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Those links we've stumbled across that don't rate a full-on blog post, but are worth noting. (1562) 
See, this is what happens when you ignore a feed for too long, the links just get all piled up. Kind of like a traffic jam, I guess. Anyhoo, here's the latest from the good folks at Coudal Partners:
Stay tuned for further linkatude!
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind
| David Foster Wallace | Dinosaurs | Food | Free | Land of the Lost | Mazes | Reviews | Science Fiction
I need a new USB extension cable. (I stepped on the last one, crushing the female lead.) I go to Newegg (best computer hardware store in the known universe) and find this user-written review of the BYTECC 6 ft. Type A Male to Type A Female USB 2.0 Extension Cable Model USB2-6MF-K - Retail:
You complete me.
Reviewed By: Andrew on 4/15/2009
Rating + 5
Pros: It works.
Cons: Someday it will die, like everything else in the world.
Other Thoughts: Ah, beautiful USB extension cable,
You complete my connections.
When I am over here
And my flash drive is over there
You bring us together.
When I am over here
And my iPod is over there
You bring us together.
When I am over here
And my Flip Ultra video camera is over there
You bring us together.
Everything I ask of you,
You provide.
Because of you, I no longer reach around to the back of my computer
To unplug something else in my USB hub
Drat! Knocking down the beverage on my desk
Cascading water like tears on all my worldly possessions.
Because of you, I hot swap.
Because of you, I am charged.
Because of you, I run at high speed.
Blessed USB extension cable.
Well now I have to buy it.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Reviews
New Yorkers have some very specific needs when it comes to a commuter bag: durability, comfort, and professionalism. The traditional briefcase might look good in the board room, but that fine Corinthian leather is just going to get scratched on the train or the sidewalk. The ubiquitous nylon messenger bag is durable enough, and you can get away with it at the office, but if you're carrying a heavy load (say, your laptop) your shoulders will feel it. (Besides, it's not good to walk around with your weight unevenly distributed.) A backpack will be comfortable on that one-hour-standing-on-the-train commute, but you'll look like you just came from Freshman English class.
I saw an ideal solution at Tumi -- a backpack that converts to a briefcase. Unfortunately, I don't have $350 to blow. (They make a cheaper one in their T-Tech line but it's still $225, and it's uglier, and it screams "computer bag"). There's a line of similar convertible bags at BBG which at $100 are far cheaper (found on Cool Tools, where you really must read this "pedantic" review of the $530 William Gibson Aviator Bag and ensuing flame war against Bruce Sterling, the new curator there).
But I really like the bag I picked up at the MOMA Design Store: the Lexon Challenger Backpack. It's well made and well designed. As a backpack it's comfortable -- I carried 16 lbs of gear around Manhattan yesterday and my shoulders feel fine. (There's a chest compression strap if you need it.) It's got two main compartments (one with a padded laptop section) and three front pockets. Inside are pen loops and a card holder and a change purse and a carabiner hook so you can squirrel things away properly. I especially like the top corner pocket, which is great for a cell phone stash (or any other gear you want quick access to.)
When you've arrived and are ready to attend your meeting, you just unclip the back straps and slip them inside a zippered compartment. A handle slides out of the top. Now you've got a briefcase. The bag is neutral gray, and most importantly, doesn't have patches, logos, or dingbats on it, other than a subtle black branding box.
And it's only $100. (Less if you're a MOMA member.) Strangely, MOMA isn't marketing the bag's main feature, that it converts from a backpack to a laptop. Update your ad copy, guys!
posted this | this entry's link | 2 comments | Bags | Essential Tools | Reviews
I was on the subway yesterday when I overheard two young women talking about the "Illuminati." My ears pricked up. Generally the people who are talking about the Illuminati fall into three categories: Robert Anton Wilson fans; conspiracy theorists; and conspiracy theorists who take Robert Anton Wilson seriously. Which category would they fall into? A few minutes later, though, I overheard the phrase "Angels & Demons" -- I won't link to the book, it was even worse than the DaVinci Code. Damn you, Dan Brown, for ruining my categorization scheme!
posted this | this entry's link | 2 comments | Dan Brown | Illuminati | New York City | Overheard | Robert Anton Wilson | Science Fiction | Subway
While searching for the name of Hofstadter's law ("It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law"), I ran across this article on legal self-reference and Stigler's law of eponymy ("No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer"), which is self-referential since Stigler didn't discover it. Makes me want to go read some Douglas Hofstadter. Ahh, full circle.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Law | Self-Reference
Like a bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap that weighs 240,000 pounds. See also the New York Times Millennium Time Capsule, the nuclear waste signs at Yucca Mountain, and the Rosetta Project for how to communicate with the future.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Land of the Lost | Language | Strange
Restore yellowed plastic to white.
Create any kind of packaging with a furoshiki.
Report on a Jesus-seen-in-an-object story.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind
Via boingboing.
| Rap
In searching for music keyboard product reviews I came across this site featuring wonderful translations of product information such as:
This terrifying initiator keyboard is the hone right smart to acquire started in playing. The CK 65 comes in the estimation of 61 standard-size swiftness tender keys, 100 contrasted voices positive 29 pleximetry sounds and its ain integral go scheme so there's no demand in the place of an amplifier!
