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Moving pictures
Stereographic drawings
from Dain Fagerholm.
"a super serious project about dogs and physics"
Maddie the coonhound
and her owner travel around, she stands on things, he takes pictures. The result is wonderful.
free DIY furniture plans
Ana White shares hundreds of free furniture plans on her website, encouraging those who may have never built furniture before. Formerly known as "Knock Off Wood" since she had DIY versions of popular retail styles, she changed her name after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Williams-Sonoma (owner of Pottery Barn and West Elm). An audio interview with Ms. White and a Flickr pool of completed projects. (via Balancing Everything)
Javascript
What's a JavaScript Closure? Ever wonder about some of JavaScript's more advanced and esoteric features? Nathan Whitehead's interactive tutorial explains and walks through each of these concepts one step at a time. At the end of each lesson, you are encouraged to write short snippets of code demonstrating the concepts that you just learned, which are then automatically checked for errors and verified.
Perhaps you're new to JavaScript, or programming in general; CodeAcademy offers similar interactive tutorials that will teach you the basics, and hold your hand along the way. Perhaps you'd rather learn at a more even pace; CodeAcademy's CodeYear will introduce you to one new concept every week throughout 2012.
Perhaps you're new to JavaScript, or programming in general; CodeAcademy offers similar interactive tutorials that will teach you the basics, and hold your hand along the way. Perhaps you'd rather learn at a more even pace; CodeAcademy's CodeYear will introduce you to one new concept every week throughout 2012.
Deceivers yet true
“Cathy Don’t Go (To the Supermarket Today)”
Catchy, competent New Wave pop from an alternate universe much like a Jack Chick tract's, only far more unsettling for the children who were actually raised in it. (MLYT)
Catchy, competent New Wave pop from an alternate universe much like a Jack Chick tract's, only far more unsettling for the children who were actually raised in it. (MLYT)
At Play In Fields Of Hex
Released yesterday, dabblet joins an array of live sandbox tools designed to prototype, test and share webcode that includes JSFiddle and CSSDesk, while bringing some advantages of its own.
Other useful resources: w3clove validates an entire site, rather than page-by-page; JQuery Air teaches you how to use the framework directly in the browser; domain.nr finds clever TLDs for your site, and Sequel Pro is a nice, free, native, open source MySQL editor for OS X. If you’re more the old-school dead-tree type, there’s always The Manual.
Other useful resources: w3clove validates an entire site, rather than page-by-page; JQuery Air teaches you how to use the framework directly in the browser; domain.nr finds clever TLDs for your site, and Sequel Pro is a nice, free, native, open source MySQL editor for OS X. If you’re more the old-school dead-tree type, there’s always The Manual.
Taking Star Wars back from George Lucas, one edit at a time
So you've come to terms with it: George Lucas doesn't give a shit about you. Maybe it was the minor edits to the re-releases, like Han shooting second, or one of the recent Blu-Ray additions with Darth Vader shouting Nooooo at the end of Return Of The Jedi, or maybe you liked the movies, except for silly characters like the Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks. However it happened, you are pining for the early version of Star Wars you remembered before all those changes, or maybe you're dreaming of a version without some of the schmaltzy stuff. Dream no more, the Fan Preservers and Fan Editors are making your wishes real.
The Princess is a Lie....You Monster.
Mari0 is a Super Mario Bros and Portal mashup currently under development. Previously, the same developer made Not Tetris; a faithful reimagining of the original game, but with the addition of realistic physics and geometry.
Smile, you son of a...
Charles Forsman: "After my Raiders/Popeye strip was so well received I decided to try another combination. After a failed attempt at another combination I decided to try mashing up 2 of my all-time favorites: Spielberg and Benchley's Jaws drawn like Schulz's Peanuts. "
When Patents Attack
When Patents Attack. The team at PRI's This American Life and NPR's Planet Money bring you an hour long look into the growing "Mafia War" around software patents. Diving into the corporate filings, patent acquisitions, and office locations of Nathan Myrhvold's Intellectual Ventures and it's shell companies, Laura Sydell and Alex Blumburg uncover a disturbing protection scheme which threatens to undermine the competitiveness of the US tech industry[pdf].
