The latest comic from xkcd is just excellent. I love seeing very specific aspects of films brought out in interesting ways, and these graphs are a brilliant example of this. I'd take the whole thing or pretty much any of the sub-graphs as a poster (only the 12 Angry Men one requires the others to make sense), and I'd buy the Primer one printed onto just about anything.
Because, you know, no one can get enough Primer.
I nearly missed the deadline today - lots of stuff going on, most importantly a very important wedding for which I will be providing an ushering service. So if you hear alarming ushing noises from the direction of Barnes tomorrow, do not be concerned, it will simply be me discharging my duties.
In the meantime, I can provide only a reminder of possibly the internet's most important rule: If you put something on the internet, be prepared for people to read it. Even if you think it is private, personal, hidden or deleted, it is there, and if it is embarrassing, expect it to turn up at the worst possible moment.
Possibly even more important than that is the rule that if you try to stop something from spreading on the internet, it will only spread faster, fueled solely by the fact that the spread is undesirable to someone else. Yes, in oh so many ways, the internet is like an attention seeking child.
So, your friends are currently taking screenshots of your facebook page to send to Lamebook, and those embarrassing Twitter updates you thought you deleted are still there via Tweleted. Another victory for freedom of information over personal privacy. Hurrah for modern life!
On an unrelated not, I love SMBC, and this is one of the funniest comics they've had to date.
I haven't really got anything particular to talk about today, so I thought I'd do a quick run down of some of the quick-fire feeds that I use to help the day go faster. These are generally image-blogs or twitter-style micro blogs (following in the footsteps of the epic failblog) which give you lots of examples of a tiny amount of content every day. Perfect for reading in between items of work, or in a few spare minutes at the end of a day:
FmyLife - I think I've linked to this one before, but it's really quite sublime. Tiny little anecdotes from people's lives where everything has gone wrong. [example]
Notalwaysright - Stories of stupid, misguided or just plain insane customers, from the point of view of shop employees. [example]
This is photobomb - Examples of unexpected elements (often other people) appearing in the back- or foreground of photos. [example]
Texts from last night - Examples of random text messages (or conversations) often related to some sort of debauched night out. The entries are usually boiled down to the essential elements, so as to leave any explaination purely to the viewer's imagination. [example]
Probably bad news - Examples of mistaken or humorously ambiguous news headlines and articles, from both print and TV. [example]
There, I fixed it - Botched repair or construction projects. [example]
Anyway, the advantage of this sort of content is that if a particular entry doesn't thrill you, not only have you wasted no time on it, but you've also probably got several more appearing any minute. As with all of these sorts of things online, best to avoid the comments, which are packed full of strange examples of humanity whose only contact with the outside world seems to be via comment threads, and thus tend not to make a whole lot of sense.
Somewhat similar to Bambi's post a while back (which I can't find) about telling stories in just six words, but this time it's genre-specific microfiction within the confines of a twitter message.
Dave Gorman on the horrors of being a celebrity in a super-connected age.
Genuinely freaky video apparently showing a dog living without a body- I can't find anything obvious claiming it to be fake, either.
Just never give your laptop to anyone, ok? But you can stick your hand in liquid nitrogen as much as you like.
Two flash games: A simple but addictive space-based mining/combat/tower-defence thing, and an equally addictive (and frustrating) roll-the-dice-and-make-patterns game.
Cool webcomic-in-the-form-of-a-photo type thing. With good astronomical advice.
And, of course, the ever-enticing Babes of the BNP.
First dance? Now that's a first dance...
Broken Picture Telephone is the web-based version of the Chinese-whispers-style game where you alternate drawing pictures from a description and describing what you see in a picture until you end up with a transition of images and pictures that ends up miles away from its origin. It's great fun to do online, and some of the results are brilliant. Here are some of the ones I've taken part in so far.
Great message-board addition, with added dinosaury awesomeness...
Speaking of dinosaurs, an awesome and thoroughly confusing Dinosaur comics guest comic.
And by the same guest, MSPaintAdventures. I really like the idea of writing a story based on user-suggested actions, and though he seems to have moved somewhat away from that according to the description on the site, I still found the latest story to be enthralling and hilarious. Your experience may vary, of course, especially if you're not a programmer who enjoys interactive fiction.
Auto-tune the news. Indescribable madness in the key of C. #2 and #5 are particularly fab.
On a more serious note, you can examine what your MP has been splurging on. I take particular delight in noting that my MP spent £3.67 of my money on paper plates. For what dark purpose, though? Those MPs, always up to something...
The main problem with this digital age in which we live? It's no longer possible to impress people with incredible sheep-related stunts, because everyone will insist that it's faked.
How to teach a child to argue.
The story of a longboard rescue.
Charlie Brooker on the BNP
How to start something big from nothing at all, just by standing out.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Who knew?
Report on getting computer-generated nonsense accepted to "peer-review" journals.
And finally, would you go into space if it meant standing on a 15km tall inflatable ladder?
How to be persuasive.
How to open a suitcase with a pen.
In a move that will interest basically nobody, I link to a video of a ridiculous goal.
As seen in various TED talks, Gapminder.
LyricsWiki, for song lyrics without having to trawl through random unreadable and potentially dangerous "lyrics" search results.
Who to vote for in the upcoming European elections.
And finally, a game in which you play a cowboy riding a giant sperm.
