Gardening, Disney, Michael Bay, powerful brands
Below are some links I found interesting over the past 10 days. I’ve spent a lot of my free time gardening lately. I guess it’s mostly garden preparation (read: shovel rage and weeder fury) at this point. Maybe next weekend I will plant some everbearing strawberries, probably Hecker (read about strawberry varieties). (I also plan […]
Gus Van Sant, Corewar, shell pasta, science
Today Portland-based director Gus Van Sant supposedly announced his next project via Twitter: “My next film is Dustin Lance Black’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’. It’s going to be really funny.” I am very excited to see what Van Sant does with Wolfe’s excellent book on Ken Kesey and his band […]
Stanley Donwood, microscopic Alice, SXSW, Twitter
I enjoy the insights and random tidbits found in artist Stanley Donwood’s Slowly Downward Taglibro. See last week’s issue, Taglibro 14, and subscribe to Donwood’s irregular ‘news’paper. (For the uninitiated: Stanley Donwood is perhaps most famous for producing a lot of Radiohead’s album and promotional art over the years. I love the guy. I received […]
Pharm animals, The Prisoner and Caduceus Cellars
Today we’ve got science, art and technology . . . to the seventh degree. 1. Pharm animals Would you like some therapeutic drug milk? Here’s an interesting story about another controversial FDA approval: “F.D.A. Approves Drug From Gene-Altered Goats.” They are producing drugs in the milk of genetically engineered goats, rabbits, hamsters and more. The […]
Super Bowl, CrackBerry, network neutrality, resveratrol
On the edge of a weekend that includes the Super Bowl, the finals of the Australian Open and the men’s basketball Civil War (starring Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson, who is Barack Obama’s brother-in-law), I have a bunch of random things to share. It’s interesting how Obama ultimately got to keep his CrackBerry, I […]
BCS National Championship in 3D (and the future)
Guess what? For the first time in the history of ever, the BCS National Championship is available to watch in Live 3D at a Cinedigm Digital Cinema theater near you. Apparently the closest Cinedigm theater to me is in Gig Harbor, WA (just northwest of Tacoma). There are no Cinedigm theaters in Oregon. I think […]
Seven years in Oregon (and SecondLight, air cars)
I’ve lived in Oregon for seven years now. So, how true is the myth that all atoms in the human body get turned over, or regenerated, every seven years? Has my body become 100% Oregonian? Well, the seven-year-regeneration idea may actually be true of some cell types, on average, but probably not all. According to […]
MLB 2008 payrolls, Repo! and randomness
Considering the outcome of this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs, it’s time to mention MLB payrolls. Of the 30 franchises, the three teams with the highest payrolls (New York Yankees, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers) did not make the playoffs. In fact, the Yankees actually eclipsed $200 million this year. What a waste. The […]
Bipolar stock market, pandemic flu, Alaska
Are you ready for three sarcastic statements, each with a supporting chart or graph? All right, hold on. Let me channel my inner Comical Ali (AKA Mohammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, former Information Minister of Iraq). Some called him Baghdad Bob. Ready? Here we go: 1. The stock market is not exhibiting symptoms of bipolar disorder. That’s […]
Music, YouTube memes, cell phone science
Jenny Lewis has a new album out called Acid Tongue. Okkervil River and UNKLE released albums this month too. I’ve been enjoying Beck’s Modern Guilt, featuring Cat Power. Johnny Cash died five years ago last week. The current Nine Inch Nails tour performances are apparently awesome, with a sophisticated trio of transparent “stealth” screens and […]