Physics; Not Just A Good Idea

Nope, they're laws for a reason.

If you've ever played Escape Velocity, watched Firefly, Star Trek, Star Wars, or any number of other space based shows or countless movies and books you should check out the rather long piece up on Gizmodo going over what actual space combat might look like.

Hint; entertainment doesn't really get it right...

First, pending a major development in propulsion technology, combat spacecraft would likely get around the same way the Apollo spacecraft went to the Moon and back: with orbit changes effected by discrete main-engine burns.

(via kottke)

Mr. Walken's Neighborhood

This afternoon I fell down the rabbit hole that is Christopher Walken videos on YouTube. Don't ask how it happened, as usual it's a long story.

Never fear though, I brought this back for you...



Nice sweater too!

Not The Best List Ever

The Onion has it's contribution to the yearly top ten list extravaganza up, The Top Ten Stories of the Last 4.5 Billion Years.

The list itself is pretty disappointing by Onion standards, item number five however is genius...

Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World:

...According to the cuneiform tablets, Sumerians found God's most puzzling act to be the creation from dust of the first two human beings. "These two people made in his image do not know how to communicate, lack skills in both mathematics and farming, and have the intellectual capacity of an infant," one Sumerian philosopher wrote. "They must be the creation of a complete idiot."

(via kottke)

Put This In Your Top Ten List Pipe And Smoke It

Being the end of a decade (somewhere along the way we decided to call it the aughts? really?) this December is seeing an awful lot of top ten lists.

This may not be the only one I point you to but it is the one that you're most likely to have missed otherwise and the least likely to be duplicated.

So head over to Bad Astronomy and check out the Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2009.

(via GeekDad)

Not Sure What This Kid Has Left To Ask For At X-Mas...

Wow, once again the internets are here to prove that some people have too much time on their hands...



And apparently money to pay that electricity bill, I bet they'll say it was worth every penny.

(via kottke)

The Google Phone Lives

Shots of it are appearing in the wild, and if you're tech inclined at all you already know all of this. Google apparently gave it out to a ton of employees for 'dog-food testing' or 'dog-fooding' (no I haven't made those terms up, neither have I heard them before).

The initial reports are promising, and if I wasn't a broke grad student refusng to pay for a data plan I'd be feeling fairly excited...

Wired has the rundown.

Have A Look

Or a whole bunch of looks actually, at this photo project of 100 images in 100 days taken earlier this year in Glacier National Park as part of the celebration of the Park's centennial.

Here is my favorite from the first 50...

The photos were taken by Glacier Park Magazine editor Chris Peterson using a variety of camera platforms that would have been used throughout the Park's history. Be sure to visit the project's site; Peterson's mini-stories behind each image are delightful and revealing. Scroll all the way to the bottom if you'd like to see them in order from day 1.

(via TBP)

It's A Bird, It's A Plane...

It's a cloud?

The photo is up on The Telegraph's site, apparently that's a lenticular cloud.

(via MR)

That's Ms. Julia Child...

Luckily Julia brought her flame thrower along...



If you watched any of Food Networks next star chef or whatever they called that show compare the contestants reactions to on air failures and ribbing to just how smooth the master is.

(via EMD who informs us that the clip is from 1987)

In Which We Take A Musical Interlude...

Procrastinating during finals reading week can take some work, luckily the muppets are here to help...



(via Geek Dad who just got added to the RSS reader)

Au Revoir Jean Claude

Jean Claude of Jean Claude & Christo fame has passed away.

Christo & Jean Claude's website has a brief note, the art will go on.

(via kottke)

Now You See Him...

Liu Bolin, the artist and subject of this image, is not truly an invisible man. He's just painted to look that way.

(That means no photshop, and be sure to follow the link for more shots, try to find him in the last image)

(via MR)

Have a Cat?

You'll love Simon's Cat even if you don't but cat owners out there these are for you.

Unfortunately the videos aren't embeddable so head to the youtube page or the website to meet Simon's Cat.

Movie Flow Charts

The latest XKCD is so awesome I can't even begin to describe it...

Click through for the large version.

Still Worth Reading the Newspaper

I pick up a copy of the NYT pretty much everyday (it helps that my school provides them free of charge) and I thourgouly enjoy reading the paper and doing the crossword even if it takes me a few days to get to it.

Which brings us to this video...



Because I just got to the article in Thursday's Business section on how United lost this guys bags last week.

Wait, We Really Have Trained Military Dolphins?

Apparently, this photo is the first thing that came up when I searched flickr for "usmilitary".

I'd noticed it as the credit link for a photo on Tom Ricks' blog and wondered if that meant that the military had its own flickr stream. While that question remains unanswered Johnny Nemonic fans can take solace in knowing that the mine clearing dolphins are out there...

The photo is from flickr user lakerae.

It's Gonna Be A Long Season

I haven't even managed to watch a Skins game yet this year, partly due to a lack of TV (although that technological fix has been made) and mostly because everyone says don't bother it's just too painful.

You know things are officially really bad when The Onion comes a calling...

Redskins Hold Press Conference to Announce That They Are Still Sort Of A Football Team.

(via FB)

Taking the Sandbox to a Whole New Level

This is absolutely mesmerizing...



the amount of time and practice and trail and error in discovering what moves would be required to create the desired images boggles my mind.

(via kottke)

Forget Photo of the Day

This site will keep you busy for a while and coming back to see more.

Vivian Maier's photographs were recently acquired at auction, around 40,000 of them from the 50's, 60's, and 70's in and around Chicago, previously unknown they are now being exhibited for the very first time online.

That's my favorite from the first dozen or so, if you're in to street photography you're in for a good time.

(via kottke)

I Got Your AutoTune Right Here

AutoTune the News doesn't do it for me. Autotuning Carl Sagan on the other hand...



(via kottke)

Can You Hear Me Now?

Wow, 8% of the humans living on the earth are China Mobile wireless subscribers...

That is a very impressive stat, although I think it speaks more to just how many people there are in China than anything else. It's probably also representative of the increasing move away from landlines, especially as the gap in ease and cost of setting up wireless in rural areas vs. landlines continues to grow.



(via HTWW)

The Bottle Stands By You Mr. Walker

Great six minute long Johnnie Walker ad starring Robert Carlye in a single take...



The video comes via Eat Me Daily which also links to an interview with the director, Jamie Rafn.

Glee Rocks!

You should watch it on Hulu, no one wants to see actual ads.

You should also watch this video of Sam Tsui...

Johnny Mac Is Back

Not sure about all the background on this one, but if you're a tennis fan you're sure to enjoy...



(via kotkke)

Nice Picture, Now What Do You Really Look like?

Food In Real Life is a one design blog examining how closely food resembles it's packaging or other advertising renditions and appearances.

Not surprisingly most items aren't up to snuff (you must already have heard that they use glue for milk when shooting cereal boxes, and that they place each sesame seed on a burger bun with tweezers before the shoot) but there are a few (think pop tarts and Uncle Bens) that are fairly accurate.

Bonus points for the tastiness reviews.

(via EMD)

Take A Look...

It's still in a book, but Reading Rainbow isn't on tv anymore.

This video seems to be everywhere so I'll just go ahead and pile on...

Keeping It Local

So I once again have a neighborhood bookstore, and The Regulator would like to remind us all of the importance of keeping it local...



(via the neighborhood listserv)

Avatar-a-licious!

The Guild will be back with Season 3 soon, until then well you better see for yourself...

Should I Leave Room For Cream? - The Coffee Cup Mona Lisa

Eat Me Daily has this photo of the Mona Lisa created from 3604 cups of coffee...

(original from flickr user Gilles Gravier)

Head over to EMD for the details and a stop motion video of the creation of this masterpiece.

Bat Tricks

Seen this around in a couple of different formats as well but this video shows off a ton of the different tricks that minor leaguer Josh Womack has up his sleeve...

Let's Play Ball!

Or at least feast on some kicking baseball info graphics courtesy of Craig Robinson over at Flip Flop Fly Ball.

Here's a teaser, it's still pretty tricky to get into the Hall of Fame:


Be careful, it's a time sink...

Go. Fast.

Kottke has a pretty cool collection up of online videos people have made of themselves going fast, very very fast; and doing so in occasionally quite creative ways.

Here is the first video in the string, be sure to follow the link for more cars, bikes, trains, boards, and people jumping out or off of things, as well as the story behind this video...

You're Eating That Banana Backwards

This guy will set you straight though...



Whoa.

(via Eat Me Daily)

Your Lyin' Eyes

This was apparently all over the place (I'm getting caught up) last week.

The thing of it is, the blue and green are actually the same color. Visit Discover Mag's website for an explanation.

(originally displayed here, with lots of info on color based illusions)

MJ Tribute

Hey subtle is classy...

Mama Finally Went And Did It

Even Paul Simon could only delay the inevitable. They've taken Kodachrome away...

Netflix Prize Won

Well, nearly so at least. The 10% improvement on Netflix's prediction algorithm needed to claim the prize has been achieved. The rules give all other competitors 30 days to best the 10.05% mark and then its all over.

Some very cool work has been done on the Netflix Prize and it's been interesting even just casually following the teams' progress.

Wired has the full story.

(vial Bloggasm)

Ahh No Va...

Read all about in the WaPo Metro section.

