June 12, 2011
Dizzying Highs and Terrifying Lows
"Internationally, the league has never been stronger: It's the only American sports league that attracts stars from every corner of the world. Digitally, the league has been light years ahead of everyone else, embracing the revolution and staying ahead of the curve with social media and video content. It's also spent the past two decades carefully (and successfully) selling mostly black players to a mostly white audience, an ongoing conundrum that nearly submarined the league in the late-'70s and early-'80s. Throw in a killer 2011 Finals and everything looks fantastic on paper … except for the part that the league is losing money." - Bill Simmons analyzes the NBA labor dispute for his new website, Grantland.
I am closing after the SB Thistle has passed upstream.
Where’s @towerbridge? Even for non-Londoners the account @towerbridge was a bit of "London flair" in their twitter stream. It was a bot mostly posting when the famous landmark opened and closed due to ships passing by, run by game designer Tom Armitage. Now it has been taken from him by Twitter and given to the official Tower Bridge museum, apparently on the basis of trademark infringement. Twitter users both in the UK and abroad are not happy.
How to replace 30 laptops (and $10,000) with 150 sheets of paper
How to replace 30 laptops (and $10,000) with 150 sheets of paper. A great little anecdote about why it’s important to think about how much computerization is needed to solve a problem. The comments on this story at Hacker News are interesting too.
Dictionary of oldest written language finally completed after 90 years.
90 years in the making, the 21-volume Chicago Assyrian Dictionary is finally complete. The full set is $1995, or free PDF downloads. If you can wait a little longer, the Chicago Hittite Dictionary will be complete in 2045 (begun in 1975), while the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary has no completion date. [more inside]
Universities condemn plagiarism. So it's kind of news when your Dean of Medicine does it at grad.
University of Alberta Dean of Medicine Philip Baker is so inspired that he plagiarizes graduation speech from one last year at Stanford. He claims only parts were not cited properly as inspiration while grads at the ceremony claim it was an outright lift.
The tip-off? "Velluvial matrix."
The U of A Guide to Plagiarism here for reference.
Groupon
Groupon: you're the product.
Udmurt Grannies
Buranovskie Babushki is a charming group of grannies from the village of Buranovo in Udmurtia, Russia who came one place away from being the national entry to last year's Eurovision with their crowd-pleasing folk number. Since then, they've been covering a few western classics in their native language. Here's a few: Yesterday; Venus; and Let it Be.
Kids like me gotta be crazy.
(TumblrFiltr): Have you checked out the new Brahms yet? Did you catch Saint-Saëns at the Grossherzogliches Theater last week? Then hie thee to Melophonic, "a collection of semi-historically accurate, rock concert-style posters for dead composers' original premiere dates."
I'm not quite certain who this space belongs to any more.
MySpace was once the big name in social networking, but things changed after being purchased by Newscorp in 2005. An investor group, fronted by Bobby Kotick of Activision, is in talks to buy the beleaguered social network, after several false starts from other interested parties. Want to feel old? A trending topic at Twitter (#WhenIHadAMySpace) has users reminiscing fondly (and not so fondly) about thesite.
Transparent Things
Iori Tomita: New World Transparent Specimens "If you’re a fish, Iori Tomita can see right through you. Or at least he can after he’s worked you over in his lab. A lifelong fisherman who studied ichthyology as an undergrad, the Japanese artist uses marine life he receives from fellow fishermen to create what he calls New World Transparent Specimens—sea creatures that have been transformed into DayGlo shells of their former selves. He first saw a sample of a fish that had been turned transparent at a university lecture six years ago, and since then he has used the same preservation technique to make thousands of hypercolored cadavers, which he sells at the Tokyu Hands department store."
Talking Thrillers
Listen to a conversation between legendary American crime novelist Raymond Chandler and James Bond inventor Ian Fleming recorded by the BBC in 1958. The talk ranges from Mafia hits to the nature of villainy to the difference between English and American thriller.
There is no cabal.
Deep in the heart of Switzerland there is a small gathering of individuals taking place.
Thats right Bilderberg is here again and so is the Guardians Charlie Skelton seeing an elected Swiss official get denied entry.
It is a meeting of those who control a huge section of the world's economy with minimum news coverage and near zero transparency.
"I don't have to tell you, and you don't need to know."
Here are some previous New World Order quotes. (Previously 2004 and 2002).
Thats right Bilderberg is here again and so is the Guardians Charlie Skelton seeing an elected Swiss official get denied entry.
It is a meeting of those who control a huge section of the world's economy with minimum news coverage and near zero transparency.
"I don't have to tell you, and you don't need to know."
Here are some previous New World Order quotes. (Previously 2004 and 2002).
Placeholder Images
Lorem Pixum — A placeholder image generator for web and print designers for any size or topic. Speed up your workflow during the development process.
"Bigotry is ugly. It is especially ugly when it poses as virtue."
Rights And Reactions: Lesbian & Gay Rights On Trial is a 1987 documentary about the culmination in 1986 of the struggle to pass "Intro 2", the New York City "Gay Rights Bill", which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in matters of housing, employment, and public accommodation. Made by Phil Zwickler and Jane Lippman, it is available in 3 Quicktime segments: Part 1 (22m), Part 2 (19m), Part 3 (16m). Total running time: 56m. [more inside]
If you don't like the conversation, change it
It's either really smart, or really stupid. Perhaps some genius in an advertising agency thought took the phrase "there are no stupid questions" to heart and decided to launch it as the new mantra for Diesel Jeans - Be Stupid. [more inside]
Being able to write is like being the pretty girl at the party
David Mamet discusses free-market economists, studying Kaballah, Aristotle's conception of drama, Tennessee William's expensive habit, and his love for Sarah Palin. Oh, and his HBO movie about Phil Spector (whom he believes is innocent). Previously, previously, and previously.
100% Cows Milk
The two year long saga of how McDonalds engineered the perfect cottage cheese filet for the McSpicy Paneer burger. McD has a turbulent history in India where its processes, practices and products, successfully developed over decades, have been turned upside down and redesigned, often from scratch. [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »