Ok, to lighten things up…dont you think this asteroid looks like poop? This is actually pretty fascinating This poop is about 2.9 miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4.6 by 2.4 kilometers). On Wednesday, it will zoom by our planet within a million miles, or about four times the distance to the Moon. That’s close by cosmic standards for an object that could cause global devastation. Toutatis hasn’t been so near since the year 1353 and won’t be that close again until 2562, NASA scientists have calculated. No other asteroid so large is known to have come so close in the past, though accurate tracking of space rocks is a fairly recent, high-tech skill that still leaves wide margins of error for many objects. Wow, I wonder if anyone back in 1353 looked up at the sky and said “Hey look, flyin crap!”.
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Giant asteroid approaching Earth looks like poop
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Movie watching strategies and other rants on the death of network TV.
I saw several films at the VIFF this weekend and aside from the lack of air conditioning in the theaters it was quite an enjoyable experience. Baghdad Blogger, was super hack but I guess thats to be expected of war-zone filmmaking. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it not because I totally disagree with much of what Mr. Pax says but because he approaches the subject matter in this sort of aloof ivory tower stance. You know, kind of like the way this blog approaches everything. Hijacking Catastrophe on the other hand is very worthwhile and should be seen. Motorcycle Diaries was really awesome but should have sucked less?! The Machinist was pretty good too.
My strategy for going to movies was changed forever one bored ass summer day when I went to Deep Blue Sea with my brother. We knew that it was going to be one of the worst movies ever made but we were bored so we decided to just make fun of the suckage. The movie ended up being hilarious because we laughed our asses off at the hack nature of the film. Ever since that moviegoing experience I’ve gone into movies just expecting them to really suck. The more I expect them to suck the better they are. Really bad movies become hilarious because they’re so shitty. You get the idea.
And now for something completely similar;
I just realized something today. Ding! Little light bulb , mouse on wheel in head, open the window shutters and scream my stupid ass shit… People are creating more and more media and are sharing all this “media” without any intermediaries. Just look at email, Gartner said 11 billion emails were sent a day in 2001*. Thats 2001!!! I know most of that is spam but how much of it is useful collaboration? An example you ask? Some people over at the videoblogging yahoo group are on the “bleeding edge” of the “edgy” and very street, very gang p2p media/participatory journalism revolution. Their email exchanges are a collaboration in making p2p media a reality. Whether it is video you shot on your dvx-100 or your cameraphone, these people are making it easy for you and I to share media in a collaborative and useful fashion.
These people are making it so that eventually you can use your connected set top box to watch media that has been created by people not corporations from all over the world. Right now the technology exists to have a box on your TV that automatically downloads and allows you to watch independently created content without mediation. The people on the videoblogging yahoo group are creating collaborative videos that discuss the nature of collaborative media creation! This is all happening as I spit this.
I like the idea that Daniel Melinger talks about in his thesis (~ 2 MB pdf) which refers to the difference between passive and participatory media as lean back vs lean forward media. I like lean forward media because it forces two way communication. Jeff Jarvis says “I don’t consume media anymore; I live it.” i couldn’t agree more. I can be listening to music watching TV and posting on my blog all at the same time. Who loses? TV advertising. I see a commercial, I change the channel or mute the TV. “Just wait until TV explodes with alternate means of delivery — via the internet — and alternate sources of programming — the citizens. The death of the network age, so often predicted, is upon us.” I like to think TV is in trouble. My mom always said: Karl Marx was wrong Television (not religion) is the opiate of the masses. I’ve always tried to stay away from television as much as possible. It seems I’m not alone in this either. Many people are turning their televisions off and leaning forward on their computers. Everything I’m hearing about TV is BAD. Just check out the Lost Remote and you’ll be picking up what I’m putting down. Yes, the Dinosaurs will die.
Why don’t we all turn our boob tubes into something useful? Like a way to create media and share it with one another? Its not that far off. I think the weeb has gone beyond the glorified telephone status. Is this all just wishing the weeb was television? I don’t know. I’m just constantly intrigued by the idea the technology exists to allow me to go out and shoot something on my little mini dv camcorder and show it to the world with nobody controlling what I put out. To me that is amazing. Digital divide, bandwidth yada yada… I’m not saying that I could actually do this and have a large number of people see something I have created, I’m just saying its possible. Once the community of video bloggers reaches a critical mass and the tools are as easy as email for sharing video content your TV will never look the same. “Extreme Democracy” here we come! Don’t forget to bring your “Extreme Jello.” **
*I couldn’t be bothered to look up any stats on this, but somehow found the energy to footnote my lazyness.
** If you got the NoFx references you get a gold star. You Punk Rawk nerd.Finally. Your links of note:
Comedy Central Refutes O’Reilly’s Claim. O’Reilly is such a bundass.
TIME.com: Inside The Debate Strategies
Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail
Sarah McLachlan – World On Fire
Insane photorealistic Illustrator images…
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Garden State DVD Radness
Get your Garden State DVD here.
