Monday, July 13, 2009

The Latest from Boing Boing

The Latest from Boing Boing

Link to Boing Boing

Storefronts of a fading New York

Posted: 13 Jul 2009 04:46 AM PDT

Susannah Breslin is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. She is a freelance journalist who blogs at Reverse Cowgirl and is at work on a novel set in the adult movie industry.

RalphsStorefrontCrop.jpg

From Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York by James and Karla Murray. Selections from the series will be on view at Clic Bookstore & Gallery, July 15 through August 30, 255 Centre Street, New York City.

@BBVBOX: recent guest-tweeted web video picks (boingboingvideo.com)

Posted: 13 Jul 2009 01:03 AM PDT

(Ed. Note: We recently gave the Boing Boing Video website a makeover that includes a new, guest-curated microblog: the "BBVBOX." Here, folks whose taste in web video we admire tweet the latest clips they find. I'll be posting periodic roundups here on the motherBoing.)


More @BBVBOX: boingboingvideo.com

Swearing mitigates pain

Posted: 12 Jul 2009 03:18 PM PDT

Some experimental evidence to suggest that swearing makes pain less traumatic, though the mechanism by which is does this shit is unclear:
The study, published today in the journal NeuroReport, measured how long college students could keep their hands immersed in cold water. During the chilly exercise, they could repeat an expletive of their choice or chant a neutral word. When swearing, the 67 student volunteers reported less pain and on average endured about 40 seconds longer.

Although cursing is notoriously decried in the public debate, researchers are now beginning to question the idea that the phenomenon is all bad. "Swearing is such a common response to pain that there has to be an underlying reason why we do it," says psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in England, who led the study. And indeed, the findings point to one possible benefit: "I would advise people, if they hurt themselves, to swear," he adds.

Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief (via /.)

Mario recreation on India's Got Talent

Posted: 12 Jul 2009 02:58 PM PDT

Here's a superior group of young Indian gamers recreating Super Mario onstage for an installment of the reality TV show "India's Got Talent."

India's got talent- Mario game (Thanks, Kvaid!)

First-Person Shooter Disease

Posted: 12 Jul 2009 05:27 AM PDT

As the spouse of a former competitive Quake champ, I laughed pretty goddamned hard at this video about life with "First Person Shooter Disease."

Living with First-Person Shooter Disease (via Scalzi)

Baby pictures in lost wallets increase the chance they will be returned

Posted: 12 Jul 2009 05:25 AM PDT

Edinburgh psych researcher Richard Wiseman and team left a load of wallets lying around with various contents, trying to see if there was a correlation between, say, baby pictures or cards indicating charitable giving and the rate at which wallets are returned. It turns out that people in Edinburgh (and maybe everyone) have a high likelihood of returning wallets with baby pictures, but are much less likely to return the wallets of charitable givers:
The baby photograph wallets had the highest return rate, with 88 per cent of the 40 being sent back. Next came the puppy, the family and the elderly couple, with 53 per cent, 48 and 28 respectively. At 20 per cent and 15, the charity card and control wallets had the lowest return rates.

Overall, 42 per cent of the wallets were posted back -- more than the team had anticipated. "We were amazed by the high percentage of wallets that came back," said Dr Wiseman.

Scientists have also found evidence for a baby instinct in brain scanning experiments. A recent study at the University of Oxford examined how people responded when they were shown photographs of baby or adult faces.

Want to keep your wallet? Carry a baby picture (via Derren Brown)

(Image: 6. Wallet, a Creative Commons Attribution licensed photo from Saad.Akhtar's Flickr stream)
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