“The Owners Would Be Paid For The Energy Their Vehicles Produce”

October 11, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

I know that some health clubs have rigged their treadmills so that exercisers produce energy to help run the gyms, and experiments show that smart sidewalks can turn pedestrians into a power source. So, it only makes sense that automobiles could be used to create, not just consume, energy. From the Futurist:

“A scheme envisioned at the Technology University of Delft would use fuel cells of parked electric vehicles to convert biogas or hydrogen into more electricity. And the owners would be paid for the energy their vehicles produce. 

Another project at the university is the Energy Wall, a motorway whose walls generate energy for roadside lighting and serve as a support for a people mover on top.”

“They Will Surely Have Some Very Disruptive Effects”

October 11, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

Connected personal computers mostly disrupted pure-information businesses like music and travel agencies. But 3D printers will strain even endeavors that require a physical component. From Peter Frase at Jacobin:

“Like the computer, the 3-D printer is a tool that can rapidly dis-intermediate a production process. Computers allowed people to turn a downloaded digital file into music or movies playing in their home, without the intermediary steps of manufacturing CDs or DVDs and distributing them to record stores. Likewise, a 3-D printer could allow you to turn a digital blueprint (such as a CAD file) into an object, without the intermediate step of manufacturing the object in a factory and shipping it to a store or warehouse. While 3-D printers aren’t going to suddenly make all of large-scale industrial capitalism obsolete, they will surely have some very disruptive effects.

The people who were affected by the previous stage of the file-sharing explosion were cultural producers (like musicians) who create new works, and the middlemen (like record companies) who made money selling physical copies of those works. These two groups have interests that are aligned at first, but are ultimately quite different. Creators find their traditional sources of income undermined, and thus face the choice of allying with the middlemen to shore up the existing regime, or else attempting to forge alternative ways of paying the people who create culture and information. But while the creators remain necessary, a lot of the middlemen are being made functionally obsolete. Their only hope is to maintain artificial monopolies through the draconian enforcement of intellectual property, and to win public support by presenting themselves as the defenders of deserving artists and creators.” (Thanks Browser.)

Tags:

“A Library Of A Million Volumes Could Be Compressed Into One End Of A Desk”

October 11, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

From a new Maria Popova piece at Slate about Vannevar Bush’s 1945 Atlantic essay, “As We May Think,” a passage about the compression of information:

“Marveling at the rapid rate of technological progress, which has made possible the increasingly cheap production of increasingly reliable machines, Bush makes an enormously important—and timely—point about the difference between merely compressing information to store it efficiently and actually making use of it in the way of gleaning knowledge. (This, bear in mind, despite the fact that 90 percent of data in the world today was created in the last two years.)

Assume a linear ratio of 100 for future use. Consider film of the same thickness as paper, although thinner film will certainly be usable. Even under these conditions there would be a total factor of 10,000 between the bulk of the ordinary record on books, and its microfilm replica. The Encyclopoedia Britannica could be reduced to the volume of a matchbox. A library of a million volumes could be compressed into one end of a desk. If the human race has produced since the invention of movable type a total record, in the form of magazines, newspapers, books, tracts, advertising blurbs, correspondence, having a volume corresponding to a billion books, the whole affair, assembled and compressed, could be lugged off in a moving van. Mere compression, of course, is not enough; one needs not only to make and store a record but also be able to consult it, and this aspect of the matter comes later. Even the modern great library is not generally consulted; it is nibbled at by a few.”

Tags: ,

Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

October 11, 2012 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

“Furries.’

Is your alternate lifestyle worthy of a reality show?

Major production company seeking individuals, couples, groups, and interesting locations for a wide-ranging series project about sex and relationships — especially alternate lifestyles in America.We’re looking to explore unique, refreshing, interesting, “push the envelope” stories — in a respectful and non-judgmental way. Our host a world-renown TV personality and best-selling author.

Some of the many, many topics we’re seeking to explore include: Polyamory, Bondage/BDSM, Furries, Sex Clubs, Suburban wife-swapping — Or ANYTHING you else you want the world to know about.

“Polyamory.”

