Gigli currently at a rating of 20 on Metacritic and falling
Gigli currently at a rating of 20 on Metacritic and falling.
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Entries for July 2003
I love that Anil, Userland competitor, is
I love that Anil, Userland competitor, is wearing a Blogger tshirt in this photo. Competition? Naw, nothing but love between weblog software companies.
New edition of Best American Science Writing 2003
New edition of Best American Science Writing 2003 out soon, edited by Oliver Sacks.
Restaurant, The
I don’t watch reality shows, but I made an exception for the The Restaurant, a show about the opening a new NYC restaurant…cause I like food and restaurants. About five minutes in, I knew it was a mistake. It’s like they took everything I hate about New York & media and crammed it all into one show. Everyone was a jackass…I had to turn it off after 10 minutes. Should have known when I first heard about it via Gawker. Blech.
Wow, the Blogathon raised over $100,000 for various charities
Wow, the Blogathon raised over $100,000 for various charities.
The Kid Stays in the Picture
The story of Hollywood mogul Robert Evans is reason enough to tune into this film, but the on-the-cheap special effects are notable as well. The primary effect — building on Ken Burns’ technique of panning and zooming across photographs to create the illusion of motion — separates the subjects of photos from the backgrounds and then panning each at different speeds, creating a remarkably alive 3-D “scene”, almost like Bullet-Time from the Matrix, only with photos.
Uncommon knowledge about a computer game
I played a few games of 20 questions against a computer yesterday. The system learns how to guess more effectively from its opponents; the more people play it, the better it gets. It’s pretty good right now, but needs a little work here and there. It guessed that I was thinking of “a computer game” in about 16 tries, but offered up the following extra information about computer games after its successful guess:
Uncommon Knowledge about a computer game
Does it have a handle? I say Probably.
Is it cold blooded? I say Probably.
Does it lay eggs? I say Probably.
Does it live in grass-lands? I say Probably.
Can it be worn by a person? I say Probably.
Does it change colours? I say Yes.
Does it beep? I say Probably.
Can you read it? I say Yes.
Can it swim? I say Probably.
Does it have a hole in it? I say Yes.
Do you open and close it? I say Yes.
Can it live out of water? I say Doubtful.
Have you seen one in real life? I say No.
Does it reflect objects? I say Yes.
Is it mechanical? I say Yes.
Does it usually live on a farm? I say Probably.
Did it conclude I was thinking of a video game or a cold blooded duck with a handle? Or, as a computer game itself, is it so deluded as to believe it can swim and lay eggs?
Budget cuts=no overniters for air marshalls, $4
Budget cuts=no overniters for air marshalls, $4bn/mo in Iraq? It just don’t add up!. Josh Marshall follows the money. Did I mention the hijacking warning?
You’d think that Yahoo! could do a
You’d think that Yahoo! could do a better job in coordinating their advertising with their news content. screenshot of Kobe pic right next to Reebok “Whodunit?” ad
Pirate radio’s all you get in Marfa, Texas
Pirate radio’s all you get in Marfa, Texas. unless you have XM radio or something, but you don’t.
The British government has learned that J.
The British government has learned that J. Lo is no longer “Jenny from the block”.
Stare tactics: NYPD toodling around on Segways
Stare tactics: NYPD toodling around on Segways. so Segways aren’t allowed on the street, and bikes aren’t allowed on the sidewalk?
Actual Phrases from My American History Textbook
Actual Phrases from My American History Textbook. A McSweeney’s list
Keep your marketing department out of my iPod
Well, Sippey’s publishing stuff on Stating the Obvious again, offering up some possible next steps for Apple’s iPod, including making it more like TiVo:
Imagine similar functionality on the iPod: when you sync your catalog with iTunes, the device uses iSync to fetch new content to insert into the iPod UI: headline news, sports scores, weather reports…as well as promotional content for the Music store, quick surveys, email program opt-ins, third party ads, etc. Give the user the ability to opt out of the marketing content, of course, but provide micro-incentives like Amazon.com’s nickel-incentive trivia program towards song purchases at the Music Store.
Great idea and pretty much inevitable, but the suggestion of it makes me want to hop on a plane to SF and strangle the responsible party. I see ads when I pee. I pay to watch ads at the movie theatre. Most television programming is filler for advertising (which explains why most of TV sucks). Many magazines are mostly advertising. MTV is 100% advertising. The Post-It Notes on my desk are from Barclay’s Capital. Clothing without prominent advertising printed on it is getting difficult to find. I am marketed to and advertised to everywhere I go. So now I’m supposed to sit through promotions — while draining my battery, BTW — each time I turn on my iPod?
Of course not…the user will have “the ability to opt out of the marketing content”. Given that in the entire history of capitalism, this has happened very few times, I’m understandably more than a little cynical on that reassurance. I guess if anyone could pull off a good balance between the utility of such a system to the user (which could be considerable) and the annoyance factor, it would be Apple (or Google). But that’s a pretty big if.
