Machismo wankers on rampage in Mexico

The knuckle-draggers among our species continue to disappoint. Emo kids in Mexico are being set upon by testo dickheads.

"Most of all, however, the assailants target the emos for dressing effeminately, still a provocative act for many in a macho Mexico. "At the core of this is the homophobic issue. The other arguments are just window dressing for that," said Victor Mendoza, a youth worker in Mexico City. "This is not a battle between music styles at all. It is the conservative side of Mexican society fighting against something different."

This is just so freaking insane.

Time article here

Also on Wired.

Short vid of the emo scene in Mexico.

Roundup of picks

I've been rather hopeless with posting in here. Hope to remedy that soon with a roundup of favourite picks from March. In the meantime, my feeds (located in the column to the right under 'Scoots' shared items') are more frequently updated.

Hero news! Dean Kamen and his amazing water distiller

Gimme Gimme! This is just what I need for living in Shanghai!!



If you have trouble viewing the vid, try Gizmodo or Comedy Central.

More about Dean Kamen and DEKA R&D.

Strangers in Strange Lands

It was most fitting that Shaun Tan's magical book, The Arrival, was the first thing I pulled out of my boxes once they arrived in Shanghai.

My comfortable reality in Melbourne was certainly challenged after I packed up my life and headed to Shanghai. 'Strangers in Strange Lands' is an apt summary of my experience.

Best if I just lead you to Shaun Tan's words to describe this most amazing work of art, and one of my favourite books in life to date. Bonus that he is such a wonderful guy.

"...Beyond any personal issues, though, I think that the ‘problem’ of belonging is perhaps more of a basic existential question that everybody deals with from time to time, if not on a regular basis. It especially rises to the surface when things ‘go wrong’ with our usual lives, when something challenges our comfortable reality or defies our expectations – which is typically the moment when a good story begins, so good fuel for fiction. We often find ourselves in new realities – a new school, job, relationship or country, any of which demand some reinvention of ‘belonging’...

This was uppermost in my mind during the long period of work on The Arrival, a book which deals with the theme of migrant experience. Given my preoccupation with ‘strangers in strange lands’, this was an obvious subject to tackle, a story about somebody leaving their home to find a new life in an unseen country, where even the most basic details of ordinary life are strange, confronting or confusing – not to mention beyond the grasp of language. It’s a scenario I had been thinking about for a number of years before it crystallised into some kind of narrative form...."

More here (click on The Arrival - and be sure to have a look at Tan's other gems)

China Shenanigans

BRB

Will be back posting soon. Been busy with relocation issues. Should be all settled within the week.

Ciao fer now!

FreeRice.com

Feed people while increasing your vocab with this highly addictive time-waster 8)

Freerice.com

Gimme Bookshelf!! The Cave!

Omagawd! GIMME GIMME!

"There are times that we wish we could have a little more privacy, retreating into our own space of quietness. Adults crave this just as much as children. With Cave, we are given the opportunity to embrace our escape. Created as a bookshelf with its own Cave inside, allowing the user to retreat with a good book, or just sit and relax in their space. The Cave bookshelf is large enough to be used as a divider between rooms creating a wall of separation of my space and yours. Available in two sizes: Children and Adult. Books may be stored on both sides of the bookcase with a cave crawlspace in between."

Courtesy of Yanko.

Designer Sakura Adachi

Gimme gadget: Bookmark light!

Still in concept stage although it appears that the jigger might hit the shelves sooner rather than later *rubbing hands together gleefully*

"FOLEDs or flexible organic light emitting diodes provide bright illumination with very little power. MARK uses a sheet of thin plastic embedded with FOLEDs to achieve a glowing effect. The intensity of the light can be controlled and the best part is if you fall asleep, you’re bookmark is already where you left off. Although just a concept, MARK won the Red Dot Award for best design concept in 2007 so something like it will be in stores soon."

More info here.

Chuckler: Getting Fired At Yahoo - A Twitter Log

...