"We've built inactivity into our lifestyles. We've designed communities around cars,"
Obesity Epidemic Grows: [CNN.com]
"Two-thirds of all adults and about a third of all children and teenagers in the United States are overweight or obese according to a report release Thursday by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
According to "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011,"[PDF] adult obesity increased in 16 states during the past year and rates soared to 30% or more in these 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. Four years ago, only one state - Mississippi - had an adult obesity rate of more than 30%. No state showed a decrease in it obesity rate in Thursday's report."
Why Facebook can't match Ravelry, the social network for knitters.
The best social network you've (probably) never heard of is one-five-hundredth the size of Facebook. It has no video chat feature, it doesn't let you check in to your favorite restaurant, and there are no games. The company that runs it has just four employees, one of whom is responsible for programming the entire operation. It has never taken any venture capital money and has no plans to go public. Despite these apparent shortcomings, the site's members absolutely adore it. They consider it a key part of their social lives, and they use it to forge deeper connections with strangers—and share more about themselves—than you're likely to see elsewhere online.Why Ravelry is such a great community and social network. Prev
Repeat ad infinitum.
Infinity Blade is an iOS game available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It is typically seen as a send-up of the classic game Punch-Out!! mashed up with roleplaying game conventions such as experience points and character-modifying equipment. Its defining trait is that it relies upon new game+ to advance your character (actually your character's family/bloodline) and the story.
J. Nicholas Geist over at Kill Screen has written a review to match the game.
"As knowledge policy, for the creators of this knowledge, this is crazy"
"The Architecture of Access to Scientific Information: Just How Badly We Have Messed This Up"
Lawrence Lessig speaking at CERN on April 18, 2011. Long (~50 min), but wonderful and totally worth it (and the second half is about Youtube and remix culture).
THIS POST DESIGNED TO CREATE A MEFI CIVIL WAR
"Weird" Al Yankovic wanted to do a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," so he did what he usually does: he contacted the artist and asked permission. Lady Gaga said she'd have to hear the lyrics, so Weird Al wrote the lyrics and sent them to her. Gaga then said she's have to actually hear the song, so Weird Al went into the studio and recorded it - at which point Gaga refused to give her permission. Weird Al responded by doing something he's never done in his entire career: he's asserted his fair use rights and made an unapproved parody available to the public.
Solarized
Solarized is the mother of all colour schemes.
"Solarized is a sixteen color palette (eight monotones, eight accent colors) designed for use with terminal and gui applications. It has several unique properties. I designed this colorscheme with both precise CIELAB lightness relationships and a refined set of hues based on fixed color wheel relationships. It has been tested extensively in real world use on color calibrated displays (as well as uncalibrated/intentionally miscalibrated displays) and in a variety of lighting conditions."
Hitler. In a red gingham dress. Baking.
Sixty Unusable Stock Photos.
Does what it says on the tin.
"People could stake me and Gov. Perry on the ground and torture us, and we still would not raise taxes."
'Analysis: Texas vs California: A tale of two budget deficits'.
'Texas Governor Rick Perry treated guests to a barbecue lunch paid for by a wealthy businessman. Supporters of California Governor Jerry Brown munched on hot dogs at a union-sponsored picnic. The stark contrast in inaugural menus last month highlights the different approaches the two most populous U.S. states are taking to deal with massive budget deficits. Perry, a Republican, campaigned on the strength of the Texas economy and made political hay of the fact the Lone Star state had avoided California's massive deficit, pegged at $25.4 billion through the upcoming budget year. Now Texas faces a budget deficit estimated as high as $27 billion for the upcoming two-year cycle of 2012-2013. To close the gap, state legislators have proposed steep cuts in funding to education and welfare programs.'
What I told you was true, from a certain point of view...
Star Wars Begins.
Fan documentarian Jambe Davdar has completed has completed his third documentary about the original Star Wars trilogy. He's re-cut all three films, editing in alternate takes, deleted scenes, original audio, with quotes from various interviews and commentaries and recordings playing over the footage like the ultimate DVD commentary. [via]
This isn't your grandfather's science fiction
Ted Chiang is perhaps the finest author in contemporary science fiction -- and the most rarefied.
A technical writer by trade and a graduate of the distinguished Clarion Writers Workshop, Chiang has published only twelve short stories in the last twenty years, one dozen masterpieces of the genre whose insightful, precise, often poetic language confronts fundamental ideas -- intelligence, consciousness, the nature of God -- and thrusts them into a dazzling new light.
Click inside for a complete listing of Chiang's work, with links to online reprints or audio recordings where available, as well as a collection of one-on-one interviews, links to his nonfiction essays, and a few other related sites and articles.