I’m an iPod owner. Owner. I own it. It’s mine. It’s not Apple’s, BMG’s, or Universal’s. It’s mine. I can put whatever I want on it, be it music or anything else that I can fit into its 15 gigabytes. As Cory found with his T-Mobile Sidekick, purchasing a device that relies on a service/interface/whatever that is controlled by someone else is not ownership. Such rented devices (TiVo springs to mind) can be extremely useful, but perhaps not so good in the long term (what happens when TiVo goes out of business?). If Apple is pushing me advertisements and marketing which I can’t opt out of and are draining *my* battery while I look at them and taking up *my* hard drive space, is my iPod really mine or is it Apple’s? Will there continue to be a market for hardware that the buyer completely owns or — because it makes more money for the companies producing the hardware — will everything I “own” in the future (telephone, DVD player, DVR, music player, cell phone, PDA, PC, refrigerator, television, washing machine, &c.) be dependant on a service for its continued operation?
Sun tattoo
Late last week, I got a small cut on my chest that I covered with a band-aid. Before heading out to the beach on Saturday, I took the band-aid off and put on some SPF 15 sunscreen. After taking a post-beach shower, I looked in the mirror and noticed a mark on my chest. Somehow the skin where the adhesive parts of the band-aid had been affixed had burned a bright red, leaving the part where the bandage was, along with the rest of my chest, lightly tanned. So now I’ve got what looks like a band-aid sun-tattooed on my chest.
3mm photos of Paris, by street
3mm photos of Paris, by street. oh, and nine other French cities. via archinect.com
That one will stick with me for awhile
While picking out some orange juice at the market just now, I glanced at the expiration date. SEPT 11. Instead of thinking, “oh, that’s a good one, that’ll keep for awhile,” I thought, of course, of 9/11.
Six Apart will be unveiling the features
Six Apart will be unveiling the features for TypePad this week. On the first day of TypePad, my CMS gave to me…
The Free Store in Brooklyn, where everything
The Free Store in Brooklyn, where everything is free, the customers do restocking, cleaning, etc..
“Um, are you a dealer?” production groupblog
“Um, are you a dealer?” production groupblog of ‘Buddy: The Musical’. neighbor spies piles of prop money. mild hilarity
Seabiscuit
Pretty good, but a little heavy-handed in spots. Can Hollywood make a “serious” film without being heavy-handed?
Also, before the show, Mark bounded up to the folks waiting in the front of the line to get into the theatre and said, “are you guys as excited as we are to see Seabiscuit?” Instead of the proper response of laughing nervously, one of the guys yelled, “yeah!” We then laughed nervously.
Disney celebrates infinite copyright extension of 75yo
Disney celebrates infinite copyright extension of 75yo Mickey with big merchandising push. guess what’s not on Lessig’s Amazon wishlist
Sesame Street Fever OR Sesame Disco? Now
Sesame Street Fever OR Sesame Disco? Now you don’t have to choose.. via TravelersDiagram.com
‘little guy’ stars of MPAA ads losing
‘little guy’ stars of MPAA ads losing jobs as studios move production out of US. est. impact to US economy: up to $10bn/yr
Pop!Tech 2003
The highly regarded Pop!Tech conference is coming up in a few months, October 16-19 to be exact. I’ve never been, but from hearing about from various sources (a list below), it sounds like an ambitious conference that tries to identify and discuss broad trends across politics, technology, culture, science, and economics…and largely succeeds in doing so. This year’s roster of speakers includes Golan Levin, Tom DeMarco, James Howard Kunstler, the L Train, Bob Metcalfe, and Kevin Sites.
The organizers of Pop!Tech have been nice enough to extend a special offer to kottke.org readers. Register for Pop!Tech 2003 using this link and you’ll save $200 off the early bird rate and $500 off the regular price. Who says kottke.org never saved anyone any money?
Oh and here’s the promised links to coverage of past Pop!Tech conferences:
PopTech, The Blog (J.D. Lasica and Buzz Bruggeman)
PopTech 2002 coverage (David Weinberger)
PopTech 2002 (Ernest Svenson)
Conferenza Pop!Tech 2002 Report #1 (Shel Israel)
Conferenza Pop!Tech 2002 Report #2 (Shel Israel)
Conferenza Pop!Tech 2002 Report #3 (Shel Israel)
My toothbrush can kick your toothbrush’s ass
I returned home from the drug store last night ready to write something about the odd arms race that’s developed among toothbrush manufacturers. A competition is afoot to make the world’s most colorful, fat-handled, ergonomic, elaborately bristled, and, in some cases, motorized toothbrush. I was skeptical that any of this was in the service of making consumers’ teeth cleaner, but merely for emptying our pocketbooks at a faster rate for the privilege of buying something that doesn’t even fit in the toothbrush holder. But, I had to buy a new brush, so I selected the one that least resembled a cartoon spaceship and placed it in my basket.
This morning, I brushed my teeth with my new toothbrush. And damn if it didn’t feel about 200% better than my old brush. The grip was very comfortable, and the way the brush was angled…well, it was just perfect. My teeth practically brushed themselves. The toothbrush arms race is paying off! Here’s to toothbrushes with really big handles and 6 HP motors.
39 networks showing MPAA ad in primetime ‘roadblock’ Friday
39 networks showing MPAA ad in primetime ‘roadblock’ Friday. Conveniently, they’re only owned by 8 companies. Viacom has 11.
Billy Blob: flash worth loving
Billy Blob: flash worth loving. Karma Ghost and Butterfly Effect rocked at Sundance
video game incorporates sunlight into gameplay
video game incorporates sunlight into gameplay. Don’t go outside, just open the window.
Rex reports from inside Minn. Flash Mob
Rex reports from inside Minn. Flash Mob. “Confusion is good.” Agreed, but NY Cow Parade is still lame.
new NYC trend: mogul cons and ex-cons
new NYC trend: mogul cons and ex-cons. If you’re indicted, you’re invited.
Ridiculous over-the-top Flash site
Ridiculous over-the-top Flash site. This is why people hate designers.
Digital (not txt) Gutenberg. “The first book
Digital (not txt) Gutenberg. “The first book printed with movable type.”. Ben and Mena are so modest
rent a cottage, get a passive aggressive landlord for free
rent a cottage, get a passive aggressive landlord for free. ancient (1997) Slate piece
“Minneapolis Flash Mob” sounds as right as “
“Minneapolis Flash Mob” sounds as right as “New York Cow Parade”.
whoa, Nelly. Gawker discovers comments
whoa, Nelly. Gawker discovers comments. daring people to keep talking about metrosexuals
On fashion
Things that are in right now or have been in within the past year or so: velour & terrycloth sweatsuits, trucker hats, jeans that look like you’ve been wearing them to shingle roofs for 12 years but really you just paid $132 for them, mohawks (also fauxhawks and pomohawks), hoodies, and tshirts that are brand new but look like they are old.
Me? I’m biding my time for the day when unironed dress shirts, vintage Old Navy jeans, tshirts wrinkled from being folded in the dresser, and pants wrinkled from the hanger become fashionable. Then I will be money. So, so money.
Entering a “how many antenna balls are
Entering a “how many antenna balls are in this Chevy Trailblazer?” contest. Serious geekfest, surprise ending
The Helvetica vs. Arial fighting game
The Helvetica vs. Arial fighting game. For the …wait for it…. type of person that likes fonts *and* Street Fighter
A soup by any other name
I have a soft spot in my heart belly for soups derived from other types of food. I had a bowl of mashed potato soup (w/ broccoli and cheddar) yesterday. I’ve had cheeseburger soup (if only it had been bacon cheeseburger soup). Baked potato soup (w/ sour cream and chives). Macaroni and cheese soup. Tortilla soup. Salisbury steak soup.
Flavors I am not looking forward to trying: belgian waffles soup, peanut butter and jelly soup, eggs benedict soup, chicken salad on rye soup, liver and onion soup, or bruschetta soup.
Great review of the design of cover
Great review of the design of cover to Ann Coulter’s book. “First of all, everything is centered. This is a gross misrepresentation of Coulter, who couldn’t be further to the right.”
Hmmm, looks like John Robb’s weblog did get axed @ Userland
Hmmm, looks like John Robb’s weblog did get axed @ Userland. Not cool at all
NBC pursuing LeBlanc for ‘Friends’ spinoff
NBC pursuing LeBlanc for ‘Friends’ spinoff. Matt, if a monkey’s involved, RUN AWAY
Q I have a swarm of bees
Q I have a swarm of bees in my hedge. Can you take them away? A Yes, but are they bees?. UK-centric bee FAQ
BBC (rightly) praised for making stuff up
BBC (rightly) praised for making stuff up. unsung thousands of hours of original plays/movies/drama on radio
Passing Showerman
Passing Showerman. temporary savantism through transcranial magnetic stimulation
E-mail from Bill, New Yorker profile of Bill Gates, January 1994
E-mail from Bill, New Yorker profile of Bill Gates, January 1994.
Metropolis interview with Gridlock Sam
Metropolis interview with Gridlock Sam. co-coined the term “gridlock,” put up “Don’t even think of parking here” signs
Why We’re in Business by Tim O’Reilly
Why We’re in Business by Tim O’Reilly. from April 1992 O’Reilly internal newsletter
Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Man
Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Man. Jorn Barger and weblog as Wunderkammer
Some preview hacks from Amazon Hacks
Some preview hacks from Amazon Hacks. But what’s with the knife on the cover?
Turns out Wall St dude’s $23m Hamptons
Turns out Wall St dude’s $23m Hamptons pad is on a gay cruising beach. Now claims he was drunk and/or it was just a phase in college.
Secret Service Video Lending Library
Secret Service Video Lending Library. Of course, you must file a FOIA request…
Humorous Man Jaywalks in Seattle
Humorous Man Jaywalks in Seattle. Sounds like news to me. Seriously.
“Why, you’re hairy, Potter!”
“Why, you’re hairy, Potter!”. out-of-context sexual innuendo from “The Order of the Phoenix”
It was a dark and stormy night (with cheese)
Mariann Simms has won the 2003 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, “a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels”. Her submission:
They had but one last remaining night together, so they embraced each other as tightly as that two-flavor entwined string cheese that is orange and yellowish-white, the orange probably being a bland Cheddar and the white…Mozzarella, although it could possibly be Provolone or just plain American, as it really doesn’t taste distinctly dissimilar from the orange, yet they would have you believe it does by coloring it differently.
The contest is named for Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, a Victorian novelist whose opening to Paul Clifford is widely regarded to be just a bit over-the-top bad:
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
When not winning contests, Mariann runs HumorMeOnline.com.
Some animals Photoshopped together with other animals
Some animals Photoshopped together with other animals. Cool, but needs more Jack Nicholson…see below
Drudge: I know you are but what am I?
