rebecca's pocket

» Japanese Color Names cheat sheet. (via br)  [ 07.01.09 ]

» What happens when you convince a 13-year-old to trade his iPod for a Walkman? Scorn (peers), nostalgia (adults), and of course, hilarity.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. [...] Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn't is "shuffle", where the player selects random tracks to play. Its a function that, on the face of it, the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured.

(thanks, jjg!)  [ 07.02.09 ]

» Butter King of Pop! So, so awesome. I have a real fondness for butter sculpture, having grown up with a yearly visit to the butter cow. I once saw a butter John Glenn, but this is way butter, er, better. (via mefi)  [ 07.02.09 ]

» So far up my alley: The Stag Cookbook: Written for men by men, collected and edited by C. Mac Sheridan in 1922 includes recipes from Warren G. Harding, Houdini, Charlie Chaplin, John Philips Sousa, Rube Goldberg, Douglas Fairbanks, and Dr. Kellogg himself. If you want to examine implicit and explicit gender stereotypes for any given era, this genre is a terrific - and entertaining - starting point. (via rc3)  [ 07.03.09 ]

» This week's update includes the Newsweek top 50/100, an MBA reading list, video game fiction, disabled sleuths, 125 great Southern books, the Ultimate Teen Bookshelf, Best Beachbag Books, and great American biographies
For Adults:
Newsweek: What to Read Now
Newsweek: Top 100 Books: The Meta-List
NPR 3 Books: Red, White And True: The Great American Biography
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Five new baseball books capture the rhythms of the game, Ron Antonucci
Times Online: Val McDermid reviews the latest thrillers
Business Week: Getting In Summer 2009 Books: MBA Reading List
Wired to Care: A Dozen Books to Help You Reinvent Your Business This Summer
Santa Barbara Independent: S.B. Writers Share Their Top Summer Reading Picks
Examiner: A genealogist's reading list
Agee Film: 125 Great Southern Books
Crime Fiction Book List: Disabled isn't Unable: This crime fiction book list includes books and series featuring a character whose physical, emotional or mental limitations figure in the plot or character development of the stories or series
The Catholic Summer Reading Program
The Modesto Bee: Summer Reading: Mystery, action, romance await
MPN.com: Your summer reading list
The Greenwood Commonwealth: Three books for summer reading list
The Buffalo News Opinion: Natural history books make great summer reading
Kotaku's 2009 Summer Reading List great work of video game fiction: titles that excel at adding depth to the games they are inspired by, as well as a few that have inspired games on their own
The Capitol Fashionista: The 13 Fashion Books That You Should Have In Your Fashionista Library
An und für sich: Liberation theology reading list a list intended to gives students whole books instead of scattered essays; and not be suicide-inducing in the context of one quarter
The Satellite Sisters: The Best Beachbag Books
Going Green - A Resource for Today's Green Business: Summer's Here; Time to Get Started on Your Summer Reading List and General Reading List
Trent Hamm: My Summer Reading List for 2009
Roy Christopher: Summer Reading List book recommendations from RC, Richard Metzger, Cynthia Connolly, Steven Shaviro, Gareth Branwyn, Peter Lunenfeld, Gary Baddeley, Dave Allen, Patrick Barber, David Silver and Josh Gunn
Outside my Kitchen Window: Summer Reading List Christian Reading For Moms, Christian Reading For Women, General Christian Reading, and Just for Fun

Children and Young Adults:
Young Adults Library Services Association: Ultimate Teen Bookshelf
Tween Whisperer: Summer Reading for Tweens
Junior Fiction/YA Books
University of Maryland: Summer Reading List for Kids - Time to "Go Green!"
NYT: The Best Kids' Books Ever, Nicholas D. Kristof, plus his kids' and readers' suggestions

Bonus: 2009 Southern Reading Challenge

» Fascinating: The Puzzle of Spaces That Soothe, a review of Healing Spaces by Esther M. Sternberg MD.

