Saturday, March 31, 2007
A Conversation with Stephen Colbert
Via: VideoSift
the interview was done at Harvard. The action really picks up about 15 minutes in, so don't be dissuaded by the weak performance of the college student that dominates early on.
Alice's socks come alive: Něco z Alenky; 1988
Via: VideoSift
Stop-motion combined with live-action cinematography.
From Wiki article: Alice (original name: Něco z Alenky) is a 1988 Czech surrealist film by Jan Švankmajer. It retells the classic Lewis Carroll stories (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass). While the original stories were more whimsical and light-hearted, Alice is a more dark, bleak portrayal of the "Wonderland" saga.
Louis Theroux's Weird Weekend: Survivalists
Via: VideoSift
Louis spends time with groups of (mostly) politically extreme people in the North West of America. The focus is on families and groups (or a horrific neo-nazi church in one part) which believe in and prepare for a 'New World Order'
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPJVwmHj6EM
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3MMEvd1VI
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzCOj1irwIc
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iFv4om2xlo
Friday, March 30, 2007
The 5 Basic Tastes - Salt, Sweet, Sour, Bitter & Umami
Via: VideoSift
I for one had never heard of the last taste (Umami). It basically means 'Savouriness' and is a Japanese term - the literal translation of Unami is 'Delicious Flavour'.
The Century of The Self - Part 1 of 4
Via: VideoSift
"This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." - Adam Curtis
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings profoundly. His influence on the 20th century is widely regarded as massive. The documentary describes the impact of Freud's theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways public relations agencies and politicians have used this during the last 100 years for their "engineering of consent".
Among the main characters are Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in advertising. He is often seen as the "father of the public relations industry". Freud's daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychology, is mentioned in the second part, as well as Wilhelm Reich, the main opponent of Freud's theories.
Along these general themes, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism, representative democracy and its implications. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitude to fashion and superficiality.
The business and, increasingly, the political world uses PR to read and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. He cites a Wall Street banker as saying "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs."
In Episode 4 the main characters are Philip Gould and Matthew Freud, the great grandson of Sigmund, a PR consultant. They were part of the efforts during the nineties to bring the Democrats in USA and New Labour in the United Kingdom back into power. Adam Curtis explores the psychological methods they now massively introduced into politics. He also argues that the eventual outcome strongly resembles Edward Bernays vision for the "Democracity" during the 1939 New York World's Fair.
To quote the BBC site:
To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
More posts in a week
I'm going to out of town and out of reach of my computer until this Thursday, so new posts will be unlikely until then. Instead of just checking back, I suggest you peruse the archives. Here are a few staff favorites:
Look Around You: Maths
28 Days Slater
How to Quit your Job
Unknown White Male
Look Around You: Maths
28 Days Slater
How to Quit your Job
Unknown White Male
The Kids' Complaints Choir Of Poikkilaasko
Via: VideoSift
The Poikkilaakso Elementary School joined the Complaints Choir movement with this hilarious song. Composed by Matti Salo, Choir conducted by Elisa Hilli.
TEDTalks: Malcom Gladwell (2004)
Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and best-selling author ofThe Tipping Point and Blink. In this talk, filmed at TED2004, he explains what every business can learn from spaghetti sauce. (Recorded February 2004 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 18:15)
TEDTalks: Barry Schwartz (2005)
Barry Schwartz is a sociology professor at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. In this talk, he persuasively explains how and why the abundance of choice in modern society is actually making us miserable. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 20:22)
Owning the Weather
Via: VideoSift
Discovery Channel piece that looks at the history of weather modification and its use by the military. Among the topics covered are: cloud seeding, HAARP and declassified experiments. May be of particular interest to weather geeks and conspiracy theorists.
TEDTalks: David Deutsch (2005)
Legendary physicist David Deutsch is author of The Fabric of Reality and the leading proponent of the multiverse intrepretation of quantum theory ��� the astounding idea that our universe is constantly spawning countless numbers of parallel worlds. In this rare (and delightfully engaging) public appearance, he weaves a complex and captivating argument placing the study of physics at the center of our species' survival. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 19:45)
Richard Dawkins on the strangeness of science: TEDTalks
Mind-expanding talk that probes the limits of human understanding: Why can't we see atoms? Why can't we hear color? How can we understand randomness? Dawkins suggests that the true nature of the universe eludes us because the human mind has evolved mainly to understand other humans -- and to look for human motives even in natural processes. Thus, we create a humanlike God to explain phenomena we can't otherwise comprehend; right or wrong, we're simply wired for it. Dawkins is Oxford's Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, and the author of the landmark 1976 book The Selfish Gene and the 2006 bestseller The God Delusion. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK)
Helen Fisher on love, lust and antidepressants: TEDTalks
Anthrolopogist Helen Fisher outlines the bio-chemical foundations of love, lust and intimacy, discusses the changing role of women, and ends with a warning that antidepressants may be killing love. Fisher is an anthropologist at Rutgers, specializing in gender differences and the evolution of human emotions, and author of Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA)
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Turkish Star Wars - final scene
The Turkish recreation of Star Wars. My favorite moment is when Luke karate chops Darth Vader in half near the end.
Dad Pranks Kids Awake
Via: VideoSift
At the end one of the kids shouts to his father "what's wrong with you?" Part of me is inclined to ask the same question. The not laughing part.
Steven Levitt: the Freakonomics of inner-city gangs
Steven Levitt is an economics professor at the University of Chicago and the best-selling author of Freakonomics. In this talk, filmed at TED2004, he goes inside an inner-city gang to examine economic principles at work in the real world. (Recorded February 2004 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 22:00)
Sunday, March 18, 2007
best of colbert
Via: VideoSift
Keith Olbermann gathers together the best moments of Stephen Colbert's interviews with congress critters. Olbermann took offense to recent reports that Rahm Emmanuel has cautioned freshmen Congressmen to avoid going on the Colbert Report because it could be damaging to their political careers.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
McLibel: Two People Who Wouldnt Say Sorry (2005 documentary)
Via: VideoSift
The McLibel Trial is the infamous British court case between McDonald's and a former postman & a gardener from London (Helen Steel and Dave Morris). It ran for two and a half years and became the longest ever English trial. The defendants were denied legal aid and their right to a jury, so the whole trial was heard by a single Judge, Mr Justice Bell. He delivered his verdict in June 1997.
Principles of economics, translated
Via: VideoSift
Yoram Bauman's presentation from the 2007 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Friday, March 16, 2007
From Mental Floss: 9 Bad Boys of Philosophy
1. Socrates, the Barefoot Bum
Notoriously ugly, clad in one coat long beyond its years, and always shoeless, yet possessed of charisma that made the youth swoon, Socrates was a fixture in the marketplace of Athens.
There he would engage people with the Socratic method, beginning with a question that seemed straightforward and easy enough to answer, such as, What is virtue? Never content with the first answer, his irony and follow-up questions would inevitably lead to contradictions or admissions of ignorance on the part of his interlocutors.
Socrates rubbed some people the wrong way, though, and was brought to trial on trumpeted charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. Defiant to the end, Socrates suggested that the proper sentence for his “crimes” would be free meals at the public expense, as he had done the city good. The jury gave him a hemlock cocktail instead.
2. Diogenes, a Cynic’s Cynic
Always suspicious of society and philosophers, Diogenes (died ca. 320 BCE) would stop at nothing to make a point. He once ripped the feathers out of a live chicken to disprove Plato’s account of human beings as the only featherless biped. Asked once what wine he liked best, his cynical response was “other peoples’.”
Alexander the Great, intrigued by stories about Diogenes, sought him out and announced, “I am Alexander the Great. What can I do for you?” “Stand back – you block my light” was Diogenes’ response. While the ordinary person would have lost his head after such an insult, Diogenes was admired all the more, as the great conqueror said, “If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”
3. Peter Abelard (1079-1144), the Castrated Cleric
Sex scandals are nothing new to the Catholic Church. Take the case of Abelard, the influential medieval philosopher who, ironically, did important work in ethics and logic. The young cleric fell in love with a beautiful young girl named Héloïse, whom he was supposed to be tutoring, and they married secretly, though they lived apart.
Héloïse’s uncle, however, mistakenly thought Abelard had discarded Héloïse by placing her in a convent, and he took revenge by having servants castrate Abelard in his sleep. Abelard woke up and things were never the same between him and Héloïse (needless to say, things were never the same between his legs either).
The ill-fated pair were, however, reunited in death, buried together at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris and immortalized in song by Cole Porter: “As Abelard said to Eloise, ‘Don’t forget to drop a line to me, please’” (from “Just One of Those Things”).
4. Marx: Big Heart, Skinny Wallet
Unable to find work as philosophy professor, Karl Marx (1818-1883) plotted a revolution. Working intermittently as journalist and largely relying on the charity of friends, Marx lost many apartments and even some children for lack of financial resources.
Declaring religion “the opiate of the masses,” Marx found no solace in a better world to come, but instead sought to change the one he inhabited. “A specter is haunting Europe,“ he said, “the specter of communism. The workers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains.”
History revealed Marx didn’t adequately anticipate capitalism’s ability to shift and change to avoid the revolution, as later workers’ movement won concessions in the form of labor laws, the welfare state, and five-day work week. So, the next time you sleep late on a Saturday, make sure to give props to the man who made the dream of the weekend off a reality.
5. Arthur Schopenhauer, Poodle-Loving Pessimist
The ultimate pessimist, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) viewed reality as a malicious trap, believing we live in the worst of all possible worlds. A notorious misogynist, Schopenhauer once pushed a woman down a flight of stairs. Grudgingly, he paid her regular restitution for her injuries until her death, when he recorded in his journal, “The old woman dies, the burden is lifted.”
Schopenhauer despised noise but inexplicably had a fondness for something more odious, poodles. A series of disposable poodles were his constant companions for most of his life.
Not a pleasant academic colleague, Schopenhauer resented the success of Hegel, whose philosophy he thought was the worst kind of nonsense. Perhaps planning to undo Hegel, Schopenhauer scheduled his course lectures at the same time as Hegel’s. The result, however, was an early retirement for Arthur.
6. Nietzsche: A Bad Boy Who Wasn’t
One might think he railed against the corrupting influence of Christianity and declared “God is dead,” because of his own misery (Nietzsche suffered from migraine headaches and poor digestion, topped off with bouts of insomnia). But the guy whose autobiographical Ecce Homo includes such chapters as “Why I Am So Wise,” “Why I Am So Clever,” and “Why I Write Such Good Books” was actually an unassuming, mild-mannered man. His belief in “the will to power” as the most basic human drive finds little reflection in his own life outside his fantasies.
Though he fancied himself a warrior and a ladies’ man, Nietzsche’s military service was brief and unspectacular, and he never had a lover. As a bad boy in college, he may have visited a brothel or two, though. One theory suggests that the insanity that cut his career short and institutionalized him for the last 11 years of his life was the result of untreated syphilis.
7. Heidegger, Nazi Sympathizer
Though he originally planned to become a Catholic priest, this philosopher of being was far from holy. He carried on an extramarital affair with his gifted student Hannah Arendt, who later fled Germany to avoid persecution as a Jew. This might seem a peccadillo, except that Martin Heidegger was an anti-Semite who embraced the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Notoriously, Heidegger had his dictation page in his Being and Time removed in subsequent printings of the book, as it paid homage to Edmund Husserl, his former teacher, a Jew. At a time when intellectuals should have risen up, Heidegger sank to the lowest common denominator. What’s worse, he never recanted or apologized.
8. Bertrand Russell, Cambridge Casanova
An innovator in mathematics and logic, and one of the founders of analytic philosophy, at first blush Russell sounds like a dry guy. Yet his life was anything but dull. Plagued by bouts of terrible depression as a young man, Russell learned to cultivate a zest for life. This heavy-drinking, pipe-smoking professor was notorious for having affairs with his friends’ wives. He rejected organized religion with his famous essay “Why I Am Not a Christian,” but nonetheless had a passion for social justice, flirting with runs for political office and doing jail time for political protest, that last time at age 94. Notably, Russell was a leading intellectual voice against the war in Vietnam.
9. Michel Foucault, the Marilyn Manson of Philosophy
Always the outsider, Foucault (1926-1984) was the voice of the marginalized and oppressed, notably as a supporter of an inspiration for the Paris student uprisings of 1968.
Making use of Nietzsche’s insights on the nature of power and the method of historical investigation and exposure known as genealogy, Foucault challenged the legitimacy of dominant cultural structures. Suspicious of institutions, in works such as Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, and Discipline and Punish, Foucault called for the abolition of prisons and asylums.
Himself a homosexual, Foucault challenged our idea of what is normal in The History of Sexuality. As a visiting professor at Berkeley, Foucault frequented the San Francisco bathhouses and developed a passion for S&M. Though he kept his disease a private matter, he was the first (and to date only) major philosopher to die of AIDS.
Bonus: Pure Genius – Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus (ca. 624-546 BCE), the first Western philosopher, set the standard for absentminded professors to come. Lost in thought, gazing at the sky, Thales fell into a well.
Ridiculed as an impractical dreamer, Thales set out to show that philosophers could do anything they set their minds to, including amassing wealth. One winter, using his knowledge of meteorology and astronomy, Thales predicted a bumper olive crop for the coming season. He cornered the market on olive presses in Miletus and made a fortune when the olive harvest met his expectations.
Remarkably, Thales predicted the solar eclipse of 585 BCE. He also measured the height of the Egyptian pyramids using their shadows. Thales is perhaps best known for arguing that water is the basic source element, that ultimately all things are made of water. He also argued that “all things are full of gods and have a share of soul,” a poetic rendering of the insight confirmed by much later science that all matter is always in motion.
Notoriously ugly, clad in one coat long beyond its years, and always shoeless, yet possessed of charisma that made the youth swoon, Socrates was a fixture in the marketplace of Athens.
There he would engage people with the Socratic method, beginning with a question that seemed straightforward and easy enough to answer, such as, What is virtue? Never content with the first answer, his irony and follow-up questions would inevitably lead to contradictions or admissions of ignorance on the part of his interlocutors.
Socrates rubbed some people the wrong way, though, and was brought to trial on trumpeted charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. Defiant to the end, Socrates suggested that the proper sentence for his “crimes” would be free meals at the public expense, as he had done the city good. The jury gave him a hemlock cocktail instead.
2. Diogenes, a Cynic’s Cynic
Always suspicious of society and philosophers, Diogenes (died ca. 320 BCE) would stop at nothing to make a point. He once ripped the feathers out of a live chicken to disprove Plato’s account of human beings as the only featherless biped. Asked once what wine he liked best, his cynical response was “other peoples’.”
Alexander the Great, intrigued by stories about Diogenes, sought him out and announced, “I am Alexander the Great. What can I do for you?” “Stand back – you block my light” was Diogenes’ response. While the ordinary person would have lost his head after such an insult, Diogenes was admired all the more, as the great conqueror said, “If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”
3. Peter Abelard (1079-1144), the Castrated Cleric
Sex scandals are nothing new to the Catholic Church. Take the case of Abelard, the influential medieval philosopher who, ironically, did important work in ethics and logic. The young cleric fell in love with a beautiful young girl named Héloïse, whom he was supposed to be tutoring, and they married secretly, though they lived apart.
Héloïse’s uncle, however, mistakenly thought Abelard had discarded Héloïse by placing her in a convent, and he took revenge by having servants castrate Abelard in his sleep. Abelard woke up and things were never the same between him and Héloïse (needless to say, things were never the same between his legs either).
The ill-fated pair were, however, reunited in death, buried together at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris and immortalized in song by Cole Porter: “As Abelard said to Eloise, ‘Don’t forget to drop a line to me, please’” (from “Just One of Those Things”).
4. Marx: Big Heart, Skinny Wallet
Unable to find work as philosophy professor, Karl Marx (1818-1883) plotted a revolution. Working intermittently as journalist and largely relying on the charity of friends, Marx lost many apartments and even some children for lack of financial resources.
Declaring religion “the opiate of the masses,” Marx found no solace in a better world to come, but instead sought to change the one he inhabited. “A specter is haunting Europe,“ he said, “the specter of communism. The workers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains.”
History revealed Marx didn’t adequately anticipate capitalism’s ability to shift and change to avoid the revolution, as later workers’ movement won concessions in the form of labor laws, the welfare state, and five-day work week. So, the next time you sleep late on a Saturday, make sure to give props to the man who made the dream of the weekend off a reality.
5. Arthur Schopenhauer, Poodle-Loving Pessimist
The ultimate pessimist, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) viewed reality as a malicious trap, believing we live in the worst of all possible worlds. A notorious misogynist, Schopenhauer once pushed a woman down a flight of stairs. Grudgingly, he paid her regular restitution for her injuries until her death, when he recorded in his journal, “The old woman dies, the burden is lifted.”
Schopenhauer despised noise but inexplicably had a fondness for something more odious, poodles. A series of disposable poodles were his constant companions for most of his life.
Not a pleasant academic colleague, Schopenhauer resented the success of Hegel, whose philosophy he thought was the worst kind of nonsense. Perhaps planning to undo Hegel, Schopenhauer scheduled his course lectures at the same time as Hegel’s. The result, however, was an early retirement for Arthur.
6. Nietzsche: A Bad Boy Who Wasn’t
One might think he railed against the corrupting influence of Christianity and declared “God is dead,” because of his own misery (Nietzsche suffered from migraine headaches and poor digestion, topped off with bouts of insomnia). But the guy whose autobiographical Ecce Homo includes such chapters as “Why I Am So Wise,” “Why I Am So Clever,” and “Why I Write Such Good Books” was actually an unassuming, mild-mannered man. His belief in “the will to power” as the most basic human drive finds little reflection in his own life outside his fantasies.
Though he fancied himself a warrior and a ladies’ man, Nietzsche’s military service was brief and unspectacular, and he never had a lover. As a bad boy in college, he may have visited a brothel or two, though. One theory suggests that the insanity that cut his career short and institutionalized him for the last 11 years of his life was the result of untreated syphilis.
7. Heidegger, Nazi Sympathizer
Though he originally planned to become a Catholic priest, this philosopher of being was far from holy. He carried on an extramarital affair with his gifted student Hannah Arendt, who later fled Germany to avoid persecution as a Jew. This might seem a peccadillo, except that Martin Heidegger was an anti-Semite who embraced the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Notoriously, Heidegger had his dictation page in his Being and Time removed in subsequent printings of the book, as it paid homage to Edmund Husserl, his former teacher, a Jew. At a time when intellectuals should have risen up, Heidegger sank to the lowest common denominator. What’s worse, he never recanted or apologized.
8. Bertrand Russell, Cambridge Casanova
An innovator in mathematics and logic, and one of the founders of analytic philosophy, at first blush Russell sounds like a dry guy. Yet his life was anything but dull. Plagued by bouts of terrible depression as a young man, Russell learned to cultivate a zest for life. This heavy-drinking, pipe-smoking professor was notorious for having affairs with his friends’ wives. He rejected organized religion with his famous essay “Why I Am Not a Christian,” but nonetheless had a passion for social justice, flirting with runs for political office and doing jail time for political protest, that last time at age 94. Notably, Russell was a leading intellectual voice against the war in Vietnam.
9. Michel Foucault, the Marilyn Manson of Philosophy
Always the outsider, Foucault (1926-1984) was the voice of the marginalized and oppressed, notably as a supporter of an inspiration for the Paris student uprisings of 1968.
Making use of Nietzsche’s insights on the nature of power and the method of historical investigation and exposure known as genealogy, Foucault challenged the legitimacy of dominant cultural structures. Suspicious of institutions, in works such as Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, and Discipline and Punish, Foucault called for the abolition of prisons and asylums.
Himself a homosexual, Foucault challenged our idea of what is normal in The History of Sexuality. As a visiting professor at Berkeley, Foucault frequented the San Francisco bathhouses and developed a passion for S&M. Though he kept his disease a private matter, he was the first (and to date only) major philosopher to die of AIDS.
Bonus: Pure Genius – Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus (ca. 624-546 BCE), the first Western philosopher, set the standard for absentminded professors to come. Lost in thought, gazing at the sky, Thales fell into a well.
Ridiculed as an impractical dreamer, Thales set out to show that philosophers could do anything they set their minds to, including amassing wealth. One winter, using his knowledge of meteorology and astronomy, Thales predicted a bumper olive crop for the coming season. He cornered the market on olive presses in Miletus and made a fortune when the olive harvest met his expectations.
Remarkably, Thales predicted the solar eclipse of 585 BCE. He also measured the height of the Egyptian pyramids using their shadows. Thales is perhaps best known for arguing that water is the basic source element, that ultimately all things are made of water. He also argued that “all things are full of gods and have a share of soul,” a poetic rendering of the insight confirmed by much later science that all matter is always in motion.
Atheism: A Brief History of Disbelief - The Final Hour (3/3)
Via: VideoSift
From Youtube:
The hard-to-find third (and final) part to Jonathan Miller's a 'Brief History of Disbelief' - the emotional end being by far the best part of the three, in my opinon. Looking at the modern rise of disbelief in society via science - and the natural conclusion to Jonathan's discussion, death.
"loyalty" - Zefrank
In the way Ze describes the mythology of acting might an interesting way to reconsider the teaching of poetry with it's shamanic creation/inspiration myth.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Dreams That Money Can Buy - Hans Richter Art Film
Via: VideoSift
Dreams That Money Can Buy is a 1947 American experimental feature color film written, produced, and directed by surrealist artist and dada film-theorist Hans Richter. Collaborators included Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Alexander Calder, Darius Milhaud and Fernand Léger. The film won a special prize at the 1947 Venice Film Festival.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039340/
"M" by Fritz Lang (1931 masterpiece pre-dating film noir)
Via: VideoSift
(117min)'M' is the story of a child murderer, loose in 1930's Berlin. Police are at a loss to find the serial killer; the criminal underground mounts an effort in order to distance themselves from the monster. A defining movie in early cinema, director Fritz Lang's first 'sound film' creeps through the shadowy world of film noir, long before such a genre existed, to portray the histeria in which a fearful society operates.
First sci-fi film ever (1902) with modern soundtrack, 6 mins
Via: VideoSift
This represents several months of work. Bruce Sterling has taken Georges Méliès' 1902 classic film "A Trip to the Moon" (Une Voyage dans la Lune), the first science fiction film ever produced, and dubbed on an original soundtrack!
The Art and Crimes of Ron English
Via: VideoSift
Ron English is a contemporary pop artist who explores popular brand imagery and advertising.
One aspect of his work involves 'liberating' commercial billboards with his own messages. Frequent targets of his work include Joe Camel, McDonalds, and Mickey Mouse. Ron English can be considered the "celebrated prankster father of agit-pop", who wrangles carefully created corporate iconographies so that they are turned upside down, and are used against the very corporation they are meant to represent. Ron English has also painted several album covers including The Dandy Warhols album cover "Welcome to the Monkey House". Some of his paintings are also used in Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me.
for more see - http://www.popaganda.com/
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Happy Pi Day!
Today is Pi Day! Why? Because the date on the calendar is 3/14. Someone offered me a celebratory cow pie, which is think is made of steak.
Anyhow, here's a pi day anthem (actual song length 3:14).