Drudge: I know you are but what am I?. White House tells Drudge that ABC reporter is Gay, Canadian
New White House email system upsets Jakob Nielsen
New White House email system upsets Jakob Nielsen. Does the “I have a differing opinion” batch get bcc’d to John Ashcroft?
Business Lessons From the Donut and Coffee Guy
“Next!” said the coffee & donut man (who I’ll refer to as “Ralph”) from his tiny silver shop-on-wheels, one of many that dot Manhattan on weekday mornings. I stepped up to the window, ordered a glazed donut (75 cents), and when he handed it to me, I handed a dollar bill back through the window. Ralph motioned to the pile of change scattered on the counter and hurried on to the next customer, yelling “Next!” over my shoulder. I put the bill down and grabbed a quarter from the pile.
Maybe this situation is typical of Manhattan coffee & donut carts (although two carts near where I work don’t do this), but this was the first business establishment I’ve ever been to that lets its customers make their own change. Intrigued, I walked a few steps away and turned around to watch the interaction between this business and its customers. For five minutes, everyone either threw down exact change or made their own change without any notice from Ralph; he was just too busy pouring coffee or retrieving crullers to pay any attention to the money situation.
If you were the CEO of a big business — say, a movie studio, music company, or multinational bank — you’d have been tearing your hair out at this scene. He lets his customers make their own change?!?!! How does he know they’re making the correct change? Or putting down any change at all? Or even stealing the change? Where’s the technology that prevents the change from being stolen while he’s not looking? Surely there’s a machine that could be invented to keep track of it. Bad, bad, bad! Unclean, unclean! Does not compute…
Hold on there, Mr. CEO, don’t go all HAL 9000 on us. Ralph probably does lose a little bit of change each day to theft & bad math, but more than makes up for it in other ways. The throughput of that tiny stand is amazing. For comparison’s sake, I staked out two nearby donut & coffee stands and their time spent per customer was almost double that of Ralph’s stand. So, Ralph’s doing roughly twice the business with the same resources. Let’s see Citibank do that.
It’s also apparent that Ralph trusts his customers, and that they both appreciate and return that sense of trust (I know I do). Trust is one of the most difficult “assets” for companies to acquire, but also one of the most valuable. Many companies take shortcuts in getting their customers to trust them, paying lip service to Trust™ in press releases and marketing brochures. Which works, temporarily and superficially, but when you get down to it, you can’t market trust…it needs to be earned. People trust you when you trust them.
When an environment of trust is created, good things start happening. Ralph can serve twice as many customers. People get their coffee in half the time. Due to this time savings, people become regulars. Regulars provide Ralph’s business with stability, a good reputation, and with customers who have an interest in making correct change (to keep the line moving and keep Ralph in business). Lots of customers who make correct change increase Ralph’s profit margin. Etc. Etc.
And what did Ralph have to pay for all this? A bit of change here and there.
masturbation lowers risk of prostate cancer
masturbation lowers risk of prostate cancer. Gotta give those Aussie researchers a hand
FBI questions ATL man for reading FoxNews
FBI questions ATL man for reading FoxNews critique in coffee shop. i.e., someone REPORTED him for reading. via obscurestore.com
from the secret police files of mr Pablo Picasso
from the secret police files of mr Pablo Picasso. those crazy French.
Larry Wall’s State of the Perl Onion address from OSCON 2003
Larry Wall’s State of the Perl Onion address from OSCON 2003. mit Powerpoint slides!
The Tour moves on
Thanks to Mary for stopping by yesterday on her Virtual Book Tour for Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. The Tour moves on to crabwalk.com today; Josh is running an interview with Mary:
I have a very utilitarian bent. I think the things that people have ended up doing after death, however grisly, are great. It’s good to be helpful to others. So there is that message, that you can be useful after death. I’ve gotten letters from people who’ve said, “Now I’m going to donate my body to science.”
Particularly in the beating-heart cadaver chapter, I really came down strong on the side of being in favor of donating organs. It would be such a waste for someone in that situation not to donate with 18,000 people waiting for organs. But for the most part, it’s meant just as a fun and informative read.
(And I apologize to all the cycling fans who thought this post was about the Tour de France. Visit the Tour de France blog, the 2003 Tour de France page @ Wikipedia, or follow the action live at VeloNews if you’re into that.)
Bilbao, Rio, Taichung. Guggenheim announced for Taiwan?
Bilbao, Rio, Taichung. Guggenheim announced for Taiwan?. Zaha Hadid did the moving (literally) design. via Archinect
GameSpot reviews real life, gives it a 9.6/10
GameSpot reviews real life, gives it a 9.6/10. “combat actually isn’t a major factor for most players in real life, though players are bound to engage in a few skirmishes early in their lives”
news link collection: stupidnakedpeople.com
news link collection: stupidnakedpeople.com. a steady stream of people sorely lacking in embarrassment. note: site title legible at 10 paces
Artist Manabu Yamanaka explores Buddhist notions of pain, age, disease
Artist Manabu Yamanaka explores Buddhist notions of pain, age, disease. aka, nude portraits of 90+yo Japanese women. probably not for work.
Author Is a Cop-Out
[This is a guest post by Mary Roach as part of the Virtual Book Tour for Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.]
