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Entries for July 2005
Hilarious home page of a lonely Turkish
Hilarious home page of a lonely Turkish guy named Mahir who is seeking female companionship. “I kiss you!!!!”
URouLette takes you to a random homepage
URouLette takes you to a random homepage on the WWW each time you click it.
A woman who was charged $250 for a
A woman who was charged $250 for a cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus gets her revenge by emailing the recipe to everyone she knows. “So here it is, please pass it on to someone or else or run a few copies…I paid for it, so now you can have it for free!!!”
The makers of the WWW browser Mosaic
The makers of the WWW browser Mosaic are keeping track of what’s new on the WWW. “Carnegie Mellon has announced their Web server; here’s the ‘Front Door’; here’s the home page. (‘Front door’… interesting metaphor, that.)”
It’s the Really Big Button That Doesn’t Do Anything
It’s the Really Big Button That Doesn’t Do Anything. When you push it, it really doesn’t do much.
David Filo and Jerry Yang are organizing
David Filo and Jerry Yang are organizing the entire WWW into a hierarchical category system. They’ve named their site “Yahoo”.
Gallery of newspaper front pages from Lance
Gallery of newspaper front pages from Lance Armstong’s 7th tour victory.
The evolution of book cover design
The evolution of book cover design. Using Robert W Chambers’ The King in Yellow as an example.
Was Metafilter on the most recent episode
Was Metafilter on the most recent episode of Six Feet Under?.
Announcing the world’s smallest mp3 player: the iPod Flea
Announcing the world’s smallest mp3 player: the iPod Flea. Love the Flea collar.
20 hamburgers you must eat before you die
20 hamburgers you must eat before you die. That In-N-Out isn’t on here almost got this link disqualified from posting, but since they don’t seem to have any other chains on here, I’ll let it slide.
I liked these “blue” photos by Zach on Jake’s site
I liked these “blue” photos by Zach on Jake’s site.
Photo slideshow of Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France
Photo slideshow of Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France.
Tattoo copyrights and lawsuits
Tattoo copyrights and lawsuits. David Beckham is being threatened with a lawsuit by his tattooist should he and his wife “go ahead with a promotional campaign highlighting their body art”.
Butterfly team colors may discourage inter-species mating
Butterfly team colors may discourage inter-species mating and pave the way for the development of separate species. “This process, called ‘reinforcement’, prevents closely related species from interbreeding thus driving them further apart genetically and promoting speciation.”
The economics of movie popcorn pricing
In the past 5 years, I’ve probably been to a theater an average of once every two weeks to see a movie. Even though it costs a small fortune, I almost always get a soda and popcorn (topped with “butter”[1]) to go with the show. Many of the larger chains offer a deal if you purchase a large popcorn and a large drink together. This “Super Combo” costs a lot less than ordering a L popcorn and a L soda separately from the menu but often it will actually cost you less than a L popcorn/M soda, M popcorn/L soda, or even a M popcorn/M soda (?!??). Why such a steep discount when the theaters make so much of their money on concessions? I’ve developed a few theories over the years but would like to hear your thoughts before sharing them.
[1] The proper way to butter movie popcorn is to fill the bag half full, apply butter, fill the rest of the bag and apply more butter. This results in fairly even application of butter to kernel throughout the bag. Due to a lack of focus on service and an increasing number of theaters moving to DIY butter application, it’s getting more and more difficult to buy a good bag of buttered popcorn at the movies.
Advertising is everywhere, even on the fold-down trays on airplanes
Advertising is everywhere, even on the fold-down trays on airplanes.
Yahoo! buys Konfabulator
Yahoo! buys Konfabulator. This could be huge. Aside from the Flickr purchase, this is the first move by Yahoo! that gives them something that Google needs but doesn’t have. (More on this soon.)
How to make a pinhole camera that
How to make a pinhole camera that looks like a real camera out of paper.
Directions for setting up a Bayesian spam
Directions for setting up a Bayesian spam filter to play chess.
Vanilla is a smooth-looking piece of forum software
Vanilla is a smooth-looking piece of forum software.
Rule #1 at my theoretical future company: don’t fire Alan Kay
Rule #1 at my theoretical future company: don’t fire Alan Kay.
Larry Brown wanted Stephon Marbury off the
Larry Brown wanted Stephon Marbury off the Olympic team in Athens. Marbury is the most overrated player in the NBA…there ain’t no “Marbury” in “team”. I wouldn’t have him on my team even if he played for free.
“So You Want to Write a Book?”
“So You Want to Write a Book?”. O’Reilly Media’s guide for new authors.
Now that our favorite movies and old
Now that our favorite movies and old TV shows are so easy to find, will we still enjoy them?. I’ve been watching some old favorites from the 80s…I should have kept them there.
The last surviving WWII Comanche code talker dies
The last surviving WWII Comanche code talker dies.
The group of Comanche Indians from the Lawton area were selected for special duty in the U.S. Army to provide the Allies with a language that the Germans could not decipher.
Eater is a new NYC food/restaurant blog
Eater is a new NYC food/restaurant blog. Looks a bit too gossipy for my taste, but that’s me.
Ugh, riders on the NYC subway are
Ugh, riders on the NYC subway are going to have their bags randomly searched by the NYPD. “People who do not submit to a search will be allowed to leave, but will not be permitted into the subway station.” What the fuck?!?
Heading to the South Pole and back…on skis
Ben Saunders is a little bit crazy. He does stuff like ski solo from Russia to Canada via the North Pole just for the heck of it. When I was last in London, I called him up to make dinner plans and he apologized if he seemed a “little” tired because he’d been out for a “bit” of a run this morning. That short run turned out to be 20 miles. (At dinner that evening, Ben and his training partner, Tony, ate everything on the table short of the cutlery.)
Ben’s latest endeavor is his upcoming expedition across Antarctica to the South Pole, dubbed SOUTH:
Here’s the plan. The first return journey to the South Pole on foot and the longest unsupported polar journey in history. In October next year, Tony Haile and I will set out from Scott’s hut, on the shores of McMurdo Sound on a 1,800-mile, four-month round trip, from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back. No dogs, no vehicles, no kites, no resupplies. We’re calling it SOUTH.
The great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen made the only return journey, using dogs, 93 years ago. His rival Captain Scott died on his return from the Pole just 11 miles from the relative safety of his largest depot. Since then every expedition has either been flown out from the Pole or used dogs, kites or vehicles. Many people have blamed Scott’s failure on his reliance on human power, and many experts still believe an entirely human-powered journey of this magnitude to be impossible. We think otherwise.
Expeditions of this sort are generally funded by large corporations who give money in exchange for advertising and sponsorship opportunities. On his last expedition to the North Pole, Ben blogged (and photoblogged) daily using a PDA & satellite phone and was cheered along by the thousands who read and commented on the journey. So for SOUTH, Ben and Tony are doing something a little different…they are seeking financial support from private individuals (and companies/groups/etc.). For a donation of $100, you can “own a mile” of the expedition, which means you get a listing on the site, a listing on the front page when your mile of the expedition is completed, your name enscribed on one of the expedition sleds, and your name on a flag planted at the South Pole. Ben and Tony are great guys and I would love to see them succeed, so give them a hand if you can.
More explosions in London on the tube and buses
More explosions in London on the tube and buses. Only detonators were used; minor injuries and damages.
Limited edition tshirts are all hip and such right now
Limited edition tshirts are all hip and such right now.
Why children love Roald Dahl’s stories —
Why children love Roald Dahl’s stories — and many adults don’t. Danny, The Champion of the World is my favorite Dahl book and I’ve read most of the others as well.
Good interview with Malcolm Gladwell about Blink on Powells.com
Good interview with Malcolm Gladwell about Blink on Powells.com.
As a designer, who owns your portfolio?
As a designer, who owns your portfolio?. I’ve never had any problems with this, but I’ve heard some pretty bad stories about other people’s troubles.
A Japanese bank is putting a slot
A Japanese bank is putting a slot machine in their ATMs; get three 7s and the fee is waived. All they need is the sound effects from Super Mario 2 and I’m so there!
Robot Lucy
Robotics research suggests that Lucy walked upright like humans. Lucy, discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, is a 3.2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton.
Some iPhoto 5 tips and techniques for managing your digital photos
Some iPhoto 5 tips and techniques for managing your digital photos.
Slideshow of historic photography from the archives
Slideshow of historic photography from the archives of ICP and the George Eastman Collection. Lots of photos from both collections are set to be available online in 2006 at photomuse.org.
James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star
James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, passed away today aged 85.
The sexing up of the female on-camera
The sexing up of the female on-camera meteorologists at the Weather Channel. From a SVP at TWC: “When you compare The Weather Channel women on camera to the weather women on camera around the country, we got the best. I mean, that’s what we set out to do. And damn it, we’ve done a good job.”
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