April 23, 2007
As a big Batman fan, I loved this short Justice League mockumentary.
Critics of global warming will love this article.
I think the cuttlefish is the most interesting animal I’ve heard of. See this video for an explanation of its shapeshifting, colorshifting ways.
Pictorial comparison of fast food ads and reality.
March 27, 2007
Here is a very nice photo flipbook video featuring the unmistakable music of Alan Vega.
Multi-touch interfaces (a la the iPhone) have reinvented the DJ turntable.
Old-school anti-piracy PSA: Don’t Copy That Floppy!
Video of a full orchestral performance of perhaps the most revolutionary work of music from the 20th century, John Cage’s infamous 4′33″ (1952).
10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World; even cooler than I was expecting.
Google is imitating Ted Talks with the thus-far excellent Google Tech Talks. Highlights: Kevin Kelly on the scientific method and Luis von Ahn on human computation.
I use Wikipedia every day, but it does have serious quality problems. Citizendium looks like a vast improvement, with editorial control and no anonymous editing. For examples of quality potential, see “approved” articles like Biology, Barbara McClintock, and Vertebral subluxation. See the news coverage.
March 14, 2007
The World Is Not Flat: a couple travels around the entire world in one year, blogging their experiences with copious photos, videos, and impressions. Here are their highlights and lowlights, here are their travel tips, and here are all the posts about how they could afford such a comprehensive trip! Similar: Vagabonding, Jon Rawlinson, and Old World Wandering.
Choose My Adventure: some guy lets his readers choose what adventures he takes next.
I’m only 10% stupid. Yay!
How many countires can you name in 10 minutes? I got 73 in 6 minutes, and then gave up. Pathetic. Africa and Eastern Europe are the hardest for me.
The world’s most amazing cars. Sexy.
Wow. Have you seen these photos of a towboat literally rolling under an unopened bridge? And hey, how did a deer get atop a communications pole? And here is one way to sneak across a border. And corset body piercing; now that’s hardcore! And more.
March 2, 2007
A Nigerian scammer is tricked into acting out the Monty Python “Dead Parrot” sketch. Video.
World’s best foosball player. Video.
The new thrill ride? Get literally catapulted into the air by your neck. Video.
This anti-Pangean theory sounds too good to be true. Good production values make it true, right?
February 14, 2007
Have you seen this hilarious dumb thief?
Confused about Web 2.0?
11 Most Important Philosophical Quotations.
I will NOT be doing this at Angel Falls.
Here is an example of how math can be beautiful.
Are you ready for the violence of the lambs?
Watch a glass blower make a glass cat in less than 2 minutes.
Watch Jake Shimabukuro play a stunning arrangement of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for ukulele.
February 12, 2007
Can any of my readers point to a sort of TED Talks for Christianity? Sorta like Veritas or Open Forum?
Shaun Groves wrote a good post on giving and tithing.
Have you seen this? Blogging the Bible: What happens when an ignoramus reads the good book?
In case you missed it: Five Streams of the Emerging Church at Christianity Today.
Married guys, have you tried this argument?
January 25, 2007
First wheelchair backflip ever (video)
Things My Boyfriend Says (cute)
a Flickr bulk downloader (awesome)
January 16, 2007
What if you just want to provide commercial-free episodes of 24 and pre-release indie rock albums, but the world labels you a pirate? Buy your own nation, of course! The Pirate Bay hopes to buy the 10-citizen Principality of Sealand.
I suspect many critics will name Spore the greatest video game of all time when it is finally released. It looks stupendous, but I doubt it will challenge Spacewar!
With CiteBite, I can link directly to a specific quote on a page (example). It’s not perfect, of course.
I always complain about U.S. television. Maybe I’d watch if we had something like this.
Wanna have some fun? Visit any website. Clear the address bar. Copy and paste the following to the address bar and hit enter (doesn’t work on some sites):
javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position=’absolute’; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval(’A()’,5); void(0);
January 16, 2007
With my music collection gone, I’ve been looking to internet radio for my musical experiences. I like Last.fm personalized radio even better than Pandora because the former includes infinitely more artists (including classical and avantgarde composers) and lets you create a personal radio station based on multiple preferred artists. It’s really simple: list a few artists you like, click “Play Your Station”, and hear streaming radio that plays tracks from those and similar artists. If you don’t like a track, you can skip to the next one. Brilliant!
