Decentralized smarts, twenty-four eyes, crystal power: the amazing Cubozoa (box jellyfish)
Cubozoa, or Box Jellyfish, are remarkable creatures. Among jellyfish – the oldest multi-organ creatures on the planet – they are some of the most highly developed in terms of nervous response, memory, and sensory organs. Some cubozoa species are among the most venomous creatures per weight on the planet, using a very effective poison for hunting.
They have a ‘neural ring’ which help coordinate their nervous system, the closest thing to a brain that jellyfish have been observed to have. They have some capacity for memory and to learn from experience.
They live largely in mangrove lagoons, where as many as 25 different species of Cubozoa may occupy different ecological niches, and forage at different times of day.
And they have 24 eyes, 4 of which are ‘true eyes’ with corneas and retinas – two of which can see color! They have been observed to navigate by visual cues out of the water, such as trees on shore. The 20 lesser eyes sense light more simply, and some point straight up at all times, thanks to a keen adaptation: they grow small gypsum crystals within their bodies at the base of their ‘eye-stems’, which act as a plumb bob to keep the eye pointing skyward.
In general I am no great fan of jellyfish – and can’t quite believe I am writing about them – but in this case the eyes (and angels) have it. Cubozoa are amazing.
Work expands to fill the space provided
I had a very difficult meeting this past Friday. The first few hours were quite effective; the last six were not, and could have been accomplished in two, but expanded to fill ten minuets more than the maximum amount of time it was alloted. In the end, the related discussion was cut five minutes short (out of a ten-hour day) and felt rushed, and was even a bit incomplete, despite suffering from what was in essence too much time.
I bought a universal Belkin power adapter today, and it came with a compact body, ten adapter tips, and *two* tiny, 110-page 2″x2″ manuals. As there is nothing about the adapter that isn’t intuitive for me, I wondered what cuold possibly be in a manual beyond the contact information for getting repairs and spares, and a quick tech diagram.
It turned out that they were a User Manual and a Quick Start Guide, 9 or 16 pages long, with half of those pages only half full, and printed in multiple languages. Both contained roughly the same information… the quick start guide was longer and slower than the user manual. I cannot do it beter justice than to recap the table of contents.
[User Manual: 13 langs]
1. Cover page
2. Important: Safety Information (full pg, 9 points)
3. Using the Laptop Power Adapter (quarter pg)
4. Technical Specifications (half pg, 12 items)
5. Getting Connected (1/8 pg, 5 steps)
6. Troubleshooting (1/4 pg, 5 steps)
7. Information (1/3 pg, 3 notes)
8. Information (full pg, tech support #s for 24 countries)
9. End matter.
[Quick Start Guide: 6 langs]
1. Cover page
2. Introduction, registration, safety information (full)
3. Important Safety Information (half, 8 pts)
4. Product safety (full, 12 pts)
5. Product safety (2/3, pts 13-17)
6. Using the Laptop Power Adapter (1/4 pg)
7. Technical Specifications (half pg, 12 items)
8. Getting Connected (1/8 pg, 5 steps)
9. Troubleshooting (1/3 pg, 5 steps)
10. Information (full, 3 sections)
11. Information (1/4, 2 bullets)
12. Information (1/2 pg, 3 sections)
13. Information (full, 1 of 3 sections)
14. Information (full, 2-3 of 3 sections)
15. Information (full, 24 country support #s)
16. End matter.
English was the only language shared by the two polyglot manuals. The other 17 languages had no overlap.
I’m not sure what these have in common beyond the subject, but surely tehre is something.
Genre-Mapping Books
An exploration of book styles via Book Country. It gets more exciting once you zoom in once.
But it all seems rather arbitrary. Zooming and panning don’t work as well as you might wish on a a real map… does the background topography mean anything? and it’s not clear who is tagging the books, or where that raw data is.
At any rate, reflecting on this odd type of map with four half-dimensions projected onto a plane: we need names for families of abstract maps for structuring knowledge. Then perhaps we’ll start to get somewhere.
Primary sources matter. How do we convince journalists to cite them?
Some legal and political bloggers have written recently about an Arizona bill which reportedly “legalizes firing employees because they use contraceptives”. That’s the sort of claim which I always read with an invisible “citation needed” tag floating in the air next to it. But it took a frustrating few minutes to track the bill down; no posts linked to it, and few bothered to mention it by name.
Even the page about the bill on VoteSmart (a lovely site which focuses on tracking the progress of a bill and its changes/votes over time) has only a tiny, obfuscated link to the actual bill text. (I know that the raw bill isn’t the primary focus of that site, but I still expect it to be clearly linked from the top of the page about it.)
At any rate, here is the text-with-diffs of Arizona House bill 2625, “an act amending sections 20-826, 20-1057.08, 20-1402, 20-1404 and 20-2329, Arizona revised statutes; relating to health insurance.” The changes start at page 8.
