I wonder if the late Professor Galbraith, had he been sixty years or so younger, would have responded to a professional reverse by adapting the lyrics of a Police song.
[Adaptation of Every Breath You Take via The Sideshow: J K Galbraith obituary via wilful, posting to MetaFilter]
I've never seen a picture of a yacht transport before. (To tell the truth, it had never occurred to me that there was such a thing as a "yacht transport" until I read MetaFilter this morning.)
[Via Staggering Jack, posting to MetaFilter]
I gather that the Animatronic Sir Alan Sugar was on TV recently, but somehow I'd failed to hear about it until now. Please, anyone who is thinking of buying this: just give the £39 to Great Ormond Street Hospital direct, lest Amstrad follow through on their threat:
We are considering developing a range of animatronic talking heads with an an array of famous people – which repeats a selection of their famous catchphrases at the touch of a button and contains at least 20 stock phrases of the character as well as the facial expressions.
[...]
The prototype is currently displayed on this site and if the response to it is positive, the product range will be put into production. Amstrad plan to approach other people with famous catchphrases and expressions. Simon Cowell, Gordon Ramsay, Catherine Tate or Matt Lucas are just a few of the potential celebrities we have in mind to approach (although no agreements have yet been made).
I wonder whether this product formed part of the final task in this season's The Apprentice. Perhaps after next week's final four go through their interviews and we're down to the last two we'll discover which of them had the idea that the road to success was to produce an animatronic Alan Sugar. (Trouble is, the candidate most likely to suck up to Sir Alan in that manner – Syed – was fired last week. Though I suppose he could have had an opportunity to slip the idea in during a brainstorming session if they bring the fired candidates back to assist the two finalists in the final task again this year.)
[Via Schrodinger, posting to uk.media.tv.misc]
There's a short clip of an action scene from X-Men 3 up at YouTube.
I know I shouldn't prejudge the film based on less than a minute's footage, but if the director can make a fastball special look dull then it doesn't look too promising…
[Via Ghost in the Machine]
The Necronomicon Plush Book is just plain wrong on so many levels:
The Necronomicon, an image of the law of the dead, as described by H.P. Lovecraft as written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. It describes how to summon the Old Ones. This faithful adaptation, designed by Ron Spencer, is modified slightly for younger audiences. Note the squeaker on page 3, and the gloved hand for rolling human bones on page 5. [...]
[Via Wis[s]e Words]
Sex Toy or Baby Toy? (Not Safe For Work, strangely enough.)
My score: a deeply unsatisfying 5 out of 15.
[Via GromBlog]
What happens during a "24" commercial break … IN REAL TIME.
A very nice idea, well executed (if slightly too long.)
I haven't watched the Eurovision Song Contest for many a year, but judging by this article about the Finnish entry I might just have to make an exception this time round:
HELSINKI, Finland — They have eight-foot retractable latex Satan wings, sing hits like "Chainsaw Buffet" and blow up slabs of smoking meat on stage. So members of the band Lordi expected a reaction when they beat a crooner of love ballads to represent Finland at the Eurovision song contest in Athens, the competition that was the springboard for Abba and Celine Dion.
But the heavy-metal monster band did not imagine a national identity crisis.
First, Finnish religious leaders warned that the Freddy Krueger look-alikes could inspire Satanic worship. Then critics called for President Tarja Halonen to use her constitutional powers to veto the band and nominate a traditional Finnish folk singer instead. Rumors even circulated that Lordi members were agents sent by President Vladimir V. Putin to destabilize Finland before a Russian coup — an explanation for their refusal to take off their freakish masks in public.
The article is actually pretty interesting, focussing as much on the Finnish national character as on the Eurovision entry:
Finns are so uncomfortable with themselves, says Alexander Stubb, a Finnish member of the European Parliament, that when they meet someone for the first time, they stare at their own feet. Then, after 10 years of friendship, they stare at the other person's feet. But there is little risk that anyone, Finnish or otherwise, will stare at Lordi's furry platform demon boots, he adds, noting that Lordi could embarrass Finland when it takes over the European Union presidency in July.
[Via Peace Dividend]
An observation from Chris at QwghlmBlog on the state of the government:
[...]
