September 4, 2006
Mozart's famous symphonic theme in G minor played on bottles with rollerblade extensions
The opening theme of Mozart's symphony in G minor, K. 550 - on rollerblades and downhill.
Right From the Beginning
Pat Buchanan blogs. Let the name-calling begin.
Dolphin Intelligence.
Dolphin intelligence is under fire, but are these arguments over brain size relevant in the face of overwhelming behavioral evidence? Dolphins have been known to display almost all of the qualities which we would consider uniquely human, qualities that we would consider a mark of ‘higher’ intelligence. They are tool users, they are highly creative (perhaps even artistic), they enjoy recreational and social activities, from surfing (either on waves or around the prow of boats) to sex, and they have proven time and time again that they are self-aware. They’ve also formed symbiotic relationships with fisherman, and recent reports suggest that dolphins even have names for each other. But perhaps Douglas Adams said it best in the Hitchhiker’s Guide: “Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.”
it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing
Max and Thomas have some classic fun doing the Lindy hip hop but, sometimes, there ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby: Helzappoppin, Groovie Movie, 50s Charleston in Harlem, Original UpRock, Swing Fever, Power Girls. Learn more about the history of this kickass dance at early Lindy Hop. (Alert: YouTube links)
Foucault
Down with Labor AND Management!
As Labor Day 2006 winds to a close, America's long & twisted history with Organized Labor seems to never come to rest on any one side of the fence, opinion wise. While we hate the idea of the evil CEO crushing the employees underfoot, there's something profoundly un-American about bolshevikism. This excellent collection of political cartoons from Life Magazine from the early decades of the 20th Century explores both sides of the debate, reminding us at the end of the day that nobody loves a fat man.
Writing Mesostics Does Not Takes a Great OULIPO Faith
Mesostics. John Cage invented this form of inclusion/acrostic poetry. Some examples by John Cage: Raphael Mostel, Mark Tobey, Marcel Duchamp, and Erik Satie. You can create your own through an automated mesostomatic process. Even cabbies have gotten in on the act.
Come fly with me
Flight simulator. As a hobby, this guy built his own Boeing 747 flight simulator. No, not just a PC simulation, but a full cabin with hydraulics motion simulation a correct control panel and the full works, just like the real thing. (via Neatorama)
Black and white book photos
Io schiavo in Puglia. I was a slave in Puglia.
I was a slave in Puglia. A long first-person exposé, in English, about immigrant slave labor in Italy, from Fabrizio Gatti writing in the Italian newspaper L'Espresso. "I can hire you. Tomorrow," he promises. "Do you have a girl friend?" "A girlfriend?" "You have to bring me a woman. For the boss. If you bring him one, he'll put you to work right away. Any girl will do." He points to a twenty year-old woman and her companion, working on the conveyor belt of a huge tractor that is being used to gather tomatoes. "Those two are Romanians, just like you. She slept with the boss." "But I'm alone." "No work for you then." Photo galleries. Italian version (includes additional sidebars not found in the English version, including local and government reaction to the exposé and more photo galleries under the sidebar "Reportage Fotografico.")
Musical Context via YouTube
This was the music of my childhood, along with massive infusions of Psalty the Singing Songbook and the Donut Man. During adolescence, my musical range expanded only slightly to include nashville country, teen pop, and the odd intersections between the two. YouTube has been an invaluable resource for expanding my previously limited horizons, from the productions which marked Michael Jackson's rise and fall to the birth and growing pains of the west coast rap scene. My favorite Youtube musical discovery thus far, however, is this pseudo-impromptu live rendition of Arthur's Theme.
it's newspaper war!
Today is the day that Rupert Murdoch started trying to kill off the Evening Standard^ by launching thelondonpaper, a free evening paper. But Associated, publishers of the Standard (and London's fake Metro^, too), rushed out their own free paper, London Lite, last week -- the same tactic they used against the London Daily News^ back in 1987. In 2006, why is London having a newspaper war? And considering that it's Murdoch vs. the publishers of the Daily Mail, who should we be cheering for, exactly?
Coverage with Evidence Development
Coverage with Evidence Development. Never heard of it? Me neither, until today. It's what they call this idea: if you want to be covered by Medicare, you're forced to participate in medical research. The AMA approves (article abstract only). So much for informed consent.
A culture of sophisticated drinking
A little more than a year after leaving New Orleans, I miss the culture of sophisticated drinking. Sure, maybe not on Bourbon Street, home of the sickly sweet hurricane and Hand Grenade. But you head off Bourbon and you can get a very pleasant Pimms cup at the Napoleon House. And just down the street is a military antiques store that was once the pharmacy where Antoine Amadie Peychaud invented the sazerac, which lays claims to being the word's oldest cocktail. Any good bartender in New Orleans will be able to make you one; finding a sazerac-capable bartender outside the city is almost impossible. Of course, just outside the French Quarter, in the Fairmont Hotel, is the Sazerac bar, but, surprisingly, their specialty is not the sazerac, but the favorite drink of Huey Long, the delicious Ramos Gin Fizz. Nearby, back in the Quarter, on an upper floor of the Pharmacy Museum, was the former home of the Museum of the American Cocktail -- now seemingly in transit after Katrina. At the opening, cocktail chef Dale Degroff served up his specialty -- pre-Prohibition cocktails, including a brandy crusta that still makes me weep from the pleasure of it. Sure, up here in Minneapolis we invented the cosmopolitan, but somehow a drink that's also become popular as a perfume doesn't have that same Crescent City je ne sais quoi.
Olympic Park Plan Public Review
The Olympic National Park* General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement is online, for your review and comments.
Ow, my balls!
Almost 7 years after the release of his previous film Office Space, Mike Judge's Idiocracy is being all but abandoned by Fox. Despite favorable reviews and fan letters exhorting Fox to give the movie a chance, Idiocracy was released to seven cities on the 1st September with no promotion, no official release poster, no press screenings and a post-production budget so restrictive Judge had to ask fellow Austinite Robert Rodriguez to complete some effects shots for free. Is it because the film skewers Fox subsidiary Fox News (as well as advertisers like Starbucks and Costco) that Mike Judge is getting screwed (again)?
Images of Ceylon
Images of Ceylon - Hundreds and hundreds of photos taken in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from the mid 1800's to around the turn of that century.
Warning: A handful out of the ones I've seen show topless women so maybe NSFW.
Warning: A handful out of the ones I've seen show topless women so maybe NSFW.
The Endor Holocaust
"The ewok population is effectively extinguished. Most were killed in a mass-extinction event affecting life on their homeworld, due to unavoidable fallout and debris from the destruction of the Death Star II. The Rebel Alliance is culpable but perhaps innocent. All ewoks would have been better off if the tribe which made contact with the rebels continued with their original plan of killing and eating the commando team's leaders." (Rebuttal [PDF]).
The D-Day Photographs of Robert Capa
7 mph would be the equivalent of driving at the speed of light
At forty miles (64.4 km) from Pluto to Sun, the Maine Solar System Model is the largest complete three-dimensional scale model of the solar system in the world. What, you didn't know there was more than one? And yes, Pluto is staying put.
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