Getting Out the Vote: 1840-2008

We love the graphical representation of data . . . such as the beautiful, interactive maps at Voting America: United States Politics, 1840-2008, created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.

Pictured below, state-level popular voting in the 1860 presidential race:

Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

One of our favorite authors--Neal Stephenson--has published a new book: Anathem.

How Does One Say "Oink" in Korean?

"A cow says Moo. A sheep says Baa. Three singing pigs say La La La!" At least, that's what Sandra Boynton would give us to understand in Moo, Baa, La La La!

For an alternate explanation, we suggest bzzzspeek.com, which is an absolutely charming web site with a "collection of 'onomatopoeia' from around the world using sound recordings from native speakers imitating the sounds of mainly animals and vehicles."

One clicks, for instance, on the British flag-cow to hear what cows say in UK English, on the French flag-cow to hear it in French, and so on. The native speakers seem to be mostly children, making their charming animal sounds.

JAMA to FDA: "BPA Not Safe"

Many students travel the campus with their own refillable water bottles in hand--as a matter of going green or of global justice. Now a JAMA editorial urges using the right kind of water bottle as a matter of better health.

The 17 September 2008 editorial--"Bisphenol A and Risk of Metabolic Disorders"--points to a study which suggests "a significant relationship between urine concentrations of BPA and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities in a representative sample of the adult US population." BPA, or Bisphenol A, is a chemical commonly used as a base in polycarbonate plastic food and beverage containers.

The editorial urges the FDA and other regulatory agencies to follow the lead of Canada and declare "BPA a 'toxic chemical' requiring aggressive action to limit human and environmental exposures." It also urges follow-up studies to establish biological causality between BPA and major human metabolic diseases beyond the shadow of a doubt.

What does this mean to you?

Well, first of all, make sure you are using a BPA-free water bottle. National Geographic's Green Guide lists safe water bottles:

• Kleen Kanteen stainless steel water bottle w/ cap, 27 fluid ounces ($17.95; www.kleankanteen.com)

• MLS Stainless Steel Thermos Bottle, 1 liter ($22.16; www.mls-group.com)

• Nissan Thermos FBB500 Briefcase Bottle, 1pt ($35; www.coffee-makers-espresso-machines.com)

• Sigg resin coated aluminum sport bottle, 25 ounces ($19.99; www.mysigg.com)

• Platypus #5 polypropylene 2+collapsible water bottle, 2.4 liters ($9.95; www.rei.com)

• Nalgene HDPE Loop-Top Bottle, 16 ounces ($4.53; www.nalgene-outdoor.com)

Pencils, Not for Writing Alone

As it happens, we aren't the only pencil-lovers in the world. The fellows at JAD Projectcreated beautiful hand-carved pencil sculptures years ago:

Artist Jennifer Maestre produces eerily beautiful creature forms using colored pencils which she's cut and strung like beads:

To help celebrate its centenary, Faber Castell commissioned all kinds of pencil sculptures from German artist Kerstin Schulz, using thousands of sharpened ‘Castell 9000’ pencils:

Finally, here's a slightly more comfortable looking bench, from 3D Creative Solutions:

Free Movies . . . Online

How often have you sat around on a Saturday night, wishing you could go to a movie but--darn it!--you're a poor student, so it wouldn't be prudent?

No need to be culturally deprived! Free resources on the internet come to the rescue once again:

PublicDomainFlicks.com provides free downloads of full-length feature films that are in the public domain. When we visited the site, the newest additions to the collection ranged from from Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936, dir. John Cromwell) to Terror in the Midnight Sun (1959, dir. Virgil W. Vogel -- "Aliens release a furry critter in the wilds of Lapland where it takes a woman captive and threatens a group of scientists.")

The Moving Image Archive of the Internet Archive also features films that are within the public domain, conveniently categorized according to type, such as Animation & Cartoons, Arts & Music, Ephemeral Films, Movies, etc. One can view classic films here, such as D.O.A. (1950, dir. Rudolph Maté), The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960, dir. Rodger Corman), Topper Returns (1941, dir. Hal Roach), or the Charlie Chaplin films. It was in the web site's Prelinger Archives that we found Alaska: A Modern Frontier (rev. ed., 1948), a useful introduction to the Republican veep candidate's home state.

Of course, some current movies are available, too, on internet sites. We like the following site:

• imdb.com--a selection of full-length movies and full-length TV episodes
• hulu.com--free content shown with commercial interuptions
• Fancast
  

And how to decide what's worth watching? Take a look at Film Resources on the Web: An Introduction from the Association of Colleges & Research Libraries.

