Aku Aku

zombification

Ever had a bad month? My friend Dan has had a bad month, for example:

6 blocks from her house, I was pulled off my bike at the intersection of Shattuck and Alcatraz by a crowd of youths. They kicked me in the face a few times in the middle of the intersection, while cars on all sides honked because we were in their way. When I got up I was almost cartoonishly furious. I hit two of them pretty solidly and they all backed off, melting back into the crowd hanging out by the laundromat. I screamed for them to fight like men, challenging any two of them to face me in the intersection.

Read the whole miserable tale here.

chihuahua == rat

Scientists Analyze Genetic Makeup of Dogs:

Among other findings, the analysis determined that the Chihuahua is actually a type of large rodent, selectively bred for centuries to resemble a canine.

Ha ha!

a sikh, a muslim and an italian walk into a bar

Ever since Sonia Gandhi's Congress party won the Indian elections and she announced she was going to step aside and let Indian economic whiz, and member of the Sikh minority, Manmohan Singh accept the Prime Minister role from muslim (another minority) President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam I've been doing a daily google search for "a sikh" "a muslim" "an italian" "walk into a bar" with no results. Of course, I just tainted the search pool by posting this, but I am still waiting for the hilarity to ensue.

palm greasing 101

Epicurious has published an article JAMES BEARD: POCKET FULL OF DOUGH wherein Mr Beard does some investigation into the practice of bribing your way into exclusive restaurants in New York. A short fun read! Here's an excerpt:

Given the size of the crowd and the length of the wait, I decided to reach for my right pocket. I waited until the man behind the podium was alone (Rule No. 6) and rested my left hand lightly on his back. Suddenly, I was Fred Astaire and he was Ginger Rogers. He knew exactly what to do. He pivoted toward me and turned his right hand from face down to face up, giving me a target. I slipped the bill into his hand and said again, "This is a really important night for me."

Hipster Relativity

If you've ever been exposed to the hipster indie rock scene, and you enjoy physics, then you'll love hipster physics. Remember, M+S=XXX!

colin powell

Boing Boing reports on Colin Powell's appearance on Tim Russert's Meet the Press where a white house press aide attempts to disrupt the interview, physically moving the camera off of Powell as he is asked some tough questions. The aired show includes the disruption, Powell's rebuking of the staff member and his answer to the question.

I've had a number of talks with people recently about Colin Powell. I'm not an expert on his past, but throughout his run with the Bush II administration he seems to me to be a man of honor and confliction. He stood by his president through the questionable build up to the Iraq war because that was the honorable thing for a man in his position to do despite his own conflicting opinion, but when forced to recognize that the office of Presidency may not be acting honorably itself he also upholds his honor to the american public. In my opinion, Powell is the only person in the american political scene right now who would make a great president of the United States. I haven't felt truly proud of any other american politician since Jimmy Carter.

Sistersound

After the seminar, I went to Edinburgh Castle to see Sistersound. Another great show; these guys are better every time I see them. Click the photo above to see the whole set...

David Rumsey Map Collection

I sometimes dabble in some geo-hacking activities. Late Friday afternoon I was hanging out on the #geo IRC channel with the more serious geonauts when Mike Liebhold suggested those of us in the Bay Area join him for a Long Now seminar at Fort Mason featuring David Rumsey. I'd never heard of Rumsey, but apparently he was some map collector dude.

I headed down and was completely blown away. Rumsey is not just some map collector dude, he's like The Uber Alles Map Collector Dude. Really, I can't even begin to describe it. Not only does he have what must be the largest private historical map collection in the world, he has put together an INCREDIBLE online interface into that map collection on the public Internet: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

Not only are there over 10,000 maps in the collection ranging from pocket sized to meters-long japanese scrolls to 8 feet square, all searchable, displayable, and zoomable, but he also provides amazingly sophisticated tools that let you do things like simlutaneously display multiple maps of the same region, auto-resize them to normalize the display and choose whether to view them side by side or overlaying with adjustable transparency. He also has worked with 3D game designers to create 3D version of some of his maps that you can fly through with your web browser. Really, you've just got to see it to believe it. There's a flash tour on the website that will dip your toes into the incredible ocean of cartographical ecstasy he provides (see the sidebar for Feb 6 2004). If you find a map you just adore, you can download it and print it yourself or order a framed version online. The guy has really thought of just about everything. He even claimed to have added stuff to support linking to it from other software programs (an open API). It's seriously amazing. Trust me, you could get lost for the rest of your life clicking through his maps....

The map above is part of one of Ramsey's Morocco maps from 1836. Using his insight java map browser tool I was able to navigate to the town of Essaouira on the Atlantic coast and link that spot on the map (known as Mogodor then) to a photo I had taken of some fellow travellers when I visited there. Now anyone who uses the insight Java Client (as opposed to the insight Browser) and views that map can see my annotated point.

Rumsey is looking forward to a time when maps cease to be merely maps but are actual real time projections generated from data pouring in from satellite photos, various local sensors and the earth's inhabitants. I have no doubt that when that technology becomes practical, David Rumsey will be there to use it.

Art of T-shirt Folding

After Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay on July 8, 1853, he left with a signed trade agreement and a new technique for folding his T-shirts. The trade agreement stood the test of time, irrevocably bringing Japan into the global theater, however the T-shirt folding technique was lost ....until now.

1. 
   Start by laying the Tshirt flat and sideways in front of you, neck opening to your right. Find the centerpoint on the far side and pinch it with your left hand, about two inches in from the far edge.

   ---

2. 
   With your right hand, draw a line from your left hand to the right edge of the tshirt, parallel to the edge of the shirt. This brings your right hand to the neck-opening side of the shirt. Grasp the edge with your right hand.

   ---

3. 
   Now while maintaining your grip, cross your right hand over your left, towards the opposite (waist-opening) end of the tshirt. Maintain the same imaginary line you've been working on (about two inches from the far edge of the thsirt, parallel to the edge) and add the new edge to the grasp of your right hand.

   ---

4. 
   This is where the magic happens. Simply uncross your hands and extend them in front of you, lifting the shirt perpendicular to the floor.

   ---

5. 
   Complete the fold by letting the loose arm hole drop to the floor and folding the shirt in half over it!

   ---

6. 
   Breathe deeply and contemplate the terrible beauty you have wrought.

If the written instructions seem too complicated, you can also watch a video here. Thanks Boris! Update: BoingBoing picked this up too. Clearly the Tshirt Folding secret is out! Be sure to follow the trail of links from Boris to Jim for more Tshirt Ninja techniques

kinky @ slim's

Saw my favorite Mexican band Kinky @ Slim's tonight. Click the link for a full set of photos and a short AVI video. It was hard taking photos with the crowd hopping around so much, so I didn't try much...

I like the songs from the new album better live than on the CD, and I really liked an apparently new song (last one of their main set) that seemed more chemical brothers-ish than their usual stuff.