From “List of confidence tricks” (Wikipedia: 3 July 2009):
Get-rich-quick schemes
Get-rich-quick schemes are extremely varied. For example, fake franchises, real estate “sure things”, get-rich-quick books, wealth-building seminars, self-help gurus, sure-fire inventions, useless products, chain letters, fortune tellers, quack doctors, miracle pharmaceuticals, Nigerian money scams, charms and talismans are all used to separate the mark from his [...]
Posted on July 5th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: business, history, law, science, security | No Comments »
From David Pogue’s “TED’s Greatest Hits” (The New York Times: 10 February 2009):
Kamal Meattle reported the results of his efforts to fill an office building with plants, in an effort to reduce headache, asthma, and other productivity-sapping aliments in thickly polluted India. After researching NASA documents, he concluded that a set of three particular common, [...]
Posted on March 4th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: cool stuff, science | No Comments »
From Eric’s “Canon’s Iris Registration Mode – Biological Copyright Metadata” (Photography Bay: 9 February 2008):
A recent Canon patent application (Pub. No.: US 2008/0025574 A1) reveals the next step in digital watermarking – Iris Registration.
The short and sweet of it?
1. Turn the Mode dial to “REG”
2. Choose between “REG 1″ [...]
Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: art, business, science, security, tech in changing society | No Comments »
From Oliver Sacks’ “The Case of Anna H.” (The New Yorker: 7 October 2002: 64):
I was reminded of a blind woman, a contemporary of Mozart and a most remarkable pianist, who, it is said, could no longer play after she regained some sight.
Related posts
After a stroke, he can write, but can’t read
Why we can easily [...]
Posted on April 20th, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: art, history, security, weird | No Comments »
From “Big Brother eyes ‘boost honesty’” (BBC News: 28 June 2006):
The feeling of being watched makes people act more honestly, even if the eyes are not real, a study suggests.
A Newcastle University team monitored how much money people put in a canteen “honesty box” when buying a drink.
They found people put nearly three times as [...]
Posted on July 13th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: commonplace book, security, tech in changing society | Comments Off
A few weeks ago I had my eyes fixed with LASIK eye surgery. So far I’ve been completely happy with the results – it works! In preparing for the surgery, you receive lots of printed materials to read, including a booklet titled “Patient Information”. Inside that booklet is an explanation of the surgery which contains [...]
Posted on May 14th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: commonplace book, overheard | Comments Off
From Retina Adapts To Seek The Unexpected, Ignore The Commonplace:
Researchers at Harvard University have found evidence that the retina actively seeks novel features in the visual environment, dynamically adjusting its processing in order to seek the unusual while ignoring the commonplace. …
“Apparently our thirst for novelty begins in the eye itself,” says Markus Meister, the [...]
Posted on October 30th, 2005 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: science | Comments Off
