Today I want to toss up a TED talk and get in some time working on the soccer book. (Clubs covered so far: 636. On deck: Velez Sarsfield of Argentina.)
So here's Alex Steffen in Edinburgh, Scotland, talking about how to reduce carbon emissions on a city-wide level. (First hint: the higher the city's density, the lower the emissions.)
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Monday, August 8, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Outside The Lines, Inside The All-Star Team
Recently, I ruminated about the wisdom of including sportswriters on the Journalism All-Star Team. This was done after being confronted with Grantland. Grantland includes some very stellar writing, but then, the focus is on sports and pop culture, two of the lesser-heralded beats of the industry. The fields just plain are not as important as others in the grand scheme of things; when world events such as 9/11 or the death of Osama bin Laden intrude on sports, sportswriters will often make a mention of how, when it gets down to it, it's just a game.
It is not, however, impossible to practice true, traditional, thoughtful journalism in these fields. It's just a lot harder to do than in fields of greater importance.
Which is why I am today kicking myself. There is someone covering sports, at ESPN yet, that practices true, traditional journalism day in and day out to such a degree that they deserve an All-Star jersey. In fact, there are two. But I was so worried about Grantland that I failed to notice.
Why did I not notice Bob Ley and Jeremy Schaap earlier?
Ley, along with Chris Berman, is one of the only two anchors from ESPN's founding in 1979 to still be with the network. You currently know him as the host of Outside The Lines, and the most straight-laced reporter ESPN has. Ley was one of the anchors ESPN went to for the only airing of SportsCenter on 9/11, sitting alongside Trey Wingo. When ESPN has a deep, controversial issue to cover, one that is too heavy to be given the usual treatment of a couple of guys yelling at each other, you can be pretty sure Ley, an eight-time Sports Emmy winner, is not too far away. He has stewarded Outside The Lines from its start in 1990 as a monthly special to its current half-hour weekday timeslot.
And when Ley needs a day off, Jeremy Schaap is usually the first person turned to as a substitute. He has six Sports Emmys to his name for his work on Outside The Lines, as well as SportsCenter and fellow investigative show E:60, a weekly one-hour program. On occasion, you'll also see him on the mainstream-news circuit through appearances on Nightline and ABC's World News Tonight.
As is what we might as well call tradition at this point, Ley and Schaap will now be shown at the top of their respective games.
Ley first, showing how traditional journalism can be done at the sports desk on a daily basis with this discussion concerning concussions in hockey:
As for Schaap, when you type his name into YouTube and view the suggestions, above even his name alone will be his name sitting alongside Bobby Fischer. This will lead you to his most famous moment (one that got him one of his Emmys), the 2005 report "Finding Bobby Fischer". I remember this piece from when it was first presented, and part of why it got the level of attention it did was the fact that Schaap, who almost never editorializes, did so in this piece, and to Fischer's face at that.
Editorializing in journalism is a bit like using the word "fuck", or a comedian cracking up at a joke during their skit. The power it has when you do it is inversely proportional to how often you do it. If Quentin Tarantino says "fuck", you don't notice. It barely even registers. If the Dalai Lama says "fuck", you can just hear the record needle scratch.
In the same way, the more a journalist editorializes, the less you tend to notice any one editorial, including those in op-ed section itself. If you see an editorial by George Will, it probably won't register for long. It's George Will. That's what he does. That's ALL he does. But if Walter Cronkite editorializes, holy hell, sound the alarm bells.
The latter is what happened with Schaap when he, well, found Bobby Fischer. As it happened, Fischer had long ago befriended Jeremy's father Dick, but Dick over the years had become dismayed over Fischer's brewing anti-Semitism. Especially since the Schaaps were Jewish. As was Fischer. Dick would eventually remark that Fischer "did not have a sane bone left in his body," words still ringing in Fischer's years decades later when Jeremy found him in Iceland...
It is not, however, impossible to practice true, traditional, thoughtful journalism in these fields. It's just a lot harder to do than in fields of greater importance.
Which is why I am today kicking myself. There is someone covering sports, at ESPN yet, that practices true, traditional journalism day in and day out to such a degree that they deserve an All-Star jersey. In fact, there are two. But I was so worried about Grantland that I failed to notice.
Why did I not notice Bob Ley and Jeremy Schaap earlier?