Via: VideoSift
LYRICS:
When ink and pen in hands of men
Inscribe your form, bipedal P
They draw an altar on which
God has slaughtered all stability
No eyes could ever soak in all the places you anoint
And yet to see you all at once we only need the ·
Flirting with infinity, your geometric progeny
That fit inside you oh so tight
With triangles that feel so right
(3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841 9716939937510582097494459)
Your ever-constant homily says flaw is discipline
The patron saint of imperfection frees us from our sin
And if our transcendental lift shall find a final floor
Then Man will know the death of God where wonder was before
Yeah, I know this Pi shit backwards and forwards
Check it out
I did three chicks then I pointed at the door
A girl entered in so that made it four
I snapped one time in came another five
Add 'em all up and that makes nine
The average age 26.5
Now that's what I call gettin' some pi
Five of the chicks wore 6-inch heels
Two of the nine squealed like seals
514 was the area code
Quebec, Canada my winter abode
And my 1.3 million dollar chalet
Pi backwards, pi forwards, all night and all day
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993
751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421
170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253
59408128481117450284502(fade out)
Slo-Mo Home Depot
From improveverywhere.com: 225 Improv Everywhere Agents shop in slow motion at a Manhattan Home Depot.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
1922 Classic Horror: Nosferatu
Via: VideoSift
Originally released in 1922 as "Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens," director F.W. Munarau's chilling and eerie adaption of Stoker's Dracula is a silent masterpiece of terror which some believe to this day is the most striking and frightening portrayal of the legend.
Earning your Science Merit Badge
The Order of the Science Scout of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique has a set of badges for its members who are into such things: Link
Anton Chekov back from the dead and touring
Nearly two years ago Agent White pitched the idea "Meet Anton Chekov" to Improv Everywhere. The plan was to set up a card table in Washington Square Park with a large sign that read "Meet Anton Chekov" and have someone sit behind it claiming to be said Russian playwright....decided to take Agent White's "Meet Anton Chekov" pitch one step further, and stage a reading by Chekov, pretending to be a part of the Barnes and Noble "Meet the Writers" series. After staking out several downtown Barnes and Noble locations, I chose Union Square as our target. The "Meet the Writers" area on the fourth floor was the perfect setting. It features a large stage with podium in front of a seating area with around 150 seats. Customers tend to sit in the area and read quietly when there is no presentation happening; we would have a captive audience.
To read more and find out what happened click the LINK
'Boyz Allowed: The New Voices of Islam' - BBC Documentary
Via: VideoSift
This interesting BBC documentary explores the complex relationship between music and Islam. Native Deen and Seven8Six are two American Muslim bands, who perform to sell-out audiences across the world and have a fast-growing fanbase in Britain. They are part of a new wave of Muslim, or Nasheed, music, which allows the current generation of Muslims to engage with pop music while staying true to the principles of Islam.
Both the bands have a fusion of styles, but Native Deen are often classed as a Hip Hop group, while Seven8Six are more R'n'B. The latter's slick, boy band appeal has won them a lot of admirers, particularly among young girls, but that's also causing them a few problems with more conservative elements of the Muslim community.
Issues came to a head in August 2006, when the two bands were flown to the UK by the Islamic Forum Europe, to take part in a major Islamic event at Manchester's MEN Arena.
Seven8Six had no sooner landed than they were dropped from the line-up of the Manchester event by the very organisers who had paid for their visit. Although the band was never given a reason, it was understood that, for at least some of the event's organisers, a band consisting of five single, good looking, westernised young men in their twenties was projecting the wrong sort of image of Islam and attracting the wrong sort of attention.
"There are certain individuals that have issues with our image. I think you can't blame them, because its almost one of those things which is so new that you see five guys who dress like everyone else, who've got spiky hair and they get up and sing about being Muslim and proud of it and that's not what has been traditionally seen. It's been the long robes and big beards, which is... nothing wrong with that, but... our religion teaches us that you can't judge a book by its cover. So, that's one of the things that we're trying to get across: you can't make a judgement on this guy walking down the street, because he doesn't have a beard or he's not wearing a kufi on his head. You don't know what is in his heart." - Shahaab from Seven8Six
"Long live Seven8Six! They're very close to us. Sometimes, we call them our younger brothers, because they used to listen to us when they were a little bit younger and I think we helped inspire them to do it themselves. They have beautiful voices and they've gotten some problems before. They are attractive guys they have beautiful voices and so it gets a certain response from the audience and maybe a lot of the women in the audience and sometimes maybe organisers don't want to be associated with that. Maybe that's looking too mainstream, [but] the brothers are doing this for the same reasons that Native Deen is: we want to get this message out there we want to inspire people." - Joshua from Native Deen
"Image is a big deal to us. We really try to make sure that we carry ourselves in a manner that's appropriate and according to rules of Islam, but also still true to our identity as youth in western society, and a lot of times I think that people start to look at that and say, 'Well, these guys, they're too young and too hip and too cool.' And I think a lot of times we lose credibility because of that and it hurts, because you never want to be judged as based on your image, what you look like, and a lot of times that's gotten us in trouble. The real good fortune for us is, when we do go to events, people can see that beyond the spiky hair and the jeans that these are five guys that are actually sincere, and if you actually listen to the words of what they say that it actually means something positive. That, to us, is more important than image." - Zafur from Seven8Six
Despite the best efforts of their manager to get the Seven8Six re-instated to the line-up, the band weren't allowed to play. Events then took a turn for the worse as the band, and their manager, were even refused entrance to the MEN Arena as paying members of the audience.
Several fans were left disappointed and confused as to why the band didn't appear. Naseem Younis, mother of 11 year old fan Jinan, said, “Nobody really understood why they weren't performing. There wasn't an explanation. They just announced that they weren't performing without saying why. And there was definitely an “Ahhh” from the whole audience, because many people had come to see them.”
Even leaving aside the issue of Seven8Six's image, music is a complicated issue in Islam, with many different views on what is acceptable. Some Muslims believe that string and wind instruments are haram (unlawful) and should be forbidden. Here's what the band members themselves have to say on the issue:
"Some scholars say it's legitimate, some scholars say its not. One thing we can say that we all agree is that songs that are about sex, drugs, violence are not legit. Some scholars say, 'Hey, as long as the music is good and you don't lose yourself in it, it's legitimate.' Other scholars say. 'Even if it's good lyrically, if there are certain instruments that are used, like string instruments, like guitars, piano and wind instruments, studies have shown that it makes a person get into it more than they should. So, what is permissible, in the most conservative opinion, is percussion. So, that's what we subscribe to as a group. What we put out on our albums is vocals, it's our voices and just beats. So that makes us get creative with the way we do things. Now to a non-Muslim that, in itself, is hard to understand, but that's probably as basic as I can make it." - Shahaab from Seven8Six
"There is a strong opinion in Islam that wind and string instruments are forbidden. That may not be our opinion, but it is an opinion so we don't use it. Any time you buy a Native Deen CD, you will not find any wind or string instruments used on it because we respect that there are differences of opinion.Joshua from Native Deen
We felt that our message is paramount. We wanted the most Muslims to benefit from our work, so we use percussion only, when we're on stage. But then you have like amazing artists, like Yusuf Islam, [formerly Cat Stevens], who's recently picked up guitar again and you have Dawud Wharnsby Ali who's picked up a guitar again and Sammi Yusuf, who's putting on amazing forty piece orchestras around the world. It seems there will always be a debate on right and wrong [on any topic], but we try our best to have a middle path in everything we do and hopefully we're blessed for it and continue on it." - Naeem from Native Deen
For both bands, there are challenges in combining life on the road with the requirements of Islam, but they do their utmost to reconcile the two - always ensuring they fit prayers into their hectic schedules. Keeping focused on their religious motivation is not always easy: the pressures of delivering top class performances, the disapproval of some more conservative Muslims and the adoration of young fans are all constant struggles for the band members.
