Links posted in August 2008
August 31, 2008
What Does Marcellus Wallace Look Like? and I've Been to a Marvelous Party, two brilliant combinations of typography and music. [more inside]
The Big Steal, a 1988 article by John Leland & Steinski about Lenny Roberts and other 'Record Boy's. Lenny Roberts, one of the original crate-diggers, found and resold the raw materials that powered hits by KRS-One, Afrika Bambaataa, Eric B & Rakim, Jazzy Jay and others. Together with Stanley Platzer, Lenny created the Octopus (aka "Ultimate Breaks & Beats") comps, a collection of premium breaks that ran to 25 volumes. According to KRS-One, "I'd say just about 100 percent of all rap music uses some kind of idea or something from those break records". [more inside]
Interview w/John Stagliano about his work and the 8 counts of obscenity brought against him by the US Government. [more inside]
Here's a cool lecture by Mythbuster Adam Savage about following your obsessions. (20min talk followed by Q&A about his talk and various Mythbusters questions)
August 30, 2008
One chick. One cello. and a computer in real time. Link is to an interesting radiolab episode about Zoe Keating, a cellist who records and loops her cello as she plays live. The cumulative effect is more like an orchestra than a single player. You'll be surprised by the soundscapes she can create.
August 28, 2008
Bubble chart of "Things to Say During Sex" - just spitballin' some ideas here. [waxy] [more inside]
August 26, 2008
Airline Fees - mrflip or wiepooh's feelings on the topic of whether or not airline CEO's have ever cracked a basic economics book to follow
August 24, 2008
Flabbergastingly thorough rundown of political TV ads from Ike to Bill. Clinton's 1992 ads are so deft -- @barack, this is how you do it, not this. [via waxy, both] [more inside]
August 22, 2008
Timeline of Internet Memes - Don't be like me: click on this *after* you've gotten something productive done today. my excuse: compiling. link via DonCarlo's goofeed. [more inside]
What do we sing about when we sing about the body? - a buttload of data. Oh, hip hop, this is why we love you. [via waxy]
[more inside]
August 21, 2008
Great Moments In Olympics that can be found on the YouTubes, curated by kottke. Must-see. [more inside]
August 19, 2008
Colbert v. Colbert discusses offshore drilling. Possibly the best description I've seen.
Kiteboarding in rapidly changing weather is a bad idea. But you know those damn floridians, always up to something stupid.
August 18, 2008
Yearbook Yourself - absolutely brilliant. See what your yearbook photo would have looked like in 1952, 1968, .... [via kottke] [more inside]
August 16, 2008
Last night, we discussed this clip. I strongly believe that everyone in the world should see it. It has Mr. T on the O'Reilly Factor.
August 14, 2008
Having never been to Germany myself, I was unaware that their toilets were any different than ours. That was until Thomas informed me of the poop shelf toilet...
August 13, 2008
Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance finds the awesomest billboard ever.
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog is on Hulu. You can't miss it; watch it for free! Don't you wish your Ph.D. was in horribleness (TM)? (I thought that this had been posted here somewhere, but my searches turned up nothing.)
August 12, 2008
NBC will let you stream what you can't tune in for. Apart from episodic coverage, though, the best post-event holistic view of the Olympics I've found has been... wikipedia. I know the existence of this "wiki"-"pedia" is hardly breaking news, but long bets aside this is one of the first times I've found it a useful recurring-coverage source.
Want to see whether the US can match China's bid for the 119? Schedules, competitors and who is wearing #13 in the Olympic Triathlon? Follow along. [more inside]
August 11, 2008
He was a complicated man, and no one understood him but his woman. I'm just talking about Isaac Hayes, who passed away last night. RIP beloved Chef: you are now a Soul Man, a Shaft of light. St Peter is even now hearing "Hold On, I'm Comin'". You always Did Your Thing, and we'll miss you. [more inside]
August 08, 2008
Hey lookit that: 8:08 on 8/8/08. Prosperity!
CNN links to a time article on Obama the antichrist. Veiled racism if you ask me... the contention that a black man running for president is alright but this particular black man is the antichrist so it's not cool.
August 07, 2008
Electrolysis hype.
What happens when university PR departments are too aggressive in their promotion of hum-drum science, and the media takes the bait? Shame on you M.I.T.
Not Darwin Award winners - as far as you know. The ten stupidest ideas on Flickr [thx kottke]
August 06, 2008
What have we done... Pictures of the large hadron collider from the big picture blog. Wow...just wow.
August 05, 2008
Kite-produced electric power prototype (with video). Funny thing is I used to have the exact same kite they were using...
Al Franken freehands a map of the US at a campaign stop. Damn he's good! Click around in that photostream to see it being worked on.
August 04, 2008
Shimano takes the deraileur to the next level, adds "shift by wire" technology. In response the fixie community banned ball bearings calling them "modern conveniences that detract from the purity of bicycling". Henceforth any metal on metal connections will remain bearing free, lubed only with coffee and/or tattoo ink (double shot espresso only please).
August 03, 2008
Worst comic strip ever? Be sure to check out the runner-up as well.
Thx BoingBoing
August 01, 2008
Your parents named you what? The pros, cons of unusual names