Clipmarks | kelvin273's clips

Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:13:40 GMT

clipped by: philos

Clip Source: www.pcmag.com

AfterVote

Footnote

Hard to Find 800 Numbers

Ninjawords

Uncyclopedia

Wikisky.org

Wink

Cork'd

ExtraTasty

Lumosity

Menupages

Top Secret Recipes

Who Is Sick?

The World's Healthiest Foods

Dethroner

EXPN

FirstShowing.net

Going.com

I Can Has Cheezburger?

iminlikewithyou

I Watch Stuff

MeeVee

MyPunchbowl

Skeptic

BullPoo

Indeed

Kiva

Rentometer

Trulia

AllHipHop.com

Amie Street

Beethere.net

Imeem

Musicovery

SingShot

Slacker

Guerrilla News Network

MediaStorm

Tech President

Topix

Act-I-Vate

copyblogger

Goodreads

Ironic Sans

Librivox

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs

Verbotomy

xkcd

The Bargainist

Do My Stuff

EuroCheapo

Roadside America

TheThingsIWant.com

Ugallery.com

Wikitravel

Yapta

afreeDLL

DaFont

DZone

Infected or Not

InviteShare

MajorGeeks.com

OldVersion.com

ProgrammableWeb

Website Grader

Armor Games

K2xl

Kongregate

LikeBetter

Line Rider

Shacknews

All Things Digital

Anything But iPod

Everything USB

GoodCleanTech

iLounge

Phone Scoop

TechMeme

AppScout

Download Squad

eHub

MakeUseOf.com

Mashable

Uncov

Dabble

PrezVid

ScienceHack

Ustream.tv

uLinkx

VideoJug

Bubbl.us

Eyejot

MediaFire

Tags: sites, web 2.0

12 Writing Tips From George Orwell

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:14:30 GMT

clipped by: missangelyss

Clip Source: www.writingclasses.com

George Orwell has earned the right to be called one of the finer writers in the English language through such novels as 1984 and Animal Farm, such essays as “Shooting an Elephant,” and his memoir Down and Out in Paris.

George expressed a strong dislike of totalitarian governments in his work, but he was also passionate defender of good writing. Thus, you may want to hear some of George’s writing tips.*

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:

What am I trying to say?
What words will express it?
What image or idiom will make it clearer?
Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And he will probably ask himself two more:

Could I put it more shortly?
Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

* From “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell.

Back

Tags: writing

Astronauts can be crazy, too

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:09:36 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Apparently, if the full article is to be believed, going to the moon drove this guy over the edge.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Mitchell not only believes in aliens, but also psychics. In his book "The Way of the Explorer," Mitchell discusses his belief in psychic powers, including those of Uri Geller (whom Mitchell calls "one of the most accomplished psychics I have ever met"), whose claim to fame is his alleged ability to bend spoons—a feat that magicians have duplicated many times.

According to Mitchell, the "impossible" is possible if you don't know your limitations—sort of like how when Elmer Fudd walks off a cliff onto thin air, he doesn't fall until Bugs Bunny points out that it's impossible.

Mitchell believes that dream experiences (or the hallucinations of a person high on drugs) are just as useful in understanding the world as the results of carefully-controlled scientific experiments.

Tags: nasa, science, superstition

Hyped up drug studies

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:19:58 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: If you read the full article, some of the methods they use to make drugs look good are shocking. For example, if a drug doesn't reduce deaths from strokes, but does reduce the incidence of disability in survivors, they add the two numbers together in one column and claim that the drug reduces "death and disability" (meaning "death + disability," but people assume it means that the likelihood of death is reduced, too).

Clip Source: discovermagazine.com

How often do today’s medical “breakthroughs” become tomorrow’s discredited science? John P. A. Ioannidis, an epidemiologist at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, studied the question. He examined the most-cited clinical studies published in the top three medical journals between 1990 and 2000 to see how well researchers’ initial claims held up against subsequent research. His findings, published in JAMA, show that the key claims of nearly one-third (14 out of 49) of the original research studies he examined were either false or exaggerated. Small study size, design flaws, publication bias (failure to publish negative results or duplication of positive results), drug-industry influence, and the play of chance were among the problems Ioannidis found that caused false or exaggerated claims.

Tags: science, medicine, drugs, pharmaceuticals

Animals experience old age in captivity

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:02:31 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: This is interesting because I remember hearing that the conventional wisdom was that animals don't age. Maybe animals really do age, but they usually don't live long enough for it to show.

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Even as a youngster, Rollie looked older and wiser than his years. His white mustache sprouted longer by the month, until it flamed from his cheeks like a German kaiser's. Sometimes, it all but hid his mouth.

In the last few years, though, the tribulations of age — not just the appearance of it — have begun catching up with Rollie. It wasn't immediately noticeable on the outside. But his keepers at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo are reminded each time they get a look past the Emperor Tamarin's flowing whiskers, and into his jaws.

