celebrate diversity

(h/t Marty)

attitude adjustment

(Via Justin Blyth's (hopefully) temporarily shuttered THEM THANGS)

pre-code

Who's this?

(Answer (and credit) in a few days.)

prescient?

6/27/09

And oh yes:

Balloon boy, balloon boy balloon boy, balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy, balloon boy, balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy. Balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy; balloon boy; balloon boy; balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy.

Balloon boy:

"Balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy, balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy. Balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy, balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy balloon boy."

Balloon boy!

"bed space is overrated"

When one Tony Alleyne of Hinckley, Leicestershire (UK) had his wife leave him in the late 90s, he responded by taking the opportunity to remodel his 500 square foot apartment. The remodel, which he executed himself, took 5 years to complete. It is described as featuring "voice-activated lighting, LED lighting, running lights, air-conditioning - but no bed." Apparently Mr. Alleyne suffered from sciatica and had been advised by his doctor to try sleeping on the floor. According to Mr. Alleyne, "It cured the sciatica and gave me the opportunity to convert the bed area into the Transporter area. Bed space is overrated"

(Is it my imagination, or is that disco ball seriously non-canonical?)

art appreciation

I've had this picture in a folder on my computer for months now (ever since I stumbled across it on the net somewhere). Every time I've thought about posting it, I've ending up deciding the quality was just too sucky and putting it back in the folder. Somehow, now just seems like the right time.

(Somewhere along the way, I seem to have lost track of the source of this. If anyone involved ever manages to find their way here, let me know. I'll make it right.)

visionary

January 22nd of this year marked the 25th anniversary of Apple's introduction of the Macintosh. To mark the occasion, Philip Elmer-DeWitt compiled some choice quotes from the first reviews of the Mac back then. My very favorite is from John C. Dvorak's review in the San Francisco Examiner of February 19, 1984:

The nature of the personal computer is simply not fully understood by companies like Apple (or anyone else for that matter). Apple makes the arrogant assumption of thinking that it knows what you want and need. It, unfortunately, leaves the “why” out of the equation — as in “why would I want this?” The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse’. There is no evidence that people want to use these things. I don't want one of these new fangled devices.

In the Wall St. Journal Market Watch on March 28, 2007, Mr. Dvorak wrote:

Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone... what Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it's smart it will call the iPhone a "reference design" and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures... Otherwise I'd advise you to cover your eyes. You're not going to like what you'll see.

Mr. Dvorak has won a number of awards for technology journalism, including the Computer Press Association Best Columnist and Best Column awards, the American Business Editors Association's national gold awards for best online columns of 2003 and 2004, and the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in 2001.

Bonus Link!

Another perspective on those "new fangled devices" is provided by the inimitable Erin O'Brien. And, along those same lines, there's this.

most awesomest video game ever!

I was going to dial back the YouTube posts for a while, but then I discovered this. OMFG.

(But why isn't the polar bear wearing a Speedo like the rest of them?)

semi-oldies night

The Bangles provide a pretty spiffy cover of Simon & Garfunkel's Hazy Shade of Winter in a promo video for the less-than-wonderful 1987 movie, Less Than Zero. (That's semi-old, not semi-night.)

the uncanny rift into the very bowels of hell

There are disturbing humanoid robots and there are profoundly disturbing humanoid robots. And then there is this:

Although it gets repetitive pretty quickly, you absolutely must stick with it to the very last second.

(via Danny Choo)