February 26, 2008
Don't Ask Me What It Means
"In" is a lovely, maddening, hypnotic 23-minute CG/live-action abstract short created by Philipp Hirsch and Heiko Tippelt. via
Hoping for a new voodoo?
In 1980 Ronald Reagan surrounded himself with economic thinkers that challenged the prevailing Keynesian doctrine with supply side economics. In the same way that Arthur Laffer and Milton Friedman drove Reagan's thinking. A new generation of economists from the University of Chicago are advising Barack Obama. Will behavioral economics change politics the way supply side economics did a generation ago?
Figures in a Parkland
In 1783 a French artist going by the name of Carmontelle created a scroll that was 138 feet long and offered viewers a continuous translucent moving image called "Figures in a Parkland". The Getty Museum beautifully put the scroll on exhibit. Be sure to take a virtual stroll through the images.
learning math online
Two American icons meeting for the first time onstage
"The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear," Frank Sinatra wrote of rock 'n' roll during the time of Elvis Presley. But Frank wasn't stupid... he knew his relevance was fading and if you can't beat 'em, you have to join 'em. So in 1960, Elvis Presley was welcomed home from his two year military tour by the Frank Sinatra Timex Show "Welcome Home Elvis" special. Later Sinatra said, "I'm just a singer. Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture."
Mimimimimimi, mimimimimimi, mimimimimimi
NetClassicsFilter: All 24 of the 25 GI Joe PSAs redubbed by Eric Fensler, via YouTube:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
[some nsfw] [previously] [also via] [more inside]
Waiting for Apple to develop the iPileOfSeeds
Chris Woebken is a designer, with some interesting "what if" technology ideas, including a nanotech computer interface and an ultra-thin electronic picture frame.
Eikongraphia
Selling something? Try some humor with your pitch.
Selling something? Try some humor with your pitch. Donna Stuff4Sale. My 95 Ford Ranger. McNeeb Auto.
Only Visiting This Planet
"I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up." Larry Norman, "father of Christian rock," dead at 60. YouTubery: 1, 2, 3.
The Myth of the Surge
The Myth of the Surge: "Hoping to turn enemies into allies, U.S. forces are arming Iraqis who fought with the insurgents. But it's already starting to backfire. A report from the front lines of the new Iraq." [Via Devoter.]
What a struggle. Struggle, struggle, struggle.
Comics are funny when you change them (sometimes)
Garfield minus Garfield: "Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?"
Campaign Finance Bites the Hand That Made It
Last year, as McCain's campaign seemed stumbling into the grave, it applied for federal matching funds for the primary season. After Super Tuesday, McCain withdrew from the system. Or did he? If he didn't, he's capped at $54 million to spend till September -- and he's already spent $50 million of it. Former FEC Chairman Brad Smith tells, in bravura detail, the whole whirling story. (via Election Law Blog) [more inside]
The Torture Playlist
Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, "prolong capture shock," disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose.
Don't stop talking.
Qantara (meaning bridge in arabic) is a German based website looking to have dialogue with the Islamic world. Turkey is carrying out a radical revision of Islamic texts trying to define modern Islam. Through dossiers and dialogue and slideshows Qantara is helping this debate.
She don't... What now?
You talked to her father, prepared a YouTube worthy proposal, gathered all your courage.... and she said no. How will your life go on? And what are you going to do with the ring? Enter I Do... Now I Don't, an auction site that caters to broken-hearted lovers such as you. Started by a fellow who has been there. Buy if you dare. Via
My eyes hurt from all the tiny lines!
Mazes and complexity Like mazes? Check out these computer generated mazes that might play tricks with your visual cortex. Each is available as a downloadable PDF that will take, um... at least a minute to solve. [more inside]
Crime fighting robots are finally here
Many business owners have struggled with crime in their communities and the impact that can have on their business- but when the police have their hands full, sometimes your complaints just fall through the cracks. One Atlanta bar owner has taken matters into his own hands by building a crime-fighting vigilante robot.
Premature Evaluation
In the March issue of Maxim magazine, music critic David Peisner gave the Black Crowes' upcoming release Warpaint two and a half stars out of five, remarking:
"...they sound pretty much like they always have: boozy, competent, and in slavish debt to the Stones, the Allmans, and the Faces."
Nothing remarkable, right? Except he had never heard the album.
I'll jack your gold-plated pen knife, bitch, and that's reality, you better lose you pre-9/11 mentality
NetSol and ICANN Sued over Domain Tasting
Ars Technica is reporting that, "A class-action lawsuit has been launched against domain registrar Network Solutions and ICANN over the controversial practice of domain tasting. The suit was initiated on behalf of Chris McElroy, a search engine optimization specialist who goes by the handle NameCritic. McElroy has long been an extremely vocal critic of ICANN and is a regular participant on the organization's mailing lists." Users everywhere, likely including a number of MeFites, rejoice. More: Network World article, Press Release, Network Solutions defense of the practice, ICANN comments on the practice.
The Universe is Like a Windows Media Player Visualization
The observable universe just got a bit smaller. Johan Mauritsson and his colleagues at Lund University in Sweden have released what appears to be a video of an electron oscillating on a wave of light.
You're late! He used to be pink.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake
The Tragedy of Britney Spears
She is intelligent enough to understand what the world wanted of her: that she was created as a virgin to be deflowered before us, for our amusement and titillation. She is not ashamed of her new persona — she wants us to know what we did to her.
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