Obama makes the news

A link to all the inauguration front pages from newspapers around the globe.

Color of the Year

Pantone, the authority on all things pertaining to color, has selected the color of 2009. DIY and home improvers ready your paint brushes and behold PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa, "a cheery and deep yellow."
Not only does the color share the name of a bubbly and refreshing morning beverage, it is said to best embody optimism and hope in today's changing and challenging times. From the Pantone press release;

"The color yellow exemplifies the warmth and nurturing quality of the sun, properties we as humans are naturally drawn to for reassurance," explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. "Mimosa also speaks to enlightenment, as it is a hue that sparks imagination and innovation."

For the SAT friendly, Pantone is to artistic designers like Morton and Bassett is to professional chefs. They catalogue the best colors so designers can keep consistency within their designs. I'm really taken by the purity and clarity of Pantone colors and lust over their the markets at art stores. Here's a sampling.

The Big Picture

I've found myself back on the Boston Globe website time and time again checking out photo stories that run on this page called "The Big Picture." Most likely it's because they fit into my bite-sized news gathering routine (mostly done while at the office between emails), maybe some of it is my fascination with photograph and visual mediums, maybe its just the nerd in me. But I found myself there again today looking at a couple of features; one on the Sun, the other on the photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. I've seen Arthus-Bertrand's coffee table book before, but it's been a while and the photos remain breathtakingly interesting. Looks like he's added to his collection and will be opening an exhibit of 150 4'x6' prints in NYC. Us Californians will have to wait until 2010 when it comes here (probably in Santa Monica, they get all the good outdoor installations).

TED prize winner and photojournalist breaks global news story visually

James Nachtwey is a photojournalist who won a TED prize to help him demonstrate the power of visuals. The TED prize offers "one wish the change the world" and for James, that means

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

The TED site also teases

James Nachtwey is preparing to reveal his photographs, which highlight a shocking and underreported global crisis. Over the past 18 months, the TED community have been working with James to gain access to locations he wished to photograph, and to prepare spectacular plans for unveiling these pictures.

So they've created the above embeddable link and the news story will go live on Friday. Check back here then.

Bigfoot gets stabilized

We've all seen the notorious and grainy Bigfoot footage shot in the woods in Northern California. Well someone has stabilized the film into a gif and its pretty fun to watch. Just for kicks, I checked my skepticism and watched the footage objectively. After a close look, I'm convinced that it's a person, once you remove the shaking, Bigfoot has a pretty recognizable gate. I would think that even if a human lived in the woods his/her whole life, he/she would naturally develop a unique gait suited for the terrain. So for a cryptid (an animal unknown to science) to have such a human-looking gait, is pretty dubious.

But the history of the tape and the guys who filmed it is well documented, and pretty interesting. I had no idea there was such credence given to the tape. Check the story courtesy of Wikipedia.

From Boing Boing

Physics fun

The Large Hardon Collider (or LHC as the scientists call it) began tests this weekend in prep for a Sept. 10th lift off. This may not mean much to many people, but the conspiracy theorists are all over it. According to the best ones, the first collision will produce a mini-black whole and suck most of Europe into it (oh heavens!). But on top of that, its a pretty interesting step forward for the science community and will be very exciting for scientists to be able to study things that they haven't been able to see before, ever! There are some great stories at i09 and Popular Mechanics.

But today, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced that the LHC will go online on September 10. On that day, researchers will activate particle beams within the 17-mile-long ring, and the world’s most powerful—and most talked about—particle accelerator will begin collecting experimental data. The LHC’s research potential is staggering, with physicists hoping to use the accelerator’s extremely high-energy proton collisions to generate a range of theoretical particles. Some of those particles could help us to understand the nature of mass, including the as-yet-undetectable dark matter that accounts for so much of the universe’s mass. Other particles might prove the existence of extra dimensions, or lead to entirely new theories or physical laws.

See?! Told you it was exciting!

Earthquake

An earthquake rattled LA this morning. In my office on the 25th floor there was a large smash and then some serious swaying. It's pretty unsettling when you look out the window and see the earth moving from 300 feet up.

More from CNN,

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A magnitude-5.4 earthquake has struck just east of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Officials say there are no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 3 miles west-southwest of Chino Hills and 28 miles east-southeast of the Los Angeles Civic Center, which is in downtown Los Angeles, the USGS reports. The epicenter was about 8.5 miles deep. In general, earthquakes closer to the surface produce stronger shaking and can cause more damage than those farther underground. It was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego and across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. The quake struck at 11:42 a.m. (2:42 p.m. ET), according to the USGS. Kate Hutton, a staff seismologist at Caltech, said 11 aftershocks followed, with 3.8 being the largest and the only one felt, the Los Angeles Times reported.

No major aftershocks so far. Whew!

Jetpacks!

