February 2, 2012
The Mythbuster Sings Aloud
"If I pee, or break this shit, just go with it."
MeFi's own asavage plays and sings The Long Winters' "The Commander Thinks Aloud" at W00tstock SF. (SLYT)
Party like it's 19A9
Burning Down Burning Man
Burning Man sold out for the first time in its history last year, marking another painful evolutionary event and, in the process, attracting scammers and scalpers who violated the dearly-held Burner tradition of selling tickets for no greater than face value.
In an effort to thwart scammers and scalpers this year, The Burning Man Project replaced the event's long-standing first-come-first-served web-based ticketing system with a controversial new lottery system to distribute the first 43,000 tickets at random. Prior to ticket registration, the system required entrants to fill out the Burning Man 2012 Tickets Main Sale Participant Survey, which asked, among other things, how many years the respondent had attended Burning Man. "(Don't worry, your answers will in NO WAY affect your likelihood of receiving tickets.)"
When stalwart mega-camps like Deathguild, Disorient and Opulent Temple came to realize that a disproportionately small number of their members were awarded tickets, one Burner smelled a rat and created an informal survey to test his hypothesis that the survey did indeed affect one's likelihood of receiving tickets.
His survey is beginning to show an inversely proportional relationship between those who have previously attended the event and those who were awarded tickets.
This, combined with the description of this year's theme, Fertility 2.0, is leading some Burners to wonder whether these are indications that Larry Harvey has tipped his hat to his most insidious prank yet: "killing off" Burning Man's faithful and its intelligentsia, like the love child of Jim Jones and Joseph Stalin, to make room for an all-new Burning Man populated by wide-eyed Virgins. [more inside]
The Earthbound Journal
The Earthbound Journal is the Mother of all fan projects; a labour of love that took journalist Armand Kossayan over 150 hours to complete. And it's amazing. Armand describes it as "a retelling of the game’s plot from the point of view of primarily Paula and Jeff, with some smaller parts from Ness and Poo." Did I mention it's free. Go get it!
An overgrown boy scout: truthful, inquisitive, courageous and caring.
The 50 best David Lynch characters. And David Lynch films - from worst to best. And David Lynch's best music moments. Craziest David Lynch moments.
Church or Cult?
Hippies Hate Slayer
For ages humankind has struggled with the definitive question of existence. To wit, "Can An Intelligent Person Like Phish?" A writer for Parks and Recreation says yes, but upon further field investigation involving large quantities of booze, psychedelics, pot, and "moonrocks" (Earwolf podcast) the answer is, obviously, no.
Max Headroom meets Internet Explorer
Too much internet may not be a good thing. This Errors video is totally having a "marmite-like effect". Warning SLYT and Long.
That's no booth babe
Technology/sex columnist Violet Blue (previously) has been reporting from this year's Macworld trade fair for ZDNet; among her reportage was a photograph of a woman sitting in a booth, labelled as "The Saddest Booth Babe In The World". Later it emerged that the woman in question was not, in fact, a booth babe (i.e., a model hired to smile, hand out flyers and appeal to the heterosexual male gaze) but rather an iOS developer presenting her products, hence her less-than-effervescent demeanour. Blue's response was
somewhat evasive, suggesting that her (and, in her opinion, the average attendee's) expectation upon seeing a woman at a booth at a technology event would be that she would be there for decorative purposes.
If the van's ROCKIN' don't come KNOCKIN'
If you have a taste for a certain flavor of North American, 20th century rebelliousness, you may enjoy a photo blog called The Acid Sweat Lodge. Contains some NSFW images. And lots of bad-assery.
Nazi Propaganda
During a recent visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., I was reeducated in the power of branding — especially as applied to poster design — at the special exhibition, State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda, which demonstrates how the Nazi party used carefully crafted messages, advertising and design techniques, and then-new technologies (radio, television, film) to sway millions with its vision for a new Germany. (related)
Sorry, Dr. Honeydew
Chess with no opening book
A major element of serious chess play is the study of openings* -- of known series of moves from the starting position whose effects to the later stages of the game are well established through previous games and through manual and computer analysis. Chess960 a.k.a. Fischer Random Chess was introduced in 1996 by chess genius (and reclusive paranoid anti-semite) Bobby Fischer as an alternative that aims to remove the emphasis on this laborious element while keeping other central aspects of the game intact. The tagline of one blog dedicated to the game calls it 'a return to the pleasure of the first move in a vast unexplored wilderness'. Some of this wilderness is being explored with new theory, linked below the fold among other things. [more inside]
What Has Piracy Done For Anime?
