As subtle as a flying brick.

Archive for December, 2007

Old Soviet Christmas cards

Here’s a four page gallery of space age Christmas cards from Soviet Russia. They’re fantastic!.

Soviet XMas Card


National Geographic on giant human hoax

Five years ago, “IronKite” submitted this wonderful photo illustration to a Worth1000.com Photoshop contest on the theme of “Archaeological Anomalies.” The powerful picture was transformed into an Internet urban legend about the National Geographic Society’s discovery of the remains of giant humans in India. Several media outlets reported the story as fact. To this day, the National Geographic Society continues to receive international inquiries about this race of giants. National Geographic News reports on the myth:

 

Giant Skeleton Myth(One) story went on to say the discovery was made by a “National Geographic Team (India Division) with support from the Indian Army since the area comes under jurisdiction of the Army.”

The account added that the team also found tablets with inscriptions that suggest the giant belonged to a race of superhumans that are mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic poem from about 200 B.C…

Variations of the giant photo hoax include alleged discovery of a 60- to 80-foot long (18- to 24-meter) human skeleton in Saudi Arabia. In one popular take, which likewise first surfaced in 2004, an oil-exploration team is said to have made the find.

Here the skeleton is held up as evidence of giants mentioned in Islamic, rather than Hindu, scriptures.


Life Imitates Satire

In the increasingly surreal battle between the RIAA and music listeners, reality and satire can be hard to discern


Four out of Five People Wash Their Hands.

Four out of Five People Wash Their Hands. Don’t be that Fifth Guy. While you’re at it, cover your mouth when you cough and stay home when you’re sick. Really, how many times do we have to tell you? Wash. Your. Hands. Seriously.

Who’s the Fifth Guy? “The Florida Department of Health set out to prepare people for the potential of a flu pandemic, but they faced a tough challenge: No pandemic on the horizon … Then they built the campaign around what does matter to people: Fitting in.”*


Put Wet Towels On The Sensor

How to wash your hands and ride the elevators in the new New York Times Building.


Seven Girlie Things That Men Would Have Fun Doing

An amusing list of activities which are normally associated with women, but that men would enjoy.


Jackass 2.5 to be released online first

Sequel to the two-time box office hit, Jackass 2.5, will skip multiplexes entirely
and be distributed online first. Perhaps this will herald a new age of online-first movie distribution?

Please pardon the dust, but, as you can see, Jackassworld.com is indeed
open during construction. This is where you will eventually be able to
come and, not only find all of your Jackass needs, but a lot of new
stuff as well. “Growing the brand,” was, I think, the phrase they used?
So, while there will be no shortage of dudes kicking each other in the
balls just like in the old days, we’ve got a whole butt load of new
shit planned for your face on this site in the near future. But this
is-and this is what they told us-only the “soft launch.” (Yeah, we kind
of giggled when they said that too.)


The Story of Stuff

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in
our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is
hidden from view.
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes
the connections between a huge number of environmental and social
issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just
world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may
change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

 
 
Written and presented by Annie Leonard; produced by Free Range Studios.


Net.Art Generator

The net.art generator automatically produces net.art on demand.
 
 
This version of the net.art generator creates images. The resulting
image emerges as a collage of a number of images which have been
collected on the WWW in relation to the ‘title’ you have chosen. The
original material is processed in 12-14 randomly chosen and combined
steps.
 
 
The net.art generator was programmed by Panos Galanis from IAP GmbH,
Hamburg, and was a commission by the Volksfürsorge art collection…
 
 
Have fun and become a net.artist!

 


How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take In a Fight?

This short survey will tell you approximately how many five year old
children you could fight at once. Results are based on physical
prowess, training, swarm-combatting experience, and the flexibility of
your moral compass. Here are the ground rules:
 
 
* You are in an enclosed area roughly the size of a basketball court
 
* There are no weapons or foreign objects
 
* Everyone is wearing a cup (so no kicks to the groin)
 
* The children are merciless and will show no fear
 
* If a child is knocked unconscious, he is “out.” The same goes for you.
 


You’re in the jungle baby; you’re gonna die!

Teacher Barricades Herself Inside Classroom After Hearing ‘Welcome To The Jungle


Gissa job la? Go on, I can do that. Gissa job?

During the latter half of the twentieth century, Liverpool writers made
an enormous contribution to television drama. Writers like Willy Russell and Jimmy McGovern have been hugely influential. But the daddy of them all was unarguably Alan Bleasdale,
whose television dramas dominated our screens during the latter half of
the 20th century in a manner that was unmatched by anybody besides the
late Dennis Potter.

Though many of his television dramas were to win praise and awards, it was his two series, Boys from the Blackstuff, an examination of the lot of the Liverpudlian working class under Thatcherism, and GBH, which turned his gaze onto the local political scene — then dominated by the Trotskyite Militant Tendency
— that really cemented his reputation as one of the top three British
television dramatists of the second half of the twentieth century.

Now you can find large parts of both Boys from the Blackstuff and GBH on YouTube.

Quality viewing for Telly Friday.


Who loves ya, baby?

It’s Telly Friday, baby.


Essential Video Resources

Essential Video Resources – primers, guides and links for the video editor and technician
Of particular interest were

1)A Quick Guide to Digital Video Resolution and Aspect Ratio Conversions
2)the DV FAQ


Do Do … DoDoDo … Do Do … DoDoDo

Merry Christmas, Kids! Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you still might enjoy this fun bit of flash goodness.


Astronomy Pictures

Bad Astronomy’s Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2007.


A Zen Mind.

The Zen MindAn Introduction. A Day in the Life of a Zen Monk. Zazen – A Guide to Sitting. Interview with a Zen Buddhist Priest.

Happy Rohatsu!