So I wrote this book (buy from Amazon) about the bizarre, amazing, heroic things dead people have managed to achieve in their careers as research cadavers. And I find it all quite impressive and inspiring. You would think, given how I feel and what I know, that by now I’d have contacted the local medical school to fill out a willed body donor form. I have not. I’m a cop-out. I tell people it’s because my husband is squeamish and would reather not picture me on a slab, in pieces. This is true, but it’s not the whole story. You know what it is? I’ll tell you. This is pathetic. I’m having a hard time with the thought of being old, withered, revolting and naked — did I mention naked? — in front of strangers. I don’t mind their taking out my spleen, cutting off a leg — none of that bothers me. I simply don’t like the idea of healthy young people looking at me and being quietly disgusted by my withered flesh and dilapidated hull. (I mean, I’m 44, and already it’s happening!) It’s embarrassing. Of course, you can’t be embarrassed when you’re dead. I’m presumptively embarrassed — the way I am when I come back from an aggressively hip party and imagine all the things that were said behind my back. Though I’ll never hear them, and quite possibly they were never said, they’re unsettling nonetheless. How disappointing to realize that even death isn’t free from neurotic insecurity!
Very few people donate their bodies to science. I’m curious as to the reasons. What keeps you from doing it? Surely most people have better reasons than mine!
Welcome Mary
The Virtual Book Tour is still chugging along and tomorrow (Wed.), author Mary Roach will be joining me as a guest editor here on kottke.org. She’ll be talking about subjects related to her book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Welcome Mary.
On fame and graphic design
On fame and graphic design. “[fame will] change you, and not always for the better”
midwest farm listings to pick your own fruits and vegetables
midwest farm listings to pick your own fruits and vegetables. via Gaper’s Block
Bark Mitzvahs?
Bark Mitzvahs?. I swear, some of my best friends are dogs and/or Jewish, but this is inane.
poet Frank O’Hara killed in freak dune
poet Frank O’Hara killed in freak dune buggy accident on Fire Island, 7.25.66. there ARE worse things than wearing the wrong thing, so please, take care
ferry death from crystal meth on Fire Island
ferry death from crystal meth on Fire Island. no pun intended. via gawker
EU orders farmers to give toys to pigs
EU orders farmers to give toys to pigs. from the EU’s Euromyths collection
IMSTALKING documents AIM away messages compiled by a stalker bot
IMSTALKING documents AIM away messages compiled by a stalker bot.
Using the Memex
I’ve been reading a lot over the past few months, both online and in book form. Not unusual, but I’ve noticed that I retain a lot more from my online reading than from the offline. My recall of names, facts, circumstances, themes, and lessons from articles I’ve read online is excellent, but not so good when it comes to books. Part of it is that I approach book reading as a leisure activity and not as work or study, although I’m not sure the opposite is necessarily true for Web reading (partially perhaps, because I do use the web to brush up on design and programming issues — work stuff). But the bigger reason for the difference is probably due to the nature of what the task of reading entails in those two media.
Books are self-contained. There are 332 pages in my copy of The Selfish Gene (incl. endnotes). There might be a bibliography, but unless you’re in the library, reading up on any of the 200 or so references contained therein would prove challenging. Everything you get with a book is in between its front and back covers.**
With the web, you’re always in the library. It’s not always a proper library (some of the “reference” materials can be a little sketchy), but it’s better than nothing. And the materials you want are very often hyperlinked right in the material you’re reading for instant research gratification. Web reading is a deeper and more active type of reading. I can completely research a particularly interesting topic, jumping from site to site to Google to site and back to Google, hunting down exactly what my brain is jonsing for, and skim over the stuff I’m not so keen on. I’m not dependent on the author of the book to give me exactly what I want; I can “write” my own book of sorts, editing the subject matter as I see fit. It’s this active reading — researching really — that I think is responsible for the much higher rate of retention with online reading.
** “Ha ha, not quite!” you’re rightly saying to yourself. You’ve got your whole lifetime of experience and a healthy imagination to draw upon. Two covers my ass, books are as full as you want to make them. That’s one of the drawbacks of reading on the web for me. My recall is excellent, but I typically don’t stop to ponder like I do with books. There’s always that next thing to click on or research. I don’t have to work out for myself on which points Dawkins disagrees with Stephen J. Gould…I can just go and read for myself. I might recall more from web reading, but I think I get more from books. (Although, online research while reading a book is a very potent combination…if you remember to ponder before scurrying off to the web for easy answers.)
See also:
The internet is shit (seemingly arguing for libraries instead of the internet…like we should have either one or the other, but not both or the universe will explode)
The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive? (NY Times)
Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (James Gleick)
Project Gutenberg (reading books on the web)
Report: Online Training ‘Boring’ (Wired News, “Studies have shown that onscreen reading retention is 30 percent lower than with printed material.”)
Digital Divide (pbs.org)
As We May Think (Vannevar Bush, Atlantic Monthly)
Matrix Reloaded thread passes 1000 comments
Matrix Reloaded thread passes 1000 comments. 931 in the old thread, 72 in the new one
Winged Migration
A beautiful study of life and of earth by way of some birds. The cinematography in this film is amazing.
Canadian gov’t now growing, selling pot
Canadian gov’t now growing, selling pot. it’s half the street price (is there anything national health care CAN’T do?)
Finding naked people, software will automatically find
Finding naked people, software will automatically find photos with large amounts of skin color. Can be used for porn filter
Vive Le… Minitel
Vive Le… Minitel. I can’t believe this story is actually dated July 14. 2003.
