In the 90's I would have been a slacker, now I'm just a loser.

From now on all my posts will originate from there. I've migrated pretty much all my blogspot stuff over to there, more or less. So, for the foreseeable future I will no longer be making new posts on thebigfatloser.blogspot.com. Here's where else you can find me:

My Site that has my very own name on it.

Deviant Art where I upload stuff I draw and paint and stuff. Needs updating badly.

Twitter where I mostly post about food I'm eating or why Doctor Who is cool.

Etsy where you can buy things from me. Do it.

Last FM where you can see that I listen to like four bands over and over again.

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2011-04-05T11:50:00.001-07:00

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Roastbusters! Firefighters of the future to zap flames with electric charge? | Blog | Futurismic

Posted: 04 Apr 2011 09:13 PM PDT

Roastbusters! Firefighters of the future to zap flames with electric charge?
Paul Raven @ 31-03-2011

I try to avoid doing the old "hey, look at this cool tech idea ...

Roastbusters! Firefighters of the future to zap flames with electric charge? | Blog | Futurismic

2011-04-04T21:13:00.001-07:00

Roastbusters! Firefighters of the future to zap flames with electric charge?

Paul Raven @ 31-03-2011

I try to avoid doing the old “hey, look at this cool tech idea that may never make it past the drawing-board!” posts these days, but I hope you’ll forgive me this one. I mean, c’mon: who among us can’t get enthused about the idea of tomorrow’s brave firefighters fighting back the flames with Ghostbusters-style backpacks that shoot electricity out of a sort of wand? Sounds crazy, but it’s apparently Real Science™ [via Science Not Fiction]:

Firefighters currently use water, foam, powder and other substances to extinguish flames. The new technology could allow them to put out fires remotely — without delivering material to the flame — and suppress fires from a distance. The technology could also save water and avoid the use of fire-fighting materials that could potentially harm the environment, the scientists suggest.

In the new study, they connected a powerful electrical amplifier to a wand-like probe and used the device to shoot beams of electricity at an open flame more than a foot high. Almost instantly, the flame was snuffed out. Much to their fascination, it worked time and again.

The device consisted of a 600-watt amplifier, or about the same power as a high-end car stereo system. However, Cademartiri believes that a power source with only a tenth of this wattage could have similar flame-suppressing effect. That could be a boon to firefighters, since it would enable use of portable flame-tamer devices, which perhaps could be hand-carried or fit into a backpack.

If someone manages to get this idea to a viable production stage, finding volunteers for forest fire suppression duty should become a lot easier…

Share and Enjoy:

Comments (3)

Tags: electricity, firefighting, technology

3 Responses to “Roastbusters! Firefighters of the future to zap flames with electric charge?”

ConfidentlyDubious says:
March 31st, 2011 at 10:35 am

I have read the press release and I found it distinctly lacking in technical detail. Moreover, though I am not an expert of flames, what detail is present is misleading or imprecise. What do you exactly do to “shoot beams of electricity”? And what is the link between an audio amplifier, which is a device with the task of providing a controlled voltage across a low-impedance load connected to it through wires, with gear which -so it seems- has to generate electrical effects (charge?) at a distance? Finally, how acting on flames affects the combustion that generates those flames and the heat?
Eveng doing some (quick) research on the internet did not lead to much insight. The only slighty more precise description that I found is this:
“We found that oscillating electric fields can elicit strong macroscopic responses in methane/air non‐premixed flames such as deflection, reshaping, and even extinction.”
Maybe the use of the word “wand” (instead of, you know, “electrode” or something like that) is a symptom of something…

Paul Raven says:
March 31st, 2011 at 11:27 am

It is a bit of an odd one, to the extent that I checked the article date closely to see if it wasn’t an early push for April Fool’s. Probably vapourware either way, hence my tone.

prosopago says:
April 1st, 2011 at 11:38 am

And what will you do with electrical fires? What about fires with substances with a really low ignition point? I say BS!

Leave a Reply

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via futurismic.com

Yes I will definitely be taking the firezapping backpack, and also another backpack with a flamethrower.

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2011-04-04T11:06:00.001-07:00

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WonderCon Notes

Posted: 03 Apr 2011 10:11 PM PDT

These are few notes I jotted down while wandering around the con:
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial}
Hefty guys dressed in an all black jedi/sith outfit made a poor choice
I ...

WonderCon Notes

2011-04-03T22:11:00.001-07:00

These are few notes I jotted down while wandering around the con:

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial}

Hefty guys dressed in an all black jedi/sith outfit made a poor choice

Interactions between fans and creators can be extremely awkward. Maybe that gets better after the first day

Commissions are expensive.

Square is changing the way creators, especially independent creators take payments

Geeks can pack a mean lunch

Geeks seem to have a lot of physical ailments, or maybe people with physical ailments become geeks.

In the first episode of the original Thundercats they're naked. For reals.

Comic book art is VERY detailed.

My roommate Josh's rap name: MC Peepants

Comics companies are fighting for a share of an ever shrinking market instead of trying to expand that market.

Fans can be very entitled and nitpicky about their favorite titles and characters. They take stuff personally.

Sitting in a panel for a while is a relief from the pinball game of walking the con floor.

Seeing other peoples' work is inspiring. Either because it's really good our because it's so bad you know you can do better.

It's really easy to spend a lot of money on very little.

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2011-04-02T11:10:00.001-07:00

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WonderCon Pics

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 05:45 PM PDT

See the full gallery on Posterous ...

WonderCon Pics

2011-04-01T17:45:00.001-07:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

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2011-03-30T11:52:00.001-07:00

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A short addendum to my previous post

Posted: 29 Mar 2011 05:53 PM PDT

A short addendum to my previous post

2011-03-29T17:53:00.001-07:00

I also registered for Bay to Breakers this year.
Also, since I have my scuba diving certificate I plan on finally buying my own equipment so I can dive around here. It's expensive though, and I don't want to blow my savings on it unless I have all the things from the previous post up and running. Yep. Maybe I'll have some adult qualities before I'm thirty.

My Biannual Update of Life Events or TL;DR

2011-03-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year, when I remember I have a blog and try to write something in it. Into the gaping maw, the yawning chasm (the yawning maw? sounds kind of cute actually) that is the blank page. I'd apologize for not posting more, but who would I be apologizing to? Marie? Hi Marie. Garth maybe? Hello Garth. So no, I'm not apologizing for not updating this blog. Part of this post will have to do with updating this blog though. No, the reason I'm writing here is not for anyone else. Because, like I said, no one else reads this blog really. It's really just a way to organize my thoughts about the current state of my life and my future plans and aspirations (such as they are). The reason to make it public is so that future generations can be inspired by these words. Or not.

The current state of affairs in the life of Chris are thus: I manage a Radio Shack. I live with my roommate and friend Josh. I am currently significant other-less. I spend most of my free time reading comic books, watching TV and playing video games. I think my ten year old self would actually be pretty happy with such a life. However, my almost thirty year old self is dissatisfied.

Unfortunately I have never learned the value or even the mechanics of motivating myself so I often just accept a situation I'm not satisfied with instead of changing it. Now, I'm trying to change my habit of not trying to change. But, changing is hard.

What do I want to change? For starters, I'd like to have a different job. A common complaint I'm sure. Either I'd like to have a job that I enjoy doing like painting (any kind really) or a job that doesn't take up so much of my time and energy. That way I could pursue my own interests and avocations in my free time. Working at Radio Shack takes eats up eight hours a day, six days a week. More if you count commute times and when my employees call me on my days off with stupid questions.

So, get another job right? You may not have heard but "the economy*" is not doing too hot and unemployment is something like ten percent which is high for America, or something. I don't want to quit my job before I have another one lined up and it's hard to look for a job when you're working close to fifty hours a week at the job you hate. Bit of a catch-22. What I could do is save up some money to cover my expenses for a few months, quit my current job and then use the extra time to find work.

