February 26, 2011
HR Giger homepage
Asteroid Shrugged
Somewhere Over the Nightmare Fuel...
Return To Oz: The Joy That Got Away A documentary about the making of the unofficial 1985 sequel to the iconic movie version of The Wizard of Oz. [more inside]
I assumed that I’d be famous by 21 and dead from a drunken car accident by 23.
…But a few rare people will point out the stuff that they like, call you out on some of the dumb shit that you’re writing, and gently but forcefully suggest ways to make your dumb shit better. Treasure these people. Learn to recognize them. These people are your only hope. [...] You’re going to find them, and you’re going to hang out with these people as much as possible. You’re going to go drink coffee with them at 2am in shitty diners; you’re going to become new best friends with them; you’re going to call them at all hours on the phone.
How to be a writer, by Oliver Miller.
How to be a writer, by Oliver Miller.
"One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness SUE them"
A 'Mirky' legal battle for J.R.R. Tolkien Estate. Texas case will contest the right of Tolkien's literary estate to block fictional use of the Lord of the Rings author's name. The estate of JRR Tolkien is embroiled in a fierce legal battle over an American novel that uses the author of The Lord of the Rings as a central character. The J.R.R. Tolkien's Estate has been involved with other legal battles in the past.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything...
Anonymous announces action against Koch brothers. Anonymous, apparently decided to stand up for something. They have announced their intention to use their internet powers for "good" and to "spread the word of the Koch brothers' political manipulation, their single-minded intent and the insidious truth of their actions in Wisconsin, for all to witness."
I for one, welcome our new anonymous rulers. (via Reddit)
Still Great?
Waterlife — No matter where we live, the Great Lakes affect us all. And as species of fish disappear and rates of birth defects and cancer rise, it seems one thing is clear: the Great Lakes are changing and something's not quite right with the water. An interactive documentary film from the National Film Board of Canada. [more inside]
You wait until wheels-up, because that's what you do
"Meanwhile, Important Politician stretches out in his business class seat and listens to his wife talk about the pearls! And the silk scarves! And the amazing food! And IP thinks back to that Foreign Service Officer he just met. And he thinks: what a great life that guy has! He goes to parties at the President's mansion. He drinks fancy wine. He drives around in air conditioned motorcades, with people saluting him as he walks into government buildings. He goes hiking - in the middle of a work day, even! - on the Great Wall. What a cushy life he leads, thinks Important Politician." A proposed pay cut is not going down well with some Foreign Service Officers.
Why aren't we home with our mammals watching raceball?
O2BN Oceanus Procellarum
ISRO scientists think they have found a horizontal uncollapsed lava tube on the moon, 1.7 km long, 360 m wide, and 120 m high (roughly 1 mile x 1200 ft x 400 ft) which could be used as a lunar base by astronauts for inter-planetary missions. [more inside]
College Scholarships Available. Only White Men Need Apply.
Colby Bohannan and a group of student friends at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX have formed the non-profit organization Former Majority Association for Equality which intends to offer college scholarships solely to white men." "'I felt excluded,' he said. 'If everyone else can find scholarships, why are we left out?'" "'To qualify for the group's scholarship, applicants have to be able to prove that they are at least 25 percent Caucasian ... We're not looking for blond-haired, blue-eyed, stereotypical white males,' he said. 'My feeling is that if you can say you're 25 percent Caucasian, you're Caucasian enough for us.'" "Bohannan, the group's president, said the name comes from the idea that 'if you're not a male, and if you're not white, you're called a minority.' However, he said, 'I'm not sure white males are the majority anymore.'"* [more inside]
How We Know
How We Know. An essay about information theory in the New York Review of Books by Freeman Dyson, building off a review of James Gleick's The Information. [more inside]
I am too far from Africa, I can't turn back. Next - America
On October 26th 2010 64 year old Aleksander Doba of Police, Poland set out from Dakar in his custom 23' kayak OLO paddling into the Atlantic. After 99 days and 3352 miles alone at sea Aleksander made landfall on February 2, 2011 in Acaraú, Brazil becoming the fourth person to cross the Atlantic via kayak and joining the exclusive Trans Ocean Kayak Club. Throughout the voyage Doba updated his progress using gps, twitter and his own website. [more inside]
Wisconsin unions; plus Obama and Wall Street
SEIU past leader speaks on Wisconsin The battle is for the future our our country, the middle class, and public ownership of public goods
Would I lie to you?
"There's confusion about where the line lies between being a bad person and being ill. Someone who's doing this, I'm afraid, could be both." The Guardian discusses 'Munchausen by Internet'. [more inside]
For all the winners out there
With some help from Johnny Walker Red
Looking good Otzi!
He's been dead for 5,300 years and exactly how he died is a matter of debate, but Otzi the Iceman has a new face, thanks to 2 Dutch artists, Alfons and Adrie Kennis.
The middle east: a future.
The destiny of this pageant lies in the Kingdom of Oil: "our satraps are falling, and the people we paid them to control are making their own history – our right to meddle in their affairs (which we will, of course, continue to exercise) has been diminished for ever."
Spliced
Silent Strawberries
Silent Strawberries. The Muppets' tribute to Ingmar Bergman, with translation by Sam the Eagle. That is all. [SLYT]
This eBook will self destruct in 5 seconds.
Harper Collins is putting a cap on the number of times their books can be loaned out from libraries. From a letter to customers from Overdrive CEO, Steve Potash:
[W]e have been required to accept and accommodate new terms for eBook lending as established by certain publishers. Next week, OverDrive will communicate a licensing change from a publisher that, while still operating under the one-copy/one-user model, will include a checkout limit for each eBook licensed. Under this publisher's requirement, for every new eBook licensed, the library (and the OverDrive platform) will make the eBook available to one customer at a time until the total number of permitted checkouts is reached.
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