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See also our previous post on Historic Video Footage from NARA.

Souvenirs

 

Michael Hughes, a photographer based in Berlin, has covered the globe since 1999 taking pictures of the world's most famous tourist destinations . . . and holding toy or miniature replicates in front of them. (Above, the Eiffel Tower covered by an "inflated polyeurothane, coloured, model kit from which the lowest storey fell off.")

The result, oddly enough, isn't particularly kitschy; instead, it leads to interesting ruminations upon the nature of monuments and memory. You can view the delightful photo set on Flickr.

Creepy Ads of Yesteryear

Weirdomatic.com, which is "A resource for most interesting, funny and weird pictures gathered from around the web," has a strangely disturbing feature on creepy old ads. Seriously, doesn't that little girl pictured above worry you?

Other ads are equally troubling, such as the one which pictures the line-drawing of an enormous-eyed waif with the blurb: "There is a form of short-acting Nembutal to serve every need in barbituate therapy."

You can view the gallery at Weirdomatic.com.

The Greatest Trips in History

Good Magazine has posted an interactive map feature called Wanderlust: GOOD traces the most famous trips in history. Just launch interactive graphic, choose a route from Magellan to Kerouac, and start exploring. [via Boing Boing]

Extreme Ironing

According to the Extreme Ironing Bureau's FAQs,

The sport that is 'extreme ironing' is an outdoor activity that combines the danger and excitement of an 'extreme' sport with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt. It involves taking an iron and board (if possible) to remote locations and ironing a few items of laundry. This can involve ironing on a mountainside, preferably on a difficult climb, or taking an iron skiing, snowboarding or canoeing. . . . It all started in the city of Leicester in the UK, in the summer of 1997. When mild mannered Steam, returned home after a long day in the knitwear factory, the last thing he wanted to do was start on a pile of ironing. The sun was shining and Phil preferred the idea of an evening out pursuing his (somewhat unsuccessful) hobby of rock climbing. Then it occurred to him to combine these activities into an extreme sport - the result: extreme ironing.

PSA: Arts Education

See Americans for the Arts for more information.

100-Year-Old Photos

"Shorpy.com is a photoblog featuring high-definition images from the first half of the 20th century." Pictured above: "Coney Island circa 1903. 'Luna Park at night.' Time exposure on an 8x10 glass negative. Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress."

How Wired.com Produces a Story

Storyboard is a limited, one-time only blog from Wired.com that shows the sausage-making process of producing a story for Wired Magazine, in this case, a profile of Charlie Kaufman.

The editors say the blog is

An almost-real-time, behind-the-scenes look at the assigning, writing, editing, and designing of a Wired feature. You can see more about the design process on Wired creative director Scott Dadich's SPD blog, The Process. This is a one-time experiment, tied solely to the Charlie Kaufman profile scheduled to run in our November 08 issue.

Strange & Wonderful Fences

Dark Roasted Blend has a wonderful post with pictures of Some of the World's Strangest Fences. (via BoingBoing)

Memorable Blog Titles

We recommend Barf Blog, a seriously (and seriously interesting) blog hosted by Kansas State University and published by the International Food Safety Network. Where else, we ask, can you run across a feature called Yuck factor or read of musing of guest barfbloggers.

Warning: You may wish to read it on an empty stomach.

Handy-Dandy Propaganda Detector

Writing for Poynter.org, Roy Peter Clark preps for the election season by offering "seven of my favorite propaganda detection tools." In the hope that "reason and critical thinking can help balance emotion and passion," Clark lists the seven with reference to the current political races:

1. Name calling. Bad names are the most prolific forms of propaganda, especially when you are trying to diminish an opponent as "liberal" or "most liberal" or "ultra-conservative" or "extremist" or "hypocritical." McCain is "out of touch" because he owns seven homes. Obama is merely a "celebrity" with a "rock star complex," but no real experience.
2. Glittering Generalities. This device requires "virtue words" that describe ideals that no one could argue against, a strategy often referred to as "motherhood and apple pie." Here is Michelle Obama: "It was the greatest gift a child can receive: never doubting for a single minute that you're loved, and cherished, and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith and hard work, we both were able to go to college. So I know firsthand from their lives – and mine – that the American dream endures."
3. The Transfer. Used both for and against causes, this strategy transfers the authority or status of one person or institution onto another. When Obama invokes the names of Abraham Lincoln, or FDR, or JFK, or MLK, he tries to transfer some of their charisma onto him. When Republicans made fun of the Corinthian columns that served as a backdrop for Obama's speech as "too Roman," they tied Obama to imperial ambition.
4. The Testimonial. In politics these are often called "endorsements." These come not just from politicians, but from celebrities – athletes and entertainers – who shed their blessings on a candidate or a cause. Oprah Winfrey has testified on behalf of Barack Obama; Joe Lieberman on behalf of John McCain.
5. Plain Folks. Crucial in political propaganda, the supporter of a candidate or a cause must persuade the audience that the chosen one, no matter how wealthy, is a man of the people, or a loving mother, or the kind of person you'd want to share a beer with. Look for homey words like "town," "village," "farm," "diner," "bar," "train," "folks," "coal mine," "kitchen table."
6. Card Stacking. Think of this as a full-court press of persuasion, the kind that the Bush administration undertook in support of the war in Iraq. List the accumulated justifications for war: weapons of mass destruction, destroying a dictator, regime change, establishing democracy, fighting terrorism, securing the flow of Middle Eastern oil. Those for the war would support such card stacking; those against would argue those justifications fell like a house of cards.
7. The Band Wagon. This is the "everyone is doing it" technique. Look for a candidate staging a speech in a stadium. Look for words like "journey" and "battle" and "movement" and "march" and "mandate for change." Tyrants are especially good at this: Hitler used cinema to capture and romanticize huge rallies in support of the Third Reich.

Pencil, Paper, & Glue

Peter Callesen takes a flat piece of A4 paper and turns it into a witty, 3-D sculpture, using nothing more than pencil, scissors, and glue. Visit his gallery and marvel.

Oh, when I die,
you just bury me
Away out west,
where the wind blows free.
Let cattle rab my tombstone down,
Let coyotes mourn their kin.
Let horses come and paw the mound,
But please, don't fence me in.

Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982 is an online exhibit from the Library of Congress. Here's what the Internet Scout Report says about the exhibit:

In the life and cultural landscape of northern Nevada in the 20th century, the Ninety-Six Ranch looms large. It seems quite appropriate that the ranch forms the core of this very fine online collection from the Library of Congress' American Memory project. The collection includes 41 motion pictures and 28 sound recordings that tell the story of life and work on the Ninety-Six Ranch from the 1940s to the 1960s. Additionally, visitors can also browse through 2,400 still photographs, which portray the sites, traditions, and people of other ranches in the area. Visitors will also want to read some of the thematic essays here, which include "Buckaroo: Views of a Western Way of Life" and "Haying, Irrigation and Branding: Tradition and Innovation". Overall, the collection is one that will intrigue and delight not only those who have a curiosity about ranching, but also those with an interest in the myths and realities of the American West.

Dirty [Flower] Pictures

The artist's statement from Herbarium Amoris: A Tribute to Carl Linnaeus:

Since 1999, I have collected pictures of plants. It has become a kind of photograhic herbarium. The inspiration comes from Carl Linnaeus writings about the reproduction of plants and I have tried to approach the subject with the same curiosity and eagerness as he clearly had.

Linnaeus was free and poetic in both his speech and his text. He compared the sexuality of plants and humans as a pedagogic tool and he certainly was not shy! My aim has been to make pictures as Linnaeus himself would have done if he had access to our time's photographic techniques and to give Linnaeus insights into plant's sexuality a present-day shape.

Edvard Koinberg (Trans. Brian Ashley)

You can visit the exhibit online at Swedish Institute.

Chuck Palahniuk on How to Stop Shoplifting

Political Fact Checkers

With American politics surging out of the Democratic and Republican national conventions toward the General Election pull out, you may find yourself dizzy from the spin. That's where political fact checkers enter in. These non-partisan web sites attempt to track down the truth about the outrageous claims candidates make about each other and ferret out the uncomfortable reality candidates may attempt to hide about themselves.

We recommend three:

1. PolitiFact, home of the Truth-o-meter (pictured above) and the Flip-o-meter;
   
2. FactCheck.org; and
3. OnTheIssues.org, a web site which tracks the voting, speech, and interview record of "Every Political Leader on Every Issue."

Great Web Apps for Students

You're a student on a tight budget who can't afford to buy the student version of Microsoft Office Suite (now available to students for about $60 for the Ultimate edition . . . which is hard to beat). What to do? Easy! Use a free web application.

Last year, ReadWriteWeb posted a long list of handy online tools titled Web 2.0 Backpack: Web Apps for Students. It's a great list that they've updated this year with Back to School: 10 Great Web Apps for College Students.