May 27, 2004
Rodeohead
Rodeohead is a Bluegrass Radiohead cover band. It's brilliant stuff that had me laughing my ass off. I discovered it through a post at Boing Boing that reads: "The MP3 file they posted is just one big tarball o' tribute, so there are no individual song titles. But if you can audialize what 'Subterranean Homesick Critter' or 'Thar, thar' might sound like -- you've pretty much got it."
27 May 23:21 | Link | Category: Music
Fox News Desktops
This is too funny: Download official Fox News Desktop Wallpapers. They also have video screensavers and cell phone ring tones.
(via J-Walk)
27 May 23:16 | Link | Category: Humor
Great Barrier Reef to be decimated by 2050
Now's the time to visit Australia to see the Great Barrier Reef. Enjoy your visit and remember it well, because if one group of scientists are right, you'll probably have to tell your grandkids what it was like.
A new report predicts the reef will lose 95 percent of its living coral by 2050. And this devastating situation will occur if the best-case scenario for global warming unfolds. Get more details from New Scientist.
27 May 0:36 | Link | Category: Science
Guess My Age / Guess My Name
See if you can guess someone's name just by looking at his/her picture.
You can also see if you're any good at guessing age based on a picture.
27 May 0:24 | Link | Category: Interactive
May 26, 2004
Visual Illusion
John thinks this visual illusion may be the best ever. I have to admit it's pretty damn cool. I always assumed drugs were required for sitting around staring intently and amazedly at one's hand.
26 May 1:07 | Link | Category: Cool Links
Age of Fear
A long time ago I had this idea... to collect links and clippings about fear and throw them all together in one scary ass display, to illustrate that despite the fact we're living longer, safer lives, our age is becoming the Age of Fear more than anything else.
If I had actually followed through with the idea, a BBC article I saw today could be one of the central clippings. It seems that now children are 'scared to play outside'. Oh good. Let's see how this plays out in twenty or thirty years.
26 May 0:37 | Link | Category: Current Events
Newsmap
Newsmap is a web app that visualizes items from the Google News aggregator in a clever graphic interface. It's probably easier to just read the Google News page, but this looks a lot cooler.
(via scrubbles.net)
26 May 0:24 | Link | Category: Cool Links
Fundamentalist Secession?
A group of fundamentalists are upset about the state of the Union. So upset, in fact, that they're in the beginning stages of an effort to have one state secede from the United States to become its own sovereign nation.
According to the ChristianExodus web site, such 'atrocities' as gay marriage "continue in spite of the fact that we now have the 'right' people in places of power. Indeed, the occupant of the White House is a professing Christian. The U.S. attorney general is believed to be a devout Christian. 'Conservatives' control both Houses of Congress, and Republican presidents appointed seven of the nine Supreme Court justices."
Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina were all considered for the plan, but South Carolina has been selected as the target location.
So there you have it. I don't really know what to say.
(via Pale Blue Dot)
26 May 0:19 | Link | Category: Current Events
May 25, 2004
18,000 al Qaeda fighters
According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies there may be 18,000 al Qaeda terrorists. This assumes 20,000 were trained in Afghanistan before the Taliban was ousted, and that 2,000 have been killed or captured.
It looks like we have a month or two to find them.
What seems really fucking brilliant to me is that we've wasted such an amount of money, resources, and time on a war in Iraq that has so little to do with the imminent danger of terrorism (aside from inflaming anti-Americanism around the world - particularly among fundamental Muslims of the sort attracted to groups like al Qaeda).
So our resources and attention are distracted and preoccupied, terrorists are more likely to find supporters, and those WMDs, if they ever existed, are somewhere - but not Iraq and not in our custody.
It's these kinds of infuriating and deeply disturbing stories that remind me why I shouldn't pay attention to the news some days.
