POLITICSHYPE: Thematic Campaign Mapping

With all the noise about the American Presidential campaign in the media, it can be hard to discern longer-term patterns. The various talking heads are always ready to supply the soft-brained with the sound bite or talking point of the moment (and there is no shortage of soft-brained people in this country).

However, for those interested in a geographic breakdown of where the candidates have been spending their time, the New York Times Election Guide has put together a database of campaign events. That's obviously quite a bit of work in and of itself, but they've presented this information in an Adobe Flash GIS application. It's really quite interesting to see where the candidates pressed the most flesh and kissed the most babies.

This should only get better as the campaign continues... but what's with Iowa? They sure seem to be enjoying a whole lot of attention so far!

If you appreciate this type of data visualization, you'll definitely be interested in the Atlas of Cancer Mortality in the United States. More hype on that later.

SPORTSHYPE: Ski-Gliding The Eiger

From the "don't try this at home" department...

Ski-gliding is the newest extreme sport to grab my attention. It makes perfect sense: think paragliding combined with kite surfing. Sounds pretty interesting, no?

Someone apparently got it into his or her head to try this on the Eiger, which is one of the most dangerous mountains in the Swiss Alps (if not the world). This video shows what their ride down the 13,000 foot/3,970 meter mountain was like.

The video grabs your attention when it starts off, but doesn't get really hairy until the part where the skiier goes flying off the ridge - right into 6,000 feet of thin air (one minute in). Props!


There is more tomfoolery to be seen below - a bunch of stoners jumping off various mountains and cliffs in the Alps, including the Eiger, while wearing wing suits. Kind of like the Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

DEVICEHYPE: DataHand Ergonomic "Keyboard"

Recently it was brought to my attention that there are a wide variety of ergonomic keyboards on the market. I checked out some of what's out there and came across the DataHand device.

Included in this article are a couple of pictures of their product, but I'll let their design philosophy/manifesto speak for itself, mostly; below are a couple of good points they made).

Over recent years, several keyboard manufacturers have developed modestly improved keyboard concepts based around the traditional flat keyboard key layout. They are called "ergonomic" keyboards, even though they are based around an ergonomically-challenged, old-fashioned key layout left over from the era of mechanical typewriters—long before the idea of ergonomics entered the English language.

The flat keyboard was designed to be intentionally less productive. During the era of the mechanical typewriter, workers had to be slowed down to prevent the clashing of keys on old-fashioned mechanical typewriters. Tangled key levers was the biggest barrier to productivity at the time. Intentionally retarded speed was the solution.

Repetitive stress injuries (RSI), particularly carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), now strike an estimated 185,000 U.S. companies each year. These cases amount to more than half of the occupational illnesses in the United States. They are the leading cause of lost workdays each year. On average in the United States, a carpal tunnel syndrome claim costs 25 lost work days and $22-33,000 in both medical costs and the cost of the lost worktime.

An economic value is placed on the issue by citing $15-18 billion annual Workers' Compensation costs for musculoskeletal disability. This is one-third of all Workers' Compensation expenditures.

$700 and it's yours. Some people have taken note of this product and called it "scary". Some people are morons!

N.B. Neither the author nor the Daily Hype has any relationship with DataHand. We just think it's cool.

ANIMALHYPE: Swimming With Sharks

These Kiwis are crazy (SPQK)... some blokes were diving off of Wellington when they noticed a ~4 meter great white shark (carcharodon carcharias) circling their boat. Did they hightail it out of there? No, they took pictures of it. From underwater. With no cage (to the right you'll see one of them).

Hopefully this will dispel the myth that these creatures are man-eaters. To be sure, if you're in the water with one and it decides to take a bite out of you, you're going to be out of luck - and a few pints low on blood - but there's really no truth to the killer shark hype.

However, I'm still not getting in the water with a great white without some form of protection. Nowadays you can get into a plexiglass shark cage, which turns completely transparent once it's underwater.

TRAVELHYPE: Buzzed by Jumbo Jets

If you've ever thought you lived too close to an airport, and/or have a thirst for uncommon adventures, then check this out. In St. Maarten (in the Netherlands Antilles), the publicly-accessible Maho Beach lies just a few meters from the end of the Princess Juliana International Airport runway (see for yourself on the satellite photo). That fact, combined with the relatively short length of the runway itself, results in very low passes over the beach right before landing.

Nevertheless, or perhaps because of that fact, this beach has become a somewhat popular destination for people who like to watch airplanes in action. KLM and Air France serve this airport with the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340, respectively, and many other airlines fly widebodies into TNCM (or SXM, as it's known to tourists) as well. Occasionally they come in a little low and nearly kill some people, however, as seen in this video:



A little detective work suggests that this video was shot on 2006-07-02, and depicts the much-lower-than-usual landing of a KLM B747-400 registered PH-BFG (still pictures of this event are on airliners.net).

Here's another view of this remarkable landing, as seen from the cockpit. This one appears to be more normal:



Then there are the takeoffs, when those with something to prove attempt to hang on to the fence just behind the aircraft while they're running their engines at full throttle!

NEWYEARHYPE: Best of British!

I believe our British cousins really know how to ring in the New Year. Absolutely awesome!

