Meet Lucky, the Audio-Animatronic dinosaur. The still photos don't do him justice: you simply must watch the MPEGs at the end of the linked article to get the full effect. If only Disney sold a miniature version for home use. I know I'd choose Lucky Jr over an AIBO any day.
[Via rec.arts.sf.fandom]
The Wound Gallery is an amazing site for anyone who isn't too squeamish. They've got pictures of everything from a surprisingly bloody paper cut to a thoroughly broken arm to a nasty case of gangrene. They've also got a variety of surgical wounds, but I'm far too chicken to actually look at them.
Probably not a site you'll want to visit right before settling down to eat a hearty lunch…
[Via MetaFilter]
I'm indebted to Zed of MemeMachineGo! for passing on this report from the Worldcon panel on the Robert Heinlein's recently rediscovered first novel, For Us, the Living.
[...]
The book itself is, by some people's descriptions, not really a "novel" per se. Spider Robinson described it as a thinly fictionalized series of lectures. It shows a basic ignorance of the conventions of fiction writing, which is probably why it was never published in its original form. But parts of it were apparently recycled over Heinlein's writing career, as some of the concepts and plot elements appeared in works such as the Future History cycle and Beyond This Horizon.
[...]
I'm pleased for the Heinlein fans that they're going to get a chance to read his first novel. I know that if this had been released twenty-five years ago I'd have been fascinated. Trouble is, far too much of Heinlein's later work was "a thinly fictionalized series of lectures" instead of an attempt to tell a story. In the absence of some really positive reviews, I don't think I'll be rushing to Amazon to place an order.
Adidas have come up with an advertising campaign which must be rather distracting for Tokyo's commuters. They put up an advertising billboard which displayed an image of a football pitch, complete with centre circle, penalty box and all the usual markings. Then they had two players hang from ropes and play a ten minute game on the billboard 'pitch'. So far I've only found the one picture of the billboard, at Adrants. (I did try the official Adidas web site, but it's such a Flash-heavy horror that I couldn't bear to spend more than 30 seconds waiting for the next set of menus to download and dance their way across my monitor.) I'd like to see a picture of the pitch from a different vantage point, mostly so as to get a better handle on the angles involved: first and foremost, just how near to vertical is the billboard?
It's not clear whether the two players involved were professional footballers or just very desperate unemployed actors. I'm guessing that if they were professionals the two players used in Tokyo might not have been their respective teams' biggest talents. Just imagine what Real Madrid's insurers would say if someone suggested David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane try this out in Madrid.
Danny O'Brien is keeping on top of the BBC Creative Archive story:
[...]
It'll take a lot of guts for them to really do all of this. The BBC gets its guts partly from its leadership, and partly from its public. If people give it the sort of excited support that see online for the wider ideal of the Creative Archive, then it will happen. There are people in the BBC – high-up people – who really do understand the Net and will do this if they see it as potentially popular idea.
If people expect a smaller, weaker, Archive, and expect a more compliant, fearful BBC that thinks more about cutting a penny off the license or aping the commercial networks than it does about providing a brand new approach, the ideal will wilt on the vine, and that's exactly what they'll get.
If you think this is a good – albeit unlikely idea – you have to stand up for it. If you think that it'll never happen, and repeatedly say so, it won't. Think about it: the Conservative Party is saying that they'll consider telling the BBC to shut down its Website if they get into power.
Do they mean it? Hardly. They're testing the waters: seeing how the public reacts to such an idea; seeing if it's something they'll win or lose a few votes with. Your response counts, because it tells them, and the BBC how the land lies.
It's the same thing with the Creative Archive. It's not set in stone what this will be. That's determined partly by Greg Dyke, and partly by public reaction.
[...]
This is the worry: with so many of the proprietors of Britain's daily newspapers having little reason to wish the BBC well in this endeavour, the BBC will need all the encouragement it can get. A little political courage and leadership from Tessa Jowell would be nice too…
First World War.com is a very impressive site exploring all aspects of the Great War in some detail. The content is clearly written and includes plenty of images, maps and photographs.
What's especially impressive is that the site isn't affiliated with any institution: it's apparently a labour of love, edited by one Michael Duffy. He freely admits that the site is far from finished, but even so it's a fine resource for anyone wanting an introduction to the First World War. There are plenty of museum sites which aren't this polished, or this comprehensive.
[Via rc3.org]
What people are saying on the Tube:
"Don't bother waiting for ITV to make a decent sitcom. Remember that one with Davina McCall in it? It still frightens me."
"Don't worry … Robert Fisk will get what's coming to him."
"My life is like a bad Daily Mail headline."
My favourite:
"Every time I tell someone my name is Hannah, they tell me that it's a palindrome, as though I didn't already know."
[Via Watermelon Punch]
The headline says it all: Escaped murderers refused return.
[Via cyber-rights-uk mailing list]
Anyone who has seen The Ring really needs to see this collection of Japanese fan art for Ringu. (Flash movie, 2.5MB – but well worth the wait even for dial-up users.)
Very, very, very strange indeed.
[Via Memepool - see entry for Tuesday August 26, 2003]
As if it wasn't difficult enough to remember the numbers assigned to the blizzard of new phone numbers for directory enquiries, that's just the start. The next step is to figure out which ones will cost you most. Diamond Geezer has done a little research:
The most devious con-trick: BT is running two different numbers. It's heavily promoting the expensive 118 500 (30p + 25p per minute) and keeping distinctly quiet about the much cheaper flat-rate 118 707 (35p).
One argument that is sometimes made in favour of the introduction of the new numbers is that they allow the operating companies to offer an improved service. Like the ability to put you through to the number they've just found for you. Beware:
The extra hidden charge: If you allow the operator to put you straight through to your desired number, it'll cost you more. BT's 118 500 charges 30p a minute for the duration of your new call, and 118 247 (Yellow Pages) as much as 40p a minute . Cheapest this time is 118 118 which charges 'only' 9p a minute.
There's much more detail than that, and despite the examples quoted above it's by no means the case that BT are always the worst offenders. Ain't progress wonderful.
[Via linkmachinego]
After reading this story I can only agree with Rafe Colburn: people suck.
[Via rc3.org]
Why am I not surprised that within days of the BBC's announcement that it's planning to take the corporation's embrace of the internet to another level, the Conservative culture spokesman reveals that he's not convinced that the BBC needs to have a web site:
"But I am not persuaded that there is necessarily a case for a public service website. I'm not persuaded that anything on the BBC site could not be provided elsewhere, [for instance] the newspapers are mostly providing sites, which provide news and comment.
Granted, what he probably means is that he's mostly concerned with the BBC's provision of news on the web site, but that isn't what he said.
It's not so much the specifics of the argument about the BBC's news site that bothers me, more the attitude that the BBC's presence online is somehow illegitimate because it competes with the private sector. The existence of news and commentary at the BBC's web site in no way prevents Channel 5 or ITV or Associated Newspapers or News International or Hollinger International or the Guardian Media Group or the Mirror Group from putting up their own news web sites. Some of these organisations have restricted access to archives, and some have fairly open sites, some have simply produced an electronic version of their existing product. Others have put up sites with online-only content and varying degrees of interactivity. All these sites try to cater for the same people who buy their newspapers or watch their news bulletins on TV. Now it's up to the web-browsing public to decide which site they prefer, isn't it?
If the BBC site and the license fee are really so dreadfully unpopular with the general public – as opposed to being unpopular with those who stand to profit from the demise of the BBC's web presence – and don't provide anything that can't be found elsewhere, presumably the web browsing public will exercise their right to go elsewhere and the BBC's site will find that it has no visitors. Then you can talk about whether the BBC's site is really necessary.
[Via plasticbag.org]
Earlier this evening I finished watching a DVD box set I've had for some time but never quite got round to, namely the vampire thriller series Ultraviolet which was broadcast on Channel 4 back in 1998.
