August 2007 Archives
August 31
1967 Detroit Riot Remembered
It's been 40 years since the 1967 Detroit riot. The Detroit News remembers. Where we stand, four decades after that fateful summer. Extensive coverage including galleries, video, audio, and articles.
"f I knew what I was going to do that far down the road, there’d be no point in doing it.”
I never saw Simon Birch but I found this interview Roger Ebert did with Ian Michael Smith really amazing. I don't know if it was how comfortable Ian is with sci-fi-ing up his body, how the two of them used technology to overcome their current physical conditions, the discussions of "disability blogospheres" or just how happy Roger seems to be in this conversation but the whole thing made me smile...and something made me think MeFi would agree.
oudtube
Qaraami music is from Somalia. In qaraami style you sing and play an embellished melody on the oud, and maybe with some drums. The Somali diaspora have taken it everywhere. I just heard it for the first time in Shafeq's taxi in Wellington. With luck, it will flourish in its home again.
All at sea
Warning: This is an ad
Gorilla marketing! This is an ad.
May the nightmares ensue.
How to Draw a Head
How to Draw a Head. Fun tutorial. Amy is cute. Go draw a head. (For those easily confused, start with Getting Started.)
LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES
Ghetto Man roasts the Superheroes As Scott Tipton says, "No superhero movie, no matter how bad, how awful, how soul-numbingly un-good in every sense of the word, can hurt me. I’ve seen LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES. Truly, nothing else comes close
art with a lot of concept
Fate, Absolute Life and Death, the Aleph, the Zeitgeist, the sinking of the Atlantis, the World Trade Center, the formation of the universe...what more could you want from art? There's probably already been a been a post on this guy, Paul Laffoley, but I should hope more people could get a glance at some of this man's work. Crazy or brilliant, you make your decision. A video from his website.
The price of being a sex worker
The Price. Confessions of a College Call Girl is a blog by... well a prostitute who is in college. While her posts are mostly entertaining stories about her experiences, her most recent entry addresses e-mailers who have expressed interest in her field.
Visualizing your email as microbes.
It's not a bug, it's a feature: Carolin Horn has designed Anymails, which represents your email messages and folders as micro-organisms. The morphology of the individual organisms and their behaviour within colonies imparts information about the state of your email. You can view QT movies of the application in action (1, 2), download her thesis, and download the Anymails code itself. See some of her other work here (predominantly in German). via Madame Martin, the "French Metafilter".
Brian Dettmer Carves Books
Brian Dettmer is an artist/surgeon who carves books into intricate, astonishing & precise new pieces of art.
Yasujiro Ozu on trains & automobiles
Notebookism
Notebookism. A site for people that like notebooks.
The allure of the underground city
Derinkuyu wasn't discovered until 1965, when a resident cleaning the back wall of his cave house broke through a wall and discovered behind it a room that he'd never seen, which led to still another, and another. Eventually, spelunking archeologists found a maze of connecting chambers that descended at least 18 stories and 280 feet beneath the surface, ample enough to hold 30,000 people. [flickr]. [wiki].
eBay Arctic Ale Ouchy
Roadtrip!
Seattle to Boston in 15 minutes. Katja Suletzki drove the full length of Interstate 90, the longest interstate highway in America, from Seattle to Boston. Thanks to a webcam, a modified version of Flix, and a laptop, the journey was recorded for posterity as a 15 minute film.
Here are the eight online communities that killed our adventurous spirit...
The Trouble with Tribbles, A Television Adaptation by Edward Gorey
A thing for the past
Open access articles at Antiquity, a quarterly review of world archaeology. Recent project reviews cover Aztec cities, earliest rice domestication, and Pleistocene rock art in Egypt. There's lots to read.
Copyright Infringement Comes Full-Circle?
Viacom used my video without permission on their commercial television show, and now says that I am infringing on THEIR copyright for showing the clip of the work that Viacom made in violation of my own copyright! Writer, film-maker and "somewhat renegade Christian thinker" Christopher Knight (No, not the Brady Bunch kid. And yes, I'm as disappointed by that as you are.) fights back via his blog, with links to his original material. The show in question is Vh-1's Web Junk 2.0, and the clip in question was removed from YouTube, but preserved for posterity by Political Soup (A .wmv file here).
But what the heck / You're welcome / Join us at the picnic ...
August 30
Inspired feelings of terror among the local Baptists
"If the truth was really known about the origins of Jazz, it would certainly never be mentioned in polite society." The expression arose sometime during the later nineteenth century in the better brothels of New Orleans, which provided music and dancing as well as sex. Jazz has been around for more than a hundred years now. It is not the result of choosing a tune, but an ideal that is created first in the mind, and willed in the music, inspired by A Passion for Jazz.
Google Maps and Earth Lights
We've seen that one picture of earth at night. And we all know what Google Earth is. But someone has put the two together. Be sure to check out the map overlays, including the dusk map.
100 posts in one!
Why stop at one great undiscovered site when you can have 100? PC Magazine released its top 100 undiscovered websites for 2007 which you can view as a slideshow or download as bookmarks. There are some cool new sites that would be postworthy in themselves, such as: Footnote, which has digitized millions of national archive documents; WebsiteGrader, which automatically tells you how good your website is (MeFi gets a 98%); Rentometer, which compares your rent to others in the neighborhood; and Yapta, which lets you take advantage of airline policies that refund part of your ticket when prices drop. Many others have been covered on the blue, but are still worth revisiting such as OldVersions.com for finding software before the bloat, the video how-to site VideoJug, and Zamzar for conversion between file formats. If you can't get enough, check out the 100 classic websites.
Best of the webs
Fasting in response to climate change
As the global climate changes, agriculture is sure to be affected. The Stern Review explains that "developing countries - in particular the poorest - are heavily dependent on agriculture, the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors." Working Group II of the IPCC says that: "Smallholder and subsistence farmers, pastoralists and artisanal fisherfolk will suffer complex, localised impacts of climate change (high confidence)." Meanwhile, some important staple crops are especially threatened by rising temperatures (though genetic engineering may help). You can experience a taste of it yourself, with a climate change awareness fast, taking place on Tuesday, September 4th.
Wikipedia articles that are too technical.
Tonight I present to you Wikipedia articles that are too technical. Warning: Your brain may explode.
"If you scratch a paranoid, you find a narcissist"
What's the Big Secret? Four surveillance experts try to figure out what the NSA's superclassified wiretapping program really is (hint: it may have something to do with the filters). They don't seem to realize that this kind of reckless public discussion means some Americans are going to die. [Via Threat Level.]
Last call
Michael Jackson the Beer Hunter (not the other one) passed away this morning. Beer fans remember the man and his impact on the world of beer. Among other things, he is responsible for establishing the definition of worldwide beer styles. He is also credited with reviving the Belgian beer industry and inspiring the U.S. microbrewing renaissance. I'll raise a glass of ale to him tonight because he was a friend and inspiration.
Life imitates propaganda
Recently deceased Leona Helmsley left $12 Million to her dog, as predicted by Soviet propagandists in 1963. Other predictions have been less than accurate.
Please practice safe beastiality.
The 71st Annual LA Shrimp & Petroleum Festival Present by Shell
Welcome to the official home of the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival.
Sponsored by, you guessed it, Shell. [via]
Sponsored by, you guessed it, Shell. [via]
oscillate
Youscope is the result of hooking up an oscilloscope to a soundcard. [youtube] 3rd place winner in Short Films at Assembly 2007.
Abner Jay
Folks, don't worry about energy crisis. Because Standard Oil, Shell, Gulf, Mobil, Texaco, Amoco, Esso, Sunoco, Exxon, Nixon, Standard Oil, General Motors, Chrysler, George Wallace, and Ford is not the backbone of America. The backbone of America is a mule and cotton. [mp3] Bluesman, outsider artist, vaudevillian: Abner Jay was a real One Man Band and, as he put it, "the last great Southern black minstrel show". Some more mp3s: [Cocaine Blues, excerpt]; [I'm So Depressed, excerpt]; [The Reason Young People Use Drugs, full]
Are software upgrades driving you crazy?
David Pogue on the Power of Simplicity Complete with musical opening.
A Life With Jazz
A Life With Jazz is a collection of the wonderful photographs of Herman Leonard, focusing on the iconic figures of 20th century jazz music.
The Snark of New Orleans
Since when did we get
cat 5 levees? Or a working
flood plan? Behold the
New Orleans Levee, where
'We don't hold anything back.'
American Philosophy: The Film
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse...
White Flour?????
The proper way to deal with a KKK march (Do not click link while drinking liquids) With all the doom and gloom in the news these days, I was beginning to think there was nothing to be done to make things better. I was proven wrong. By clowns.
The Exceptional CEO
The Mensch of Malden Mills There's supposedly an exception to every rule. If CEO greed is a rule, the exception is Aaron Feuerstein. When his Malden
Mills burned to the ground in December, 1995, he
took a $300,000,000 insurance payment and used much of it to pay his 3,000 workers ther wages and benefits while
he began to rebuild the factory. [more inside]
From bedroom recording to chart success?
Make a single, make a video and unleash it on the internet to see if you can make money. The Schema began as a project to get a single out in 30 days from one man's bedroom on a tight budget. Despite the massive popularity on YouTube, will "Those Rules You Made" succeed in making any money?
Relativity in Four Letters or Less
Perfect Pac-Man videos
With A Little Help From Their Friends
In 1971, George HarrisonRIP and Ravi Shankar organized, promoted, and put on The Concert for Bangladesh – the first high-profile rock concert to raise money (administered by UNICEF) for humanitarian causes – at NYC's Madison Square Garden.
Performances: Ravi Shankar { Bangla Dhun } George Harrison and band { Wah Wah, My Sweet Lord, Awaiting On You All, That's The Way God Planned (composed/performed by Billy Preston), It Don't Come Easy (composed/performed by Ringo Starr), Beware of Darkness (featuring Leon Russell on guest vocals), While My Guitar Gently Weeps (featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar), Jumping Jack Flash/Young Blood Medley (performed by Leon Russell), Here Comes The Sun (featuring Pete Ham) } Bob Dylan { A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall/It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, Blowin' In The Wind, Just Like A Woman, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, If Not For You (soundcheck duet with George Harrison) } [Encore!, Encore!]
Performances: Ravi Shankar { Bangla Dhun } George Harrison and band { Wah Wah, My Sweet Lord, Awaiting On You All, That's The Way God Planned (composed/performed by Billy Preston), It Don't Come Easy (composed/performed by Ringo Starr), Beware of Darkness (featuring Leon Russell on guest vocals), While My Guitar Gently Weeps (featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar), Jumping Jack Flash/Young Blood Medley (performed by Leon Russell), Here Comes The Sun (featuring Pete Ham) } Bob Dylan { A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall/It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, Blowin' In The Wind, Just Like A Woman, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, If Not For You (soundcheck duet with George Harrison) } [Encore!, Encore!]
Wellcome Images
Wellcome Images This collection of thousands of high-quality images includes anatomical images, rare books and manuscripts, posters, photos, and more. Also includes galleries on war, witchcraft, wellness, and other subjects.
August 29
neigh-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Royal Randwick Racecourse has been locked down. At least 8 horses have tested positive for equine flu. It is predicted that 700 horses will contract the virus. [more inside]
I'M ON UR PLAYA BURNING UR MAN
Hey, 19
Dampcats.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats moist, or why.
The Pinky Show
The Pinky Show takes on some tough issues. Is the Iraq War legal? (24 minute video.) Cats with guns. (6 minutes.) Viet Nam. (40 minutes.) Did Thomas Edison hate cats? (2.5 minutes.) Or just browse the archives.
Oh wait. Did I mention it's hosted by a cartoon cat with an annoying monotone voice? Well it is.
Oh wait. Did I mention it's hosted by a cartoon cat with an annoying monotone voice? Well it is.
Space Art
Astrona - Space & Astronomical Art Journal : "specialising in space and astronomical art, science fiction art, visions of future worlds, design and visualization of technologies for living in space, space exploration, spaceships, starships, space colonies, etc."
sex for nature
Eco Porn. "Fuckforforest is an erotic non-profit eco organization. By showing the beauty of love and nature we wish to direct attention to and collect money for the earth’s threatened nature, with help from sexually free people." (NSFW)
The man in the coon-skin cap wants eleven dollar bills - You only got ten
Do you want your next president to be an unintelligent, corrupt, incompetent liar? Of course you don’t.
Neither does Russ Feingold.
(And oh by the way, the next president must also be a Dylan fan. More about the video)
Holocaust study is a sensitive subject
A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust - an overview of the people and events of the Holocaust through photographs, documents, art, music, and literature. It is designed to prepare K-12 teachers to approach this sensitive topic. The content is presented from three perspectives: Timeline, People, and The Arts. Produced by the University of South Florida.
James Kochalka's American Elf daily comic
American Elf is a daily diary comic by James Kochalka. The latest strip is always free but the archives are subscription only. He also a musician, his most famous song being Hockey Monkey, and he has number of songs up for free on his site. [via Eddie Campbell who says: "Beginning in 1998 Kochalka took the form of daily strip and imbued it with a life that has been missing from it for a long time. Since then he has made sure his daily round is not finished until a strip is done. Another thing I like about it is the way he carefully avoids any taint of 'continuity'. There is no story here, just the eternal incidentalness of life as it is lived."]
i:wound
A Real Australian Citizenship Test
Like the US, the UK, and Canada before it, Australia has recently announced that, as part of its new citizenship guidelines, prospective citizens must pass a test with questions relating to Australian history, society, and culture. Not everyone is a fan of the test, though, or the information on it, and today The Age has released its own suggestions for a citizenship test. Could you pass it?
Death Grip
Death Grip: How Political Psychology Explains Bush's Ghastly Success. Interesting article on the work of psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski. [Via Disinformation.]
How to win the Nobel Prize 101
"It so often happens that I receive mail - well-intended but totally useless - by amateur physicists who believe to have solved the world. They believe this, only because they understand totally nothing about the real way problems are solved in Modern Physics...It should be possible, these days, to collect all knowledge you need from the internet. Problem then is, there is so much junk on the internet... I know exactly what should be taught to the beginning student...I can tell you of my own experiences. It helped me all the way to earn a Nobel Prize. But I didn't have internet. I am going to try to be your teacher. It is a formidable task."
Illegal attacks
Ian Brown, the former lead singer with The Stone Roses has a new single out. Illegal Attacks is an anti-war song featuring Sinead O'Connor urging the US and UK governments to "bring the soldiers back home". The striking thing about the song, to my mind, is its scarcity value.
The War in Vietnam brought us anti-war songs by Glen Campbell (Galveston); Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Ohio); Edwin Star (War!); Donovan (The Universal Soldier); Steppenwolf (Draft Resister); Billy Joel (Goodnight Saigon); Bruce Springstien (Born in the USA); Jimmy Cliff (Vietnam) Nina Simone (Backlash Blues) and many, many more . Why have the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are as deeply unpopular, not generated a similar body of work?
Your random audio links of the day.
Today's post of tenuously related audio brings you ten historic radio broadcasts, 529 eternal questions in popular music, and one mildly amusing black metal band prank call.
The World's Ugliest Cars
Six feet long, eight feet wide, bicycle tires all around, and 0 to 60 in four-and-a-half hours. Have any MeFites the courage to admit they owned one of these horrors of engineering?
We’re too sophisticated to allow bioregional commerce.
Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin. This Saturday will mark this article's four year anniversary. Frankly, I was mildly surprised not to have found it mentioned before in MeFi. It's a good read about a sad state of affairs; how our government is turning its own people into outlaws, because freedom has been traded in for an illusion of security. ...but then we already knew that. Don't we?
show them to me
Jail Guitar Doors
Jail Guitar Doors is an independent initiative set up by Billy Bragg with the aim of providing musical equipment for the use of inmates serving time in Her Majesty’s prisons. With Mick Jones and in memory of Joe Strummer. It seems to be working. Here's an interview, a Guardian article, and the original.
Is College Worth the Cost?
Is College Worth the Cost? In strict dollar terms, is that degree going to be worth the parchment it's printed on?
Path to Freedom?
The fight to free Burma has been making noise lately. Protests are picking up in Burma, international activists are putting pressure on the UN to step in, and Jim Carrey has joined as yet another celebrity to try to bring public attention to the effort. Burma is an amazing place and the Burmese people are some of the warmest, most hospitable, beautiful, and silliest people I have ever encountered. The people of Burma deserve a better world. Is the tide shifting? Will this be a turning point for Burma? I hope so.
designing peace
The origin of the peace sign. Various histories of designs, top 10 tools for artists and designers, hilarious pencil attachments and other cool stuff at designboom (previously).
More abandoned places, because they're creepy and beautiful
Illicit Ohio has a wide range of photos and essays of abandoned places in Ohio, from the Cincinnati subway system (yes, there really is was one, and it's been discussed here before), to various and sundry prisons, government installations, hotels, hosiptals, houses and more. And don't miss the old vs. new galleries, either.
Om Nom Nom Nom
Minsky Meltdown ahead?
Minsky
Meltdown
ahead?
Named after
Hyman Minsky,
an economist who was known for his research concerning financial crises, specifically
asset bubbles based on credit cycles. [much more inside]
Do I Know You?
M.Baryshnikov - G.Kirkland - Don Quixote - Coda 2/2
Insect Vs Fairy To The Death
Artist Tessa Farmer sculpts nightmarish scenes of winged insects being attacked, harnessed & even ripped apart by tiny skeletal faries. Partially found via.
The abstract Polaroid photography of GrantHamilton
The downside of living longer
Animated population pyramids project a steady increase in the median age. England and Wales. United States. Canada. China. Japan. "The number of older persons has tripled over the last 50 years; it will more than triple again over the next 50 years." [pdf] There will be a shortage of workers to support the retired and disabled. The looming crisis has been predicted for years. Proposed solutions include robots and immigration.
[previously, previously]
The Curator of Punk
Legal information online
The Law Library of Congress’s Guide to Online Law includes legal information from over a hundred different countries and all fifty states. The Legal Information Institute has guides to 130 different areas of law. The Armed Forces Legal Assistance site is also a great resource for basic legal information, aimed at service members, but often generally helpful, on topics including consumer law, family law and trusts and estates. Your State’s Bar Association may also offer information specific to your jurisdiction.
China bans reincarnation without government permission.
China bans reincarnation without government permission.
(Coming soon: right to exist first requires government permit.)
(Coming soon: right to exist first requires government permit.)
Getting behind the virtual velvet rope.
Invite Share. I've seen some invite sharing on MeTa, but this is another cool way to perhaps bump up your chances of getting an early invite to the latest exclusive, invite-only website a little sooner than later.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Feed The Beast Starve the People
The looming food crisis is already upon us. The Institute for Food and Development - Food First - whose Policy is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger is joined by Green Horizon talking about a global food crisis emerging. By promoting biodiesel as a substitute, we have missed the fact that it is worse than the fossil-fuel burning it replaces. As a result the line between the food economy and energy economy has become blurred. In the United States and Canada, governments are manipulating the market in the biofuels industry.
August 28
John Henry was a steel-drivin' bastard
You've got just over two weeks to make it to the John Henry celebration in Leeds, Alabama, where some folks believe the legendary steel driving contest actually took place. Maybe you already made it to John Henry Days in Talcott, West Virginia (or read a fictionalized account), where some more folks claim the same. John Garst, Scott Nelson, and other folklorists weigh in here, supplemented by a wealth of links and resources on the subject. While you think on it let Mississippi Fred McDowell, The Boss, Ralph Stanley, John Jackson, Merle Travis, and Jason Isbell tell their own versions.
John Garst and his research mentioned previously.
Every Bitch Must Tip
Welcome to The Wieners Circle, a Chicago hot dog stand where you can stumble in after a night at the bar and trade some colorful banter from the staff (along with your chocolate milkshake). But a local tradition that was "supposed to be fun" often cuts a little too close for the black employees in the predominantly white Lincoln Park establishment. [NSFW]
Building a house truck takes alot of wood.
This trip will take you as far west as Idaho and as far east as your mind permits.
'Hey, We're Back' is a new podcast by Jonathan Katz, of Dr. Katz. Recommended for those who like low-key humor and Katz's soothing voice.
Inside Out
Inside Out A topographical bedtime story. (Warning, contains spheres!)
Ronald Jenkees
"Hello Youtubes, have you heard my SICK beats?" Ronald Jenkees started a youtube channel over a year ago where you can find him clucking about his roommate, giving tips for the unwashed masses, and producing some incredibly
awesome
beats. The internet agrees, his debut album is genius.
Kiwicon Hacks Up Media Coverage
The organisers of New Zealand hacking convention Kiwicon have created some PR the only way they know how, l33t h4x0ring. Using a XSS bug in NZ's largest newspaper the NZ Herald they created a fake URL that injected javascript to rewrite an article there. The URL got passed around and soon ended up with genuine media coverage in NZ Herald's biggest competitor Stuff. An earlier effort on the NZ Computerworld site was quickly fixed and got no media coverage.
RANDOM.ORG
RANDOM.ORG offers true random numbers to anyone on the Internet. The randomness comes from atmospheric noise. Also has subsites such as a coin flipper, dice roller and a jazz scale generator.
The Boys of Boise
In 1955, at least twelve men in Boise, Idaho were arrested for "infamous crimes against nature.". In the resulting dragnet, the vice president of the Idaho First National Bank was sentenced to seven years in prison, while national magazines fomented a McCarthyite Lavender Scare with headlines such as Male Pervert Ring Seduces 1,000 Boys. This dark chapter in
Idaho gay history was documented in both John Gerassi's 1966 book, The Boys of Boise and the recent film, The Fall of '55, by documentarian Seth Randal, but neither Gerassi nor Randal could identify The Queen, a closeted but politically connected homosexual who allegedly used his massive clout to stop the witch hunt.
Bush dines at Dooky Chase's restaurant in the Treme
President Bush touched down in New Orleans at 7:11 p.m. this evening The 84-year-old Chase sat close to the president and accepted his praise for the meal of jambalaya, stewed okra and gumbo z'herb, an all-greens gumbo that's a tradition at Chase's Holy Thursday dinners.
Manila in my mind
“It seems that everytime I get a request from a western photojournalist to do a project on Manila, it's always about the slums and squatters and I am sick of it.” Carlos Celdran is well known for his chatty walking tours of Manila, and he’s tired of the one-track perception Westerners have of the city. Manila as slum gothic – low-hanging fruit for lazy photojournalists or writers? Or is a fairer perspective (in more ways than one) possible?
Space Wolf.
Lanier Phillips, survivor
It sounds like a bad Newfie joke: the Newfoundlanders who had never seen a black person before and tried to scrub the colour off his skin. But the story is real: in 1942, Lanier Phillips was the only black survivor of the wreck of the USS Truxton off the coast of Newfoundland. Like the white survivors, he was half-dead and covered in oil when he arrived on shore, and the women nursing the survivors were puzzled when they could not clean the black colour off his skin. What happened next affected Phillips' self-perception and prompted him to push for equal treatment in the US Navy. He went on to become the first African American US SONAR technician, and continues today, at the age of 84, to speak across the US about his experience with the people of St. Lawrence. [previously]
Brand new Strat: $700. Beat up Strat: $1000
The Wacky World of beating up guitars to add value."Normally, even one of the resulting scratches or dings on a brand-new instrument would make a guitar enthusiast cringe. But in the hands of Mr. Eldred, they are the first steps in the process of creating a "relic" guitar -- a brand new instrument that has been deliberately aged to simulate decades' worth of rock-and-roll wear and tear."
no napkin corner required
Clean (but not sanitize) your kids' faces the easy way, with MomSpit.
Knytt Stories
Knytt Stories. From Nifflas, the maker of the lovely and fiendishly difficult Within a Deep Forest, and the lovely and relaxing Knytt comes another simple platform game, this one user-modifiable. (Previously)
Anti-Americanism in Europe
This PBS documentary about Anti-Americanism (a hate/love relationship) examines the complicated mixture of envy, pride, admiration, and cultural misunderstanding that characterizes european views. This documentary covers only France, Britain and Poland. Is there comparable Anti-Europeanism similar to Anti-Americanism? Or maybe it's all down to the evil liberal european media [Part 2]?!
The return of the singles club
First the Sub Pop Single of the week club brought us Nirvana, then the Moshi Moshi Singles Club, brought us Kate Nash; now more and more labels are having a go. What's more, the kids are buying seven inch singles again. Is this a backlash against digital downloads? Or just nostalgia for the 45?
More than fish wrapper
At rivertrout.com, the goal is to bring together people who nurture a passion for an old, and yet exquisite, form of literature: The writing of letters.
Nanda Devi and the Nuclear Genie
Nanda Devi - India's second-highest peak, at 25,645 feet (7816m), sits in a "sanctuary," surrounded by 21,000-foot+ lesser mountains. This has made it even more of a challenge to climb. Among those who took up the challenge were a 1965 CIA team trying to set up a plutonium-powered device to spy on China's nuclear testing program. That expedition retreated in the face of bad weather, leaving the device on the mountain. When they returned the next spring, it was gone. The Nanda Devi Sanctuary supplies water to the Ganges River, and there were fears that the four pounds of plutonium in the device could escape into the watershed. Those fears have been confirmed.
Her Skull has Roses, His Have Ivy
Hallstatt, Austria, besides being idylic, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is historically fascinating: A Bronze Age cultural center, with a 2,500-year-old salt mine (the world's first); beautiful ice caves; and a Catholic cemetery so small that the dead were regularly disinterred after a time, their skulls painstakingly identified and decorated and stacked in an ossuary.
Roky Erickson documentary playing this summer
You're Gonna Miss Me is playing in a few theaters this summer. The documentary explores the life of Roky Erickson, former frontman for the seminal psychedelic rock group The 13th Floor Elevators, an influential musician who's life and career has been marred by mental illness. But in recent years his life has been characterized by drastically improved health and an increasingly active recording and performance career. (Via Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions, see footnotes 5 & 6).
It is better to be silent, and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
BoingBoing launched its redesign today and, among other changes, allows comments again. So, if you're tired of anagram maps, steampunk crap, self-promotion, endless and often pointless crying about copyright laws, orgasms about everything Katamari Demacy, or anything else, now is your chance. The folks behind the now abandoned corysucks and the still running xenisucks must be happy.
What a wonder-full world
March of the Librarians
March of the librarians: "Twice a year, tens of thousands of librarians make a trek across the United States to a meeting of the ALA. How they know to congregate in the same spot, no one knows. They come to learn, to network, to collect free stuff, and possibly to mate." (YouTube)
"If people do not accept our position on creationism, they do not have to watch."
Guess who's censoring references to evolution out of David Attenborough documentaries? That's right, the Dutch. See the differences; here's a detailed write-up by a Dutch biologist and documentary enthusiast comparing the two versions side-by-side (in Dutch).
Australopithecus afarensis in the sky with diamonds
Lucy, one of the oldest and most complete fossilized hominid skeletons, is hitting the road. Although not without a little controversy. (And that's even before the creationists get wind of the tour!)
Keep terrorism at bay, use a GPS.
If Hansel were alive today, he might very well get arrested and cause a panic. This is not the first time, either. When are we going to ban running clubs and make everyone safer?
DMOZ Payola?
DMOZ Editor(s) seeking extortion for continued inclusion is putting further smudge on the "volunteer" directory. Seems lots of folks have had their hands out over inclusion in the DMOZ, so why hasn't a business been built out of it? Is Best of the Web positioning itself as Google Bait?
