Happy Belated Boston Molasses Flood Day!

Boston Molasses Disaster

My favorite remembrance so far:

"NEVER FORGET. 91 years ago today, Boston was attacked by molasses."
by this guy on twitter.

Sorta evokes the "Nevar 4get" meme exemplified by this touching collage:

Opening today: Burj Dubai - world's tallest everything

In case you haven't heard of the Burj Dubai [wiki], it's the next world's tallest skyscraper which they've been building in Dubai for the last few years.  What makes it so notable is that it's way taller than any previous record holder.  It's 2,717 feet tall, whereas the previous "world's tallest building" is over 1,000 feet shorter (Taipei 101 [wiki] at 1,670 feet).

I'll go on about that soon, but first here's a video with a really cool view from the top.  Like, the top top.  The guy's on top of the highest spire.  It looks more like a view from a plane than a building:



The reason I say "world's tallest everything" is because I always remember people having to make distinctions about, say, whether the Petronas Towers or the Sears Tower was the "world's tallest building" because of rules like measuring to the highest occupied floor or the "architectural top."  And beyond that they had to distinguish between saying "world's tallest building" (Taipei 101 [wiki], 1,670ft), "world's tallest freestanding structure" (Guangzhou TV Tower [wiki], 2,001ft), and "world's tallest structure" (KVLY-TV antenna [wiki], 2,063 ft) because of more distinctions like having occupiable floors (building category) or not being stabilized by guy wires (freestanding structure category).  All that stuff made the buildings' records a lot less cool.  Also, the "tallest building" changed like every few years for a while with the Petronas Towers [wiki] being built, then Taipei 101, then the Shanghai World Financial Center [wiki].  Each time it'd go up by like a few dozen feet.

So I'm glad they finally made one that's indisputably the best at everything, period.  And it will be for a while.

This chart shows how hard it'll be to top:

Update: I came across a blog post that describes very well the confusion and nitpicking about tallest structures. The Burj Dubai: The Biggest God Damn Building In The World by Everything Everywhere

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?

At least I'm not the only one thinking it.

UPDATE:  James Cameron's first draft of "Pocahontar" revealed!

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAANS!!!!

(hadn't even typed anything yet)

I mean when your computer suggests that to you, how can you say no?

Dan Deacon is in a commercial (for Google Chrome)

So I was just watching something on Hulu when I was treated to a commercial for Google Chrome.  The fact that Google has commercials in the first place is something I'm still getting used to.  But this one was a double-whammy because it featured the Dan Deacon song "Build Voice":



Just 2 years ago Dan Deacon was just this weird guy with some silly songs on a myspace page.  Then he put out an album that wasn't so silly and the indie kids fell all over themselves to praise him.  Then followed a few tours, another album, and more praise.  And now he's making commercials?  Crazy.

For what it's worth, I think the song was well used and the commercial was quite good.  Mainly because of the excellent point Google's trying to make, connecting the fight against software bloat to the feeling of a new computer.  Oh, and apparently Dan Deacon only accepts commercial deals for products he actually thinks are positive.

Desert Bus - Penn & Teller, Video Games, and Charity

Here is a story that begins in the mid 90's.  Clinton was president, the world was at peace, and Jay Leno would nurse you into a slumber every weeknight. (no longer nostalgic)

Janet Reno teamed up with Hillary Clinton to get all into a moral panic about violent video games.  She actually wanted educational videogames or something.  Penn & Teller got word of this, as they were designing a game for Sega Genesis.  So they had the idea to include a mini-game that very realistic and even educational.  It taught you to be a bus driver!

Specifically, Desert Bus would consist of driving a bus from Tuscon to Las Vegas -in real time.  8 hours, through the desert, on a straight road.  With no other cars and a top speed of 45mph.  You could imagine just taping down the accelerator button, BUT they made the bus pull to the right so you constantly have to be correcting it.  And if you mess up and go off the road, they tow you back to Tuscon -also in real time.  What happens if someone had the determination to make it all the way to Las Vegas?  Well, for your excruciating work you get, wait for it.. 1 point.  And then you drive back to Tuscon.

Yes, I know what you're thinking: GENIUS.  Here's some gameplay:



Tragically, this game never made it to stores (surprising, I know).  But bootlegs made it to the internet, so the studious among us can now find and play it.

Which brings me to a recent development, which is an online comedy group who is doing a Desert Bus driving marathon for charity.  Calling it Desert Bus for Hope, they are driving back and forth between Tuscon and Las Vegas as long as donations come in.  Penn Jillette himself has taken note, and the local news reported on this particular kind of torture-for-charity.  People have flooded their site with bus- and desert-inspired images and art, almost constituting a mini-meme.  It's been like 4 days straight now and they've actually raised $83,000 so far.

And they've made an all-time high-score of 13 points!

Dan Aykroyd tells you about the world of the unknown and also Dan Aykroyd Brand Crystal Skull Vodka

"The obvious question is, 'Why did we do this?'"

(oh yes, it's real)

"Apple can now swing +6 mace of multitouch at enemies"

That's the title that drew me in to this digg post.

It's reporting that Apple has been granted a patent on the touch gestures (like "pinch and zoom") from the iPhone.  It'd been reported long ago that they were trying to get these patents, which has been real controversial (i.e. "What? You can't patent that! It's like patenting right-clicking!").  And then in January we found out they got it.  Hence "Apple granted +6 mace of multitouch" which they'll be able to swing at companies like Palm which has gone ahead and included pinch and zoom in its Palm Pre.

So I was looking up stuff about that whole deal (actually I was googling "apple touch prior art minority report" but that's another story) and among all the dry headlines was the aforementioned gem.

But really, this post is about the tragedy of unreproducible but genius comedy.

Let me explain.  I was reading the comments on the original digg post, which is pretty much everyone crying out in one voice about how much of a d-bag Apple is being.  I happen to agree, but all I'm going to say is that prior art isn't restricted to Minority Report and goes back to the 80's (also this is an awesome presentation and from 2006).  Then after a litany of serious and diverse points against Apple, I see this (the highlighted one):

I know, I know, I killed the joke long ago.  That's the point, really.  The humor cannot be experienced by anyone else except by coming upon this in the same way I did.

But the more fun point is that this is, like, the point of the internet.  Stuff like this.  It's awesome, and it can't happen in any other medium.

R.I.P. Captain Lou Albano: Oct 14, 2009

Ok, so if the name and photo don't ring a bell I hope this does:


Honestly.  This may rank as the second most tragic celebrity death of all of 2009.  It's right below Billy Mays.  That's saying a lot.  Oh, and sorry but I'm not just trying to be ironic "oh it's funny to focus on the obscure/humorous figures."  Turns out these guys were just awesome in their own right, and in on the joke.

I looked up stuff about Captain Lou last year and found out that guy was fuckin' awesome.  In the 80's he was a pro wrestler, famous in his own right.  Then he basically just decided to do the Mario Show "for the kids."  Here's his jolly take on his whole career.  The Mario Show comes up at 0:54.  I hope he was as satisfied with everything as he seems there.

High Heel Drag Race 2009

Just realized it'd make sense to post this here. It's my footage of the Dupont Circle Drag Race last Tuesday.



If you're uninitiated, here's Wikipedia's brief introduction.

It was a fun, if rainy time.  I actually knew four contestants, one of whom dressed up as Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls.  Bad. Ass.  Also, I found out later Mayor Fenty was there too.