Hollywood tykes wresting power through email, msg boards
Hollywood tykes wresting power through email, msg boards. fametracker.com, baby
(How the mighty have fallen) CAA tyke
(How the mighty have fallen) CAA tyke to Page Six’ Elizabeth Spiers: ‘I’ll probably never use e-mail again’. Page Six’ Elizabeth Spiers ??!!
“You read the script: ‘Midget walks across
“You read the script: ‘Midget walks across stage.’ And that’s what I did.”. Bloodymidgets.com, via Obscurestore.com
Moneyball is Michael Lewis’s new book about statistics and baseball
Moneyball is Michael Lewis’s new book about statistics and baseball.
A bunch of behind the scenes stuff about Winged Migration
A bunch of behind the scenes stuff about Winged Migration. Great movie, btw
New sidebar links
I redid the “not recommended” links on the front page of the site. I’m using Movable Type to manage them.
Movable Type is the new way to do absolutely everything, BTW. I use it for my weblog, my bookmarks, my grocery shopping list, and my address book. I no longer need TiVo or my email application…I run everything through MT. Going to movies these days is easy with MT. It checks my vision, does root canals, makes my travel plans, transports me back in time, and balances my checkbook. Even expensive hookers are a thing of the past with Movable Type (although it doesn’t go down as often as Blogger does). Thank you MT, you’ve made my life worth living again!
So yeah, new sidebar links. Check out the new ones if you’re into reading words and clicking links.
whey all ze french people at?
whey all ze french people at?. heads up: that man accosting you on that Manhattan street may be writing for the Times.
After 40-years, father-son team complete Zeus’ family tree
After 40-years, father-son team complete Zeus’ family tree. 3,673 figures of Greek Mythology, all related in a 20-generation family
After seeing elephants mate, Bush explains why
After seeing elephants mate, Bush explains why he went to war. If anyone’s selling a create-your-own suggestive caption kit, I’m buying.
push push & George Bush
push push & George Bush. As close to sex as Republicans can handle. (safe, if you work at the Discovery Channel)
ArtsJournal is starting a series of weblogs
ArtsJournal is starting a series of weblogs about the arts written by well-known arts critics.
Nike buys Converse, seeking entry into lower-priced shoe market
Nike buys Converse, seeking entry into lower-priced shoe market.
Order a personalized eulogy with this handy form, only $275
Order a personalized eulogy with this handy form, only $275.
Music reveals your personality, AU study shows
Music reveals your personality, AU study shows. Frankly, sounds about as accurate as a placemat in a Chinese restaurant
Faith-based stick in the zoning committee’s eye
Faith-based stick in the zoning committee’s eye. PA man can’t get permission to host concerts, opens Church of Universal Love and Music instead.
Ping pong, Matrix-style
Ping pong, Matrix-style. This is the most fantastically amazing thing you’ll see on the Internet this week…or your money back.
Clay Aiken fan impressed with message boards…and himself
Clay Aiken fan impressed with message boards…and himself. Remember Todd, with great power comes great responsibility
Anthropomorphic Taxidermy: it’s not just for Victorians anymore
Anthropomorphic Taxidermy: it’s not just for Victorians anymore. Maurizio Cattelan’s sad, sad squirrel
Get your butt to Provence. Van Gogh’s 1889
Get your butt to Provence. Van Gogh’s 1889 ‘Moonrise’ will recur on 7/13.. Apparently, there’s this ‘Metonic Cycle.’
Kim Jong Il’s favorite sushi chef publishes a book
Kim Jong Il’s favorite sushi chef publishes a book. Great Leader wigs the guy out so bad, he says “Going out to buy some uni” and never goes back.
Staged readings of really bad movies at
Staged readings of really bad movies at the Neo-futurist theater in Chi.. Damn. The Care Bears Movie was last week…
New York: Our trees grow faster than
New York: Our trees grow faster than your stunted, suburban trees. because of your suburban ozone levels. hah
Emergency removal of hard metal or ceramic finger rings
Emergency removal of hard metal or ceramic finger rings. You have to break them with vice grips, not cut them
happy friendly tour of Pixar’s studio
happy friendly tour of Pixar’s studio. centralized bathroom, and a lot of hawaiian shirts. via Overmorgen
Making and trading custom maps
Making and trading custom maps. Good, but wordy. That Kevin Kelly could use an editor.
Message board for “Man Wakes After 19 Years
Message board for “Man Wakes After 19 Years in Coma” story contains 1000 messages. And new messages are being added at the rate of 10/minute
Animals preserved in anthropomorphic poses and situations
Animals preserved in anthropomorphic poses and situations. Be sure to scroll all the way down for the Napoleon chimpanzee
The Dalai Lama will be in NYC
The Dalai Lama will be in NYC in September, free public talk in Central Park.
Phone Dial Web Browser
This is neat, a rotary dial interface to a web browser:
A web browser that uses a rotary phone dial as a custom physical interface. To use it, one dials an IP address rather than typing a URL. Dots are entered by pressing a button, external to the dial.
SixApart owns blogs.com?
SixApart owns blogs.com?. When did that happen and how much did they have to pay for it?
Eminem to rework 50s and 60s classics
Eminem to rework 50s and 60s classics in hopes of becoming a serious artist.