In 2000, the anime industry was on the brink of what looked like a global takeover, and was pushing live action movies to the side. However, trouble began to take hold just a few years later, when labour issues involving long hours and low pay, along with a sharp drop in anime DVD sales, began to cause serious trouble for the industry. Although some government officials pinned their hopes in beefing up exports in order to breathe life into the economy, to industry insiders the situation looked bleak and possibly unresolvable using traditional models. However, other avenues - such as the internet, and even internet piracy - were studied for their economic effects. The results? [more inside]
Romney's tax returns
Inside Romney's Tax Returns: A Reading Guide. From ProPublica.
Hey can I get some of those hampster ovaries?
Dancing about architecture.
Muslim America moves away from the minaret. 'In post 9/11 America the construction of new mosques in the US has sometimes sparked controversy and even confrontation.' Now there appears to be an increasing trend to build new mosques in the US without some of the architectural features most commonly associated with the traditional Muslim houses of worship. '"It's a bad time for Islamic architecture," says Mr Ahmed, former Pakistani ambassador to the UK. But the Islamic Center of America in Michigan features imposing traditional domes and minarets "If there was some visionary with money who wanted to build the Taj Mahal in the US, he'd be attacked as a stealth Jihadist."' [more inside]
Don't hate me because I'm a '24-Hour Comic'
Darkness "Sometimes you meet people like that, they have one adjective that fits them like a glove. They could be that word's picture in the dictionary..."
The Super Bowl of Advertising
Social TV is coming and the Super Bowl is its debutante ball. Will 2012 be the year that Social TV goes mainstream? Lost Remote has you covered, for all the latest news about Social TV and the otherwise decline of Western civilization.
Chickens are actually In The Road
Former romance writer & city girl Suzanne McMinn blogs at Chickens in the Road, a non-fancy, non-Martha Stewartish, realistic look into the simple, often vanishing, life of rural America in the country outside one tiny town in the Appalachian foothills. She posts daily, chronicling her photography, stories, recipes, crafts, and sentimental thoughts on the history, people, life, and beauty of rural Appalachia. Her stated goal: to connect people with their food again--hands on, hands in, the old-fashioned way.
(And she even managed to get financial compensation when a photo she took of her goats was used in a print publication without attribution.)
WAT.
WAT. - A lightning talk by Gary Bernhardt from CodeMash 2012, on the peculiarities of some popular scripting languages. (Single video link, around 4 minutes in length.)
This guy is the physical embodiment of my Communications degree.
A Fashion Eye for the G.I. Joe Guy ComicsAlliance critiques G.I. Joe and Cobra uniforms.
Today I learned that there's a Randomize Text button in Photoshop/Illustrator.
Before The Movie Begins
The words of Christians in the mouth of Christ
A restored apprentice's copy reveals what what the Mona Lisa looked like back in the 16th century
The Prado Museum in Madrid has what they had considered to be an inferior late-era replica of the Mona Lisa, a portrait surrounded by black. But when conservators compared infrared images of their copy with images taken in 2004 from the Leonardo's masterpiece, they found that the Prado replica closely resembled early under-drawings covered by the Mona Lisa everyone sees. Yesterday, Prado held a news conference to announce that their restoration efforts are nearly done and displayed the work in progress. The comparison is striking, showing details that might have been visible when the Mona Lisa was fresh, 500 years ago. The Guardian has more details and a high-detail portion of the apprentice's painting, believed to be by Francesco Melzi. [more inside]
Bollywood's Soft Power
What might help defeat Muslim extremists in Pakistan for good? Bollywood!
