January 6, 2011
Two scoops of DETROIT ROCK SAMPLER please
If you like meaty filthy 60s-70s rock by sometimes severely ripped blokes &b.b.b.babes — like I know I do — then bite on these two crispy mix streams and the extensive opinionated textual japery and idolatry from Brit musician, musicologist, Julian Cope that accompanies them. This man writes books on music. Why is he giving it away? [more inside]
Jet Assisted Plugin Hybrid
The Chevy Volt plug-in electric goes 40 miles on battery alone, yet can go up to 350 miles. Top speed 100mph. How can you top that?
How about an 80 miles on battery, 500 miles total, and a top speed of 150mph and 0-60 in 3.9 seconds? The gasoline engine is a turbine (also used in jet engines). The Capstone CMT380. Specs (PDF). [more inside]
How about an 80 miles on battery, 500 miles total, and a top speed of 150mph and 0-60 in 3.9 seconds? The gasoline engine is a turbine (also used in jet engines). The Capstone CMT380. Specs (PDF). [more inside]
Does it include involuntary muscle spasms?
Patricia Bosshard and Simon Grab make music with the sounds from an MRI machine. For their project MRI Patricia Bosshard and Simon Grab use exclusively sound recordings from an MRI scanner (Magnet Resonance Imaging). In the tradition of the Musique Concrète they leave the raw material in its own radicality. The actual transformation is being achieved by layering these rich and complex sounds. You know you've thought about it.
Spam-a-little
Global spam email levels suddenly fall. The volume of email spam has been dropping for 5 months, but during the holidays fell below 25% of August 2010 levels. [more inside]
What a sticky situation
Something that I am still trying to get my head around - Honey Laundering is big business in the black market. [more inside]
Icky Leak
The French government today said it was the victim of an "economic war" after Renault, the partially state-owned car maker, suspended three top executives over suspected leaks of secret electric car technology.
The French industry minister, Eric Besson, told French radio: "The expression 'economic war', while often outrageous, is for once appropriate here." He said the case illustrated "the risks our companies face in terms of industrial espionage, and economic intelligence".
Morgan Fisher's Miniatures - The Blog
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his awesome abstract compilation album Miniatures, Morgan Fisher (of Mott the Hoople fame) has started going through the 51-track masterpiece from the beginning in, well, minute detail, updating readers on the current status of the featured band, providing relevant links, explaining his compilation process, and, of course, streaming each track. So far the first 7 tracks are featured, but start here with the bonus track added to the 1994 CD re-issue of Miniatures – "The Miniatures Miniature". [more inside]
Entartete Kunst
Born in Concrete; Canadian artist Derek Stenning creates grim, Soviet-inspired futuristic space posters. Blog; Flickr photostream.
Finding your very own superfox
Star Magazine ran for five issues in the spring and summer of 1973. Based in Los Angeles and directed at teenage girls, it covered rock stars, fashion ("How to get the rich hippie look"), dating advice ("How to get guys"), and interviews with such luminaries as Marc Bolan and Sally Struthers, as well as paeans to groupie life and getting your head together. All five issues have been scanned and uploaded for your viewing pleasure (once you get past the clunky interface and watermarks). Platform shoes recommended.
How to Meet Muslims: A (Cinematic) Primer
Read the Fucking HIG
He spent his days singing and drinking with the ladies and deflowering virgins
Phallus paintings and wood carvings were ubiquitous, like red chilies, all over Bhutan. But now they are fading as Bhutan undergoes prudish self-censorship They come in various sizes, color schemes and embellishments. Some have ribbons tied around them like jovial holiday presents. Others are coiled by daunting dragons. A few even have eyes. They typically feature hairy testicles, from the neatly trimmed to full-on Yeti-style. And, of course, all are fully erect.