It is sobering to consider that among all the great minds who have explored these phenomena, Walt Disney was probably the most successful at the large-scale manipulation of the environment to soothe and cheer the brain. Even the scary rides at Disneyland -- Dr. Sternberg deconstructs the Pirates of the Caribbean ride from a scientist's perspective -- are carefully designed to click the brain's switches in all the right directions.

And so a new nursing home has a Disneyesque Main Street to calm the deteriorating neurons of its residents. Then it is only a small neurologic step to Lourdes in France, home of miracle cures, where a host of environmental cues may switch suitably prepared brains to a state of rapture, releasing a flood of potent neurochemical mediators that may well relieve suffering.

(via mamr)  [ 07.08.09 ]

» I leapt on the new craze for pickling and preserving. Is it a money saver in a busted economy -- or a luxury craft?  [ 07.09.09 ]

» Non-toxic cleaning recipes and a Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit [pdf]. Note that washing soda, while apparently non-toxic, is caustic. Wear gloves and keep away from your eyes! ((via lh)  [ 07.10.09 ]

» This week's update includes Richard and Judy's Summer picks, the best books about music, comics for kids, 50 best summer reads of all time, and a Robert McNamara & Vietnam reading list
For Adults:
Richard and Judy's 2009 Summer Reading Recommendations
LA Times: 60 New Books to Read This Summer
Guardian.co.uk: Text on the beach - the 50 best summer reads ever
Education Week: An educator's reading list
U. Maryland Smith School of Business's Top 10 Summer Reading List for 2009
Gaper's Block: A Reading List Between Sets: A Guide to the Best Books About Music to Read This Summer Building a Theological Library: Simplicity - A Reading List business titles
HuffPo: Robert McNamara and Vietnam: A Basic Reading List
NRO: Beach-Bag Books
Greg Mankiw's Blog: Summer Reading List suggestions from an economics professor
The InsideCatholic Summer Reading List 2009
America the National Catholic Weekly Summer Reading

Children and Young Adults:
School Library Journal: Comics That Celebrate America's Cultural Diversity
 [ 07.13.09 ]

» Seven Design Factors for Wellness Programs. From the linked paper:

In his 2005 article, "Change or Die," Alan Deutschman reports that, at that time, $1.8 trillion dollars was consumed by the US health care industry, accounting for 15% of the gross national product. According to Dr. Raphael Levey, the founder of the Global Medical Forum, it has been known for at least fifty years that 80% of the country's health care budget is spent on health problems that result from five key behaviors - smoking, drinking, eating, stress, and insufficient exercise.

[...] Guiding my research was this underlying research question: which factors, individual and organizational, lead to successful health behavior change?

 [ 07.14.09 ]

» If you're like me, no matter how affected you were by his passing, you're sick to death of the seemingly endless Michael Jackson coverage. But please trust me when I ask you to watch this video. It reflects many of the things my husband and I have been talking about since Michael died, but takes all of it much deeper, and brings it to a satisfying and, for me, very moving conclusion. In response to Jay Smooth, I wish the 48-year-old Michael could have seen that.

As a side note for you aspiring webcasters, this is a wonderful example of video essay/storytelling. (via waxy)  [ 07.15.09 ]

» The Mother House of the Sisters of St. Joseph, which serves as a retirement, assisted living, and nursing home for its elderly and infirm sisters, may be a model for a fruitful old age, and - most importantly - a better way to die. "Through a combination of philosophy and happenstance, 'they have better deaths than any I've ever seen.'" - Dr. Robert C. McCann, a geriatrician at the University of Rochester.

"There is a time to die and a way to do that with reverence," said Sister Mary Lou, 56, a former nurse. "Hospitals should not be meccas for dying. Dying belongs at home, in the community. We built this place with that in mind."

