June 4, 2010
"Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life. Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you'd be set."
Americans' Acceptance of Gay Relations Crosses 50% Threshold - To try to figure out why, NYT columnist Charles M. Blow taps sociologist Dr. Michael Kimmel and Professor Ritch Savin-Williams, who offer three hypotheses as to what may have lead to the surprising changes and what remains of the gender disparity in attitudes. [more inside]
RHoK
The first Global Hackathon organized by Random Hacks of Kindness has begun. Satellite-linked hackers are attending events in Washington DC, Sydney, Nairobi, Jakarta, and Sao Paulo. Some of the projects being coded right now: Near-Realtime UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) image processing;
BushFire Connect Project; Person finder [more inside]
Diagnosing Darth
The Dark Side is like using drugs. "It feels really good when you use it, it alters your consciousness and you know you shouldn’t do it." A psychiatrist diagnoses Anakin Skywalker.
The Wizard of Westwood has passed
John Wooden has passed away at the age of 99. Did he teach you how to put on your socks and shoes? Some say he got a lot of things wrong. But he had a boatload of achievements. There was the Pyramid of Success. The Seven-Point Creed. And he was married to his beloved Nell for 53 years, and after her death in 1985, he still wrote her a love letter every month and set it on her side of the bed. [more inside]
Daft Punk do Star Wars for Adidas
What do Snoop Dogg, Noel Gallagher, Ciara, David Beckham, Ian Brown, Daft Punk, & Star Wars have in common? Just ask Adidas. The Star Wars cantina scene is sacred cinema, but Adidas went ahead and remade it for their current World Cup ad campaign. The new cut seamlessly combines the original footage with new shots of our favorite electro-house droids, Snoop Dogg, Noel Gallagher, Ciara, David Beckham, Ian Brown and more. It appears that Daft Punk did not remix the original cantina music, though.
Lighten it up a little.
A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school. The project's leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children's ethnicity. (via Wonkette)
Honest-to-goodness, genuine fake
There are Real Fake Buildings, Real Fake Watches, real fake books, and of course, "The Internet's LARGEST Selection of Real Fake Rocks!"
But for truly high-end fakes -- the "realest" of the fakes -- there's the Museum of Fakes in Southern Italy, or even better, the Museum of Art Fakes in Vienna, which includes etchings from "last living master forger from Germany."
"The Museum of Art Fakes, almost directly opposite the Hundertwasserhaus, is unique in Europe. It is filled with paintings from not only world famous forgers (such as van Meegeren, Tom Keating, David Stein, Konrad Kujau, Edgar Mrugalla, Lothar Malskat), but also so-called ‘identical-forgeries’ of Schiele, Klimt, Monet, Raffael and many more."
The School House Gentlemen's Club.
Mr. Kearney, who says he has spent thousands of dollars renovating the leased building, said: “If these people had such fond memories of this place, then they should be ashamed — because it was falling apart.”Bob Kearney, an out-of-work electrician, and his partner, Travis Funneman, have turned the former Pioneer Elementary School at Zike's Corner, east of Neoga, Illinois, into a strip club. [more inside]
How to snag your very own Indian!
Sikhs in America
Sikhs in America "The Sikh community is an important part of northern Californias cultural tapestry, yet the Sikh religion and cultural traditions are not widely understood. This documentary captures Sikh social and family life, spiritual life, and economic and work life. Witness a beautiful Sunday service at a gurdwara, a Sikh wedding, the tying of a Sikh turban, and a look at the game Kabbadi." (PBS, 26mins)
For Neda
For Neda. "For Neda reveals the true story of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became another tragic casualty of Iran's violent crackdown on post-election protests on June 20, 2009. Unlike many unknown victims, however, she instantly became an international symbol of the struggle: Within hours of Agha-Soltan's death, cell phone photographs of her blood-stained face were held aloft by crowds protesting in Tehran and across the world. With exclusive access to her family inside Iran, the documentary goes to the heart of who Neda was and what she stood for, illuminating the larger Iranian struggle for democratic freedoms through her powerful story." [more inside]
The $22 Billion What-If?
Afraid that Jobs' wild spending and Woz's recurrent "flights of fancy" would cause Apple to flop, Wayne decided to abdicate his role as adult-in-chief and bailed out after 12 days. Terrified to be the only one of the three founders with assets that creditors could seize, he sold back his shares for $800.
An interview with Apple Computer co-founder Ron Wayne (he also designed Apple's first logo). Had he held out, his shares today would be worth $22 billion.
Whimsical tales from fish-obsessed Japan
Marmaduke Explained explained
In response to the release of the Marmaduke movie (in theaters today; trailer, review), Joe Mathlete of Marmaduke Explained [previously] shares the story of how Marmaduke Explained came to be, including some insightful thoughts on being defined by Internet fame and what it's like to be "the Marmaduke guy."
Set Your Spreadsheets to Stunned
The UK Government has published extracts from COINS, the Combined Online Information System used by the Treasury to track all public spending by the Government. Together, the files constitute about 11Gb of data in delimited text format containing consolidated financial information for each department and account type. [more inside]
That's me in the fishnets
A late 70's report by an St. Louis news crew on the "Rocky Horror" phenomenon. Briefly interviewed is a pre-R.E.M. Michael Stipe, in full Frank-n-furter regalia.
