March 24, 2009
ArtRockMusik
A year ago today we celebrated Holger Czukay's birthday, so why not do so again this year with some CAN videos? Paperhouse, Spoon, On German TV in 1971, Mother Sky, Halleluhwah, Vernal Equinox
Writing Off Autocracy (?)
Twilight Of The Autocrats: Will the global economic downturn usher in a new era of democracy, or will things only get worse? [first link via]
JetBytes
JetBytes is a free, no-signup, one-off file-sharing service.
WhiteHouse.gov Gets Diggy with It
OpenForQuestions at WhiteHouse.gov is asking you to vote for the questions you want Obama to address Thursday night. Like digg, but more governmentally.
LOL116DEADCANADIANSOLDIERS
Fox News, keeping it classy, recently aired a comedy segment ridiculing the Canadian military's efforts in Afghanistan. On the overnight programme, host Greg Gutfeld and friends joked about Canada's plan to pull out troops in 2011 to "do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants." He also suggested invading Canada seeing as how they "have no real army", and mocked the last name of one of the Canadian generals as being unmasculine.
[more inside]
Solar Towers are a magnificent alternative to solar cells.
A solar updraft tower generates electricity with nothing more than a greenhouse and a tall chimney. A 195 meter tall prototype in Spain cheaply operated at 50 kW for years. Now there are plans to build others, including a 40 MW tower, 750 meters tall (near twice as tall as the current tallest structure in the EU). Two others, a 200 MW tower in Australia (previously discussed) or a 400 MW tower in Namibia could become the tallest structure of any kind if built: 1km and 1.5km tall, respectively. Yet even those are dwarfed by the theoretical super chimney which could stand 5km tall and 1km wide. Such a tower would use the Earth's atmosphere itself as the greenhouse, could cause rain, reduce global warming and generate over 300,000 MW of "green" electricity. [more inside]
Have you Driven a Fail Lately?
After the Crisis Once this economic crisis blows over, a lot of companies will need their logos redesigned. Here's a dozen or so.
Hellhole
Antipode Map.
Antipode Map. Find where the other side of the planet is instantly. Note that if you if you actually do manage to dig a tunnel through to the other side and jump in it will take you 42 minutes to get there.
Grant the Preferred Individual Access
You may want to skip the US DVD version of "Let the Right One In." The Magnolia/Magnet release of the indie horror movie darling dumbs down the Swedish-to-English translation for the subtitles for the US DVD and Blu-ray versions. (via)
I miss the 1970s
Rome's Tremendous Tunnel
The Ancient World's Longest Underground Aqueduct. "Roman engineers chipped an aqueduct through more than 100 kilometers of stone to connect water to cities in the ancient province of Syria. The monumental effort took more than a century, says the German researcher who discovered it." How Did the Romans Accomplish Such a Feat? [Via]
I like to watch.
God is my copilot...but He's not type-rated
We all admired Capt. Sullenberger's cold blood on the Hudson. His fellow pilot Chafik Garbi, however, placed in similar circumstances, performed rather less well.
Pirkle Jones, 1914-2009
Photographer Pirkle Jones, best known for his images of California's migrant workers and changing landscape (including a collaboration with Dorothea Lange) and his iconic Black Panther pictures, has died at 95.
"Bashung is a world-class moper whose gravitas makes Morrissey seem like a pipsqueak."
Two weeks after Alain Bashung's final live performance at the Victoires de la Musique awards, France mourns the passing of the renowned poet-rocker who died on 14 March of lung cancer. The rest of the world says 'Who?' (wiki). An appreciation from the Times correspondent Charles Bremner. Some clips from Bashung's career: Madame rêve, Gaby Oh! Gaby, Osez Josephine, Volontaire (with Noir Desir), Sur un trapeze, La nuit je mens, the epic Comme un lego.
Breaking the tower
In the mood for a light realtime strategy game? Try Breaking the Tower. It's quite a bit like Settlers, but it's more streamlined.
Runs in the browser, requires java
Runs in the browser, requires java
Excel Hell
Remember that time you were asked about the coolest thing you ever saw on the internet and all that came to mind was (previously mentioned) The Website is Down? Well it appears there was a part2 released. I cannot be the only one happy to see this. [more inside]
Moonwalk Mode Unlocked
Host Master and the Conquest of Humor. A point and click adventure about Tim Schafer gathering jokes for the GDC. Pixel hunting on a level not for the faint of heart.
No Nonsense Self-Defense
No Nonsense Self Defense is a website that features many great essays about violence and self-defense, including “High Risk Behavior And Knowing Where You Are,”“Are Martial Arts Self-Defense?,”“The Best Way to Get Attacked,”“The Economy And Stress Violence,”and “Who's Going To Rob You?." But my absolute favorite section is "Psychology and Survival." If I can convince you to read only one of these links, please let it be that last one.