25 May 22:57 | Link | Category: Current Events
May 24, 2004
Music video made of photos
The video for Sam Bisbee's song "You Are Here" uses a series of photographs to create a music video. It reminds me a bit of what the Snorri Brothers did by combining thousands of still photographs for R.E.M.'s Daysleeper video. Bisbee's isn't quite as sophisticated, but the flipbook-like picture stacking idea is cool.
24 May 17:06 | Link | Category: Photography, Video
Drawing with typography
Use typography as your brush, set to music, and you get:
Typographical Dylan.
(Also check out Lennon, Feliciano, Notorious B.I.G., and a Zeppelin-backed tribute to George W. Bush.
(via Incoming Signals)
24 May 16:40 | Link | Category: Music
When Reason Sleeps
In When Reason Sleeps, Mumbo-Jumbo Frolics, Francis Wheen opines that "rational argument is increasingly obscured by a swirling fog of emotionalism and superstition."
Over the last 25 years or so, after two centuries of gradual ascendancy, Enlightenment values of reason, secularism and scientific empiricism have come under fierce assault from a grotesquely incongruous coalition of radical deconstructionists and medieval flat-earthers, New Age mystics and Old Testament fundamentalists.
The sleep of reason brings forth monsters. Some are manifestly sinister, others perhaps merely comical — harmless pastimes, as Nancy Reagan said of her reliance on horoscopes. Cumulatively, however, the proliferation of obscurant bunkum is a menace to the Enlightenment legacy bequeathed to America by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Where is H.L. Mencken when we need him?
The short article is enough to entice me into reading Wheen's forthcoming book, Idiot Proof.
24 May 16:10 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts
May 21, 2004
Sim-Cam
Sim-Cam is a cool web trick for people learning about photograpy. You can change aperture and shutter speed to see how the settings will affect your photograph.
(via Cynical-C)
21 May 0:43 | Link | Category: Photography
Neighbor Search
Find out if your neighbors have contributed to a political campaign (and how much they gave) with the Fundrace 2004 Neighbor Search.
(via Dylan Greene)
21 May 0:35 | Link | Category: Current Events, Politics
1968 TV Highlights
You can watch online clips of the April 4, 1968 CBS Evening News -- the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., concerns over the war in Vietnam, second Saturn V test, and more. On the same page you can watch clips of the ABC News coverage of the '68 Democratic Convention. The most entertaining moment is when Gore Vidal calls William F. Buckley a 'crypto-Nazi'. Buckley responds by calling Vidal a 'queer' and threatening to punch him. It's nice to know punditry has always been comically contemptible.
(via J-Walk)
21 May 0:29 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Politics
Do-It-Yourself Deity
Last year I linked to Battleground God and other 'games' at The Philosophers' Magazine.
Their newest is a simplified version called Do-It-Yourself Deity.
21 May 0:13 | Link | Category: Interactive
May 20, 2004
What We Want
Randomize facial parts and personal ads to find out what we want.
(via Idle Type)
20 May 1:41 | Link | Category: Cool Links
Bizarre...
I'm not sure which is worse about The Way of The Master: The Star Wars-like name, the content, the over-use of Flash, or the reappearance of 80's child star Kirk Cameron.
(My particular favorite is the Are You a Good Person? quiz which steps you through the Ten Commandments. Those have everything to do with Moses and little to do with Jesus, but I suspect many of these so-called Christian groups survive/thrive because preaching the beatitudes is surely less 'successful' than telling people they are 'guilty,' will be punished by God, and will automatically go to Hell unless they are saved before death.)
But seriously... Kirk Cameron? WTF?
Oh well. It could be worse.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)
20 May 1:20 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits
Abuse of Iraqi prisoners and Prison Experiment parallels
Phil Zimbardo is the person who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment (more) back in the 1960s. Read his statement from Div. 8 of the American Psychological Association listserv.
20 May 0:55 | Link | Category: Current Events
The Worm Within
I'm not sure why I find it link-able, but... Vincent Eaton's excruciatingly detailed chronicle of his tribulations with a tapeworm is oddly interesting and enjoyable.
