February 17, 2009
KHAAAAAAAN!
It's a tough life as a media tie-in writer. Vonda N. McIntyre, early pioneer in the field and author of the Star Trek film novelisations, blogs about how she started the Star Trek novel franchise with The Entropy Effect, despite suggestions that maybe she do something more respectable like be a waitress instead. [via io9]
RRRARRRRGH *CLANK CLANK CLANK*
An Interactive Map of the Night Sky
Star Viewer ― merging Google Earth (Sky) with Hubblecast videos to learn more about what you're seeing in the night sky. [more inside]
Alex CF
Boyle Family Art
"The Boyle Family are a family of collaborative artists based in London. Their best known work, however, continues to be their Journey to the Surface of the Earth. Begun in 1964, this work encompasses many different series. Each of these series has involved various random selection techniques to isolate a rectangle of the Earth's surface. In the case of the World Series 1000 random selections were made from a giant map of the world by blindfolded visitors. Once the random selection has been made, they recreate the site in a fixed and permanent form as a painted fibreglass relief. They recognise that each work is, in a sense, a failure. They know the selections can never be truly random and that it is impossible to eliminate themselves and their own subjective influences."
Facebook: What's the worst that could happen?
For those who haven't already heard, Facebook has recently changed their terms of service. Some people are uneasy about this, others want to lodge a federal complaint. But should we really be worried?
If You Can't Make The Journey
Kangaringu
He's no Bernie Madoff
Another massive Ponzi scheme uncovered. Meet Sir Allen Stanford and his bank. Sir Allen stands accused of running an $8 billion fraud. Read the SEC filings here.
Höpöhöpö Böks!
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl is an Icelandic poet. He translates Icelandic poetry into English (I particularly like his versions of Sigfús Daðason), and he has an interesting interview on Icelandic poetry ("Curiously enough, back in the days the nationalists would sometimes write in danish. And writing in a foreign language was more or less seen as the only alternative to literature being a mere hobby until Halldór Laxness came along"). But really this is an elaborate excuse to post a link to Höpöhöpö Böks: Köld öld Böks mjög örg, Ölböl örlög Böks! (Warning: My wife thought the linked video sounded like vomiting.) Via wood s lot. This one goes out to my man Kattullus; hope you can stick around! [more inside]
It seemed too trivial not to post it here
A detailed history of miniature golf, from it's genesis in the Ladies' Putting Club of St. Andrew's to the creative and extravagant future.
She was a BIG FREAK!!
"A wildly flamboyant funk diva with few equals even three decades after her debut, Betty Davis combined the gritty emotional realism of Tina Turner, the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie, and the trendsetting flair of Miles Davis, her husband for a year. ... she turned Miles on to Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone (providing the spark that led to his musical reinvention on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew), then proved her own talents with a trio of sizzling mid-'70s solo LPs." - All Music Guide (many links nsfw-ish)
The Blegdamsvej Faust
The year is 1932. Hitler is rising in power. Harold Urey announces the discovery of deuterium, a hydrogen isotope. James Chadwick discovers the neutron. Heisenberg receives the Nobel Prize for his work in Quantum physics. It is a miracle year in Physics, matched only by Einstein's advances in 1905. A few of the most brilliant physicists in the world decide to convene in Copenhagen and ... write a play! Written on the 100th anniversary of the death of Goethe, The Blegdamsvej Faust is a remarkable document from a turning point in Physics. [more inside]
Uh, well, sir, I ain't a for real cowboy. But I am one helluva stud!
The wandering days and bunk-bed nights of Fashion Week’s handsome (male) rookies. "Financially speaking, male modeling is not unlike being a straight-male porn star: The men have always made less than the women, and very few become big names. For most magazine work, models are paid less than $250. Twenty percent of that goes to the agency, which also bills models for their board and expenses. 'Sometimes you get charged for things you never thought of,' says Petey, 'like $30 a month to be on the website.'"
Day to Day Goes Dark
Madeleine Brand and Alex Cohen, co-hosts of NPR’s Day to Day discuss being laid off (VIDEO) as part of $23 million in budget cuts at NPR
Want to live in a cave?
Bristol Palin on pregnancy and life.
In a strangely compelling interview with Fox New's Greta Van Susteren, Bristol Palin weighs in on teen pregnancy, abstinence, tabloid news and at 18 years old who gets to make the decisions. From the Huffington Post.
Banks Get What You Paid For
Where have the TARP funds gone? Apparently, manipulating elections. Lobbying against consumers, and $530/night retreats for CEOs.
Lego Construction Site
6x4x2 wheel configuration with Ackermann steering and hybrid live-axle suspension. Telescoping boom. Impressive 1kg lifting capacity.
Jennifer Clark builds amazing things with lego.
Jennifer Clark builds amazing things with lego.
Good Night and Good Cluck
Troma Entertainment presents Poultrygeist:Night of the Chicken Dead! Troma, of course, being responsible for such fine films as The Toxic Avenger and Cannibal! The Musical has achieved in creating a PETA supported, gore-fest sure to offend. If you like that sort of thing and you can stomach this absolutely NSFW trailer then run out and rent this movie ASAP, but don't lay an egg over it's content and then say I didn't warn you.
How Cities Hurt Your Brain
Recent research has found that living in a city may be bad for your brain. Compared with natural settings, cities over-stimulate us and impair our memory and cognitive functions.
Cornhole
As the days get longer and warmer, and winter turns to spring, Americans of all stripes dream of only one thing: playing some Cornhole in their backyard. Previously discussed on the blue, Cornhole has become even more popular in recent years, with the American Cornhole Organization (ACO) endeavoring to give away more than $1,000,000 in prize money in the coming years. Keep training, Cornholers, and one day you could claim the crown as King of Cornhole (seriously). For inspiration, watch The Cornhole Song. And if that's enough Cornhole for you, be sure to check out the upcoming scripted mockumentary "Cornhole: the Movie."
Hampshire Divests from Israel?
Did Hampshire College Become the First to Divest from Israel? It is being reported that Hampshire has divested from 6 corporations that provide Israel with military equipment and services in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza. Students for Justice in Palestine claim success. But the University claims that the decision had "nothing to do with Israel." This move is being hailed as a landmark victory by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign which calls on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era."
Driving this road until death sets you free
Bizarro Mathowie
"He is responsible for the online lives of 5 million monthly ... visitors -- the hackers, slackers and potty-mouthed geeks. They come ... when they should be doing calc homework. Now -- in debt, out of work, another example of the Internet's intangibility -- [he] just needs to figure out how to make that matter."
The Washington Post profiles Christopher Poole, founder of 4chan. (Previously, minus the current economic realities)
Masarap!
Anthony Bourdain finally goes to the Philippines. Filipino blogger MarketMan was one of Bourdain's guides and made sure he had the celebrated lechon, which Bourdain now claims is the best whole roast pig he's ever had. Here is: MarketMan behind the scenes on the show. MM's top 30 Filipino dishes. Top 20 Filipino Desserts.
Now you read it, soon you won't.
The death of the news.
What is really threatened by the decline of newspapers and the related rise of online media is reporting -- on-the-ground reporting by trained journalists who know the subject, have developed sources on all sides, strive for objectivity and are working with editors who check their facts, steer them in the right direction and are a further check against unwarranted assumptions, sloppy thinking and reporting, and conscious or unconscious bias.
Godwin comes to the banking crisis
As the bankers retreat to their bunkers, a video commentary by an insider.
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