Unlikely Twins, Part XV
By Brian | August 19, 2010
Each August 19th, these two guys were likely doing very different things. OR WERE THEY?!?
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| Gene Roddenberry, Boldly Went Where No Man had Gone Before |
Bill Clinton, Boldly Went Where . . . Hmm….. |
Categories: Unlikely Twins | 2 Comments »
According to the Class of 2014…
By Brian | August 17, 2010
It’s that time of year again – the new Beloit College Mindset List is out.
As in past years (2007, 2009), I direct you to the link above for the whole list, but will highlight my favorite items here:
Most students entering college for the first time this fall
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 9 Comments »
Can they *DO* that?
By Brian | August 16, 2010
I came across a T-Mobile billboard ad the other day which contained a rather interesting disclaimer:
In case you can’t read it, here it is blown up:
…and in case you can’t read that, here’s what it says:
T-mobile and the magenta color are registered trademarks of Deutsche Telekom AG. (c) 2010 T-Mobile USA, Inc.
So, question: can they really trademark the color magenta? If so, I can see a class-action lawsuit against every kid who ever used a box of Crayola crayons coming. And you thought those RIAA folks were bad…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging, The World Wide Weird | 5 Comments »
New York City Sights – Jets for Sale?
By Brian | August 13, 2010
Typically, the first year of a new sports stadium brings large crowds of casual, but curious, fans out to the stadium. In the case of the New York Jets (and, to a lesser extent, the New York Giants, who share the new stadium with them), their decision to require a personal seat license for each season ticket (often running into thousands of dollars in addition to the cost of the seat for next season) has left them with some very angry, lifelong fans and quite a few available seats. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw these folks, dressed in New York Jets jerseys, on the streets of New York, handing out fliers to buy tickets to the games.
And to add insult to injury, someone on the street was harassing them about ticket prices, prompting one of them to yell “I am not a Jet! I am not a Jet!” to passersby. I’m sure this is not what the Jets had in mind for a marketing strategy…
Categories: New York, New York, Sports Talk | 2 Comments »
About that Mosque…
By Brian | August 12, 2010
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that an Islamic group has received permission to build a mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. Everyone from Newt Gingrich to Sarah Palin to Glenn Beck has weighed in against the project, claiming that the mosque’s presence would be seen by some as a victory for the 9/11 terrorists. Others have taken a more passive-aggressive tack, claiming that they, personally, don’t mind a mosque, but that putting one so close to Ground Zero would be a cruel reminder of the attacks for the families of those who died there. A smaller contingent is in favor of the mosque, pointing out that one of the things the terrorists attacked on 9/11 is our freedom of religion, with which any American has the right to worship as he/she chooses.
Fortunately, that last group includes New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who, surrounded by religious leaders of many different faiths, gave an impassioned speech about religious freedom while announcing that the petition for the building’s landmark status has been denied, clearing the way for construction to begin.
Today, the New York Times ran an article about the woman in charge of the mosque project. Here are some things I learned from reading the article that I’m sure Newt, Sarah & Glenn don’t want anyone to focus on:
Categories: New York, New York, Political Rantings | 13 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part XIV
By Brian | August 10, 2010
These two August 10th birthdays took different approaches when it came to, well, just about everything, I’d guess…
Antonio Banderas,
A chick in every plot…Herbert Hoover,
A chicken in every pot…Categories: Unlikely Twins | 3 Comments »
Presidential Quotable Quotes
By Brian | August 9, 2010
Some kids memorize the words to Elmo’s World. Some kids know all of the Jonas Brothers’ names. Then there’s this kid, who’s parents have taught him to memorize some altogether different fun facts:
Categories: Political Rantings, Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on Presidential Quotable Quotes
Greenberg’s Law
By Brian | August 8, 2010
In the spirit of everyone from Moore to Godwin, I humbly present:
Greenberg’s Law: On the Internet, any discussion, no matter how substantial its subject matter, can be completely derailed by the presence of a typographical error. For example, regardless of the veracity of the previous sentence, no one would discuss the point it makes if there were an apostrophe in the word “its.”
Also:
Greenberg’s Corollary: The person who brings up the typo, at the exclusion of the subject being discussed, concedes the argument.
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part XIII
By Brian | August 4, 2010
Odds are pretty good that on August 4th, The President will be celebrating with someone other than a retired football commentator…
Barack Obama,
Yes We Can!John Madden,
YES!!!Categories: Unlikely Twins | 2 Comments »
The Best of TED: The Power of the Pentatonic Scale
By Brian | August 1, 2010
Here’s another installment of my Best of TED series, in which I share talks from the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference that have struck me over the years as particularly insightful or fascinating.
Today’s installment isn’t even a TED talk at all, but it was posted by TED on their website under a heading called Best of the Web which, “highlight[s] inspired talks on sites other than TED.com.” In this short video, famed musician Bobby McFerrin turns an audience at a science festival into a musical instrument, first by “tuning” them to sing certain notes when he hops up and down on the stage at certain spots, and then by using the innate knowledge of music we all seem to be born with to get them to independently infer other notes in the (pentatonic) scale. If you’ve ever doubted the power of music, or the genius of Bobby McFerrin, watch this:
Categories: The Best of TED | Comments Off on The Best of TED: The Power of the Pentatonic Scale