It does not in fact legalize “firing employees” or other discrimination; but it does redact a special clause expressly prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of using contraceptives, which former lawmakers saw fit to include next to every description of how religious institutions should be allowed to opt out of providing coverage for them. I am certain that the history of the inclusion of that clause would be interesting; I also find it unlikely that every state has such a similarly explicit reminder embedded in their healthcare laws.
So: deep linking to primary sources is important; not just to better inform readers, but also to find out if what you are writing is true. When most modern journalists were cutting their teeth in their first newsroom, deeplinks to source material within an article were impossible. Now they are a matter of a few minutes’ research. How do we reemphasize the value of this work?
Britannica goes digital: the 2010 Edition will be the last
Quoth Editor-in-Chief Dale Hoiberg:
In 1994 we launched the first encyclopedia on the Internet. Today, with the end of the Britannica print set, we complete the transition from print to digital. Although we continue to produce some high-quality print products, Britannica is proudly in the digital camp.
They highlight some of their digital milestones, though they don’t point out the amazing plans around 1994 (not implemented) for a futuristic visualization of knowledge and automatic citation hyperlinks – called Mortimer in honor of legendary EB editor-in-chief and author of the Syntopicon, Mortimer Adler – to complement Britannica Online and make it a central part of the fledgling Web.
Those links are drawn from Bob McHenry’s lovely “The Building of Britannica Online“. Rereading it I note I need to update my essay on disambiguation, as he uses it here in 2003 not two years after it was first used casually on Wikipedia; so I assume that it was in already in regular use in encyclopedic and authority-file contexts in 2001.
2020 update: Bob’s site is now offline, alas. I’ve rerouted links above to the Wayback Machine; unfortunately some of the images of EBO are lost as a result. Hopefully others who worked on the project can provide them for archival purposes. I also note Bob describes this zoomable exploration as ‘underlay[ing] the third of the imagined extensions of Britannica Online, the notion of Gateway Britannica‘ !]
Celebrity Deathmatch: Sendak v. Colbert, Part 1
This is a transcript… of Stephen Colbert’s interview with Maurice Sendak, from the Colbert Show in 2012.
It is the best Kid Lit Interview. Ever. And perhaps the best Colbert interview, too. Update: see also Part 2 and Part 3.
Grim Colberty Tales w Maurice Sendak
Act 1
Colbert: Mr. Sendak, thank you so much
for talking with me today.
Sendak: It's a pleasure.
Colbert: Now, tell me about children's literature.
Don't you think that by writing books for children,
you are sending children the message that reading is important?
Sendak: Very much so. yes.
Let's talk about kids. I don't trust 'em.
Is that true?
They are just biding their time until we're gone,
and then they get our stuff.
That's really good.
And they take our place.
Uh-huh, that's an interesting point of view...
Thank you.
...but not interesting to me, particularly.
There is something in this country that is so opposed
to understanding the complexity of children,
it's quite amazing.
What do you mean 'the complexity of children'?
because children have it easy, they get driven everyplace
we feed them, we dress them.
Newt Gingrich said it: children don't have a work ethic.
But Newt Gingrich is an idiot.
Of great renown, I'll give him that.
He's a historian, you know.
Yes but there is something
so hopelessly gross and vile about him,
that it's hard to take him seriously.
so let's not take him seriously.
well let's agree to disagree.
sure.
Why write for children?
I don't. write. for children.
You don't?
No. I write. and somebody says, "that's for children!"
I didn't set out to make children happy,
or to make life better for them, or easier for them.
Do you like them?
I like them as few and far between as I do adults.
Maybe a bit more, since I really don't like adults,
at all, practically.
Let me just get that down.
Maurice Sendak: "Children: Eh."
Alright, didn't know that.
New topic: book signings.
Dreadful.
Really? You must have groupies.
Yes, you do -- but they don't mean anything!
Hot young moms coming up to you? right?
Where the wild MILFs are?
That would not affect me because I am a gay man.
Sorry, what?
I said, "That would not affect me because I am a gay man."
I think, I'm sorry, I must be mishearing you,
I think you just said you were a gay man.
Yeah.
Ok... Why are you allowed to write children's books?
Why not?
You aren't allowed to head boy scout troops.
I wouldn't dream of wanting to.
But... What does a gay man care about children?
They're people, they're people...
Gay men can't have children.
Of course they can!
No they can't. Do you know how it works?
They're capable...
Sir, excuse me. you are completely misguided
if you think that gay men--
You *can* do that!
I'm sure you've put some effort into it.
But it will not work, sir!
(laughs)
Let's go on to a new subject.
Why not.