The Stache Returns

Arizona Diamondbacks' pitcher Clay Zavada has arrived in the big leagues with a seriously big league stache. His facial hair harkens back to the good ole Rollie Fingers days.

Dr. Aaron Purlet, head of the American Mustache Institute, recently discussed Zavada and his stache on ESPN...

Jump! Jump!

The WaPo sports section has a story about Skins rookie WR Keith Eloi trying to get noticed by teams before the draft after having played college ball for Div. II Nebraska-Omaha. It's a fun little story that starts with the tale of how he umped into the back of a pickup truck, in his sandals no less, for a YouTube video. I think you know where this is going...



Apparently jumping out of a pool will get you more views though (1 million plus in fact):



And one more before I claw my way out of the rabbit hole before its too late...



Oh hell one more won't hurt...

Hey Kids Ryan Howard Eats His Veggies And So Should You

Phillies slugger Ryan Howard got a tour of the organic garden at the White House last week...



Why are these guys wearing suits to go rummage around the garden and compost etc?

(via DCist)

Improv Everywhere Is Improbably Cute

They threw a random wedding reception as their latest prank, or mission if you will which is what the group terms them...



visit Improv Everywhere

Way To Keep It Classy Lebron

So Lebron James, the face and future of the NBA, didn't want to shake the Magic players hands after his Cavs were eliminated from the playoffs because he's a winner? Does that mean he only shakes hands when he wins? How did he think that was the right explanation?

Vrrrrooooom! More Great Online Info Displays

I'm a sucker for online info graphics, particularly of the interactive persuasion. If you read the political side of things here you'll remember my pointing out great NYT features on debates during the the election and somewhere in the archives here on page too I linked to the searchable/interactive map of tweets during the superbowl.

I'm not a race car fan at all, I just don't get it why would I want to watch a bunch of cars make 1,000 left turns? And, as this Indy car tracker from the Indy Star shows, the cars up front definitely don't do a lot of passing either.

If you're a diehard race fan I bet you'll be able to mine this feature for details about the 2009 Indy 500, if you're like me you'll appreciate it for its other qualities. Definitely go take a look, playing the entire race run through only takes a couple of minutes.

(via kottke)

More Of Damien Walters

I am very impressed, this guy must be about the best gymnast in the world too...



I'm also impressed with the upgrades to embedded videos that YouTube has made.

How'd They Get Them All On That Screen?

Sidney Poitier tells Morning Edition the lovely story of the first time he saw a movie.

Go listen, it'll be the best four minutes of your morning.

Interesting Mail

So the newspaper industry is slowly or maybe quickly dying, or at least changing drastically in the face of the internet. Luckily for you news still gets delivered in magazines. If the standard waiting room fair is too blase for you the WSJ has a rundown of inventive magazines that will certainly puzzle the mailman. Some are goody boxes, others fabulously expensive and filled with limited edition art, some come in frisbees and others come in cans, one is printed on the inside of a t-shirt.

The article is worth a look.

Or you could just teach the computer to buy stuff on e-bay, you might not be able to read everything that comes but it sure would keep the mail interesting...

(as always visit xkcd for the scroll over)

Google Traffic Is Cool

I don't know how long it's been up for or how it works, or even if it's accurate but Google Traffic is at the very least an interesting idea and pretty cool looking.

Unfortunately the traffic maps are not embeddable (they supposedly offer live info so that makes sense) and I don't feel like doing a screen capture, but follow the links to check it out...

DC, NYC, Boston, B'More

It looks like most major metropolitan areas are wired up and as the above links show the Bos-Wash corridor is certainly online.

One Thousand Paper...

There might be that many folds in some of Simon Schubert's more intricate pieces but he isn't making paper cranes or origami of any type. Schubert makes small folds, and lots of them, in paper to create an image, mostly 2-D it looks like, that vaguely resembles a light charcoal drawing.

Visit his site for many more.

(via Kottke)

It's Hard To Beat A Good Tabbouleh

And yes if my girlfriend made it without tomatoes I might have to leave her...



(via Eat Me Daily)

Well Sheeeeeeeeeet

Little Mac is getting back in the ring. Punch Out for Wii is coming soon, check out Doc...



(via Kottke)

Yes That Dolphin Is Pink

Technically it's an albino Bottlenose, but this dolphin's coloration is a stunning shade of pink.

Read the article from the Telegraph (UK).

Happy Mother's Day - Semi NSFW

Welcome to the guaranteed viral video success follow-up to dick in a box...



Semi NSFW

How To Get Kids To Play The Flute

Well this sure makes me think it would be pretty cool...



Impressive, reminds me of Rahzel...



It's pretty cool watching this stuff on line but I can tell you it's fairly insane seeing it live, if you ever have the chance make sure to check it out.

