I haven’t really watched much stuff from CollegeHumor – but the stuff I have seen tends to be really awesome, or really quite crass – take that on board if you’re going to follow any links from this video – which fits into the earlier category.
Month: August 2009
If (boring) games were movies…
We’ve all seen what happens when popular games become movies. Like Hitman. And Doom. And Super Mario Bros. They never live up to the hype.
Crap games*. Or not particularly complex games. Make for awesomeness.
*These games are not technically crap.
Deadly Read
I grew up on Choose Your Own Adventure books. But I used to cheat. I’d read them in reverse, because I didn’t want to die. It turns out that’s the wisest approach. Because the writers want you to die. Statistically speaking. This guy named Michael Niggel put together a flow chart of a typical Choose Your Own Adventure novel. It looks like this.
You can see a high quality PDF here.
Sharing the love
I’ve given up on the daily link post. Feed readers will no doubt have noticed and appreciated this already. The multiple posting glitch was so very annoying for everybody. And it just ended up cluttering the page and obscuring the Curiosities posts I’d actually put effort into tracking down and writing up. So they’re gone. You will find my latest five shared items in the right hand column. If you want real time updates send an email to my gmail (which is n m dot(.) campbell at gmail.com – without the spaces, brackets and the word dot – you’ll figure it out, but spammers won’t) and become my friend on google reader.
Anyway, in the absence of a daily post of links here’s a post full of goodness from around the blogosphere – starting with five people I know in real life, and ending with five I’ve never met but who write funny, interesting or insightful stuff that I enjoy reading…
Those I know
- Izaac has finished his series on prophecy which is meaty, engaging and considerate of people with different learning styles (it has diagrams). He’s been blogging regularly for a couple of months now, and if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon now’s your chance. Do it.
- Tim and Amy took on the blogging thing with gusto. And then slowed down. But they’re worth following because they’re pretty awesome.
- Geoff is another guy I’ve known for a long time – since we were kids taking the North Coast Christian camping scene by storm. He’s just started a blog. It looks promising thus far (he’s defined his scope pretty nicely).
- Dr Joel blogs infrequently but in a rantingly engaging way – and often giving an insight into life in the Queensland Health system…
- Tim has updated his blog twice this week. That’s some sort of record.
Those I don’t
- Jeff has thrown a couple of links my way – and you know that means he’s a purveyor of quality stuff…
- Guthers seems to be a man of great taste – beer and coffee. Awesome. He made a bit of a comeback this week after a two month break. Who knows if this return will be permanent – the fact that he writes about coffee regularly is enough for me.
- Reuben went toe to toe with me as we took on one of team pyro’s angry Calvinists on the death penalty a while back.
- Sam and Soph cover all the bases – coffee, Christianity, culture, journalism and they have a cracking white design. Like mine but without the clutter of columns. Rumour has it that Sam and Reuben were caught talking about this blog in a Moore College lecture the other day – I have spies everywhere people…
- Justin writes good stuff infrequently. He’s an Anglican minister in the heart of Sydney. He asks good questions. And provides good answers.
Variations on a theme
Guitar hero and Rubiks Cube combinations are so last year. Real geek prodigies join string quartets and play medleys of game theme songs…
Shirt of the Day: Pressure Point
Next time you enter a fight to the death and have the choice of weapons. Choose this shirt, and make the other guy wear it. It’s a guide to all the “deadly” pop culture pressure points. Just aim for them. Simple.
Just a spoonful of sugar…
Have you ever wondered just how (un)healthy your daily caffeine fix is? For many of us coffee is modern medicine. And some people need sugar. But the more sugar you put in the worse it becomes for you. And nobody wants to be taking medicine that is bad for them. Which is why this little infographic is going to come in real handy.
Check out the full version here.
Ninjitsuit
My first thought when reading about this new, controversial “Burquini” the Islamic bikini invented by an Australian and banned in France (two things that make something more likely to be awesome) was that it looks pretty much like a ninja suit.
Am I right? Yeah. Which got me thinking further – firstly, I didn’t know what a ninja suit was actually called – which was a bit of a gap in my ninja arsenal. For the record it’s a shinobi shozoko. But it’s always dangerous to put a ninja in a box.
Besides the typical ninja uniform, the ninja would use any type of clothing that would get them closer to the mission goal. Sometimes the ninja dressed up as priests, peasants or even samurai. Whatever the mission required, they did.
So, now you’re wondering why I am still talking. You’ve got my point. Well, no. You haven’t. Have you seen the Mythbusters Ninja Episode – it’s my favourite – not because they do cool ninja stuff, but because they go to a ninja warehouse and buy awesome ninja equipment for their ninja mission.
Well, there’s a place like that on the internet. And you can buy a ninja suit for $69 (I assume US) that includes ninja shoes, ninja socks and ninja boots. You can get a different pack that comes with some gear as well for $82. I know what I want for Christmas… or a wedding anniversary present… (hint, hint).
Retard retardent
I overuse the word retard. I understand it’s offensive to many people. I just like the way it sounds. Phonetically, rather than contextually. It’s such a dismissive and insulting word. Apparently it’s so insulting that it’s no longer politically correct to use it to describe people who are actually retarded (technically, literally retarded)… I didn’t know that. Now I do.
