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katlalog

060128 14:26 Culture

When my ex (brit) and i (german) moved to Germany in 2002 he found it annoying that "Germans stare". They do. More than any other culture i've encountered so far Germans really fix you with their eyes and don't turn away or at least smile when they are caught. In spite of the fact that i am German 12 years in England have had the effect that even i find the german stares uncomfortable and intruding. Here's a whole article about Stealing glances, making eye contact with strangers. (via spaceandculture.org)

But for those of us who are not suffering from the blasé attitude, who are very conscious of the reality of the people we encounter, why do we look away embarrassed or scared, rather than gently, politely, in good conscience? Perhaps in every glance there is desire expressed. I don’t mean sexual desire — though sometimes there’s that — as much as the sort Constant Nieuwenheuys described when he wrote, in 1949, "When we say desire in the twentieth century, we mean the unknown, for all we know of the realm of our desires is that it continuously reverts to one immeasurable desire for freedom."

It's curiosity and i actually think it's good. If the Germans smiled more often when caught, i wouldn't mind their stares so much. I'd actually prefer them to the British didn't look! didn't touch your life!. Why not be honest about one's curiosity. As long as you're friendly. I find our present day bubble existence (which is a largely urban phenomenon) pretty sad. Unhealthy for the human psyche.

When we look and look away, we reveal what we want — communion, citizenry — and what we lack — communion, citizenry. It is not unreasonable to think the health of a culture can be judged by how many seemingly inconsequential encounters and experiences are shared among its citizens.

060128 13:34 Environment, health

Suntan lotion, with its sex-changing properties, has made its way into our foodchain. (via Warren Ellis) It's a bloody vicious circle. We've destroyed the environment, so we need more UV protection, which in turn is destroying the environment even more.

In the UK, research sponsored by the UK Environment Agency in 2002 on the feminising of fish in British waters attributed the gender changes to oestrogen in urine from users of the contraceptive pill. However, the University of California researchers said the only factor they identified was oxybenzone, which is used to protect the skin from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Although similar to oestrogen, oxybenzone is washed off tanned bodies in the shower or bath. It then passes through sewage works and settles on the seabed where fish come and feed.

Further down in this article is another interesting piece of information:

Cosmetic manufacturers have refuted this, claiming that sun protection lotions save lives and that "sunscreen phobia" could lead to more cases of cancer.

Concerns also remain about the universal use of sunscreens. When we shield ourselves from sunlight, our bodies produce less vitamin D, which protects us against as many as 16 different cancers.

060123 11:52 Health

Bubblegum cigarettes for kids found in a bakery shop in Germany.

I just love the retro look and the names (bubbler, astronaut). Prima means super / great. 'Mit zaubertrick' means 'with magic trick' and refers to instructions to a magic trick printed on the inside of the pack, in case kids need more incentives for buying them - apart from being able to look cool and adult.

060120 14:15 Internet, media

First Monday weighs in on the 'are webloggers journalists' debate:

[The] findings support Chaffee and Metzger’s (2001) prediction that "the key problem for agenda-setting theory will change from what issues the media tell people to think about to what issues people tell the media they want to think about" [...]

In 2002, when technology issues dominated web logs, deviation from the media agenda made sense. As the attention of bloggers shifted to political issues, one might expect that they would focus on issues foregrounded by traditional media. Clearly, this was not the case in 2003. Bloggers continued to be more concerned with invasions of civil liberties, they drew attention to the breakdown in relations between the US and Europe, and they pointed to stories about anti-war activity. Articles about the Bush administration tended to be negative, while analytical pieces about the war were more critical than supportive of the war effort.

It is intriguing to note that these themes have become more pronounced in media coverage during the past several months, even before the Abu Grahib scandal. It is possible that trends in the blogosphere were an early indicator of eroding support for the war in Iraq. This idea is not as far-fetched as it might seem. We have seen other instances in which web logs anticipate the media and public agendas (Regan, 2003), and some members of the intelligence community now scan web logs for insight into emerging trends (Tsuroka, 2004).

060120 12:08 Web development

Joe Clark is having trouble. No, CSS is not easy.

...you just can’t trust specificity these days and you have to declare every last thing...

060120 11:47 Web development

One of web designers' favorite topics examined in light of WACG 2.0: The Accessibility Hat Trick: Getting Abbreviations Right. With acronym deprecated and abbr not supported by IE6, what is a web designer to do? The article offers a solution and work-around.

060120 00:11 Comics

Warren Ellis interview. He didn't make it all up.

M: What are some of your life experiences (or those of friends) that have made it into your work?

W: Too many. I try to cloak them, and usually people assume I made them up. I once saw someone try to bang heroin through a tear duct. An old girlfriend was sexually abused by her brother and given a teddy bear after each time – that was in TRANSMET. Killed himself when she was 15. You can find a lot of things like that in my work. I had some hard years, and a lot of people I knew had harder, and it can't help but come out in the work because I try to talk about life as it's lived. I want to show the exposed bone of the world, because that's where a lot of people are.

060118 17:31 Psychology

Woah! That can't be good.

Suppose you could erase bad memories from your mind. Suppose, as in a recent movie, your brain could be wiped clean of sad and traumatic thoughts.

That is science fiction. But real-world scientists are working on the next best thing. They have been testing a pill that, when given after a traumatic event like rape, may make the resulting memories less painful and intense. [...]

Scientists think it happens because the brain goes haywire during and right after a strongly emotional event, pouring out stress hormones that help store these memories in a different way than normal ones are preserved.

Taking a drug to tamp down these chemicals might blunt memory formation...

Even if the memories are bad, aren't they part of who we are? Maybe bad memories are as essential for our mental balance as good ones are, just like the occasional fever is actually good for the body. Extreme trauma cases - ok. But the potential for misuse is staggering. Also, do we really want soldiers to forget about the horrors of war? Individually yes, of course, but not collectively. Nothing would stop us then.

Reminds me of Michael Marshall Smith's One of us.

060118 16:57 Geeks

Argh! Another it's hip to be a geek article. But the writer confuses learning how to use your mobile phone - an everyday object for anyone these days - with actually being into technology. Here a slightly sexist example:

To illustrate his point, Governor recalls a recent conversation involving his wife and some of her friends — mostly women who would probably describe themselves as non-techies. One of the women pulled out a new Windows Mobile smartphone while protesting that she wasn't "a geek". Governor then politely enquired whether she had her email sychronised to the device — she did. This then initiated a conversation about mobile phone design — the last thing the technical analyst was expecting given the company. "You expect to have that kind of conversation with guys, but not with women," Governor says.

060108 21:16 Comics

Either Mr. Branson likes comics or he's taking them more seriously than others.

060105 12:06 Privacy

Better clean up that Amazon wishlist. Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon Wishlists.

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