(via JA on facebook)

Isn't It Ironic...

No. not rain on your wedding day (that's just pretty crummy, but not very ironic). On the other hand those flashy new laptop hunter commercials from Microsoft appear likely to have been made on Macs (at least everyone who works at the ad agency behind the spots uses a Mac, you do the math).

Have A Smart Phone?

(none of the images returned in a google search for smartphones contained the IPhone, interesting no?)

Help Wired test out national 3G network speeds. For the next week Wired is asking folks to run an app on their smart phones which will test the 3G network's capabilities in their location and then make the data available on a big old map, you also get to rate your satisfaction with your carrier.

At the end of the week Wired will report back with the results.

Full details and instructions are up at the Gadget Lab.

Mr. Kelly Will Take You To School Now

Gene Kelly was pretty much the man...



Color me impressed.

(via Kottke)

Separate And Equal

Physically separated bike lanes are very cool and successful...



(via GGW)

The World Of Acoustic Hip Hop Covers

I fell down a very deep rabbit hole this morning after Ezra Klein posted this video of a rather rotund heavily bearded and very Caucasian dude (Mat Wettle of Obadiah Parker) playing an acoustic cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya":



(A different video with better audio of the same exists, but is not embedable)

That led to this M.I.A cover...



Which subsequently led me to Marie Digby elegantly covering Rhianna's "Umbrella"...



A little bit of searching on You Tube turned up a couple of more nuggets. The Scared Dinosaurs doing Soulja Boy's "Crank That" (this one might be my favorite):



And One Republic sponsoring a You Tube acoustic cover contest for their song "Apolgize":



At this point I knew it was time to desperately extricate myself before I disappeared completely into the You Tubes. But not before looking for one of the earliest hip hop acoustic covers to go big time, Dynamite Hack taking on "Boys in the Hood". Surprisingly the only thing interesting I could find was a video made out of scenes from one of the more recent Grand Theft Auto games which appears to contain the track...



It's also worth noting that this is a popular genre, at least online, and that several of these videos have well over 1 million views (one of them has been watched more than 12.5 million times)

Yet Another Reason To Love Vermont

You can get REAL syrup on your pancakes at IHOP...

So when the land of piping-hot pancakes and fresh maple syrup became the 50th state to welcome an IHOP last month, the franchise owners sought permission to depart from the chain’s standard fare. The IHOP here is the only one of about 1,400 in the United States, Canada and Mexico to serve real maple syrup.

“You can’t open up a Vermont pancake shop without Vermont maple syrup,” said Sam Handy Jr., who is the restaurant’s general manager and whose family owns the franchise.

(via Kottke)

Badass Biking

No two ways about it that's what we have here in a crazy video just released by UK based Inspired Bicycles featuring rider Danny MacAskill in Edinburgh.



I've seen a couple of demos at bike expos before but nothing quite like this. There's probably plenty of other folks out there riding like this and plety of videos if you go looking though.

Interesting aside, the video is available in HQ on YouTube and not available in HD on Vimeo. A bit odd since this seems to be right up Vimeo's alley. It seems (this may be way too much extrapolation however) that YouTube's move to offer higher quality (and HD) uploading is paying off.

(via GL)

Who Doesn't Love Jenga?

And who hasn't spent hours shooting rubber bands at things? Ok, maybe not recently but at some earlier point in your life you did. Now imagine combing these two excellent pursuits and then taking them to 11...



via (GL)

Not Your Average Celebrity

Then again, I suppose that being a celebrity negates being average on principle. Either way it appears to be young female celebrity day here and we'll follow up the satire from the previous post with an instruction to go read Scarlett Johansson's piece at HuffPo on diet and exercise and how it worries / scares / frustrates her that the tabloid media continues to push the physical image of celebrities upon us and often urges crash dieting.

It's a thoughtful, righteously indignant screed and you should check it out...

Since dedicating myself to getting into "superhero shape," several articles regarding my weight have been brought to my attention. Claims have been made that I've been on a strict workout routine regulated by co-stars, whipped into shape by trainers I've never met, eating sprouted grains I can't pronounce and ultimately losing 14 pounds off my 5'3" frame. Losing 14 pounds out of necessity in order to live a healthier life is a huge victory. I'm a petite person to begin with, so the idea of my losing this amount of weight is utter lunacy. If I were to lose 14 pounds, I'd have to part with both arms. And a foot. I'm frustrated with the irresponsibility of tabloid media who sell the public ideas about what we should look like and how we should get there.

(via EK)

Lindsay Lohan Is Alone

At least according to the tabloid rumors and her new eHarmony ad...

Lindsay Lohan's eHarmony Profile from Lindsay Lohan

(via bloggasm)

Holy Royal Rumble

The Catholics and Presbyterians are at each others' (metaphorical) throats in the Denver ex-urbs.