Here’s the problem with reinventing the wheel – as spelled out in one of those Slate articles…
But any psychologist will point out that changing the name is, in the end, folly. Whatever new term comes into favor today will seem insensitive, or worse, tomorrow. A nation of 10-year-olds has pretty much exhausted the pejorative power of "retarded" and is eagerly awaiting a new state-of-the-art insult. (The AAMR actually went through this before: In 1973, it switched its name from the American Association on Mental Deficiency to its current appellation because "deficiency" implied, well, deficiency. And retarded, at the time, did not.) The current frontrunner, "intellectual disability," even contracts nicely to ID, which can become a cousin of LD (for learning disability), which served as a choice epithet among the circles I ran in in fifth grade. Steven Warren, the president of the soon-to-be-differently-named AAMR, admits that whatever term his organization comes up with, all the little boys who have crushes on little girls and so call them "retarded" will be quick on its heels. In other words, the AAMR will almost certainly be going through an identity crisis again in 20 years, just to stay ahead of the game.
This also ties in nicely with my little treatise on swearing from a few weeks back.
What’s in a name?
Today in Brisbane it is 28 degrees. A warm winters day. This gets everyone thinking about global warming and melting icebergs and imminent world destruction.
I think instead of worrying about climate change and carbon emission schemes we could just rename winter Second-Summer. If we change peoples expectations about what type of weather patterns should be occuring at what time of year by renaming the season people will worry less about warm august days. These would be a very normal occurence in Second-Summer. It’s all about perception.
A name change is a very cost-effective technique as it would only mean a change in a few thousand advertising/marketing techniques (eg. winter warmers would need a change) and to the calendars which have ‘winter’ marked on the 1st day of june. If there’s one thing Adam Smith taught its man wants whats cheapest, and wants lots of it. Clearly this option is more economically viable than trying to get everyone to reduce their use of harmful chemicals and pollutants that are seemingly destroying earth as we know it.
Also on the topic of climate change, im not a full skeptic, but i do wonder…i was taught that if an ice cube melts in a cup of water the water level stays the same (the ice cube weighs the same as liquid). So, if the icebergs are melting, wont the water level stay the same…i dont understand rising sea-levels. But, i have not researched this at all and i am sure people smarter than me have.
Anyway, i’ll keep you posted.
Grunge grudge
Grunge is so 1990s. The music in particular, the aesthetic in general. I am so very sick of seeing invitations/flyers/advertisements/websites designed with a grungy aesthetic. It’s usually done by people with no real appreciation of the sub culture they’re advertising to (ie the iGen boys and girls in their tight jeans and stupid faux 80s haircuts with bits that have obviously been missed by the hairdresser).
Grunge is cool if you’re in Seattle and either the pastor of a megachurch or a founding member of Nirvana. Otherwise you’re pretty much a wannabe.
Next time you’re asked to design something to promote an event for the yoof can you please avoid the hackneyed dark colours, letters with bits missing and scant regard to horizontal and vertical aspects. Nobody thinks you’re cool anymore. We just think you’re trying too hard.
Acronyms v Initialisms
Just so you know… if you reduce a series of words to initials and pronounce them as a word it’s an acronym, and if you pronounce each letter individually it’s an initialism.
So when I write a headline using an acronym it’s your job to read it as a word so that you get the pun.
Ironically, TLA the popular “acronym” for three letter acronyms isn’t an acronym, it’s an initialism.
Thanks. That is all.
Coffee idolatry
JT’s Between Two Worlds is one of the pillars of the Christian blogosphere. Today he shared a little link to this article on sacred cows – and coffee in particular.
While I can appreciate where the author is coming from – I do like my coffee. More than most. It stings a little to see coffee lumped in with U2.
What you find on many websites is some kind of description like this: “I love reformed theology, U2, anything by Steven Soderbergh, and a fresh cup of joe.” Or maybe: “My interests are theology, issues of social justice, Beastie Boys, and an Americano from (fill in neighborhood coffee shop here).” Or perhaps: “Can’t resist a good Bonhoeffer quotation, Edwardsean philosophy, and a venti mocha with light whip.”
You get the point. Here’s the thing about this situation: there’s nothing ironic or unique about liking coffee. We all like coffee. Coffee is good. Made well, it’s really good. It’s kind of like saying you like bread. “Anything by Piper, Band of Horses, and Pepperidge Farm rocks my world.” Everyone likes bread. And everyone likes coffee.
Ouch.
Location, Location
Robyn is pretty thrilled. A little bit of a furniture rearrangement has rescued our kitchen bench space (and given me a sore back).
We now have a little coffee island in the dining room – making use of a buffet that was previously a fishtank stand and place for general clutter.
I have a habit of buying coffee sacks wherever I can – and I’ve finally put them to some use.
If you’re in the area why not arrange a time to drop round for a coffee… if you’re not in the area, you can always visit…
One day I might get a coffee machine that’s designed for home use.
Seek, and you shall find…
Checking just how people end up visiting my blog is one of my favourite past times.
Today someone got here by googling this phrase:
"what to write on your fb status to make your husband mad and nobody else gets"
Sure enough, if you google it, my controversial post on status updates is there are suggested result number 2.
Sadly I don’t think this would be very helpful for this person. So here are some suggestions, for that one person out there.
- Thinks Bert Newton is the funniest man alive.
- has a headache.
- Is looking forward to an early night tonight.
- Misses her husband and wishes he wasn’t over the other side of the world (only works if he’s not over the other side of the world).
- Is only cooking dinner for one tonight.
- Bought heaps of new shoes and dresses today while her husband was at work.
- Did some spring cleaning today and threw out her husbands collection of ___ which she never really appreciated.
Any other suggestions. Lets help this poor soul out in the comments.