30 April 2006
28 April 2006
In Defense of Wii
I’m in about the same camp. The name didn’t inspire me initially, but I don’t really hate it, and I can see its advantages.
27 April 2006
sekrit's User Page - Last.fm
last.fm page for every song played on BB6 Radio, secretly tracked by them for a year now.
26 April 2006
Beyond "D'oh!": Simpsons Quotes For Everyday Use | The A.V. Club
Beyond “D’oh!”: Simpsons Quotes For Everyday Use | The A.V. Club
Do I get points for already using a lot of these frequently?
24 April 2006
Final Girl Theory
Those of you who are as sick as I am of the not-so-clever “if I’m going to look at my character’s backside all the time, it might as well be a hot chick’s” explanation of why guys play girls in video games might want to look in the “Final Girl” theory described in this piece about Lara Croft.
WSJ.com - Philips and Time Inc. Agree to Keep It Simple
WSJ.com - Philips and Time Inc. Agree to Keep It Simple
Crazy reversal of practices here in the name of advertising.
22 April 2006
20 April 2006
The Worst President in History?
The Worst President in History?
One of America’s leading historians assesses George W. Bush, Rolling Stone cover story.
Wired News: Last Piece of the Puzzle?
Wired News: Last Piece of the Puzzle?
The sculptor of the famous puzzle Kryptos on the CIA headquarters grounds has revelead a mistake in the puzzle that could lead to someone finally solving it.
USATODAY.com - CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character
USATODAY.com - CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character
“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person.”
18 April 2006
Baseball's war on the upper deck. By Tommy Craggs
Baseball’s war on the upper deck. By Tommy Craggs
Stadiums are roping off the cheap seats in an effort to make the game more “intimate.”
17 April 2006
15 April 2006
HeiDeas: Beyond embiggens and cromulent
HeiDeas: Beyond embiggens and cromulent
Further linguistic studies of The Simpsons.
13 April 2006
Left
I’m a little worried about being at a strong disadvantage on the Nintendo Revolution, being left-handed. Picture a high tech Duck Hunt, where you use the main controller as a gun and the nunchaku attachment containing ancillary controls needed to move your character. We’re all used to using control sticks in our left hands from twenty years of muscle memory. Presumably you’ll want to main hand the “gun”, which works great if you’re a rightie and can still use the other piece with your left hand, but if you want your “gun” in your left hand, you’ll have to retrain your hands. To me, the idea of holding a control stick in my right hand just seems dirty.
Mac Rumors: Beatles Songs on iTunes? [Updated]
Mac Rumors: Beatles Songs on iTunes? [Updated]
Remastered Beatles songs will finally be sold.
12 April 2006
The Universe of Discourse : Robert Recorde invents the equals sign
The Universe of Discourse : Robert Recorde invents the equals sign
Copy of the first appearance of the equals sign (“=”).
cadbury egg cake
“Experiment: Replace ordinary eggs in cake recipe with Cadbury Creme Eggs and observe results. Hypothesis: THIS IS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME”
PistolWimp - Incredible Machines
PistolWimp - Incredible Machines
Fun series of Rube Goldberg machines.
11 April 2006
Civil War & Peace of Mind with Mark Millar (Part 1)
Civil War & Peace of Mind with Mark Millar (Part 1)
Long, personal article about Mark Millar and what he has coming up for Marvel.
The Office April Fool's Day PSAs
The Office April Fool’s Day PSAs
I had only seen one of these (the one about being short).
10 April 2006
08 April 2006
DC Comics and the Hand of Creation
Comic books don’t always like to talk about religion in a direct way. Even in the DC universe, where God explicitly exists and where there are characters who are literal angels, God is rarely talked about and never intervenes, even when villains are trying to undo Creation. It was thus surprising to me when I discovered that DC has had its own creation imagery for forty years. It’s possible that I’m the only one who didn’t know this, but it was mentioned in a recent review of Infinite Crisis 4, so I did a little research, appealed to Yahoo! Answers, and found my answer.