FOODHYPE: Gluttony As A Spectacle

If you've been watching any ESPN2 lately, you might be wondering why something as patently ridiculous as competitive eating edges out real sports like bowling, darts, and rugby in the contest for airtime. Personally, I think it's because the Yoo-nited States is overflowing (or should I say over-hanging) with fat bastards.

Check out some of these gluttonous exploits from competitions sponsored by the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating).

My favorite highlights:

• 6 Pounds of Baked Beans (1 minute, 48 seconds)
• 1.75 Pounds of Salted Butter (5 minutes)
• 212 Chicken & Vegetable Gyoza (10 minutes)
• 1 Gallon of Mayonnaise (8 minutes)

There's not much to add to that, except that the other records are just as impressive... I really hope these peeple have a good cardiologist!

POLITICSHYPE: Waterboarding: Probably Not Fun!

In light of what's happening these days, this may be quite informative. It's a video showing somebody being subjected to a waterboarding.

Link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2007/11/01/bleh/index.html

The subject of waterboarding is brought up every now and again. In fact, it was an answer to one of the Jeopardy-style questions at a local pub quiz (or trivia night) at a bar in San Francisco.

Make your own judgements as to whether or not this interrogation technique is appropriate and has a place in the world today and/or in The War Against Terror (T.W.A.T), but this video appears to be a pretty accurate depiction of waterboarding.

NOHYPE: Hello? Is This Thing Working?

Apparently, it is.

We expect to see some more hype here shortly.

POLITICSHYPE: A Casus Belli For Iran

Iran, having been pressured by the international financial community at the behest of various agencies of the US Government, has decided to make a move. The story below is the latest example of a trend that's been increasingly more common nowadays, which is this: oil-producing countries deciding to sell their oil in a currency other than dollars for whatever reason (hostility towards the United States is a good example).

Saddam tried this tactic, and shortly afterwards was shocked and awed (supposedly), and then whacked (definitely). Of course, oil had nothing whatsoever to do with the US decision to invade Iraq - at least, not in the way it's commonly understood. Had Saddam sold Iraqi oil in Euros, it would have been a slap to the back of the sack for the United States, and encouraged more countries to follow suit.

However, fundamental economic weaknesses cannot be shored up by military dominance and cultural hegemony forever. The increasing acceptance of the Euro as a central bank reserve currency, combined with the huge holdings of dollar-denominated government debt (i.e., US Treasury bonds) in China and Japan, will continue to pressure the US dollar and encourage further moves like the one Iran has just made. Reuters has more:

Iran Slashes Oil Transactions In Dollars
(Copyright Reuters, 2007-10-02)

Iran has slashed the use of the dollar in payment for its oil exports to 15 percent, an official said on Tuesday, amid growing pressure from arch-foe the United States on its financial system. The vast majority of transactions for oil from OPEC's number two producer are now being carried out in euros, said Mohammad-Ali Khatibi, deputy head of the National Iranian Oil Company in charge of marketing.

"Iran is selling about 85 percent of its oil in the non-dollar currencies," Khatibi was quoted as saying by state television. "Currently, about 65 percent of the oil sale income is in euros and 20 percent in yen," Khatibi added. Japan, which purchases 20 percent of Iran's crude oil, has recently agreed to pay for the crude oil in yen, he said. He also said that the remaining sums being paid in dollars, about 15 percent, are going to shift to "other creditworthy currencies". Khatibi also cited the United Arab Emirates dirham as one other possible currency for use in oil transactions.

He said the main reason for the move was fluctuations of the dollar on the currency markets and the depreciation of its value since 2004. Iran had previously announced that 60 percent of its oil transactions for export had been switched into euros.

Nobody is accusing the Aryan Brown of being stupid! Iran knows that the US is not in the strongest ecomonic position at the moment, and will only benefit from Iranian Euro-denominated oil. They also get to thumb their noses at the Americans, which must be a nice domestic political bonus for their leaders.

Another previous anti-dollar move that Iran has made was proposing an oil bourse (bourse is the French/international word for exchange) denominated in Euros. That may or may not be worth a war, as this opposing viewpoint explains.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, has massively cut down its dependence on the dollar in the face of US pressures. The United States has been seeking to make international banking transactions harder for Iran, as another tool to pressure Tehran into backing down over its controversial nuclear programme. Several European banks have drastically cut business with Iran as a result of US pressure.

The only European banks that have cut ties with Iran are ones that do business in the US. If they have a branch office anywhere in America, their business activities in the States can be sanctioned. Many banks in Europe (especially smaller ones that don't have operations in the US and therefore can't be pressured) are now benefitting from the artificially-increased Iranian demand for their services.

However despite problems with inflation and unemployment at home, Iran's conomy is being helped by revenue windfalls from current high crude oil prices. Iran's foreign currency reserves held in banks abroad have risen by 37 percent over the past year to the equivalent of 65 billion dollars as of the end of June 2007, the central bank said in September.

So... to sum up, poor (or deliberate, if you prefer to see it that way) economic management in the USA can lead to a weaker dollar, which strengthens the Euro, which can encourage oil-producing countries to sell their black gold in Euros, which will generally strengthen their economies, which can (theoretically) do serious damage to the US economy, can lead to them being bombed.

In addition to the link above, here's another excellent, if somewhat polemic, piece on why the US will go to war to protect the petrodollar. And keep in mind that lot of the stuff you have been and probably will be hearing about Iran is just fluff - it's all about the money.