“Heavy, Monotonous Tasks That Used To Occupy Twenty-Five Works Are Now Overseen By Just Two Machine Operators”

October 11, 2012 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

Ikea furniture assembled by bots created by your friends at Motoman.

Old Print Article: “Death Of The Bearded Woman,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1862)

October 11, 2012 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

“Julia Pastrana is as great a curiosity now as when she was alive.”

A bearded lady who was an attraction at dime museums managed to have an even odder “existence” after her death, as revealed by this article in the March 28, 1862 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Julia Pastrana, the ‘Bearded Woman,’ who was exhibited for some time at Barnum’s Museum, and subsequently in various parts of this country and Europe, died in Moscow in 1860. A London  paper gives the follow strange particulars of her posthumous career:

‘On the following day she was embalmed by her medical adviser at the request of her husband, on the understanding that she should be his property, he paying the process of embalming. A dispute arose subsequently as to his right to the body, which rendered it necessary for him to produce the marriage certificate, which he went to America to fetch, and having transmitted the necessary documents to his agent here, he died in New York. The body thus fell into the hands of his agent, and after being shut up for two years, it is now exhibited at the Burlington Gallery, Piccadilly. The figure is dressed in the ordinary costume used during her life, and her bust, face and arms present pretty much the appearance of a well-stuffed animal.

The embalming is effected by injecting a fluid at an opening in the chest. The limbs are plump and round as in life, with the the exception of the fingers, which are somewhat shriveled, and as a specimen of the art of preserving a human body, Julia Pastrana is as great a curiosity now as when she was alive. Her child, which lived thirty-six hours, is also exhibited; its flat nose and thick hair on the head give it an appearance which is most unpleasant to contemplate.”

Tags:

“Isn’t The Excellence Of Art Dependent On A Reaction?”

October 11, 2012 in Videos | Permalink

Rod Serling discusses TV writing, Fellini, Bergman, Chekhov and other topics with a group of college students during the latter part off his abbreviated life. 

Tags:

“Bradbury Spent His Childhood Goosing His Imagination With The Outlandish”

October 11, 2012 in Books, Excerpts, Science/Tech | Permalink

In Lauren Weiner’s New Atlantis article about Ray Bradbury, she provides a tidy description of the Space Age sage’s youthful education:

“Bradbury spent his childhood goosing his imagination with the outlandish. Whenever mundane Waukegan was visited by the strange or the offbeat, young Ray was on hand. The vaudevillian magician Harry Blackstone came through the industrial port on Lake Michigan’s shore in the late 1920s. Seeing Blackstone’s show over and over again marked Bradbury deeply, as did going to carnivals and circuses, and watching Hollywood’s earliest horror offerings like Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera. He read heavily in Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw, Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, L. Frank Baum, and Edgar Rice Burroughs; the latter’s inspirational and romantic children’s adventure tales earned him Bradbury’s hyperbolic designation as ‘probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world.’

Then there was the contagious enthusiasm of Bradbury’s bohemian, artistic aunt and his grandfather, Samuel, who ran a boardinghouse in Waukegan and instilled in Bradbury a kind of wonder at modern life. He recounted: ‘When I was two years old I sat on his knee and he had me tickle a crystal with a feathery needle and I heard music from thousands of miles away. I was right then and there introduced to the birth of radio.’

His family’s temporary stay in Arizona in the mid-1920s and permanent relocation to Los Angeles in the 1930s brought Bradbury to the desert places that he would later reimagine as Mars. As a high-schooler he buzzed around movie and radio stars asking for autographs, briefly considered becoming an actor, and wrote and edited science fiction ‘fanzines’ just as tales of robots and rocket ships were gaining in popularity in wartime America. He befriended the staffs of bicoastal pulp magazines like Weird Tales,Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dime Mystery, and Captain Future by bombarding them with submissions, and, when those were rejected, with letters to the editor. This precocity was typical. Science fiction and ‘fantasy’ — a catchall term for tales of the supernatural that have few or no fancy machines in them — drew adolescent talent like no other sector of American publishing. Isaac Asimov was in his late teens when he began writing for genre publications; Ursula K. Le Guin claimed to have sent in stories from the age of eleven.”