Unseen photos of lunar surface
In honor of this morning's impressive lunar eclipse, another moon-photo post: For decades you had to be a scholar or specialist to get access to the original Apollo flight films, most of which have been stored in freezers at Houston's Johnson Space Center. Now Arizona State University and NASA are scanning the negatives with high-resolution equipment and creating an online digital archive of downloadable images for the general public.
Here are the first few, from Apollo 15.
(Similar topics previously: 1, 2, 3, 4.)
Step Right Up
Circus History, with photos, logos, show routes, and more. See also Circus World, Circus Web, and Princeton's Circus Poster Archive.
Worst Civilian Skydiving Accident
Leaping Through the clouds 40 years ago yesterday, 18 experienced recreational skydivers took off in a converted World War II B-25 flying at 20,000 feet, intending to land at Ortner Field in Wakeman, Ohio.
Expecting to free fall and then pop their chutes at 3,000 feet, after passing through the clouds at 4,000 feet, they instead plunged into Lake Erie, five miles from shore. FAA rules then and now bar skydiving through clouds, for obvious reasons.
The plane's pilot wasn't rated to fly the craft but he also received bad information about his location from an air traffic controller in Oberlin: the controller mistook a Cessna observing the jump from a couple of miles away for the B-25.
Two skydivers, one of whom had used his Styrofoam-lined helmet as a flotation device, were saved from the waters by a passing boater; 16 skydivers drowned.
Oddly, one skydiver had told people the night before that, given a choice, he would take drowning as the way to go. He did not survive.
The tragedy remains the
worst recreational skydiving accident in history. (Sub. required.)
We Heard That Who, Too!
Many a music fan out there in MeFitown and beyond was delighted with and intrigued by that now-vanished website, Dylan Hears a Who! It featured backing tracks that captured, with an astonishing believability, both the sound and the feel of Highway 61-era Bob, not to mention an uncannily good Dylan vocal imitation. And of course, as is now legend, "Dylan" was singing lyrics straight out of the wonderful works of the good Dr. Seuss. Well, back in April Salon magazine broke the story of the very, very talented individual who put the whole thing together. Those for whom this is old news please forgive me, but it's news to me, and I can't find any notice of it here at MeFi, so, here it is.
Scary Mouth Hemorrhage Clown
Lo-fi ultraviolent cartoons are the new hotness, and Grey Girling, aka BarfQuestion, brings the heat. Or, at least, inconstant toasters.
A video tour of the history of Found Footage Filmmaking
80 years of Found Footage Filmmaking...
1927-1967:
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, 1927.
Rose Hobart, 1936.
Night and Fog 2 3 4 5 6 7, 1956.
1968-2007 inside...
1927-1967:
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, 1927.
Rose Hobart, 1936.
Night and Fog 2 3 4 5 6 7, 1956.
1968-2007 inside...
Rawr.
Tiger Attack. Forget snakes on a plane. Tigers on an elephant is what you need to worry about.
Astronomic representation
The Richard Mille Planetarium-Tellurium - 10 years in the making and looking absolutely fabulous.
August 27
Railway of Bones
Dead Road - Museum of Communism in the Open. "It was one of the most ambitious projects of the Stalin era, known as the 'railway of bones'. At least 10 people a day died during the four years of its construction [actually 1947-1953], but unlike most of Uncle Joe's grand designs it was never completed and now sits unfinished in the tundra, an icy road to nowhere." The transpolar railway was built by labour camps^ 501 and 503 and construction was stopped after the amnesty following Stalin's death in 1953; 800km, about half, was built. Some sections are currently in operation, but much is abandoned: depot and locomotives in Dolgoe, Dolgoe itself, labour camps, more spectacular decay. (Previously: Norilsk, which was supposed to see an extension of the line.)
83F Project
1983 Fleer Project As of 8/25/07: 364 of the 660 cards autographed (55%).
112 Millionaires Drown In Hilarious Accident
Ocean Residences by Four Seasons is your own private apartment aboard a giant cruise ship (one of 112 similar apartments aboardship). For those afflicted with both wanderlust and an unimaginable amount of money, the online brochure makes a somewhat compelling case for having no fixed abode.
The Aurigids
"I don't see anything to believe in"
"I don't know anyone who calls himself that" Bob Dylan insulted in Australia 20 years ago. It's a wonder he still does interviews at all, and he tours down under regularly. He's resiient (Part 2 of a double YouTube link).
Hamster power.
Hamsters are pretty good at video games. Maybe he would have done better if he and his hamster coach had mastered the super hamster wheel. Or maybe he should have brought along his slithery pal for backup. At least he tried, and didn't turn to the bottle for comfort. Here little guy, have some popcorn and some Elvis as a reward.
Chernobyl wildlife garden of eden?
The Chernobyl exclusion zone has been mythologized as a sort of wildlife garden of eden with storks, bears, birds, wolfs, pigs etc.. taking over in the absence of man. However it turns out the reports are anecdotal, there have been no formal scientific studies - until now. According to this study of birds, both the number of species and abundance of individuals declined with increasing radiation levels. For example, the most contaminated sites had about two-thirds fewer birds than those with normal levels of radiation. Chernobyl is far from a wildlife paradise, “This was a big surprise to us,” biologist Dr. Mousseau of the University of South Carolina said. “We had no idea of the impact.”
Nomic is a game where modifying the game is the game.
Nomic, as introduced by inventor Peter Suber (homepage): a game of self-modification—every move is an attempt to alter the rules governing how the game is played. Further from wikipedia. [A great deal more within.]
Science in the Himalayas
Kid 17
What happens when you play two separate copies of Radiohead's "Kid A" exactly 17 seconds apart? According to some, it produces some amazing synchronization effects. Although some fans claim to have heard Thom Yorke say it was intentional, "Whether or not it was intentional to me seems beyond the point. Fact of the matter is that it actually 'kind of' works." If that doesn't float your boat, you can always just sync it up with The Matrix.
Wishbook Web -- Christmas Catalogs through the 20th Century
Wishbook Web. Christmas catalogs scanned in their entirety from the 1944 Wards Catalog (152 pages) to the 1985 Sears Catalog (648 pages!). The site looks like it was built circa '97, but the scans are quite interesting. via - Similar posts to this one: 1, 2.
Maurice Sendak on acid
The bizarre art of Christopher Uminga. Eerie, Cute and simultaneously freaky. Bonus points for the awesome rendering of one of the best Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes ever, Hush. Here is a link to the whole gallery.
Just Say NoSo.
NoSo [embedded audio] is the next stop on the self-referential satire train of Web 2.0.* Going beyond Useless Account, inspired (kinda) by Flash Mobs, Fight Club ("the first rule..."), and MeFi Meetups, it allows anonymous users the opportunity to organize "NOevents" where members can congregate in selected physical locations without using their technological connectivity devices and NOT engage in communication with each other. That's right, no talking allowed at a NOevent. Reading books is OK. You may go home and blog about it, but NO live blogging. Organized by a San Franciso art group that may just be using it to get people to show up at their installations (aha!), and who violate the Fight Club rule in an interview with R.U. Sirius.(viablame TechCrunch) *Plagiarized with attribution from bhouston.
How many does that make now?
GOP Senator Larry Craig arrested in 'bathroom incident' --and pleads guilty. ... At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” ... He's denied similar stories in the past.
Everyone's a winner at Nixon Peabody!
Boston law firm Nixon Peabody commissions a song to praise itself ("Everyone's a winner at Nixon Peabody!") after being named one of Fortune's 100 Best Places to Work. The legal blog 'Above the Law' posts an MP3 of the song, a video to YouTube and writes about it. The law firm is 'non-too-happy' that bloggers and lawyers are circulating the cheezy song via e-mail and blog postings. They lawyer-up and issue a claim of copyright violation with Google. The clip is removed from YouTube. Bloggers run with the story ... let the mocking and parodies begin!
The Worst Colleges In America
Radar picks the worst colleges in America. At least one of the picks is rather dubious, although I suppose being the "worst" Ivy League is a position of some note, and another one of the picks was where my school's valedictorian went. Either way, it's always nice to see the Moonies somersaulting into otherwise non-Moonie related stories.
The Manhattan of the Desert
The World's First Skyscrapers. "The clay-formed houses... rise high up the sky clouds by thirty to forty meters lengths, whilst its floors vary between five to sixteen."
"One of the oldest and best examples of urban planning." Another amazing Yemeni city.
Leni Riefenstahl
Bring sexy back? ...or Gaguar?
Press embargo be damned, pictures of the 2009 Jaguar XF are popping up on the Internet. Perhaps the final design has strayed too far from the original concept. Hopefully there are better designers in India.
Mathematics vs. Democracy: A Clear Winner or a Tie Game?
The Marquis de Condorcet and Admiral Jean-Charles de Borda were two men of the French Enlightenment who struggled with how to design voting systems that accurately reflected voters' preferences. Condorcet favored a method that required the winner in a multiparty election to win a series of head-to-head contests, but he also discovered that his method easily led to a paradoxes that produced no clear winners. The Borda method avoids the Condorcet paradox by requiring voters to rank choices numerically in order of preference, but this method is flawed because the withdrawal of a last-place candidate can reverse the election results. Mathematicians in the 19th century attempted to design better voting systems, including Lewis Carroll, who favored an early form of proportional representation. Economist Kenneth Arrow argued that designing a perfect voting system was futile, because his "impossibility theorem" proved that it's impossible to design a non-dictatorial voting system that fulfills five basic criteria of fairness. (more inside)
MotionPortrait
MotionPortrait (flash, loads slow, doesn't work for me in IE7 but works in Firefox) is a new kind of interactive photograph. Follow the bouncing mouse! (Via)
Something smells rotten
Degree Zero
For Roland Barthes, the Death of the Author came on March 23, 1980, in the form of a car speeding down the Rue des Écoles (perhaps that car has become, like wrestling or detergent, another myth); though the Author is gone, his works--texts--remain; they are about history, about fashion, about love, about chopsticks, but fundamentally, they are about signs--as Barthes, once interviewed, said, "Each of us speaks but a single sentence, which only death can bring to a close"--rapidly approaching the end of his sentence, Barthes thought about living together, but the period would be found on his tombstone: écrivain. [more inside]
The Great Bolano
"At a convocation of writers in Seville, Spain, six weeks before Bolaño died [in 2003], he was declared to be the most influential Latin-American writer of his generation." (NYer)
And since then, Roberto Bolaño's reputation has been growing (NYRB:"The Great Bolano"). A man who dismissed magical realism as "shit" is more the heir of Cortazar and Borges (his two idols) than Garcia Marquez or Vargas Lllosa yet he is also something entirely new. Bolano was also the founder of infrarealism, a movement whose manifesto proclaims "A new lyricism springing up in Latin America, nourishing itself in ways that continue to amaze us.... Tenderness like an exercise in speed. Breath and heat. Experience at full tilt, self-consuming structures, stark raving contradictions."
Why has the English speaking world not heard of Bolaño? His great novel, The Savage Detectives, a sprawling work about youth and poetry and chaos (with no less than 52 narrators across several continents) has only this year been translated.
And since then, Roberto Bolaño's reputation has been growing (NYRB:"The Great Bolano"). A man who dismissed magical realism as "shit" is more the heir of Cortazar and Borges (his two idols) than Garcia Marquez or Vargas Lllosa yet he is also something entirely new. Bolano was also the founder of infrarealism, a movement whose manifesto proclaims "A new lyricism springing up in Latin America, nourishing itself in ways that continue to amaze us.... Tenderness like an exercise in speed. Breath and heat. Experience at full tilt, self-consuming structures, stark raving contradictions."
Why has the English speaking world not heard of Bolaño? His great novel, The Savage Detectives, a sprawling work about youth and poetry and chaos (with no less than 52 narrators across several continents) has only this year been translated.
The season of Bounty
A Pile of Index Cards
A Pile of Index Cards. A somewhat byzantine way to organize your life using index cards.
American Knockoffs
A nation of outlaws. A century and a half ago, another fast-growing nation had a reputation for sacrificing standards to its pursuit of profit, and it was the United States.
Biorhythms, hocus pocus or substantive ...
Wikipedia explains biorhythms ".. is in need of attention from an expert on the subject." There are many programs available, some are free; some are online. Hocus pocus, unsubstantiated, or substantive? A Mefite refers to a course tutor "Recording everything from blood pressure to sleep habits several times a day every day for 29 years." Myself? I work with numbers and know how to manipulate them. But perhaps more will be revealed about biorhythms. But when and by whom?
Gonzales resigns
Stainless Steel Ondine
Oh, the humanity...
A post and comment thread on BlackProf (a blog run by leading black law professors) regarding Obama fielding a question as to the "homophobia problem in the Black community" [see third video down]
Devil's Breath
Burundanga (NSFW, video). Arguably the worlds most sinister drug. Under its influence you remain lucid and articulate yet absolutely compliant to any suggestion. When your 'trip' is over, you have no recollection of what has transpired.
The "Devil's Breath" is an admixture of Scopolamine, a chemical that was experimented with, for its interrogative properties, by both the C.I.A. and Josef Mengele. For at least the past two decades, Burundanga has been a major component of Colombia's criminal element.
August 26
How many existentialists does it take to change a lightbulb?
The Philosophy Research Base features thousands of annotated links and text resources for philosophy research on the Internet. Categorized by history, subject and author, this meta-index serves as both a study guide and a platform for a wide variety of community services for students and teachers in philosophy and related subjects.
Can't Hurt To Ask!
Need advice? Ask a Theoretical Physicist. Ask A Gay Man. Ask A Dork. Ask A Ninja (previously). Ask Great Granny. Ask Poop Report. Ask a Hill Staffer (if you can have a job writing Ask A Hill Staffer). Ask A Nun. Ask the Dalai Lama. Ask the Magic 8 Ball. Or I suppose you could always just Ask Mefi.
"He said he'd come like a lion, with wings on..."
Here are four classic short stories by John Collier in four different forms: the original text of his famous "Thus I Refute Beelzy"; a 1947 radio script for "Evening Primrose"; a radio version of "Back for Christmas", starring Peter Lorre; and Patton Oswalt's interpretation of "The Chaser."
My Early Muir Owl (it's an anagram)
Bonaparte and Bush on Deck
Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East. A speech by Juan Cole at the New America Foundation in which he discusses his new book, Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East, and the relevance and lessons of Napoleon's expedition in Egypt to the current American occupation of Iraq. A shorter version, covering many of the same points, is in this article: Pitching the Imperial Republic.
There's no need to be unhappy in Finland!
I'ts fun to stay at the... N-M-K-Y!
Lessons Learned in Web Publishing
Lessons Learned in Web Publishing. A nice overview of the stumbles that print media has made as it has come on-line.
Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf
The Whole Five Feet is a blog about reading the complete Harvard Classics by Christopher R. Beha. He's up to vol. 27 of 51. Here's a history and critique of the series from Harvard Magazine.
Black Sunday: I think my mother thought it was the end of the world, really.
"The storm carried twice as much dirt as was dug out of the earth to create the Panama Canal. The canal took seven years to dig; the storm lasted a single afternoon. More than 300,000 tons of Great Plains topsoil was airborne on that day."
Black Sunday. April 14, 1935. Timeline, Oral Histories (Kansas, Nebraska), Dust Bowl Movie (part I, part II), Black Sunday photos (1, 2, 3, 4). [previous dust on mefi: iraq, texas, africa, china]
Black Sunday. April 14, 1935. Timeline, Oral Histories (Kansas, Nebraska), Dust Bowl Movie (part I, part II), Black Sunday photos (1, 2, 3, 4). [previous dust on mefi: iraq, texas, africa, china]
I Don't Want to Be Exposed to Angus
If you enjoyed Supermarket 2.0, you'll love brgr, aka Burger 2.0! Yes, it's your basic "if your hamburger were like a website/web celebrity/software product/tech company/buzzword" schtick, but some of them are funny. My faves [inside].
'you rang?'
Taj Mahal, roots music man extraordinaire
Taj Mahal (sound alert) has been delighting audiences for more than 40 years since his debut with Ry Cooder in the pacesetting Rising Sons. He's a multi-instrumentalist most noted for blues, but his life's work spans gospel, Caribbean, Hawaiian and many other genres. Much respected by fellow musicians, he's a 2-time Grammy winner and official blues artist of MA. He loves to go fishin' and if you like fishing too, you can join him on his next Taj Mahal Fishing Blues Tournament, a benefit to aid southern musicians. [more Taj music inside]
Halo 3: play-testing evolved
Halo 3: Play-testing evolved.
Moms Mabley
As complete a history of comedian, civil rights activist, and cross-over superstar Moms Mabley as you're likely to find anywhere , including audio, from Beware of Blog.
Voice of Vitas
US Americans can help
The KKK Took My iPod Away
Sorted
Celebrating Tony Wilson (realplayer - realplayer alternative here). BBC Radio One's weekly 2hr Essential Mix, this week featuring show host Pete Tong and Hacienda legend Mike Pickering. It'll be up for a week from today - tracklisting here.
The Great Iraq Swindle
The Great Iraq Swindle: How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury
"Unfortunately, Bin Laden was a really good hider."
The Ongoing Hunt for Osama bin Laden is a comprehensive Newsweek update on the search for Osama. Psychics can't find him. Native American trackers can't find him. As the Daily Show noted in 2004, the dead or alive terrorist mastermind is "a really good hider."
Hyderabad Blasts
Twin blasts rocked the city of Hyderabad late on Saturday evening killing at least 41 people, and wounding dozens others, while 19 other unexploded devices were found a day after. The hand of a Bangladeshi Terror group, perhaps the same one that was responsible for the Mecca Masjid blasts, may be behind the killings.
Amsterdam Bike Culture
Amsterdam's bike culture is jarringly different than the U.S. A photo essay.
Beep
The Complete History of Lemmings
Mike Dailly, the creator of Lemmings, describes the story of the game's creation in "The Complete History of Lemmings." If you feel the need to play the game after reading that, try it in DHTML (previously mentioned, though the old link is dead), and if you need help here are some walkthroughs and level codes. Finally, to short-circuit the rumors about these misunderstood rodents: no, they don't jump off cliffs in real life.
Have You?
Old enough to remember those AT&T "You Will" ads from 1993? via Barry Ritholz's The Big Picture blog.
Vinnie Colaiuta
August 25
The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World
Meet Rick and Steve : The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World. The animated series follows a gay couple, Rick and Steve, and other couples from their (fictional) town, West Lahunga Beach. Rick (voiced by Will Matthews from MTV's "Punk'd") is Steve's stay-at-home partner. He is a genius but very insecure. Steve (voiced by Peter Paige, best known as Emmet Honeycutt from "Queer As Folk") is a real estate broker and devotee of the gym. Margaret Cho lends her voice to the character Condie Ling. The computer generated animated series began airing on Logo on July 10, 2007, and is based on the 1999 short films of the same name from creator Quenton Allan Brocka. Let the comedic stereotyping begin! In animation form, anyway. (Episodes 1-5 available in three parts each from the first link.) Not quite safe for work. Or the easily offended.
He's Got Rhythm
He's got Rhythm (single-link YouTube)
Another Great Compromise may be in order.
Today the DNC voted "to strip Florida of all its presidential convention delegates, threatening to leave the state without a vote for the party's 2008 nominee unless it delays the date of its presidential primary election." [More Inside]
Mountaintop Removal Mining
Appalachian Apocalypse. Mountaintop removal mining (previously) has a devastating effect on the environment and local populations. The Bush administration wants to loosen regulations and expand the practice. [Via Wired Science.]
Euromyths
Euromyths from the English press in alphabetical order collected by the European Union's UK Press Room. Examples include: EU orders farmers to give toys to pigs, pets to be pressure cooked, circus performers must wear hard hats, no more Caerphilly Cheese in Caerphilly, butchers cannot give a dog a bone, EU says Brit yoghurt has to be called Fermented Milk Pudding & Brussels makes bright smiles illegal.
Gold Foil Hat Apocalyspe next week... Help
There are 65,000 contracts @ $750.00 for the SPX 700 calls for open interest. That controls 6.5 million shares at $750 = $4.5 Billion. Not a single trade . But quite a bit of $$ on a contract that is 700 points away from current value. No one would buy that deep in the money calls. No reason to. So if they were sold looks like someone betting on massive dislocation. Lots of very strange option activity that I haven't seen before. I've been doing this about 25 years.
The entity or individual offering these sales can only make money if
the market drops 30%-50% within the next four weeks. If the market
does not drop, the entity or invidual involved stands to lose over $1
billion just for engaging in these contracts! Clearly, someone knows
something big is going to happen BEFORE the options expire on Sept.
21.via
"Radical Islamist. Hot new fad on the planet."
The Official Berkeley Breathed Website [warning: ComicSans] announced that the weekly "Opus" comics for August 26th AND September 2nd* "have been withheld from publication by a large number of client newspapers across the country, including Opus' host paper The Washington Post." The reason? Making jokes aout Islam. And just the week before, Opus was thoroughly ridiculing the late Jerry Falwell. BB recommends catching his missing strips in the Salon.com comics section. But it being the Internet, somebody has already found and posted tomorrow's "Opus". Let's hear it for Fatima Struggle!!!
Berkeley Breathed is no stranger to controversy. Even his latest children's book, "Mars Needs Moms", was declared "Politically Incorrect". He is no stranger to me, either, although my last email exchange with him was over 3 years ago and I had nothing to do with this recent interview at MSNBC.com.
*Comic strip trivia: Most newspapers have their Sunday comics printed weeks in advance; that's why Kudzu ran Sunday strips two weeks after the dailies ended when Doug Marlette died.
Berkeley Breathed is no stranger to controversy. Even his latest children's book, "Mars Needs Moms", was declared "Politically Incorrect". He is no stranger to me, either, although my last email exchange with him was over 3 years ago and I had nothing to do with this recent interview at MSNBC.com.
*Comic strip trivia: Most newspapers have their Sunday comics printed weeks in advance; that's why Kudzu ran Sunday strips two weeks after the dailies ended when Doug Marlette died.
DRM strikes again!
If you tried to validate a legitimate copy of XP or Vista today before 2pm, you were in for a nasty suprise. It seems that all Windows Genuine Advantage servers failed at once sometime today. One BoingBoing reader who contacted Microsoft was told to try again on Tuesday, as they expected the servers to be down for a few days. Rob Knop of the ScienceBlog Galactic Interactions responds with an entertaining rant.
Bioshock DRM crock
The hot new PC game "Bioshock" installs a copy protection root kit called "SecuROM" which might open security holes and which interferes with legitimate programs. The DRM on Bioshock turns out to be draconian, and there's an online riot brewing among early purchasers who have already been screwed by it.
Human Brain Cloud
Human Brain Cloud is a simple but addictive mutiplayer word association widget with a nifty Flash interface, brought to you by one of the founders of the Experimental Gameplay Project [previously].
"Any help we can get with this will be greatly appreciated and, I believe, rewarded in heaven."
Ted Haggard returns --with a cash for heaven offer to support him while he helps "broken people". Unfortunately, the procedure outlined is illegal, and the charity (Families With a Mission) is unregistered and run by a convicted sex offender. Meanwhile, Mike Jones, Haggard's favorite whore, pops up at a dirty bar trivia night (questions about Haggard and him, maybe nsfw, textwise)
Virtual Museum of Art
MUVA El PAIS has been conceived as a dynamic, interactive museum bringing together the most renowned works of contemporary Uruguayan art, an important contributor to Latin American art. MUVA is devoted to quality, content, education, information and recreation through the knowledge of visual arts. In Spanish and English, Flash and/or HTML.
nanohub rulz ok!
nanoHUB is an information goldmine, aimed primarily at scientists and engineers engaged under the broad umbrella of nanotechnology research, funded by the NSF, and based at Purdue University. Start with a series of nano tutorial lessons at the undergraduate or graduate level. Move on to seminars from top researchers on a variety of topics, or try some self-paced learning modules. Then run (real, useful) simulations in your browser. [some stuff requires free registration]
YouTube for Scientists
SciVee is a site where scientists can upload video presentations alongside their published research. I especially like this one, but there's a lot to explore.
promise her anything, but give her
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
Lions are cool.
Concentration Camp Tarot Cards
Hand drawn Tarot Cards created by a Boris Kobe, a prisoner at Allach Concentration Camp, a sub-camp of Dachau. Each card depcits an aspect of life in the camp - click each image for high-res versions.
High Quality Photos of Scilly.
Scillywebcam. A frequently updated website with high quality photographs of Scilly. Here are some of my favorites.
Bad little scooter man
Jammin' with Buddy Guy You are a good guitar player, you are a really good guitar player, but you are eight years old, but whoa, here you are on the stage with one of the greatest bluesmen ever, Buddy Guy, and he is digging your sh**.
Yeh Hum Naheen
We have lost on the way the lesson of living together,
We are now even scared of each other.
They are others whose faces are on your hands,
Your hurts are a deep sea -- our wounds are deep.
The stories that are being spread in our names are lies,
This is not us.
Words of a Pakistani pop song Yeh Hum Naheen [This is not us] hitting the charts, attempting to spread the message that all muslims are not terrorists, story via Salon.
"Produced and written by a British Muslim, Waseem Mahmood, at the request of his two sons, "Yeh Hum Naheen" offers a welcome counterpoint to the images of troops storming the Red Mosque, or fundamentalist mullahs preaching jihad. But the key to the song's success lies neither in its production values or deft depictions of average Pakistanis going about their daily lives, but in its heartfelt expression of pain. "
August 24
"We may need you to play twing-twang."
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is a writer and game designer who has recently begun contributing some decidedly unique game reviews to The Escapist magazine. (NSFW, naughty language.) via Kotaku.com
$1300 double penetration in Standard B/G rates
So you want to do porn but you want to be sure you get paid for your efforts? Kink.com posts detailed listings of what acts pay what amount. (if you don't understand that this is NSFW, this may be your only career option)
Hipster Olympics
Hipster Olympics: We're forced to assume that our contestants' participation is strictly ironic.
(Not what you're thinking)
Video Ergo Sum
Virtual Out-of-Body Experience. Using two procedures to deliberately scramble a person's visual and tactile senses, neuroscientists are able to induce "out-of-body" experiences in people. The effect is the same as the 'rubber hand illusion', but extends the effect to the whole body instead of just one limb (you can try the hand illusion for yourself).
I don't care if you cry and cut, but you better cry and cut.
The Near-Fame Experience: A fascinating interview with former contestants of Bravo reality television shows Project Runway and Top Chef, presenting the fickle nature of fame and how it can come at significant professional and personal cost, if at all.
Make your own strip.
Make your own web strip. Drawing skills not required.
Ill Doctrine
A touch, I do confess it.
Notes towards the complete works of Shakespeare [pdf] by Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe and Rowan. (About the authors.) Documentation. "Making of" video. [previously discussed, but never actually linked]. From the same people: Carbon Life Form, a small Mac application that will die of starvation unless you feed it files.
Tacos in America
The history of tacos in America. As reported entirely by the comments to a brief blog post.
Ventiçello is a miniature ceramic village sculpted by Steven Travis, who also invented a language and script called Tapissary, which appears on the images.
Ventiçello is a miniature ceramic village sculpted and photographed by Steven Travis, who also invented a language and script called Tapissary, inspired by American Sign Language, which appears on the images.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
LUCIPO anthology is a long blog post with a lot of poetry.
Oedipus The Movie
The story of Oedipus, in 8 minutes, performed by vegetables. [NSFW, 50mb qt]
Beanplating Porn
Just Say No to Forked Tongues
Top 10 Physically Modified People -- A list of those who have gone to extreme lengths to modify their body for decorative purposes. Let the squeamish beware (especially the videos embedded in the page).
