April 21, 2010
Prime numbers are just the beginning.
Every number from 1 to 9,999 has a special meaning. (much mathematical terminology, scrolling)
10 Rules for Dealing with Police
1. Always be calm and cool. 2. You have the right to remain silent. 3. You have the right to refuse searches... 10 Rules for Dealing with Police. [more inside]
A Music Video at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge" is considered "one of the most widely read, widely anthologized, widely taught, and widely admired short stories in all of American literature." As well as TVTropes' earliest example of [SPOILER] a Dying Dream. An Oscar and Cannes award winning short film was made from the story, "La Rivière du hibou" that was aired on American TV as an episode of "The Twilight Zone" (part one, two, three). Since then, it has been read by 'Front Porch Al' on the CBC's "As It Happens", and been the basis of umpteen other short films. Recently, the original film was 'mashed up' with Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick", and now the story has gotten the full Music Video treatment, for the (not really related) song "Unlovable" by Babybird, directed by Johnny Depp. [more inside]
Would you tell him your story for $10?
Giving away $10 every day to a different stranger for a year isn't as easy as it sounds, but Reed Sandridge is attempting to do just that, for a project he's calling "The Year of Giving." He then documents their stories and what they plan to do with the money on his blog. [more inside]
The one place on earth where John Wayne could call Kirk Douglas "my love"
Watching Westerns in Iran: True Dub is a short reminiscence of watching John Wayne movies (among other things) dubbed into Farsi. From Bidoun Magazine. Discovered via Unte Reader, which has the slightly condensed version between its covers this month.
"What do we want? English! When do we want it? Now!"
"Yes, we want" -- Who owns global English? Post on The Web of Language by Dennis Barron, Professor of English and Linguistics at the University of Illinois. Barron writes about the linguistic control of English playing out on the global stage. Included among the topics is the perception of "error" and Engrish.
(Previously)
I think it's time for debate.
CSS and JS - so now you know
CSS Tips I Wish I Knew When I First Started - Seven JavaScript Things I Wish I Knew Much Earlier In My Career
Total Protection ... from a usable computer
McAfee's latest DAT update quarantined the svchost.exe file on millions (or maybe 800,000) of corporate Windows XP systems, rendering them inoperable (sort of).
Unsung Heroine
Dorothy Height, civil rights pioneer, died yesterday at the age of 98. Height was a pioneer for both African Americans and women. Her list of achievements is impressive and daunting. More recently, she spoke in favor of same sex parenting. Here is a slideshow of images of her groundbreaking life.
I Can See Your House From Here
It was ever thus, wrestling with the gods.
The Wolf At Our Heels. The centuries-old struggle to play in tune, and the battle between equal temperaments and historical tunings.
From the esteemed (almost) publisher of Atlanta Nights
The antics of print-on-demand publisher PublishAmerica have been covered here before, but it seems they've reached a new low: using Haiti quake relief to get authors to buy more copies of their own books. [more inside]
Charles Ain't No Longer in Charge
1980s sitcom actor Scott Baio (who considers himself a 'Conservative' and a Constitutionalist'), along with his wife, has sparked an awkward battle with the website Jezebel. "Earlier this month, Mr. Charles in Charge released unto the interwebs a right-leaning tweet about finishing his taxes. Amused, the good ladies over at Jezebel included his missive in their daily roundup of ridiculous things celebrities say (in 140 characters or less). So far, so good, right? Wrong. You see, Jezebel did not include all the self-serving positive messages Baio sent out, and that, it appears, caused an irreparable rift in the Facebook-Twitter continuum. Enter wife Renee Baio..." [more inside]
Mad Man Mad Men? Namor sleeps with the fishes?
Can't get enough of the Darwyn Cooke New Frontier aesthetic? Etsy artist "Roganjosh" offers more midcentury modern superhero posters. (Mostly Marvel, though.)
like little beepers
Following Pennsylvania's lead, Georgia is poised to ban the involuntary implantation of microchips into people. With SB235 passing both the state house and senate, it is now up to Governor Sonny Perdue to sign it into law (or reveal that he's in the pocket of Big Microchip). The transcript of testimony before the house in favor of this legislation is truly eye-opening. Rachel Maddow had it re-enacted on her show.
Break the Fall
MINDS ON THE EDGE: Facing Mental Illness is a multi-platform media project that explores severe mental illness in America. The one-hour television program zeros in on wrenching and confounding situations that are playing out every day in homes and hospital ERs, on city streets and school campuses, in courtrooms and in jails, as Americans struggle with the challenges of severe mental illness.
The distinguished panel includes U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Nobel Prize winning neurologist Eric Kandel, along with attorneys, doctors, legislators and other experts in the field. Several of the panelists have personal, as well as professional experience, in living with mental illness.
A Fred Friendly Seminar.
Time traveller spotted in 40s photo
The Reopening of the South Fork Bridge after flood in Nov. 1940. But some point at the chap on the right of this photo, and ask - what era did he come from? With his snazzy hooded sweater, sunglasses, stamped t-shirt and compact camera, he looks like he doesn't fit somehow.... An error level analysis suggests that it's not Photoshopped, but Forgetomori goes through the image in detail, pointing out how nothing he's wearing is technically out of time.
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