There is always a danger that you need to be on stage... and I think some people get drunk off their own stardom. We need to guard against that and that's why, before every programme we do, we make a prayer and say, 'Keep us guided.' One of the main songs that we do is called Intentions and that one we do that almost every set if we have the time, because it's like telling people: 'These are our intentions,' so we don't get caught up in the celebrity of things. We are just regular guys like you'd see at the grocery store and whatever. We just perform every once in a while and have a good time doing that." - Naeem from Native Deen
"There was definitely a fear in the beginning and I clearly remember Saad's father telling us about this whole fame and people idolising you or adoring you or whatever you want to call it. He said it's a definite danger, because it can go straight to the head and once that happens its very hard to recover from that. Thank God, we got that bit of advice very early on in our career and now we pay attention to it, and to us the fame doesn't really matter. In fact, it doesn't matter at all. We would rather be unknowns and everyone listen to our music and develop or understand the message that we're trying to put through." - Shahaab from Seven8Six
Monday, March 12, 2007
Nine lives of Fritz the Cat
Via: VideoSift
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat is an R-rated animated film from 1974. The film features a series of drug-induced vignettes both related and unrelated to life in the 1970s, each ending with the title character being killed at the end. The film is the sequel to Fritz the Cat, the first feature-length animated film to receive an X rating in the United States.
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat was produced by Steve Krantz, directed by Robert Taylor, co-written by Taylor, Fred Halliday, and Eric Monte. The film's music was composed and performed by Tom Scott. Unlike its predecessor, it was not a financial success.
The music for this film was performed by Tom Scott and the L.A. Express. A full soundtrack album was planned for official release, but the album never came out because of the film's failure to garner significant box office revenue. However, a 45 RPM single featuring two songs from the film, "Jump Back," and "TCB in E" was released in 1974. A live version of "TCB in E" was later released on Tom Scott's Smokin' Section album in 1999. The album's liner notes do not mention the film.
(from Googlevideo)
Generalissimo Stalin visits Berlin (1949)
Via: VideoSift
From Mikheil Chiaureli's Padeniye Berlina / Fall of Berlin (1949)
Part of the Stalin Film genre, The Fall of Berlin is regarded as the ultimate glorification of the Soviet dictator on celluloid, pretty much deifying him as a benevolent peacemaker who likes to tend to his little garden, and glad-handing the country's award-winning workers when not single-handedly rescuing the nation from whatever trauma pops up on the horizon.
After Joseph Stalin's death, the film was buried by the Khruschev regime as part of the government's de-Stalinzation policy; all copies were either locked up or destroyed, and the movie remained a footnote in the minds of aging millions that flocked to the cinemas in 1950 and made Fall a major blockbuster during its original theatrical engagement.
Mikheil Chiaureli had long enjoyed the support of Stalin, and had already made a few films featuring the dictator as a supporting character. The end of WWII gave Stalin the perfect opportunity to tweak history and imprint a more favourable chronology of events - the biggie being Stalin's perfectly timed landing in Berlin soon after the seizure of the Reichstag, and the thousands of acolytes (plus a few token Brits and Americans, carrying their native flags, perfectly centered in key shots) who swarmed the tarmac and listened as the master peacemaker gave a lecture on good global policy. ("Let's keep peace for the future. Peace and happiness to all of you, my friends!" he declared to planet Earth in shots never interrupted by any editorial cross-cutting or inter-cutting.)
- From YouTube
30 Strangest Deaths in History.
Death by Embracing the Reflection of the Moon
Chinese poet Li Po (701-706) is regarded as one of the two greatest poets in China’s literary history. He was well known for his love of liquor and often spouted his greatest poems while drunk.
One night, Li Po fell from his boat and drowned in the Yangtze River while trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in the water.
Death by Beard
Austrian Hans Steininger was famous for having the world’s longest beard (it was 4.5 feet or nearly 1.4 m long) and for dying because of it.
One day in 1567, there was a fire in town and in his haste Hans forgot to roll up his beard. He accidentally stepped on his beard, lost balance, stumbled, broke his neck and died!
Death From Holding a Pee In
Danish nobleman and astronomer Tycho Brahe [wiki] was one interesting fellow. He kept a dwarf as a court jester who sat under the table during dinner. He even had a tame pet moose.
Tycho also lost the tip of his nose in a duel with another Danish nobleman and had to wear a "dummy" nose made from silver and gold, but that’s another story.
It was said that Tycho had to hold his pee during one particularly long banquet in 1601 (getting up in the middle of a dinner was considered really rude) that his bladder, strained to its limits, developed an infection which later killed him!
Later analyses suggested that Tycho died because of mercury poisoning but that’s not nearly as interesting as the original story.
Death by Conductor’s Cane
While conducting the hymnal Te Deum for French King Louis XIV in 1687, Jean-Baptiste Lully was so focused in keeping the rhythm by banging a staff against the floor (this was the method before conductor’s baton came into use), that he struck his toe hard but refused to stop.
The toe developed an abscess, which later turned gangrenous, but Lully refused to have it amputated. The gangrene spread and killed the stubborn musician.
Ironically, the hymn he was conducting was in celebration of the recovery of Louis XIV from an illness.
Death by Dessert
King Adolf Frederick [wiki] of Sweden loved to eat and died from it too!
The "King Who Ate Himself to Death" died in 1771 at the age of 61 from a digestive problem after eating a giant meal consisting of lobster, caviar, saurkraut, cabbage soup, smoked herring, champagne and 14 servings of his favorite dessert: semla [wiki], a bun filled with marzipan and milk.
Death by Jury Demonstration
After the Civil War, controversial Ohio politician Clement Vallandigham [wiki] became a highly successful lawyer who rarely lost a case.
In 1871, he defended Thomas McGehan who was accused of shooting one Tom Myers during a barroom brawl. Vallandigham’s defense was that Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing his pistol from a kneeling position.
To convince the jury, Vallandigham decided to demonstrate his theory. Unfortunately, he grabbed a loaded gun by mistake and ended up shooting himself!
By dying, Vallandigham succeeded in demonstrating the plausibility of the accidental shooting and got his client acquitted.
Death from Biting One’s Tongue
Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884)[wiki], famous for creating the Pinkerton detective agency and developing investigative techniques such as surveilling a suspect and doing undercover work, died of an infection after biting his tongue when he slipped on a sidewalk!
Death from Stubbing One’s Toe
Famous Tennessee whiskey distiller Jack Daniel [wiki] decided to come in to work early one morning in 1911. He wanted to open his safe but couldn’t remember the combination. In anger, Daniel kicked the safe and injured his toe, which later developed an infection that killed him!
Moral of the story? Don’t go to work early.
Death by Orange Peel
Bobby Leach [wiki] wasn’t afraid to court death: in 1911, he was the second person in the world to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The daredevil went on to perform many other death-defying stunts, so his death is especially ironic.
One day while walking down a street in New Zealand, Leach slipped on a piece of orange peel. He broke his leg so badly it had to be amputated. Leach died due to complications that developed afterwards.
Death by Overcoat Parachute Failure
In 1911, French tailor Franz Reichelt decided to test his invention, a combination overcoat and parachute, by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. Actually, he told the authorities that he would use a dummy, but at the last minute decided to test it himself. It was no surprise that he fell to his death.
There’s even a YouTube clip of his fatal jump.
Death by 1) Poison, 2) Gunshot Wound (4x), 3) Beating by Clubs, 4) Drowning.
According to legends, Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) was first poisoned with enough cyanide to kill ten men, but he wasn’t affected.
So his killers shot him in the back with a revolver. Rasputin fell but later revived. So, he was shot again three more times, but Rasputin still lived. He was then clubbed, and for good measure thrown into the icy Neva River.
Rasputin was finally dead for good.
Death by Baseball
Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman [wiki] was the only man ever killed by a baseball pitch.
At that time, baseball pitchers dirtied up a ball before it was thrown at the batter to make it harder to see. On August 6, 1920 in a game against the New York Yankees, Carl Mays pitched such a ball towards Chapman that fatally hit his skull.
Death by Scarf
"Mother of modern dance" Isadora Duncan [wiki] was killed in 1927 by her trademark scarf she loved to wear:
As the New York Times noted in its obituary of the dancer on 15 September 1927, "The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan, around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car, precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries in the street. Medical aid was summoned, but it was stated that she had been strangled and killed instantly."
Death by Garbage
Homer and Langley Collyer [wiki] were compulsive hoarders. The two brothers had a fear of throwing anything away and obsessively collected newspapers and other junk in their house. They even set up booby-traps in corridors and doorways to protect against intruders.
In 1947, an anonymous tip called that there was a dead body in the Collyer house, and after much initial difficulty getting in, the police found Homer Collyer dead and Langley no where to be found. About two weeks later, after removing nearly 100 tons of garbage from the house, workers found Langley Collyer’s partialy decomposed (and rat-chewed) body just 10 feet away from where they had found his brother.
Apparently, Langley had been crawling through tunnels of newspapers to bring food to his paralyzed brother when he set off one of his own booby-traps. Homer died several days later from starvation.
(Image Credit)
Death at a Talk Show
Jerome Irving Rodale [wiki] was a proponent of healthy eating. He was an early advocate for organic farming and sustainable agriculture, founder of Organic Farming and Gardening magazine and Rodale Press.
After bragging that he would "live to 100, unless I’m run down by a a sugar-crazy taxi driver", Rodale died of a heart attack while being interviewed on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. Appearing fast asleep, Dick Cavett joked "Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?" before discovering that his 72-year-old guest had indeed died. The show was never aired.
Death by Suicide During a Live TV News Broadcast
Christine Chubbuck [wiki] was the first and only TV news reporter to commit suicide during a live television broadcast.
On July 15, 1974, eight minutes into the broadcast, the depressed reporter said "In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide." With that, Chubbuck drew up a revolver and shot herself in the head.
Death on the Toilet
There are several examples of death on the toilet, but that of Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) was the most famous.
The King of Rock ‘n Roll was found lying on the floor of his Graceland mansion’s bathroom after throwing up while being seated on the toilet, taking care of business.
Doctors attributed his death to a heart attack from weight gain and taking too many prescription drugs.
Death by Robot
Robert Williams [wiki] was the first man ever killed by a robot. On January 25, 1979, Williams climbed into a storage rack at the Ford Motor’s Flat Rock casting plant to retrieve a part because the parts-retrieval robot malfunctioned. Suddenly, the robot reactivated and slammed its arm into Williams’ head, killing him instantly.
The second death by robot happened just a couple of years afterwards in 1981. Kenji Urada [wiki], a 37-year-old Japanese maintenance engineer was working on a broken robot at a Kawasaki plant when he failed to turn it off. The robot’s mechanical arm accidentally pushed him into a grinding machine.
Death by Decapitation by Helicopter Rotor Blades
Actor Vic Morrow [wiki] died on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie when a helicopter spun out of control due to special effect explosions, crashed, and decapitated him with its rotor blades.
Two other child actors also died at the event, which triggered a massive reform in US child labor laws and safety regulations on movie sets.
Death by Cactus
In 1982, 27-year-old David Grundman and a roommate decided to do a little "cactus plugging," by shooting the desert plant with a shotgun.
The first one, a small cactus, went off without a hitch and Grundman was encouraged to try a larger prey: a 26-foot-tall Saguaro cactus, probably a 100-year-old plant. Unfortunately, Grundman blasted off a large chuck of the cactus that fell on him and crushed him to death!
To date, this was probably the only known instance of revenge killing by a plant.
Death by Bottle Cap
American playwright Tennessee Williams [wiki] died in 1983 after he choked on a bottle cap in his hotel room. Yes, he had been drinking.
(Image credit)
Death by Drowning at a Lifeguards’ Party.
In 1985, to celebrate their first drowning-free season ever, the lifeguards of the New Orleans recreation department decided to throw themselves a party.
When the party ended, a 31-year-old guest named Jerome Moody was found dead on the bottom of the recreation department’s pool.
We suppose when it’s your time to go, then it’s your time to go: there were four lifeguards on duty and more than half of the 200 party-goers were themselves lifeguards!
(Image credit)
Death on Stage, While Telling a Joke
Dick Shawn (1924-1987) was a comedian who had a heart attack and died during a joke that seemed strangely appropriate:
He was making fun of politicians by saying campaign cliches ending with "I will not lay down on the job!" Shawn then laid down on the floor face down. At first, the audience thought that it was all part of the show, until some time later a theater employee checked him for a pulse and began administering CPR.
The paramedics then arrived, and the audience were told to go home - Dick Shawn was dead.
(Image credit)
Death by Belly Slam.
British pro wrestler Mal "King Kong" Kirk died underneath the big belly of Shirley "Big Daddy" Crabtree.
In August 1987, during the final moments of the match, Crabtree delivered his signature "Belly-Splash" move (basically jumping up and down, slamming his belly onto a guy) on Kirk, who then had a heart attack and died.
Crabtree was cleared after it was revealed that Kirk had a serious heart condition prior to the match. However, Crabtree blamed himself for Kirk’s death and retired from pro wrestling.
Before the match, Kirk had told his friends: "If I have to go, I hope it is in the ring."
(Image credit)
Death by Giant Umbrellas
In 1991, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude put up an environmental installation art of thousands of giant yellow and blue umbrellas in California and Japan.
The giant umbrellas, which measured about 20 foot (6 m) in height, 28 foot (8.7 m) in diameter and weighed about 500 lb, became a huge tourist attraction.
Less than two months after the installation opened, Lori Rae Keevil-Mathews, a 33-year-old woman drove out to see the umbrellas in California. A wind gust uprooted one of the umbrellas and blew it straight at her, crushing her against a boulder and killing her.
Christo immediately ordered all of the umbrellas taken down. The umbrellas, however, took another life - this time in Japan. Crane operator Masaaki Nakamura was electrocuted when the machine’s arm touched a 65,000-volt high-tension line when removing the umbrellas.
Death by Re-creation
In 1991, a 57-year-old Thai woman Yooket Paen was walking in her farm when she accidentally slipped on a cow dung, grabbed a naked live wire and got electrocuted to death.
Soon after Paen’s funeral, her 52-year-old-sister Yooket Pan was showing her neighbors how the accident happened when she herself slipped, grabbed the same live wire and also got electrocuted to death!
Death by Sheep
In 1999, Betty Stobbs, 67, of Durham, England, took a bale of hay to feed her flock of sheep on the back of her motorcycle.
Apparently, the sheep were very hungry. About forty of them rushed the hay and knocked her off a cliff into a 100-feet deep quarry. Stobbs survived the fall only to be killed when the motorcycle, which was also knocked off the cliff, tumbled down after her.
Death by Necklace Bomb
On the afternoon of August 28, 2003, pizza deliveryman Brian Wells [wiki] tried to rob a bank with a home-made shotgun disguised as a cane.
When he was caught by the police, Wells revealed that he had been forced by some people he delivered pizza to earlier to rob the bank. A necklace with an explosive device was attached to his neck.
The necklace bomb blew up before the bomb squad could deactivate it (indeed, there was controversy whether the police took his story seriously and delayed calling the bomb squad). Until today, it’s unclear whether Wells was a victim, a co-conspirator or the lone perpetrator of the robbery and subsequent death.
Death by Stingray
In 2006, Australian wildlife expert and TV personality Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin [wiki] died when he was stabbed in the heart by a stingray spine while filming a documentary Ocean’s Deadliest.
Death by Bookcase
Mariesa Weber was reported missing by her family for nearly two weeks before they found her in her bedroom, wedged behind a bookcase.
"I’m sleeping in the same house as her for 11 days, looking for her," her mother, Connie Weber, told the St. Petersburg Times. "And she’s right in the bedroom."
Both Weber and her sister had previously adjusted the television plug by standing on a bureau next to the shelf and leaning over the top. Her family believes Weber, who was 5-foot-3 and barely 100 pounds, may have fallen headfirst into the space.
See also / Sources: List of Unusual Deaths | 10 Strangest Sporting Deaths | It Gets Weirder: Weird eath/Neared death | Deaths of Remarkable People.
