December 2008
102 posts
A busy intersection in the German city of Kassel... →
Quote Whore
Film criticism is like the old media/new media dilemma in microcosm. All around the US (and presumably other countries as well; but the US produces more films and more papers than most), papers are laying off their film critics. Even the mainstays, people like Pauline Kael who once had the ability to make or break a film, are starting to lose their power in the face of ever more sophisticated...
Take this with you from 2008
The Climate. Don’t mean to be a pessimist, but we won’t have it for much longer. Our children certainly won’t. So go visit places, spend time outdoors.
How kangaroo burgers could save the planet →
(via azspot)
I’ve never had roo, to my lasting regret, but I am informed it’s delicious.
...did the Xzibit meme begin with the introduction...
(via semisetadrift)
No, the photo was a macro long before that. Personally, I saw “car in your car” photoshop (ie. with actual car-in-a-car) versions of it months before Chrome came out.
The meme comes from a line off Pimp My Ride, where Xzibit shows the dawg, a mad Grand Theft Auto fan, his newly pimped car, tricked out to look like a car from GTA, and with an Xbox in the back...
The ins-and-outs of snark are tricky for me to follow, possibly (at least I hope) because I don’t have much exposure to the atmosphere of vapid glamour that gives rise to snarkiness in the first place. Holding something up to be torn down requires firstly some sort of implication that it’s inappropriately fetishised, while at the same time a reliance on or non-repudiation of that...
Okay guys, if Chuck Bass really meant that quote,...
“Sometimes I think we’re alone in the Universe, and sometimes I think we’re not....”
– Arthur C. Clarke (via spytap) (via mikehudack)
“Moving to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon.”
– Frank Zappa.
radarchive:
copycats:
“With or Without You” by...
Putting St. Joseph back in the picture. →
robot-heart:
Jesus’ dad…at least, his earthly one…and why everyone seems to ignore him.
Nice article. I like Joseph particularly because he’s the patron saint of workers.
“Basically, I don’t care what people think of me. I’m not in the...”
– Mike Tyson.
Twitter would take 36 years to reach the same size... →
Thought for the evening
kami:
If a lie detector is so accurate, why don’t they just hook up all suspects to it and ask them if they commited the crime?
They’re not; in fact, they’re banned in many jurisdictions. And, even if they were any kind of accurate, convicting on a straight “yes or no - did you do it” lie detector result would arguably violate the prohibition on self-incrimination which...
“Enjoy a 40-hour week? An eight-hour-day? Saturdays and Sundays off? Health-care...”
– Rogue Columnist (via azspot) (via johnbrissenden)
Hey Americans: nobody gives a shit about your...
johnbrissenden:
Part of our continuing series of Global Weather Advisory messages.
And now we return to our regular programming.
Lovely and warm here. It’s not going to be miserably hot and humid, like it is some Christmas days; looks to be quite nice.
10 Tips for Working with the Not-So-Tech-Savvy →
earleyedition:
1. Avoid jargon 2. Use analogies 3. Talk results, not process 4. Link to additional resources
I don't care what you all say, I ended season 2...
The only point these guys made that these guys agreed with was this one (major spoilers).
Also, I’m genuinely impressed that the poles of all three major women characters flipped so completely.
The Employee Free Choice Act
squashed:
Can somebody explain to me why a card check approach is superior to a secret ballot? I keep reading that this allows employers to “intimidate” the workers. It certainly allows the employers to campaign against unionization or distribute “anti-union propaganda”, but shouldn’t the pro-union factions be be permitted to do the same campaigning?
I understand that there is a problem if...
Something else for squashed
What i said about healthcare costs applies to you even though you’re fully insured. If you pay your dues, and I and everyone else around you start suffering from the same chronic diseases, guess what’s going to happen to your health premiums?
squashed:
People make choices every day that increase or decrease risks. Cars. Alcohol. Red meat. Skydiving. Motorcycles. Not washing their hands. Eating salmon from Lake Michigan. Eating chocolate. But part of freedom is trusting people to manage their own risk.
In reply to squashed:
Firstly, if you don’t wash your hands, then shake hands with my little sister and infect her with your...
“These days, sugary drinks are to American health roughly what tobacco was a...”
– Op-Ed Columnist - Miracle Tax Diet - NYTimes.com
On one hand, this would lead to an increase in overall health—including my own. On the other hand, I still don’t understand why it is the government’s business to tinker with my diet.
(via squashed)
Because of the inordinate amount you’ll...
Tumblr tumblr Tumblr tumblr tumblr tumblr Tumblr...
topherchris:
This is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs.
Literally, it means “Tumblrs from Tumblr, who are tumblred by other tumblrs on Tumblr, also happen to tumblr other tumblrs on Tumblr.”
(Inspired by kayteesays.)
Sidebar: I’m testing a theory by researchers at CERN that Tumblr posts which...
robot-heart:
When I say I have standards, I mean that I have the standard of making my language understandable to others when I communicate with them. I consider it a sign of courtesy to speak in a manner that is easily understandable to others. This doesn’t mean we must speak in the same dialect, or that I would even attempt to speak in someone else’s dialect. It does mean, though, that I often...
Search terms leading people to this site #43
miss-r:
“lunch time boob job sydney”
Well it is Sydney we’re talking about. That’s probably a highly coveted search string.
Everyone who reblogs this does not have an accent
tristanjay7:
For the record, I changed the title of the thread in order to mock that position. You’re on the mark about the importance of regional standards, as these standards reinforce group identity by specifying grounds for inclusion and exclusion into the speech community. There’s a great sociolinguistic study about how a group of nerdy high school females defined their group-speech...
Everyone who reblogs this does not have an accent
robot-heart:
muroo:tristanjay7:muroo:
kay now, we all love making fun of accents and ways of speech but it’s almost impossible to get rid of accents. accents include how your mother may have pronounced “egg/aig,” “friday/fridee,” or “Marry merry Mary/murry murry murry.” it’s all arbitrary, get over yourselves blah blah blah. clearly you can do whatever you want on tumblr, but I think it...
Latvians beg Swedish government to invade →
Civic Literacy Test →
radarchive:
jackzerby:
Take the test and reblog your score. NO GOOGLING!
32 out of 33.
“Yeah, that’s right. So what?”
– George Bush’s admission that Al-Qaeda were not active in Iraq prior to the US invasion.
Video Game Design Between 1990-2008 →
ohryan:
A look at at the evolution of video game graphics and design from 1990 to 2008.
AHH NOSTALGIA OVERLOAD!
Unprovoked
I thought I’d post about last night’s incident here to avoid repeating myself to people.
So, my girlfriend and I were walking to dinner on the corner of Melbourne and Grey streets. It is a fairly high-visibility two-way pedestrian intersection and there were a few people behind me.
A group of reeking drunk/high people - two guys, one young woman - came up to me. One said something...
“The tragedy of life is what dies in the hearts and souls of people while they...”
– Albert Einstein (via jsth2breethe) (via radarchive)
This is me today. Last night I hardly slept at all; nor the night before that. I took today off just to catch up on sleep. The weird thing is I have no reason at all to be anxious or discombobulated. I feel like a zombie.