SOUR / MIRROR North Brother Island: Abandoned New York leper colony Snowbound: The window has fallen out of the wall in this science classroom in the school (left) while tiles cling to a long-abandoned bathtub (right), one of two in the western wing of the tuberculosis pavilion Misplaced: The altarpiece from the chapel was moved to a maintenance building before the island was abandoned where it still sits on a table Mary Mallon (above, right) was the most infamous patient at North Brother Island where she spent nearly three decades of her life. Despite being healthy, she was a carrier of the typhoid virus – and is believed to have been responsible for 43 infections and three deaths. ‘Typhoid’ Mary, an Irish immigrant who emigrated to the U.S. in 1884, worked as a cook from 1900 to 1907. She was first identified as a carrier by medical researcher George Soper, who concluded she was responsible for a spate of infections linked to where she lived and worked. But she refused to listen to him. It was soon a home to six lepers.
Why Do the Japanese Draw Themselves as White? by Guest Blogger Julian Abagond, Aug 30, 2010, at 10:01 am Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white? You see that especially in manga and anime. As it turns out, that is an American opinion, not a Japanese one. If I draw a stick figure, most Americans will assume that it is a white man. The Other has to be marked. Americans apply this thinking to Japanese drawings. You see the same thing in America: After all, why do people think Marge Simpson is white? When you think about it there is nothing particularly white about how anime characters look: huge round eyes – no one looks like that, not even white people (even though that style of drawing eyes does go back to Betty Boop).yellow hair – but they also have blue hair and green hair and all the rest. Besides, that is not how the Japanese draw white or even Chinese people. Gone are the big round eyes and the strange hair colours. Some Americans, even some scholars, will argue against this view of anime.
Sorry about that! Canada reverses metered Internet decision Oops! Terrified by a critical mass of enraged broadband consumers, Canada's government is telling its telecom regulator to rescind its approval of metered or "usage based" billing, or else. Industry Minister Tony Clement is now insisting that Canada's Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has to undo the ruling. Most Canadian newspapers are getting the same message from the top. The CRTC "should be under no illusion—the Prime Minister and Minister of Industry will reverse this decision unless the CRTC does it itself," a member of Canada's conservative government told the Toronto Star on Wednesday. "Frankly, a decision like this is clearly not in the best interest of consumers," the unnamed senior official added. Back to the drawing board The CRTC approved usage-based billing late last year, allowing Bell Canada to charge smaller competitive ISPs by the gigabyte, a move which made it hard for those ISPs to offer flat-rate service any longer.
vj.tv | vjs, visuals, mash-ups, and more… Jake Reilly's 'Amish Project:' 90 Days Without a Cell Phone, Email and Social Media Could you live without daily electronic conveniences—Twitter, Facebook, email, texting and more—for 90 days? Jake P. Reilly, a 24-year-old copywriting student at the Chicago Portfolio School, did just that. From October to December, he unplugged from social media, email, texts, and cell phones because he felt that we spend more quality time with gadgets and keyboards than we do with the people we really care about. During his social experiment, he found that some people he counted among his close friends really weren't that close after all. I spoke with Reilly over the phone this weekend about his 90-day project, what he learned from living without electronic leashes and how it changed his life. You say you spent three months completely cut-off from the virtual world. Reilly: I called Verizon and suspended service for my cell phone. Did you ever cheat and check to see what messages came in? Reilly: I never went back on any of the social stuff. Reilly: It was pretty bad. Reilly: Ha!
When Wikileaks “Scoops” NARA on Their Own Publicly Available Documents, It’s Time for Agencies to Fully Embrace Effectively Digitizing All-Things FOIA On Monday, Wikileaks “released” the “Kissinger Cables,” (also called the Public Library of US Diplomacy or PlusD) a fascinating collection of 1.7 million U.S. diplomatic correspondences from the mid-1970s. The cables are easily sifted through thanks to the sleek, high-powered search function Wikileaks built for their “release,” making the collection all the more appealing to document hounds. As a result, documents that would likely have fallen through the cracks if not for the interest generated by all-things Wikileaks are receiving much deserved attention and are producing some very important revelations. The only problem is, Wikileaks didn’t “release” the cables. They were released electronically by the National Archives and Records Administration in 2006. A side-by-side image of the NARA and Wikileaks search functions. Like this: Like Loading...
Wikileaks' Julian Assange 'would be denied justice' 7 February 2011Last updated at 12:32 ET Julian Assange: "A black box applied to my life with the word rape on it is now being opened" There is a risk of "denial of justice" if Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is tried for rape in Sweden, his lawyer has told a UK extradition hearing. Geoffrey Robertson QC also said his client could face the death penalty if then sent to the US on charges relating to the whistleblowing website. But prosecutors rejected suggestions the Swedish legal system did not have safeguards against such a "violation". Mr Assange, 39, denies claims of sexual assault against two women. At Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in London, Mr Assange's lawyers accused the prosecutor in Sweden attempting to extradite Mr Assange of having a "biased view" against men. They said he was "willing and able" to co-operate with Swedish authorities, so no arrest warrant was needed. 'Trial by media' In a document released by Mr Assange's defence team, his lawyers argued: Analysis
Download Bergensbanen in HD Friday November 27th, over 1,2 million Norwegians watched parts of «Bergensbanen» on NRK2. The longest documentary ever? At least the longest we have made, almost 7 1/2 hours, showing every minute of the scenic train ride between Bergen on the Norwegian west coast, crossing the mountains to the capital of Oslo. Bergensbanen is 100 years in 2009, and the documentary was a wild idea from NRK staff that came through, and was, surprisingly, a big success. On Twitter, this became the thing to talk about in Norway. Over 1 000 tweets with #bergensbanen were posted, and even more when we ran the program again two days later. Norwegian version – see «Bergensbanen – klar for avgang» Now we want to give the material to our viewers, the whole thing, for download. Bittorrent The original file was 165 GB, too much for most people to download. Download the torrentfile here. Update: The original HD-file is now out We have published a HUGE 246 GB file. Creative Commons You are free to… Commercial use Summary
waldosia The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for. The author's mission is to capture the aches, demons, vibes, joys and urges that roam the wilderness of the psychological interior. Each sorrow is bagged, tagged and tranquilized, then released gently back into the subconscious. ▸ visit the facebook page to hear the backstory behind each word ▸ follow on twitter (@obscuresorrows) for whatever reason ▸ send me a tumblr message describing emotions you need words for ▸ send me an email via obscuresorrows@gmail.com JOHN KOENIG is a designer and commercial director who lives in St. He is currently writing a book version of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Copyright © 2013 John Koenig.
What is a company? The ethics, feelings and character of your company 18 October '11, 01:46pm Follow What is a company? Is it the people who work there? Is it the brand? Could it be the customers? And once you’ve answered that question; where lies your loyalty? The older I get the more I get the impression that a company is a lot more than a fiscal entity. So what is the purpose of a company? As our company grows I struggle with these questions. You can’t focus on just the shareholders, or the customers, or the employees. What is your relationship with your company? Photo credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki via Shutterstock