“Oh, golly,” said an elderly woman visiting from Seattle, when she stepped off the bus in the Punakha valley and found herself surrounded by an alarming concentration of penis imagery, set against a magnificent Himalayan backdrop. [more inside]
"We raise rates only when absolutely necessary to pay the accelerating cost of medical care for our members"
Blue Shield of California seeks rate hikes of as much as 59% for individuals. 'Insurer says the increases result from fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws. The move comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39%.''Nearly 1 in 4 of the affected customers will see cumulative increases of more than 50% over five months.''Michael Fraser, a Blue Shield policyholder from San Diego, learned recently that his monthly bill would climb 59%, to $431 from $271.''Anthem's attempt to raise rates by up to 39% led to national outrage and helped President Obama marshal support for his healthcare overhaul. The insurer was ultimately forced to back down, accepting maximum rate hikes of 20%.' [more inside]
The Library Artist
"Book lovers, you can exhale. The printed, bound book has been given a stay of execution by an unlikely source: the design community."
Bibliotheca Corviniana
The library of King Matthias I of Hungary, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was "the second greatest collection of books in Europe in the Renaissance period, after that of the Vatican." Destroyed following the 15th century Turkish invasion of Hungary (despite the efforts of Matthias' vassal Vlad III the Impaler), a few surviving codices have been digitized by the National Széchényi Library and the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. [more inside]
Is that a lot?
Together, Slim, Gates, Buffett, and Ambani control more wealth than the world's poorest 57 countries. [more inside]
Lubricating Sincerity
"On GChat, I type many things – sincere and not – that I would never say in person because it’s easy, when typing certain things into a box, to forget whom you are typing to." From Thought Catalog, writer Caroline Bankoff lists 45 things she thinks about when she thinks about google's chat service. [more inside]
dragon whiskers candy, 16,000 honey strings
Dragon whiskers, honey skein, King's Dessert, Kkultarae, a Korean street vendor shows how to make 16.000 honey strings in two minutes. More looks at the making of this amazing candy, the wows of appreciation are worth waiting for and a close-up at the end. You can try making some yourself. What it tastes like. [more inside]
Canntaireachd
Canntaireachd is a Scottish oral tradition for the vocal imitation of the bagpipes, dating from the 16th Century or earlier. Canntaireachd `nonsense' words represent particular manner of articulation as well as pitch, and are used during instruction, to swap tunes between musicians, and during performance. Canntaireachd is a dying art, largely replaced by staff notation, but a few players are keeping it alive. [more inside]
Hammer of God
On cocksuckers and hoopleheads
The A.V. Club sits down with W. Earle Brown -- Deadwood's Dan Dority -- in a fascinating and far-ranging interview about his experiences on the show, and what could have been.
First of the Gang to Die?
Virtual Caving under Nottingham
The Nottingham Cave Survey is active program that is recording all of Nottingham's 450+ sandstone caves, using a laser scanner to capture 3D details of the caves. So far, there are over 100 clips on YouTube, most of them flythroughs into the caves. Many clips are short, some clocking under a minute, while others run over 10 minutes, such as the tour of the private Peel Street Caves (Rouse's Sand Mine [PDF]).
What else have you got in there? Chocolate rations? Boy Scout knife? Army-issue contraceptives?
Evil doers beware! An actual costumed avenger is patrolling the streets of Seattle. Maybe he'd like a few tips. Or maybe a few villians
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
Afraid of the dark?
The Torch, at 4100 lumens, may be the world's brightest handheld flashlight. It also lights fires. [more inside]
Dogs in costumes rotate as smooth jazz plays.
G.W. Little is a boutique for small dogs. They have a YouTube channel that showcases their wares in hypnotic film clips set to stock music: Spiderdog, Rocketdog, Firedog, Maddog, Doggula, Turkeydog, Ghostdog, Beedog, Frogdog. [more inside]
Of books and other MN Presidential politics.
