Archive for 2012

WHERE DOES THE INTERNET actually live?

SCIENTISTS CONTROL MONKEYS’ BRAINS with light.

WHO NEEDS HBO? Why Mountain Lion Just Became the Ultimate Cord-Cutting OS. “Don’t look now, but Apple just created a formidable cord-cutting platform. The new operating system can change the way we watch video in the living room, and might even compel some users to finally cancel their cable and satellite services. Any video content that’s available for the computer can now be just as easily watched on an HDTV. All you need is a 2011 or newer Mac running Mountain Lion, and a $100 Apple TV.”

OH, WELL, HE DIDN’T BUILD THAT ANYWAY: Kid’s Hot Dog Stand Shut Down by City Officials Before It Even Opens. “He arrived to set up shop on his first day and 10 minutes later, a zoning official arrived to shut him down. The problem: The cart, which is in the parking lot of a sporting goods store, is on the edge of official downtown commercial district of Holland, Michigan. The city bans food carts in that area in order to minimize competition for the eight tax-paying restaurants a couple of blocks away.”

God forbid that your effort to support your family should reduce the flow of lucre to The Man.

HOW PEOPLE COMMITTED MASS MURDER before modern weapons. Despite the language in the piece, however, there were no automatic weapons used at Aurora. It would be nice if journalists had a firmer grasp on this rather simple technology. Still, this is useful: “Guns aren’t even the most lethal mass murder weapon. According to data compiled by Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, guns killed an average of 4.92 victims per mass murder in the United States during the 20th century, just edging out knives, blunt objects, and bare hands, which killed 4.52 people per incident. Fire killed 6.82 people per mass murder, while explosives far outpaced the other options at 20.82. Of the 25 deadliest mass murders in the 20th century, only 52 percent involved guns.”

Plus this: “In the 2000s, for example, both the mass murder and the homicide rates dropped to their lowest levels since the 1960s.”

THE MEDICAL MYSTERY OF RABIES. And progress in treatment.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why You Never Heard From Me Again After Our Amazing First Date. “Before you gushed to your best friend, before you flaunted your euphoria all over Facebook, did you ever stop to consider how your date might have felt about that ‘amazing’ night?”

Wait, men have feelings?

ANOTHER READER BOOK PLUG: From reader Michael Karounos, The Fifth Love.