September 22, 2013
The Other Election
Australia has just had an election and the new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has pledged himself to be the first Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs. But has he properly consulted?
'The Other Election', run by the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), features over 600 Indigenous kids from around Australia in years 10-12 putting themselves into the hypothetical role of delivering a speech as Australia's first Indigenous prime minister.Ten finalists were announced today. Voting for the top 3 closes 29 January, 2013. The three best are then headed to Canberra to deliver their speeches in parliament. [more inside]
This game sucks
Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013 is a groundbreaking simulator taking place in the incredible world of Robot Vacuum cleaners, with additional 2-player duel mode [more inside]
Mazzy Star: It's True, We're Still Together (and we have a new album)
Mazzy Star are best known for their hazy, shoegazer album So Tonight I Might See (Grooveshark stream), which contained the single Fade Into You (YouTube). That album was released in 1993, and went platinum in 1995, providing an odd counter-point to the popular grunge sounds of the day. As a band, they made three albums in the 1990s, though neither hit the peak of their sophomore album. They disbanded (as far as the public was concerned*) in 1997, though there were a series of reunion tours in 2000. Eleven years later, they released a new single, Common Burn b/w Lay Myself Down, and the group toured in 2012. This week, they release their fourth album, Seasons of Your Day, and they aren't any cheerier (in responding to interview questions). [more inside]
"I was highly suspicious of this book when I first started it."
V.V. Ganeshananthan at The Margins on writing outside of what you know and the literary establishment's willingness to suspend disbelief and praise authenticity of narrative. As Gracie Jin put it, "In a society masquerading as post-racial, it is still only the white man who can speak authoritatively for every man."
Those paid more than the value they create are thieves.
Quit. Quit early and quit often, not when something is hard, but when something isn't for you. That's the way you find your genius, (YT) says Prof. Deepak Malhotra, who gave this among other tips to graduating students at Harvard Business School in a speech on how to avoid the tragedy of living an unhappy life. [more inside]
Gives a whole new meaning to "finger painting"
Seikou Yamaoka spends a lot of time on his iphone. But he's not playing games or texting or reading, he's creating art. He's also created some amazingly hypnotic time-lapse videos of his works in creation, including this reproduction of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (done on an ipad mini rather than an iphone). Full gallery of his digital finger painting. He also does traditional watercolours.
A different kind of LSD trip
Early this morning, pilot John Pedersen encountered mechanical difficulties and made an emergency landing on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago [photos]. [more inside]
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance
Team Remington has won the 70th Annual One Shot Antelope Hunt in Lander, Wyoming. Team Remington defeated several other teams including Team Wyoming which lost after former Vice President Dick Cheney missed both his chosen Antelope and his fellow hunters.
The annual day long hunt consists of three man teams who take turns attempting to kill a buck pronghorn antelope with a single shot. The winning team is the first to return with all three having made a successful single shot kill. The pronghorn, although not actually an antelope, is a small ruminant approximately 3 feet tall, and holds the distinction as the world's second fastest land animal, capable of running for extended distances at speeds over 50mph. [more inside]
The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors
A Tale of Benjen Stark is a short Game of Thrones fan-fiction film by VonWong, Five Knights Productions and friends. It tells "the beginning of the adventure of Benjen Stark following his return to the wall shortly after his visit to Winterfell. On a scouting mission Benjen Stark stumbles upon the bloody aftermath of an attack on a wildling camp. A pair of survivors are discovered as Ben attempts to unravel the mystery behind the carnage." [Via]
Give me a stick and I can stay alive!
Discover how to get out of bed and do things again with these spiffy new tips from 21 Comics That Capture the Frustrations of Depression! Or pull a blanket over your head and pretend you're the last person on earth curled up in a nice, warm cave. Whatever.
"Where are we? *When* are we?"
