Archive 2004
New Year, New Calendar
For the new year getcha a new calendar. If you've got a big window you might want to try the Protein° Calendar 2005 made of a transparent 150 Micron acetate that gives it a stained glass look when you hang it in the light. All Protein° Calendars are based on a 29½ day Lunar Chromo™ that gives every day a new colour depending on the phase of the moon, says Protein of their £90 calendar.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 @ 6:01 pm
Audio Igloo
Artist Benoît Maubrey has created the Audio Igloo made of old discarded speakers and audio parts.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 @ 11:14 am
Earth's Falling Apart
Just so you know, yes, the end is nigh. A tornado warning was issued for Los Angeles last night.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 @ 10:58 am
Tsunami
Some incredible photos of the tsunami as it hits a resort in Phuket, Thailand from photographer Hellmut Issels. And a first-hand account from a Washington Post writer, Michael Dobbs. Unbelievable, Dobbs was swimming with his brother in the ocean near an island just off the coast of Sri Lanka. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible, a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced, writes Dobbs.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 @ 7:26 pm
Susan Sontag
Writer Susan Sontag has died of leukemia at age 71.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 @ 6:54 pm
Big Box Reuse
Julia Christensen, a graduate student at Rennselaer Polytechnic University, has been traveling around the U.S. giving presentations on how abandoned big box discount retail stores across the country are being put to alternative uses. Her site bigboxreuse.com shows how the empty shells Wal-Mart leaves behind when it moves down the street to a newer Supercenter are being put to use as medical centers, schools, libraries, apartments and churches. Christensen's working on a book documenting her research on the changing face of small towns in America.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 @ 10:12 am
Top 2004 Searches
Google's presented their 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist, a look at the most popular web searches for the year by category. A nice interactive flash presentation is included.
Sunday, December 26, 2004 @ 10:15 pm
Try This Dictionary
Following Google's Suggest site that fills in your search as you type, comes a terrific dictionary from ObjectGraph that fills in your search query with the words' definitions. The creators also provide a handy directions on how to roll your own version.
Sunday, December 26, 2004 @ 2:09 pm
Pop, Soda, Coke
Finally, someone is tackling one of the more divisive issues in our land. A researcher in Oklahoma has come up with a nice U.S. map that shows the generic name for soft drinks, listed by county. More than 120,000 respondents have participated in the popvssoda survey.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 @ 10:36 am
Scared of Santa
'Tis the season and whatnot. So here's a nice Scared of Santa Photo Gallery for you.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 @ 10:21 am
Never Wear Contacts Again!
Tired of contacts? Don't like sticking your fingers in your eyes? But you want to be able to see clearly without the hassle of clumsy eyeglasses that you'll windup sitting on or losing. Well, a coupla kooks in Texas have come up with the idea of hanging eyeglasses from a piercing along the bridge of the nose. Since they have no frame on the side I can wear them while I sleep and still roll onto my side, says James Sooy about his new specs.
Saturday, December 18, 2004 @ 11:04 pm
Burj Dubai Tower
Construction has started on what will be the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubair Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tower will be 800 meters tall and have 160 floors.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004 @ 9:19 am
Googlization of the World's Great Libraries
Google has announced plans to digitize books from some of the world's great libraries, including the collections Stanford University, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, Oxford University and the New York Public Library. The full text of books that are in the public domain and excepts of books protected by copyright will be searchable online.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004 @ 9:05 am
The Ashhole
For the cigarette-smoking beer-guzzling reveller on your Christmas list, you should get 'em a couple of new ashholes. It’s the world’s first bottle-top ashtray.
Monday, December 13, 2004 @ 9:43 am
paraSITE
New York artist Michael Rakowitz has developed an object called paraSITE which uses the exterior ventilation systems on existing architecture as a means to provide temporary shelter for homeless people. The double-membraned plastic ube structures attach to buildings' warm HVAC vents on the street and inflate, heat up and make a dry warm home for the night.
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 5:23 pm
The Sound of 200 People Talking at Once
Next week federal regulators will review the banning of cellphones on airplanes. If the ban is ever lifted there will probably be extra charges as all calls are likely to be funnelled through a central communications hub that would then send the calls through satellite links. Pricey airline surcharges would apply, but you could talk on the way to Hawaii. Most crucial studies involved in the lifting of the ban wouldn't be complete until at least 2007.
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 5:00 pm
Not a Nannygate Afterall
Bernard Kerik probably didn't withdraw his nomination for Homeland Security chief because of nanny problems. Newsweek Magazine discovered that a New Jersey judge in 1998 had issued an arrest warrant as part of a convoluted series of lawsuits relating to unpaid bills on his condo. The magazine faxed documents, including the arrest warrant, over to the White House around 6:00 p.m. Friday, asking for comment. Neither Kerik nor the White House had any immediate response. At 8:30 p.m., Kerik had submitted his letter to the president. He also netted more than $6 million on options on a taser gun manufacturer that supplies the NYPD and Homeland Security. Nope, not the best candidate for the job
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 4:44 pm
Jeremy Deller Wins the Turner Prize
London-based artist Jeremy Deller has won the 2004 Turner Prize. With work that is described as broadly political in a gently way, Deller's best know works involved public reenactments like the the Battle of Orgreave, which recreated a bloody clash from the 1980s between British police and striking miners. The good news about this year's prize is that the award was doubled, with the first prize increased from £20,000 to £25,000, and runner-up prizes of £5,000. But the bad news is that it was disgustingly twee, as one critic put it. All four finalists showed film or videos, causing another critic to call it a a show entirely for video nerds.
