October 28, 2011
Hack the world!
A McAfee researcher has demonstrated that certain Medtronic insulin pumps can be remotely controlled without authorization. An unscrupulous hacker could, for instance, command the pump to release its full load of insulin, which would kill the diabetic.
Metalachi
Just Following Orders
VanHalen Belt
Just in time for Friday Flash Fun: VanAssteroids. Watch out for Sammy!
Good Evening. Please Come In.
A week after Halloween in 1969, the great Rod Serling debuted a new television program. Night Gallery [more inside]
Missilebreak Outvaders
Flash Friday Fun, if it's still Friday where you are: Missilebreak Outvaders is a nicely done mashup of Space Invaders, Breakout and Missile Command. [more inside]
Your Recess Was Never Like This
Armstrong is an online graphic novel in 3 parts (with more potentially to come), each on a long-scrolling 'infinite canvas'. 1, 2, 3. It has everything, Superheroes, Zombies, Pirates, Cowboys and Cooties. Cooties? Well, it is set in a playground full of 4th graders. [more inside]
Local Twitter Slang, And All That Jawn
The Awl takes a look at how Twitter has allowed local slang to go global, and the unhappiness this causes for some.
What is wrong with bicycle helmets?
First he gave me flowers...
"Signature domestic legislative achievement."
Public support for the new healthcare law has dropped significantly, with just 34% of Americans viewing the law favorably, the lowest level of support since the president signed the law in March 2010. A new survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, deals a blow to the Obama administration as Republican presidential candidates keep up their pledges to repeal the president’s signature domestic legislative achievement. 'Much of the decline appears to have been driven by faltering support among Democrats, just 52% of whom said they view the law favorably, down from 65% a month earlier. Support among independents dropped from 36% to 32%. And support from Republicans fell from 14% to 11%.' [more inside]
More Mayo, Hold the Kermode
More Mayo is the podcast version of BBC's Simon Mayo Drivetime. Mayo is best known outside of the UK as one half of the Mayo and Kermode's Film Reviews. The centerpiece of the More Mayo podcast is the confessions, where listeners write in asking forgiveness for past transgressions. They are often funny and sometimes jaw-dropping (such as the first one in the latest episode). The podcasts are generally around a half an hour long and contain three or four confessions and a short interview with anyone from huge celebrities to debut novelists to children. The podcasts are available to download for 30 days.
I am not signing a release
David Blaine is a Demon From Space Part 4
Since the first video in 2006 there have been a Part 2 and Part 3. [more inside]
Ashkenazy plays Chopin
Préludes Op. 28 by Chopin, played live by Vladimir Ashkenazy. This must have been recorded around 1980, when he was touring with these pieces. No. 1-6 [more inside]
"Try not to think too hard."
"You must always be appearing. If you are not appearing, you are disappearing" -- José Mojica Marins, "the murderer of Brazilian cinema"
In October 1963, the Brazilian movie writer, director, and actor José Mojica Marins was having trouble with a movie he was working on, and fell asleep at the dinner table. He dreamed of being dragged to a cemetery by a creature in black, who showed Marins his own tomb stone, with the dates of his birth and death (YT: 9 min). That dream lead to the creation of Zé do Caixão (anglicized as Coffin Joe), the main character in Brazil's first horror movie, and Marins' first big movie success: À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (YT: 1hr 22min w/English subs) (At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul). This was one of the up-ticks in a life of some ups and lots of downs for the South American Roger Corman or Ed Wood (NYT), and the birth of a character who would become Marins public persona. [more inside]
Lana Del Rey
Lana del Rey sings "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans" and just got signed to Interscope. But she's also known as "failed mainstream artist" Lizzy Grant, a "gangster Nancy Sinatra," and "the lie we like to tell ourselves." Here she is at the 2011 Q Awards.
“Such excess of passion is quite out of fashion”
Krafty Kuts, Halloween Minimix, BBC Radio 1
Minimixes have become a fixture of Annie Nightingale's BBC Radio 1 show, but this week's is seasonally appropriate as Krafty Kuts does a not-quite-seven-minute mix that romps through multiple genres, all to celebrate that spookiest of holidays. [more inside]
All parents are welcome to come by on Wednesday afternoon to help us make candles and decorate skulls
Dear Mountain Room Parents... a tale for Day of the Dead / Halloween.
Yu'pik dancer Maryann Sundown passed away this week.
Maryann Sundown, a master of Yu'pik dance, passed away this week at her home in Scammon Bay, Alaska. (second article) Sundown was a crowd favorite at the Cama-i Dance Festival, often making jabs at popular culture to great comedic effect. Even though her dancing slowed over the years, she still lit up the stage, even at her last performance at 92.(Maryann Sundown with the Hooper Bay Dancers) [more inside]
Vintage Black Glamour
Vintage Black Glamour: an underexplored avenue of 20th century beauty and style.
Showcase of Creative Inspiration
We and the Color is a blog about creative inspiration in art, graphic design, illustration, photography, architecture, fashion, product, interior, video and motion design. Also on Flickr.
Why are you so angry at her for being a sexy... giraffe?
"For the last two weeks, people have been like, "talk about sluts on Halloween!" And at first I didn't even really want to make this video because you, my friend, are talking to a slut on Halloween. But because people kept bombarding my social media platforms with requests for me to do a video on sluts on Halloween, I'm gonna do a video on sluts on Halloween. But I'll tell you one thing right now: you're not gonna like it."[more inside]
(nsfw language, her avatar is a lingerie pic, plus it's a single-link vlog post)
Black Girl In Suburbia Documentary Trailer
Mr. Romance
In 1994, international super-stud Fabio Lanzoni released an album entitled Fabio After Dark. For the first time, his fans could hear his musing on love, romance and beauty any time they wished. Oh, and he sang, too.
No Mr Bond I expect you to swim.
Tropical Island Paradise is a tasteful design study for what could be your next mega-yacht - oh and it has a volcano.
OMG! Meiyu
Meet Jessica Beinecke. Her Chinese fluency and her bubbly personality make her a minor celebrity among young Chinese speakers. Her videos covers topics such as: Yucky Gunk ,which went viral. Fist Pumping. Badonkadonk. Yo, Homie. Mexican food. And her Thing. Brought to you by the Voice of America.
A slideshow of churches made of bones
Just something to kick off the Halloween weekend. I totally want that chandelier....
On Handwriting.
The Hudspith Steam Bicycle
Do you like steam engines? Do you like bicycles? Then you'll love the Hudspith Steam Bicycle. [more inside]
Alternative process photography and science meet at the Getty
Dusan Stulik and his colleagues at the Getty institute are taking a very much closer look at alternative photographic processes – a molecular-level-look, that may even change history. Here is a NY Times profile of Stulik and the GCI.
Wikipedia: Happy. Confused. Sad.
Wikipedia has an experimental feature called Feedback Dashboard that allows new editors to leave a brief comment and a mood of 3 choices: Happy, Confused, Sad. It's sort of addictive to scroll through as people discover Wikipedia and reactions.
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