The back and forth on the church message boards across the street from each other is ridiculously awesome, and it mostly concerns whether dogs can go to heaven...

(via BD)

It's Music...

I think. At the very least it's very creative. Kutiman, nee Ophir Kutiel, a twenty-something Israeli semi-musician has a web album of sorts out known as the Thru-You project. Basically he's mixed together lots of YouTube samples to create actual songs or tracks, depending on how you want to calssify them. It's a good listen and interesting viewing as well.

Thru-You project page.

Kutiman interview with Sasha Frere-Jones.

(via SFJ)

Presenting The BAAAA-Studs

You've probably seen at least a bit of a working dog competition somewhere on tv (between Nat. Geo., Animal Planet, Discovery etc how could you not have) but none of those dogs or handlers have anything on these guys.

This has to be about the most awesome thing I've ever seen, seriously.



(via kottke)

Don't Waste Water

Seriously don't do it, those people are cheering the dude who stops the running toilet not the toilet. Plus the sound from a running toilet will drive you nuts (and or make you have to pee)...



(via facebook)

I Think SkyNet Is Here...

Either that or we're a step closer to the Matrix.

Google's at it again this year and once again it's a doozy. They've released the first Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity in to the wild as it were.

About, Homepage, Tech Specs

"All your personal world wide Website belong to CADIE" Yes, yes they probably do.

Enjoy, although I'm still waiting to hear about when I get to go to Mars.

Update:

I just noticed that CADIE will also respond to all of your emails for you if you turn on gmail autopilot today, very nice.

Top Chef Shilling

First Tom Colicchio shows up in an ad for Diet Coke that takes a huge swipe at Grant Achatz...



And now Padma Lakshmi is starring in a new bit of food porn (yes, and not in the sense that the food is sexy either) with a Western Bacon ThickBurger from Hardee's...



These ads are terrible. Is there something in the water on the Top Chef set that's affecting people's judgment? Do Colicchio and Lakshmi really want to be associated with Diet Coke and Hardee's, it certainly makes me question their bona fides. I'm not going to drink Diet Coke or eat a Thickburger because of Colicchio or Lakshmi but I will think twice about buying a cookbook or frequenting a restaurant run by either of them because of these ads.

(both via Young & Hungry)

Word Problems

Figuring out when those two trains would meet may well have been the bane of your middle school existence but getting your weekly fix of new math from Craig Dramrauer will help make Monday's something to look forward to...



Probably about an 75% success rate I'd say, some are definitely better than others.

(via Freakonomics)

Form Fitting

We've been meaning to share this photo from The Big Picture for a while now...

Footprints carved in wood, which locals believe were made by a worshipper who prayed at the same spot for decades, are seen at a monastery near Tongren, Qinghai province February 5, 2009. Local Tibetan monks and pilgrims gather to celebrate Monlam, or Great Prayer Festival, one of the most important festivals in Tibetan Buddhism. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause)

That is impressive. After a while it would become increasingly easy to return to the same spot as the wood began to wear away, but to get to that point probably took years of managing to return to the exact same spot with ridiculous precision.

Robo-Fish On The Loose

As enthralled by cool technological advantages as I am, they often remind me of the Matrix, or Terminator series and I wonder if we'll end up like the people in Player Piano.

Nevertheless these new robotic fish that are being released off of the coast of Spain to hunt out pollution and spills etc are very very cool...



(via blogfish)

How Many Moons?

Here is a great shot, if you like astronomy I guess, taken by the hubble telescope recently.

Four, count them four, of Saturn's moons are captured transiting the planet...

I love that you can see some of the shadows. Read more on the Discover Magazine blog.

Vive La Blogotheque

Through Facebook a friend just turned me on to La Blogotheque, and it's fantastic.

Apparently a Parisian collaborative with access to great musicians they put together 'concerts a emporter' or 'take away shows', you should really check this out. I first got sent to the great Fleet Foxes video but I'm gonna share Pigeon John from the in a van series...


Pigeon John - Higher - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Follow the links through for much more and larger HD video and sound...

Hate Shopping?

What's wrong with you? Mostly it's just looking at toys, and if it's food shopping it's looking for some good stuff to eat, yum.

If you feel lost in the grocery store though here are some helpful tips; they're quite straight forward but useful nonetheless...



Also if you find yourself wondering what to do at the fish counter or in a seafood restaurant text FISH and the type you're wondering about to 30644 and the Blue Ocean Institute will help you out.

Honey I Shrunk The Ipod

Have you seen the new shuffle? The thing is tiny.