Not having seen the show for five years, I'd forgotten most of the plot twists. What I did remember was how well the series portrayed the head games the 'Code V's played with their victims and the team hunting them, how seductive they made crossing over seem. The six episodes were every bit as gripping as I'd remembered, especially the last couple when divided loyalties and an emmissary from the opposition really turned the heat up. All the lead actors did well, with Philip Quast particularly good as the priest-cum-boss, but in the end it was the gripping plot and the lack of any attempt at camping up the vampire element which made the show so compelling. Not that a little bit of campness is a bad thing, if handled deftly enough – see any number of episodes of Buffy for all the proof you need on that score – but on Ultraviolet the mood was very different, more akin to a run of half a dozen especially grim episodes of Angel.
The finale left the possibility of a further series open, but having read the comments by writer/director Joe Ahearne at the official site I can see that with hindsight it might be just as well that the story ended where it did. It doesn't sound as if Channel 4 were particularly enthusiastic about the show, and Ahearne himself didn't seem all that bothered about taking it further. If Ahearne had handed the story over to other writers and directors then who knows how badly they might have mangled the concept. Worse still, they might have filmed a second series only for Channel 4 to decide that because it had a supernatural element it must be a kid's show, and cut it for broadcast at 6pm as they did Angel's first season. Better to be thankful that we got one excellent series. (Come to think of it, have Channel 4 produced any original SF/fantasy/horror shows since then?)
The Zombie Infection Simulator has been updated: the uninfected humans can now decide to fight back. Not that it does them much good in the long term, but it's fun to cheer on the little pink pixels.
[Via As Above]
More on the BBC's big announcement: Alan Connor has posted a very good discussion of the implications of creating what should turn out to be the world's biggest, best online archive, and addresses the killer argument against making all this stuff available for free:
[...]
And so one inevitable niggle remains: if you can get to BBC programmes using the web, doesn't this mean that folk who have never paid a licence fee still get to watch them? In short: yes, it does. So why, you might ask, should you have to pay, when the Germans and the Canadians can get the same stuff for free? In short again: this is because it's the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Office is about British working life. Panorama tackles news from a British perspective. We get more out of it. And for one, I'm proud of it.
And if a schoolgirl in Iowa wants to watch some Roobarb? I say, let her. Because she's leaving behind as much and as good. Again: it's already paid for. We lose nothing.
[...]
I'm going to take a wild guess that the Murdoch media empire's outlets aren't going to buy that argument. Tough luck: the fact that the current business model adopted by commercial broadcasters stops them from doing something like this shouldn't be any bar to the BBC's putting serious amounts of content online.
[Via Oblomovka]
Greg Dyke has announced that the BBC's archives are to be opened up for non-commercial use over the internet.
The devil, as always, is going to be in the details – in what format will data be available, will any attempt be made to restrict access to UK-based internet users, how soon will 'current' programming be made available via the archives – but any way you slice it that's one huge step forward for public service broadcasting's relationship with the internet.
Danny O'Brien suggests that the BBC might release their content under some form of Creative Commons-style license. Now that would be something.
LA Times journalist Paul Lieberman has good cause to remember Allan Sherman's ode to the joys of summer camp, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp). it so happens that Lieberman went to summer camp with the comedian's son, who did indeed loathe the experience. Some forty years on, Lieberman decided to track down his former campmate.
[Via Hava Cuppa Tea]
Dreams of Space is a treasure trove of depictions of space travel and the solar system in children's books from the years prior to the launch of the manned space programme.
The stuff of dreams, to be sure. It'd be nice to think that the human race might get round to visiting some of those places in my lifetime – though perhaps not in such pretty spacecraft.
[Via exclamation mark]
This instrumental cover version of classic 80s power ballad The Power of Love is a work of genius. Evil genius, mind you, but genius nontheless.
Suddenly I feel much more kindly towards Celine Dion. Though truth be told I was always partial to the Jennifer Rush version, partly because it featured in the tremendous BBC adaptation of David Lodge's Nice Work.
[Via uk.comp.sys.mac]
Do you remember Christopher Walken dancing in the video for Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice a couple of years ago? Gareth Forman has created a loving, shot-by-shot Flash remake starring the Stick Figure Ninja. OK, so it loses a little because it's not Christopher Walken doing the dancing any more, but it's still a hugely impressive piece of work.
As one MetaFilter poster pointed out, it'd be fantastic to see the video for Praise You given this sort of treatment.
[Via MetaFilter]