Ley, along with Chris Berman, is one of the only two anchors from ESPN's founding in 1979 to still be with the network. You currently know him as the host of Outside The Lines, and the most straight-laced reporter ESPN has. Ley was one of the anchors ESPN went to for the only airing of SportsCenter on 9/11, sitting alongside Trey Wingo. When ESPN has a deep, controversial issue to cover, one that is too heavy to be given the usual treatment of a couple of guys yelling at each other, you can be pretty sure Ley, an eight-time Sports Emmy winner, is not too far away. He has stewarded Outside The Lines from its start in 1990 as a monthly special to its current half-hour weekday timeslot.
And when Ley needs a day off, Jeremy Schaap is usually the first person turned to as a substitute. He has six Sports Emmys to his name for his work on Outside The Lines, as well as SportsCenter and fellow investigative show E:60, a weekly one-hour program. On occasion, you'll also see him on the mainstream-news circuit through appearances on Nightline and ABC's World News Tonight.
As is what we might as well call tradition at this point, Ley and Schaap will now be shown at the top of their respective games.
Ley first, showing how traditional journalism can be done at the sports desk on a daily basis with this discussion concerning concussions in hockey:
As for Schaap, when you type his name into YouTube and view the suggestions, above even his name alone will be his name sitting alongside Bobby Fischer. This will lead you to his most famous moment (one that got him one of his Emmys), the 2005 report "Finding Bobby Fischer". I remember this piece from when it was first presented, and part of why it got the level of attention it did was the fact that Schaap, who almost never editorializes, did so in this piece, and to Fischer's face at that.
Editorializing in journalism is a bit like using the word "fuck", or a comedian cracking up at a joke during their skit. The power it has when you do it is inversely proportional to how often you do it. If Quentin Tarantino says "fuck", you don't notice. It barely even registers. If the Dalai Lama says "fuck", you can just hear the record needle scratch.
In the same way, the more a journalist editorializes, the less you tend to notice any one editorial, including those in op-ed section itself. If you see an editorial by George Will, it probably won't register for long. It's George Will. That's what he does. That's ALL he does. But if Walter Cronkite editorializes, holy hell, sound the alarm bells.
The latter is what happened with Schaap when he, well, found Bobby Fischer. As it happened, Fischer had long ago befriended Jeremy's father Dick, but Dick over the years had become dismayed over Fischer's brewing anti-Semitism. Especially since the Schaaps were Jewish. As was Fischer. Dick would eventually remark that Fischer "did not have a sane bone left in his body," words still ringing in Fischer's years decades later when Jeremy found him in Iceland...
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Journalism All-Star Draft Pool
As a policy, my journalism all-star team is staffed by individual journalists, not organizations. (To remind you of the current makeup of the team, in no particular order: Rachel Maddow, Mariana van Zeller, Soledad O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Nate Silver, Gwen Ifill, Stephen Colbert, Sanjay Gupta, Andrew Sullivan, Fareed Zakaria, Matt Taibbi, Anderson Cooper, Christiane Amanpour, and Laura and Lisa, the sisters Ling. Shepard Smith, due to his continued presence on Fox News, is on the DL.)
I don't have any jerseys to hand out today. But there are two places from which any new addition to the roster is likely to come.
First is Bill Simmons' new venture in sportswriting, Grantland. To a fair degree, Grantland looks a bit like what I would do if I were focusing solely on sports and pop culture, and deleted all the quickie give-you-something-to-do posts. Long-form, free-flowing wavering between covering a recent event and telling a story that just happens to be on someone's mind at the time. And Simmons has called upon quite the stable of writers. Depending on how I feel about adding a pure sportswriter, I may end up inducting someone from Grantland soon, perhaps Simmons himself, perhaps someone else. Haven't made up my mind yet.
The second place is Journeyman Pictures, which you can find on this YouTube channel. Based out of the UK, they do mini-documentaries on a wide variety of topics from around the world. They're like a higher-output, faster-turnaround version of the National Geographic Channel, but without all the episodes of Dog Whisperer.
Why no inductees from here? A few reasons: first, their website hides full hour-long documentaries behind a paywall, which in and of itself is a bit of an obstacle. (The YouTube channel is of course free, although there it's nigh-impossible to scrounge up any names at all.) Second, they don't do a very good job of sorting works by reporter, and as a result, I simply haven't gotten through any one individual's various works yet. Again, we reward individuals here, not organizations.
