"No Person Should Have This Many Zippers."

Boing Boing TV features geek animators For Tax Reasons.

via Destructoid, sadly.

Two Girls, One Angry German Kid

SFW with the possible exception of subtitles. Rage is always entertaining.

Edit: Making this a link because of the still subtitle.

http://my.break.com/Content/view.aspx?ContentID=473507

"It was like he was floating on air!"

New video for an '08 remix of a classic Utah Saints track. I always liked that Kate Bush sample.

Gladiatus

It's a new RPG-type game from the makers of Ikariam. The combat logs are insane.

Click through this link when you sign up and I'll mug you, earning some spendy stuff.

You know you want to.

Jim Henson's Time Piece

Man, was he a dapper dresser or what?

The Duke of Braintree

The 7-part John Adams mini-series is currently running on HBO. The most interesting history I've ever watched on TV. Good casting, acting, directing, and even sticks to the facts. Catch it if you can.

Modern Conservatism

Andrew Bacevich has written an article about why conservatives should vote for Obama in the fall. But I found myself more interested in his definition of conservatism, which I could get behind with a few modest changes. Here it is:

• a commitment to individual liberty, tempered by the conviction that genuine freedom entails more than simply an absence of restraint;
  
  
• a belief in limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the rule of law;
  
  
• veneration for our cultural inheritance combined with a sense of stewardship for Creation;
  
  
• a reluctance to discard or tamper with traditional social arrangements;
  
  
• respect for the market as the generator of wealth combined with a wariness of the market’s corrosive impact on humane values;
  
  
• a deep suspicion of utopian promises, rooted in an appreciation of the sinfulness of man and the recalcitrance of history.

Replace Creation with Nature, and strike the "reluctance to discard or tamper with traditional social arrangements", and I'm all for it.

Muxtape

Pretty sweet way to make an online mix tape, with pretty sweet, minimalist interface to match.
Here's mine.

From Signal vs. Noise.

Clear Channel Hacked in LA

This guy has been wheat pasting posters of that image for years. This is a fascinating new direction.

From LA Taco

Akira + Stronger

GRADUATION ALBUM LISTENING EXPERIENCE VIDEOS PT.2 - AKIRA CUT TO STRONGER from kwest on Vimeo.
I promise, this is the last time I'll post something about this song.

More Boris

Super lo-fi video. The song just hints at the band's range.

Invaders

Portishead -- "Machine Gun"

The first official video from their forthcoming record.

Help Help I am being repressed

Okay, how about this slightly altered image?

NSFW

I deleted your post, Andy. I didn't want someone to open the blog up at work tomorrow morning and have it at the top. You are officially being repressed.

Heller

Okay there is coverage and there is coverage. I new that this was going to get a lot of medua play, but this struck me as funny

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C6056BDB-1F70-4C54-B960-E2D7089DACBC.htm

How many SCOTUS cases does Al Jazeera cover?

I am also a little peeved at NPR for poor/false reporting again. Day to Day Nina Totenberg, you need to pay more attention and stop daydreaming.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88483001 no transcript yet, but the 5:09 long radio segment, time 4:55 she states, refering to Justice Kennedy
"in fact I counted at least 2 refrences to his apparently enourmous fear of grizzley bears"

Humm, that piqued my interest, so I grabbed the transcript
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/07-290.pdf
Now, it is a bit of a trick and a lot of humor in attempting to sort through an argument regarding "keep and bear arms" looking for refrences to bears, i.e. Ursus Actorus. I searched for Grizz and only found:

JUSTICE KENNEDY: It had nothing to do with the concern of the remote settler to defend himself and his family against hostile Indian tribes and outlaws, wolves and bears and grizzlies and things like that?

The only other mention of grizzlies was in the index refering to this statement. So then just in case I searched for bears, nope, nothing, and then of course 'bear' and still nothing,

I don't see how Nina got two refrences, nor how this at all relates to a personal fear of grizzlies.

What kind of reporting is that NPR?

Good people don't end up here

Welcome to last year. I finally got through playing portal on 360. Other than the controls being easier than the W-A-S-Z crap, the playing experience was identical. Advanced and timed modes did nothing for me either. Next up, Half Life. Has anyone heard about that game with the italian plumber?

The Amen Break and the Golden Ratio

Math nerd Michael S. Schneider examines the most sampled drum break in the history of music and explains how it adheres to the principle of the Golden Ratio.

Took the Family to a Propaganda Film Today

We laughed.
We cried.
It was all good.



We went to see National Geographic's wonderous and wonder filled Arctic Tale narrated by Queen Latifah. (One of the most talented and multi-faceted entertainers of our time, BTW.)

At its heart the movie is a coming of age story not exactly by Dock's definition of the term. You follow a Polar Bear and a Walrus from birth to ... well, okay procreation and the hardships they face in the Arctic.

Just underneath the tail of the movie is a building buttsex. [double-meta-pun] It builds to such a crescendo by the end that you start checking the time wondering when they are going to pull the trigger.
Thankfully ...
Mercifully ...
Wonderfully done they didn't overtly teach you the lesson during the main story. They let that stand on its own and waited for the rolling credits. During which adorable and loveable children, much like the ones you brought and were surrounded by, give green tips and environmental statistics and bring the entire experience full circle.
Using statements something like:
If you wash your clothes in cold water you will save energy so the polar bears wont have to die.
If everyone drove less and we told our parents to get hybrids more walruses could live.