Ugh. I have a 1GB flash drive and 2GB files to back up. That is teh suck. about 7 hours ago

Heading into my HR meeting. The room is called Lucy. Cute, eh? about 7 hours ago

Finishing meeting with HR. Need to go clear out desk now. about 6 hours ago

Dammit. I was hoping to hook up the free Flickr Pro account before I got canned. Major fail. about 6 hours ago

Dear Blackberry, What great times we had. I'll miss you. At least until tonight when I stop on my way home and buy an iPhone. Love, Me about 4 hours ago

Oh...and my badge. He's going to take that too. Will I be able to get a latte for the road still? about 4 hours ago

More here 8)

BibliOdyssey: Amazing Archival Images from the Internet

"With just a few select books to date, the British publisher (and design company) Fuel has already made a splash with its beautifully produced books on such ephemeral or popular arts as tattooing (Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia Volumes I and II), soccer programs (Match Day) and improvised domestic implements (Home-Made). Fuel's latest publication extends this visual anthropology to the Internet, specifically the blog BibliOdyssey.

Across the world, libraries and institutions are only recently starting to make their collections available online, and the bulk of this amazing material goes unnoted by the casual surfer. BibliOdyssey's mission over the past two years has been to diligently trawl the dustier corners of the Internet and retrieve these materials for our attention.

Thanks to the daily efforts of this singular blog, a myriad of long-forgotten imagery has now re-surfaced, from eighteenth-century anatomical and architectural drawing to occult and alchemical engravings and proto-Surrealist depictions of the horrors of industrialization (for example, the half-plant, half-people illustrations of J.J. Grandville). Each of the images is accompanied by commentary from "PK," author and curator of the BibliOdyssey blog. The book also provides details for each image and links to the source website. With a foreword by artist Dinos Chapman, BibliOdyssey is a true cabinet of curiosities and a journey in discovery and delight."

Amazon.

Courtesy of BoingBoing.

Hair test cuts breast cancer errors

Detecting breast cancer from changes in the structure of hair could cut down false alarms from mammograms.

The test bombards strands of hair with X-rays from a synchrotron particle accelerator. In hair from healthy people, the pattern produced by the X-rays is a series of arcs, while in people with breast cancer a distinctive ring is superimposed on top of the arcs.

Details here (subscription).

Alternative source.

Bedroom in a box!

Having moved 8 times in as many years, I'm fast developing a love affair with Casulo. That said, I'm not particularly into the minimalist/zen home thing (Yes, yes, Scooterboy, I hear you shouting about how you're all about the zen).

Gimme teepee!

This is just too cool! The perfect addition to the backyard - a great nook for house guests, much comfier 'doghouse' for in-trouble-spouses/partners, quiet-place for misbehaving toddlers, somewhere to stash said misbehaving toddler when it grows into angry an teen...

Yanko

Gimme gadget: Super mug

Can't wait for this concept design to appear in my hands! Morning tea and my widgets and feeds on my mug - shweet!

Yanko

Pencil bench

heh heh

Shelfari!!

Current fave playground online. Shelfari just rocks! gush gush gush... I could go on but just head over to my shelves over here for a look-see.

and it has embedding goodness! Check out my bookshelf blog.

and and and it tracks Amazon Associate IDs - cha ching!

and you are also able to link your account to the Shelfari Facebook app (although the app is currently slightly geborken - my settings are set to show books that I'm currently reading but the shelf remains stuck on 'all books'. At least the rest of the app works fine).

*doing the good-geekin dance*

Chinese New Year 2008 in Shanghai

Fireworks shenanigans on day 3 of CNY. Day 1 was even nuttier.

To get a better sense of what it's like on the ground, turn up the volume!



If you have trouble viewing the video, click here instead.

More fireworks shenanigans (up close)

More fireworks but if you scroll up to 53 seconds or so, you will see exactly how close to apartment/office buildings the fireworks are lit.

When I returned home from dinner on day 1, some joker was lighting HUGE fireworks in the driveway to the apartment building. We just had to wait until he had his fun in order to get through.



If you have trouble viewing the video, click here instead.

Gimme Gadget!! PENGASM!

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen *rubbing hands together gleefully*

Check out this super nifty jigger!



If you have trouble viewing the video here, click through to Demo.com