Friday flash, kill 'em all
Friday Flash Fun, Pillage the Village. Kill as many villagers as possible by throwing them in the air, easy at first, but gets pretty hard after a bit.
Cyberspace, the Singularity, Belief Circles, oh my!
Vernor Vinge: Mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction visionary worthy of Arthur C Clarke's mantle, Vinge is most famous for popularising the idea of the singularity, where technology advances so quickly that humans cannot participate, but he's also credited with writing one of the first stories about cyberspace, True Names, back in 1981. More recently, he's been exploring how augmented reality and belief circles will change the way we live in his latest novel Rainbows End - which he put online, completely for free.
Make Yourself Look Good on Facebook
10 Steps to a More Dateable Facebook Profile 6. Un-tag photos at will. Bad angle? Bad outfit? Bad situation? Un-tag that picture! It's not worth adding a few numbers to that photo count to be seen in a photo that doesn't cast you in an entirely positive light. Did you see what happened to Miss New Jersey?
Bored? Try watching some slideshows.
Bored? Why not watch some groovy slideshows from slideshow.net.
Inbox Zero, Death by powerpoint, Unlocking Cool The Bigness of Smallness, Shift Happens, The Brand Gap, Fantastic Pictures, I am the Media.
Inbox Zero, Death by powerpoint, Unlocking Cool The Bigness of Smallness, Shift Happens, The Brand Gap, Fantastic Pictures, I am the Media.
First "Gigantic Jet" lightning captured in U.S.
This extremely cool video captures the first "Gigantic Jets" (purportedly) ever captured in the U.S. "Think of them as sprites on steroids: Gigantic Jets are lightning-like discharges that spring from the top of thunderstorms, reaching all the way from the thunderhead to the ionosphere 50+ miles overhead. They're enormous and powerful." See also: An article on the subject from 2003, a more technical article from Nature (mirrored) and how to look for yourself.
Der Papalagi wohnt wie die Seemuscheln in einem festen Gehäuse
The Papalagi. "Then many of these thought-mats are tied into bunches and pressed together ('books' the Papalagi calls them) and sent to every part of that great country. Very soon, everyone who takes these thoughts into themselves is infected. They devour these thought-mats as if they were sweet bananas ... [Y]oung and old gnaw at them like rats gnawing at sugar cane. That is the reason why so few of them are still able to think reasonable, natural thoughts, like those that every honest Samoan has.'
Belgium (1830 - ?2007)
Interesting goings-on in Belgium (really). "Plucky little" Belgium, HQ of the very post-national European Union, is in the throes of a deep political crisis, driven by strong nationalistic feelings. The winner of the recent general election, Yves Leterme, has proved [FL] unable [FR] to form a government across the Flemish-French divide, and talk of the country splitting two (or even three) is more serious than ever before. [more inside]
"...it's only when you have your code in your head that you really understand the problem."
Ever read a blog post, and think, "I wish I wrote that"? For all the Mefites with the many AskMe questions about "can I/should I/how should I learn to/ be a computer programmer", here's a pretty good explication of how good programing is done: Holding a Program in One's Head.
Friday Flash Fun - Haluz 2
Haluz 2 is another lovely point-and-click puzzle adventure thingumagig for those who loved the Samorost games, or indeed the original Haluz
The state of technological labor resources
Where the Engineers Are - "To guide education policy and maintain its innovation leadership, the United States must acquire an accurate understanding of the quantity and quality of engineering graduates in India and China."
August 23
Cyril Raffaelli, Parkour Badass
"Cigarette-Boy": A Mock Machine Mock Epic
The (Possibly) Solved Mystery of the Lost Tsarevich
On July 16th, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia - along with his wife, their children, and a handful of retainers - was assassinated by Bolsheviks in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. The bodies were split up and buried in different locations; it was not until 1989 that a mass grave was located and exhumed. In 1991, the found remains were officially announced as belonging to the Romanovs...or at least, most of them. Conspicuously missing were the Tsarevich Alexei and one of his Grand Duchess sisters (likely Maria but most popularly believed to be Anastasia). The report of primary executioner Yakov Yurovsky indicates that the assassins had wanted to complicate the discovery of the remains as much as possible in order to keep the "White Guards" from locating the bodies and exalting the murdered royals, thereby undermining support for the Bolshevik cause.
However this week it was announced that the missing remains may have finally been located.
For Sale by Mental Patient
They put it in my mouth. I didn't swallow. The savings I pass along to YOU!!! Some silliness which is keeping me sane on this slow Friday arvo...
The Humble and Wonderful Letterpress
I loved this beautifully filmed short documentary on The Letterpress. For those of us who have ever risked our very own fingers for the cause of printing, or had the California Job Case burned into memory, this will be a trip down memory lane. For the rest of you, it may give you an idea for your next hobby.
Mother Teresa's lengthy, unresolved crisis of faith
From a Time magazine article: A new, innocuously titled book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (Doubleday), consisting primarily of correspondence between Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years, provides the spiritual counterpoint to a life known mostly through its works. The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever — or, as the book's compiler and editor, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, "neither in her heart or in the eucharist." Previously on Mother Teresa's doubt, more generally.
America to the Rescue
SPLed beans
"Finding JTAG on the iPhone": a ten-step hardware unlock of the iPhone, allowing it to function with other carriers
Poo Bum Dicky Wee Wee!
People vandalising Wikipedia is hardly a new thing but now even the office of the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, is getting into the act. Website Wiki-Scanner (previously) has traced several edits to Wikipedia articles by the Prime Ministers staff, according to Australian newspaper The Courier Mail. And they aren't confined solely to the Wikipedia entry on the PM himself; there was even an act of vandalism on a martial-arts related entry, in which one of Howard's ministerial staffers wrote, “Poo bum dicky wee wee” on the page. Not good news on the eve of a federal election that the PM is largely expected to lose. Meanwhile, 'new media' is being put to good use at Opposition leader Kevin Rudd's website, Kevin07, where a recent blog entry compiles Youtube's 'best' political videos. Hours of fun for the whole family!
How to Sequence a Genome
How to Sequence a Genome [Flash. H/T to Jay]. Visualization of the process of genetic sequencing. Posted on the Nova website in conjunction with their show, Cracking the Code of Life, hosted by Robert Krulwich [Wiki].
"...as a Russian and Chinese-led alliance created to counter US hegemony"
The Shanhai Cooperative Organization. [wiki] When Moscow and Beijing engineered the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) six years ago, I am not sure if they foresaw its emergence as an important actor in the international order. Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia, currently observers, are lobbying hard to get accepted into this club. The US request for membership was rejected two years ago.
Kite-flying Falconry
How do you convince a raptor to exercise? One way is to send up a kite with bait (a chunk of meat) attached. This is a relatively new strategy (~30 years) in the millenia-old tradition of falconry.
A vision of persistence of vision
Then and now
San Jose, CA - then & now - a decent collection of old photos, matched up with recent photos taken from the same vantage point. An interesting look at how things have changed around here. (Found in a reddit comment earlier today)
The 50 Greatest movie sex scenes of all time (with clips)
The Skull Fucking Bill of 2007
U.S. Representative Benjamin Sinclair (R-Ohio) announces the Ocular Penetration Restriction Act of 2007 [NSFW].
There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library
Almost 1700 Carnegie Libraries (wikipedia) were built in the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from Pennsylvania to California, from Florida to Oregon, and almost every other single place in between . (Scotland, too!) Some of them are still in use as libraries. Others aren't. This person is trying to collect post cards of as many of them as possible.
Comic Sans
Grace Paley, 1922 - 2007
A wonderful obituary in the NYT for Grace Paley, who died yesterday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vt. She was 84.
"pretty frightening."
On the internet, nobody knows the G-strings aren't yours. Or how murderously they infatuate. Or whom they're infatuating.
A white feather for the cowardly British
Baptists for Brownback are praying for, among other things GIANT WARRIOR ANGELS to keep them safe from chickens, and the Loch Ness Monster.
They've pegged the the British character precisely as effeminate, Jesus-hating Shakespeare-quoters.
Senator Brownback has no comment.
Douchebaggery 101 - Proof that nice guys finish last
Hot Chicks With Douchebags [possibly nsfw] [via #mefi]
Metaphors.
Metaphors. [NSFW?]
Brittney, please meet Ottorino.
Interesting discussion on classical and pop music, and two related older articles on the Pulitzer nomination process from Greg Sandow.
Schwebebahn Wuppertal
The Wuppertal Schwebebahn. In Wuppertal, birthplace of Aspirin and Heroin, they've been enjoying monorail travel since 1901. The line runs for 8 miles, most of it above the river Wupper, and has seen one collapse, one crash and one baby elephant jump.
Isotown
Isotown might be just another isometric pixel art urban setting lovingly rendered in MS Paint, but it has its own civic history in comic strip form. via
Life still enjoyable after 30, experts say
The elderly are staying sexually active [WaPo], and this is a good thing. Although there is a sex-education gap among America's seniors. Play it safe, old folks!
August 22
Neutral Hills Stills
The 'Neutral Hills' is the name given to a range of hills in east central Alberta (Canada) that were shared hunting grounds for the Blackfoot and Cree Indian tribes. Because of its importance to the tribes, the area was designated as 'neutral' for hunting only, not fighting. The area ranges from the village of Veteran as far east as Major, Saskatchewan, and from just south of the town of Provost to the community of Esther. Every image posted on this site was captured within the Neutral Hills region.
Road rage is really bad, people. Mmmkay?
Uh ohhh! McCloud is in trouble! Duel (1971) was Steven Spielberg's very first film, starring Dennis Weaver. If you haven't seen it before and were looking for inspiration to avoid dirt-encrusted, flammable trucks on the road, well here you go.
Daddy and I
AC/DC Economics
On the Efficiency of AC/DC: Bon Scott versus Brian Johnson By Dr. Robert J. Oxoby, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calgary (.pdf)
Sorry, No Punk Rock In This Link
Spending years clarifying my observations of the community and putting them down on paper slowly revealed a society beset by a fatal condition; an affliction that has been destroying us at an ever increasing rate for two centuries and must eventually return us to barbarism. A final result that should be no surprise, as it has overtaken every other civilization; a fate that appears as inevitable and as irreversible as old age with its increasing feebleness and dementia. I was no longer interested in why our bureaucracy was full of incompetents? but why our society was full of incompetents? My original aim to improve my community with technology was replaced with answering the question, why does a community age like any other creature?Philip Atkinson knows: civilization is in decline. And he's determined to tell you about it. Find out the truth about Nelson Mandela, AIDS, obesity, parenting, standard weights and measures, and, of course, the Ten Commandments. We're screwed, guys. Sit down, read a book, and watch it burn.
Smokin Senx
Tried to do some research about this technology called Trisenx, it's even been mentioned in the blue back in the day. But honestly I gave up, because the video and all you may extrapolate from it says everything. And yes, that's George Clinton.
Dance, baby, Dance!
Keepon , the bot that bounces to the rhythm! "[It] is a small creature-like robot with a soft rubber skin, two cameras in its eyes, and a microphone in its nose. Keepon is designed to interact with children by communicating attention and emotion. It has four degrees of freedom: attention is directed by turning +/-180° and nodding +/-40°, while emotion is expressed by rocking side-to-side +/-25° and bobbing up to 15mm:"
This can still happen
It's the Vietnam War. Nixon has declared a state of emergency and allows for secret tribunals against anti-war protesters, draft dodgers, and others guilty of "hindering the war effort." They have two choices: spend 15 to 20 years in a federal penitentiary or spend 3 days in Punishment Park, where they will have 3 days to trek 50 miles in the California desert without food and water while on pursuit by armed National Guard and police units.
Watch Peter Watkin's (previously) "documentary" of Punishment Park here (Google Video, with strong language ).
Goodbye John , goodbye Martin, goodbye Bobby
For your consideration, "Six White horses" [youtube] As footnote to the events of November 22, 1963 . April 4, 1968 . June 5, 1968. A collection of photos and a recording of Tommy Cash's "Six White Horses" , which was writen by Larry Murray.
Ambushing yer bits on teh Interpipes (maybe)
Ambushing yer bits on teh Interpipes (maybe) Accusation against Comcast shows need for net neutrality laws.
It went for $142.51
Dental Surgery Vacations
Dental Vacation Plans & Travel Packages For Single Men: At first thought, it may seem a bit strange to combine the objectives of romance and dental surgery or treatments - into a singles vacation package! But, if you are a single man who would like to seriously explore opportunities of finding a special woman and also have some dental health issues that you would seriously like to resolve, then why not?
Moan My IP
Sexy girls moaning your IP address. (probably NSFW)
Wu Tai Shan
A Resource For and About Songwriters
The Muse's Muse Songwriting Resource is the place for songwriting tips, tools, interactivities and connecting with other songwriters around the world. See the section about musical
instruments or get into the guitar
player's guide. Start communicating with other musicians and songwriters in the forums and check out the music reviews. Lots to do, see, hear, learn, and most of all, enjoy.
Rally Squads ORLY? RLY.
Presidential Advance Manual [pdf] has been leaked, apparently. WaPo reporter Peter Baker discusses the "rally squads" to be set up by the advance team, whose job is to drown out potential protesters with chants of "USA! USA!" Slate's Dahlia Lithwick opines as well, and relates the document to the recent payment of 80,000 dollars to two people who had the unmitigated gall to wear anti-Bush T-shirts at a public event.
If it's too loud, you're too young
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists[NPR segment]. Ted is a soon to be 37 years young punk singer/songwriter who draws his influences from artists like Billy Bragg, Curtis Mayfield and Clash singer Joe Strummer, Ted Leo mixes punk rock with soul, folk and pop melodies. Here is Ted with and without the Pharmacists doing a few tunes: Me and Mia,
Kelly Clarkson's Since you Been Gone, Bomb. Repeat. Bomb, Where have all the Rudeboys Gone?, Little Dawn, the Pogues's Dirty Old Town, Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark and Sons of Cain. As he's touring nearly 365 days per year, you can rest assured that he's coming to a venue near you.
Virtually employed
Second Life is a great place for a virtual job fair, right? Well, maybe not. (That recruiter's lucky all s/he got handed was a beer...) Even the cops are getting in on the action.. Time magazine probably thinks it's a bad idea, though maybe they wouldn't have 5 years ago.
Rationalize rhetoric and it speaks to your mind; personify her and she speaks to your soul
American Rhetoric :: an online archive
Come Visit Camp Okutta
last exit
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
Not content to merely index all things terrestrial, Google Earth now lets you set your sights on the sky.
I Predict a Riot
Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North American leaders' summit in Montebello, Que. The video of the events leading to the accusation can be found online.
Who Cooks for You?
"They gave me a uniform, a little gun and little pistol"
"Before you kill me, can you give me a bit of bread?" How a Jew, orphaned by Nazi atrocity, became a mascot -- to the Schutzstaffel.
The Waw effect
Is there anything good about men? In this address to the American Psychological Association, psychologist Roy Baumeister suggests that women have historically had a much greater chance of reproducing than men, and that this has had a profound influence on the way their respective roles in society have evolved:
For women throughout history (and prehistory), the odds of reproducing have been pretty good. Later in this talk we will ponder things like, why was it so rare for a hundred women to get together and build a ship and sail off to explore unknown regions, whereas men have fairly regularly done such things? But taking chances like that would be stupid, from the perspective of a biological organism seeking to reproduce. They might drown or be killed by savages or catch a disease. For women, the optimal thing to do is go along with the crowd, be nice, play it safe. The odds are good that men will come along and offer sex and you’ll be able to have babies. All that matters is choosing the best offer. We’re descended from women who played it safe....For men, the outlook was radically different. If you go along with the crowd and play it safe, the odds are you won’t have children. Most men who ever lived did not have descendants who are alive today. Their lines were dead ends. Hence it was necessary to take chances, try new things, be creative, explore other possibilities.
Kerr Magee had applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to call their waste an "experimental fertilizer" and just spread it over the top of the land.
Depleted uranium is now understood to have many medical consequences unique to its modern application as munitions, due to its incendiary, aerosolizing behavior when pulverized. (Rosalie Bertell explains, youtube) It has become a leading candidate for the cause of Gulf War syndrome, and was associated with massive increases in cancer and birth defects in Basra. The EU has called for a moratorium on its use four times, and WHO is deeply concerned with its consequences, but the USA (with Canadian complicity) and Russia continue to use it in Iraq and elsewhere. (prev: 1 2 3 4 5)
"It always wins trophies because of the story behind it."
"She was the first and only girl I kissed in the car. It's priceless because of that, as far as I'm concerned." Clarence Cleveland Curtis, 84 years young, is still driving his first car, a 1929 Ford Model A he bought used (for $10!) as a teenager in 1938. It's the car in which he kissed his future wife 67 years ago, when he was 17 and she was 14...
Related: "My First Car" at HotRodder, "My First Car" at Motortrend, and "My First Car" at "AutoWeek.
August 21
Haikus
BioShock, 2nd best game ever?
BioShock was released today for the PC and XBox 360. Why should you care? Well, it's the 2nd best reviewed game of the last 10 years, it's an interactive commentary on Objectivism, it features a great Art-Deco style and atmospheric sound design, and is the spiritual sequel to one of the best games of all time. If you still don't care, make sure to stay away from Big Daddy.
Content Aware Image Resizing
Content Aware Image Resizing. Every year SIGGRAPH rolls around I get a reminder of how smart everyone else is, especially people who do computer graphics research. From Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir. The algorithm resizes images non-uniformly and, well, somewhat magically.
the cupboard, the cupboard.
With This Ring
The War as We Saw It
The War as We Saw It. A powerful op-ed about Iraq written by seven infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division who will soon be heading home, it has received surprisingly little attention.
18-Year-Old Weltanschauung
Most of the students entering college this fall, members of the class of 2011, were born in 1989. They never “rolled down” a car window. They have grown up with bottled water. “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM. They never saw Johnny Carson live on television. Wisconsin's Beloit College has published its annual Mindset List. [previously 2003 and 2006]. Now, get offa' my goddamned lawn!
Isle of Man TT Race
The Isle of Man TT race is arguably the most dangerous race one can do on a superbike, as it has claimed the lives of over 220 racers over the last 100 years. still, that doesn't seem to prevent people from competing, year, after, year.
Beans, beans, the magical fruit...
Obesity may really be an epidemic
Obesity has been called an epidemic in the United States.
Looking at an interactive statistic [CNN, flash] of the state-by-state numbers is sobering mf.
64% of adults are overweight and approx 25% are obese
[Wikipedia 1,
2].
The usual suspects have so far been a culture of low-exercise mf
high-consumption (due to urban sprawl, driving, TV, ... ),
microbes mf,
genetic predisposition,
and bad diet
(the ubiquity of
junk food with its high levels of fat, sugar and salt. Recently the high fructose levels in the common American diet has also been noted.
Fructose comprises 50% of table sugar and up to 90% of high-fructose corn
syrup (HFCS), both ingredients found in copious
amounts in most American 'convenience' foods.
[Wikipedia: Fructose#References, Wikipedia:HFCS]).
Now it seems that a decisive assessory is a common virus, the Human Adenovirus-36, which may really make obesity an actual epidemic. [Int. Journal of Obesity, CNN]
Now it seems that a decisive assessory is a common virus, the Human Adenovirus-36, which may really make obesity an actual epidemic. [Int. Journal of Obesity, CNN]
Paranoia vs Preparation
Traditionally, media doesn't print names/photos of people only accused, but not yet convicted, but not always. Lots of towns have a police blotter section where arrests are listed.
Here in Seattle, the FBI recently asked
the public for help in identifying two men seen acting suspicious on the ferry system. The Seattle PI has decided not to publish the photos. Other local media have. The commentary on if the PI made the right choice follows predictable paths...
Pin the Bush on the Flag and Impeach Cheney (and Bush)
Who was Opal Whiteley?
In 1918, at the age of 20, Oregonian Opal Whiteley published "The Fairyland Around Us" (contains full text & pictures), a nature book for children. Two years later, her diary (also contains full text and pictures) was published and became one of the best-selling books in the world. She died in a British mental hospital in 1992. More.
Brazilian Blogger Bash
Brazilian Blogger Bashing! The respected Brazilian newspaper Estadao decided to promote its new online presence by jokingly producing a series of ads with obvious misfits and asking such questions as "Is this the guy giving you dating advice?" and a video (youtube) comparing bloggers to monkeys. Bloggers are outraged "Why would you read a newspaper that compares bloggers to monkeys?". In today's newspaper, Estadao offers no apology but instead dryly recounts the facts. Meanwhile, the resulting controversy, with thousands of blogs weighing in, has driven a lot of traffic to their new site.
The most kissed girl in the world
In the 1890s, an unknown woman was found drowned in the Seine. Known as the l'Inconnue de la Seine, her death mask became a fixture in the homes of artists and writers, and her look the ideal of the age. Many have speculated on her identity, and she has inspired a long list of artistic works by Nabokov, Rilke, Man Ray, and others. She has since become the "most kissed girl in the world" thanks to the Norwegian toymaker that used her mask to create Resusci Anne, the standard CPR doll.
Arguing pays off
And how 'bout that part where that little critter eats the boom box?
Minilogue / Hitchhiker's Choice. A curiously engaging 4 minutes and 13 seconds of whiteboard animation. The visual ideas are all over the place, and they move really fast, so don't blink or you'll miss entire subplots.
"We have become a society filled with crime, bloodshed, hopelessness and despair."
It has been three decades since the Summer of Sam. Since his conviction for the murders he committed as the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz has been imprisoned at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, NY. But he hasn't been idle. Through his website, he has been preaching the Word of God as well as conveying a public apology. But recently, alarmed by the murders in Newark, he wrote a letter[1,2] to amNewYork. "Perhaps," he writes, "it is time for us to go back to our roots and reexamine what America is all about. Greed or generosity? Unity or selfishness? Liberty or bondage? Love or hate? Life or death?"
Joybubbles R.I.P.
"It really looked quite a bit like a real disease."
The 2005 outbreak of Corrupted Blood in World of Warcraft may provide epidemiologists with a new platform for studying the spread of disease.
By using these games as an untapped experimental framework, we may be able to gain deeper insight into the incredible complexity of infectious disease epidemiology in social groups.It comes as no surprise that the "stupid factor" plays a role in susceptibility to viral marketing, but it may also be a factor in the spread of real life germs.
J. Allen St. John: Grandmaster of Fantasy
Before Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, and Michael Whelan, J. Allen St. John brought to life the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and defined the images of Tarzan and Barsoom. St. John also illustrated a wide variety of books and magazines and produced some pulp masterpieces.
Reporting from the Danger-zone
One of the few to speak the truth about the Middle East, God-like journalist Robert Fisk holds more international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. He has covered every major event in the region for the past thirty years. He rarely gives interviews to anyone, but agreed to talk to edgey/angry youth culture magazine, Vice, about his life in the danger-zone.
I have gut feeeling this is sweet.
I really enjoy discoveries that, in retrospect, should have been obvious (but weren't). It's not just your tongue that can taste sugar.
Another kind of music video
"Another Kind Of Love" by The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell - a music video directed and animated by Jan Svankmajer. (via)
Food Critics in Camouflage
Reviews of MRE's, at times unintentionally hilarious.
Kosher MRE reviewed. Also, the LA Times.
Previously.
"The most unpardonable sin in society is the independence of thought."
My Disillusionment In Russia. Deported American anarchist Emma Goldman's narrative of her time in 1920s Russia. Omitted chapters were published as My Further Disillusionment With Russia. Emma was not only an anarchist, she was also an advocate for free speech, women's equality, sexual freedom, birth control and more. For more of her writings, see Anarchism: What It Really Stands For, Patriotism: A Menace To Liberty, and Minorities Versus Majorities. [Previously 1, 2]
August 20
49 unusual creatures with whom we share the planet
25 Weirdest Animals. See also: 24 bizarre creatures of the deep. Not responsible for nightmares related to the viperfish, the oarfish, or the star-nosed mole.
First they came . . .
Porn Star Registry List. As part of the Adam Walsh Child Safety and Protection Act (Sec. 503, p. 51), the "Department of Justice wants to come up with an official list of every porn star in America - and slap stiff penalties on producers who don't cooperate." Is this an effective way to make sure porn movie producers don't hire underage actors, or is this, as Paul Cambria alleges, a violation of first amendment rights?
The Butcher Says...
To call Pat Fish the best British songwriter of the past twenty-five years is an invitation for some awfully suspicious stares. Pat who? But he might be just that. Known since the early 1980s as the Jazz Butcher (Or The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, or JBC, and at times later as Sumosonic, The Black Eg, and Wilson), Fish remained detached enough to avoid the indie-rock vortex of the last decade, dooming himself to obscurity while leaving behind one of the most valuable buried treasures in all of alternative music.
How Would Jesus Rock?
Christs, Communists, & Rock 'n' Roll is an excellent introduction to a tradition of anti-rock writings and recordings by the Religious Right. In the 1960s, there was David Noebel who wrote Communism, Hypnotism, & the Beatles and The Marxist Minstrels. In the early 1970s, Reverend Riblett constructs a seven-foot cross out of rock music records and sets it aflame with gasoline. Michael Mills finds hidden Satanic messages in Bow Wow Wow and the Grateful Dead, while Bob Larson valiantly debates Mandy, a 13-year-old fan of the Cure. The motherlode is probably the cassettes of John Todd, who traveled the fundamentalist circuit in the 1970s claiming to be a former witch and a member of the Illuminati, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. (more inside)
A Soviet Poster A Day
A Soviet Poster A Day delivers what it promises, one propaganda rich helping of Soviet art every day to help you on your daily doings.
Michael Vick, explained
You probably heard the news today and saw earlier threads about Michael Vick, but ESPN has done an amazing job wrapping up the entire case into a handy one-page FAQ. Written by a sports lawyer, it explains all the interesting aspects of the case: what happened, when did it happen, and what results we'll likely see.
Pilgrim's Progress
Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone? Quickly. Where did the Mayflower first land in North America? Nope. Not Plymouth, but Provincetown. On Nov. 21, 1620 the Pilgrims set foot on the sandy tip of Cape Cod. After spending five weeks there, they sailed across Cape Cod Bay to Plymouth. Today Provincetown celebrates the 100 year anniversary of Cape Cod's Pilgrim Monument. The 252-foot granite tower which had its cornerstone dedicated by then President Theodore Roosevelt juts high above the relatively flat terrain of Provincetown and serves as a reference point for landlubbers and sailors alike.
ITV Chart Show Indie Charts 1989-1994 on Youtube
Bloody awful: How money and politics contaminated Arkansas's prison plasma program.
Blood Money : A widow is fighting to open records on how tainted blood plasma from Arkansas prisoners entered the U.K. and led to the death of her husband.
Genetic discrimination
U.S. military practices genetic discrimination in denying benefits. "Those medically discharged with genetic diseases are left without disability or retirement benefits. Some are fighting back."
The Invisible Manuscript
The Invisible Manuscript. An interesting account of Ralph Ellison's struggle to write a second novel after Invisible Man, and the work his literary executor, John Callahan, is doing to produce Three Days Before the Shooting, a Modern Library edition of the second novel based on Ellison's work. (Callahan edited Juneteenth from a subset of this material.) [more inside]
Gallery on Lockdown
You’d need years to really study these murals of Califonia’s history - the artist certainly had a lot a free time to create them. You'd probably also need a special invitation to engage in a multi-year study in the gallery - and you probably don't want one.
