The weather is warming up, and backyard barbecues are getting dusted off. What’s easier to grill than a good old hot dog? Absolutely nothing. Here are just a few links to get you in the mood for some delicious dogs.

• The Brits have outdone themselves with a new culinary creation: Pizza Hut UK has created a hot dog stuffed pizza crust. American ingenuity just isn’t what it used to be. [url]
• If you’re really into hot dogs with plentiful toppings, just check out some MLB ballparks. Warning: if you don’t like hot dogs, this is a slideshow of more than 20 hot dogs smothered in condiments that’ll probably make you sick. [url]
• The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is trying to get people to stop eating hot dogs… with scary billboards that suggest hot dogs are deadly. Some of the billboard ads look like parodies of anti-smoking campaigns, so it’s difficult to take them too seriously (though the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council isn’t laughing). [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

There’s a big IPO coming up that should create a few more Silicon Valley billionaires. Back when Google went public, there were lots of folks joking about how business models were all going to be based on advertising. Just add ads, and your last step would most definitely be “profit.” That joke got old, but it doesn’t look like business models based on ads have. (At least, not for Facebook.. or Twitter.. or Foursquare…)

• GM hasn’t been impressed by the performance of its Facebook ad campaigns. Is it always the poor musician who blames his instrument? [url]
• A bunch of Facebook advertisers say that it can be difficult to pinpoint all the benefits of social networking ads, but getting more “likes” seems to quantify improving brand awareness in an easily-understood way. This is why there will never be a “dislike” button, though. [url]
• Small businesses are still trying to figure out whether or not Facebook ads are worthwhile. Either way, there appears to be more publicity in having a nice story about how Facebook ads don’t really have a great return on investment… [url]
• To discover more interesting advertising-related content, check out what’s floating around on StumbleUpon. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

No one likes feeling drowsy when they want to be awake and alert. For centuries, folks have been self-medicating by drinking various beverages with caffeine (and Coca-cola originally had a more potent drug in it). We’ve come a long way from just boiling tea leaves in water, and here are just a few more ways caffeine is spreading into our lives.

• Inhalable caffeine isn’t really meant to be absorbed by the lungs, despite its name. Caffeine doesn’t really seem like a dietary supplement, either. [url]
• The Caffeine Zone app is supposed to help optimize when a person should ingest caffeine for maximal effects. But this simple app doesn’t take into account personal metabolisms — it just predicts how much caffeine will be left in your bloodstream after you enter in how much you drank, when and how fast. [url]
• The CDC and FDA have several warnings against caffeinated alcoholic beverages. But where are the warnings for a rum and Coke? [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

Everybody at one time or another wishes they had a better memory. There are some techniques and memory exercises to help improve the way people memorize lists, but some things are just more memorable than others. Some research is starting to delve into why we remember some things but not others, and here are just a few interesting links that you might want to write down.

• An analysis of IMDB’s memorable movie quotes could help figure out what makes well-written dialogue so catchy. Not surprisingly, the most popular catchphrases have unusual combinations of words and often express some pearls of wisdom. “Do. Or Do not. There is no try.” [url]
• USA Memory Champ Ron White shows off how he memorizes the order of a deck of shuffled playing cards — creating a unique sentence for each card that helps him remember how every card relates to its neighbors. He uses a spatial memory technique called method of loci, but it probably doesn’t work for everyone (especially people who get lost a lot). [url]
• Children remember more than adults think they do, but nobody remembers their second birthday party. A study on the memories of Disney World revealed that 3 year old kids remembered a lot about the happiest place on Earth (even 18 months after visiting). [url]
• To discover more interesting articles on the human mind, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

There’s been a bit of a resurgence in interest for manned spaceflight because the costs of launching vehicles to the edge of space aren’t ludicrous anymore, just outrageously expensive. Despite the advances in rocket launching systems, there’s always a chance that something could go wrong — so ejecting escape pods at high altitudes seems like a good idea, right? Only a handful of people have even attempted to skydive from more than a few miles up. By the end of this year, though, a couple brave souls could set some skydiving records and pave the way for a new extreme sport.

• Felix Baumgartner is planning a free fall jump from an altitude of about 120,000 feet (~23 miles up). If it all works out, he’ll break the sound barrier, traveling over 700 miles per hour. [url]
• Michel Fournier has attempted to skydive from about 25 miles up, but he seems to have run into a series of problems. Fournier is in his 60s, so he doesn’t have too many more years left to cross this goal off his bucket list. [url]
• Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger holds the current record for high altitude skydiving — at 102,800 feet — from a jump he made in 1960. The Cold War really encouraged some crazy stunts…. [url]
• To discover more links on space exploration, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

A lot of vegetarians were likely inspired by The Jungle (the novel about the meat packing industry), but a lot has changed in the field of meat since the early 1900s. However, transparency about how animals are treated before they’re served onto dinner plates could perhaps use a little more work. Here are just a few recent stories that are starting to gross out some meat-eating Americans.