A Quiet Revolution Grows in the Muslim World
A Quiet Revolution Grows in the Muslim World "In many of the scores of countries that are predominantly Muslim, the latest generation of activists is redefining society in novel ways. This new soft revolution is distinct from three earlier waves of change--the Islamic revival of the 1970s, the rise of extremism in the 1980s and the growth of Muslim political parties in the 1990s. Today's revolution is more vibrantly Islamic than ever. Yet it is also decidedly antijihadist and ambivalent about Islamist political parties. Culturally, it is deeply conservative, but its goal is to adapt to the 21st century. Politically, it rejects secularism and Westernization but craves changes compatible with modern global trends. The soft revolution is more about groping for identity and direction than expressing piety. The new revolutionaries are synthesizing Koranic values with the ways of life spawned by the Internet, satellite television and Facebook. For them, Islam, you might say, is the path to change rather than the goal itself."
and again and again and again and again... and again
Over twelve years in the making, filmed on five continents, with a running time of over nine hours, easily the most terrifying flatware horror movie released this year. A Richard Gale film. [via]
Bulldozed Away
In the 1860’s, while the US was busy crushing its agrarian revolution, the Russians were busy expanding their empire towards Afghanistan and cleansing the Caucuses of those pesky Circassians, Chechens, and Tartars (to name a few) in a little known places like Abkhazia, the British were busy expanding their empire towards Afghanistan and extinguishing the last outposts of “mutineers,” and the Qing Dynasty of China was losing its grip on its Empire due to a cult of longhaired Christians lead by Jesus’s Chinese little brother. Alimkul, the de facto Khan of Khotan took advantage of the chaos by sending his greatest general, Yakub Beg, to Kashgar... [more inside]
The unluckiest man alive
Bad luck: some people seem to treat the subject rather lightly and consider themselves the unluckiest person ever if they lose a long game of Pokemon, or because of some rather benign school occurrences. Sometimes people fall victim to such unlikely and improbable events that they may be tempted to declare themselves cursed. But it would be hard to beat the hard-luck of a Japanese man named Tsutomu Yamaguchi. On August 6th, 1945, he was in Hiroshima on a business trip when the first A-bomb dropped on Japan exploded. He suffered some burns, but was considered well enough that he could leave Hiroshima the next day and go home. To Nagasaki.
Ortonesque
Orton and Halliwell first came to the public attention not as writers but through an elaborate and extended prank played out at their local library, altering book covers and adding new blurbs to dust jackets. Incensed at the poor choice of books at Essex Road, their local library, they began stealing books. These were smuggled out, dust jackets altered, new blurbs written on inside flaps and then surreptitiously returned. [more inside]
Redoubt blows its top
After months of pre-eruptive activity, Alaska's Mount Redoubt has erupted 6 times since Sunday night. Telegraphing its eruption with massive shallow earthquake activity in the range of 26 earthquakes every 10 minutes, the volcano, located around 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, spewed an ash column 10km high, and is expected to continue erupting for weeks or months. The last time this massive volcano erupted in 1989 a commercial airliner was caught in the ash column, causing the engines to seize and the plane to lose two miles of altitude before the engines were restarted. That eruption, which lasted for 5 months, produced this spectacular photo. Follow this amazing event at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. [more inside]
Surrogate mothers and fetal foreclosures
What happens when payments to a surrogate mother from an infertile couple suddenly stop, through no fault of either party? [via]
There's Nothing Lower Than A Fashion Blow
Thor Steinar, a German fashion brand, has run into heavy criticism recently due to the fact that their clothing was adopted by a number of far-right Neo-Nazi types. Much of the debate revolves around the question of whether or not founder Axel Kopelke intentionally designed the company's original logo to attract this particular demographic, leading to protests and vandalism at retail stores selling the brand. But will skinheads feel the need to change brands now that the company has been bought out by a Dubai-based Arab investor?
strike another match, go start anew...
From the very familiar to the "exotic", from Art Deco design to jazzy and snazzy mid-century graphics, from touting booze to touting tobacco, from "Vargas girl"-esque teasers to presidents of the United States, from 24-hour waffle restaurants to diaper services, from celebrations of the iconic cocktail to the... um, McDonald's Party House, the Matchbooks & Collectable Matchbooks Flickr group has it all.
Arts Journal
The Highlights is an online arts journal. It consists of web-based projects and essays by artists. An example from the current issue, Master of None, where the author posits that a new model of work for artists can exist, one where the artist retains agency while also getting paid to do complementary work which is informed by the subtlety, strangeness, and sure-footed temperament of the artist’s persona. Two years of journals in the archives. [more inside]
Das Kapital - The Musical
Election Fraud in Kentucky
Election Fraud in Kentucky. "I think this is the first documented case of election fraud in the U.S. using electronic voting machines (there have been lots of documented cases of errors and voting problems, but this one involves actual maliciousness)."
Electronic cigarettes don't smoke
The e-cigarette may be soon be outlawed with an imminent crackdown looming.
But are e-cigs really that dangerous?
Vintage Supermarket Photos
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