On Slate today, there was an article by Tim Harford covering the debate, in response to the recently announcement by the New York Times saying almost all its online news material would now be free. Apparently, they believe that ad revenue would more than make up for the loss of the quickly diminishing subscription money. I'm still skeptical.
I was checking out one of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing (you can find the link in the sidebar) today when I came across a link to these scans of early Bill Waterson cartoons.Here is a preview clip from the highly anticipated Bob Dylan biopic titled "I’m Not There." This is the first preview of the film that has been leaked, and wouldn't you know it was on YouTube.The black-and-white clip depicts the first meeting between a young Dylan (portrayed here by actress Cate Blanchett) and beat poet Allen Ginsberg (played by comedian David Cross). As many of you may or may not know, Blanchett is just one of six actors who will be playing the main role, calling forth their inner Bob Dylans to tell the singer/songwriter’s story from the different perspectives of his life. Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw will also play the role. I can't wait til it hits theaters on September 21.
According to the Reuters news organization, Apple Inc. plans to launch a cheaper version of the iPhone near the end of this year that could be based on the ultra-slim iPod Nano music player. The information, released via a JP Morgan report, cites a patent application document dated July 5 that refers to a multifunctional handheld device with a circular touch pad control, similar to the Nano's scroll wheel.I came across this neat little web app today called "We Feel Fine," and I thought that you all might find it intriguing.
"We Feel Fine" is a data collection engine that automatically scours the Internet every ten minutes, harvesting human feelings from a large number of blogs. Blog data comes from a variety of online sources, including LiveJournal, MSN Spaces, MySpace, Blogger, Flickr, Technorati, Feedster, Ice Rocket, and Google.
More specifically, , the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling" every few minutes. When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved.
This process is repeated automatically every ten minutes, generally identifying and saving between 15,000 and 20,000 feelings per day.
I thought this was great because it really helps to show that their is a connection we share with one another while blogging, surfing, etc. that is often overlooked because of a lack of physical connection.
Hearing this song sung seriously just shows how really stupid it is in the first place.
Check out this interesting video the tech blog MAKE recently linked to. This guy uses a 2 kilowatt laser to heat up some instant coffee, and I've got to admit, it's pretty sweet. I wonder if it could be used to brew real coffee, and not that rot gut.If so, I could see Starbucks jumping all over something like this.
There's an article released today on the website LiveScience, which goes over some recent scientific evidence which proves pop is bad for your teeth. Holy crap! Call the president or something! Anyone whose ever drank a pop probably knows that the sweet carbonated tingle on their teeth isn't strengthening their enamel.I know that Starbucks gets a pretty bad rap, but you have to give them at least a bit of credit-they did start somewhat of a coffee shop revolution. Go all over the web and you'll find blog after blog of people complaining about the company, but you never get to hear from the big guys unless it's via a news story or press release. In this video I found streamed through YouTube, a Starbucks Coffee Team leader named Dub Hay gives an interview and discusses some of the company's fair trade practices. I'd like to see some more numbers and statistics to back up the claims he is making before I'm converted to the dark (roast) side, but it is always interesting to hear firsthand the other side of the story.
There is a type of nocturnal cat called the Luwak that roams around in Indonesia and eats only the best, perfectly ripe coffee cherries. After the cherries pass through the Luwak's digestive system (read: are crapped out), the locals collect the Luwak's droppings and wash them off, recovering the coffee beans still encased in their protective endocarps. Apparently, this is a process which must happen anyway, so having the coffee cherry pass through a Luwak's GI tract isn't that crazy. Before roasting, beans are just hulled as usual. 
Simply add hot water to your medium coffee grinds, brew, build flavor and in seconds sip to the very last drop.
Visit the website here
According to Reuters, exam supervisors at a German university stuck to rules so rigidly that a man with a bladder dysfunction had to urinate in a bottle in front of 120 fellow students because they would not let him go to the toilet.
On Feb. 1, the Landmark Legal Foundation, a leading conservative public interest law firm in the United States, nominated nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Seriously. Quit laughing, I'm not joking.This is by far one of the coolest videos I've found on YouTube, so I thought I'd share it with you. I had never seen Kerouac read his own work before; that combined with the subtle jazz piano in the background made it a surreal experience. Enjoy
"Blair will also tell the House of Commons during his regular weekly appearance before it that a total of about 3,000 British soldiers will have left southern Iraq by the end of 2007, if the security there is sufficient," the British Broadcasting Corp. said, quoting government officials who weren't further identified.
This is certainly an interesting turn of events, and even though Britain only currently has 7,500 troops deployed to Iraq, President Bush will undoubtedly be making a statement soon.
Culture Jamming
CD's with a new version bearing different song titles such as "Why am I Famous?," "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?" He's also a well accomplished graffiti artist, even once decorating Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side.Here's another user-submitted DVD review from MH:
At the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, “Jesus Camp,” a documentary directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing - the creators of The Boys of Baraka, made its debut to a shocked audience. The film guides viewers through highlights of the
"Jesus Camp” paints a very vivid and disturbing picture of the modern radical Evangelical movement and its training, mobilization and indoctrination of children. The film follows three children, Victoria, Rachel and Levi in their immersion into the Evangelical religion. These children, despite their age, are very motivated, dedicated and emotional about their faith, routinely approaching strangers, handing out literature about the Evangelical Gospel. They have been taught through home schooling and their youth pastor Becky Fischer, who runs the Kids on Fire camp, that the responsibility for ending abortion and other “worldly sins” rests squarely on their generations collective shoulders. Other “facts” that the children are taught by Becky Fischer are that global warming does not exist, the earth is only 6000 years old and the science can not prove anything, ironically presented on a PowerPoint slide.
Levi, who has aspirations of becoming an Evangelical minister, delivers a sermon in a John Hagee-esque style to his peers stating that he believes, “we are the key generation to bringing Jesus back.” During the camp session, children are coerced into praying to a life sized cardboard cutout of George W. Bush urging him to appoint “Righteous Judges” to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The most ironic moment in the film comes when the directors visit the
Nellie Mckay first burst onto the music scene in 2004 when there was an abundance of jazz singers, such as Norah Jones and Michael Buble. But, she was obviously different from other nouveau jazz singers, titling her CD “Get Away From Me,” while Norah Jones titled her album “Come Away From Me.” Her first CD is filled with tongue-in-cheek songs about the war and
Finally, two years after “Get Away From Me” graced the music world Mckay’s sophomore album “Pretty Little Head” finally debuted. The album is still filled with sarcastic lyrics and funny lines, but there is a maturity present in “Pretty Little Head” that was not there in “Get Away From Me.” Instead of lamenting about the political world on a global scale, Mckay makes the political personal with the song “
This album as a whole seems more personal than “Get Away from me,” with autobiographical touches and two guest appearances by Cyndi Lauper and K.D. Lang. In the song “Mama and Me” Mckay sings about the relationship that she has with her parents and in “There you are in me” Mckay sings about the interconnectedness of life.
Mckay’s voice is dream like and blends well with Lauper and Lang. In a 2004 interview with NPR Mckay was compared to both Dorris Day and Eminem. These seem like strange musical influences, but they have produced a genius protégé.
Valentine's Day is a 16.9 billion business, so what do the news outlets do (myself included)? Make you feel bad about it of course. Not to be a mood killer or anything, but I thought you might like to read this:
To turn off the Japanese "DANGERBOMB" clock, you have to connect the blue, red and yellow wires in the correct order. Screw it up and the clock plays an explosion noise.
The Sfera Alarm Clock hangs from the ceiling above your bed. When the alarm goes off, you can reach up and touch it to activate the snooze function causing it retract towards the ceiling. When snooze goes off again, you have to reach higher to activate the snooze again. Each time you activate the snooze function the alarm retracts a little higher to the point that you get your butt out of bed.
Clocky is an alarm clock that acts like a misbehaved pet. When your alarm goes off in the morning, Clocky will do its best to avoid your hand coming down on the snooze button, even to the point of rolling off your nightstand and hiding in the corner. How cute.
This one is for your heavy sleeping roommate, whose alarm clock goes off for an hour til they turn it off. The Sonic Alarm could wake a hibernating bear. Simply pull the pin, and lob the grenade near the unsuspecting sleeper. FIRE IN THE HOLE! After ten seconds a very annoying and piercingly loud noise (there are three volume settings) will blast out from the alarm. That’s not all however, what makes this especially great is that to stop the alarm the sleeper has to find you so you can put the pin back in.
" Where is Hollywood located? 
This past weekend I had the pleasure of renting the film "The Science of Sleep," starring Gabriel Garcia Bernal ("Y Tu Mama Tambien," "The Motorcycle Diaries"). If you have the chance, I definitely recommend you take time to check it out.
Apparently, Vermont ice cream mega-maker Ben and Jerry's is rumored to have a new flavor, one with Stephen Colbert's face on the pint. According to the Colbert unofficial fan site NoFactZone.net, who obtained the info from an unidentified Whole Foods employee, "Americone Dream" Ice Cream will be a mix of vanilla ice cream with fudge covered waffle cone pieces and caramel swirls. No official word yet has come from Ben & Jerry's , but the fan site did post a letter from company a spokesperson named Sean Greenwood which made light of the possibility.
Yesterday, in front of 15,00o supporters, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) officially announced his bid for the White House. From the base of the old state Capitol, where Abe Lincoln once stood and orated, Obama pledged his commitment to the country and its people, but not to its politics.
