Here at Rockwell Automation’s world headquarters, research has been proceeding to develop a line of automation products that establishes new standards for quality, technological leadership and operating excellence. With customer success as our primary focus, work has been proceeding on the crudely conceived idea of an instrument that would not only provide inverse reactive current, for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters.

Such an instrument comprised of Dodge gears and bearings, Reliance Electric motors, Allen-Bradley controls, and all monitored by Rockwell Software is: Rockwell Automation’s ‘Retro-Encabulator’. Now, basically the only new principle involved is that instead of power being generated by the relative motion of conductors and fluxes, it’s produced by the modial interaction of magneto-reluctance and capacitive diractance.

The original machine had a base-plate of pre-fabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings were in a direct line with the panametric fan. The lineup consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marzelvanes, so fitted to the ambifacient lunar wane shaft that side fumbling was effectively prevented. The main winding was of the normal lotus-o-deltoid type placed in panendermic semi-boloid slots of the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a non-reversible tremie pipe to the differential girdlespring on the ‘up’ end of the grammeters.

Moreover, whenever fluorescence score motion is required, it may also be employed in conjunction with a drawn reciprocation dingle arm, to reduce sinusoidal depleneration. The ‘Retro-Encabulator’ has now reached a high level of development, and it’s being successfully used in the operation of milford-trenions.

It’s available soon; wherever Rockwell Automation products are sold.

Retro Encabulator

This ought to stir things up; the thing is, I'm not really interested.

Allen is sympathetic to parental fears regarding the dangers of various vaccines, though he remains skeptical that scientific studies of these dangers, no matter how rigorous, will open many minds. At this point, he writes, much of the “antivaccinist” leadership is composed of countercultural types who view life through the prism of conspiracy theory: the government lies, the drug companies are evil, the medical profession is corrupt; trust the Internet instead. A fair number oppose traditional medicine in favor of homeopathy, believing that vaccines weaken the immune system and that sickness is a natural part of life. “We treat our children like machines that are never supposed to slow down or let us miss a day of work,” a mother told Allen. “We never allow them the soulfulness of being ill.”

To a large extent, says Allen, this antivaccination impulse is fueled by an ignorance of the past. Vaccines have done their job so well that most parents today are blissfully unaware of the diseases their children are being inoculated against. The end result is a culture that has become increasingly risk-averse regarding vaccination because people have greater trouble grasping the reward.

The problem appears to be growing.

Consider a YouTube search for "vaccine".

Here is a CBS news report, with an anti-bush advertisement tacked on to the end:

Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver

A bill has been proposed in the Georgia State Senate which would require social networking websites, possibly including MemeStreams, to verify that minors who create accounts have parental permission. In practice this would mean that any Georgia website, no matter how benign, which allows users to create profiles, would be required to implement as yet undefined age validation procedures for all new users.

We believe that this proposal is a bad idea for a number of different reasons. We composed the following open letter to the sponsors of the legislation in an attempt to articulate our concerns.

MemeStreams response to Georgia Senate Bill 59 - 2007

In a private session with lawmakers, ... Mr. Bush conceded the war is "sapping our soul," but he said he intended to pursue his plan to send more troops to Iraq.

When you search for "sapping our soul", Google asks in reply, "Did you mean: shaping our soul?" Yes, yes, that's it.

Iraq situation 'winnable,' official says

"Each time I travel outside the International Zone, I’m amazed that virtually every house in Baghdad has a satellite dish on the roof."

Taken on its own, you might be inclined to see this as an astute observation about the complexity of executing a "hearts and minds" campaign in the information age ... and the difficulty faced by the coalition in competing with other voices to be heard on the Iraqi 'street'.

