Author Archives: Egg Syntax

Dream anatomy

Dream anatomy: “tumblr_lmeayq6OjU1qec836o1_1280.jpeg

Google books is great for leafing through old and supremely weird tomes such as Juan Valverde de Amusco’s 1559 Anatomia del corpo humano. This picture serves as the cover of Michael Sappol’s Dream Anatomy, a history of renaissance anatomical art published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Amazon link) There is an accompanying web gallery, too. [via Chloe via Scientific Illustration]


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Diana Eng’s laser cut t-shirts

Diana Eng’s laser cut t-shirts: “ Wp-Content Uploads 2011 06 Laserlacedianaeng3

Our friend, fashion designer Diana Eng, has released a line of beautiful ‘laser distressed t-shirts.’ She told us, ‘The laser burns precisely distressed lace patterns to transform a comfy t-shirt
into a comfy t-shirt that is stylish enough for the workplace. After
extensive wear testing, the designs were engineered to mimic the
structures of plant cells to improve structural integrity and maintain
the femininity of the designs.’

View the collection


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Do wrinkled fingers help us grip?

Do wrinkled fingers help us grip?: “‘Wet fingers and toes eventually wrinkle, and this is commonly attributed by lay opinion to local osmotic reactions. However, nearly a century ago surgeons observed that no wrinkling occurs if a nerve to the finger has been cut. Here we provide evidence that, rather than being an accidental side effect of wetness, wet-induced wrinkles have been selected to enhance grip in wet conditions.’ — From ‘Are Wet-Induced Wrinkled Fingers Primate Rain Treads?,’ a recently-published paper co-authored by Mark Changizi.


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Wyoming’s corporation mills manufacture privileged artificial "people" to order

Wyoming’s corporation mills manufacture privileged artificial “people” to order: “

Dan ‘Mediactive‘ Gillmor sez, ‘Looks like corporations (i.e. the people who control them) have more rights to privacy in America than regular citizens.

This terrific investigative piece by Reuters (co-reported by one of my colleagues at Arizona State University) exposes yet another dirty secret of corporate America’s power over federal and state governments. They don’t need to go to the Caymans and other such havens to create nearly impenetrable secrecy. They can do it right here at home by using pathetically weak state laws — plainly weak by design — to hide sometimes sleazy doings.

It’s yet another example of the way the deck has been stacked by corporate America in its own favor.’


A Reuters investigation has found the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue serves as a little Cayman Island on the Great Plains. It is the headquarters for Wyoming Corporate Services, a business-incorporation specialist that establishes firms which can be used as ‘shell’ companies, paper entities able to hide assets.

Wyoming Corporate Services will help clients create a company, and more: set up a bank account for it; add a lawyer as a corporate director to invoke attorney-client privilege; even appoint stand-in directors and officers as high as CEO. Among its offerings is a variety of shell known as a ‘shelf’ company, which comes with years of regulatory filings behind it, lending a greater feeling of solidity.

‘A corporation is a legal person created by state statute that can be used as a fall guy, a servant, a good friend or a decoy,’ the company’s website boasts. ‘A person you control… yet cannot be held accountable for its actions. Imagine the possibilities!’

Among the entities registered at 2710 Thomes, Reuters found, is a shelf company sheltering real-estate assets controlled by a jailed former prime minister of Ukraine, according to allegations made by a political rival in a federal court in California.

Special Report: A little house of secrets on the Great Plains
(Thanks, Dan!)


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