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« Tuesday « August 29, 2006
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A Victory Lap for Broken Promises
(1115.org blog)
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[A]s the anniversary of the storm's landfall arrived, vast areas of New Orleans would remain in effectively the same condition they were in the day the water finally drained...[o]ne year after Katrina, and some houses rest off their foundations and in the streets. Cars sit upside down or crushed, some even under buildings washed away by flood waters. Water-damaged and mud-caked objects are distributed inside houses and in yards. Block after block, the damage appears infinite. The fact that $44 billion has been released for recovery, yet the ruins of the 9th ward are allowed to stand almost frozen in time, is nothing short of disgusting. (With photographs)
b/w: ByronCrawford.com blog
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The Color of Disaster Assistance
(WashingtonPost.com)
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A darker-skinned black received about $100 a month less over a shorter period of time than a light-skinned white, all other factors being equal -- a huge effect.The proof --and a well-designed test to prove it -- is all right there, in black and white, so to speak. Level-playing field my m*hf#$kin' *ss!
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« Monday « August 28, 2006
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Backwards Spot a Masterpiece
(Advertising Age)
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has contrived to run the greatest American political ad essentially in reverse, and so to cast his hapless opponent into the ominous gloaming. It's a cruel masterpiece.Watch the clip and decide for yourself. Let's hope the response is swift and brutal, though you have to wonder if the Dems have it in them. I'm hopeful but not optimistic. What we need is a campaign that gets really nasty and pulls out all the stops in propaganda deployment, because it's important for us to see just how low these people will stoop in order to get power. Ahnuld just called his opponent 'backwards,' while conveniently omitting any mention of why he'd be a better choice. So he's just slinging mud. And that's not nice. But politics isn't kind and it's not gentle, so why pretend? The Governator sure ain't...and no, it's not a too-mah.
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« Saturday « August 26, 2006
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The Frank Caliendo Effect
(I, Cringely)
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The success of YouTube (and Grouper) scares the studios because it shows the market no longer values the slick production values of major films... Internet videos are a new medium added to a growing pile of new media that suck up the time... on top of movies and broadcast TV there is cable and satellite TV, home video, pay-per-view, video on demand, Internet video, video gaming, cell phones, text messaging, web surfing, Internet chat, Skype, and half a dozen smaller applications that each threaten to grow into a further threat to a century of Hollywood dominating our views about what is cool and how to act cool. No wonder smoking is in decline.Interesting thoughts on the future of film and video entertainment from a guy who always thinks outside the box. The fact is there's still only 24 hours in a day, and more things to soak up one's free time and disposable income. The article has nothing to do with Frank Caliendo, but if you haven't seen his act, you're missing one of the great contemporary comic impressionists.
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Albert Einstein Robot
(YouTube/ROBORAMA.info)
Each day, we get closer to seeing cyborgs in production like the characters from Blade Runner, or Ellen Ripley's
nemeses Ash and Bishop from the classic Alien movies.
05:39:12 PM
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Albert Einstein Robot
(YouTube/ROBORAMA.info)
Each day, we get closer to seeing cyborgs in production like the characters from Blade Runner, or Ellen Ripley's
nemeses Ash and Bishop from the classic Alien movies.
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« Friday « August 25, 2006
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Protests over Survivor 'tribes'
(BBC)
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Officials in New York are campaigning to stop the broadcast of a new series of reality show Survivor which divides contestants into ethnic "tribes".Well CBS is getting exactly what it wanted: tons of free publicity for a show, that while still a Top 20 program, has been steadily declining in ratings, mostly because the format has been played out. But the protesters don't understand how the show is put together if their intention is to break up the tribes: when CBS announces the tribes, the show is already in the can: it's been shot and edited and all that remains is the broadcasting of the 13 episodes. There's no way CBS will cancel this program, it's still a big hit as far as ratings go, still reaching about 20 million homes a week, so that's a lot of ad revenue. This is really much ado about nothing: because if you've watched the show, the tribes naturally breakdown along ethnic lines anyway, it's just unspoken. The flaw with casting in the past is it was always two black people against 14 white people, or one Asian or Hispanic person against 15 white people, in other words there was never a true melting pot cast to represent all of America; Survivor never cast the show for diversity before. That was the real problem. I'm definitely watching this season!
