Due to the space constraints of the Formula 1 race cars all the dashboard controls are located on the steering wheel. The complex color coded controls and wheel shape reminds me of the original Xbox controller in terms of design aesthetic. Here's a collection of the steering wheels for the various F1 cars including the McLaren Mercedes (drool), BMWs, and Ferraris.
View more here.
FAKE warning is added, but this video of a cell phone getting microwaved is monsterly amazing: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0TSyIn5KMo]
Anyone know what was up with the four F-15s tailing close behind a commercial jetliner this afternoon in NYC? I spotted this while around Columbia University.
A new study from the Harvard Medical School argues that not eating is a good way to avoid jet lag:
Normally, the body's natural circadian clock in the brain dictates when to wake, eat and sleep, all in response to light. But it seems a second clock takes over when food is scarce, and manipulating this clock might help travelers adjust to new time zones, they said."A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this new clock," said Dr. Clifford Saper of Harvard Medical School, whose study appears in the journal Science.
Great, so I'm no longer jet lagged but instead FUCKING STARVING.
Read more here.
I'm pretty speechless after watching this video that Brian from Ikeepadiary.com (one of the early inspirations for my blog) posted. He went to a pet shop and witnessed a bigger lizard attacking a smaller one. And by attack, I mean eat. But the big lizard chomps off the smaller lizard's tail...and the tail proceeds to...flap and twitch all over the place. Truly the stuff of nightmares. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_6sJczuJqE]
When you're an elite world class athlete like Kobe Bryant and you start running out of challenges, how do you keep from being bored? Jump over a fast moving Aston Martin? Check. Jump over a large snake filled pool. Check? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaJglK4IAf4]
The "alternative" commercials such as the these here--a perfect blend of a popular media distribution vehicle (YouTube), Internet memes ("wow" stunts), and celebrities (Jackass crew)--are a brilliant example of marketing and advertising appropriation of counter-culture activities and adopting it to astutely manage its brand, endorsers, and product. Pretty deft move for a goliath of a company like Nike.
I pretty much don't understand anything that this surfer is saying. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5j4McFzies]
And compare with the stoner surfer Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wq1w5RYdFLU]
If you went to school and you studied this industry and you studied economic cycles, why are you now surprised that this is happening? It’s like going into politics and saying, ‘I didn’t know I could be voted out of office." - Recently layed off 50-year-old Merrill financial adviser with 67 weeks of pay severance on a $101,000 salary.
Artist "draws" using a GPS briefcase as his pencil and the world as his blank canvas. At the end, the package traveled through 6 continents and 62 countries. First the sketch:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISHiVGx8-2U]
And the journey:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irDEzQovftM]
At the end of the video I wasn't sure if I saw art or a (fantastic) DHL commercial.
After his successful operation despite overwhelming odds against the Red Falcon invasion, Lt. William "Mad Dog" Rizer testifies before Congress about the lack of properly supplied equipment.
LT. RIZER: Right. Now, I know that at the time of our deployment, resources were already committed to providing support for the Bionic Commando project, but sending two men to fight an entire army of technologically advanced aliens… I can’t imagine that America needed to close the grapple-arm gap that badly. And our equipment was… well, it was sub-par.
SEN. VAN HOUSEN: It says in our files that you were not issued body armor, is that correct?
LT. RIZER: No ma’am, that’s a misprint.
SEN. VAN HOUSEN: So you were issued body armor?
LT. RIZER: No ma’am. We weren’t even issued shirts. But that wouldn’t have been such an issue if we hadn’t been given substandard weaponry.
Read more here.
The Observer's literary editor discusses ten contemporary siminal moments, that he breaks out in chapters, which has shaped today's world of novels--starting with Zadie Smith (whom I discussed here) and ending with the Kindle. Fascinating read.
