May 15, 2006
O Brother
W32/Hoots-A : Where overworked internet fads leave the basement and become exposed to the harsh light of day. "Why the author should want to print out pictures of an owl is, of course, anybody's guess..."
Rubik Music Machine
The Rubik's Cube was of course primarily intended as a live music-making instrument. The whole 'solving it' craze was missing the point.
It's the Arockalypse
Hardrock Hallelujah Finland's entry for this year's Eurovision contest.
It is indeed the day of Rockening.
This cynicism, it's a bad thing?
FakeNewsFilter: The Daily Show affects young voters. Researchers at East Carolina University claim that "The Daily Show may have...detrimental effects, driving down support for political institutions and leaders among those already inclined toward nonparticipation."
New Orleans Commencement Speech
"The water, it came to your school. The gasoline, chemicals, sewage and blood came to your doorstep. It settled into the ground of this courtyard where we now gather." Chris Rose's commencement speech at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans.
Stop, collaborate and listen
The evolution of dance (YouTube video)
Nature Happens
It is my heart that's late, / it is my song that's flown.
A song has flown. Former Poet Laureate of the United States Stanley Kunitz has died at the age of 100. Through his work as a founding member of the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, a former judge for the Yale Series of Younger Poets, and through his own delicate words, he has left an indelible mark on the world of poetry.
Don't give me any of that intelligent life crap, just give me something I can blow up
For a star as big as our universe the calculated vacuum energy inside its shell matches the value of dark energy seen in the universe today. "It's like we are living inside a giant dark energy star" say two physicists and their collegues. Dark energy stars may do away with the concept of black holes.
(also seen recently on )
Best Of The Web 2.0
Reader Meet Author
Author Interviews from the Center for Book Culture. I particularly liked the interview/bout with David Foster Wallace. Also the only interview Gaddis has ever done stateside is here. Good times.
Absolutely, positively getting there overnight
FedEx Thunderstorm Deviations. "FAA radar track sequence of a bank of FedEx aircraft getting into Memphis as thunderstorms pass over the airport" (Google video). I'm having Rip Off flashbacks.
Vanity Fair
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (née Magan) has already been mentioned in several times in Metafilter. Whether you consider her a couragous campaigner for women's rights and against Islamofascism, or a crass opportunist, there's no denying that she's some character. However, it now seems that her Becky-Sharp-ish rise to fame and power also left a similar trail of embittered ex-friends and lies that has ended up landing her in serious trouble with fellow right-winger (also previously mentioned in Metafilter) Rita Verdonk, Dutch Immigration Minister.
Before feeling too sorry for Ayaan, consider that she's moving to Washington DC, where she's landed a job at the American Enterprise Institute. I'm sure she'll fit right in...
Milestone in the telecomms revolution
Skype now provides free calls to all landlines and cellphones in the US and Canada. A milestone in the telecommunications revolution.
Make me glad for everything I have
Man in the Box
Michael Wolf (previously mentioned for his Architecture of Density series) has a new project called 100x100, cataloguing 100 individuals and their apartments. Each apartment is 10 feet by 10 feet in size. (via kottke)
Burying Freud
Burying Freud. A collection of essays and responses by and about Freud's harshest critics, including "Confessions of a Freud-Basher" by anti-Freud point man Frederick Crews, interviewed at length here.
It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick.
No More Drink-N-Dial
You just can't drink and dial. No, really, you can't. Not if you're dialing on this phone (scroll down to "Voice of Reason".). Need more help?: See also...
Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ
Christian Nationalism is just one name for that ideological and aggressive species of Christianity just may be more organized, ambitious, and successful than you imagined. The dream transcends the elimination of abortion, the teaching of intelligent design, and the preservation of marriage within American politics, but instead reaches out to restore America to an imagined Christian state. Or more? "World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish." Or maybe just 29% of it. But some resistance from within Christianity is starting to appear.
101 Things in 1001 Days
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. What would you choose to do?
06. Draw on a sidewalk with chalk?
23. Sing Milli Vanilli in a karaoke bar?
27. Be flexible?
28. Find your biological father?
31. Panic on the 1000th day?
Maybe you'd like to team up with others?
06. Draw on a sidewalk with chalk?
23. Sing Milli Vanilli in a karaoke bar?
27. Be flexible?
28. Find your biological father?
31. Panic on the 1000th day?
Maybe you'd like to team up with others?
A collection of older TV Theme Songs
TV Theme Songs: The Dukes of Hazzard, The Love Boat, Taxi, Knight Rider, Air Wolf, The Prisoner, and many more. From TV Cream previously mentioned 1, 2, 3.
damn hippies
bomb sniffing flowers. Danish, Canadian and U.S. scientists are closing in on a genetically engineered plant that will send up a floral signal: “DANGER—land mines below."
Scientists in Denmark have been tinkering with Arabidopsis thaliana [...] to produce a plant [that] will turn a warning red whenever close to a land mine.” Arabidopsis can be genetically sensitized to the nitrogen-dioxide (NO2) that leaches from buried explosives.
« Previous day | Next day »