extreme drunk

The New Yorker has a nice piece about extreme beer brewing. No, they don't use Mountain Dew.

are you sure that Obama doesn't signal post-racial?

Again...what do you think? Apparently, hate crimes have spiked since Obama won the election. This is not a Coke commercial, people. We do not live in harmony yet.

civil rights and universality

This is a nice approach to protesting California's awful Proposition 8. I just hope it works.

does Obama = post-racial?

Um, what do you think?

the American myth of success

The Guardian has an interesting article asking the question: what really leads to success...pure genius or hard work? The answer might surprise you.

ObamaMania!

The New Yorker just published a very intriguing article on Obama and Race. It's kind of long, but it is a fascinating read.

Likewise, Newsweek had reporters embedded in the Hillary, Obama, and McCain camps. Their reports from inside the election are fascinating in their insight and scope.

Southern man?

As someone who grew up in the South, I had to deal with misconceptions about the South on almost a daily basis. Once I moved up to the Midwest, I thought I was through with them...but I was not. The state of confusion over Southern identity is pretty much messed up across the board.

This is one of the things that academics need to do: clear up not the confusion but the roots of that confusion. Notice this interview with David Williams covering his book Bitterly Divided: The South's Inner Civil War, which argues that most Southerners did not support the Confederacy.

Lies and misconceptions must always be exposed.

coolest use of spare time

I loved Lego as a kid, but I never did anything extraordinary with it. If only I would've realized the artistic possibilities! Here's the Beijing Olympics rendered in Lego.

grabbing the golden coins

I love reading competing histories. For instance, Gamasutra published an interview covering the evolution of Sega, makers of several video game systems and a damn hedgehog game. That article prompted a heated and funny debate on Slashdot. There's nothing funnier than riled-up nerds.

some infant is going to be seriously cool

According to Slate, scientologists believe in some form of reincarnation. That means the soul (they call it a "thetian") of the recently departed Issac Hayes will inhabit some new person...who will become the coolest person in its whole maternity ward immediately upon birth. Lucky bastard.

literal deconstructing

I know I addressed the Bangladesh supertanker graveyard in one of my earlier posts to this blog but it's cool enough to get another entry. Besides, this very awesome photo-essay focuses on the workers.

making a world without race

Those lucky bastards at Gizmodo got to do a tour of the Lego factory and have posted video. It's awesome, yet puzzling, as none of the machines are made with 2x9 blocks.

where'd everybody go?

Ghost towns are not just for the wild west. Here's a list (with rockin' photos) of ten international ghost towns. The photos are cool, but they'd be perfect if someone photoshopped in zombies.

a good kind of murder

The Federation of American Scientist has come up with yet another use for video games. They have recently released "Immune Attack," which "introduces basic concepts of human immunology to high school and entry-level college students." Yes, video games can be homework! What a world!

It's a shame I never came up with a justification for my love of "Yar's Revenge.

eye in the sky

While it's certainly done its part to make my desktop wallpaper cooler, it's really made me appreciate science and NASA. Am I talking about Bill Nye? No, I'm talking about the Hubble Space Telescope. Harvard Magazine has an appreciation of its many accomplishments.

evil from the top

Why do many people refuse to acknowledge global warming or believe it's a man-made process? Sadly, the truth is that they're being lied to from the top levels. As it turns out, Vice President Dick Cheney's office is guilty of hiding the science. Hey, at least he didn't try to shoot the author of the article in the face.

digging covert actions

Do you liken covert political movements? How about Los Angeles guerrilla gardeners?

methods of our gub'ment

Christopher Hitchens, that brave man, got waterboarded for Vanity Fair. Would it give away too much to tell you the title of the article is Believe Me, It's Torture.

obama and race 3

Lest someone think I was digging on West Virginia earlier, here's an article about racist attacks on Obama campaign headquarters in Indiana and Pennsylvania. Remember, racism has no regional boundaries.

obama and race 2

Did you know that 20% of West Virginia Democrats won't vote for Obama because of his race? And I'm sure this isn't limited to just West Virginia.

thoughtful funny

Here's the last George Carlin interview, and it's a doozy. Carlin really was more than just a funny guy, as this clearly shows.

appropriate honors

A group of wonderful smart-asses in San Francisco are starting a movement to rename the SF sewer plant after George W. Bush, which I find totally appropriate. My fave quote? "Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs," said Brian McConnell, an organizer who regularly suits up as Uncle Sam to solicit signatures. "So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history."

bravery, stupidity, or art?

Trevor Paglin is one brave artist who doesn't shy away from controversial topics. Case in point is his collection of astrophotographs of spy satellites. Actually, I like the work a whole lot, but I'm surprised scary guys in black suits haven't visited him yet.

deciding who kills whom

I've thrown a decent number of links to stuff about the video game industry up here (surprising, as all I own is an Atari Flashback), but here's another good one on video game writing

obama and race

Whenever I teach, I get bombarded with students who claim that in today's world, race does not matter because there is no racism. One of the interesting things about this year, with Obama running for president, is that it's really easy to find stuff to prove said students wrong. Here's a couple:

• A Reuters poll that says Obama's race is in fact an issue
  
• How about racist anti-Obama buttons?
  

photos of NYC when it was Gotham

I'm in the midst of a New York City visit now and am still taking my own phots, but here are a crapload of old New York photos...and, in case you like them, even more!

next slide...

Wired continues their run of brilliant advice with How to make a presentation like Al Gore...which luckily doesn't get into how to lose an election like Al Gore. As a teacher, I've seen my share of utterly dreadful powerpoints, so it's nice to see some good advice...many people need it.

fun with cameras

You can do neat things with photography ... that is, if you are madly skilled and just plain brilliant. Check out Alexey Titarenko's City of Shadows. Mmmmmm....long exposure...

one drop?

Is racism really a thing of the past? Did you know that the state of Alabama only legalized mixed race marriages last week? Slate has a good article covering what miscegenation laws say about us as a culture

more kitchen help

Here are ten marvelous bits of advice for novice cooks. I look at "everyone should cook" as a great crusade...for no other reason than I'm tired of grocery store clerks, when finally confronted by me buying actual elements of food rather than freeze-dried or frozen food simulations, making me explain (1) what the food element is, and (2) what you use it for.

floaters

My friend Andy especially will be thrilled to find out airships are making a comeback. The article says that they probably won't ever be used for mass transit again, which is a shame, because I wanted to travel like Indiana Jones...when he was cool and not fighting space aliens.

take my website...please!

Instant Rimshot is one of the most pointless web pages I've found in some time. I also find it insanely funny for some reason. My spousal unit looks upon this as direct evidence on how easily amused I am...but it's a fascinating misuse of technology.

on this date in history

On June 10, 1943, the Biro brothers patented the ball point pen. If this isn't a reason for academics to celebrate, I don't know what is.

he died as he lived

When the designer of the Pringles can recently passed away, he was cremated and buried in one of his own cans. I find this very cool, and I need to hurry up and do something worthwhile myself so I can incorporate it into my funeral plans.

making childhood obsessions classy

If there's one thing the web's good at, it's giving a display space for weird art. This is something I truly love. So, here's two of my favorite weird art sites of recent times:

• Diem Chau does carvings out of old crayons. These are surprisingly lifelike, intricate, and delicate. And they can be yours, although they are kinda expensive.
  
• Balakov recreates famous photos in lego. These are very cool, and you can buy prints...reasonable, too.
  

up in the sky

In a friend of mine's book, he reflects that the future ain't what it used to be. Remember what they said, in the 30s, 40s, 50s, & 60s, what the future would look like? And how none of it came true? I remember seeing something in a 1979 Reader's Digest that flying cars would be available by 1989.

Anyway, Wired has the NASA seventies vision of future space stations...and they're much cooler than what we have.

making us dumberer

It seems the rite of passage for every single new medium to be blamed for the great decline of intelligence, culture, whatever. And while the internet has certainly been blamed for this kind of stuff in the past, there's an interesting debate over on Slashdot about an article about a book that claims that Google makes you stupid. Follow all the links, and then experiment by inserting "Wikipedia," "video games," "television," or create your own!

seeing is believing?

It was true in the days of simple airbrushing, but one of the strangest things about living in the age of computers is that it's so easy to alter photos that you can never really trust any digital image...so much that "photoshopping" is a common verb. So, how do you tell when you've been faked? Scientific American offers 5 ways to spot a fake photo.

card tricks

A cool article on Solitaire as the best time-waster ever. Personally, I'm a Tetris man when it comes to my procrastination.

the man responsible for video games

Shigeru Miyamoto is a video game designer behind much of the products of the Nintendo corporation. The New York Times recently profiled him, calling him the Walt Disney of video games.

mysterious boom

The absolute best freak occurance in history must be the Tunguska event, a mysterious 1908 explosion over Siberia that had nuclear bomb-like properties. No one is 100% sure what caused the blast, although it seems to be a haven for wacko theories (my fave is that it happened after a failed test of Tesla's broadcast power). It has shown up in fiction ranging from Ghostbusters to Warren Ellis' retelling of the Galacticus trilogy. Now, however, a bunch of scientists have released a new study of the crater. Very cool stuff.

there's gotta be a way to use this while teaching

A friend of mine was trying to convince me that there are sounds only teenagers can hear. I suspected this "friend" was just trying to make me feel old (which, incidentally, should be an Olympic sport). However, it's true. So to what use is our Freedom and Liberty country folks putting this knowledge? Some mad scientist/fascist has developed a device that emits this teen-only sound for use to drive away teenage loiterers. Yes, fascism wins again.

musical swimwear

Passing the line between titillating and just plain weird is Oooooouch.com, which allows you to use bikini babes as a musical instrument. I know, this sounds wrong on more levels than I can imagine...but it feels so right.

ascii

The ever-cool Wired has a very cool piece on ASCII art. I like the idea of minimalism, but I will never fool myself into thinking I'm able to actually do this.

good news for glum bastards

A German scientist has determined that smiling can be bad for you. I am officially using this as after-the-fact justification for my at-work demeanor.

kitchen help

Found this great bit of advice for novice cooks. It is not vegetarian, but if you eat meat, there's good stuff here. My fave line: "You can't be an adult if you can't cook, and you can't cook much if food makes you say ew."

he's as popular as I was in high school

And here's another thing that I'm not alone in thinking: Historians rate our current president as the worst ever. And it comes with handy dandy charts...it's almost as good as USAToday!

up, up, and yawn

Superman is never cool. Personally, I've always found him to be dull beyond belief at best and dangerous at worst. There's very little to like philosophically about Dark Knight 2, but Superman first as a stooge of an evil dictator and then as a dictator/god himself sums up the worst parts of Superman. But you want more detail? Here's why Superman will always suck...and it's good that I'm not the only one who knows this.

the coolest photos you'll see today

Check out these cool photos of the aurora borealis over Russia. Finding cool stuff like this is one of the reasons I love the internet.

we can rebuild him...

English doctors have successfully implanted a bionic eye in a few of their patients.

I find this really cool...but the closest I've gotten to being a cyborg is when I got my first cavity filled.

come play with me

Those of you who know me know my love of Douglas Adams. I don't write much about him either here or at my other blog because there's not much news about him...because he's...well...dead.

Amongst Mr. Adams' works, though, was a video game adaptation of his novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Never played it...didn't have a computer back then...but I have heard good things about it.

Anyway, I just found a very cool article about the struggle to make a sequel video game. It's required reading for anyone interested in Adams or the early days of the video game industry.

video and race

As a country, we don't normally think all that much about race. However, it still has large effects in real life for many people, including black video game designers.

when bad things happen to bad companies

Don't you love it when bad news happens to your enemies? Well, WalMart's old security tapes have been released to the public by the company who used to run their surveillance. What's not included in this article, however, is that some released segments have their managers bragging about their anti-union activities.

If I can cause just one person to quit shopping at this evil store, I've done my job.

I keep telling them, it's always evil!

An article about a truly horrible pheonomenon, the world becoming more like Disney. A quote:

Critics charge that Disney's parks are nothing more than simulacra of reality, carefully constructed capitalist fantasylands that shut out unpleasant realities. (In other words, they're a lot like Wall Street before the subprime mess hit the fan.) But Disney World, an immensely successful enterprise, clearly has a lot to teach about the realities of business.

I've said it before: damn your frozen body, Walt.

to the front of the line...

Kevin Kelly is indeed the man. Here's a cool article on "Turing'd" individuals as early adopters of high technology. If you don't know what it means to be Turing'd, then trust me, you don't want it to happen to you.

does it last longer?

PhotoshopDisasters is a blog dedicated to when people retouch photos digitally and screw up. It's a good reminder that everything you see is altered in some way. Photos are now no longer reality.

Strange world, eh?

up, up, and away

Not sure if this is cool, superfluous, redundant, or what, but someone from the New Yorker actually wrote an article about superhero costumes in real life. Sorry, guy, but didn't Alan Moore already cover this in Watchmen?

ribbit

You think you have problems? This frog -- recently discovered -- has no lungs and breathes through its skin. In spite of this, he looks sort of cute.

not safe for thinking

I tend not to share "not safe for work" stuff on this blog...I'd rather keep it for myself...but here's some passages from the entries in the Best Bad Sex Awards 2007. They're not safe, but that's more due to their general stupidity rather than any steaminess.

walking sideways

The Deadliest Catch, one of the few reality shows I watch, is coming on soon. In celebration, The New York Times did a very cool profile of the fishermen and camera crews.

be prepared

I love Wired for many reasons, but one of the best is the helpful, practical articles they have. Take this one, for instance: "How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse." Hey, who knows? If McCain wins the election, this will be "need to know" info.

even bad guys have rules

A while back, BBC unearthed the ten commandments of the mafia. It's pretty cool, and with minimal effort, we could adapt these to academics...or pizza making.

have you played atari today?

Ever wonder what it was like to work in the biggest of the home video game companies? Then read Donkey Kong and Me, written by a former Atari programmer.

so bright...where are those sunglasses?

The most fun thing about futurism is how off the projections can be. Witness this Mechanix Illustrated article from 1968 called "What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?."

We're pretty jaded about the tremendous impact of the technology we do have. Right now, I'm sitting on the couch, typing this in, having it beamed to my router and then sent out to the world. Pretty amazing.

Required reading: Warren Ellis's Doktor Sleepless.

the power of Christ compells you

There has apparently been a revitalization of the ritual of exorcism. No word yet on if the subject's head really does spin in circles.

but can I ever sell a pizza game?

In a wonderful reversal of expectations, James Silva, a former dishwasher, has designed a video game on his old job.

How could you make, I wonder, a video game about my time painting lines on parking lots?

our wacky government

In the eighties, the CIA published a comic book for the people of Nicaragua which illustrated ways to help bring about the overthrow of the government. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can now read it!

For the record, I am not advocating that you do any of this.

retro gaming fun!

Todd Levin is writing a fun series called "Consoles I Have Known," a personal narrative of his video game history. Well written, and it will send you down memory lane.

designer life

Ever wonder what it's like to write software? Here's a pretty cool piece about the life of a software engineer, with some good ruminations on coding and art.

she has a way with sauce

more Bourdain love!

unmentionables

two weird sites:

• safe2pee, a searchable database of public bathrooms....this could be helpful if you have internet access from a cell phone
  
• KnickerPicker, an online lingerie store with virtual underwear models
  

art is where you find it.

Those wonderful folks at Coilhouse have introduced me to another fabulous artist, Edward Burtynsky, who specializes in manufactured landscapes They're a real shocker, a strange and wonderful mix of beauty and massively conflicting motions on civilization and the environment. Also, check out the Burtynsky's web site for more cool shots.

the next shot in the tech wars

The New York Times has a very cool article analyzing Microsoft's bid for Yahoo. In short, this bid, the article argues, is "a tacit, and difficult, admission that the company did not get its online business right" and is thus really Microsoft taking on Google. It goes deeper than that, of course.

I wonder how much in a panic Microsoft really is. Vista is regarded in many circles as a bust, and Word 2007 inspires more loathing than any piece of software I can recall seeing. On top of that, Apple largely spanked Microsoft in the music player war, and the Zune ain't gonna get them caught up. Microsoft might very well be panicking, looking for some line of business to enter when their software dominance finally dries up.

And their software seems on the ropes, getting smacked around by open source. Firefox is undergoing significant market share growth. More and more students are turning in papers using OpenOffice. And the signs of Linux's entry into the public consciousness are growing. Hell, even I now have an Ubuntu machine.

