November 1, 2006
Maybe one more chicken?
Chunnel: no problem. Iraq: big problem.
Laser Furniture
Sketch Furniture, aka Furniture Made With Frickin' Lasers. Swedish designers use motion capture technology to draw chairs and tables with light in mid-air. Their sketches are then built out of plastic by a laser into real pieces of furniture. Honestly, either one of these things would amaze me. I'm starting to like living in the future. (via bb)
Lord Byron, Seen Through the Eyes of a Friend
The Diary of John Cam Hobhouse. Hobhouse (Wiki) (1786-1869) was a close friend of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, and "Hobby-O's" diary contains a vivid account of Hobhouse's friendship and travels with Byron. As editor Peter Cochran writes: "Educated at Westminster and Trinity College Cambridge, [Hobhouse] travelled east with Byron in 1809, was Best Man at Byron’s wedding in 1815, travelled across Switzerland in Byron’s company in 1816 after the separation, around Rome with Byron in 1817, and lived with Byron in Venice in the same year. He met Byron at Pisa again in 1822, after Byron’s facetious poem on his imprisonment in Newgate, My Boy Hobby-O, had almost terminated their friendship. As a member of the London Greek Committee he encouraged Byron on his last journey in 1823; and had he insisted, Byron’s memoirs would almost certainly not have been destroyed in 1824." (Memoirs which, in hindsight, are considered a "missing masterpiece.") Also read Hobhouse's account of Byron's funeral.
African dust storms feed the Amazon
African dust storms [pic] have been suspected of causing fish-killing red tide in the Caribbean, but also of mitigating the effect of hurricanes. Now analysis of images from NASA's MODIS satellite have revealed the Bodélé, a region of the Sahara not far from Lake Chad, as the source of more than half the material that fertilises the Amazon rainforest.
Oh joy. This won't end well.
Lieberman appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Has the Israeli government has served notice on the White House that it must take pre-emptive action against Iran's sites of nuclear weapons development - or Israel will go it alone and do the job itself. Israel has apparently given Bush a deadline of six months. The Arms control wonk has this about the next set of Uranium 164 centrifuge cascade
Paintball game.
Paintball Paint a path. Get the red ball to the red block. Warning: Addictive, devilishly simple.
The Beethoven piano sonatas
Andras Schiff's lecture-recitals on Beethoven's piano sonatas
Foley, gaffer, and grip.
Enjoy former Rep. Mark Foley's cinematic debut in the stunning film "Strike Force" (a.k.a. "The Librarians"). via HuffPo
Recursive Pacman.
Income Trust Changes
The lefty party handled the issue by cutting taxes on dividends. And Canada's party on the right decided to tackle the thorny issue of income trusts^ by... taxing them. A response to a "clear and present danger" or the destruction of retirement savings? Issues involving corporate structure and tax law rarely appear make the front page, but Canadians just can't get enough of them.
Revisionista
Revisionista monitors news websites and detects when articles change. The versions are viewable and the changes are highlighted. Some edits are miniscule, others are quite interesting. A Recommended Revisions list yields all manner of edits. Also on the News Sniffer site, Watch Your Mouth monitors the BBC's 'Have Your Say' website and detects when comments get censored.
who's blogging next door?
red or blue pill?
Awakenings. Conservative (Pajamas Media) Blogger John Cole (NOT Juan Cole) writes as if awoken from a trance:
In short, it really sucks looking around at the wreckage that is my party and realizing that the only decent thing to do is to pull the plug on them (or help). I am not really having any fun attacking my old friends- but I don’t know how else to respond when people call decent men like Jim Webb a pervert for no other reason than to win an election. I don’t know how to deal with people who think savaging a man with Parkinson’s for electoral gain is appropriate election-year discourse. I don’t know how to react to people who think that calling anyone who disagrees with them on Iraq a “terrorist-enabler” than to swing back. I don’t know how to react to people who think that media reports of party hacks in the administration overruling scientists on issues like global warming, endangered species, intelligent design, prescription drugs, etc., are signs of… liberal media bias.Some of the comments give me hope for our future...
Political junk for political junkies
Next week in red and blue. Majority Watch uses a new, automated polling technology to track the 60 most competitive House races, displaying them in an interactive map of all the House districts. They are currently predicting 240 Democratic seats, and a solid Democratic trend. Political junkies should also consider Congressional Quarterly's excellent flash-based predictions (211 D, 207 R, 17 too close) and Electoral Vote, which compiles hundreds of House and Senate polls. The Senate is considered a toss-up by both of these sites.