That brings me to my first plan: Let Chris Fix It! "Let Chris Fix It!" is a side business where I do general electronics troubleshooting using the some of the experience I've gained from working at RadioShack. If successful this could help take care of problem number one, also known as hating my job. I've started the ball rolling on this by registering the domain www.letchrisfixit.com. Marie, she of Alcatraz, has agreed to help me with the website design. I also got a Square account to enable me to take credit card payments from my potential customers. I also grabbed some free business cards from VistaPrint until I can afford some more professional ones.

Plan the second: Doing art for fun and profit. You may or may not know this, but I love me some drawing and comic books (Since I'm mostly writing this for myself, I do in fact, know this). I would like to, either professionally or as an accomplished amateur, make comics. There's nothing really stopping me from doing this actually. Nothing except my own fear, self-doubt and lack of work ethic. Right now, I am making a public vow (because I would never break a public vow right?) that I will draw one thing a day and publish somewhere on the web every day starting April first two thousand eleven. An addition to this plan is also to sell my art on Etsy. I have an Etsy store and have sold a total of zero items in the past two months. Go me. I plan on posting higher quality scans of my work and redesigning the layout of the store (possibly with help from the incomparably talented Marie [she sure is getting a lot of mentions in this post huh?]).

Plan three: Plan Harder: Going back to school and finishing my degree. Did you know that I went to a private university for four years and failed to obtain a degree of any kind? You did! Why aren't you just way to into my personal history. Anyway, yes, I went to Drexel University (home of the fighting Welsh dragons) for film and never graduated. I could say that I got nothing out of those four years of my life, but I still have ten thousand dollars in student loan debt that says otherwise. My plan now is to go back to school and get my bachelor's degree. But, I'm not going to get a degree in film. I want to get a degree in physics or some other related area of science.

I love science. I love reading about science, I love the idea of science, I love learning about how science reveals all kind of crazy things about the universe and physics and math were always the easiest subjects in college for me. So a physics or astrophysics degree would combine to things I like: science and not trying very hard.

I would like to get my degree from a well regarded school, so that some day in the future I might be able to get a job as a real working scientist or at least parlay that knowledge into my other endeavors like writing and drawing kick-ass comic books about science! I'd like to get into the physics program at UC Berkeley. In order to do that I need to take some classes at City College to make sure I fulfill all the transfer requirements for the UC system so I can transfer in as a junior and not start all over as a freshman. In order to do that I have to get my SAT and AP scores so that I can place out of the general education requirements for City College. Whew! I don't remember getting into college being this hard when I was 18.

And last, but least, I plan on writing more often here on this blog. Except, this blog will no longer be at thebigfatloser.blogspot.com, but rather will be moved over to www.bennettchristopher.com to be part of my "work", which will include any art or stories of mine. Basically it will by my portfolio for creative work, as opposed to letchrisfixit.com which will just be for tech support. I've had a few features in mind for this blog for a while. I just haven't had the time, inclination or organization skills to pull it of. Here are some of my ideas for regular series of articles on the new and improved (potentially) blog:

OKDating. Where I discuss my experiences of using the dating site OKCupid.com for the last seven plus years. Also (humorous) critiques of people's OKCupid profiles.

Let Chris Read It. Reviews of what I've read in the last week. Mostly about comic books.

Let Chris Watch It. Reviews of TV shows or movies I've watched recently.

Let Chris Draw It. Where I draw a different thing every day, whether it's a series of characters or something suggested by a friend or reader (still not sure I'll ever have a reader).

SCIENCE! Where I marvel at something cool in science news.

So.... that's a lot of stuff huh? To review:

1) Get a different job or make enough money with my tech support side business to quit my job.

2) Diligently work on drawing, writing or making art. No excuses, capiche?

3) Get a degree in physics and eventual a masters in astrophysics or particle physics (shooting for the moon. Get it? Get it?)

4) Create a website that's home to my creative work and contribute to it regularly with drawings and articles.

Now that I've written it all out it seems somehow both more and less daunting than before. Less daunting because I can see how each step is possible. More daunting because I can see how many steps there are and how much work it's going to be. Oh well. Let's do it.

P.S. I'm going to WonderCon this weekend, April first through the third and I've actually taken time off of work to do so. If there are actually people in San Francisco who read this blog and don't suck then maybe we can hang out at WonderCon.

*I may go on a rampage the next time I hear or read the phrase "in this economy". I get it. The economy is bad. You can shut up now.

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2011-02-28T11:29:00.001-08:00

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Sushi

Posted: 27 Feb 2011 08:41 PM PST

Sushi

2011-02-27T20:41:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-27T11:06:00.001-08:00

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Angel

Posted: 26 Feb 2011 07:41 PM PST

Iceman

Posted: 26 Feb 2011 03:40 PM PST

Angel

2011-02-26T19:41:00.001-08:00

Iceman

2011-02-26T15:40:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-22T11:04:00.001-08:00

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Marvel Girl

Posted: 21 Feb 2011 03:51 PM PST

Marvel Girl

2011-02-21T15:51:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-20T11:27:00.001-08:00

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The Beast

Posted: 19 Feb 2011 07:35 PM PST

Cyclops

Posted: 19 Feb 2011 04:55 PM PST

The Beast

2011-02-19T19:35:00.001-08:00

Cyclops

2011-02-19T16:55:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-19T11:14:00.001-08:00

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English Russia » Underground World Is Calling

Posted: 19 Feb 2011 10:44 AM PST

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2011-02-18T11:08:00.001-08:00

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Setting up my new work space

Posted: 17 Feb 2011 02:05 PM PST

Setting up my new work space

2011-02-17T14:05:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-10T11:07:00.001-08:00

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Wolverine or Two Batmen? Olly Moss Just Blew Your Mind! | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources

Posted: 09 Feb 2011 11:20 AM PST

via goodcomics.comicbookresources.com ...

Wolverine or Two Batmen? Olly Moss Just Blew Your Mind! | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources

2011-02-09T11:20:00.001-08:00

via goodcomics.comicbookresources.com

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2011-01-21T11:05:00.001-08:00

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Characters in my epic story...

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 12:54 AM PST

So, who says you can't do anything with all the old crap you have lying around? Character bios of kids who appeared in movies from the 70's - 90's and what their characters have been up to since and h ...

Characters in my epic story...

2011-01-21T00:54:00.001-08:00

Carol-Ann - A ghost - Apparent age: 14

When she died at an early age in 1989, Carol-Ann was unable to pass on to the afterlife. Only able to speak through mediums, her motivations are not entirely clear. She has shown the ability to employe other spirits, poltergeists, to affect the living world. She is frantically searching for help from anyone, living or dead, to help her fight something called "The Beast".

Franklin - Medium - Age: 55

Franklin solved a young girl's murder in upstate New York with the help of her ghost, and the ghost of her mother, in 1962. He is haunted, both literally and figuratively by those events. He has wandered the country since, finding justice for restless spirits. Recently he has taken a young medium named Cole under his wing. They have recently been in contact with Carol-Ann

Cole - Medium - Age 23

Cole was a troubled child because he could see the dead, until the ghost of a child psychologist helped him deal with and accept his powers. Now he acts as something of a therapist for ghosts who are unable to move on. He and Franklin have differing styles in dealing with ghosts, but the same goal: help them move on.

Daniel - Telepathic - Age 38

Another man who had a traumatic event in his childhood, during a long winter in Colorado, he has since put that, and his telepathic power behind him. He now teaches high school science class, but fate is conspiring to to draw him into an epic battle.

Charlie - Pyrokinetic - Age 36

Her powers stem from a government experiment and are often uncontrollable. She has spent years running from the government. She has also trained with various sects and religions in meditation techniques to better control her flames.

Eric - Flyer - Age 43

An autistic savant, Eric somehow gained the ability to fly after being obsessed with the subject his entire life. Eric's whereabouts have been unknown since the age of 19. There have been sightings of a flying man over the midwest in recent years.

Jimmy (The Wizard) - Video Game Wizard - Age 31

Jimmy is also an autistic savant. At a young age he showed the ability to master video games of any type within minutes. His savant abilities make him an expert not only in games, but in the areas of strategy and systems design. He has been sought after by the government for his involvement in Project: Cube.