••••••••••

Harry Blackstone, Sr. with his classic bit, “The Bunny Trick”:

Tags: , ,

“Constructed Entirely Of Metal, But Controlled By The Voice”

October 10, 2012 in Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

Some 1934 footage of Alpha the Robot, armed and dangerous, in action.

“All History Has Become A Record Of Disturbance”

October 10, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

In his Aeon think-piece about environmentalism, Liam Heneghan suggests that in order to save nature we need to free ourselves of some accepted notions of preservation in favor of a more integrative approach:

“The environmental historian Donald Worster writes about the fall of the ‘balance of nature’ as an idea, and points out that this disruptive world-view makes nature seem awfully like the human sphere. ‘All history,’ he notes, ‘has become a record of disturbance, and that disturbance comes from both cultural and natural agents.’ Thus he places droughts and pests alongside corporate takeovers and the invasion of the academy by French literary theory. If the idea of a balance resurrects Plato and Aristotle, the non-equilibrium, disturbance-inclined view may have its own Greek hero: Heraclitus, pagan saint of flux. ‘Thunderbolt,’ Heraclitus wrote in Fragment 64, ‘steers all things.’

In its brief history, the science of ecology appears to have smuggled in enough ancient metaphysics to make any Greek philosopher nod with approval. However, the question remains. If the handsaw and hurricane are equivalents in their ability to lay a forest low, it is hard to see how we can scientifically criticise the human destruction of ecosystems. Why should we, for instance, concern ourselves with the fate of the Western Ghats if alien introductions are just another disturbance, no different from the more natural-seeming migration of species? The point of conservation in the popular imagination and in many policy directives is that it resists human depredations to preserve important species in ancient, intact, fully functional natural ecosystems. If we have no ‘balance of nature’, this is much harder to defend.

If we lose the ideal of balance, then, we lose a powerful motive for environmental conservation. However, there might be some unintended benefits. A dynamic, ‘disturbance’ approach has fostered some of the most promising new approaches to environmental problems such as urban ecology and restoration ecology. That’s because it is much less concerned with keeping humans and nature separate from one another.“

Tags:

“How Could Electrodes Improve Sex?”

October 10, 2012 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

From Bibliokept, a prescient if utopian passage about the intersection of sex and technology from a 1972 Penthouse interview with William S. Burroughs:

“Penthouse:

How could electrodes improve sex?

William S. Burroughs:

Well, socially, first of all. Here’s one person over here and another person over here, and they want something sexually but they can’t get together and society will see that they don’t. That’s why the law persecuted magazines carrying advertisements for sex partners. But advertisements are a crude method; the whole process could be done on a computer. Perhaps people could be brought together on terms of having reciprocal brainwaves. Everyone could be provided through the computer with someone else who was completely sexually compatible. But it’s more important than this. If the human species is going to mutate in any way, then the mutations must come through sex–how else could they? And sooner or later the species must mutate or it dies out.”

Tags:

“The Strange Properties Of One Boy’s Eyes Has Made Him An Internet Sensation”

October 10, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Sometimes when we know something different, even scary, is soon to begin, we nervously misread its arrival. In a simple genetic mutation, for instance, we can see the future of genetic engineering, a science that can make us great but right now just makes us uneasy. From Peter Murray at Singularity Hub, a story about a Chinese boy born with blue eyes who’s viewed as a real-life X-Man in his homeland:

“Although the notion is revolting to many, at some point in the future we’ll have the know-how and the tools to genetically modify our bodies to make us stronger, better looking, more intelligent. In Dahua, in south China, the strange properties of one boy’s eyes has made him an Internet sensation. Headlines abound label him a one-of-a-kind, real life X-Man, miraculously given the gift of cat-like vision through genetic mutation.

In all likelihood, however, his miracle probably only extends as far as being able to see at night a little bit better than average, and even this has not been properly documented. In all likelihood, this is more a case of wishful thinking, overactive imagination, and the desire for attention.

Nong Yousui’s blue eyes are an anomalous, but not entirely unseen, occurrence among Chinese children. They are rare enough, however, to trigger worry among Yousui’s parents. Doctors promptly allayed their worries, saying that the boy’s vision was fine.