But, no. To him, this is a "positive sign", evidence of a "post-Saddam boom". He seems to have no clue what they're watching ... how is that possible, when the material is so readily accessible? A sample, from a recent interview with Hassan Nasrallah:

I have said on several occasions that our [Zionist] enemy possesses some aspects that I wish we possessed - or that our countries or governments possessed. For example... I even praised Sharon once. I said that although this man is a criminal, a killer, a butcher, and a blood-shedder, there is something positive about the Zionists: They do not abandon their prisoners, and they do not abandon even their prisoners’ bodies, or their remains, even 50 or 60 years after their deaths. This is a positive aspect that you must respect in your enemy. That is why they continue to follow this issue. In Lebanon, for example, there were many prisoners, and nobody ever asked about them, and if you did ask about them, you would get punished. At any rate, this is a positive aspect about the enemy.

... We believe that the solution in Iraq begins with adopting the option of armed resistance - Jihad against the occupation forces. This is my opinion.

Defense Leaders: Iraq Debate Focuses Not on Whether to Win, But How

"It’s a very complex issue, and putting a bumper sticker on it really doesn’t help solve the problem,” Pace said. “The question is, ‘Where are we? Where should we be? And how do we get from where we are to where we’re supposed to be? And that is what the new plan is all about."

DoD News Briefing with Secretary Gates and Gen. Pace from Pentagon

Good morning. I am announcing today that I've recommended to the president two offic... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Bush Meets With Democrats on Their Turf

Stefan Geens in Stockholm, editor of the Ogle Earth blog, brings you news about virtual globes, with a special focus on Google Earth. Recently he showcased this video demonstration of Perceptive Pixel's display technology.

Perceptive Pixel, Inc. was founded by Jeff Han in 2006 as a spinoff of the NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences to develop and market the most advanced multi-touch system in the world.

There's a recent Fast Company article about Jeff Han, as well:

Han began his presentation. His fingertips splayed, he placed them on the cobalt blue 36-inch-wide display before him and traced playful, wavy lines that were projected onto a giant screen at his back. He conjured up a lava lamp and sculpted floating blobs that changed color and shape based on how hard he pressed. ("Google should have something like this in their lobby," he joked.) With the crowd beginning to stir, he called up some vacation photos, manipulating them on the monitor as if they were actual prints on a tabletop. He expanded and shrank each image by pulling his two index fingers apart or bringing them together. A few oohs and aahs bubbled up from the floor.

Suppressing a smile, Han told the assembled brain trust that he rejects the idea that "we are going to introduce a whole new generation of people to computing with the standard keyboard, mouse, and Windows pointer interface." Scattering and collecting photos like so many playing cards, he added, "This is really the way we should be interacting with the machines." Applause rippled through the room. Someone whistled. Han began to feel a little bigger.

But he was far from finished. Han pulled up a two-dimensional keyboard that floated slowly across the screen. "There is no reason in this day and age that we should be conforming to a physical device," he said. "These interfaces should start conforming to us." He tapped the screen to produce dozens of fuzzy white balls, which bounced around a playing field he defined with a wave of the hand. A flick of a finger pulled down a mountainous landscape derived from satellite data, and Han began flying through it, using his fingertips to swoop down from a global perspective to a continental one, until finally he was zipping through narrow slot canyons like someone on an Xbox. He rotated his hands like a clock's, tilting the entire field of view on its axis--an F16 in a barrel roll. He ended his nine-minute presentation by drawing a puppet, which he made dance with two fingers.

He basked in the rock-star applause. This is the best kind of affirmation, he thought. The moment you live for.

Can't touch this GUI: Jeff Han's Perceptive Pixel technology

If you don't know these, do your own Google searches. This fear-ridden city has me all worn out.

All Hat, No Cattle

All Thrust, No Vector

In the aftermath of the reported panic, a public outcry arose, but CBS informed officials that listeners were reminded throughout the broadcast that it was only a performance. Welles and the Mercury Theatre escaped punishment, but not censure, and CBS had to promise never again to use the "we interrupt this program" device for dramatic purposes.

One can imagine TBS having to promise never again to use "the obscene gesture" for advertising purposes.

A study by the Radio Project discovered that most of the people who panicked presumed that Germans — not Martians — had invaded. Other studies have suggested that the extent of the panic was exaggerated by contemporary media.

