Just what I wanted for Christmas: 144 staplers signed by celebrities
Just what I wanted for Christmas: 144 staplers signed by celebrities. Signees include Paris Hilton, Donald Trump, Tiger Woods, and Cher.
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Entries for November 2004
David Pogue is writing a weblog for
David Pogue is writing a weblog for the NY Times on consumer electronics. He also says that the archive of the Circuit section is now free.
Sam Brown of explodingdog has a new
Sam Brown of explodingdog has a new book out called Amazing Rain.
Teen girl has mom killed and then
Teen girl has mom killed and then writes it up on her Livejournal. “Just to let everyone know, my mother was murdered”.
For a new generation of independently produced
For a new generation of independently produced board games, winning isn’t the most important thing.
Revolution in the Valley is a new
Revolution in the Valley is a new book recounting how the Macintosh computer was made. It’s written by original Mac team member Andy Hertzfeld and published by O’Reilly.
Lycos screensaver targets spammer’s web sites in
Lycos screensaver targets spammer’s web sites in distributed denial of service attack. Do two wrongs make a right?
Audio of Ken Jennings’ loss
Note: I’ve been contacted by a lawyer representing Sony and they have asked me to remove the audio clip. Sorry.
[Warning, spoilers.] Here’s a two-minute audio clip of Final Jeopardy from Ken Jennings’ Jeopardy loss (due to air Nov 30). If you don’t want to listen, here are the details (highlight the redacted text to read):
[Update: I deleted the description of the audio clip after Sony “requested” that I do so. You may be interested in reading this article in the Washington Post instead. This is really a irritating situation, but I don’t have the time, energy, or the access to legal counsel that a large newspaper does and am therefore just basically just rolling over. Sorry.]
The original tips I got from Phillip (1, 2) ended up being pretty accurate. Some of the details were a little off and/or paraphrased (he got the number in the answer as well as the woman’s name wrong), but it was mostly correct.
Final update: My legal difficulties with Sony are still unresolved but since the episode has now aired, here are the results of Ken’s final appearance:
Final Jeopardy category was Business and Industry. Answer: Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year. Nancy Zerg provided the correct question, “What is H&R Block?” which gave her $14,401, one dollar more than Ken. Ken answered incorrectly: “What is FedEx?” and ended up with $8,799 for a total of $2,522,700 over his 75-day run.
Audio clip of Final Jeopardy from Ken Jennings’ final episode
Audio clip of Final Jeopardy from Ken Jennings’ final episode.
Haircuts now going for $800 in NYC
Haircuts now going for $800 in NYC. “Anyone who pays that much money to go to the meatpacking district to have their hair done is a meathead”.
New Russian magazine bootlegged its look and
New Russian magazine bootlegged its look and feel from the New Yorker.
“We need a new term for ‘computer game’”
“We need a new term for ‘computer game’”. Gaming has moved well beyond kids playing Super Mario Bros.
Populations of bison and other large mammals
Populations of bison and other large mammals were depleted by climate change, not human hunting.
Ken Jennings’ final episode
Set your TiVos and VCRs…it looks like Ken Jennings will finally lose on Jeopardy on Tuesday, November 30. His 72nd appearance aired yesterday (he won another $50,000), the 73rd will be today, and his final win will come on Monday. As reported here back in September, Jennings loses his 75th game after winning $2.5 million. No one from the show has confirmed this, so it may be wrong**, but we’ll find out on Tuesday. (If it ends up being wrong, I will commit seppuku by falling on my TiVo remote for my role in misleading everyone.)
** Just to be more specific, I have recently received confirmation from a very reliable source that Ken has indeed lost, but that source didn’t confirm (or deny) the specific timing.
The Jerry Seinfeld Dictionary of Terms and Phrases
The Jerry Seinfeld Dictionary of Terms and Phrases.
The Pistons/Pacers brawl reimagined in the
The Pistons/Pacers brawl reimagined in the style of Picasso’s Guernica.
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws tie judges’ hands
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws tie judges’ hands. Weldon Angelos got 55 years in prison for selling $700 worth of pot while carrying a gun.
Holiday gift suggestions from some bloggers and web designers
Holiday gift suggestions from some bloggers and web designers. I specifically suggested the “Happy Fucking Holidays” cross stitch from Subversive Cross Stitch, but that bit got edited out somehow.
Confess your sins at Come Clean
Confess your sins at Come Clean. Fun Flash advertisement for Method.
Wes Anderson’s next film will be a
Wes Anderson’s next film will be a stopmotion animation adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. What the? Let’s see him wedge Futura into this one.
Futura and Wes Anderson
Every year around this time, my thoughts turn to Wes Anderson and Futura. As noted elsewhere, Mr. Anderson is consistent in his use of Futura (bold) in his films. The supporting materials for The Life Aquatic (which opens here in NYC on Dec 10) continue the Futura trend, with the font appearing in the trailers and on posters. (A little Helvetica — or worse, Arial — has somehow crept onto this new poster, probably slapped on there by some intern when Someone Important noticed that Bill Murray’s name wasn’t on there.) What I’ve never been able to find an answer to, Wes, is why the Futura? This Typophile thread (kind of) suggests that David Wasco, Anderson’s production designer on Tenenbaums, may have had something to do with it. Or is it a shout-out to Stanley Kubrick, who was partial to Futura Extra Bold? Does anyone know?
Watch a couple of exclusive clips from The Life Aquatic
Watch a couple of exclusive clips from The Life Aquatic.
Possible methane detection in Martian atmosphere could
Possible methane detection in Martian atmosphere could signal currently living organisms.