The tiny monkey, used to crunching away on raw sweet potato and celery, has surrendered all but 6 of his 32 teeth to the toll of time.

At 17, Rollie is a senior citizen of his species. In the wilds of the Amazon, his keepers say, he almost certainly would never have made it this long.

The Golden Years have arrived at the nation's zoos and aquariums, and that is taking veterinarians and keepers, along with their animals, into a zone of unknowns.

Tags: science, animals, aging, zoos

Five Science Fiction Movies That Get the Science Right

Fri, 09 May 2008 22:24:50 GMT

clipped by: nohobot
clipper's remarks: "2001: A Space Odyssey" is my all-time favorite film, so I included almost all of the information from that section. The others on the list are also interesting, though, of course.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

"Open the pod-bay doors, HAL."

Despite being made before the first moon landing, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke's masterpiece is a strikingly realistic depiction of space travel.

Among the film's neater details:

All scenes in outer space are silent – sound does not travel in a vacuum

The stars do not move past the ship – for there to be a visible motion of the star field, the ship would have to be travelling at close to the speed of light

The crew eat paste-like food and only drink liquids through straws.

Additionally, crew members are shown coping with the boredom and routine of a long, straightforward trek across empty space.

Newtonian physics is strictly obeyed in the behaviour of the ship and little "pods" that the astronauts use to travel outside it. Trouble only starts when a carefully-aligned radio transmitter, the crew's lifeline to Earth, begins to drift out of position.

The secret ingredient in absinthe: lots of alcohol

Thu, 01 May 2008 04:31:22 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

An analysis of century-old bottles of absinthe — the kind once quaffed by the likes of van Gogh and Picasso to enhance their creativity — may end the controversy over what ingredient caused the green liqueur's supposed mind-altering effects .

The culprit seems plain and simple: The century-old absinthe contained about 70 percent alcohol, giving it a 140-proof kick. In comparison, most gins, vodkas and whiskeys are just 80- to 100-proof.

The modern scientific consensus is that absinthe's reputation could simply be traced back to alcoholism, or perhaps toxic compounds that leaked in during faulty distillation. Still, others have pointed at a chemical named thujone in wormwood

Prior studies suggested that absinthe had only trace levels of thujone. But critics claimed that absinthe made before it got banned in France in 1915 had much higher levels of thujone than modern absinthe produced since 1988, when the European Union lifted the ban on making absinthe.

Dog whistle for teenagers

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:57:09 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: My first reaction: If this had been posted on April 1, I wouldn't have believed it. But I have some sympathy for the teens. After all, "loitering" seems to mean "hanging around and being somebody I don't like."

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

NEW YORK (AP) -- A wall-mounted gadget designed to drive away loiterers with a shrill, piercing noise audible only to teens and young adults is infuriating civil liberties groups and tormenting young people after being introduced into the United States.

Almost 1,000 units of the device, called the Mosquito, have been sold in the United States and Canada after the product debuted last year, according to Daniel Santell, the North America importer of the device sold under the company name Kids Be Gone.

The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear. It can be heard by most people in their teens and early 20s who still have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears. Whether you can hear the noise depends on how much your hearing has deteriorated: How loud you blast your iPod, for example, could affect your ability to detect it.

Evangelicals may go Democratic

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:12:33 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: If a fair number of evangelicals were to actually vote for a liberal like Obama in the general election, that would mark a sea change in U.S. politics. I can't help but worry that Hell would also freeze over.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- Which Democrat is winning the battle for religious voters? God only knows.

For years, the evangelical community has largely supported Republican presidential candidates.

Conservative Christian activists, drawn by the party's stands on abortion, gay marriage and other social issues, have been among the GOP's most reliable foot soldiers. Watch how faith is playing into the election »

During the primary season, former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee appealed directly to evangelicals as one of their own -- but in opinion polls conducted early in the primary season, those voters preferred either Democrat to the former Arkansas governor.

Winning over religious voters, especially evangelicals, is still an uphill climb for any Democrat -- but for the first time in recent memory, the party believes its next nominee may have a prayer.

Tags: politics, religion, election

Russian space shuttle clone retired

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:06:40 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: It would have been interesting to see how the Buran would have developed. While we were good at going to the moon and sending probes to planets, the Soviet program was more concerned with the kind of earth-orbit stuff the shuttle's about.

Clip Source: www.space.com

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) - The one-time pride of the Soviet space program is making a decidedly sedate journey to its new home, chugging up the Rhine River aboard a pontoon boat.

The Buran 002 space shuttle is headed for the Technik-Museum Speyer in southwestern Germany, which says it has long had its eye on the spacecraft.

The shuttle has been in storage in Bahrain since 2002.

