March 31, 2010
Google Translate for Animals
That would be cheating!
Am I Fool #One?
Steel Mouse Pads
Wobble Those Legs with Mr. Scruff!
You might have noticed his work in the collection of Windows 7 sample media, alongside a koala, penguins and a jellyfish, a piano tune and a version of Debussy's "Maid with the Flaxen Hair", or maybe his ditties got you tapping your toes in a video game. Perhaps you met him at his tea shop in Manchester (Google Streetview), home to his own line of organic teas. Maybe you know him for his marathon mixsets, running four, five, six, or almost seven hour long. You might know him as Andy Carthy, but it's a bit more likely you've already heard something of Mr. Scruff. [more inside]
Anyone, Anyone?
How Guitar Hero Makes Rock Better
Backstage with the Audio of Guitar Hero 5: The Guitar Hero series of games has attracted the attention of the audiophile set before, with one prominent sound engineer even claiming that the Guitar Hero version of Metallica's Death Magnetic is measurably superior to the version the group released through it's label. Well, if you've ever wondered how it's done, here's a detailed explanation from one of the guys who does it. [more inside]
Games are jerks.
For April Fool's Day, Wired's Game|Life goes over some of the meanest tricks games have done to their players. (note: spoilers)
"[21:15] {Hondo} Enigmatic Mapper Hondo is the title of the anime about me"
Apparently, a lot of the custom maps for the Half-Life 1 mod Action Half-Life (download links here), especially those done by enigmatic mapper Hondo, had enormous hidden areas that in some cases dwarfed the actual level.
Rock Paper Shotgun has a NGJ-style account of an effort by a group of people to unlock the secrets of one of Hondo's most infamous maps: AHL_5AM.
My dear friend
"If you're not swinging, he's gonna make you swing."
Guitar legend Les Paul once said of the good humored, generally accessible guitar great Herb Ellis "If you're not swinging, he's gonna make you swing. Of the whole bunch of guys who play hollow-body guitar... I think Herb Ellis has got the most drive." R.I.P to the smooth player, and sometime standards composer, who was pianist Oscar Peterson's "rhythm section" from 1953 to 1958, dead of Alzheimer's, at 88.
If you can meditate in NYC, you can meditate anywhere.
How to Meditate in the NYC Subway System: The Interdependence Project brings a combination of "meditation, performance art, and activism" to the tunnel between Times Square/42nd Street and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Last year's Sit Down, Rise Up event involved a 24 hour meditation marathon in display windows at 19th and Broadway. (via The Worst Horse)
Exploring an Abandoned Hotel in Southern California
The Wire writer David Mills dead at 48
I Wanted to Believe
Declassified secrets about the top-secret U.S. military base Area 51 revealed: Great food, cash-stuffed briefcases, no UFOs.
Like air hockey for the friendless
Taberinos is a flash game where you bounce a puck off lines to remove them.
Do you wanna date my avatar, she's a star
The stereotype of people who play a lot of videogames is that they're mostly guys who can't get a good-looking woman to talk to them unless they're paid to do so. GameCrush is not assisting in the refutation of that stereotype. [more inside]
Why should I and noble Lords trust the Executive to deal with mice when they cannot deal with the economy?
Earlier this month, there was an entertaining debate in the House of Lords about pest control in the Palace of Westminister, where the Lords meet.
via kottke.org [more inside]
I made you a ghost!
If you're Jay Z, you have an Empire State of Mind. If you're Darth Vader?
Best appreciated by watching the videos in order.
"You Can't Patent Nature"
Followup to this post: A US District Court has ruled that Myriad Genetic's patents on breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, which allow them to hold exclusive rights to a widely used genetic test for inherited breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility, are invalid. Genomics Law Report analyzes the ruling in two posts. The decision is likely to be challenged in a legal appeal — but if upheld, it could have huge implications for the biotechnology industry. [more inside]
Humans are just another species.
In recent years though, more biologists have been looking objectively at same-sex sexuality in animals — approaching it as real science. For Young, the existence of so many female-female albatross pairs disproved assumptions that she didn’t even realize she’d been making and, in the process, raised a chain of progressively more complicated questions.' 'A Denver-based publication for gay parents welcomed any and all new readers from “the extensive lesbian albatross parent community.” The conservative Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn highlighted Young’s paper on his Web site, under the heading “Your Tax Dollars at Work,” even though her study of the female-female pairs was not actually federally financed.' [more inside]
An Original Expression of Creativity in the 21st Century
"The so-called Victorian conception of women's sexuality was more that of an ideology seeking to be established than the prevalent view or practice of even middle-class women."
"Some enjoyed sex but worried that they shouldn't. One slept apart from her husband 'to avoid temptation of too frequent intercourse.' "
Standford Magazine on the accidental discovery of an unpublished sex survey of American women made 55 years before Kinsey . (via)
Warning: if you read this you'll probably never be able to truly enjoy an extraordinary cat video again.
Don't say "poor wittle jaw." It's probably BROKEN. The Shocking Truth About 'OMG Cat' theorizes that a lot of cute cat videos might actually be painful for the cat (posted at The Awl). [more inside]
Aren't they waitin' for the eternal part of them to come out clear?
Touring the festival circuit is Steven Soderbergh's documentary "And Everything Is Going Fine", about the life of Spalding Gray. So far, the reviews have been positive. Spalding Gray was ... [more inside]
It's show time...
Malaysia Design Archive
The Malaysia Design Archive: Understanding Malaysian history through Graphic Design. "This project is an attempt to trace, map and document the development of graphic design in Malaysia. It is also a project to highlight the importance of archiving as a way to protect and preserve our own visual history. What is our design history? Do we have one?" Examine Malaysian movie posters; discover the visual detritus of an old jail; peruse political artifacts; explore the country's visual history from Colonialism, through Occupation, Emergency, and finally, Independence. [via DO]
An artfully arranged single portion takeout of comics
Bento comics, bite sized comics mixed and matched to order.
Heaven All Day
'Stand and Deliver' teacher dies of cancer
'Stand and Deliver' teacher dies of cancer. Jaime Escalante, the math teacher portrayed in the 1988 film "Stand and Deliver," died Tuesday after a battle with cancer, according to the actor who played him. ... "Stand and Deliver" told the inspirational story of how Escalante turned the failing calculus program at Garfield High School in east Los Angeles into one of the top in the nation. (previously)
Revolutionising the art of kebab carving!
Dönermania! While US citizens know the Döner under its Greek name "gyros", Canadians refer to it as donair. And in its country of birth, Germany, it is much more than late night drunk fodder: it is breakfast, lunch and solid dinner rollled into one. "The döner kebab trade may be worth 2.5 billion euros in Germany, but before last weekend, Germany's favorite fast food had never been honored with its own convention", reports Der Spiegel. " The star of the show? A remote-controlled döner robot." [more inside]
Photojournalism in the age of digital reproduction
“The quality of licensed imagery is virtually indistinguishable now from the quality of images they might commission,” Mr. Klein said. Yet “the price point that the client, or customer, is charged is a fraction of the price point which they would pay for a professional image.”
The NYT on the demise of news photography in the age of the long tail.
8-bit Pink Floyd
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