Links posted in December 2007
December 30, 2007
Mario Mod Uses Knowledge to Hurt You, Make You Cry - Those really harsh Super Mario mods are bad enough, but this one goes out of its way to use all of that knowledge learned at the hand of the originals to torment gamers. I could probably take everything but the nastiness that happens at the flag pole, that's just plain wrong.
December 28, 2007
December 26, 2007
Future Stuff was a book published in 1989 that predicted concrete dates and prices by when many amazing products and scientific advances should be available in consumer form (all before the year 2000). They were wrong (mostly) and for the most hilarious reasons (mostly).
December 20, 2007
Studillac - Thanks to the AV Club, I've found out I live in a world that has a car called the "Studillac": "Combining the graceful continental styling of the new Studebaker Starliner with the power and performance of the new 210 HP Cadillac engine". Now you know what to get me for Ludachristmas.
December 19, 2007
How to sell a '94 Mazda Protege . By my roommate.
December 17, 2007
Hello. It has been a long time since we discussed cell phones. The phone I purchased way back in the day is just now beginning to develop congestive phonebook failure and creeping black call drop. So... [more inside]
For the WoW gamer who has everything. Just in case you WoWers didn't hear about this, you can now have your Warcraft character made into a figurine. Unfortunately there's a wait list on this and the only way you can win a spot to get one made is to enter their lottery.
If I was still playing, I have to admit I'd probably do this. Would be cool to have all of my old characters from games I used to play. Too bad they only do WoW characters. Actually now that I think about it..if they had a gnome-punt pose option, I'd reactivate my account for that.
If you don't read Paul Krugman's twice a week column, you should. His distrust of Obama mirrors mine, but he articulates why in a way better than I could.
I'm not particularly enamored of John Edwards, but he really does seem the best realistic option at this point, though it's anybne's guess whether a win in Iowa is enough to recussitate his campaign.
In other news, Chris Dodd is going to filibuster the bullshit warrantless wiretapping law that our lovely Democratic Senate majority wants passed. Russ Feingold is going to support him. Fire Dog Lake, who have several lawyers writing for them, is following the story.
Why the Lucky Stiff's Poignant Guide to Ruby - One of these days you're going to up one of these nifty scripting languages like the kids use nowadays, just so you can do a little regexp automating here, a little one-off applet there, right? Probably what you've been waiting for is a hilarious (as these things go) introduction to said language, one with a Greek Chorus of cartoon foxes and Robert Smith's endorsement. Well, here ya go. Open first to Section 3 to verify there's an actual guide ahead, the unleash the weird beginning.
(By the way, if you have ever wanted to pick up a programming language, this really _is_ a good guide, chunky bacon and all. You also can't go wrong choosing python as your language, in which case I'd start with this far more conventional learn-to-program-picking-up-python-along-the way free book.)
December 16, 2007
This is a good article. It asks many of the critical questions centering around high-powered college sports programs. It leaves me wondering what the value of college sports programs to a university really is, aside from money and recruiting.
But the way that the players are being exploited by the current system is something that really needs to be pointed out and screamed from a mountaintop.
December 15, 2007
Delta creates cartoons to mock their miserable passengers. If you ask me, they should play this ZeFrank episode on flights instead.
December 14, 2007
Do you want to see the various presidential candidates debate about science? Sure, it might be a little embarrassing for some, but better to know now rather than after they are elected. Sign up and show your support.
Google Zeitgeist is here - it's part of what makes this the most magical part of the year. I thought the RIP section was funny in that 7 of the top 10 entries didn't, y'know, actually die. Also, the goddamn crazy frog is still hanging on at #5.
But just when I was ready to lose faith in peoples' ability to set priorities came this list:
1. how to kiss
2. how to draw
3. how to knit
4. how to hack
5. how to dance
6. how to crochet
7. how to meditate
8. how to flirt
9. how to levitate
10. how to skateboard
Actually, yup: that's about exactly the right list, in more or less the right order even.
The Mitchell Report on Performance Enhancing Drug Use in Baseball came out today, and Names were Named. It looks like it's *both* a bombshell and a whitewash... Looking over the list, one big name stands out and the Yanks are certainly the hardest hit (see sidebar). A huge majority of the names come from one source, Mets trainer Kirk Radomski, which slants things in an NY direction, though a large fraction of the 'roiders on the Yankees are big names (Clemens, Pettite, Knoblauch, Giambi, Sheffield, Brown, Justice).
The big surprises for me are Brian Roberts and Paul Lo Duca -- these are two guys who are always described as "playing the game the right way". Jayson Stark is one of the few warning us to not rush to judgement, though.
The main recommendation (which many thing doesn't itself even go far enough) is to increase testing. I think, though, that the place to start is actually the front office: one of the things made clear is that the GMs actually had a pretty good idea of who was doping, but often went ahead with it anyway. (The situation is obviously more complex than that but it's still very troubling). Right now there isn't really a down side for the *team* if someone uses -- but the league could change that if they wanted.
Porn For Girls By Girls - 500,000 pictures! Free video clips!
December 13, 2007
The best way to choose abstinence, and to properly incorporate it into your life. After all, it is the best protection against STDs.
December 12, 2007
The Moby Quotient - 'determines the degree to which artists besmirch their reputations when they lend their music to hawk products or companies.' Complete with gratuitous pi, a nice visual depiction of the equation and an MQ calculator applet.
By my estimate, "This is oooouuuur Country" came out a 15. If Dead Kennedys had licensed 'Holiday in Cambodia' to Levis I think it would have come out about a 155 (8/10/10/8/2/6). [thx kottke] [more inside]
Cracked's most baffling toys list. "Surprisingly, not all of these are from Japan."
December 10, 2007
Dear Rocker, - Paying back musicians, five bucks at a time.
December 08, 2007
December 07, 2007
We've discussed before what a Garfield comic would look if you removed Garfield's thought bubbles (because only Garfield should be able to hear them). Well someone has the goal of redrawing all of the strips with Garfield's thought dialog removed and man they are very funny and also very lonely and depressing.
December 06, 2007
My bloglines account is filling up with all sorts of bookmarks because I don't want to delete and forget about some stories. Well, why don't I just put them here:
- Some people set up shop fixing a neglected clock inside a famous Paris monument. Except they didn't tell anybody and snuck in and out at night under the noses of museum guards. People were baffled. The same people built a hidden cinema and bar deep in an unused portion of the well-known Paris catacombs. They scared off intruders with construction signs and recordings of dogs. People were baffled.
- Speaking of France, here is a map of how many kisses you should be prepared to give in each département when you greet someone.
- I super love this comic which features an appearance by recurring character "Bad Decision Dinosaur" in the last few panels.
December 05, 2007
A blog on oddities takes on the 10 Most Bizarre Scientific Papers.
The Key to Reserva - Martin Scorsese directs three pages of an "unmade Alfred Hitchcock film" in the Hitchcock style in this seven minute mockumentary/wine commercial that includes the Scorsese short film.
You thought Ms. South Carolina was dumb? This girl would redefine dumb, if she could find it in the dictionary.
What a wonderful world - Satchmo like you never seen him before
December 04, 2007
Astronauts Test Sex in Space - "Only four positions were found possible without "mechanical assistance"." [more inside]
Remember that one time when we we sort of playing Fantasy Football but it sucked and those other times when we played March Madness. Those were great.
Anyway, ESPN is taking it back to the "set it and forget it" ideals of the past with Bowl Mania. Pick the winner of 32 college football bowl games and then rank them in order of confidence. Then forget about it until someone posts the group winner in this thread in a month. Look, that was fun!
[more inside]
The latest howler from the Flat Earth Society (aka the State Government branch of the Republican Party); this one in our back yard. I'm surprised sG hasn't rung in on this one yet.
December 03, 2007
Have you ever gone on a trip and wanted to sample the local beer? Maybe you like beer and want to do a beer roadtrip. Maybe you're making a documentary and need some driving directions. Either way, The Beer Mapping Project has got you covered. [more inside]
Hockey Fights - because we all want a little action in our hockey games. The latest fights even have video embedded for quick viewing. [more inside]
Don't swear so much, you prick-eating bastard! In 1897 major league baseball owners met to discuss swearing on the field, and decided they were against it. So they created a set of "Special Instructions to Players." The recently unearthed document (soon to be sold at auction) describes, in detail, exactly the kind of language they didn't want their players using -- language you haven't heard since Deadwood went off the air.
This is pretty much the best thing in institutional swearing since the times when the first thing a scrabble player received showing up to a tournament was a list of 167 obscene words that had been expurgated from the official scrabble players dictionary. [more inside]
December 01, 2007
Firebrand - The best television commercials on TV, web, and mobile [more inside]
How to Buy Eyeglasses Online - and save a hundred dollars doing so.