Jonathan Hoefler (whose surname, fittingly, could include not one but two consecutive ligatures, œ and fl) recently pointed to Louis von Ahn’s reCAPTCHA project, which I think is pretty incredible. A CAPTCHA is one of those graphically-distorted bits of text you’re asked to enter before submitting a comment or form on the internet to prove you’re a human being and not some bot or wayward spammer. But reCAPTCHA repurposes that intelligence by not only filtering out bots but also filtering in random words from scanned texts that humans can decipher but computers can’t. Von Ahn explains, “Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one.” 60 million CAPTCHAs per day x 10 seconds per CAPTCHA = About 150,000 of labor per day. As von Ahn suggests, “What if we could make positive use of this human effort? […] Currently, we are helping to digitize books from the Internet Archive and old editions of the New York Times.” Clay Shirky is definitely onto something.

Kevin Kelly has an interesting writeup on a new kind of keyboard interface using hexagonal keys and a more spatial, geometric relationship between intervals. It’s used on a MIDI Controller called the AXiS and Kelly’s post links to a video of Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess noodling around on it. Rudess points out the piano keyboard proper has only been with us 200 years or so. Is this what’s next? I’m not convinced yet. The AXiS certainly compresses the layout of the keyboard and standardizes fingering for scales, both very useful additions, but I have yet to really see anyone play the thing. Every video reminds me of a two-year old at the piano, all glissandos and simple Chopsticks intervals. The best explanation and demo probably comes from Peter Davies, the AXiS’s inventor, but even he seems to struggle with some of the simpler tunes he tries to play as he strays from the basics of the scale. Maybe it’s a new kind of tool for a new kind of music, waiting to be invented.

NYT’s The Moment blog recently posted these photos by British photographer James Mollison, from his series “The Disciples.” The photos show lineups of fans from different concerts around the world. Reminds me a bit of Exactitudes and also Avedon’s portrait of the Chicago Seven.

Two great photosets of books on Flickr, both via Coudal: Spies Lies & Alibis and Pulp Sci-Fi. Related to each are these selections from McSweeney’s: Jean-Paul Satre’s script for “Without a Trace,” and Selections from H.P. Lovecraft’s Brief Tenure as a Whitman’s Sampler Copywriter. The latter had me laughing out loud at random intervals throughout the day. Beware!

Jonathan Maghen from the great blog Tagbanger pointed to this video of Honda’s Asimo robot running at a speed of 6 km/hr. There’s something both so stunning and so creepy about it, from the wheezing sound of Asimo’s motor to the blankness of the room where the activity takes place.

Some amazing videos of how the mind processes magic tricks from the Mind Science Foundation. Great performances by Teller (of Penn & Teller), pickpocket Apollo Robbins, and The Amazing Randi. I stumbled on these somehow after reading this article from NYT, written on the occasion of a new study in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, which is available here. From the Nature article’s abstract: “By studying magicians and their techniques, neuroscientists can learn powerful methods to manipulate attention and awareness in the laboratory.”

The Drake Equation is “an attempt to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy with which we might come in contact.” It was theorized by Dr. Frank Drake, who is best known for being the founder of SETI, or the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Inteligence. Drake proposed the equation in 1960, the same year the physicist Enrico Fermi proposed his Fermi Paradox, which asks why “if a multitude of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations exist in the Milky Way galaxy, evidence such as spacecraft or probes are not seen.” One suggestion for the reason for this is called the Zoo Hypothesis, which suggests that aliens may be present but that they might “generally avoid making their presence known to humanity, or avoid exerting an influence on human development, somewhat akin to zookeepers observing animals in a zoo.” Another suggestion is known as The Great Filter, which “acts to reduce the great number of potential sites to the tiny number of intelligent species actually observed (currently just one: ours). It might work either by one or more barriers to the evolution of intelligent life, or a high probability of self-destruction.” While SETI implies a more passive search, METI (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), is described as follows: “The science known as SETI deals with searching for messages from aliens. METI science deals with the creation of messages to aliens. […] [METI] pursues not a local and lucrative impulse, but a more global and unselfish one—to overcome the Great Silence in the Universe, bringing to our extraterrestrial neighbors the long-expected annunciation ‘You are not alone!’” Attempts at METI include the beautiful Arecibo Message and the highly symbolic Pioneer Plaque, both well worth a look.

Zazzle Keds enter the custom sneaker fray (via Buzzfeed). When does the Fornasetti limited edition series come out?

A wealth of beautiful, intriguing work by I.D.’s Student Design Review Best in Category and Design Distinction winner Min Oh. I couldn’t stop watching the video piece called “A Walk.”

”I have throughout almost my entire life searched for means for flexible standardization. The objective is standardization that does not force life into any kind of pattern, but rather, on the contrary, increases its variety. […] The blossoms of an apple tree are standardized, yet they are all different. This is how we, too, should learn to build.” A thoroughly Shakeresque thought from designer Alvar Aalto, and the title of a new show dedicated to seven of his buildings at the Tartu University Library in Finland.

In the annals of great film soundtracks, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off must rank up there somewhere. Amazingly, a soundtrack album was never issued—it seems director John Hughes was worried his selection of songs was simply “too eclectic” and didn’t cohere into a unified album. Fortunately, you can get a track listing here. I mean, remember when they drive into Chicago in the Ferrari and Beat City by the Flowerpot Men is playing? Awesome.

While waiting to get on the George Washington Bridge a few weekends ago, I spotted this message written on a guard rail and captured by Flickr user glennQNYC: WE ARE STUCK HERE BECAUSE OF ASSHOLES. So true. (Kind of reminds me of photographer Lee Friedlander’s “Letters from the People” project.)