August 2008 Archives

The Baby

AUGUST 29, 2008

Ben posted a LOL New Yorker comic and I put a link to one in the comments. That wasn't enough though. Happy weekend.

Posted in Tidbits at 12:28 pm.
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The Chinese Trick Mother Nature Into Making it Rain

AUGUST 29, 2008

"As those of us inside the Bird's Nest feared rain...the city's meteorological bureau peppered approaching clouds with over 1000 silver-iodide rockets. That triggered intense showers outside the city and preempted a rainfall on China's parade." The Olympics are over, but I'm clearing my browser tabs and this is nuts. More info on Chinese rainmaking.

Quick Post link: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/beijing_controls_the_weather_for_opening_ceremony.php

Posted in Quick Post at 12:32 am.
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My Airline by David Owen

AUGUST 29, 2008

"If you wish to attempt a Sudoku puzzle during the flight, you must demonstrate to my satisfaction that you realize that the nine spaces in every row and column must each contain a unique digit, and that the nine squares that make up the over-all Sudoku square cannot be completed without consideration for how they fit into the entire puzzle. Do you understand this? No? Fifty dollars."

Quick Post link: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/07/07/080707sh_shouts_owen

Posted in Quick Post at 12:24 am.
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A Fantastic Reason to Vote for Obama

AUGUST 29, 2008

Dude loves tacos. (via zulkey)

Posted in Culture\Politics\Law at 12:14 am.
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Serious Eats City Guide: New York

AUGUST 28, 2008

I'm always looking for a definitive lists of places to eat when visiting a city. I'm happy to see a trustworthy source start a new series. It'd be especially useful if it were updated quarterly.

Quick Post link: http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/08/best-food-new-york-city-serious-eats-guide.html

Posted in Quick Post at 11:10 am.
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How Many Photos Did Olympic Photographers Need to Get It Right?

AUGUST 27, 2008

More Laforet as he looks at how many photos he shot and offers this ridiculous stat: "[Sports Illustrated] shot over 300,000 images of which their staff kept 17,000. One of their editors took that down to 1046 'super selects' and then their director of photography Steve Fine, edited his selection down to 135 images. That means their 'best of' turned out to be 0.045% of what they shot."

Quick Post link: http://vincentlaforet.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/how-much-did-i-shoot-in-beijing/

Posted in Quick Post at 2:34 pm.
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Portraits of Divers in Motion

AUGUST 26, 2008

My favorite coverage of the Olympics has been via Vincent Laforet's blog at Newsweek. He's caught some amazing photos and documented the process.

The photos above are from a series of portraits of divers in motion, which I found incredibly striking and odd. It's very funny to see together. Laforet also spent time explaining how he got these bird's eye shots. Talking about the swimming competitions, he explains, "Once you are approved, you gear up an hour before the race and have to follow the following rules: one camera, one lens, one card. Nothing else."

Since he has so many fantastic shots, I'll end with one more photo. This tilt-shift shot makes everything seem more like a video game or toy set.

All photos are by Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

Posted in Sports at 11:28 am.
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100 Reasons Why McCain Won't Be President

AUGUST 26, 2008

An exhaustive, informative list. It's definitely worth reading if you're on the fence.

Quick Post link: http://gedblog.com/2008/08/25/100-reasons-why-mccain-wont-be-president-of-the-united-states/

Posted in Quick Post at 10:55 am.
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Obama and McCain's Tax Plans Compared

AUGUST 22, 2008

Makes it clear who is really helping the lower class. [via mathowie]

Quick Post link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

Posted in Quick Post at 12:08 am.
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Chad Johnson is Legally Changing his Last Name to Ocho Cinco to Avoid NFL Fines

AUGUST 22, 2008

Dude is crazy. [via zach]

Quick Post link: http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/10861/chad_johnson_finds_genius_way_around_fines

Posted in Quick Post at 12:06 am.
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Telstar Logistics Flies First Class on the A380

AUGUST 5, 2008

Here's the full flickr set from their trip. The plane is ridiculous. You don't have a first class seat, but a first class suite. Oh, and when your flight is coming to an end, you can shower in one of two showers in first class. Even the coach passengers get to watch one of three live video feeds of takeoff, landing or any other portion of the flight. I'd pay just to hang out in first class for 30 minutes. [via boing boing]

Quick Post link: http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2008/08/flight-report-a.html

Posted in Quick Post at 11:56 pm.
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The BBQ Song

AUGUST 5, 2008

"This is our review of BBQ, in the Southern United States / When my life is through, bury me in BBQ, make sure it's vinegar-based" [via Serious Eats]

Quick Post link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ubTQfr_tyY

Posted in Quick Post at 2:12 pm.
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Collections of Covers from The Face

AUGUST 4, 2008

It was such a fantastic magazine and first inspired my love of big, blocky lettering. [via magCulture]

Quick Post link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/thefacemagazine/pool/

Posted in Quick Post at 1:00 pm.
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Photos of the Large Hadron Collider

AUGUST 2, 2008

Holy moses, this thing is insane. About 2/3 of the way in you can really start to see the massive scale.

Quick Post link: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/the_large_hadron_collider.html

Posted in Quick Post at 1:50 pm.
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Merlin's Collection of Cash Gifting Videos

AUGUST 2, 2008

A peek into a world that that I'd rather not exist. I feel guity sayng that some of the videos are hilarious. Merlin's send-up is even better though.

Quick Post link: http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/44454742/this-is-not-mlm

Posted in Quick Post at 12:52 pm.
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