Thursday 31 March 2011
Who Made That Radiation Symbol?
The symbol we commonly associate with radiation or radioactive materials was devised in late 1946 by an unspecified group of individuals working at the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley. At the time, the negative effects of radiation were only beginning to be understood well enough to warrant any kind of warning label. In fact, the symbol was originally intended only for local use at Berkeley, primarily in the form of hang tags (like the one above) and stickers.
Nels Garden, then the head of the Health Chemistry Group at Berkeley, is credited with promoting the symbol that has since been formalized by the federal government. In a letter he wrote describing the symbol’s origins, he said that many people in his group helped to “doodle” a sign that “would best symbolize the degree of hazard, type of activity, etc., but which was simple in design.” (The letter is quoted in the essay “A Brief History of a ‘20th Century Danger Sign’ ” by Lloyd D. Stephens and Rosemary Barrett, which is reprinted in “Health Physics: A Backward Glance,” a book edited by Ronald L. Kathren and Paul L. Ziemer.)
Any inspiration behind the three 60 degree arcs is mere speculation, but the ambiguity of its graphic shape seemingly mirrors the mysterious nature of radiation’s effects. It speaks in a far more abstract way than a simple skull and crossbones does, but no less ominously. The icon may be simple, but the weight that it carries is anything but.
Hilary Greenbaum @'NY Times'
Airstrikes killed 40 civilians in Tripoli
At least 40 civilians have been killed in airstrikes by Western forces on Tripoli, the top Vatican official in the Libyan capital told a Catholic news agency on Thursday citing witnesses.
"The so-called humanitarian raids have killed dozens of civilian victims in some neighbourhoods of Tripoli," said Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.
"I have collected several witness accounts from reliable people. In particular, in the Buslim neighbourhood, due to the bombardments, a civilian building collapsed, causing the death of 40 people," he told Fides, the news agency of the Vatican missionary arm.
Libyan officials have taken foreign reporters to the sites of what they say were the aftermath of western air strikes on Tripoli but evidence of civilian casualties have been inconclusive.
Western powers say they have no confirmed evidence of civilian casualties.
@'Reuters'
"The so-called humanitarian raids have killed dozens of civilian victims in some neighbourhoods of Tripoli," said Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.
"I have collected several witness accounts from reliable people. In particular, in the Buslim neighbourhood, due to the bombardments, a civilian building collapsed, causing the death of 40 people," he told Fides, the news agency of the Vatican missionary arm.
Libyan officials have taken foreign reporters to the sites of what they say were the aftermath of western air strikes on Tripoli but evidence of civilian casualties have been inconclusive.
Western powers say they have no confirmed evidence of civilian casualties.
@'Reuters'
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Statue of Art Icon Andy Warhol Unveiled in Union Square
Warhol finally has his tribute: The Andy Monument.
The pop art icon, who worked in the Union Square area until 1984 and passed away in 1987, is returning to the area in the guise of a ghostly silver 10-foot-tall sculpture by Rob Pruitt.
The shiny chrome statue towers over the pedestrian plaza at 17th Street, across from the park and near the spot where he was shot by Valerie Solanas in 1968.
Pruitt fashioned the statue, commissioned by the Public Art Fund, by using digital scanning of a live model — his friend and Cincinnati art collector Andy Stillpass — and hand sculpting.
He imagined Warhol in 1977, dressed in Levi's 501s, a Brooks Brothers blazer, wearing a Polaroid camera around his neck and carrying a Medium Brown Bag from Bloomingdale's, which in Pruitt's mind, is filled with copies of Interview magazine. Warhol founded the magazine in 1969 and would often hand out copies on the street, Pruitt said.
Also, Pruitt recounted Warhol's fondness for Bloomies. The artist, who considered it heaven, famously once said, "Death is like going to Bloomingdale's."
Warhol's world, filled with artists, junkies, drag queens and other social misfits, attracted people like Pruitt to come to New York. He came here in 1982 to go to Parsons, leaving the suburbs of Washington, D.C. where he had four cats — Andy, Halston, Calvin and Liza — named for Warhol's pack of Studio 54 friends.
"It's kind of inexplicable how that information got to me in pre-Internet existence," said Pruitt, who first met Warhol at a book signing the artist held at a D.C. bookstore. Pruitt bought a bunch of Brillo boxes and Campbell's soup cans for the artist to sign, which Pruitt still has in his childhood bedroom.
Pruitt believes the statue — only slated to be on view through Oct. 2 — will become a pilgrimage site.
"I think it's a wonderful bookend to the Statue of Liberty," said Public Art Fund president Susan Freedman. "He was a beacon that brought people to New York in a very different way… for another generation of seekers and people feeling like outcasts."
Jennifer Falk, the executive director of the Union Square Partnership, anticipates there will be even more than the 150,000 daily visitors passing through Union Square because of the statue.
Warhol joins the park's statues of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi, who is often dressed up by parkgoers.
"I'm wondering if people will leave Campbell soup cans here," Falk said.
But not everyone knew what the statue was about.
"It's eye catching to say the least," said Kay Kim, 35, who was strolling her baby past the statue.