Back to the Future: The Trip. "We wanted to take this trip because we love the Back to the Future movies and thought it would be a fun, unique, and interesting trip. What you will see for each tour stop is first of all a picture from the movie from that scene, and then a picture of us at that location or a picture of what the landscape looks like currently in 2007." [more inside]
the need for late-term abortions will never go away
I think that the extreme, right-wing, misogynist religious fanatics have basically hijacked the Republican party and are moving toward being able to hijack the Democrats too. I'm appalled at the hubris of these legislators who, one after another, think they can make more sensible decisions about a woman's personal, private reproductive decisions than the woman herself. They know nothing about these situations. They don't know a thing about later abortions, or why women seek them out, and yet they presume that they should be making these decisions. Interview with Dr. Susan Robinson, One of the Last Four Doctors in America to Openly Provide Third-Trimester Abortions
Mikey's Middle Finger
"If I'm going to die, if Al Jourgensen is going to die, I don't want it to be from recalled yogurt." On the eve of Ministry's newest release, From Beer to Eternity, and in the wake of Mike Scaccia's passing, Al seems to find a tremendous amount of peace with putting Ministry to rest. [more inside]
You can win or you can lose or you can quit
You have to give them this simplified narrative of yourself, or they won’t let you try to get their money. The danger is the distraction. The danger is letting yourself care whether Meredith or the studio audience or the millions of people watching out there in America like you. The danger is that it pulls your mind away from the absolute need to be perfect at the game, to make not even a single mistake. Easy Money: My Experience on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
The whale that inspired Greenpeace
The whale that inspired Greenpeace The organization that would become Greenpeace started off as an advocate for peace and as an anti-nuclear group. It expanded its activities into fighting whaling and had a major influence on the virtual cessation of the commercial fishing of whales which made Greenpeace a household name. That change in direction can be traced to a single whale. Allow me to introduce to you, Skana.
If you've got to watch a clock, then watch this one
LEGO Ball Contraptions have been seen (and gawked at) once or twice on the Blue before. But if you're looking for a bit more purpose to this particular genre of LEGO build, look no further than the impecably accurate and stylish LEGO Rolling Ball Clock.
You weren’t just a paddle, you were an astronaut gripping a paddle.
Atari cartridge art and artists "The original Atari featured a wealth of games with box art that was quite a bit more imaginative than the “grizzled man holding a gun” template that’s so popular today."
0,140866,141378,143170 ,174450,222784,139386,0,0
Ray tracing is a computer graphics technique that produces realistic images of a three-dimensional scene. In 1987, Paul Heckbert (then at Pixar) announced a contest to produce a ray tracer in the minimum amount of code, as he describes in "A Minimal Ray Tracer." In 2009, Andrew Kensler (then at the University of Utah Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute) created a C++ version that can fit on a business card. Fabien Sanglard explicates this amazing piece of code in "Decyphering the Business Card Raytracer."
Happy Hobbit Day!
Not only is today, September 22, the Autumnal Equinox it also happens to be Hobbit Day, the date Tolkien fans celebrate the shared birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins as well as Hobbit culture in general. So go around barefoot, or smoke some pipe-weed, but watch out for eating seven meals each day, because you know. . . [more inside]
The Common Core
The Common Core (Wikipedia) is a state-led effort that established a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics that states voluntarily adopt (that is, if they want to keep their funding). In the weeks and months leading up to implementation of the Common Core, some teachers are a little wary. Teachers and community organizers are now left to translate Common Core standards for confused parents, with some myths, rumors, and miscommunications getting in the way. Now, after months of preparing for the shift, some states are dropping out of the Common Core. But why?
jerry clouds
jerry clouds is a soothing little art game where you help Jerry make clouds. (via Terry Cavanagh's freeindiegam.es)
Good times for a change
"Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want," an infomercial fanvid.
All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
September 7th marked the beginning of the battle for the 2013 America's Cup between defending Oracle Team USA and challenging Emirates Team New Zealand. As the winners of the last cup, the Golden Gate Yacht Club decided that this year's Cup match would take place in a new class of boat, the AC72 wing sail catamaran. Almost as much airplane as sailboat, these extraordinary craft are designed to lift out of the water, allowing them to sail faster than the wind and reach astonishing speeds of up to 50 knots. It was hailed as the pinnacle of the sport until a May 2013 capsize and death of Swedish crew member Andrew Simpson had some calling it the world's most dangerous sailboat. [more inside]
And the Mercy Seat is Waiting
"Sometimes called a ‘mercy seat,’ the misericord was the small ledge that protruded from the undersides of folding seats in a choir stall in a medieval church or cathedral. Medieval liturgical services were conducted eight times a day, and the clergy who attended and performed the services had to stand during the entire ritual. Developed in the 13th century, the misericord allowed the clergy to rest while appearing to stand during services." More misericords in British cathedrals. [more inside]
A Day of Grace with Boston Ballet
A Day of Grace: A time lapse video of one day at Studio 7 with the Boston Ballet.
"I'm *not* anti-science... I'm for *responsible* science."
Seriously impressive fourteen-year-old Rachel Parent debates Monsanto investor Kevin O'Leary about genetically modified foods. Parent, who is the founder of the anti-GMO organization Kids Right To Know, takes on O'Leary (best known for playing the antagonist in shows like Shark Tank) in an unexpectedly solid debate, countering him point-by-point and cutting him off when he attempts, in his typical Mr. Wonderful way, to condescend to her.
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