Although if our all-star team needed a home stadium, we know who we ought to call.
Here's one recent piece from Journeyman out of, what a coincidence, Wisconsin (amazingly, it has nothing to do with the recall efforts):
I don't have any jerseys to hand out today. But there are two places from which any new addition to the roster is likely to come.
First is Bill Simmons' new venture in sportswriting, Grantland. To a fair degree, Grantland looks a bit like what I would do if I were focusing solely on sports and pop culture, and deleted all the quickie give-you-something-to-do posts. Long-form, free-flowing wavering between covering a recent event and telling a story that just happens to be on someone's mind at the time. And Simmons has called upon quite the stable of writers. Depending on how I feel about adding a pure sportswriter, I may end up inducting someone from Grantland soon, perhaps Simmons himself, perhaps someone else. Haven't made up my mind yet.
The second place is Journeyman Pictures, which you can find on this YouTube channel. Based out of the UK, they do mini-documentaries on a wide variety of topics from around the world. They're like a higher-output, faster-turnaround version of the National Geographic Channel, but without all the episodes of Dog Whisperer.
Why no inductees from here? A few reasons: first, their website hides full hour-long documentaries behind a paywall, which in and of itself is a bit of an obstacle. (The YouTube channel is of course free, although there it's nigh-impossible to scrounge up any names at all.) Second, they don't do a very good job of sorting works by reporter, and as a result, I simply haven't gotten through any one individual's various works yet. Again, we reward individuals here, not organizations.
Although if our all-star team needed a home stadium, we know who we ought to call.
Here's one recent piece from Journeyman out of, what a coincidence, Wisconsin (amazingly, it has nothing to do with the recall efforts):
Friday, June 17, 2011
Swing And A Long Drive, There It Is, Number 500
This is the 500th post of the blog, and in most places, something like that might merit some sort of milestone celebration thingie.
But I spent most of the day playing in a company softball tournament, am completely spent and having not written a thing for today because I got up at 6:30 and basically just headed straight to the diamond.
So for Glorious Post #500, you get a TED talk.
...oh hell, it's a milestone, after all.
FIVE TED talks. What a guy I am. I'll give a brief description of each, view the ones you like.
First, from Long Beach, CA in March, here's John Hunter, inventor of the World Peace Game, a 4-layered game he made for a gifted class...
Also in March at Long Beach, Paul Romer gave an update on a 2009 talk he gave concerning a proposal for a charter city- a newly-built city with a particular working model you want but is too difficult to achieve by modifying an existing city. Basically, think a modification of Bender's immortal Futurama quote- go build your own city, with blackjack, and hookers...
Third, at Penn State University in October, computer security expert Bruce Schneier discusses security, and how the amount of safety we feel and the amount of safety we actually have are not the same thing...
Fourth, if anyone out there besides me is having fun with the new Discovery Channel series 'Deception with Keith Barry', here's Barry in 2004 working over an audience in Monterey, California. For those who haven't seen the series, here's a guy who loves nothing more than to hijack people's brains.
And finally, TED cheated a little bit and posted a talk from 2008's Entertainment Gathering, also in Monterey, so they could host the video of a talk from Mythbuster Adam Savage about dodo birds and the Maltese Falcon and you clicked at 'Mythbuster' don't you.
But I spent most of the day playing in a company softball tournament, am completely spent and having not written a thing for today because I got up at 6:30 and basically just headed straight to the diamond.
So for Glorious Post #500, you get a TED talk.
...oh hell, it's a milestone, after all.
FIVE TED talks. What a guy I am. I'll give a brief description of each, view the ones you like.
First, from Long Beach, CA in March, here's John Hunter, inventor of the World Peace Game, a 4-layered game he made for a gifted class...
Also in March at Long Beach, Paul Romer gave an update on a 2009 talk he gave concerning a proposal for a charter city- a newly-built city with a particular working model you want but is too difficult to achieve by modifying an existing city. Basically, think a modification of Bender's immortal Futurama quote- go build your own city, with blackjack, and hookers...
Third, at Penn State University in October, computer security expert Bruce Schneier discusses security, and how the amount of safety we feel and the amount of safety we actually have are not the same thing...