This should get interesting. Stay tuned.

trendy stuff

If we've ever talked academics, you've probably heard me praise to the skies the network theorist Duncan Watts. I just found a cool article on the man that I think everyone should read. Go to it.

helpful technology

Popular Mechanics has a cool article by Mythbuster Jamie Hyneman on his pet peeves with technology. Lots of good stuff here...most of all, the recognition that many producers of consumer goods have "ease of use" as the last thing on their minds.

do I make you laugh?

Smithsonian Magazine has a brilliant article by Steve Martin on comedy theory. It's amazingly intense, theoretical, intelligent, and just plain goofy funny.

words...words...words

Virgil, the genius who brought the web WikiScanner (a site which tracks what organizations are editing Wikipedia), had taken Facebook "my favorite books" list, correlated them by university average SAT score, and come up with a brilliant chart called Booksthatmakeyoudumb.

The findings are fascinating. The smartest book? Seems to be a tie between Lolita and 100 Years of Solitude.

What will computers of the future look like?

Here's a demo on how to do 3d computer desktops with current technology...very cool, and the possibilities are great.

Josh Ritter Returns to Letterman (

A cool music clip.

another "pop culture is evil" story

...only this one has a twist. CNN tells of the anti-popular culture crusades of the evangelical movement. It's a sign of humanity that there are so many people who, rather than examine something with an open eye, would rather regress into puritanical rage.

naked

A few days ago, Slate had a cool photo essay on Spenser Tunick. Tunick is the art photographer who specializes in arranging naked people into the popular landscape. I was first exposed to him via the marvelous HBO documentary Naked States.

The essential question here is, "How much does authorial intent matter in determining if something is art?"

the A/V Club strikes again!

Two very cool interviews from The Onion A/V Club...whom I'm increasingly becoming convinced might be one of the finest web publications out there.

First off is an interview with Nina Hartley. For those of you who don't know Ms. Hartley, she is an adult film performer and feminist activist. No, that's not a contradiction in terms. This is a fabulous interview, a must-read for anyone interested in the sex industry, but also for anyone interested in the politics of gender.

Secondly, it's more on Anthony Bourdain, talking about the new season of No Reservations, one of the top ten shows on television.

honestly, officer, I thought she was hitch-hiking

A very cool paper about the economics of prostitution for you.

you can"t look away!

From the "this is important and I should pay more attention to this, but I spend more time thinking about conservative weirdos than I want to already" file, apparently media blowhard Rush Limbaugh is taking exception to Newt Gingrich's assertion that the era of Reagan is over.

It's both interesting and convoluted, which is why I'm trying to rebrand myself as a media studies scholar rather than an eighties guy.

free fiction!

Here's a page with links to 17 complete free online comics, including issue one of Sandman, issue one of Fell, and much more. If you are one of those poor unfortunates who only thinks of comics as "kid's stuff," please read here to see serious, adult material (and I don't mean "adult" as "boom chaka lacka").

the worst consumer product in the world

The geniuses at Anheiser Bush have decided--no lie--to combine Bud and Clamato. I am utterly incapable of making this up or adding to the conversation in any way.

new fave artist

One of the things I love about the internet is the ability to discover neat, interesting, wonderful things that you wouldn't even hear about otherwise. A prime example is the painter Zdzisław Beksiński, whom I discovered via a brief Coilhouse profile. They also link to a cool gallery of his work.

If only I could see some in the flesh. It's gorgeous, creepy, nerve-wracking, and seductive all at the same time.

identity politics parodied

Another cool parody, this time in the form of a "I Think I Might Be Straight" pamphlet. This one does a particularly good job of covering the uneducated/"this might happen to you" vibe of the original.

Journalism 2.0

A while back, Warren Ellis posted a link to Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive (as a pdf). Ellis calls it “digital literacy guide for the information age”...and who are we to argue with him?

offensitivity perfection

Those wacky folks at The Onion are at it again, with a great headline: "Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement." Like all great Onion headlines, this plays on pervasive stereotypes yet ultimately skewers the stereotypee...kind of like Zappa.

Tom's unknown advantage over Jerry

Korean scientists have developed (is this the right word?) glow in the dark cats. The video is very creepy, although it's not as scary as glow pigs....hey, isn't that a Black Sabbath song?

The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond

It's even more addictive than the original!

thinking visually

One of the coolest things to happen online this year was the New York Times finally getting all free and non-registered on us. Witness the glory of 2007: The Year in Pictures...with commentary!