http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron therourke@gmail.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street A trap street is a fictitious entry in the form of a misrepresented street on a map, often outside the area the map nominally covers, for the purpose of "trapping" potential copyright violators of the map, who will be unable to justify the inclusion of the "trap street" on their map. On maps that are not of streets, other "copyright trap" features (such as non-existent towns or mountains with the wrong elevations) may be inserted or altered for the same purpose.[1] Trap streets are often nonexistent streets; but sometimes, rather than actually depicting a street where none exists, a map… ]]> Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:10:08 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Contagion Sacred contagion is the belief that spiritual properties within an object, place, or person may be passed to another object, place, or person, usually by direct contact or physical proximity. While the concept of sacred contagion has existed in numerous cultures since before recorded history, the term "sacred contagion" originated with French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who introduced it in his book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

An example of sacred contagion is chapters 11 through 15 in the Book of Leviticus found in the Bible and Torah. Leviticus specifies which animals are considered spiritually clean and… ]]> Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:08:43 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Contagion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinamen Clinamen is the Latin name Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus.
According to Lucretius, the unpredictable swerve occurs "at no fixed place or time":
When atoms move straight down through the void by their own weight, they deflect a bit in space at a quite uncertain time and in uncertain places, just enough that you could say that their motion has changed. But if they were not in the habit of swerving, they would all fall straight down through the depths of the void, like drops of rain, and no… ]]> Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:15:14 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinamen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risks_to_civilization,_humans_and_planet_Earth Risks to civilization, humans, and planet Earth are existential risks that could threaten humankind as a whole, have adverse consequences for the course of human civilization, or even cause the end of planet Earth.[1] The concept is expressed in various phrases such as "End of the World", "Doomsday", "Ragnarök", "Judgment Day", "Armageddon", "the Apocalypse", "Yawm al-Qiyāmah" and others.
[edit]Types of risks

Various risks exist for humanity, but not all are equal. Risks can be roughly categorized into six types based on the scope (personal, regional, global) and the intensity (endurable or terminal). The following chart provides… ]]> Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:00:14 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risks_to_civilization,_humans_and_planet_Earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_in_the_Revival_of_Organisms Experiments in the Revival of Organisms is a 1940 motion picture which documents Soviet research into the resuscitation of clinically dead organisms. It is available from the Prelinger Archives, and it is in the public domain. The British scientist J. B. S. Haldane appears in the film's introduction and narrates the film, which contains Russian text with English applied next to, or over the top of, the Russian. The operations are credited to Doctor Sergei S. Bryukhonenko. ]]> Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:12:52 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_in_the_Revival_of_Organisms http://gli.tc/h/wiki/index.php/Main_Page This is the research wiki-webring for Glitch and other glitch/noise related content GLI.TC/H is an international gathering of noise & new media practitioners in Chicago & Amsterdam from September 29 thru October 03, 2010! GLI.TC/H is a physical and virtual assembly of artists, hackers, moshers, dirty mediators, noise makers, circuit benders, p/h/i/l/o/s/o/p/h/e/r/s, and those who find wonder in that which others call broken.
GLI.TC/H seeks: Realtime + time-based performances (audio/video), utilizing broken/bent technologies/strategies. Workshops, sharing knowledge of hardware/software hacking, cracking, breaking, kludging, piracy, & tool building. Artworks and Projects, artware, videos, games, films, tapes, code, interventions, screen-captures, systems, websites… ]]> Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:59:07 -0700 http://gli.tc/h/wiki/index.php/Main_Page http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/wikipedia-and-the-death-of-the-expert It's high time people stopped kvetching about Wikipedia, which has long been the best encyclopedia available in English, and started figuring out what it portends instead. For one thing, Wikipedia is forcing us to confront the paradox inherent in the idea of learners as "doers, not recipients." If learners are indeed doers and not recipients, from whom are they learning? From one another, it appears; same as it ever was.

It's been over five years since the landmark study in Nature that showed "few differences in accuracy" between Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica. Though the honchos at… ]]> Mon, 30 May 2011 02:04:41 -0700 http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/wikipedia-and-the-death-of-the-expert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats Alien space bats (ASBs) is a neologism for plot devices used in alternate history to create a point of divergence that would otherwise be implausible. [edit]Definition "Alien space bats" originally was used as a sarcastic attack on poorly written alternate histories due to lack of plausibility. These attacks are usually phrased as the need for alien space bats or by saying the alternate history has gone into "ASB territory". This original definition was used by one critic to criticize Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes trilogy.[1] The term eventually evolved into a deus ex machina to create an impossible point of… ]]> Tue, 03 May 2011 15:13:35 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats Alien space bats (ASBs) is a neologism for plot devices used in alternate history to create a point of divergence that would otherwise be implausible.
[edit]Definition

"Alien space bats" originally was used as a sarcastic attack on poorly written alternate histories due to lack of plausibility. These attacks are usually phrased as the need for alien space bats or by saying the alternate history has gone into "ASB territory". This original definition was used by one critic to criticize Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes trilogy.[1] The term eventually evolved into a deus ex machina to create… ]]> Tue, 03 May 2011 12:27:43 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller%27s_Smoke_and_Mirrors#Desert_Bus Desert Bus is the best known trick minigame in the package, and was a featured part of Electronic Gaming Monthly's preview. The objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45mph. The feat requires 8 hours of continuous play to complete, since the game cannot be paused.

