Words for the wise from the mouth of a fool.
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The weblog of Seth Johnson -------------- INKSLINGER.ORG -------------- OD ARCHIVES -------------- FEEDS Posts:  Shared Items:
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Saturday, March 08, 2003
So I was browsing in awe through a page of Rubik' Cube art linked off of boingboing when it suddenly strikes me where the art is displayed--the home of Andrew Looney, creator of Fluxx and Chrononauts!
Further poking around the site reveals interesting thoughts by the cube artist, one of Looney's friends, on a multitude of subjects from extreme game design to solving 5x5x5 Rubik's Cubes.
The Cube connection continues elsewhere in the site, as it turns out Looney's wife was the girl who solved the Rubik's Cube on "That's Incredible" (a show I remember watching.) Now among other--less cool--things, she also makes custom cubes.
Headed up toward the Twin Cities to see my folks, friends, and a couple days of meetings. I suspect posting will not be nonexistant, but will most likely be sporadic. See you sometime between now and Wednesday.
Boingboing has posted the latest in a series of great pieces by a CNN correspondant in Kuwait. Worth reading--Rob will be interested to note the discussion of EMP weapons, as we talked about the other night.
Friday, March 07, 2003
Holy cow! My mom did this Pac-Man cross-stitch for me when I was a kid. I'll try and find it when I'm at their place this weekend.
Novel-ready history: the story of the 1933 U.S. Double Eagle gold twenty dollar coin (via boingboing)
No longer is it monkey vs. robot--now it's monkey controlling robot. We will look back upon this day as the moment when we sparked our own destruction... (thanks to Bezzy for the news link.)
A great article on Slate about the Google-Blogger deal, and its potential for cataloging the human (online) experience, with much reference to Vannevar Bush's now classic essay "As We May Think".
UPDATE: The article must be on to something, as even Ev links to it. (I note with a certain degree of satisfaction that the permalinks on his front page don't seem to be working entirely properly either, which means that someone at BloggerHQ must be on the case.)
Thursday, March 06, 2003
"If you love cheese, this is the Chee-to for you. It's beyond dangerously cheesy."
From Pearl Harbor to Iowa, the incredible journey of the world's largest Chee-to. (Thanks, Mike.)
Oh, and:
[fulldisclosure]
[type: entry]
[compensation: goodwill? cash? product?]
[value: $0.02]
[/fulldisclosure]
Liana passes along the link to a great photo essay on "the State Street family" by Glenn's dad. Issues like this are really driven home for me when I not only recognize the background of every single picture, but when I also recognize some of the people.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
It's been a good night, watching The Flight of the Phoenix (great opening and credit sequence, and doesn't let up often thereafter) and Strategic Air Command (Cold War rah-rah, but terrific aerial photography) on AMC while polishing up a pitch I hope to make to a publisher next week.
I also did a bit of work on the front end to this domain. I'd be grateful if all you folks out there on various platforms and browsers could take a look and let me know if you spot any irregularities.
The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay's Michael Chabon pitching his concept for an X-Men movie in 1996 (via Metafilter).
Be sure to stick around and browse the rest of his site. Much good material to be had, from a page on Steranko to a piggybacked subsite on obscure horror writer August Van Zorn.
Following up on last week's discussion of clear ice, a link from boingboing on starting fires with clear ice lenses.
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
The world crumbles a bit more each day; while driving home, I heard the words "put out" (in the vulgar slang sense) used by the host of a national NPR program. Granted, it was in reference to Lysistrata, but still...
Via Becca(!), an excellent online archive of songpoems. I've been reading about these on the Bleat and MeFi for a couple weeks, so it was a hoot to finally hear some. They're as horrible--and as terrific--as advertised.
Monday, March 03, 2003
"You must take the shining trapezohedron and keep it in a safe deposit box, until you are ready to come to Nigeria. I want you to bring it with you to Nigeria. You know that a lot of people here are very experienced in this kind of matter over here, therefore when you bring it here we will consult the wise ones for them to tell us what it is and what you should do with it. ...We have to get to the bottom of this."
David Ehi turns a Nigerian scammer by brilliantly drawing him into a world of Lovecraftian conspiracy (via Electrolite.)
"Lo, the ponderous tongue is swinging --- 'tis the hour of Curfew now,
And the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped her breath and paled her brow!"
(Bunny answers the phone and declares into the receiver:)
"Shall she let it ring? No, never! flash her eyes with sudden light
As she springs and grasps it firmly: "Curfew SHALL NOT RING TONIGHT!"
(a click, and Bunny says in mock surprise:)
They hung up!
Usually when I work late into the night there's nothing on TV but overnight news and infomercials. (Guess which I keep on in the background?)
But it's terrific to see that AMC is showing Desk Set tonight. I never actively seek it out, but whenever it comes on I know what I'll be watching for the next couple hours. Luckily, I've seen it three or four times already, so I think I'll be able to keep working while I watch.
Incidentally, the penultimate moment of the movie fed to Google, our own EMIAC ("Search took 0.12 seconds.")
Sunday, March 02, 2003
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