February 23, 2012
The Fabulous Screech
"You are invited to the fantastically flamboyant final performance of The Fabulous Screech and His Trained Humans." A whimsical, surreal, and surprisingly touching little point-and-click game from the maker of The Book of Living Magic and Infinite Ocean (previously and previouslier).
Democracy -- We Deliver
"Still, I'm willing to bet that future generations will look back on the period between 2006 and 2008 as the real turning point. Here was the moment when what remained of the American Century ran out of steam and ground to a halt. More specifically, when Bush gave up on victory in Iraq (thereby abandoning expectations of U.S. military power transforming the Greater Middle East) and when the Great Recession brought the U.S. economy to its knees (the consequences of habitual profligacy coming home to roost), Luce's formulation lost any resemblance to reality."--Andrew Bacevich on how "The American Century Is Over—Good Riddance"
Satellite views of the world's largest slums
Y Kant Sammy J Read
Sessions at West 54th aired for a few years on American public television in the late 1990s, featuring live sets and interviews with musicians. The February 1999 show featured Tori Amos as the guest, performing both solo and with a band. David Byrne, who had himself previously performed, both hosted and interviewed Tori about her music, her life, and her work as co-founder of RAINN. Full setlists from both performances and David Byrne's sartorial wonders inside. [more inside]
Nie ufaj nikomu przez 30 lat.
Piotr Czerski sets out a Polish manifesto demanding respect for the internet generation (translated from the original Polish) that is reminiscent of a Eastern European addition to previous internet manifestos. Poland is somewhere this has definite roots however, with a recent anti-ACTA protest of over 10,000 people and legislators wear anon masks in parliament.
Kermit?
Strictly Beautiful
It was this post about clockwork paper jewelry that lead me to the blog, Strictly Paper. But there are so many amazing things here.
Two whole stand-up shows and a story album by Daniel Kitson
Two whole stand-up performances by comedian Daniel Kitson can be downloaded on a pay-what-you-want basis (even if you want to pay nothing). These are the 2004 and 2005 Edinburgh performances (2004 performance previously on MeFi). Kitson has also recorded a story album with musician Gavin Osborn, selling for ₤2.50, and the first three tracks, of eleven, can be streamed online. [via The Bugle]
The last 200 members of their tribe
Funny that I'm linking to Huffington Post (uffington horse?) and not the other way around...
But this blog post about the last members of the Maijuna tribe in the Amazon is amazing.
This stuff is for dancing, and not for analysis.
horse_ebooks' creator revealed
the previously discussed horse_ebooks twitter spambot/oracle creator has been tracked down by gawker
But it's a hell of a place!
A walk through Białowieża Forest. Białowieża Forest is a primeval (old-growth) forest on the border of Poland and Belarus, first set aside as a preserve for wisent (European bison) in 1638. [more inside]
Flying squid
In 2010 from the deck of a cruise ship along the coast of Brazil, amateur photographer and retired geologist Bob Hulse snapped some high-resolution photographs of something unusual leaping from the sea: what appears to be dozens of squid propelling themselves through the air and at incredible speeds. Quite possibly the first time the impressive display had ever been caught on film. Researchers had suspected for sometime that squid can sometimes leave the water's surface. A 2004 study by University of Miami researchers collect six such sightings, but because the paper included no photographs or video clips its evidence was largely anecdotal. Documented instances of flying squid remained frustratingly rare. [more inside]
Nicely Timed on Valentine's Day
Have you ever wanted to read a famous correspondence between famous poets? No doubt you have heard of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning and their secret correspondence and marriage, which led directly to Elizabeth Barrett being disinherited. Now you can read those letters, released digitally on February 14, 2012. [more inside]
Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights
"The Obama Administration today unveiled a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights as part of a comprehensive blueprint to protect individual privacy rights and give users more control over how their information is handled." Full 62-page PDF - Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy.