20 May 0:49 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits
Cynicism
The Cynic's Sanctuary presents 714 Things to Be Cynical About. You may also want to take the self test.
Also try the BBC's Are You A Cynic? quiz. My results: "You're a top grade cynic - in fact you've turned cynicism into an art form. You greet almost every piece of news with sneering contempt. Loosen up a bit." After loosening up a bit, I took the quiz again and got this: You're really only a second-rate cynic. Actually, you aren't cynical as much as world weary, and sometimes you have a point.
20 May 0:37 | Link | Category: Humor
May 14, 2004
A Tale of Two Computing Cultures
How do the Windows folks and the Mac folks respond to an upgrade announcement? Here's a comic take. (I think it's the tears that make me laugh.)
(via Bifurcated Rivets)
(You may also enjoy a classic photo at Leander Kahney's weblog.)
14 May 1:33 | Link | Category: Technology & Computing
God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut
Many thanks to John for pointing me to an excellent essay by a writer among my favorites, Kurt Vonnegut. (If you haven't read Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat's Cradle or God Bless You Mr. Rosewater or Mother Night or Galápagos or The Sirens of Titan or - get my drift by now? - you really should.) It's called Cold Turkey, a title that will make sense if you read the whole thing.
While I'm at it, I guess I should mention an interview John also linked to, Kurt Vonnegut vs. the !&#*!@
14 May 1:03 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Current Events
Nile River Adventure
Standing on the shore of Lake Victoria during our Africa trip, we joked about coming back someday and embarking on a river trip from Lake Victoria (or thereabouts) to the Mediterranean. A fine idea, no doubt, but it was a preposterous joke to us because we knew what a monumental undertaking such a trip would be... and even we underestimated such a journey because we assumed that someone had probably done it before.
In January, I read a BBC article about a group of rafters bidding to be the first expedition to travel the entire length of the Nile by boat. They started in January and should reach the Mediterranean this month. (It's possible they've already hit the ocean but haven't updated their web site yet.)
You can learn more about the mission, meat the team, and read newsletters from the river at their web site, TheWhiteNile.com.
14 May 0:52 | Link | Category: Travel
May 13, 2004
Abuse of Iraqis 'well thought through'
(I've been considering a long rant - or series of short rants! - about... well, the state of state of affairs in my country and the world as a whole, but for now I'm restraining myself. Stay tuned, though. My resolve falters occasionally.)
According to psychologists contacted by New Scientist, the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners is unlikely to have occurred without the knowledge of higher authorities. This is, of course, old news... it was just an interesting article.
13 May 14:29 | Link | Category: Current Events
The difference a year makes
August J. Pollack has compiled a few year-old quotes from George W. Bush.
13 May 14:15 | Link | Category: Current Events, Politics
The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman
If you have a decent connection, check out The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman. It's just marketing for American Express, but it's clever and enjoyable. Seinfeld fans will enjoy it.
13 May 12:04 | Link | Category: Humor
May 12, 2004
Plucker
Last year, I picked up a Palm m125 for thirty bucks. I thought the device would be a great way to keep myself organized. After a month or two, I found that I never used it. It just felt like another gadgety thing to lug around. I'll break it down:
- Calendar: I do use iCal for some events, but my schedule isn't so complicated that I can't remember what to do between sittings at the computer.
- Address Book: The address book was nice, but I generally remember most of the numbers I call. (Judge for yourself what this says about my social life.)
- Notepad: This was nice because it cut down on all the little scraps of paper lying around. Too bad the m125 eats batteries so quickly.
It ended up being easier and cheaper to have a pen and some paper in my pocket. (Plus no need to mess with that silly Graffiti.)
Why am I telling you all this? Today I found something that might convince me to start using the Palm again. It's called Plucker (a memorable name for profanity-laden minds like mine). It's essentially an offline web viewer for PalmOS. It's similar to AvantGo, a service I tried for a while when I first got my Palm, with the important differences that it's free and it will download any web site you select.
