SpiderFarmer

I was incredibly saddened to learn that Brad Graham, founder of the infamous Break Bread with Brad feasts at SXSW, theater publicist and social networking pioneer who is credited with coining the term “blogosphere,” had died in his sleep.

He was so young, vibrant, wonderful, and so beloved by everyone who ever came into contact with him. It is hardly a fair universe that takes people like Brad, when he did so much and was so important to so many people.

He was one of the original members of MetaFilter, and a heartbreaking memorial thread with links and stories provides a fine example of an online wake. I think Brad would have been pleased.

My deepest sympathies go out to his mother and to everyone who was touched by him.

I’ve been doing a series of posts on cosmetic ingredients over at Soapy Hollow. I’m consolidating the posts on one monster page o’ ingredients as well.

Also, I’ve started doing tech writing related blogging over at The Art of Documentation.  I’m still adding content to the “services” section of the site, but I think the rest is pretty much ready to roll.  Feel free to bang on it and tell me what you think!

Instructables.com moves to a “pay to see” model

Instructables, the community craft blog of the handy set, has moved to a closed pay-only model, and the timer is ticking for legacy accounts. After 90 days from implementation rollover, people who do not pay for an Instructables “Pro” account will have their accounts “crippled”. Non-paying accounts will no longer be able to view entire instructables at once, print out projects or get a PDF, have a “favorites” list, and most perniciously, people won’t be able to view “secondary” images in instructable steps that have multiple images. (Even if you happen to be the person that created it.)

Some creators suggest that this new pay model breaks the Creative Commons license that most writers used on their projects, but Instructables says that creators don’t understand that the CC applies to everyone *except* the site where the content is published.

For my part, I’m removing my content from Instructables and will republish it elsewhere.  For those of you who would like PDFs of the projects, please drop me a line or message here, and I’ll email them to you until I can get the projects republished.

A global research group of scientists have recently completed research which suggests that cannabis-like substances may hold the key to healthy skin.

Researchers from Hungry, Germany, and the United Kingdom have presented a paper which will be published in the October issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) journal that suggests that the human body produces endocannabinoid compounds that resemble the active ingredient in marijuana, THC.

Not only are they similar but they also play an important role in the maintenance of good looking skin.

“Just as THC is believed to protect the marijuana plant from pathogens, our own cannabinoids may be necessary for us to maintain healthy skin,” said researcher Gerald Weissmann.

Read more…

The Breakthrough in Beauty 2009 global search is now actively accepting and reviewing submissions.

Beauty entrepreneurs can submit innovative beauty products and ideas for consideration to become the next $100 million beauty brand.

The annual Breakthrough in Beauty search identifies the top innovative new beauty products in the world. After evaluating thousands of promising entries, the winner of the search receives an infusion of resources to vault the winning product from obscurity and into the mainstream.

Breakthrough in Beauty invests $3-5 million to launch the product to market, with an additional $50 million in advertising to secure its success.

Read more…