September 17, 2010
Catlactus iz eatin yur planetz
You like cats. You like Marvel characters. You like Marvel characters as cats.
Wonderland 1977
In 1977 the Dutch public broadcasting association VARA made a documentary called Wonderland, about then up-&-coming recording artists Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne. Here is that film.
Warren Zevon at Griffith Observatory,
Linda Ronstadt in studio “Tracks Of My Tears” alternative studio version,
Linda Ronstadt outside her Malibu house,
Warren Zevon at a burrito stand,
Warren Zevon in concert “Carmelita”,
Bonnie Raitt at Frederick’s,
Bonnie Raitt in concert “Nothing Seems To Matter”,
Linda Ronstadt in the bedroom of her Malibu house,
Linda Ronstadt in studio “Lose Again” alternative studio version,
Warren Zevon at Griffith Observatory,
Warren Zevon in rehearsal “Frank And Jesse James”,
Bonnie Raitt,
Bonnie Raitt in concert “Give It Up Or Let Me Go”,
Jackson Browne,
Jackson Browne in concert “Before The Deluge”.
Backwards on a pig, baby monkey
Baby monkey riding on a pig. That is all.
Goats on the Roof Trade Dress
Defendant has willfully continued to offer food services from buildings with goats on the roof. [more inside]
The Paradox of Metabolically Healthy Obesity
From Obesity Panacea, a blog is written by two obesity researchers: a 5-part series delving into the fascinating and seemingly paradoxical research on people who remain metabolically-healthy despite being obese: 1) Introduction: An Oxymoron? 2) Prospective Risk of Disease 3) Lower Risk of Mortality? 4) Is Weight Loss Detrimental? 5) Is Weight Loss Beneficial? [more inside]
A terrible, but beautiful heart.
Phyllis Greene, who is in hospice care in Ohio, talks about why she decided to start a blog at the age of 90 and how technology has brought a new dimension to her life.
Making Future Magic
iPad light painting - an ethereal stop-motion animation, using long exposures and a locationally-aware iPad [ photo stills | via ]
It's a shoop.
An Associated Press photo of last Wednesday's Middle East peace talks in Washington D. C. was enhanced for publication in Al-Ahram, Egypt's state-run and largest newspaper. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was electronically moved to a more central position.
HDCP master key is valid, encryption is now "only token protection"
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is currently the most common form of digital transmission protection for high definition digital multimedia, requiring an unbroken chain of licensed products for content to play back for TV systems and computers. A possible "master key" was posted online earlier this week, and created quite a stir around the potential of this leak or reverse engineering. Intel, who developed the initial specification, has confirmed the validity of the "master key", but instead of coming up with a new protection scheme, will use "legal remedies, particularly under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)." In essence, the threat of legal action, rather than cryptography, is [Intel and the media companies] real tool against unapproved uses of digital content. [more inside]
Hallo Löwenmensch
The 32.000 year old artifact was discovered in the form of hundreds of small fragments in a cave in Stadel im Hohlenstein in Germany on the 25th of August 1939.
The fact that the fragments belonged to a figurine was discovered in 1969 by Prof. Dr. Joachim Hahn. He mentioned a similarity of several small peices and puzzled a first version of the figurine with nearly 200 fragments.
Meet the Lion Man. [more inside]
No birds were (physically) harmed in the making of these dramatic videos.
An estimated 10,000 migratory birds whose flight path took them through Manhattan earlier this month became (temporarily) disoriented and trapped in the 88-searchlight glare of the 9/11 Tribute in Light memorial.
Pen and Pixel: A Retrospective
Pen and Pixel are well known for the outlandish covers they created for Southern rap labels Rap-A-Lot and No Limit. It's been about 12 years since their heyday, so people are now looking back at the artistry present under the surface of these covers. [more inside]
Remembering the Voodoo
Sept 18 marks the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's untimely death. In commemoration, the Experience Music Project (names so when Paul Allen could not secure the rights to the name "Jimi Hendrix Museum") is holding a two day event including screening of a new(ish) documentary which aired on Biography. (seems Jimi's been mentioned on the blue before)
Dot
If Galileo was wrong I don't want to be right.
