January 26, 2012
desk vs desk
Beyond Vanilla
Minecraft was officially released a few months, back, but that doesn't mean that the game still isn't being updated. Aside from new features like Kitties and Jungles being added in the latest update, there are hundreds of active mods available which are updated constantly. [more inside]
Caroline Knapp's "Drinking: A Love Story"
"Brother Epstein, huh? I can see the headlines: 'Puerto Rican Jew enters monastery, becomes the first 'Schlamonk."'
Dear Mr. Kotter,
Please excuse Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo DeHuevos Epstein from class. He has an appointment in heaven.
Signed,
Epstein's Mother
[more inside]
Please excuse Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo DeHuevos Epstein from class. He has an appointment in heaven.
Signed,
Epstein's Mother
[more inside]
Jo Mora
Jo Mora was a California (by way of Uruguay and Boston) painter, sculptor, author, photographer and, most notably, map-maker. He sculpted the many figures on the Monterey County Courthouse and designed the chapel in the Carmel mission. He spent three years living with and photographing the Navajo and Hopi in Arizona. He authored and illustrated a number of children's books. Of all his many talents, Mora was probably best known for his unique maps ("cartes" as he called them) of the West. He created incredibly detailed maps, interesting, funny and maybe anachronistically racial, of California, Yosemite and Yellowstone. Music fans will recognize Mora's work from the Byrds' 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo (full carte here).
"A brave young man...who saw a broken machine...and fixed it."
After a string of projector malfunctions occurred during a screening of Martin Scorsese's Hugo in New York City, the pre-show advertising began playing over the film's climactic scene. Metahilarity ensues.
Jonathan Keith Idema
Glenn Beck joins Anonymous?
Former Fox News host Glenn Beck has produced a video appropriating Anonymous' trademark style. It is unclear whether he is mocking the group or whether he seeks to join them. If "we are all Anonymous," then can't he be Anonymous, too? (direct youtube link, for those wishing to avoid Beck's site.)
Gay marriage makes it okay?
The granting of gay marriage rights in New Hampshire seemed to be a step in the right direction. However recently there is a push back to refuse service in public places to the gay community based on religious objections, seemingly against earlier legislation written to stop this exact type of discrimination.
You may or may not remember a similar story featuring an upstate New York town clerk (NYT).
You may or may not remember a similar story featuring an upstate New York town clerk (NYT).
Desperately in need of musical accompaniment
The other side of YouTube.
TVTropes calls it a "Neo-Dada art form consisting of video remixes. . . to confuse, stun or entertain the viewer". A recent top ten list (more here) fills the gaps of that description with ample WTF, which is almost too appropriate for a video genre that first garnered attention as a misdirection troll. [more inside]
Brothers and Sisters Have I One, But That Mans Father is.....
John Tyler was the 10th president of the United States. Born in 1790 he became president upon the death of "Tippecanoe" William Henry Harrison. His nickname given by his detractors was "His accidency." He led in relative obscurity. His Grandchildren are still alive.
The Ghost and the Carcass
Un, deux, trois dit miroir noir
""If technology is a drug--and it does feel like a drug--then what, precisely, are the side-effects?" "Charlie Brooker (previously), the writer of E4's Dead Set, returns with a suspenseful, satirical three-part mini-series that taps into collective unease about our modern world" - Black Mirror [more inside]
loading up dream-catchers with wild and beautiful dreams for a lucky trucker
Dengue Fever is an L.A. band that fuses Cambodian pop music with psychedelic rock. They have a youtube channel where you can find highlights such as a live acoustic version of their song Uku as well as a clip from the 2007 documentary Sleepwalking Through The Mekong. NPR has an interview with them in 2008 and a review of their second album Escape From Dragon House. Peter Gabriel is a fan.
Incompatible Food Triad
After twenty-five years of thinking about this problem I decided to write a web page about it. Here is the problem:
Can you find three foods such that all three do not go together (by any reasonable definition of foods "going together") but every pair of them does go together? [more inside]
Can Sex Ever Be Casual?
Psychology Today delves into the societal and psychological issues raised by casual sex.
Matt Damon Craft
Mixing With My Mind
Remember: Always wear your safety glasses!
Laser Pointer Hack! A DIY guide to turning your laser pointer into a laser cannon.
80s Sports Posters.
80s Sports Posters Jerry Rice: Goldfingers. Patrick Ewing: Madison Square Guardian.
Smell like a god.....or a man encased in metal?
