Links posted in June 2008
June 30, 2008
50 Best Pun Stores - my hometown has a "Jamaica me Tan"
June 29, 2008
Looking for the Mouse and Better than Free -- both obviously hit close to home for me but are, I think, generally interesting.
If you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, the whole project--every page, every edit, every talk page, every line of code, in every language that Wikipedia exists in--that represents something like the cumulation of 100 million hours of human thought. ...
And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. ... In the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads.
June 26, 2008
Oh yes, WE TV, a spin-off of Lifetime has actually created this webshow.
June 25, 2008
My new favorite chaotician
is Remi Gaillard, kindof a french Spike Jonez but more of a dick. (whole channel here; note that vids auto-play). Here are things you can't do in a city; first four by Gaillard, last three not:
* play soccer,
* reenact Rocky,
* throw a party,
* buy groceries,
* play tennis,
* make music,
* go for a drive
[via kottke]
Wikipedia: thank you for a lot of things but thank you especially for [citation needed].
[more inside]
June 22, 2008
Saddest picture on the internet?
(The link only goes to the blog I found this on)
I want to gauge my psychology as compared to other Alkaline Earth-ers. I imagine that the sequence of photos below evokes several simultaneous emotions in you, but what I want to know is: are you closer to laughing or crying?
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The World's Greatest Athlete? An interesting attempt by the WSJ, that great sports paper, to choose who is the "best" athlete in the world. [more inside]
June 20, 2008
Spore Creature Creator Available for Free Trial Download Spore has their creature creator up now for a free trial download. It is a biggish download.
Now I haven't touched a game in years but I have to admit, I think I might buy this one when it releases. I'm really geeking out on it.
And the record of Harbo and Samuelsen still stands. Though these guys tried , the 102 year old record is safe.
June 19, 2008
June 18, 2008
Seriously though, a Tay Zonday tattoo?
June 17, 2008
100 things - get rid of all but. I'd love to do this, but think it's out of reach unless "hand tools", "computer" and "books" each count as one.
Hey, mrflip. Has Zillow contacted you directly yet?
June 13, 2008
Tim Russert, dead at fifty eight , after collapsing at work today. Russert's been hosting Meet The Press as long as I've been following politics. He was an aggressive interview to almost anyone. Almost all of the big figures of the pre-24 hour cable news era are off-air now.
June 12, 2008
June 11, 2008
How Many Sequels Were There? - the quiz.
June 08, 2008
Style Invitational's Breeders Crop The best part of Kentucky Derby season: the yearly contest to name the foal produced by the improbable union of any two Kentucky Derby entrants. Ex: "Clemens + Sacred Icon = Scared Icon", or "Bonanza + Notgivinmyloveaway = Westward Ho"
Arsonist sets fire to TX Governor's mansion - large parts of downtown blocked off. You can see the roof buckling in the article's photo. [more inside]
Cool interactive graphic assembling all the exit poll data from the dem primaries.
It's a top-notch infographic so it's from the NYT, natch. It's disappointing that the larger scientific community hasn't embraced information design and online communication the way, for example, those who study politics or baseball have. [more inside]
June 07, 2008
The Salem Hypothesis - Is there a correlation in the scientific world between subscribing to creationism and having an engineering degree and if so why? Can I also add another group which is the people who go into theoretical particle physics because they want to understand the mind of God?
June 06, 2008
Pulitzer Photos (and more) - the photo Pulitzers came out recently, with two extraordinary photos taking first and second. That spurred a fascinating rundown over at the washpost chat house of recent past winners and what the pulitzer committee looks for. [so you don't have to wade through, photos embedded after jump.]
Jason Kottke links to this extraordinary slideshow of photos taken from RFK's Funeral train, narrated by the photographer.
Meanwhile, Bruce Scheier runs down the War on Photography -- this Guide to Photographer's Rights is well worth browsing through. Forbidding photography in a public place is almost *never* legitimate, and seizing film in the absence of an arrest or a court order is never permitted. [more inside]
Awful License Plates - if you enjoyed hearing from the complainants against this scourge on our streets, or the couple of sightings by alkalineearthlings, you'll get a kick out of these first and second hand pix of awful license plates put together by SA. [link is fully safe for work, stay within the well-marked path]. Time to go browse through the TXDOT collection for your own "EATTHE" masterpiece?
June 05, 2008
Lolcats for physicists. Ran across this and totally had to post it.
Mexico Bike Crash - pic after jump. [more inside]
These kids make me feel like and idiot, but what they are doing is really cool. This is something I would be willing to donate to! Don't worry, APS is going to do some stuff for them too :)
June 04, 2008
CNN's front page today had what is possibly the most insanely boring "most exciting moment" I have ever heard. Habcous and I got to chatting about exactly how many exciting discoveries they could be making every month over there in Lighthouse Digest magazine which then turned into what kind of articles they exactly publish in Lighthouse Digest. And that led to me wasting a half hour:
[more inside]
June 03, 2008
The Andy Rooney Game - an eminently palatable way to get your weekly dose of Rooney. Now with Youtube! [via cyn-c]
A/V Club has an above average interview with Robert Smigel which almost (almost) makes me think I should see his movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Also covered: TV Funhouse (the SNL cartoon version and the live version with writing help from Andy Breckman); who is the best presidential candidate from a comedy perspective; what it's like to discover Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.
Austin PD wants to know what you think about traffic problems in Austin. [more inside]
June 02, 2008
Designer of Pringles Carton Buried in Crisp Tube - Dr. Fredric J. Baur, who was 89, had told his family to ensure his final resting place was the inside of one of his most famous creations.
The dominant exported banana variety (the Cavendish) is in serious danger. Most of the Asian crops are already on their way to complete collapse and experts say it's only a matter of time before Panama disease Race 4 arrives in Latin America. Maybe you should throw some in the freezer so you can show your kids what it tasted like.
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