When a meeting between H. G. Wells and Orson Welles was broadcast on Radio KTSA San Antonio on October 28, 1940, Wells expressed a lack of understanding of the apparent panic and suggested that it was, perhaps, only pretense, like the American version of Halloween, for fun. The two men and their radio interviewer joked about the matter, though clearly with some embarrassment. KTSA, as a CBS affiliate, had carried the original broadcast.

Both the War of the Worlds broadcast and the panic it created have become textbook examples of mass hysteria and the delusions of crowds.

The War of the Worlds

Mayor Thomas Menino said the security scare may have cost the city more than $500,000.

Are the bomb squads hired on a fee-for-service basis? I would have thought they were part of the salaried police force, in which case they didn't "cost" anything we weren't already paying. In real terms of additional expenditures, it sounds like we're mostly talking about overtime pay.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke praised Boston authorities for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public.

In other words, Knocke praised the city for its fearmongering and rumor-spreading? I think calling it "knowledge" is a bit rich.

"Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there's absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world," Knocke said.

The officials who continue to call them "hoax devices" would seem to be having serious problems with perspective. The definition of hoax, "an act intended to trick or dupe", makes it clear that the suitability of the term rests on the question of intent.

It is quite obvious that Turner did not intend to instill fear in the hearts of city police, the mayor's office, etc. To continue to misapply the term suggests that not only were they duped initially, but that they still don't understand.

An envelope full of white talcum powder, delivered by mail along with a menacingly worded letter to the White House or a member of Congress ... that's a "hoax device".

On Turner's part, a key error was the (apparent) decision not to label the devices with any kind of identifying information. In retrospect, a simple little sticker on the device, saying "Property of Turner Broadcasting System, Managed by Mooninite Outdoor Advertising Inc. Call 800-555-MOON" would have done wonders.

Of course, at this point $500k may be a small price to pay for the publicity that the incident has garnered for ATHF.

RE: Boston Devices a Cartoon Publicity Ploy | ajc.com

Welcome to being misunderstood, demonized and wanted by the law.

This is a video put together by the marketing team that hung the ATHF signs around Boston. The style of this video is VERY similar to that of the Graffiti Research Lab, but it is not...

ATHF Ads, Inspired by the Graffiti Research Lab

It doesn't matter whether the ideas themselves are good or bad, just that they "stick."

The stickiest ideas, regardless of intrinsic merit, have a lot in common. Or, more accurately, the ways they are presented have a lot in common.

The magic recipe is:

simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and story-containing

Of course, all of that is old hat at the General Memetics Corporation.

This article is essentially a book review ... of a book that I've already passed over several times at the store. The reviewer here says it's more useful than Gladwell's books, although it probably won't sell as well. Publishers Weekly agreed regarding the book's practical utility, giving it a starred review.

When it comes to writing a MemeStreams description that will attract clickthroughs, here's your help:

... they call [it] "the gap theory" of curiosity. This is the notion that a gap in knowledge is painful – it's like having an itch that needs to be scratched. ... But to capitalize on this kind of natural situational interest, ... "we need to first open gaps before we close them. And yet, too often, the communicator's tendency is "to tell people the facts. First, though, they must realize that they need these facts."

Test your description with the Stickiness Aptitude Test.

Here are a few follow-up links:

Early coverage by TIME, from October 2006
Interview with the authors
Coverage in Inc. magazine
Short preview [IE Only] of a Stanford breakfast seminar by Heath.

Coming up later in February, there's going to be a "Made to Stick" presentation in the Boston area:

For the last eight years [Chip Heath] has been studying why ideas survive in the social marketplace of ideas.

(He'll be in New York the day before, giving the same talk.) Here is an endorsement of Heath's GSB course on the subject; also, check out this short video in which Heath himself describes that course. GSB also has an older story about Heath's research, from early 2002.

If you can't take the Stanford course, and you don't live in New York or Boston, check out his recent talk on IT Conversations:

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Stanford Business professor Chip Heath, who explains why urban legends grab our attention, why some ideas inspire us while others don’t, and how to craft your message so it sticks with people.

Try to squeeze it in between your Hilary Duff tracks.

Why some ideas stick and others don't