ElectricDisk

The other day I was in McDonalds and saw someone in fatigues. Everyone has to have their last name on their fatigues and the guy in line had his last name printed as “Tom”. The only person I could think of with a last name of “Tom” was the astronaut from the song “Space Oddity” by David Bowie that was released in 1969. I always assumed that Maj. Tom died in his spacecraft, but I did some searching and found that he might have lived. Here is the original song for perspective.

Space Oddity - Youtube (video)

In the 1980’s Maj Tom got a tribute from the band “Peter Schilling”. From their perspective, NASA’s computers were fouled up and ground control was getting false readings from the spacecraft. “The World is Mourning, No one Realizes that He is Alive”…. Here is Part II to the Maj. Tom saga.

Peter Schilling / Major Tom - Youtube (video)

I like both versions very much, but the 2nd one seems so upbeat and “synthetic” (i.e. Synthesizers) it gives away the happy secret that Maj. Tom is still alive. Some people say he is still stuck in space, but Maj. Tom says it best “I’m Coming Home…” Meaning, he *is* coming home and sometimes computers screw up. The human element prevailed here and Major Tom is asserting his authority to over-ride whatever bugs the previous (Pre Apollo-11) computers had on board. Rock on Major Tom, and welcome back to Earth.

Sorry about that cheap pocket calculator we sent with you. We only had slide rules to calculate trajectory and we were using centimeters instead of inches. Whoops.

I recently watched “King of Kong” (a documentary about someone trying to get the world record score on Donkey Kong). This is similar, but it is told from the point of view of pinball game designers. This hour long movie, tells the story about the attempt to save the pinball industry when it was going into decline.

The designers tell us about behind the scenes meetings with the corporate “suits” who basically threatened them with losing their jobs if they didn’t produce something that sold.

Their website is really nice if you want to take a look around and buy the DVD for 20.00, they even have a corporate license if you want to broadcast at a school or commercially. Their website is (here)

Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball - Youtube (video)

I only have optimism for the future when it comes to alternative fuels. I believe that our current gas ‘crisis’ actually ignites the creative and entrepreneurial spirit. Some people complain that we are being gouged. I agree, but necessity is the mother of invention and it’s about time we started thinking of ways to depend less on fossil fuel and find something else that will work. I’m not talking about ‘public transportation’ like trains or buses. Those have already been tried.

I’m talking about inventing something small, self-contained and renewable. Like water or air. Something plentiful that we will never have to spend billions drilling, transporting and delivering then selling to the consumer. Maybe this video will inspire someone else to take the next step and do something. Considering, the  car in this video can drive from NY to CA on one tank of fuel, it does begin to look promising!

The Air Car - Youtube (Video)

The Honda FCX Clarity - Youtube (video)

[Update: I just found out about this car from Honda. The Honda FCX Clarity]

Looks like my optimism has not been misdirected. There are people and companies that actually care about the future of the planet and the need to preserve what we have for this generation and generations to come. I’m no tree-hugger, but this sort of innovation just brings a smile to my heart. If only we could use this to help those in other countries who are oppressed by tyrannical regimes or being denied food by their leaders, we are on our way to making the earth a blessed place to live. Stuff like this inspires others to be better than they thought they could be - and ultimately make a difference.

Today I found a video of a real life robot that was made to promote the upcoming Pixar/Disney movie Wall-e. This is a nice way to turn a CGI product into a real life toy. Too bad they can’t re-create Buzz Lightyear or Woody using robotics. Sound effects are included in this short video clip. Found by a friend of mine who showed me the video. Thanks!

Wall-e Real Life Robot - Youtube (video)

Blender, an open-source 3d Graphic Animation software has released a short 10 minute story so people can appreciate the product that creates 3d animations. There are so many things this demo gets right. 1) The renderer is “Open Source” 2) It is released on a Creative Commons Liscence. This means, you are free to do anything you want to the product including modifications as long as you give credit. 3) They released the final product on multiple video codex/formats. It is only a 10 minute story but it is worth the review. You must understand that they will actually GIVE you the entire movie including scenes and props to do with as you wish. How ground breaking is this? The difference between sand at the beach (flexible) v/s a brick set in stone (unflexible). God bless open source.

Big Buck Bunny - Youtube (video)

Just when I thought that there couldn’t be any more mashups worth listening to, I went searching for more on the web. This is what I found. Revy (the site owner) posts a new mashup almost everyday.

