intangible method by Scotto Moore. A provocative Internet fairy tale. I heard a reading of this at the very end of an Etech podcast. Wait, here’s a video of this presentation. Watch the video first! More about Scotto Moore later.
Humor pieces by John Hodgman. He pretends to be a literary critic giving advice to new writers, but goes off on various topics. He seems to be a Neal Pollack groupie. You may know him as the actor who plays the PC in the Mac vs. PC commercials.
Howtoons for boys, a hacker’s comic book for young boys. Here’s an video interview with the founder. Here’s the amazon link to the book itself. Here’s a kid-friendly blog with lots of videos and graphics and stuff.
10 Useful Hacks for RSS Feeds on WordPress. This comes from the incredibly useful Smashingmagazine. More tutorials. Here’s a great tutorial about using magazine-style themes on wordpress. I discovered magazine themes a few months ago and seriously considered using it for a literary project (which I later put off).
Linda Stone on email apnea, the tendency of people to hold their breath while checking email. Stones writes about the attention economy.
I called Dr. Margaret Chesney, at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Research conducted by Chesney and NIH research scientist, Dr. David Anderson, demonstrated that breath holding contributes significantly to stress-related diseases. The body becomes acidic, the kidneys begin to re-absorb sodium, and as the oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitric oxide (NO) balance is undermined, our biochemistry is thrown off.
Breath-holding and hyperventilating disturb our body’s balance of oxygen, CO2, and NO. Nitric oxide, not to be confused with the nitrous oxide used in dental offices, plays an important role in our health. From a briefing document prepared for the Royal Society and Association of British Science Writers, Pearce Wright explains, "The immune system uses nitric oxide in fighting viral, bacterial and parasitic infections, and tumors. Nitric oxide transmits messages between nerve cells and is associated with the processes of learning, memory, sleeping, feeling pain, and, probably, depression. It is a mediator in inflammation and rheumatism."
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Now I want to know: Is it only the Big Mac that makes us fat? Or, are we more obese and diabetic because of a combination of holding our breath off and on all day and then failing to move when our bodies have prepared us to do so? Can fifteen minutes of diaphragmatic breathing before a meal tune us in to when we’re full? If, when we’re doing sedentary work, and O2, CO2, and NO are optimally balanced, through healthy breathing, will we escape the ravages of an always-on sympathetic nervous system? Can daily breathing exercises contribute to helping reduce asthma, ADD, depression, obesity, and a host of other stress-related conditions?
Other pieces on Linda Stone: Fine Dining with Mobile Devices and How to Retire the Never-Ending list .
Apparently according to Yuki Noguchi thousands of people are dropping their cellphones into the toilet. Here’s tips on how to recover one.
Intrepid PBS reporter Paul Salman has a blog driven by viewer’s questions about economics. I actually contributed longish comments to the stories about credit cards.
Damn, I can’t think of a blog category for this post either.