May 2009
86 posts
Do you know someone who has swine flu? Do you know someone who knows someone who has swine flu? This seems like a natural Facebook app.
April 2009
54 posts
Ashton Kutcher: Twitter is your new bicycle! →
Mr. Kutcher begins his essay in Time’s most-influential issue this way:
Years from now, when historians reflect on the time we are currently living in, the names Biz Stone and Evan Williams will be referenced side by side with the likes of Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, Guglielmo Marconi, Philo Farnsworth, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — because the creation of Twitter by Stone, 35...
Breaking news: Swine flu is over! We win, we win! (Actually, they just changed the name: From now on, it’s H1N1.) http://is.gd/vGdH
This flu sounds like a breeze →
I understand it’s a “pandemic,” but this makes me think it’ll blow over soon:
Gibbs reiterated that all four individuals (administration staffer, his wife and son and his nephew) experienced only “mild to moderate symptoms, received no medication, were not hospitalized, and have recovered.”
uh oh: Obama security official has swine flu. http://is.gd/6n2U
"Transcendent Man" Documentary on Ray Kurzweil and... →
Ray Kurzweil and his theory of the coming “singularity” are the subjects if a new documentary. Looks interesting, though it sounds like Philip Glass phoned in his “Fog of War” soundtrack with minor revisions.
Recession indicator: Every small eatery I got to now seems to have one server for the whole place. I usually tip more out of sympathy.
Do You Have Swine Flu? →
Instant diagnostic test: doihaveswineflu.org.
CNN Anchors Discuss Obama's "Swagga" →
(Via HuffPo via TV Newser.)
Crazy awesome factoid: In 1984, George Clooney was a regular in a sitcom called “E/R” — 10 years before “ER.” http://is.gd/vpGu
Coffee at home tip: Preheat your mug with boiling water. Your coffee will be much hotter, which makes for a transcendent first cup.
How do you name a flu? →
Israel’s health minister suggests calling swine flu “Mexican flu” because the reference to pigs offends Muslims and Jews.
Meanwhile, pork producers and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the illness shouldn’t be called “swine flu” because that implies the illness is food-borne. From Reuters:
The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health...
Same Cow, No Matter How You Slice It? -... →
The National Cattleman’s Association spent $1.5 million to identify tasty new cuts of beef that Americans might be willing to buy. But old-school cooks say they just gave fancy new names to old parts: “This is just a glorified chuck steak that they cleaned the junk off of,” one meatcutter tells the NYT.
Not Safe For Work: Bea Arthur roasting Pam Anderson. http://is.gd/v8Xk
I got a thing of Jolly Ranchers from the Dollar Tree yesterday. Looks like most of them are watermelon, yech. Guess that’s why they were $1.
Two Broadway stars hunt for an apartment, buy... →
Here’s a New York Times story that’s both completely useless—ie, irrelevant to a vast majority of readers—and deliciously fun. It chronicles the apartment-hunting and furniture-buying adventures of two beautiful young stars on Broadway:
He and Ms. Powers, who has a role in the new musical “Happiness” at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, went to Macy’s,...
Esquire uses video camera to shoot its cover photo →
Digital video cameras are now so fast that they can capture single images sharp enough to run as magazine cover photos. So instead of taking still pictures of the actress Megan Fox for the June issue, Esquire photographer Greg Williams used a RED One, a super-fast video camera — instead of posing, she just moved around, and then they cut out a still image from it.
Here’s the...
Comic Sans walks into a bar, bartender says, ‘We don’t serve your type.’ The WSJ reports on the Ban Comic Sans movement. http://is.gd/sVQq
CollegeHumor's "We Didn't Start the Flame War" →
Watch We Didnt Start the Flame War on CollegeHumor
(via Boing Boing)
I dreamed about Coi chef Daniel Patterson. Was hanging out at his apt. with his roommates. He had roomies! All they ate was Coi leftovers.
Freaky video of the day: Out-of-body lung repair →
Technology Review has an article about out-of-body lung repair:
In an operating room at the hospital, the technology can keep a pair of human lungs slowly breathing inside a glass dome attached to a ventilator, pump, and filters. The lungs are maintained at normal body temperature of 37 °C and perfused with a bloodless solution that contains nutrients, proteins, and oxygen. The...