JADs International, makers of fine Star Wars and Star Trek related perfumes, have released a new line to coincide with The Avengers Movie. [more inside]
Doll 'protesters' present small problem for Russian police
Lego figurines, Kinder surprises and other toys played the role of 'demonstrators'. Police in Siberian city ask prosecutors to investigate legality of protest involving display of toy figures holding miniature placards. "Political opposition forces are using new technologies to carry out public events – using toys with placards at mini-protests," Andrei Mulintsev, the city's deputy police chief, said at a press conference this week, according to local media. "In our opinion, this is still an unsanctioned public event." [more inside]
Just let it flow
Adam Smith is the first to admit that his debut feature film is not the easiest sell in the history of cinema. "There's no real narrative strand," says the director. "It's 85 minutes long, it's got paintballs exploding – and clowns..." Don't Think, The Chemical Brothers in concert. [more inside]
Khooni lakir tod do, aar paar jod do
Inshallah Kashmir: Living Terror is Oscar-nominated director Ashvin Kumar's brand new documentary, which is banned in India, that provides the perspectives of people that rarely receive positive mainstream media attention. [more inside]
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak
The Sting
Con Artist Starred in Sting That Cost Google Millions - The government's case also contained potentially embarrassing allegations that top Google executives, including co-founder Larry Page, were told about legal problems with the drug ads. [more inside]
Too Bad, So Sad, Bye Bye
Other, Completely Different Infinities
Japanese scientists think they may have an explanation for how a three-dimensional universe emerged from the original nine dimensions (plus time) of space: the universe had nine spatial dimensions at its birth, but only three of them experienced expansion. A Hollywood sound designer tries to explain ten dimensions. Efforts to portray an eighth dimension have already been explored.
The long strange trip of a Singaporean assault rifle
The long strange trip of a Singaporean Cold-War-era assault rifle into the hands of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and what it reveals about the unintended consequences of the global trade in small arms and ammunition. [slnyt]
Also, Gotye was #1 on the Hottest 100
Australian PM Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott are dragged from an Australia Day lunch by their security details after armed Aboriginal protesters surrounded the venue. The protestors arrived from the nearby Tent Embassy after comments made by Tony Abbott that it was time for the Embassy to "move on" - comments particularly pointed on a day many are trying to rebrand as Invasion Day.
Does What it Says On The Tin
Here's a 30-second Video of a Snoring Dormouse. [SLYT]
Potting soil
As part of a university course, Steve Wheen has started the Pothole Gardener project. He uses plants and miniatures to create sanctuaries of tranquility in broken urban places. via
How thick is your bubble?
Charles Murray, author of the controversial 1994 work The Bell Curve, has a new book coming out, entitled Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010.
He's included a twenty-five question, weighted quiz to get a feel for how in touch you are with mainstream, blue-collar American culture. It's not automated, so you'll need pen and paper. [more inside]
Is there a mechanic in the house?
"Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications." - SLYT, from AT&T's Archives YouTube channel.
SFW Porn
Reddit's r/EarthPorn is the largest of the SFW Porn Network, dedicated to large, hi-res photos. [more inside]
Human Library
Check Out Some New People: The Human Library is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding.The main characteristics of the project are to be found in its simplicity and positive approach. Started in Copenhagen, Denmark 12 years ago, it has since Spread, and new libraries continue to pop-up All Over the Place.
So mych depends upon a red London bus.
UK Photographers who compose a picture in a similar way to an existing image [PDF] risk copyright infringement, lawyers have warned following the first court ruling of its kind.
Mad Panda: Bamboodome
HULK SMASHES THE PUNY PARADIGMS OF FILM CRITICISM
Loudly and with much smashing, FilmCritHulk has become a major presence in the world of online film criticism with his semiotical essays on storytelling, cinematic principles, and media theory. Starting first on his personal blog, Hulk now writes for Badass Digest [previously] (the lifestyle blog corner of the Alamo Drafthouse empire [previously, previously]) [more inside]
A moving experience
Four years ago, Joshua Heineman (previously) started posting animated GIFs made from turn of the century stereoscope photos, bringing this early 3D technique back to life. Now he's teamed with NYPL Labs to create an interface to let you make your own GIFs and 3D anaglyphs from the 40,000 digitized stereographs in the collections of the New York Public Library. (Background from the NYT)
Post-Industrial Brooklyn
How Brooklyn Got Its Groove Back: New York’s biggest borough has reinvented itself as a postindustrial hot spot. In City Journal, Kay S. Hymowitz walks us through a story of entrepreneurial "creative class gentrification" in NYC's most populous borough. [more inside]
According to Google I am an 18-24 year-old male. Or maybe it just means I'm a juvenile dick.
They are off by 20 years and a set of genitals in my case... Follow the link in the text to find out if Google has done any better with you.
"I need to feel the winter, grey colour to me is the most poetic. It allows me to leave the prison of my imagination, everything that is grey suits me."
Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos has passed away. "[He was] possessed of a singular style that has long divided critics... visually evocative, often beautiful, his films contain long sections with little or no dialogue." In 1995, he won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes for Ulysses' Gaze, and three years later, the Palme D'Or for Eternity and a Day. A career in clips. [more inside]
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