The Idiot's Lantern
It is Saturday
morning at 8:00. It's 1969. Your parents are asleep. What'll it be? CBS of course, with The Jetsons, then The Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner
Hour, Dastardly and Muttley
and their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop,
Scooby Doo, The Archies, The Monkees, The Wacky Races, The New Adventures of Superman
and Jonny Quest. On Channel 4
NBC fights back with
Heckle and Jeckle, then The Grump, The Pink Panther, HR Pufnstuf, The Kellogs Banana Splits Adventure
Hour, Jambo, The Flintstones and Underdog. Channel 7 is ABC which trails with Casper, then Cattanooga Cats, Hot wheels, The Hardy Boys, George of the Jungle and Fantastic Voyage. Good times.
Just another guy blogging for the Good Society
Peter Levine promotes civic engagement in Maryland youth and is working with Prince George's County to create an 'information commons.' He writes about citizenship (1, 2, 3), Iraq (1, 2, 3), literature (1, 2, 3), and other things.
Crochet-y
Crochet artwork. Some of it's a little violent. Some of it a little kinky (but SFW). Some is just a little...odd. But it's all pretty damn cool.
'A child's spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back.'
Arthur Miller's Missing Act :: For all the public drama of Arthur Miller's career ... one character was absent: the Down-syndrome child he deleted from his life
Perfect Game: 900
Skee-Ball! (warning: music) Perhaps the longest-running branded arcade game ever invented was created in 1909, originally with a rotator-cuff-injury-inducing 36-foot long alley. Once shortened to a more manageable 14' (10' for the Chuck E. Cheese kiddie model), the game's popularity took off, remaining largely unchanged except for the 1970s electrification of the scoreboard. It's both a nostalgic pastime and a present-day boardwalk staple, even enjoying some hipster revivalism in the form of BrewSkee-Ball. You can even try building your own game.
Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling
Andy Kaufman { Mighty Mouse, Elvis impersonator, Bachelor #3, Latka Gravas/Vic Ferrari, the host of his own TV special, trouble-maker [?], Dostoevsky's Idiot, "born again" Christian, percussionist, inter-gender wrestling/bitch-slap champion, lounge singer Tony Clifton [?], bit player, Elayne Boosler's ex-boyfriend, and the Man On the Moon } RIP [YA RLY]
It's not spam, it's BACN.
It's not spam, it's BACN. A web-term that was influenced by the proliferation of web 2.0 social networks used to describe "notifications you want, just not right now."
Twitter requests, facebook notifications, bill-payment receipts, etc. Even though you're expecting the e-mail, *and* you want to read it, now is just not a good time to click the "read" button. You want to; you just don't have time right now.
Hopefully the video and numerous blog postings in the last 24 hours will help to bring awareness to this new web-term recently brought to light this past weekend at Podcamp Pittsburgh.
Old lives and memories lie silent beneath the blue water.
When the Quabbin Reservoir is low, they say a church steeple rises from the water, a ghostly reminder of the towns submerged by the flooding of the Swift River Valley in 1939.
Enfield: "The residents of Enfield held a farewell ball in the town hall for their lost community."
Prescott: "The youngest of the four towns and the first to give up its identity in 1928"
Greenwich: "Where eastern Massachusetts saw four luckless, shabby towns, the residents saw a home."
Dana: "The Rabbit Run was used by school children. It was the only means of getting to daily classes at Athol High School"
'I had one guy in here who swore he remembered being a little kid on a boat with his dad, paddling around the steeple,"... He tries to set such visitors straight, but 'you can't just tell people they're crazy."
Enfield: "The residents of Enfield held a farewell ball in the town hall for their lost community."
Prescott: "The youngest of the four towns and the first to give up its identity in 1928"
Greenwich: "Where eastern Massachusetts saw four luckless, shabby towns, the residents saw a home."
Dana: "The Rabbit Run was used by school children. It was the only means of getting to daily classes at Athol High School"
'I had one guy in here who swore he remembered being a little kid on a boat with his dad, paddling around the steeple,"... He tries to set such visitors straight, but 'you can't just tell people they're crazy."
Wear your pants high, Simon!
Channel 4's Star Stories! exposes the truths behind the rising & falling of some of your favo(u)rite celebrities: Madonna, Simon Cowell, Britney Spears, George Michaels, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta Jones, Posh and Becks, and Take That. Partial episodes: Brad/Jen/Angelina and Jude Law. Occasionally NSFW (language/simulated sex)
Where are the bears when you need them?
Glamping. When you want to touch nature but you don't want nature to touch you.
Make your own cool, colorific card holders
DIY business card holders from paint chips from industrial designer Aaron Tang at designverb, step by step.
Who's Laughing Now, Chuckles McVermin?
With the French embrace of Pixar's Ratatouille, one of the movie's locations has become an unlikely tourist attraction. "Destruction des Animaux Nuisibles" reads the sign above the door of Aurouze, where the bodies of rats 80 years dead hang suspended by iron traps in the storefront window. Meanwhile, American scientists tickle rodents to record thier tiny gales of laughter. Viva la difference!
August 19
Bush the Dissident
The best in indy gaming
The top 100 Indy games of the last three years as selected by GameTunnel, which offers in-depth reviews of independent games (also useful are their best of 2006 and best of 2005). On the other side of the indy gaming world, ModDB does the same thing for the best mods of 2006 chosen by their editors and players, along with a full database of other mods. [You may also want to see my previous post on free games.]
American Bald Eagle Information
Recovering nicely, the American Bald Eagle was delisted (pdf) as an endangered species this summer by the Department of the Interior. Only a handful of species have fought their way back from the endangered species list. Credit the ban on DDT for the bald eagle's remarkable resurgence.
Interviews and performances from Austin's KGSR
Streaming interviews and performances from KGSR in Austin. Rufus Wainwright, Willie Nelson, The Gourds, Gomez, Kelly Willis, Pete Townshend, and many more.
Hot Properties
Hot Properties: Want to feel inadequate? Want to visit InsaneWorld? Check out the L.A. Times real estate column Hot Properties, which covers the world of high-end celebrity real estate moves. It's like rock candy for masochists. Scarlett Johansson recently picked up a $7 million pad from a family friend. Courteney Cox wanted more privacy, so she and David Arquette flipped their $33.5 million shack for a $17 million compound. John Cleese is selling his ranch for $28 million. Tom Cruise shows them the money for a $35 million upgrade from his rental. Even the D-list celebs get ink. Double you. Tee. Eff.
Miroslav Sasek
'Welcome to the wonderful world of Miroslav Sasek. This site is devoted to the life and works of the Czech artist, illustrator and author of the This is series of children's books.' From the equally wonderful I Like.
Aubrey de Grey - Do you want to live forever?
Do You Want To Live Forever? [Google Video - Channel4 documentary] Aubrey de Grey is a genius, a weirdo and predicts the death of death. Don't miss his lectures and some interviews as well. Who is going to be the first immortal MeFite?
Guide to Real World Movie Locations
Movie Locations Guide has the real-world locations tons of scenes from famous & cult films & television shows; interesting if you live in (or plan to visit) Los Angeles or New York, for the most part.
Pure, solid gold cock ring!
A little bit of personal piercing history that intersects with the larger tapestry of world politics. [NSFW, via BB.]
Where design and technology intersect
The coming of the tiny cheap computers
Computers get cheap. While Microsoft has seen fit to require a whole new generation of computers to run its latest operating system, a number of manufacturers have started the creation of cheap notebook computers. The list includes the infamous Palm Foleo, mentioned here previously, and the OLPC, mentioned pretty much everywhere previously. But also coming soon is the Asus EEE, a $200-300 notebook running Linux. And Intel's alternative to the OLPC, the Classmate PC. Even as the low cost alternatives to standard computer start to come on sale, the prices for traditional laptops dip ever lower. Can the digital divide, at least hardware wise, be consigned to the dustbin of history?
The future of mass transit
Is it a taxi? Is it a train? Actually it is a bit of both. Technically speaking it is a personal rapid transport system, a new hybrid form of transport that some have already taken to calling the podcar. Similar systems have been proposed before and failed to make it into development, despite some less-personal versions built in the 1970s in the US. But with the current desire for low-carbon transit as keen as ever, has the time finally arrived for this kind of low-emission people mover?
Frozen Smoke
Aerogel Update Originally posted back in '02 by adrianhon this crazy new material looks to be on the verge of mass production.
Currently used in homes for insulation & for winter clothes that are too warm to wear, this is a truly amazing technology.
Want to know how to make it?
Want to buy some?
Here is a pic to help you believe it's real. More here.
Aspen Aerogel is currently in production.
Hurdy Gurdy! Hurdy Gurdy! Hurdy Gurdy!
When was the last time you listened to a hurdy gurdy? No, I mean really listened to a hurdy gurdy? No, I don't mean the The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan. I mean a real hurdy gurdy. That is to say, an actual hurdy gurdy. Oh, and by the way, the French call it a Vielle à roue. [more inside]
the examEAR
A tiny wireless spy earpiece is being marketed to students who want the cheat on exams, much to the chagrin of teacher/examiner organisations. The Examear website proclaims they are: "Helping students succeed. Worldwide!" The makers say the devices are also suitable for people such as TV reporter, TV game show contestants -- anyone who needs help remembering things. Remember, before the internet, when students didnt copy all their essays and actually did some work?
Does this mean we get to fly?
Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing ... the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts. Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate. But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.
The poster responsible has been sacked
Storytime is a 1968 animated short film which marks the directorial debut of Terry Gilliam. It is not to be confused with Storytime, a famous sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus (aka Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus) — the British TV show for which Gilliam created surreal animations that segued between sketches (or not). In 1974, he followed that up with another animated short film called The Miracle of Flight. The next year, he set off in a different direction, leading Monty Python's quest for The Holy Grail [LEGO]. That path eventually led to Brazil, which brings us to where we are today.
August 18
Pro's and Cons - Kickass Guitar Solos.
Like em or Hate em, Something Awful asks and answers the question: Do guitar solos make non-guitar solo songs better?
A-HA, Beach Boys, Britney, Backstreet Boys.
Rest of the thread.
Союз нерушимый...
The Magic of ABC starring David Copperfield, 1977
How do you fit Fred "Rerun" Berry, Shaun Cassidy, Howard Cosell, Kate Jackson, Hal Linden, Penny Marhsall, Kristy McNichol, Donny & Marie, Parker Stevenson, Dick Van Patten, Adam Rich, Abe Vigoda, and Cindy Williams all into a single 48 minute TV show? It would take a magician like David Copperfield, in his first television special in 1977.
Quinta de Regaleira
The Quinta de Regaleira, completed in 1910, was the dream palace of the Portuguese millionaire Antonio Agusto de Carvalho Monteiro who was a devotee of mysticism and lost arts. The enormous gardens include a Templar initiation well,underground labyrinths, hidden doorways, fantastic grottos, lookout towers, and of course the palace itself (hunting room, outside detail, gargoyles) More photos here and here.
Real life Digg/Youtube/LiveLeak style comments
Internet Commenter Business Meeting (NSFW flash video)
"How I Became a Programmer"
"How I Became A Programmer" veers between linear biography and brain dump. The piece meanders through its theme, stopping along the way to flirt with word origins, family politics, the senior prom, Japan, airlines and military recruitment. Reading it, I felt trapped inside inside an extremely quirky -- yet recognizable (in a too-close-for-comfort way) -- mind. About half the time I yearned to tell him that he needs an editor; the other half, I was grateful that he didn't have one. Mostly, I'm amazed he HAD a date to the senior prom!
Space Beds Rock
Adventure Playground
The antidote to the controlled, indoor world of modern kids might be Adventure Playgrounds. Messy, chaotic, but counter-intuitively, safer than traditional playgrounds, there are only two in the US: Listen to Berkeley's Adventure Playground on NPR, or check out some flickr shots.
In Europe, where they originated from the rubble of WWII, and in Japan where they are also popular, the importance of play that involves risks is better understood. There are hundreds of Adventure Playgrounds outside of North America.
Learn To Draw Animals.
Oh Noes! The dreaded #REF error!
In the world of conversation killers, talking about Excel to the average person ranks up there with the best. At the same time, there is always a chance that you wish you could have that conversation at work when it gets down to the wire. Even as a pro, you might need that brush up on
Array Functions,
calculation tricks,
VBA examples or some examples from one of the
well known authors on Excel. There is also no shortage of people who dedicate their working lives to this arcane program and are more than willing to assist others for free by posting solved issues on their websites. People like
David McRitchie,
OzGrid,
Rob Bovey,
Ron de Bruin,
John Walkenbach,
Dick Kusleika,
Joseph Rubin and
Chip Pearson.
Or if you just want to be a Debbie Downer at the next party, just take page from any of the following, memorize it. and recite it when faced with that nudge you don't want to talk to: Excel Support, Jon Peltier, Colo's Junk Room, Scriptorium, Andrew's Excel Tips, Andy Pope, Anthony's VBA Page, Rodney Powell, Array Formulas, Erlandsen Data Consulting, Excel-it, ExcelUser, JKP's Excel Page, John Lacher, McGimpsey, Bill Jelen, Stephen Bullen, Tushar Mehta, VBusers.com, The Excel Nexus, The Excel Logic Page, and Anthoney Does Excel. It’s a fast and easy way to ward off lounge lizards.
Or if you just want to be a Debbie Downer at the next party, just take page from any of the following, memorize it. and recite it when faced with that nudge you don't want to talk to: Excel Support, Jon Peltier, Colo's Junk Room, Scriptorium, Andrew's Excel Tips, Andy Pope, Anthony's VBA Page, Rodney Powell, Array Formulas, Erlandsen Data Consulting, Excel-it, ExcelUser, JKP's Excel Page, John Lacher, McGimpsey, Bill Jelen, Stephen Bullen, Tushar Mehta, VBusers.com, The Excel Nexus, The Excel Logic Page, and Anthoney Does Excel. It’s a fast and easy way to ward off lounge lizards.
Down The Mine
What do you get when you cross a nerd with a bad boy?
Geek tattoos. Gamer tattoos. Science tattoos. Medical tattoos. Assorted nerdiness. More. Not ready to commit? Get bar coded, sans ouch.
(Previously)
I don't know how to be a wife, I'm only 16!
The British documentary Britain's Youngest Brides follows five teen girls on their paths to the altar. My personal favorite is Catrina and her 308 pound wedding dress.
Live Bootlegs of Radiohead, Wilco & More
The "Bootlegs" section over at The Rawking Refuses To Stop has a ton of great stuff, from a stripped down live acoustic Jeff Tweedy & Jay Bennet set (right before YHF was released) to a mock-up version of the unreleased new Radiohead album using the best available live tracks from the most recent tour to a rare Paul McCartney, John Lennon & Stevie Wonder jam session to all sorts of smaller gems.
Pop-up Puppetry
aliens. robots. space. war.
space war - a little animated clip by Christy Karacas.
And the internets went two by two.
Let's send a knowledge Ark to the Moon, says a French University. The founders of the group Alliance to Rescue Civilization (ARC) agree: "extending the Internet from the Earth to the moon could help avert a technological dark age following "nuclear war, acts of terrorism, plague, or asteroid collisions." Better than sending 1679 binary digits, into space? The French are no strangers to CETI , inventor Charles Cros petitioned the French Government for years for funding to construct a giant mirror to burn giant lines of communication into the deserts of other planets. [previously]
Don't be silly. Scarecrows don't talk.
Urban Scarecrows! A fundraising project of the Great Torrington Cavaliers, encouraging private households and businesses to make and display scarecrows. The entries include Spiderman, Spongebob Squarepants, an elderly Superman, pirates, and much more. Proceeds from the project will go toward the annual Great Torrington Bonfire in November. Via.
Not quite a tightrope...
Slacklining is like tightrope walking on crack. There's even instructional sites dedicated to it. I'd never heard of it until running across this pretty unbelivable video, which led to the discovery of keywords and what is apparently an entire culture. Some of the basic tricks include surfing, the 360, various acts of balance reminiscent of breakdancing or olympic balance beam and even a front flip. Oh, and of course then there's complete insanity...
August 17
Diebold is dead. Sorta.
Diebold Election Systems is no more (at least in name). Taking a page from the cigarette companies, Diebold is changing their name and hoping to reverse the downward spiral after their recent news.
The Base
"Al Qaeda" A lecture by Lawrence wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. An interesting look at the "root causes" of terrorism
"The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects." Baudelaire
Balafon! Balafon! Balafon!
The YouTubes have the African balafon you need. Alya Dioubate. Coulibaly Samadou. Kanazoé. Epizo Bangoura. Koeta Hakiri. Bala. Man and child. Danse Moderne Balafon!
"Not without my formula sheets, sir."
Even experts don't know what (3 and 3/16ths) times 20 is. But it has something to do with square roots and kinetic energy. [single link to excellent youtube deposition]
Reversible Flow
Reversible flow! In the 1960s, the National Committee for Fluid Mechanics Films produced a series of films for education in fluid mechanics. This clip is part of "Low Reynolds Number Flow"; you can find the entire collection streamed here. Interesting demonstrations abound. (1st link is QT; rest are RealPlayer.)
A Novelist in Shadowland
"Mem, mem, mem." A fascinating memoir of global aphasia -- total language loss -- following a stroke, by British poet and novelist Paul West.
Anarchy Unbound
Who Needs Government? Over at Cato Unbound, Peter Leeson gives a spirited defense of self-government, which is followed by a number of responses from scholars, including a rebuttal by Leeson. Check the sidebar on this issue's front page for more discussion.
What's up at the Fed?
Swords into ploughshares, indeed.
Church chandeliers made from bullet casings and cannon parts Until today I'd never heard of trench art. From the second link:
Pieces described as ‘trench art’ have the following distinctly different origins:
1. War souvenirs collected by soldiers or non-combatants during the war and during the demobilization period and modified in some way to serve as a remembrance of the war.
2. Souvenirs crafted by soldiers during the war.
3. Souvenirs made for sale to soldiers by other soldiers or civilians during the war.
4. Souvenirs made by prisoners of war in exchange for food, cigarettes or money.
5. Mementoes of the war made by convalescent soldiers.
6. Post-war souvenirs made for tourists visiting the battlefields.
7. Post-war souvenirs made by commercial firms in ‘trench-art style’.
Jeremy Clarkson explains our addcition to speed.
The Century of Speed [Google Video] by Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame. Usually he reviews cars, writes nasty columns or does something stupid with vehicles, but this documentary is not just about cars ... it's about the speed of our modern lifes and his wife.
Videos of Live Jazz and Brazilian Music Performances
An excellent video collection of live performances of jazz and Brazilian music from Youtube user Pedro Mendes. Including such artists as Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Derek Bailey, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Sun Ra, Miles Davis and many, many more. Plus a host of Brazilian musicians I had never heard of before, but are quite excellent, such as Édison Machado, Dom Um Romão, Hermeto Pascoal, Elis Regina and Maria Bethania.
Where was Eki during the Tour de France?
Watching this years television coverage of the TdF there seemed to be a void in the absence of Viatcheslav Ekimov. During the Tour de France he was busy being team director for the non-TdF Team Discovery Channel cyclists who were competing in the Tour de Qinhai Lake bike race in China. Beautiful scenery, exotic peoples, described with interesting Chinese to English translations. Altogether a great preview for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
You're living in your own private island-o
You're just mad because I f***ed MetaFilter!
"…the eye is not satisfied with seeing…"
dry wit in action
100 Things You or Martha Stewart Can Make
Since the US economy will soon explode and eat all our monies, I give you this: 100 Things You Can Make Yourself!
スズメバチが花にとまった。
Asian Giant Hornets in action. Asian Giant Hornets on the palm of your hand. Asian Giant Hornet vs Mantis. Asian Giant Hornet vs Asian Giant Hornet.
The software awards scam
The software awards scam. I put out a new product a couple of weeks ago. This new product has so far won 16 different awards and recommendations from software download sites. Download it now from PC World!
Toronto: 1977 vs 2007
Toronto: 1977 vs 2007. Shige Sakamoto spent a week in Toronto back in 1977, and took several photographs. Damon Schreiber is retracing Sakamoto's steps, taking photos of the same locations today. He's presenting the photos on his photoblog.
Like A Face Drawn in Sand at the Edge of the Sea
A society without power relations can only be an abstraction. Which, be it said in passing, makes all the more politically necessary the analysis of power relations in a given society, their historical formation, the source of their strength or fragility, the conditions which are necessary to transform some or to abolish others. For to say that there cannot be a society without power relations is not to say either that those which are established are necessary or, in any case, that power constitutes a fatality at the heart of societies, such that it cannot be undermined. Instead, I would say that the analysis, elaboration, and bringing into question of power relations and the "agonism" between power relations and the intransitivity of freedom is a permanent political task inherent in all social existence."Saint" Michel Foucault (1926-1984) transformed Western thought. Institutions -- prisons, asylums, clinics -- define the rhythm of our daily existence; Foucault found that they also determine the way we think. The search for the political and philosophical implications of this insight led him to biology and economics, linguistics and the study of sexuality. In Foucault's eyes, intellectual activity, however radical, could never be divorced from the techniques of power. This is why some have accused him of political quietism. Other critics say he was simply a bad scholar. Who was the real Foucault? "Anarchist, leftist, ostentatious or disguised Marxist, nihilist, explicit or secret anti-Marxist, technocrat in the service of Gaullism, new liberal," gay saint, charlatan, or something else entirely? Perhaps we have posed the question incorrectly...
Nothing Is Perverse
How to Market a Deadly Disease: Ten provocative examples of AIDS awareness campaigns from around the world. Here are some more [YouTube]. NSFW. Via. [Previously/related: 1, 2]
Mmmm, beeeer: ratebeer.com
Mmmm, beeeer: ratebeer.com The World's Worst Beers, Best Beers - 2007, find the top beers by category or region.
Emphasis on craft brews. (See also the previously mentioned BeerAdvocate.com) Happy Friday, everyone!
How Dangerous is this Guy?
Giuliani promises a bigger longer war than we got right now with W. This from a guy that used his command center in NYC as a love nest. Of course, the Onion sums it up best.
Impeachment Day
Clinton White House Spokesman Joe Lockhart does stand-up. Text, or if you prefer there is some audio at the 51min mark from This American Life.
Happy birthday dear CD!
Happy birthday dear CD! Today marks 25 years since the first CD rolled off the production line. Love it, lump it or just use this occasion as an excuse to eat cake.
Is There Such a Thing as Sexual Honesty?
National Center for Health Statistics says the median for heterosexual men is seven partners and for heterosexual women it’s four, and isn't that just plain BS? The New York Times has looked at the NCHS study and found The Myth, the Math, the Sex while Salon explained that Chaste women + promiscuous men = impossible. Now Janet W. Hardy, the author of The Ethical Slut, reminds us either men are rounding up or women are rounding down. Then she does something radical by admitting that she has honestly, depending on your definition, perhaps hundreds of lovers. Is either gender ready to be honest about sex? For instance, do hookers or blackout sex even count?
August 16
Killer King Shuts It's Doors
Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, formerly knows as King/Drew and forever known as Killer King, has shut its emergency room and will close in a week due to feds pulling its funding. The hospital near the Watts section of LA, best known for its incompetent staff and meaningless deaths was profiled here a few months ago. Local residents see the hospital as a symbol of freedom and don't want to see it go. (UpdateFilter)
County Migration
This map displays county-to-county migration data for 2000-2005 from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. In, out, staying put, median household income. [via]
Chimp Walking Bulldogs
I've been struggling for days to refrain from posting this video of a chimp taking five British bulldogs for a walk around the streets of Japan, and it looks like I failed.
Welcome to Sketchfu, where you can draw and share.
In sort of the same vein as the MS Paint posts seen here lately is a website where you too can draw, and have the process of it captured to be watched over and over again - Sketchfu. The application isn't nearly as complex even as MS Paint, yet you'd be amazed what kind of work some of these people put together.
Firefox = bad for the Internet?
"You've reached this page because the site you were trying to visit now blocks the FireFox browser". Because Firefox has endorsed and allowed the Ad Block Plus plug-in, which is "is an infringement of the rights of web site owners and developers," some folks aren't too happy. With links to How to Block Firefox, Firefox Myths, and The Firefox Cult.
Bilderbook
His best works feature powerful women in vulnerable situations.
Filipino-American artist Jhoneil Centeno is a painter, photographer, digital artist, game developer, and bow and arrow maker. He explains his art and his technique. Title quote from Lucid Skin review (NSFW).
"You're great as a 12-year-old."
NBC's most controversial "news" program finally hits an all-new low. ThisJustIn.com presents To Catch A Predator: The Reunion Special. Bloopers are included free! [2-video blog link]
Dick Slash Crack Slash Head
Dick/Crack/Head - The Return of Alexyss K. Tylor.
And yeah, it's a single link YouTube post that definitely isn't safe for work. Previously.
'We have broken speed of light'
"We have broken speed of light." So say Dr. Gunter Nimtz and Dr. Alfons Stahlhofen of the University of Koblenz, in this article from New Scientist. Dr. Nimtz's work has been cited on MeFi before.
Padilla Found Guilty on All Counts
It's a dog, and it's stuffed, and it's for you!
Another Blue Note
Max Roach has passed at age 83. The famed drum innovator, composer and educator who came to prominence during the bebop era died last evening at age 83 at home in Manhattan. Known as the pioneer of a technically complex style that allowed for far greater improvisational texture, Max was one of the first drummers to step out from the role as mere timekeeper. His imprint on both the history of jazz and the history of music is indelible.
Countrywide Empties Out on Widowmaker
Countrywide Empties Out on Widowmaker gives a vivid idea of the turmoil in the mortgage market, and the difficult American real estate environment. "You sold your unlimited subway card after the 5th race, plunged full-bore on a filthy hot dog, a beer and a 9-1 shot that finished next-to-last. You are Countrywide."
HALFPENNY PSALM PSALM
Phonetic alphabets have taken many forms across many languages. But why go with Alpha-Bravo-Charlie when you can choose Bread-Debt-Indictment , Abides-Bowling-Chinaman, Are-Beady-Cue, and Ackbar-BadgerBadgerBadger-Camwhore? What's the MetaFilter phonetic alphabet?
Needs more...pork.
Salad? mmhmm. If you're not one for the ever-generic chicken caesar, well, there are alternatives. (in keeping with recent baconposts, of course.)
Down down in the salt mine underneath the ground
Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland has been in operation for 800-odd years. Needless to say, this has given the miners plenty of time to carve some pretty amazing things. More photos here and here. Videos here and here. Virtual tour here. Wikipedia.
Problem Code 1-1: Piranha plant clogging warp pipe
User interface design so epically bad you need a strategy guide to defeat it. Presenting The Legend of FacilityFocus.
4th Edition of D&D Announced
4th Edition is Coming... Eight years after the release of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition (and only four years after the release of 3.5), Wizards of the Coast announced today that 4th Edition will be on the shelves in May of 2008. Back in 2000, the release of 3rd Edition launched a boom (and bust) of secondary adventures published under the Open Gaming License. Back then, a gamer couldn't swing their boffer sword without hitting a start-up game company with d20 content. Contrast that to this month when the very last issues of venerable Dragon and Dungeon magazines hit the shelves.
We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore!
I now know what to do in case I ever got stuck on an airplane that's not going anywhere- organize and stage a revolt, like the passengers of Continental flight 1669.
Give a bit of mmm to me. Hoo ha. Hoo hah!
Move over Village People. Introducing Bearforce1 from Holland... the first gay bear man group. They are clearly having fun.
Friday flush fan
Major earthquake in Peru
A 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Peru in the Ica region, south of the capital of Lima. Ica, Chincha and Pisco have been hardest hit, although the pavement rippled in downtown Lima as well. BBC (first link) and CNN have been reporting about 336-7 dead, but my uncle (in Lima) says that many towns south of San Bartolo have simply disappeared into rubble.
Carlos Paredes
This post is simply to call attention to the gorgeous music of Carlos Paredes (1925-2004), soulful master of the 12-string guitarra Portuguesa. [more inside]
Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies. "After a wonderful youth in the Dutch East Indies, today Indonesia, my family and I went through three and a half years Japanese occupation. I lost my father, I lost the country I loved, I lost everything, but I kept my memories. ... So here I am, 79 years old, sitting behind my computer, going back to the Dutch East Indies."
That hokum recording of Bruckner's
pronunciationguide - for aspiring classical radio announcers
Not you, you miserable ingrates!
Thank You Mask Man – a hilariously NSFW animated short film produced and voiced by Lenny Bruce – was previously FPP'd. But you can thank me for these videos of Bruce performing live, on The Steve Allen Show, in this unaired TV special, and in the 1953 movie Dance Hall Racket. [♪]
Looking North
MAKING HAPPY/one human life is a photoblog by Gayla Trail.
August 15
People who walk faster live longer
Why New Yorkers Last Longer. Interestingly, urban theorists believe it is not just the tightly packed nature of the city but also its social and economic density that has life-giving properties. When you’re jammed, sardinelike, up against your neighbors, it’s not hard to find a community of people who support you—friends or ethnic peers—and this strongly correlates with better health and a longer life. [New York Magazine article]
And now for something completely different
And now for something completely different: A star with a tail like a comet. (Cool pic). Don't know how we missed it. It's one of the most well-known stars in the sky and the tail is 13 light-years long, or about 20,000 times the average distance of Pluto from the sun.
Into The Wind
..............................
Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley so it seems somewhat appropriate that we remember not only The man King but his music as well, including Jailhouse Rock, Love Me Tender, In The Ghetto, Unchained Melody, Always on My Mind, Burning Love, Suspicious Minds, Return to Sender, Blue Christmas, Heartbreak Hotel, It's Now Or Never, Hound Dog, My Way, Don't Be Cruel, Way Down, Are You Lonesome Tonight, Amazing Grace, You've Lost That Loving Feeling, Promised Land, Viva Las Vegas and many more. Here's the lyrics if you want to sing along to any of those. Not a fan of his music? Fair enough. Why not go make yourself a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich? Just don't eat 12 to 15 of them in one sitting!
>>>>>PASS THIS ON! (emails from the right)
My Right Wing Dad is a new-ish and rather informal blog that aims to provide "a chance for folks to examine the unrestrained rhetoric that is quietly passed from in-box to in-box in America," by hosting a collection of the emails that form an often untraceable and unacknowledged part of public discourse in the U.S., especially on the Right. Tagged by category (for example: God, college, flag, liberal, and World War II), the amateur archive presents a range of colorful opinion, not all of it strikingly accurate, and some of it offensive. In efforts to understand liberal and conservative habits of communication, it may be worth considering the role of forwarded email in the electoral process, and the reasons that the forwarding of email is popular among some people, and whether this behavior tends to correlate with particular political opinions. The emails hosted on MyRightWingDad may in any case be enlightening, unless you're already on the forward list of someone in the know.
Painting with Fire
In the world of fantasy art, he is an icon. Some argue Arnold would never have become governor without him. Though his arrogance is second only to his skill, Frank Frazetta suffered for his art: for eight years an undiagnosed problem left him unable to create at all, while a series of strokes in his later years led to the artist having to learn to paint all over again, this time with his left hand. Since I was a girl, only this artist ever came close to inspiring me half so much as Frazetta did.
dees on that bitch
The Post-War Rise Of Film Noir
What's the relationship between the rise of film noir and the national mood of post-war (WWII, that is) America? "Was noir simply a way of reanimating the tired conventions of the pre-war crime film? Or did we need melodramatic illusions potent enough to overcome whatever disillusions strayed briefly into our minds as we surrendered to the mighty engines of prosperity? Or was it one of those cycles - like biopics, westerns, sci-fi, etc. - that Hollywood mysteriously embraces and then just as mysteriously abandons?" Via.
Deep Sea Fishing Photogalleries
As a follow up to this post, photographer & Alaskan fisherman Corey Arnold has several amazing galleries up at his personal portfolio (and yay, it's not in Flash!). Favorite galleries include Bering Sea (1 & 2), Arctic-ness & Lofoten.
Like a live poltergeist
Phrogging - To sneak into a house and live among its occupants without their knowledge. ^ (via the Presurfer)
"I will rip the living flesh off your bones!"
"A group of teenagers, en route to attend a rock concert, lose their way when their car runs out of fuel in the dead of night. They find themselves in an unfamiliar rural backwater where they are confronted by flesh-eating zombies and a psychotic cannibalistic killer dressed in a sheet. It could be the plot to a thousand Hollywood horror films but while these teenagers may dress, talk and smoke dope like young Americans they are in fact young Pakistanis, and the film - Zibahkhana or Hell's Ground - is the first modern horror film to be filmed in Pakistan."
The Gordon Lee Saga continues...
Pablo's Penis Prosecution, the crazy case against comic retailer Gorden Lee was supposed to start today. Only the judge was sick, or the air conditioner was broken, or maybe the prosecution wants to drop all the charges and refile...again. Interesting to note that the judge presiding over the case has ruled against Mr. Lee in a previous prosecution for comics obscenity. Previous MeFi discussion, before the original charges were all dropped 18 hours before trial.
Chuck got it going on
Charlie Rose's new website has been in development over a year as technicians worked with Google to archive over 4,000 hours of interviews all culminating in 8,000 program segments including David Foster Wallace talking about David Lynch, Christopher Hitchens badmouthing religion, and Rem Koolhaas discussing recent changes in China.
Real estate market data visualization
Seattle is red hot and almost no other market is. So says this great data visualization that Zillow just put out. (bonus: while previewing the link I also noticed a useful page of quarterly reports for major real estate markets)
100 great tips to improve your life
Find inner serenity by making it easier to find your keys. Become an early riser. Create a "Landing Strip" to become more organized. All these and more at 100 Great Tips to Improve Your Life.
Diesel-Driven Bee Slums and Impotent Turkeys
The Case for Resilience. How Efficiency Maximizes Catastrophe.
It's all about the shoes
The Shoe Project: people and their shoes. Simple and sweet, I don't know why this makes me smile so much but it does. (via swissmiss)
Mo' money, mo' legislation
Is there a link between donations given and bills passed? MAPLight.org aims to help you find out, giving you the ability to compare contributions with how legislators voted. [Via]
En Garde!
The marine flatworm Pseudobiceros hancockanus engages in penis fencing [video]. SFW, I guess, unless your boss is a super uptight nudibranch or something.
Not Your Ordinary Barcode
Bar Code Revolution! With more than just lines and rectangles, Japanese company Design Barcode works around the basic elements of a barcode and infuses real, functional barcodes with creative designs and silhouettes. See barcodes as tomatoes, stomachs, rain, pianos, guns, train tracks, waterfalls, cliffsides, and yes, even combovers.
Fuerzabruta - brutally great
Fuerzabruta, from one of the creators of
De La Guarda . Argentine 'physical theatre' , but without a plot and the term seems simply too limiting. I would call it emotional theatre. Currently in the middle of a run at the Edinburgh Fringe (tickets here). Simply Fantastic , its coming to New York soon , and Europe ...GO !!
( De La Guarda Previously)
Happy Sixtieth!
The largest democracy in the world celebrates its 60th anniversary, in a year which saw horrendous floods, the election of its first woman president (previously mentioned here), the signing of the 123 Nuclear Agreement, and the recent victory over England after a span of 21 years.
August 14
And a blue one and a yellow one
Little Boxes is a song written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962 that lampoons the development of suburbia and what many consider its bourgeois conformist values. [1]
During the first season of the Showtime series Weeds, Malvina's original recording was used during the opening credits. In the second season, the song was performed by a different artist each episode — Elvis Costello, Death Cab for Cutie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Maestro Charles Barnett, Aiden Hawkin, Ozomatli , The Submarines, Tim DeLaughter, Regina Spektor, and Jenny Lewis. [Malvina's recording was used again for the season finale.] Randy Newman just kicked off the third season, which the network promoted with a Little Boxes music video contest. Kevin Nealon and Romany Malco were notable among the participating cast members.
During the first season of the Showtime series Weeds, Malvina's original recording was used during the opening credits. In the second season, the song was performed by a different artist each episode — Elvis Costello, Death Cab for Cutie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Maestro Charles Barnett, Aiden Hawkin, Ozomatli , The Submarines, Tim DeLaughter, Regina Spektor, and Jenny Lewis. [Malvina's recording was used again for the season finale.] Randy Newman just kicked off the third season, which the network promoted with a Little Boxes music video contest. Kevin Nealon and Romany Malco were notable among the participating cast members.
All kinds of wrong.
The most cruel viral ad campaign yet. Give your friend the experience of being stalked by a serial killer. Make sure to preview the very slick customized video generated first, before you decide whether you really want to do this to someone you like. [Yes, yes, viral advertising for some FX show, also Flash]
partymeister to the plebians
BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG is a musical composition by the inimitable Dan Deacon, dubbed by his local paper as part vaudeville ham, part electronica genius. Take a tour of Dan's thrift-store electronic keyboard and read his answers to stupid questions in Ignore Magazine. via Miss Cellania
Transitive Nightfall. Now with Extra Diamonds!
Is there no humor in public relations? The public relations blog PRBlogNews included a post last week on PR and LSD (a long strange happy tradition). It appears to have been a joke, mixing a selection of early youth-on-acid videos with a vintage discourse about LSD by Dr. Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass) re-imagined as a history of successful "tripvertising." It must have stirred some sort of trouble; there's been a follow-up, "LSD and PR don’t mix" post (Don’t eat the brown acid) which warns against mixing PR and LSD (and hot dogs).
Second chance heaven.
St. Louis Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa loves re-treads more than a long distance trucker. And even though the Cards are often willing to take a chance on former big league players with problems, their latest retrieval from the scrap heap is unusual, even for them. At the ripe old age of 28, former pitching phenom Rick Ankiel is back. As a hitter.
Come in... Leave a comment and have some sham-pan-ya...
The Continental was a short-lived TV show that debuted in 1951 on KNBH Los Angeles and aired nationally on ABC and CBS during the 1952-1953 TV season. Sponsored by Cameo Stockings, the show featured Italian actor Renzo Cesana (who got discovered when Robert Rossellini produced a play Cesana wrote when he was 16!) purring seductively into the camera, while offering "sham-pan-ya" to an offscreen lady friend. Best known for inspiring a series of Saturday Night Live sketches starring Christopher Walken, the show inspired parodies in its own era, such as this Popeye cartoon (where Bluto tries to seduce Olive Oyl by posing as "The International"), a Jerry Lewis skit on the Colgate Comedy Hour that imagines the Continental as played by Marlon Brando, and a Pepe Le Pew cartoon where our amorous skunk attempts to seduce the feline object of his affection in The Cat's Bah. Unfortunately, Internet footage of the real show appears to be nonexistent, although you can buy some love songs recorded by the Continental off EBay.
"Really? Worst film you ever saw. Well, my next one will be better."
Last summer, Uwe Boll took on four of his many critics. The "Teutonic Terror" (an amateur boxer who spent months in training for the event) so throughly savaged his opponents that three of them became gushing fans. Sure, he exploits an enormous German tax loophole to make dreadful films, but maybe he's just an industry-savvy Ed Wood. His most recent bit of empassioned lunacy suggests so. Hell, he has one more doctorate in literature than I do, and even the Wired guys though one part of Postal was funny.
What's the name of that song?
Just watched a tv show, looking for the music you just heard? Playing the radio, and didn't catch the DJ saying the title? On the go? In the woods? (Also)
Guga
"The ile is full of wild fowls, and when the fowls has their birds ripe, men out of the parish of Ness in Lewis sail and tarry there seven or eight days and to fetch with them home their boatfull of dry wild fowls with wild fowl feathers" - Donald Monro, Archdeacon of the Isles, 1549. The men sail again, as they have done since the 15th Century, this month.
It's Tanner! The Coprophagic pup!
Barbie Recalled. Mattel recalled one of their Barbie products today, a sweet little toy to teach kids responsibility called Barbie and Tanner. But watching that commercial closely one must wonder, if those magnets are coming out of Tanner so easily, surely they won't stay in your kid. Perhaps the design flaw had nothing to do with magnets but rather such an ill-conceived product. So, after Tanner poops out the magnet, you do what with it?
Round the World and Bach
David Juritz a leading violinist left his house with a backpack, fiddle and completely empty wallet at the start of a 60,000-mile, twenty-five-country, round-the-world busk. He is raising money for Musequality (read about some of their support efforts, like the M-Lisada Brass Band).
His comment about Berlin being a terrible city for busking put me in mind of this post about Joshua Bell. You can donate here if you feel so inclined.
Arriverci, Scooter.
A shortstop extraordinaire, loan pitchman, vocal accompanist, announcing icon. and friend to yogi's ...has left the building. RIP, Scooter.
If I had a million monkeys...
WriteCloud is a collaborative writing game where the wisdom of crowds guides the cursor. Kind of like a web 2.0 version of exquisite corpse with letters instead of drawings. [via mefi projects]
Oh, Inverted World
Oh, Inverted World. As we’ve all learned in school, 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only 30% is solid ground. What if everything was reversed? What if every land mass was a body of water, and vice versa?
Extreme aerial bowfishing!
nic. will never grow up
You're worth it.
On human odour, malaria mosquitoes, and Limburger cheese,
Rollerman
Take some assorted body armour. Attach an assortment of castor wheels to just about every part of your body and you become Rollerman Flash.
His real name is Jean Yves Blondeau, a former design student and proud owner of the world's only rollerblading supersuit. It may be handy for zipping in and out of traffic, but the fun really starts when you roll down an alp QT, reaching speeds of up to 60mph with oncoming traffic. Is this insane, or an extreme combination of inline skating and street luge.
The Arab Republic and Socialist Democratic Commonwealth Kingdom of United Islamic Principality of Federated Islands
The Arab Republic and Socialist Democratic Commonwealth Kingdom of United Islamic Principalities and Federated Islands. Brendon O'Connor analyzes the names of countries in relation to their Freedom House political rights score.
FRANKIE SAYS RE-EDIT
Frankie Valli is very old but he is not dead, (MySpace, music plays on load) so you can keep those periods packed away. That first link showcases Pilooski's shockingly subtle and effective remix of Beggin', which should have been the radio hit of summer 2007, except for the small problem of not getting airplay in the States. You can compare different video treatments of the full song here (cyriak's trippy animation), here (pretty dancing people), and here (Northern Soul slideshow). The original 1967 version of the song should still be available here.
Ain't It Time We Mellowed Out?
Tasty
6/4 blues: Carlos Santana/Buddy Guy duo. Jeff Beck "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Brush With the Blues" at the Udo Music Festival '06. Roy Buchanan "Sweet Dreams" at the Rockpalast and here trying out a Fritz Bros. custom guitar.
6/4 blues: Carlos Santana/Buddy Guy duo. Jeff Beck "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Brush With the Blues" at the Udo Music Festival '06. Roy Buchanan "Sweet Dreams" at the Rockpalast and here trying out a Fritz Bros. custom guitar.
The Wild Yonder
Foreclosure Radar
Foreclosure Radar. This is the fastest growth market in real estate, and we can help you capitalize on it. We go far beyond simple foreclosure listings: we track every single foreclosure auction in the state, every day.
Re-thinking the "cradle of civilization"
Re-thinking the "cradle of civilization". New discoveries at dig sites in Middle Asia are challenging the archaeological worlds idea that civilization began in Mesopotamia. Sites in modern-day Iran and Russia suggest that a vast network of societies together constituted the first cities, along with the potential discovery of a new writing system.
Take a spin on the Idea Generator
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dissed
What, no Bill & Ted? NY Magazine's interesting and diverse (or at least conversation-engendering) list of the top 15 pop-culture "duos" of all time. They cleverly narrowed down the list by eliminating non-equals (e.g. Batman & Robin), duos within groups (e.g. Spock & Kirk), & romantic couples (e.g. Mork & Mindy). Fans of classic comedy duos might be disappointed (they're also missing the most dynamic duo in the history of mankind).
See who's editing Wikipedia
See who's editing Wikipedia. The most shameful Wikipedia spin jobs and another one from Fox News. Meet Virgil Griffith and find a few interesting Wikipedia battles of your own with his new creation.
Taylor Negron
You might recognise him from just about every American TV series ever made (as well as a few films). However, you're missing out unless you watch his podcasts. He's also a very funny writer. Thank God for Taylor Negron.
He's not too proud of this
Freedom of the what?
Sami Al-Haj and Bilal Hussein The detention of AP photographer Bilal Hussein was not without controversy.
AP president and CEO Tom Curley stated : "We are the target. Freedom of the press is the target."
Meanwhile Prisoner 345 otherwise known as
Sami al Hajj continues by reporting on life behind the wire. related
Run Wikipedia, Run
How to build a fast offline Wikipedia reader using open-source tools in two days
A different dark is rising
We've discussed David L. Cunningham before, especially the controversial 9/11 docudrama he made. But there's more to the man who's the son of Christian reconstructionist and University of the Nations founder Loren Cunningham. There are a lot of movies he claims to have directed on his IMDB page that don't have any external verification outside of self-published websites, which seems to contradict IMDB policy. Then there's the fear from both pagans and various political bloggers and fans of the books that his upcoming adaptation of the The Dark is Rising fantasy books is going to completely butcher the source material. The movie is produced by Walden Media, the production company owned by conservative christian billionaire Philip Anschutz, who's trying to "clean up Hollywood", in association with 20th Century Fox.
80 years of female portraits in film
August 13
Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling: Just how much will negotiating for that extra $1000 cost a woman?
Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling: Just how much will negotiating for that extra $1000 cost a woman? "Although it may well be true that women often hurt themselves by not trying to negotiate, this (Carnegie Mellon) study found that women's reluctance was based on an entirely reasonable and accurate view of how they were likely to be treated if they did. Both men and women were more likely to subtly penalize women who asked for more -- the perception was that women who asked for more were 'less nice'." (Washington Post)
Maturing brains.
Prime Vertebrae
Prime Vertebrae. PZ Myers discusses the critical difference between having six or seven cervical vertebrae.
Monstrous Scuplture Garden In Italy
In the town of Bomarzo in central Italy you will find Monster's Grove, a vast sculpture garden created in 1552 by Pier Orisini to be a unique & astonishing place. The scupltures are quite large, and some are carved directly into the bedrock; as the name might indicate, the subjects are mainly mythical creatures. For centuries, the stone was uncared for, and nature began to reclaim the art, until the 1970s when efforts began to preserve the pieces, and today it is a major tourist attraction, though still privately owned nearly five centuries in.
You think YOUR seat is sore? Try rowing across the ocean.
Hey, let’s go on a Sea Cruise! Or, at least join in via the blog every morning.
The
sponser list is pretty cool, too. So, that’s how you set an anchor mid-ocean/mid-storm.
Who pins the tail on the donkey anymore?
Birthdays Without Pressure If you think children’s birthday parties are getting out of control, you’ve come to the right place.
Scenes from a Posthumous Potshot
In Scenes from an Overrated Career, film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum writes a rare New York Times op-ed arguing that the work of recently deceased director Ingmar Bergman is overvalued compared to Carl Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson. Both Roger Ebert and David Bordwell respond to Rosenbaum's takedown of Bergman, while Rosenbaum writes a brief eulogy blog post on Bergman. Meanwhile, another blogger discusses how Antonioni and Bergman hated each other despite recent obits that have paired them together.
Go directly to [landmark]. Do not pass [flavortext], do not collect [currency]
Struggling for a way to combine your love of simulated cut-throat capitalism with your love of the Adelaide Crows, classic Coca-Cola ads, Réunion Island, or the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror? Look no further than one of the 1,235 special-edition Monopoly boards. Browse the full street layout of 64 national variants at Monopolybase, or check the going price on 225 official Parker Brothers -opolies from Aachen to X-Men. If even that's not good enough for you, you can always (as discussed here), roll your own.
(Plus 35 Harry Potter games, 100+ rejuvenating house rules, and more from Israeli board-game blogger Yehuda Berlinger.)
(Plus 35 Harry Potter games, 100+ rejuvenating house rules, and more from Israeli board-game blogger Yehuda Berlinger.)
Next they'll want to drive
Who can count the ills visited upon modern society by women's suffrage? Dr. John Lott would include government spending, taxation and social programs. Lawrence Auster thinks that it's worth considering an end to the experiment of women's suffrage. (And is mocked and responds). Perhaps he'll find an ally in former senator Kay O'Connor.
On some level, it's heartening to see conservatives conserving 100-year-old arguments.
On some level, it's heartening to see conservatives conserving 100-year-old arguments.
The Inner Workings of Your Favorite Sites
Ever wonder what's powering your favorite websites? Builtwith promises to give you a clear picture of what software and technologies are behind almost any site. Unfortunately, it's not always very accurate.
Good Night and Good luck and what is this?
La Vida de Vagabundos Americanos
La Vida de Vagabundos Americanos. Images of America's young homeless from the excellent Polaroid Photography Collective, featured before.
Rest In Peace, Nick Dunn.
OBITUARIES
Dunn, Nicholas Ryan. August 5, 2007.
"Yesterday my son took his own life. He did not intend to. He did something thousands of people have and are doing, using drugs. Drugs they know nothing about. Drugs recommended and provided by friends or strangers that are not chemists that know what's in them or doctors that knew how much his body could take. My son Nick has devastated us … We also all hurt for a three year old little girl named Kylie Marie who will grow up without her father … Those drugs do not discriminate by race, income, the status of you or of your family. These are those who care about you and those who you care about. Consider them, please! The pleasure is not worth the risks! Goodbye Nick, we love you, and will miss you."
Dunn, Nicholas Ryan. August 5, 2007.
"Yesterday my son took his own life. He did not intend to. He did something thousands of people have and are doing, using drugs. Drugs they know nothing about. Drugs recommended and provided by friends or strangers that are not chemists that know what's in them or doctors that knew how much his body could take. My son Nick has devastated us … We also all hurt for a three year old little girl named Kylie Marie who will grow up without her father … Those drugs do not discriminate by race, income, the status of you or of your family. These are those who care about you and those who you care about. Consider them, please! The pleasure is not worth the risks! Goodbye Nick, we love you, and will miss you."
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers is a beta release of the Library of Congress/National Endowment for the Humanities partnership project, the (previously mentioned) National Digital Newspaper Program. In its current state, Chronicling America allows users to search for and read newspaper pages from 36 newspapers published between 1900 and 1910, and search for information on American newspapers published between 1690 and present day.
Buildings UI, good and bad
It's finger lickin' suave
What do you give the chicken who has everything? Well, maybe this.
The art world can finally go fully digital now.
What we've tried to do is create a piece of software that streamlines the design process from start to finish. Digital, um, art. (Slightly suggestive images in last link.) (Previously 1|2|3.) (Via)
Save Skylab
While enjoying today's International Space Station construction mission, don't forget America's first outpost in space, Skylab. Launched in 1972, the experimental station, cobbled together from Apollo hardware, was abandoned two years later and plunged to Earth in 1979. Today, you can pitch in to save the rotting hulk of the Skylab trainer.
Cold, Wet, and Doubly Up in Your Crotch.
"While we were there, sitting by the fire one night, I saw an extraordinary-looking dog that appeared to have two noses. I was sober at the time, and then I remembered the story that the legendary explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett came back with in 1913 of seeing such strange dogs in the Amazon jungle", explains fellow British Colonel John Blashford-Snell. The double-schnoz phenomenon has been documented in other species, and has even been studied, dramatized, and synthesized in humans. But a clue has recently been discovered in Bolivia that hints at not just a random mutation, but what might have once been a multi-snouted dog breed.
Radar images of earth
High resolution images of Earth. The German satellite TerraSAR-X was shot into space on June 15, and already four days after sent some beautiful pictures back to Earth. Pictures are described in German, but you'll figure it out.
It takes a village
A State Street Family Album - State Street in Madison, Wisconsin is a half mile link between the Capitol dome and the campus of the University of Wisconsin. Tree lined, traffic restricted, shops of all manner, State Street represents an almost picture postcard ideal. It is also home to the Family. In the 30's they might have ridden the rails, now they are hanging out in the Peace Park. Glenn Austin has documented their community.
Say "Xyzzy!"...Nothing happens
Real Life "Colossal Cave Adventure”! Discussion of original source code, different versions of the game, hand draw maps, and lots of photos inside the cave the game is based on. Grab your shiny brass lamp and tasty food and meet me at the Bedquilt entrance.
Sounds Like a Case of the Mondays
DayFilter: Everyone from T-Bone Walker, The Mamas & the Papas, The Carpenters, Jimmy Buffett, Fleetwood Mac, The Neighborhoods, The Boomtown Rats, New Order, Duran Duran, The Bangles, Snow, Pulp, Rialto, Alan Jackson, Tegan and Sara, to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, has a song about Monday... but only Ohio's best newscast - 19 Action News – has Carl Monday, bitch! [closed]
Slaves to Superstition
Episode one of controversial evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins' new series Enemies of Reason premieres on Channel 4 tonight. Here's a list of topics.
Rove Resigns
Karl Rove Resigns. The man known as “Bush's Brain” and whom Frontline called “The Architect” will leave office at the end of August.
Attack of the Giant Negroes
August 12
Stroke, stroke, stroke!
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
Interviews with 100-year-olds:
(Short): Quick NPR interview with a guy who works on Wall Street.
(Medium): A series of small segments with the oldest graduate of Gilbert High School.
(Long): Part of WFMU's 365 day project. Restored tape from 1978, on which it appears a young student is interviewing an old lady from Kansas.
(Short): Quick NPR interview with a guy who works on Wall Street.
(Medium): A series of small segments with the oldest graduate of Gilbert High School.
(Long): Part of WFMU's 365 day project. Restored tape from 1978, on which it appears a young student is interviewing an old lady from Kansas.
Oh my God, I just felt it ferment!
The Bender Brewer Project. Inspired by an episode of Futurama in which boozy robot Bender is used to brew beer, Star Wars ASCII animator Simon Janson decided to build his own Bender to use to brew his own beer. Among the many careful details that went into this project was to actually build the robot's brain out of a 6502 processor, as specified in the show, and to build a remote detonator to operate his brain.
Proceeds to benefit the Patrick O'Brien Foundation
3D design artist and Filmmaker, father-to-be and fan of long titles extraordinaire, Transfatty, aka Patrick O'Brien (dir. The Man With The Smallest Penis In Existence And The Electron Microscope Technician Who Loved Him, previously) will debut his new DVD, Everything Will Be Okay, or How I Learned to Trancend Form, Live in the Now and Make Love in my Electric Wheelchair, tomorrow in NYC. The DVD is clips from his forthcoming film, October 5, 1974, his ongoing personal documentary about his journey to the end with ALS.
Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray, a New York painter who reshaped Modernist abstraction into a high-spirited, cartoon-based, language of form whose subjects included domestic life, relationships and the nature of painting itself, died yesterday at her home in upstate New York. (Images)
Mp3 Bloggers Celebrate Vinyl Record Day
Happy Vinyl Record Day, everyone. On this date in 1877, Edison invented the phonograph. To commemorate the date, a blogswarm of 22 of the best vinyl sharity blogs out there have come together to celebrate the legacy of the dominant recorded music format of the 20th century, led by jb of The Hits Just Keep On Comin' and featuring Flea Market Funk, Echoes in the Wind, Funky 16 Corners, Davewillieradio, Good Rockin' Tonight, Py Korry, It's Great Shakes, (bonus!), Ickmusic, Jefitoblog, FuFu (bonus!), Lost in the 80's, Three-Sixty-Five 45s, Underground Vault of Records, AM then FM, The "B" Side, In Dangerous Rythm (bonus 1, bonus 2), You Must Be From Away, Got The Fever, Retro Remixes, Bloggerythms and finally The Stepfather of Soul.
