Archived Thoughts

October 26, 2002
Secure Beneath the Watchful Eyes...

This poster is currently up at bus stops in Britian... I would have shit my pants if I saw one of these in Chicago.

Across London, these posters can be seen telling us all that we are 'Secure beneath The Watchful Eyes' of the Metropolitan Police. I cannot tell you how much better that makes me feel. The imagery is pure 1930's/1940's and conjurors up the 'Golden Age of Totalitarianism'.

Britain is already a Police State in so far as the means for total repression are already well and truly in place. As the poster indicates all too well, Britain is the nation most under surveillance on Earth, Echelon monitors our domestic communications, our Internet usage is logged for years due to the Draconian RIP Act, our locations detected via our mobile phones and logged, all for the apparatus of state to access on very low level authority. Civilians are not just deprived of any firearms, in reality we are forbidden to defend ourselves and our property with so much as a broom stick. Our right to trial by Jury faces abridgement, even our ancient protection of Habeas Corpus is now a dead letter under European extradition laws.
Posted by Patrick at 01:00 AM
October 24, 2002
Listening to Borges

Ever wondered what Borges sounded like? Well, wonder no more...

Here are excerpts from two of the six Norton Lectures that Jorge Luis Borges delivered at Harvard University in the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968. The recordings of these six lectures, only lately discovered in the Harvard University Archives, uniquely capture the cadences, candor, wit, and remarkable erudition of one of the most extraordinary and enduring literary voices of our age. Through a twist of fate that the author of Labyrinths himself would have relished, these lost lectures return to us now--in Borges's own voice.
Posted by Patrick at 12:03 AM
October 20, 2002
The Oldest Bridge

This is quite amazing, the oldest human made bridge dates back 1.75 million years ago! I want to know more about how they are so sure that this was actually constructed, and not some weird natural artifact.

Posted by Patrick at 11:40 PM
A Sticky Way to Die

In Boston in 1919 occurred what could very well be the sweetest tragedy in history... The Great Boston Molasses Tragedy! 30 years later the streets of Boston were still seeping the stuff out of the cracks.

Posted by Patrick at 10:48 AM
October 17, 2002
It's Payback Time for Telemarketers

I've been recently thinking about ways to turn the tables on telemarketers, and the best thing I could think of was to sit down and write a script to use on them when they call.

Somebody else has already done it for me... Here is the counterscript to use to stop them in their tracks. A convenient PDF version is also available.

Posted by Patrick at 12:50 PM
October 16, 2002
My Industrial Kitchen

The industrial kitchen look has fascinated me for years. This McSweeney's piece (Which I found on MeFi) made me burst out in laughter.

My dream kitchen will be industrial. It will have bright, wide open spaces framed by exposed pipes and a concrete, no-nonsense floor. The counters and door will be made of stainless steel. A drain installed in the center of the floor will allow you to hose down the whole place.

My dream kitchen will be very industrial. You will be able to walk into the fridge. The dishwasher, also stainless steel, will remove the toughest baked-on grit from oversized pans and baking sheets. Smoked-glass windows will stretch from the ceiling to the floor. Everything will be so large that a person could soak comfortably in the sink alongside the carrots and potatoes.

The countertops in my dream kitchen will have sharp, fearsome corners, industrial enough to cause goring. A black barrel full of toxic chemicals will sit in the far corner, and the ventilation ducts will be caked with hazardous dust. When they tear down my dream kitchen, the soil beneath will be poisonous, having marinated for decades in leeched contaminants.
Posted by Patrick at 07:47 PM
October 15, 2002
New Wallace & Gromit Short

I'm sure that this is going to get linked by every blog on the planet, but I just have to put a link up myself to Soccamatic a part of the the new animated short 'Cracking Contraptions'. Aardman produces some of the best stop-motion animation in the world. (And it is quite funny to boot!)

In the interesting footnote department, a company that used to build the sets for Aardman studios has another interesting line of work: Disguising cell phone towers! Definitely one of the odder forms of synergy...

Posted by Patrick at 12:31 PM
October 12, 2002
Spiffy Optical Illusion

This page has been making the rounds, but it is definitely one of the more impressive optical illusions that I have ever seen. It is a great example of how our mind processes visual information into a way that makes sense. While we perceive one thing, the 'reality' is quite different...

Posted by Patrick at 11:52 AM
October 11, 2002
Mummified Dinosaur

While it isn't mummified in the sense that it is still the original flesh, this is still a completely fascinating find. I hope that they have a special on it soon, I want to see more of what the textures are like!

I wonder how many more fossils like this are waiting discovery?

Posted by Patrick at 02:13 PM
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