Balthazar - Keeper of the Sigil - Age 38

Balthazar is keeper of a strange book and amulet that allow him access to a dimension fueled entirely by imagination. He has shown to have access to near limitless abilities, powers and creatures from this dimension but has been content to pass on the story of this place to others, so that it never ends. Though now much older than when he started his adventures, he sees once again that our world and his fantastic one, are under threat from a growing darkness

Lestrange - Immortal Savage - Apparent Age 46

Though she appears to be in her mid 40's, Lestrange is actually closer to 120 years old. Not much is known about her, save that her seeming immortality comes from something on an edenic island where she was shipwrecked some time in the 1890's. She is a ruthless hunter, and an expert in wild places of all kinds, though she has been known to blend into civilization if it suits her purpose. Her motives are not known.

Damien - Antichrist - Age 41

Damien is the US ambassador to Great Britain. He is also the antichrist. His machinations to obtain ultimate power and usher the time for his father's reign stretch far and wide within the government, though his control is not complete. He has been on the lookout for years for children with otherworldy abilities, in case they are the return of christ.

Adrian - Devil - Age 43

Adrian is the older half-brother of Damien. He inherited their father's looks though. Shunned by society and fighting against his own dark nature, Adrian has hidden in the shadows, keeping out of the way of his brother's forces and those who oppose his brother.

Anthony - ? - Apparent Age 12

Anthony has the power of a god, but the mind of a 12 year old boy. He can reshape reality into anything he wishes, but at heart all he wants is someone to love him and care for him genuinely. Unfortunately those who do are often subject to the deadly anger of a 12 year old god. Where his powers originate and what their limit (if any) is unknown. There are many forces that would love to harness his power for their own, but most are too afraid to try.

Chip - Android - Apparent Age 19

Chip was copied from DNA and form of the boy who could fly, Eric, in order to recreate his powers. Unfortunately what they got was an annoying computer who wants to be a real boy. He has since been repogrammed as an infiltration unit designed to kill steathily and without warning. He has enhanced strength, speed, and computational powers. It is not know whether he has ever faced the man he was based on

DARYL - Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform - Apparent Age 38

Daryl is a robot brain in the cloned body of Balthazar. He was created by the government in order to access the the near-limitless power of Balthazar's fantastic dimension. This however, did not work out, as something in the human mind is what allows access to that dimension. Daryl was to be reprogrammed as a kind of supersoldier, but escaped from the government government facility where he was created. He has superfast reflexes and the ability to hack any system. He used the latter to escape the government in a stealth fighter. It was destroyed and he was presumed dead. But, all death is brain death and Daryl was simply rebooted by those helping him. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Fred (real name unknown) - ? - Age 36

Fred, seems to have been involved with many of the other characters as a child, though his name and even biography seemed to have changed each time. Some speculate that he has the ability to traverse dimensions or even time to rewrite his own personal history. Here is what is known: He was Eric's next-door neighbor in 1986 and his name was Louis. Yet somehow he was also Jimmy's older brother, Corey in 1989. He has shown various abilities including: traveling from shadow to shadow, access to a time/spaceship made of polymorphic metal, the ability to switch minds with another person and possibly acces to a separate fantasy dimension like Balthazar (though one with much less raw power). His motivations and allegiance are unknown and one never knows when he'll show up next.

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2011-01-16T11:28:00.001-08:00

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Every Line of Dialogue in The Lost Boys is "Michael" on Vimeo

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 10:17 PM PST

via vimeo.com I love this movie forever. ...

Tasmania=Pubes

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 10:03 PM PST

via nerdist.com I think Amanda Palmer is a bit retarded, but this was kind of funny. ...

Every Line of Dialogue in The Lost Boys is "Michael" on Vimeo

2011-01-15T22:17:00.001-08:00

via vimeo.com

I love this movie forever.

Tasmania=Pubes

2011-01-15T22:03:00.001-08:00

via nerdist.com

I think Amanda Palmer is a bit retarded, but this was kind of funny.

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2011-01-15T11:38:00.001-08:00

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Two Events On Saturday in the Inner Sunset: Pearl on Irving and Game Night

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 05:03 PM PST

I just realized I forgot to post two fun events coming up tomorrow! Oops!

First off, Pearl Gallery at 839 Irving Street is having an "Artist and Customer Appreciation Day" from 4-7pm. If y ...

Two Events On Saturday in the Inner Sunset: Pearl on Irving and Game Night

2011-01-14T17:03:00.001-08:00

I just realized I forgot to post two fun events coming up tomorrow! Oops!

First off, Pearl Gallery at 839 Irving Street is having an "Artist and Customer Appreciation Day" from 4-7pm. If you've not yet stopped in at Pearl, you really should stop by and check it out. They have a unique mix of art, photography and other nice things that make for great gifts or decor for your home. Stop by and say hi!

Also, the first Games Night of the year at the House Formerly Known as Yes We Can (502 Irving Street) from 7:30-11:00pm. Bring your favorite board game or just stop by and join in one and meet your neighbors! These events are always fun and you always end up meeting someone new!

via njudahchronicles.com

Who says this part of the city isn't cool?

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2011-01-14T11:10:00.001-08:00

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MASSIVE Sqwertz : Sell your book or comic for the iPad & iPhone without Apple’s “help.

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 05:42 PM PST

Sell your book or comic for the iPad & iPhone without Apple's "help.
YOU SAY

I love reading on my iPhone and iPad.
I wish people could buy my book/comic for th ...

MASSIVE Sqwertz : Sell your book or comic for the iPad & iPhone without Apple’s “help.

2011-01-13T17:42:00.001-08:00

Sell your book or comic for the iPad & iPhone without Apple’s “help.

YOU SAY

I love reading on my iPhone and iPad.

I wish people could buy my book/comic for their iOS devices!

BUT

My name is James Joyce and my classic novel Ulysses depicts genitals.

OR

I’m a Pulitzer Prize winner selling constitutionally-protected caricatures of public figures.

SO, LIKE MANY OTHERS

Apple’s censorship forbids my books/comics from the shelves of the iBookstore.

AND EVEN WORSE

Apple shackles a dreadful DRM lock over my book/comic.

Apples price-fixes the sale price of my book/comic.

Apple delays 2-4 weeks before selling my book/comic.

Apple can retroactively vanquish, without explanation, any book/comic.

Apple charges a 30% cut from the sale price of my book/comic.

Try THE NOT .99 METHOD: How to roll-your-own e-payment and delivery system for selling your books & comics so quick and reliable that not even Apple can take it away.

This do-it-yourself iBookstore alternative…

Is DRM-free (simple, shareable and readable on any device forever).

Lets you set the price. (Well… NOT __.99, naturally.)

Can sell, download and read works immediately.

Can never be censored, redacted or removed.

Charges nothing. You keep all the money (or almost all the money).

It’s a great free and simple method for selling indie books/comics for the iPhone and iPad (and every other mobile reading device).

THE CUSTOMER’S EXPERIENCE

The customer uses their phone (or e-reader) to purchase your book/comic via standard text message (or browser URL) and then automatically receives a download link by email.

HOW TO SELL YOUR BOOKS/COMICS USING THE NOT .99 METHOD

This friendly 3-step method highlights uses common free online services (PayPal, Gmail & Google Docs) but feel free to make your own substitutions based on personal preference, terms of service and transaction cost.

STEP ONE: PAYMENT

Many established online banks now offer a free “pay-by-SMS” service. I prefer (love, actually) PayPal’s version.

A) Open a PayPal account and associate it with your phone number and email address.
B) Set a unique price for each product you wish to sell (Example: $ 0.33) (Not .99!)
C) Create a “point of sale” using your unique price. This can as simple or complex as your marketing strategy requires.

To sell by SMS: Create signage which reads,

“Buy EBOOK TITLE by texting ‘Send 0.33 to <You>@Gmail.com‘ to 729725 (AKA “Paypal”).

To sell by link: Make a PayPal landing page that lets the user “Click here to pay $ 0.33.” You could point to that landing page with a TinyURL so it can be communicated verbally. Or get creative: you could point to it with a QR Code that you print on a tee shirt, shave into a dog’s back or embed in a presentation slide ten feet tall and glowing.