First Name Mister, Middle Name Period, Last Name T
I pity the 'do! Would Mr. T really be as powerful a force if he were wearing a construction helmet, raver sunglasses, and a handlebar mustache? Now the world can know.
World of Warcraft Diet
41 lbs in 90 days
Man discovers that World of Warcraft makes him oblivious to everything in the outside world.
Man puts keyboard stand over his exercise bike.
Man loses forty pounds in three months.
Whether or not that's a healthy rate to lose weight, we'll find out later.
Man discovers that World of Warcraft makes him oblivious to everything in the outside world.
Man puts keyboard stand over his exercise bike.
Man loses forty pounds in three months.
Whether or not that's a healthy rate to lose weight, we'll find out later.
Don't Hate Me Because I'm Not Beautiful
Endangered Ugly Things. Sure, they're not cute. But they're at least as important as your fuzzy thing.
Save Studio 60
Save Studio 60! They did it with Arrested Development and they did it with Firefly. They did it with Freaks and Geeks and they did it with Sports Night. They're working to preemptively stop them from doing it again to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
An Evolutionary Theory of Right and Wrong
Moral Minds, a new book by Marc Hauser, is based on research by Hauser and colleagues such Josh Greene and John Mikhail. In it, he posits that an innate moral sense is analogous to "universal grammar"[Wiki] from Chomskyan linguistics. As reviewed by a Science Times staff member. ...And a philosopher.
“Nobody. Myself.”
The McDonogh library has no books. The stalls in a girls’ restroom have no doors. Fights break out daily. About 50 students have been suspended; 20 have been recommended for expulsion. Several weeks ago, a teacher was “beaten unmercifully” by a ninth grader enraged at being barred from class because he was late.
The principal, Donald Jackson, estimated that up to a fifth of the 775 students live without parents. “Basically, they are raising themselves, because there is no authority figure in the home,” Mr. Jackson said. “If I call for a parent because I’m having an issue, I may be getting an aunt, who may be at the oldest 20, 21. What type of governance, what type of structure is in the home, if this is the living conditions?”
This is John McDonogh High School in New Orleans.
The principal, Donald Jackson, estimated that up to a fifth of the 775 students live without parents. “Basically, they are raising themselves, because there is no authority figure in the home,” Mr. Jackson said. “If I call for a parent because I’m having an issue, I may be getting an aunt, who may be at the oldest 20, 21. What type of governance, what type of structure is in the home, if this is the living conditions?”
This is John McDonogh High School in New Orleans.
This is how you write a car review
"At freeway speeds, the Toyota [Prius] is a near silent and comfortable cruiser, whereas the Audi [RS4] sounds and feels like a volcano making love to an avalanche." ... "you would swear the Audi is being launched from a trebuchet." ... "Let's say you're cruising at 80mph in sixth-gear and the engine is doing 3,000rpm, the mechanical equivalent of sipping a latte." ... "RS4 can blast sideways with such force that you will swear you are piloting violence."
Whether you are into cars or not, TTAC's Lieberman entertains. Not entirely unlike Jeremy Clarkson, but without the formulaic, wishy-washy introductions. Read the whole thing here.
Whether you are into cars or not, TTAC's Lieberman entertains. Not entirely unlike Jeremy Clarkson, but without the formulaic, wishy-washy introductions. Read the whole thing here.
Video the Vote
Video the Vote. "Starting this election... people like you and I... will document problems as they occur. We'll play them online, spread word through blogs and partner websites, doing our part to make sure the full story of our elections is told." via Rushkoff.
A brief mo-ment
It's movember again at last. As well as being National Novel Writing Month this month is the month to let your mo grow and express your inner 70s self to the world. An Australian tradition since, well, 1999 that is going global. The official site has more about this year's event.
There results tend to look like
this.
After Rod died, it just hasn't been the same
Long rumoured, after 35 years on the show, Bob Barker is leaving the Price is Right. His first ever show was September 4th, 1972 (note how much less spazzy the audience is on that intro?). No longer will we hear his reminder to have your pets spayed or neutered, but there's still the DJ&T Foundation that he started to help distribute vouchers and help support low cost spaying and neutering of pets.
"If you're explaining, you're losing"
"Misunderstood" joke gets Kerry into trouble (youtube): "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Kerry insists that he was referring to Bush, not the troops, in Monday's speech at a Pasadena, CA university, and that he won't apologize for his remarks. Some Democrats are distancing themselves after his remarks, in fear that public backlash might affect the upcoming elections.
Kerry insists that he was referring to Bush, not the troops, in Monday's speech at a Pasadena, CA university, and that he won't apologize for his remarks. Some Democrats are distancing themselves after his remarks, in fear that public backlash might affect the upcoming elections.
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