Apparently they also make a Lego version. I don't know what's going on with Legos these days; when I was little I was totally jealous of Zack the Lego maniac kid from the ads but I grew up, and then when they started doing the marketing crossover stuff with movies I decided that Lego had pretty much jumped the shark.

Still that's a cool shot. I copped it from Gadget Lab, don't know where they got it though.

Did You Have A Piece Of Pi Yesterday?

So it turns out that yesterday March 14 (3.14) was National Pi Day.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

No I'm totally serious...



That's a movie you should seriously watch, yes it will make your head hurt but it is totally worth it.

This is my favorite from about 5 minutes on you tube, this looks to be another one of those deeeeep rabbit holes...

Filling the Reader

I'm totally hooked on google reader, any rss reader will probably do but google integrates with all the other things I already use so well (gmail primarily). I've been using the reader with greater regularity of late, which means that instead of trying to keep my unread posts in the 500 neighborhood I'm manging a much more impressive 250-300 level despite recently adding several new feeds.

This does mean that I'm more on top of my feed management which means that new feeds are under higher scrutiny and have only a short time to sink or swim.

I've got a food section (oh you didn't know? you need to ask somebody!) and thought that the Atlantic's new food feed looked worth a shot, especially considering that it promised to be at least slightly DC centric.

So far, not so good. The feed is currently dangling by a thread after several uninteresting posts, nothing that I wanted to star and then to cap things off a note on coffee types that not only didn't tell me anything I didn't already know but used Starbucks and Peets as the baseline for good coffee.

Good luck with that one Atlantic, I'm giving you the chop on Monday.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's Gannet Man!!!!

Ok this guy is nuts, watch as he jumps out of a helicopter and grabs a huge marlin. Of course he's Australian...



Via Blogfish

The Incredible Shrinking Pint

Is nothing in these troubled economic times sacred? Via Freakonomics comes the news that Haagen Dazs is reducing the size of their pints of ice cream from 16 to 14 ounces. The company claims increasing prices for ingredients, but the bottom line is you now get less ice cream for your buck. Also HD is lying to you about how much they're giving you; the containers will still says one pint only now they aren't a pint.

It isn't really like I needed another reason to reach for the Ben & Jerrys instead but that pretty much seals the deal for me. Especially when B&J's says that in tiought times like these I deserve a full pint of ice cream.

Reminds me of when Dannon downsized their yogurt containers from 8 to 6 ounces and I instantly switched to the next brand over on the shelf who's containers said still 8 ounces in big bright letters (I think that was the Brown Cow one).

I'll really be upset if this kind of thing creeps in to bars and beer sales. It's bad enough that they tell us a pint is 16 ounces here in the States can you imagine 12 ounce drafts and 10 ounce cans and bottles? Shudder.

Did Led Zep Play Wheaton?

Fun article in the WaPo Style section today, especially if you grew up in Montgomery County. It seems that Led Zeppelin may (or may not) have played the Wheaton Rec Center as one of there earliest US gigs.

Jeff Krulik, who made Heavy Metal Parking Lot (which I haven't seen) is sorting out the story and putting together a film on it.

These days what you should do is keep an eye out for Lez Zeppelin's next swing through town, they put on a fantastic show.

Attention Soprano and Godfather Fans

So the last issue of Vanity Fair had a big article on the ins and outs of getting The Godfather made (I've skimmed it, worth a read). But the author, Mark Seal, never managed to run down the rumor that some of the cast had hung out with the real deal to get the flavor, as they say.

Well when that issue hit the news stand the phone rang at Vanity Fair and to keep it simple, the cast of the Godfather had gone to pretty much the real live Tony Soprano's in Fort Lee New Jersey to pick up some pointers and his daughter, Gio, wanted to share the story and some pictures.

Seriously go read the story already, it has all the details...

42!

Maybe I need to go get a new Kindle...

The Short You Should See

You may well be able to find all of the nominated shorts from last night's Oscars online, or at least the animated ones, and some theaters ut on a package viewing in the run up to the awards show, but if all you had seen was Presto (like everyone else in America) the short that ought to have caught your eye and made me laugh out loud from the nomination clip alone was Oktapodi.

You can watch it here.

And yes the guy who said that letting Presto into this category was kind of lilke bringing a gun to a knife fight was probably right.

(via Slate)

Fear The Turtle In A Whole New Way - Semi NSFW

Dan Savage was on the road last week and didn't get to answer every question posed to him on cute little 3x5 cards at colleges and universities across the country, so he got to some of the choicier ones in this week's column.

This is for you MD fans, alums, and students out there...

Please assign new salacious definitions to the following terms, which are near and dear to the hearts of UM students: “Cornerstone,” “Fear the Turtle,” and “Diamondbacking.”

Cornerstone: When you get high in order to break through a sexual inhibition—like when pot helps you “turn a corner” sexually. “Sue wanted to peg her boyfriend Drew, but he just couldn’t do it until he got cornerstoned.”

