Eric's Archived Thoughts: Glasshouse: There have been concerns raised about the impending crowdsourced panopticon that Google Glass represents. I share those concerns [...] And yet. You think that you'll remember all those precious milestones, that there is no way on Earth you could ever forget your child's first word, or the first time they took their first steps, or the time they suddenly put on an impromptu comedy show that had you on the floor laughing. But you do forget. Time piles up and you forget most of everything that ever happened to you. A few shining moments stay preserved, and the rest fade into the indistinct fog of your former existence.
BBC History - The WWII interrogator who used kindness over violence: The prisoners never generally recalled discussing anything of any military significance but all the time Scharff was actually conducting a casual but systematic interrogation, harvesting useful intelligence information. [...] he subsequently claimed that by befriending a POW he could obtain information from 90% of all prisoners. It was a bold claim but Scharff was a good interrogator - he was very, very good.
Two enemies discover a 'higher call' in battle - CNN.com:
Five days before Christmas 1943, a helpless American bomber pilot locked eyes with a German fighter pilot over the frozen skies of Europe. The German pilot spared the life of the American, and both men would reunite and become friends 50 years later. Franz Stigler and Charles Brown started the war as enemies, but during a tense wartime encounter, both men discovered a higher call.
How I Stopped Eating Food : Mostly Harmless: I hypothesized that the body doesn't need food itself, merely the chemicals and elements it contains. So, I resolved to embark on an experiment. What if I consumed only the raw ingredients the body uses for energy? Would I be healthier or do we need all the other stuff that's in traditional food? If it does work, what would it feel like to have a perfectly balanced diet? I just want to be in good health and spend as little time and money on food as possible. I haven't eaten a bite of food in 30 days, and it's changed my life.
Kelefa Sanneh: Reinventing a Great Scotch Distillery : The New Yorker: Reynier devised a modest plan to save his favorite spirit: he would buy the distillery. Every year, he wrote to the parent company, and every year he was told that it wasn't for sale. In 1994, the distillery was shut down - the industry term is "mothballed" - but the answer didn't change until 2000. By then, Bruichladdich belonged to Jim Beam Brands, which was willing to violate the Scottish taboo against inviting outsiders into the whisky business. Reynier put together fifty investors, who paid six and a half million pounds for a remote distillery that was almost defunct. On December 19, 2000, Reynier became the chief executive officer. A long but fantastic tale about my current favourite distillery.
Iceland tests find meat pies contain no meat at all - World - CBC News: When officials in Iceland began hearing about horsemeat being secreted into beef products around Europe, they decided to run tests to ensure the same thing wasn't happening in Iceland. Icelandic meat inspector Kjartan Hreinsson says his team didn't find any horsemeat, but one brand of locally produced beef pie left it stumped: it contained no meat at all. (next we can watch as Pie Face sue the fuck out of them for using a photo of their product with a miniscule disclaimer that it's not their pies being discussed...)
What Coke Contains | Medium: The number of individuals who know how to make a can of Coke is zero. The number of individual nations that could produce a can of Coke is zero.
How to remember someone's name | Dadhacker: 1. Ask for their name.
2. Use the person's name a couple of times as you converse.
3. Repeat their name under your breath when you part.
4. When you meet the person again, simply say "I'm sorry, I've utterly forgotten your name."
Repeat about eight times.
Jen Cloher: Why we need a triple j for adults: Radio is about music and people don't stop loving music after they turn 25. If our only music dedicated national network is triple j and their charter is to serve an audience between the ages of 17-24, what are the alternatives?
Coalition confirms it will demolish the NBN | Senator Stephen Conroy | Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy: Minister for Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, said today's Dissenting Report of the Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network confirms that the Coalition will demolish the NBN if elected. ... "Only Labor will build the NBN." Coalition and Labor actually having a properly different policy... crazy times. We need the NBN. Our connectivity is not sufficient for our geography.
