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1 February 2007
[ebay] Find Misspelled Listings on eBay … ‘Imagine being able to find listings on eBay which attract very few bids by the end of the auction… Why so few bids? Quite simply because the listing contains misspellings and therefore couldn’t be found by using any search tool.’ [via meish.org]
[toys] Speak & Spell Emulator — Flash version of the popular 70’s learning toy … ‘Spell Anything’ [via qwghlm]
2 February 2007
[ebay] What was the first thing ever sold on eBay? … ‘In late ’95, Pierre made history when he sold eBay’s first item — a broken laser pointer he had originally bought as a cat toy. Amazingly, the buyer paid $14.00 for the kaput pointer. We imagine it was about this time Pierre realized he was on the cusp of creating something great.’ [via Kottke]
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3 February 2007
[movies] When Harry met Sally Recut — the romance film with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as a thriller … ‘Don’t Fuck with Mister Zero.’ [via Metafilter]
4 February 2007
[web] Senduit — another one of those useful websites that allow you share large files for short periods of time. [via Lifehacker]
5 February 2007
[books] The Naked Truth: Authors Who Write in the Buff. … ‘When Victor Hugo, the famous author of great tomes such as Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, ran into a writer’s block, he concocted a unique scheme to force himself to write: he had his servant take all of his clothes away for the day and leave his own nude self with only pen and paper, so he’d have nothing to do but sit down and write.’ [via Quiddity]
[apple] Charlie Brooker: I Hate Macs … ‘So when you see the ads, you think, “PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.” In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign. I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don’t use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.’
6 February 2007
[movies] RoboCop, PhD — According to Wired Peter Weller is getting a PhD in Italian Renaissance Art History … ‘This is no vanity degree; Weller teaches courses, writes papers, and is doggedly climbing the academic ladder. Buckaroo Banzai, the polymath who was arguably Weller’s most famous character – acclaimed neurosurgeon, race car driver, particle physicist, and, of course, rock star – would be proud.’ [via Ghost in the Machine]
7 February 2007
[comics] Interview with Grant Morrison from 2004 … ‘This last year after my dad died and my cats died, I felt so bad and so hopeless but I had to acknowledge that I still felt. These feelings are not actually the negative kinds of states that they try to convince you they are. They’re feelings, and they’re all quite sharp and they’re all quite bright and alive. The meaning is that life HURTS in many instances, generally because it implicates us in something desperately precious and fragile and temporary.’ [via Pete’s Linklog]
[comics] Harvey Pekar on Letterman — the infamous episode where Harvey seriously manages to wind-up Letterman … ‘You’re a dork, Harvey – Relax!’ [via Journalista]
8 February 2007
[apple] Are you a Mark or a Jez? — some photoshopping of Apple’s Peep Show Adverts … ‘Let’s be honest – I’m a bit of a twat. Guess which computer I am?’ [via linkbunnies.org]
9 February 2007
[comics] Stupid Comics on British Girls Annuals … ‘These comics aren’t all fun and games. Real-world problems and issues were sometimes dealt with in a frank and open fashion, uncompromising and stark, facing society’s problems head on. For instance… Sometimes, sometimes Daddy buys you a pony, and that pony is SO mischevious and fun-loving that it becomes embarrassing at equestrian events! A real-world problem that many British teenage girls wished they faced.’ [via qwghlm]
[wikipedia] Anna Nicole Smith’s death sends Wikipedia into overdrive … ‘I get all my news from a large online forum… Whenever they say someone’s dead, I rush to Wikipedia to edit their article… But I’ve always been too late. Why is it that scientific news takes so long to be made public, but when somebody dies everyone flocks to it? We’re all just a bunch of necrophiles, aren’t we?’ [via linkbunnies.org]
[comics] Dyspeptic Planet — Interview with Evan Dorkin. ‘…you know what? Football players are idiots, but nerds can be bastards too. Eltingville is about the tyranny of fandom, and fans who believe that everything that they buy and are into is just for them and no one else. And they hug it so close to themselves that they suffocate it. And they are not just these loveable little losers – well, a lot of them are [laughs].’
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10 February 2007
[ebay] Guide for UK eBay traders on Income Tax … ‘If you qualify as a non-trader, this means you are not buying and selling goods online with the intention of making a profit. Are you selling unwanted presents? Do you occasionally sell personal items, such as old vinyl records or a sofa? As long as you are not buying goods with the intention of selling them at a profit, you are not regarded as a trader. This means you do not have to notify us and declare the income on your tax return.’
11 February 2007
[nude] Top 10 Naked People on Google Earth … ‘This person thinks they have privacy on this rooftop (haven’t they seen Enemy of the State?), and they’re definitely topless! (Sex unknown of course, but topless nevertheless.)’ [via linkbunnies.org]
12 February 2007
[funny] Ze Frank on Procrastination … ‘You might experience a whole career to put off building meaningful relationships and finding an inner sense of self worth.’
[blogs] Billie Piper to play Belle de Jour? … ‘Friends say she is “desperate” to play the part of Belle de Jour, with Channel 4 expected to green-light the project in the coming weeks.’
13 February 2007
[comics] The Death of a Role Model – Conclusion (some spoilers) — some interesting points on Dave Sim and the conclusion of Cerebus … ‘I find it amazing that the prelude to the end of Form and Void was echoed with my own impressions of the story as it ended. Can you imagine how Cerebus felt when he saw Ham (a man he greatly admired) had blown his own head off with a shotgun? That’s how I felt at the end of Form and Void. Dave’s brains, his effort, splattered on a steamy pile of clotting blood in the snow. I don’t know if that was the intended effect, but I find it really likely it was.’ [via Meowwcat]
14 February 2007
[24] Whatever It Takes — interesting look at the politics behind 24 and of it’s creator Joel Surnow … ‘The “24” producers told the military and law-enforcement experts that they were careful not to glamorize torture; they noted that Bauer never enjoys inflicting pain, and that it had clearly exacted a psychological toll on the character. (As Gordon put it to me, “Jack is basically damned.”) Finnegan and the others disagreed, pointing out that Bauer remains coolly rational after committing barbarous acts, including the decapitation of a state’s witness with a hacksaw. Joe Navarro, one of the F.B.I.’s top experts in questioning techniques, attended the meeting; he told me, “Only a psychopath can torture and be unaffected. You don’t want people like that in your organization. They are untrustworthy, and tend to have grotesque other problems.” [via Blah Blah Flowers]
15 February 2007
[movies] Crichton’s Closet of Tech Horrors
— Wired looks at the films Michael Crichton directed in the 70’s and 80’s… ‘The movies are filled with high-concept ideas, purple dialogue, supremely creepy moments and nifty gadgetry. They are both implausible, sometimes to the point of being ridiculous, and a few degrees too earnest. And the primary weapon for the bad guys — doctors, computer programmers, robotics experts — is technological know-how. Now Crichton positions himself as an authority on global warming and enters the policy-making slipstream, advising President Bush and testifying at a congressional hearing on the nuances of climate change.’
16 February 2007
[web] Geek to Live: Create your master feed with Yahoo! Pipes — interesting idea for Yahoo! Pipes from Lifehacker … ‘As a prolific netizen, you generate lots of web-based feeds: your Flickr photos, your del.icio.us bookmarks, your weblog posts and your Lifehacker comments, to name a few. Instead of going here there and everywhere to see all the content you create on the web, combine it all into one master feed using with the newly-launched Yahoo! Pipes…’
18 February 2007
[mail] You’ve got Mail! — Jon Ronson on Junk Mail … ‘It is slightly chilling to realise there are rational, functional people up there employed to spot, nurture and exploit those down here among us who are irrational and can barely cope. If you want to know how stupid you’re perceived to be by the people up there, count the unsolicited junk mail you receive. If you get a lot, you’re perceived to be alluringly stupid.’
19 February 2007
[comics] The Time Machine — early Alan Moore comic from 2000AD with art from Jesus Redondo (this remains one of my favourite comics) …
21 February 2007
[tv] 50 funniest Homer Simpson Quotes … ‘I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me Superman.’ [via Limbicnutrition Weblog]
22 February 2007
[comics] Ask Metafilter: How would one become Batman? … ‘Then it dawned on me… Batman is a savant. He is a highly functioning savant to be slightly more accurate. He reads a book and knows it, he hears something ans remembers it. He sees patterns everywhere, and understands them. This idea, is humanly possible (maybe) and makes him knowing so much pretty easy. The rest is in the training… and with enough time and money and drive to do it, he could be lethal. Especially if we go the savant route because learning where and when to strike would wouldn’t take as much training. Batman has a very rare form of autism.’
[email] Email Addicts Offered 12-step Detox … ‘Marsha Egan, who claims email “abuse” can cost US business millions in lost productivity, cites the chilling cases of “a golfer who checked his BlackBerry after every shot” and a client who “cannot walk by a computer – her own or anyone else’s – without checking for messages”.’
[comics] Whatever Happened to Miracleman? — a look at the tortured publishing history behind Marvelman / Miracleman … ‘Alan Moore recently announced on Internet podcast Fanboy Radio that 90-year-old Marvelman creator Mick Anglo is still interested in claiming rights from all Miracleman material.’
24 February 2007
[comics] When even Dave Sim Finds You Weird — Metafilter discuss Dave Sim recieving a book proposal from a Furry … ‘The more I think about it, the more Dave Sim reminds me of Bobby Fischer. Brilliant guy, but good for one thing and one thing only. The fact that Fischer is an ugly little Nazi sympathizer doesn’t make him less of a great chess player…’
[tv] Charlie Brooker on The Half Hour News Hour: ‘A lot of people think right-wingers aren’t capable of being amusing at all. Not true. Mussolini looked hilarious swinging from that lamppost.’
25 February 2007
[motions] Correct Position for Opening your Bowels — It looks really complicated – Is the footrest really neccessary? :) [via Kottke]
26 February 2007
[quote] Arthur Miller Quote on Suffering and Psychoanalysis: ‘My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness. When in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know, have come out of people’s suffering. The problem is not to undo suffering, or to wipe it off the face of the earth, but to make it inform our lives, instead of trying to “cure” ourselves of it constantly, and avoid it, and avoid anything but that lobotomized sense of what they call “happiness”. There’s too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him – of defining him, rather than letting him go! It’s part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad!’ (Spotted on Adam Curtis’ documentary Century of the Self)
[comics] 30 years of the future — 2000AD is thirty years old today! Zarjaz, Earthlets! … ‘Judge Dredd is a complex character for liberals to deal with. Comics historian Paul Gravett, co-author of Great British Comics, notes: “He is a huge bully. But there are readers who quite like the idea. We show in my book a picture of a modern day policeman – they look just like Judge Dredd. In many ways we are living in Mega City One.”‘ [via The Coffee Grounds]
27 February 2007
[media] Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Past 40 Years — from the American Society of Magazine Editors …
28 February 2007
[funny] Vita Radium Suppositories (for restoring Sex Power) … ‘Recommended for sexually weak men who, however, should use the NU-MAN Tablets in connection for best results. Also splendid for piles and rectal sores.’
[comics] E-Petition: ‘We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to award knighthoods to John Wagner, Pat Mills and Alan Grant, in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the great British comic, 2000AD.’ [via Barbelith]
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