A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Jun 01 2012
Mark Twain, probably

NY comptroller pushes transgender corporate rights

NY comptroller pushes transgender corporate rights

The Associated Press:

Texas-based oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. stockholders will vote Wednesday on a proposed company policy to ban discrimination against gay or transgender workers, a shareholder resolution pushed by New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Using the $150 billion state pension fund’s stock portfolio as influence, the comptroller’s office said it has helped persuade 27 other big corporations to agree to new nondiscrimination policies, though several previous attempts at Exxon Mobil have failed.

Blah blah free market, blah blah already sufficient antidiscrimination policy, blah blah. Good on DiNapoli for throwing some weight around for the cause of treating people like people.

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May 31 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Why We Pay More for Walkable Neighborhoods

Why We Pay More for Walkable Neighborhoods

‘Ili:
Could it possibly be because cars are fucking expensive?????
Colin:
Nope, cars are free just like rent and McDonald’s.
‘Ili:
“Super size me.” ::that’s how SUVs were invented::
Colin:
“No no like literally. I want to be super sized. Huge.”
‘Ili:
“The SUV comes filled with fries.”
‘Ili:
“SOLD”
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May 30 2012
Mark Twain, probably

BBC News mistakes Halo UNSC logo for UN

BBC News mistakes Halo UNSC logo for UN

Tom Phillips, Eurogamer:

The blooper occured in the background of last Thursday’s One O’Clock News, in which presenter Sophie Raworth discussed the real-life United Nations.

But the logo shown on-sceen was for the UNSC – Halo’s fictitious United Nations Space Command.

The story has a screenshot and a video. This absolutely happened.

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May 29 2012
Mark Twain, probably

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqq6J2CAn2w

Let’s have Joe Hisaishi two weeks in a row. In fact, let’s have him forever.

This piece is “Sosuke’s Voyage” from the Ponyo soundtrack. There are a few other tunes I’d much rather have posted than this, but a ton of the soundtrack has been pulled from YouTube. How dare the copyright owners exercise their legal rights!

This soundtrack is kind of interesting because of its hilariously overt Wagner influence. This piece, however, shows none of that! Instead we’ve got a vaguely American second half which is pretty cool.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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May 29 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Dinosaur Jr., then newly-reuinted, perform a 7-minute version of “Forget the Swan”. In-fucking-credible.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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May 28 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Cracking The Egg Sprinkler Mystery

Cracking The Egg Sprinkler Mystery

If you spin a hard-boiled egg in a pool of milk, the milk will wick up the sides of the egg and spray off at the egg’s equator. Engineer Tadd Truscott, of Brigham Young University, along with Ken Langley and others, launched an investigation to figure out why this happens — complete with a custom-built spinning apparatus, billiard balls and high speed video cameras.

SCIENCE

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May 27 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Asshole of the Week: David Pickup

Asshole of the Week: David Pickup

Steven DuBois for the Associated Press:

David Pickup, a Los Angeles-area counselor who specializes in reparative therapy, said he has helped many clients “maximize their heterosexual potential,” when they have come to him because they believe there is a cause-and-effect reason, such as sexual abuse, for their same-sex attraction.

“It’s a very tough, very emotional journey,” he said.

Emphasis added by myself to highlight an exceptionally reprehensible quote by Mr. Pickup. I gagged when I read those four words in the paper.

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May 26 2012
Mark Twain, probably

The Big Picture’s collection of photos from the eclipse on Sunday/Monday was probably my favorite set in recent memory. It has my new Twitter profile pic (#4), a supreme badass (#17), two photos that can’t possibly be photos (#26 and #27), and this shot by Bullit Marquez for the AP:

An annular solar eclipse is partially seen at sunrise, May 21, 2012, from the coastal township of Gumaca, Quezon province, 187 kilometers (116 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines.

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May 25 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Microsoft readies NUads: They watch you watching them

Microsoft readies NUads: They watch you watching them

Declan McCullagh, CNET:

“The innovation that we’re seeing is absolutely incredible,” [Lyn] Watts said. Kinect, he said, can allow advertisers to “go after that holy grail” — the living room.

Kinect’s unique capabilities to record and compile detailed biometric data raise some novel privacy issues. Kinect’s microphone array can record audio within earshot and transmit it to advertisers. It performs face recognition and can transmit video.

“How many people are in the living room? Are they taking any action based on the advertising they just saw?” Watts said. “Can we watch the customers’ reaction, and if we can, do we have the capability of showing a different ad, or the same ad, depending on what the reaction was?”

No no no no no no no no no no no no no please under no circumstances should you ever do anything like this

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May 25 2012
Mark Twain, probably

‘Ili was in town last week and when we caught The Avengers (★★★★☆), this trailer for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was shown before it. So fucking money — I can’t wait.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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