The bus contains no passengers, contains little scenery (an occasional rock or stop sign will appear at the side of the road), and there is no traffic. The road between Tucson and Las Vegas… ]]> Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:02:18 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller%27s_Smoke_and_Mirrors#Desert_Bus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_(literary_journal) Tired of the spectacle of short stories, novels, poems and plays still under the hegemony of the banal word, monotonous syntax, static psychology, descriptive naturalism, and desirous of crystallizing a viewpoint… Narrative is not mere anecdote, but the projection of a metamorphosis of reality ]]> Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:09:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_(literary_journal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia In psychology and psychiatry, anhedonia (< Greek ἀν- an-, "without" + ἡδονή hēdonē, "pleasure") is an inability to experience pleasurable emotions from normally pleasurable life events such as eating, exercise, social interaction or sexual activities.

Anhedonia is seen in the mood disorders, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizoid personality disorder and other mental disorders. ]]> Mon, 27 Sep 2010 02:47:11 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars Occasionally, even experienced Wikipedians lose their heads and devote every waking moment to edit warring over the most trivial thing. This page documents our lamest examples. It isn't comprehensive or authoritative, but it serves as a showcase of situations where people lose sight of the big picture and obsessively expend huge amounts of energy fighting over something that, in the end, isn't really so important.

Back in the good old days, people would just get out their swords and guns and fight a duel; nowadays physical combat has been replaced by careful inciting of personal attacks, strategic… ]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:46:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulate_(song)#Synopsis On a cool, clear night (typical to Southern California) Warren G travels through his neighborhood, searching for women with whom he might initiate sexual intercourse. He has chosen to engage in this pursuit alone.

Nate Dogg, having just arrived in Long Beach, seeks Warren. On his way to find Warren, Nate passes a car full of women who are excited to see him. Regardless, he insists to the women that there is no cause for excitement.

Warren makes a left turn at 21st Street and Lewis Ave, in the East Hill/Salt Lake neighborhood[6], where… ]]> Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:34:03 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulate_(song)#Synopsis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing Thing may refer to:

In philosophy:

* An object (philosophy), being, or entity
* Thing-in-itself (or noumenon), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant

In history:

* Thing (assembly), also transliterated as ting or þing, a historical Germanic governing assembly
* Thing (listening device), a Soviet bug used during the Cold War for eavesdropping on the ambassador to the Soviet Union

In fiction:

* Thing (comics), a superhero in the Marvel Universe and member of the… ]]> Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:30:32 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_%28mind_game%29 There are three rules to The Game:

1. Everyone in the world is playing The Game. (Sometimes narrowed to: "Everybody in the world who knows about The Game is playing The Game",[4] or alternatively, "You are always playing The Game.")
2. Whenever one thinks about The Game, one loses.
3. Losses must be announced to at least one person[6] (either by using a statement such as "I lost The Game" or by alternative means). ]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:11:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_%28mind_game%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message, a form of security through obscurity. The word steganography is of Greek origin and means "concealed writing" from the Greek words steganos (στεγανός) meaning "covered or protected", and graphein (γράφειν) meaning "to write". The first recorded use of the term was in 1499 by Johannes Trithemius in his Steganographia, a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on magic. Generally, messages will appear to be something else: images,… ]]> Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:50:03 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other The Other or constitutive other (also referred to as othering) is a key concept in continental philosophy, opposed to the Same. It refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is 'other' than the concept being considered. The term often means a person other than oneself, and is often capitalised. The Other is singled out as different. ]]> Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:48:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect In physics, the Coriolis effect is an apparent deflection of moving objects when they are viewed from a rotating reference frame. For example, consider two children on opposite sides of a spinning roundabout (carousel), who are throwing a ball to each other. From the children's point of view, the ball's path is curved sideways by the Coriolis effect. From the thrower's perspective, the deflection is to the right with anticlockwise carousel rotation (viewed from above). Deflection is to the left with clockwise rotation. Newton's laws of motion govern the motion of an object in an inertial frame of reference. When… ]]> Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:57:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult A cargo cult is a type of religious practice that may appear in traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults are focused on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture through magical thinking and religious rituals and practices, believing that the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors. Cargo cults developed primarily in remote parts of New Guinea and other Melanesian and Micronesian societies in the southwest Pacific Ocean, beginning with the first significant arrivals of Westerners in the 19th century. Similar behaviors have, however, also appeared… ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:51:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult