Swine flu apocalypse, WTF and sparkly unicorns
As we all ponder the swine flu apocalypse, here are two Google Maps of international swine flu cases that I found helpful: NPR’s Confirmed Cases Of Swine Flu Across The Globe and H1N1 Swine Flu. There hasn’t been a case confirmed in Oregon, yet. Now, to counter the influenza epidemic/pandemic panic, below are eight days […]
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 […]
T-Mobile Shadow’s low volume (and hardy kiwis)
So, let’s say you have your new Windows Mobile 6 smartphone, the T-Mobile Shadow, and everything is almost great. The only problem with the Shadow (and it’s a big problem) is that in-call volume is absurdly low, even with the volume control maxed out. What do you do? (By the way, following my smartphones post […]
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 […]
Smokey the $1000 housecat: A Hemobart story
This 1500-word post is all about our pet cats, Smokey and Eli. Yes, that’s right. 1500 words. About our cats. Welcome to a rare break from posts about popular culture and random Internet nonsense. This story is mostly about Smokey’s near-death experience and, more generally, about the housekitties. I had been waiting to write about […]
Amazon MP3 Beta launched, iTunes still annoying
I am very excited about Amazon MP3 Beta (minus the consumer profiling it inescapably contains). I hope it enables me to be done with iTunes Music Store, soon. Now that Apple’s iTunes has paved the way, it’s about time a major player forced changes to the way digital music is sold. Apple finally has some […]
2007 Blogger Boobie-Thon for breast cancer
So, you may remember that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but do you know about the annual Blogger Boobie-Thon for breast cancer? I just learned about it last week. It’s a website organized to gain donations for breast cancer research, through nudity (which, as we all know, is a consistently successful fundraising technique). […]