From the Belgian organization Responsible Young Drivers comes this prank giving learning drivers first-hand experience of how difficult it is to drive and text at the same time.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.
North Is Not Always Pointing Up – Orientation of Train Station Maps in Japan
North Is Not Always Pointing Up – Orientation of Train Station Maps in Japan
Calvin Chan:
In Japan, maps in public places such as train station and street, are oriented to the direction you are physically facing it, instead of always pointing North at the upper edge of the map.
I did not know this! Chan discusses some of technological consequences of this. He includes an iPhone Maps screenshot (mockup?) that is particularly sad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7DonhNflsw
Trailer for Baz Luhrman’s “The Great Gatsby”. Can I pre-order tickets yet?
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfc42GrKVZ4
In 2003, the Japanese jazz fusion band T-SQUARE held a concert tour titled SPIRITS. This is their song “Sunnyside Cruise” from that tour.
Check out how the audience has the piece memorized, erupting when the opening riff starts and cheering in advance of Takeshi Itoh’s sax melodies at 1:41 and 1:58. They are getting this excited about a jazz fusion band. This is how big T-SQUARE is.
(I have it memorized too.)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” performed by Lady Kim and the New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra (yes really). Conducted and arranged by the legendary Joe Hisashi.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Archaeologists Discover Lost Language
Archaeologists Discover Lost Language
ScienceDaily:
Evidence for a forgotten ancient language which dates back more than 2,500 years, to the time of the Assyrian Empire, has been found by archaeologists working in Turkey.
Researchers working at Ziyaret Tepe, the probable site of the ancient Assyrian city of Tušhan, believe that the language may have been spoken by deportees originally from the Zagros Mountains, on the border of modern-day Iran and Iraq.
The tablet seems to contain only a list of women’s names, but it’s still a really cool discovery.
So Boris Vallejo illustrated the back cover of issue 235 (December 1982) of MAD magazine.
Image courtesy of Doug Gilford’s Mad Cover Site.
The Loneliest Whale in the World
The Loneliest Whale in the World
Nicola Twilley, writing for Good:
According to a 2004 New York Times article on the subject, this particular baleen whale has apparently been tracked by NOAA since 1992, using a “classified array of hydrophones employed by the Navy to monitor enemy submarines.” It sings at 52 Hertz, which is roughly the same frequency as the lowest note on a tuba, and much higher than its fellow whales, whose calls fall in the 15 to 25 Hertz range.
The upshot of that is that the other whales don’t respond to it, so it’s just chillin’ out there all by itself. Poor lil’ dude.
Justice Breyer’s D.C. home hit by burglary
Justice Breyer’s D.C. home hit by burglary
Bill Mears, CNN:
The Supreme Court confirms the 73-year-old justice’s Washington home was burglarized earlier this month. It follows a February incident in which Breyer, his wife and a guest were robbed in his Caribbean vacation home by a machete-wielding intruder.
I hadn’t heard about the machete incident until now. Poor guy.
Iran threatens to sue Google for not labeling Persian Gulf
Iran threatens to sue Google for not labeling Persian Gulf
Another one for the “Iran Is Crazy” files, courtesy of Josh Levs of CNN:
On state-run Press TV, the Iranian regime warns it may take legal action against Google for not labeling the Persian Gulf.
…
“Toying with modern technologies in political issues is among the new measures by the enemies against Iran, (and) in this regard, Google has been treated as a plaything,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Thursday, according to state-run Press TV.
He added that “omitting the name Persian Gulf is (like) playing with the feelings and realities of the Iranian nation.”
Place names can legitimately be serious business. This is not one of those times.