May 21, 2008
Current insulator fun
From a .com to a .info netting the price of a Westinghouse (R-Skirt) "Telluride" Type B. SB (part of the Greatest Insulator Find in the History of the Hobby). via Zoltan Drinoczi. [previously]
Errin' USA
Immediately, Herson spotted an offense—a second-floor awning outside a tarot shop that advertised "Energy Stone's." They climbed the stairs to the second floor and approached a middle-age women with a quizzical expression. "We happened to notice the sign for energy stones," Deck said, "and there happens to be an extra apostrophe. 'Stone's' doesn't need the apostrophe."
"And?" she asked, her voice flat with annoyance.
"And we wanted to bring it to your attention," Deck said.
A look inside the daring lives of Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, vanguards of the Typo Eradication Advancement League.
"And?" she asked, her voice flat with annoyance.
"And we wanted to bring it to your attention," Deck said.
A look inside the daring lives of Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, vanguards of the Typo Eradication Advancement League.
King of the land
Great story about being Jack Sparrow. A quick story of a guy hired to play Jack Sparrow at Disneyland.
At least it's a roomy place to work.
Talk about a sexually uncomfortable working environment. Oh my.
Debralyn: 'Tween time tester
A Star is Unborn
“Here was an object brand new. At first we didn’t recognize it.” Dr. Alicia Soderberg on the discovery of Supernova 2008D, using the Swift satellite telescope....
Pierre Precieuse
The amazing (but true!) journey of a can of S & W® brand black beans as they make their way across this great land of ours, and to other nations!
March '79 to October '97: One Mans Polaroid Collection
What does a man do during the last 20 years of his life? We learn what every day was like for this unnamed soul who lived through the death of John Lennon, was there for the biggest television experience ever and who saw many presidents inaugurated and witnessed some of them shot.
It might have been because of the holidays or just to fit in but sometime around the early 80's he began smoking. Throught the 90's his health declined and eventually the illness took over.
What must we think about the Star Trek fan with a surreal taste for art and who loved pasta? I'm not sure, but I am certainly thankful for the images.
It might have been because of the holidays or just to fit in but sometime around the early 80's he began smoking. Throught the 90's his health declined and eventually the illness took over.
What must we think about the Star Trek fan with a surreal taste for art and who loved pasta? I'm not sure, but I am certainly thankful for the images.
The ampersand & more.
The ampersand has been the subject of typographic embroidery, has famously been used as a tattoo, displayed on plates, and has even been deep fried. There are dancing ones, printed ones, but unfortunately no Russian ones. How do you like your ampersand?
I Love the 80s
With Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull restarting a franchise from the 80s, this is the perfect time to consider how to ruthlessly pillage the treasured movies of our youth. So, on that note, presenting: Back to the Sequels
College is too expensive; but is it necessary?
The Atlantic: Is college necessary? Fascinating article on a growing concern. Does college really generate a good ROI?
It doesn't matter how much security you put on the box. Humans are not secure.
The AI-Box Experiments. The hypothesis: "A transhuman can take over a human mind through a text-only terminal." Does Artifical Intelligence create moral monsters (PDF) ? Can we create friendly AI?
You ever listen to Michael Pollan talk ... on weed?
On the Rain-Slick Precipace of Darkness
The first video game based on the internet's most prominent gaming comic, Penny Arcade is released today. [more inside]
Slow Motion Punches to The Face
The Skunk Whisperer
Canadian author Lesley Choyce and his family share their extended encounter with a surfeit of skunks in a short documentary, avaible on YouTube in three parts. [more inside]
An except from a new book, American Nerd: The Story of My People.
The Cool Nerds. It's hip to be square, or something.
It was, as they say, inevitable: the bacon tuxedo.
Uncle Oinker's Bacon Scented Bacon Print Tuxedo. A dry-clean-only opportunity for all MeFis to wear their bacon obsession on their sleeve this prom/grad/wedding season!
Xenophobic Attacks in Johannesburg, South Africa
Xenophobic violence breaks out in Johannesburg and around South Africa. The victims of these attacks have been primarily poor foreigners living in townships and shack settlements. Durban-based shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (previously) have posted an incisive and informative response. More coverage of the events here and here. Photo galleries here and here.
And the winner is...
Soon, state delegates will meet in Denver to conclude a contentious competition and nominate a presidential candidate. No, it's not the Democratic National Convention. It's time for the Libertarian National Convention! Check out the schedule of events and possible seminar topics. Some find the very idea hilarious. Others are watching with more serious interest to see how the outcome may affect John McCain's campaign.
"It's constituency was the drunk, unemployed insomniac, student, loners that understood my passion for the minutia of television."
The classic post-pub television program of the nineties, In Bed With Medinner had a simple format - Bob Mills would present and comment on clips from the many documentaries he had made over the years. [more inside]
Hierarchy of Disagreement
The Hierarchy of Disagreement: Based on Paul Graham's essay "How to Disagree" (prev), the diagram ranks the types of arguments that can be made. Not quite the same as logical fallacies but a useful guide to measure whether you're making a good argument or if "you are an ass hat".
Fuzz It Up
Last.fm beta. Again.
Last.fm is inviting subscribers to test the new Last.fm beta. Features include a fully visible library down to individual tracks and charts updated in real time. People seem to dislike the new visual design. There's more discussion at the Last.fm beta group.
I have a scrambler in my brain.
Tom Waits interviews Tom Waits. A charmingly rambling (but what else would you expect?) interview in advance of his PEHDTSCKJMBA tour. Includes these tantalizing words: I’m doing songs with them I’ve never attempted outside the studio. via reddit.
Helping to dismantle the walls of deception, one brick at a time
HM The Queen v Associated Forces of Xenu
A 15-year-old in London is being prosecuted for holding a sign calling Scientology a "cult", during a peaceful demonstration (0:55-1:40). The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" ... The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology. The City of London Chief Superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for "raising the spiritual wealth of society" during the opening of its headquarters in 2006. Last year a video praising Scientology emerged featuring Ken Stewart, another of the City of London's chief superintendents via
Anointy-nointy
Worried that contemporary academic poetry isn’t difficult and weird enough? Then check out this YouTube’d performance (which might be NSFW for some) of Hot White Andy by Keston Sutherland, poet, academic and J.H. Prynne disciple. [more inside]
An earthquake on your wedding day
Video killed
YouTomb MIT project that tracks youtube file deletions for aledged copyright infringement. They do not host the deleted files, fyi.via wired [more inside]
You Know, For Kids
Playing Dirty: Greenpeace vs Nintendo, Microsoft, et al. "The Greenpeace scientific report Playing Dirty states that video games consoles have tested positive for hazardous chemicals and materials such as polyvinyl chloride, phthalates, beryllium and bromine." [more inside]
Free MMOs to devour your free time
Still paying a monthly fee for an MMO? Free-MMOs boasts an exhaustive (exhausting?) list of games that are free to join, free to play; try the excellent dungeon crawl Gods of Time, or the odd abandonware homebrew Ultima 6 Online.
its a small world after all
Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience - “massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland.” Here's a quick roundup of some commentary. (last link with concept design sketches)
Geohashing
Geohashing:
"As you may have noticed, today’s comic contains an algorithm for converting dates into local coordinates. For a given day, you can calculate what that day’s coordinate is for your region. Dan has put together a tool for calculating a day’s coordinates and show it using Google Maps." [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »