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Quantified Self in the Washington Post: “In the discussion following my previous post about FlowingData’s self-surveillance contest, JAHKNOW kindly points us to a Washington Post article from yesterday about the quantified self, BB pal Gary Wolf’s notion that you can examine your own body through a data-driven scientific lens. The article mentions sites to help you track sex acts, menstruation, exercise, and a variety of other activities and functions. From the Washington Post:

Members (of the Bay Area ‘quantified self show and tell’ group) plan to meet monthly to share with one another the tools and sites they’ve found helpful on their individual paths to self-digitization. Topics include, according to the group invite: behavior monitoring, location tracking, digitizing body info and non-invasive probes.

‘Don’t you think it’s kind of obvious that if you step on a scale, there should be something that sends the information to your computer?’ asks Gary Wolf, a contributing editor at Wired magazine and one of Quantified Self’s co-founders. ‘Isn’t it ridiculous to think that blood pressure shouldn’t be measured at least once a day, if not several times a day?’

Wolf is a tracker whose particular interest is the secret workings of his own body.

You listen to his questions — posed energetically and frequently interrupted by excited laughter — and you think No, Gary, no!

Most of us would prefer our scale’s number never saw light of day, much less light of database.

At some level, Wolf knows this. He theorizes that the impulse to self-track is one part available technology, one part geeky, data-driven personality. So far, only 10 people have RSVP’d affirmatively to Quantified Self’s first meeting, which is scheduled to take place mid-September. ‘This is,’ Wolf says, ‘probably a very small subset of humanity.’

‘Bytes of Life’ (WashingtonPost.com)

Previously on BB:
• FlowingData’s personal viz contest winner
• Seth Roberts’ fascinating self-experiments

”

(Via Clippings.)

Andy Rooney on Public Art:

(Via Clippings.)

20/20 Report on Music Video (1980):

(Via Rhizome.org.)

COUNTRY MUSICIANS CAN’T BE DEMOCRATS!:

Here are the Red State Update guys talking about Toby Keith being a Democrat:

It might be useful for starting a discussion about the way country music is so associated with conservative politics and the Republican party today, and why we would be surprised that a guy like Toby Keith (who has proudly acknowledged smoking pot-liberal!-but also wrote the song ‘Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue’-conservative!) would be a Democrat-what does that say about our ideas of what a Democrat (or Republican) must be or act like? You might contrast that with the number of country artists in the first half of the 20th century who were often progressive Democrats or (gasp!) even socialists. It’s pretty fascinating how much the politics associated with country music have changed, and how ‘obvious’ it seems to people today that country musicians would be conservative, to the point that country music has in many ways become a symbol of conservatism (as opposed to ‘alt country,’ which is often associated with a more liberal outlook*).

For an excellent discussion of the early political culture of the California country music scene, see Pete LaChapelle’s book Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California.

(Via Sociological Images.)

Double-Double-Talk:

(Via 3quarksdaily.)

PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA:

Abby K. sent me a link to this New York Times article about the August issue of Vogue India. The issue has sparked controversy because of a fashion spread that shows poor Indians modeling extremely expensive brand-name accessories, such as this child modeling a Fendi bib that costs around $100 while being held by a woman prominently missing teeth:

Or this one of a barefoot man, also missing teeth, holding a Burberry umbrella that costs about $200:

From the article:

Vogue India editor Priya Tanna’s message to critics of the August shoot: ‘Lighten up,’ she said in a telephone interview. Vogue is about realizing the ‘power of fashion’ she said, and the shoot was saying that ‘fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful,’ she said.

I’m not sure where to even begin with this one. The objectification of the poor, who are used as props in a fashion magazine aimed at people very different from them? The oblivious discussion of the ‘power of fashion,’ while ignoring the issue of how much these luxury items cost relative to average incomes in India? I’m especially struck by the way that the inability to spend $200 on an umbrella is no longer seen as a privilege because ‘anyone’ can ‘carry it off’; it’s not about having $200 extra dollars, it’s about having the mindset to know you can carry these items and won’t make them look ugly or tacky, apparently. There’s a complete denial of privilege and power having anything to do with wealth,  social stratification, or any inequality more consequential than some people maybe worrying that they won’t ‘make’ fashion ‘look beautiful’ (which in and of itself is an interesting idea-it’s not whether the fashion items make you look beautiful, it’s what you do for them).

Compare to other interesting fashion spreads here, here, here, here, and here.

Thanks, Abby!

(Via Sociological Images.)

whale shit and other important matters:

(Via 3quarksdaily.)

South Carolina sheriff buys tank to conduct raids:

Don’t even think about running an illegal bingo game in Richland County, South Carolina.

The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Department (that’s them above) just obtained an armored personnel carrier, complete with a belt-fed, .50-cal turreted machine gun. Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle ‘The Peacemaker,’ and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it’s generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will ’save lives.’

Sheriff Lott’s New Toy

(Via Boing Boing.)

George Carlin’s Finale:

(Via 3quarksdaily.)

Memento mori:

(Via 3quarksdaily.)

Lou Gehrig’s Plaza:
(‘Representative path plots from one SOD1 rat and one control rat in the open-field arena. Image by Neri Kafkafi, et al.)

Research into Lou Gehrig’s disease has demonstrated that, at least in mice carrying the genetic mutation, it can spatially manifest itself as ‘very subtle’ but detectable behavioral patterns before the onset of symptoms.

Quoting at length a press release from the American Psychological Association:

Researchers led by Neri Kafkafi, PhD, of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, part of the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, mathematically analyzed about 50,000 predetermined movement patterns that resulted when rats roamed freely, one by one, in a small arena. The software created an abstract space defined by combinations of behavior such as speed, acceleration and direction of movement. Mining the resulting behavioral data enabled researchers to test many more facets of behavior than they could analyze manually.

