Jeff Atwood, over at Coding Horror, has a thoughtful analysis of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service, and why it might be said to show signs of failure. Worth reading.
Year: 2007
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Edalat Square
The one act opera Edalat Square has its premiere next Sunday. The story behind the opera is worth reading.(hat tip to Robert over at Links and Things for the pointer) -
Piscine Pedicure
Fancy spending up to eight hours a day in a pool with hundreds of fish nibbling on your scabby old skin? Yes? Then "Doctor Fish" – otherwise known as Garra rufa sound just the thing for you. Me? I think I’ll pass, at least until some dependable clinical trials have been done… -
I Feel His Pain
As an ex-IT Architect, I know just what the presenter depicted here is going through… Architecture – a passion for me, pointlessness personified for most of my audience. Ah, purgatory, therein lies your sting… -
The Wonders of Science
Sometimes, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It’s always best not to be in the vanguard, I feel. Although I do recall going into our local shoe shop as a child and seeing my feet illuminated with X-rays. Thankfully, we didn’t get new shoes all that often… -
The Luck of the Draw
Or, in this case, the non-luck of the draw. Ben Goldacre, over at Bad Science, draws our attention to the case of Lucia de Berk. -
Copernicus and the Pantheon
There’s a fascinating interview with Walter Murch over at BLDBLOG. I strongly recommend that you go and read it. In it he explores the connections between the Pantheon in Rome and the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. It may all be fanciful, just a series of remarkable coincidences, but it’s a rattling good yarn, and it may even be true. Art and Astronomy combined. -
Metadata Mashup
I think this is one of the finest mashups that I have ever seen. Resonance on sooo many levels…Hat tip to Richard Dawkins Net for the link. -
Canine Balance
Sir Alan Sugar got it right: "Nutters will spend a fortune on trinkets and gadgets for their dogs." Not only that, Sir Alan, but many of the nutters are definitely unhinged if they fall for claptrap such as this: Canine Balance. And, doubtless, many do. As David Hannum said: "There’s a sucker born every minute". -
The Novint Falcon
Another intriguing computer interface device – the Novint Falcon. Otherland is on its way. I just wish that game designers thought about something other than killing people though. -
One Woman’s Story
I’ve been lucky, I know. I’ve never been in a relationship such as this; either as the victim or the transgressor. Natasha managed to come through. Not everyone is so lucky. And sometimes, it is the victim who snaps. -
The Book of Curiosities
Thanks to the wonders of the Web, the Bodleian Library has made available online the Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, otherwise known as the Book of Curiosities. Simply wonderful.(hat tip to BibliOdyssey for the link) -
The Mundaneum
The Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society turns up another forgotten gem: the work of Paul Otlet and his Mundaneum. The forerunner of the World Wide Web – but built on index cards. I’ve just one quibble with the article in the Proceedings – it mistakenly confuses the Internet with the World Wide Web. It’s a common enough mistake, but it’s completely wrong to confuse the two, and it irritates the hell out of a pedant like me. Still, the article is worth reading, and particularly the referenced article from Boxes and Arrows. -
Viral Rubbish
The third series of Doctor Who got underway last weekend. The first episode was pretty good, with lots of hints about future storylines. Vote for Saxon – for example – the posters were fairly obvious in the background to some scenes. So, as is in keeping with 21st Century entertainment, we have to have some fake web sites to beef up the viral marketing. Except this web site is so lame. It might just as well have been done by a six year old, except that I’m probably denigrating today’s six year olds.This, on the other hand, has possibilities. Only possibilities, mind, I’m a hard critic of something so personal as Doctor Who. -
Mushrooms That Glow In The Dark
I’m very cautious about wild mushrooms, so I doubt that I would have picked these specimens, thinking that they were Chanterelles. But the clincher would have to be – they glow in the dark. What more do you need to know before you accept that they are not good for you? -
Love Your Family
Louis Theroux ventures where most of us would be afraid to go. Say hello to the Phelps. -
A Nasty Piece Of Work
Yes, I know that I claim that my blog is supposed to be a "religious-free zone". But, you have to admit it is difficult when Ratzinger comes out with stuff like this. I can but echo Ophelia – he is a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Amen. -
Damning Evidence
If this is a data point, I would have to say that Americans have lost their capability to think. Please say it isn’t so.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 