The more it goes on, the more it seems the Labour Party is like an amalgam of every badly-run football club in history. The story fits so neatly: A long-supported but flagging institution is taken over by a flash individual who promises brighter times ahead for all. Initially, all looks well – though fans have reservations over the change in the team’s colours, there are some new signings, they start winning again. As time creeps by though, the honeymoon fades and the early achievements are soon forgotten in favour of more regrettable ones. The chairman comes to dominate the club, taking personal control of every part of its business. Unpopular decisions alienate the fans; he takes their support for given without ever considering their views; when a few start to protest, he responds by adding electric fences to the stands. With attendances low, he ramps up the prices and tries wooing the rich to use the executive boxes, or by setting up sponsorship deals with anyone, regardless of ethics. More fans desert the club; some even set up their own new clubs in response. Meanwhile, temporarily bolstered by the injection of new cash, the chairman wastes it on ridiculous signings that do nothing to help the club’s long-term future or assuage its now serious debt problem.
[...]
Trouble is, the other contenders for the title have got a flash young manager. He talks a good game, but the chances are that if they get their nose in front in the next cup final they'll just revert to their old-fashioned defensive tactics.
Time for a tactical substitution or two.
Tom Coates was witness to the coining of a wonderful new word:
Pokemonitise
"To make money by appealing to the stupid human instinct to collect dumb things."
S. Willison
2006
Sheer genius.
Anil Dash does nice work:
Mr. Henninger, I had the good fortune to review your column, in which you express, at length and in some detail, your extreme distaste for people publishing their own opinions on the Internet. I wanted to let you know that I am glad that you have published your own opinion on this matter. On the Internet.
Also, you ask, "At the risk of enabling, does the Internet mean that all the rest of us are being made unwitting participants in the personal and political life of, um, crazy people?" Your example aside, I think not. I fear you are the exception to the rule, though if I could ask your indulgence in reviewing some of my own past crazy ramblings, you might understand that I truly appreciate the intellectual dishonesty you exhibit when you mention that you "don't think the blogosphere is breeding cannibals. But…" How could you lower the legendarily high standards of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page by making such an accusation without factual evidence to back it up?
The truth is, it is still an open question whether the growth of cannibalism around the world is due to the blogosphere, or whether this growth is in fact due to instant messaging. Let's get some fact-checkers on this!
[...]
It's firefly squid season in Japan:
Toyama Bay is the habitat of the world-famous glowing firefly squid, which surface in large numbers every spring in a phenomenon that has been designated a special natural monument. Peak firefly squid season means big catches for fishermen and brisk business for sightseeing boats that provide close-up views of the magical action.
[...]
The photographs accompanying the article are really something to see.
[Via collision detection]
Petite Anglaise found herself searching for her ejector seat the other day.
Makes you wonder how some kids survive until adulthood…
Lore Sjöberg gives the world The Wikipedia FAQK:
[...]
But why should I contribute to an article? I'm no expert.
That's fine. The Wikipedia philosophy can be summed up thusly: "Experts are scum." For some reason people who spend 40 years learning everything they can about, say, the Peloponnesian War — and indeed, advancing the body of human knowledge — get all pissy when their contributions are edited away by Randy in Boise who heard somewhere that sword-wielding skeletons were involved. And they get downright irate when asked politely to engage in discourse with Randy until the sword-skeleton theory can be incorporated into the article without passing judgment.[...]
(For a more serious take on the subject, see Jason Scott's The Great Failure of Wikipedia.)
[Lore Sjöberg article via Websnark]
Engadget's story about George Bush claiming that government research developed the iPod is being linked to right, left and centre.
Given the context – a speech to a student audience at Tuskegee University – isn't it just possible that the man meant this as a joke? Reading the passage Engadget quoted in context is helpful:
[...]
So here's the first thing that I intend to work with Congress on to make sure that we're on the leading edge of change and technology, and that is to increase federal support for vital, basic research. I don't know if you realize this, but because of Defense Department spending in the past, and because of the research that the Defense Department was doing to enhance communication, to improve military communications, the Internet came to be. In other words, the Defense Department said, we need to figure out how better to communicate. And, therefore, they spent some research dollars at institutions like Tuskegee. And out of that research came the Internet, which has helped change our society in many ways.
Here's another interesting example of where basic research can help change quality of life or provide practical applications for people. The government funded research in microdrive storage, electrochemistry and signal compression. They did so for one reason: It turned out that those were the key ingredients for the development of the Ipod. I tune into the Ipod occasionally, you know? (Laughter.) Basic research to meet one set of objectives can lead to interesting ideas for our society. It helps us remain competitive. So the government should double the commitment to the most basic — critical research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years. I look forward to Congress to doubling that commitment.
Secondly — and by the way, those centers of excellence I went to are funded by — some of them are funded by grants from the federal government on this type of research money. So, obviously, it helps your institution flourish, but, more importantly, it helps our country. It helps our country in two ways. There's no telling what's going to come out of this basic research. As a matter of fact, I saw nanotechnology applied to what could conceivably be the next airplane wing. Boeing is funding research into nanotechnology here at Tuskegee, which may end up yielding a lighter, more firm material which could become the basis for the new airplanes that you fly in. It's lightweight stuff, but it's really strong. It's right here on this campus that people are making research into this — (applause.)
[...]
I hold no brief for the man's politics, but the argument Bush makes here is a perfectly sensible one: government funds basic research, which leads to better technology, which is in turn exploited by private industry in ways unanticipated by the original researchers. Bush didn't go into the contributions of the Fraunhofer Institute, Hitachi, Apple et al to what became the iPod, any more than he talked about the many companies involved in turning the ARPANET into the modern Internet in the preceding paragraph of his speech. It was a throwaway line in a speech, for goodness sake…
(Of course, there's a perfectly valid argument that much defence-related spending has more to do with pork-barrel politics and unacknowledged corporate welfare than it has any serious attempt to push back the frontiers of science for the benefit of all, but that's a discussion for another day.)
Having read Teresa Nielsen Hayden's account of fanfic author Lori Jareo's attempt to get sued by George Lucas, I can't help but wonder what Jareo could do to top this in the event that his clone army of lawyerdroids leaves her with some assets.
Perhaps Jareo will write Harry Potter Book 8, and find out first hand what might be accomplished by someone with eighty billion dollars and ready access to Google Maps.
I think it's fair to say that Jay Pinkerton was unimpressed by the film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:
[Please] keep in mind that I have no innate bias for or against the works of C.S. Lewis when I ask: what the fuck was that?
Seriously, what a mess. I don’t remember the original book being that long, but it must have been phonebook-sized, since the film sprints along from scene to scene like it needs to namedrop 40 characters by the ten-minute mark or get sued by the Lewis estate. Here’s Lucy! Peter! Edmund! The bland one! Here’s their mother! Whoop, now she’s gone! Here’s a maid and an old man! Now Lucy’s meeting a fawn! Now Edmund’s meeting a Queen! Now Peter and Blandy chat it up with some badgers! Wolves chase them! Santa Claus shows up and arms them with weapons! There’s a lion! Now he’s dead! Now he's alive again! Okay!
And on and on with these fucking talking animals and minotaurs and unicorns and witches and apparently one of the animals is Jesus and how god-shitting drunk was C.S. Lewis when he wrote this? I say this as a guy who dug Lord of the Rings, a trilogy many would argue is pretty much the same deal as Narnia with slightly different pointed ears. At least Tolkein rooted his nonsense in Norse mythology – there’s elves and dwarves, who are good, and orcs, who are bad, and it might be a little silly, sure, but at least it all seems to make perfect sense to everyone in Middle Earth.
[...]
[Via Oliver Willis]
Daily Mail Picnic: apparently even as you read this, the internet is sending porn to your computer and sending your credit card details to Osama bin Laden, who will use them to fund the production of counterfeit DVDs of Hollywood blockbusters. Or something like that, anyway…
[Via MetaFilter]
A Californian architect came up with an interesting idea for a new house:
Francie Rehwald wanted her house to look "feminine", have curves and be eco-friendly. Her architect's answer was: "Let's use a 747!"
The wing of the Boeing jet will be used for the roof, its nose as a meditation temple while its trademark "bulge" will serve as a loft.
Given the cost of even a scrapped 747 this particular approach to house design probably isn't going to become a trend any time soon. Which is no doubt a relief to the civil aviation authorities:
Ms Rehwald has to obtain various permits to go ahead with construction.
In particular, she has been asked by the civil aviation authorities to mark the elements of the plane visible from the sky to show that they are not part of a crashed aircraft.
[Via Tailrank]