Fourth, if anyone out there besides me is having fun with the new Discovery Channel series 'Deception with Keith Barry', here's Barry in 2004 working over an audience in Monterey, California. For those who haven't seen the series, here's a guy who loves nothing more than to hijack people's brains.
And finally, TED cheated a little bit and posted a talk from 2008's Entertainment Gathering, also in Monterey, so they could host the video of a talk from Mythbuster Adam Savage about dodo birds and the Maltese Falcon and you clicked at 'Mythbuster' don't you.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Fork You
It's been a while since you've had a science project to not try at home because mom's going to freak when she sees what you've done with her forks.
This is going to be a two-parter. First, we show the trick.
And then, we explain it. The video allows you the option of the long version or the short version. The long version takes 12 minutes; the short version takes six.
This is going to be a two-parter. First, we show the trick.
And then, we explain it. The video allows you the option of the long version or the short version. The long version takes 12 minutes; the short version takes six.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Life Of A Birth Control Pill: A Play In Four Acts
There will be a brief intermission between acts two and three.
ACT ONE
ACT TWO
HEY FOLKS! IT'S INTERMISSION TIME!
ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
Thank you for your patronage of tonight's program.
ACT ONE
ACT TWO
HEY FOLKS! IT'S INTERMISSION TIME!
ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
Thank you for your patronage of tonight's program.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Senbatsuru
On February 21, 1955, Sadako Sasaki, a 12-year old girl from Hiroshima, Japan, was hospitalized with leukemia, brought on by the atom bomb dropped on that city in 1945, when she was 2. She was about one mile away from Ground Zero at the time. The bomb had taken a decade to do its damage to Sadako, but the damage was done. Doctors gave her a year to live, if that.
Sadako had other ideas. An old Japanese belief holds that a person can be granted a wish by making 1,000 origami cranes. (A group of 1,000, held together with string, is called a senbatsuru. Thus the post title.) Sadako had a wish. She wished to get better. On August 3, she was given a crane by her friend, Chizuko Hamamoto. At that, she resolved to fold the necessary cranes, and spent hours every day working towards the 1,000-crane mark. There was a lack of the amount of paper she would need at the hospital, but Sadako made do however she could, with whatever kind of paper was available. Medicine wrappings, the wrapping paper from other patients' get-well presents, Chizuko would bring paper from school, whatever worked.
Unfortunately, after 644 cranes, Sadako ran out of time. She died on October 25. Her classmates folded the other 356, and laid them as well as her own to rest along with her. (Although the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum maintains that she made it to 1,000.) A statue of her stands at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, where cranes continue to be placed to this day. There's a good chance that, if you think back, you'll recall reading the story in school once.
Given that Japan is, once again, dealing with nuclear radiation, it feels appropriate to bring up the story. While far and away the best thing you can do to help from home is always going to be to send money (hint hint), here's an instructional video on how to make an origami crane.
You know. Just in case.
Sadako had other ideas. An old Japanese belief holds that a person can be granted a wish by making 1,000 origami cranes. (A group of 1,000, held together with string, is called a senbatsuru. Thus the post title.) Sadako had a wish. She wished to get better. On August 3, she was given a crane by her friend, Chizuko Hamamoto. At that, she resolved to fold the necessary cranes, and spent hours every day working towards the 1,000-crane mark. There was a lack of the amount of paper she would need at the hospital, but Sadako made do however she could, with whatever kind of paper was available. Medicine wrappings, the wrapping paper from other patients' get-well presents, Chizuko would bring paper from school, whatever worked.
Unfortunately, after 644 cranes, Sadako ran out of time. She died on October 25. Her classmates folded the other 356, and laid them as well as her own to rest along with her. (Although the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum maintains that she made it to 1,000.) A statue of her stands at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, where cranes continue to be placed to this day. There's a good chance that, if you think back, you'll recall reading the story in school once.
Given that Japan is, once again, dealing with nuclear radiation, it feels appropriate to bring up the story. While far and away the best thing you can do to help from home is always going to be to send money (hint hint), here's an instructional video on how to make an origami crane.
You know. Just in case.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Home Page
It's a TED talk today. Specifically, say hello to Ethan Zuckerman.
How global do you think the Internet truly is? Despite the ability of the Web to connect you to what's going on in the rest of the world, how often do you actually do so?
