Not signed in (Sign In)

WorldWeird: NEWSTRANGE -- the Informus Thread (Jan 2nd - Jan 30th)

Bottom of Page

21 to 40 of 101

  1. <
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. >
  1.  (10426.1)
    One of my greatest aims is to make Whitechapel a nexus for Desirable Information.

    Memes, virals, that which makes you laugh, that which makes your bowels weep; anything found or scavenged online which has no informative value: that stuff will continue to go in “Around The Net.” I’ll be updating that once every four weeks too.

    This…? This is for everything else.

    News Stories. Mad Science. Horrific Nature. Metaphysical madness.

    Here is where we gorge ourselves on the creamy clostrum of Information. Here is where we nuzzle at the red-raw teat of the Up-To-Date Dataweb. Bring me the light of your Weird Wisdom and your New News.

    (Anything of particular interest, go ahead and create new threads in this category to delve deeper.)
  2.  (10426.2)
    Religious Sex-Toy Sites Vow to Save Marriages

    Enter the religious sex-toy industry, which carefully markets and sells a range of sexual-pleasure products to the faithful. With the voice and disposition of a summer-camp director, Joy Wilson founded Book 22 a decade ago, when she had trouble “getting her body to respond” to her husband after their second child, and her online search for remedies yielded scandalous imagery that offended more than it helped. The pioneering site, named after the Biblical book also known as the Song of Solomon, now faces growing competition from rival vendors including Hooking Up Holy, Intimacy of Eden, and Covenant Spice.
    •  
      CommentAuthorVornaskotti
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2012 edited
     (10426.3)
    Sex and advertising: Retail therapy

    This was a big idea. Dichter understood that every product has an image, even a “soul”, and is bought not merely for the purpose it serves but for the values it seems to embody. Our possessions are extensions of our own personalities, which serve as a “kind of mirror which reflects our own image”. Dichter’s message to advertisers was: figure out the personality of a product, and you will understand how to market it. Soaps could be old or young, flirty or conservative. Ivory, Dichter inferred, had a “sombre, utilitarian, thoroughly cleansing character”. It was the mother-daughter of soaps, whereas a brand like Camay was a seductress. Such insights led to the slogans “Be smart and get a fresh start with Ivory Soap” and “Wash your troubles away”.
  4.  (10426.4)
    •  
      CommentAuthorBeamish
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2012
     (10426.5)
    ^droid people can scan for ciq with Voodoo CIQ scanner. Free in the app store.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAlan Tyson
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2012 edited
     (10426.6)
    Well, this is fun.

    Bank screened applicants for signs of psychopahty - then hired the psychopaths.

    He then makes an astonishing confession: "At one major investment bank for which I worked, we used psychometric testing to recruit social psychopaths because their characteristics exactly suited them to senior corporate finance roles."
  7.  (10426.7)
    Prof. Hare's book, Snakes in Suits, is pretty terrifying. I read it during the Bush administration and tried really hard not to leap up screaming "That's IT! THAT's the diagnosis!" Rich Boy Syndrome is astonishingly similar to psychopathy.
    •  
      CommentAuthorcelan
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2012 edited
     (10426.8)
    Alien world discovered in Antarctic deep-sea vents

    I like the sound of "Yeti Crab":
    The yeti crabs seem to cultivate "gardens" of bacteria on their chests, which are covered with hairy tendrils. These bacterial mats almost certainly provides the crabs with sustenance, Rogers said. In turn, predatory seven-armed sea stars stalk the periphery of the vents, snacking on unfortunate crabs.


    Oh and this:
    •  
      CommentAuthorcelan
    • CommentTimeJan 3rd 2012
     (10426.9)
    •  
      CommentAuthorDraug
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2012 edited
     (10426.10)
    The Church of Kopimism is recognized by the state of Sweden

    For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organisation and its members.

    Being recognized by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of kopimi. Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution, says Isak Gerson, spiritual leader of the Church of Kopimism.


    The missionary church of kopimism
    •  
      CommentAuthorD.J.
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2012
     (10426.11)
    • CommentAuthorKradlum
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2012
     (10426.12)
    The Church of Kopimism is recognized by the state of Sweden


    If the typos on their website are anything to go by, after a few iterations of copying the religion will degenerate into meaningless mysticism and ritual.
    •  
      CommentAuthorcelan
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2012
     (10426.13)
  14.  (10426.14)
    @Kradium"

    If the typos on their website are anything to go by, after a few iterations of copying the religion will degenerate into meaningless mysticism and ritual.


    All religions do. They may go a bit faster.

    So as not to be content-free... here's 2 good pieces about the limits of knowledge:

    Trials and Errors: Why Science Is Failing Us

    The Mystery of Expertise
  15.  (10426.15)
    What I find hilarious is that the Yeti crab is also calle "The Hoff" XD
  16.  (10426.16)
    #Grim Meathook future

    In factories where products are mass-produced, it's extremely important to know how long the human workers take to perform certain tasks. This not only allows the pace of the assembly line to be set, but it also allows factory owners to identify time-wasting problems such as superfluous movements, overly frequent tool changes, or impractically-located components. Typically, workers are periodically timed by a stopwatch-wielding supervisor, or using a timer that they start and stop themselves. A new wearable time-keeping system, however, promises more accurate readings.

    According to Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation, there are at least two main drawbacks to existing time-keeping methods. For one thing, workers tend to be nervous when being monitored by someone else, and will work faster than normal, possibly also making more mistakes. Additionally, a supervisor timing their employees is being taken away from other duties, decreasing efficiency.



    Yeah I'm sure there's no fucking way Foxconn and other operators of high-tech sweatshops will abuse this.
    • CommentAuthorDC
    • CommentTimeJan 5th 2012 edited
     (10426.17)
    It's an cool invention to apply in cinema studios.Instead of using those dumb motion capture suits with balls of different colors, this system makes cameras redundant making animation/3D movies cheaper to do.
    On the other hand, I can already see ways for abuse: Extreme micromanagement of movements where workers are paid not by units produced or work hours but by the total amount of time or number of productive micro movements; exclusion of people with mild tics considered to be unproductive; etc.

    Btw, the original link is here.
  18.  (10426.18)
    (Insert Thomas Dolby Here*)

    Breakthrough cloaking device creates a hole in light and time




    *Paul Sizer might be a viable temporary substitute.
  19.  (10426.19)
    A car reported stolen last month in the Adelaide Hills is believed to have rolled into the garage of a nearby home, parking itself perfectly.

    Runaway car parks in neighbour's garage
    •  
      CommentAuthorD.J.
    • CommentTimeJan 5th 2012
     (10426.20)

21 to 40 of 101

  1. <
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. >