Imagine all those camera-phones in the audience snapping away – buying your book. Imagine all those cash-flushed, book-mad dog-lovers.

If the user already has a PayPal account (smartphone owners frequently will) they’ll get a SMS confirming their purchase. It’s fast. It’ll take 3 minutes the first time and they’ll be given an option to pick a PIN number that makes it even faster. If they don’t have an account they’ll be guided through the steps of getting one or paying by credit card.

You may breathe a sigh of relief: this is the one and only step in the NOT .99 method that incurs any cost to the book/comic seller--or possibly none. A PayPal SMS donation made at the time of this writing billed as a “personal transfer” which carries no surcharge!

STEP TWO: PROCESSING

After the customer’s payment is confirmed you’ll receive an automated email from PayPal containing the customer’s email address and the unique (not __.99) price they paid. Using a custom Gmail filter it is a simple matter to identify the item purchased (by that unique price) and autoreply with a template email containing download links for a variety of formats.

A) Create an gmail filter for each product you sell. We do this by searching for the unique price. At the time of this writing the following filter fields infallibly retrieved only and all incoming orders.

Subject: “Notification of payment received”
To: [EMAIL ADDRESS ON FILE AT PAYPAL]
Has the words: “You received a payment of $0.33″ [THE UNIQUE PRICE]
Doesn’t have: “re:”

This filter should naturally be tested often and adapted for your choice of payment method. Thankfully this degrades quite elegantly – in the worst case scenario you’ll still have the customer’s money and the email address needed to ship product or offer a refund.

(If you worry about email spoofing – don’t. See the additional precaution.)

Once you’re satisfied that your filter is catching every single payment notification, you simply attach an action to that filter to “Send a canned response” (with a download link) specific to each product you’re selling.

B) Create a canned response for each product you’re selling. The email will contain the download link to your book or comic online in PDF format (and ideally several other common formats). It doesn’t have to be long but this email a great chance to voice your appreciation and link the reader to all your relevant data.

For ideas on how to make the email see this sample canned response.

STEP THREE: DELIVERY

The customer will receive your download link by email.

A download link is preferable to attaching your book or comic to the email because it arrives faster and gives the customer more options for when and where they download your work. Additionally, links give you maximum control over and which version is being downloaded and how long that version is available – you can always expire that link at any time.

A) How to host the download link for your book or comic

A free Google Docs account allows you to upload any type of file to share, with customizable permissions.

Upload your PDF as a file (making sure to uncheck the option to “convert documents, presentations, and spreadsheets to the corresponding Google Docs formats.”)

Set your uploaded PDF’s “sharing” option to Anyone with the link can access. No sign-in required. Google describes this setting as being like “an unlisted phone number.” Your book/comic will technically be “public” but Google claims they won’t index it to appear in their search results and that other search engines shouldn’t either. If at any time you feel your PDF is overexposed you can always change the sharing settings to “Private” or change the link address.

The shareable link Google Docs produces for your uploaded PDF will be the download link you forward in your canned email.

B) Why PDF?

The iPhone and iPad in particular handle PDFs beautifully and they can be saved from email directly into iBooks or another installed PDF reader of your choice.

1) PDF is extremely widely adopted on e-readers, phones and other mobile devices.
2) PDF provides extensive formatting and hypertext options for both books and comics.
3) PDF will always launch from email. Not even Apple dares block a business standard format like PDF without jeopardizing their enterprise customer base.

Voila. You’re now selling your books and comics for use on any digital reading device without Apple, Amazon or any publisher’s interference.

You also say…
BLECCH! Enough of the yak-yak, Perfesser! Make with the funny pictures! Thanks for your patience. Back to Massive Sqwertz.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

- Does it only work for iPhone and iPad?

That’s the best part – it works on everything. Android, Palm, iPhone, iPad or virtually any other device you’d want to read a book on. Kindle, Nook and other partially-online hardware e-readers even work alright without too much additional hassle.

- NOT .99 works on Smartphones – will it work on non-Smartphones?

Mmmmaybe. It should work on about any phone you’d want read a book on. The NOT .99 method requires a browser, an Internet connection and someplace on the device to store the data. The rest (file formats, text size and visual design) are up to you.

- No DRM?! Are you crazy?!

“Digital rights management” is the locking down of files so they can’t be shared, traded or owned in perpetuity. DRM insinuates a criminal motivation and highly devalues any digital product for the customer. From the consumer’s standpoint, if you can’t loan your purchase to a friend – you don’t own it and you definitely shouldn’t pay like you do.

With the NOT .99 method the customer receives their purchase via email can forward it to everyone they know – perhaps you should urge them to do and encourage such enthusiastic evangelists. Reserve the right to expire a link if you’re feeling sheepish but hold that option in reserve – how much better to snare a new reader with rock solid recommendation from a friend who themselves buy your other books because you make it easy.

Not .99 can be cheap because you’re not splitting the proceeds. It’s reliable because there’s no DRM. It’s faster than searching for a torrent or bothering a friend. With these barriers removed creators give themselves every advantage.

- Does this work for other digital media? MP3′s? Movies? Games?

Somewhat, but not as universally. Different devices will have different standard settings for how they handle various files. The iPad and iPhone, for instance, won’t permit MP3′s downloaded from the Internet links to be stored with your other music or sync’d back to your desktop. This is anti-competitive and anti-user but the current state of Apple affairs.

- Unique prices?! But I want to charge a normal price ending in _ .99!

There’s no technical reason an item can’t be sold for $0.99 or 9.99 (although only one of each price, obviously) but – pull yourself together, man. The __.99 price point is a virulent and tacky sales manipulation. 99% of all products sold cost SOMETHING .99. Every damn book in the iBookstore ends in something .99 but you’re a writer alive to see the death of centralized publishing! Cast off the colors of your fallen master and stand a free man!

Shout it with me, brothers: “my comic costs $.83 cents — NOT .99!”

- Unfair! Apple eventually admitted their mistake and allowed Ulyssess and Mark Fiore’s caricatures into the iBookstore!

Irrelevant. These two pieces would still be forbidden if Apple hadn’t gotten such a black eye in the press. Apple censorship is without merit and baldly disingenuous. They stomp individual creators but permit big-name pornographers like Playboy and Maxim to remain. Added to which, the iPhone can never provide “freedom from pornography” while it accesses the Internet.

Consider that before Apple’s rejection Joyce’s Ulysses was last persecuted in America for obscenity in 1934!

- The NOT .99 method is a bit of a hack approach, isn’t it?

TOTALLY! Or… maybe. Well, arguably – I’ll give you that much. BUT using existing online services means that anyone can tailor their e-commerce to their own needs. And fix it when it breaks without hiring a programmer. And it does solve every major problem with the iBookstore. And the payout for creators is unmatched. And it does works every time.

So, perhaps, yeah, it is a bit hacked together, but so was Frankenstein and he met the Harlem Globetrotters. We should all soar to such heights.

-The Additional Precaution

The NOT.99 method can be spoofed by someone with knowledge of the method (by sending a filter-fooling email directly to the seller without using PayPal). To prevent this spoofing simply confirm 2 email addresses with PayPal: <You>@Gmail.com and <You>+7_SECRET_NUMBERS@Gmail.com.

When you append any numbers or letters to your email address using “+” after the username but before the @, Gmail knows to still deliver it to your normal email address!

Instruct users to text money to <You>@Gmail.com and set <You>+7_SECRET_NUMBERS@Gmail.com as your PayPal “primary” email address. Then merely update your filter watch for emails sent from <You>+7_SECRET_NUMBERS@Gmail.com instead of <You>@Gmail.com.

You won’t advertise your secret email address and so the spoofers won’t know it and actually, forewarned, spoofers will assume you’ve taken this precaution and won’t even try. It’s a good idea to take this precaution anyway.

– A sample canned response for emailing download links to the customer

>>>

SUBJECT: Download your copy of COMIC TITLE (Link expires in 7 days)

Dear Beloved Reader,

Thanks for purchasing COMIC TITLE. I just know you’re going to love it and if that’s the case I hope you’ll check out my other titles you can download and read right now.

