Friday, May 16

Apology Project 

A friend wrote me today describing her plan to select a dozen names at random from the Paris phone book and send each of them a postcard:

"Greetings from the USA. You don't know me, but I selected your name and address at random from the internet white pages. I send you this note to apologize. The president of my country is an idiot. I did not vote for him. The majority of us are deeply ashamed of this man and his law-breaking regime. Let us hope for a return to sanity and intelligence in the upcoming year.

Best regards,"

She was inspired by this:




































I, in turn, am inspired to commit similar acts. We are both curious to see if anyone responds, and how. Care to join us? If so, spread the word.

Addendum: She wrote further:

"Someone replied and wanted to do this mailing of postcards to random recipients. In my previous email I failed to outline clearly how I did it. It is a bit more complicated than I let on, but actually very easy!

First, you use real postcards, not ecards: wire display-stand postcards made of paper with glossy photo on front (see attachment in previous email) They run about 50 cents new or always aplenty in thrift shops or at home. I'm afraid I wasn't accurate in my explanation of how I 'found' names. For individuals' addresses I went to this site:

http://c.asselin.free.fr/french/yellow_pages.htm

I clicked on 'France' and up came a search page with little browser windows for 'name's and 'city'. (Note: you can't just search name-filled pages.) Then I made up first and last names, typed them in the little browser windows along with my chosen city, 'Paris' until, voila! a real person's name appeared with an address. Sometimes I had to think of several first and last name combos before I got a real person. It felt like more of a personal,prophetic connection doing it that way. Also,it might help to know a bit of whatever language so you can read the labels for the search windows.

With business addresses, you don't use the phone book at all. It's easier to google for example, "Pet Groomer, Paris, France" whereupon several businesses along with their addresses pop up, from which you can choose.

This method ended up working for me, anyway. Like I said, it sounds complicated, but isn't."

5/16/2008 01:27:00 PM   •  

Thursday, May 15

Earth to GWB: 

The Lebanese Army isn't on your side any more!: "So there was George Bush, telling the BBC today that he is willing to send US aid to the Lebanese Army... Doesn't he realize that... the Lebanese Army isn't on his side any more?? Is it any wonder that the administration led by this man is losing so badly in the Middle East these days?" (Just World News)

5/15/2008 07:11:00 PM   •  

Fanboy Supercuts 

Obsessive Video Montages: "... [a] genre of video meme, where some obsessive-compulsive superfan collects every phrase/action/cliche from an episode (or entire series) of their favorite show/film/game into a single massive video montage." An extensive list from films and TV series, including every whacking from The Sopranos and every "dude" from The Big Lebowski. (waxy.org)

5/15/2008 11:30:00 AM   •  

Monday, May 12

A New Approach to Treating Alzheimer's 

'We've shown that the function of memory circuits can be modulated.' A neurosurgeon testing deep brain electrical stimulation with implanted electrodes for other purposes was surprised to find normalization of memory function in a man with Alzheimer's dementia. (Technology Review)

5/12/2008 01:14:00 PM   •  

Shipwrecks & Sea Disasters 

Some spectacular and haunting photos

(Dark Roasted Blend)

5/12/2008 01:11:00 PM   •  

The World's Spookiest Weapons 

"Whether these masterpieces of destruction come from miles above Earth or millimeters below the skin, they have one thing in common: they're spooky as hell.

Can turning animals into cyborgs ever end well? Should lasers really be strapped to planes? Is dispersing humans with the worst smell ever created a better alternative to doing it by burning their skin? You be the judge." (Popular Science)

5/12/2008 12:35:00 PM   •  

The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep 

(Literally): "'We went to the doctor after he was born, and I kept telling him something was wrong. He didn't sleep. They thought I was being kind of an anxious mom, and we went back and forth,' Rhett's mother, Shannon Lamb, said. 'Finally, they [were] starting to realize now that he really doesn't sleep at all. But we've had a lot of different diagnoses and nobody really knows.'" (ABC News)

5/12/2008 12:33:00 PM   •  

‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma 

"“Until now, the acceptance of mental illness has pretty much stopped at depression,” said Charles Barber, a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. “But a newer generation, fueled by the Internet and other sophisticated delivery systems, is saying, ‘We deserve to be heard, too.’ ”" (New York Times)

5/12/2008 12:30:00 PM   •  

Sunday, May 11

Where can I get one of those? 

Safety in numbers for speeding drivers: "Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines which switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday." (Reuters)

5/11/2008 01:41:00 AM   •