Satellite imagery expert spots new, secret Iraq-Kuwait pipeline
Satellite imagery expert spots new, secret Iraq-Kuwait pipeline.
Bush re buzz- and US soldier-killing war
Bush re buzz- and US soldier-killing war movies: Bring ‘Em On. Coming soon to a White House near you: Black Hawk2: Liberian Boogaloo
The Virtual Book Tour
The Virtual Book Tour is off and running with author Mary Roach and her book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. The idea of the VBT is to have authors tour web sites much like they do bookstores. kottke.org is a stop on this tour (view the tour schedule)…Mary will be taking over the posting duties here next Wednesday, July 16.
kottke.org also participated in the first virtual book tour for Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard by Greg Knauss.
Update: Keep an eye on the Amazon Sales Rank for Stiff to see if this virtual tour business directly affects sales.
Peter Jennings, Canadian American
Peter Jennings, Canadian American. finally drinks the Kool-aid from ‘this noble container’
N.A.G. software makes computer-generated mashups
N.A.G. software makes computer-generated mashups with files found on Gnutella.
Nonzero
The main thesis of Nonzero is that social complexity of human culture has been increasing since the dawn of man and will continue to do so until forever. Wright argues that non-zero sum games are the culprit: societies get more complex (moving from tribes of hunter gatherers to mutli-trillion dollar global economy) because in order to play ever more lucrative non-zero sum games with an increasing number of people, that’s the way it has to be. It makes a lot of sense.
WP chills with the NJGuido.com guy
WP chills with the NJGuido.com guy. “There are no subtleties in an environment like this.”
The Fourth of July
What Independence Day is all about:
- Watching a 145-pound Japanese man eat 44 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes in the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
- Making an appointment with the chiropractor because The Cyclone is a seriously dangerous relic that needs to be razed before it kills someone (me!). It’s been three days and my neck still hurts from the whiplash I got from the first drop. Rollercoasters should seem unsafe but actually be safe.
- Going to the super-crowded beach at Coney Island to dip our tootsies in the water with half of New York City. As Steven observed in Prospect Park, the scene was the kind of multiculturalism you often find in NYC. Well, almost. Economic stratification is still alive and well in America’s melting pot…the racial demographic resembled the subway much more than Central Park West. Jonah summed it up well when he quipped, “it’s so crowded here, why don’t these people just go to the Hamptons or Nantucket?”
- Fireworks. The display in NYC was fantastic…we saw several types of fireworks we’d never seen before.
- Watching Zoolander.
- Visiting the Met. Except for a brief visit to see the da Vinci exhibit this spring, I had never been there. An excellent museum on many levels…we’ll definitely be going more often from now on.
NYC Trapeze School, learn trapeze in the
NYC Trapeze School, learn trapeze in the open air by the Hudson River.
A list of MetaFilter in-jokes
A list of MetaFilter in-jokes. In-jokes are one sign of a vibrant, closed community
The past of music
Wired News is running an article this morning on a revolutionary Internet radio station that uses collaborative filtering to tailor streams for individual users. That revolution has already happened…launch.com was there in 1999:
You can grab songs for your playlist from real-life radio station playlists, from other LaunchCAST DJs, or by rating the songs as they are played. As you rate songs or choose DJs & radio stations that you “trust”, the player learns from that and starts pushing you music that you are likely to enjoy.
Launch.com’s product is still available at Yahoo!
God adds another Buddy to His list
God adds another Buddy to His list. Are there any famous Buddys left?
Pierre Cardin’s trippy Riviera home available for private events, seminars,
Pierre Cardin’s trippy Riviera home available for private events, seminars,. Like a birthday party, peut etre? Happy 81st, Pierre!
These folks are collaboratively translating the Harry
These folks are collaboratively translating the Harry Potter books into German. and will, sadly, probably get sued for it at some point
Sister Ping, tiny-yet-brutal Godmother of the biggest
Sister Ping, tiny-yet-brutal Godmother of the biggest immigrant smuggling ring in Europe.
A new interpretation of Stonehenge, from a British gynecologist
A new interpretation of Stonehenge, from a British gynecologist. If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Former tennis stars think game would be
Former tennis stars think game would be improved by switching to smaller rackets. I agree
le Trottoir Roulant Rapide, for getting around
le Trottoir Roulant Rapide, for getting around Paris when your Segway’s in the shop.
With 202 recipients, Maverick was the 813th most
With 202 recipients, Maverick was the 813th most popular boy’s name in 2002.. Trinity jumped from 555 to 74 after The Matrix came out
” For depriving us in many cases, of
” For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury”.
Summer of Glove weblog - visiting 30 ballparks
Summer of Glove weblog - visiting 30 ballparks during two months this summer.
Gay Balfour, inventor, man of God
Gay Balfour, inventor, man of God. “One night, my wife said, ‘Why don’t you ask the Lord to help us?’ The next week, I had this dream to catch prairie dogs with a huge vacuum.”
How does JW Vanderpool, The Prairie Dog
How does JW Vanderpool, The Prairie Dog King, harvest his pups?. the answer’s about 3min into the stream
BBC to Church: ‘Where are the … media-savvy performers?’
BBC to Church: ‘Where are the … media-savvy performers?’. Warning: Be more interesting than gardeners, or lose your airtime.
