useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists

The round-up of fantastic lists...

945 (and rising) Books About Vancouver [vancouverhistory]
2009's Top 10 Endangered Heritage Sites in Canada [hcf] [vansun]
13 Sites Added to UNESCO World Heritage Site List. [cbc]
10 Ancient Greek Writers You Should Know. [listverse]
10 Greatest American Short Story Writers. [listverse]
100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language. [alphaDictionary]
Top 10 Sesame Street TV Parodies. [huffingtonpost]
10 More Incredibly Bizarre Movies. [listverse]
Top 10 Classic Fantasy Movies of the 1980s. [listverse]
Top 10 Menacing Film Characters. [listverse]
10 Sci-Fi Movies to Throw Down a Black Hole. [wired]
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About. [wired]
Top 10 Evil Geeks in the Movies. [wired]
100 Essential Skills for Geeks. [wired]
10 Endearing Habits of a Geeky Spouse. [wired]
10 Things You Should Know about Nerdapalooza. [wired]
10 Classic Videogame Glitches that Improved games. [CrispyGamer]
Top 10 Raw Deals for Gamers. [wired]
10 Most Meaningful Videogame Quotes of All Time. [destructoid]
26 T-Shirts of Internet Geeks. [dbt]
100 Web-Domain-Naming Disasters. [slurls]
5 tips for raising Your Girl Geek [wired]
100 Geeky Places to Take Your Kids in Summer. [wired]
10 Skills Every man Should Have. [listverse]
10 Recent and Controversial Bans Around the World. [listverse]
Another 10 Common Historical Myths. [listverse]
Yet Another 20 Fascinating Historical Facts. [listverse]
10 Cases of American Intervention in Latin America. [listverse]
10 Best Prison Breaks. [wired]
10 More Incredibly Bizarre Mental Disorders. [listverse]
5 Little-Known Facts About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing [NatlGeo]
10 Things You Didn't Know About the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. [PopSci]
15 Fascinating Lesser-Known Science facts. [listverse]
Top 10 Amazing Lost or Suppressed Inventions. [listverse]
10 Things We Don't Understand About Humans. [NewScientist]
10 Recently Extinct Animals. [listverse]
10 Mass Extinctions That Would Really Suck. [listverse]
20 Ideas for Solving the Climate Crisis. [guardian.uk]
10 Unique City Parks from Around the World. [WomansDay]
11 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in the World. [VirginVacations]
31 National Geographic Photos. [inspiredology]
15 More Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped. [cracked]
16 Bad Michael Jackson Tattoos. [buzzfeed]
21 Horrible Fashion Ideas that Took Off. [StyleCrave]
10 Freakiest Japanese Gadgets. [gizmotron]
10 More Amazing Coincidences. [listverse]
Another 10 bizarre cases of mass hysteria. [listverse]
10 More Extremely Bizarre Phobias. [listverse]
10 Tips for Leading Businesses in Turbulent Times. [biv]
Top 10 Golf Courses across the World. [googlesightseeing]

Interlude | Betty Pages / Goodbye Horses

Dossier Z | Radiohead

Three new Radiohead re-issues are being released in August. [exclaim]

Radiohead (or Ed O'brien and Phil Selway?) are releasing a track, which marks drummer Phil Selway's debut of recorded vocal, for a charity album for Oxfam. [nme]

And Thom Yorke has expressed interest in contributing music to the Twilight sequel. [exclaim] They did music for the end credits of the first...

Check out the winners of Aniboom's Radiohead animation contest. [aniboom] Fantastic!

And to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Radiohead's OK Computer the blog Stereogum asked some of their favorite musicians to participate in a song-by-song covers compilation. [stereogum]

Following the death of Britain's last World War One veteran of the trenches, Radiohead released a tribute using Harry Patch's own words describing his experience. [cbc] [nyt] [bbc] It's available for download from their web site for 1 pound, with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion. [waste]

Harry Patch (In memory of)

I am the only one that got through
The others died where ever they fell
It was an ambush
They came up from all sides
Give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
I've seen devils coming up from the ground
I've seen hell upon this earth
The next will be chemical but they will never learn

And after reports that Thom Yorke said the band were unlikely to release full albums again, and only do EP and singles [guardian.uk], a mysterious song was leaked on the internet. [ChartAttack]

useless mental tidbits | Crowd Psychology at Sasquatch 2009

This fellow starts his own dance party. Amazing video!

Conspiracy Analyst | Orwell vs. Huxley

Stuart McMillen of Recombinant Records in Australia has written/drawn an excellent comic strip describing the differences in fears between George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and compares today's society to see if we are closer to one or the other.

I have to agree with the conclusion that we are closer to Huxley's vision where "the truth is hidden from us by being drowned in a sea of irrelevance."

As Huxley remarked in "Brave New World Revisited" the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

(I'm doing my part.)

It's fantastic, check it out: [recombinantrecords]

(Oh, and I was turned onto this by the ever-inspiring Jason Kottke.)

toob'd | Mad Men

The third season of the television show Mad Men will begin tonight, Sunday August 16, at 10:00pm eastern, on AMC (American Movie Channel). [buzzSugar]

You can watch the first episode of the second season streaming on the web. [amc]

If you have not seen this show, we encourage you to watch it. Don't just take our word for it: You know it has to be good, because even Sesame Street will be doing a parody this year. [tvSquad] There have already been some casting suggestions made... [jezebel]

Some interesting articles... also known as "a wander through the hype-scape"... on General Topics and the Writing. [nyt] [nyt] [slate] [ffc] Costume Design. [slate] Character Study. [slate]

And Jason Kottke loves the show too... [kottke] ...he's the one that pointed us in the direction of these next two posts: And for more information check out Vanity Fair's excellent overview of the show. [vanityfair] And check out the Wall Street Journal coverage about the women writers behind the show. [wsj]

"Behind the smooth-talking, chain-smoking, misogynist advertising executives on "Mad Men" is a group of women writers, a rarity in Hollywood television. Seven of the nine members of the writing team are women. Women directed five of the 13 episodes in the third season. The writers, led by the show's creator Matthew Weiner, are drawing on their experiences and perspectives to create the show's heady mix: a world where the men are in control and the women are more complex than they seem, or than the male characters realize."

When you're ready: go Mad Men yourself! [amc]

(And you might not get this one, but: the Vancouver Sun had a report about a man that stole a dead baby's identity being at risk of losing the assets aquired under that identity through the Civil Forfeiture Act. [VanSun] )

(And from the related-but-unrelated file: here's a brief history of the bikini.)

Doomed by History | Woodstock

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, nowadays simply known by the seminal moniker of "Woodstock", ran from August 15-17, 1969. It is considered one of the greatest moments in music history, and an event that either defined a generation or marked where the 60s-era ideals reached the high-water mark and began to decline.

Let's review. As usual, here's the wikipedia article to start on. [wikipedia]

Some of the media to coincide with the anniversary. Television. [nyt] Book. [nyt]

And there will be events as well. If you happen to be in Vancouver, there is the annual Summer of Love festival along West 4th Avenue. [kits.ca] [SoL] This year there is also KitsFest, an event down the hill at Kits Beach. [kits.ca] [KF] [VanSun] One of my favourite things about Hippy Days (sorry: "West 4th Ave Summer of Love") is the live music at several different stages, whcih this year will include a stage outside of Zulu Music. [BeyondRobson]

The most interesting thing I've ran across is the fact the couple hugging under the blanket on the original Woodstock album cover is still together. [nydailynews]

useless mental tidbits | Step One to Holodeck...

headspace | Moon Landing... 2009...?

Crazy Artist | Kseniya Simonova

Good Rawkin' | Populous (with a video by Stuard O'Keeffe)

Populous (man overboard) music video from stuart on Vimeo.

Interlude | Twin Bricks (Twin Peaks in LEGO)

pong'd | First-Person Shooter Disease

Crazy Musician | KJ Sawka

Good Rawkin' | Mink DeVille

R.I.P. Willy DeVille: 1953-2009.

headspace | Molecular Visualizations of DNA

useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists

Great lists we've run across recently:

10 More Ancient Inventions You Think Are modern [ListVerse]
10 Truly Bizarre Scientific Studies [ListVerse]
10 Scientific Objects That Changed The World [NewScientist]
15 Amazing Science Facts [ListVerse]
Top 10 Ways to Provoke a Geek Argument [wired]
10 More Ways to Provoke a Geek Argument [wired]
20 More Ways You Know You're married to a GeekDad [wired]
Top Funny Science T-Shirts [teenormous]
10+ Places to Get a Free Education [jimmyr]
50 Most Useful Web Resources for University Students [educhoices]
10 Awesome Tools to Get More Out of Wikipedia [dumblittleman]
50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive [moskalyuk]
8 Powerful Career Lessons They Should've Handed Out on Graduation Day [ptb]
10 Busted Myths about Canadian Health Care: for Americans [TransGriot]
4 Ways to Make Life Lighter [ptb]
The Stories Behind 10 TV Theme Songs [neatorama]
45 Ridiculous Pictures of Boy Bands [buzzfeed]
10 Notable Grunge Bands [ListVerse]
10 Most Creative People in the Music Biz [FastCompany]
10 Memorable Web Series [cbc]



<>
10 Incredibly Memorable Movie Quotes [ListVerse]
Top 10 Most Evil Disney Villains [ListVerse]
Top 10 Survival Tips for People in Horror Flicks [ListVerse]
Ten Tips for Turning Your Kids into Trekkies [wired]
The Seven Types of Book Store Patron [RocketBomber] [via kottke]
Another 10 Books That Changed The World [ListVerse]
48 Best Classic Books to Read [LifeOptimizer]
25 Places to Read free Books Online [educhoices]
Top 10 Longest Novels in the English Language [ListVerse]
18 Challenges in Contemporary Literature [wired]
25 Awesome Cross-Platform Games You Can Download for Free [DLsquad]
10 Internet Memes You Can Share With Kids and a Bunch You Can't [wired]
Top 10 Utterly Useless Military Commanders [ListVerse]
Top 10 Significant Historical Coup d'Etats [ListVerse]
10 Things to Know about the American Army in WWII [HNN]
Top 10 Incredibly Dangerous Sports [ListVerse]
10 "You Might Be A Redneck" Limos [Jalopnik]
20 Notes on 365 Days on 2 Wheels (Tips for Biking in Vancouver) [beyondrobson]
Canda's 10 Most-Visited Tourist Attractions 2009 [forbes]
15 Fascinating Facts about Toilets [ListVerse]
35 Tip Jars Designed to Make You Want to Give More [TopCultured]

Doomed by History | John L. Burns at Gettysburg

Today marks he third and final day of fighting during the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.

One of the bushwhackers (non-uniformed civilian combatants) that fought on the side of the Union was John L. Burns, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. I encourage you to read Mr. Burns' entry in wikipedia, as his story, which I only allude to below, is fascinating. (I mean, I don't even mention Bret Harte's poem.)



On the first day of combat, July 1, 1863, the 70-year-old Burns presented himself to the Union forces and eventually found himself fighting alongside the Iron Brigade. He was wounded, and the Union soldiers were forced to leave him on the field as they were pushed back. Injured and exhausted, he managed to crawl away from his rifle, bury his ammunition, and convince the Confederate soldiers that found him that he was a non-combatant wandering the field looking for aid for his ailing wife. (He was lucky: By the rules of war, Bushwhackers were summarily executed upon discovery.) His wounds were dressed by Confederate surgeons, and he escaped into the night and found his way home.

After the war he was elevated to the status of national hero, and met President Abraham Lincoln during the same time Mr. Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address.

John L. Burns died of pneumonia in 1872 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

[Thanks to kottke for the original idea.] [From Shorpy.]

headspace | Google Sightseeing, a brilliant blog

Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes I run across items or blogs that collect things that can't really be classified. They are unique instances of brilliance. One such case is the Google Sightseeing blog, which uses Google Maps or Google Earth to "visit" famous or interesting locations.

Here are a few of my favourite posts.

Leptis Magna. UNESCO World Heritage Site, and well-preserved ancient Roman city in Libya, with a history dating back over 3,000 years.

Hadrian's Wall. The edge of the ancient Roman Empire.

Point Roberts. The "greatest gated-community in the United States."

Osoyoos Desert. Canada's only desert region, in the beautiful Okanagan Valley!

Peace Sanctuary of Northern British Columbia.

Lake Peigneur. A three-metre deep freshwater lake that in 1980 suddenly became a 60-metre deep saltwater lake... after a man-made disaster... fascinating story!

Ancient Fishing Weir. A 1,000-year-old fishing weir found off the coast of Wales. Investigated after the unusual rock pattern was noticed on Google Earth!

Karnak Temple Complex. Just outside of Luxor, Egypt's second-most-visited tourist attraction after the Pyramids at Giza.

Eyam. A plague village that took amazing measures to halt the spread of a mid-1600s outbreak.

Zzyzx, California. C'mon. You always wanted to know the story about Zzyzx, California. Now's your chance to visit...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This is an unpaid, unsolicited plea: Please support fantastic ideas. Go check out the book put together by the Google Sightseeing folks, and buy a copy through your favourite retailer!

useless mental tidbits | The Enchanted Drawing

This is the earliest film on the U.S. Library of Congress web site about American animation. It was done by Thomas A. Edison with British vaudville performer J. Stuart Blackton, dated November 16, 1900.

Good Rawkin' | Tad

headspace | Civilization by Marco Brambilla

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Civilization is a video installation we created with artist/director Marco Brambilla for the elevators Standard Hotel in NYC. It's comprised of over 400 video clips and it takes elevator passengers on a trip from hell to heaven as they go up or from heaven to hell as they go down. Pictures of the installation and Q&A with Brambilla and Crush is posted here http://www.glossyinc.com/civilization.html



Title: Civilization (MEGAPLEX), 2008 By: Marco Brambilla

Client: The Standard Hotel, New York

Editor/Research Assistant: Beau Dickson

Assistant: Swapna Tamhane

Production Company: Crush, Toronto

Representation/Images Courtesy of: Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica

Marco Brambilla Directorial Representation:

Ebeling Group U.S.A.

Crazy Filmster | Bang-Yao Liu - "Deadline"

Good Rawkin' | Urge Overkill

Urge Overkill plays on a French television program in 1996.

Crazy Remixers | Eclectic Method

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Interlude | Marvel & DC: Deadpool vs Watchmen Edition

Crazy Musician | Valentina Lisitsa plays Rachmaninoff

Crazy Filmster | Magnus Engsfors

Suddenly from Magnus Engsfors on Vimeo.

useless mental tidbits | Star Size Comparison

Interlude | "Youth and Aging" Tales of Mere Existence

headspace | Heavy Metal Name Flow-Chart

Crazy Artist | Levi Meeuwenberg

I'm not sure if "free-running" can really be termed an "art" but the display of stunts on this showreel is fantastic. While parkour is the efficient movement through space, free-running adds an acrobatic flair for aesthetic purpose.

Levi Meeuwenberg is an artist in my books.

citiZEN | Vancouver round-up

Some items about Vancouver that have caught my attention recently...

To start with, the City of Vancouver is moving toward making its data more open and accessible. [cbc] This is a huge move forward. As silly as it sounds, I'm actually excited about being able to watch council meetings on YouTube... right now they are only on the City's web site, and only viewable with the most recent version of Internet Explorer!

Anyhoo.

The long and winding debate seems always to be about Transportation. This will intensify over the next while as the Burrard Street Bridge Bicycle Trial gets under way. Price Tags is all over this, and posted an excellent primer of Burrard Bridge Basics. [PriceTags] Here's an interesting re-thinking of the intersection at Burrard and Pacific. [PriceTags]

With another fantastic map, Erick Villagomez at re:Place Magazine shows us the methods used as transportation by different neighbourhoods. [re:Place] From the "general info" file here's A Brief History of Transportation graph. [good]

And cyclists have a new tool developed at UBC to find the best route in Vancouver, called the Cycling Route Planner. [buzzer] [cbc] And what I think is actually a positive development, for reminding some cyclists they are vehicles on the road, not glorified pedestrians: the police department is ticketing cycling violations. As one may expect, the public comments have been barely short of a flamewar. [VanSun] And I'm not favouring drivers over cyclists here, or even pedestrians... we all need to get along and share.

Translink is going to shorten or reduce certain bus routes in an effort of increasing ridership on the new Canada Line. [VanSun] Just what bus riders need: less service and more frustration. With such a high-tech central nervous system as "T-Comm", the Transit Communications Centre, it's a surprise there seems to be such negativity about our transit system. [Buzzer]

Will there be a car-free Granville Street this summer? [straight] Sorry: will there be "summer spaces" in Vancouver? [straight] Here's a story about a german city that has completely eliminated cars. [nyt] There's always the Personal Rapid Transit option. [good] I love these pods.

Since we're here: here's a list of things to do on Canada Day, at Granville Island [kits.ca] [GI], and at Canada Place [VanBuzz] [CP].

Hand in hand with transportation is the issue of Urban Development.

Vancity Buzz has a good analysis of the plans for North East False Creek. [VancityBuzz] And Paul Hillsdon makes a case for tearing down the Georgia Street Viaducts. [PaulHillsdon] And Chicago is using technology created at UBC to plan their city. [ubc] And after 20 years, Cafe S'il Vous Plait, at the corner of Robson and Richards, has closed because the landlord wanted to double their rent.



At the neighbourhood level: Some interesting thoughts about Laneway Housing. [PriceTags] The Kits Farmer's Market, which re-opens July 1, will offer free home delivery by bicycle. [kits.ca] And the debate about rapid transit options to UBC (the UBC Line) is starting to heat up. Merchants along West Broadway are already getting nervous. [kits.ca] Another dude, as reported at Kits.ca, makes fun of the idea of a European-style tram along Broadway, and asks if Tram-Supporters (such as Mel Lehan) even ride the bus. [kits.ca]

And finally, a quick round-up on some history-themed posts... The Vancouver Museum changed it's name to... The Museum of Vancouver. [straight] Bruno Wall, Vancouver Developer, will put $12 million to restore the 97-year-old York Theatre on Commercial Drive. [cbc] The buzzer blog posted a history of interurbans in the Lower Mainland. [buzzer] And a historic railway car returned to the Lower Mainland. [ctv]

Here's the "ghost sign" on the side of 325 Carrall Street, the old Louvre Saloon. Click on the photo to go to laniwurm's excellent flickr page that describes this further.

Interlude | The Dead Pirates - "Wood"

WOOD from mc bess on Vimeo.

ThreatWatch | Pandemic!

The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic (or Alert Level Phase Six), the first time in 41 years, on Thursday June 11, 2009. [who] [cbc] [ctv] [straight] [nyt] [economist]

While the H1N1 flu virus (known as The Swine Flu) has been only of moderate severity, it still has all the characteristics of a pandemic. The worry is that as it moves around the globe (currently the largest increase in cases is in the southern hemisphere, such as Australia and Hong Kong, as they are in their cold season) the virus will mutate into a deadlier strain before it re-bounds north for the fall cold season.



(And on a related tangent, in case I'm not the only guy that gets teased by my loving wife that supposedly I'm "delicate" when it comes to cold and flu symptoms: turns out men ARE effected more by infection! [bbc] So we are not wimpy when we have sniffles! Stew on that, ladies!)

Back to the Pandemic. Just before we panic, it's important to note that the pandemic declaration does not change the approach that British Columbia is taking in dealing with the outbreak. [GovBC] [cbc] And check out this release from the Canada News Centre about precautions and so forth. [cnc]

As might be expected, at first there was panic. Cases were on the rise, including here in British Columbia. [GovBC] After the alert level was raised to Phase Four, Good Mag put together a great graphic to explain what the threat levels mean. [good] At the end of April, the alert rose to Phase Five, the "high to certain" level. [ctv]

Then we got photos of what the virus looked like. [NatlGeo]

Then there was a pause, when no one knew if it was the "calm before the storm." [cbc]

An unforseen problem was the fact that reporting pandemics was only based on geographical spread rather than severity. So when the health effects of the H1N1 was found to be "mild" a backlash arose over the WHO's unwitting fear-mongering, or "hyping" the story in the media. [ctv] There were reports about re-writing the criteria for "pandemic". [cbc] [nyt]


see more Funny Graphs

By the beginning of June, the number of cases had increased world-wide to just under 20,000. [cbc] As of June 1, there were 1,530 cases in Canada, with three deaths. It was all over the place! They found the virus in Metro Vancouver... Burnaby: [VanSun] Coquitlam: [VanSun]

All the while there was lots of debate and speculation about the severity and necessity of raising the level. [cbc] [nyt] Nobody was sure if or when they should make the declaration. [cbc] Then the experts finally met. [cbc]

Enjoy some old Swine Flu PSAs from the 1970s. (Thanks to Jackson Murphy over at The Vancouverite.)



It could have been the alarming number of Inuit in Canada with H1N1 that finally triggered The Pandemic Declaration. [tyee]

Finally... bringing us back to remembering that British Columbia is as well prepared as it was the day before the pandemic was declared, the authorities were watching closely. [GovBC] And there should be a vaccine by the fall. [cbc]

So relax. Instead, check out this newly discovered deadly virus that causes bleeding like Ebola and has killed four of the five people it has infected. It's called Lujo. Or this newly evolved and contagious (among skunks and foxes) version of rabies. [NatlGeo] I suspect they will be the focus of an upcoming edition of ... ThreatWatch! [cbc] [PLoSpathogens]

People We Outlived | Air France "survivor"

On June 1, 2009, Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Johanna Ganthaler had been vacationing in Brazil with her husband, and they were booked to take the fated flight. They missed the flight.

In one of the quirks of ironic history: on their way home to Italy from Germany, they were in a car accident and Ms. Ganthaler was killed. [cbc] Her husband remains in critical condition as of this writing.

headspace | We didn't start the flamewar

Interlude | Fire Alarm Jam

People We Outlived | Hugh Hopper (1945-2009)

Hugh Hopper, composer and bassist for Soft Machine, dead at 65 of leukemia. [NYT]

useless mental tidbits | Shakespeare vs. 1,000,000 words

As has been widely reported, the Global Language Monitor is predicting the one-millionth word to enter the English language will arrive on June 10, 2009. [GLM@wikipedia] Besides having predicted this event several times previously (starting with summer of 2006), and despite several objections by several linguists on the veracity of this organization's collection and qualitative methods, it's still sort of fun to keep track of.

And while it's obviously not easy to predict when the milestone word will arrive, there are also predictions (reported mostly as fact) that the new word will be... NOOB.
[MSN] [Kotaku] [joystiq] [telegraph.uk]

It's estimated that a new word is created every 98 minutes (again, according to the GLM), due to the proliferation of text-based online technology. There hasn't been this explosive of a word-creation period since Elizabethan times, when William Shakespeare was at work. His contribution to the English language is widely known (if equally widely debated). [wikipedia]

So here are a few items of interest over the last while regarding Shakespeare.

A new portrait of William Shakespeare, perhaps the only one painted during his lifetime, was discovered and unveiled. [time] [nyt]



And for the record, the words above the portrait, Principum amicitias! have started a debate of their own. With apologies to Dan brown (I'm sure), it's been dubbed The Shakespeare Code. [nyt] (The links in the NYT article are fascinating, including the before and after photos of the portrait to show a "hair restoration" operation that was made on the portrait some time after the portrait had been completed.)

And here's a link to a BBC video story about Shakespeare's first theatre. [BBC]

And finally... if you haven't already gotten your tickets, the 20th anniversary of the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival runs from May 28 through September 26, 2009 in Vanier Park in Kitsilano. [kits.ca] [bardonthebeach]

[UPDATE] After much speculation, the word declared to be the 1,000,000th of the English Language was... Web 2.0

Here's a good article about the whole issue. [nyt]

Crazy Musician | Julia Dales

Julia Dales, a 17-year-old Canadian girl, is the 2009 Online World Champion in the Beatbox Battle World Championship.

ThreatWatch | Global Warming and Rising Seas

This has been a ThreatWatch trend I've been following for a while, and seems to keep popping up in Mainstream Media. It can be broken down into two lines: celestial activity further erodes our protective atmosphere ("further", being "in addition to human activity") and the water levels rise as the temperature goes up.

The Threat from Space:

First, let's go way back, when the early Earth had an "alien atmosphere" with high CO2 levels that contributed to melting the "snowball Earth" and making the planet lifeform-friendly in more areas. (NatlGeo)

But to our current predicament: Bummer: Cracks in the magnetic shield may bring on massive solar storms during the next expected peak activity cycle of solar wind, starting in about 2012. (NatlGeo) Cool: But scientists have also discovered a new layer of the magnetosphere they're descibing as a "warm plasma cloak". (NatlGeo) Bummer: But the sun may be "stealing" our atmosphere...! (NatlGeo)

The worst part: we may already be screwed. (good) (NPR) But the optimists at Wired are still looking for solutions, in their The 2012 Apocalypse, and How to Stop It. (wired)

Or, of course, we could also be screwed by a gamma-ray burst. But let's keep our Threats From Space separated, shall we? (NatlGeo)



And move on to the Threat From Rising Water...

A study of Coral canyons in Mexico indicate sea levels can rise quite rapidly. (nyt)

And studies indicate North America is at greater risk of an Antarctic ice-sheet-melt than other regions of the world. (CBC) And I keep wondering if I'm over 1.2 metres above sea level, in my fine abode in sunny Kitsilano. (straight) But we're not alone: New York and Boston are reportedly "directly in the path" of a sea level rise. (NatlGeo) Except we may still be worse off: Insurance Bureau of Canada warns that flood damage is not covered in this country. (cbc)

The ironic part is the concept of water stress: water availability against water demand. (H604) Is it time for a National Water Policy...? Is access to water a Human Right...? (straight)

Let's add the consideration that rising heat also threatens the world's food supply. (wired) In fact, we could see a global food crisis before the end of this century. (CBC)

Plus global warming leeches oxygen from the ocean, creating "dead zones" where no life can survive. (NatlGeo) Just for fun, I should also throw in mention of the areas of "toxic algae" that contaminate shellfish, another frightening development surrounding food supply. In fact, there's a toxic bloom just off the coast of British Columbia. (cbc)

Or, of course, we could all just get wiped out by a tsunami, like the one that hit ancient New York. (bbc) Which reminds me, for the "travel advisory threatwatch" section: if you're going to Guadeloupe, be aware that part of the island of Dominica (about 50km away) may fall off and trigger a deadly tsunami. There will be less than 10 minutes of warning. Or would be, rather, considering there are no warning systems set up for tsunamis in the Caribbean. (NatlGeo)

And, as if the current climate condition doesn't already fill you with hope and optimism, here's a Seed article with five scientists talking about Geo-Engineering. (seed) Great. I swear, first one-way ticket to the uncharted stars and I sign up.

Or I could go surfing. Waves are so purdy.

headspace | YooouuuTuuube

Rather than try to explain what this does... just go check it out.

You can do this to any YouTube video. [YooouuuTuuube]

Doomed by History | D-Day

Image via Wikipedia

There's no use in describing the events of June 6, 1944. There are histories about the Normandy Landings elsewhere. [wikipedia]

But here's an interesting tidbit from the History News Network, about where the name "D-Day" came from. [HNN]

Interlude | "Sorry I'm Late" by Tomas Mankovsky

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.

ThreatWatch | The Birds

What is the world coming to when creepy chubby dudes can't dress in Spiderman spandex (Venom-era) and do stretches in the middle of a public square without being the target of a girl with birdseed...? (Too bad there's muzak over the sound... I'd like to hear what witty wise-cracks "Spidey" is bantering to "Birdwoman"... oooo, that Spidey!

Blatent PostWaste Experiment #70 | Advanced Cat Yodeling

useless mental tidbits | Christopher Hendryx "Oxygen"

Oxygen from Christopher Hendryx on Vimeo.

useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists May09

The list of lists...

10 Scandalous Facts about Historical Figures [ListVerse]
Earthcam's 25 Most-Interesting WebCams of 2008 [CBC] [EarthCam]
Top 10 Ways to Save Money in a Recession [Lifehacker]
List of Translations for The Hobo Code [AContinuousLean]
10 Fascinating "Only-Existing" Photos [ListVerse]
11 Useful Tips for Setting Goals and Accomplishing Them [ DumbLittleMan]
How to De-Clutter an Entire Room in One Go [ZenHabits]
10 Privacy Settings Every facebook user Should Know [AllFacebook]
Ways to Save on your Water Bill [NotMadeofMoney] (Ed.: And enviro!)
7 Major "Missing Links" since Dawrin [NatlGeo]
Libraries using Different Web 2.0 Technologies [KraftyLibrarian]
15 Influential Early Works of Apocalyptic Fiction [ListVerse]
Financial Literacy Compendium [GetRichSlowly]
5 Ways to Stay Disciplined in Your Savings [NotMadeOfMoney]
50 Side-Businesses You Can Start on Your Own [SimpleDollar]
100 Really Creative Business Cards [WebdesignerDepot]
30 Most-Controversial Album Covers [NoiseAddicts]
1001 Rules for My Unborn Son [1001Rules] (Ed.: Great blog idea!)
Top 10 Incredible Time Capsules [ListVerse]
10 Most-Frequent Titles submitted to Virginia Quarterly Review [VQR]
11 Most-Endangered Historica Sites in U.S. [NatlGeo]
Top 10 Renewable Energy Sources [ListVerse]
Top 10 Hidden Images Found in Cartoons [ListVerse] (Ed.: Disney is Pervs)
15 Housing Projects From Hell [oobject]
100 Geeks to Follow on Twitter [wired.com]
10 Fascinating Angels and Demons [ListVerse]
10 new Sitcoms meant to cure the Recession Blues [nyt]
7 Webotainers Worth Watching [wired.com]

Pay the Ones You Love: Because the folks at ListVerse are so great at coming up with so many fascinating lists, please drop by this Amazon page and pre-order a copy of their Ultimate Book of Top Ten Lists, which is scheduled for publication in November, 2009.

And finally: Top 10 Star Trek Techno-Babbles:

Dossier Z | Radiohead

First the first time ever, a Radiohead song has been used for an advertisement, for the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless.



And in a twist, before the release of their last album, Radiohead's management suggested the band break up. [PitchFork] [IrishTimes]

Finally, here's a behind-the-scenes clip from the USC Trojan Marching Band as they rehearse and prepare for their appearance with Radiohead at the 2009 Grammy Awards. (And for as long as it doesn't get taken down... a slide-show of the performance.)





While Pitchfork:News is reporting the Oxford boys to be in the process of recording a new album [pitchfork], according to a BBC interview with bassist Colin Greenwood. [BBC]

Crazy Artist | Bert Simons

Bert Simons creates three-dimensional paper portraits and sculptures (among other things).

headspace | The Guitar Store

This is a guitar store in Southhampton, England. [guitarstore]

Good Rawkin' | Victor Borge

Victor Borge has always amazed me. His humour was amazing, his musical skills fantastic.

This clip is during one of his 80th birthday concerts. He had just finished conducting and the crowd reaction was so good that the violinist, Anton Kontra, suggested an encore. No encore was planned.

Monti's Czardas, which Victor had heard before but had never played, was suggested.

This, dear friends, is Victor Borge improvising his way through something he didn't know how to play...

Interlude | Mac vs. PC

useless mental tidbits | The Elements of Spam

Thanks to kottke for this one at McSweeney's. With apologies to Strunk and White, here are The Elements of Spam.

headspace | Dimensions

Nine chapters over two hours that gradually take you up to the 4th dimension. This will blow your mind. The first chapter is below. For the rest, go to the Dimensions website.

Good Rawkin' | Coldplay

People We Outlived | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

May 22, 2009 marks the 150th birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of seminal detective Sherlock Holmes.



From the Knowledge Refresher File:

The standard overview. [wikipedia]
The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street. [SHM]
A top-rated omnibus site. [SirConanDoyle.Com]
An online exhibit. [Westminster Libraries Online Exhibit]
Ashcroft B.C. ACD Society... (last update 2003) [ACD-Ashcroft]
The Canon of The Masterpiece Creation. [Canon of Sherlock Holmes]
Conan Doyle on Project Gutenberg. [ProjectGutenberg]
On Conan Doyle's "odd spiritualism". [more.intelligent.life]
Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes sites in WebRing. [WebRing]

Finally, a filmed interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, talking about his fictional detective and his spiritual interests.

useless mental tidbits | Stories Behind Hollywood Logos

The fine folk over at neatorama put up a fantastic collection of stories tracing the history of Hollywood studio logos. Like the kid fishing while sitting on a crescent moon, from Dreamworks? The logo was hand-painted, and the model of the kid was/is the artist's son. And there have been five lions playing the "leo the Lion" part in MGM's famous opening sequence. [neatorama]

Good Rawkin' | Sara... the 13-year-old drummer.

Crazy Artist | Emma Hack

Emma Hack is an Australian artist. She started as a children's face painter and hairdresser, and over her 20-year career has emerged as an award-winning international sensation. [emmahack]

Her canvas is the human body. Here are a few of her "wallflowers."

Livin' Spaced | MVRDV's Gwanggyo Power Center

Dutch architect design firm MVRDV won a design competition for a new community near Seoul, Korea. [bd] An interesting comment on the bd site is that it makes it look like "the future is anthills." And local community-design guru Gordon Price thinks it's "too much of a good thing." [pricetags]

I think it's way cool. I'm a proponent of the "live where you work and play" school of thought.

Here's the MVRDV site. [mvrdv] And here's their flickr site, with many other designs as well. [flickr]

Good Rawkin' | Smokie

Abomb reminded me about this tune from last summer. We were partying with some former classmates and this played about twenty times throughout the extremely long and beer-soaked day, afternoon, evening, and night.

I wouldn't play this at work with the volume cranked to 11, but it's one to crank if you're out of delicate-ears earshot...

This is Smokie's 1976 classic version of "Living Next Door to Alice". (I say version because the original was co-written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, originally released as a vocal harmony by Australia's New World in 1972.)

So... here's a "clean" version from a performance in 1977:



And here's the version that really went stellar...

Crazy Artist | Alex Budovsky "The King's Nightmare"

CitiZEN | Demise of Democracy in the Days of Swine

The recent Provincial Election returned the ruling B.C. Liberal Party into a majority government for their third term. I voted strategically, and still lost. I had hoped the BC-STV referendum would pass, but lost on that as well. I stopped watching the election coverage by about 9:30pm.

As I lay in bed that night, pondering the state of modern democracy, I sadly admit to feeling a bit bleak about the future. I have often joked, as a descendent of the disremembered aristocracy of British Columbia, of being a Monarchist. (As the benevolent prince I feel I have a strong claim to the throne.)

Is there any wonder that voter turnout is at an all-time low? [CTV] In the tyranny allowable under the political party system is it a surprise free citizens are forbidden from speaking out upon their opinions (with enough caveats to make it seem fair)? [tyee]

I first heard about nowpolling.ca the first time I watched pasifik on Shaw Television. I have assumed the two, the program and the web site, are affilliated with each other, but haven't bothered to look into it.

Nowpolling.ca is an online mechanism for direct democracy.

From the web site: Direct Democracy depends upon your perpetual participation. Nowpolling.ca is a non-partisan, non-profit perpetual voting system which enables you, with your individual password, to register your opinions on relevant political issues. Nowpolling.ca empowers you to change your vote when you change your mind, anytime. This is what perpetual democracy is all about. You are welcome to view the questions and results without having to register. However, the success of this democratic exercise depends on your participation. Create an account and be counted.

I think this is a great idea. I think if we are to preserve freedom from the ongoing decline of 21st-Century Democracy, we need to start looking at what we want to evolve it into. Using technology to leverage direct participation in political issues is a strong candidate for consideration.

If we don't, I fear this idea, "erasing" the US-Canada Border, is closer than we might think.

(There is too much to say on this topic, so I will leave it for another time. Just to say: while I feel this position enjoys strong points both in favour and opposed, I'm sure all can agree this cannot be something either side is forced into by negative circumstance.)