Link Round-Up

[ewt]

Okay, the number of tabs I have open now is ridiculous, so here we go in a link round-up.

Wolf Auctions - backgroud is best quoted: "At the end of this month, I am donating everything in my Paypal account to Defenders of Wildlife in their efforts to preserve wolves in Idaho, where the gray wolf has recently been removed from the endangered list.

Far from being a victory, the delisting of the gray wolf means that the still-fragile population is now open to hunting.

Appallingly, the Idaho government has declared its willingness to eradicate up to 75% of the state's wolves, leaving only enough to keep the species off the endangered list. This could mean the slaughter of hundreds of wolves, with prices for hunting tags set as low as $26.50."


I especially like this. Pretty!

Many of you will already have heard of Colony Collapse Disorder affecting bees and therefore agriculture, but some of you won't. Will I be fertilising my own squash with a paintbrush this summer? Yup... whether I must or not, it's good to get the experience now.

Sugar batteries could power electronics - this sort of technology-imitates-nature stuff is really neat, I think. I wonder about the carbon impact but at this rate it's all comparing "plants making sun into power" to "electronic stuff doing the same".

Time in Daycare Linked to Behavioural Problems. Research not designed to determine causality.

No-friction bicycle dynamo light kit. Bah. This just makes me want a Strida.

Online Art Show 'Repurposed: Art from Recycled Materials' - I'm half-tempted to enter but I don't know that I could put something together in time. Certainly there's enough crap that washes up out of the Thames, and certainly I have lots of ideas. I'm no photographer though - in fact the only camera I have is in my phone. If any of you lot who can actually take decent pictures with decent cameras would be willing to get together and do something before about the 12th of April (I think I'm free on the 10th actually), let me know, and I'll request a prospectus.

The Sustainable London exhibition runs from 9th March to 28th April 2007. Who wants to come with?

Pre-fab bamboo homes - interesting. Pretty. I'm not convinced about their usefulness in Very Cold Places, though.

Pathologies of Hope - I sometimes think I'd like to print this out for the brainhacker. As with all things, mental attitude is a matter of balance.

Living with Hypermobility Syndrome - seems more like "Living with a medical profession that can't always help you." Even the osteopath, who has helped me so much, has to remind me sometimes that there is no guarantee I will ever be free of pain.

Big Pretty Bridge! Link from sinboy.

RepRap is a practical self-copying 3D printer. Open-source and should cost less than USD$400 to make. PRETTY!

Mechanics meets chemistry - I'm not sure I'd call it a 'new way of doing chemistry' but it is very pretty.

Online, phone therapise effective for treating depression. Go go gadget computer!

Tool silverware. How cool is that?

Doubt cast on definition of PTSD.

Solar-powered phone. I want one.

I'm considering getting hold of one of these utility belts for summer carrying-of-stuff - soon enough it will be too warm to use my jacket pockets as a hold-everything strategy, and my poor arms and shoulders are not so keen on backpacks right now. I've seen one of these in person - hazyjayne has one - and am impressed with the design in comparison to many other utility belts I've seen.

Regular Exercise Expands Brain Activity, Regulates Mental Health - yeah, we knew that, but we didn't know about the "actually creating new nerve cells" bit. Cool.

Subliminal Messages for Mac and PC - cute.

Climate change affecting maple syrup production. I'm not sure why the Independent seems to think Vermont is so very maple-y when Canajan maple syrup is clearly the bestest (*grin*) but of course the same thing will be happening elsewhere. I'd still like to try making birch syrup but it's too late this year I think. Also I have a distinct lack of birch trees in my garden.

Comments

[jaq.livejournal.com]

Someone who sometimes gets the same train home as me has a Strida.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I love that wolf box - I really can't afford it, but if I could then I so would! But I've just spent over £85 on a pushchair and there's other baby stuff to buy. :-/

There are a few other items I've stuck on my watchlist though. ;-)

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Well, she does commissions of the boxes, so it's worth contacting her another time when funds are more easily available to arrange a custom job...

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

That Strida thing looks way uncomfortable and probably unstable too. And a rubber 'chain'? Lots of frictional losses there...

As to the pathology of hope... Try reading some Peter Watts - that'll cure you :-)

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I've seen a Strida in person, though, and I like them better than any of the other folding bicycles I've tried, in terms of actually being able to fold the thing up and unfold it relatively quickly.

What exactly is the problem with the kevlar drive belt? It isn't as if it's a flat belt or anything.

Alas, I'll still have to be fitter before I can carry 10kg up or down a flight of stairs, but more stations are getting escalators and lifts.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

My sense of balance isn't great which is why I'm disinclined to go for small wheel machines. As to the drive train, even kevlar will stretch more than metal as it tensions and releases, which is where you get a lot of the extra losses. Metal chain transmission is just more efficient.

[crankles.livejournal.com]

I need to learn more about this hypermobility thing. I was told once that I have it, but I don't think this is true because it isn't generally a problem for me like it is for others.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Many people have hypermobile joints without having hypermobility syndrome - so you may well be hypermobile, without having any trouble at all.

Possibly this (http://www.hypermobility.org/diagnosis.php) will help to clarify. I have a Beighton Score of 7 (as well as several other hypermobile joints not measured under Beighton) and have been having joint pains since 2005, so I qualify under both major criteria, as well has having several of the minor criteria.

[crankles.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that helps. I think you're right and that I do have some hypermobility without having the syndrome, fortunately. It was only last year that it occurred to me that dislocating my shoulders at will wasn't something everyone can do, but it's certainly not painful or debilitating. I have one hip joint that sometimes won't go back into place right away, but that's about it. This syndrome sounds awful, really.

[sci.livejournal.com]

I'd certainly like to come along to the sustainable London show! I tried going to something similar last year, but they wouldn't let me in as it was a trade show. :(

[naath.livejournal.com]

EM dynamos might not have friction per-se but they *will* exert a force contrary to rotation - I presume they are better than normal rim dynamos because it would be very hard to be worse... but I'm not sure how they compare to a good hub dynamo.

Subliminal Messages - heh.

[vashti.livejournal.com]

Those "utility belts" ... I recognise those! They're bum bags! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bum_bag)

I thought they'd stopped making them. I tried to find one years ago, but in the end I settled for a blue denim mini-backpack from Matalan, with flowers embroidered up it. It's much more thief-proof than a bum bag, and is probably more comfortable to wear as well. I still use it all the time.

And what are the comments on that solar-powered phone talking about? The panels on my radio and battery charger are no bigger than that, and they work fine. But maybe that's because I'm sensible and, you know, keep them in a window.

"Pathologies" of Hope

[pungoose.livejournal.com]

The trick, as my teen hero Camus wrote, is to draw strength from the "refusal to hope, and the un­yielding evidence of a life without con­solation"

lalalalalalala I'm miserable, and you should be miserable too, or you'll have to be stupid, and if you're not miserable I'm going to compare you to George W. Bush, lalalalalala

sheesh, and people pay real money for this stuff? I particular like A fre­quently cited 1988 article arguing that positive illusions, such as unwarrant­edly high self-estimations, promote mental health has been disputed

Well, thanks! That was, like SO informative! Now I'm going to rewrite my review in a single sentence in the passive voice, with all details removed.

An occasionally cited 2007 article, arguing that hope is pathological, has been sarcastically dismissed by a large, lexically adept, waterbird

[liv]

Rather than opening dozens of tabs, would it work to keep a note of links you want to post when you have time? del.icio.us works quite well for that sort of thing, I find.