This is a great DVD and will make the perfect gift! -
Hijacking Catastrophe :: 911, Fear & the Selling of American Empire
You must see: Hijacking Catastrophe :: 911, Fear & the Selling of American Empire. I saw this film last night at the VIFF and it was pretty incredible. Its a very sobering film. I think its worth seeing for anyone who has an interest in American Foreign Policy. More after the jump…
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The world is like a ride at an amusement park.
First of all The Kleptones are brilliant. “Warning : If not one of these albums makes you grin like an idiot, you may be dead.”
I have two letters for you today:Letter 1:
Dear Ecto,
Fuck you Ecto. Fuck you for making me update this program like everyday since 2.0 Beta was released. I mean I know its Beta but still? A new update EVERY DAY? Fuck you more because I just spent the last little while drafting up probably the best Blog post ever. And you go and crash just before I go to post it. Fucking brilliant! I mean the post obviously wasn’t that great but still. I spent like way more time then I should have drafting it up and it just “vaporized“. The program crashes and I’m asked if I want to send a note to Apple.
Sincerely,
Me.Fuck. What the hell was I saying? Oh yeah, I was talking about how my site suffers from a lack of cohesion and a general tendency toward cognitive bias stream of consciousness posting (see below). I don’t think anyone expects in-depth anything on this here bloggy so I think I’m ok.
Letter 2:
Dear G-Dub
Dub, (the lying fuckin ass that you are) would you be so kind as to stop slandering someone who actually went and fought in Vietnam when you were being a coked up alcoholic in the safety of the homeland?
Sincerely.
Me.
I was thinking last night about how it would be interesting to look back on what I’m thinking now and compare it to what I think after the election… I obviously want Kerry to win but thats only because he sucks less. I’d like Kerry to win because I believe in international law, multilaterlism, a woman’s right to choose, not destroying the environment, complete sentences and all that naive optimism shit.
The post that got eaten up by ecto was much better, I swear it wasn’t so hack… You know just like how the surf yesterday was amazing. I guess lying is easy to do when you’re blogging in your pajamas or sending your nation to war. Same difference. Complete sentences are great. Complete good. Yes.
Something for you to think about:
“The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly coloured and it’s very loud and it’s fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, “hey – don’t worry, don’t be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride…” And we… kill those people. Ha ha “Shut him up.” “We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus murdered; Martin Luther King mudered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan…. wounded. But it doesn’t matter because: It’s just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.
The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defences each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Thank you very much, you’ve been great.” Bill Hicks.
Finally, links worthy of note:
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iMac G5 PR0N
iMac G5 porn You have to be pretty weird to buy a brand new computer and then take it apart right away… So weird.
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The New Hot Shit. The Kleptones – A Night at the Hip Hopera
Check this shit out. This is the most innovative music since The Grey Album.
Download the Torrent here. (Right click save target as yada yada you know the drilly yo) You can get the direct download from the mirror from the ultra hip Waxy.org. The Kleptones even have the clever word play that the Grey Album had. Hows that workin out for ya? What?
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The CIA is just guessing
PRESIDENT BUSH: The CIA laid out a — several scenarios that said, life could be lousy, like could be okay, life could be better. And they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like. The Iraqi citizens are defying the pessimistic predictions. The Iraqi citizens are headed toward free elections. This government has been in place for a little over two months, and the Iraqi citizens are seeing a determined effort by responsible citizens to lead to a more hopeful tomorrow. And I am optimistic we’ll succeed.
AM I LOSING MY FUCKING MIND??? THE CIA IS GUESSING??? IMAGINE THAT!
UPDATE: Sept 23
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes.
Q And I like to, if you don’t mind, follow on something the Prime Minister just said. If General Abizaid says he needs more troops and the Prime Minister says he does not want more troops, who wins?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Let me talk to General Abizaid. As I said, he just came in to see me, and I want to make sure — I’m not suggesting any of the reporters here might be taking something out of context — that would never happen in America. But, nevertheless, I do want to sit down and talk to him about it. Obviously, we can work this out. It’s in the — if our commanders on the ground feels it’s in the interest of the Iraq citizens to provide more troops, we’ll talk about it. That’s — that’s why — they’re friends; that’s what we do about friends.
First part of the question — oh, yes, yes —
Q They say you’ve been opportunistic —
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes, got it. Listen, the other day I was asked about the NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE, which is a National Intelligence Estimate. This is a report that talks about possibilities about what can happen in Iraq, not probabilities. I used an unfortunate word, “guess.” I should have used, “estimate.”
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Pentagon blocks site for voters outside U.S.
In a decision that could affect Americans abroad who are not yet registered to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election, the Pentagon has begun restricting international access to the official Web site intended to help overseas absentee voters cast ballots. Read the article
Update:
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2 Iraq Views, 2 Campaigns
