August 17, 2009
The Views From Your Sickbed
The Views From Your Sickbed: Andrew Sullivan's readers share stories about health care in the United States.
"Yeah, sure, I'll get in an accident. Whatever."
The art of Josh Keyes
Animals isolated in dystopian tableaux.
Vortex smoke ring Collision. Wow!
Ahmet Ertegun profiled by George W. S. Trow in 1978
Ahmet Ertegun was profiled by George W. S. Trow in The New Yorker in a classic piece back in 1978. Ertegun was the son of the Turkish ambassador to the US and he remained behind in D.C. studying medieval philosophy at Georgetown. Instead of devoting himself to his studies he founded Atlantic Records with his friend Herb Abramson. Trow charted how Ertegun moved from tramping through muddy, Louisiana fields in search of hot new sounds to the whirl of Studio 54. Below the cut are links to the songs mentioned in the article, as best as I could find, in the order in which they appear. [more inside]
Vietnam in Pennsylvania
Civil War reenacting is so 2002. Vietnam reenacting is the new black. But really, if reenacting is your thing, you've got lots of wars to choose from.
Freakanomics on used bike prices
Bicycle Inflation in Paradise? Freakanomics looks at used bike prices in Portland. Interesting reading.
Women at Arms: In Their Own Words
Three female US soldiers talk about their experiences in the military. (sound starts automatically) [more inside]
Play Ball!
You've seen the national anthem sung at baseball games, but have you ever heard the national anthem played on a baseball bat? (SLYT)
Marx and Mario
Amusement (French Vogue meets Nintendo Power) takes iconic video games and discovers their origins. Jean-Yves Lemoigne fantasizes about pixels (NSFW?). Game couture?
The end of a historic car graveyard in Kaufdorf
A car graveyard in Kaufdorf, near Bern is home to 500 abandoned and decaying cars mostly from the 1930's to 1960's. It has not been touched for over 30 years and has some rare flora and founa. The opportunity to take stunning photographs is unparalleled, but it is causing environmental issues which results in an auction this September. It was a struggle between history, nature and European law. History and nature lose. [more inside]
From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend; the legend of Lego Voltron
Years have passed since Zarkon's invasion of Arus. A team of Space Explorers approaches the planet. Young but determined, these explorers have been sent by the Galaxy Alliance on a special mission: to search for the secret of Voltron. The team of explorers consists of five brave young (brick)men: Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Sven. Together, with 71 hours of building, they form Lego Voltron. From work in progress to cockpit details and shoulder pin mechanisms, the photographed details are there to enjoy. The builder includes credits to the Teknomeka plans for the frame of the structure (history of the plans, models, and another model) (via).
Times New Starling
The unexpected (possible) history of the world's most famous typeface. Mike Parker, former head of typographic development at Morgenthaler Linotype, has challenged the standard history of Times New Roman. The typeface, Parker claims, wasn't designed by "the great persuader" Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent of Monotype in 1931, but rather thirteen years earlier by an American, William Starling Burgess, an airplane and yacht designer, published poet, and naval architect who married five times and whose daughter, also named Starling Burgess, described him as “a bird of paradise in a family of English sparrows.” By the time of that statement, she no longer shared his name, but had become the celebrated children's author Tasha Tudor. (via)
The Sad Song
The Sad Song (single link Vimeo video)
Even sage Mr. Owl can't proffer an estimate
And like that... he's gone
Anthropomorphism can be fun!
Historic Bridges of the U.S.
Historic Bridges of the U.S. This is the most complete database of historic bridges I've seen. The front page is blog style that seems to have an emphasis on preservation, and which links to a database that is actively being updated & expanded. You can search by state or by county, and look at each bridge's individual page, including a wealth of stats, and a high-res photo, when available. [more inside]
Two Wheels Good - One Wheel...
The One Wheeled Vehicle was Charles F Taylor's invention that culminated in the development of working prototypes. The site contains 3D models and animations explaining the concept.
With no electronics, the machine was stabilised electro-mechanically with the use of the humble gyroscope, but the One Wheeled Vehicle is certainly not the only example of a "Gyro-Car".
The Brennan Gyro-Monorail is surely worth a mention, as is the 1961 Ford Gyron, and the wonderful Schilovski Gyrocar [previously]
Top 10
Criterion Collection Top Ten Lists as chosen by Jonathan Lethem ll Steve Buscemi ll Patton Oswalt ll Peter Cowie ll Jean-Pierre Gorin ll Diablo Cody ll D. A. Pennebaker ll John Lurie ll Paul Schrader ll Nathan Lee ll Ricky Jay ll and many more.
Why Can't MS Do This?
An 8 year old critical security bug in the Linux kernel? No problem, we can fix that without even rebooting. You heard me, it is possible to apply a source code patch to a running kernel without reboot.
VARIOUS THINGS HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME
A whole Dragonforce album at the same time. A whole Dream Theater album at the same time. A whole Neutral Milk Hotel album at the same time. A whole Megadeth album at the same time. Entire Ride the Lightning album at the same time. A whole Slayer album at the same time. A whole System of a Down album at the same time. (MLYT) [more inside]
Bless your weapons...
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