Statistical analysis of digital photos of paintings can reveal forgeries
Statistical analysis of digital photos of paintings can reveal forgeries. Each artist has a statistically distinct “signature” and even multiple artists contributing to one work can be differentiated.
HP is developing a wearable badge that
HP is developing a wearable badge that will blur your face in photos taken by a digital camera. Other new photography tech includes a paparazzi homing device and wearable hidden cameras that surreptitiously snap photos with a flick of the head.
The top 50 books of 2004 from the editors of Amazon
The top 50 books of 2004 from the editors of Amazon.
On the difficulty of skipping Christmas
On the difficulty of skipping Christmas. “The idea of being anything but wildly enthusiastic about the annual mass transfer of merchandise often seems abhorrent to the American psyche.”
Amazon is selling the entire Criterion Collection of DVDs for $5,000
Amazon is selling the entire Criterion Collection of DVDs for $5,000. A few out-of-print titles are excluded, but there’s 241 films in the gift set.
Fearing food and frightful eating
Dan Barber has a great op-ed in the NY Times today about the benefits of natually-grown food (especially when compared to ridiculous fad diets like Atkins):
A serving of broccoli is naturally rich in vitamins A and B, and has more vitamin C than citrus fruit. But raised in an industrial farm monoculture, shipped over a long distance and stored before and after being delivered to your supermarket, it loses up to 80 percent of its vitamin C and 95 percent of its calcium, iron and potassium. Fruits and vegetables grown organically, however, have higher levels of antioxidants. That’s largely because a plant’s natural defense system produces phenolic compounds, chemicals that act as a plant’s defense against pests and bugs. These compounds are beneficial to our health, too. When plants are grown with herbicides and pesticides, they slow down their production of these compounds.
Broccoli is only one example…turkeys, chickens, beef, eggs, carrots, milk, beets, etc. are all made less nutritious and delicious by current methods of mass production. We’re painting ourselves into a corner here. Soon even the non-processed food we eat will be almost entirely virtual. Our flavorless, nutrient-free broccoli will be artificially flavored, artificially colored, and supplemented with multivitamins (Centrum-brand broccoli?) and result in meals that are artificially satisfying. (via tmn)
Trickets and information are available for the
Trickets and information are available for the New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend, Jan 7-9, 2005. Guests include Bill Murray, Oliver Sacks, Dan Barber, Art Spiegelman, Chuck Close, etc.
Starbucks as an example of asynchronous processing
Starbucks as an example of asynchronous processing. “The interaction between two parties (customer and coffee shop) consists of a short synchronous interaction (ordering and paying) and a longer, asynchronous interaction (making and receiving the drink).”
Most importantly
Most importantly. “Listen to music a little louder, dance a little crazier, sing out loud in the shower, honk your horn for no reason, give your dog an extra treat, call your mother and tell her you love her, hug your friends even if they aren’t the touchy-feely type, eat french fries once even though your diet tells you not to, walk around your house naked, and hold tight to your motherfucking family.”
“In America, self-styled progressives look ever more
“In America, self-styled progressives look ever more the party of the past, and confessed conservatives are the ones focusing on the future”. “Most of Mr Kerry’s base was in stagnant America. Democratic strongholds such as Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco and Mr Kerry’s Boston have been losing people and jobs. Mr Bush’s America, for the most part, is booming.’
What’s up with all the Falun Gong
What’s up with all the Falun Gong protestors on the streets of NYC?.
Me and Radiohead and The (Necessary?) Evils Of Copyright
Me and Radiohead and The (Necessary?) Evils Of Copyright.
McSweeney’s #13
A few weeks months ago, I chose this book as the first official selection of the unofficial kottke.org book club. The idea of the book club is that I tell you what book I’m going to read next, you can read along if you’d like, and then we get together to discuss it in the comments of a thread like this one.
What a terrible idea…I apologize for even suggesting it. I have trouble reviewing books as it is without the added pressure of a deadline and having people (if any of you actually chose to follow along) who read the book depending on me getting some sort of rip-roaring conversation going. As a result, even though I finished the book weeks and weeks ago, I’ve been avoiding writing this review. However, since I got myself into this, I’m going to give it a shot and hope that someone else can rescue us with a thoughtful, knowledgeable review of the book and/or the comics format in the comments. Here we go.
Many of my friends are into comics in one way or another. I never was, not even as a kid (ok, not exactly true…I really liked Bloom County). I go into comic shops, thumb through comic books and graphic novels, and leave wondering what the hell all the fuss is about. I guess you could say I don’t get comics. Which is odd because as a sort of socially awkward dork, I should identify with many of the characters in the stories and the artists drawing them (and I mean that in a good way).
A few years ago, I bought Chris Ware’s perfect Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, one of my all-time favorite pieces of media. But that’s been the exception to the rule for me and comics. McSweeney’s #13 contained a comic by Chris Ware (he designed the wonderful dust cover as well); it, The Little Nun strips by Mark Newgarden, and the wonderfully spare comics by Richard McGuire (which reminded me of Powers of Ten) were the highlights for me.
So instead of a review, a question. What am I missing here? Why do you enjoy comics and/or graphic novels? I can guess why they are appealing, but I’d rather hear about it from you guys.
Here’s the reason for the odd photo
Here’s the reason for the odd photo caption from the previous post. The caption was summarizing survey results about what the world thinks of the British.
Oddest caption ever for a Yahoo News photo
Oddest caption ever for a Yahoo News photo. It reads: “The typical Briton is polite, witty and phlegmatic, but lacks a certain style and has a dental hygiene issue while having an occasional drinking problem.”
Gallup poll about the theory of evolution and creationism
Gallup poll about the theory of evolution and creationism.
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