Category Archives: amused

Reasons to love California, #6

Robotic squirrels: “That’s where the robot squirrels come in. To find out, Sanjay Joshi, a mechanical and aerospace engineer at the University of California, Davis, built a squirrel with a heatable tail and a flagging mechanism, each controlled separately. That … Continue reading

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What is it about these one-eyed bad boys?

So, here’s my latest monovision crush: Date Masamune from Sengoku Basara anime. The anime is based on a fighting game “set” during the Waring States Period, populated with “real” historical figures, and all twenty-four episodes are thoroughly delightful. I’m not … Continue reading

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The perils of the unprepared

She might not be a Moonie, but she’s definitely an idiot. “Reporter: No, actually, because when Reagan came in later on, things actually changed. “Brown: No, Reagan came before me. Reagan came after my father and then I came after … Continue reading

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Slaves of Facebook

“Me (Adrienne Jeffries): I’m looking for… like, whether this is a privacy issue? “Mr. Moglen: I don’t understand what that means. “The data is a privacy issue because we have an enormous ecological disaster created by badly-designed social media now … Continue reading

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Nobody uses social media, and nobody wastes time

“Like many, I’ve been slowly rewatching Deep Space Nine ever since it popped up on Netflix. It’s been fascinating. On the one hand: Oh 90s! YOU WERE THE BEST! With your adorable WE ARE SO DARK plots that seem like … Continue reading

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‘Tuba Raids’ Plague Schools in California

“BELL, Calif. — When thieves broke into the high school music room here this week, they cut through the bolts on all the storage lockers and ripped two doors off their frames. But they didn’t touch the computer or the … Continue reading

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Dickmania (I didn’t make that up)

My favorite Brit blogger did: “Some lucky bastard would have got one of the two most mature and devastating of Dickens’s novels – namely Little Dorrit and Bleak House. Each concerns itself with the corruption inherent in the material world, … Continue reading

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TS Eliot’s day job

Makes me feel better about mine. “Even after he published, Prufrock and The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot continued to work his day job at a bank. The new volume of his letters reveals his financial anxieties and his unexpected attitude … Continue reading

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Art pays sometimes

Although crime still pays better, or so I’m told. “The graffiti artist who took Facebook stock instead of cash for painting the walls of the social network’s first headquarters made a smart bet. The shares owned by the artist, David … Continue reading

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If they won’t go away, they should at least cough up some dough

Geeze, either or, folks, either or. Tell Kim Kardashian (and the rest of them [GM]) to endorse the millionaires tax (or go away [GM]) Oh, and then there’s the question of paying decent taxes on ill-gotten gains and possibly doing … Continue reading

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LOL Orthography

I can has language play: Construction of Language and Identity in LOLspeak from Lauren Gawne on Vimeo. (via of all places) Linguists. Economists. Kitty creole. Hey, why not?

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Happy Thanksgiving

for those who celebrate it and have a nice day for those who don’t.

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Dali at Disney

“As fascinating as the film itself is the juxtaposition of the two creative geniuses behind it, each bringing his own life-lens to the project — Dalí described the film as ‘A magical display of the problem of life in the … Continue reading

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Han shot first (about 13:00 in)

2011/05 Maria Popova from CreativeMornings on Vimeo. Maria Popova at Creative Mornings, sometime in May 2011 because they’re too cool to give you an actual date. (So they don’t get an actual link from me.)

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The difference between science and religion

Science wins! Okay, that’s enough Terence Mckenna

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Pro bono proctologists

I don’t care who this Terence Mckenna guy is, he’s got great comic timing.

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How to drive well

The Zipper Merge Nice to know there’s a name for it. (via)

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I want this book

You are not so Smart, by David McRaney I like this guy’s blog, too. Such as: “The research suggests you and rest of humanity will continue to churn into groups, banding and disbanding, and the beautiful collective species-wide macromonoculture imagined … Continue reading

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Comic Con 2011: Sho Murase

Sho Murase has been working in animation as a freelance character designer and storyboarder for the past ten years. At this year’s Comic Con, she’s showing and selling her personal work. She was raised in Spain and went to art … Continue reading

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Stripped – the future of comics

This might be fun when it comes out.

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Science Kiddies

How adorable: “A pair of high school sleuths sequenced the DNA from their dinners to determine that New York City sushi wasn’t always what it claimed to be.” DNA Sequences Expose Fishy Sushi, Findings Magazine, July 27, 2011

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Comic Con 2011: Shannon Wheeler

Between now and the last time I saw him, Shannon Wheeler shaved off his beard. Then he won an Eisner. Is there a connection? Discuss. Shannon’s upcoming book from Top Shelf is “God is Disappointed in you” in which the … Continue reading

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Come fly with me, come fly, let’s fly, fly away

“A few weeks ago, Malaysia Airlines announced that it would ban infants from flying in the first-class cabin because other passengers had complained about squalling babies. And last February it was rumored that Virgin Atlantic and British Airways had been … Continue reading

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“Did I vote on your marriage?”

The most hilariously effective signs supporting gay marriage. And don’t forget the booming business divorce lawyers will be/are already doing, too.

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The internet eats the seed corn

Robert Levine interview about this book “Free Ride – How the Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back” published by giant publisher Random House. I wish I could embed this video, but … Continue reading

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Paul Krugman interview and five books

“This is a very unusual set of novels from Isaac Asimov, but a classic. It’s not about gadgets. Although it’s supposed to be about a galactic civilisation, the technology is virtually invisible and it’s not about space battles or anything … Continue reading

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Links Methinks

And then I stop reading this blog How educated are state legislators? (CA wins for once) Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows One man’s war on clichés (To the barricades!) U.S. Drought Monitor Profile of a Twitter user (oh, yeah, Twitter…is that … Continue reading

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And I thought redistricting was dullsville

“In its Santa Ana meeting, the Redistricting Commission was asked by many people to keep Garden Grove with Westminster and separate both from Santa Ana, in part to allow the Vietnamese community to develop its future political influence. To its … Continue reading

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Now this is a book trailer

But you don’t know it’s a book trailer until the end. And not really even then. ()

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Boston Airport

1 hour and 10 minutes of it compressed into 2.5 minutes. via

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