Saturday, April 14, 2018

Anticipate the difficult...

Neill Blomkamp's Oats Studio is open for crowd funding. If you haven't watched any of their videos on YouTube you are missing some good stuff.

The new Dreamworks Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle for Amazon prime video doesn't disgust me as much as many modern reworkings of classic TV cartoons. It's the voices that I find most distracting, not the animation.

Google Maps now supports Street View for Disneyland and Walt Disney World parks. Let's visit Pandora.

New music that I'm currently flirting with. Riot by Kali on Ronin Rhythms Records.

Also there's Adam Holzman's new album Ectoplasm.

I'm well past flirting with Vortex by Sonar w. David Torn. Read about this collaboration on Innerviews. A sample of the track Waves and Particles.

And there's Gaudi's Psychedelic Future Dub Vol 2.

A beautiful illustration of the alphabet's evolution that reminds me of the phonetic reading charts we used in grade school. 
Anything can fit in a rectangle. This and other thoughts on the 1970s when painting was dead.

How audacious is the goal of electricity from nuclear fusion in 15 years?

I used to challenge students to develop an exoskeleton I can use late in life instead of a wheelchair. Seems that's already been done by suitX and others.

Fort Worth gets two nods in Eater's list of the 38 best restaurants in Texas. Fred's Texas Cafe and the Swiss Pastry Shop. Fortunately, I've been to both. Fred's for burgers and Swiss Pastry Shop for their heavenly delectable Swiss-style black forest cake.

Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled, 1951
What makes a monochrome painting good? It's a trick question. The same thing that makes any painting good; it changes the way you see the world.

Lots to argue about - every joke in Airplane! ranked.

Best think since sliced... ketchup.

No more signing credit card receipts?

A documentary of legendary designer Dieter Rams is coming out this year with a soundtrack by Brian Eno.

The Detroit Tigers are named after Michigan's oldest military unit. This and 29 other origin stories for baseball team names.

A fascinating, interactive visualization of all the collaborations in Miles Davis' career. Scaled in Miles.
Why does Mario music sound fun? Clarity and accessibility.

Funny people have higher IQs.

See the moon in beautiful 4k.

The fastest growing craft breweries of 2017.

I'd like to think this would end the debates on healthy eating. But it won't.

Fort Worth's Magnolia Ave. is now officially a great place.

More art museums should take themselves less seriously.

A nice bit of public art in Fort Worth. The artist? An F-2 tornado that tore down the billboard those posts used to support.
Scientists measure the color of antimatter!!!
It's the same color as matter :-(

Never forget that Led Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham, was one of the best ever.

The numbers here are staggering: after being dormant for 37 years, the Voyager 1 spacecraft just communicated with Earth over a distance of 13 billion miles.

Sloths don't fart, but they also poop only every three weeks.

Is it more surprising that fake urine is being banned by law or that it exists in the first place?

Who says TED talks are all fancy? Here's an animated presentation on the evolution of animal genitalia. Which reminds me of Kliban's series of cartoons on genitalia of the universe, but that's a topic for another day.

What's your favorite kind of music? Cassette you say? Here's an online simulator of cassette music, complete with all the flaws.

...by managing the easy. ~Lao Tzu