Fear the Turtle: What a woman experiences when she realizes halfway through vaginal intercourse that her bowels are full and her enjoyment of the sex has been superseded by her fear of crapping the bed. “Sue had to ask Drew to stop fucking her because she feared the turtle. She got on the can for a minute, then hopped back in bed, and no longer feared the turtle.”

Diamondbacking: Consenting to anal sex in the hopes that doing so will inspire a boyfriend to propose. “Sue knew that Drew was totally into anal sex, so she let him diamondback her. Now they’re engaged.”

The whole column is a winner.

Why Did The Tourist Cross The Road?

Because the Beatles did, silly.



It's pretty fun watching the people decide just how badly they want to cross Abbey Road looking like one of the fab four. It's also really interesting watching the traffic, quite calmly, avoid everyone even the people standing in the middle of a busy intersection paying no attention to anything other than taking a picture of their friends.

It does make me wonder if this is a typical day or if folks could see the camera that was filming and hammed it up an extra bit.

I also quite enjoyed the band that made the video, it is technically a promo for their new album.

(via kottke)

Standard Cellphone Charger Looms

This is the best news I've heard all day.

You know that terrible feeling you get when you arrive at a travel destination only to discover that you've left behind your cellphone charger. You also know that great elation that follows if you manage to find someone with the same phone who is willing to let you use their charger.

Both of those feelings will one day be a thing of the past, unless you have an IPhone, according to a report from Wired's Gadget Lab.

17 major cellphone manufacturers, but not Apple, announced that they would all move to a standard mini-usb charger by the start of 2012. Very cool for a variety of reasons, including environmental ones as well as the forgotten charger drama previously mentioned.

Visit Gadget Lab for the details, and a few digs at Apple.

MoneyBall On The Court

Micheal Lewis, of MoneyBall fame, took a look at the NBA and one of it's unheralded, silent superstars, Shane Battier in a piece for the NYT Magazine last Sunday.

If you like Lewis and are intellectually interested in sports (ie you follow stats and play in a fantasy league) you'll enjoy the read. Even if you just like interesting things or just like sports you'll be happy to have read it...

In the statistically insignificant sample of professional athletes I’ve come to know a bit, two patterns have emerged. The first is, they tell you meaningful things only when you talk to them in places other than where they have been trained to answer questions. It’s pointless, for instance, to ask a basketball player about himself inside his locker room. For a start, he is naked; for another, he’s surrounded by the people he has learned to mistrust, his own teammates. The second pattern is the fact that seemingly trivial events in their childhoods have had huge influence on their careers. A cleanup hitter lives and dies by a swing he perfected when he was 7; a quarterback has a hitch in his throwing motion because he imitated his father. Here, in the Detroit Country Day School library, a few yards from the gym, Battier was back where he became a basketball player. And he was far less interested in what happened between him and Kobe Bryant four months ago than what happened when he was 12.

Facebook: Fear and Fun

I've recently joined the great internet boondoggle that is Facebook, and for the most part I'm quite happy with my experience. But do I own the information about myself that I've uploaded or does Facebook? And if Facebook owns it what can they do with it?

It is not a particularly nice question and apparently the answer is murky at best and fairly scary at worst. According a NY Times article today, Facebook appears to claim ownership of all information, including your likeness, that appears on the site. Perhaps most sketchy is that they quietly made changes to the terms of service agreement (which almost no one actually bothers to read). For the details check out the article.

Scary, certainly a little bit. But anytime you put info up on the internet you should do so with the expectation that it is out there and that you won't be able to fully control it. I guess it is part of the trade off for using an interesting, cool, useful service such as Facebook without paying for it.

On a more fun note Slate did some research on the recent 25 things chain post that tore through Facebook. It seems that 25 things spread just like an infectious disease epidemic does, very neat.

11!

Hell yeah they go to eleven.

The store is in Southampton, England. The shot was taken by hey mr glen.

(via GL)

Protecting Parkland Works

Just take a look at this mind blowing satellite image:Sidi Toui National Park, in the southern half of Tunisia, close to the Libyan border, viewed by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument on NASA's Landsat 7 satellite on December 13, 1999. Native vegetation can be seen returning inside the borders of this protected park (approx. 7 kilometers wide), established in 1993 to protect the region against desertification. The effects of continued agriculture, overgrazing and drought can be seen on the surrounding arid landscape. (NASA/Jesse Allen/Landsat,USGS)

The image is part of another great series at The Big Picture on the Earth as seen from above.

Does Farva Work In Virginia These Days?

It is possible, check it out...



And from today's WaPo...

