MetaFilter posts tagged with george

George Julius' Mechanical Totalisator

Fiasco da Gama — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:41:29 -0800

Sir George Julius's Automatic Totalisator, first used by the public in New Zealand, and quickly taken up by racetracks throughout Australasia and North America (warning hideous HTML), automates parimutuel betting.

plimptonproject.org

Fizz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:34:49 -0800

We just like George Plimpton. Not personally, we never actually knew him. But we like everything we know about him. His intelligence. His good humor. His spirit. We enjoy the way he attacked life with gusto and grace. We appreciate how he proved that a funny upper crust accent and a rather fancy vocabulary doesn't make you any less of a real man. (If nothing else, Plimpton's life proves that once upon a time a man walked the earth who could both read poetry and throw a football.) We admire the way he embodied everything a man of letters is supposed to be; curious and articulate, brave and wise. We are thankful to the way he ceaselessly promoted other writers and artists and how, through his own writings and publications, became a teacher, guide and inspiration to countless others (even those he never met, life, for instance, us). And, finally, we believe a life such as his is worth continued celebration. Because here was a man who threw himself tirelessly into the gaping maw of life, fighting onward, ever smiling, like the truest of gentleman. ALSO, George Plimpton digs Intellivision and thinks its far superior to Atari.

"Infandous street corner Cromwell"

numberstation — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:41:56 -0800

"Infandous street corner Cromwell" George Galloway MP banned from entering Canada. Justified on 'National Security' grounds, specifically Section 34(1) of the Immigration Act. George Galloway reacts to Canadian Immigraton Spokesman Alykhan Velshi on Channel 4. Velshi suggests this is 'not a freedom of speech issue' but in this day and age of technology is the notion of banning individuals crossing geographical borders due to opinions held absurd. It would seem the Canadian Government think not. Intellectual Protectionism rears its head and the marmite of international politics basks in the publicity. Domestic navel gazing ensues.

American Landscape Artist George Inness

ecorrocio — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:37:01 -0800

19th century American landscape artist George Inness. 19th century American landscape artist George Inness. His work was influenced, in turn, by that of the old masters, the Hudson River school, the Barbizon school, and, finally, by the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose spiritualism found vivid expression in the work of Inness' maturity. His early works are rich depictions of rural landscapes. His mature works featured more abstracted handling of shapes, softened edges, and saturated color, with a mystical, ethereal, and spiritual component. "Of particular interest to Inness was the notion that everything in nature had a correspondential relationship with something spiritual" and the idea of consciousness as a "stream of thought"

"The writer is the president of the United States."

JVA — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:45:46 -0800

In 2007, Dubya wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal. Obama has followed suit with an op-ed article in the Washington Post. Both sites mention that The writer "is the president of the United States." Have we entered a new era of the bully pulpit?

Denver's dirty little secret

shockingbluamp — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:31:27 -0800

One of the most beautiful and disturbing places in Denver. It a quiet place and quite the place to see. A movie was made about a house and the fellow who rented it one day...adjacent to the park. Scared me to death as a little kid.

Batbush? Bushbat? Bushman?

you just lost the game — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:41:22 -0800

What Bush and Batman have in common. "A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."

George, you old dog, you...

allkindsoftime — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:50:36 -0800

Meet Lonesome George. George is the last known remaining Pinta Island Tortoise. That's pretty lonely. He's also, according to some, the most famous reptile in the world. via. But there's good news: George might be a dad!

Al-Hakim dead

harhailla.harhaluuossa — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:42:08 -0800

George Habash aka the Doctor, founder of the PFLP has died. The group, still extant, were notorious for various attacks in the 60s and 70s, most notably the Dawson's Field Hijackings in the early days of Black September when four planes bound for NYC were hijacked. Three were evacuated and detonated on live TV at a remote airstrip in Jordon. Leila Khaled (Mefites might better know her the inspiration for another Doctor's accomplice, Leela) and her Sandinista accomplice Patrick Argüello boarded a Swissair flight from Amsterdam posed as married Hondurans. Argüello was assaulted with a whiskey bottle and finally shot, while Leila was arrested and released as part of an exchange deal. Though the group gave up hijacking, the Japanese Red Army, armed with Czech rifles concealed in violin cases, orchestrated the Lod Airport massacre on their behalf, killing mostly mostly Puerto Rican pilgrims. The only surviving culprit, Kozo Okamoto is eventually granted refuge in Lebanon.

Buketastic Formby

MaryDellamorte — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:09:18 -0800

Is it a banjo? Is it a ukulele? No, it's a b a n j o l e l e! It's goes by many names: banjolele, banjulele, banjuke, and banjo uke. It's what inspired Peter Frampton to begin to play music and became popularized in the 30s and 40s by George Formby. And oh, how he could play. You can buy one, or you could always make your own. There were other various hybrids of the banjo, including the mandolin-banjo and the guitjo.

The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept.

miss lynnster — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:01:35 -0800

Thirty years of George Carlin specials. (Yep, NSFW. Duh.) Yeah, this is the post where people can listen to his stuff and debate whether he stopped being funny ages ago, wasn't funny in the first place, never stopped being funny, or was brilliant but then sucked but then did some funny stuff here and there. Blah blah blah. Knock yourselves out. | Previo usly. On Location: George Carlin at USC 1977 Carlin at Carnegie 1982 Carlin on Campus 1984 Playin' With Your Head 1986 What Am I Doing In New Jersey 1988 Doin' It Again 1990 Jammin' In New York 1992 Back In Town 1996 You Are All Diseased 1999 Complaints & Greivances 2001 Life Is Worth Losing 2005 And in closing... here he is performing at the 2007 Narcotics Anonymous World Convention in San Antonio. His 14th HBO special (apparently taped at this show) will be shown on cable in March '08.

Don't bother looking at Wikipedia for an article about George Philbrick.

metasonix — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 01:57:38 -0800

It has always been difficult to look up any information on the pioneers of computing. Even today, in the Internet age, one has trouble finding much about early computers--even on the ultimate computer network.

Consider the late George A. Philbrick. He was one of the titanic figures in electronic computing in the 1950s--mainly because of the company he founded, which was a major manufacturer (and pioneer) of the operational amplifier, at a time when an "op-amp" was made of vacuum tubes. Op-amps were used to build analog computers, which were widely used to simulate physical processes in the days when digital computers were either non-existent, or too slow and costly, for many kinds of simulation and process-control work. Op-amps, in chip form, are still widely used in electronics. Yet, despite his unquestioned status as a major pioneer of electronics, there was almost nothing on the Internet about Philbrick or his company.

Until 2005--when Joe Sousa decided to put up a website dedicated to Philbrick's legacy. Behold The Philbrick Archive.

Sp* Loving S**

sgt.serenity — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:57:35 -0800

George Galloway suspended from parliament after uk parliamentary inquiry- gives speech prior to being ejected - (nsfw?). "It has come to something," he continued, "When the leading anti-war MP could get a fairer hearing in the Republican Senate than in the British House of Commons."

George Melly RIP

motty — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:48:36 -0800

George Melly, singer, writer, and expert on Surrealism, has passed away aged 80.

Professional northerners

humblepigeon — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 01:10:11 -0800

Northerners aren't overly represented on t'internet. Our kid reckoned the late Bernard Manning would make a comeback using MySpace, but that didn't 'appen. But hold onto t'whippet because The Lancashire Hotpots are filling the entertainment vacuum (I recommend Chippy Tea from the playlist). 30% Peter Kay, 30% George Formby, 39% Mike Harding (circa his Rochdale Cowboy phase), and 1% the UOGB, they're postmodern northerners for the 21st century (comparisons to Chas & Dave are inevitable and will be ignored).

I have been called a voluptuary, a sybarite, a hedonist, a creep. ..

celerystick — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:28:36 -0800

I have been called a voluptuary, a sybarite, a hedonist, a creep. .. George Meyer's silly rhapsody on conferences, symposia, seminars, etc.: "The OFF-SITE is a born provocateur. She blends the dirty fun of a PowerPoint presentation with the raw danger of a Kaffeeklatsch. One minute she’s showing you charts and graphs, then up pops a “Far Side” cartoon. It’s high-stakes poker, and everything’s wild." from the New Yorker , May 2007.

Planed by Gilbert & George

jack_mo — Tue, 08 May 2007 16:15:20 -0800

Planed - a new work by Gilbert & George, available for download until 11:35pm on the 10th of May.

I'm a high tech lowlife.

Happy Dave — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:09:59 -0800

I'm a modern man, I'm a modern man, A man for the millennium, Digital and smoke free. - George Carlin hits one out of the park with the first four and a half minutes of this hour and a half Google Video. Then it's back to his stock in trade.

George Lange's Best of 2006

jtajta — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:33:51 -0800

Photographer George Lange compiled his favorite work from 2006 in a mesmerizing slide-show, well-worth a few minutes of your time.

Sasquatch!

0xFCAF — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:13:55 -0800

Sasquatch!, the indie music festival, returns to The Gorge with an impressive line-up headlined by Bjork and the Beastie Boys. As usual, KEXP has a veritable cornucopia of live performances from the artists. If you're wondering what might be in store, check out select songs from The Arcade Fire, M.I.A., Citizen Cope, Neko Case, The Thermals, Viva Voce, Interpol, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Ozomatli, Bad Brains, The Dandy Warhols, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Common Market, Smoosh, and Minus The Bear. Bring sunscreen and an umbrella on your short drive from Seattle to George, Washington

Freedom?

Lord_Pall — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 06:22:57 -0800

I couldn't have said it better.
(single link, youtube, political, beautifully done)

Baby, Emerick Man

maryh — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 02:07:29 -0800

A good book is always a joy, and a good, free online book about The Beatles' Revolver album (PDF) is a real treat for fans of the Moptops at thier most transitional. Paul Ingles has a bunch of audio interviews to peruse. Somehow, everything was just right.

George Galloway on Sky News

bobbyelliott — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 11:50:18 -0800

George Galloway is interviewed on Sky News about Lebanon.

'Briefly explain the theory of the calculus'

metaxa — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:49:31 -0800

A guide to Britain as seen through the eyes of an average American. A celebration of the inadequacies and shortfalls, misunderstandings and culture gaps. Brought to you by the ineffible, George Saunders.

Propperly Chilled

JPowers — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 05:08:50 -0800

Properly Chilled, "a great guide to the downtempo music scene/lifestyle, spotlighting not only the essential release reviews, label/artist profiles and other data on the genre but also exclusive DJ mixes and all kinds of other goodies" (via). Check out the totally free, totally chill Radio Jazztronica #3 mix from DJ Chicken George. It's 55+ minutes of "unpredictable, energetic and heart-felt" downtempo that packs a serious punch. Did I mention it's free?