• Gerald Zimstein coined the term “pink slime” and the substance has been in the news because of its “yuck” factor. But pink slime isn’t particularly unhealthy — or at least it hasn’t been proven so (yet?). [url]
• Tuna scrape is almost like hamburger meat, and its use in sushi could become another kind of pink slime issue. So be careful with those spicy tuna rolls… [url]
• The use of antibiotics in food production might be getting out of hand, but fortunately, we can reduce antibiotics in the meat industry by using vaccines and other techniques. The concern is that we’re slowly creating a world of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. [url]
• The enzyme transglutaminase is also known as “meat glue” — and creating frankenstein steaks from cheap cuts of meat. While transglutaminase is generally safe and naturally occurring, the danger of using it comes from gluing together pieces of meat that may have bacteria contamination — and when the glued-together meat is merely seared on the outside, the rare inside isn’t properly cooked (and not sterile like the inner part of a single piece of meat). [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

Graduation season is just about here, and lots of students are going to put on some black robes and accept a very expensive piece of paper and a hand shake. And along with those newly-minted degrees, plenty of older and more experienced folks will try to offer some advice. Here are just a few interesting words of wisdom for young grads.

• Paul Graham has an excellent blog post that goes beyond the usual “do what you love” advice and explains why it’s so hard to actually follow through on finding enjoyable work. Graham boils it down to two paths: (1) organically finding what you love to do, or (2) working one job to support yourself while you develop other vocational interests. [url]
• Conan O’Brien gave a commencement speech to Dartmouth College students in 2011. Towards the end of his talk, Conan refers back to a speech he gave to Harvard graduates in 2000 on failure. [url]
• Commencement speeches aren’t always written by successful people with years of experience. Here are ten pearls of wisdom that you won’t hear on graduation day, and as with all advice, take it with a grain of salt. [url]
• To discover more interesting education-related content, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

Some companies spend a lot of effort tweaking their logo and making sure their brand image stays shiny and new. But how much does it really matter? There are some truly iconic corporate logos, but it’s really the businesses behind the logos that create the image of the company. Not the other way around. Or maybe a nice reliable-looking logo really does inspire a company and its employees to bleed purple or something….

• Would you even notice if the name and logo didn’t match? A project by Tommaso Guerra mixes up a few recognizable logos and brands; Guerra isn’t the first to do this and he won’t be the last… [url]
• A hundred web brands and their logos make a pretty rainbow. Except the main colors are either blue or red — with just a little green, yellow, orange, purple and gray. [url]
• LogoLounge has published its 10th annual logo trends report, pointing out a few common logo elements that some designers are (over-)using. With the potato chip logo, perhaps once you pop, you can’t stop. [url]
• To discover more interesting advertising-related content, check out what’s floating around on StumbleUpon. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

If there’s a way to make a weapon more mobile, the military has probably tried it. Bat bombs were created during World War II, but after spending a couple million dollars on development, the project was cancelled. Here are just a few more modern examples of flying weapons that are currently under development.

• Mav6 is building deadly blimps — attaching guided missile systems to a huge, optionally-manned airship. This blimp can hover for a week a time, and it’s surveillance capabilities could be coming back to the homeland… [url]
• The Airborne Laser was a proof-of-concept weapon that could take out missiles (in flight!) by shooting a laser from a modified Boeing 747. It’s not really a practical way to shoot down missiles, but the idea seems to pop up about as often as putting lasers on sharks. [url]
• The US Navy is planning to convert some of its unmanned Fire Scout helicopters into autonomous pirate hunters. These ship-launched helicopters would be able to keep an eye out for small boats and possibly deter Somali pirates on the open seas. [url]
• To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho

There’s a sucker born every minute — if you like to believe unverifiable statistics. Usually, if it’s too good to be true, it ain’t true. But as technology gets better, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish sufficiently advanced algorithms from magic. Here are a few scams that successfully fooled some folks for a while.

• A stock-picking robot named Marl convinced thousands of investors that it could identify penny stocks that were about to soar in price. The SEC is looking to impose a fine and force the creators of Marl to repay their duped investors… but with claims on a website like: “The longer Marl is allowed to run on a computer … The More Advanced He Becomes!” How could anyone go wrong? [url]
• Penn and Teller don’t usually do pranks, but when it comes to tricking Nobel prize laureate, Arno Penzias, they apparently make exceptions. Creating a fake computer with voice recognition in the late 1980s fooled this brilliant physicist, but nowadays Apple’s Siri is in TV ads all the time doing nearly the same routine. [url]
• Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen built a mechanical chess-playing machine (shaped like a Turk…) that gained widespread fame in 1769. This mechanical turk was actually controlled by a hidden human being, but only a few hundred years later, we actually could build a chess playing robot with grandmaster skills. [url]
• To discover more interesting AI-related content, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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Techdirt. Michael Ho