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« Wednesday « August 23, 2006
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Dylan Calls Digital Recordings Atrocious
(Extreme Tech)
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"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine...[and] noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."Two things kill me about this commentary: 1) anytime I've ever heard a Bob Dylan song, I've always thought that his voice sounds like garbage; raking rusty nails over a chalkboard sound better; I understand that he's supposedly a genius songwriter (according to who?), but he sure as hell can't sing; and 2) given that the guy's 65 years old, and has spent a career in rock-and-roll, getting his eardrums pounded by modern, mega-watt sound amplification systems, do you think the natural process of aging has had any effect on his hearing? Really.
Update (9/3/2006): Irony, or just too-clever marketing, that shortly after Dylan trashes the quality of digital recordings that you can now download his latest album on iTunes, the all-digital, always-open music store? I guess Apple must have improved the quality of MP3/AAC recordings overnight. Bob Dylan gots ta sell records. Bob Dylan gots ta eat too!
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« Tuesday « August 22, 2006
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The real reason Bryant Gumbel went after Gene Upshaw
(SI.com)
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In a scathing rebuke of Bryant Gumbel's recent comments on HBO's Real Sports last week that NFLPA head Gene Upshaw is a "personal pet" of outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, former Minnesota Vikings running back and longtime player rep Robert Smith accused the TV host of both desperation and jealousy.The NFL is a great brand. The NFL is a great example of corporate identity, perhaps to the extreme. The NFL is a model of fascism of thought and ideas. Because the NFL accepts very little, if any, deviation from its cookie-cutter blueprint for profit-making through exploitation of young men's bodies, it's hard to distinguish their operation from that of a well-oiled factory; all that matters is that the assembly line keeps cranking along. So, the most interesting thing about this Gumbel incident is that they hired him in the first place to broadcast their games come mid-season 2006 (tentatively, now), because he sure doesn't fit the profile of typical corporate NFL drone. With Gumbel, you know what you're getting, and it's certainly not a company man; he's an independent thinker, and he's got a track record to prove it. But watch, as the NFL, and its players, start lining up to shout down his right express a dissenting opinion. When you put on a uniform, it's supposed to represent a uniformity of action. In the NFL, we also see a uniformity of thought and opinion. Pabulum by any other name would never taste so bland. And let's not forget, sport is a metaphor for larger society. As below, so above.
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Madden Day 2007
(EA Sports)
That's right: I'm addicted ... I ordered another copy of Madden today;
that makes five copies.
Unfortunately, it won't arrive for a few days!
07:01:11 PM
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Madden Day 2007
(EA Sports)
That's right: I'm addicted ... I ordered another copy of Madden today;
that makes five copies.
Unfortunately, it won't arrive for a few days!
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TrackMeNot
TrackMeNot is a browser extension that protects web-searchers against surveillance and data-profiling ... for Firefox.
Cool.
10:03:29 AM
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TrackMeNot
TrackMeNot is a browser extension that protects web-searchers against surveillance and data-profiling ... for Firefox.
Cool.
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« Monday « August 21, 2006
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'Snakes on a Plane' fails to charm moviegoers
(CNN Money)
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So much for the Internet hype."Snakes on a Plane," a camp thriller that generated an unprecedented tsunami of online hysteria during the past year, crawled into the No. 1 slot at the North American weekend box office with estimated ticket sales of just $15.3 million.I think everyone is mis-reading the Internet hype that Snakes... received. What the studio failed to do was take the real and significant Internet buzz and infect a sizeable off-line audience base with that energy. As hard as it may be for typical Internet heads to admit, the vast majority of the populace is not online, does not enjoy being online when they are forced to venture there, and probably will avoid going online whenever possible. The studio simply didn't take the Internet hype and spin it into off-line gold. These seem to be the same mistakes certain poll-topping Internet political candidates have already made in earlier election campaigns. I think you that you have to link the two worlds for maximum impact and success.
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Anheuser-Busch Moves Into Content Creation Business
(Advertising Age)
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The country's largest brewer is launching its own in-house film and TV production company that will make humorous shorts and sitcom-type programs to be broadcast over the internet and to cellphones.This is the future (and the past) of entertainment. Soap operas came into existence back in 1930s, primarily due to the sponsorship of soap companies, and now we can look forward to the "beer opera." Oh yeah, you should have really high hopes for this deal. If you ever wondered why we now seem to have 500 channels and nothing on, this should provide some insight. Dumb down and sell up; this ain't no Masterpiece Theater.