The Buran - the Soviet space program's answer to NASA's space shuttle, to which it bears a strong resemblance - made its maiden flight in 1988.

Soviet space officials claimed at the time that the Buran was superior to its American rival because of its ability to fly on autopilot and its bigger capacity, but the program was mothballed amid chaos and fund shortages in the run-up to the 1991 Soviet collapse. Several Buran shuttles were left rusting in hangars.

Tags: space, russia

Where The Boys and Girls Are

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:37:46 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: The good news for me is that single women outnumber single men by at least 20,000 in my hometown, according to this map.

Clip Source: creativeclass.typepad.com

It's not just that some places have more singles than others. If you're a single man or a single woman the odds of meeting that special someone vary dramatically across the country.

By far, the best places for single men are the large cities and metro areas of the East Coast and Midwest. The extreme is greater New York, where single women outnumber single men by more than 210,000. In the Philadelphia area and greater Washington, D.C., single women outnumber single men by 50,000.

But women do have an advantage in the American West and Southwest. In greater Los Angeles, for example, there are 90,000 more single men than women. In Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area, single men outnumber single women by roughly 65,000.

Tags: demogragphics, dating

WTC Developers suing airlines, airport

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:31:46 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: I'm still trying to figure out how there can be liability for the airlines when their pilots did the standard procedure for a hijacking at the time: cooperate. I could possibly see some grounds for suing the airport for security lapses, but even that's a little shaky given that the only thing legally wrong with the hijackers (before the horrific murder/suicide attack) was that they had overstayed their visas, IIRC.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The developer of the World Trade Center in New York is seeking $12.3 billion in damages from the airlines and other companies associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks, his spokesman said Thursday.

Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, has recovered $4.6 billion in insurance payments, spokesman Bud Perrone said.

The additional money is meant to offset the remaining costs of what was lost on September 11.

Perrone was not able to provide a full list of defendants, but the companies named in the suit include American Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Boeing.

Also named: MassPort, which manages Logan International Airport in Boston, where the planes that hit the World Trade Center took off.

Tags: 9/11, law, courts

Are body piercings really worth it?

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:46:55 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Jokes aside, it's weird that nipple rings set off the alarm but belly-button piercings don't. It makes you wonder if male agents calibrate the machine.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Mandi Hamlin, at center with attorney Gloria Allred, demonstrates how she removed her nipple ring.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Mandi Hamlin said at a news conference. "My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way."

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

Tags: airlines, security

Dolphins use objects to impress females

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:48:23 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Just as men can use fast cars or showy clothes to impress the ladies, so too do male Amazon river dolphins show off stuff to woo the opposite sex.

Among these dolphins, the attention-getter is a male carrying a branch or similar flotsam in its mouth. Such "player" behavior is a first to be documented in aquatic mammals and, among land mammals, it has previously been seen only in chimpanzees and humans, researchers said.

The botos had often seemed to play with items such as sticks or lumps of hard clay, thrashing them against the surface of the water or tossing them with flicks of their heads.

One day scientists noticed that three botos that held objects in their mouths were all adult males. This prompted speculation that such behavior might not be play at all.

Martin and his colleagues found the overwhelming majority of those who carried items were adult males, which are larger and pinker than females.

Tags: science

Muslim scholar denounces public baptism

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:31:06 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: I'm still trying to figure out why it's okay for Western celebrities raised as Christians to publicly announce their conversions and name changes, but it's a crime for a Muslim celebrity to convert to Christianity in a public way.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A Muslim scholar involved in high-level dialogue with the Vatican has denounced the Pope's baptism on Saturday of a prominent Italian Muslim convert.

Aref Ali Nayed, the head of Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, called the baptism of journalist Magdi Allam a deliberate and provocative act.

The Pope traditionally baptises adult converts to Catholicism on Easter eve.

Mr Allam's invitation to the ceremony, which took place in St Peter's Basilica, was however kept secret by the Vatican, until just before the Easter vigil mass.

In a stinging rebuke of Saturday's televised ceremony, Mr Nayed denounced what he called "the Vatican's deliberate and provocative act of baptising Allam on such a special occasion and in such a spectacular way".

"It is sad that the intimate and personal act of a religious conversion is made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points," he said in a written statement.

Tags: religion, islam, conversion, christianity

Clipmarks | kelvin273's clips

Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites

12 Writing Tips From George Orwell

Astronauts can be crazy, too

Hyped up drug studies

Animals experience old age in captivity

Five Science Fiction Movies That Get the Science Right

The secret ingredient in absinthe: *lots* of alcohol

Dog whistle for teenagers

Evangelicals may go Democratic

Russian space shuttle clone retired

Where The Boys and Girls Are

WTC Developers suing airlines, airport

Are body piercings really worth it?

Dolphins use objects to impress females

Muslim scholar denounces public baptism

The secret ingredient in absinthe: lots of alcohol