The site runs on wordpress, so it makes the site pretty easy to update. Granted, with every mashup, there is the possibility that it might not be SFLE (safe for little ears). The site has been growing like a weed and you can tell how many types of MP3 player interfaces he’s gone through. I like his current method of linking directly to the song + the flash interface (rather than divshare). If you like mashups, (for now) this is a place to go look for them.

He also uses a nifty little wordpress plugin that rotates Youtube video versions of mashups, (the salmon dance comes to mind) . Unfortunately, some of these can’t be linked to here due to their (non-family friendly) content, but if you need a mashup, this site is very nice.

Mashupciti - Website (here)

The BBC has a short clip about their new webstreaming service and they are advertising it by showing a clip of a newly discovered breed of penguin. Possibly created by the global warming crisis, these penguins have adapted remarkably well in their changing climate. The video is only about 1 min 30 seconds long and is worth taking a look at.

BBC Webstream service - Youtube (video)

Fans of Bejeweled and Zuma will probably enjoy this puzzle game. Very colorful graphics and great music along with maddening screen action make this a perfect addition to your game collection. I could not find the original manufacturer of this game, so I am going to link to the distributor (here). If I find out the game maker, I’ll modify this post. Not sure they made the game, but it looks like they distribute it.

Lotus Deluxe - Download Game (here)

Remember the old Reeses commercial? “You got peanut butter on my chocolate”, “You got chocolate on my peanut butter” If not click (here) Well, this is kind of similar. I have Transformers (the game) on my helio. Now, as you can see, there is a helio in the Transformers game. A very sharp eyed person pointed this out to me. The sign comes in about 15 seconds into the video (which bumblebee promptly destroys).

Transformer Game footage - Youtube (video)

Sometimes, adding a random word to your searches will bring back better results than just searching for the item or topic directly. A friend recently sent me some quotes from a book she was reading called “A Perfect Mess” (great book by the way)

“On a straight Google search for tennis players, the first sixty results
are almost all lists of players. When ‘poodle’ is thrown in, the fourth
entry is about a book on the nature of consciousness, the fifth is an
interview with David Bowie’s bass player, and the thirteenth an article
on the mathematics of wobbly tables. BananaSlug search results are often
weirdly compelling in this way.” (p 248)

So here is a search engine that does the randomizations for you. It’s called BananaSlug (see above quote) Just enter your word and bananaslug will insert a random word for you.

BananaSlug - Website (here)

Electricdisk and OldRadioFun are proud to announce a new feature starting in the next few days March 1st. Each weekday we will deliver an MP3 story to your inbox. One day it will be a Sci-Fi story and the next day it could be a Western. Plans are also in the works to include a podcast safe music track in random deliveries so you can enjoy those as well.
You can subscribe (here) A platform is being setup to allow a discussion area where you can join others in talking about the daily download.

 Another nice feature (still in testing) is the ability to download the daily delivery to a mobile device. So for now, head on over to one of the sites and subscribe!

Today I got a banner ad from an author/illustrator that does a webcomic called “The Far Reaches”.  I could write a lot here, but that would be boring. Instead, I will post a screengrab of today’s panel. I had to scale it down so it would fit here, but I’ll give you the link to the full version at the bottom.

Now that you can see how cool this comic looks, he has made it EXTREMELY easy to catch up on previous panels/posts/issues. I just bought the entire set for less than 5 dollars through his lulu store. A full issue will currently set you back a whopping 69 cents!

Yes there are lasers, flying cars and most importantly… ROBOTS. For example, (here). It’s family friendly and I’ll be passing issue #1 to my kid as soon as I finish reading it. Note that there are 3D CGI figures/smoke/digital textures blended with the drawings as backdrops, props and settings. I like that. Now I just need an old radio show and some techno to go with it.

The Far Reaches - Main Website (here)
Link to the panel above - (Will post when archived)

Apparently, this guy couldn’t get his girlfriend to stop playing bejeweled, so he decided to do something to get her attention. Bejeweled is a popular videogame created by independent game publisher “pop-cap”. He reprogrammed it (edit: he wrote a similar game and ported it to a Nintendo DS) so it could ask for her hand in marriage. His blog gives you a detailed version of how he did it, but it is on a site with pop-ups (which I don’t link to).

The couple plan to marry over Labor Day weekend, and PopCap, the Seattle company that makes “Bejeweled,” will fly the couple to Seattle as part of their honeymoon.