If you have any more strange and unusual stories of deaths, please let me know!
Chinese poet Li Po (701-706) is regarded as one of the two greatest poets in China’s literary history. He was well known for his love of liquor and often spouted his greatest poems while drunk.
One night, Li Po fell from his boat and drowned in the Yangtze River while trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in the water.
Death by Beard
Austrian Hans Steininger was famous for having the world’s longest beard (it was 4.5 feet or nearly 1.4 m long) and for dying because of it.
One day in 1567, there was a fire in town and in his haste Hans forgot to roll up his beard. He accidentally stepped on his beard, lost balance, stumbled, broke his neck and died!
Death From Holding a Pee In
Danish nobleman and astronomer Tycho Brahe [wiki] was one interesting fellow. He kept a dwarf as a court jester who sat under the table during dinner. He even had a tame pet moose.
Tycho also lost the tip of his nose in a duel with another Danish nobleman and had to wear a "dummy" nose made from silver and gold, but that’s another story.
It was said that Tycho had to hold his pee during one particularly long banquet in 1601 (getting up in the middle of a dinner was considered really rude) that his bladder, strained to its limits, developed an infection which later killed him!
Later analyses suggested that Tycho died because of mercury poisoning but that’s not nearly as interesting as the original story.
Death by Conductor’s Cane
While conducting the hymnal Te Deum for French King Louis XIV in 1687, Jean-Baptiste Lully was so focused in keeping the rhythm by banging a staff against the floor (this was the method before conductor’s baton came into use), that he struck his toe hard but refused to stop.
The toe developed an abscess, which later turned gangrenous, but Lully refused to have it amputated. The gangrene spread and killed the stubborn musician.
Ironically, the hymn he was conducting was in celebration of the recovery of Louis XIV from an illness.
Death by Dessert
King Adolf Frederick [wiki] of Sweden loved to eat and died from it too!
The "King Who Ate Himself to Death" died in 1771 at the age of 61 from a digestive problem after eating a giant meal consisting of lobster, caviar, saurkraut, cabbage soup, smoked herring, champagne and 14 servings of his favorite dessert: semla [wiki], a bun filled with marzipan and milk.
Death by Jury Demonstration
After the Civil War, controversial Ohio politician Clement Vallandigham [wiki] became a highly successful lawyer who rarely lost a case.
In 1871, he defended Thomas McGehan who was accused of shooting one Tom Myers during a barroom brawl. Vallandigham’s defense was that Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing his pistol from a kneeling position.
To convince the jury, Vallandigham decided to demonstrate his theory. Unfortunately, he grabbed a loaded gun by mistake and ended up shooting himself!
By dying, Vallandigham succeeded in demonstrating the plausibility of the accidental shooting and got his client acquitted.
Death from Biting One’s Tongue
Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884)[wiki], famous for creating the Pinkerton detective agency and developing investigative techniques such as surveilling a suspect and doing undercover work, died of an infection after biting his tongue when he slipped on a sidewalk!
Death from Stubbing One’s Toe
Famous Tennessee whiskey distiller Jack Daniel [wiki] decided to come in to work early one morning in 1911. He wanted to open his safe but couldn’t remember the combination. In anger, Daniel kicked the safe and injured his toe, which later developed an infection that killed him!
Moral of the story? Don’t go to work early.
Death by Orange Peel
Bobby Leach [wiki] wasn’t afraid to court death: in 1911, he was the second person in the world to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The daredevil went on to perform many other death-defying stunts, so his death is especially ironic.
One day while walking down a street in New Zealand, Leach slipped on a piece of orange peel. He broke his leg so badly it had to be amputated. Leach died due to complications that developed afterwards.
Death by Overcoat Parachute Failure
In 1911, French tailor Franz Reichelt decided to test his invention, a combination overcoat and parachute, by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. Actually, he told the authorities that he would use a dummy, but at the last minute decided to test it himself. It was no surprise that he fell to his death.
There’s even a YouTube clip of his fatal jump.
Death by 1) Poison, 2) Gunshot Wound (4x), 3) Beating by Clubs, 4) Drowning.
According to legends, Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) was first poisoned with enough cyanide to kill ten men, but he wasn’t affected.
So his killers shot him in the back with a revolver. Rasputin fell but later revived. So, he was shot again three more times, but Rasputin still lived. He was then clubbed, and for good measure thrown into the icy Neva River.
Rasputin was finally dead for good.
Death by Baseball
Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman [wiki] was the only man ever killed by a baseball pitch.
At that time, baseball pitchers dirtied up a ball before it was thrown at the batter to make it harder to see. On August 6, 1920 in a game against the New York Yankees, Carl Mays pitched such a ball towards Chapman that fatally hit his skull.
Death by Scarf
"Mother of modern dance" Isadora Duncan [wiki] was killed in 1927 by her trademark scarf she loved to wear:
As the New York Times noted in its obituary of the dancer on 15 September 1927, "The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan, around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car, precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries in the street. Medical aid was summoned, but it was stated that she had been strangled and killed instantly."
Death by Garbage
Homer and Langley Collyer [wiki] were compulsive hoarders. The two brothers had a fear of throwing anything away and obsessively collected newspapers and other junk in their house. They even set up booby-traps in corridors and doorways to protect against intruders.
In 1947, an anonymous tip called that there was a dead body in the Collyer house, and after much initial difficulty getting in, the police found Homer Collyer dead and Langley no where to be found. About two weeks later, after removing nearly 100 tons of garbage from the house, workers found Langley Collyer’s partialy decomposed (and rat-chewed) body just 10 feet away from where they had found his brother.
Apparently, Langley had been crawling through tunnels of newspapers to bring food to his paralyzed brother when he set off one of his own booby-traps. Homer died several days later from starvation.
(Image Credit)
Death at a Talk Show
Jerome Irving Rodale [wiki] was a proponent of healthy eating. He was an early advocate for organic farming and sustainable agriculture, founder of Organic Farming and Gardening magazine and Rodale Press.
After bragging that he would "live to 100, unless I’m run down by a a sugar-crazy taxi driver", Rodale died of a heart attack while being interviewed on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. Appearing fast asleep, Dick Cavett joked "Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?" before discovering that his 72-year-old guest had indeed died. The show was never aired.
Death by Suicide During a Live TV News Broadcast
Christine Chubbuck [wiki] was the first and only TV news reporter to commit suicide during a live television broadcast.
On July 15, 1974, eight minutes into the broadcast, the depressed reporter said "In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide." With that, Chubbuck drew up a revolver and shot herself in the head.
Death on the Toilet
There are several examples of death on the toilet, but that of Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) was the most famous.
The King of Rock ‘n Roll was found lying on the floor of his Graceland mansion’s bathroom after throwing up while being seated on the toilet, taking care of business.
Doctors attributed his death to a heart attack from weight gain and taking too many prescription drugs.
Death by Robot
Robert Williams [wiki] was the first man ever killed by a robot. On January 25, 1979, Williams climbed into a storage rack at the Ford Motor’s Flat Rock casting plant to retrieve a part because the parts-retrieval robot malfunctioned. Suddenly, the robot reactivated and slammed its arm into Williams’ head, killing him instantly.
The second death by robot happened just a couple of years afterwards in 1981. Kenji Urada [wiki], a 37-year-old Japanese maintenance engineer was working on a broken robot at a Kawasaki plant when he failed to turn it off. The robot’s mechanical arm accidentally pushed him into a grinding machine.
Death by Decapitation by Helicopter Rotor Blades
Actor Vic Morrow [wiki] died on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie when a helicopter spun out of control due to special effect explosions, crashed, and decapitated him with its rotor blades.
Two other child actors also died at the event, which triggered a massive reform in US child labor laws and safety regulations on movie sets.
Death by Cactus
In 1982, 27-year-old David Grundman and a roommate decided to do a little "cactus plugging," by shooting the desert plant with a shotgun.
