How Do Taste Buds Work?
Types of Butterflies
How Do Volcanoes Erupt?
How Does Solar Power Work?
Spiders Are Not Insects
What Tree Rings Mean
It comes as no surprise, in the world of always-on information, that fake facts are on the rise.
John Hodgman has set the fake trivia world ablaze with two books, an NPR exploration of the comparative benefits of flight and invisibility, even putting the President in his place with Dune trivia and more consequential, but completely false, true facts.
Look Around You points the lens of mid-century science education films at, well, absolute nonsense. Bless you, ants. Blants.
And, now, FakeScience tumbles these wonderful posters explaining the senses, animals, geologic features, and modern energy production. They even boldly take on the universe’s greatest question: Fucking magnets, how do they work? The answer may suprise you.
For When The Facts Are Too Confusing, Fake Science (via Coudal Partners)
Ira Glass Likes Excess and Giant M&Ms
New York Magazine: How often do you prepare your own meals?
Ira Glass: If “prepare” means “cook,” almost never. If “prepare” means “combine” or simply “transfer from ice-cream container,” nearly every day.
NYmag: Who is your mortal enemy?
IG: Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes. Or he would be, if he were mortal.
NYmag: Times, Post, or Daily News?
IG: Times. Please. I’m a cliché. Did I mention I work in public broadcasting?
NYmag: What makes someone a New Yorker?
IG: Oh, for God’s sake. I could give a fuck.
It’s not even fair how wonderful this man is.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
0 Plays →
On The Media presents the story of net neutrality, especially the recent Google-Verizon developments, with the different voices on the issue (advocates, Google, Verizon, FCC) accompanied by different musical leitmotifs from Peter and the Wolf
My favorite line:
If our town square is going to be paved with broadband bricks, then we’d better make sure it’s operating in the interest of all of us and is not under the control of a precious, special few.
-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps
Net Neutrality, A Musical Intepretation (via On the Media)
In our house we no longer say, “Who is John Galt?” Instead we say, “Who’s our little princess?
— Our Daughter Isn’t a Selfish Brat; Your Son Just Hasn’t Read “Atlas Shrugged” (via McSweeney’s)
New video from electro duo Ratatat features Getty stock videos of people laughing, crying, and smiling a little too wide. Creepy and funny and powerful, the absurd faces are reminiscent of a toned-down version of Chris Cunningham’s videos (exempli gratia) for the Aphex Twin except, you know, they’re real.
The whole of their new album, LP4, is pretty damn solid, a really striking departure from their layered, heavily effected post rock sound, but this is by far my favorite track. I even tweeted about it:
Great. The new Ratatat melted my face off with a guitar lick from hell. Now what am I supposed to do?
Ratatat- “Drugs” (via Boing Boing)
should have sent a poet
Creepy/cool biological specimen assemblages from etsy artist Brian Booker
I think the handmade ethos dovetails nicely with the medium of assemblage, which is about altering our attention to the world of small objects that surrounds us: noticing, gathering, re-combining. Partly by design and partly by chance, we create new things, which are, in a sense, unique environments where the old and the new cohabitate.
A little pricey for me ($250-$1000+) but fascinating curiosities from a true artisan of the eerie.
jonathan-cunningham | et al | bitterbuffalo
What’s this? An anti-rape campaign that focuses on preventing rape instead of preventing women leaving the house? Holy crap it’s Christmas.
Skype
YouTube
Campy, faux-vintage print ads for social media powerhouses Facebook, YouTube, and Skype
(via Laughing Squid)
Posted August 5, 2010 at 1:23pm in photo photos photoset tech humour humor blog socialmedia
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4 notes
Colorado’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes has accused his likely opponent, Democratic Mayor John Hickenlooper, of “converting Denver into a United Nations community” by promoting bike riding and other sustainability issues.
Internet comment threads are a painfully friction-less environment where this kind of undermining could go on all day.
Taken from, by the way, a video (w/ translation) of a concept for Chinese public transit involving a “straddling bus,” an Inspector Gadget-esque system of solar-powered buses that allow traffic to flow underneath them. Lasers are also involved, but I can’t say how. The good news?
It has huge skylight that will eliminate passengers’ sense of depression when enter.
Count me in.
“Straddling” bus–a cheaper, greener and faster alternative to commute (via engadget)