A list of unfilmable novels, why they are unfilmable, and which director should make each of them anyway.
A long interview with the writers of Borat reveals the film’s particular blend of writing, improvisation, staging, and happy coincidence.
GetHuman lists hundreds of 800 numbers that take you directly to a human being.
The Greatest Cartoon of all Time? “Penguins!”
January 12, 2007
Fun materials: fluids that become more solid when stressed, materials that get thicker when stretched, etc. With videos.
There’s a middle ground on global warming?
The hardest puzzle game I’ve ever played.
I do so love TED Talks. Here’s two new ones: Robert Neuwirth on squatter cities: the cities of the future and, even better, Bjorn Lomborg on prioritizing the world’s biggest problems.
Here’s video of an incredibly brutal professional fight.
January 4, 2007
Hilarious: 50 Potential Christian Bestsellers. #1? Your Best Life Now Book of Martyrs.
5,000 Year History of Religion in 90 Seconds (animated map). Also: Yep, the Middle East has always been at war.
Outreach magazine’s 25 most innovative churches in America. I’m not familiar most of the churches, but they do have incredible websites. I hope that’s not what Outreach means by innovative: it seems unlikely that the most innovative churches are some of the biggest, for the same reason the U.S. can never be as innovative as, say, Iceland or South Korea.
Call 1-641-985-5700 (Iowa area code), access code 366728#, to hear a ten minute recording regarding why someone left the Amish. You’ll also hear info on joining a phone-conference Bible study for ex-Amish persons.
Invisible College should do a vidcast of their events.
December 27, 2006
Good grief. Dubai is fucking nuts.
Humor: How to Write Good.
The worst fight scene of all time, from this movie.
Incredibly incompetent TV reporting is funny. For example.
Some guy made his own electromagnetic pistol. Very efficient, and 100% silent.
Evan in Michigan ate for 1$ a day all this November, and kept a daily journal. For December, he’s drawing a cartoon each day (even though he has no skill). Of course, if you haven’t heard the one red paperclip story, that’s far more interesting.
December 21, 2006
I really like this Flickr Wallpaper Rotator. It takes a Flickr username or search term (”hong kong”, “puppy”, “flower”, “abstract”, etc.) and rotates matching photos from Flickr on your desktop every so many minutes, hours, or whatever. You get only the highest-quality photos if you sort by interestingness.
50 Greatest Cartoons Ever (with links to watch all of them online).
Album covers that spoof other album covers.
A woman is testing every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study she can find to achieve happiness. She’s tracking her progress in her blog, and she’ll write a book after one year.
Unlike Noel, I like year-end lists. From Rex’s famous year-end list of lists for 2006: the year’s best art, overrated and underrated books, best movies, the year in ideas, 100 things we didn’t know this time last year, and best rock albums.
I look forward to Pluggd, a Google for podcasts. Search for a word spoken in any of a billion podcasts (me, I’m thinking sermons), then start listening right at that segment.
99 Strange Photos. And, 100 Wonders of the World. I’ve seen (in person) only five. How ’bout you?
December 17, 2006
50 Most Influential Churches (in the U.S., apparently). Scary. But, Mosaic at #12.
50 Most Influential Christians (in the U.S., apparently). Scarier. But, Rob Bell at #25, Brian McLaren at #42, and Erwin McManus at #43.
Scot McKnight has a nifty name for the “instinct among emerging Christians to defend those who were ‘othered’ by evangelicals and an instinct to ‘other’ evangelicals, even though many emerging Christians truly are moderate or progressive evangelicals.” He calls it the “inclusion reaction”.
We don’t have to give each other more unnecessary crap for Christmas. If you feel compelled to give, consider giving to a charity and then give your family member or friend a card that says “We gave to ____ in your name.” My favorite source for this is probably the World Vision Gift Catalog. Buy somebody a goat or help dig a village’s well.
Here is a news story about a traditional church falling apart, then being reborn as a missional church.
Wow. You can listen to hundreds of hours of Bible teaching from Believer’s chapel, organized by Scripture text and topic.
Worship background graphics you can use for free.
10 things not to expect from a missional church. And, Newsweek reports on the missional church.
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