Green Lantern (vol. 4) 40, published in 1965, tells the story of Krona, a being who wanted to learn the secret of creation and, in so doing, released entropy into the universe. Krona builds a machine that lets him peer back to the creation of the universe, and sees a giant hand clutching a cluster of stars. The issue was drawn by Gil Kane, and Kane’s “hand of creation” motif was repeated when the story was expanded upon in later issues dealing with Green Lantern and the Guardians of the Universe.
George Pérez reused the image of cosmic hands in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Pérez, it seems, has become the go-to guy in the DC universe whenever creation needs to be redone or undone. JLA/Avengers tells another story of Krona in which he fuses the DC and Marvel universes, illustrated by Pérez as a pair of hands forcing two Earths together:
The current series Infinite Crisis features a villain whose plot involves playing God by recreating the world in his own vision. Pérez again draws a pair of hands, this time creating and destroying hundreds of alternate versions of Earth, trying to craft the perfect one:
The imagery hasn’t always been used in every DC story that shows the creation or destruction of the universe. Zero Hour, for exampe, did not depict the hand/s of creation, but its use in the crisis and the new crisis, I think solidifies the imagery as the official depiction of Creation in DC comics. Now, clearly the concept of a Godly hand bringing life did not originate with Gil Kane in Green Lantern, and I’m sure an art historian could draw it back long before the Sistine Chapel, but its use in the DC shows that, even though evolution is a proven fact on DC Earth, God still had a hand in it all.
07 April 2006
Yahoo! Answers - I read recently that DC Comics' creation imagery has always involved a cosmic pair of hands. Evidence?
I’m putting this question out there for anyone who knows the answer: I’m looking for creation myths in the DC Comics universe.
06 April 2006
Game Developers Unleash A Storm On 'World Of Warcraft' Players
Game Developers Unleash A Storm On ‘World Of Warcraft’ Players
A look into the new weather in WoW, and what considerations went into it.
Daring Fireball: Windows: The New Classic
Daring Fireball: Windows: The New Classic
“The Boot Camp logo [is] a bastardized variant of Microsoft’s Windows logo, sans color, and with the whitespace between the four panels forming a hidden ‘X’, a la the hidden arrow in FedEx’s logo.” Great observation.
05 April 2006
Boot Camp
I actually didn’t expect this to come right from Apple, but it makes a huge amount of sense for them to release it officially, and it was inevitable someone would do it: Boot Camp lets dual boot your Mac into Windows or MacOS, in beta now. The program is free, but you’ll still need a copy of Windows XP SP2. It basically solves the problem of people who are hesitant to switch to a Mac because they have one or two programs that they have to use that only run on Windows. It’s not a perfect solution, because you’ll still have to log out of your MacOS session to use Windows, but it should get people pretty close. It also opens up the option that you can have people in the house sharing the same machine, some of whom only use Windows and some who only use MacOS.
Study: Maryland county's red light cameras net $2.85 million, increase accidents - Autoblog
Study: Maryland county’s red light cameras net $2.85 million, increase accidents - Autoblog
Accidents increased by 40% over a five-year period.
DS Lite engineers speak - News at GameSpot
DS Lite engineers speak - News at GameSpot
Short article on the design of the Nintendo DS Lite. (It’s not called “Gameboy, is it?)
04 April 2006
Graphic Novel Reviews
I found this site years ago. A great source for reviews of tons of stuff, and a good resource for the “why is thie book important” questions I have sometimes.
"Do It, Already!"
Why do TV couples take so long to finally hook up? Contains spoilers for The West Wing and Alias.
03 April 2006
TheFourthRail.com - Snap Judgments
TheFourthRail.com - Snap Judgments
Great compare/contrast between V for Vendetta the movie and the comic.
NEWSARAMA - COLORING JIM LEE'S INFINITE CRISIS #6 COVER
NEWSARAMA - COLORING JIM LEE’S INFINITE CRISIS #6 COVER
Another good look into the process, if a bit short.
Tiny Ohio town freaked out by Mario prank - Joystiq
Tiny Ohio town freaked out by Mario prank - Joystiq
I have to think this whole story is a prank.
Marvel Vs. DC
Pretty funny. I actually think some of those matchups aren’t right, but whatever. Regardless, I think DC has more strong individual heavy-hitters, while Marvel has more team players.