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The automated features in Google News can be handy, but sometimes misleading, as the amusing screenshot above indicates. Link via DoublePlusUndead
Here’s a cool auditory illusion that may or may not cause you to question your sanity. According to Wikipedia:
A Shepard tone, named after Roger Shepard, is a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the base pitch of the tone moving upwards or downwards, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually ascends or descends in pitch, yet which ultimately seems to get no higher or lower.
The way to really get the experience is to play it again, again, again, and again. And it’ll just seem like the sound keeps getting higher in pitch and tone. Best way to keep the illusion from breaking is to keep your mouse button on the very beginning of the YouTube play bar and when the video reaches the end click and you’ll be able to continue listening. [via - Boing Boing]
Julie of wine me, dine me blog, was miffed when she read a local article that virtually ignored female bloggers. When her male friend asked her "does that really matter?" she replied:
Yes, it does. Women’s voices are often ignored (as this article details), and we really aren’t taken as seriously. Though there are tons of successful female food bloggers (Accidental Hedonist, I’m looking at you), it’s still a bit of a boys’ club. (Source)
Though I can honestly say that the issue of gender has never reared its ugly head when I pick posts for Neatorama, apparently a lot of women bloggers feel they aren’t taken seriously. To wit, this post by Megan Carpentier of Glamocracy, a blog of Glamour magazine:
For political bloggers who happen to be women, such as myself, my colleagues here at Glamocracy and elsewhere, the blogosphere can seem like a very testosterone-filled place. Sure, you’ve got Arianna Huffington and Patricia Murphy of Citizen Jane Politics. But the list of other must-read blogs is dominated by dudes: Andrew Sullivan, Markos Moulitsas (of the Daily Kos), Mike Krempasky (of Redstate.com) and of course Matt Drudge. (Also, why do so many of their names start with "M"? I’ve got that part down!) A museum exhibit dedicated to blogging here in D.C. (I know) has a small display referring to former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox, but the room is dominated by several TV screens featuring male blogger-pundits like Matthew Yglesias and Ezra Klein. So, why do the boys of the political blogosphere command so much attention? (Source)
Even the New York Times, in its first coverage of the BlogHer convention, put it as such:
A study conducted by BlogHer and Compass Partners last year found that 36 million women participate in the blogosphere each week, and 15 million of them have their own blogs. (BlogHer, which was founded by Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins, has itself grown into a mini empire that includes a Web site that helps publicize women’s blogs, and an advertising network to help women generate revenue for the site.)
Yet, when Techcult, a technology Web site, recently listed its top 100 Web celebrities, only 11 of them were women. Last year, Forbes.com ran
a similar list, naming four women on its list of 25.“It’s disheartening and frustrating,” said Allison Blass, a BlogHer attendee whose personal blog at www.lemonade-life.com is about living with Type 1 diabetes.
At the seminar “How to Take Names and Be Taken Seriously as a Political Blogger,” many women said that their male colleagues and major media groups tended to ignore them, and to link to them less often (unless they are Arianna Huffington). They pointed to the Netroots Nation gathering (formerly known as Yearly Kos) for politically progressive bloggers, occurring that same weekend in Austin, Tex. (Source | Photo by Jessica Brandi Lifland/NY Times)
(Note: the article was written by a woman, Kara Jesella – which garnered an interesting retort by Rebecca Traister of the Broadsheet blog over at Salon.com)
As a counterpoint, Drew Vogel of Relentless Self-Promotion blog wrote:
My short answer to the question of if female bloggers are taken seriously is the same answer to the question of if male bloggers are taken seriously: No. Bloggers are not taken seriously solely as a function of gender. If the content is good and should be taken seriously, then they are — and should be — taken seriously as bloggers. Regardless of gender. [...]
The broader question — are bloggers taken seriously? — is a salient one even removing the gender issue. As a blogger of more than 12 years (and sysop of The Cafe’ BBS for years before that), I believe that bloggers are not taken as seriously as “traditional” journalists. And, in my opinion as a long-time blogger, that’s okay. I take my blogging seriously, but do not think that I am doing anything more than sharing my opinion with those who care to read it. (Source)
What do you think? Do women get shortchanged when it comes to blogging? Does gender matter in the blogosphere?
This wall-climbing sofa by Lila Jang is the perfect for that odd corner of the house where no other furniture fits 
It’s part of the 2007 contemporary art exhibition Parcours Saint Germain in Paris – via basic_sounds
Photos: Saunders Architecture
You’re looking at the Aurland Lookout in Norway – this amazing structure was designed by Todd Saunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen of Saunders Architecture, and is part of Norway’s effort to get rid of stupid tourists by telling them it’s a giant slide, … er, promote tourism: Link – via svet koji se menja
So, how do they avoid people accidentally falling off the lookout? There’s a glass fence:
This has got to be one of the strangest monument ever: a sculpture of a Martian invader (a Tripod, actually) in Working Woking, England (H.G. Well’s hometown and the area in which the Martian first arrived in his novel War of the Worlds.
Deputy Dog has some awesome pics: Link
Photo: TzeKing [Flickr]
Photo: Jill Greenberg
To advertise its Shark Week, the Discovery Channel commissioned Stefan Paulos to create this awesome Shark Pedicab! Just wait till you see the bill for the ride …
The Big Picture blog by Alan Taylor at Boston.com has an excellent gallery of (huge!) photographs from the (4-hour long!) opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
This one to the left is taken by Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images.
There may be no such things as vampires, but there are vampire bats. And they’re deadly:
At least 38 Warao Indians have died in remote villages in Venezuela, and medical experts suspect an outbreak of rabies spread by bites from vampire bats. [...]
Outbreaks of rabies spread by vampire bats are a problem in various tropical areas of South America, including Brazil and Peru, Rupprecht said.
He said researchers suspect that in some cases environmental degradation — including mining, logging or dam construction projects — may also be contributing to rabies outbreaks.
"Vampire bats are very adaptable," Rupprecht said. And when their roosts are disrupted or their normal prey grow scarce, "Homo sapiens is a pretty easy meal."
Link – via Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine
Black and white footage of a New York City cable access TV show called “TV Party” featuring the singing pastry-chef has appeared on YouTube and I find it to be electrifying – a great example of what a remarkable performer Klaus Nomi was.
Update: Here’s a link to a great trailer for The Nomi Song.
