June 17, 2009
Grab this grasshopper out of my hand
Obama's ninja-like fly swat has been objected to, rejected, genuflected, relatively neglected and hopefully disinfected.
Gundam!
A mechanic in Wasilla Alaska has built his own
18-foot tall
mecha. He's a piker, though, compared to the Japanese,
who have
built a
59-foot tall
Gundam.
(Nonfunctional, alas.) [more inside]
His name was Albert Ayler
One of the giants of free jazz, Albert Ayler was also one of the most controversial. His huge tone and wide vibrato were difficult to ignore, and his 1966 group sounded like a runaway New Orleans brass band from 1910. - AllMusic [more inside]
Surf's Up
Try on a Hollywood Makeover
Hollywood Makeover Try on the hottest celebrity hair and makeup looks. Upload your own picture. Or picture of someone you hate.
DrumChuk!
DrumChuk: "A customizable Ruby-based MIDI drum controller for the Wii remote and nunchuk on OS X." The code, and more about the project, can be found at github.
Glissendo
Car Trouble
Fliers are being distributed in rural Boulder County calling on motorists blockade bicyclists in an upcoming organized ride (via 303cycling). [more inside]
Obama's Bank Changes
US unveils banking reform plans. But will the proposed measures adequately address the causes of the current crisis? [more inside]
"All I got in this world is my balls and my word and I don't break either of 'em for nobody!"
Before the mouse, there was the trackball. Built for DATAR in 1952, DATAR turned out to be a complete failure. The next user interface device that used a ball was the mouse at Xeroc Parc in 1972. Trackballs are a dying breed of interface devices. But sometimes a trackball just seems more natural choice for certain applications - not so obvious for others. Would you sit on one?
Pinwale
NSA E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress. "Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in Congress about the agency’s ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans on a widespread basis, officials said. Supporting that conclusion is the account of a former N.S.A. analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans’ e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation." [Via]
Web of Research
"Worio is a discovery engine that works alongside keyword search to expose you to stuff you've been missing using search alone." (via) [more inside]
vogue hates teh skinny
You've got 20 minutes, haven't you? Here's some opera.
All the Great Operas in 10 minutes (1992) is a very quick overview of La Traviata, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Aida, Tosca, Tristan and Isolde, Madame Butterfly, Ring of the Nibelung (a four-parter), resulting 26 dead, plus all the gods of Valhalla, which brings the grand total to 38 dead. 10 More Operas in 10 Minutes is a tribute to the original, created by the students of the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences, covering The Merry Widow (technically an operetta), The Force of Destiny, Lucia di Lammermoore, The Magic Flute, Falstaff, The Damnation of Faust, Rigoletto, Romeo and Juliet, La Bohème, and William Tell. Only 14 deaths tallied (not counting armies fighting).
The street sweeper truck from hell
The Chronicles of Bruiser "It looked like the fucking Apocolypse. Metallica blaring, strobe light, smoke, and road flares all going off at once. I ran at them full steam an shouted 'I am the Dark Lord here to REAP YOUR SOULS.'" The unbelievable true story of a Street Sweeper named Bruiser. [more inside]
Too Poor to Make the News
Too Poor to Make the News "The super-rich give up their personal jets; the upper middle class cut back on private Pilates classes; the merely middle class forgo vacations and evenings at Applebee’s. In some accounts, the recession is even described as the “great leveler,” smudging the dizzying levels of inequality that characterized the last couple of decades and squeezing everyone into a single great class, the Nouveau Poor, in which we will all drive tiny fuel-efficient cars and grow tomatoes on our porches.
But the outlook is not so cozy when we look at the effects of the recession on a group generally omitted from all the vivid narratives of downward mobility — the already poor. From their point of view “the economy,” as a shared condition, is a fiction."
But the outlook is not so cozy when we look at the effects of the recession on a group generally omitted from all the vivid narratives of downward mobility — the already poor. From their point of view “the economy,” as a shared condition, is a fiction."
Creative Commons...I think you're doing it wrong
Instructables.com moves to a "pay to see" model Instructables, the community craft blog of the handy set, has moved to a closed pay-only model, and the timer is ticking for legacy accounts. After 90 days from implementation rollover, people who do not pay for an Instructables "Pro" account will have their accounts "crippled". Non-paying accounts will no longer be able to view entire instructables at once, print out projects or get a PDF, have a "favorites" list, and most perniciously, people won't be able to view "secondary" images in instructable steps that have multiple images. (Even if you happen to be the person that created it.) [more inside]
The temptation to continue to lie, to see yourself as the victim in a grand play is formidable
Ta-Nehisi Coates reflects on social myth-making from the losing side.
"Good relationships take work."
Let's Call The Whole Thing Off. The author [Sandra Tsing Loh] is ending her marriage. Isn’t it time you did the same?
Darkseid IS!
Smoke me a kipper...
Need to build an FE2b, or perhaps an SE5a? Need to keep the Hun at bay with an RE8 ? Haven’t a clue? Don't worry Vintage Aviator’s got your back.
You’ll need to source the correct linen be able to splice cable, and learn how to make the
[more inside]
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