Michel Vuijlsteke's weblog

Vital Signs: The Woman Who Needed to Be Upside-Down | Health & Medicine | DISCOVER Magazine
Real-life House: A doctor is baffled: Why did a giant man walk into the ER holding a tiny woman by her feet?

Everything you never wanted to know about the mites that eat, crawl, and have sex on your face | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine
New Scientist published a story yesterday stating that rosacea – a common skin disease characterised by red blotches on one’s face – may be “caused” (more on this later) by “tiny bugs closely related to spiders living in the pores of your face.” Tiny bugs that “crawl about your face in the dark”, lay eggs in your pores, and release a burst of faeces when they die.

Edge of the abyss
Michael Schofield thought his young daughter, Janni, was a genius, until he realised her bright mind masked an inner darkness.

Spotify Classical Playlists: Frank Zappa: Chronological Discography (available soon on Spotify)
I put all Zappa albums into one playlist, sorted by release date. From Freak Out!, debut of the Mothers of Invention, to the posthumous release Mystery Disc. You can subscribe to it now and (hopefully) the tracks will be available as soon as the last license issues are sorted out. If you are a premium user, you can set the playlist, or some tracks, as available offline, so you will know when the playlist/tracks become available (to download) without checking everyday.

Interpreting some of Twitter’s API changes – Marco.org
I sure as hell wouldn’t build a business on Twitter, and I don’t think I’ll even build any nontrivial features on it anymore. And if I were in the Twitter-client business, I’d start working on another product.

The Real Story Behind Apple’s ‘Think Different’ Campaign – Forbes
In writing this story, I’ve drawn from handwritten, dated creative journals I’ve diligently chronicled throughout my agency career as well as files I saved from the 1997 Apple time period (being a packrat often proves useful). In these journals are countless pages of notes and concepts I jotted down during the process of trying to bring Apple back to prominence. I also found the original “To the crazy ones” television script I presented to Jobs, as well as a plethora of rough drafts.

While I’ve seen a few inaccurate articles and comments floating around the Internet about how the legendary “Think Different” campaign was conceived, what prompted me to share this inside account was Walter Isaacson’s recent, best-selling biography on Steve Jobs. In his book, Isaacson incorrectly suggests Jobs created and wrote much of the “To the crazy ones” launch commercial. To me, this is a case of revisionist history.

Being a Dude Is a Good Thing by @TMatlack — The Good Men Project
Here’s my theory, and it’s nothing but a theory. Men and women are different. Quite different in fact. But women would really like men to be more like them.

Medieval Names Archive Compact Index
This collection of articles on medieval and renaissance names is intended to help historical re-creators to choose authentic names.

Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy – 2010-Jan-29 – YouTube
A discussion about science, society, and the universe with Stephen Colbert, who is out of character, at the Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey.

therumbox comments on I am a makeup artist on a porn set. AMA
Ik moest even grinniken: "TIL people produce porn where girls cry."

Spreekt deze Vlaam Nederlands? – Goesting in een blogje
De kennis over België reikt bij de gemiddelde Nederlander helaas niet veel verder dan het oprakelen van gênante episodes van 'De Pfaffs'. Het zien van mijn Belgisch paspoort was voor het KLM-personeel aan de gate op Schiphol voldoende om van de weeromstuit enkele Pfaffs te imiteren. Het idee dat 'Oh oh Cherso' en 'Oh oh Tirol' nu op de Vlaamse buis losgelaten worden, stemt me dan weer helemaal blij. Ik verkneukel me over zoveel gerechtigheid.

Only 50% iPhones Have Been Synced At Least Once
This is a crazy figure: 50% of the iPhones brought to Genius bars have never been connected to a computer. Ever.

Oriental Institute | The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD)
download for free!

The 9 Most Important Things to Remember If You Want to Sell Your Startup
eikes bah

The 50 Things Every Graphic Design Student Should Know – Jamie Wieck – Design, Illustration
A condensed primer for students and graduates-to-be.

Terraria – Coming soon!
Dig, fight, explore, build! Nothing is impossible in this action-packed adventure game. The world is your canvas and the ground itself is your paint. Terraria is coming soon!

YouTube – Creativity Masterclass [excerpts]
Audience was mostly silent.

Concept Camera: The WVIL on Vimeo
The WVIL camera is a concept camera envisioned by Artefact's award-winning design team. It answers the question: “what’s next for camera design?”