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 8:32 am
Podcasting Breaking into Big Media
Always on the cutting edge, the BBC has begun podcasting the Radio 4 program In Our Time. Podcasting, which allows anybody with an MP3 player and web access to subscribe to personally-created radio programs, is one of the hotter gizmos on the Internet lately. The two best resources are podcast.net and ipodder.org. Currently, my top two favorites are Radio Clash for mash-ups/remixes (subscribe -rss) and Coverville for the best and worst cover songs (subscribe -rss).
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 8:02 am
July 2005
It's Chocolate.
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 7:14 am
Famous Atheist Now Believes in God
British philosher and well-know atheist Antony Flew now believes in God. He said that while exploring the intricacies of life's origins of life, he saw the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved. Flew said he's best labeled a deist like Thomas Jefferson, whose God was not actively involved in people's lives.
Saturday, December 11, 2004 @ 6:58 am
Cartoon Skeletal Systems
Michael Paulus has drawn a kind little skeletal study of 22 cartoon characters. The works are currently showing at the Belmont branch of Stumptown Coffee in Portland, Oregon.
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 @ 9:00 am
The Web's IQ Just Got Higher
Nobel-prize-winning economist Gary Becker and federal circuit judge Richard Posner have started the Becker-Posner Blog. We have decided to start a blog that will explore current issues of economics, law, and policy in a dialogic format, they write.
Monday, December 6, 2004 @ 6:26 pm
Watch for Pilots in Ill-Fitting Uniforms
The CBC reports more than 1,000 uniforms and 100 security badges were lost or stolen in the past nine months from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.
Monday, December 6, 2004 @ 6:21 pm
Bird's Eye View
The Discovery Channel's Animal Planet show mounted a miniture video camera onto the back of a golden eagle named Tilly. And you can see the videos showing exactly how she flies.
Monday, December 6, 2004 @ 9:57 am
Cost of War
Using estimates from Congressional appropriations, the National Priorities Project estimates the cost of the Iraq War as (JavaScript Error).
Sunday, December 5, 2004 @ 6:50 pm
Taking the Offense Against Spam
Lycos is taking the offense against spammers by bombarding spam-marketed online retailers with massive bandwidth hits. Their thinking it that it will just get too expensive to use spam for marketing. You can help by downloading Lycos' screensaver which will constantly request data from sites that sell goods via spam.
Thursday, December 2, 2004 @ 12:55 pm
Libyan Tourism Starts Here
Michael Totten has gone to Libya as a tourist and has posted his photos. His trip will later be chronicled in an article for LA Weekly, but from looking at the photos and captions so far, Libya is far from Frommer-ready.
Thursday, December 2, 2004 @ 12:50 pm
Email Is So 2004
Perennial early-adopting Korean teenagers are apparently not using email so much anymore. With the impression that email is an old and formal communication means, they are shunning email for more immediate communications like SMS and mini-homepages (I don't know what the hell that is either). I use email when I send messages to elders, says one Korean college student. Another uses email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 @ 6:44 pm
Burger Training Boogie
What is the proper way to flip burgers? This Wendy's training video/rap lays it down on how to get a pattie that's out of site.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 @ 5:33 pm
A Bibliophile's Bedroom
Students at MIT have turned an elective class on how to reuse discarded books into an exhibition, A Bibliophile's Bedroom, which is currently on display at the Boston Public Library. They've made a room furnished entirely from furniture made from books.
Sunday, November 28, 2004 @ 5:23 pm
A Killer Blog?
Police in the town of Craig Alaska have alleged that 16 year-old student Rachelle Waterman plotted to have her mother killed this month. Her last blog entry on her site, My Crappy Life, tells how the cops have taken her computer and she won't be blogging for a while. Indeed. The entry's gotten thousands of comments.
Sunday, November 28, 2004 @ 11:56 am
Spidey Suit
Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem have successfully created a genetically-engineered form of spider's web that is much stronger than silk and could be used to mass produce fibers that are only one-thousandth of a millimeter thick. New applications might be bullet-proof vests, surgical thread and fishing rods and maybe an all-fabric car you could foldup and wear as a hat (okay, that one's my suggestion).
Saturday, November 27, 2004 @ 6:16 pm
I For One Welcome Our Artistic Robot Overlords
The goal of the German group Robotlab is to develop an experimental forum in which the public has the opportunity to interact with robots. And to this end the group has developed an Autoportrait Robot which draws portraits of people who sit in front of it. The machine-artist fastens his camera eye on the model's face, and with striking hand movements, he draws the person's portrait.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 @ 9:53 am
No After You, No After You
To some, this picture's worth a thousand blog entries.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 @ 9:50 am
Monkey Roundhouse
Just so we're clear about this, my monkey can kick your monkey's ass.
Monday, November 22, 2004 @ 8:48 pm
New New York Stories
Another great interactive feature from The New York Times. In The Next Wave: Immigrant Stories, 10 transplanted New Yorkers under 40 tell their own stories of coming to New York in their own voices.
Monday, November 22, 2004 @ 8:21 pm
Talk About Lame Ducks
On Saturday the U.S. Congress passed a $388 billion spending bill that including a provision giving two committee chairman and their assistants access to income tax returns without regard to privacy protections. While the bill cut funding for Pell grants, it also set aside funds for a presidential yacht. I'm not making this up.
Monday, November 22, 2004 @ 9:05 am
Housing Shortage
Apparently there's a housing shortage-- for hermit crabs. Due to pollution and humans' undying desire to pickup and pocket shells, there currently are not enough shells left on beaches for hermit crabs to use. And the Hand Up Project proposes to manufacture alternative forms of housing, specifically designed for use by land hermit crabs, out of plastic.
Sunday, November 21, 2004 @ 3:00 pm
Google Scholar
Everyone's favorite search engine has launched Google Scholar, a way to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
Friday, November 19, 2004 @ 12:40 pm
Your Ass is Made to Run
The buttock muscles stabilize your trunk as you lean forward to run. A run is like a controlled fall, and the buttocks help to control it, Harvard researcher Daniel Lieberman says in a new study that tries to determine why humans are unique in the animal kingdom for our ability for endurance running. Lieberman says running was crucial to the development of the human species and may be the reason we developed prominent buttocks. Though some say the invention of triple-cream brie may also have contributed.
Friday, November 19, 2004 @ 12:14 pm
The Country Flies By at 10mph
A few knuckleheads have just finished crossing the U.S. on Segways. We live in a large prosperous nation with a great abundance of leisure.
Thursday, November 18, 2004 @ 1:42 pm
Has TiVo Become Advertisers' Trojan Horse
Once a symbol of how to give Madison Ave. the finger, TiVo will soon become the advertiser's best friend. An article in the Los Angeles Times says next March Tivo viewers will begin to see "billboards," or small logos, popping up over TV commercials as they fast-forward through them, offering contest entries, giveaways or links to other ads. And if the viewer "opts in" to ads, their personal info will be sent to that advertiser to contact them directly. By the end of next year TiVo viewers will be able to purchase products and participate in surveys using their remote controls.
Thursday, November 18, 2004 @ 9:46 am
Citrëon C4 Transformer
Looking for a nimble new car? The Citrëon c4 can really move.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 @ 8:59 am
Coloring Books
Now through November 22 all the books in San Francisco's Adobe Books will be arranged by color. The 20,000 books were assembled by the San Francisco artist Chris Cobb and done by 20 people pulling an all-nighter. Open 'til 10pm everyday, Adobe's at 16th & Guerrero.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 @ 8:33 am
Fat is Back
While the low-carb craze is apparently showing signs of dying out already, big greasy slabs of fat are still going strong for some purveyors of huge food. The latest to flaunt fat as if it were the new lean is Hardee's Monster Thickburger. With two 1/3 lb. chunks of beef, 4 bacon strips, 3 slices of cheese and dash of mayo, it packs 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat. Hardee's chief executive Andrew Puzder said the Monster Thickburger is not a burger for tree-huggers.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 @ 8:00 am
The Classical Album
The newest remix of Jay-Z's Black Album is Baker Bros' The Classical Album. Using 20th Century composers including Stravinsky, Bernstein, Piazolla, Copland, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Arvo Part, the Baker Bros ask How different are hip-hop and classical in actuality? The album is beautiful at times.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004 @ 7:27 am
MetroShed
The poshest garden shed you've ever seen is the MetroShed, a wood, glass, metal and acrylic outdoor modern structure which is completely customizable to fit your garden. Optional furnishings include Gucci wallpaper and furniture by Phillipe Starck, Le Corbusier, Mies van Der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen and Charles & Ray Eames.
Sunday, November 14, 2004 @ 9:14 pm
Free TiVo
So you were asking about the Death of Cable Television? It's getting easier everyday to use BitTorrent and RSS to have your computer download the latest episodes of your favorite TV shows automatically-- and commercial free .
Sunday, November 14, 2004 @ 6:13 pm
When Art Hurts
Administrators at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. are advising guards who watchover the recently opened retrospective of artist Dan Flavin's work to wear protective sunglasses and take frequent breaks. The 44 fluorescent-tube illuminated works by the minimalist artist have made guards complain of headaches, anxiety, and nervousness—all from the excessive 48,600 watts used in the pieces. One staffer is reported to have passed out.
Friday, November 12, 2004 @ 6:29 pm
Slacker Science Experiments
There's drunk scientific proof to support the theory that filtering cheap Vodka through a Brita makes it taste better.
Friday, November 12, 2004 @ 5:50 pm
Very Light Light
London-based industrial designer Afroditi Krassa has made World View, a virtually weightless lighting fixture made with 91 LEDs suspended from a silver helium balloon.
Friday, November 12, 2004 @ 7:57 am
Slacker Tech
While the music's okay, the site for Billy Harvey is pretty great. It nails the music's cuddly slacker vibe.
Friday, November 12, 2004 @ 7:46 am
Sequin Go-Go Boots and Bowties
Vigon does the Harlem Shuffle.
Thursday, November 11, 2004 @ 10:55 am
Tanks in the Streets of Los Angeles?
Two Armored Personnel Carriers tanks showed up at a rinky-dink little anti-war protest outside the Westwood Federal Building west Los Angeles Tuesday night. A video was shot of the odd scene on Wilshire Boulevard.
Thursday, November 11, 2004 @ 10:38 am
Religious Conservatives vs. Liberal Tolerence pt.2
That slippery, complex spot where religious conservatism and liberal tolerance meet is not only a problem in Ohio but also The Netherlands. The murder last week of dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh as he walked down an Amsterdam street has made the normally laidback Dutch people fearful and nervous of a rapid radicalization of Europe. Dutch police say van Gogh was murdered by a 26 year-old Muslim radical with dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship because he made a film offensive to Muslims. While the film is only a 10-minute long English-language short, it's indeed a powerful critique of the treatment of women under Islamic law. Watch Theo van Gogh's film Submission online.
Thursday, November 11, 2004 @ 10:12 am
Leaves of Gas
Chicago-based artist Sabrina Raaf has a new piece called Translator II: Grower which is a robot that travels the perimeter of a room measuring levels of carbon dioxide and drawing green blades of grass along the walls in heights corresponding to the CO2 levels.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004 @ 10:16 am
Look Out It's Mr. Toast
Look out fat guy! Mr. Toast is sneaking up behind you!
Tuesday, November 9, 2004 @ 7:26 pm
Terror Over, Everybody Go Home
Ashcroft has resigned because, well, he finished his job. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved, Mr. Ashcroft wrote in his five-page, handwritten resignation letter. Glad that messy terror business is over.
Tuesday, November 9, 2004 @ 4:14 pm
Burnt My Keyboard They Say
It's a story too hot for the mainstream media to touch right now. MsNBC's Keith Olbermann is investigating allegations of voter fraud in Ohio and Florida. Big fraud, like the optical scanning vote machines were hacked. November 2nd there were more votes than voters. 93,000 more votes than voters, said Olbermann. It's true, the story comes from somewhere between Edward R. Murrow and a guy wearing a tin-foil hat, but the story might be gaining some mainstream legs. The original data for the story can be seen here: A Surprising Pattern of Florida's Election Results. I don't know if we should believe this either.
Monday, November 8, 2004 @ 11:59 pm
Crawl Into Your Shell
If you're looking to crawl back into your shell, maybe drop off society's grid or really get back to the basics, the Danish designers/artists of n55 have just the thing for you. The Snail Shell System is a shelter space for exactly one person. Mobile on both on land and water, it can be rowed, moved by a kite or hooked up to a vessel, for example, a ferry. The unit rests on one flat side and can be anchored in lakes, rivers, harbours or at sea. On land, it can be placed in city spaces, fields, forests etc.
Monday, November 8, 2004 @ 11:53 am
Dollar to Take a Great Fall?
All the king's horse and all the king's men may not be able to counter the current administration's irresponsible fiscal policies. The world financial markets are bearish on Bush's economic policies and are bailing on the dollar.
Sunday, November 7, 2004 @ 8:27 pm
10 x 10
10x10 is a fascinating way to see what news is happening now. Every hour 10x10 picks the top words and pictures in leading news websites and puts them together in a 100 picture grid. They are aiming to build an archive that lets you see and click news history hour by hour.
Saturday, November 6, 2004 @ 3:18 pm
If I Looking for Frog
I lost my frog. Him name is Hopkin Green Frog. P.S. I'll find my frog.
Saturday, November 6, 2004 @ 3:00 pm
U.S. Military Assault on Children Only an Accident
An F-16 on a training mission with the National Guard shotup a New Jersey middle school this week. Only one person, a school custodian, was in the school when it was hit with gunfire around 11pm Wednesday night. The pilot's intended target was a firing range about 3 miles from the school.
Friday, November 5, 2004 @ 7:30 am
Now More Than Ever
It is a great day here. From the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound to the snow capped mountains of the Cascade Moutains, the sun shines and the birds sing here in the Great Republic of Cascadia. A land of beauty and prosperity, Cascadia is rich in natural resources, with vast forest, prosperous ports and a worldwide dominance in computer software, aerospace, coffee roasting and internet retailing. Also a nation of great hospitality, Cascadia gives a hardy welcome to our southern siblings in the soon to be annexed fourth Cascadian prefecture, NoCal. Due to recent political developments in neighboring countries, some have claimed our Republic is a part of a larger nation. But let us be clear: Cascadia a free and independent nation that will never seek a permission slip to defend itself.
Wednesday, November 3, 2004 @ 10:09 am
MoMA's Makeover
The Museum of Modern Art's new 630,000-square-foot, Yoshio Taniguchi-designed Manhattan facility opens to the public on November 20th. The new digs have nearly double the size, a five-fold increase in space for educational and research activities, a 110-foot atrium, and a 1945 Bell 47D-1 helicopter hung by curators over the grand staircase.
Sunday, October 31, 2004 @ 4:59 pm
Scary Halloween Costumes
Got some great ideas for costumes this year from the Seattle Stranger's list of 2004's Scariest Halloween Costumes.
Friday, October 29, 2004 @ 9:20 am
Dumbo Has Been 86'd
Drunken elephants trampled to death three people after getting drunk on rice beer. In the north-eastern Indian state of Assam local villagers keep their homemade rice beer in drums outside their homes with no bouncers to protect it.
Friday, October 29, 2004 @ 9:08 am
The Conservatives Are Right
So I was reading the latest issue of The American Conservative (why are you laughing? it's true) and I found that I was a lot more consevative than I thought. It seems that some of the editors of The American Conservative have endorsed Kerry for President. George W. Bush has come to embody a politics that is antithetical to almost any kind of thoughtful conservatism, says the editorial.
Thursday, October 28, 2004 @ 9:44 am
Clouds Over the Sunshine State Already
Analysts are predicting as many as 75% of Floridians will turn out to vote next week. And the New York Times reports that tens of thousands of voters had not yet received absentee ballots that the Broward County elections office had sent them several weeks ago.
Thursday, October 28, 2004 @ 9:21 am
NYC Subway Turns 100
The New York City Subway has turned 100 and the New York Times has a nice multimedia Flash feature on the system and the culture around it. Included is a little interview with every straphanger's favorite New Yorker, Dr. Zizmor.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 @ 8:56 am
Where's My Black Hoodie?
I could be wrong, but I think Eminem is calling for a revolution.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 @ 8:12 am
That Time of the Year Soon
I'm voting for Chris Christmas Rodriguez to replace Santa this year.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 @ 8:07 pm
John Peel
The legendary British DJ John Peel has died. A radio DJ for more then 40 years, first briefly in the U.S. and then as a member of BBC One's original lineup. He was, as the BBC described, a radio DJ who remained at the cutting-edge of popular taste and he had an uncanny ability to discover and play the best new bands before they broke out. His Peel Sessions continued to break new bands for decades in live in-house recordings. Peel died of a heart attack a while vacationing with his wife in Peru. He was 65.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 @ 9:02 am
That's Art? My Kid Could Do That
Marla Olmstead's abstract work has been compared to Pollock, Miró, Klee. Her New York gallery sells her work for upwards of $15,000. She's four years old.
Monday, October 25, 2004 @ 6:22 pm
Mr. Pax Goes to Washington
The Baghdad blogger, Salam Pax, whose annonymous online descriptions of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Baghdad earned him worldwide fame and a regular column in the UK Guardian, writes about a recent trip to Washington D.C.
Monday, October 25, 2004 @ 2:42 pm
Bin Laden in Pakistan?
The U.S. military knows where Osama bin Laden is: South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of the Baluchistan region of Pakistan. This is according to a member of the 9-11 commission, John Lehman, the former secretary of the Navy under President Reagan. "There is an American presence in the area, but we can't just send in troops. If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now," said Lehman.
Monday, October 25, 2004 @ 9:51 am
Cats Always Land on Their Feet
Except in zero-gravity.
Sunday, October 24, 2004 @ 4:59 pm
Gabriel Veyre
You weren't expecting to see this today. Check out this film of a Mexican pistol duel from 1896. It comes from an exhibit of photos and films by Gabriel Veyre, a French photographer and Lumière operator.
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 1:25 pm
A Certain Type of English Walk
Fantastic site for found type fans. Public Lettering: A Walk in Central London is based on a walk by English font designer Phil Baines for his graphic design students to explore opportunities for specialist, site–specific lettering..
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 10:38 am
Mullahs for Bush
Axis of Evil pillar Iran endorses Bush for president. I don't know what this means either.
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 10:27 am
Go Packers
During every election year since 1936, when the Washington Redskins have won their last home game before the election, the incumbent president has stayed in power. The Redskins will play the Green Bay Packers at home on Oct. 31, 1pmEST. Currently, both teams have the same record of 2 wins and 4 losses.
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 9:56 am
Regret the Error
For those who have a habit of reading corrections in the news paper, try Regret the Error. It's a daily blog dedicated only to newspaper corrections.
Thursday, October 21, 2004 @ 11:36 am
Koose No Longer on the Loose
The elusive Indian bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan has been gunned down by authorities in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu. Veerappan had spent 30 years on the run and had been accused of murdering police officers, slaughtering elephants and kidnapping a movie star. He was thought to have smuggled ivory from 2000 slaughtered elephants and to have killed more than 150 people, including police informants whose bodies Veerappan hung from trees. Though among some of India's poor he was celebrated as a Robin Hood-style hero who gave money to impoverished locals, and they in return helped him evade capture on several occasions. At least two Bollywood movies were made about his story.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 @ 12:47 pm
Is Bin Laden in China?
Bin Laden is in China and will soon be captured and transfered to the U.S. just in time for the elections. At least that's what a poorly google-translated article in Spain's el Mundo newspaper says.
Monday, October 18, 2004 @ 12:59 pm
When Your TV Sends an SOS
Chris van Rossman of Corvallis, Oregon has a new tv that has been sending out the international distress signal. An orbiting search and rescue satellite picked up the 121.5 MHz frequency signal Oct 3rd, relayed the information to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and Civil Air Patrol personnel in Air Force uniforms, a Corvallis police officer and a Benton County Search and Rescue were quickly dispatched to van Rossman's apartment. Now Van Rossman has to keep his TV turned off or he'll face fines of up to $10,000 per day for emitting a false distress signal.
Monday, October 18, 2004 @ 9:05 am
Gasoline-Free on a Shoestring
For less than $10,000 an Arizona physics teacher and his students have built a truck that runs on self-producting hydrogen. The four-cylinder Chevy pickup is tuned to burn hydrogen that is produced by a hand-built electrolysis system using solar panels mounted in the truck bed. Watch Central High Physics Teacher/Project Sponsor Cory Waxman explain how it all works in this video.
Sunday, October 17, 2004 @ 9:49 am
Bird Machine Flies to England
The work of poster artist Jay Ryan is on exhibit at the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester. And they have a fine collection of his drawings and posters online. See even more of Chicago-based Bird Machine's work on their site.
Saturday, October 16, 2004 @ 10:09 am
Lost Raphael Painting Discovered
A painting by Renaissance master Raphael has been found underneath a later painting on the wall of an church in Gubbio, Italy.. This is a work by the very young Raphael, probably from 1498 or 1499, when he would have been about 16, says a curator and regional arts official.
Saturday, October 16, 2004 @ 9:58 am
E-mail by Thought Alone
The latest issue of Nature reports an implanted brain chip has allowed a paralysed man to send e-mail by thought. Developed by a Massachusetts-based company, Cyberkinetics, the BrainGate device uses 100 electrodes to tap directly in to neurons in the patient's brain.
Saturday, October 16, 2004 @ 9:36 am
Send 5 Quid in the Letter to Me, Please
You think your vote for president next month won't matter that much in the big picture? Well people around the world think it's so important they are lobbying individual voters personally by handwritten letter. The UK Guardian is offering an online democratic toolkit to enable people from Basildon to Botswana to campaign in the presidential race. By submitting your email on their site you receive the name and address of a voter in Clark County, Ohio, a district the Guardian has picked as a pivotal spot in this tight election. Writing to a Clark County voter is a chance to explain how US policies effect you personally, and the rest of the world more generally, and who you hope they will send to the White House, the paper says.
Thursday, October 14, 2004 @ 5:21 pm
I Hear Elephants
On their new second album, David Soldier leads an orchestra of performances by the planet’s most potent passel of pachyderms, The Thai Elephant Orchestra. The songs performed by Zebra Finches toward the end of the program is nice too.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 @ 9:11 pm
Homes from $782.00
Back in the day when we all walked to the corner grocery, had a President who wore an Eton collar and Florida was still a Southern state, you could order yourself a house out of the Sears Catalog.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 @ 7:15 pm
When He's 64
John Lennon would have been 64.
Sunday, October 10, 2004 @ 6:52 pm
Drop Out, Zoom In
It was like I was havin' a Zoomie freak out, man. All the trees had faces and there were monsters everywhere. But I just kept zooming in.
Sunday, October 10, 2004 @ 11:07 am
Jacques Derrida, 74
French philospher Jacques Derrida has died at age 74 of pancreatic cancer.
Saturday, October 9, 2004 @ 12:33 pm
Microradio for the Masses
The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has put together a Radio Re-Volt to create a network of microradio transmitters around Minneapolis and St. Paul. The art center will host a series of free radio workshops held throughout the Twin Cities led by different technicians (media activities, radio aficionados, etc.). Participants will receive and learn how to operate a one milliwatt transmitter and create a personal sculpture to house the electronic equipment.
Friday, October 8, 2004 @ 10:00 am
Someday: an Anti-Anti-Matter Treaty
The U.S. Air Force is developing weapons which use anti-matter. It's more powerful than you think. One millionth of a gram of positrons contain as much energy as 37.8 kilograms (83 pounds) of TNT.
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 @ 10:02 am
Vermeer Appears Without Fanfare
A masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer, A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals, has suddenly shown up on the walls of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The painting was recently auctioned in London for $30 million to an annonymous buyer and the Philly Museum is not saying a peep about who owns it. They've just put it on the walls for all to enjoy, saying it's on loan until March.
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 @ 8:52 am
Spacey Bag
The Soyuz Laptop bag is made from from orange and white pieces of the 1990 Soyuz TM-8 Space mission landing parachute. Tested for city commuting! The space parachute on the front withstood a lot more than riding on the subway!
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 @ 8:40 am
How to Fold a Shirt
Well I guess there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything. And we could all use this lesson on how to fold a shirt.
Monday, October 4, 2004 @ 10:31 pm
You'll Walk the Floor, the Whole Night Through...
Steven Stack, Wayne State University and Jim Gundlach, Auburn University have found analysis of 49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate.
Monday, October 4, 2004 @ 8:43 pm
Carver's Craft
Sitting in a driveway in Port Angeles, WA is Raymond Carver's boat. And its for sale on eBay if you wanna go pick it up. The 18-foot 1978 Olympic Hardtop has a $3,000 minimum. People are going to have fun,
and do what they want to do, on my boat, wrote Carver.
Sunday, October 3, 2004 @ 8:23 pm
Moblogging, It's a Dog's Life
From the interminably brilliant hardware hacker Phillip Torrone, comes a way to turn your pup into a photographer. Scroll down to see the photo gallery from Torrone's spaniel. His doggie-eyed view of his food bowl, cat, and master's leg on a walk are hilarious.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004 @ 10:10 am
Mt. St. Helens is Rumbling
Swarms of temblors around Mt. St. Helens have prompted officials to close the mountain above 4,800 feet. Cynthia Gardner, the acting scientist in charge at the Cascades Volcano Observatory descibed these small quakes as a signature that was very similar to the signature that we saw back in the days when the dome was building. If you want to obsessively watch for signs of activity, keep checking the Mt. St. Helens Webcam.
Monday, September 27, 2004 @ 11:42 am
21st Century Transport
Where's my flying car, damnit? Where's my hypersonic transport, or my personal helicopter? It's the 21st Century and I want to ride a monorail to get places around town! Oh yeah, that one actually will happen. But anyway, UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies has a great exhibition, Transportation Futuristics, that shows us what the 21st Century could have been like...
Monday, September 27, 2004 @ 11:05 am
Blind Trust
Apprently Tom Ridge has not put any of his investments in a blind trust while acting as the nation's Homeland Security Chief. Last year Ridge held between $100,000 and $815,000 in investments with contractors to the Department of Homeland Security, including Microsoft, Unisys, General Electric, Sprint, Raytheon, Oracles, Merck and Pfizer.
Monday, September 27, 2004 @ 10:31 am
Sitting Child
Sitting Child by Bristol, England artist Anna Gillespie is made of masking tape & resin. It's on view at London's newly opened Spectrum Gallery.
Saturday, September 25, 2004 @ 12:15 pm
Everybody's Got a Blog These Days
Everybody's got a blog these days, even Freddy.
Saturday, September 25, 2004 @ 8:20 am
Mmmm..... Sandwich
So how would you celebrate your final exams? One Englishman decided to build an enormous f*****g sandwich. Inside this affront to God would be an enchilada, some garlic mushrooms, burgers, sausages, assloads of cheese and some good old HP sauce. I put in a bit of salad as well to even out the bad stuff. In the end it was an 8600 calorie sandwich.
Friday, September 24, 2004 @ 8:19 am
42 Krystal Burgers in 8 Minutes
Newcomer Sonya Thomas was named IFOCE 2003 Rookie of the Year and is nearly unbeaten in competition in 2004.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 @ 10:55 am
Booker Prize Shortlist is Out
The list of six finalists shortlisted for Britain's £50,000 Man Booker fiction prize is out: The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst; Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell; The Master, Colm Toibin; The Electric Michelangelo, Sarah Hall; Bitter Fruit, Achmat Dangor; I'll Go to Bed at Noon, Gerald Woodward.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 @ 8:03 am
Art Underfoot
The City of Vancouver recently asked its citizens to submit design ideas for new manhole covers. Here are the winners for Storm Sewer Design and for Sanitary Sewer Design.
Sunday, September 19, 2004 @ 7:25 pm
Lazy-Eyed Master
Two Harvard scientist, Bevil Conway and Margaret Livingstone, have theorized that Rembrandt probably
had a lazy eye disorder which diminished his depth perception and probably aided his painting.
Sunday, September 19, 2004 @ 7:20 pm
Phone Books
I know you've been looking for this. From a guy in North Carolina comes possibly the world's largest online collection of phonebooks. At left is a Birmingham, Alabama phonebook from 1977. This 1967 Roman phonebook is kinda nice too.
Sunday, September 19, 2004 @ 7:02 pm
I Don't Know Art But I Know What I Like
While the Sheboygan Museum of Art does not have the resources to acquire the works by major abstract expressionists, the institution does feel it can demonstrate a sense of the genre with this exhibit of crayon works by Miss Wensleydale's second grade class from Sheboygan Elementary School.
Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 6:54 pm
Mac Gets Nabbed
Following a traffic stop in Oklahoma over the weekend, former child actor Macaulay Culkin was busted for possession of marijuana and a possesion of a "controlled dangerous substance" .
Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 6:37 pm
That Wimpy Hummer Feels a Little Too Eco-Friendly
But my Hummer's so cramped, you say? Well the International®7300 CXT is for you. It's crew cab seats six, its 7.6 liter diesel engine puts out 540 lb. ft of torque and it can be customized with air-suspension seats and a flat screen TV. But it might not be the best truck to take on a road trip-- due to its 26,000 lb gross vehicle weight, you'll have to stop at every truck scale on the interstate. No joke.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004 @ 11:32 am
Jean Shin
Korean-American artist Jean Shin takes mundane discarded objects and turns then into beautiful sculptures and installations. Her Chance City piece (on the left) is made from $21,496 worth of discarded lottery tickets). Jean Shin's work will be up at MoMA in NYC untill September 27th.,
Sunday, September 12, 2004 @ 8:14 pm
Wally World
Thinking about getting a new yacht. If I could only convince the maker to get rid of the world "wally" from the nameplate, I might try out the 118 WallyPower high performance superyacht.16,800 hp lets you cruise at 60 knots and look like darth vader doing it.
Sunday, September 12, 2004 @ 8:02 pm
Eye-catching Headline Here in the Top Left
Interesting research study from the the Poynter Institute that tracked visitors eye movements as the navigated through web pages.
Thursday, September 9, 2004 @ 10:34 pm
Where Parisian Cataphiles Go For Dinner
Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement, as the Guardian describes it.
Thursday, September 9, 2004 @ 10:24 pm
You People Should Just Write Your Own Damn Labels
London's Tate Britain Museum is asking you to tell them what you think some of their paintings mean. The museum is asking you to write up your own descriptive labels for more than 43 works. The 30 most interesting comments culled from contributions to the Tate website will be used as captions in the gallery and will be on view at Tate Britain during British Art Week which starts September 20th.
Tuesday, September 7, 2004 @ 9:49 am
Flatstock 5
While the music at Seattle's Bumbershoot arts festival can kick some ass at times, it was the Flatstock poster show part of the festival that really gave me something that I could take with me --a poster. Got that great TV on the Radio poster you see at the left, designed by Jay Ryan of Bird Machine.
Monday, September 6, 2004 @ 9:01 pm
The Words They Use
The New York Times has a nice graphic depiction of the words used in the the national presidential convention speeches. The speaker silhouettes are especially nice too.
Saturday, September 4, 2004 @ 3:52 pm
You Rock Like a Little Girl
Chloe, 10, and older sister Asy, 12, make up the coolest little indie band in Seattle right now: Smoosh. They've already gotten great local press, opened for Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney and The Presidents of the United States of America and given a live radio performance on Seattle's KEXP. Don't miss their hits RAD, It's Cold, or Pygmy Motorcycle. Not just a novelty, they rock beyond their years.
Friday, August 27, 2004 @ 9:41 am
Email on a Typewriter
To overcome her mother's frustrations with sending email through a computer, Aparna Rao designed a typewriter that sends email. Currently completing her thesis at the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy, she is focussing on using her family and how they interact with objects and their contexts. Along with her mother's typewriter, Rao's designed an Internet Manual for her father that is connected to a computer and launches corresponding lesson as its pages are turned.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 @ 9:27 am
Always a Cold Beer
Tempra Technology and Crown Cork & Seal has come up with the I.C. Can™, a self-cooling beverage can.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 @ 9:00 am
The President's Medals
While John Kerry's war medals have been getting a lot of scrutiny lately-- as they should, I mean hell, Kerry got hit with such small amounts of schrapnel and shot at with so few bullets. It's only fair that maybe someone should take a look at the hard-won war medals George W. Bush was awarded.
Monday, August 23, 2004 @ 9:08 pm
Voting Early and Often
The New York Daily News reports that thousands of snowbirds are register to vote in both New York City and Florida.
Monday, August 23, 2004 @ 8:00 am
Booker Price
Novelist Tibor Fischer explains what it's like to evaluate fiction for the Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in literature. He also lets us know what it'll take to get on his list for contention. My rates are as follows: £5,000 (untraceable fifties, upfront) for a long-listing, and £10,000 for a short-listing, says Fischer. Obviously, I can't guarantee a winner, but for £20,000, I promise to do my best (and I'm bigger than the other judges).
Monday, August 23, 2004 @ 7:46 am
The Scream is Stolen
As a crowd of museum-goers looked on, The Scream was stolen from the Munch Museum in Norway. The priceless 1893 work by Edvard Munch, was stolen by masked gunman who took advantage of weak security. The paintings were simply attached by wire to the walls, said a witnesss. All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose - which is what I saw one of the thieves doing.
Sunday, August 22, 2004 @ 8:07 pm
The Life Aquatic
The new Wes Anderson movie, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is set for a Christmas release.
Saturday, August 21, 2004 @ 12:42 pm
Toogle
Type in a word in Toogle and it uses your search term to recreate an image from Google's Image Search. Quite cool.
Saturday, August 21, 2004 @ 10:01 am
Qubits in the Sewer
Physicists in Austria have successfully completed quantum teleportation of light particles across a distance of 600 meters. Researchers from the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Science fed a fiber optic cable through a public sewer tunnel under the River Danube to teleport the particles between labs.
Friday, August 20, 2004 @ 7:27 am
Burn Cars, Lose Applebee's Discount
In the strangest vortex of politics, marketing, consumption and democracy every seen, New York City will offer special discounts to RNC demonstrators who protest peacefully. Apparently city officials believe that discounts for the Bronx Zoo, Whitney Museum, Applebee’s, World Yacht Dining Cruise, Pokémon Center and the Broadway show Mamma Mia! will prevent violent protests. It's no fun to protest on an empty stomach, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. No seriously, that's what he said.
Thursday, August 19, 2004 @ 9:14 am
Doing the Lynndie Hop
Poor Lynndie England. She was only trying to ridicule and humiliate Iraqi prisoners. And now drunk men and women the world 'round mock her. And laugh at America.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004 @ 10:42 pm
Congrats, You’re An Asshole
Somebody talking too loudly on a cellphone? Blocking your car in? Blaring car alarm? Maybe you should hand them an urban asshole notification card.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004 @ 4:03 pm
Menus Online
2004? It's taken until 2004 for this to happen? I've been wanting this from the Internet since about 1994. Amazon has put a browseable database of restaurant menus online. Right now, it's only for some places in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. But at least now I can checkout the restaurants in my new neighborhood. Madison Valley is some kind of foodie ghetto or something, I guess. Already checked out Chinoise last weekend.
Sunday, August 15, 2004 @ 10:33 pm
Who's Behind IMDB?
It started in Cardiff as an obsessive listing of Col Needham's favorite movies. And now it's an industry and a verb. The LA Weekly has a nice look behind the curtain at the Internet Movie Database.
Sunday, August 15, 2004 @ 10:05 pm
Cash From Cash
Sotheby's is auctioning off the estate of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. There are a lot of nice items like June Carter Cash's childhood shoes and a autographed 1959 concert poster for Johnny Cash and his Tennessee Two. The best prize would have to be a pair of custom made knee-high black alligator Lucchese boots. They're my size too.
Friday, August 13, 2004 @ 9:41 am
Off to College in November
For a nice up to date look at the numbers in this year's Presidential race, check out Electoral Vote Predictor 2004. Rollover the states to get details of latest statewide poll numbers. Somebody needs 270 electoral votes to be President, but what if they both get 269? That's the worst case scenario and it could indeed happen this November.
Thursday, August 12, 2004 @ 9:53 am
Karel Funk
Canadian Superrealist Karel Funk paints the heads of young men wearing hoods, parkas and hats. Her work is showing at 303 Gallery in NYC.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004 @ 10:37 am
Rick James, 56
Rick James was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Friday. He was 56. His CNN obit notes this scene from earlier this summer: James was honored in June at the 17th annual Rhythm & Soul Awards. As he surveyed the smooth glass surface of the award, he said, "Years ago, I would have used this for something totally different. Cocaine is a hell of a drug."
Wednesday, August 11, 2004 @ 9:41 am