What items are ridiculously over priced at retail stores vs. online?
Just bought a bunch of cables on the cheap online, and so now I'm of course wondering -- what are other kinds of products that are generally wildly overpriced at retail stores but actually can be purchased cheaply online? And which online stores are best for these products.
The Case for Obama
During his campaign, skeptics warned that Barack Obama was nothing but a "beautiful loser," a progressive purist whose uncompromising idealism would derail his program for change. But as president, Obama has proved to be just the opposite — an ugly winner. Over and over, he has shown himself willing to strike unpalatable political bargains to secure progress, even at the cost of alienating his core supporters. This bloodless, if effective, approach to governance has created a perilous disconnect: By any rational measure, Obama is the most accomplished and progressive president in decades, yet the only Americans fired up by the changes he has delivered are Republicans and Tea Partiers hellbent on reversing them. Heading into the November elections, Obama's approval ratings are mired in the mid-40s, and polls reflect a stark enthusiasm gap: Half of all Republicans are "very" excited about voting this fall, compared to just a quarter of Democrats. But if the passions of Obama's base have been deflated by the compromises he made to secure historic gains like the Recovery Act, health care reform and Wall Street regulation, that gloom cannot obscure the essential point: This president has delivered more sweeping, progressive change in 20 months than the previous two Democratic administrations did in 12 years. The Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson argues The Case for Obama.
The Old Man and the C Drive
What are some comprehensive one-topic websites maintained by cranky old guys (or gals)?
H. G. Wells' review of Metropolis
A review of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis
by H. G. Wells, published in the April 17, 1927 issue of the New York Times and reprinted in his essay collection The Way the World is Going.
OK, why can't I embed this music video?
Damian from OK Go, explains why their music videos cannot be embedded.
Specifically their new music video for This Too Shall Pass.
What's wrong with my Internet?
ICSI Netalyzr
is a java applet that performs an impressive collection of tests on your Internet connection, and reports the results back to you (and to the ICSI) in an easily readable format.
Victoria's secret, uncovered by science
Body by Victoria.
It started with an invisible handbag. Photoshop Disasters mocked Victoria's Secret for running a shot of a dress model clutching the straps of a digitally wiped-out purse. Then Neal Krawetz at Hacker Factor got into the act, analyzing the image to show that the photo editors had not only swiped the model's purse, they'd toned her arms, enlarged her breasts, and lightened her skin. In the comments, and in this follow-up post, tons of excellent nerdery about how to tell the photofaked from the real, by science.
Two Gentlemen of Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
as written by Shakespeare.
From Bass to Brother
A poster on Talk Bass wanted to get a cool, old, down-on-his luck bassist a bass to play again.
And in the course of doing so, reunited him with his long lost brother.
Final edition: Twilight of the American newspaper
Final edition: Twilight of the American newspaper.
"Newspapers have become deadweight commodities linked to other media commodities in chains that are coupled or uncoupled by accountants and lawyers and executive vice presidents and boards of directors in offices thousands of miles from where the man bit the dog and drew ink."
The Best of the Oughts
The best films of the decade
if the decade in question is 1900-1910.
The stupidest miracle
I just did something banally amazing. Now I'm overcome with a profound sense of dread. Is this legitimate?
"And here is a red balloon.. I think of DARPA and note its exact coordinates"
"To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA has announced the DARPA Network Challenge.... The challenge is to be the first to submit the locations of ten moored, 8 foot, red weather balloons located at ten fixed locations in the continental United States. Balloons will be in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roadways." Teams must register by December 1st and have two weeks to submit balloon locations.
Gimme a ...
The Daily Drop Cap is an ongoing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. Each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere.
Cell Size and Scale
Cool app lets you zoom in from a coffee bean to a carbon atom, so that you can compare sizes.
Along the way, you see a grain of sand, a skin cell and many other tiny things. This is the first time I've ever had a sense of these objects' sizes. Cells are actually bigger than I thought they were. I wish the zoomer would keep going. I want to see some sub-atomic particles on the scale.
My favorite animal is steak
The best way to cook a steak.
That is all.
Steve Jobs interview
I'm 100% sure that if it hadn't been for Mrs. Hill in fourth grade and a few others, I would have absolutely ended up in jail. A timeless and fascinating 1995 interview with Steve Jobs.