Even absent the religious belief, this seems to me like an ideal way to live out the end of one's life.  [ 07.16.09 ]

» The Truelove, David Whyte  [ 07.16.09 ]

» A Little Weekend Reading:

Point: The Cato Institute, Thinking Clearly about Economic Inequality by Will Wilkinson

The unequal political voice of the poor can be addressed only through policies that actually work to fight poverty and improve education. Income inequality is a dangerous distraction from the real problems: poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and systemic injustice.

Counterpoint: The Economist, How does inequality matter?

Mr Wilkinson makes some good points. [...] He's correct that excessive concern with inequality-as-measured-by-national statistics leads to poor judgments on matters like immigration, which is one of the great mechanisms for reducing inequality available.

But there are shortcomings in the piece.

(via rte)  [ 07.17.09 ]

» Want to keep your wallet? Carry a baby picture. (via mr)  [ 07.17.09 ]

» Paul Krugman on the meaning of Goldman Sachs' success in the context of the bailout.

The American economy remains in dire straits, with one worker in six unemployed or underemployed. Yet Goldman Sachs just reported record quarterly profits - and it's preparing to hand out huge bonuses, comparable to what it was paying before the crisis. What does this contrast tell us?

» This week's update includes recommendations for thoughtful Mormons and atheists, job hunting, cool hunting, and award winners from science to fantasy.
For Adults:
Christian Science Monitor: Summer reading list
Guardian.co.uk: Jeffery Deaver's top 10 computer novels EM Forster to William Gibson
Mail Online: The ultimate holiday reading list
NPR: Three Books: Radio Reads: Books Capture The Essence Of The Dial
Businessweek: Innovation Summer Reading List
LA Times: 61 essential postmodern reads: an annotated list
Library Journal.com: 35 Going on 13: Fantasy Land recommendations for lovers of fantastic or speculative fiction
Toronto Sun: Savoury summer reading Summer 2009 cookbooks
60 Years of the National Book Awards: 77 Fiction Winners
Great Lakes Book Awards: 2009 finalists honoring books with a Great Lakes theme or setting or written by an author living in the region
Royal Society Prize: Science Books shortlist
2009 Locus Award Winners science fiction and fantasy
2008 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners (announced July 12, 2009) for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic
Amazon: Best Books of 2009...so far
Beach reading for Tory bookworms Conservative MP Keith Simpson's holiday reading list for his Tory colleagues
Seattle Library Readers share their suggestions for Summer Reading
GoodReads: 2009 Summer Reading List as voted by members
About.com: Books for Your Job Search Summer Reading List
Kevin Stilley: Eight Summer Reading "Mini" Book Reviews
Cool Hunting Summer 2009 Reading List
Sitz im Leben: Historical Jesus Reading List
Mormon Times: A summer reading list for the thoughtful Mormon reader
77 Favourite Atheist Reads

Children and Young Adults:
Seattle Public Library: More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Picture Books
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Book series, classics top youngsters' summer reading lists
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Summer reading for young adults
Celsias: Summer Reading List for Eco-Kids

Bonus Link: NPR's 100 Best Beach Books Ever - Top 200 Finalists
 [ 07.20.09 ]

» A new study shows that primates literally thirst for knowledge - if that knowledge tells them how much water they are about to get. If the brain releases dopamine when it anticipates gaining information, that lends support to the idea of Internet addiction, doesn't it? (via @monstro)  [ 07.21.09 ]

» Not to be outdone by the Butter King of Pop, the West End Whingers have created an All-Veg Michael Jackson.  [ 07.22.09 ]

» NYTimes: 101 Simple Salads for the Season. Some of these sound incredible. Now if only it would get warm enough for me to want something light and cool for dinner.  [ 07.23.09 ]

» Here's a smart article about organizational use of Facebook. Its focus is on non-profits, but any business would benefit from following these principles.  [ 07.24.09 ]

