White man from Georgia is "Gay Girl from Damascus"

[Watch! As the very concept of identity dissolves before your very eyes! -e]

White man from Georgia is “Gay Girl from Damascus”: “

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For weeks, journalists, bloggers, and human rights advocates have been trying to track down a ‘disappeared’ mideast blogger named Amina, who identified herself on her blog as a ‘Gay Girl from Damascus.’ The journal purported to chronicle ‘an out Syrian lesbian’s thoughts on life, the universe and so on.’

Well, not so much. After she went missing, people started digging. And it turns out Amina is a 40-year-old white man from Stone Mountain, Georgia named Tom MacMaster.

Christ, what an asshole.

Update: Andy Carvin (@acarvin) of NPR deserves credit for pushing this story from the start, poking at cracks early on, and doing much of the sleuthing that led to the ultimate realization that this was an exploitative hoax. Here’s his post at NPR.org. As usual, Andy’s doing tireless and important work.


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Evolved, 3D printed creatures

Evolved, 3D printed creatures: “

Dolf sez, ‘I am growing creatures I call Entoforms using the open source Blender 3D software. To do so, I’ve written the equivalent of a 300 page book in python scripts, which though a work in progress, are already available. The Entoforms have text as DNA, and can thus be based on words, or names. I print them out in 3D, then pin, and label them in insect boxes like collected invertebrates. These I am selling as limited issue collectible art pieces. To help me create the first larger series, and exhibit them this summer and fall at art galleries… I started a crowdfunding campaign.’

Entoforms

(Thanks, Dolf!)


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3D printed trigonometry calculator

3D printed trigonometry calculator: “

Lalbritton’s ‘Ideal Harmonic Transformer’ is a 3D printed mechanism for calculating sines and cosines: ‘
It is a thing to hold, enjoy turning the crank, and look at. If you can’t find your calculator, and need to know the sine or cosine of an angle real quick, you can dial in the angle and read off of the Scotch Yokes. It also works in reverse.’

Ideal Harmonic Transformer by lalbritton

(via Make)


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NYC cyclist vs. bike lanes – kamikaze law-abiding

NYC cyclist vs. bike lanes – kamikaze law-abiding: “

A NYC cyclist who received a fine for straying out of the bike-lane recorded this video of his attempt to ride around town without leaving the bike-lane, instead crashing merrily into any obstacle that he encountered, from taxis to construction equipment.

Guy Crashes Multiple Times To Make Point About NYPD Ticketing Bicyclists


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Dalai Lama fails to understand Dalai Lama joke, but is a good sport about it

Dalai Lama fails to understand Dalai Lama joke, but is a good sport about it: “

An Australian newsreader found himself interviewing the Dalai Lama, so, naturally, he told him the joke about the Dalai Lama who asks the pizzeria to make him one with everything. The Dalai Lama really, really didn’t get it. In a funny way.

The Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop…

(via Neatorama)


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Möbius Ship

Möbius Ship: “

Tim Hawkinson’s Möbius Ship sculptures are nautical, single-surfaced and have fractional dimensionality. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!


Echoing the working methods of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists, Hawkinson created a painstakingly detailed model ship that twists in upon itself, presenting the viewer with a thought-provoking visual conundrum. The title is a witty play on Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, which famously relates the tale of a ship captain’s all-consuming obsession with an elusive white whale. The ambitious and imaginative structure of Hawkinson’s sculpture offers an uncanny visual metaphor for Melville’s epic tale, which is often considered the ultimate American novel.

Möbius Ship

(via Kottke)


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In Africa, a 50-cent vaccine saves thousands

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In Africa, a 50-cent vaccine saves thousands

You want “Wonderful Things,” I gives ya Wonderful Things. MenAfriVac is a new vaccine for meningitis A—a disease that kills thousands of people in Africa every year. It’s far, far cheaper than previous vaccines … and it works better, too.

MenAfriVac is much cheaper than existing meningitis A vaccines, at 50¢ compared with $120 per dose. It is also more potent. Unlike conventional vaccines, which are based on sugars resembling those on the surface of Neisseria meningitides, a bacterium that causes meningitis, the new vaccine splices the sugars to a carrier protein that is better at stirring up the body’s immune system. “It makes the immune response much more vigorous,” says Marc LaForce, director of the global Meningitis Vaccine Project, which developed MenAfriVac.

Antibodies against the bacterium continue to be produced long after vaccination, providing hope that a single jab may be enough to give lifelong protection.

So far, no recipient of the vaccine has been infected, and the few cases that have occurred in treated areas were unvaccinated visitors from neighbouring areas.

MenAfriVac is currently being rolled out in the 25 countries, from Senegal to Sudan, that make up Africa’s “meningitis belt.”


Risk, Probability and How Brains Are Easily Misled

Risk, Probability and How Brains Are Easily Misled: “By John Timmer, Ars Technica

The World Science Festival’s panel on Probability and Risk started out in an unusual manner: MIT’s Josh Tennenbaum strode onto a stage and flipped a coin five times, claiming he was psychically broadcasting each result to the audience. The audience dutifully wrote down the results they …

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