She first asked if it was an advertisement for Bloomingdale's. "It has a Medium Brown Bag," she pointed out. "I thought it was one of those animated people that stand still. I'm waiting for it to move."
Amy Zimmer @'DNAinfo'
Why I called Bradley Manning's treatment 'stupid'
As a public diplomat and (until recently) spokesman of the department of state, I was responsible for explaining the national security policy of the United States to the American people and populations abroad. I am also a retired military officer who has long believed that our civilian power must balance our military power. Part of our strength comes from international recognition that the United States practises what we preach. Most of the time, we do. This strategic narrative has made us, broadly speaking, the most admired country in the world.
To be clear, Private Manning is rightly facing prosecution and, if convicted, should spend a long, long time in prison. Having been deeply engaged in the WikiLeaks issue for many months, I know that the 251,000 diplomatic cables included properly classified information directly connected to our national interest. The release placed the lives of activists around the world at risk.
Julian Assange and others have suggested that the release of the cables was to expose wrongdoing. Nonsense.
While everyone can point to an isolated cable, taken as a whole, the cables tell a compelling story of "rightdoing" – of US diplomats engaged in 189 countries around the world, working on behalf of the American people, and serving broader interests as well. As a nation, we are proud of the story the cables tell, even as we decry their release.
But I understood why the question was asked. Private Manning's family, joined by a number of human rights organisations, has questioned the extremely restrictive conditions he has experienced at the brig at Marine Corps base Quantico, Virginia. I focused on the fact that he was forced to sleep naked, which led to a circumstance where he stood naked for morning call.
Based on 30 years of government experience, if you have to explain why a guy is standing naked in the middle of a jail cell, you have a policy in need of urgent review. The Pentagon was quick to point out that no women were present when he did so, which is completely beside the point.
The issue is a loss of dignity, not modesty.
Our strategic narrative connects our policies to our interests, values and aspirations. While what we do, day in and day out, is broadly consistent with the universal principles we espouse, individual actions can become disconnected. Every once in a while, even a top-notch symphony strikes a discordant note. So it is in this instance.
The Pentagon has said that it is playing the Manning case by the book. The book tells us what actions we can take, but not always what we should do. Actions can be legal and still not smart. With the Manning case unfolding in a fishbowl-like environment, going strictly by the book is not good enough. Private Manning's overly restrictive and even petty treatment undermines what is otherwise a strong legal and ethical position.
When the United States leads by example, we are not trying to win a popularity contest. Rather, we are pursuing our long-term strategic interest. The United States cannot expect others to meet international standards if we are seen as falling short. Differences become strategic when magnified through the lens of today's relentless 24/7 global media environment.
So, when I was asked about the "elephant in the room," I said the treatment of Private Manning, while well-intentioned, was "ridiculous" and "counterproductive" and, yes, "stupid".
I stand by what I said. The United States should set the global standard for treatment of its citizens – and then exceed it. It is what the world expects of us. It is what we should expect of ourselves.
PJ Crowley @'The Guardian'
Gad Saad - The Consuming Instinct (TEDxConcordia)
Marketing prof Gad Saad discusses the biological and evolutionary roots of our consuming instinct.
TraffickingEnd The US Govt. spends more per day in the war on drugs than they do the entire year on the War on #trafficking
Andy Votel and Jane Weaver's Europium Alluminate Mix
Andy Votel and Jane Weaver have brewed a magical blend of spectral, eldritch, female-centric folk called Europium Alluminate. Its tracklist (damnably AWOL, as is common with many Votel-helmed mixes) emanates from a time when irony in music was mostly unconscionable. The prevalent doe-eyed sincerity is positively touching and the gentle sonic strangeness utterly charming. Download the mix for free here.
The clip below gives you an idea of Weaver's aesthetics(!)
Dave Segal @'Line Out'
The clip below gives you an idea of Weaver's aesthetics(!)
Dave Segal @'Line Out'
A day with deadmau5: LEDs, Super Mario, and techno
The first thing we asked Joel was what came first: the tech or the music? He told us that they both kind of came together, but that he was first a techie. He started producing chiptune tracks at age fifteen (which happens to be a genre quite familiar to a certain unnamed podcast), and served as the technical person at a dance radio station in Canada in his late teens. Thus, it makes sense that his productions are technologically advanced, and that's most certainly the case of the most recent edition. The main setup consists of the LED cube and helmet, which are both linked together on one main server via Ethernet...
Continue reading
Jacob Schulman @'engadget'
AJELive US military: Coalition jet fighters have so far flown 784 sorties over #Libya. The US: 1206. More at #AlJazeera: http://aje.me/hwGxvv #feb17
Listen to Panda Bear's DJ Set for NPR
Photo by Brian DeRanMP3: Panda Bear: "Last Night at the Jetty"
Panda Bear recently did some time in the NPR studios with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. He played and discussed a few cuts from his forthcoming solo album Tomboy (out April 12 on Paw Tracks), "You Can Count on Me", "Slow Motion", and "Last Night at the Jetty" (the latter of which you can also check out above). He also spun music from folks like Nirvana, Zomby, and fellow Animal Collective bandmate Avey Tare. Head here to listen to the whole thing.
Larry Fitzmaurice @'Pitchfork'
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