Archive for November, 2008
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Sometimes I’m Not So levelHeaded
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Technology
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Kind of like a little man trapped in Rubik’s Hypercube
I’ve always had a strange relationship with technology. I had a synthesizer for my first band (an Arp Axxe) when I was fifteen, way before most people even knew what they were, but was the last person I knew to get a CD player. I had a pocket scientific calculator when I was about eleven (rotary phones were still dominant at the time) but didn’t use a P.C. for the first time until 1999. As a Star Trek and space-race era kid, my expectations of technology have always been a little out of sync. That’s why I was a little confused by the video at left. It’s a 3D computer game called levelHead in which you make a little man walk through various rooms by tilting the cube. At first I was amazed and wanted to run out and buy one. Then I was ready to call hoax, because it’s so obvious that the apparently 3D images are superimposed on the cube. Then I realized that the video is what a player would see on the screen as they moved a blank cube around in their hand. Then I thought “wow, how stupid”. Then I reined in my cynicism, and realized it was pretty clever. Then I thought “what a stupid way to demonstrate the idea though”. Then I said “shut up, Ian, and stop starting sentences with ‘Then’ “.
Is Your Cat PlottingTo Kill You?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Review this simple guide to find out.
Review this simple guide to find out.
Taking Some Wind From The Sails Of Peak Oil Doomsayers
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Or is that taking some sales from the wind
It’s nice to know that while the big three beg for bailouts and utility executives try to raise alarm about the dangers of switching from coal, innovative thinking and a desire to make money are showing some tangible results in the clean tech movement. Apparently electric car innovator Fisker Automotive (Warning: melodramatic string music) is setting up shop – although only a couple hundred actual jobs – in Michigan. On the energy production front, even Texas is ramping it up; with its current growth in windpower generation, the state could be able to generate all of its energy from wind in the near future, with a surplus to put back into the grid. Maybe some of these survival-product pushers masked as loony prophets of oil doom will be put out of business.
Wait. So Africa IS A Country?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Politics
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Or Sarah Palin’s not retarded after all?
Don’t believe everything you read. Maybe not even the following information. “On the Internet”, as they say, “no-one knows you’re a dog“. Apparently all the hoopla about Sarah Palin thinking Africa was a country was the result of the media falling for an absurd parody of a think tank (The Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy), a political expert (Martin Eisenstadt), and his blog. See this New York Times piece for the convoluted details.
Long Before Wireless, There Was Wire
[ 4 Comments ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Music
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Wire the band
After my recent dissing of eighties music, I was talking with my walking musicological pop media reference library and friend Eric about whether or not there were any eighties bands that didn’t suck. We agreed on Wire, one of the least-acknowledged but most influential pop bands of the last 25 years. The clip at left is of their club hit “Ahead”. Early on (1977-79), Wire was kind of punk, but even then had more melodic tunes like The 15th