July 15, 2009
Eat Canada
"children should be wary of all adults – unless they're government-approved?"
A group of respected British children's authors and illustrators will stop visiting schools from the start of the next academic year, in protest at a new government scheme that requires them to register on a database in case they pose a danger to children."In essence, I'm being asked to pay £64 to prove that I am not a paedophile."
"I don't want food from some place else when we've got food right here."
In a possible sign of things to come, a group of Ontario grocery chain franchisees has split off and formed an independent co-op in order to better access locally-sourced food.
Thomas Ley, Hanging Minister
In 1947, Thomas Ley, a virulently sectarian, pro-hanging Australian politician, died in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he had been sent after being sentenced to death for murder. It was probably not his first.
Homophobic Professor invited to teach Human Rights in NYU
NYU recently invited a Law Professor from Singapore, Thio Li-Ann to teach "Human Rights in Asia".
Thio, also a former Member of Parliament, is infamous for having strong views against homosexuality.
As expected, she is not warmly welcomed by NYU students. [more inside]
So let go of your balls
The origin of the word testimony probably has nothing to do with Romans taking oaths while holding their testicles, though interpreting the Bible in a certain way might make you think so.
Dan Deacon does not do acid.
in a democracy, the ordinary citizen is effectively a king, but a king in a constitutional democracy, a king whose decisions are merely formal
Berlusconi in Tehran by Slavoj Žižek in the London Review of Books
"Stealing cheese! That will never do!"
"Catnip. I wonder what that is." Catnip Capers, a TerryToons animated short from 1940. SLYT.
Jane Austen Horror #2
The publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies announces that book's follow up in the most awesome way possible.
"Jeez Louise, what a sorehead"
Fail whale: hax0red!!
TechCrunch claims it has been sent hundreds of internal Twitter documents from passcodes to meeting notes. Today the site released several of the documents, including financial projections. The documents were provided by "Hacker Croll" and were accessed in May. [more inside]
Neko Case on Necco Wafers
Amusing NPR interview with Ms. Case From the NPR show "Not My Job", a rambling and entertaining interview with alt-country, loud singing, red-haired songstress Neko Case. On an unrelated note, I know she's American, but we Canucks like to claim her as our own, what with her Canadian Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and her collaborations with Canadian bands.
Installation with mirror, headstone and chair
Surely not joking, Mr. Feynman
"I can see the audience tonight, so I can see also from the size of it that there must many of you here who are not thoroughly familiar with physics, and also a number that are not too versed in mathematics- and I don't doubt that there are some who know neither physics nor mathematics very well.
That puts a considerable challenge on a speaker who is going to speak on the relation of physics and mathematics- a challenge which I, however, will not accept: I published the title of the talk in clear and precise language, and didn't make it sound like it was something it wasn't- it's the relation of physics and mathematics - and if you find that in some spots it assumes some minor knowledge of physics or mathematics, I cannot help it. It was named."
The Feynman Messenger series at Cornell has been made available online for the first time thanks to Bill Gates.
Jazz hands
Audio archive from Small's Jazz Club, searchable by instrument, then performer, then date, starting with September 27, 2007.
Hours and hours and hours and hours of the some of the best jazz from New York's downtown scene. Stream and snap your fingers, man.
this guy knows what I'm talking about!
IDEA USA RUNE UNIT
Muse's international treasure hunt. (Sign up required for complete access to second link) [more inside]
Dateline: Zzzzzzzzz......
Dream World News reports on the current events of the subconscious with the highest of journalistic standards. [more inside]
raaouuhao woahaooaoo
Today's featured article: Hvuoauuoao roaoa rruaauuvaaoo nuaunuuoau waaoaarrooayu haoaoa nauiouuruua rraaoaa voaouriau wooo vuaaoora.
On The Importance of Overdraft Protection
Overcharged for cigarettes. A NH man was charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for a pack of cigarettes-- a "little" over a quadrillion dollars per cigarette. Jokes about tobacco taxes aside, it wasn't an isolated incident. Numerous Visa customers discovered the same charge. [more inside]
Scratch, a beginner's programming language
Scratch is a programming language designed for kids. Programs are created by hooking together jigsaw-puzzle pieces, which are keyed in such a way that it is impossible to create a syntactically incorrect program. [more inside]
The Smiler
This is a journey into Twee
Kitten Painting's site has wonderfully evocative descriptions of the front line of the 1980s indie/anorak/C86 scene. (Not sure what 'twee' is? Try here, have a listen to C86, or download from here. )
Would you give this man $125,000?
System and method for creating exalted video games and virtual realities. This patent application, describing a new genre of "exalted video games," starts simple -- with a woman quoting Lenin -- and spirals out into a rambling tome on arts and economics over the course of 100 pages, from Aristotle to Clint Eastwood. It's easy to write off physicist/poet/entrepreneur Dr. Elliot McGuckin as a standard Internet crackpot -- except that he's also a professor at Pepperdine University, received a $125,000 grant from the Kaufmann Foundation, and teaches a class that was written up in the NYT. [more inside]
Etisalat's Trojan BlackBerries
UAE phone company pushes BlackBerry update with embedded spyware. The United Arab Emirates phone company Etisalat recently sent out a firmware update to its BlackBerry-using customers, billed as a “performance enhancement patch”. After customers reported the patch degrading their handsets' performance and draining their batteries more rapidly, a programmer examined it and found that it contained spyware from a US company, which could be remotely activated to forward all emails and text messages to a third-party server. [more inside]
"Genuinely confusing to rapists"
The Worst Date Ever is the new book by Jane Bussmann. She starts as a celebrity journalist in LA and ends up breaking a massive story about the political situation in Uganda from a scary bit of Africa. Ms. Bussmann also wrote the first internet sit-com: The Junkies (parts 1, 2, 3) , and had a hand in South Park, Brass Eye and Jam. The wonderful Sally Phillips directed the Edinburgh stage show that became the book and Chris Morris says it's "Genuinely
confusing to rapists". [more inside]
Google Pedicab
Everybody knows about the Google Van now, some love it, some hate it, but it has become an assumed condition now that, if you're near a street, Google Maps might have your picture (I'm at work!). Living further off the path might seem like a solution to avoid detection, but Google has stepped off the roadway and into more scenic routes with the Google Tricycle. Being unpowered and smaller allows Google to get their 360° photographs from vantage points other than the curb in front of your house. Google Street Views won't just include streets anymore: they plan to cover national parks, bicycle paths, college campuses, theme parks, any any other public place which isn't exactly van-friendly.
so what is it or r u just going to ignore me ? i thought we were friends even tho i am ur ex?
"I'm dressed as a piece of chocolate because you're allergic to chocolate. But I'm a piece of chocolate you can have!" Psychotic Letters from Men.
Beeb Mac
"Working in art film or commercial cinema is like dancing through a mine field, and every broadcaster is now racing down market in a desperate attempt to survive. But what is happening at the BBC is the real scandal: it is bigger than all the rest combined, it is free from direct commercial pressure and its public service obligations carry cultural responsibilities. There are no excuses." Veteran producer Tony Garnett, has launched a blistering attack on the current process of drama commissioning at the BBC
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