"In addition, advertising networks announced that leading Internet companies and online advertising networks are committing to act on Do Not Track technology in most major web browsers to make it easier for users to control online tracking. Companies that represent the delivery of nearly 90 percent of online behavioral advertisements, including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL have agreed to comply when consumers choose to control online tracking. Companies that make this commitment will be subject to FTC enforcement." [more inside]
"If I Could Fly, You Know That I'd Try"
Google StreetView For The Ocean
The Catlin Seaview Survey is using panoramic cameras to take interactive photographic journeys of the world's most spectacular (and endangered) oceanic environments, starting with Australia's Great Barrier Reef. [more inside]
It's the way I told 'em
Never Too Early
Never Too Early Movie Predictions: "Quite possibly the earliest Oscar predictions on the web. Predictions are currently being made through 2017!"
Fishing Without Nets
"There are two ways to fish, with nets or without. But if I fish with violence, will my nets be full of blood?" Fishing Without Nets is a short film about Somali pirates from their point of view, which won the recent Sundance Jury Prize in short filmmaking. The film will tour film festivals, and may be worked into a feature-length film. Writer/ producer/ editor Cutter Hodierne told his story of filming in Kenya to Vice. [more inside]
“She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid.”
Assembling the Millennium Falcon in Lego, using stop motion animated by 3d software took Francisco Prieto three years to complete, but the results are amazing.
The Death of Drinky Crow
After almost 20 years of print publication, six bound collections and two animated series, Tony Millionaire announced today that MAAKIES -- the surreal pen-and-ink adventures of Drinky Crow & Uncle Gabby -- has been cancelled. [more inside]
You are locked in a shanty of escape games. Please escape from this place.
The Shanty of Escape Games - Starting with Escape From The Smoking Room in November 2010, the Shanty Of Escape Games has published escape-the-room style short puzzle games with astonishing regularity, releasing at least two per month. Test your wits and escape from the Room with Baumkuchen, the Mansion with Traps, or the Mid-sized Banquet Hall! [more inside]
Gingerlocks
The Prize - a two minute clip/trailer from Pixar’s Brave. You can also see some lovely production art and sculptures here.
Who owns the State NOW?
Air-capture startups
Three startup companies led by prominent scientists are working on new technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These scientists have launched start-up companies and attracted well-to-do investors — most notably Bill Gates — along with venture capital and, most recently, the attention of Wall Street. [more inside]
Somebody set up us the [fork] bomb
Stripe, a company that processes credit cards for web apps, decided to play a security wargame called Capture the Flag where you are given a logiin and password for a server and are invited to use your hacking abilities to gain access to accounts with increasing access and authorization. People who beat the server and "capture the flag" at /home/the-flag/.password are invited to contact the company for bragging rights and a T-shirt. Just one problem: the hacking game has been hacked, with something called a fork bomb. [more inside]
Swedish movies, naturally...
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so [deprecated]
Adobe has partnered with Google to develop PPAPI, codename "Pepper", a modern API for browser plugins. New versions of Adobe Flash will be released only as part of Google Chrome for the Linux platform. The last version of the Flash plugin for mobile browsers will be 11.1, according to the newest Flash roadmap, released today.
The Failure of Judges and the Rise of Regulators
The Control Revolution And Its Discontents - "the long process of algorithmisation over the last 150 years has also, wherever possible, replaced implicit rules/contracts and principal-agent relationships with explicit processes and rules."
Our Black Year.
"So I'm literally walking around and talking to people, "Is there a black-owned restaurant, or a black-owned dry cleaner?" and folks are looking at me like I'm insane. And if I didn't know this, I'm sure that folks outside the black community don't have this as part of their reality or part of their picture for black America. When we talk about black people, the black situation, problems in the black community, you know, we start with, "Black kids are least likely to graduate from school; black unemployment is four times higher than the national average," all these numbers. But why can't we include that over 90 percent of businesses in the black community are not owned by black people or local residents? If we were to add that to the conversation, maybe folks would say, "Oh, well no wonder things are so bad there," and start thinking about things in a different way instead of allowing those awful numbers to be a reflection of our propensities. Why is it that my people are just supposed to be the perpetual consumer class, and everyone else is supposed to benefit from our money?"
Early to bed, early to rise
Adults needing 8 consecutive hours of sleep every night is a common, generally unquestioned bit of medical wisdom that we are all familiar with. Is it really true?
"You don’t defeat terrorists by adopting their tactics" - Del. Bob Marshall
"The legislative goal of HB1160 is to codify in Virginia law noncompliance with...section 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA)." [more inside]
The Minds Behind the Meltdown
Blame it on the ADD
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