Years later, Yousui finds himself the center of an online frenzy.”

Tags:

A Brief Note From 1897 About A Corncob

October 10, 2012 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the March 19, 1897 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Bedford, Ind.--Charley Winters, aged 10, and Willie Babbitt, about the same age, played William Tell, and in lieu of an apple Babbitt placed a corncob upon his head. Winters, using a revolver, shot at the corncob, and the ball striking the Babbitt boy in the forehead, killed him instantly.”

Tags: ,

“Brian Eno Appropriately And Simply Describes Himself As A Synthesist”

October 10, 2012 in Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

The full 40-minute 1989 Eno documentary, “Imaginary Landscapes.”

Tags:

“They Soon Became All The Rage In The Region”

October 10, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

“De humani corporis fabrica libri septem,” Andreas Vesalius, 1543.

From a Discovery list of obscure facts about postmortems, a passage about the autopsy as live performance:

“Paduan judge Marcantonio Contarini, obsessed with the anatomical drawings of Andreas Vesalius, endorsed autopsies on executed criminals; they soon became all the rage in the region. Starting in 1539, hangings were scheduled around planned autopsies, which were performed to packed houses in special theaters.”

Tags: ,

“The Real And The Unreal In A Sense Became Totally Confused”

October 9, 2012 in Books, Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

If you read this blog regularly, you know I’m a little obsessed with Clifford Irving, the writer who in 1970 accepted a million-dollar check for his authorized biography of the reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes. One problem: Hughes knew nothing about the book. The author was trying to pass off a fake and pocket a huge payday, and just as fascinating as the ruse was Irving doggedly sticking to his story even after the whole thing fell apart spectacularly. It was a literary scandal of Madoff-ian proportions, and a case study in extreme psychological behavior.

In 1972, as Irving was about to serve a stretch in prison for fraud, Ramparts magazine assigned Abbie Hoffman to do a Q&A with the trickster. An excerpt from the resulting article, “How Clifford Irving Stole That Book“:

Abbie Hoffman:

Did you ever get the idea, once the authenticity was questioned, of publishing it as a work of fiction? Would that have been really possible?

Clifford Irving:

You mean since recent events?

Abbie Hoffman:

Yeah.

Clifford Irving:

Oh, yeah, I still would like to have the book published. I think it’s the best novel I’ve ever written and it could easily be turned into a novel. It could also be published as is, provided libelous passages were taken out of it and provided that it stated very clearly that it’s a bogus autobiography of Howard Hughes. There is a court ruUng on it. As we understand it the court has given us permission to publish part or all of the book, provided that it’s made perfectly clear that it doesn’t purport to be genuine.

Abbie Hoffman:

I thought a funny incident occurred at Germaine Greer’s press party when you were introduced to Chief Red Fox. Could you talk about that a little?

Clifford Irving:

I went to this cocktail party. I was dragged along by Beverly Loo and Robert Stewart. I hate those damn cocktail parties but I had nothing to do and I wanted to meet Germaine Greer ’cause I heard she was six feet tall. But she was far more interested in talking to women’s liberation people and I stood around like a dope for awhile until I saw this beautiful old man in a corner. I asked about him and was told that’s Chief Red Fox, a 101-year-old Sioux Indian chief, and I said, ‘Beautiful, I’ve got to meet him.’ And I sat at his feet for an hour or two, talked to him, and he was a marvelous old man. But the way he came on to me with the broad American accent and told me how he danced at supermarket openings and was on the Johnny Carson Show where he did a war dance to liven things up, also the way he talked about Indian history, made me a little leery and I thought, well, he’s great but he’s not a 101-year-old Sioux Indian chief. Despite the fact that he was decked out like a technicolor western with a war bonnet and greasepaint make-up. And I went up to Beverly Loo and said,’He’s a great man, Beverly, but he’s no more a 101-year-old Sioux Indian than you’re the Empress Loo of the Ming Dynasty. She got very uptight about that and said, ‘What do you mean? How dare you!’ and I decided not to upset her any further so I backed off. Then of course it turned out later that there were great doubts thrown on the veracity of his books and his identity as well. I don’t know if I really smelled it out but something was funny there. I think maybe I was thinking in terms of a hoax since I was involved with one, and Chief Red Fox seemed to fit right into the category.

Abbie Hoffman:

When incidents like that happened did you start to feel you were watching a movie being made about your life or that you were acting out some kind of movie role?

Clifford Irving:

Well, going through that year I often felt that it was a happening because we sometimes had control over events but so many things happened that were absurd. And after awhile—not that I saw myself as a movie star—I saw this whole thing developing as a script, a movie script which no one would ever buy because it was ridiculous, it couldn’t possibly happen. The real and the unreal in a sense became totally confused—not that I really thought I was writing the autobiography of Howard Hughes, although of course in the act of creation you have to believe to a certain extent, but when you stop work you don’t believe any more. I mean you know what you’re doing but all the events had such a quality of ludicrousness and fantasy and coincidence that reality did at times blend with unreality. I think for the publishers as well.•

“I thought, well, he’s great but he’s not a 101-year-old Sioux Indian chief.”

See also:

Tags: , , , , ,

“Can You Really Be Fond Of Something You Know You Plan To Replace?”

October 9, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

Devin Coldewey has a smart essay at Techcrunch pointing out that the tech items we use constantly and depend on for function, the ones that look so beautiful, provide little emotional connection for us because of their uniform and disposable nature. I agree with his assessment of digital culture, where disposal is built into the agreement. Analog technology, like those scratchy LP records that were purchased to not only be played but also to be collected, can hold us in their sway and attach themselves to our hearts and minds. Not so with an iPod. An excerpt:

“It’s a puzzling and complicated relationship we have with technology, as it is personified (for lack of a better term) in our iPhones, laptops, and other gadgets. We hold them and touch them every day, look at them for hours on end, sleep next to them. But how little we care for them!

I know that much of this is because what interests us in our devices is not the device itself, but that to which it is a conduit. Our friends, a map of the world, the whole of human knowledge (if not wisdom) at our fingertips. I don’t value my laptop the way I value my jacket because if I lose the laptop, my friends and Google and Wikipedia will still be there, waiting for me to find another way to get at them. It’s not so surprising, then, that we don’t value this middle-man object much.

And although we share so much of our lives with these devices, they don’t last very long. We’re like serial monogamists, committed until something better comes along, usually after a year or two. Can you really be fond of something you know you plan to replace?

Yet however reasonable it appears, still it disturbs me. It strikes me as wrong that our most powerful and expensive and familiar objects should be the ones we love the least.”

Tags:

“Baumgartner Would Become The First Human To Ever Break The Sound Barrier In Free-Fall”

October 9, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech | Permalink

I’m with Neil Armstrong: You never should take risks just for the sake of taking risks. But I would assume Felix Baumgartner’s derring-do in his spacesuit will aid science in some manner. High winds got the best of Baumgartner over the past 48 hours, so his historic fall from the heavens has been delayed. From Paul Harris in the Guardian:

“Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s attempt to parachute to earth from the edge of space has been postponed for the second day running after gusty winds in New Mexico hampered the launch of the balloon that would take him skywards.

Baumgartner, a 43-year-old former soldier, was aiming to jump from 23 miles above the Earth in a specially pressurised suit, plummetting to the ground at speeds that would break the sound barrier before he triggers his parachute.

The stunt, if successful, would break five world records. Baumgartner would become the first human to ever break the sound barrier in free-fall; make the highest free-fall altitude jump, ride the highest manned balloon flight and longest free-fall and his jump platform is believed to be the largest manned balloon in history.”

Tags: ,

Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

October 9, 2012 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

“I threw a few new ones in there a few days ago.”

Toenail Collection – for sale – $9 (Newark)

This is a very rare in-valuable item. I mean, how do I know how to price this, what it’s worth? You won’t find somethin’ like this on e-bay, bet your ass! I’ve decided to sell my entire toenail collection that I have been collecting for many many years now. I was going to put this ad under the Antiques category, but I threw a few new ones in there a few days ago. Been keeping ‘em since I was about 6, I’m 81 now. I’m willing to do PayPal and mail this out to you. Or, we can meet in Newark somewhere. Not near the airport….wouldn’t want a big wind from a plane to come by just as I’m opening the jar.

The jar is included, with the screw-on top….if I’m gonna mail this out to you, you wouldn’t want these to get loose and all mixed around in the mail, so I’ll keep ‘em in the jar. Might be worse than Anthrax! But, better yet, if we meet in person, I can update the jar with my latest nails. Bring scissors. And exact change.

“Do You Have Small Hands? Do You Smell Like Cabbage?”

October 9, 2012 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

For some reason, a carnival worker subjected himself to an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Wiseasses descended immediately. Some highlights follow.

———————————————————————————————————

Question:

Do you have small hands? Do you smell like cabbage?

Answer:

No I have normal sized hands.

And no I don’t. I’m actually super particular about my smell. I always use the same scent of everything. Right now my shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, body spray, body wash are all from dove fresh cucumber. I’ll probably change it for fall/winter though.

———————————————————————————————————

Question:

Could you throw a hoop on the chimney of my house?

Answer:

Maybe? If I had a lot of tries?

———————————————————————————————————

Question:

How often do you have to clean up vomit from the tilt-a-whirl?

Answer:

I never had to but the cleaning people have to do it pretty often. We call it a protein spill. Actually one of the cleaning people threw up as well just kind of in front of ring toss and then he went home and another cleaning person came and cleaned it up. We have a lot of sweepers though…sometimes I think they just have nothing to sweep really and they just walk around.

“Nothing Gets My Irish Up More Than A Soggy, Wishy-Washy Cereal”

October 9, 2012 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Instead of milk, Jimmy Breslin added Piels to his Grape-Nuts. From the 1970s.

See also:

Tags:

Even More Proof That Donald Trump Is A Moron

October 9, 2012 in Humor, Politics | Permalink

Donald Trump: Comcast’s resident racist.

Donald Trump, a walking dunce cap with a distended belly, thinks he’s fooling someone. In addition to his usual Birther garbage, Trump enjoys insinuating that our first African-American President only could have risen to such heights with the aid of Affirmative Action, that he was incapable of success without handouts from white people. He derides President Obama’s distinguished education as being likely the largesse of white benefactors, not an achievement borne of talent and effort. He insists that President Obama release his college application and transcripts. Curious that he never asked for the college paperwork from any previous President, including George W. Bush, who, even by his own admission, was an unserious student who got into Yale, the school his father attended. I suppose if you’re rich, it’s not considered a handout.

A person who was given advantages he didn’t deserve was Trump himself, who inherited family wealth and connections. And even then the dum-dum nearly blew it. Trump likes to think of himself as a “job creator” and a “leader,” but without the material advantages handed him by his daddy, he would have been another mediocre middle manager with a massive ego being sent to Human Resources due to his lousy deportment.

Because Trump doesn’t realize that he’s a gigantic buffoon and that his bullshit is transparent, he thinks that if he sends out a few complimentary tweets about other African-Americans, his bigoted assaults on the President won’t reveal him to be the huge racist he is.

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

Glad to hear that @RobinRoberts is doing well. She is a terrific person.

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

If Obama mentions Mitt’s tax returns in tomorrow’s debate then Mitt should immediately ask for Obama’s college records & applications

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

Congrats to @Yankees on finishing 1st in the AL East. Derek Jeter is great–good luck in the playoffs!

Marla Maples: Divorce-related cartwheels.

Tags: , , , , ,

“Treatment Of Most Diseases Still Focuses Largely On Managing Symptoms”

October 9, 2012 in Excerpts, Science/Tech | Permalink

From “Patient, Heal Thyself,” Randy Rieland’s new post at Smithsonian, a passage about the hopes for duplicating regenerative medicine in humans which is exhibited in a particular type of mouse:

“Mammals scar after they tear their skin. But not the spiny mouse. It can lose more than 50 percent of its skin and then grow a near perfect replacement, including new hair. Its ears are even more magical. When scientists drilled holes in them, the mice were able to not only grow more skin, but also new glands, hair follicles and cartilage.