» This week's update includes recommendations for outdooorsmen, science buffs, romance readers, lots of lists for children, the best genre writer you've never heard of, and Issac Newton's real-life stint as a private investigator.
For Adults:
NPR: Stranger Than Fiction: Summer Science Books including Newton and the Counterfeiter
Warwick Beacon: GreenSource: Summer Reading recommendations for gardeners
Rome News Tribune: Hot Summer Reads
GoUpstate.com: Summer reading for the outdoorsman
City University: Investigative Journalism Reading List
Israel Policy Forum: Summer Reading on the Peace Process
The RITA awards Annual romance awards
Library Journal: Summer Reading - Historic Romances - Five summer sizzlers
2009 Mythopoeic Award Winners outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas
American Bookseller's Association: The Indie Travel Literature Bestseller List
Reader's Advisor: Perspective Flip - Classics from Another Point of View
Kenneth C. Davis: Slavery, Abolition, Rebellion: A Reading List
JP Morgan: The 10th Annual Summer Reading List
PETA: The Essential Vegetarian Reading List

Children and Young Adults:
Seattle Public Library: More Summer Staff Favorites for Children: Fantasy Chapter Books
Dragonfly Book Reviews: Reading Challenge and Reading List
Texas Library Association: 2X2 Reading Lists Age 2 to Grade 2
Texas Library Association: Texas Bluebonnet Award (Grades 3 - 6) 2009-2010 Master List and previous master lists
Texas Library Association: Tayshas High School Reading Lists
Massachusetts Children's Book Award: 2009-2010 list

Bonus: NY Times Magazine: The Genre Artist "Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don't get the credit they deserve. If 'The Last Castle' or 'The Dragon Masters' had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he's Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there's this insurmountable barrier." - Michael Chabon  [ 07.27.09 ]

» You may have read about the Associated Press's campaign to license their headlines.

"If someone can build multibillion-dollar businesses out of keywords, we can build multihundred-million businesses out of headlines, and we're going to do that," Mr. Curley said. The goal, he said, was not to have less use of the news articles, but to be paid for any use.

As usual, Scott Rosenberg has smart things to say on the subject, and he points to an illuminating piece by Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab, which features an interview with The New York Times Co.'s general counsel, Ken Richieri, by UCLA law professor Doug Lichtman.

This is a completely misguided and self-immolating idea, in my opinion. Remember the NY Times paywall fiasco? If the AP requires me to pay to use a headline or pull-quote from one of their stories, I (and many other bloggers) will just seek out other versions of the news stories I want to feature - or feature other stories altogether. And if Google decides to simply eliminate all AP content from their feeds, the Associated Press will simply become invisible - and therefore irrelevant - to wide swaths of their potential readers.  [ 07.28.09 ]

» Howard Rheingold has written a terrific primer on evaluating Internet information, Crap Detection 101, which contains quite a number of resources I'd never heard of - for example, the Dispute Finder. It's required reading for anyone who uses the Web, or even email.  [ 07.29.09 ]

» David Pogue: Take Back the Beep.

In 2007, I spoke at an international cellular conference in Italy. The big buzzword was ARPU - Average Revenue Per User. The seminars all had titles like, "Maximizing ARPU In a Digital Age." And yes, several attendees (cell executives) admitted to me, point-blank, that the voicemail instructions exist primarily to make you use up airtime, thereby maximizing ARPU.

It's time to demand that cellcos offer the option of omitting the 15 second "voicemail instructions" from cell phone messages. In the meantime, you can take control of your own phone by following these instructions.  [ 07.30.09 ]

» Alaina points to One Page Cookbooks - one-sheet formulas for (mostly Indian) foods, with the promise "Learn one recipe, cook 1000". There's lots here to explore, from chaats, and Bengali curries, and Kitchen Virgin Survival Manuals (Indian recipes anyone can cook up on the very first try), to Jambalayas and Fresh Pastas. You can also follow the author on Twitter to regularly receive his Twecipies.  [ 07.31.09 ]