March 27, 2009
Three Ways of Looking at a Film
Digital Poetics is a film blog with a proposal for an interesting experiment called 10/40/70: write a film review of a DVD with three screen captures taken at arbitrary intervals (10, 40, 70 minutes into the film) and see how it changes the way you look at films. This 10/40/70 approach has led to some interesting interpretations of The Conversation, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Blue Velvet, Godard's Vivre Sa Vie, and 12 Angry Men, as well as a contrarian appreciation of Hudson Hawk. The blog Spectacular Attractions has even upped the ante by using a random number generator to determine where to select screen caps. Results include Jaws Randomised and This Is Spinal Tap Randomised with Two Brains. It's like Dogme 95, but for film bloggers.
U.S. Becoming a Banana Republic?
In its depth and suddenness, the U.S. economic and financial crisis is shockingly reminiscent of moments we have recently seen in emerging markets (and only in emerging markets) says Simon Johnson, a professor of entrepreneurship at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, in the next issue of The Atlantic. He was previously Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the IMF from March 2007-August 2008. [more inside]
Dynasty
Coincidental to the publishing of her memoir, Candy Spelling - the widow of legendary television producer Aaron Spelling - is selling her Beverly Hills mansion for $150 million. (Daughter Tori Spelling is not expected to share in the proceeds.)
Painted Lady data swarm
Genus Vanessa butterflies are migrating now in North America, and you can help track them by submitting your observations. They could use a lot more data for their interactive map.
"The monster inside my son": Autism + Violence
"The monster inside my son" A moving testimonial of a mother's struggle w/ her son's autism and violence. [SALON]
Let's practice math while playing!
We all love Sudoku, and we like to play it. But now there is KenKen, a new version that includes simple mathematical equations. [previously in MeFi]
YMMV. Greatly.
Think having children will make you happy? Think again, suggests Nattavudh Powdthavee – you’re experiencing a focusing illusion [pdf]. [via.]
Revolutionary Semiconductor
Friday Flash Fun*: Конструктор: Engineer of the People, in which you are an engineer working in a top-secret semiconductor facility called H3, designing top-secret integrated circuits based on specifications provided to you.
*For certain values of 'fun'
Osama bin Elvis
What is the logical consequence of noting the fact that the terrorist groups that make a difference on planet Earth—such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the PLO, Colombia's FARC—are extensions of, respectively, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and Venezuela? It is the negation of the U.S. government's favorite axiom. It means that when George W. Bush spoke, and when Barack Obama speaks, of America being "at war" against "extremism" or "extremists" they are either being stupid or acting stupid to avoid dealing with the nasty fact that many governments wage indirect warfare.International relations professor Angelo M. Codevilla argues that Osama bin Laden is not quite influential, not quite relevant, and probably dead. (multipage version)
In other news: Clay Aiken may be gay.
Creator of the Cosby sweater acknowledges they're possibly the most horrible things you've ever seen. [more inside]
back in the day we had O-Levels and birching
Complete Streets
COMPLETE STREETS are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street. Senator Tom Harkin (IA) and Representative Doris Matsui (CA-5) have introduced the Complete Streets Act of 2009 into the US Senate (S. 584) and House (H.R. 1443), to ensure that federal transportation infrastructure investments provide safe travel for Americans whether they are driving, bicycling, walking, or taking public transportation. They were joined by original co-sponsors Sen. Tom Carper (DE), Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA-10), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14), and Rep. David Wu (OR-1). Check out press releases from the Coalition (pdf), from Congresswoman Matsui, or from Senator Harkin for more information. Blog posts at The Infrastructurist and the Transportation For America campaign explain how the bills relate to the recent economic recovery package and the impact they could have across the country. [more inside]
Didi Senft keeps it Real
Bike fanatic Didi Senft, who's been building crazy cycles for years, shows off his latest "angular" bikes.
It's just an image dump
Imagedump is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a collection of "the best, funniest or coolest images" from a given month, as curated by a 19-year-old Dutch kid named Marco Kuiper.
If FAS 157 started it will FAS 140 will keep the party going?
The Fed's Public Private Partnership Program, promises to clear down as much as $1T worth of "legacy assets" from banks balance sheets. Globally, equity markets responded positively. But what about assets held off balance sheet? [more inside]
Midair collision at 37,000 feet
The sky is a really big place, right? So how did a Boeing 737 and a Legacy 600 private jet manage to collide head-on at 37,000 feet over the Amazon jungle in Brazil? William Langewiesche's detailed analysis of the 2006 crash--which killed all 154 aboard the 737--provides some answers. [more inside]
Somebody's watching you...
When the economy slows down, ticket writing speeds up. Traffic cameras spark anger from citizens. Researchers find that they increase crashes. Find the red light cameras near you. Download a free warning system to your iPhone or Blackberry. In Mississippi? You're in luck. Red light cameras have been banned. In the Chicago area? Too bad. Speed cameras are coming too.