You've expressed frustration in the media sometimes that
all they ever want to talk about
is Where The Wild Things Are.
True.
let's talk about Where The Wild Things Are.
(winces in pain)
Why not do a sequel to this? It's a natural.
Because it is the most boring idea imaginable!
"Where the Wild Things Are 2: Still Wildin'!...
featuring Vin Diesel"
Who's Vin Diesel?
Oh, he's incredible. Have you seen Fast and Furious?
No
or... Too Fast Too Furious?
I don't go to the movies.
We do this book, we get a tie in
with Burger King or Taco Bell,
it comes with a Where the Wild Things Are snack pack...
It is so bad, that it not only will sell,
it will make pots and pots of money for you.
Can I get the blessing of your estate?
Absolutely.
(to the cameraman) You've got that on tape?
But it's got to be as bad as that looks like it is.
Well listen, let's let the public judge
whether it's bad, by whether they buy it.
Believe in the free market?
No.
Ok, well I can't help you there.
By the way, in Where the Wild Things Are,
"the wild rumpus": is that... is that...
It can be!
Is rumpus... sex?
Sure.
"the wild rumpus begin"?
Yes! the whole bed going up and down, yes
The mother screaming, the father saying "shut up"
You know -- making love.
Making love. And being happy.
Let's talk about In the Night Kitchen
for a second. can we?
Sure.
This one gets banned all over the place. You know why.
He's got a dick.
He's got a tallywhacker, okay?
A tallywhacker? I never heard that.
Oh yeah, yeah. a johnson.
A johnson?
A johnson, you never hear of johnson?
A schvantz.
(nods in recognition)
You've got kiddy schvantz in your book.
Why are you printing a smutty book?
Because... he's a boy.
Yeah, yeah. But you don't have to rub it in our face.
Why... Boys wear pants.
Not when they're dreaming...!
Have you never had a dream, yourself,
Where you were totally naked?
No.
I think you're a man of little imagination.
Well I love the book, but I've just made
some adjustments to it. I - every copy I have,
I've removed all the penises from it.
Oh my god, you have!!
Yes, so you can see, there's nothing there.
I removed the penises,
I removed the butt crack over here, okay.
I've taken the penis out over here.
You don't have to worry about the penis offending
anybody. (wiggles finger through cut-out hole)
Not at all. Wow.
But I keep all the penises,
I cut them out and I put them in a little plastic bag.
I also cut out all the other penises I see
in the books and magazines.
I've got a couple hundred here.
(holds up bag of penis cut-outs)
And there's nothing wrong with you, of course.
I come across a lot of penises.
I am so impressed.
[Flashback to earlier interview]
It is a miracle that I have lived this long
without having destroyed a person.
I still have a little bit of time.
To kill someone?
To kill someone. Yeah.
[/Flashback]
SOPA suds-off : the first four hours
Background:
Jan 18 Blackouts:
On the WP blackout:
Analysis of WP blackout:
Reflection:
WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
let my country awake. — R. Tagore
Community comentary:
- Risker, one of three community authors of the en:wp decision to shutter the site on Jan 18th, in #wikimedia-sopa :
“Folks….thank you all for doing such an amazing job to implement the screwiest decision I’ve ever had to write. You have all done well.“
- Some people are lost without WP, mirrors or no mirrors
- “Well, it’s good for people to learn how to get around the blackout of sites, because they’ll need to know how if SOPA passes.“
- I can search Wikipedia through the mobile sights…. Black that out too!!! QUICKLY (01:00 EST)
- As I thought when I read Geoff Brigham’s blog post on SOPA, ‘it’s gotta be bad if it makes the DMCA look good.’
Public commentary:
- @NatLibrariesDay Wikipedia is closed for business today, but your local public library isn’t! ow.ly/8xqFk
cowbird: the cowcat’s meow
Jonathan Harris is a reimaginary nomad hacker artist storyteller.
cowbird is his work of inspiration – the kind once ascribed to a muse reaching through the artist.
it may change the way you see.
On appearance, body language, and xenophobia
The Occupy movement has a nice set of websites up for many of the major metropoles in the US. They even have a meta-website up (how can you not love that?) covernig the links between them, Occupy Together. Right now it is focused on the US, even though there’s already an Occupy Canada movement (ok, no surprise, since Adbusters was a driving force behind the original idea).
From the meta-site, I discovered that Noam Chomsky recorded a video supporting Occupy Boston, and found a link to some charming footage of an afternoon party in the Cipriani Club on Wall Street, where partygoers in black tie on a second-floor balcony smiled and waved at the march passing underneath their balcony. They seem cheerful, interested, and friendly to the passing crowd, waving and taking photographs – just like so many of the observers down on the street. But even if their body language is essentially the same, their setting and clothes set them apart in the eyes of many. Almost every comment on the video that I’ve seen, is scornful of the partygoers — assuming they represent the Other the crowd is implicitly targeting and opposing with their chants. Only one of hundreds of people pointed out that they are probably at a wedding or other formal celebration at the club, and many likely support the ideals of the marchers.
