Lego + NRA =

Matt says,

BrickArms. Nefarious. From Things.

An Irresistible Entertainment

Matt says,

The Howling Fantods has concluded its David Foster Wallace motivational poster contest. (via)

Gasp. DFW killed himself yesterday. How awful.

This MetaFilter thread collects some of his inimitable work:

• Incarnations of burned children, Esquire
• Good People, The New Yorker
• Host, The Atlantic
• Roger Federer as religious experience, The New York Times
• Tense present, Harper's (and, to be fair, languagehat's takedown of same)
• His interview with Charlie Rose
• A good description of that fascinating interview

Hard-Hitting RNC Commentary

Matt says,

Random Twitterer is right, yo. Sarah Palin's suit is the surprise hit of the night. I'm the guy that has long hated coverage of female candidates that insisted on mentioning their clothing choices, but seriously, I want that suit. Even my potential appearance in Steve Schmidt's talking points about male blogger misogyny cannot prevent me from complimenting that fierce piece of gun-metal grey hottness.

NYT Discovers Linkblogging

Matt says,

... and it's good. (Don't miss the running tally of good reads in the sidebar.) Keep it up, Mr. Kuntz.

Dirty Talk

Matt says,

A MeFi commenter describes sex talk:

Q: You like sex? You are a person who likes the sex acts that we are currently engaged in?
A: Yes! I am! I like sex!
Q: You like sex! In fact, you are a person who likes sex as much as a prostitute likes sex!
A: YES I LIKE SEXY SEX AS IF IT WERE MY PROFESSION!! TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT
Q: YOU ENJOY THIS ACT YOU SEXY SEX PERSON etc.

(Via this awesome thread. See also: "I am never really going to close the dork tag.")

Embarrassment Manifest

Matt says,

One of the reasons I love Ask MetaFilter is that I often come across questions that I'm very curious about, but would never have thought to articulate. This question is one of those:

When I think of / remember something embarrassing from my life, I compulsively make some kind of noise. It seems to happen unconsciously, before my censor can catch it and stop myself (it even happens when I am in a quiet or inappropriate place). It's not especially loud, in fact it's often under my breath. The sound is usually just a quiet grunt, or a word/syllable or two. ... It usually only happens when I'm remembering something palpably embarrassing or humiliating from my life -- not for mild everyday kind of stuff. ... So what is this, do I have some kind of low-grade tourette's syndrome? Is there a name for this phenomenon? Does it happen to others or is it unique to me?

This happens to me sporadically, and from the dozens of responses on Ask MeFi, it's not uncommon.

The New Yorker Can Be Funny!

Matt says,

For some of you, this week's Shouts & Murmurs is the typical bland gimmick repeated ad nauseam. If you're like me, however, it will crack you up.

House of Leaves

Matt says,

My new goal in life is to find that my architect has embedded an elaborate puzzle into the woodwork of my tony Central Park mansion. (via)

Dear Santa

Matt says,

All I want for Christmas is a solemn promise that no one will ever use the word "cybergenic" unironically again for the rest of my life, please.

Google Contra

Matt says,

If anything made it necessary for Robin to curb his allegiance to the now-deprecated Bloglines RSS reader, it's this. GReader recognizes the immortal Contra cheat code.

Missed connection: Casper

Matt says,

Infocult flags a nice haunted house story posted in Craigslist's rentals section.

The Tomb of Icarus

Matt says,

I guest-posted over at my friend Margaret's photoblog this morning.

Put That In Your Easy-Bake Oven and Burn It

Matt says,

"I had corn dogs, chocolate cake and rum for breakfast yesterday. Then I went on a hike, and explored an abandoned mine shaft that I don't think I was supposed to enter. I didn't have to get anyone's permission or tell anyone where I was going. Later, I touched a girl with my penis, and nobody yelled at me or sent me to talk to the councilor about it. I watched a scary movie that had boobies and swears in it, and then I stayed up until 2 AM because I didn't feel like going to bed.

"Childhood has nothing on adulthood. Being a grown-up is an awfully grand adventure." -- My new favorite MeFi commenter

Restau-rant

Matt says,

Over at vita.mn, I'm ranting about how the practice of settling the tab at restaurants is woefully broken. It's launched me on a campaign to demand separate checks whenever dining with a group. Thought this was worthy of the Snarkmarket hive mind. Do you have any foolproof systems for handling checks that must be split? Are there any establishments you've been to that deal with this ingeniously?

Stickr

Matt says,

Finally, a website where you can make small quantities of custom bumper stickers. Go nuts. (cf)

For a Limited Time: Actual Snark on Snarkmarket

Matt says,

I love this Ask MeFi thread listing retorts to common sayings. Among my favorites:

Saying	Retort
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.	But you catch the most with bullshit.
There's no "I" in "team."	Yeah, but there's an "m" and an "e."
The squeaky wheel gets the oil.	It's also the first to get replaced.
The early bird gets the worm.	But the early worm gets eaten.

I, For One, Welcome Our New Avian Overlords

Matt says,

OMG, Jessa's right: the birds are going to rule us one day. Article 1:

And article 2:

Augmented Driving

Matt says,

Things points to the fascinating idea of the "virtual cable" for driving directions in cars. There's been a lot of recent buzz about projecting data on car windshields. The virtual cable is a three-dimensional line drawn onto the road ahead showing you exactly where you're going. Trippy, probably distracting, but nonetheless fascinating.

Self-Consuming

Matt says,

Infocult points to a Texas bride who had her cake made in her own image.

How Do You Look?

Robin says,

Here's a quirky, innovative piece from Current UK. I just spent five minutes trying to describe it, but kept deleting what I wrote because it didn't make any sense. You'll see what I mean. Odd, simple, recursive, riveting.

Phonergeist?

Matt says,

Needed: a term for when your phone makes calls to random entries in my address book on its own volition, usually as a byproduct of unintentional button-mashing. Somehow, my phone intuits the romance/dating-related entries and goes straight for them. It's particularly enamored of one of my exes, which can be awkward. But not as awkward as the time it sent a discouraged suitor of mine five copies of a text message to a friend describing what I was going to wear that night.

I understand that keyboard lock (and probably looser jeans) would mostly solve this problem. But until I decide whether those are sacrifices I'm willing to make, I need something to describe this phenomenon. Ghost-dialing?

The Standing Stone

Matt says,

Thanks to "The Year in Ideas," I now want a Gomboc. Only they cost 1,001 €.

'I Need Me Some Battlestar'

Robin says,

Re: the Writers' Guild Strike... good god... I didn't think about this! (Was just showing my sister dotBoom, which is actually pretty funny. Puppets resurgent!)

Change Like the Seasons

Robin says,

My favorite Sartorialist posts are always the ones where he catches someone he's snapped before after an interval of many months. It's fun to see... change!

Problems = f(Money)

Robin says,

This might be the ultimate Friday night link: hip-hop charts and graphs.

West Siiiide!

Matt says,

David from Ironic Sans snapped some pretty wonderful shots of kids in his Upper West Side building on Halloween.

Breakfast

Robin says,

Cribbed from Current.com: Portraits of people and their breakfasts. Minimal and lovely.

Suddenly realizing I need to up my breakfast game in a big way. I don't actually want to be part of the cup-of-coffee crowd (as I currently am).

Proof of Purchase

Matt says,

A diary/blog written on scanned receipts. (Gadgetopian.)

There Be Pirates

Matt says,

I realize this is 24 hours too late, but on any day of the year, the International Chamber of Commerce's Weekly Piracy Report is the best reminder that for all our iPhones and gizmos, the world is still much the same as it was 300 years ago. An excerpt from this week's report:

Five robbers, in two motor boats, armed with guns and knives boarded an anchored chemical tanker from the bow using ropes and hooks. Duty crew spotted the robbers and raised the alarm. The robbers broke the padlock on the forward store and stole ship's stores and escaped. Bonny signal station was called many times but did not respond. Master requested for additional guards from agents.

Note: Armed theft is a serious crime and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, or whatever. But that somehow doesn't mitigate the vision of a crew of peg-legged, one-eyed, 'do-ragged blaggards scaling the side of a sailboat with knives in their teeth, threatening to make some scurvy sea dogs walk a plank. (Clearly I saw this on Read/Write Web.)

An Old Google Easter Egg

Robin says,

Pleasingly dorky. It makes me happy (and optimistic for Google) that it is still online.

Bookinist

Matt says,

It doesn't exactly look comfortable, and it's not exactly pretty. But it's a chair-barrow with a lamp attached to it. It's even apparently got little shelves hidden beneath the armrests. I want one! Alas, all the text is in German, and I don't see anything that resembles an "add-to-cart" button.

(Via my bookstore. See also: Bibliochaise.)

The Mystic Experience of Space

Robin says,

This new movie about the Apollo program sounds terrific:

The astronauts also talk about seeing "the whole circle of the Earth" at once, as Mr. Duke puts it. "That jewel of Earth was just hung, up in the blackness of space," he says, holding his hands out, cupped, as if to cradle the sphere.

Whenever astronauts speak about the experience of seeing earth from space, it makes you wish everybody could see it that way. Er, I mean, I guess they sorta can. But I imagine it loses quite a bit in the translation.

Actually, wait -- I like this one better -- it looks like the picture you'd snap out the window of a Virgin Galactic flight to the moon!

On a Completely Different Note

Robin says,

Is it weird to follow ruminations on the American character with an awesome drumming gorilla? Somehow it's not.

The Best Thing I've Read All Weekend

Robin says,

Rainer Maria Rilke by way of Alex Soojung-Kim Pang:

Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

How cool a name, by the way, is "Rainer"?

Stained-Glass Pixels

Robin says,

The Cologne Cathedral has a new stained-glass window. Via.

Update: High rez. Oh, and the artist is Gerhard Richter who, if not already famous, would have to be made famous on the basis of his name alone.

Ambiences

Robin says,

Xeni Jardin just posted the oddest thing over at Boing Boing: ten minutes of ambient audio from La Antigua, Guatemala.

It's very well-recorded, quite weird, and somewhat transporting (as I sit here listening, typing away on other things, in a San Francisco office basement).

Do these things exist en masse anywhere on the web? I know lots of people (well, you know: musicians, documentary filmmakers, etc.) record them. Seems like someone must have assembled an archive.

And, I am now officially in love with the idea of capturing stretches of ambient noise in cities that I visit -- as a means to teleport back, on demand, any time in the future.

Holy Collection, Batman

Robin says,

So my friend Corey has an insanely huge collection of Batman posters, puzzles, mugs, lunch boxes, shirts, cereal, underwear -- you get the idea --

-- that he is now offering to some lucky fan via a Batman costume contest.

Of course.

I love it that he is administering the contest via Flickr. I also love it that all the photos are tagged "iwanttobebatmanwhenigrowup."

But I do I think Corey should probably require entrants to hold up a sign that say "gimme the loot, Jones" or something... otherwise, how do we know this is really George (age 27) and James (age 8)?

Anyway. Now's the time to get that Riddler costume out of the closet.

The Poe Toaster Revealed?

Matt says,

Edgar Allen Poe's masked fanatic has allegedly unmasked himself. A 92-year-old Poe-head named Sam Porpora claims to be the originator of the annual tradition of celebrating Poe's birthday with roses and cognac. But he says he's not sure who's continued the toast each year since 1976. The mystery remains ...

Evolution

Robin says,

Over-the-top street art of the day.

Post-Apocalyptic Tourism

Robin says,

Abandoned Soviet-era trains in Abkhazia. Is it weird that I am seized with the desire to go there and wander among them? Who could resist?

Use the Force (When No One's Looking)

Robin says,

My former Current colleague OldschoolBrian shares this nerdy revelation:

When the train arrives on the platform, if I am the first person waiting to get on, I wait for the train to stop, then I raise my right hand to the level of my abdomen, extend my index and middle finger and slowly move it about 4 inches from left to right as the subway doors open. I do this to emulate the appearance that I have opened the subway doors using nothing but the shear will of my mind. People see me do this all the time. I don't mind. I have been doing this for years. Still don't mind. I do not do this upon exiting the train. BUT I DO, DO IT.

Go ahead, act like you don't do some weird shit when you think no one is looking.

I've started to realize that I actually talk to myself a lot. I think I am pretty good at doing it only when no one is around, though. Not sure if that makes it better... or worse.

Club Bill Gates

Robin says,

Oh man. I so want to go here.

If you owned a small diner in a grim Eastern European capital... which tech entrepreneur would you name it after?

Synchronicity

Robin says,

Jan Chipchase has a fun anecdote about our pattern-seeking brains. It involves dance clubs and movies playing backwards.

Walkability Throwdown

Robin says,

C'mon Snarkmatrix -- whatcha got? Can your neighborhood's walk score beat Cole Valley's astonishing 97?

'No Real Than You Are'

Robin says,

Um:

"We saw something bobbing about in the sea and we decided to take it out of the water," said a stall worker. "It was a life-sized Lego toy."

It's just... I mean... wow.

31 Syllables

Robin says,

Via our pal at the Lost Temple:

If we falter in resolve

Just because the task is hard,

No accomplishment can follow:

It is the world's way.

Discovered, appropriately, while cleaning.

Hours of Fun

Matt says,

Check out the tagset of del.icio.us user Kio. Also, "indigenous content." (Via.)

'Seizing the Opportunity by the Forelock'

Robin says,

Ah, worthy Sunday reading: 1) Samurai Song by Robert Pinsky. 2) The Samurai Creed by, uh, some samurai.

A Store for Nerds

Robin says,

Just got back from a fantastic wedding in Tampa. Lots to blog. But... for now... CSS New and Used.

Neo-Cyberpunk Junta Hipster Fantasia, BAM!

Robin says,

Speaking of the visual public sphere... the new Kanye West video is insanely evocative:

Sort of a Kanye-as-Akira thing. Love it.

The day we are able to make works of journalism this irresistible, democracy will get up and dance.

(You know, I just wrote that, and then suddenly imagined democracy as like one of the back-up dancers in Thriller. Kinda seems right somehow.)

Transformations

Robin says,

Interview with Alex Kubalsky, a designer of modern Transformer toys:

What would you like to design that hasn't been designed yet?

Just an odd object that transforms into another odd object for no reason. Just so because it looks interesting as it transforms. It is not so much about what it is in a and b - but the path itself is c. The transformation itself is the interesting thing!

Whoah.

While we're at it: original Transformers instruction booklets. For the record, I never used these, and was sooo proud of myself.

Okay, fine, one more thing: You've Got the Touch.

The Very Definition of America

Robin says,

Albert Einstein, 1935, a letter to a childhood friend:

I have now set up home in this curious new world and am still brooding like an old hen on the same old scientific eggs, even if the bodily warmth which one needs for brooding has rather diminished over the years. What is so nice in this country is that the people don't sit so much on top of one another and, as a result, feel more comfortable with each other. So I sit here the whole summer in a quiet bay and sail in a little sailing boat as much as I want to.

From a collection of famous people's letters, soon to be auctioned off. I think Google should buy them and put them online (e.g.). Would be cool, quirky, philanthropic thing to do.

P.S. You know, I'd never realized until just now that "brooding" actually means sitting on eggs or baby birds. Changes my impression of the word somewhat.

Street Art

Robin says,

But think Caravaggio, not Banksy. Sort of totally brilliant.

Chanced Upon Absurdly

Robin says,

Garance Franke-Ruta awesomely begins a blog post like this: "I was rereading some 17th century essays recently..."

They were essays on youth vs. wisdom, it turns out -- here's a blockquote from Francis Bacon:

The errors of young men, are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men, amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles, which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn.

I don't know about that whole line-up, but "pursue some few principles, which they have chanced upon absurdly" is pretty terrific and, er, rings true.

My Heart Is An Idiot

Robin says,

Meta-concept: a documentary in progress, in public.

Actual concept: a documentary about the guys behind Found magazine.

ACTUAL actual concept: a documentary about love!

Maybe We Could Get Matt to Narrate This

Robin says,

Ah hahaha -- speaking of sharp and funny -- please note "In the Year 2030, the Young Hotshot at My Office Tries to Walk Me Through 'Centaur,' Apple's New Mind-Orb-Based Operating System."

All Roads

Robin says,

A tangle of tracks. Wonderful.

It's Hard to Tell the Difference

Robin says,

From the mind that brought you the public domain photoblog Thank You, The Man comes...

Jam Band Fan or Taliban?

It has a nice ring to it.

Art for Our Time

Robin says,

Ceramic statues photographed in mid-shatter. Absolutely fantastic. Via the liberal arts 2.0 blog and a long chain of blogs preceding it.

Hogzilla

Robin says,

Nothing you can tell me will convince me this is real. Nothing.

Doodle Doodle Doodle

Robin says,

Saul Steinberg's Smithsonian stationary doodles. Reminds me of presidential doodles. And I've heard Obama is a huuuge doodler; here's evidence.

(Man, I could just say "doodle" all day.)

Wild Orchids and Trotsky

Robin says,

Richard Rorty died. I didn't know that much about him, except that he was a pragmatist (in the philosophical sense) and I like pragmatists, but this little snippet is pretty fantastic:

Jurgen Habermas writes a short obituary for philosopher Richard Rorty, who passed away on Friday. "One small autobiographical piece by Rorty bears the title 'Wild Orchids and Trotsky.' In it, Rorty describes how as a youth he kicked around the blooming hillside in north-west New Jersey, and breathed in the stunning odour of orchids. At the same time he discovered a fascinating book at the home of his leftist parents, defending Leon Trotsky against Stalin. This was the start of the vision which accompanied the young Rorty to college: philosophy is there to reconcile the celestial beauty of orchids with Trotsky's dream of justice on earth."

From that website signandsight, which I've mentioned before.

Update: Ah, here's the actual piece by Habermas.

Weird Stuff from Finland

Robin says,

A ship in a cathedral. A rooster made of light. I really enjoy Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's blog.

Just Hop on My Skylab

Robin says,

This is my favorite Double-Tongued Dictionary entry in a looong time: skylab. File under: English, Philippines, transportation. There's even a video!

How'd It Get to be a Pentagon, Anyway?

Robin says,

In the Washington Post, Steve Vogel tells the tale of the Pentagon's shape. Not to ruin it or anything, but this is funny: It was designed that way to fit on an oddly-shaped plot of land. Then it got moved. But there wasn't time to change the plans. So they kept it a pentagon!

Via Danger Room.

The Layabout's Tale

Robin says,

All those people just hanging out in the middle of the day... who are they? It is the indispensable job of the reportorial class to actually find answers to questions the rest of us pose idly. Chris Colin does just that over in the Chronicle.

Unrepresentative, but awesome, quote:

"John," who is 18 and was strolling through Yerba Buena Gardens one Thursday morning, laid out his typical itinerary: "Watch the grass grow, get high, hit on the ladies."

How does he pay rent? "If you ask 100 girls for $10, that's $1,000, that's rent," he explained logically.

Ah. Right.

Via the Globe's Ideas section.

Ethnography of Lolcats

Robin says,

Slate slideshow on lolcats.

I admit it: I think they are hilarious.

That's Releasing the Chi

Robin says,

Shatner Woo Remix:

I think this just became the definitive case for remixable culture.

Via M. Migurski.

A Glimpse of the Retro-Future

Matt says,

Jarah blogs what may be the best headline of all time, courtesy of Wired's Malcontents.

(Note: This blog post is essentially Jarah's blog post, with an additional layer of attribution. I love how recursive blogging can be. I'm trying to think if I've ever seen a blog post retain the entire meme trail of an item before. How awesome would it be to see "Wired via Jarah via Matt via" at the end of a post? Can you guys think of anything like that?)

Googlebucks

Robin says,

Ridiculous (right?) but awesome: Why Google should buy Starbucks. Via Romenesko's great Starbucks Gossip blog.

Sunday of Wonders

Robin says,

I. Jan Chipchase is a kind of design ethnographer, traveling the world to see how people actually use things in their everyday lives. He takes wonderful pictures along the way -- always with unusual perspectives. He's in Turkey now:

II. I am not entirely clear on the nature of this competition, but I like the winners, especially John Klein, whose work reminds me of Zaha Hadid's:

III. Apparently, we've found the Fortress of Solitude -- note the tiny, tiny person in the lower left:

IV. French kids in free fall -- literally:

(Via Photojojo.)

V. Finally: All that is solid melts into, er, a mess. It'll be slow going in the Bay Area for a while:

Meta Free for All

Robin says,

Stephen Colbert and Sean Penn in a metaphor-off. U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky adjudicates. This might be the greatest thing I have ever seen.

Reconstructing Landscapes from Memory

Robin says,

Edwin Zwakman. That is all.

Cruel 2 B Kind

Robin says,

I played Cruel 2 B Kind, one of Jane McGonigal's big public games, a while back here in SF. Here's the Current pod. Fast-forward to 1:45 if you want to see me talk about my booty.

Pictures Tagged 'Bladerunner'

Robin says,

Virtual China looks at Flickr photos tagged shanghai and bladerunner. Also tokyo, london, etc. I love it that that title can be so specifically descriptive.

Only for Fellow Ask MeFi Nerds

Matt says,

Still catching up on RSS feeds (only 3,692 items left to go!), and so far, this is the best April Fool's page. Google's entries were kinda disappointing.

Helvetica Haiku

Robin says,

Wherever there is a haiku contest, I must enter it. (And don't forget, I'm a haiku champion.)

This time the theme is fonts, specifically Helvetica.

My entry:

Snow falls on posters
A lonely face, sad, whispers:
'I'm neo-grotesque.'

A Short Chain of Lives

Robin says,

It was a beautiful summer* night here in San Francisco, so what better to do now than ponder the shape of history?

Here is a hint: It is something like a dime sitting on top of the Empire State Building.

And here is a treat: There is a commenter on Daily Kos who was born in 1929! Oh, how I pledge to prowl the holo-grid when I'm 78...

*I know, weird, right?

World Accent Quiz

Robin says,

Cognitive Daily does a fun experiment every Friday -- this week's asks you to identify world accents. Takes five minutes. They'll report the results next Friday.

I think more blogs should run informal experiments on a regular basis... it might even begin to resemble massively multi-citizen science.

Fields of Vision

Robin says,

What would you display in your multi-screen war room data hub thing?

I'm thinking... something like this mixed with something like this.

(P.S. Does Pruned find great images or what?)

There's Even a Cameo from the Commodore 64

Robin says,

"You're in the iWorld, Bill... and I am a god here."

This video comes with a big heap of JobBias^TM but it really made me laugh. The dark ballad of the Finder might be the best part.

Digg it if you're the sort of person who does that.

The News from 2027

Robin says,

Best. Headline. Ever:

Yuki-Taro Autonomous Snowplow Robot Saves The Day

(Also note that this story features the phrase "chomping snow and pooping blocks.")

Thank You, The Man

Robin says,

Behold, a blog of public domain photos (with what one can only assume is public domain snarky commentary) from various sort of hilarious .gov sources. Thank you, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

It's Pronounced Dee-Jay Wee-Jay

Robin says,

Oh awesome: DJ WiiJ is the art of the djing with the wiimote.

For a Limited Time

Matt says,

Both of these things will expire soon:

1) You've got a month to check out the Harvard Business Review's list of breakthrough ideas for 2007 before it goes into the paid archive. Full of counterintuitive goodness, although the articles are of uneven quality. All-in-all, provocative.

2) Copy, Right? has posted a mammoth dump of cover songs, including a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Good Enough," from The Goonies. I loved that song because it sounded obnoxiously good as the MIDI track to the NES game Goonies II. I actually remember Goonies II being a surprisingly creepy and atmospheric game; it had these maze sequences scored by a brooding arpeggio that just freaked me out.

The Same Sun

Robin says,

TIME.com slideshow of Mars Rover photos.

The last image is the stunner.

World Freehand Circle Drawing Champion

Robin says,

This is perhaps even more random than that last entry: Watch this guy draw a perfect circle on a chalkboard.

The build-up is oddly suspenseful, yeah?

(Via Kottke.)

Sketchy Directions

Robin says,

The punchline is: The letter got there!

Note to Self: Make This Part of Everyday Vocab

Robin says,

Double-Tongued Word Wrester defines "who laid the rail." I don't know if I quite get it. I do know that I love it.

Optimism

Matt says,

John Brockman's got his crew of deep thinkers he commissions with answering humankind's big questions, I've got mine. So how 'bout it, folks? What are you optimistic about? Why?

Change Blindness

Matt says,

Although this is not the "coolest psychology experiment ever," as billed, it's pretty freaky all the same. It makes me wonder what other giant glaring things we fail to perceive on a daily basis.

Behold, the Austrian Avatar of Poseidon's Son

Robin says,

One of my favorite words is 'protean.' The dictionary definitions all say it means versatile and mutable, which I agree with, but nowhere can I find reference to what I was always sure was its other, subtler shade: opportunistic, ambitious.

Anyway, there's no reason to debate it, because we have a human definition: Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's serious about global warming now. Withholding any kind of actual policy analysis, I am simply in awe of him as a player:

Schwarzenegger argued that in a "Nixon goes to China" way he is uniquely poised to lead on the environmental front. Calling himself a "sane Republican," he said his pro-business philosophy and fiscal conservatism shield him from accusations of being "the tree hugger, the crazy guy out there who wants to live on the moon and talk about the spirits and all this holistic stuff."

"With me they can't do it, because my whole history is different," he said, puffing thoughtfully on a fat cigar in his smoking tent in a courtyard of the state Capitol. "It's unexpected, so therefore you have a better chance to have an impact. . . . All those businesses would never have a better guy than me."

P.S. Via the Wikipedia entry on Proteus comes a new favorite word: mytheme, for "an irreducible nugget of myth." Awesome!

Live Action Hamster Video Game

Matt says,

Via.

Variations on a Theme

Matt says,

DrawerGeeks.com: Twice a month, graphic artists reimagine popular icons. Behold the wizardry. MeFidelic.

Stop Motion Excellence

Robin says,

Tony vs. Paul. (Via.)

Stabbed, Stuck, Suspended

Robin says,

First, scope the crazy tiger-full-of-arrows installation. Then, see Matthew Woodson draw it. Weird, I know, but I love it.

His blog is full of step-by-step drawing deconstructions.

(Via Drawn.)

Probably the Most Masculine Thing in the Universe

Robin says,

Also, totally what YouTube was invented for: shared videos of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team doing their pre-game haka. So awesome.

Blogs, Physics, and Nerd Love

Robin says,

This tale of blog-mediated romance is nerdy and sweet.

Equine Quartet

Robin says,

Direct animated horses as they sing a sweet little song.

If you don't click on that link there is no hope for you.

The Dance in the Aisle

Robin says,

Here's a great bit of artwork from Jen Wang: She renders the airline attendants' pre-flight safety routine as... a dance!

My sister is a dancer and is always talking about finding the dance in everyday activity: Not making it into a dance, as they do in musicals, but just recognizing the grace and rhythm inherent in normal, uncontrived motion.

(Via.)

P.S.: Remember how comments were busted for like a week? Well, they're fixed now. So comment away!

Sundarbans, Space, and Shelter-Suits

Robin says,

Pruned has been full of interesting imagery lately:

• Behold the Sundarbans
• Spaaace weather
• Wearable homes (note: weird)

Welcome to the Future

Matt says,

Item #602 on this Web page is my new favorite thing. It is -- brace yourself -- a staple-less stapler. Put your tongue back in your mouth. Buy one today! I got mine here.

Secrets Buried Deep in Time

Robin says,

Who wrote the Voynich Manuscript?

Why are there 63,360 inches in a mile?

And what will be the ultimate fate of the universe?

This and more at mathematician John Baez's fantastic, kaleidoscopic web page. Found via his recent Long Now lecture.

Two Sentences

Matt says,

My new favorite thing comes from MeFi Projects, and it's called "two sentences." The idea is to follow up one innocuous sentence with another one that's surprising or delightful in some way.

E.g. "I'm leaving you. I'll be back tomorrow." or "She felt the hand move up her back. Surely it was a hand."

Maize Maze

Robin says,

Was just explaining to a non-midwesterner the danger and delight of the corn maze. The link talks about Minnesota, but we have them in Michigan, too. In fact, corn mazes and cider mills are what I miss most this time of year, way out here in autumn-impaired California.

Treatise on Nihilism

Robin says,

xkcd never fails to charm.

P.S. I am a little embarrassed to say I bought the shirt. The rules: It will be worn only on weekends. In the confines of my apartment. While playing board games.

Questioning Her Commitment to Sparkle Motion?

