August 31, 2005
The Year of Living Utopianly
The Utopian Nightmare : "What is utopianism? It is promising more than you can deliver. It is seeing an easy and sudden answer to long-standing, complex problems. It is trying to solve everything at once through an administrative apparatus headed by “world leaders.” It places too much faith in altruistic cooperation and underestimates self-seeking behavior and conflict. It is expecting great things from schemes designed at the top, but doing nothing to solve the bigger problems at the bottom."
Also, be sure to check out the the 16 ideas, values and institutions that may not be with us 35 years from now written by a variety of interesting people and compiled as part of Foreign Policy's 35th anniversary (although not all are free or available without registration).
Some are more truth than libelous
Libelous claims about large corporations Fedex licks each package. Gateway boxes are made from real cowhide. And Victoria has another secret.
What will we do when oil crashes?
Resource wars and gas rations, what will be next ? I bet you didn't know we gobble oil like two-legged SUV's.
Orcinus cam
Orca Live: The idea of Nature Network is to relay live imagery and sound from cameras set up in Nature throughout the world.
"My hope is to bring people closer to Nature without disrupting her" that hope is the hope of Dr. Spong. At this very moment, all over the world, a variety of organisms are beaming with life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were media by which people could get a sense of this?
If a window could be opened up that would trigger city dwellers' memories of the rhythms of Nature, the way we sense the world and our way of being are bound to change somewhat. That hope, too, lies within. via
Aerial survey of Katrina damage
NOAA posts more than 350 aerial images of areas decimated by Katrina. You can download zip files or use a clickable interface. The 2MB-3MB images are not rotated, so if you're comparing the eastern mouth of Bay St. Louis (3MB) to a Google Map image, for instance, you might have to tilt your head and zoom before the damage really hits you.
Making New Fake News
How the Onion Got a Facelift, and in the process offered their full news archives from 1996 to the present available online for free. The Onion A.V. Club also finds a new home.
Stream early Dylan "bootlegs"
Stream the latest Dylan CD set (audio link), "No Direction Home", reviewed here (NYT). Get more Zimmy at Dylantree.com.
My genes are prettier than yours.
Abstract art from DNA Scientific pretension meets artistic pretension and, um... beautiful things happen?
You knew it was going to happen.
You knew it was going to happen. God sent Hurricane Katrina to prevent the Labor Day celebration of homosexual sin known as "Southern Decadence". Apparently, he is also is not a big fan of the Girls Gone Wild video series.
Boilercast: Perdue University lecture podcasts
Purdue University has begun providing podcasts of lectures of some courses, intended for students who miss a class or who want to review specific lectures. Users of the service
can download a specific lecture or all of the lectures from an entire course. Apparently also open to the public it is called Boilercast, about 50 classes are starting now for Fall 2005.
Still going...
Everyone is (probably) familiar with Something Awful. However, you may not be familiar with their hosting company - located in a New Orleans office building on Poydras in the CBD... but have you noticed that SA hasn't gone blank yet? It's because Zipa, and directNIC upstairs have the whole data center disaster contingency thing on lockdown. Blog and pictures from the directNIC guys are regularly updated. Color me impressed.
It's a queer world after all
It's a queer world after all. A series of animated documentary shorts about homosexuality in the animal kingdom.
This Hurts Just Reading About It
Rapex, the anti-rape female condom (Reuters link)
The invention of a South African woman, the rapex anti-rape female condom (worn like a tampon) has sharp barbs in it that lock into the rapist's penis and need to be removed surgically which makes it pretty easy to notify the police. Opponents are, understandably, concerned about an escalation of violence against the rape victim.
Rape statistics are sobering and saddening with some estimates that women, children and even babies are raped every 26 seconds in South Africa though Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, has refuted the findings. Virgins are highly sought for rape as there is an urban myth that sex with a virgin will cure HIV/AIDS.
The invention of a South African woman, the rapex anti-rape female condom (worn like a tampon) has sharp barbs in it that lock into the rapist's penis and need to be removed surgically which makes it pretty easy to notify the police. Opponents are, understandably, concerned about an escalation of violence against the rape victim.
Rape statistics are sobering and saddening with some estimates that women, children and even babies are raped every 26 seconds in South Africa though Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, has refuted the findings. Virgins are highly sought for rape as there is an urban myth that sex with a virgin will cure HIV/AIDS.
The Bawls Song
The Bawls Song is something I found out about through PAX, where I was an enforcer. The main Bawls site isn't anything to look at, but this viral piece of fan music is awesome. And if I'm wrong and it's not a fan piece of music (I couldn't find it on their site) sorry! Warning: large file (mp3) and NSFW language.
Hurricane Data Smashed Offline by Katrina
National Data Buoy Center (Google cache), "the premiere source of meteorological and oceanographic measurements for the marine environment" in the U.S., is located at the NASA Stennis Space Center on the Mississippi gulf coast, is a primary source of hurricane observational data, and is currently offline. At present, the U.S. spends only $50 million annually on ocean observations of vital socio-economic impact. The latest national commission for ocean policy recommended $4 billion annually, including the construction of a distributed, disaster-proof, national ocean observing system, as a component of a global system. The previous ocean commission report in 1969 resulted in the formation of NOAA and the passage of the Coastal Zone Management Act. Will Congress act? The E.U. has.
iTunes Phone Rokr
Apple iTunes to launch a phone. Made by Motorola nd will be available via Cingular. It will be called, 'Rokr'. Just goes to show how much Motorola dislikes 'E'
s. (Razr & Rokr)
For those about to rawk \m/
The Rawker! "The mullet hanging out of the back of the trucker hat, the fact that he's topless and occasionally forgets the lyrics (and must read them from an index card), the chinese zodiac calendar hanging on the wall, just below the window dressing - BUT THERE'S NO WINDOW... And the music! IT RAWKS!"
Who will go postal over this?
Oil-vey!
Gas at $4 a gallon? A quick summary of the current reasons gas remains high ("Not I!" squawks the refiners, "Not I!" squawks producers). The EPA is easing restrictions in affected areas and the national oil keg is being tapped (WSJ), yet despite the whole doom-and-gloom scenerios the Economist remains perky about the cause of rising prices, "higher oil prices [now] reflect strong demand, ... they are the product of healthy global growth."
7.9 million U.S. families in poverty
Poverty Rate Increases in 2004. The US Census Bureau announced yesterday that the number of Americans living in poverty increased in 2004 by 1.1 million, an increase from 12.5 to 12.7 percent of the population. 2004 also marked the second consecutive year in which real median household income showed no change. Full report here (85 page pdf). Census bureau links page here. President Bush's agenda for tax relief promised "an economics of inclusion. It is the agenda of a government that knows its limits and shows its heart." In the richest country in the world 13 million children under the age of 18 live in poverty. (scroll down to "Age.")
Al-Aaimmah bridge catastrophe
More than 600 people have died in a stampede on a bridge over the Tigris River in Iraq. Set off by rumors of a suicide bomber, hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims taking a memorial pilgrimage to a Baghdad shrine panicked, leaping over the bridge and trampling others to escape.
You boy! R.I.P.
Michael Sheard , who as Mr Bronson in Grange Hill will forever haunt my childhood memories has died aged 65. Aside from Grange Hill, he appeared in numerous films but is probably best known for being throttled by Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back.
Into the eye of Katrina
Into the eye of Katrina: an impressive Flickr set taken from the NOAA-43 and NRL-P3 Hurricane Hunters as they fly into the hurricane's eye. The set owner studies hurricane rainband intensity using ELDORA radar aboard the specially equipped planes. It's a rough flight, but once inside, the results are awe-inspiring.
loov-e-ton
Homes from Snøhetta. Løvetann houses are made from modules with built-in standards such as wireless networking, kitchen and bathroom appliances, and home entertainment systems. A small step up from this.
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