tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45345760975328891772024-03-20T11:09:06.778-04:00Bitter Laughter“The bitter laugh laughs at that which is not good, it is the ethical laugh.”Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.comBlogger423125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-64104190676209684962013-08-20T10:10:00.002-04:002013-08-20T10:13:10.882-04:00We are the washing machine<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The future as projected by American advertisers of the 20th century was of course bright and sparkling. But what gadgets and appliances made that possible? And were they "automatic" as advertised? What the hell do we mean when we say that word?</blockquote>
<a href="http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/what-did-automatic-mean-to-the-futurists-of-yesterday-1170471404">Over at Gizmodo</a>, they ask the million-dollar question: what does "automatic" mean? It's safe to say that mid-century advertising culture didn't invent the concept and that it was, in some fundamental sense, an instantiation of a wider twentieth century fascination with with the automatic in its many guises. What is advertising, after all, but an attempt to generate reactions from consumers <i>automatically</i>. Edward Bernays, the "father" of public relations, explained the goal of PR and advertising this way: “Touch a nerve at a sensitive spot and you get an automatic response from certain specific members of the organism.” <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-26028992097524278052013-04-27T13:05:00.000-04:002013-04-27T13:05:21.981-04:00Punk beyond fashion<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">In the 37 years since a good mass of people decided “punk” was a flag worth waving, we’ve seen countless versions of it, most at odds with one another. There’s punk that’s dissolute and nihilist, and punk that’s earnest and abstemious; punk as attitude, as economic model, as ideology, and as an ordinary subgenre of music; punk that’s funny and punk that’s humorless; Fascist punk and anti-Fascist punk; punk that sounds like 1977 and punk that can’t imagine repeating the past; you name it. If there’s any reason the stuff’s stayed in the bloodstream of rock, it’s that the idea is flexible enough to put anything into it, take anything out, and feel like you’re fighting the good fight—the word itself is mostly just permission to get into the ring.</span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/punk-movement-2013-4/">Nitsuh Abebe</a> in <i>NY Magazine</i> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">on the enduring (and vexed) appeal of punk in 2013, amid </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">the Met's show on punk fashion,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">“Punk: Chaos to Couture.” </span>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-50548173699522426892012-12-14T10:00:00.001-05:002012-12-14T10:00:48.777-05:00The Moral Supremacy of Capitalism<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
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<i>The <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</span> <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settlement-over-money-laundering/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: red; font-size: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">reports this week</a> that megabank HSBC has escaped criminal prosecution for money laundering that probably funded terrorists and narcotics traffickers. Why? Because regulators and prosecutors were petrified that an indictment would undermine the entire financial system. The<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Times</span> quotes anonymous government sources who confessed fears about bringing formal charges because doing so would be a “death sentence” for the bank. So they let it off the hook.</i></div>
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<i>That’s right, HSBC is officially above the law. Too-big-to-fail has become too-big-to-prosecute.</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/12/13/hsbc_too_big_to_jail/">Salon reports</a>. Via <a href="http://gerrycanavan.wordpress.com/">GC</a>. </div>
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Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-12095192293516854642012-11-08T11:37:00.000-05:002012-11-08T11:37:07.838-05:00Expertise and PoliticsThe shadow contest of the 2012 election was waged between two elements of the American news media. On one side stood a pundit class, whose currency has always been oracular. On the other stands a new class of data-based prognosticators, whose currency is empiricism. The arguments between these two classes in the last weeks of the election, for me at least, have framed an important subtext of recent American politics as a whole. It is not, as defenders of Nate Silver will say, a question of math. It is, rather, a question of expertise--finding real, empirical answers to real, empirical problems through innovative, empirical methods. This shadow contest is meaningful because it underscores in dramatic fashion a division between a traditional way of doing politics that is grounded in rhetoric, and one that address broad political problems unencumbered by those political narratives that would deny the reality of problems and solutions.<br />
<br />
So, it was nice to see Rachel Maddow calling this election what it is--the failure of an ideological bubble that would mistake science for rhetoric, and expertise for punditry. Problems beget paranoia--easy to sustain in the short term, but a clear underdog in any contest with the real.<br />
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Skip to 12:50:<br />
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Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-22745050853722635762012-11-05T15:47:00.000-05:002012-11-05T15:47:03.679-05:00I dream of hidden doorwaysMostly in bookcases. <a href="http://hiddenbookcasedoors.tumblr.com/">Everything about Secret Bookcases</a> is a Tumblr to just that. Via <a href="http://boingboing.net/">BB</a>.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-23281520003083929222012-10-23T15:31:00.001-04:002012-10-23T15:32:21.458-04:00GulagIn case you missed it, two members of the Russian punk protest group, Pussy Riot, have been sentenced to hard labor. Via <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/22/pussy-riot-remote-prison-camps">the Guardian</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
Two members of the anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot have been sent to remote prison camps to serve their sentences, the group has said. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Maria Alyokhina, 24, will serve the rest of her two-year term at a women's prison camp in Perm, a Siberian region notorious for hosting some of the Soviet Union's harshest camps. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, has been sent to Mordovia, a region that also hosts a high number of prisons. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
"These are the harshest camps of all the possible choices," the band said via its Twitter account on Monday. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing an anti-Putin "punk anthem" in a Moscow cathedral in February. They argued that their conviction was part of a growing crackdown on free speech and political activism in Russia. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
They are expected to serve the rest of their sentences, which end in March 2014, in the camps, where conditions are reportedly dire.</blockquote>
Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-80081612791763391302012-10-07T12:17:00.002-04:002012-10-07T12:19:15.196-04:00NPR is a pack of gum<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Let's talk about NPR.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As the Lede reported <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/romneys-attack-on-big-bird-sows-confusion-abroad-and-feeds-it-at-home/?smid=tw-share">this week</a>, Mitt Romney's targeting of the NPR budget reflects a widespread misunderstanding of how little the US government gives to public broadcasting. </span></span>While $500 million dollars sounds like a lot of money, this is only the case because most of us (myself included) don't easily differentiate between a million, a billion, and a trillion.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span">So, what is $500 million dollars in the grand scheme of things? </span><span class="Apple-style-span">I have occasionally returned to a little economic metaphor that I posted last year, from Harvard economist </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http:/year%20premium%20cable%20subscription%20could%20be%20terminated.%20So%20now%20the%20family%20will%20have%20to%20borrow%20only%20$16,120%20per%20year.">Philip Greenspun</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span">. He cancels out some zeros and explains the US debt in these terms.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">If we divide everything by 100,000,000, the numbers take on more sensible proportions.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We have a family that is spending $38,200 per year. The family’s income is $21,700 per year. The family adds $16,500 in credit card debt every year in order to pay its bills. </span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">At the time, he explained that the "historic" budget cut of $38 billion dollars was actually nothing at all.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After a long and difficult debate among family members, keeping in mind that it was not going to be possible to borrow $16,500 every year forever, the parents and children agreed that a $380/year premium cable subscription could be terminated. So now the family will have to borrow only $16,120 per year.</span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Putting aside the suitability of the family or the household as a metaphor for the economy, I find this method of understanding large numbers very helpful. In this context, how much does NPR cost the government? The massive figure of $500 billion is the equivalent of $0.50. <b>Cutting funding for NPR is the equivalent of foregoing a pack of gum when your house is underwater.</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-80557257208225514082012-09-17T10:26:00.001-04:002012-09-17T10:26:38.045-04:00Los Ramo-nays and The ClashPunks in Havana. <a href="http://gawker.com/5943543/the-punks-on-g-street-tracking-cubas-rebellious-youth-50-years-after-the-revolution">Gawker reports</a>.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-17785509893291005602012-09-06T12:30:00.003-04:002012-09-06T12:34:50.609-04:00Face-making<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/amorous-congress-lurid-nineteenth-century-sex-terminology/261988/">The Atlantic</a> has a nice list up of 19th century British slang for "sex." Here are the best ones:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Amorous congress: </strong></li>
To say two people were engaged in the amorous congress was by far the most polite option on the list, oftentimes serving as the definition for other, less discreet synonyms.</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Basket-making: </strong></li>
"Those two recently opened a basket-making shop." From a method of making children's stockings, in which knitting the heel is called <em>basket-making</em> .</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Bread and butter: </strong></li>
One on top of the other. "Rumor has it he found her bread and butter fashion with the neighbor."</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Face-making: </strong></li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Aside from the obvious, this also comes from "making children," because babies have faces.</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Blanket hornpipe: </strong></li>
</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Green gown: </strong></li>
Giving a girl a green gown can only happen in the grass.</ul>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li><strong>Lobster kettle: </strong></li>
A woman who sleeps with soldiers coming in at port is said to "make a lobster kettle" of herself.</ul>
</blockquote>
Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-81295287698852520252012-09-05T14:31:00.002-04:002012-09-05T14:31:06.134-04:00Breaking BadderGag real from Season Four.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MxLoOkdtgR0" width="640"></iframe><br />
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Happy Wednesday.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-26852591206283885382012-08-07T11:45:00.001-04:002012-08-07T11:46:10.565-04:00CubedTurns out, I'm not the only one.<br />
<br />
The NYT documents <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/science/rubiks-cube-enjoys-another-turn-in-the-spotlight.html?hp">the triumphant return of the Rubix Cube</a>. Here's an image of my cube, bought last summer in the depths of dissertation writing. I can reliably solve it in about two minutes. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VeuoK-3673U/UCE3649GZnI/AAAAAAAACSo/Qs4qtHOfHjA/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VeuoK-3673U/UCE3649GZnI/AAAAAAAACSo/Qs4qtHOfHjA/s640/photo.JPG" width="588" /></a></div>
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<br />Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-37963956958065536532012-07-23T13:10:00.000-04:002012-07-23T13:10:07.279-04:00LunarFriday marked the 43 anniversary of the first lunar landing. Here, in commemoration, is the long lost audio:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BW6DuPQzyBU?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-55522613275823762082012-07-20T15:01:00.000-04:002012-10-23T15:31:58.815-04:00Punk lives in RussiaYet another reminder, punk rock is alive and well (and still dangerous) <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-keeps-pussy-riot-punk-protesters-jailed/2012/07/20/gJQAy1LCyW_story.html">in certain parts of the world</a>.<br />
<blockquote>
MOSCOW — In a sign of Russian authorities’ determination to clamp down on dissent, a court extended for six months on Friday the detention of three punk rockers who had staged a protest performance in a cathedral. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The three young women were among a group of five mask-wearing singers known as Pussy Riot who took to the altar of Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral in February and chanted what they described as a punk prayer. In it, they called on divine intervention to drive then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin from office two weeks before his election as president. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The women — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 — were arrested shortly afterward. In a preliminary hearing Friday, prosecutors said they needed more time to investigate and asked for an extension until January. By then the women will have been behind bars for a total of 10 months, accused of blasphemy and offending Orthodox believers. They are being held on hooliganism charges, which can bring up to seven years in jail.</blockquote>
Last December, concert-goers at a punk show in Indonesia were <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/dec/14/police-arrest-punks-indonesia">arrested</a> and <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-12-20/news/30540088_1_punk-irwandi-yusuf-mohawk-haircuts">forced to undergo "re-education."</a><br />
<br />
VICE has <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/A-Russian-Pussy-Riot">a nice interview</a> up with Pussy Riot, which describes itself as a "militant, punk-feminist, street band." Here's a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mmyZbJpYV0I">video</a> of them performing on the roof of a building, facing a detention center housing political dissidents.<br />
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UPDATE: Gawker has a nice piece up detailing Pussy Riot and their legal predicament: <a href="http://gawker.com/5930925/the-know+nothings-guide-to-pussy-riot-the-realest-punks-alive">"The Know-Nothing's Guide to Pussy Riot, the Realest Punks Around."</a><br />
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UPDATE 2: Russian authorities are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/pussy-riot-trial_n_1750811.html">seeking a penalty of <i>three years</i></a> against the band.<br />
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Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-36807743498821197302012-07-02T16:04:00.000-04:002012-07-02T16:04:30.754-04:00AffordedA Redditor has posted a short, concise, and accurate account of everything that the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") is and does. <a href="http://www.reddit.com/tb/vbkfm">Check it out.</a>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-39271152331521796442012-03-23T11:10:00.002-04:002012-03-23T11:15:22.293-04:00Automatic ModernismHere's a Wordle of <a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5037598/automatic">my ready-to-defend dissertation</a>. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_3HJ1syw6M/T2yTaPuIc1I/AAAAAAAACG4/3n2hM8mI4z4/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="193" width="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_3HJ1syw6M/T2yTaPuIc1I/AAAAAAAACG4/3n2hM8mI4z4/s400/Untitled.png" /></a></div><br />
I actually find the size of "political" a little disturbing. What about "automatic" and "modernism"?Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-59682362875245473222012-03-19T19:59:00.000-04:002012-03-19T19:59:30.186-04:00GoldNew Santigold album will be out in about a month. I've been looking forward to this one for awhile. Enjoy.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fgUTVzg8Gn8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-79736947721740662462012-02-26T20:30:00.001-05:002012-02-26T20:31:25.245-05:00Muppet LabI humbly submit that the next Muppets film center on Bunsen and Beaker. Any traditional SF theme would work.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ko4vwfKByrM" width="640"></iframe><br />
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This deleted scene comes via the lovely Kendra, reposted from <a href="http://io9.com/5888355/in-a-deleted-scene-from-the-muppets-bunsen-and-beaker-accidentally-create-robotic-life">io9</a>.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-71664935940183105972012-02-17T12:32:00.000-05:002012-02-17T12:32:16.337-05:00World's Tiniest Drum Solo<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ykEd9YUsjgQ" width="480"></iframe><br />
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Via <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/02/15/solo-on-a-tiny-drum-kit.html">BB</a>.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-23511081098569951022012-01-25T15:35:00.000-05:002012-01-25T15:35:07.120-05:00Bitter LaughterI found this by total accident: a fairly long wikipedia page of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_political_jokes">Russian political jokes</a>. <br />
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<div>A few examples:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A knock knock joke about KGB. The "knocker" knocks on the "knockee"'s door (the joke receiver). The door answerer asks the questions "who is it". The knocker replies stating that he is the KGB, (knocker only says "KGB"). The answerer replies by saying "KGB who" as with all knock knock jokes. The knocker slaps the answerer before allowing the answerer to finish saying the previous line of "KGB who". Then the knocker yells "WE WILL ASK THE QUESTIONS!"</blockquote>Or<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A frightened man came to the KGB and said, "My talking parrot disappeared."<br />
KGB: "This is not our case. Go to the criminal police."<br />
Man: "Excuse me. Of course I know that I have to go to them. I am just here to tell you officially that I disagree with that parrot."</blockquote></div><div>I think there's a fairly good chance Zizek himself wrote some of this. </div>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-20360628604908216212011-11-30T20:24:00.000-05:002011-11-30T20:24:33.776-05:00It is a communist chocolate hellhole and I'm here to stop it ever happening.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A time traveler from the future has been <a href="http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/man-arrested-at-large-hadron-collider-claims-hes-from-the-future-49305387/">arrested at the Large Hadron Collider</a>. He was arrested after security guard caught him going through the trash looking for fuel for his<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525; line-height: 18px;"> 'time machine power unit', a device, CNET reports, "that resembled a kitchen blender." Tell that to Mr. Fusion.</span></span>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-52942864505332717232011-11-17T12:07:00.000-05:002011-11-17T12:07:01.795-05:00Corporations are not people.If they were, <a href="http://annarborchronicle.com/2011/11/16/in-it-for-the-money-occupation/">they'd make better neighbors</a>.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-26199766669689278282011-11-09T13:17:00.003-05:002011-11-09T13:21:14.947-05:00Stats<a href="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/odds_10111_VLY.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/odds_10111_VLY.jpg" width="111" /></a>A little Wednesday afternoon statistics, to cheer us up.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Liberation Serif', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">What are the odds that you, as an individual, exist? Pretty good, you'd guess, since you're sitting right here reading this. But, in an abstract sense, the chances that you exist are really rather slim.</span></blockquote>Click here to see <a href="http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/odds_10111_VLY.jpg">the whole thing</a>--and read all the way until the end. Via <a href="http://boingboing.net/2011/11/09/great-moments-in-pedantry-the-odds-of-your-existence.html#more-128081">BoingBoing</a>. <br />
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Now go be a statistical miracle.<br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"></blockquote>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-52529981365245413562011-11-01T17:43:00.000-04:002011-11-01T17:43:32.974-04:00The long life of the VortexThough a footnote in the wider project of England's only avant-garde, the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=vortograph&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=YWewToTpJabe0QGXu_DiAQ&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=680">vortograph</a> was intended to be the photographic equivalent of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorticism">Vorticism</a>'s <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1280&bih=680&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=voriticism&oq=voriticism&aq=f&aqi=g-sS1&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=12516l18663l0l18768l20l14l0l0l0l0l3390l4401l0.5.1.9-1l7l0">flat canvasses</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLAST_(magazine)">literary bombs</a>. So it was something of a surprise--a welcome surprise--to see Gizmodo hosting a competition to get folks to make contemporary vortographs. <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5855184/12-vivacious-vortographs">The results are actually pretty great</a>.Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-71595314531838485302011-10-21T15:00:00.000-04:002011-10-21T15:00:49.146-04:00Salt Water TaffyThe NYT has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/10/22/books/review/moby-dick-slideshow.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateemb4">a nice slideshow</a> up detailing the variety of cover art for one of the best and most-often illustrated novels of all, <i>Moby Dick</i>. Below is the strangest cover of them all.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4OkCHRRN0_E/TqHAZvSAQJI/AAAAAAAACDI/pXlGnzEJ5NA/s1600/Moby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4OkCHRRN0_E/TqHAZvSAQJI/AAAAAAAACDI/pXlGnzEJ5NA/s1600/Moby.png" /></a></div><br />
The Atlantic also has a review up a really cool art book called <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 19px;"><em style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935639129/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1935639129&adid=15QRGW97B5DXPM33C3CD" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page</a>. </em><span style="text-decoration: none;">Below, a page by artist Matt Kish:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #00598c; text-decoration: none;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/everypagemobydick14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/everypagemobydick14.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #00598c; font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534576097532889177.post-86365770639088378362011-10-17T23:03:00.000-04:002011-10-17T23:03:08.885-04:00Self-parody alert<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Eric Cantor to give speech on "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66173.html#ixzz1b4J7KkFG">how we make sure the people at the top stay there</a>." Not from <i>The Onion</i>.</span></span>Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09795725319680877738noreply@blogger.com0