Dreams are coming true for thousands of scifi and geek grownups and kids this week. A totally amateur inventor from New Zealand has gone public with his personal jetpack. Plans are to demo it in more depth at an airshow in Wisconsin this week, but the NYT reports,

With the startling power of its twin rotors and its 200-horsepower engine behind my shoulder blades screaming like an army of leaf blowers, it felt almost as if I were doing the lifting myself, with muscles I did not know I had. It felt like living in the future — and, even better, the future we imagined back when it was something to be hoped for rather than feared.

Needless to say, that is awesome. The story continues,

The current iteration of the product, the 11th, weighs about 250 pounds and provides 600 pounds of thrust. It includes safety features like a so-called ballistic parachute with a small explosive charge for rapid deployment in case of an emergency, like those used in some small airplanes. The pedestal that forms the main support for the device has a shock absorber like a pogo stick to soften landings. The weight of the engines and body of the flier sits lower than the rotors to create a pendulum effect that discourages the contraption from tipping upside down and creating what might be called the lawn dart effect.

“People come up and go, ‘Is it safe?’ ” Mr. Martin said. “Safety is a relative thing. We think we have done a lot to make this by far the safest jetpack ever built.” But, he acknowledged, “It’s not a high bar.”

More, including video here.

Banksy uncovered

According to the Daily Mail reported by Time, they have uncovered the man behind the street personna Banksy. Read more here.

Undiscovered Tribe a Hoax?

I posted earlier about an undiscovered tribe of people in the Brazilian jungle. Turns out its not as impressive as it sounds. It might even be a hoax. More over at Boing Boing.

Ice? wOOt!

The Mars Rover discovered water ice on the surface of Mars. This is one of the biggest discoveries in the history of the space program I would have to imagine. Start here at the LAist for the story, including why I used wOOt in the title.

When do I get an apology? Highest disapproval rating ever!

When I make a mistake, I eventually swallow my pride and own up to it. When will myself and the other (more than) half of the country get an apology from all those people that voted for Bush, elected him, and even worse, voted for him again??

His approval ratings are now at an all time low according to polls, bottoming out at 24%. That is one point away from the all time lowest ever recorded low for Truman, but we've still got some time left. But, his disapproval rating have already shattered records, with an all time of recorded history high of 69%. Some of this is detailed in this Gallup video.

Question: who exactly are these 24% of the population that somehow haven't accepted the fact that Bush will almost undoubtedly go down as the worst American president ever? Maybe the top 1% that got their taxes reduced under, but everyone else? I suspect they are those people that haven't swallowed their pride, and admitted that they quite seriously screwed the pooch.

FYI. We won't hold it against you, if you won't do it again with McBush.

Undiscovered Tribes

News flash of the day - there are tribes of people living in the Brazilian and Peruvian jungle that are currently "undiscovered," i.e. that have not had contact with the outside world (presumably). National Geographic posted a story and the above image of what they believe was one of these tribes, shooting arrows at an airplane. Pretty strange situation. What surprised me the most was learning who usually finds these hidden communities. In my mind I've placed archaeologists at the far reaches of the globe, exploring, digging and studying ancient cultures and undiscovered lands (did I mention all of my friends went to see Indiana Jones this weekend?). Well, apparently I'm ignorant. Its not kind-hearted archaeologists that are finding these undiscovered tribes. It's oil company speculators. Not only oil company scientists, but logging companies and energy researchers. No wonder they paint themselves black and red and attack anything that is not a part of their tribe.

Another possible undiscovered tribe here.

David Blaine - Record set

Following up on the David Blaine post from last week. He successfully set the world record for breath holding (is that even the correct term?) on Oprah today. Good for him. The AP covered it simply and I pasted it below.

CHICAGO (AP) - David Blaine set a new world record Wednesday for breath-holding, 17 minutes and 4 seconds.
The feat was broadcast live during "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and the studio audience cheered as divers pulled the 35-year-old magician from a water-filled sphere.
Blaine looked relaxed afterward and said the record was "a lifelong dream."
The previous record was 16 minutes and 32 seconds, set Feb. 10 by Switzerland's Peter Colat, according to Guinness World Records.
Before he entered the sphere, Blaine inhaled pure oxygen through a mask to saturate his blood with oxygen and flush out carbon dioxide. Guinness says up to 30 minutes of so-called "oxygen hyperventilation" is allowed under its guidelines.
Previously, Blaine was buried alive for a week in a see-through coffin in New York and spent more than a month suspended from a glass box by the River Thames in London.

David Blaine is at it again

As all scientists and most rational humans already know, at some point, mammals evolved from fish. As a result, even after millions of years of evolution, humans still have a couple of reflexes in our bodies that are triggered by water. One in particular, called the mamallian diving reflex, springs into action as soon as your face is submerged under water. Instantly your body tightens the capillaries and slows the heart rate so you don't use as much oxygen. Free diving has really exploited this reflex and now, "magician" aka "endurance artist" David Blaine is going to try to set the world record for holding one's breath. Its currently at 16 minutes - with lungs full of pure oxygen. Im not all that excited about the feat, though it is cool, what im excited about is the NYT article that talks about the human body and how is deals with things like lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide build up. Read more at the NYT.

