U.S. Surname Distribution. This site will generate a map of the US, with each state color-coded for the frequency with which a chosen surname appears in the state. Good starting point for a genealogical search. [via Robot Wisdom]

Feed explores two subtle but, it notes, far-reaching changes to the fabric of everyday life. First, Yield. Merge. Exit. Freak Out, dissecting the impact of the introduction of the new fluorescent yellow green street signs: “government-sponsored change to the visual landscape.” Then, the move to the new dollar coins : “Although the Sacagawea coin isn’t yet a

common sight, the advertising campaign

certainly is. Every bus and subway has

that creepy, deadwhitemale face of

George Washington urging us to use the

new coin, assuring us that it’s OK. But

isn’t a high-profile marketing blitz for

money itself a little odd? Why is the

government so desperate for us to adopt

this new coin? The party line is that the

Golden Dollar, while more expensive to

produce than paper money, is the better

deal in the long run since coins last around

thirty years while dollar bills are out of

circulation within a year.

But another possible reason is that the

new coin helps to placate powerful

lobbies such as the vending, transit, and

gaming industries … The U.S. Mint

made sure that the Sacagawea had the

exact same size, weight, and

electromagnetic composition as the (Susan B. Anthony dollar coin),

saving vending and slot-machine

manufacturers hefty retrofitting costs.

Conveniently, then, the government is

able to present itself as progressive while

keeping some big, important friends

happy along the way. ”

IDÉE FIXE: Portrait Of The Blogger As A Young Man Some thoughts on where weblogging fits.

…Even if it’s true the vast majority of

blogs would not be missed by more than a handful of

people were the earth to open up and swallow

them, and even if the best are still no substitute for

the sustained attention of literary or journalistic

works, it’s also true that sustained attention is not

what Web logs are about anyway. At their most

interesting they embody something that exceeds

attention, and transforms it: They are constructed

from and pay implicit tribute to a peculiarly

contemporary sort of wonder. A Web log really, then, is a Wunderkammer. That is

to say, the genealogy of Web logs points not to the

world of letters but to the early history of museums

— to the “cabinet of wonders,” or Wunderkammer,

that marked the scientific landscape of Renaissance

modernity: a random collection of strange,

compelling objects, typically compiled and owned

by a learned, well-off gentleman.

There’s an informative (I hope) portrait of Jorn Barger interwoven into the article as well.

Robot wisdom? That’s as good an encapsulation as

any, and none are very good. Barger’s ideas are at

once subtle and florid, and they don’t summarize

easily. Suffice it to say that they’re as much literary

as scientific, and that they orbit a complicated

connection between artificial intelligence and the

masterworks of James Joyce. Barger discovered that

link in the midst of trying to map out a

programmable taxonomy of human emotions…

Crazy for Star Wars by Robert Wright Poking holes (big enough to require thinking about) in the logic of the need for protection against nuclear attacks from “rogue states.”

“Even

if you examine the unabridged list of rogue states—Iraq,

North Korea, Iran, Lybia, Syria, etc.—you will search in

vain for a national leader who aspires to early death.

Muammar Qaddafi, for example, may seem erratic,

but look what happened when Ronald Reagan gave him

a sanity test. American jets bombed Qaddafi’s house as

punishment for sponsoring terrorism. The question was:

Would Qaddafi a) retaliate, b) not retaliate but maintain a

conspicuous association with terrorism, or c) start

keeping a lower profile? He chose c) and thus passed the

test.” [Slate]

Fortune: A New Way to Attack Cancer. A rundown on the excitement over anti-angiogenesis agents, slanted toward those looking for investment potential.

In The Issue. Believe it or not, the editor of the conservative National Review feels he has to defend McDonald’s to be pro-American. “Clearly McDonald’s is giving

people something they want. And, one last thing in their

defense: Big Macs taste really good.”

Cola row in India: Coke and Pepsi are squaring off to carve up the huge untouched Indian soft drink market.

On guard. Chickens are the newest guards of Canada’s southern border with the U.S.

Girl dies in Colorado after controversial “rebirthing” therapy. ‘The girl … told the therapists seven times that she could not

breathe and said six times that she was going to die.

But instead of unwrapping her, the therapists said “you got to push hard if you want to be born —

or do you want to stay in there and die?”‘ … ‘According to an investigator who viewed the tape there was a 20-minute lapse between the time

the girl’s last breath could be heard to the time she was unwrapped.’

New Privacy Threat: Genealogy? Your mother’s maiden name, which you use as your super-secret password prompt — right? — can be ascertained easily.

Invasion of the ePods. “This device could revolutionize the way we think about using

the ‘Net.”

Breast cancer deaths plummet 25% in UK and US over the last decade — “…most sudden drop in mortality for a

common cancer seen anywhere in the world.”