The first one, a small cactus, went off without a hitch and Grundman was encouraged to try a larger prey: a 26-foot-tall Saguaro cactus, probably a 100-year-old plant. Unfortunately, Grundman blasted off a large chuck of the cactus that fell on him and crushed him to death!
To date, this was probably the only known instance of revenge killing by a plant.
Death by Bottle Cap
American playwright Tennessee Williams [wiki] died in 1983 after he choked on a bottle cap in his hotel room. Yes, he had been drinking.
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Death by Drowning at a Lifeguards’ Party.
In 1985, to celebrate their first drowning-free season ever, the lifeguards of the New Orleans recreation department decided to throw themselves a party.
When the party ended, a 31-year-old guest named Jerome Moody was found dead on the bottom of the recreation department’s pool.
We suppose when it’s your time to go, then it’s your time to go: there were four lifeguards on duty and more than half of the 200 party-goers were themselves lifeguards!
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Death on Stage, While Telling a Joke
Dick Shawn (1924-1987) was a comedian who had a heart attack and died during a joke that seemed strangely appropriate:
He was making fun of politicians by saying campaign cliches ending with "I will not lay down on the job!" Shawn then laid down on the floor face down. At first, the audience thought that it was all part of the show, until some time later a theater employee checked him for a pulse and began administering CPR.
The paramedics then arrived, and the audience were told to go home - Dick Shawn was dead.
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Death by Belly Slam.
British pro wrestler Mal "King Kong" Kirk died underneath the big belly of Shirley "Big Daddy" Crabtree.
In August 1987, during the final moments of the match, Crabtree delivered his signature "Belly-Splash" move (basically jumping up and down, slamming his belly onto a guy) on Kirk, who then had a heart attack and died.
Crabtree was cleared after it was revealed that Kirk had a serious heart condition prior to the match. However, Crabtree blamed himself for Kirk’s death and retired from pro wrestling.
Before the match, Kirk had told his friends: "If I have to go, I hope it is in the ring."
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Death by Giant Umbrellas
In 1991, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude put up an environmental installation art of thousands of giant yellow and blue umbrellas in California and Japan.
The giant umbrellas, which measured about 20 foot (6 m) in height, 28 foot (8.7 m) in diameter and weighed about 500 lb, became a huge tourist attraction.
Less than two months after the installation opened, Lori Rae Keevil-Mathews, a 33-year-old woman drove out to see the umbrellas in California. A wind gust uprooted one of the umbrellas and blew it straight at her, crushing her against a boulder and killing her.
Christo immediately ordered all of the umbrellas taken down. The umbrellas, however, took another life - this time in Japan. Crane operator Masaaki Nakamura was electrocuted when the machine’s arm touched a 65,000-volt high-tension line when removing the umbrellas.
Death by Re-creation
In 1991, a 57-year-old Thai woman Yooket Paen was walking in her farm when she accidentally slipped on a cow dung, grabbed a naked live wire and got electrocuted to death.
Soon after Paen’s funeral, her 52-year-old-sister Yooket Pan was showing her neighbors how the accident happened when she herself slipped, grabbed the same live wire and also got electrocuted to death!
Death by Sheep
In 1999, Betty Stobbs, 67, of Durham, England, took a bale of hay to feed her flock of sheep on the back of her motorcycle.
Apparently, the sheep were very hungry. About forty of them rushed the hay and knocked her off a cliff into a 100-feet deep quarry. Stobbs survived the fall only to be killed when the motorcycle, which was also knocked off the cliff, tumbled down after her.
Death by Necklace Bomb
On the afternoon of August 28, 2003, pizza deliveryman Brian Wells [wiki] tried to rob a bank with a home-made shotgun disguised as a cane.
When he was caught by the police, Wells revealed that he had been forced by some people he delivered pizza to earlier to rob the bank. A necklace with an explosive device was attached to his neck.
The necklace bomb blew up before the bomb squad could deactivate it (indeed, there was controversy whether the police took his story seriously and delayed calling the bomb squad). Until today, it’s unclear whether Wells was a victim, a co-conspirator or the lone perpetrator of the robbery and subsequent death.
Death by Stingray
In 2006, Australian wildlife expert and TV personality Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin [wiki] died when he was stabbed in the heart by a stingray spine while filming a documentary Ocean’s Deadliest.
Death by Bookcase
Mariesa Weber was reported missing by her family for nearly two weeks before they found her in her bedroom, wedged behind a bookcase.
"I’m sleeping in the same house as her for 11 days, looking for her," her mother, Connie Weber, told the St. Petersburg Times. "And she’s right in the bedroom."
Both Weber and her sister had previously adjusted the television plug by standing on a bureau next to the shelf and leaning over the top. Her family believes Weber, who was 5-foot-3 and barely 100 pounds, may have fallen headfirst into the space.
See also / Sources: List of Unusual Deaths | 10 Strangest Sporting Deaths | It Gets Weirder: Weird eath/Neared death | Deaths of Remarkable People.
If you have any more strange and unusual stories of deaths, please let me know!
Death Of A President (2006 fictitious future documentary)
Via: VideoSift
An award winning fictional TV documentary broadcast in 2008, investigating the unsolved assassination of President George W. Bush on October 19th, 2007. Combining real archival footage with a credible but fictional story, it presents a fascinating and thought-provoking political thriller: covering topics of civil disobedience, racial profiling, the reduction of civil liberties, sensationalism, and just-war theory.
Urine-Powered Battery.
In 2005, Singapore scientist King Bang Lee and colleagues invented a battery powered by urine:
To make the battery, Lee and his colleagues soaked a piece of paper in a solution of copper chloride and sandwiched it between strips of magnesium and copper. This sandwich was then laminated between two sheets of transparent plastic.
When a drop of urine is added to the paper through a slit in the plastic, a chemical reaction takes place that produces electricity, Lee said.
The prototype battery produced about 1.5 volts, the same as a standard AA battery, and runs for about 90 minutes. Researchers said the power, voltage, and lifetime of the battery can be improved by adjusting the geometry and materials used.
LINK
Sunday, March 11, 2007
McMusic Videos
Okay, so this is your editor speaking now.
In my rummaging through the webs ones and zeroes I find a lot of music based videos that appeal to me for a number of reasons. Some are simple nostalgia, some are trivial, a few are funny, and even fewer—as the kids say—just rock out with their cocks out.
While I don’t want music to overpower this blog, I’m happy to have music overpower my new music themed blog where I’ll throw stuff from time to time. So check it out and check it out frequently.
McMusic Videos
Are You Ready for Marriage?
Part 1
Part 2
An mst3k short (from season six, episode sixteen, "Racket Girls")from the 50s about how to tell if you're ready to get married.
Part 2
An mst3k short (from season six, episode sixteen, "Racket Girls")from the 50s about how to tell if you're ready to get married.
Blind guy listens to echos to navigate
Ben Underwood is blind but uses echolocation to "see". Featured on people magazine.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Feeling You’re Being Followed? It’s All In Your Head.
Ever feel that you’re being shadowed? The paranoia and feeling of being followed may just be your brain misfiring:
The paper, published in the British journal Nature, describes the case of a 22-year-old woman with no history of psychiatric problems who was being evaluated for treatment of epilepsy. When a region of her brain called the left temporoparietal junction was electrically stimulated, the woman described encounters with a ‘shadow person’ who mimicked her bodily movements.
LINK
The paper, published in the British journal Nature, describes the case of a 22-year-old woman with no history of psychiatric problems who was being evaluated for treatment of epilepsy. When a region of her brain called the left temporoparietal junction was electrically stimulated, the woman described encounters with a ‘shadow person’ who mimicked her bodily movements.
LINK
Re-cut "Talkin' Softball" song from classic SIMPSONS episode
Via: VideoSift
This is the song that played over the credits of my all-time favorite Simpsons episode, "Homer at the Bat", re-cut to remove the credits but keep the old-film feel.
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Chuck Woolery introduces the best named guest on Love Connection.