Wallpaper eye candy
Social Wallpaper. A community effort to classify, rank, and distribute high resolution images for use as computer wallpaper.
Christian Embassy at the Pentagon and on the hill. Scary.
Christian Embassy at the Pentagon and on the hill. Scary.
more here. "We're the aroma of Jesus Christ?"
more here. "We're the aroma of Jesus Christ?"
The Unpleasant World of Penn and Teller
You want to waste as much time as possible before going back to work Monday morning, right? So, stay up late and watch 6 episodes of The Unpleasant World of Penn and Teller, their mid-90s show on British TV. Don't have time for all that right now? Then jump right to a card trick with John Cleese, or their unique version of the Card Stab trick. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to prepare for tomorrow's coffee break.
The Visual Image of Chemistry
The Visual Image of Chemistry: Perspectives from the History of Art and Science. [Via homunculus (no relation)]
All go, no show
The menacingly complex roguelike (previously) world-building game Dwarf Fortress (previously) is busting into the mainstream with an article in a gamer mag. Scans: page 1, page 2, page 3. For the less ASCII-minded among us, Let's Play has a thorough (and absurd, and tragic) chronicle of the fortress of Koganusan, or Boatmurdered, so you won't have to wait 20 minutes for the world to generate and be populated with mandrills and kobolds. via tigsource, where you should also check out their latest recommended independent games list.
Spare the rod and how to love a child to death
A 15 year-old girl was dragged behind a van as punishment. Her crime was being unable to keep up on a forced run at an at-risk youths boot camp, Love Demonstrated Ministries. It's not the first time something like this has happened. These boot camps and reform schools are still in operation, so it will continue to happen.
Zombies, Pirates, Buffalo, Ninjas
Wain's World: How the Artist Went Insane When the Cat Got His Brain
Louis Wain became one of the most famous British illustrators of the late Victorian and Edwardian era after trying to cheer up his wife Emily by drawing portraits of their pet cat, Peter. In addition to publishing a popular children's book about kittens, he was a founder of the U.K's National Cat Club who was instrumental in promoting the Cat Fancy movement, which encouraged Britons of all classes to view cats as lovable pets instead of household pests. Unfortunately, after Wain's wife Emily died of breast cancer, Wain gradually went mad due to psychosis and late onset schizophrenia, ending up in London's notorious Bethlehem Hospital (the etymological origin for the word bedlam). While at Bedlam, Wain continued to draw, but his cat portraits transformed into pure geometric abstraction and psychedelic fractals, but some see harbingers of madness in cryptically titled works, such as Early Indian Irish and The Fire of the Mind Agitates the Atmosphere. For more insight on Wain, check out this 1896 interview and this short film dramatizing the progression of Wain's schizophrenia through his art.
the truth about denial: just a dry river bed
The "Great Climate Change Debate" finally on the cover of Newsweek - what's new, you ask? This is the story of the denial that global warming exists and how exactly the science behind the undeniable facts of increasing hurricanes, tsunamis, droughts, heatwaves and monsoons was muddied for profit.
Bonus links from the same issue: Timeline of global warming and its denial and a slideshow of images from around the world on the effects but its one of those fancy interactive thingamajigs that doesn't allow it to be linked by an URL so be sure to take a look at it. Extra bonus! Quiz your knowledge on global warming
Caturday on Sunday
Spider cat. Cats in a box. Cat playing with himself. Cat on LSD. Man murdered parents with axe for laughing at cat's death. Rudy gives Winston a vigorous tongue lashing (tender). Winston the cat, blog.
Iraq milestone
Celebrate His Entire Catalog
Frank Zappa' was so many different things { Mother of Invention, orchestra conductor, garage freak, SNL musical guest, anti-censorship advocate, home movie maker, Congressional witness, Monkee, documentary film subject, whipping boy, drug trafficker, late-night TV talk show interviewee, death wisher, composer, Dance Fever judge, master of his domain, dental floss tycoon, cosmic force, breast man, Crossfire combatant and The Walrus, among others } that the one day he was recently given by Baltimore's Mayor hardly seems enoughs.
Grandmaster Gregory in da hizzouse
The Pardoner's Tale -
adapted to rap by Baba Brinkman, who has been rapping Chaucer tales for a few years now. He's also released The Rap Canterbury Tales, a book that presents raps side by side with Chaucer's original Middle English. Both video and book are illustrated graffiti-style by his brother Erik. Discussed in a previous post by fatllama on hip hop classics.
Of Muppets and Men
Of Muppets and Men. [1 2 3 4 5 6] Excellent behind-the-scenes documentary showing the mental, verbal and physical athleticism of putting together The Muppet Show. Also, a TMBG video mashup with excerpts from the doc. [All YouTube, Previously]
August 11
Rage against the Machine
Meet Shakeel Bhat (aka Islamic Rage Boy), a term given to him by two US Bloggers, which some have found offensive, while others amusing.
Subprime contagion
This isn't 1998. There's no model for what's happening now in the housing and mortgage industries. 116 mortgage lenders have imploded since 2006. 11 hedge funds have imploded in just the last couple months. Time to warm up the helicopters?
Multiplayer Jellybattle
Indian Cooking 101
Hooked On Heat is the two year old foodblog of Meena, daughter of a Malaysian mom & Indian father, with tons of recipes & food stories for those who love spice in their food; her recent series of posts, Indian Cooking 101 is a must read for those who love to eat Indian food and want to try it out at home.
Mash-ups that Rock
Put Your Hands Up For Detroit - Silent film Dirty Dancing with music by Fedde La Grand (Slightly NSFW) and other successful mash-ups, including 8 1/2 Mile, an excellent Fellini’s / Eminem combo. (From a blog by "Mefi’s own" Ajit AP)
Beneath the earth, there is a sea.
Superstring Backswing
The hucksters behind the QLink Pendant claim that it "utilises Sympathetic Resonance Technology to rebalance the energetic systems of the body". Apparently, some scientists and engineers think £69.99 is a fair price for a necklace consisting of a copper coil and a zero-ohm resistor [neither of which are actually connected to anything]. The inventor claims that the QLink does not use electronics components “in a conventional electronic way” yet it "increases your capacity to function in EMF saturated environments."I guess golfers will buy anything that promises an improved score. It's the perfect accessory for my new Faraday suit.
Poems from Guantánamo
Horror Saturday
Your teenage son loves terrible horror movies, like C.H.U.D.
How do you mend his ways? Well, you start with Paranoiac, and move on to Ravenous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9,10,11,12.
While he's still quaking, show him Takashi Miike's brutal Ôdishon ( even YouTube won't air those scenes.) Lighten the coming dark with Shaun of the Dead.
Evolution and Cooperation
In Games, an Insight Into the Rules of Evolution. Carl Zimmer writes about Martin Nowak (previously mentioned here), a mathematical biologist who uses games to understand how cooperation evolved. [Via MindHacks.]
"Your brain knows the shape of the word."
Frankenhand is alive ... meet LongPen
This is Marisa Monte
After growing up with opera and samba, having lived in Rio and Rome, her first album went double platinum, producing some modern classics. She didn't stop there, as has gone on to make many other great albums.
Not to long ago, a one shot collaboration, with two other modern greats, turned out to be a success despite limited publicity (maybe because the songs were actually quite good).
This is Marisa Monte, one of the great talents of MPB. Have a listen (thus the YouTube and Last.fm links).
A is for Aryan, B is for Brainwash
Nazi Pop Twins is an eerie documentary that debuted this year on BBC's Channel Four about the neo-Nazi teen folk musicians, Prussian Blue. The girls are managed by a neo-Nazi stage mom from hell, and the girls already seem to be more interested in shopping at the mall than singing white power lyrics. One of the creepiest scenes includes the twin girls on a phone call with their prison "pen pal," David Lane, the Neo-Nazi convicted of the murder of radio talk show host, Alan Berg. Lane refers to the twin girls as his "fantasy sweethearts," raising issues about whether an obsession with genetic "purity" leads to pedophilia on the Racist Right. Watch the documentary on YouTube (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) (Warning: may be exposed to YouTube comments from racist asshats.)
another beautiful brazilian guitarist
He wasn't the greatest technician on earth (he only studied a short time with a teacher, as states his biography), he wasn't really famous outside Brazil, in spite of the many recordings available under his name, of his various talents (drawing, designing a new string instrument), but his playing is really endearing, and whatever the material, originals, bach or chico buarque, he made his point across easily.
Back to School, Bulletproof
The deus-ex-machina is not great
Christopher Hitchens reviews Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. nyt, via their book review podcast.
Well, our flight was just fine up until that guy started his lame singing. That's not JAZZ!
Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls (1936), with cameos by Bela Lugosi, John Wayne & Terrence Stamp. This is a Hammer Film.
there's gold in them there barns!
The A.K. Miller Auction "This is one of those stories that begins at the end. This was the end of A.K. Miller’s Stutz collection." Miller was a reclusive eccentric living on a ramshackle farm in Vermont. When he and his wife died, his estate was prepared for a tax sale. Sheriffs found a treasure trove of old cars, some wrapped in burlap to avoid prying eyes, stashed in a collection of dilapidated outbuildings. The auction (pdf) was eventually handled by Christie's and netted over two million dollars. [via]
Deleuze's ABCs
Deleuze's ABCs A year before his sensational suicide by defenestration, the philosopher Gilles Deleuze, known for his refusal to appear on television, offered to set the record straight with close student and friend, Claire Parnet, on the condition that it not be released until after his death. The interview, spanning eight hours, was conceived as an abécédaire, like a child's ABC book, with headings of "A comme animal," "B comme boisson," C comme culture". L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze: [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3]. Overview.
Anything But Generic
Skip to page 12 for some real fun. Philbrick must have owned stock in a battery factory.
In 1937-38, computer pioneer George Philbrick worked for the Foxboro Co. as an analyst. He had the radical idea of building an electronic analog computer to simulate the behaviour of hydraulic industrial equipment, so Foxboro customers could experiment with control systems without needing a pipe wrench. One of the world's first analog computers was ignominiously ferried around the U.S. in the back seat of Philbrick's car. Ironically, Philbrick didn't give his "Automatic Process Analyzer" a properly techy, pretentious nickname. He dubbed his one-eyed monster Polyphemus.
(PDF) (prev)
August 10
Not in the name of my religion
Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer who was manhandled on Thursday, has been threatened with an issue of a Fatwa today, by the followers of the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party, while other muslims have come to her defence.
And you'll find that you're ... in the rotogravure ...
"More than just a printmaking technique, photogravure etching is also a way of exploring the world that brings to light an incomparable variety of tone and texture: shimmering luminous highlights, deep multi-hued blacks, shadows within shadows, and the most subtle gradations of tone." The photogravure etchings of printmaker Peter Miller peacefully await your attention. Peter started out depicting scenes of 'quaint Japan' near his home in Kamakura Japan, but these days - exactly ten years after opening his website - he is working at a much wider scale, creating images from around the world. It's a bit pointless to try and pick more than a couple of examples to show you, so just start with his Viewing page, and browse around at random.
It's stunning work, and when you read his description of the process, hard to believe that anybody could still be doing this today. (Note: it's a bilingual website, and if you don't have asian fonts installed, you'll see some gobbledygook here and there on the pages, but the English explanations, and the images, will be understandable.)
It's stunning work, and when you read his description of the process, hard to believe that anybody could still be doing this today. (Note: it's a bilingual website, and if you don't have asian fonts installed, you'll see some gobbledygook here and there on the pages, but the English explanations, and the images, will be understandable.)
Guess who is censoring an Iranian blogger?
A cowardly webhost censors a critic of American foreign policy. On August 10, the web hosting company Hosting Matters deleted the website of MetaFilter's own Hossein Derakhshan, itinerant Iranian blogger based in Toronto and a consistent critic of the Bush regime's foreign policy as it regards Iran. Hosting Matters completely erased his website, including his blogging software, his web directories, and his database. According to Derakhshan, Hosting Matters then went a step further and threatened to sue him if he mentioned what they had done. He claims it was done as a result of his criticism of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's fellow Mehdi Khalaji. hoder's criticism of Khalaji available via Google Cache (Part 1, Part 2)
Huge And Unique
Because everyone loves a good superlative, the Google Earth Community's "Huge and Unique" page lists the world's tallest, deepest, longest, widest & general all-around most of everything there is. With pictures! Found via.
Ai que saudade d'ocê
Badi Assad has some incredible technique goin' on (YouTube) and charisma to burn. The 41-year-old Brazilian singer and guitarist comes from a musical family and has been signed to a pretty prestigious North-American record label.
Of course these days there is the obligatory Wikipedia entry and her MySpace page. Here's an interview (from ten years ago) wherein she discusses her music. So far as I can see those hips and those lips and those fingertips don't lie. [Much more Badi Assad on YouTube]
Light Graffiti Video
Light Graffiti. Wacky Japanese kids use glow sticks and time lapse to make a pretty sweet (embedded) video.
Confessions of a Vegas Bathroom Attendant
Ever wonder much about those anonymous men and women who pass out towels, soap and toiletries in upscale restrooms? Me either, until I read this. But apparently some people do.
Well, one man sees it as a creative outlet, and another sees it as his road to stardom!
"just wash your hands for god’s sake"
21st century financial panic
A New Kind of Bank Run. ...a new financial architecture has emerged that relied more on securities and less on banks as intermediaries. With the worth of [these new] securities now being questioned — and no equivalent of deposit insurance — some who financed the securities want their money out, a fact that has created the 21st-century equivalent of a run on a bank.
. It's no wonder these securities are being questioned, when some are based on Ninja mortgages and foreclosures are up 58% from last year.
“I'm a minor player in my own life story.”
Subglacial Lake Vostok
A large freshwater lake lies under the Antarctic ice. Russian researchers bored a hole in the ice, almost all the way down to Lake Vostok, before complying with requests that they stop. The lake has been isolated under 4km of ice for at least 500,000 years, and could be irreversibly contaminated if the Russians' drill breaks through to the liquid. There may be life in the cold, highly-oxygenated water of the lake. Confident that they can reach the lake safely, the Russians have resumed drilling.
ConnnectionsFilter
In August 1781, the case of Brom and Bett vs. Ashley went to the jury. The year before, Mum Bett, a slave in the Ashley house since 1742, was struck by her mistress. Mum Bett left the house and refused to return. Bett had overheard conversations about the new Massachusetts constitution that included the clause, "All men are created equal" and argued that the clause applied to her. When the jury agreed, slavery was effectively abolished in the state of Massachusetts. Mum Bett took the name of Elizabeth Freeman and went to work in the employ of her lawyer. (More inside)
2007 Perseid Meteor Shower: No moon!
Time to make your plans to see the Perseid meteor shower Sunday night/Monday morning. 12 things you'll need. Odds are you won't see something quite as impressive as this "super bolide" in Croatia (watch it to the end), but it will still be well worth your while. A new moon that night means unusually dark skies for the event, so you will have a chance to see even the dim ones, under dark skies.
Is that a comically big thing in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
Comically Large Things is a blog about things that are so dang big you could fit everything at Smallist [previously] in any given entry. For example: nose! [via Projects and our own jbickers]
What if your local Supermarket was Web 2.0 compliant?
Tagging, customer recommendations and user-generated content at the supermarket.
"Users who buy cereal, red wine and Snickers also buy condoms..." SFW, btw
Seemed a Harmless Little F*ck...
Why Does AT&T Hate Pearl Jam’s Freedom? Well, of course, they’re all apologies now… But this latest corporate misadventure seems to touch on all the hot buttons: Media consolidation, net neutrality and the future of political speech in America. (Newsfilter)
Acquittal in Joan Root murder trial
Joan Root, who spent most of her life in Kenya, was a noted naturalist and filmmaker (along with her (former) husband. She was murdered by gunmen at point-blank range in January, 2006 in her home on Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is the only fresh water source in the Great Rift Valley, and has become increasingly endangered by pollution and overuse for irrigation, and Root spent considerable time fighting to protect it. Today, a Kenyan magistrate acquitted the four suspects in her murder, calling the testimony of 13 witnesses "defective".
Constitutional Showdowns: a good thing for constitutional and political efficiency
Constitutional Showdowns. Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule analyze constitutional showdowns, ask what rate and level of showdowns would be socially optimal, and ask whether socially optimal showdowns will be supplied by government institutions acting to promote their policy preferences and institutional interests.
The Procter and Gamble Project?
American Express's highly publicized Members Project has come to an end. A novel idea: Cardmembers nominated and voted for charities--and the nominee with the most votes won $2 mil. The winner? Children's Safe Drinking Water, a nonprofit that works with nonprofits to battle the public health crisis of contaminated drinking water in third-world countries by distributing water purification kits. Why on earth would anyone call foul on this? Bear with me here. [more inside]
Bear hug? How about a lion hug?
Christian the pet lion [yt] sees his former owners after being released in the wild. He was quite the sophisticated cat in his domestic days. Here is another video from prior to his liberation. [via reddit]
The set of all-things-not-doctoral-dissertations, as a logician might say, has a vast and varied membership. Ocean liners, the square root of minus one, and pickled herring spring to mind.
Amusing notes on the requirements for a doctoral thesis in theology at Fordham University This is actually from the Graduate Student Handbook.
My Kid Could Paint That
""My Kid Could Paint That." It has been said before on metafilter about Jackson Pollock,and apparently it is being said about another artist. However, this artist is a kid. Is she a Pre-School Pollock? Or just another kid having fun with art supplies? I guess you'll have to wait for the movie to decide. [previously on mefi]
just plane furniture
Ever had a yen for a table made from jet engine turbine blades or a desk fashioned from a wing or a cowling? Giancarlo de Astis and Moto Art are two high-end design firms that are creating eye catching furniture and functional art from scavenged airplane parts. You can see their work and the work of others in the aviation art community at InterFlight Studio. Or do-it-yourself-ers in the crowd might just prefer a Field Guide to Aircraft Boneyards.
Animation Treasures
The author of this site takes screen-shots from long-pan scenes of classic animation and puts them together to re-create the original larger background images. Much cooler than it sounds, honest. [via MeFi's own kokogiak, sort of]
Stop me if you've heard this one...
19 year old Pfc. LaVena Johnson's dead body was found in her tent, near Balad, Iraq. Her face was beaten, nose broken, teeth loosened, and she'd been shot through the left side of her head. A trail of blood was found nearby, and the tent appeared to be partly burned. The Army ruled it a suicide. Bloggers were doubtful. The Johnson family asked that the remains be disinterred and a better investigation launched. Meanwhile, the internet pushes back.
Bukka White
Poor Boy Long Way From Home. Momma Don't Allow. Aberdeen, Mississippi (look at him beat that National). Special Streamline (one of my favorite songs set to a compilation of old films). Plus some John Fahey, who decided to write Booker "Bukka" White a letter once, bringing him to prominence in the 60s blues/folk world. It's a YT Bukka White fest! There's some previous going on here as well.
August 9
Home Surgery
Ewwwwww. Do-it-yourself home lipoma (fatty tumor) excision. But, to be honest, I can't tell if the surgery or the accompanying music is more sick-making.
It's a Hell of a Song
In early 1968, Jean-Luc Godard filmed The Rolling Stones in the studio writing/recording "Sympathy for the Devil".
Mick Jagger recalled in a 1995 interview with Jann Wenner: "... [it was] very fortuitous, because Godard wanted to do a film of us in the studio. I mean, it would never happen now, to get someone as interesting as Godard. And stuffy. We just happened to be recording that song. We could have been recording "My Obsession." But it was "Sympathy for the Devil," and it became the track that we used."Later that year, Godard released a film (in Europe) titled "One Plus One" which featured the "Sympathy for the Devil" studio footage. To increase the commercial value of the film, the U.S. release was re-titled after the Stones song and the end of the film's soundtrack was altered to include a full take of the song in its final form, much to the dismay of Godard.
... in keeping with the Reform movement's tradition of liberal positions on human sexuality.
Official transgender blessings -- Kulanu -- the newly-revised manual for LGBT issues and ceremonies put out by the Union for Reform Judaism (1.5 million US Jews are Reform) now includes 2 blessings (written by a Rabbi now male) for those transitioning and who have completed the change, alongside the already existing same sex marriage liturgy and other documents and procedures. A first? (blessings text inside)
I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied.
Julia Margaret Cameron did not begin her photography career until she was 48. She lived on the Isle of Wight in two adjacent cottages linked with a gothic tower that she called Dimbola Lodge. Many of her captivating photographs are of The Freshwater Circle, a group of artists and intellectuals centered around Alfred Tennyson, whose poems Idylls of the King, she illustrated with her photographs. Cameron's portraits of contemporaries -- Charles Darwin, George Frederic Watts, Edward Eyre, Thomas Carlyle, Julia Jackson (mother of Viginia Woolf) -- became significant because they were sometimes the only existing photographs of her subjects.
Jude Acers, New Orleans Chess Master
The World's Most Perfect Bacon
I have to assume the only reason you're reading this right now and not busy home curing & eating bacon is because nobody has shown you how. Let's fix that.
Be Kind Re Wind
Please Be Kind, Rewind. Very cool trailer for Michel Gondry's new film. Great premise, great director and great cast.
Jiroft, a lost ancient civilization
What was Jiroft? An ancient civilization in what is now southern Iran that was lost to history until very recently. Many beautiful artifacts have been dug up. It is claimed that writing originated with the Jiroft civilization and that this is the legendary kingdom of Aratta, subject of one of the world's oldest works of literature, Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta. There is dispute over both. Either way, it certainly was a commercial hub as early as 3000 B.C. The site has been extensively plundered in recent years, but is so rich in artifacts that excavations can go on for decades.
One World, One Dream, Four Mascots
China Praises Its Progress Toward Olympics. With one year to go before the 2008 Olympics, China still has many challenges ahead, like dealing with Beijing's terrible air pollution. There is still much criticism over China's record on human rights and freedom of the press, and some protests. But perhaps the most embarrassing public relations setback is that one of the official mascots, Yingsel (aka Yingying) the Tibetan Antelope, has defected from China's Olympic team and gone underground to campaign for a free Tibet. [Some links via BB and MoFi.]
music for films
Send Me In Coach!
High School Coaches outearning High School Teachers Texas high school football coaches in Class 5A and 4A schools (that's 950 students or more) earn an average salary of $73,804, while the average salary for teachers in those same schools is about $42,400. But hey, those Texas football teams are pretty darn good!
True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind.
The 3-1-3 is 1-2-3
Latest news out of the auto industry: Buick ties Lexus as top auto brand in vehicle dependability. Cadillac is #2. Mercury is #3.
If you haven't seen the new Buicks, you should take a look at what they've been doing lately (see: Enclave, Lucerne). Also, the new (sort of) Taurus gets rave reviews. The Ford Edge, also new for 2007, has captured 16% of the crossover market, and owners seem to love it. Finally, for the greenies, GM is ready to test the electric Chevy Volt--says it is on schedule for production in 2010. Is it time to consider buying American again? And not just for the sake of it?
brain story
Excellent BBC Brain Story series available online. One of the best TV series on psychology and neuroscience ever produced, the BBC's Brain Story, is available on public bittorrent servers for download. It is a six part series covering virtually every area of contemporary neuropsychology, including the major researchers, discoveries, techniques and even many of the patients who have been the subjects of classic case studies that have helped us understand the curious effects of brain injury.
J&J Sues Red Cross
Johnson & Johnson is suing the American Red Cross for trademark infringement. It contends that the Red Cross is supposed to use the symbol only in connection with non-profit relief services. "For a multibillion-dollar drug company to claim that the Red Cross violated a criminal statute … simply so that J&J can make more money, is obscene," said Mark Everson, the Red Cross president. Everson is paid $500,000 per year, more than triple his previous salary as IRS Commissioner. The suit asks the Red Cross to turn over the products in question to New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson for destruction and also seeks unspecified punitive damages.
Debating the war on drugs
The British Transform Drug Policy Foundation has recently released their 2nd guide After the War on Drugs: Tools for the debate. Described as a guide for prospective and current policy reform advocates, it enumerates the points typically brought up against reform, and offers strategies to rebut them. Somewhat of a counterpoint to the US DEA's Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization.
Ah, that cunning wolf...
Lit2Go - tons of stories, tales and poems suitable for younger readers: HTML, PDF, and MP3s. From Baa, Baa, Black Sheep to Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, and Flatland.
The internet: taking the personality out of politics
Don't know which candidate to support in the 2008 election? Let a web script match a candidate to your views!
You Tube Watcher
Ever dream of getting paid to watch YouTube?
Gay not so 'good' for candidates?
In 1968, Mattachine Society of Washington co-founder Frank Kameny declared "Gay is Good"; in 1971 he became the first openly gay candidate for the US Congress. But if you're running for president today, while you know gays contribute money and definitely vote, Kameny's or any "gay support could cost candidates":
Quinnipiac University polls of voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- the big three Electoral College swing states -- found voters by large margins more likely to see the endorsement of a gay rights group as a reason to vote against, rather than for, a candidate.So is the Democratic Party's apparent embrace of gays, as evidenced by tonight's "gay debate," a good idea? Or would greater distance between gays and the Democratic Party help both groups achieve their goals?
Rubik's Cube Cracked Down to 26 Moves
Rubik's Cube Cracked Down to 26 Moves "They think they can use their brute-force search method [PDF] on all of the configurations that require 26 steps to find a quicker way to solve them. Even if they manage this feat, however, it will probably leave room for improvement. Most researchers believe that just 20 steps are enough to solve any Rubik's Cube, but no one has proved it yet." [Previously. See recent post on checkers.]
Give Your Heart to the Hawks
The California poet Robinson Jeffers, though once popular enough to make the cover of Time Magazine, is for various reasons now a somewhat obscure figure- however, he has attracted increased interest in recent days both for the quality of his work and his pantheistic personal philosophy, which anticipated much future environmentalist thought. [more inside, with links to poems]
August 8
Today we learn Sicilian Defense.
A world where everything has giant breasts. A nerd's heaven.
There's a lot of webcomics out there. Most are dull and pedestrian. Some defy any description. For example, Dreamwalk Journal. (nsfw) (via)
Old Blackwater, keep on rolling
Former Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers guitarist is now an influential defense consultant. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is considered one of the country's top experts on counter-terrorism. Baxter currently sits on NASA's Exploration Systems Advisory Committee, where his occupation is quoted as "Missile Defense Analyst". Arms Control Wonk and Outside the Beltway have some interesting analysis.
Fingerboard!
...And Ruby Falls
Why are so many Americans in prison?
The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its citizens then other industrialized nations and that percentage has been increasing even as the crime rate declines. Glen Loury discusses this seemingly odd phenomena and speculates as to the cause. Don't skip the ruminations on perceptions of race and welfare deep in the article. Want to crunch some numbers yourself? US crime statistics, US prison statistics, international prison statistics.
Previously on metafilter.
Up, Up and (throw $250,000.00) Away!
Omar lives
Fish are awesome.
Who is Billy Jack?
Who is Billy Jack? Tom Laughlin? The Born Losers, was the first in the series of counter culture action flicks. Here's a clip from the film named Billy Jack, that captures the character's response to racism. Eventually this series of films turn to poop, that is politics, with the film Billy Jack goes to Washington.
As hokey as this character may seem, there is really something good about Billy Jack.
