October 29, 2013
The Logic of Stupid Poor People
"If you are poor, why do you spend money on useless status symbols like handbags and belts and clothes and shoes and televisions and cars? One thing I’ve learned is that one person’s illogical belief is another person’s survival skill."
Yes It's True, The Videos
Since releasing their 4th full-length album in early August, The Polyphonic Spree has been quietly unleashing videos on the unsuspecting populace. Raise Your Head is the most recent. [more inside]
It's a Halloween miracle!
The Typing of the Dead (previously), in which players blast their way through waves of the undead by passing typing challenges on a PC keyboard, has been hailed as one of the strangest games ever made. And today, the world's foremost typists-versus-zombies simulator shockingly rose from its grave, as Sega released The Typing of the Dead: Overkill to Steam without so much as a press release to spoil the surprise. [more inside]
The Annual Halloween Horde of Horrible Happenings
Mid-19th C. terrors, ca. 1840-1865: short fiction selected for the occasion by Miriam Burstein, a.k.a. The Little Professor, an expert on 19th C. British literature (especially including "lost" but formerly popular religious novels). [more inside]
GhostFood
"From a street-parked GhostFood truck, Simun and Songster and their team of trained staff will be serving a menu of three items, each of which conjures up a future dining experience for a food whose supply is currently threatened by climate change. " // "Its menu offers a curious collection of substitutes for potentially endangered foods: artificial recreations of chocolate, cod, and peanut butter." // "Pop one of the placebos--or “edible textural substitutes”--in your mouth and enjoy."
Against all odds, my gigantic ego continues to attempt greatness
In case you didn't know, Allie "Hyperbole and a Half" Brosh has a book coming out. And Salon have evilly published a sneak preview excerpt of it. They also have an interview with Brosh, in which she talks about writing, stand-up comedy and made-up words. Like psssssp. Go read the interview.
Music Is The Shorthand Of Emotion
Mother sings, baby reacts. [SLYT]
Target: 1 billion stars
The European Space Agency will be launching the Gaia Mission on December 12 It's mission? To get high res pics of 100 billion stars. But that is only the beginning of the coolness of the Gaia mission. It will have two telescopes projecting onto a single camera's CCD. The heat shield that protects the instruments will also generate power for the telescope. And it's destination is L2.
But is that an American billion or a European billion? What? I don't know that! ...ahhh!
Ban the Box, the Private Edition
Target Bans the Box. Target Corp., one of the nation's largest employers, joins the growing number of cities and states to Ban the Box. Most Ban the Box legislation has been targeted towards public employers and contractors, but there has been a growing trend to enact legislation applicable to private employers, including in Target's home-state Minnesota. Target is one of the few private employers to take the step, and as far as I can tell, the largest yet. [more inside]
"If you truly want to unwind, a cargo ship trip is just the ticket."
Pirates of the Indian Ocean, thieves in the Red Sea and Egyptian bazaars on the Suez Canal: Travelling from Malaysia to Germany with cargo ship MV Hatsu Courage.
You'll find I'm full of surprises
Drone Of The Dead
"A free public domain version of Fantasia is far too expensive"
“Hold a live Puppy constantly on the Belly.”
In the late 1740s, John Wesley—a British evangelist and the co-founder of Methodism—published Primitive Physick, or, An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. The tome gave regular people ways to cure themselves, using items they could find in their own homes. - Here are some of his suggested home remedies.
Never Saw It Coming
New information from a very old brain
Some sites are calling this the oldest brain found. However, there have been other finds and at least one major site in Florida that holds older remains. The trick now is to extract DNA and information that can aid in medical advances.
Free Palgrave Pivots
Hey, scholars, academics, and assorted geeks: Palgrave MacMillan is offering their first 100 Palgrave Pivots (midlength academic writings from around 25,000 to 50,000 words) for free until 11/1 at 1:00 p.m. GMT. Go!
Single, my glass.
A consignment of Literature goes forth to all parts of the World.
In 1925, the Federation of British Industry created a series of silent films meant to document various aspects of British industrial work being done at the time. Included in that series was a film on the work of Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press and the Making of a Book. (SilentLinkYouTube)
"Good luck", replied the demonic game board
Feng Zhu's concept art and digital art tutorials
Feng Zhu is a concept artist who has worked with a number of big name movies and video games, and has opened a design school in Singapore. With the general background out of the way, here's his website with hundreds if vivid pieces of concept art to stimulate your brain (*cough cough*NaNoWriMo*cough cough*), and a long list of free tutorial videos that have been included in at least one list of best free digital painting tutorials. [more inside]
What's He Building In There?