Download your copy of COMIC TITLE in…

- PDF format (for direct-download reading on iPhone, iPad and almost everywhere).
- CBZ format (for comic book viewers like Stanza ).
- ePub format (also super common and suitable for users of Kindle & Nook).
- HTML format (for reading in any browser).

These links will expire in 7 days. (Doing my part to keep the Internet tidy.)

If you love COMIC TITLE, I hope you’ll forward this email and share COMIC TITLE with a friend or two you think would dig it. A sincere recommendation from from a friend does me more good than any other single thing. (And if you’re a raving super-fan of COMIC TITLE I wouldn’t turn down a review on Amazon, either.)

I won’t ever spam. Want updates? Subscribe by RSS, Twitter, Facebook or Email.

Thanks again,
YOUR NAME

>>>

First time on Massive Sqwertz?

Why not check out the comic - it’s what we’re here for.

via massivesqwertz.com

This is fucking amazing. I can basically make and sell anything I could ever imagine through the internet. Now I just have to imagine something...

via Warren Ellis

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2011-01-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

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Cthulhu Necktie

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 10:06 PM PST

via thecontrarianmedia.com I would wear ties all the time if this were the current style. ...

Cthulhu Necktie

2011-01-12T22:06:00.001-08:00

via thecontrarianmedia.com

I would wear ties all the time if this were the current style.

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2011-01-05T11:31:00.001-08:00

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Looklet
Spacelog
My Junior High Science Careers Illustration Project

Looklet

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 10:49 AM PST

via looklet.com Kind of cool if you're into fashion or you just need to study drapery. Too bad it's only female models (and really only one actual body at that). ...

Spacelog

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 09:29 AM PST

Not sure if I've posted Spacelog before, but it's pretty awesome. It's transcripts of the original records of America's early space missions. I love space.
http://spacelog.org/ ...

My Junior High Science Careers Illustration Project

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 11:52 PM PST

Looklet

2011-01-05T10:49:00.001-08:00

via looklet.com

Kind of cool if you're into fashion or you just need to study drapery. Too bad it's only female models (and really only one actual body at that).

Spacelog

2011-01-05T09:29:00.001-08:00

Not sure if I've posted Spacelog before, but it's pretty awesome. It's transcripts of the original records of America's early space missions. I love space.

http://spacelog.org/

My Junior High Science Careers Illustration Project

2011-01-04T23:52:00.001-08:00

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2011-01-03T11:04:00.001-08:00

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The kids at OPEN in the UK have built a fabulous space for...

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 10:19 AM PST

The kids atOPENin the UK have built a fabulous space for themselves. I am green with envy!
OPEN was co-founded in 2010 by independent practitioner ...

The kids at OPEN in the UK have built a fabulous space for...

2011-01-03T10:19:00.001-08:00

The kids at OPEN in the UK have built a fabulous space for themselves. I am green with envy!

OPEN was co-founded in 2010 by independent practitioners Holly Wales, Hugh Frost, Robert Evans, David Callow and Loren Filis, as a physical space in which to build on their practices as illustrators, educators, designers, publisher and printers, in an environment which would provide support, criticism, dialogue, fairness, opportunity, a sense of belonging and fresh ambition to both their creative work and independent businesses; and in turn help others to benefit from the same.

via blog.drawn.ca

Like this please.

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2011-01-02T11:20:00.001-08:00

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Artfags Unite!

Posted: 01 Jan 2011 05:16 PM PST

Artfags Unite!

2011-01-01T17:16:00.001-08:00

So if you're my pal on Facebook, you might have seen Marie, Alex and I talking about making some sort of art collective or group. Why? Because, we seem to know a lot of people who are talented artists, or just have a drive to create, but are stuck in dead-end jobs and have to do their creating in their bedroom some time between dinner and bed after work.
Well what if we pooled our resources to rent a space dedicated to being a studio for all of us? A shared space where you can be free of all the normal distractions of your everyday life, surrounded by other creative people.
Non-residential spaces (i.e. you can't live there but maybe crash for a night if you're pulling an all-nighter on a project) in the city (of San Francisco) are pretty cheap. At a glance you can pick up a studio apartment sized space sub $1000. Split five or six ways that's pretty cheap. Probably less than some people spend on take-out in a month.
The space can also double as a gallery, so that once a month (or so) we can show our work to the public and maybe sell some of it. If it's a popular enough event we could even charge a cover for art parties.
Sounds pretty cool no? The only thing we need to get it started are some artist friends who are in the SF area and willing to split the costs of the studio/gallery space. The more people the better.
Maybe you're thinking "But, Chris, I'm not a visual artist." So? Do you like to create? Do you want a space to create? Do you want people to see (or feel, or hear, or read, or play) your work? Do we know you? Do you have an extra $100 or so? Awesome. You're in.
Don't live in the bay area? That's okay. Send your stuff in for gallery shows and we'll show it off.
Let's make art now while we're alive and ready to make it. Right now.

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2010-12-27T11:22:00.001-08:00

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The Bunnies of Okunoshima Island

Posted: 26 Dec 2010 09:41 PM PST

via coilhouse.net Fuck yeah bunnies! ...

The Bunnies of Okunoshima Island

2010-12-26T21:40:00.001-08:00

via coilhouse.net

Fuck yeah bunnies!

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2010-12-25T11:29:00.001-08:00

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Whiskey christmas.

Posted: 25 Dec 2010 11:16 AM PST

Everyone's getting whiskey this year. ...

Whiskey christmas.

2010-12-25T11:16:00.001-08:00

Everyone's getting whiskey this year.

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2010-12-24T11:24:00.001-08:00

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Episodes

Posted: 23 Dec 2010 08:26 PM PST

via axecop.com Fuck yeah axe cop. ...

A Christmas Gift To You: The Full 'Santa Claus vs. the Martians' #1 Comic - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

Posted: 23 Dec 2010 08:17 PM PST

you can make your own wassail! Just warm up some apple cider and add sugar, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, then drop in some chopped apples or oranges! Add in a bit of brandy if you feel like it ...

Episodes

2010-12-23T20:26:00.001-08:00

via axecop.com

Fuck yeah axe cop.

A Christmas Gift To You: The Full 'Santa Claus vs. the Martians' #1 Comic - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

2010-12-23T20:17:00.001-08:00

you can make your own wassail! Just warm up some apple cider and add sugar, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, then drop in some chopped apples or oranges! Add in a bit of brandy if you feel like it (kids, get your parents' permission!) and serve with toast. It's fun and traditional!

via comicsalliance.com

Rainbow bridge

2010-12-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

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2010-12-21T11:06:00.001-08:00

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Santa.jpg

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 05:33 PM PST

Your files are attached to this message ...

Santa.jpg

2010-12-20T17:33:00.001-08:00

Your files are attached to this message

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2010-12-14T11:42:00.001-08:00

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'Avengersaurs' and Its Dino Superheroes Should Be The Next Marvel Event - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 02:05 PM PST

via comicsalliance.com Dinosaurs + Superheroes? Yes, please. (Also, bring back Dinosaucers) ...

'Avengersaurs' and Its Dino Superheroes Should Be The Next Marvel Event - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

2010-12-13T14:05:00.001-08:00

via comicsalliance.com

Dinosaurs + Superheroes? Yes, please. (Also, bring back Dinosaucers)

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2010-12-09T11:44:00.001-08:00

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Zoo Illogical: Ugly Animals Need Protection from Extinction, Too

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 02:19 AM PST

BAT-UGLY: Animals generally considered repulsive, like this bat, might survive longer as a species if they were al ...

Zoo Illogical: Ugly Animals Need Protection from Extinction, Too

2010-12-09T02:19:00.001-08:00

BAT-UGLY: Animals generally considered repulsive, like this bat, might survive longer as a species if they were allowed to hang out within the protection of zoo walls. Image: Matt Reinbold

Zoos are like fancy hotels, albeit without the fluffy pillows and individually packaged soaps, or so says Daniel Frynta, an ecologist at Charles University in Prague. Only the "richest" animals get to check in. And if an endangered species gets a room, he says, it might just survive.

Frynta defines a rich animal as one that we humans find appealing. And, he says, we have very specific taste: It's got to be big. It's got to be cute. It's got to behave or look humanlike. If a critter is colorful, we like it. We also like it when zoo denizens play and speak and travel in family groups. Those animals, he says, get to stay in zoos. "Poor" animals—that is ugly ones—stay outside where their habitats are quickly being destroyed.

Species in zoos are often protected from total extinction because they are commonly the subjects of captive breeding programs in which staffers entice animals to mate and reproduce offspring that can then be released into the wild or shared with other zoos. Although it's hit or miss, captive breeding represents the last hope for survival for many species. The Hawaiian crow and the Seychelles giant tortoise only exist in zoos, for example. The Arabian oryx was once extinct in the wild, but captive breeding programs allowed for the release of individuals back into their native habitat. And zoos often fund conservation programs that happen outside their walls. "The record is imperfect," says Nate Flessness, science director at the International Species Information System, "but zoos are the only ones doing anything."

David Stokes, an ecologist at the University of Washington Bothell, agrees, noting that a biodiversity crisis is at hand. The current rate of extinction is up to 1,000 times faster than it would be without humans, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The surviving species will "be the ones we decide to save," Stokes says. If zoos decide not to save "ugly" animals, they could go extinct. Snails and insects, for example, almost never make it into zoos.

The ugly truth: Zoos are businesses
Still, zoos have their drawbacks: Studies comparing the life spans of animals in zoological parks with their wild counterparts have found that captive animals tend to live shorter lives. Elephants, for example, live an average of 36 years in the wild, but only 17 in zoos. For many species, however, zoos can be a vital refuge from poaching, habitat loss and disease.

Yet, Frynta's research shows that zoos may not be entirely living up to their conservation promises. In a September 7 PLoS ONE paper his team asked Czech citizens to rank pictures of endangered and non-endangered parrots from most to least beautiful. The researchers then compared the rankings with worldwide zoo holdings and species' conservation needs as defined by the IUCN. Overwhelmingly, zoos are keeping pretty birds rather than endangered ones.

That's because zoos have another kind of survival to worry about—their own. "We have to deliver what our visitors want," says Greg Bockheim, director of the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. Visitors want to see animals they like and recognize. Frynta agrees: "Zoos full of endangered but ugly animals will never make money."

And although gorillas and lions would not have to empty their bank accounts—if they had them—to check in at these so-called hotels, such popular mammals can certainly entice visitors to empty their own pockets. A white tiger, Bockheim says, can triple zoo attendance—And directors could put that money toward conservation for less beloved animals, he says.

via rss.sciam.com

Toldja so.

Just cleaned the apartment. Smells like cleaning. Now I'm drinking coffee with Mexican hot chocolate. Later: light bulb hunt.

2010-12-03T15:56:00.001-08:00

Just cleaned the apartment. Smells like cleaning. Now I'm drinking coffee with Mexican hot chocolate. Later: light bulb hunt.

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2010-12-01T11:08:00.001-08:00

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Dudes, you can totally read a paper about how "local reality" does not exist. Seriously: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/46/19708.full

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 10:30 PM PST

Dudes, you can totally read a paper about how "local reality" does not exist. Seriously: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/46/19708.full ...

Dudes, you can totally read a paper about how "local reality" does not exist. Seriously: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/46/19708.full

2010-11-30T22:30:00.001-08:00

Dudes, you can totally read a paper about how "local reality" does not exist. Seriously: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/46/19708.full

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2010-11-19T11:26:00.001-08:00

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I just realized in the dentist's chair that I'm the kind of person who needs time to fuck around and play with things (with some direction) and that a full time, 6 day a week job is detrimental to that. Time for a change...

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 09:07 PM PST

Wow, just read Batman: Inc. Very, very nice. Might have to go back and read it another time... and the original 'Lord Death Man' story too.

2010-11-18T21:15:00.001-08:00

Wow, just read Batman: Inc. Very, very nice. Might have to go back and read it another time... and the original 'Lord Death Man' story too.

I just realized in the dentist's chair that I'm the kind of person who needs time to fuck around and play with things (with some direction) and that a full time, 6 day a week job is detrimental to that. Time for a change...

2010-11-18T21:07:00.001-08:00

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2010-11-17T11:39:00.001-08:00

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000e13a1 (2472×3267)

Posted: 16 Nov 2010 12:17 PM PST

via pics.livejournal.com ...

000e13a1 (2472×3267)

2010-11-16T12:17:00.001-08:00

via pics.livejournal.com

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2010-11-12T11:11:00.001-08:00

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How to Choose a Graphics Tablet that Fits Your Needs | Psdtuts+
Lifehacker Readers' Favorite Pens
BLDGBLOG: An Invisible Empire of Sidewalks and Gutterspace
Is this evidence that we can see the future? - life - 11 November 2010 - New Scientist

How to Choose a Graphics Tablet that Fits Your Needs | Psdtuts+

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 02:24 PM PST

Want!

Lifehacker Readers' Favorite Pens

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:48 PM PST

via lifehacker.com I love me some goddamn pens. ...

BLDGBLOG: An Invisible Empire of Sidewalks and Gutterspace

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:33 PM PST

via bldgblog.blogspot.com ...

Is this evidence that we can see the future? - life - 11 November 2010 - New Scientist

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 01:32 PM PST

Extraordinary claims don't come much more extraordinary than ...

Lifehacker Readers' Favorite Pens

2010-11-11T13:48:00.001-08:00

via lifehacker.com

I love me some goddamn pens.

Is this evidence that we can see the future? - life - 11 November 2010 - New Scientist

2010-11-11T13:32:00.001-08:00

Extraordinary claims don't come much more extraordinary than this: events that haven't yet happened can influence our behaviour.

Parapsychologists have made outlandish claims about precognition – knowledge of unpredictable future events – for years. But the fringe phenomenon is about to get a mainstream airing: a paper providing evidence for its existence has been accepted for publication by the leading social psychology journal.

What's more, sceptical psychologists who have pored over a preprint of the paper say they can't find any significant flaws. "My personal view is that this is ridiculous and can't be true," says Joachim Krueger of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, who has blogged about the work on the Psychology Today website. "Going after the methodology and the experimental design is the first line of attack. But frankly, I didn't see anything. Everything seemed to be in good order."

Critical mass

The paper, due to appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology before the end of the year, is the culmination of eight years' work by Daryl Bem of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "I purposely waited until I thought there was a critical mass that wasn't a statistical fluke," he says.

It describes a series of experiments involving more than 1000 student volunteers. In most of the tests, Bem took well-studied psychological phenomena and simply reversed the sequence, so that the event generally interpreted as the cause happened after the tested behaviour rather than before it.

In one experiment, students were shown a list of words and then asked to recall words from it, after which they were told to type words that were randomly selected from the same list. Spookily, the students were better at recalling words that they would later type.

In another study, Bem adapted research on "priming" – the effect of a subliminally presented word on a person's response to an image. For instance, if someone is momentarily flashed the word "ugly", it will take them longer to decide that a picture of a kitten is pleasant than if "beautiful" had been flashed. Running the experiment back-to-front, Bem found that the priming effect seemed to work backwards in time as well as forwards.

'Stroke of genius'

Exploring time-reversed versions of established psychological phenomena was "a stroke of genius", says the sceptical Krueger. Previous research in parapsychology has used idiosyncratic set-ups such as Ganzfeld experiments, in which volunteers listen to white noise and are presented with a uniform visual field to create a state allegedly conducive to effects including clairvoyance and telepathy. By contrast, Bem set out to provide tests that mainstream psychologists could readily evaluate.

The effects he recorded were small but statistically significant. In another test, for instance, volunteers were told that an erotic image was going to appear on a computer screen in one of two positions, and asked to guess in advance which position that would be. The image's eventual position was selected at random, but volunteers guessed correctly 53.1 per cent of the time.

That may sound unimpressive – truly random guesses would have been right 50 per cent of the time, after all. But well-established phenomena such as the ability of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks are based on similarly small effects, notes Melissa Burkley of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, who has also blogged about Bem's work at Psychology Today.