News article (here)
Download the trial version of bejeweled (here)

I have seen the darwin fish on the backs of cars but have never thought that they were offensive.  In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would agree with something coming from the LA Times. After reading this article, I understand the perspective of the writer. I have officially changed my opinion of the “Darwin” fish. If it was the Star of David, with the words “In Pharaoh We Trust” written inside, would it be considered offensive to Jews? Maybe. Would you consider driving a car with a Star of David and those words written inside? I doubt it.

Darwin fish are often stuck next to bumper stickers promoting tolerance or admonishing random motorists that “hate is not a family value.” But the whole point of the Darwin fish is intolerance; similar mockery of a cherished symbol would rightly be condemned as bigoted if aimed at blacks or women or, yes, Muslims.

Evolution of Religious Bigotry - News Article (here)

I realize that I live in the greatest country on God’s green earth, and that denying someone freedom of expression is like denying someone air. But this sentence from the article sums it up very well and is pivotal in my decision to change my stance.

But the most annoying aspect of the Darwin fish is the false bravado it represents. It’s a courageous pose without consequence.

In other countries, making fun of the predominant religion could get you killed. Are you  really that brave? Or are you, in reality, hiding behind the endless line of soldiers who died to give you the freedom you enjoy? Taking pot shots at our leaders and putting spiffy godless bumper stickers on our cars certainly is a freedom of expression, but is it the right expression? Even if you find a regular Jesus fish stupid,  perhaps you could just bite your tongue. That seems more tolerant to me.

[Update: Within 5 minutes of me posting, these nice contextual ads started appearing on my page. In my tolerance, I’ll leave the ads untouched and post a picture here in case they go away. This is the definition of Irony.]

From Worst to Best:

08 Bill Bennett. - Worst bumper music. Obscure oldies and terrible sing-alongs from the host that make me want to cringe. I have to change the channel on Fridays, when callers are encouraged to sing into the phone from home. It didn’t help when he admitted he didn’t know who George Strait was. (update: Mean spirited comment, not relevant to ranking). Bill does a great service to this country and should be proud of what he does. His patriotism and love for our country is genuine. BTW, staff even wrote back asking for suggestions to make the show better- by all means, send them your ideas (here))

07 Laura Ingraham - “Americanna anyone?” Awesome talk show, bad music. The only thing that keeps Laura from being last are the creative sound collages done in the beginning and throughout the show. I’m sure some listeners like the fact that she is exposing unknown artists, but the music is just plain bad - she even has a store set up to sell it.  [update: I just checked her website and it looks like the music is getting better]. The intro, phrase “paawuuuur to the peeeple” is like listening to nails on a chalkboard. Yes, I know it is a joke. Please bring back “B is for Bubble”. OK?

06 Rush Limbaugh - Custom parodys of political topics plus the same theme for like 15 years? At least it is familiar and that keeps it 2 ranks higher than the bottom.

05 Dennis Prager - Thematic movie music from “The Patriot” and Jazz numbers like “Take 5″ fit the host well. Not too bad.

04 Drudge - Some of the most strange music is played on this show, but this is how I found out about “Crazy Frog”. Drudge was playing it before anyone in America. The style and weirdness goes with the show. Weird might be putting it lightly.

03 Michael Savage - (note: I don’t link to sites with pop-ups) Thrash metal and oldies fill the void between talk. Very aggressive guitar riffs go well with the aggressive host.

02 Coast To Coast AM - This UFO freak show usually plays light hits from the 70’s.  Sometimes indian flutes close the show, but it’s the opening “Chase” theme from Midnight Express that is it’s trademark. One minute you’ll hear ABBA and then you’ll hear the Carpenters. Yes, they have a music store too.

01 Michael Medved - Absolutely the best bumper music on the radio today. Constantly changing, upbeat. One minute it’s techno, another minute it is movie intros. Excellent music choices and funny audio zingers make this show #1 in talk radio bumper music.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Drugereport. I visit the site multiple times daily. However this headline is HIGHLY INFLATED. This is unfair and innacurate. Drudge uses an “Auto-Refresh” script to reload the page every 3 minutes. Which means if I have my browser minimized, it refreshes 20 times an hour. So while the headline might be *technically* true. It isn’t a true count of visitors.

THANKS FOR MAKING MARCH ‘08 THE BIGGEST MONTH IN THE DRUDGEREPORT’S 13 YEAR HISTORY!

