Why do human testicles hang like that?

Jesse Bering mixes science with humor in this article published at Scientific American’s website on the biomechanics of descended scrotal testicles.

…it’s generally inadvisable for men to wear tight-fitting jeans or especially snug “tighty whities”—under these restrictive conditions the testicles are shoved up against the body and artificially warmed so that the cremasteric muscle cannot do its job properly. Another reason not to wear these things is that it’s no longer 1988.

iTunes 9: Podcasts in playlist don’t show up on iPod?

I recently changed my smart playlists to make use of the nested conditionals function added to iTunes 9. One smart playlist lists all music files from my Library and all episodes from the KEXP Song of the Day podcast. Another smart playlist lists the most recent podcasts that are not from KEXP.

I noticed these same smart playlists viewed on my iPod did not list any of the podcast episodes. Fortunately iLounge Forums user Code Monkey notes the reason for this seemingly odd behavior under the topic iTunes 9: Podcasts in playlist don’t show up on iPod?:

I believe I’ve figured it out: on the podcasts tab, there is now a playlist selection check box tree thingee like what has been under the music tab for a while. I noticed in my case that all of my podcast playlists happened to be automatically and correctly sussed out by the update process and put here as if they were special “podcast playlists”.

So I did some tests. I made a list with some podcasts and some music, checked it off only under the music tab and there was the missing podcast items like people are describing in this thread. I checked it off under both the music tab and the podcast tab and both the music and podcasts showed up. Then I checked it off on only the podcast tab, and now the music items are missing.

From what I can see, regardless of what you put on the list, if you check it off only under the music tab, that’s all that shows up on your iPod, if you check it off only under the podcast tab, that’s all that shows up on your iPod, if you check it off under both tabs, everything shows up.

Following his prescription did get the “missing” podcasts to reappear in my iPod’s smart playlists. This new arrangement for the iPod settings strikes me as being more complicated than it needs to. But I can see this as providing incredible flexibility for the iPod power user.

Ship built with WTC steel sails for namesake city

From the AP article covering the newly built USS New York now underway and heading to New York City:

Brian Corcoran, a mechanical contractor, brought his four children, who range in age from 12 to 5. He figured they might be a bit late for school but was OK with that, given the importance of the occasion.

“Hopefully, it’s going overseas to do damage to them like it did to us,” he said.

Brian is a belligerent idiot.

Christie’s Environmental Agenda Would Be A Disaster for New Jersey

Bill Wolfe was surprised to read the New Jersey Environmental Federation endorsed Republican candidate Chris Christie for Governor:

So to get a little understanding, I just went to the Christie website, watched the 1½ minute Christie video, and read his “entire plan” –

At a fundamental level, Christie feels that DEP has become “too intertwined with business life” in NJ (his words) and needs to shrink and disengage on the regulatory front. This language should set off all sorts of alarm bells for those who follow environmental affairs – it represents a sort of kinder and gentler (yet actually more conservative) “Open for Business” mantra.

This endorsement by New Jersey’s largest environmental group may be an asset for Christie. But as Wolfe outlines in his post, Christie’s policy declarations are seriously flawed. Combine this with the concern regarding his insubstantial plans for the state’s finances and it seems pretty clear that Christie is a poor choice for Governor.

H&M Fashion Video #57 – Fashion’s Favorite Color

Why does black never go out of style?

Two and a half minutes to state the obvious: because it’s safe.

It should be noted that wearing black does not make one appear slimmer, although dressing properly can help.

OK Genius

Giles Turnbull pokes holes in the genius of iTunes Genius:

Using “Fingertips” as my source results in a mix full of more They Might Be Giants songs. Some R.E.M. Some B-52s. Pixies. Devo. They Might Be Giants. Jonathan Coulton. Elvis Costello. So dull.

I am triumphant, because my point is proven. Genius isn’t a genius at all, merely a regurgitator of other people’s opinions. And too many people who listen to They Might Be Giants also listen to that other lot.

That’s no mix. A mix considers the songs themselves, not just the genre. It listens to the possible combinations, it has moments of drama and moments of peace, and it has two very precise end points. The end of side one, and the end of side two. iTunes Genius provides none of these.

Spot on.

House Formally Rebukes Wilson for Shouting ‘You Lie’

As reported by the N.Y. Times:

In a mainly party line vote of 240 to 179, the House held that by shouting “You lie” during the president’s speech Mr. Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, committed a “breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.”

Yet they can’t get their shit together to hammer out proper healthcare reform.

Assembling The Leica M9 by Michael Reichmann

Michael Reichmann posted an interesting video revealing some of Leica’s quality control and assembly practices. To bad the audio doesn’t match that of Leica’s technical standards. Also, I’m fairly certain the camera being assembled is the M8.

nano shoots video

Apple Inc.’s latest iPod nano has the capability to record H.264 VGA video, which is ideal for the YouTube & video on Flickr crowds. Cisco Systems, your Flip is on notice.

It appears the recent rumors proceeding today’s Rock & Roll event didn’t see this coming. Such speculation reminds me of the only time I entertained the idea of making an Apple event prediction. In February of 2006, I wrote:

But if it does turns out to be a revamped iPod then I can only hope that it’s a real Photo iPod. Think of it: iPod with a built in iSight. They’ve already made the iSight ridiculously small, the iPod can already display images, and the scroll wheel has been dying to be used for something other than simply sifting through menus. By adding iSight to the iPod you can not only carry a ton of pictures with it, you would be able to take them too. It’s a feature that most users would actually use, definitely more useful than watching a movie on a two inch screen.

At the time YouTube was only a year old & video sharing was something with which I was not interested. In hindsight, it was not such a bad forecast.

Bob Dylan voice on satnav won’t work: Why navigation using Bob Dylan’s voice simply isn’t funny.

From James May’s column at The Telegraph:

There is so much in the world that just isn’t funny, or at least isn’t funny for very long. Humour is a fleeting and nebulous thing that is plucked from the air and carried away by the foolish wind to be lost to comedy entropy, or at least badly reworked to appear on the side of a mug as “Rugby is a game played by men with funny shaped balls” and so on.

Sadly, many baby-boomers will argue to no end that it is funny.