January 7, 2014
Last week I thought about being a nurse.
Features: Snake, LED Torch
Those who think getting a car phone is not for them, whatever the reason, haven't kept up with the booming industry of cellular radio telephones. Meet the brick.
What is the genealogy of the AMA?
The Atlantic attempts to explain how Reddit's Ask Me Anything became a "mainstream delight." [Previously]. [Even more previously]. [Even more previously than that]. [more inside]
Mountains of Post-Mortem-ness
"Last April, I began working on a game. In October, I released it. This is the story of Eldritch." David Pitman tells the story of developing and selling the roguelike/FPS Eldritch, described as equal parts Lovecraft and Minecraft. Includes lots of lovely sales figures.
You've just crossed over
All 156 episodes of Twilight Zone at the same time. (SLYT)
A Very Doggy Christmas
Documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark (homepage, wikipedia) invites all the good dogs to her annual party, dresses them up in costumes, and photographs them. "The strange thing is that the dogs seem to realize it’s their party. They ignore the humans." [more inside]
Just Say Neigh.
LATAWNYA the Naughty Horse Learns to Say "No" to Drugs, by Sylvia Scott Gibson. A Dramatic Reading. (SLYT) [more inside]
He says he wants a revolution, well, you know
Hard right Conservative South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi, who in 2012 year was removed as parliamentary secretary and opposition whip to Tony Abbott as a result of arguing that same-sex marriages would lead to legalised polygamy and bestiality, is no stranger to controversy.
A noted climate change sceptic, and critic of both Islam and publicly-funded broadcasting, Bernardi has just published his manifesto -- The Conservative Revolution -- calling for "a reversal back to sanity and reason".
Reviews on Amazon have been less than favourable, but his book has put contentious issues such as abortion, the structure of the modern family and WorkChoices firmly at centrestage as the unpopular conservative government seeks to reconnect with voters who so comprehensively removed the Labor Party from Government in September 2013.
Some argue that the danger in Bernardi's comments is that they shift the goalposts on what is considered outrageous, and re-ignite the culture wars. Or is it too late?
The Prime Minister has again been forced to distance himself from Bernardi's views, and Warren Entch has criticised him for his "gay obsession".
In 2012 the Global Mail called him Australia's Sarah Palin, but he also shares the Six Fs philosophy of Rick Santorum: Faith, Family, Flag, Free enterprise, Federation and Freedom.
Obamacare "horror stories"
"Obamacare horror stories" where innocent citizens are losing their insurance and being forced to pay astronomical costs for new plans on the exchanges are being reported by some media outlets. The problem is that most of these stories don't survive further scrutiny. [more inside]
This post courtesy of the little green guys and the red jammies
♪ "Believe it or not, I'm walkin on air.
I never thought I could feel so free....
Flying away on a wing and a prayer,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me." ♫ [more inside]
I never thought I could feel so free....
Flying away on a wing and a prayer,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me." ♫ [more inside]
Rewatching classic Australian films
In this retrospective series we rewatch Australian films that have stood the test of time. [more inside]
Top Chef, Old Master
"If there is an assassination planned for the meal, then it is seemliest that the assassin should be seated next to he who is to become the subject of his craft" - Leonardo da Vinci: head of the kitchen, designer of horse-pulled nut-crushers, inventor of napkins, and assassination etiquette expert.
Alli Reed's OKCupid Experiment
Alli Reed, occasional writer for cracked.com, attempted to create the most horrible woman OKCupid could imagine. She got 150 message within 24 hours. Here's the article. Here's the CNN interview. Here's the related commiseration.
The Awareness - A Techno Thriller Short
A short film about a lowly janitor recruited by the first fully sentient computer to stop itself from destroying humanity. via io9
Even hero(in)es have the right to bleed
G. Willow Wilson is the author of the new Ms. Marvel series that is coming out Feb. 5th. Wired interview here. The reboot places Kamala Khan, a shape-shifting Muslim superheroine from New Jersey at the heart of the series. [more inside]
Bionic eyes for sale in 2019? Sign me up.
BBC Future predicts what will happen over the next 150 years, and also for the next 100 quintillion years, in handy infographic form.
Designing a Legacy Game
Risk: Legacy, released in 2011, adds an interesting twist to the classic boardgame: it introduces permanent, game-changing modifications to the board and game pieces every time it is played. Last year, the designer of the game, Rob Daviau, gave a fascinating talk on the design challenges inherent in such a game. The video of that talk is now freely available to watch. [more inside]
A Song of Fire and Ice
Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows
One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia. They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans. The case was unsolved, until now. (article + video interview) The perfect crime is far easier to pull off when nobody is watching. So on a night nearly 43 years ago, while Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier bludgeoned each other over 15 rounds in a televised title bout viewed by millions around the world, burglars took a lock pick and a crowbar and broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation office in a suburb of Philadelphia, making off with nearly every document inside. They were never caught, and the stolen documents that they mailed anonymously to newspaper reporters were the first trickle of what would become a flood of revelations about extensive spying and dirty-tricks operations by the F.B.I. against dissident groups.
The case was unsolved, until now.
Pterosaur Aerodynamics at GWU
A series of blog posts by George Washington University engineering students on the aerodynamics of pterosaur flight. [more inside]
Hands up who wants to see the thriumphant return of Jaxxon?
"Now, nerds have a long memory. I am dead certain that somewhere out there in the great world there are fans who are looking forward to once again buying "real" Star Wars comics. There are probably even a few brave souls who entertain the notion that Marvel will simply pick up with issue #108 (in spirit if not in deed) as if the subsequent thirty years were just a bad dream. " -- As long expected, Marvel will start publishing Star Wars comics again next year. Tim O'Neil looks at what this means from a fannish point of view.
Peter's War
Peter's War is the story of an outdoor war game that artist Peter Shulman has been playing for more than sixty years. It has some very unusual aspects to it that make it totally unique. It is in fact a huge installation type work of art. At the present time the war contains over 60,000 hand sculpted soldiers and more than 4,800 scale models, vehicles in 1/35 and 1/32 scale aircraft in 1/48 scale that cover over 30 acres.
The Story.
The War in Pictures. [more inside]
Folded Sheets feat. Small Dog
Song-a-Day-ist Jonathan Mann, with the help of Hops and Tiffany Arment, teaches you how to fold a fitted sheet through the power of music.
I could not find a DVD player to play it
Melvins’ Buzz Osborne picks songs by “bands that were good, but blew it”
Taoist tea house
Ants with dead-end vision, backtracking capabilities
I’m trying to build a jigsaw puzzle. I wish I could show you what it will be, but the picture isn’t on the box. But I can show you some of the pieces that snapped into place this year, and try to share a context for why they mattered so much to me.Bret Victor discusses scientific thinking and computing from a deeply humane perspective through the eyes of Douglas Engelbart, Alan key and other great thinkers of our time.
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