A diamond-shaped red crystal on a white background is to join the Red Cross and the Red Crescent as an emblem for ambulances and relief workers [from Israel]. (BBC)
It only took them a few decades to agree on this…
how is it that pictures of subway benches can look pretty damn cool? can evoke feelings of nostalgia? can make one happy? How is it that a blog about one metro stop can be coolness embodied (excuse the excessive use of the word “cool”, wine kills vocab)?
This will be answered later. In a less turkey/wine comatose state.
On a similar subject (that of metro blogs and city appreciation), it’s really too bad that the Islamabad [that’s in Pakistan] metroblog sucks very badly. Do they really need to have numerous entries about the new Xbox 360? I was actually looking forward to trying to be all intellectual and stuff and regularly reading blogs about far away foreign places. (Gee, now I sound like an American. Show this to the INS when the time comes.)
“Police said 98 vehicles were torched on Wednesday night, marking a “return to a normal situation everywhere in France”.” BBC
allrighty, it’s time to get some non-geeky posts. someone please help. also, google base isn’t that cool at all, but i found some interestings chicken recipes.
here’s my dose of nostalgia for the day:
Deutsche Telekom is going to transform the Alexanderplatz TV tower into a gigantic (albeit magenta) football (or, soccer ball for you amies) in anticipation of the 2006 World Cup (and continuing the tradition of crazy large scale advertising bonanzas in berlin). (link). Also, to continue the recently-started discussion of neo-bohemia I recommend this Zitty article about die Hausbesetzer.
base.google.com finally stopped teasing and went live. i anticipate busy times at work. and lots of blogbuzz tomorrow.
(image courtesy of John Battelle’s searchblog)
This rant on Fuckthesouth.com (registered to the name of Nichlas Wind, alegedly a writer at The Nation) made me smile and nod and smile. I know it’s old, and I’m so behind the times, but I have to share things that make me smile on a long sleepy Monday.
18-year-old mayor.
Hillsdale, Michigan broke the record for electing the youngest mayor in America. He’s 18, still in high school, and won the election as a write-in candidate. The defeated former mayor, 51, accepted the defeat gracefully and returned to running his previous business — a roller-skating rink (!). I did not make this up.
The welfare states are getting weird.
For example, Norway has an angry minister of children and family, who is pushing for a law that would mandate that the proportion of women on every executive board of every Norwegian company be mandated to 40%. The law as she wants it allows for the government to break up (!) a company if it doesn’t comply within two years. I kind of don’t know what to think.
Poop and Dubya’s new suit.
I love Mark Mardell’s Europe Diary on BBC. My two favorite quotes today:
Even before the British presidency began, a good contact in Downing Street told me that despite the politicians’ and media’s attempt to make it a glamorous affair of opportunities, the reality was more prosaic: “It’s a bit like driving your mates to the pub. When it’s your turn, you do it.” Britain now stands accused of party pooping, glumly nursing an orange juice in the corner.
…and…
When president met president the discussion somehow turned to suits, and how nice George’s W’s attire was. Po-faced, he said, “God told me to wear it”. Adding after a couple of beats: “That’s a joke.”
When a banner ad appeared advertising “Lot 49 - we welcome our new overlords,” my this-could-be-funny complusion kicked in, and I followed the link.
Lot 49 may be Brainspace’s long lost cousin. The selection of “wonderful things” matches my taste in “wonderful things” almost exactly. The tech and political news are interesting bits and pieces. My only dislike? The ‘about’ section. Could someone explain to me what it is about that style of writing that grates on my nerves?
Some of my fav posts from the past couple days:
- Hunting Season Opens for Mythical Creature (Loch Ness is next…)
- “Jesus Juice” Merlot Coming Soon (wow.)
- Bra’s in the News (he did miss the cheese bra though)
- Physics of Cow Tipping (It’s not that easy!)
- Liberal Church Threatened By IRS (boy are my parents in trouble)
Yo, Bart, careful! Muni, you too.
If you keep running late (you know what I’m talking about), people may get upset — just like in Johannesburg (South Africa), where annoyed travelers torched at least 26 carriages. Yep.
When governments care about your children’s well being…
Most governments tend to like to mess with the younglings’ minds and up-bringing. Like when they want to teach them alternate scientific theories. Or, when they introduce a curfew for minors playing computer games in order to curb addiction. Seriously.
(Or, when they imply that minority/alternative voices on blogs could be jailed for providing an insider view on things like riots.)
Your dream robot companion…
… or many of them, can be found at the Roboexotica cocktail robotics conference in Vienna next week. Thanks to BoingBoing for providing me with such wonderfully random yet useful information. More details there.
Finally, pretty things:
A recording of the process of drawing a woman, except it starts with the skeleton. Pretty cool. Link.
And: awesome photographs of Hong Kong — an exhibition called Architecture of Density, by Michael Wolf, a German - American artist.
ha! found the first bug. the damn little window claimed it couldn\’t publish my previous post yet now i see it like million times. bah. ok, i will submit constructive criticism.
technorati tags: geeks
ok, i gave in. or, to put it differently, i finally alloted more than two minutes of focused procrastination to the task of exploring flock — the widely (geekily) acclaimed new web browser. due to the minimalistic state of the website, exploring meant downloading and installing. i will have to play some more to see whether it sticks (pro: everything is handed to you on a plate, con: everything is handed to you on a plate). but it looks pretty good so far. add your comments, expect more comments…
technorati tags: geeks
such a let down. but also impressive. this is yet another occasion when i want to dig up old notes on my thoughts on criminalization of africa (because i don’t actually remember these things) from the depths of a gigantic nerd box. i’m putting it out here to create the neccesary motivation. also, i’m biting my tongue on any more comments on porn, especially the kind that has to do with jesus.
I read a mention of an interview with a Christian porn star somewhere. It piqued my curiosity and I googled. I highly recommend reading the whole interview, regardless of whether it’s real or not.
Douglas: Speaking of autobiographies, can you tell me your testimony-how you came to Christ.
CP: That’s a really great story. We were filming a love scene in a church, and I overheard the pastor telling the director all about Jesus. The director blew him off, but I wanted to hear more. So after the love scene was over, I found the pastor and asked to hear more. He told me how Jesus died for my sins and that accepting him would let me have a personal, one on one, relationship with God.
Douglas: Did the minister tell you, after you accepted Christ, that you needed to stop living your current life and start living for Christ?
CP: He’s the one who encouraged me to be a Christian porn star.
Douglas: What kind of minister was this?
CP: Methodist.
After reading the interview I decided to do some more research on Christian porn. I just couldn’t resist, I was hoping to seen an example (haven’t found one yet, any recommendations?). What I found instead was a proposal for establishment of Christian porn according to the Bible. Interesting indeed: (more…)
a whole lot better (and web 2.0).
Yahoo! has been quietly embracing the Web 2.0 spirit (see their “My Web 2.0″ Beta for example), and now they opened a Yahoo! maps API for their newly (and tremendously) improved maps (which seem to have nifty features like “email this map”, live trafffic, or send driving directions to cell phone). There seems to be a bunch of fun mashups out already. I like the two Caltrain thingies — this and this. And of course there’s a mash up with Upcoming…
San Francisco Launch party for Unlockedgroove — presumably the first label producing Creative Commons license vinyls. CC vinyls - duh!
Anyone up for party?
November 04, 2005 9:00PM
San FranciscoOur San Francisco operations swing into action. Mr. Marlow and Mr. Yang will be running shit in the Chinancial District. Join us at EZ5 Lounge for a night of minimal techno and live Scorchio madness:
Scorchio - Live P.A. (unlockedgroove, Boston)
Guthrie (Tweekin’, The Fool)
André Lucero (the insignificant).Commercial @ EZ5 Lounge
682 Commercial St
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 362-9321Friday November 4th, 9pm-2am, 21+
