March 30, 2008
Best of the Cool
Joe Jenett has been on the web for a long time. His sites have been referred to on MeFi, but jenett webthings has never been featured. [more inside]
Fan fiction for a show that doesn't exist.
It's the best show not on TV. Complete with a soundtrack, DVD extras (and hidden Easter eggs), supplemental sites, and a growing fanbase (which, in turn, has been creating it's own fan art and fan fic.)
The fourth episode just "aired". [more inside]
Rachel Zoe Ain't Got Shit on Claudia Kishi
What Claudia Wore A blog devoted to the outrageous outfits of Claudia Kishi from The Babysitters Club. [more inside]
Lennon and McCartney Reunite
Lennon and McCartney's Studio Reunion. On March 28, 1974, John Lennon was in a Burbank studio producing Harry Nilsson's "Pussy Cats" album when Paul McCartney dropped in. The room froze and remained silent until John said, "Valiant Paul McCartney, I presume?" Paul responded: "Sir Jasper Lennon, I presume?" The tension broken, a jam session [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] ensued featuring Lennon on guitar and vocals, McCartney on drums and vocals, Stevie Wonder on electric piano and vocals, Harry Nilsson on vocals, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Bobby Keys on saxophone. A bootleg of the session has circulated under the title "A Toot and a Snore in '74".
The Winning Numbers are 14, 46, 23, 49, and 22.
The state of Oregon is holding a health insurance lottery where 91,000 hopeful enrollees will be competing for a couple thousand spots under the Oregon Health Plan, the state's Medicaid program. OHP was created to cover those who made too much to enroll in traditional Medicaid but too little to afford market healthcare, and this development comes as a result of budget cuts and a subsequent enrollment closure in July of 2004. It's a far cry from the universal health care coverage that the plan was suppose to lead to, and marks a dramatic turn for the state's once-ambitious health care reforms.
(Previously in dystopic health care developments)
(Previously in dystopic health care developments)
Genocide Olympics
The Genocide Olympics. The human rights group Dream for Darfur is trying to use the Olympics to pressure China to change its policies on Sudan and the genocide in Darfur. [more inside]
Tron's light cycle scene "Sweded"
Horton Does Some Pretty Cool Art
Elephant Paints Self Portrait. I'm not sure what to say about this except that its pretty cool.
The Myth of the Media Myth: Games and Non-Gamers
"Inevitably, after I finish speaking, the strong opinions come. It happens the same way every time: People listen and then they say what they've been feeling. Videogames are not good for you. Videogames are a waste of time. They isolate children. Kids never go outside to play. They just sit there and stare at the TV all day."
The Myth of the Media Myth: Games and Non-Gamers.
The Myth of the Media Myth: Games and Non-Gamers.
Is that a laser pointer in your pocket?
Laser pointer import ban in Oz Seems there's been a rash of people aiming laser pointers at planes in Oz. With an incident of a pilot being "temporarily blinded", this action may be a little less...well, as Oz politicians put it, "amusing". Previously. [more inside]
Tumbling Dice
He laughs and leaves. I sit alone in the room, staring at the walls, just about every inch of which is covered with more memorabilia: a photo of him with Lennon, a photo of the Beatles circa 1965, a photo of Muddy Waters.... After maybe five minutes, Richards wanders back into the room, laughing. “Sorry, mate,” he says. “I got lost. I don’t come here often!”]...
Why do you think some people live and some die..? ...there’s that line between recklessness and stupidity, and you—
"No, you bring up a good point...."
Crop price anomalies baffle economists
Odd Crop Prices Defy Economics. For finance and economics geeks:
Could a drugstore sell two identical tubes of toothpaste, and charge 50 cents more for one of them? Of course not. But, in effect, exactly that has been happening, repeatedly and mysteriously, in trading that sets prices for corn, soybeans and wheat — three of America’s biggest crops and, lately, popular targets for investors pouring into the volatile commodities market.
The curious thing is that these price anomalies should be ripe for arbitrage. There should be no gap between the price of say, wheat in the cash market and the wheat futures contract on the day the contract expires.
Tamahagane steel is bliss
Samurai-Sword Maker's Reactor Monopoly May Cool Nuclear Revival There stands the only plant in the world...capable of producing the central part of a nuclear reactor's containment vessel in a single piece, reducing the risk of a radiation leak.
From a windswept corner of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, Japan Steel Works Ltd. controls the fate of the global nuclear-energy renaissance.
Each year the Tokyo-based company can turn out just four of the steel forgings that contain the radioactivity in a nuclear reactor. Even after it doubles capacity in the next two years, there won't be enough production to meet building plans. [more inside]
MAD: History of the Al Jaffee fold-in
Longtime MAD magazine artist Al Jaffee (now 87 years old!) created the fold-in as a unique contribution to the MAD-style of satirical humor. Now the NYT has the comprehensive history online in interactive form.
Monkey on a Bike
Sprites ahoy!
Like sprites? The People's Sprites has the most extensive repository of old game pixel art I've ever seen.
Some good examples from:
Battletoads, Excitebike, Final Fantasy GBA, Mega Man, Metal Slug, Mortal Kombat, Punch-Out, River City Ransom, Shinobi, Samurai Shodown, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, and my favorite, Super Metroid.
Hundreds more at the site, plus original and public domain ones.
Some good examples from:
Battletoads, Excitebike, Final Fantasy GBA, Mega Man, Metal Slug, Mortal Kombat, Punch-Out, River City Ransom, Shinobi, Samurai Shodown, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, and my favorite, Super Metroid.
Hundreds more at the site, plus original and public domain ones.
To Erebus
ObitFilter: Robert Fagles. One of the few men to tackle translating The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid, Robert Fagles has died. All of his translations were fast-paced, vibrant renderings that turned the classics once again into best-sellers.
Bringing Down the House
21, a highly fictionalized movie based on Ben Mezrich's somewhat fictionalized book Bringing Down the House based on the real-life story of the MIT Blackjack Team, released over the weekend. What's fact and what's fiction? The real-life "Mickey Rosa" (played by Kevin Spacey in the film) starts a blog. And Jane Willis, who claims to be the inspiration behind Kate Bosworth's character, steps briefly into the limelight. Also: Behind the scenes at casino security.
Dith Pran, RIP
The Patriarchy: like the Hotel California
The Michigan Womyn’s Festival (“Michfest”) is an annual “womon-built” and run music festival. “Forty performances, a film festival, an artisan/craft show and a full roster of workshops, parties and dances are all slated for one glorious week in August on 650 lush green acres in Michigan.” The festival is open to WBW (women born women) only. [more inside]
The Empire Strikes Back
So brothers Barney and Daniel Jones, aka Jonba Hehol and Morda Hehol, Jedi Masters, started their own church, and began planning their moon base, but they had underestimated the power of the Dark Side...
Turning writing into a conversation
Reporter Caps
"My Normal Pajamas"
The Pajamas Letter. I recently came upon a mysterious, unsigned letter in the deposit-envelope receptacle of a downtown ATM machine requesting that I draw a picture of my "normal pajamas" and send it back in an included self-addressed stamped envelope. Part Two. Slideshow.
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