Industrial Scars
Digitized Book of the Week
Digitized Book of the Week. An eclectic collection of works digitized from the Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They include books and serials from its collections that focus on Illinois history, literature, and natural resources; rural life and agriculture; railroad history and engineering; and works in translation. A project of MsMolly.
CreateSpace, an Amazon on-demand self-publishing service, inks deal with National Archives for 100,000's of public domain films
CreateSpace is the new name of Amazon's on-demand self-publishing service for the super long tail of books, audio CD's and film DVD/Blue-ray. Products automatically get an ISBN number and are listed on Amazon.com, including "Search Inside" for books. The National Archives and CreateSpace will be publishing movies from its collection of over 200,000 public domain films, raising some provocative copyright issues.
Burnin, Burnin Love
Warning: Explicit sexual content. "These firefighters dedicated their lives to save the lives of others. They did not sign on to become unwilling props to a controversial political and social agenda," says Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, representing a group of brave men in uniform who were subjected to "vile sexual taunts" at a San Diego gay pride parade. Via Gawker.
the next six months in Iraq are critical....
Brookings Institution analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack last week called for another "six months or so" in Iraq.
The month before, "This is a decisive phase," a member of Petraeus' staff told [Joe Klein] and began to laugh. "...It's always a decisive phase. But this time, I guess you'd have to say, it actually is."
"Pinky swear?" Klein held out a soft, pink, gullible digit expectantly. "Pinky swear!" the aide responded, shrugging. You people will believe anything.
Creepy Deepies
27 deep sea fish you've (probably) never seen. Creatures you haven't likely netted lately, as listed by the Bounty Fishing blog.
Freak Out!
The Freakonomics boys have migrated their popular blog to the New York Times. One of their first postings on this new home? Cool Ideas For Terror Attacks. Much lively and angry discussion ensues!
Speak softly and carry hotdish on a stick
On September 2, 1901, then vice-president Theodore Roosevelt first articulated his theory of diplomacy: "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair. In some sort of hideous misinterpretation of Roosevelt's quote, Minnesotans have ever since provided a dizzying array (YouTube link) of foods on the ends of sticks to be eaten as one strolls the state fair. Hotdish. Teriyaki ostrich. Pork chop. Scotch eggs. Alligator. Drugs. This year's complete and rather breathtaking list.
Awesome science tattoos
Prepare for sweet everlasting holy war.
The military has used video games for sometime to help with training and recruitment.
Recently the Pentagon put it's stamp of approval on a new game that will be distributed to the troops for recreational purposes. It is called Left Behind: Eternal Forces, in which the goal is to "kill people for their lack of faith in Jesus".
Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances.
James Leong wins 2007 Scrabble Player's Championship
Wunderkind James Leong of Vancouver, BC defeated veteran Jerry Lerman of Foster City, California, with a score of 423-377 to win the 2007 Scrabble Player's Championship in Dayton, OH. He takes the top prize of $12,500. Held during years when the bi-annual Nationals don't occur, this is the biggest tournament of the year. The tournament attracted about 450 players from around the world. Think you've got what it takes? You'll probably want to study up.
Films of Roy Andersson
Ingmar Bergman once said that Roy Andersson "makes the best commercials in the world." The 64 year old Swedish director has also made a couple of striking feature films, including the 2000 Cannes Jury Prize winner Songs from the Second Floor (excerpt / reviews) and this year's still unreleased You, the Living (excerpt / review).
Make Music, Not War
Anti-War Songs of the Vietnam Era
Alice's Restaurant [1] Ball of Confusion [2] Billy Don't Be a Hero [3] Blowin' in the Wind [4] Eve of Destruction [5] For What It's Worth [6] Fortunate Son [7] Give Peace a Chance [8] I Ain't Marching Anymore [9] I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-To-Die Rag [10] Imagine [11] Machine Gun [12] Masters of War [13] Ohio [14] One Tin Soldier [15] Stoned Love [16] The Unknown Soldier [17] War [18] War Pigs [19] What's Going On [20] Us and Them [21] Volunteers [22] With God On Our Side [23]
Alice's Restaurant [1] Ball of Confusion [2] Billy Don't Be a Hero [3] Blowin' in the Wind [4] Eve of Destruction [5] For What It's Worth [6] Fortunate Son [7] Give Peace a Chance [8] I Ain't Marching Anymore [9] I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-To-Die Rag [10] Imagine [11] Machine Gun [12] Masters of War [13] Ohio [14] One Tin Soldier [15] Stoned Love [16] The Unknown Soldier [17] War [18] War Pigs [19] What's Going On [20] Us and Them [21] Volunteers [22] With God On Our Side [23]
No one here gets out alive
Underfire; images from the Vietnam war. Some photographers never made it out: Dana Stone, Henri Huet, Sean Flynn.
Tim Page is still alive and his photos tell the story of 'Fire in the Jungle".
Several of these almost forgotten legends hung out at Franki's House at one time or another.
Page, Stone and Flyn were all friends of Michael Herr who wrote about them and the war in Dispatches which was widely acclaimed and acknowledged by Hunter S. Thompson as puts the rest of us in the shade.
August 7
CGI 9/11 Erotica
Rule 34 is alive and well. Latest example: 9/11 Terror Porn. [NSFW, requires login and as always via]
To Build a Better Bat
Barry Bonds has broken the all-time record with the benefit of a controversial technological revolution in the game, derided by traditionalists:
The Maple Baseball Bat.
Using technology and woodworking techniques pioneered by Sam Bat, Bonds helped develop and popularize the bats that are just as responsible for the advent of the Juiced Ball Era as, well, the other thing.
"I pledge allegiance to the band"...
The Icelandic Coastline
The Icelandic coastline. A gallery of photos of the rugged, cold, and beautiful coast of Iceland.
Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a stock broker!
Just how bad is it Jim? Cramer, no not Kramer, melts down on live TV and tells a very large audience to stop trading. Is the US economy heading toward collapse?
“I can’t afford my wife.”
Bob Allen fears black people, loves oral.
Floridian, Republican, Representative Bob Allen the latest hypocrite to be arrested for sexual acts that his political persona derided. The difference? This one blames black people for his being caught soliciting a blowjob from an undercover cop.
two months later, we both believed we were in love
My Little Dead Dick is the visual diary of photographers Madi Ju of China and Patrick Tsai of the USA. They got together on July 17, 2006, when they both traveled to Macau in order to meet face-to-face after a month of intense internet correspondence.
After nine days, they went back to their own countries, quit their jobs, settled their accounts, and said good-bye to their friends and loved ones to pursue their dreams of a life spent together taking photos.
After nine days, they went back to their own countries, quit their jobs, settled their accounts, and said good-bye to their friends and loved ones to pursue their dreams of a life spent together taking photos.
Animation for Short Attention Spans
The NickToons Animation Festival (Flash, noise) is back for its fourth year. A new short is shown each night at 10PM (schedule PDF). Most of this year's contestants: Icarus, Sonadora, Bare (no video), Striped, Hominid, Kiwi! (previously), Carried Away, Jose y Maria, Angst, A Peach for the Teach (storyreel only), Freewheel, Mortimer Pigmun and His Time Travelling Chums, Barfy the Pig in a Day in the Park, Process Enacted, Puppet, After Oz, The Little Dictator, and Insomnia.
Hope on the Battlefield
Hope on the Battlefield by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. An article on our "intense resistance to killing other people. A resistance so strong that, in many circumstances, soldiers on the battlefield will die before they can overcome it."
Hitler's record collection
Know who else liked tunes by "subhuman" Jewish and Russian musicians?
That's right.
Data Visualization on the Web
Data Visualization: Modern Approaches is a Smashing Magazine article examining a variety of increasingly popular or novel information visualization employed on modern websites.
Science and Islam
Science and the Islamic world—The quest for rapprochement. "Internal causes led to the decline of Islam's scientific greatness long before the era of mercantile imperialism. To contribute once again, Muslims must be introspective and ask what went wrong."
Ingmar Bergman's Soap Commercials
The 9 soap commercials Ingmar Bergman made are a little known part of his oeuvre. Slate's Dana Stevens explains how they came about.
Wrong in so many different ways...
Louis CK learns about the Catholic Church.
Turns out Turkey is the cornerstone of Europe.
Riverdale High
“I study dead Jews”
"So much for “never again.” So the problem has obviously not disappeared."
Raul Hilberg (1926-2007, NYT obit) explains why he added a chapter on Rwanda to the last edition of The destruction of the European Jews, a work that took him a lifetime and 3 editions to complete, meeting with indifference, then with criticism from those who didn't share his (at the beginning) functionalist view of the Holocaust. Hilberg became involved in other controversies about the Holocaust, but "The Destruction..." remains the "the closest of any work in print to being the Summa of Holocaust studies" (Christopher Browning). Also: Hilberg intervied by Claude Lanzmann in "Shoah" (YT) (previously).
Raul Hilberg (1926-2007, NYT obit) explains why he added a chapter on Rwanda to the last edition of The destruction of the European Jews, a work that took him a lifetime and 3 editions to complete, meeting with indifference, then with criticism from those who didn't share his (at the beginning) functionalist view of the Holocaust. Hilberg became involved in other controversies about the Holocaust, but "The Destruction..." remains the "the closest of any work in print to being the Summa of Holocaust studies" (Christopher Browning). Also: Hilberg intervied by Claude Lanzmann in "Shoah" (YT) (previously).
Malthusian pressures influences natural selection creates modern nations
Theory of history by Dr. Gregory Clark in his new book A Farewell to Alms 1. The English Industrial Revolution was caused by changes in the make-up and behavior of the population, which was caused by natural selection, influenced by cycles of Malthusian booms and busts between 1200 and 1800. The implications for modernizing other nations through institutions such as the World Bank are like " pre-scientific physicians who prescribed bloodletting for ailments they did not understand".
Musica Excentrica
The downside of diversity
The downside of diversity. A Harvard political scientist finds that diversity hurts civic life. What happens when a liberal scholar unearths an inconvenient truth?
Portraits of rural Russians by Pavel Bezrukov
Portraits of rural Russians by the photojournalist Pavel Bezrukov. He is born in 1962, and started with photography as a hobby. Currently freelancing as a photo correspondent for the Moscow-based Orthodox magazine Foma. Some more samples of his work can be found at Orthodoxy Photo.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Even if you're one of those "I don't like jazz" folks, the iconoclastic multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1936-1977) is probably someone you can dig. For one thing, he wasn't afraid of using a fat backbeat, more akin to soul/R&B than most of the jazz of his time. And how can you say no to a guy who passed out little flutes to his audience members, inviting them to join in, saying "What about a blues in W, in the key of W". Or who played 3 or 4 horns at once, followed by a nose-flute solo? God bless you, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. [more inside]
We're all dinos here. Everyone drifts all the time, it's impossible to drive straight.
Overdrift. A five-minute YouTube video, with dinosaurs and drifting.
August 6
The Dance of the Galilean Satellites
Time lapse animations of planets and satellites. See what an amateur digital astrophotographer could do a decade ago. This is what the animated gif was designed to do.
PolevaultFilter!
PolevaultFilter! Those who like to read about successful female athletes reaching great heights & being admired for their athletic achievements will be happy to know that Aussie World Youth Polevault Champion Vicky Parnov - niece of respected Olympic Silver Medallist Tatiana Grigorieva - will become the youngest ever Australian to take part in the world titles, in Osaka later this month.
George Wendt introduces Philip Glass
Philip Glass on SNL, Mr. Glass composed for Sesame Street: 1, 2, 3, sounds a bit like North Star if you ask me. Bonus: 1+1. For the uninitiated
If you miss the old days of rocketboom...
Morgan Webb (G4tv, Maxim hottie) now offers a 5-minute, tech-oriented news video blog called WebbAlert every weekday.
A Brief History of Disbelief
A Brief History of Disbelief -- 2, 3, 4. An excellent documentary on the history of Atheism from the ancient Greeks to today. Wonderful food for thought whether you are a believer or not.
A Hard Day's Spoof
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash may be the most elaborate parody of the Beatles ever constructed, including satirical tributes to the appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, Yellow Submarine, and the rooftop concert at Apple Records. Check out some other fine parodies who picked up where the Rutles left off: The Mosquitoes on Gilligan's Island, Chris and the Alphabeats on Sesame Street, Letter B and Hey Food by the Beetles, the Be Sharps on the Simpsons, A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead by the Zombeatles, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore's L.S. Bumble Bee, the Powerpuff Girls Meet the Beat Alls (parts 1 and 2 with commentary by Mojo Jojo), Beatles spoofs in a Polish sitcom and a Bollywood musical, Beatallica sings A Garage Dayz Nite, the Chasers' I Am Thesaurus, and the Beatles go bar mitzvah.
Korea: Then and Now
Gotta match?
Gotta match? Yeah, a buffalo fart and your breath.
psychology in the movies
PsychFlix, psychology themes in reviews of 535 movies. Movie title index. The reviewer, professor of psychiatry, Roland Atkinson, not Rowan.
Where is Nick Starr?
Get Your Ducks In A Row Or Else
Get Your Ducks In A Row Or Else.
Those Atkins cheesecakes are delicious, but now they're leaving a bad aftertaste.
Those Atkins cheesecakes are delicious, but now they're leaving a bad aftertaste.
Irving Sandler Artist File, a good way to search for recent art
Irving Sandler Artists File and The Curated Artists Registry are searchable databases of lesser known, contemporary artists. You can search by name, keyword, media, style/genre and location. [via The Economist's Art.View]
Judgement Day
As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free.
“‘Keepin’ it real’ is one of the most dangerous phrases in our language.” "This is the misguided notion that the only way to appeal to the young demographic (.pdf) of the sneaker-buying public is to adopt the negative attitudes of the thug life popularized by black gangster rappers. It is all part of the systematic hijacking of the Black American culture."
On living with a mental illness.
Borderline personality disorder described firsthand. A very personal look at BPD - including the implications of sharing the news in a public setting - his blog.
Look at the Space Shuttle
Space World is a joint project between NASA, Microsoft Live Labs and MSNBC.com. It uses Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth to create 3D tours of the space shuttle Endeavour and NASA's Kennedy Space Center facilities.
(Tech preview, Windows XP SP2 and Vista RC 1, IE 6&7, Firefox 1.5 and 2 only, gotta install Photosynth plugin). Others can see a movie demo.
(Tech preview, Windows XP SP2 and Vista RC 1, IE 6&7, Firefox 1.5 and 2 only, gotta install Photosynth plugin). Others can see a movie demo.
Raving Mad: Satan vs Allah
Satanist Rave Shut Down outside Tehran. Iran's drive to enforce Islamic morals netted revellers from Britain and Sweden after police swooped on a "satanic" concert organised over the internet.
Police arrested 230 people and seized drugs, alcohol and 800 illicit CDs after raiding the event in Karaj, 12 miles west of Tehran. Those arrested included young women in skimpy and "inappropriate" clothing, officers said.
Lee Hazlewood, 1929-2007
Poems and Drawings of the Girl Born Without A Mother
Fan of Caresses/Supreme Discharged Toilette Ron Padgett's 1968 translations of the 18 drawing-poems from Francis Picabia's poetry collection Poèmes et dessins de la fille née sans mère, from the latest issue of onedit. Much more Picabia inside. [via this from Ron Silliman]
"K.S.M. can say he killed Jesus--he has nothing to lose."
The Black Sites. "A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program."
Stickam is for Porn!
onoes! teenz on teh pr0n webs! It's been a year since I posted about Stickam, and in that time, one would be naïve to think that a community of unmoderated videos broadcast live from the private and semi-anonymous bedrooms of the world would not result in epic lulz (nsfw). To no one's surprise, disgruntled Stickam ex-VP Alex Becker says Stickam shares office space, staff, and equipment with live pornographic video providers -- this via NYT tech writer Brad Stone. Cue the "think of the CHILDRUNZ!" moral panic. But popular websites being related to or backed up by prurient interest are nothing new: Wikipeda predecessor Bomis was once accused of having "softore porn" in its "Babes" section, and of course everyone knows porn drives technology. What do you think the internet is for? But if you use Stickam and this bothers you, the burgeoning field of live embeddable Flash-based webcam video streaming is rife with alternatives: uStream.tv, Justin.tv, BlogTV, Mogulus, and Operator11, just to name some -- but there'll be naked girls on those too. I guarantee it.
The Things You Learn From Pop Culture
No doubt many of you, like me, have recently seen The Simpsons Movie. I left wondering two things: why the movie was so terrible, and what in blazes is Inuit throat singing. The internet, to my pleasure and edification, was able to answer
half of my questions.
The Abysmal
UCLAPD taser investigation
UCLA releases the results of an independent investigation into an incident where a UCLAPD officer repeatedly tasered a passively resisting student (previously on MetaFilter). The investigation found that the officer violated UCLA's use of force policies. Furthermore, it found that these policies are "unduly permissive" and that "the UCLAPD policy stands alone in its legitimization of the Taser as a pain compliance device against passive resisters." An internal investigation by UCLAPD previously determined that there was no violation.
"I had a Raquel Welch in the pocket and decided to play it."
She's a mighty pretty woman. She's a funky dancer. She has hijinks with famous people and Orkans. She sings. She uses soap. She can bond with Janis Joplin and outswim a speargun (but not a boat). She fights. She has problems with buttons (and accents). She likes wigs. She's even a poker hand. And she looks dang good for 66.
August 5
A modest effort
The band Modest Mouse recently held a video contest for their song "Missed the Boat." The winner featured a walking robot. Passed over was an astounding piece of work using 4133 photocopies as animation cells.
Showalter.
The Michael Showalter Showalter (Starring Michael Showalter) WARNING: CONTENTS MAY INCLUDE ADS, YOUTUBE, AND CATS
Art to Go
The Grand Tour. Until August 31st, the National Gallery in England is putting reproductions of famous paintings on the streets of London, with MP3 audio guides and maps available for download. The reaction has been good.
Souvenir Glass Collection
Thomas Graz has a collection of glasses with pictures on them. Mainly from the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the German Empire, but including some other countries too. A novel way to navigate history, architecture, people and landscape. Oh! and he needs help with some of them too.
Robot Post Mk. II
A better article about robots. More interesting robots than I posted about last time. Cute, tiny transforming robots.
And for those of you less interested in real robots, 2-XL, the toy that got me obsessed with the whole thing as a kid.
The Phoenix rises.
NASA's Phoenix probe launched Saturday from Cape Canaveral, destination Mars. Its mission is to investigate polar ice. This probe is unique for a couple of reasons: first, it will face a traditional parachute-and-retro-rockets landing, unlike previous endeavors. Second, it will be landing far north of any previous mission. Previous Mars missions have had mixed success, with only about half successfully making it to their destination. It is scheduled to land in May, 2008.
Worker and Parasite (Рабочий И Паразит)
Recollecting a culture : photography and the evolution of a socialist aesthetic in East Germany.
"in contrast to Western histories built upon a foundation of works by modernist and early-modernist masters, the history of East German photography was built from a body of images by amateurs and artists, largely unknown outside Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, whose photographs depicted the world from the class perspective of the worker."
From a 1999 exhibition held at Boston University. 100 images, 10 essays. Sadly, a bad interface and small reproductions. Out of control : photography from East Germany. A 1993 project documenting "the uses of photography in Eastern Germany after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)" also, with small pictures.
"in contrast to Western histories built upon a foundation of works by modernist and early-modernist masters, the history of East German photography was built from a body of images by amateurs and artists, largely unknown outside Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, whose photographs depicted the world from the class perspective of the worker."
From a 1999 exhibition held at Boston University. 100 images, 10 essays. Sadly, a bad interface and small reproductions. Out of control : photography from East Germany. A 1993 project documenting "the uses of photography in Eastern Germany after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)" also, with small pictures.
LA Street Life Photos
Estevan Oriol photographs LA street life, celebrity portraits, and hip-hop album covers. (A handful of the photos feature scantily-clad ladies, so this might possibly be nsfw.)
The blues had a baby and they called it rock & roll
John Lee Hooker performs Gloria and It Serves Me Right to Suffer with Van Morrison; I'm in the Mood with Bonnie Raitt; The Healer with Santana; Boogie Chilluns with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton; and Roadhouse Blues with Jim Morrison & the Doors (audio only). [Also, Muddy Waters, Etta James and more blues legends & rock combos inside]
A crash course in the haute couture.
"Couture [...] represents the fusion of fashion [...] and costume." The Metropolitan Museum of Art and its Costume Institute present designs by Charles Frederick Worth, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (see also), Paul Poiret, and other designers such as Lanvin, Vionnet, Schiaparelli, Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent.
National Surveillance State
Bush Gets a Spying Blank Check. The passage of the new FISA bill was a hurried response to the revelation that the FISA court recently decided that at least part of the NSA wiretapping program is illegal. It looks to be another step in our gradual transition into a National Surveillance State.
Fake Steve Jobs Outed as Forbes Senior Editor
[newsfilter] Fake Steve Jobs, infamous anonymous blogger writing in the unrestrained voice of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, has had his real identity uncovered by the New York Times. Fake Steve is best known for his creative mockery of other high tech figureheads, including Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. The race to discover his identity had run for nearly as long as he had been writing, and suspects included Leahnder Kahney and Andy Ihnatko, both well-known Mac columnists. Daniel Lyons, senior editor with Forbes Magazine has been writing in the satirical voice for just over a year, and has announced that Fake Steve will keep writing, sponsored by his current editors at Forbes.
Uri Geller on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show
Nostalgia and skepticism collide in this short video of Uri Geller's legendary failure on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, introduced by frequent MeFi subject James Randi. More context and nostalgia in this longer version, which features Geller with a young Barbara Walters, and on The Mike Douglas Show, along with Randi's expose of "healing evangelist" Peter Popoff.
If you want to waste even more time, just start clicking on these YouTube search results.
More Alike Than We Thought?
Similar Diversity is a data visualization of a textual analysis of various religious books spanning several religions, showing the overlap in words, ideas, and meaning. Other infovis religion goodness includes a 90 second geographic history of the world's major religions (previously), a a map gallery of USAian religious adherance (also previously), and a timeline mashup of Jewish and Christian histories.
That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!
California Restricts Voting Machines: after a source code review of
voting machines turned up "significant, deeply-rooted security weaknesses"
in voting machines by Diebold, Hart, and Sequoia, the California Secretary of
State decertified all three vendors' systems. These weaknesses have been well
covered here at MeFi, but some are bad enough to shock even the
well-jaded, including the revelation that Diebold "uses at least two
hard-coded passwords -- one is 'diebold' and another is the eight-byte
sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8." Time to think about open voting?
Kevin Gilbert
When Kevin Gilbert died unexpectedly at the age of 29, he was eulogized in the mainstream media as Cheryl Crow's piano player, but there was more to it than that. Not only was Gilbert one of the songwriting members of the Tuesday Night Music Club, he actually introduced Crow to the group, after hiring her to play on the tour in support of Toy Matinee's album, which had also been produced by the TNMC mastermind, Bill Bottrell. He was generally considered one of the most gifted musicians of his generation by those who knew him, and while his legacy isn't volumnious, it contains a few unkown gems, like his stark and lovely solo album Thud! and two posthumous works; The Shaming of the True and the almost utterly unknown masterpiece, the dark, industrial Kaviar.
Alienshift
"Alienshifter is the one who takes the Oath in order to uphold and defend Humanity and their Rights in any contact with Alien or Extraterrestrial beings in addition to represent the Earth in contact and communication with Star Visitors from all other Planets or in the Council of the Worlds and Federation of Planets." Alienshift is an eclectic conspiracy site, exploring such subjects as islamic ufology, the pole shift of 2012, Edgar Cayce, sufism, Akhenaton as well as the more expected fare, UFO videos, Nostradamus and the bible code. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Lots and lots of youtube videos grace the site of this New Hope for Humanity.
The Zelda/Mario Field Guide
A million dollars ain't what it used to be...
In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel Rich [NYTimes Link] Mr. Kremen estimated his net worth at $10 million. That puts him firmly in the top half of 1 percent among Americans, according to wealth data from the Federal Reserve, but barely in the top echelons in affluent towns like Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton. So he logs 60- to 80-hour workweeks because, he said, he does not think he has nearly enough money to ease up.
Save Me!
Top 10 rescue videos from the US Coastguard, which celebrated its birthday by announcing it has saved 1,109,310 lives in its 217-year existence.
You've got Mel
Tensegrity!
Tensegrity! While it was ostensibly invented by Kenneth Snelson, an artist working out of the US in the 60's, his contemporary and once professor Buckminster Fuller coined the term "tensegrity", and went on to build a a few of the structures himself, and took the knowledge he gained on to further pursuits. Most notably, the
Geodesic Dome.
Here's the good part: How to make your own, and why it's still standing (previously, previously.)
Achtung! Nazis!
Achtung! Nazis! Nazi amphetamines; Nazis in Tibet (prev); the Thule Society; the Nazi space program; Nazi kidnappers (prev); hidden Nazi weapons cache; underground Nazi slave pits.
NBC Dateline reporter busted at hacker conference
To Catch a Reporter. NBC Dateline producer Michelle Madigan tries to go undercover at the DefCon 14 security convention - and bites off more than she can chew.
Having been alerted to her presence days before the event, DefCon staff baits the trap with a fake “Spot the Fed” contest. Once she is seated, DefCon organizer Jeff Moss suggests they play “Spot the Undercover Reporter” instead. Knowing the gig’s up, Madigan bolts – and a comical parking lot chase ensues.
(Not a good week for Dateline NBC – its producers are being sued for bribing local law-enforcement officials to help them arrange their stings.)
August 4
Masters of Science Fiction: Buried at Birth on ABC?
I watch virtually no television but this NPR review for the debut episode of Masters of Science Fiction (ABC) had me intrigued. (A similar review in the NY Times). ABC is being accused of burying this show with the timing of its introduction (and time slot). As for me, I'm still thinking about the debut episode, three hours later.
emmanuel in meta
Live Hot Puppet Chat
Are you Lonely? Curious? Depraved? Do you have questions that are just too risqué for AskMe? Live Hot Puppet Chat has got your answer. Yeah baby! Now you can experience sizzling raw, uh, pleasures.
[NSFW]
Spanish Civil War Posters
Spanish Civil War posters, utilizing many early modernist styles --like Art Deco, surrealism, realism, and photomontage-- to communicate with the people of Spain, many of whom were illiterate.
"...my most ambitious idea, 'The Bourne Arpeggio,' in which Bourne, now a violist, prevents the assassination of a Russian dissenter at the reopening of Alice Tully Hall."
With the Bourne Ultimatum released, that would appear to be it for the series. Not so for the books, even though original author Robert Ludlum has been dead for six years. This type of thing isn't exactly new, but do these ghost-written books do the originals justice, or are the authors' estates just cashing in?
"real-world white sharks with GPS units attached to their fins"
In the Sharkrunners game , players control their ships, but the sharks are controlled by real-world white sharks with GPS units attached to their fins (...) every shark that players encounter corresponds to a real shark in the real world. via information aesthetics
Note: You read the guidelines, right? Oh yes.
Single Japanese Male. Rather than yammering in Meta about what "best of the web" means, let's have an object-lesson in astonishing obscure excellence. Introducing every last one of you to the Virtual Wilbye Consort.
Mixed Messages?
This strange mixture of meanings and symbols confuses me. maybe it's just that some of the ideas are confusingly named.
Is "Virgin Birth" hyperbolic enough?