Because Ethan's got a nasty surprise for you.
How global do you think the Internet truly is? Despite the ability of the Web to connect you to what's going on in the rest of the world, how often do you actually do so?
Because Ethan's got a nasty surprise for you.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
If You Try This At Home, You Deserve What You Get
Sometimes it's the simple everyday household questions that need answering. You've got a random bit of food, and you wonder whether it would taste good coming out of the microwave. You've got a non-food item, and you wonder whether it's microwave-safe.
Or you've got something that's obviously not microwave-safe and you're wondering what would happen, in which case, put it down, let these guys from Massachusetts do it, you can see what it looks like and you don't have to do it PUT DOWN THE MICROWAVE.
NO! YOU FOOL!
Or you've got something that's obviously not microwave-safe and you're wondering what would happen, in which case, put it down, let these guys from Massachusetts do it, you can see what it looks like and you don't have to do it PUT DOWN THE MICROWAVE.
NO! YOU FOOL!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Louis, Louis, (unintelligible)
Back in August, I provided a list of 17 journalists I highly respect. A journalism all-star team, if you will. 17 people that are among the best in the business. To remind you, they are, in no particular order: Matt Taibbi, Jon Stewart, Shepard Smith, Anderson Cooper, Sanjay Gupta, Gwen Ifill, Andrew Sullivan, Mariana van Zeller, Rachel Maddow, Christiane Amanpour, Stephen Colbert, Soledad O'Brien, Jim Lehrer, Nate Silver, Fareed Zakaria, and the Ling sisters, Laura and Lisa.
A few months later, this blog declared Fox News as inherently untrustworthy. It was also mentioned that this affected Smith. Obviously, it's nothing against Smith. He is doing his best over there. However, the culture at Fox News is so utterly poisonous that it makes quality journalism impossible. The day Smith finds work at another organization, he'll be back on the team, but until then, he has to come off the active roster. We'll say he's on the disabled list.
Luckily, there's someone else that can be called up to the all-star team. That person is Louis Theroux.
If you're American, you almost certainly have not heard of him. That's because he's with the BBC. He began in 1998 with a series called 'Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends', and his personality and style of reporting has always been somewhat in that vein, but ever since he started, the topics he's selected have been more intriguing and heavy than weird. Just like Stewart and Colbert, he does the kind of work you wish it wouldn't take him to be doing.
And that's always been the most prevalent criticism of Theroux: that his topics, particularly some of his more recent topics, are too heavy for him. That he's sometimes really not up to the tasks he gives himself, that he sometimes lets his aloofness get in the way. To which I say: well, why don't you get out and do it better.
When Theroux is on his game, though, he is absolutely sublime. As we did with the original 17 all-stars, Theroux will be shown here at his best. And his single finest hour appears to his his 2003 report, 'Louis and the Nazis', in which he explores California's Neo-Nazi subculture.
Like I said. Heavy subject matter.
Here's that report, segmented into six parts as per Youtube time limits...
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
If a piece on Nazis is something you're simply not comfortable viewing, there are plenty of other Theroux pieces available online, and I can accomodate by linking to the opening parts of some of his other works (subsequent segments should pop up in the 'related videos' area if Youtube knows what's good for it)...
African Hunting Holiday
Law and Disorder in Johannesburg
The City Addicted to Crystal Meth (note: the city is Fresno, California)
Welcome to the squad, Theroux.
A few months later, this blog declared Fox News as inherently untrustworthy. It was also mentioned that this affected Smith. Obviously, it's nothing against Smith. He is doing his best over there. However, the culture at Fox News is so utterly poisonous that it makes quality journalism impossible. The day Smith finds work at another organization, he'll be back on the team, but until then, he has to come off the active roster. We'll say he's on the disabled list.
Luckily, there's someone else that can be called up to the all-star team. That person is Louis Theroux.
If you're American, you almost certainly have not heard of him. That's because he's with the BBC. He began in 1998 with a series called 'Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends', and his personality and style of reporting has always been somewhat in that vein, but ever since he started, the topics he's selected have been more intriguing and heavy than weird. Just like Stewart and Colbert, he does the kind of work you wish it wouldn't take him to be doing.
And that's always been the most prevalent criticism of Theroux: that his topics, particularly some of his more recent topics, are too heavy for him. That he's sometimes really not up to the tasks he gives himself, that he sometimes lets his aloofness get in the way. To which I say: well, why don't you get out and do it better.