Respect for a maverick

So far, the paper has held up to scrutiny. "This paper went through a series of reviews from some of our most trusted reviewers," says Charles Judd of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who heads the section of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology editorial board that handled the paper.

Indeed, although Bem is a self-described "maverick" with a long-standing interest in paranormal phenomena, he is also a respected psychologist with a reputation for running careful experiments. He is best known for the theory of self-perception, which argues that people infer their attitudes from their own behaviour in much the same way as they assess the attitudes of others.

Bem says his paper was reviewed by four experts who proposed amendments, but still recommended publication. Still, the journal will publish a sceptical editorial commentary alongside the paper, says Judd. "We hope it spurs people to try to replicate these effects."

One failed attempt at replication has already been posted online. In this study, Jeff Galak of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Leif Nelson of the University of California, Berkeley, employed an online panel called Consumer Behavior Lab in an effort to repeat Bem's findings on the recall of words.

Bem argues that online surveys are inconclusive, because it's impossible to know whether volunteers have paid sufficient attention to the task. Galak concedes that this is a limitation of the initial study, but says he is now planning a follow-up involving student volunteers that will more closely repeat the design of Bem's word-recall experiment.

This seems certain to be just the first exchange in a lively debate: Bem says that dozens of researchers have already contacted him requesting details of the work.

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Back To The Future?

Thu Nov 11 18:49:02 GMT 2010 by Dennett

Take two baby aspirin and call me yesterday morning.

reply report this comment

Back To The Future?

Thu Nov 11 18:53:36 GMT 2010 by Ivan
http://www.humancafe.com

In one experiment, students were shown a list of words and then asked to recall words from it, after which they were told to type words that were randomly selected from the same list. Spookily, the students were better at recalling words that they would later type.
This is a clear example of a "pre-loaded" test. I'm surprised they would let this pass as valid, when the students are really "re-calling" later what they already know before they typed it. Silly mistake. ... Yeah, take two. :-)

reply report this comment

Back To The Future?

Thu Nov 11 19:31:46 GMT 2010 by Samuel Walter

I think you've misunderstood the test. The first task was to look at the list of words. The second task was recall words from the list. Finally, they were given randomly selected words from the initial list and had to type them. The students had no idea what words they would be asked to type, yet the words they recalled in the second task tended to be the words later randomly selected for the last task (i.e. the test revealed apparent precognition at least to a statistically significant degree).
Obviously the jury is still out on this controversial, yet fascinating study, but kudos to Bern for devising such an ingenious way of exploring the topic using true scientific methodology in a field that has been notoriously in the fringe. Even if this study isn't the smoking gun on precognition, it's acceptance for publication and peer review in such a reputable journal is nothing short of a ground-breaking achievement

reply report this comment

Back To The Future?

Thu Nov 11 20:43:18 GMT 2010 by Graham

It's an oddly worded paragraph, but that's actually not what it means. It's trying to say that the students first wrote down whatever words they were able to recall from the list, and then were given a list of random words that had been on the list and told to type them. The students showed they had a higher instance of recalling the words on the list which they afterwards would end up receiving on the randomly generated list. To a statistically abnormal degree, it's as though their minds knew what words they were going to type in the future before they were given the random list, and so it remembered them more often than the words they wouldn't end up typing.

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via newscientist.com

Yeah, go fuck yourself entropy and temporal linearity.

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2010-11-11T11:44:00.001-08:00

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Robots to read 170-page books in 60 seconds

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 10:17 AM PST

via wired.co.uk I for one... etc. etc. ...

Construction Begins on America's First Commercial Spaceship Factory | Popular Science

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 10:05 PM PST

Construction Begins on America's First Commercial Spaceship Factory

...

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2010-11-11T10:17:00.001-08:00

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Construction Begins on America's First Commercial Spaceship Factory | Popular Science

2010-11-10T22:05:00.001-08:00

Construction Begins on America's First Commercial Spaceship Factory

By Clay Dillow Posted 11.10.2010 at 4:00 pm 9 Comments

The Spaceship Company Breaks Ground in Mojave Virgin Galactic

Who says America isn't a manufacturing economy anymore? The country has already dedicated her first commercial spaceport, and yesterday construction kicked off on her first commercial spaceship factory. The nearly 70,000 square foot facility, home of the The Spaceship Company, will build Virgin Galactic’s fleet of White Knights and SpaceShips, the carrier craft and rocket planes (respectively) that are expected to be ferrying passengers to the edge of space sometime late next year.

The Spaceship Company (TSC) is a joint venture owned by British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, the aerospace firm founded by legendary engineer Burt Rutan the visionary behind Virgin Galactic’s fleet. TSC is being constructed at the Mojave Air and Space Port and will hopefully be completed by September.

The facility is expected to turn out three White Knight carrier aircraft and five of the smaller SpaceShip rocket planes. TSC has already begun hiring engineers and technicians and will employ as many as 170 people once production begins. How’s that for creating jobs in innovative new industries?

via popsci.com

Fuck yeah space travel! One day someone will be sitting in the belly of a spaceship, complaining about how long it takes to get to Mars. And what about that spaceship food? Awful.

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2010-11-09T11:12:00.001-08:00

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Delicious chikinz and taters.

Posted: 08 Nov 2010 09:51 PM PST

Delicious chikinz and taters.

2010-11-08T21:51:00.001-08:00

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2010-11-07T10:21:00.001-08:00

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Posted: 06 Nov 2010 11:27 PM PDT

Test Mctestyballs ...

Test Mctestyballs

2010-11-06T23:27:00.001-07:00

Test Mctestyballs

Totes watching the cartoon Gargoyles. Whoever came up with this show was a genius.

2010-11-06T22:43:00.001-07:00

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2010-11-06T11:08:00.001-07:00

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Ah, I see. Posterous uses the title as the tweet and the body is linked with the URL.
Email Test
Untitled
Placebo Buttons
John Cleese answers the door

Ah, I see. Posterous uses the title as the tweet and the body is linked with the URL.

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 08:27 PM PDT

Email Test

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 08:15 PM PDT

Testing out the "post by email" function. ...

Untitled

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 08:11 PM PDT

Gonna use Posterous to post all this new creative stuff I'm going to do. Believe it? ...

Placebo Buttons

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 07:30 PM PDT

Placebo Buttons
Posted in Oddities by Greg Ross on November 4th, 2010

In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the "close door" button has no effect. Otis Elevator eng ...

John Cleese answers the door

Posted: 05 Nov 2010 07:21 PM PDT

John Cleese answers the door

23 seconds in, you can see trained humans in the background, offering the dog a biscuit if it prete ...

Ah, I see. Posterous uses the title as the tweet and the body is linked with the URL.

2010-11-05T20:27:00.001-07:00

Email Test

2010-11-05T20:15:00.001-07:00

Testing out the "post by email" function.

Untitled

2010-11-05T20:11:00.001-07:00

Gonna use Posterous to post all this new creative stuff I'm going to do. Believe it?

Placebo Buttons

2010-11-05T19:30:00.001-07:00

Placebo Buttons

Posted in Oddities by Greg Ross on November 4th, 2010

In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the “close door” button has no effect. Otis Elevator engineers confirmed the fact to the Wall Street Journal in 2003.

Similarly, many office thermostats are dummies, designed to give workers the illusion of control. “You just get tired of dealing with them and you screw in a cheap thermostat,” said Illinois HVAC specialist Richard Dawson. “Guess what? They quit calling you.”

In 2004 the New York Times reported that more than 2,500 of the 3,250 “walk” buttons in New York intersections do nothing. “The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on.”

(Thanks, Tad.)

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Ricardo said, on November 4th, 2010 at 8:45 pm

I have long theorized most of this. Now it has been confirmed.

Anon said, on November 4th, 2010 at 8:46 pm

That’s really, really sad. I had heard about the elevator one, but not the others. I know that extrapolating from rather small events to make a comment about society as a whole is rather irresponsible, but I really think that this is a bad sign for society. Do we really have so little control over our lives that we can be placated by such cheap tricks?

