Tired of High Gas Prices? Make Your Own!
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 17, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
The oil industry rigs prices, why shouldn’t you?
In keeping with yesterday’s theme of make-your-own sign, today we have the make your own gas station sign. Enter the prices you want and a message of your own and the page creates an Exxon gas station sign for you. Enjoy.
Should The RIAA Sue The U.S. Military?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 16, 2008 by admin in Music
Should songwriters benefit from the use of their music as torture?
What do Rage Against the Machine, Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees, Christina Aguilera & Bruce Springsteen have in common? They’re all forms of torture, at least in the hands of the American military. I’d grant Christina Aguilera this status all on her own, but there is, as they say, no accounting for taste. Mother Jones has compiled the Torture Playlist, a selection of songs used by the military to induce sleep deprivation, “prolong capture shock” (great band name!) and disorient detainees during interrogations. The Groundswell Blog has created a sticker to help raise awareness (at least awareness that there’s a Groundswell Blog), so you can print them and stick them on CD’s at your local record store. I’m not sure what that will accomplish, but the stickers sure are clever, huh? People keep raising the question of whether the artists are receiving the appropriate royalties for the U.S. Military’s use of their songs, but I’ve wondered for some time if anybody’s paying royalties to that poor guy standing on the box.
Blowing Up Buildings Is Fun, But…
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 16, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green
An amazing alternative to blowing up buildings: lower them a floor at a time.
The Kajima Corporation of Japan has a very cool method for demolishing buildings. Instead of the implosion method commonly used to bring down buildings, they do it one floor at a time, by inserting computerized supports as they dismantle the first floor, and literally lowering the building one floor at a time as they demolish. The benefits: saves time and space, pollutes the air less, and makes material recycling easier. Kajima calls this the daruma-otoshi method, after an old Japanese game in which players knock out stacked pieces of a doll one-by-one without toppling the doll. See the time-lapse video below.
Change You Can Be Bereaving
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 16, 2008 by admin in Politics
Feeling a little “voter remorse” because of Barack Obama’s recent FISA stance? Create your own Obama “Change” poster.
Remember back in the ’04 elections, when those pesky liberals turned the create-your-own-poster gizmo on the Bush-Cheney web site against itself? Well, in the interest of equal time, have at it, all you No-We-Can’ters. Just type your own phrase in the little box below Obama’s picture, and voila, your own campaign poster. This site doesn’t appear to belong to the official Obama campaign, so maybe it’ll be around for a while. Have yourself some fun, whoever your candidate may be.
Our Time Is Up
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 15, 2008 by admin in Popular Media
What would therapy be like if the therapist wan’t counting on your recurring billing?
This award-winning short from 2005 really made me think about using my time more honestly today. The synopsis: When therapist Dr. Leonard Stern finds out he has six weeks to live, he adopts a fresh method of treatment: brutal honesty. For example – Client: “I’m just glad I found an effective weight loss technique…” Therapist: “You mean vomiting?”
View full-size video on YouTube here.