MAIN PAGE LOADED 590,943,577 TIMES… TOPS MARCH 2007′S 425,371,511… TOPS MARCH 2006′S 287,443,312 … MANY THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT… THE LOVERS AND THE HATERS… AND NEWS ENTHUSIASTS IN OVER 100 COUNTRIES!

Here is the script he uses to auto-refresh his site.

By refreshing the page, advertisers are given higher “display” counts and thus pay more for “visitors”. Once an ad gets the required number of impressions, it drops out of rotation. This is probably well known, but I don’t know of any site doing the same thing. I certainly wouldn’t be bragging about it if I was using trickery and then turning it into a headline. Take it down Drudge.

I should have seen it coming. The other day I got a call from a friend telling me to turn on the radio. Radiolab (WNYU) was doing a show about War of the Worlds. He told me it was about 1/2 way over, so I figured I’d snag it later on MP3. I forgot about it until today, when I got an email from someone else, also referencing the show. This is one of those times you’re glad you have friends that tell you things. Here’s why..Steven Spielberg did a TERRIBLE adaptation of the story a few years ago. Everyone in the blogosphere has had a post about WOTW. The orignal written work is passed around dailylit and project gutenberg like moldy bread. No one will touch the story. It’s dead already.

Of course, as an OTR dealer, I was obliged to download the MP3 and take a listen. As I listened, I could feel the audience, coming out to the live broadcast out of duty, only to be in the audience for “art’s sake”. They didn’t know they would be reeled in by the same psychological storytelling that the original WOTW was famous for. You can hear it in their nervous laughter. They are learning something and it shows.

You *think* you already know about this dead horse, but you owe it to yourself to download this radiolab episode. Imagine yourself in the audience, thinking you too had heard it all before and suddenly realizing you hadn’t.

I love the way the presenter ties in post 911 fears and how listening to this broadcast made him feel. What is wonderful is his sense of freshness and enthusiasm. Only a non-jaded newbie could have had enough drive to pull off another ‘rehashed’ telling of the story. See, this isn’t a rehashed story. It is a new perspective on the event and it’s nice that it is downloadable for everyone (who wasn’t there) to enjoy.

Link to radiolab page
http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2008/03/25/war-of-the-worlds/

Link to MP3 (very large 68 MB )
http://audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast032508.mp3

“An examination of the power of mass media to create panic. In Radio
Lab’s very first live hour, we take a deep dive into one of the most
controversial moments in broadcasting history - Orson Welles’ 1938
radio play about Martians invading New Jersey. And we ask: Why did it
fool people then? And why has it continued to fool people since? From
Santiago, Chile to Buffalo, New York to a particularly disastrous
evening in Quito, Ecuador”

I just got this cool new phone the other day. I’ve had their commercial up on my site for months, but after I saw the i-phone comparison, I decided to take a closer look. They have UNLIMITED plans for 99.00 (unlimited internet, unlimited talk, text messaging, youtube etc…) But I went with a little cheaper plan. Click (here) to compare it to the i-phone.

A full QWERTY keyboard and UNLIMITED internet access on a 3G network. 2-megapixel camera w/ flash, video camera w/ 1 button upload to youtube. Streaming internet radio (I can listen to stations in japan - over my phone) . Google maps with real-time updating GPS including satellite view. Games, instant messaging, pop3 and imap email. Gmail, yahoo mail. MP3 Ringtones, video ringtones. Oh yeah, you can use it as a phone too.

Here is a program that can simulate a physical environment. This lets the user draw a box or something that interacts with it’s environment and the computer simulates the effects of gravity or friction. Not much you can do with this except play around with ideas, but the concept (and math involved) is a unique interactive experience.

Phun (video)

I’ve always been facinated by “demo reels” that video/FX production houses post on their websites. By accident, I found this production house in Israel. Unfortunately, their site ONLY loads a flash presentation inside a flash container. After many attempts to snag the raw video, I failed. So, in order to enjoy this, you’ll have to point your browser (here) and click on the “3D Reel 2007″ Here are a few snapshots of the demo reel. Since the site is 1/2 way around the world, it takes about 7 minutes to load on a cable modem. So….I took the 7 minutes and snagged an MP3 of the song that goes with the reel. You can download the song (here) it’s pretty amazing! Enjoy!!!

Gravity Israel Demo Reel

Gravity Israel

Gravity Israel