One of the consequences of being blog-free for half a year is the accumulation of old data -- bookmarks, feeds, ideas, reviews, etc. Normally when I'm facing an RSS feed with over 100 unread articles, I'll just give it up for lost and zero it out. It's the internet, right? There's always more of it. But today I started skimming through a year of posts from Things Magazine, a great source of interesting links. Here are a few things that caught my eye:
The History of Visual Communication. Antique Dental Instruments. I Love Typography. Twin Peaks, Then and Now. How Michael Finds Good Stuff on the Web. Douglas Coupland on Visual Thinking. Face Research. Morbid Anatomy. A Short History of Anatomical Maps. A Timeline of Lego Minifigs. The Evolution of the Front Page. The Green Knowe books, one of my favorite kidlit series, had a final book I didn't know about? The Paris Exposition of 1900. London Poverty Maps. UK Loneliness Map. New York's ugliest skyscraper. New York in Black and White. Digitally tracking nightlife in San Francisco. Fictional Cities and Towns. 72 Views of the Tower of Babel. Zeppelins! Fembots! The Circus! What can you buy for five dollars? Business cliches. Wal-Mart v. Starbucks. The pointless museum. A personal history of electronic writing. Suggested Donation, "a blog about Museums, Archives, and Libraries: and the poor suffering lot who work in them." 50 cult books. Survival tips for time traveling back to 1000 A.D. Throttling in Comics (a bit like Comic Book Bondage Cover of the Day.) How to Hack a Traffic Jam -- I've been using this method for a few years now, it's also safer and much calmer. PostCrossing -- get postcards from around the world, hopefully better than a chain letter promising same. Microtypography, Designing the new Collins dictionaries. The aesthetics of Star Wars, James Bond, and Bond Villains.
That is all.
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Children's Books | Circus | Comics | David Lynch | Design | Ephemera | History | Imaginary Places | James Bond | Legos | London | Maps | New York City | Paris | Robots | San Francisco | Star Wars | Typography | Zeppelins
Analysts may look to bellwethers such as Vigo County, or Guam, but for my money, you can't do worse than picking the coolest Secret Service code name to predict an election. Just look at the following match-ups:
Timberwolf v. Peso
Cavalier v. Rawhide
Ramrod v. Eagle
Deacon v. Passkey
Minuteman v. Trailblazer
Renegade v. Phoenix
Searchlight v. Lancer
Tumbler v. Sundance
Without even knowing which name is assigned to which candidate, can you guess the winner of these elections? They're out of chronological order, so bonus IshPoints if you can ID who each one is. Answers in first comment. No peeking.
posted this | this entry's link | 3 comments | Presidential Elections | Secret Service
I picked up Wired at the airport and read this really terrific story: High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind | Ships
For the Mongolian Jazz Festival in October 2008! It's called.... wait for it...
This pun brought to you by John Coltrane and the Letter A.
| Mongolia
Turn up the David Bowie, break out the tinfoil hats, and stock up on canned goods: THE WORLD IS ENDING IN FIVE YEARS.
At least according to one of my favorite Eschatological Scenarios. You see, December 21, 2012 is the last date of the Mayan cycle of 13 b'ak'tuns or "Long Count, and thus as fine a date as any for the End of the World. There are plenty of theories about what, exactly, is going to happen, and you can read about most of them on the Survive 2012 website. Most deal with some sort of cosmological or geological event that causes the earth's crust to rapidly shift -- picture the skin of an orange coming loose from the fruit, and then moving relative to the fruit. Chaos, earthquakes, tsunami, war, famine, pestilence and death ensue. You can read more here and here. For good measure, Atlantis, the pyramids, and the Nazca Lines are thrown in.
Well, at least 5 years is plenty of time for me to finish sorting my mp3 collection.
You know, I used to go through the various Child Product Catalogs we would receive and try and find the Most Ridiculous Product. Usually it was to deal with some imaginary / paranoid safety issue -- a Phantom Menace, as it were.
I'm pretty sure, though, that none of those items are as creeeepy weird as the Zaky Infant Pillow:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Yes, that's right. Put some disembodied hands in your child's crib. I'm sure they'll grow up normal.
Via Boing Boing. Yes, I'm catching up on my backblog.
It's been years since I gave up pork. (This is part of my half-kosher deal with God -- I don't eat pork, and God continues to provide shellfish for me to consume.) I don't miss ham, but I do miss bacon.
But... bacon chocolate chip cookies? Really?
Hrmmamsmamrmashmmmm....
Via Cynical-C
Check out the Mikiphone, "probably the smallest gramophone ever placed on the market, folded up to the size of a large pocket watch or a small cheese case."
Yesterday, I was walking toward the subway down the Brooklyn street. The skies were lowering grey, the wind spoke of rain and the coming winter. There were birds in the air. A sudden gust blew yellow leaves from their branches, spiralling in the air. I reached for my camera but knew I could never capture the motion, the moment, so I stood still in the street as the leaves flew.
And a leaf hit me smack in the mouth.