When Theroux is on his game, though, he is absolutely sublime. As we did with the original 17 all-stars, Theroux will be shown here at his best. And his single finest hour appears to his his 2003 report, 'Louis and the Nazis', in which he explores California's Neo-Nazi subculture.
Like I said. Heavy subject matter.
Here's that report, segmented into six parts as per Youtube time limits...
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
If a piece on Nazis is something you're simply not comfortable viewing, there are plenty of other Theroux pieces available online, and I can accomodate by linking to the opening parts of some of his other works (subsequent segments should pop up in the 'related videos' area if Youtube knows what's good for it)...
African Hunting Holiday
Law and Disorder in Johannesburg
The City Addicted to Crystal Meth (note: the city is Fresno, California)
Welcome to the squad, Theroux.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Such A Timely Matter, Here, At The Start Of Spring
Burned out from a hell night at work, so in all things burnout-related, we turn to Top Gear to save the day. Here they answer the question, can you make a snowplow of a combine harvester.
They would ultimately show that on country roads, the combine was really rather effective. But first, they tried it in a town. Skip to 6:00, and note that the uploader reversed the footage to get around a copyright issue (never had any idea how that manages to be effective, but there you go)...
They would ultimately show that on country roads, the combine was really rather effective. But first, they tried it in a town. Skip to 6:00, and note that the uploader reversed the footage to get around a copyright issue (never had any idea how that manages to be effective, but there you go)...
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Education Placeholder
I'm working on something rather sizable; it will not get done today and will all but certainly take me deep into tomorrow. In the meantime, so you still have something to do around here, have a TED talk.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
For Science!
Science experiment day here at RHNF... dear God, now that I look at it, that acronym is awful and I am never using it again. It looks like what a dog would say when it's trying to bark at the mailman with a mouth full of marshmallows. 'Rhnf! Rhnf!'
Today, we are making a fire tornado. Needless to say, if you are considering trying this at home, please refer yourselves to the sentence below the title of this blog.
Today, we are making a fire tornado. Needless to say, if you are considering trying this at home, please refer yourselves to the sentence below the title of this blog.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Happy Birthday, Self
I turn 26 today, and as such, I claim perogative to post Weird Al and knock off early.
Hey, at least I'm honest about it.
Hey, at least I'm honest about it.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A Distraction
I, like a lot of people, am still trying to work through the Tuscon shootings emotionally. And I know I'm not alone in the fact that I've thought some things over the past few days that are for me completely out of character. I've almost said them out loud before stopping myself. I might have actually said them out loud. I've seen some very nice, very respectful people say things they under anything resembling normal circumstances, even during other shooting massacres, would never, ever find themselves saying. If you find yourself in this situation, know you're not alone. Try not to take some of what other people you know to be generally decent say too personally. They may be having a hard time dealing with it all as well.
That's why nothing was posted yesterday, largely. Partly, I'm still in my own little world of mourning, but also, I didn't want to say something I'd regret later. Right now, the thing I need, the thing a lot of us need, is some sort of silly little distraction. Something light to keep us going so we can better get through this.
So here's Jeremy Clarkson trying to drive a three-wheeled car called a Reliant Robin.
That's why nothing was posted yesterday, largely. Partly, I'm still in my own little world of mourning, but also, I didn't want to say something I'd regret later. Right now, the thing I need, the thing a lot of us need, is some sort of silly little distraction. Something light to keep us going so we can better get through this.
So here's Jeremy Clarkson trying to drive a three-wheeled car called a Reliant Robin.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
I'll Be Far From Home For Christmas
We really do need one post about how Christmas works outside the United States. It's always a bit fun for me to get away from the same 15 ancient Christmas songs and the same TV specials and the soul-grinding retail crush and everything that generally makes the entire month of December this numbing sense of happy-sappy sameness. And one of the best ways to do that is to take a gander at how someone else does it.
So... a glimpse into a couple of overseas Christmas traditions. We'll start with Australia...
Nigerians tend to vacate the major cities in favor of the smaller villages many city residents came from. Santa is actually not a popular figure there; a quote from the linked article states one child as saying "His costume looks phoney and his face is strange... We prefer masquerades." What's a masquerade?