(Oh, and you might want to add “blinken lights”. Those are the amber-colored lights on computers that blink intermittently. They used to actually show hard drive access, which was still pretty useless, but now not so much. They’re mostly there to convince you that something is happening in your computer even when it doesn’t look like it)

JimR said, on November 4th, 2010 at 9:01 pm

I can attest to the thermostat one. When I worked for a building controls system company, one of our customers was a small medical center full of doctor’s offices. We had a fully automated building temperature control system that was optimized for the climate. The building’s facilities department received continual complaints from the doctors about the temperature in their offices, so they contracted us to provide individual controls that allowed the doctors to vary the temperature up or down by 5 degrees. We sent a tech out to install the wall units and run the wires up to the control units but due to scheduling we had to delay sending out the programmer to actually activate them.

After about two months we were able to call the facilities department to schedule the programming and they said “Don’t bother – the doctors are all perfectly happy now!” Just the impression that they had control of their environment was enough to end the complaints.

Go figure!

Mat said, on November 4th, 2010 at 9:14 pm

See self-efficacy for more information.

cjemmott said, on November 4th, 2010 at 10:10 pm

The walk buttons on my walk home (Solana Beach, CA) work. In fact, one stopped working, and I was unable to cross the street because the walk sign does not appear even when the lights cycle unless you press the button.

zeptimius said, on November 4th, 2010 at 10:21 pm

Confirm on the elevator button, as also reported in the New Yorker in a long feature article about elevators. (Yes, the New Yorker really has long feature articles on things like elevators and yes, I really read those types of articles.)

Ethan C. said, on November 4th, 2010 at 10:22 pm

Same here, in central Missouri. If you don’t press the button, the walk light doesn’t come on. Not that you can’t just cross the street anyway usually, but still…

Kris said, on November 4th, 2010 at 11:09 pm

I have enough experience walking around downtown Ogden, Utah to know that some, if not all, of the Walk buttons have a real, observable effect. Some of them have even been replaced with touch-sensitive metal discs with a red light in the middle of them. They beep when touched.

There’s one intersection at which pushing the Walk button will immediately switch the light from “Don’t Walk” to “Walk” under the right circumstances.

PUBLIUS said, on November 4th, 2010 at 11:20 pm

This is highly reminiscent of the placebo effect.

It reminds me mostly of cliffbars. They recently put in caffeine without my notice. Every morning, I eat one for breakfast. No awake effect. Then, one day, I notice it had a label that says caffeine added. Since then, they instantly wake me up upon consumption. I am fully convinced they put in caffeine before, but my not knowing it somehow nullified the effect of it.

PUBLIUS said, on November 4th, 2010 at 11:21 pm

Sorry for double posting, but just after the first post, I noticed the title blatently said Placebo buttons. Silly me! :P

Bielobog said, on November 5th, 2010 at 12:48 am

When I was a kid my mom explained to me about the walk buttons not doing anything and some trial and error showed she was right. About five years later we moved states and I was constantly complaining about “broken” walk signs until someone explained to me that some of them do change the light. Also it made me look like an idiot. I blame the engineers

Christina said, on November 5th, 2010 at 12:55 am

The close door elevator buttons work in Japan–it is quite shocking the first time you see someone go for the button and see an actual immediate effect.

Ben Kudria said, on November 5th, 2010 at 1:11 am

Anon, I think I’ll have to disagree with you about the computer lights – I’ve hooked some up myself, and they definitely work.

bobculo said, on November 5th, 2010 at 1:39 am

What if you press with peener?

6=0 said, on November 5th, 2010 at 1:40 am

Elevator close door buttons needs a key to operate since it’s there for engineers.

Dan M said, on November 5th, 2010 at 1:47 am

How about the PC keyboard’s mini-cluster of PrintScreen/SysRq, Scroll Lock and Pause/Break? Granted, PrintScreen still has some use. It and MS Paint remain my preferred method of capturing a screenshot, but I have little idea of the point of keeping the other two buttons, beyond backward compatibility. Being a Windows user, a Break key is redundant . . .

As for crosswalk buttons, here in Calgary they’re getting to be an endangered breed. Busier areas don’t have any, as the crosswalk cycle is built into the intersection timing, and many other intersections have touch sensors that beep and blink (and change the light, if it’s stale). The plunger buttons that were standard here 20 years ago are quite hard to find

If I lived someplace where some crosswalk buttons are dummies, I’d find myself a Clapper (remember those?) at a thrift store, and a covert camera. Install the Clapper’s plastic shell over the button, set up the camera covertly, then sit back with a lunch and be entertained for a little while ;)

cabal_interrogator said, on November 5th, 2010 at 5:18 am

Some walk-push buttons do actually work (down in Sydney anyway) but they generate a “walk” phase when cross-traffic is minimal. The effect of the button during normal daytime pedestrian hours is admittedly negligible.

Cf. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/713/do-push-to-walk-buttons-at-intersections-ever-actually-work

Anon said, on November 5th, 2010 at 7:36 am

@ Ben Kudria: Oh, they show that something is happening, but the original blinkenlights were rather specific instead of the “something is happening” variety. If the Jargon File is to believed, they were actually used for diagnostics, but computers today go so fast that anything you could potentially diagnose with them would result in a near-constant blur. Today, they’re essentially a highly complicated “this is on” light.

@ People talking about walk lights actually working: Note that the New York Times article doesn’t say that all of the walk buttons don’t do anything, only that the majority of them don’t.

AnotherAnon said, on November 5th, 2010 at 9:49 am

At *intersections* – the walk buttons at *intersections* – where the lights cycle continuously anyway.

Why do you need a close button? Just choose a floor.

People press such buttons automatically, the Annoying Devil on Balls of Steel (UK)spread some fake poo on a button and still, people pressed it.

Andy said, on November 5th, 2010 at 10:10 am

Perhaps this is true for recently installed Otis elevators, however since first hearing this ‘fact’ a few years back, I have tested it on many elevators in my travels (USA) and found the ‘fact’ to be generally not true of elevators in current operation. Occasionally I will find an elevator where there is no apparent effect, but it is rare.

Delta said, on November 5th, 2010 at 10:10 am

Oh, God, reality is crumbling around me.

David said, on November 5th, 2010 at 11:27 am

I work a Civilian job on an Army base … many of our buildings have non-functioning thermostats, thanks to frequent remodelings down through the years. Its true, they do give an illusion of control, even if we are still uncomfortable.

Added to that are regulations that forbid us from turning on the heat or air-conditioning until the calendar reaches a certain date. Leave it to the government to think that they can legislate the weather by issuing a memo.

wally said, on November 5th, 2010 at 11:37 am

On some elevators, pressing the chosen floor button a second time will cause the door to close sooner. Trust me, I’ve timed them.

jason said, on November 5th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

In my office we have dummy thermostats throughout the halls. They have a slider that goes from “Warmer” to “Cooler”, but even if you turn it all the way up to “Warmer”, the air conditioner blasts away.

casket salesman said, on November 5th, 2010 at 12:16 pm

and that joke on the office this season now makes that much more sense

Strodtbeck said, on November 5th, 2010 at 4:53 pm

funny stuff. Gotta give people the illusion of control or mayhem will take over.

Ding said, on November 5th, 2010 at 9:34 pm

The close elevator button works in Singapore

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Another test. Why is this not autoposting to other sites?

John Cleese answers the door

2010-11-05T19:21:00.001-07:00

John Cleese answers the door

23 seconds in, you can see trained humans in the background, offering the dog a biscuit if it pretends to be dead.
Update: Following its swift removal from YouTube you can currently view it here. NSFW.
Cheers swan_pr!

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Horsies?

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Streamlining

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Wolverine and Venom in progress

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Quick sketches. Wolvie is sharpie and Venom is ink.

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Hey, I made a Wolverine.

Coupons everybody!

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So, I bought all this shit at Safeway for less than $13. That's about $0.81 per item. I'm learning how to save money on this shit from www.grocerycouponguide.com . Check it out. I'm learning that you actually have to buy less items each time to maximize the coupons. The goal is to get all this processed crap for free or to get money back, either on that purchase or in register rewards and use that to purchase good foods. Still working on that.

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