The author of White Teeth was first noticed in 1997 when she landed an unheard-of advance, rumoured to be £250,000, for her work-in-progress. Such hype was dangerous. When publication came in 2000, there were plenty of envious critics to pronounce her book dead on arrival, as they had done to so many precocious talents in the past. But White Teeth was exhilaratingly and distinctively new. In his review for The Observer, Caryl Phillips declared that her 'wit, her breadth of vision and her ambition are of her own making'.With worldwide sales of more than 2 million, White Teeth won success that was sustained by a new global market. The effect was almost instantaneous. In London, Sydney, Delhi and New York, publishers were now on the alert for 'the next Zadie Smith', a new generation of writers - Hari Kunzru, Monica Ali, Kiran Desai, Peter Ho Davies and Ali Smith among them - who would replace Ackroyd, Rushdie, Swift and Seth.
Read more here.
I took a course in college where I had to analyze political campaigns. My analysis of this politician's attack ad, "coming out" of Missouri's 6th district, which invokes his opponent's "San Francisco style values" aka GAYNESSOMG! wavers somewhere between pathetic and brilliant. I'm just so happy to be witness once again to the birth of yet another Internet meme. When will these stop? I HOPE NEVER! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eipRbIwNuA]
And here is Ms. San Francisco Style Values' response.
University of Nevada's student newspaper columnist Jordan Butler visits a brothel for material for his final piece before he graduates. No sex, just cuddling and discussing a wide variety of topics.
Minutes later we were in Toni’s bedroom. There were stuffed animals hanging in a net from the ceiling. A boombox on one of her cabinets was blasting Ludacris. I apparently didn’t look like a Ludacris fan, so she changed the music to Dave Matthews Band. Matthews’s bluesy acoustic guitar began as Toni rested her head on my chest.“So do you want to talk or just sit here in silence?” Toni said.
“Oh, I want to talk!”
“Well, what do you want to talk about?”
Politics. We talked about the grueling contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She liked Clinton, but since she had never seen Obama speak, I told her to look him up on the Internet. “He’s hot,” I said. “You’ll have a crush on him instantly. Hell, I do! I have a total man-crush on Obama!” She laughed.
Read more here.
This Weezer music video features practically every YouTube meme and star from the "dun-dun-dun Hamster" to the Coke+Mentos guys to "Leave Britney Alone" to "Numa Numa guy." [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI]
You can listen online for free to Wilco's performance at The Pageant in St. Louis (Quicktime required). On a personal note, listening to this makes me nostalgic.
The Times analyze the recent puzzling disappearance of 5-4 rulings by the Supreme Court, led currently by Chief Justice John Roberts, in this term as opposed to the previous term where the judges split 5-4 on 13 cases out of the 41 cases they decided. In addition to the election year effect (a correlation that suggests that during election years the Court tries to achieve more consensus on cases in order to avoid controversy), the Times contends that criticism from the public as well as some from certain respected conservative voices on decisions from the last term might be influencing factors this year, particularly on the chief justice. The combined result is the appearance that the conservative judges shepherded by Roberts are hewing narrowly and "closely to the facts of each case" and avoiding broader activist decisions to appease their liberal colleagues and thus avoid the divisive 5-4 results.
Read more here.
A security camera captured the following scene: Three young girls testing out speakers start dancing to the music. Jovial Best Buy employee stands off to the side bobbing his head along and enjoying the impromptu dance party taking place in front of him...and then he decides to join the party. And he joins in a SERIOUS way. You can view it here (no sound). Watch it for around the one minute mark for the payout. It made me lawl. If Best Buy was smart they'd turn this into a commercial. Makes it seem like a fun, friendly, and comfortable place to shop as opposed to the fascist warehouse where they kick people out because they've been playing the demo Guitar Hero too long even though there was no one else waiting to play it and it was a quiet Friday evening...
I realized that today's series of entries here have a decidedly Japanese theme going on--smart Japanese parrots, super flying Japanese fish, and now the best baseball pitch ever...from the land of the rising sun! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXRWM-qrOtc]
The exterior of the Warner Brothers building in Burbank, California is wrapped with an explicit ad for Madonna. One person discovers that their particular office window is located in Madonna's jj.