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« Thursday « August 17, 2006
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Billionaire backs youth teams
(Dallas Morning News)
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[H]e worries about whether the boys are getting too much, too soon -- whether it will be a letdown when they graduate to junior high and yellow buses and hand-me-down uniforms.Third-graders flying in private jets to play in hoops tourneys, oh my. It must be nice to have priorities when raising your children. When you see pro athletes these days, walking around with a sense that they're entitled to be treated like royalty -- all for being able to manipulate a f*ckin' piece of leather -- you've got to wonder, where does that attitude come from? This story gives a clue. I know there's a reason why each day I grow to like sports less and less. And the future looks bleak if these kinds of kids are on deck.
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« Tuesday « August 15, 2006
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Seven Dwarfs vs. Supreme Court justices
(United Press International)
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More U.S. residents know the Seven Dwarfs and Homer Simpson than the U.S. Supreme Court justices or British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a [Zogby] survey finds...[but these] results are not about how 'dumb' Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated.Well, we can argue about the 'dumb Americans' question, for sure. But to me, the most interesting thing about this poll is that it was commissioned by Mark Burnett Productions, for research on their forthcoming reality show, "Gold Rush." Mark Burnett, the person, is the reigning king of so-called Reality TV, as the creator of two of the biggest shows in the genre, "Survivor" and "The Apprentice." While reality shows may not dumb down actual life experiences, these shows certainly trivialize them. Now that may be a problem, or perhaps it's the actual goal, in a media culture saturated with disposable ideals and all sorts of distractive propaganda, all developed to trigger sales. The fact of the matter is there's more money to be made in having people know who Homer Simpson is. But who can make money off of knowing who Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg or David Souter are? Homer T-shirts? Yes!! Justice Ruth T-shirts? Hell no!
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« Thursday « August 10, 2006
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Clarett's night of desperation
(ESPN.com)
Troubling, uneven semi-interview with enigmatic fallen college football star, Mo Clarett, just a few hours before his latest run-in with the law yesterday.
12:17:09 PM
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Clarett's night of desperation
(ESPN.com)
Troubling, uneven semi-interview with enigmatic fallen college football star, Mo Clarett, just a few hours before his latest run-in with the law yesterday.
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Airline Plot Involved Liquid Explosives
(Guardian Unlimited)
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U.S. Homeland Security said the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and detonators disguised as electronic devices.Airline travel has now become even more inconvenient, forever. Don't get me wrong: it's great that this plot has been apparently foiled and innocent lives have been spared. But when you think about it, it seems like the terrorists still win, because they force us to live under even more oppressive conditions. In order to be safe, we have to give up more freedom, even if it's something as mundane as wanting to carry bottled water, contact lens solution, toothpaste, baby formula or even iPods and MP3 players, onto a plane. All because of snakes on a plane, for sure.
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« Wednesday « August 9, 2006
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Technorati's Numbers are Wrong
(Feed Blog)
Do the math.
I like this post-within-a-post: "When one looks at population statistics, one doesn't count all the dead people."
08:07:41 PM
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Technorati's Numbers are Wrong
(Feed Blog)
Do the math.
I like this post-within-a-post: "When one looks at population statistics, one doesn't count all the dead people."
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Web 2.0? It's the same old media
(The Internet is People blog)
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Unless it really is world-beating, what are the odds of your content rising to the top and catapaulting you into web-media superstardom? When it comes to your content, yes, you are in control; however, when it comes to what everyone else in the world does with it, you aren't.Amen to that. Accepting the fact that there's a lot of inside baseball involved in talking about Web2.0 (99% of all people wouldn't even know Web2.0 from the regular Web, it's all E-mail and AOL to them anyway) this post was a brilliant and thoughtful piece that really speaks to what the Web is devolving into, circa 2006. All this Web 2.0 talk, spoken by a startingly homogenous group of men, anxious for their big payday when ___insert_name_of_big_media_company_here___ buys them out, just sounds like the next bubble to me. In search of greedy ends, a lot of potential is being missed.