So, last year Target set off a mini bruhaha by donating a wad of cash to fund advertisments for MN Republican Govonor candidate Tom Emmer. The Tea Party favorite subsequently went on to lose the race (narrowly) in one of the few bright spots for Democrats this past election season. Coincidentally, Target now is the recipient of (former) MN Governor, Tim Pawlenty's (R) new book (Courage to Stand) and released it a week early, trumping all other sellers. Although Pawlenty hasn't yet officially announced his candidacy the book tour is running through the early nomination states, despite his being near the bottom of the pack in GOP contenders.
Mind you, he is not the only Minnesotan looking to make a run at the top seat. [more inside]
A living document?
The incoming Republican majority in the US House of Representatives is right now reading the text of the Constitution on the House floor. Representatives chose to omit superceed portions of the text including The Three-Fifth Compromise
and Prohibition
Pre-authorization for mental health policy only lasted 5 days
If you are a BCBS IL PPO large group policy holder with mental health benefits, you probably received a letter stating you were required to obtain pre-authorization for your visits. By doing so this could subject you to a change in care, a denial of care, and/or limits in visits. But if you follow mental health laws, Federal law states that limits/pre-authorization should not apply if your core medical coverage does not require such hoops. Well that fight was won after 6 days. The preauthorization has been lifted.
Advance Market Commitments
Inducement Prizes -- Best known for the Ansari X Prize, the DARPA Grand Challenge and the Clay Mathematics Millennium Problems, inducement prizes have a long history, but their recent successes have led to increased government interest, viz. challenge.gov, and resulted in the development of vaccines, thanks in large part to the work of Michael Kremer.* [more inside]
Nothing uglier than a twisted smile
UBS Style Guide. A 43 page manual on style circulated around one of the world's biggest banks doesn't concern language but personal dress and grooming, including advice on neckerchiefs, make-up, and choices in underwear and alliums. Maybe they're taking advice from American Apparel.
Worst Librarian in the Galaxy
U.S. National Physical Activity Plan
The U.S. National Physical Activity Plan was released on May 12th, 2010. Similar plans are in place in several European countries (France, Switzerland, Sweden) and W. Australia. The Compendium of Physical Activities (older thread) categorizes energy expenditure levels of specific physical activities (yes, including sex, but I did not see that activity targeted in the US plan).
Getting a buzz on while you drive
Heading out for a drive this weekend? Live near Lake Biwa in Japan? Then head over the O-hashi ('Big Bridge') and sing along with the music your car will make as it runs over the 'Melody Road'. These attractions (distractions?) - created by carving ridges into the surface of the road, causing your tires to play 'music' - have popped up all over Japan in recent years (here's an English-language news clip on the phenomenon). But if you are a road engineer, and are thinking of perhaps making one of these, you had better do the math properly, something the engineers on a similar project for a Honda commercial spectacularly failed to do. (Analysis of what went wrong on this interesting blog post).
Mickey Mouse dice, "¡Come tus verduras!"
In the 1940's, Walt Disney Studios produced a series of animated public health films for distribution in South America. [more inside]
Smells like marine stewardship
Iconic 70s and 80s Americana
Richard Amsel was a Philadelphian artist who created original and iconic illustrations and paintings found on posters for several popular 1970s and 80s American movies, including Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, The Dark Crystal, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Sting. He also created unique artwork for TV Guide covers, as well as album cover art for Bette Midler and others. His Time cover featuring Lily Tomlin was added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Monster Brains
Ghastly ghouls in flaming color! Mutant spores! Sizzling suns! - a selection of classic horror movie posters.
she's got her own thing
An elderly woman, not famous, just someone on the street in Belarus, playing her own unique brand of blues. With a light bulb.
NexusClash (nee WIGBL)
A new Breath has begun for Nexus Clash, a reimplementation of the now-closed browser-based game Nexus War (prev), with extra skills and classes to play with. Gameplay is map-based PvP, inspired by the classic Urban Dead. [more inside]
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