It's ok to be dorks, but do we have to bring our dogs into it?

Techie Diva's Guide to Gadgets : Transform Your Dog Into a Walking Jukebox

Dept. of Copy Editing. - Show me the way to go home

From the The Scout Report -- July 27, 2007, a part of the Internet Scout Project:

1. Open Architecture Network [Macromedia Flash Player, pdf]
http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/

The Open Architecture Network site starts things off with a bold and
passionate statement: “Le Corbusier had it all wrong”. It’s definitely a
good way to get visitors’ attention upon entering the site. The Network is
an online, open source community which seeks to improve living conditions
through innovative and sustainable design. On the site, visitors can share
their design ideas and plans, review and comment on posted designs, and also
collaborate with each other. Visitors will no doubt get exited about the
“Projects” section, which is both intellectually stimulating and well-
designed. Visitors can search the projects by status, region, location, or
theme, or they can also perform a keyword search as well. There are some
wonderful finds here, including a childcare school in Sri Lanka, a day
laborer shelter, and a “Doc-in-a-Box”, which is meant to serve as a mobile
health care center. [KMG]

Happy Birthday, Sandra

We hope you'll enjoy your day of whitewater rafting.

YouTube - Helsinki Complaints Choir

Eight-and-a-half minutes of complaints in Finnish. (But, they have subtitles.)

YouTube - Helsinki Complaints Choir

Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 1.5)

In case you wondered, ...
Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 1.5)

Careers: If Only You Could Work Here

Satchel Paige often said, "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." This Fast Company story, with the embedded video, pretty much fills up the rear-view mirror with a different way of looking at work.

Careers: If Only You Could Work Here

I wonder if the new edition of Framemaker will include a grammar checker

-from the Adobe Technical Communication blog

Aerosmith on PEI

54 arrested at P.E.I. concert featuring Aerosmith: "the concert could be the largest single-day event in the Island's history,"

152 - A Map of the Truelove River « strange maps

The course of true love is rarely direct and smooth, but the trials are well worth it.

152 - A Map of the Truelove River « strange maps

ScienceDaily: Architects Not Teachers Caused School Failures

Friend eba and I I have a quite a few discussions about architecture and its impact on people. Mostly, we've talked about information architecture - how to structure information about a product or service so that it can be most readily used by people who are trying to get something done. Those discussions have wandered into the area of physical architecture - how to create buildings and spaces that help people get done what they want to get done. A well-designed place can make a big difference in how well people work, socialize, learn, or play badminton.

This University of Manchester (UK) study, ScienceDaily: Architects Not Teachers Caused School Failures, points to some specific problems that result from design constraints that were imposed on architects of school buildings during World War II.

Dept. of Medications: a modest proposal

One of the hot topics around here is casino gambling. The Wampanoag tribe in southeastern Massachusetts, who recently received designation as an official Native American tribe by the federal government, is in negotiations with the town of Middleborough regarding the construction of a casino-resort complex in the town. According to the supporters, everybody wins - the tribe, the town, the state, vendors, job-seekers, hookers, everybody. We will, for the time being, set aside Mario Puzo's observation that the lights, the glamor, the fancy building in Las Vegas were purchased with losers' money.

The planned casino is a 100-or-so miles from two other casinos in Connecticut - Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. There's some concern that having three casinos so close to one another will just make smaller pieces of a fixed-sized pie. How much gambling, after all, can southern New England support?

Enter science. Recent television ads for Mirapex, a treatment for restless leg syndrome and Parkinson's, have noted some interesting side effects. The following clip comes from the manufacturer's web site:

MIRAPEX Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): "There have been reports of patients taking certain medications to treat Parkinson’s disease or RLS, including MIRAPEX, that have reported problems with gambling, compulsive eating, and increased sex drive. (Emphasis mine.) It is not possible to reliably estimate how often these behaviors occur to determine which factors may contribute to them. If you or your family members notice that you are developing unusual behaviors, talk to your doctor."

OK, all medications have side effects, ranging from seizures, increased suicide risks, and treatment-emergent insomnia, to hirstutism. Few drugs, however, have the potential to induce the kind of behaviors that would make a casino successful.

So, it seems like a good idea for the tribe or the town to set up a clinic in or near the casino, a clinic that would specialize in the 'treatment' of RLS. It might even be a good idea to distribute coupons in the region's newspapers for free samples.