After videotaping the movement of two groups of rats – one type with the mutation that results in an ALS-type syndrome, the other type normal controls — the scientists used the computer to ‘pan’ for differences between groups and identified a unique motor pattern in mutant rats two months before disease onset (which would equate to roughly five to 10 years in humans).

Of the multitude of behavior patterns analyzed, the predefined ‘heavily braking while slightly turning away from the wall’ showed a group difference. In two independent data sets, rats with the ALS-type mutation were significantly less likely than controls to brake and turn from the arena wall as they approached.

The benefit of this study is that ‘by being able to predict more accurately which carriers may express the disease before they experience symptoms (the ‘premorbid’ state), researchers could test medicines that might prevent symptoms from emerging.’

(‘Three-dimensional attribute spaces. Attribute spaces for one SOD1 rat and one control rat, corresponding to the same sessions shown’ in the first image. Image by Neri Kafkafi, et al.)

One wonders whether this sort of research, somewhere down the line, will result in public places getting littered with CCTV cameras data mining for the tell-tale signs of genetic diseases affecting motor functions. Similarly when traffic cameras take a photo of your license plate when you go over the speed limit and then get your ticket in the mail a couple of days later, these outdoor medical scanners take a photo of your face, match it up to a database at the CDC and a couple of days later, you get a diagnosis in the mail.

There will be a specially outfitted plaza where those without health insurance can get their free check-ups. Those with no more sick days can simply walk pass through on their way to work or linger about during their lunch breaks. Hypochondriacs will come in droves and stay there, like skateboarders to a Brutalist plaza.

It’s landscape as a diagnostic tool.

(Spot the pedophiles and the terrorists. Photo courtesy of Barco. Source.)

If there is a predictive behavioral pattern to a pedophile’s movements within the spatial confines of playgrounds and park (that is, if children still go outdoors anymore) as well as the streets bordering schools, you get a court order to receive some psychiatric counseling.

Do terrorists have a genetic mutation that not only affect their cognitive reasoning but also their motor functions, the pattern array of which is so perceptibly different with that of non-terrorists that you can ‘spot’ them?

In the Archives:
The Alzheimer House
My Garden Is Telling Me That I’m Abusing My Kids

(Via Pruned.)

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE BY PLAYMOBIL:

Kirsten D. sent us this link to a series of Playmobil families.  She notes how the families are all racially marked (using racial categories like ‘Asian’ and ’African’ instead of nationality categories like ‘Japanese’ and ‘Somalian’).  The ‘Mediterranean/Hispanic’ category also points to the social construction of race and the way in which social construction varies across cultures (Playmobil are made in Germany).

They families are also racially homogeneous.  In the world of Playmobil (at least how it is sold, though not necessarily how it is played with) there are no interracial families and, therefore, no bi- or multi-racial people.  In this way the toys reify racial categories and naturalize racial matching in relationships.

African/African American Family:

Mediterranean/Hispanic Family:

Asian Family:

Native American Family:

Notice also that all of the families are in contemporary clothes except for the Native American family.  Ethnicized groups are often represented in ‘native’ costume, but this is especially true for American Indians (at least in the U.S.).  It is as if, in the popular imagination, American Indians are extinct; as if there are no American Indians alive today walking around in Nikes (there are).

So, in the world of Playmobil, American Indians are, like Romans, a historical artifact:

Also, because it warrants pointing out, all the female and male children all have gender stereotypical toys.

(Via Sociological Images.)

Anita Jain’s Marrying Anita: ”

“

(Via 3quarksdaily.)

The Daily Show on cloned meat:

Originally from Gristmill on March 29, 2007, 4:26pm

Mark Frauenfelder:

Here’s a link to the free documentaries on Google Video — all 3,713 of them, including a 1978 BBC documentary of a road trip with Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman called Fear and Loathing in Gonzovision and a 40-minute documentary about Richard Feynman called The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.

These days, there are fewer reasons than ever to turn on the television.

Link | RSS feed

Originally by Mark Frauenfelder from Boing Boing on February 28, 2007, 8:14pm

An exhibit of posters demonstrates the important role media plays during a widespread epidemic.

Originally from Metropolis Magazine on February 19, 2007, 11:00pm

A whimsical image of the blogosphere from the edge of the core.

Originally by Matthew Hurst from Data Mining: Text Mining, Visualization and Social Media at February 23, 2007, 06:40, published by Luis Silva

Originally from Rhizome.org on February 28, 2007, 3:51am

From the unfolding saga of “how Canada can suck ever more oil from the ground” we get this little news item:

Canada and Mexico should accelerate efforts to import temporary Mexican energy workers to alleviate the skills shortage in Alberta and other provinces as oil sands development ramps up, top North American CEOs will recommend today.

It’s mildly amusing that the most heavily Republican Conservative region of Canada is so desperate for workers that Mexicans are apparently necessary. But the facts are that there’s very little in the way of opposition to major developments in Alberta. Both provincial and federal levels of government have historically favored a strategy of growing the tar sands as rapidly as possible. The low-ball estimates see Canadian oil production tripling by 2020, with all the increase coming from the tar sands. And if something as trivial as “wages” or “willing bodies” is keeping the precious, precious crude from flowing, then it’s clearly time to bring in replacements.

It’s not so much that everyone loves the idea of defiling cubic kilometers of land and water to keep U.S. cars running, it’s that nobody has any strong vision of an alternative — selling Americans raw materials is kind of what we do up here, and it’s a tough habit to break.

Originally from Gristmill on February 27, 2007, 11:31am

Originally from The Loom on February 28, 2007, 9:15am

Originally from 3quarksdaily on February 27, 2007, 4:06pm