Parasite Parade
The parasite Toxoplasma makes rats lust for cat pee and people drive motorbikes. Other behaviour-modifying parasites include Cordyceps (YouTube) and Sacculina. (Warning: Icky.)
Ipad Accordion!
Shit just got real.
Pure by Jacob Bricca. A meditation on genre, a commentary on visual cliches, and a celebration of the visceral pleasures of cinema. Music by The Jesus Lizard. Please play full screen at top volume!
And if I had another father I would love to have you my father 'cause I would love the way you would make me grow up.
On his Twitter feed this morning, Tim Heidecker (of Tim and Eric: Awesome Show, Great Job!) announced that Richard Dunn, a regular cast member and everyone's favorite Pep-Pep, had passed away. Some classic Dunn moments: A Special Message from Richard Dunn, Dunngeon (with Dave Navarro), Whistle, You're the Best, Richard Dunn's Kissing Booth (at Awesomecon 2009), Shot Dunn, French Kiss Tie-braker, Two Boys from Germany. You will be missed, Pep-Pep.
Next week, a first-person shooter based on FreeCell
Friday Flash Fun: Mamono Sweeper is Minesweeper with role-playing elements. A number of monsters with levels from 1 to 5 are hidden in the grid. Your task is to kill them all. When you click on a square with a monster, you battle against that monster until you or the monster is dead. If the monster is your level or below, you take no damage, but if it is of a higher level, you will get hurt, and possibly die. Empty squares show the sum of the levels of the monsters in all adjacent squares. You start out at level 1 with 10 hit points, and each monster you kill gives you experience points towards the next level. You cannot recover lost hit points. Use the A and D keys to mark squares. Good luck! [more inside]
Howdy Doody and his Magic Hat
". . . all of us bright young hotshot UPA stars absolutely hated the Howdy Doody show, and felt that the puppet itself was gross—a ten on a kitsch scale of one to ten. We determined to “improve” the Howdy Doody character to the level of our hallowed UPA design standard. After all, we were already the toast of New York animation, raking in the prizes and publicity. We simply couldn’t lower ourselves to something so crude, even if the client was paying us to do just that. So we just blithely went ahead with transforming Howdy Doody in our own image." [more inside]
Don't just make art, make food!
"Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries that the United States is in conflict with." [more inside]
It's a clam, in case you're wondering.
From the French cooking show Des Kiwis et des Hommes, a highly educational segment on how to prepare palourde royal. Kinda sorta NSFW.
低燃費って何？ (What's fuel efficiency?)
Nissan has been running an ad campaign in Japan based on the 1974 anime Heidi, girl of the alps. The ads are sort of bizarre awesome and were put together by the same crew that did The world of golden eggs. The full episodes feature Heidi trying unsuccessfully to find the answer to her question '低燃費って何？' (What's teinenpi?).
(the last set of links are all Japanese, but are hopefully interesting enough without subtitles)
The Art of Making Money
For almost 20 years, Art Williams, Jr. was one of the country's eminent currency counterfeiters. His greatest achievement: counterfeiting the new (at the time) $100 bill (PDF link). [more inside]
Academic Snarkives
arXiv vs snarXiv. "A random high-energy theory paper generator incorporating all the latest trends, entropic reasoning, and exciting moduli spaces". [more inside]
Jupiter is a Large Target
Early this morning, local time, two amateur astronomers independently captured images of something colliding with Jupiter. Anthony Wesley (cache) in Broken Hill, Australia noticed it first. Wesley spread the word and Christopher Go (cache) in Cebu City, Philippines also found that he'd documented the event, which occurred at 20:31 June 3, Universal Time. [more inside]
I'll experiment, like a scientist
#5 in a series, Coolzey's recent video (4:01) features a beat from the late producer DJ PRZM, who died from heart problems in 2007. The music is set to a mix of video from the U.S. Department of Defense's animated 'Man and Safety' series and features cartoon translucent figures, a mermaid, an anteater, experiments and multiple elephants. [more inside]
John Paul II Superstar
Pope John Paul II, the musical: Two priests, two dancers and a team of young actors are bringing John Paul II to the stage this month, with a musical version of the pope's life and work. [more inside]
A Matter of Principal
"A skirmish between a junior high school principal and one of his students is yet again playing out publicly after a video of the incident was posted online. Ken Fells, a 15-year employee of the Halifax Regional School Board, was removed from his post at Graham Creighton Junior High School in Cherry Brook, N.S., after an altercation with a student on March 3." [more inside]
"UC Berkeley offer to test DNA of incoming students sparks debate"
LA Times: "When UC Berkeley officials came up with the idea of asking all new students to volunteer a DNA swab as part of an unusual fall orientation program, they expected to stimulate discussion. They weren't quite prepared for how much."
Inside Higher Ed: "Unwinding Berkeley's DNA Test"
Inside Higher Ed: "Unwinding Berkeley's DNA Test"
The Book Tower
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