Bob Claster interviews comedians
Bob Claster was a DJ on KCRW in Los Angeles. In the 80's he had a comedy show called Funny Stuff and he would interview comedians. He has many of these interviews online as mp3s. He interviewed Tom Lehrer, Douglas Adams, Danny Arnold (a.k.a. Barney Miller), Peter Cook, Terry Jones, two interviews with John Cleese, one solo and another with Michael Palin, Emo Philips, Billy Connolly, Mort Sahl, Quentin Crisp, "Brother Theodore" Gottlieb, June Foray and Bill Scott (a.k.a. Rocky and Bullwinkle and an epic five-part interview with Stan Freberg, the subject of my last post.
Fuck the President. Literally.
Building a blog you can be proud of
John Gruber of Daring Fireball:
"My friend Merlin Mann and I had a session at SXSW Interactive about two weeks ago. It certainly wasn’t a panel, and it wasn’t really a presentation. It was more like an hour-long duet rant, the main goal of which was to inspire anyone who wants to publish or write on the web to pursue their obsessions in a serious way. We got the audio recording of the session from SXSW a few days ago, recorded short intro and outro segments, and Merlin spliced it together and has published it on his 43 Folders podcast. I encourage you to go ahead and listen to it."
Obama on the Marijuana Prohibition: "No"
Obama holds Internet 'town hall' meeting (previously) (previously). What was the #1 issue on the public's mind? Well, the legalization of marijuana set the stage as the #2 question under "Health Care Reform", the #1 and #2 questions under "Green Jobs and Energy", the #1 - #4 questions under "Financial Stability", the #1 and #3 questions under "Jobs", and #1 - #7 under "Budget". Clearly, this is one of the most important issue on the public's mind. What was Obama's response? It was "equivalent to a parent telling a child 'No.' and when asked why? 'Because I said so.'" [more inside]
Flash Friday: Nevermore 3
Baseball Statistics Pornography
Mariano's Gonna Cut You, and other stat-and-graph filled baseball analysis from Beyond the Boxscore. [more inside]
Assume failure
How designers fail — "During college at the University of Arizona in 1992, I learned with other design freshman that revisions were part of the discipline; if you cried at critique you were a wimp, and the computer was just a finishing tool. . . . But something has happened since I was a college student in 1992: students just don’t believe these things."
Strip and Knit In Style Was In Fourth Place
The winner of this years Diagram Prize for the oddest book title is "The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-Milligram Containers of Fromage Frais." Runners up were "Curbside Colon Consultation," and my favorite Baboon Metaphysics.
An Insider's View
"The newsroom collectively screamed—via a chain of famous quotes with not too subtle undertones that staffers e-mailed out to the all-staff list. We designated a dog as the employee of the month." An Insider's View: The Strange Final Days Of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. There's a loss of dignity when you lose your job. Those who stayed at the online PI faced a different indignity. And what to do with thousands of newspaper racks. [more inside]
Larry Glick: 1922-2009
Larry Glick, aka Commander Glick, aka The Godfathah Lorenzo Glickiano, AM Night-Owl Talk-Radio Hero, 1922-2009. Hear a recent interview with Larry, and remembrances by Tom Bergeron (Glick's mentee), at WBZ's site. [previously - my first MetaFilter FPP]
Venus Of Utapau
Stylophoniacs of the world, unite!
It's time to learn about . . . the Stylophone! (YouTube link) This very portable instrument has been used in some famous songs, and has inspired many to do Stylophone versions of their own faves like Pacman, Star Wars Death March, and The Model. The Stylophone master of all time is quirky Brett Domino, who not only made the short film in the main link but does this lovely 80's Hits Medley. (All links go directly or indirectly to YouTube.) [via ZoomForum] [more inside]
Sonata per uno mulaticco lunattico
Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (audio) was originally dedicated to the black violin virtuoso George Bridgetower after he gave such a brilliant rendering of the piece that prompted Beethoven to jump from his seat and embrace him. Bridgetower was a musical child prodigy and composer who, despite rampant racial prejudice, reached "unusual heights in the music world of his day". Having lived and performed in major European cities such as London, Paris, and Vienna, he would later die forgotten and in poverty.
A personal disagreement with Bridgetower led Beethoven to dedicate the sonata to the famous violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer instead who, incidentally, never played it in public deeming it “outrageously unintelligible”. [more inside]
"Nagging = reminding + reminding + reminding"
morenewmath.com = pithy definitions + equations
Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie
Surgeon finishes operation despite heart attack
Contenders for this year's Badass of the Year award will have a tough time topping Italian surgeon Claudio Vitale, who completed a delicate brain surgery despite having a heart attack during the procedure. He pushed himself to complete the surgery when he realized that his patient was unlikely to survive if he halted the operation.
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