How being nasty can improve your life

While Gryzb recommends subtle personality changes, Kihn takes it a step further. He picked up tips from the masters – Donald Trump, Scarface and "the guy in my building with a tattoo on his face" – and decided to "blowtorch away my old personality and uncover the rock-hard warrior within". In his book, Kihn devises a "10-step programme to assholism" for anyone wanting to acquaint themselves with their darker side. He himself signed up to the National Rifle Association, started kickboxing, screamed at colleagues and ate garlic bagels on public transport.

The not-so-lucky Irish

The Vikings, the Tudors, the potato famine, ...
This post onward can be found at delicious.

Never be ID'd on a security camera by wearing this contraption

It's an IR headlamp.

Great things you never knew you could do with tennis balls

34) Keep the yuckiness out of your pool by floating some tennis balls in the water. Supposedly, the balls will absorb body oils from people who swim in the water - but you need to replace them every few weeks to keep them fresh.

Tulip scam redux

Haven't read through, but tulips in the Netherlands made some headlines in '03 with some pyramid scam, I think.

Cyborg insects -- electromechanical components integrated into larvae of insects

In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS [micro-electromechanical systems] component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage.

Images taken by x-ray of insects with these changes and others found that tissue growth around the inserted probes was good. One DARPA goal is to show that during locomotion the heat and mechanical power generated by the thorax could be harnessed to power the MEMS.

Tilting at windmills: Terry Gilliam

Some unreal misfortune with the Quixote project, entitled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Otherwise, he's just too different for the studios to let do his thing.

What should you focus on in a clutch moment?

Provided that one is already proficient with the mechanics. This experiment involved high pressure moments in golf.

... concentrate on a single “holistic cue word” describing their intended movement, such as smooth.

The prostitution "crackdown" in the Netherlands

The red light district is in the oldest, most beautiful area of Amsterdam. In the last 20 years, it has changed from a mixed neighborhood to one almost exclusively peopled by the very well to do. They pay a fortune for those apartments and homes. The talk of cleaning up the neighborhood for the sake of the prostitutes and to lessen criminal behavior is simply a smokescreen. What they wish to do is to create a more up-scale neighborhood - it is gentrification pure and simple.

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor recounts her stroke

Recovered now, but interesting insights into perception.

A green clothes dryer

... a specially-engineered fluid to dry clothes using hydronic technology. By heating up a non-toxic fluid in a self-contained system, the dryer produces enough heat to dry clothes significantly faster than traditional dryers, resulting in less energy consumption and reduced energy costs for consumers.