Daily Meh

The Layers of a City. And its veins. Far from the only...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:40:00 +0200

The Layers of a City. And its veins. Far from the only worthwhile photos to be found at that domain.

"It takes a genius to whine appealingly."

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:06:57 +0200

“It takes a genius to whine appealingly.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"Wouldn’t it be nice if we could stand up now and say, okay, these are the post-curation years? The..."

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:19:00 +0200

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could stand up now and say, okay, these are the post-curation years? The world does not need another linkblog. What is required, frankly, is what we’re supposed to call “content” these days. When I were a lad, back in the age of steam, we called this “original material.” Put another way: we like it when Cory and Xeni are the copy/paste editors for the internet, but we like it better when Cory writes a book and Xeni makes an episode of BoingBoingTV.”

- Warren Ellis (via). Also:

The weblog has evolved to the point where, today, it’s possibly the most effective way of transmitting material that any of us could have imagined. Look at Tumblr. It’s the easiest thing in the world for writers to use — and also artists, photographers, videographers, spoken-word artists, musicians and a dozen other things. Imagine a jewellery maker, a laptop musician, a performance artist, a cartoonist and a short-story writer getting together on a single Tumblr to make themselves an internet channel. The tools are all there, baked right into the site for free. Not groupblogging so much as groupcasting.

Vacation

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:28:00 +0200

The best and worst thing a blogger (and by extension, anyone) can do is take a break. It’s the best thing because one is almost certain to have more motivation and new ideas upon returning, but it’s the worst thing to do because it leaves readers with a dormant blog in the meantime. Excluding a short pitstop, I’ll be away the next four weeks. Consequently, there will be little internet. No doubt good for my mental health, but bad for the update frequency of this blog (and for my contributions to science tumbled). There will probably be updates, but they will be fewer and farther between. Regular updates should be back in August.

Take care, internet. I’m going to be enjoying nice people, nice weather and nice books while you go on with your funny videos, sarcastic blog posts and flamewars. See ya!

Humans could be driving these on the moon by 2020. Cool, eh? Of...

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:22:48 +0200

Humans could be driving these on the moon by 2020. Cool, eh? Of course, it’s no match for Nazis on the moon. (via science tumbled)

It appears that Adobe Reader 9 sucks. (News at 11.)

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:38:00 +0200

It appears that Adobe Reader 9 sucks. (News at 11.)

China inspired interrogations at Guantánamo

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:46:00 +0200

China inspired interrogations at Guantánamo:

Christopher Hitchens, in his essay for the August issue of Vanity Fair, describes how torture used to be “inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape)” — and how it is now used by Americans to torture others. This article presents a stunning example: military trainers who came to Guantánamo in 2002 presented an interrogation class on “coercive management techniques” based on a chart that, it turns out, was written for SERE in 1957, originally entitled “Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions From Air Force Prisoners of War”, based on interviews with American prisoners returned from North Korea. Whoa.

What used to be “Here’s how the evil Commies will elicit false confessions from American prisoners” became “Here’s how you Americans should interrogate ‘enemy combatants’” — the only thing changed in the chart was the title. (Hat tip Moonbase.)

Edit: Squashed writes: “I’m less interested in the origins than I am in why we would permit this sort of practice.” I agree. The origins are only interesting insofar as they illustrate this: before, in a more (in some ways) sane political environment, these practices were regarded as evil and used only in training to resist them; now, in a more insane political climate, they’re regarded as necessary and actively used. Even when they are known not to produce accurate testimonies, and were developed specifically for procuring false confessions.

Amazing New Hyperbolic Chamber Greatest Invention In The History Of Mankind Ever

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:51:33 +0200

Amazing New Hyperbolic Chamber Greatest Invention In The History Of Mankind Ever: Awesome.

Unthinkable Futures

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:11:00 +0200

Unthinkable Futures:

This list of unthinkable futures — probabilities we tend to dismiss without thinking — was published 15 years ago in the Summer, 1993 issue of Whole Earth Review. Our intent was less to correctly predict the future (thus the silliness) and more to predict how unpredictable the actual future would be.

Hence we find such unlikely predictions as “a new profession, meme-inspector, comes into being” and “manufacturers of underwear finally realize that men have different-sized balls”, along with their more scifi-inspired cousin predictions. And we find Brian Eno (and not Jason Kottke, who merely quoted it) predicting a change in art:

A new type of artist arises: someone whose task is to gather together existing but overlooked pieces of amateur art, and, by directing attention onto them, to make them important. (This is part of a much larger theory of mine about the new role of curatorship, the big job of the next century.)

Tumblr, thy kingdom come.

"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons."

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:00:02 +0200

“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”

- Bertrand Russell (who would probably, along with me, disagree with Squashed that loving Enlightenment ideals does a patriot make.)

Zero feet under by Ian Broyles, via hrrrthrrr.

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:58:51 +0200

Zero feet under by Ian Broyles, via hrrrthrrr.

Ape rights and the myth of animal equality

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:39:00 +0200

Ape rights and the myth of animal equality: Spain grants now many human rights to non-human Great Apes, recognizing that they “experience an emotional and intellectual conscience similar to that of human children.” Of course, conservatives are none too happy, quipping that “animal rights activists believe a rat, is a pig, is a dog, is a boy.” (via Seed)

Project Indigo: Design of a vertical seaside metropolis

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:36:00 +0200

Project Indigo: Design of a vertical seaside metropolis: I enjoy good environment concept art, and Jesse van Dijk knows how to do it well. (via mefi)

Flamingos at Sunset.

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:20:19 +0200

Flamingos at Sunset.

Jante Law

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:21:44 +0200

Jante Law:

I love these because they so clearly encode close-minded thinking.

Thou shalt not believe thou art something.

Thou shalt not believe thou art as good as we.

Thou shalt not believe thou art more wise as we.

Thou shalt not fancy thyself better than we.

Thou shalt not believe thou knowest more than we.

Thou shalt not believe thou art greater than we.

Thou shalt not believe thou amountest to anything.

Thou shalt not laugh at us.

Thou shalt not believe that anyone is concerned with thee.

Thou shalt not believe thou canst teach us anything.

Compulsory Reading

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:56:39 +0200

Compulsory Reading: Great graphic piece on reading and motivation.

The Nine Billion Names of God

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:12:57 +0200

The Nine Billion Names of God: Short story by Arthur C. Clarke.

Wordle cloud of Paul Graham’s essays, whose favorite word...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:02:56 +0200

Wordle cloud of Paul Graham’s essays, whose favorite word apparently is “people”.

"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance."

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:28:45 +0200

“You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.”

- Ray Bradbury (via Projectionist).

Recent internet drama got me thinking. If I have no haters when I die, I’ll know I’ve...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:12:22 +0200

Recent internet drama got me thinking. If I have no haters when I die, I’ll know I’ve been doing something wrong. All interesting people have haters. Humans are so put together that if someone does anything out of the ordinary, some of us will hate them.