Arggh. Rem Koolhaas wins Praemium Imperiale, aka “architecture Nobel”
Arggh. Rem Koolhaas wins Praemium Imperiale, aka “architecture Nobel”. The Emperor must’ve fallen for the Wired guest issue
Two bits of site news
1. Greg Allen is helping me with the remaindered links (rss) for the next couple of weeks. Greg’s in the movie biz, but we won’t hold that against him.
2. I closed the uber-Matrix thread (with a whopping 931 comments), archived the whole thing (as a 1.22 MB HTML file), and opened up a new thread (linked from the archive) so that discussion may continue if the participants wish. Not the ideal solution because it will probably kill the discussion (although it looks like it may be on the verge of stopping anyway), but something that needed to be done.
“Download Mac to your desktop”
“Download Mac to your desktop”. BBC’s Desktop McEnroe delivers live Wimbledon updates (“for PC ONLY running Windows”)
1st Intl Moblogging Conf Sat. 5Jul in Tko
1st Intl Moblogging Conf Sat. 5Jul in Tko. day-of reg. still ok. pls send Joi Ito pix
Highway department store. Concrete factory apartment. Graveyard tunnel.
Highway department store. Concrete factory apartment. Graveyard tunnel.. that Tokyo architecture, it’s crazy
First two seasons of the excellent Homicide:
First two seasons of the excellent Homicide: Life on the Street on DVD.
BlogBarter is a “barter marketplace for the weblog community”
BlogBarter is a “barter marketplace for the weblog community”.
Is President Bush a flamboyant homosexual?
Is President Bush a flamboyant homosexual?. cuz America’s best Christian wants to know.
Diva chimp tries to spell U-T-O-P-I-A, spells T-I-T instead
Diva chimp tries to spell U-T-O-P-I-A, spells T-I-T instead. It’s actually spelled A-R-T.
The Economist Style Guide
The Economist Style Guide. Cassandra’s predictions were correct but not believed.
Lay-Z-Boy recliners designed by the stars of Friends
Lay-Z-Boy recliners designed by the stars of Friends. the Schwimmer one looks predictably ridiculous
Government warns of mass hacker attacks on Sunday
Government warns of mass hacker attacks on Sunday. Script kiddies trying to vandalize 6,000 sites in six hours
A weblog about the postal world
A weblog about the postal world. Who knew there was so much news about the mail?
Lo-fi movie making within video games
Players of The Sims are creating narratives and movies using Sims characters as actors and the software’s album feature as a recording media:
Players “go to a lot of trouble to get the Sims to do things they don’t want to do,” Wright says, explaining that players must keep their would-be actors fed, clean, rested and happy before they will even consider playing their parts. “So in that sense, it’s almost like they’re a director…. It’s almost like a real movie shoot.”
Asked about that, Service laughed and agreed. “I suspect real people would be easier to direct,” she said. “There is nothing like trying to get two Sims to kiss when they are both not in the mood. Actors would at least pretend.”
If you look at the highest-rated and most-viewed albums on The Sims Exchange, they’ll all of the movie/narrative variety. This account of a lawn gnome’s revenge is a favorite.
This reminds me of Jim Monroe’s My Trip to Liberty City, a home movie-esque account of a Canadian man’s visit to Liberty City in the game Grand Theft Auto.
Great story from Jeff on pain, cycling,
Great story from Jeff on pain, cycling, and Lance Armstrong, who is, apparently, a robot.
Distributed couch potatoing
So, when I fix it so I can control my TiVo via the web and buy an Apple iSight camera & point it at the television, I can watch Junkyard Wars and Family Guy at work via iChat AV, right?
Also, at next year’s O’Reilly Etech conference, someone** will do something with iSight/iChat AV that will allow people attending one panel to tune into the other two concurrent panels (much like Hydra let people textally eavesdrop on concurrent panels last year). The really cool thing? The organizers of the conference won’t have to do anything to make this happen, aside from providing the wireless network. No setting up a streaming, teleconferencing, blah-de-blah server, no renting of video cameras or microphones, no A/V people. Just give people a medium for communication & collaboration and they’ll figure it out for themselves.
** Here’s a suggestion: a presenter could mic him/herself, make the audio available over iChat AV, and make the presentation available on the web so that anyone who has iChat can follow along from anywhere in the conference area. Add in real-time stenography with Hydra and you can enjoy the conference entirely from the bar or one of the sofas in the lobby.
David Cross on the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
David Cross on the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. “I want to be eight and play drums with my family at nightclubs for hipsters who love me”
Robert McCloskey, author of Make Way for Ducklings, died yesterday
Robert McCloskey, author of Make Way for Ducklings, died yesterday.
iBook problems
It figures. Just after the expiration of the one-year warranty, my iBook starts having problems (Apple hardware has a history of this apparently). The right speaker now cuts in and out, but more annoying is the ticking sound the computer started making last night. Well, it’s not a tick exactly, more like a pop. A popping tick maybe. Hard to describe. Sounds like a tiny spark leaping across a tiny gap, waiting for its chance to become a big spark and hose my whole system. Or the platter on my hard drive skipping against something.
Weird…it just stopped. It’s not ticking anymore. It ticked/popped for about two hours and then stopped. Did it know I was writing about this? Maybe my iBook is haunted. Do they do exorcisms at the Genius Bar?
Update: After sleeping for 30 minutes, the tick/pop is back. Is anyone else’s iBook doing this?
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