Cats, technology, webcomics and art
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Instead of writing about this weekend’s da Vinci Days, here are a bunch of categorized links.
Cats and bats
I, for one, welcome our feline overlords: “Cats ‘exploit’ humans by purring” and “Cats Do Control Humans, Study Finds.”
So, I guess we should work harder to exploit cats for our amusement (catsploitation?), like the Moscow Cat Theater (and of course, Charlie Schmidt’s original Keyboard Cat).
Also, this is cool: “Moths Outwit Bats By Jamming Sonar.”
The Blob
This is a weird article: “Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities.” My friend Warren prefers this article title: “Crazy-ass giant sentient amoeba floating down from the melting ice, consuming all in its path.”
Since I was so slow in posting the above article, now there’s an update: “Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska.”
Social media, video and technology
TechCrunch published some fascinating insights into big-picture plans for Twitter: “Twitter’s Internal Strategy Laid Bare: To Be ‘The Pulse Of The Planet’.” This article is also notable with respect to publishing ethics and the correct way to handle “confidential” information like TechCrunch received about Twitter.
Facebook data is not only going public by default, but there’s also this: “Facebook sez, ‘Don’t mind us, we’re just whoring out your photos’.”
I also read about the latest Amazon Kindle controversy: “Big Brother: Amazon Remotely Deletes 1984 From Kindles” and “Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others.”
Here are two more technology articles worth checking out:
- “Video Goes Open Source on Wikipedia: New Format, New Player, New Editing/Sharing Tools“
- “The Dirty Backstabbing Mess Called Betamax vs VHS“
Webcomics, music and art
The webcomic @Tavicat has definite similarities to my embryonic webcomic Aphid Life, which I created in 2004. All of my Aphid Life characters were sketched out, but the strips were never completed or publicly launched. Anyway, I always like finding new webcomics.
I really enjoy the Business Guys on Business Trips webcomic, especially the Revisions strip, which, as a designer, hits close to home.
The animated music videos for “Molten Light” and “Clinically Dead” by Chad VanGaalen are very cool.
I am eager to buy Issue 03 of Coilhouse Magazine (a love letter to alternative culture).
There is a lot of nice artwork at Crazy 4 Cult and the Crazy 4 Cult 3-D blog.
I like this Flickr photo set: Invading The Vintage. It’s “cute aliens invading grandpa’s postcards.”
This is cool: “30 Fascinating Pictures of Tilt-Shift Photography.” Real-life locations look like miniature-scale models.
More entertainment
I recently revisited some funny Fatal Farm and Chad Vader videos on YouTube. Still tasty.
Here are a couple of entertaining items: Brand Keyboard (as in, an alphabet of corporate logos) and Crash Bonsai.
This is an amazing-looking game: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.
Also, here’s another one of these blogs: STFU, Marrieds.