Christy Gates, left, and Don Ferguson smoke at Shenanigan's Pub in Leesburg, Va.
(Tracy A. Woodward - The Washington Post)

Coincidence? I think not.

Hell Of A Shot

Wednesday is the best newspaper day of the week. While the color funnies and the crossword in the Sunday paper are pretty hard to beat, on Wednesday both of the papers that I get (NYT & WaPo) run a food section.

These sections can be hit and miss, which is to say that they aren't always all that they could be. But more often than not the food sections are the best part of the paper (news reporting notwithstanding).

The NYT had this great photo of three top flight New York restaurateurs on the cover of this week's Dining section. Editor Pete Wells took to the internet to describe how they managed to pull the shot off.

Photo Illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

HUNGRY MEN From left: Mario Batali of Del Posto, Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque and Jean-Georges Vongerichten of Perry St., Nougatine and Matsugen really really want you to visit.

You Tube Spot The Difference Game

If you've ever been to a bar that has the little arcade game console with the spot the difference game on it you know two things. 1) I really like that game, and 2) that game is awesome.

For both of those reasons I was psyched to see this new you tube version of the game for the Oscar nominees highlighted on Bloggasm.



Mostly I just enjoyed playing the game, but it is also an interesting adaptation and evolution in the uses of you tube. It has been very cool in my lifetime to watch the internet grow and change and this looks like yet another little piece of all that.

I had to retry the Frost / Nixon one and finally crapped out on level 21 - Vicky Christina Barcelona. How far can you get?

Have fun...

Night Flight

This is just a beautiful time lapse out the window of a cross country flight.

Sorry I can't figure out how to bring it to you here. So go visit the creator's flickr page to enjoy.

(via kottke)

Hudson River Runway

In case you haven't had your fill yet of watching video of the ditching in the Hudson River and the subsequent rescue of the passengers and crew here is a Coast Guard security camera that actually captured the plane landing in the river.

The plane comes in as a splash on the left hand side of the frame at about 2:02, as the camera zooms in moments later you can see that people are already getting out of the plane.



(video from Live Leak via TPM)

There was a nice bit of commentary this morning on NPR naming the rest of the flight crew and attendants and reminding everyone that a big part of the reason they're there is to keep us safe, handing out peanuts is sort of ancillary to the real job.

Welcome to DC (unless you're a prostitute)

Yep you read that right. Jason Gregg sent that photo into DCist this afternoon so no hooking from 4th-5th and Eye to L NW.

That website listed on the sign doesn't go anywhere these days but DCist found this great DC Police page on PFS's.

Waste Away

Need to kill that last half hour until quittin' time?

Visit pretty loaded, and watch the flash loaders float by, you'll be lucky if you ever get up from your desk...

(of course it's via kottke)

The Chair Recognizes...

So I'm taking Principles of Microeconomics in an effort to better myself (really I'll need it for the grad school program I'm hoping to get in to) and damn if I don't feel like Stringer Bell.



I know the sign on the door and the movie label say macro but they are mistaken, you could look it up.

I'm loving me some elasticity.

After all I do have the floor...

America Thru Her Streets

Or all streets as it's creator Ben Fry calls this map like image.

Believe it or not only named streets were laid down (no other features or boundaries were drawn) to create what you see here...


(via, who else, Kottke)

And Some People Have Blogs

Stanley Fish had a bad trip with the AT&T folks last month, and then he wrote all about it.

Seems that among the standard issues, chief among them the system lacking any iota of common sense and the difficulty in getting to talk to the correct person, Professor Fish tried to help AT&T with their grammar, which is terrible and apparently institutionalized.

Which reminds me of the episode of This American Life that documented one of the crew members' battle with Verizon over a phone bill that included Verizon claiming that they didn't have individual numbers at their desks among other malarkey. In the end they got everything straightened out but it left you wondering what you could do if you didn't work for a nationally syndicated radio show.

I wonder if the rise of blogging and the internets generally have had or will have any effect on customer service?

Comcast Must Die seems to have been pretty effective at least.

(despite my best efforts I was unable to locate the episode of This American Life in question. While google searches turned up other online references to said episode searching the TAL site for verizon and for 'phone bill' returned no hits. If you want to subscribe to the podcast the site is useful, if you want to look through the archives, well they don't really have them organized at all.)

Job Security

image from businesspundit.com

Apparently he also likes to eat sushi with both hands

I ate a lot of tuna and other fish while I was on Saipan (it probably averaged out to about once a day for a month) and I actually did get just paranoid enough to look up the symptoms of mercury poisoning. I never felt bad though and all the fish tasted great.

Jermey Piven wasn't so lucky. Last month he had to leave the Broadway show he was in to, as director David Mamet put it, pursue a new career as a thermometer.

It is cold and flu season after all...