And that’s what really excites researchers in human regenerative medicine, a fast-emerging field built around finding ways to boost the body’s ability to heal itself. As amazingly sophisticated as medicine has become, treatment of most diseases still focuses largely on managing symptoms–insulin shots to keep diabetes in check, medications to ease the strain on a damaged heart.

But regenerative medicine could dramatically change health care by shifting the emphasis to helping damaged tissue or organs repair themselves.”

Tags:

Old Print Article: “Once A Millionaire, But Now A Pauper In Chicago,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1896)

October 9, 2012 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

“He owned a large part of the city of Tombstone.”

A rags-to-riches-to-rags story that played out in Tombstone, Arizona, and Chicago, Illinois, was reported in the January 24, 1896 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:

“He used to be called the Duke of Tombstone when an Arizona settlement marveled at the recklessness of a man who bathed three times a day when water was five cents a gallon. Edwin Fields in those days changed his white flannel suit whenever the smallest blemish in the way of dust was noticeable and rode behind a pair of horses that were a sensation in a community where burros were the highest type of draft animals. Now he is poor old Ed Fields, and when he gets out of the county hospital, where a Harrison Street police ambulance took him last night, he will be taken to the poorhouse at Dunning to spend his few remaining years in contemplation of the time when he owned a large part of the city of Tombstone and a mine worth more than half a million. Too poor to ask for help, yet sorely in need of it; too proud to ask for money and yet having a brother whose fortune is vast, he was taken from a lodging house at 68 Thirteenth Street against his will, on the strength of a certificate obtained by Dr. A.W. Cowley, who had found that his mind was failing and that he needed comforts he once would have scorned.

Dr. Joseph H. Greer of 307 Oakley Avenue knew Fields in Arizona and had assisted him from time to time during the past three years in Chicago.

‘I went to Tombstone, Ariz., in 1879,’ said Dr. Greer, ‘and Fields was there before me, although the town contained but seventy-five people at that time. He was squatting on some mining property, which was not supposed to be of much value. But the town grew to 15,000, and he owned two-thirds of the town site, so his rents increased until they gave him an income of $4,000 a month. The mine which he owned was called the Gilded Age, and proved to be a rich property. Fields’ title to it was was a little shaky, but he was backed by Boston and New York capital, and in the end secured a perfect title. He sold the mine in 1881 or 1882 for $600,000 in cash, every cent of which went to him. After the town grew and Fields amassed his wealth he assumed a mode of life that made him the most conspicuous character in the West.

“He had lost most of his property in speculation on the board of trade, and then had taken to the bucket shops.”

‘I left Tombstone and settled in Chicago. One day during the World’s Fair period a seedy looking individual stepped into my office and I recognized Edwin Fields. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me with a mournful smile that he was store man at the Southern Hotel. His salary, he said, was $14 a month. Where had his money gone? Well, I asked him that one day, for I could not understand how a man who never drank, never played cards or gambled to my knowledge, could have squandered a cool million of dollars, which amount he certainly possessed at one time. He told me that he had lost most of his property in speculation on the board of trade, and then had taken to the bucket shops, where the rest of his money had taken wings.

‘He was at this time, even with his pittance of a salary, drifting daily to the bucket shops in the vain endeavor to retrieve his lost fortune. I do not know his birthplace, but he was an Eastern man and well connected. He has a sister living at Steubenville, O.; a brother at Farleys, N.M., who owns a sheep ranch; and another brother who owns an immense coconut plantation in the Samoan islands. Such has been his pride or perverseness that he never would seek aid from them. He has roomed at the house of Mrs. Fitch, 68 Thirteenth Street, whenever he was without employment. I fear he will not live long, as he is suffering from a complication of diseases and is now an old man.'”

Tags: , , ,

“The Two Big Hang-Ups In Our Society Are Money And Sex”

October 8, 2012 in Politics, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Decades before he was a reality show caricature who swam in the shallow end of American pop culture, Hugh Hefner was a trailblazer politically and socially, even if his taste in art was meh. At the tail end of his cultural prominence, in 1974, he was interviewed by James Day.

Tags: ,

« Older entries § Newer entries »