How can we bridge the gap created by surface appearances — communities with different dress codes, social circles, and ways of expressing themselves — to get at underlying agreement? The fundamental requests and needs of these protests are no only supported by the sorts of people who celebrate at black tie events, but also at some of the wealthy “1%” – Warren Buffett most notable among them. Yet certain kneejerk reactions and stereotypes are set up as barriers to cooperation even before people have a chance to meet. We have foun many solutions over the generations to the more omnipresent problem of bridging cultural divides across national and language barriers when immigration or war brings different societies together. How can we learn from that to bridge this gap in the debates over how to allocate a nation’s resources?
A fully operational time machine
Greg Brainos, Raleigh-area comic and Norrin Radd acolyte, recently posted on the Raleigh Craigslist looking for male time travellers with male friends. He tweeted about it a few days ago, and got 100 calls and two radio interviews about it before the Time Lords Craig pulled the ad. The sketchy details gave it a certain appeal to… people who might take it seriously.
Date: 2011-07-20, 3:07PM EDT
——————————————————————————–
TEST SUBJECT NEEDED FOR TIME MACHINE
I have successfully built a working time machine and need a human test subject that is willing to be the first person to ever travel back in time.
Due to the dimensions of the machine, you must be shorter than 6’3″ and weigh less than 230 lbs. Also, you must be male. That’s not due to the dimensions of the machine, it’s just a personal thing. I think a man should be the first to time travel, just like he was the first to fly an airplane and to walk on the moon.
The pay is $3,000 and, of course, you’ll reap the benefits of being the first person to ever travel back in time (media coverage, endorsements, etc.). You will have to sign a waiver that mainly states:
1. I am not responsible for anything that happens to you when you time travel.
2. You are forbidden from interfering in matters that would disrupt the current timeline (i.e. killing Hitler, warning Hitler about D-Day, etc.).
3. You are not allowed to travel back in time for the purposes of tearing up this waiver before it’s been signed, thereby negating this waiver you’re about to sign. I built a time machine, I’m no moron.
As far as the danger of time traveling in this machine, we sent a dog into the past yesterday and it went off without a hitch. He hasn’t yet returned, but that’s just because animals don’t know how to rendezvous. We would like for you to bring him back, if at all possible.
Lastly, you will need three personal references. I can’t take a chance sending some unscrupulous druggie into the past because you’ll mess everything up for us here in the present. The references must be male. Again, it’s just a personal thing.
If you would like to participate, call me on my cell phone <###>
“For most, I ask whether they’re calling from past or future. They say, ‘Present.’ I say, ‘Nevermind, it obviously didn’t work.’ ”
Black Macaque Pack Attack!
Photographer David Slater, travelling in a park in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, spent three days travelling alongside a group of friendly crested black macaques. They befriended him and ruffled his pack in curiosity, exploring his camera and discovering how to use it — one of them started shooting photos with it, taking some 300 in all, including two brilliant self-portraits and a priceless shot of Slater asking with a smile to have his camera back:
Simian harmony: holding hands, playing keepaway
Since then, the grinning monkey self-portrait rocketed to internet memedom (right) … now it’s with us for the long haul. But it’s the shot of the photographer, with one of the macaque clan lightly holding his hand, that will stay with me. Not only does it tell the whole story in a glance, but what description of our kinship with these fellow creatures could be more clear?
Hat tip to bro Sebastian for sending this my way, before the meme took off.
Blikstein auf stein: constructionist brilliance
Brows the syllabus and photos from the amazing course Human-Computer Interaction +Rapid Prototyping +Learning Sciences + Constructionism + Critical Pedagogy which is given by Paulo Blikstein at Stanford’s beyond bits and atoms group. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in doing in a town near you?
It something in between the Media Lab’s lifelong kindergarden group, fablabs, and an peruvian olpc robotics lab, for grad students.
Working inside the box
How American slavery really ended
Compelling, specific, incisive: NYT Mag’s Adam Goodheart traces a central decision at the heart of the emancipation of slaves in the US. Textbook writers, take notice.
Competitive Chess Boxing: Brain Meets Pain in Iceland
Two Icelandic videogame artists/chessplayers/boxers. 12 minutes of speed chess. Up to 5 rounds of boxing. 1 match of CHESSBOXING.
Cat Shit One
Motofumi Kobayashi’s infamous “metal gear bunny” comic about USA GIs in the Vietnam War (released in the US as Apocalypse Meow) is now a slickly produced animated series. It is a careful 3D rendering of the original, bloodless body count and all.