Dude, it's totally funneling!
In light of the storm that tore through the metropolitan New York City area, we now have Bro-nado. (YT)
Vision Media / World Progress Report = scam?
As first reported on NPR back in April, Vision Media targets non-profits with promises of exposure on PBS stations around the country, but the promised spots (supposedly hosted by Hugh Downs) never actually air. Now, they seem to have resurfaced as World Progress Report, as reported by Public Citizen. [more inside]
Tales of Pet Rescue
"Only trust yourself. People who say they'll take care of you are the very ones who will hurt you the most."
The shady, predatory side of the modeling industry is the one former model Sara Ziff wanted to portray in her new film “Picture Me: A Model’s Diary”, which chronicles five years in the lives of a group of models, following them backstage and beneath the makeup." An interview with Ziff regarding her then-upcoming film appeared on MeFi in June, 2009. The documentary opens today in NYC. Official Site. Trailer. At New York Magazine's Website: Webisode 1 / Webisode 2. [more inside]
Why is income inequality growing?
Over at Slate magazine, Timothy Noah is doing a multi-part examination of America's growing income gap. The Great Divergence.
Dinner with Henry Miller
This 30-min clip showing Henry Miller eating dinner in 1979, "regaling the camera with his powers as a raconteur," is probably NSFW, don't you know. Via Ubu.
I'm looking for the joke with a microscope.
New Microscope Enables Real-Time 3-D Movies of Developing Embryos. "A European lab combines "light sheet" microscopy with an illumination process that subtracts the static caused by scattered photons to devise a way to clearly observe the inner workings of cells over a period of days. Using a revolutionary new microscope, scientists can now peer into embryos and watch, in one of the world's smallest 3-D movies, as brains, eyes and other organs form." Slide Show: New Microscope Enables Real-Time 3-D Movies of Developing Embryos. The video can be viewed at the bottom of the page.
Russian lgbt activist Nikolai Alexeyev disappeared
Concerns for the safety of Russian lgbt activist Nikolai Alexeyev. "After passing passport control at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, Mr Alekseev’s boarding pass was cancelled and his luggage unloaded from the plane upon a request from Russian authorities. He was taken into custody around 19:00 MSD, and has not yet been released." Text messages stating that he was withdrawing his case before the ECHR and seeking asylum in Belarus are believed to be fake or coerced under torture.
Typical pre-alpha bugginess, or embarrassing beginner mistakes?
Late yesterday the much-hyped "privacy aware, personally controlled" Diaspora social network platform (discussed previously) published its open-source developer release. "Feel free to try to get it running on your machines and use it," the team urged, "but we give no guarantees. We know there are security holes and bugs, and your data is not yet fully exportable." The Register's initial report is less than rosy: Code for open-source Facebook littered with landmines
Dark Patterns
Dark Patterns is a list of deliberately user-hostile web site design patterns typically intended to deceive or exploit unwary users. These range from the trivial and clumsy (interfaces designed to impair price comparisons) to slyer tricks such as sneaking add-ons into shopping baskets, making specific options deliberately hard to find and spamming all your friends, typically after getting permission on a false pretext. Among the offenders listed are the likes of Ryanair, CreditExpert, various travel and electronics shopping sites, and, of course, Facebook, which has its very own pattern.
(She's calling from inside the country)
Lady Gaga for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for the repeal of DADT (SL TPM/GAGA/YT post)
I was once a tramp like you-- Ah, but it wasn't always thus...
Keep Fear Alive
Only a Silver Stake through the heart......
So how’s Blackwater Xe doing these days?
You could say “Birds of a feather flock together”.
Jeremy Scahill explains (via The Nation).
Watch out for Total Intelligence.
Is the circle between Big Business and the Military Industrial Complex now complete? (hat tip).
Anti Porn Men
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