A few twenty-somethings from San Jose, California, are on a mission to help feed their fellow hard-up startups with a new cookbook aimed at starving entrepreneurs. The book, Eat Drink Breathe Like a Start-Up, was spawned from the authors' aversion to ramen..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Open source goes mobile
"The Neo1973 challenges the corporate cellular phone market. The iPhone, tauted by its manufacturers Apple Inc. as the essential communications tool for 2007, is now being looked at as an expensive software-constrictive gadget that works with only one exclusive carrier, A.T.&T. The iPhone's user agreements do away with user customization of the code as well as other options, limiting what can be done with it. Cheaper alternatives have already been mentioned, but every phone on the market so far has similar copyright-addled software that does not allow users to do what they want with the phone without the phone manufacturer getting a slice of the software licencing fee. Open source, which has become a war-cry for developers and users who are tired of corporate software, seems to be the answer..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


OpenCD
"The OpenCD project aims to introduce users of MS-Windows to the benefits of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). We include only the highest quality programs, which have been carefully tested for stability and which we consider appropriate for a broad audience. We provide a description and screen-shots of each program, so you can get an idea of what it does before installing. All these applications install and un-install cleanly, so you can be comfortable testing them with the knowledge that they will not adversely affect your system..." Here for
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG


Five-second rule
"Last month, scientists at Clemson University in South Carolina determined that applying the five-second rule to dropped food will not actually prevent the food from gathering bacteria. The nation's reaction to this: Duh. The five-second rule. If you've never heard of it, ask any sixth-grader. "It means that if you drop something on the ground, you can still eat it if you pick it up in five seconds," says 11-year-old Kiara Hopkins..." Read it:
4:24 AM 8/3/07 | UNBLOG





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