I'm sure everyone remembers last year's kerfuffle about Hwang Woo-Suk, the disgraced scientist who fraudulently claimed to have created human embryonic stem cells by cloning. Well, it turns out he actually did something more remarkable - he created human stem cells from unfertilised eggs by parthenogenesis. The verification of this was published with a suitably dry title for consumption by scientists, but the popular press was quick to jump on more loaded phrases.
"You! You're not Sylvia! You're one of the Kung Fu creatures on the rampage! Two!"
"HEEEEEEEY, KIDS!" When you want to know about the history of TV's Garfield and Friends, sometimes you have to go directly to the source. Or to a devoted fan. Marvel at the majestic Klopman Diamond, recoil in fear from the Kung Fu creatures on the rampage, and join up with ants who ruin your dinner.
Did somebody say "lox?"
Night of the Living Jews: Exactly what it sounds like. The trailer is NSFW.
Mitt sets the record straight
Off the air, when no one is listening, Mitt succinctly deals with the Mormon question. (Shameless YouTube FPP)
Partisan Politics for Kids
Move over Harry Potter! Political books for children have hit store shelves! From the right side of the political spectrum there is HELP! MOM! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!; from the left, Why Mommy Is a Democrat. "Putting political messages in children's books isn't new. More than 20 years ago, Dr. Seuss did it with The Butter Battle Book*, where the Zooks and the Yooks build competing arsenals, modeled after the nuclear arms race [animation -- 1, 2, 3]."
10-foot sea level rise in NYC marked out on pavement
HighWater Line is a public art installation in New York City that will be a 70-mile chalk line marking the boundary of a 10-foot sea level rise. More pictures under Timeline.
Potter Puppet Pals
Potter Puppet Pals. More: Ron's computer , Oh noes, Bothering Snape, 4-potions class, The cute villian, The Gay Party, The Budget Wand of Doom. Even more. (all YT)
Bob Odenkirk's Derek and Simon
[this made me happy]
Can I Get Get Get is a new video from Junior Senior. They (apparently) asked their fans to send video and edited all the entries together into a feel-good misfit sing along. We previously discussed their first video in February of 2003.
Hey batter batter batter batter SWING!
The four greatest home run hitters of all-time: A video analysis of their swings. The top ten swings of 2006 and more from swingtraining.net. More on the mechanics of crushing baseballs from The Batter's Eye. The Physics of Baseball highlights an academic paper studying "optimum baseball bat swing parameters for maximum range trajectories", or more to the point, "How to Hit Home Runs" (warning, last link is PDF).
I'm not jumping in your car, you drunk old perv!
Top 20 David Hasselhoff-related viral videos. Just because it's Saturday & this place has gotten too dang serious lately. Your penance is a shot of The Hoff. Previously.
TED of the Web
100 Sites TED thinks you need to know about TED (Technology Entertainment Design) is an annual conference held in Monterey, California and recently, semi-annually in other cities around the world. TED describes itself as a "group of remarkable people that gather to exchange ideas of incalculable value". These are the sites that it thinks you should know about.
The 52 Most Influential Photographs
52 Influential Photographs: From the oldest survivng photograph, to images of revolution, misery, beauty and humility, to...goatse and LOLCAT? You win some, you lose some, I guess.
Don't bother looking at Wikipedia for an article about George Philbrick.
It has always been difficult to look up any information on the pioneers of computing. Even today, in the Internet age, one has trouble finding much about early computers--even on the ultimate computer network.
Consider the late George A. Philbrick. He was one of the titanic figures in electronic computing in the 1950s--mainly because of the company he founded, which was a major manufacturer (and pioneer) of the operational amplifier, at a time when an "op-amp" was made of vacuum tubes. Op-amps were used to build analog computers, which were widely used to simulate physical processes in the days when digital computers were either non-existent, or too slow and costly, for many kinds of simulation and process-control work. Op-amps, in chip form, are still widely used in electronics. Yet, despite his unquestioned status as a major pioneer of electronics, there was almost nothing on the Internet about Philbrick or his company.
Until 2005--when Joe Sousa decided to put up a website dedicated to Philbrick's legacy. Behold The Philbrick Archive.
Consider the late George A. Philbrick. He was one of the titanic figures in electronic computing in the 1950s--mainly because of the company he founded, which was a major manufacturer (and pioneer) of the operational amplifier, at a time when an "op-amp" was made of vacuum tubes. Op-amps were used to build analog computers, which were widely used to simulate physical processes in the days when digital computers were either non-existent, or too slow and costly, for many kinds of simulation and process-control work. Op-amps, in chip form, are still widely used in electronics. Yet, despite his unquestioned status as a major pioneer of electronics, there was almost nothing on the Internet about Philbrick or his company.
Until 2005--when Joe Sousa decided to put up a website dedicated to Philbrick's legacy. Behold The Philbrick Archive.
August 3
Infrastructure Report Card
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) published their latest Infrastructure Report Card in 2005. America's infrastructure got a D. The ASCE estimate that it will cost $1.6 trillion over a five-year period to bring the nation's infrastructure to good condition. They also have a Critical Infrastructure blog. [Via Gristmill.]
Nightmares of the electric sheep
The first armed robots have hit the streets of Iraq and are now hunting evil-doers with high-powered M249 machine guns. The robots are called SWORDS, which stands for "Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System". Army focus groups apparently preferred this acronym over the more obvious PUBE (Predatory Unmanned Battle Engine). The robots are currently being piloted through the streets of Bagdad using remote control. According to an interview on CNET with Chief Army Scientist Thomas Killion however, the army soon plans to make the killing machines fully automatic.
Natasja Saad, RIP
Natasja Saad, born to a Danish mother and a Sudanese father was a Danish rapper and reggae singer, about to achieve international break through. She died last week in a car accident near Kingston, Jamaica
Butte, Montana's least favorite son: Evel Knievel
What does it feel like to crash? "What the hell do you think it feels like? Christ almighty. It hurts." Evel Knievel was the original Jackass and now he's living out his days like most elderly retirees in Florida: tired, cranky and on oxygen.
Exploitation Film + Manson Family Footage = Surprise Documentary Gem
Manson may be the only grindhouse film released by schlockmeisters American International Pictures to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. (more inside)
One inch punch
One inch punch [slyt]
Spiced Ham
The New Yorker dives deep into the world of Spiced Ham: "'You buy your spamming program and your spamming network. You obtain a list of mailing addresses. Anyone can do this in an hour. Then you put them all together and set up a Web site or go to a service provider. You can buy a server for a few hundred dollars and spam from that. Usually, the provider will shut you down quickly and you will be blacklisted. But then you move on to the next.' Among the systems that have been infected by networks of remote computers in the past two years were computers at the weapons division of the United States Naval Air Warfare Center and many machines operated by the Department of Defense."
Shit's getting all crazy
Extreme sports have gotten a little, well, extreme as of late. Video games showed a hyper-reality that's now being duplicated in the real world. With the advent of foam pits and foam resi ramps to try new tricks safely, trick progression in skateboard and bmx is moving very fast. While foam practice areas let riders do some pretty amazing stuff, when things go wrong over plywood, they're going really wrong. Witness a double-backflip crash that resulted in broken bones and teeth, Stephen Murray's crash that resulted in paralysis from the neck down, or last night's incredible X games freefall from fifty feet up to flat ground (Jake Brown walked away and only suffered minor internal injuries).
Skylines Carved Into Currency
Australian art student Nicholas Manion has hit upon a clever idea: delicately cut paper currency forming the skyline of major cities. Via.
FStop Magazine
Think that all photography has gone digital? Well, output probably has, but read a few of the detailed articles and interviews, each about an individual image, over at The FStop and you'll see that for professional photographers going digital, perhaps more than anything else, means unlimited control over all mediums of photography and unlimited combinations. (via the always wonderful Strobist)
Collapsed bridge leaves mess, quarantines locals
Deliberately turning her camera from the wreckage, That Red Girl gives us a look at what's going on in her now quarantined life mere blocks from the recent Minneapolitan bridge collapse.
"Several neighbors and I stood in our driveway late into the night debriefing the day. We now live in lockdown. Police must escort us around. We must meet any guests at the corner, they cannot approach the building alone. Residents are told to ask people they do not recognize to show their keys and prove themselves. We joke about seeing everyone’s “FOBs” to those we know well. The dogs are all leashed, tying themselves together as they try to play like normal. It’s frustrating to everyone that we can’t run around as normal. The word “quarantine” is tossed around. People are nervous. One of the residents hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning. She may be on vacation… no one knows. We see one of the neighbors being interviewed on the corner and a few young girls trying to flirt with the police to gain entrance to our complex. The dogs continued to wrestle and we continued to talk."
There are two guards: one always speaks the truth, the other gouges the eyes out of people who ask tricky questions.
A history of perpetual motion machines
The Museum of Unworkable Devices, (posted previously) contains an excellent link to a history of perpetual motion machines.
Mom!! Make them stop!
Pyo pyo fruits is an amusing little game for flash friday. For those of you who grew up without siblings, it will simulate the experience.
Oakland's Black Muslim bakery raided
At 5 am today, Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland was raided (video). The hub of Yusuf Bey's empire and religious sect, it has a checkered history involving murders, child rape, political corruption, vigilante justice, liquor store vandalism (previously), and internecine killings. Is today's raid related to yesterday's assassination of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey?
A Clean Getaway
This video is a welcome conclusion to the previous post regarding the arrest of Germ's drummer Don Bolles for possession of "GHB" in the form of Dr. Bronner's soap. In the video David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner's demonstrates how drug field test kits return false positive results for any true natural soap.
Fortress of Solitude
The gypsum crystals in the Cave of Crystals at the Naica mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, are some of the largest and most spectacular in the world. [Last link is a .wmv]
We all live in a makeshift submarine...
Newsfilter: A detective from the New York Department Intelligence Division noticed a strange-looking submarine in the vicinity of the at the cruise ship terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The submarine's design appears to be similar to that of Bushnell's Turtle, the first submarine used in battle.
Animated shorts and trailers potpourri
Animated shorts and trailers potpourri: Alexei Petrov's shiny 3D Cags, Aleksandr Petrov's jaw-dropping paint-on-glass Моя Любовь (more), Maximov's Wind Along The Coast, Bakhurin's The White, The Black, Géza Toth's Maestro, Blur's A Gentleman's Duel, Alireza Darvish's What If Spring Does Not Come?, Giersz's classic Koń, Dumala's Sciany, a little Sports et Divertissements (to music of Erik Satie), and a nod to Daniil Kharms (previously) in Herzen and Tolstoy.
Helmets, NOW!
Meet the star-nosed mole. Capable of smelling underwater as well as the usual digging, it looks like some kind of bizarre mole-illithid hybrid and is the world's fastest eater.
Putting their bandwidth where their mouth is
Good Copy Bad Copy is "a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture," featuring Danger Mouse, Lawrence Lessig, Dan Glickman of the MPAA and others. The film's creators are releasing it free of charge, via Bittorrent.
Wrath of the Lich King
Well, it's official. After numerous rumors, leaks, and even someone with a sharp eye for trademark searches, it was revealed this morning with the first entrants to BlizzCon in Anaheim, California that the next World of Warcraft expansion will be called Wrath of the Lich King, complete with new areas to explore, new hairstyles and character customizations, level 80, and the first new class to be introduced to the game since it opened.
Medical images - antiquities and curiosities
Historical medicine and health images - there's some fun browsing for aficionados of antique medical technologies, such as orthapedic devices, anatomical illustrations and models, public health materials, and much more. Each image can be enlarged and has explanatory text. (Just a small part of the 30,000+ image database of the wonderful site ingenious, previously brought to our attention by Fat Buddha.)
Ctrl C
Top 10 Clipboard Tricks: One of the greatest features the point and click interface brought to personal computers is the clipboard - that invisible, temporary shelf you use more times per day than Google. If you think the clipboard is only about Ctrl+C, you're missing out. Several utilities can turbocharge your clipboard and track, transfer and reformat the clipboard to your heart's content...
I'm a cold Italian pizza / I could use a lemon squeezer
Bonobo chimpanzees are commonly thought to be "an example of amicability, sensitivity and, well, humaneness" in the animal kingdom. Ian Parker's Swingers suggests a darker, more savage side to the species that belies popular perception.
Sales of all sacraments will cease during the Sabbath from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday evening.
Temple 420 is in trouble. Founded by Craig X. Rubin, (marijuana technical consultant for HBO's "Weeds"), the church gives marijuana to members (in exchange for a suggested donation). Memberships are available for $100 per year.
After a poisoning investigation last fall, the LAPD investigated and subsequently raided the church. A judge has ruled that Rubin is not protected under federal law, since he faces state charges.
Alternate Celebreality
In a recent interview, Dita Von Teese discussed the time, effort, and manpower necessary to turn a regular person into a celebrity. Luckily, Planet Hiltron is here to undo all that work through the magic of Photoshop. Hiltron imagines an alternate world in which Pamela Anderson is just Pam from accounting, Anna Wintour lounges around in a terrycloth romper, and Nicole Kidman has all the Australian beauty of an Outback Steakhouse. Luckily, they always have their education to fall back on.
Zombie Joseph Beuys Recommends: The Tax Code
For each occupation, an illustration. For some months, Dorothy of Cat and Girl has been riffing on the Schedule C Principal Business or Professional Activity Codes Table. The list is full of odd associations. Why, for instance is "Offices of Podiatrists" illustrated with a Starfleet officer? There's gotta be a story there.
Doesn't quite look to be a Chu-Chu Rocket, but...
The Japanese Trailer to Kokoro Scan. Japanese game trailers always seem pretty interesting and fun. And, well, most often more-or-less nonsensical. This is for the new game Kokoro Scan, which, um, looks like it might be a dating sim of some sort? Maybe? The animation and segues are pretty interesting, and, though it's 6 minutes -- awfully long for a trailer, particularly one sans any gameplay (I think) -- it's interesting/off-the-wall enough to be engaging. What do cartoon nipples, pixellated white things and bananas have in common? (via)
A Wop Bop A Loo Bop She Bop Bam Boom
Well, things got a little contentious 'round MeFi Town concerning the US Poet Laureate, but surely we can set aside our differences, and all come together to celebrate the REAL American poetry: Tutti Frutti. Wooly Bully. Hanky Panky. Louie Louie. Mony Mony. And Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day. Now, everybody can agree that that's poetry! And we're only scratching the surface!
August 2
The Force inspiration
Chainsaw sculpture!
One doctor's frontline diary from Kandahar
Irish-American 101: Tommy Makem
Tommy Makem has passed. May a craic wake follow. Tommy Makem, he of the Clancy Brothers, and solo fame, has died of lung cancer. He will be missed. Raise a pint and sing a wee bit in his honor.
It would be better with the image tag.
We've discussed ways to win the New Yorker caption contest for its cartoons (use "previous" to see more), but the tradition of attacking the cartooning institution continues. One long-time mocker has been the anti-caption contest, which has strict rules on how to write the worst captions. Compare this and this, and this and this, to get the idea. Now, Gawker has invited people to draw the worst possible New Yorker cartoons; here are some results. [prev and prev.]
If you hum a few bars, I can bark it
Where it says snow read teeth-marks of a virgin
Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.
Surrealist poet Charles Simic was named the Poet Laureate of the US this week. He also won the Wallace Stevens Award for "outstanding and proven mastery" of the art of poetry. [more inside]
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.
Surrealist poet Charles Simic was named the Poet Laureate of the US this week. He also won the Wallace Stevens Award for "outstanding and proven mastery" of the art of poetry. [more inside]
The Universe is Finite
Remember CERN from The Da Vinci Code? And their mega-project the Large Hadron Collider(previously mentioned here?) This BBC Horizons show, The Six Billion Dollar Experiment, does a good job illustrating why such an experiment is so cool, important and fascinating. Apparently, the universe is finite.
(Includes Google Video-last link)
Notessimo: Quick and easy flash music creator
Notessimo is a quick and easy flash music creator. Lots of different instruments to choose from. You can even share your ear-piercing horrors soulful tunes!
Live. Electronic. Music.
Prohibited Beatz (YouTube) is a documentary about acclaimed drummer Jojo Mayer and his "live electronic" group, NERVE. It features commentary on the concept of reverse engineering in music, the "Cabaret Laws" of New York City, and lots of excellent sounds as well. [A little more inside]
Long-term goals.
Rubber ducky you're the one...
This giant rubber duck is just one of many interesting installations by Florentijn Hofman, including a bunny, a reclining muskrat, some fish out of water and a pig in a bit of a poke
Soviet Space Art
That the first space race was politically motivated shouldn't detract from your enjoyment of Soviet propaganda space art. More here and here.
visuals
Life beneath Antarctic ice, The Fascinating, Frightening World of Insects, Ingmar Bergman, Turning Points-A timeline of the conflicts, trends and transformations that helped shape modern India, Heatwave in Europe and other photo essays from Time/CNN.
Prayforming in the Park
Thoth has been the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary. He's appeared on "America's Got Talent. And he's one of the most mesmerizing street performers out there. [Previously]
Newser
Cained
Michael Caine is to release chill-out album. Apparantly, it's a compilation of chilled out music that he has been collating for over 40 years. This seems to convenient to be real. But it is discussed on his (rather crappy) website and appears to be real. What next? Danny de Vito's Death Metal Mix?
Bizarre geopolitical posturing filter
Russians plant flag on North Pole Sea bed. Russia has attempted to assert it's sovereignty over the North Pole by planting a Russian flag 4,200 metres under the ice. Norwegians, Danes react with amusement.
We listened to the birds and tried to sing along.
The DeZurik Sisters committed only six songs to record during their recording career, but were the first women stars of the Grand Ole Opry and the National Barn Dance. Now WFMU has 32 tracks of theirs from their early appearance as The Cackle Sisters on the Purina Checkerboard Squares Radio Show. Download away and hear the yodeling that swept the nation in the early 40s.
Baseball Stat of the Day Blog
What's the fewest number of pitches pitched in a complete game? How many times has a relieving pitcher been awarded a win without even facing a batter? How many different pitchers has Julio Franco faced? What's the greatest number of hits in a game where all of them are home runs? Who's hit the most grand slams in the ninth or extra innings? These questions and many (many) more at Baseball-reference.com's fantastic Stat of the Day blog.
You are what you eat
Meet the vegansexuals. Another woman, also a vegan, declared: "I believe we are what we consume, so I really struggle with bodily fluids, especially sexually."
So far, they have few supporters. Even PETA disagrees: "Sex is a very effective form of outreach and activism," said Dan Shannon, a PETA spokesman, and 10-year veteran vegan, who thought meat eaters could be converted by their partners.
So far, they have few supporters. Even PETA disagrees: "Sex is a very effective form of outreach and activism," said Dan Shannon, a PETA spokesman, and 10-year veteran vegan, who thought meat eaters could be converted by their partners.
Football 2.0 (or, How I learned to stop worrying about Abramovich and love Soccr)
In Britain, just as the football season ended 5 months ago, a football fan and journalist launched an endeavour to buy a club. MyFootballClub asks for £35 from their members and in return, trustees are given the right to vote on transfer deals, squad choices and managerial appointments. But first they are to decide which football team to buy. From across the world people are invited to play the tycoons at their own game. With the target 50,000 members signed up already, and with the new season set to start in a few weeks it looks like this radical trust has a fighting chance.
'Peak Oil' believers just got PWNED!
Genetically Modified Bacteria to make "Renewable Petroleum" (A biotech startup describes how it will coax petroleum-like fuels from engineered microbes within three to five years).
The Italian Futurist Book
The book is an account of the battle of Adrianopolis (Turkey) in 1912 in which the author volunteered as a Futurist-soldier.
Futurism (1909-1944) was perhaps the first movement in the history of art to be engineered and managed like a business.
Futurism (1909-1944) was perhaps the first movement in the history of art to be engineered and managed like a business.
just another nice little hobby---everybody needs a hobby, right?
It seems that this gentleman bought a set of musical robots from the defunct Showbiz Pizza restaurant chain. This gent has been reprogramming the robots to sing recent hit songs, rather than the '60s Motown hits they sang originally. He then takes video of these performances, and posts it on YouTube. I guarantee this version of Evanescence's "Lithium" will haunt your dreams (or, perhaps, make you hurl).
"I'm addicted to placebos. I'd give them up, but it wouldn't make any difference." ~ Steven Wright
The Placebo Effect In Action. "When patients believe a drug will help them, they sometimes heal themselves" (a report on a new study from Columbia University and the University of Michigan). And, an additional take on the Placebo Effect from the Skeptic's Dictionary.
August 1
Huge Collection of WWII Propaganda Posters
I Yam What I Yam
He's Popeye the Sailor Man, he's Popeye the Sailor Man, he's strong to the finish, 'cause he eats his spinach, he's Popeye the Sailor Man. Bitch. [Second link via BB, fifth NSFW.]
Make Your Own Coin
Online coin generator. Sure, it's in German, but you can figure it out.
Refusing to be invisible
VisibleVote08.com On Thursday, August 9th, at 9PM EST, the LOGO television network along with the Human Rights Campaign are going to host a televised forum with some of the leading Democratic presidential candidates for the discussion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trangendered issues. According to the network, if you are unable to see the program on cable, it will be available to you live via the special website. And as of August 2nd, surfers are invited to submit questions to be asked of the candidates live.
Must-See Web Clips
The Daily Telegraph's 50 must-watch web video clips features this classic Attenborough-narrated clip of a lyre bird perfectly imitating a chainsaw.
I-35W collapse
The I-35W bridge by the University of Minnesota campus has collapsed. The bridge, one of the most heavily traveled freeway bridges in the Twin Cities metro area, collapsed around 6:05 this evening. Sections of the freeway are said to be floating in the Mississippi as cars are stranded on standing portions of the bridge. Slideshow of images. Real-time updates at MPR.
All you ever needed to know about crayons
A history of crayons. A Crayola color chronology. More facts about crayons. How to remove a crayon stain. How crayons are made (video). The lost Crayola colors. "State colors" and their equivalents. Soy crayons. Art made of crayons.
The Second Crash of Francis Gary Powers
Speaking of TV helicopter crashes, exactly thirty years ago today, Francis Gary Powers fell from the sky for the second time. The first time was on May 1st, 1960, when the U-2 spy plane he was piloting [previously on MeFi] was shot down over Soviet Russia, a major international incident and one that many never forgave him for surviving. Years later, he was pilot/reporter of L.A. TV's "Original Telecopter", and returning from a long trip covering brush fies in Santa Barbara, the chopper ran out of fuel. Some (including me) say he might have survived if he hadn't made last-second maneuvers to avoid people on the ground. He is remembered.
SPOILER: NYC wins.
Estimated cocaine consumption based on waste-water analysis (expressed as cocaine lines* per day per 1000 Inhabitants, age 15-64) *1 line was here assumed to be equivalent to 100 milligram of cocaine. --page 272
This, and much more, in the UN 2007 World Drug Report (pdf). HTML homepage.
This, and much more, in the UN 2007 World Drug Report (pdf). HTML homepage.
Play money
Want to learn some coin tricks? There are six fundamental tricks you need to learn: the coin spin, one-finger spin, the walk down, the edge walk, the coin flip, and the coin roll. Once you have these mastered, you can do some amazing tricks with the videos and instructions at Coin Manipulation and from Expert Village.
Great Caricatures: History, Art & Humor
ArtDCFilter: Hopper, Durand, Adams
This fall is going to be a good season for some giants of American art in Washington, DC. Edward Hopper comes to the National Gallery from Boston. Asher Durand opens at the Smithsonian. And Ansel Adams travels to the Corcoran.
Carlos Gardel and the Tango
Carlos Gardel was a singer who became a national icon of Argentina. He sang the tango among other styles, but would now be most famous for this, which was originally this. (Lyrics here.)
For those of you who think this is all too romantic, listen to another side of tango...(Translation here.)
Siskel & Ebert & Roeper & You
On At The Movies this past weekend Richard Roeper announced: 1) The past 20 years of At The Movies (formerly Siskel & Ebert & the Movies) is going to be archived for free download online. That's several thousand reviews -- from Adventures in Babysitting to Zodiac. Unfortunately, the first ten years of of the show was poorly preserved. Ebert writes, "Starting Thursday, Aug. 2, visitors will be able to search for and watch all of those past debates, including the film clips that went along with them, plus the “ten best” and other special shows we did. The new archive will be at www.atthemoviestv.com, and will be the web’s largest collection of streaming reviews." 2) Roger Ebert will be a guest for an online chat Thursday at 8:00 Eastern (7:00 Central). You can submit questions in advance here. The chat will be at this link. (Until the actual archive shows up online, you can enjoy these links.)
JewTube
JewTube. It's exactly what it sounds like.
Stop lying to the public about their fair use rights
Northern Ireland: Operation Banner Ends
Operation Banner [Wikipedia], the British Armed Forces' campaign in Northern Ireland that began in 1969, ended midnight on July 31, 2007. The period included Bloody Sunday in which 13 civilians were killed by the British Army. The Guardian have published a summary of significant events (and one going further back). In pictures: Guardian, BBC.
Air Filter
Airway Robbery. Another summer, another disaster for British Airways. The company has just received the largest fine ever issued by Britain’s competition agency (nearly £270m / $547m) for price fixing on fuel surcharges. BA admitted to colluding with rival airline Virgin Atlantic (who won immunity in the UK) on at least six occasions. The allegations are thought to be linked to the resignation of commercial director Martin George and communications chief Iain Burns. Although BA said fuel surcharges were "a legitimate way of recovering costs", in May 2007 it put aside £350 million for legal fees and fines. Criminal proceedings against individuals in both countries are a distinct possibility.
Imaginary Places
If you like looking at maps of imaginary places, you should take a peek at the Fantasy Atlas, a German-language collection of maps of literary fantasy and sci-fi worlds. For a more obsessive (but just as interesting) take on maps of imaginary places, you can check out the work of Adrian Leskiw, who's been creating road maps of non-existent places since the age of 3. (Previously on Metafilter.)
Asia’s Nobel Prize
A new golden age for bitters
Bitters. This sharp-flavored, slightly medicinal liqueur, originally used as an aperitif, remains one of the defining ingredients in many classic cocktails, including the Manhattan, the Pink Gin, the Champagne Cocktail, and the Sazerac. Some popular herbal liqueurs, such as Campari and Jägermeister, are essentially just big bottles of bitters. But bitters had fallen on hard times, with most bars stocking only one brand, Angostura, or, if they were particularly sophisticated (or Southern), a second option, Peychaud's. Orange bitters, once an essential ingredient in the Martini, were forgotten and impossible to purchase. Times have changed, with companies such as Fee Brothers, Regan's, the Bitter Truth, and even Angostura, releasing their own versions of the orange stuff. In fact, bitters in enjoying something of a renaissance, with bars experimenting with making their own. Hobbyists, in the meanwhile, are reviving lost recipes.
Ok fine so I'll never read Ulysses. But we can still talk about it.
How to discuss books that one hasn’t read... "in order to . . . talk without shame about books we haven’t read, we should rid ourselves of the oppressive image of a flawless cultural grounding, transmitted and imposed [on us] by the family and by educational institutions, an image which we try all our lives in vain to match up to. For truth in the eyes of others matters less than being true to ourselves, and this truth is only accessible to those who liberate themselves from the constraining need to appear cultured, which both tyrannizes us and prevents us from being ourselves."
Ducks and Dogs
100 volts. And what you can do with them.
Time once again to pay a little visit to Japan's ever-engaging electro-mechanical music overachievers, Maywa Denki. Here's some of their latest and greatest efforts.
Just what you've always wanted on your wall.
Photoplayer
A mainstay of the old-timey cinema era, the Photoplayer was a pump organ designed for player piano rolls, sound effects and a human composer. [Courtesy of Huell Howser]