San Francisco's Bay Barge Mystery "Something big and mysterious is rising from a floating barge at the end of Treasure Island, a former Navy base in the middle of San Francisco Bay." And now one has showed up in a Maine harbor. Update from C|Net News.
Bras in Space
Bras in Space: The Incredible True Story Behind Upcoming Film "Spacesuit"
When we think of the Apollo 11 moon landing, what do we think of? President Kennedy’s bold vision. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s heroism (unfortunately we rarely think about Command Module Pilot Michael Collins). Perhaps we even think of the incredible engineers, rocket scientists, astrophysicists and all the other geniuses at NASA who made it possible. Now we want you to think about your grandma’s bra.[more inside]
A different sort of Cap
nos gusta lo que hacemos
Everything you think you know about salsa music is BS. The truth is: Orquesta el Macabeo [more inside]
It knocks like a swearing finger
"The problem was that my colleague spoke in Dutch expressions haphazardly translated into his own unique English versions.
The result was a trail of bizarrely strung together words that senselessly hung in the air and required my constant nod and smile of approval/understanding. Many a mornings were spent hearing about cows being pulled out of ditches, tall tulips getting their heads chopped off and monkeys (yes, monkeys!)." -- It may you the sausage be, but translating Dutch expressions into stonecoal English is just one of the many things Dutch people like. (Previously, on Sinterklaas.) [more inside]
The result was a trail of bizarrely strung together words that senselessly hung in the air and required my constant nod and smile of approval/understanding. Many a mornings were spent hearing about cows being pulled out of ditches, tall tulips getting their heads chopped off and monkeys (yes, monkeys!)." -- It may you the sausage be, but translating Dutch expressions into stonecoal English is just one of the many things Dutch people like. (Previously, on Sinterklaas.) [more inside]
But it is hard for Ben to take the long view.
I Married A Jew. Published January 1, 1939 in the Atlantic.
You can't outrun a GPS receiver.
Police firing GPS tracking 'bullets' at cars during chases. The GPS Launcher sits behind the grille of a police vehicle and deploys tracking tags onto fleeing vehicles. The launcher is activated by a control panel (located inside the vehicle) or by a remote key FOB. The launcher, containing two tags, is activated by a control panel (located inside the vehicle) or by a remote key FOB. The system also includes an on-board air compressor. Installation required. Starchase: The Pursuit Ends Here.
Life is mostly froth and bubble
If regular coffee bores you and you are looking for something more with your caffeine boost in the morning, you should probably look no further than Kohei Matsuno's unique style of 3D coffee art (via)
Welcome to the world of Achewood Court...
"For a decade and more, every waking hour of my life involved Achewood, trying to make Achewood great, trying to repeatedly find that elusive twist or beat or turn of phrase that defined it, to raise the bar I felt I'd set, every goddamned day..."Here comes a special boy: 'Achewood' is back, but TV isn't ready - The Verge on Achewood's recent revival, the animated incarnation, and Onstad's personal struggles.
Why Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment Isn’t in My Textbook
Three months ago, Psychology Today blogger Susan Krauss Whitbourne posted an essay entitled The Rarely Told Story of Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment. I eagerly read it in the hope that it would reveal some heretofore relatively unknown truth about this famous experiment. But, in fact, the essay is simply a summary--a well written one--of the experiment that takes at face value Phillip Zimbardo’s and his colleagues’ conclusions. In the introduction to the essay, Whitbourne states that the experiment is “Depicted in movies, television and of course all introductory psych textbooks…” It’s true that Zimbardo’s experiment is one of the two or three most famous experiments in the history of psychology. But it’s not true that it’s depicted in all introductory psychology textbooks. I’m the author of one such textbook (which is now in it’s 6th edition and is used in many colleges and universities). One of the questions I’m frequently asked about the book by professors who teach from it is, “Why don’t you include Zimbardo’s prison experiment, like all other textbook authors do?”Here’s why, the results of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment have a trivial explanation. See also, The lie of the Stanford Prison Experiment [more inside]
Days of Future OH MY GOD THIS IS AWESOME
Legophone (no actual lego involved)
Google/Motorola unveil new modular phone idea. This is a partnership with the the Phoneblocks people, which was generally not well received when we last discussed the idea.
A Pledge to My Readers
I’ve always written high-quality sentences, prepared with the finest grammatical ingredients. In the coming year, I’m raising the bar even higher: I’ll be offering only artisanal words, locally grown, hand-picked, minimally processed, organically prepared, and sustainably packaged... - by Michael Erard, reprinted at Medium
Zombie Story
Zombie Story is an imgur album about the uncanny similarities between Pixar's Toy Story movies and AMC's zombie apocalypse interpersonal drama The Walking Dead. [more inside]
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