I should have seen that coming but they threw me a curve ball with the kids. If it was at all heavy handed or over the top the presentation as a whole was so well done I can absolutely cut them some slack in how they got the final message across. As I said at the beginning it was all good.

Yet Another Browser Game

Ikariam. Playing on the Iota server as Triphibian.

Dropbox

Still in beta, but with a very cool video demo.

I have multiple computers, so that aspect of this is very exciting for me, but even if you only use one the sharing component seems incredible. Feels like I'm watching the future.

Warlords Online

It's a web-based game from Infinite Interactive the makers of Puzzle Quest.

Warlords Online has launched. Warlords Online is a free browser-based game set in the world of Etheria.

- Play the "Warlords Breach" puzzle game to earn gold
- Use gold to recruit troops
- Use your troops to attack and defend regions within the world map

Go here to play. Register for the forums (required). Then create a game account here. I'm playing as Triphibian, race Goblins.

Crunchy Roll

Gentlemen, we've struck the mother load -- a huge collection of anime, martial arts and television of the Asian persuasion. All subtitled and streaming for your viewing pleasure.

Some suggestions from their vast, vast library:
Bride With White Hair -- Easily one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made
Drunken Master II -- contains some of Jackie Chan's most brilliant fights
The Zatoichi Films -- the epic of the blind samurai swordsman - top notch
Densha Otoko -- A TV dramedy about a geek who saves a hot chick on the subway -- highly recommended
Taiko Drum Master -- claymation based on the rhythm action video game WTF?!?
TMNT OVA -- an anime version of the Ninja Turtles with bizarre Power Ranger-style transformations
Lupin III -- this is Japan's answer to James Bond. Miyazaki's first film was a Lupin picture.
Ginga Nagareboshi Gin -- that nutty wolf anime that Andy was into as a kid
Legend of the Galactic Heroes -- Epic, epic space opera -- comes highly recommended by the nerdiest of nerds.

Watch 'em while the watching is good. Sites this awesome don't last that long.

Robots Incoming

Kraftwerk to play The Myth in Minneapolis April 18, 2008. I hope the place doesn't suck as much as everybody says.

via the goddamn newspaper, of all places

My Life with Master

From boingboing.

Wikipedia.

I Chose You!

Rockstar Satire

Nobody does social criticism quite as bluntly as Rockstar, especially not in video games.

Ya to square watermelons

I was passed this story at work as one of those "outside the box" cliches. I couldn't get Die Macher out of my head, and had no one at work I could explain it to...

http://www.financialhack.com/2007/12/04/10145_lessons-of-the-square-watermelon.html

Day By Day

I was asked on thursday what blogotoons I read, and I mentioned Day by Day, which apparently none of you have heard of, so here is their introductiton (basic cast burb from the author Chris Muir fleshed out by yours truely)

Zed: easygoing designer in his mid 40's who tires to see the big picture...if he remembers where his glasses are at. White guy, Ex military recently back from Iraq, and lost his previous job due to his deployment. Recent father of twins with Sam, working at Home Depot temporarily.

Sam: Cut to the Chase Engineer in her 40's who stops to smell the roses...after measuring them. Half Irish Half Japanese, all hottie, redhead, new mother.

Damon: Young self made coder whose staunch conservatism clashes with Jan's liberalism. Black guy currently running internet talkshow "Black and White" with his white girlfriend.

Jan: Intense young marketer who burns with idealism but can't seem to catch fire with her co-workers. She is the daughter of an ultrarich spaniard, and a staunch athiest, which comes into play with some regularity.

Now, as with all good conservatism, there is much hillary hate.
And of course the are some Obama shots.But aside from the democats, he tends to hit the republicans too, And Chris has a special hatred for McCain, riding him harder than Obama.
Mostly it is general refutement of mainstream reporting and bringing to light slightly obscure political happenings.
The author, Chirs Muir, did put his money where his mouth was and has spent a few months in Iraq with the troops. I'm not sure how many other Blogotooners have done that. Anways that of course spawned a little series were two of the main characters went over, allowing him to share the view through their eyes

Killer Fortress

Check out my friend Jeremy's Dwarf Fortress work in progress. It's a massive fort surrounded by flooded chambers he created by channeling water from an underground stream. Be sure to check out the points of interest on the right side to see some of his design notes. You can scroll through the layers of the fortress using the up and down arrows on the control panel to the upper right of the flash window.

Dumb McCain Shit

Last night I couldn't remember what I'd read about McCain lately that had disappointed me. Turns out he's banging the drum for the crazies who think that vaccination causes autism.

Rogue-likes on the DS

Read Jeremy Parish's review of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. Suddenly I'm intrigued by the Pokemon game too.

Unfortunately, They Retired the Immortals Rules in 1987

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

If it weren't for you, what would have entertained me for those thousands of hours? All those Saturdays in front of cartoons in my underwear, rolling up random dungeons as set out in the DM section of the Expert Rules (for two glorious years in front of the actual Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon, right before Kid Video). There never would have been an Eye of the Beholder, much less any Baldur's Gate. No GenCon. And no fat, old geeks at GenCon. Because he was the first.

His name was Gary Gygax. He had an idea that spawned an industry. We owe him so much.

Card Crusher

This is how *not* to do business in Japan.