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 […]
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 […]
April Fools’ Day, self-publishing, World Expo 2010
Today is not a very good day to try to read the news, because there’s always doubt. Is it real or is it an Internet annoyance? April Fools’ Day Google did its usual array of hoaxes for 2009, this time featuring a panda named CADIE (the world’s first Cognitive Auto-Heuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity) who showed up […]
Alice in Wonderland, Spike Jonze, DOOM, Kafka
I’m very curious about Tim Burton’s plans for his live-action 3D version of Alice in Wonderland, especially how much animation/CGI he’ll use. The cast includes Johnny Depp and Crispin Glover, plus Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter as the queens. Read more: “Tim Burton Talks Alice In Wonderland.” The film isn’t scheduled to be released […]
DLF.TV, Jason Lytle, BigDog robot, Hotelicopter
David Lynch Foundation Television (DLF.TV) was officially launched this week. It’s an online TV channel that features events and exclusive video content from David Lynch. This production wing of the non-profit David Lynch Foundation shares its mission to provide at-risk students with the opportunity to learn how to meditate. Lynch is a famous advocate of […]
Free SXSW music, NIN|JA EP and garden yeti
Missed out on SXSW ’09? Do not despair. Over 1,000 free MP3s by SXSW artists have been reviewed and can be downloaded here: “Six-Word Reviews of 1,302 SXSW Mp3s.” Also, here is a live performance MP3 by The Decemberists (and many others) from this year’s SXSW. I’ve been listening to the free NIN|JA EP (made […]
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 […]
Narwhal, Leeroy Jenkins and music videos
I’m going to start today’s post with some animals and Muppets, then move on to cartoons and video game characters and ultimately end up with singing, dancing, basketball-playing human beings. Go! Narwhal Narwhal are interesting, with their helical tusks. Compare and contrast Weebl’s Stuff’s silly looping Narwhals animation to this report about the real-life sea […]
Satellites and space debris (plus Achievement Unlocked)
Before I get into music and entertainment links, I will start with a depressing space-related science article chain. Satellites Uh-oh (Feb. 11): “Debris Spews Into Space After Satellites Collide.” Did this collision between a U.S. communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite just create a new atmospheric minefield for future space launches? Very cool (Feb. […]
Back from Arizona, with links
Here is some stuff I have read and watched recently, mostly while in Arizona last week. Google PowerMeter Google recently released prototype software that allows users to receive real-time home energy usage data from compatible “smart meters” and use that information to optimize their energy use. Read the article: “Google PowerMeter: For A Planet In […]