December 2006 Archives

A maddeningly addictive game!

Funny Farm is a word association game. It starts with a single concept, "On The Farm." From there spreads out a mind map of related words:

Each dot in each block stands for a letter. You enter a word, concept, or phrase in the "YOUR GUESS" box, and if it matches, the dots will turn into the word, and the web of words will grow. As you continue, more of the mind map is revealed, with purple "theme" concepts giving clues as to the next set of words. Getting all the way to the edges of the map will reveal four meta-clues that will solve the puzzle.

The maddening part, of course, is that the links between words are sometimes literal and sometimes lateral. (I'm still trying to think of a three-letter word associated with "chicken" that's neither "hen" nor "egg".) Also some of the theme concepts are obscure ("poker stars"?). Put on your best word-association hat, fire up the search engines, and go!

Fortunately, the game is designed to be played by groups. Paste this link into the "Save Game" box and our games will be "merged." Paste your updated links in the comments below, and we can all work on this together. That is, if you have some time to kill during...

Winterstitial Week*!

Via Waxy > Jay's Best of Casual Gameplay 2006

* I just made that name up for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Think it'll stick? Like snow in Denver, it will!

Racist art brings fame. "The Heathen Chinee" was once one of the most popular poems in America: "Its sensational popularity made Bret Harte the most celebrated literary man in America in 1870". It's a poem about the innate perfidy of the Chinese, with accompanying illustrations. The poem itself is both derivative and not very good, which argues that its appeal had to do with its subject matter and the accompanying illustrations. It's worth checking out.

50 Greatest Cartoons, online video versions. Via Boing Boing.

Via Junk Charts.

Parthenogenesis ! Virgin birth expected for Komodo dragon in UK zoo. On Christmas, no less.

An article on our gift certificate program hit the Markteplace section of the Wall Street Journal today -- front page, above the fold! And there's another article on us today in Investors Business Daily.

History of Religion Animated Map. Via Cynical-C.

Some Tunisians have made their home in the leftover Tatooine set. Plus, Uncle Owen's house is actually a troglodyte hotel. Who knew?

It's been a while since I posted any free fonts, but the palæographic fonts of Pia Frauss are great, including one based on Jane Austen's handwriting. Via Luc Devroye, I think.

Elf Yourself. One of my co-workers did this for / to me. Ho ho ho!

Multiple vulnerability announcements today from Mozilla, seen at Secunia, on Firefox 1 and 2. The upgrade path for Fx 2 gets you to version 2.0.0.1, and the yuks just write themselves.

Matt F-B sent this over: "Sometimes the disease will stop you enjoying things. I know designers who will walk out of a room because the colour upsets them."

Via the same blog, Poorly designed everyday objects. There seems to be a lot of blister-pack rage out there.

When they talk about a War on Christmas, they mean this show. Two of our favorite acts were in it -- the Pontanti Sisters and the Wau-Wau Sisters -- plus Dirty Martini and of course your host, Murray Hill. Fa Va Va Va Va, Va Va Va Voom!

B00003CY51Okay, but too bad 2Pac wasn't alive to play the title role. 3 stars.

A long list on Gawker. Good comments too. Via Gadgetopia.

Since I don't watch the news, I had somehow missed this little gem - mandatory gun ownership, in a town founded by quakers, in Idaho:

After seeing the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, a city councilor in this tiny Idaho town founded by pacifist Quakers came up with a novel idea.

Ordinance 208, passed by the City Council on Tuesday, asks Greenleaf's 862 residents who do not object on religious or other grounds to keep a gun at home in case they are overrun by refugees from disasters like Katrina.

"This is not an 'it'll never happen here kind of thing,'" said Steven Jett, the ordinance's sponsor. "We could get refugees." ...

Jett, whose father died in a hunting accident, said the ordinance is designed to enable residents to protect themselves, but it also gives the city a better platform from which to promote gun safety.

"The fact that Greenleaf supports the Second Amendment, we'll be able to keep the crime rate down," he said.

The thing is, Greenleaf doesn't really have crime. At least as most cities define it. The most violent offense reported in the past two years was a fist fight.

Still, Jett insists, the menace of high crime may be on the horizon. [Source]

Why is it that the further people live from a particular disaster, the more freaked out they are by it? It's like the people out here who are convinced that the next 9/11 will take place in the cornfields ...

Oh yes, and I know that guys like this aren't representative of people in Idaho, they just give it a bad name.

6305841861Indeed better than the first. While the visual FX don't hold up, the sound editing is still really great. 3 stars.

1. Driving down the Jersey Turnpike, I nearly crashed the car when I saw the billboard for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield featuring a sort of dour-looking black man and the tag line:

"Horizon's got its finger on the member's pulse."

As KD Paine notes, "Wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall when this ad copy was approved?"

2. I recently received an email from AIM Mobile with the subj line:

"Snowball a Friend".

You can look it up if you need to -- need I mention that the definition is NSFW? I didn't think so.

Why are Jews funny?

Regret the Error: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections. Via BoingBoing.