I was quite impressed with it when I downloaded and tried it today. The installation and configuration was easy (Mac OS X here) and I found that most decently-designed sites are easy to browse. (This site works well, I might add... hint hint.)
For those without such high-tech devices as web-enabled PDAs and cell phones, this is a great way to read your favorite sites while sitting on the train or somewhere on-the-go. It's also a lot less geeky than pulling out a laptop to surf offline content.
And it's free!
12 May 13:17 | Link | Category: Technology & Computing
10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library
When acquaintances find out I work part-time at a library, too many of them ask me if people even use libraries "when they can use the Internet instead."
For those who haven't visited any type of library for a few years, I'd like to report that libraries are far from being dead. From what I've seen, they seem to be thriving.
Forgetting fiction & audiovisual and focusing mainly on non-fiction & reference, here are ten reasons why the Internet is no substitute for a library.
12 May 0:21 | Link | Category: Libraries & Digital Information, Misc. Tidbits, Technology & Computing
May 11, 2004
Repeal the Patriot Act
In a short and sweet commentary, tenured judge (and Fox News analyst!) Andrew Napolitano explains why the Patriot Act should be repealed.
Those who believe that our freedoms are guaranteed and cannot be legislated away by Congress remain committed to the repeal -- not the renewal -- of this overreaching legislation.
11 May 23:48 | Link | Category: Current Events, Opinion & Thoughts
Frontline online
You can view selected Frontline programs online, in full. (RealPlayer or Windows Media only.) If you need a place to start, I would suggest Merchants of Cool, an episode that freaked me out when I first saw it a few years ago.
11 May 22:32 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Misc. Tidbits
Wake me up in 1925
(I know this is old news, but I'm clearing out a few months' worth of bookmarks.) The Georgia state school superintendent has proposed striking the word 'evolution' from Georgia's science curriculum and replacing it with the phrase "biological changes over time." According to the superintendent, evolution is a "buzzword" and the ban was proposed, in part, to alleviate pressure on teachers in socially conservative areas where parents object to its teaching.
Apparently 'illiterate' and 'ignorant' aren't buzzwords in Georgia.
Jimmy Carter is rightfully ashamed of his state.
In other news, a National Science Panel is warning of far too few new scientists in the United States, noting "a troubling decline" in the number of Americans training to be scientists. The report shows waning interest among young Americans in science careers. Huh... I wonder why...
11 May 22:10 | Link | Category: Current Events, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Opinion & Thoughts, Science
Reverse Astrology
Describe your personality to the Reverse Astrology test and it will attempt to determine what your sign is. It got mine completely wrong. Shocking.
11 May 21:55 | Link | Category: Interactive
Get Fired in Three Hours or Less
See, keeping a job is really easy: just nod, smile, laugh at the boss' jokes, flip the burgers when they're ready and resist all urges to pee in the coffeemaker. But the art of getting fired has been buried beneath the shrapnel of the dotcom bomb.
Follow Harmon Leon as he tries to find a job and get fired within three hours.
11 May 0:31 | Link | Category: Humor
May 10, 2004
Free DSL Upgrade
Today, Qwest upgraded my DSL connection from 640Kbps to 1.5Mbps. (So far I've only noticed myself getting a maximum of 1 Mbps, but it's still about twice as fast as before.) The reason this is cool is that it was a free upgrade.
It's not that I really needed the speed (though a price cut or free upgrade is always welcomed). Broadband makes everything from normal web surfing to downloading huge files (or even megabytes of spam) far more enjoyable, but for the most part I've under-utilized the speed since I first got it. Large downloads and streaming media just don't fill up my days. Maybe I should host an illegal music/software-sharing server or start a compulsive porn habit.
(Techworthy.com has some other - better - ideas.)
10 May 21:55 | Link | Category: Technology & Computing