I’m late to Susan Boyle appreciation. She’s awesome! http://tinyurl.com/c49rgl
Domino’s president tells the Internet he’s sorry for serving booger sandwiches. I think he sounds pretty heartfelt. http://is.gd/sMGw
Domino's great apology video →
Domino’s president tells the Internet he’s sorry. I think he does a good job:
He’s apologizing for this:
"The Internet Symphony" Global Mash Up →
Michael Tilson Thomas and Tan Dun solicited people around the world to play Tan Dun’s original composition. The result is the YouTube symphony:
Woman recovers purse from thief through phone's... →
TechCrunch points out that a woman who had her purse snatched got it back through Google Latitude:
You see, in her purse, her phone had Google’s location-based social networking service installed, and it was updating the location of her phone in real-time. So even though the thief hopped in a car, when the girl called her sister, she was able to tell police exactly where the criminal was. They...
Taibbi: Michelle Bachmann “like George Foreman to Sarah Palin’s Joe Frazier in the Heavyweight Championship of Stupid.” http://is.gd/spqe
Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Cheryl Hines and others... →
I just had an occasion to use Undo Send. I’d accidentally sent a message with no content — minor embarrassment averted!
Helvetica "Save the Date" cards →
From evapaul on Etsy.
Tweenbots: human-dependent robots navigate NYC →
From the site:
Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.
Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space,...
Great NYT piece on immigration and tech. http://is.gd/rXfo Does Glenn Beck know that 1/2 of US tech companies had foreign founders?
Single-finger text input →
A video demonstration of a free-software project called Dasher. (Via Make)
Deep-fried arugula make a great crunchy garnish. The leaves also get prettily translucent.
Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons,... →
I’d use some D&D slang here to describe him losing powers or getting a bad card or something, but I don’t know the game:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Dave Arneson, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game and a pioneer of role-playing entertainment, died after a two-year battle with cancer, his family said Thursday. He was 61.
Arneson’s daughter,...
Suing a sperm bank for defective sperm →
A 13-year-old girl with a genetic disorder is suing the sperm bank that her mother used for selling a defective product. From [New Scientist]:
SPERM should be subject to the same product liability laws as car brakes, according to a US judge who has given a teenager with severe learning disabilities the go-ahead to sue the sperm bank that provided her with a biological father.
Brittany...
Jody Rosen hilariously catalogs pretentious lyrics in the new Decemberists album: “Fifteen lithesome maidens lay.” http://is.gd/rNJz
Vending machine for crows probably not possible →
Among the ideas in the NYT Mag’s last Year in Ideas issue was a vending machine for crows:
In June, Josh Klein revealed his master’s-thesis project to a flock of crows at the Binghamton Zoo in south-central New York State. The New York University graduate student offered the birds coins and peanuts from a dish attached to a vending machine he’d created, then took the peanuts away. Klein...
Poll: Is someone on Twitter a “Twitterer” or a “tweeter”? And is it capped or uncapped?
Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” dissected with Protools. http://is.gd/oWqO
TX legislator wants Asians to adopt names “easier for Americans to deal with.” http://is.gd/rxCn
Crazy Japanese commercial for bananas →
(Via Buzz Feed)
Totally addictive ball-dropping, line-drawing game. http://balldroppings.com/js/
Horses with hair extensions →
(See more at the Daily Mail)
Fox fast-tracks real-life layoff reality show →
The WaPo’s TV column:
Fox has fast-tracked a reality series in which real companies that are struggling to stay afloat in this lousy economy agree to let their staffs decide who among them will get pink-slipped to cut costs.
Fox is already in production on “Someone’s Gotta Go,” having lined up companies — smaller, Dunder Mifflin-esque outfits with 15 to 20...
Levi Johnston: Palins Treated Me Like An Outcast... →
This Palin-Johnston feud is like watching a car wreck. It’s hard not to look.
Watch CBS Videos Online
Intimidatingly awesome science fair projects →
(Via Boing Boing)
American electricity grid penetrated by spies →
From the WSJ:
WASHINGTON — Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.
The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its...
An oldie-but-goodie from CollegeHumor: http://tinyurl.com/3nspsq
CollegeHumor office lip-dubs Harvey Danger →
Watch Harvey Danger Lipdub on CollegeHumor
(one of the videos mentioned in this list of the Top 100 viral videos of all time, via Buzz Feed)