This isn't a Christmas one necessarily , but, this:
Next we have Thailand:
And finally from Italy... you know what, if I had to suffer through this song when they played it ad nauseum at work, so do you:
So... a glimpse into a couple of overseas Christmas traditions. We'll start with Australia...
Nigerians tend to vacate the major cities in favor of the smaller villages many city residents came from. Santa is actually not a popular figure there; a quote from the linked article states one child as saying "His costume looks phoney and his face is strange... We prefer masquerades." What's a masquerade?
This isn't a Christmas one necessarily , but, this:
Next we have Thailand:
And finally from Italy... you know what, if I had to suffer through this song when they played it ad nauseum at work, so do you:
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Look At All The Colors In The Milk, Man
Science time. And the kids can try this at home. Go grab a dish, and put enough milk in it to coat the entire bottom. Don't use skim milk; you want the fat in there for this. Grab some food coloring, and put a drop or two of each of the four main colors- red, blue, green, yellow- in the dish. Wherever you want to put them is fine.
Now, once you've done that, get a Q-Tip, dip it in dish detergent, and dip the Q-Tip in the dish.
Or, even better, just add the detergent directly.
No drinking the milk afterward. You added detergent to it, you sick puppy. Ew.
Here's what's going on, according to about.com, because they explain it better than I can:
Now, once you've done that, get a Q-Tip, dip it in dish detergent, and dip the Q-Tip in the dish.
Or, even better, just add the detergent directly.
No drinking the milk afterward. You added detergent to it, you sick puppy. Ew.
Here's what's going on, according to about.com, because they explain it better than I can:
When you introduce detergent to the milk, several things happen at once. The detergent lowers the surface tension of the liquid so that the food coloring is free to flow throughout the milk. The detergent reacts with the protein in the milk, altering the shape of those molecules and setting them in motion. The reaction between the detergent and the fat forms micelles, which is how detergent helps to lift grease off of dirty dishes. As the micelles form, the pigments in the food coloring get pushed around. Eventually equilibrium is reached, but the swirling of the colors continues for quite a while before stopping.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
How Rich Can You Get? (Please Don't Answer That)
Richie Rich is a character that only really pops up in the public consciousness in a good economy. And for good reason. People don't really want to see anything in pop culture about what it's like to flaunt wealth almost beyond human comprehension when they're struggling to put food on the table. G.I. Joe can sympathize; his fortunes are subject to America's views toward the military and was retired for a time in the wake of Vietnam.
I shall demonstrate. Look around your house, take a look at your current budget.
Now please view this.
You have now very likely expressed such a desire to shoot out your computer screen that a gun has appeared in your hand out of thin air just for the purpose.
The original comic came out in 1953, with updates in 1980 and 1996, with a movie in 1994. All pretty good economies at their respective times of release.
Which makes it all the more bewildering that somebody thought 2011 would be a good time for a reboot. Seriously, nobody looked out at the economy, looked at their comic book character described as owning "two of everything money can buy", named Richie Rich, who lives in Richville, considered the possibility that Rich's personality- which is, admitted, that of a very nice person- might be overshadowed by the age-old Richie Rich trope of LOOK AT ME AND ALL THE MONEY I HAVE? Nobody said 'No, really, this is really not a good time to put Insanely Rich Guy Is The Big Damn Hero in front of people'? Nobody? Nobody thought of any way this might be taken badly by anyone?
I shall demonstrate. Look around your house, take a look at your current budget.
Now please view this.
You have now very likely expressed such a desire to shoot out your computer screen that a gun has appeared in your hand out of thin air just for the purpose.
The original comic came out in 1953, with updates in 1980 and 1996, with a movie in 1994. All pretty good economies at their respective times of release.
Which makes it all the more bewildering that somebody thought 2011 would be a good time for a reboot. Seriously, nobody looked out at the economy, looked at their comic book character described as owning "two of everything money can buy", named Richie Rich, who lives in Richville, considered the possibility that Rich's personality- which is, admitted, that of a very nice person- might be overshadowed by the age-old Richie Rich trope of LOOK AT ME AND ALL THE MONEY I HAVE? Nobody said 'No, really, this is really not a good time to put Insanely Rich Guy Is The Big Damn Hero in front of people'? Nobody? Nobody thought of any way this might be taken badly by anyone?
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