June 2007
19 posts
nugget o' history: Mark Twain torched Lake Tahoe?
The wildfire raging up near Lake Tahoe reminded us of our dear old cousin Mark. Mark Twain, that is, and what we remembered was his own brush with accidental arson up Tahoe way. It’s a little-known fact, if “fact” be something that can safely ascribed to Twain’s baroquely embellished reminiscences of his years out West, that he was solely responsible for a horrendous...
A Guide to Escaping Materialism and Finding...
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. - George Burns
Every Thursday is Happiness Day on Zen Habits.
Money can’t buy you love. It can’t buy you happiness either.
Today’s materialistic world often urges us to buy the coolest gadgets, the trendiest clothes, bigger and better things, but research shows that possessions and purchases don’t buy us happiness....
Pile High Club: passengers on "poop plane" are...
Xeni Jardin:
Earlier this month, 168 people boarded Continental flight 71 from Amsterdam to Newark. An 8-hour flight, usually. But this time, the passengers arrived 32 hours later, after horrific toilet malfunctions on the flight led to “poop running down the aisles,” according to witnesses.
I mentioned the incident in a short link roundup yesterday, and a number of BoingBoing...
WatchThe 3d real/Virtual world hybrid: How far away?
How long will it be until we can stroll through the streets in a virtual world that is identical to our own? Given the state of a number of technologies, not very long. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen Microsoft Street Side and Virtual Earth as well as similar efforts from Google. But different technologies are now being deployed that are even more interesting that the results achieved...
Microsoft Live Takes New York 3D via TechCrunch by Duncan Riley on May 29, 2007 Microsoft has announced the launch of new functionality for Microsoft Live Search Maps; three-dimensional, photo-realistic maps covering New York City and 8 other locations in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. The 3D service provides a unique look at each city, that combined with Microsoft’s location...
SFist Photo: Presidio Terrace, S.F.’s Gated Community via SFist by Jim on Jun 06, 2007 On patrol - a security agent stands guard to protect the short circular street called Presidio Terrace from whatever criminal element that might spring forth from the Presidio Heights neighborhood. It might look like a public street but it’s not, so the people that live on this small loop...
Google Maps zoom: here’s the device and vehicle behind it via Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin on May 31, 2007 Xeni Jardin: A new street-level zoom feature on Google Maps debuted recently, to much freakout and fanfare (previous BB posts: 1, 2). The company One company performing some of the drive-by surveillance and image capture services for Google is Immersive Media, and here’s a...
Google Maps: Avoid a parking ticket with Google Maps’ Street View via Lifehacker on Jun 14, 2007 Reader Timothy writes in: While dozing off the other night I suddenly feared that I had parked my car in a 6AM street sweeping zone. Not wanting to get out of bed at the time (nor at 6 the next morning), I grabbed my MacBook, headed to Google Maps and placed the little guy on the block...
Memory Map via Brain Health by Michael Scanlon on Jun 23, 2007 Guest author Elizabeth Buchen is a neuroscientist and science writer, and a member of the Lumos Labs science advisory board. Below she describes new research examining how the brain stores a spatial map of the local environment, and how this map might be updated by new information. Visit Madam Fathom to read more about the...
Day Around The Bay via SFist by rita on Jun 23, 2007 —Hey! Did you ever do coke with Gavin? [Fog City Journal.] —Chris Daly explains himself. [SFGov.org.] —What’s fun doing for Pride Weekend? [SFPartyParty, Bay Area Reporter, SF Weekly’s All Shook Down.] —They busted JT Leroy. [Chron, via the AP.] —No more bottled water for the City and...
Read a book and pass it on
I am a voracious reader. Since I was four, I’ve read at least a book a week. Most weeks, the number is around two or three. Digital subscription services, like Audible.com, have made my reading obsession less of a clutter problem than it used to be. But, I would be lying if I said that book clutter isn’t still a stumbling block in my home. To put this into perspective, I brought nine new books...
WatchJohn Stewart in 1991
Topping off the first of two at One Rincon
1:34 AM (1 hour ago)Taking in the Views from One Rincon Hillfrom Telstar Logistics by Telstar Logistics One Rincon Hill is a 62 story high-rise apartment building under construction in San Francisco on a parcel of land adjacent to the western terminus of the Bay Bridge and Interstate 80. Designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz and Associates, One Rincon...
Man kills attacking bobcat
David Pescovitz:
Dale Rippy, 62, killed a rabid bobcat with his bare hands when it attacked him on his porch in Wesley Chapel, Florida. The Vietnam vet was later treated for bites, scratches, and exposure to rabies. From Associated Press:
Dale Rippy endured the (25 pound) bobcat’s slashes and bites until it clawed into a position where he could grab it by the throat. Then he strangled it.
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