Related: Making the Mockumentary (Dead 2.0)
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« Tuesday « August 8, 2006
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Coup De Boule
The Number 1 song in France is inspired by its head-butting soccer star, Zinedine Zidane.
And it makes you wish for a return of The Macarena.
07:34:07 AM
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Coup De Boule
The Number 1 song in France is inspired by its head-butting soccer star, Zinedine Zidane.
And it makes you wish for a return of The Macarena.
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Basketball: USA 90, Brazil 86
Breaking News! Just an exhibition, but rest assured, the world really has caught up to the U.S. in hoops. Stay tuned.
07:33:39 AM
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Basketball: USA 90, Brazil 86
Breaking News! Just an exhibition, but rest assured, the world really has caught up to the U.S. in hoops. Stay tuned.
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« Sunday « August 6, 2006
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Katsumi Bodysuit
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A full body latex suit using fiberglass moulds.Don't like your body? Then buy a new one for $950.
b/w: PopLicks
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Facing Middle Age With No Degree, and No Wife
(New York Times)
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There is no conclusive evidence that marriage helps men.Ah-hah!
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Nollywood
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The Nigerian Film industry has grown rapidly to become the third largest film producing industry in the world after Hollywood in the US and Bollywood in India.Cool.
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« Friday « August 4, 2006
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Japanese rubber-band guns
Amazing craftsmanship and detail for what may seem to be trivial toys
04:57:22 AM
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Japanese rubber-band guns
Amazing craftsmanship and detail for what may seem to be trivial toys
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« Thursday « August 3, 2006
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Madonna Speaks About Her Big, Big Project
(TIME.com)
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Malawi, a Pennsylvania-sized country in southeast Africa, has four things in abundance: AIDS, malaria, drought and tobacco (its major crop). It also has a functioning democracy and little conflict. To date, therefore, it has not attracted much attention from the rest of the world. But that's about to change. Malawi is about to be hit by a force that has thrown much more robust countries for a loop. Her name is Madonna.I applaud her apparently well-meaning intentions, but I just have a gut-feeling that this is going to end badly. Celebrities think that they can just throw money at a problem, show up for few photo shoots, and then -- voila -- all problems are solved. (Thanks, Bono. Like Africa needs more well-meaning Western people; let's look at the historical record on that!) That's how it happens in the movies. But it doesn't work like that in real life. Especially when you're talking about problems that have been brewing for decades and generations. Does Madonna think AIDS and malaria happened to Malawi just yesterday? Please. Money and media attention are not enough, they're just sparks, at the most. Total commitment is required; so, will Madonna move to Malawi and live there for, say, five to ten years, to see her program launched? Yeah, I didn't think so either. Entertainers should stick to what they do best: entertain. Madonna is taking her name, Madonna, a little too literally, because she ain't no saint!
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« Tuesday « August 1, 2006
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What the Internet really looks like
(Fortune/CNN.com)
Huge diesel generators, enormous electrical switches and fat, concrete pipes [that] all occupy big swaths of space in data centers.
Their purpose?
To power and cool the vast number of computers, known as servers.
10:26:07 PM
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What the Internet really looks like
(Fortune/CNN.com)
Huge diesel generators, enormous electrical switches and fat, concrete pipes [that] all occupy big swaths of space in data centers.
Their purpose?
To power and cool the vast number of computers, known as servers.
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Worst ever security flaw found in Dieblod TS voting machine
(Open Voting Foundation)
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[I]t has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version.And a second switch will create hanging chads on demand.
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What goes on the Net stays on the Net
(PBS/I, Cringely)
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They could take your musical performance, strip the audio from the video, and sell it to almost anyone for almost any use. They could refuse to take down your video, no matter how embarrassing. They could charge YOU for your own video. And of course they could insert ads in the video virtually anywhere.Some arguments for not posting your own video content on a site like YouTube ... though, if someone else posts your content that's a whole other story. But if it makes the "look-at-me" generation happy, then what the hell? My only problem is that when we take a moment to look, there's really nothing interesting to see, no there there. Oh well, I must be getting old, but that ain't so bad: I know who I am, and figured it out without having to post dumb-*ssed videoclips of myself doing stupid things that will never die, what with search engines, wayback machines, and "social networking" sites. This is not to say I didn't do foolish things in my youth, it's to say they're not gloriously recorded forever on the YouTube.coms of the world!
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