May 2, 2012
Samoa? Had enough, thanks.
Anal Queen infant onesies, gang-related German beer steins, and the future of design
"I first started seeing them in Google Image searches; the most random queries were returning pictures of t-shirts, trucker hats, and especially ties that were truly uncanny." Spam-erican Apparel: a profusely illustrated essay on the deep -- and perhaps prophetic -- oddness of Zazzle. (by Babok Radboy)
Observing the "burn jita" player event
"We didn't know if he was going to pull through at all"
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman will not tour with the band this summer as he continues treatment for necrotizing fasciitis contracted from a spider bite in 2011. Hanneman was bitten on his right arm, and picks with his right hand. The band's official statement describes Hanneman's long recovery, which includes a medically induced coma and an extensive series of skin grafts.
Black Hole Gobbles Up A Star
Burke & Wills
Burke & Wills is a 1985 movie depicting the ill-fated 1860 expedition by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills across the interior of Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, a distance of 2000 miles. To date, it has never been released on DVD and is currently out of print. In 14 parts [140m]: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 [more inside]
Drafting Like A Boss
But I did not shoot no San-Serif
I shot the Serif (in-browser game)
How Jessica Dorrell hurt all women trying to work in college football
Christianne Harder on why Jessica Dorrell's actions hurt all women trying to work in college football.
That's Cheezies with a Z
"That's Cheezies with a Z." The inventor of the beloved snack product has died.
Kickstarter: Countdown to scam city?
Felix Salmon, the Reuters finance blogger, has raised a skeptical eyebrow at some of the latest success stories at Kickstarter (one, two). In a post yesterday pivoting off Kickstarter founder Yancey Strickler's appearance at the Wired con, he wonders: Is Kickstarter ripe for a big scam? [more inside]
World's largest McDonald's for 2012 Olympics
McDonald's, a sponsor of the Olympics since 1968, will open a two-story cathedral-like restaurant that seats 1,500 customers, at London's Olympic Park. A group of British doctors say that the mega-McDonald’s sends the wrong message about obesity.
It's my life and my dream.
MITx + Harvardx = edX: "Wow. Wow. Huge."
Harvard and MIT today announced a new partnership for offering free online courses, called edX. [more inside]
Robot Hair Washer.
The Re-Election of Cool
“How do you know the moment when you cease to be human?"
We are the artistically creative authors of the truths we live by. We must then, if we are honest, live more tentatively in relation to the security and consistency we achieve through language. The effect of this conclusion, at least for me, at least most of the time, is bracing.
It is not bracing for everyone.
Scott Abbott examines the violent, funny, and philosophically distressing fictions of Brian Evenson, one of our most accomplished dark fantasists and genre-bending authors. [more inside]
It is not bracing for everyone.
Scott Abbott examines the violent, funny, and philosophically distressing fictions of Brian Evenson, one of our most accomplished dark fantasists and genre-bending authors. [more inside]
Junior Seau RIP
NFL great Junior Seau, who spent the majority of his career with the San Diego Chargers, with additional runs with the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots, was found dead today of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. [more inside]
Venus to transit sun in June
There's a little black spot on the sun today.... Venus transits the sun in June - it's a once-in-a-lifetime event for most of us.
(Bonus song lyric links here and youtube here)
Animals be talking to me.
Roy Choi, co-founder and head chef of Kogi Korean BBQ, the Los Angeles food truck that became famous (and much imitated) for its innovative Korean-Mexican fusion tacos and its use of social networking (previously), has announced on his weblog that he's no longer eating meat. Choi is considering leaving cooking altogether.
Zen Pencils
Zen Pencils is a blog with a pretty simple premise: take inspirational quotes and set them to comics. It's only a few months old but there are already a bunch of greats within: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan, Albert Einstein, and more in the archives.
Spring, When the Harleys Return to British Columbia to Spawn...
Ikuo Yokoyama lost his home and three family members in the Japanese tsunami last year. Among the losses was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle he had bought five years ago and keeping in the back of a cube van... which floated across the Pacific Ocean and was found by Peter Mark, a resident of British Columbia, on an beach on Graham Island (it's the big one up the B.C. coast, near Alaska). Aside from some rust, the motorcycle seems to be in decent condition, and Harley-Davidson plans to restore it and ship it back to Yokoyama.
Against Chairs
Will
It's animation student film season, and once again, Cal Arts does not disappoint. Eusong Lee's "Will" is not only a gorgeous piece of art, it will also touch your heart.
Love is what you Want
I'm sick of pretending. I DON'T "GET" ART. Wherein Vice's Glen Coco goes to a Tracey Emin retrospective at London's Hayward Gallery ... and gives up. [more inside]
Islands in the steam
Solar Islands: A new concept for low-cost solar energy at very large scale.
A reduced-scale prototype is under construction.
A reduced-scale prototype is under construction.
Google and Facebook are now irrelevant
No Future
"The wealth concentrated at the top should be twice as large, he said."
"“It saves a fraction of a penny on every can,” he said. “There are a lot of soda cans in the world. That means the economy can produce more cans with the same amount of resources. It makes every American who buys a soda can a little bit richer because their paycheck buys more.”" The New York Times interviews Edward Conard (of Bain Capital fame) about his new book, "Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy is Wrong".
Specialization is for insects
Ten desirable skills you can teach yourself is a nice round-up of terrific guides to teaching yourself new tricks including basic repair skills, learning a language (the Foreign Services Institute has a chart of how hard various languages are to learn), teaching yourself to code, building electronics (starting with soldering), getting yourself up to speed in photography, learning an instrument, developing a basic sense of design, the inevitable cooking tips, and even some starter self-defense moves. Also, a very nicely organized list of free online college courses.
Fez is a Twin Peaks/Link's Awakening/Myst/2001: A Space Odyssey mashup for cubist tetromino cryptographers.
Fez is an independently developed game available on Xbox Live Arcade. It's available for 800 Microsoft funbucks ($10 USD real world currency). [more inside]
Five Arrested in Ohio FBI Sting
According to an FBI press release and various news sources, five "self-proclaimed anarchists" were arrested in connection with an alleged plot to blow up an Ohio bridge. [more inside]
"Frankenstein monster of marketing trends that's probably too clever by half."
What Pizza Hut's Crown Crust Pizza Says About Global Fast Food Marketing. [Food Porn] [Pizza Hut-blue?] Perhaps you've heard by now of the Crown Crust pizza, the pizza-cheeseburger hybrid recently unveiled by some of Pizza Hut's international franchisees. Available only at Pizza Hut Middle East, this fast food chimera features a vaguely crown-shaped crust studded with "cheeseburger gems," topped with lettuce and tomato, and drizzled with "special sauce."
Many foodies have decried it as a "culinary abomination," "a sign of the apocalypse," or proof that America is finally losing its monopoly on gluttony. A reviewer at Serious Eats, who tried the Crown Crust in Dubai, wrote: "There seems to be no rational explanation as to why this pizza was created." [Via: NPR.org]
Think Of Capitalism As A Very Bad Way Of Organizing Communism
"Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"
The Boundaries of Life and Death is a lovely short animation inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe quotation;
"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"[more inside]
Shut Up, Crime!
"Obviously a major malfunction."
Chilling amateur home video of the Challenger disaster "Obviously a major malfunction." Those words have always haunted me, but to hear them here, echoing across a PA system as shocked onlookers come to terms with what they have just seen, they carry even more power than they did when they were just an anonymous voiceover on a TV shot.
{/}
« Previous day | Next day »