Thudfactor has come up with this nifty chart to express how much he likes an album, track by track. Pictured below, "Dark Side of the Moon":

Is that Tufte Rock? Well turn it up!

Speaking of charts, Junk Charts reprinted my Eschatology Chart.

I had this dream. And in the dream the mermaid said: "To think we used to live without a bear!" And then I woke up, and the dream turned into a book.

The Animal Family is that most rare of love stories, that which is unafraid to write of love itself, and not on the obstacles that love must overcome.

A Book to Buy, and one for The Curious Bookshelf, which someday will deserve its own website. Found on the 20 Strange Books list. Yes, I'm reading through them all.

Blepharoplasty becomes more popular.

Popular Science's Innovation of the Year is... a nail. The Stanley Bostich HurriQuake nail, which can withstand disasters and still hold a house together.

I love stuff like this. Via 3QD.

We'll be attending the Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society on January 16, should anyone want to join us. Details below the fold.

tourfilter is a handy way to keep track of upcoming gigs for a bunch of cities. Via Coudal.

That's right. Buffy Season 8. Coming next March.

In comic book form, natch.

Via peksy'

The best machine translation program out there uses the same method as Google:

To determine the most coherent candidates, the system scans the 150 Gbytes of English text, ranking candidates by how many times they appear. The more often they've actually been used by an English speaker, the more likely they are to be a correct translation. [Link]

B00005V4XWSomewhere, deep inside this bloat of a movie, a funny crime caper is desperately trying to get out. 1.5 stars.

1400080444The 0826321933:Wisconsin Death Trip of 80's Judaism.

Breathing While Black. Chris Rabb, in the Nation, on the state of racism in this time of contagious shooting.

The Disney Blog: Mary Poppins re-cut into Horror film. Via BoingBoing

B000H0MKOCSurprisingly good, much less about smoking (if you want that, see the heavy The Insider) than it is about spin. Eckart is a sympathetic devil. And points for a great opening credit sequence. 3.5 stars.

Santas face job risks being cheery, survey finds. Are tots the shock troops in the War on Christmas? Memo to self: ask Ben if there's been anti-Santa talk on the playground.

Via Coudal.

Not the sci-fi kind of time travel, but the commuting kind of time travel. Can I get one of these for my house? Junk Charts: Time travel

mark: this story looks like something you might enjoy
mark: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/national/main2217850.shtml
mel: ah, florida
mark: things are different there
mark: hmmm, that one's crack flavored
mark: better than poodle!
mel: more news of the weird
mel: http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=WONDERBOY-11-29-06
mark: o-kay
mark: too much weirdness to really contemplate
mark: of course, now they'll never get the kid out of that costume
mel: seems the robbers were too stoned
mark: must have been
mark: oh, man, it's a power ranger! we're screwed!
mark: now, if the kid had been dressed as an alligator, it would make sense for the robbers to flee
mel: CBS tagline was pretty good
mel: http://cbs3.com/watercooler/local_story_335065805.html
mel: "No one was injured in the robbery. It is unclear if Stevie will continue to use his powers for good"
mark: if they ever catch the robbers, they are NOT going to have an easy time of it in prison

Because I miss overhearing conversations like this one. Or this one. Ah, New York.

20 bellydancers...6 Arab musicians...and YOU!

Ranya's 2nd Annual Holiday Bellydance Gala
Sunday December 3, 7-10pm
at Lafayette Grill, 54 Franklin St., downtown Manhattan, New York City
Tickets are now on sale through SmartTix
or phone: 212-868-4444
$12 early discount tix (by Dec. 1)
$18 after or at door
$35 patron level tix (includes DVD thank-you gift--in appreciation for your support of live traditional music)

After last year's enthusiastic response to our live, all-acoustic music and dance extravaganza, we are doing it again! Enjoy live Arabic music played by some of New York's best musicians; even the band members agree that it is rare to get such a great gr oup sound.

our 6-piece all-acoustic ensemble:
Maurice Chedid (oud, vocals)
Nabawy (accordion)
Gamal Lotfi (qanun, nay)
Tareq Abboushi (buzuq)
Amir Naoum (tabla)
A.P. Joseph (riqq)

Special guest dancer SHOSHANA

Dance performances by Ranya and a host of poised professionals and talented amateurs-all to live music classics!
The dancers are working hard on their pieces in our current performance series. A complete list will be posted soon at http://ranya.net. Visit http://www.shoshanabellydance.com for more about Shoshana; she and Ranya will also dance duet pieces.

If you enjoy the feeling of traditional dance and music, don't miss thi s show!

For more info and a flyer, please visit http://ranya.net or call 718-706-0037. Contact SmartTix for ticket sales (number/website link above), and Lafayette Grill at 212-732-5600 for table reservations.

See you there!

Ranya Arts Productions

New lamps for old

• This Week in Education interviews yours truly about DonorsChoose. Look, there's a picture of me and my thinning hair!
• Cool Tools has listed us as a, well, cool tool. Thanks Kevin Kelly!
• Lifehacker! Thanks Kerim for finding that, we're all very happy here at the office.