March 4, 2010
Book Design
In the United States, “we tend to want to use every inch, to fill; up with color, and to get it to do as much as it can do. Everything here is bigger, more commercial, more targeted to sell and to advertise. In Europe, the covers are geared to look more like the way they dress: very simple. Their use of negative space goes along with the theory of less is more." [more inside]
Civilization - I destroy it to feel like - I'm a part of you
Godzilla Haiku. That is all.
*jazz hands*
Can't Stop Punching
The World's Most Action Packed Action Movie. [via: everythingisterrible] Warning: Some of the scenes might be upsetting. NSFW [more inside]
Itty Bitty City Committee
Papa needs a new appropriations bill!
Missouri is facing a state budget deficit, much like many other states. One state representative has come up with an interesting possible solution to Missouri's financial woes: the Powerball Lottery. Missouri HB 2131 would deduct $2 twice a month to purchase a Powerball ticket with any winnings being placed in "Governor Nixon's Scratch-off, Match-off Fund."
The Salvador Dali of the Next Century
Flooding in Uganda
Flooding in Uganda displaces 20,000.
Heavy rains in eastern Uganda have triggered flooding that has displaced more than 20,000 people and hampered search efforts to find victims of massive landslides feared to have killed hundreds, officials said Thursday.
Welcome to Google, Kansas.
"For the month of March 2010, the city of Topeka will be known as Google, Kansas." Mayor Bill Bunten says the proclamation is an attempt to stand out from the crowd, as cities around the United States have until March 26 to tell Google they're interested in participating in the Fiber for Communities program, part of the company's recently announced plans to build a series of superfast broadband networks across the country [previously on MetaFilter]. Other cities are trying to get Google's attention, but Duluth, Minnesota, has upped the ante by pledging to name its firstborn sons "Google Fiber" and its firstborn daughters "Googlette Fiber" in a video [YouTube, 3:34] spoofing Topeka's efforts.
Sock it to me
Antique sock knitting machines are seeing a resurgence in popularity, and so is knitting socks by hand. You can knit them on needles that are double-pointed or circular, one sock at a time or both at once. [more inside]
Japan Airlines
Apparently, bankrupcy isn't the only thing Japan Air Lines is fighting. The flight stewardess' uniform black market...
Anatomy of a rumor
Chief Justice Roberts is not resigning. But here's why you might have heard that he was.
Too big to fail?
SFPD's new chief, George Gascon, is reportedly considering putting an end to Critical Mass, the group cycling event that occurs the last Friday of every month. There has been speculation, after a January ruling that New York City can force groups of 50 people or more on bicycles to get a parade permit, that similar action may be taken in San Francisco. Critical Mass appears unworried. (Previously)
Putting the Fun in Fundraising
"What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate...?" it asks.
The answer: "Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”
Confidential RNC fundraising presentation leaked (the strategy will not suprise you).
She's 69 years old and she is a fuckin' great DJ.
Behind the decks at Queen, the biggest and brashest nightclub in Paris, the DJ lifts her arms to the heavens.
Braaaaaains
“Animal brains have to be illegal, They’re a gateway to human brains.” - Those Below, short fiction by horror writer Jeremy C. Shipp.
Final Stage Boss Battle with Infant Mortality
Ever wondered what would happen if all those people playing Farmville and Mafia Wars were trying to save the world instead? Enter Urgent Evoke, "a ten week crash course in changing the world," designed by Jane McGonigal (who previously designed World without Oil) for the World Bank Institute. Players take on tasks like the UN Millennium Development Goals. Wanna play? [more inside]
Not yet an Olympic sport
Irish Road bowling traces its origins to the 1600s. The idea of the sport is simple: players compete to roll a 28-ounce iron ball (or "bowl") along a country road, covering a pre-set distance in as few throws as possible. Hotbeds of the sport include Ireland (of course), West Virginia, New York, Vermont, Michigan, North Carolina, the Netherlands (where it is called "klootshieten" and is played with somewhat different rules), and Germany (another variant called Boßeln). [more inside]
Full belly achieved!
Put a shirt on that!
Put some clothes on that snow-woman, say police. Folks passing through Rahway, NJ last weekend were treated to a sculpture of a snow-nude, and, shortly thereafter, a lovely bikini-and-sarong affair. [previously]
Go on, us!
Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, long nicknamed the "Lavender Lake" for its copious oil slicks, has gained a new title : Superfund Site. New Yorkers respond with really cool photography. While some developers bow out in light of the recent news, other area developers, hoping for a speedy cleanup of the industrial waste and, uh ... other things ... vow to continue their plans to revitalize the formerly-industrial corridor.
Investment Green is People!
Kjerstin Erickson is a 26-year-old Stanford graduate. Would you like to own 6% of her?
Zakumi's game is Fair Play
The paradinha is a devastating penalty kick tactic popularized by Pelé in the 1970s, and increasingly adopted by Brazilian players. This week soccer's primary governing organization, FIFA, will discuss the maneuver as it prepares for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
As the Wall Street Journal [print version] explains:
The paradinha (pronounced par-a-JEEN-ya) is performed on a penalty kick by the shooter, who pauses unexpectedly before striking the ball—or even swings his foot through the air several times—before making contact. It's designed to throw off the goalkeeper's timing. When executed properly, the move can have jaw-dropping results. [more inside]
Arabian Goggles?
Kitra Cahana Photography.
Kitra Cahana's Photography. Some shockingly good photographs.
The President Giveth and the Congress Taketh Away
Frustrated with congress' inability or unwillingness to pass comprehensive greenhouse gas regulation legislation and bolstered by a Supreme Court decision upholding the EPA's power to regulate greenhouse gases under the existing authority of the Clean Air Act, President Obama early in his term reversed the Bush administration's position and extended power to the EPA to do the job, partly to provide congressional Democrats with extra leverage to push for a meaningful deal. Fellow Democrat Jay Rockefeller (who recently drew progressive ire by announcing he wouldn't support a push to include the public option during the HCR budget reconciliation process) has helpfully just introduced a bill that would take the power to regulate greenhouse gases away from the EPA yet again.
Do not swallow your moral code in tablet form.
The New Ten Commandments by Christopher Hitchens The Ten Commandments were set in stone, but it may be time for a re-chisel. With all due humility, the author takes on the job, pruning the ethically dubious, challenging the impossible, and rectifying some serious omissions. [more inside]
Queen of steaks?
Watch out, Pat’s, Geno’s, Steve’s and Jim’s. A new woman on the block wants to bust up the cheesesteak boys’ club. Espionage? Stakeouts? All is fair in love and chessesteaks.
trololololololololololo
Unendlicher Spass
The Mistake on Page 1,032: On Translating Infinite Jest into German. "'The limits of my language are the limits of my world,' Ulrich Blumenbach quotes Wittgenstein as saying in a Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article to describe the challenges and inducements of the six years he spent translating David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest (Unendlicher Spass) into German — something he did without input from the author, who refused to speak to him." [more inside]
'A slice of bread seems an unimportant thing.....'
$5 to overthrow the US government
There is a law in South Carolina that forces any subversive organization to register before the Secretary of State. Penalties for refusing to do so include a fine for up to $25,000 and 10 years imprisonment. You can download the form here. [more inside]
Chickens in the Road - farm blog
How corporations help governments spy on their people
How Nokia helped Iran "persecute and arrest" dissidents is a short article from Ars Technica that neatly summarizes how Nokia allowed Iran to arrest protestors and how corporations become involved in deals like these.
World hunger and the locavores
How Locavores Could Save the World (All Things Considered)
The latest yuppie craze could do more than just cut emissions -- it might also help feed the poor: "Monocultures are naturally prone to disastrous outbreaks of disease, which can wipe out an entire crop... people think of the locavores as solving a luxury problem of how to eat healthier and more delicious food in rich countries, and they're not asking whether they have anything to teach with respect to big questions like world hunger. That might be changing." (previously)
The latest yuppie craze could do more than just cut emissions -- it might also help feed the poor: "Monocultures are naturally prone to disastrous outbreaks of disease, which can wipe out an entire crop... people think of the locavores as solving a luxury problem of how to eat healthier and more delicious food in rich countries, and they're not asking whether they have anything to teach with respect to big questions like world hunger. That might be changing." (previously)
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Prime time, free-to-air documentary on Australia's government owned TV station causes a bit of a flap. Censorship of the labia minora in "lads mags" blamed for negative body image issues in young ladies and the significant increase in labiaplasties. [links contain NSFW words, and a NSFW link to the program]
137 Years of Popular Science, Online, Free.
Need some light reading? Popular Science has put its entire 137-year catalog online for free.
Anger. Fear. Agression. Pain.
US Spaced. (SLYT)
« Previous day | Next day »