October 26, 2008
100,000 faces. Your name.
Turn your name into a face is a tool that creates icon-style faces based on your name. It is an example of an Identicon, automatically generated avatars that serve a security purpose. Another cool example is Monster ID, which each name creates a unique monster.
Gross Beauty
John Hodgman: A brief digression on matters of lost time
John Hodgman: A brief digression on matters of lost time
Perhaps the sweetest discourse on the subject of aliens & earth that you will ever hear — from a 2008 TED talk. (via BoingBoing)
Perhaps the sweetest discourse on the subject of aliens & earth that you will ever hear — from a 2008 TED talk. (via BoingBoing)
Sharpen your pencils!
Mark Kistler has spent over two decades inspiring kids to pick up their pencils and draw. If you're a child of the 80s, you'll remember him as Commander Mark, host of The Secret City Adventures on PBS—some episodes of which are conveniently archived on YouTube for your nostalgic viewing pleasure. [more inside]
Does what it says on the tin
"Lucy is the famous, uh..."
I Love Lucy Pilot (1951). Originally unaired. More about this. Of related interest, the audition for the I Love Lucy Radio Show.
The Nerd Handbook
Are you a nerd? Have you ever dated a nerd? Are you dating or married to a nerd right now and you don't understand the person you sleep next to every night? Don't worry, help is here.
The Right to Sleep
Crimes of Necessity On Oct. 14 2008 the B.C. Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision declaring that, due to the lack of adequate homeless shelters, it was unconstitutional for the City of Victoria to prevent homeless individuals from erecting temporary structures for protection from the elements. The ruling culminates a multi-year campaign by David Arthur Johnston to establish the "right to sleep". As the decision is based on an interpretation of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the ruling applies to every municipality in Canada. In the wake of the decision, Victoria City Council passed a resolution which stipulates that such shelters must be removed by 7:00 each morning. [more inside]
Death and Taxes: 2009
"Death and Taxes: 2009" is a representational poster of the federal discretionary budget; the amount of money that is spent at the discretion of your elected representatives in Congress. Basically, your federal income taxes. (previously)
BIGFOOT FOUND ...a nice pair of boots.
OMNOMNOMNOM
The Noisy Drinking Cat. More videos of animals having fun.
Who says that animals don't experience pleasure? [Scroll down for some of the interesting things animals enjoy.] Love Songs Bring Pleasure to Bird Brains. [more inside]
Who do you love?
It started in 1956 and led in 1969 to Quicksilver Messenger Service recording the song as an entire side on the Happy Trails album. This song was later to be covered by The Doors (1970); The Band + Ronnie Hawkins (1976); George Thorogood (1978) among many. The second side also featured a composition by the same writer; performing here with Tom Petty. Hey Bo Diddley
The One Machine
Evidence of a Global SuperOrganism. "My hypothesis is this: The rapidly increasing sum of all computational devices in the world connected online, including wirelessly, forms a superorganism of computation with its own emergent behaviors." [Via]
The uptick rule
Rule 10a-1, otherwise known as the uptick rule, provided that, subject to certain exceptions, a listed security could only be sold short at or above the last sale price. The uptick rule was introduced in 1934 when the public blamed bear traders for the 1929 crash, and was eliminated in July of 2007 after a temporary pilot program.
The SEC is now considering reinstating the rule, an effort buoyed by rumours that downtick short-selling may have facilitated an alleged 'bear raid' on Bear Stearns.
Trevor and Ryan Oakes' perspective easel
Twin brothers Trevor and Ryan Oakes have a new technique for drawing perspective. Unlike the camera obscura and camera lucida (allegedly) employed by Renaissance masters, their method uses an easel with a curved steel frame which splits the artist's view into a grid and a skullcap to lock his head into place. By employing an optical trick similar to magic-eye stereoscopy, the artist can superimpose what he sees onto a thin strip of his paper. The result? Richly detailed line drawings on concave surfaces. Their website. (Look for Trevor's pipe cleaner weavings and the see-through concave cardboard wall). More, more and more.
Lou Dorfsman - CBS Imagemaker
Long-time CBS in-house designer Lou Dorfsman passed away this week. He did a lot of great work, but let's just focus on one part: His cafeteria wall at CBS, dubbed Gastrotypographicalassemblage. More about the wall. And an interview with Mr. Dorfsman about the wall.
Physics Invader
Physics Invader takes the classic Space Invaders idea and, as you might guess from the name, adds physics. Extra points awarded for pushing the heaps of Invader corpses off the edge of the screen! PEW PEW PEW! [more inside]
Martha Copeland, 20s-era blues singer
Though Bessie Smith is regarded as the queen of the early blues singers, Martha Copeland was singing the blues and its variants (and doing a fine job of it) back in the 20s as well. Head over to Internet Archive to hear Martha sing her versions of two of the tunes that made Bessie so famous: I Ain't Got Nobody and St. Louis Blues, the latter with backing vocal chorus from the Hall Johnson Choir. Check out her Dying Crap Shooter's Blues and Sorrow Valley Blues. And there's plenty of Martha Copeland goodness for your ears (RealPlayer) here and here. [more inside]
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