Urban Reefs

In case you didn't know. Sea Bass take the subway too. Today's New York Times reports on a 'hot trend' in ocean ecology of the coast of New Jersey.

One by one, a machine operator has been shoving hundreds of retired New York City subway cars off a barge, continuing the transformation of a barren stretch of ocean floor into a bountiful oasis, carpeted in sea grasses, walled thick with blue mussels and sponges, and teeming with black sea bass and tautog.
“They’re basically luxury condominiums for fish,” Jeff Tinsman, artificial reef program manager for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and environmental Control, said as one of 48 of the 19-ton retirees from New York City sank toward the 666 already on the ocean floor.

Mr. Tinsman particularly favors the newer subway cars with stainless steel on the outside to create reefs. “We call these the DeLoreans of the deep,” he said.

NTY video can be found here and still images here.

Averages

Ever wonder about the average American salary? If so, you are not alone. According to Yahoo, it's the most common search term when people are searching for the "average" something. The Yahoo story also lists the top 20 searches that include average in the search terms. It's a pretty interesting window into what comparisons people look to the Internet for. It seems oddly heavy on test scores and strange body measurements. Here's the top 10, the rest arent that interesting either.

1. Average American Salary
2. Average Credit Score
3. Average Weight by Height
4. Average Teacher Salary by State
5. Average SAT Scores
6. Average IQ
7. Average Cost of Dental Implants
8. Average Blood Pressure
9. Average Tattoo Prices
10. Average Cost of Braces

The other day a friend and I were trying to piece together the average salary for LA. I was going with something pretty low, around $45K, while she was maintaining that it was pushed a lot higher because of all the people making crazy money in entertainment. All I could find after a quick search was this site, which lists $40K as the average for LA and Long Beach but it doesn't have a date, so reliability is out the door (side note, anesthesiologists raked in a average of $208K at the time of this report. More than surgeons - who knew?).

Art and Architecture = Enternal Youth?

A story today marks one of those special occasions when the NYT profiles "different" people. In this case the subjects are two very out there artists, Arakawa and Gins, who recently completed their first house in the US - a crazy, fun house-looking structure they claim will increase your immune system and sustain longer life.

Then Ms. Gins, 66, began holding forth about the health benefits of the house, officially called Bioscleave House (Lifespan Extending Villa). Its architecture makes people use their bodies in unexpected ways to maintain equilibrium, and that, she said, will stimulate their immune systems.
“They ought to build hospitals like this,” she said.
A reporter, who thinks they should never, ever build hospitals like this, tried to go with the flow. Like the undulating floor, Arakawa and Gins, as they are known professionally, tend to throw people off balance.

...In 45 years of working together as artists, poets and architects, they have developed an arcane philosophy of life and art, a theory they call reversible destiny. Essentially, they have made it their mission — in treatises, paintings, books and now built projects like this one — to outlaw aging and its consequences.

... In addition to the floor, which threatens to send the un-sure-footed hurtling into the sunken kitchen at the center of the house, the design features walls painted, somewhat disorientingly, in about 40 colors; multiple levels meant to induce the sensation of being in two spaces at once; windows at varying heights; oddly angled light switches and outlets; and an open flow of traffic, unhindered by interior doors or their adjunct, privacy. All of it is meant to keep the occupants on guard. Comfort, the thinking goes, is a precursor to death; the house is meant to lead its users into a perpetually “tentative” relationship with their surroundings, and thereby keep them young.

The reporter starts skeptical, which in the face of the unbridled enthusiasm of Arakawa (called a 10-yr old trapped in a 60-yr old Japanese man's body) could make him seem curmudgeonly, but by the end you can tell that even he (along with the couple's numerous financial and artistic supporters) got caught up in the whirlwind of zest and passion. The full story can be found here and an audio slide show here.

thanks pops

Heat Map of Media Coverage

I found a Web site that tracks media coverage, monitoring the frequency with which certain outlets cover different nations. Its enlightening and shows you the international or national reporting levels. Maybe this means more to me because of my work, but think it holds value for everybody. Feel free to explore the link, its fascinating.

Hurling chicken shit

There are business security systems and there are BUSINESS SECURITY SYSTEMS. In England, a crazy businessman has constructed a 30-foot roman style catapult to hurl bucket loads of chicken manure at intruders. The news comes from Boing Boing and there are a number of gems in the story, from the signs around the property warning of protection by "smart poo" and "railway sleeper projectiles" to a cannon that the guy used to shoot his wife across the river. Its highly worth the quick read.