Snatch Wars
Fast paced word-creation game.
Article busting some of the myths behind which side of the road particular countries drive on.
Victorian riddles, and surreal re-imaginings of them.
From New Scientist: 13 things that don't make sense.
Type a word or phrase and get back a picture and caption at milk information. Sometimes garbage, sometimes strangely perfect.
Where are you in the movie?
Something of a bumper crop this time around, what with my recent lack of any kind of posts, let alone links ones. Enjoy:
A ridiculously lucky Turkish guy.
Addictive multiplayer acronym game.
The daft punk's console.
Intriguing they-must-have-faked-it fantasy football adverts from America.
Chinlone, the traditional sport of Myanmar.
Via David Mitchell (I've never found a columnist who seems to steal the thoughts out of my head quite so easily), we have the marvellous spEak You're bRanes, which mocks the ubiquitous Have Your Say commenters about whom I've complained a couple of times, but with less humour and less sucess.
Astounding lack of mathematical nous from an American phone company.
An example of a great graph from Graph Jam.
Two more columns from Dr. Ben Goldacre, examining data presented in the news or advertising - on prostate cancer and carbon monoxide.
I've been a little quiet here in terms of my own posts recently, but I'm aiming to change that in the near future. But, for now, here's a shameless plug to my sister Charlotte's brand new blog. At the moment her focus is mainly on social and political commentary and her entries are genuinely a good read. So get over there and wear your opinions on your sleeves.
Interesting article about human colour perception.
The Irish police always get their man.
Great collection of single and multiplayer flash games.
I linked to one of his posts last time, but I think the Bad Science blog by Dr Ben Goldacre deserves another mention, it really is an excellent analysis of science issues in the media.
I know I know I know. Links post != real update. I'm busy and tired and have way too little inspiration and far too much mis-applied perspiration.
Ryan North explores the dramatic possibilities of AI language-based games.
Plant trees using your iPhone. (iPhone required to participate)
You know all those photos of ridiculously over-the-top food from around the world (*ahem* America *ahem*)? Now there's a blog for them.
There should be something preventing the BBC putting videos this terrifying on their site. Don't fuck around with level crossings.
I was going to talk about the media coverage of the snow, but David Mitchell got there first and said everything I would have. Bastard.
And, on a darker note, a really interesting read (but not for the faint of heart): how not to commit suicide. Followed up with a tall glass of real suicide notes.
Finally Dr Ben Goldacre on scientific statistics used in news items.
I'm back from 'merica! Miraculously arrived a day or two before snow destroyed all transportation in London, so transport was as painless as could be expected when you have to sit in one position for seven hours and are woken up to eat something plastic every time you drop off to sleep. Still, not as bad as this guy had...
'Proper' updates to come this week I hope, but for now I'm easing myself back in with a cathartic links post. Oh, and in case you were wondering why I failed to review some of my favourite films from last year, Joe Loves Crappy Movies (a comic I have been remiss in not linking to before) explains it better than I ever could.
The brilliantly ranty Fuck You Penguin, and, as an antidote, some cute birds (awwww!):
(video via little.red.boat)
Proof that you don't need money or a studio to make something worth watching, just charisma and an idea: Paint my Album [part 1] [part 2].
Star Wars, as described by someone who hasn't seen it.
Why Google employees quit.
How to be direct and to the point in your personal blog.
Time management sims are too addictive.
2008 in photographs, from The Big Picture, part 1, part 2 and part 3.
DeathKiller, a love story.
If programming languages were religions.
Unbelievable civil rights violation for family who made unconventional child-naming decisions.
Funky WWI-themed strategic flash game. Send thousands of men to their deaths without ever leaving the comfort of your chair.
A very cool video connecting six-years worth of self-taken photos:
And finally a great talk from the TED series about why we are(n't) happy.
Just a few links today. And one hilarious video:
Yarr, me hearties. Some more links for ye, plundered from the briny deep of the internet. There be no law out there, ye know. Pirates are very in, right now, you know.
And while I'm linking musical youtube videos, this is a very famous one, and one which I've never got. Perhaps it's a testament to my total lack of a musical ear, but I genuinely can't connect the songs he's referencing and the base tune he's claiming they have - they just don't sound the same to me at all. Weird.
How not to reference.
For any Top Gear watchers wondering what The Stig's morse code has been saying this series.
Is it going to rain?
A little app with no purpose other than to frighten you with statistics.
And the rather sweet idea of the human clock and human calender.
For the browser-based gamers: live, multiplayer caption competitions, board games and tank battles.
Or, maybe you prefer your gaming to be more console-based. Perhaps even open-source-console based.
And finally a couple of blog posts: on getting older, and on getting pregnant.
A nice little satirical/political resource-management flash game. Not the deepest, but worth a few minutes of your time.
Ever needed to let someone know just how simple it would have been to search for an answer rather than asking on a forum? This resource is a nice sarcastic response when JFGI won't cut it.
Speaking of Google, here's a list of the words that'll violate a safe search. There's some interesting inclusions and omissions. And a feminist reaction, for good measure.
There's more safe-search discussion towards the end of this article too, which also links to this slightly odd New Yorker article on lewdifying children's stories.
Maps and analysis of UK racial violence and newspaper story coverage.
Philosophical questions from the BBC.
Graffiti causes crime.
Programming jokes and an awesome geeky sci-fi cross-media webcomic joke.