Matt says,

This is in no way okay. It's a clip from Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen, in which a coach demonstrates a pageant routine for his four-year-old trainee. (Thing-full.)

Brick-a-Brack

Matt says,

Two gems from MeFi this morning:

• The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing the Myths (from here)
• Shooting script and original novella behind the movie Brick (from here).

Night Falls in Reykjavik

Robin says,

Hey guys, let's turn off all the lights so we can see the stars. (Kottke-riffic.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Burritos

Robin says,

The Burritoeater 2006 Slab Scrum begins. Frankly this is worth reading even if you don't live in San Francisco: Burritoeater features some of the best, most over-the-top food writing around.

This Is Not Worth a Post, But

Robin says,

I kept reading these headlines as "Former Converse Chief Is Found in Namibia", "Converse Ex-C.E.O. Will Stay in Namibia, For Now," etc. -- but it's COMverse, not CONverse.

I had this awesome image of a sneaker billionaire on the lam, sneaking through Africa with little more than a pair of Chuck Taylors to his name... but no, he's from some a telecom firm. Oh well.

Doodler-in-Chief

Robin says,

Presidential doodles! YES!

Warren G. Harding, though... WTF?

Via.

Britannica Probably Has a Picture of a Brain or Something

Robin says,

Check out the photo used to illustrate the concept of happiness on Wikipedia. It's pretty much perfect.

How Can They Be So Smart? They Don't Have Thumbs!

Robin says,

I know it's cliché to be like, "whoah, dolphins are cool," but... whoah, dolphins are cool.

8.5" x AWESOME

Robin says,

Crazy paper art! (Click past the homepage, then check out the 'A4 papercut' stuff. It's so rad.) Via Core77.

I Just Found a Little Piece of My Soul

Robin says,

YouTube isn't great because it has music videos and stuff (see below).

It's great because it has this.

Why the clip is cool, in adult terms: It's a rare view of industrialism as joyful and fun, not sinful and dehumanizing.

Why the clip is cool, in kid terms: CRAYONS!

Gimme a Treadmill, Gimme a Beat

Robin says,

Ultimate Friday music video viewing, via vcritic.

...On a Plane

Robin says,

Great. First no gels or liquids... now this.

Can You Jam with the Console Cowboys in Cyberspace?

Robin says,

1. Whoah.

2. Just... whoah.

Geometric Art

Robin says,

Lovely. Via.

Onward, Light Cone

Robin says,

I know I mentioned this before, but seriously, the RSS feed that tracks the progress of your personal light cone through deep space is just way too cool.

Just hours ago, mine cruised past p Eridani, 26.6 light-years from Earth. I used a cool open-source astronomy app called Stellarium to track it down.

The Happy Hive Mind

Matt says,

Cambrian House: anyone can submit an idea, anyone can vote for or against that idea, anyone can contribute the code/creative work to execute that idea, and the folks who do get paid.

The Giantess Pinocchia

Matt says,

I agree with the Gadgetopia folks, this giant marionette is way too creepy.

Avian Android Warriors from 1986

Robin says,

So, um, did anybody else watch Silverhawks back in the mid-80s? Because I did and it is AMAZING to see it again.

It is actually somewhat better-animated than some other old favorites (ahem). I make no such claims for the writing, though.

P.S. Scope the space-squid at 9:30. It turns into a space-bike.

What a Weenie World

Robin says,

Whoah! Excellent visualization of relative sizes of planets and stars! Via el boing.

Illusion is the Ultimate Weapon

Robin says,

Oh my god. The M.A.S.K. intro sequence., circa 1985, is amazing. (And I second everything Dustin says here.)

Thanks for the Intervention

Matt says,

I promise I don't link to McSweeneys every time it updates:

Dear Kelly,

Thank you for crying hysterically during the intervention and repeatedly shifting the attention to yourself. I'm not sure if that was intentional, but if it was, you are a true friend. A person can use a few breathers during such an intense meeting, and your sobbing jags and incomprehensible wailing really helped by raising serious questions about your own stability and obvious addiction to OxyContin—or whatever it was that spilled out of your purse during one of your many Kleenex expeditions.

So again, thanks.

Best,
Mike

P.S. Everyone in group here at the center is really looking forward to meeting you.

Hee!