Happinness Takes (A Little) Magic
Brian Lam, from the excellent resource the wirecutter, drops some knowledge about what it's like to live a bit more meaningfully. "I owe my livelihood to technology and I love the raw capability it offers us as a tool, but I fear it a bit more than most people do. It's a tool, but it's not quite a hammer, because a hammer doesn't seduce you into sitting around lonely in your underwear for 6 hours at a stretch clicking on youtube videos and refreshing Twitter.
Cheaper than music
Psychonaut by The Cosmic Dead is free psych rock. Going Up, Coming Down by Sudden Death of Stars is free French psych with sitars. Kosmonaut 1 by Kosmonaut is free Tangerine Dream-style space rock. Sedan by Sedan is free hypnotic piano and drums. Ouroborus by Hypatia Lake is free stoner rock. Watch Your Back by Butchers is free slacker noise psych. Tumbleweeds by Across Tundras is free prairie rock. Concrete Light by Luger is free neo-kraut in a Stereolab vein. Born to Deal in Magic: 1952-1976 by Shooting Guns is free instrumental stoner doom. You Can't Win by The Runnies is free female-fronted organ trio psych. War of the Giants by Axxicorn is free stoner metal. [more inside]
I found so much good information I put it all in. Overkill.
Remember me? I'm the kid who had a report due on space neat blog about growing up Freberg. [more inside]
I push up like an exercise
What you see, I don't see. I look at the details.
NSFW Lucien Clergue is a French Photographer from Arles, and renowned for his Nu zébré.
He was a friend of Picasso and Jean Cocteau.
He still gives the occasional talk: Ansel said to me "I have been here for 40 years and I have never seen what you see."
Clergue: " I am Mediterranean by birth. What you see, I don't see. I look at the details."
He was a friend of Picasso and Jean Cocteau.
He still gives the occasional talk: Ansel said to me "I have been here for 40 years and I have never seen what you see."
Clergue: " I am Mediterranean by birth. What you see, I don't see. I look at the details."
If you liked it, then you should have spent 7p on it
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
Qualcomm and the X Prize Foundation have launched a new contest: Envision and build the equivalent of Star Trek's medical tricorder, a portable health monitoring device that can remotely diagnose patients. The winner will receive $10 million. [more inside]
Top five regrets of the dying
Top five regrets of the dying. A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives.
Why the long face?
The Onion's AV Club has noticed that Amazon buyers love this creepy horse mask, and they're posting the customer images to prove it.
Analogue: A Hate Story
Analogue: A Hate Story is a mystery featuring transhumanism, traditional marriage, loneliness, and cosplay told through interaction with the AI and logs of a derelict colony ship, lost thousands of years ago.
It is the latest visual novel from Christine Love (previously 1, 2, 3) The full thing is not free, but there is a demo.
Marriage Equality in Washington State Takes the Next Step
The Washington State Senate has approved SB 6239, a bill granting marriage equality, in a 28-21 vote. It now moves on to the House, where its passage is all but assured, then to the desk of Governor Gregoire, who started the process earlier this year and has promised to sign it.
But, then what? As in 2009, when citizens voted 53-47 in favor of Referendum 71 to reject overturning the legislature's domestic partnership bill, the bill will likely be subject to a citizen referendum, rendering it temporarily inactive until approved by popular vote. A recent poll found that 55% of voters would approve that measure. If that holds true, same-sex marriages could begin in Washington State starting December 7th, 2012.
But, then what? As in 2009, when citizens voted 53-47 in favor of Referendum 71 to reject overturning the legislature's domestic partnership bill, the bill will likely be subject to a citizen referendum, rendering it temporarily inactive until approved by popular vote. A recent poll found that 55% of voters would approve that measure. If that holds true, same-sex marriages could begin in Washington State starting December 7th, 2012.
"Ron Paul has regularly met with many A3P members, even engaging in conference calls with their board of directors."
Hacker group Anonymous has discovered that Ron Paul is working directly with the neo-Nazi group American Third Position Party, whose members occupy key posts in Paul's campaign and whose directors have had conference calls with the Congressman and Presidential candidate. The full information release can be viewed at pirasec.org, though the interface is fairly clunky.
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