"...'with the starting NYPD rookie pay I’m getting, just give me a reason to go off on these loud, dirty hipsters!' This post inspires several others to point out that Critical Mass is made up of hippies. Hipsters, they explain, don’t exercise. ..."
now, since when do we hippies exercise ;)
link to wonkster of gotham gazette on the N.Y. monthly Critical Mass bike ride.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Dog Life Ended
"... Add this to your list of urban anxieties: During the snowy months of late winter, when salt mixes with slush, electric current escaping through uninsulated wires can be conducted up to the street through manholes, streetlights, service boxes, grates or cracks in the sidewalk. ... New Yorkers were reminded of the phenomenon last week, when a chow-collie mix named Barkis was electrocuted near Prospect Park in Brooklyn." (L.A.Times)
A Dog's Life
... this photo of a GPS enabled doggy accompanies a post on MAKE: blog about San Francisco starting "a pilot program under which it will use biodegradable bags and dog-waste carts to pick up droppings at a popular dog park. The droppings will be tossed into a contraption called a methane digester, which is basically a tank in which bacteria feed on feces for weeks to create methane gas."
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Rolling Life
The Swirling Brain, a robot tinkerer from texas, has put this wonderful 'Copper Rolling Ball Sculpture Kinetic Art' up on ebay ...
the item description contains video footage and 3D images!
if the transport costs wouldn't threaten to be too much i might be tempted.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Legal Life
some time has passed since i spent days laughing, reading scambaiters' correspondences with "lawers" and the like, on pages like 419eater.com or scam-o-rama or Artists Against 419 ...
now this dialog between cory doctorow and a "lawer" goes a bit in that direction ...
now this dialog between cory doctorow and a "lawer" goes a bit in that direction ...
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Life with a wicked tooth
today is the first day in four, that i don't feel like showing up at dental walk-in as an emergency at noon - i left an account of this week's ordeal on 23hq.
i will have to make several trips to the dentist to clean out the hole/root canal before this is over, though.
i will have to make several trips to the dentist to clean out the hole/root canal before this is over, though.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Alco Life
this quote from the history section of a page that showed up as an adsense-ad on the shifz blog points out aspects of american alcohol prohibition, we euros never knew of:
"1920 marked the beginning of Prohibition, during which Fee Brothers continued the business by making altar wine. This was sold throughout the Eastern United States. Also, it was legal for homeowners to make a limited amount of wine for their own consumption. The Fees would send a representative to a client’s home. There he would set up a barrel with concentrated grape juice, sugar, water, and yeast to make a good batch of wine. He would return several months later to monitor its progress. The homeowner would pay for this service. There was also a non-alcoholic malt extract beer put out by Fee Brothers. It was labeled with the picture of a bear and called “Bruno.” The label also said, “It’s a bear” (meaning beer) and said, “Do not add yeast to this product as it is likely to ferment.” We read this today with a smile. John Jr., it seems, was very creative. During Prohibition, saloons survived by obtaining and serving illicit alcohol. This type of liquid refreshment (having been made by amateurs) was not very tasty. Fee Brothers producted flavorings such as Benedictine, Chartreuse, Brandy, Rum and dozens more including cordial syrups during Prohibition. These could be added to homemade alcohol to flavor it."
link to Fee Brothers
"1920 marked the beginning of Prohibition, during which Fee Brothers continued the business by making altar wine. This was sold throughout the Eastern United States. Also, it was legal for homeowners to make a limited amount of wine for their own consumption. The Fees would send a representative to a client’s home. There he would set up a barrel with concentrated grape juice, sugar, water, and yeast to make a good batch of wine. He would return several months later to monitor its progress. The homeowner would pay for this service. There was also a non-alcoholic malt extract beer put out by Fee Brothers. It was labeled with the picture of a bear and called “Bruno.” The label also said, “It’s a bear” (meaning beer) and said, “Do not add yeast to this product as it is likely to ferment.” We read this today with a smile. John Jr., it seems, was very creative. During Prohibition, saloons survived by obtaining and serving illicit alcohol. This type of liquid refreshment (having been made by amateurs) was not very tasty. Fee Brothers producted flavorings such as Benedictine, Chartreuse, Brandy, Rum and dozens more including cordial syrups during Prohibition. These could be added to homemade alcohol to flavor it."
link to Fee Brothers
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Game Life
in the US another group complains about sex & violence in the video game Grand Theft Auto ... the Sex Worker's Outreach Project -
quote from their page:
"Although SWOP-USA will always be adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship, as concerned parents ourselves, we wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children. And in the interest of furthering sex worker’s human and civil rights to life and personal safety, we object to any media which represents sex workers as legitimate targets of violence, rape and murder. Censorship is a blight on the freedoms we hold dear but we wholeheartedly encourage citizens to vote with their dollars by refusing to purchase products which encourage the denigration and destruction of prostitutes. Since the video game Grand Theft Auto accrues points to players for the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes, SWOP-USA calls on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto."
link to SWOP
quote from their page:
"Although SWOP-USA will always be adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship, as concerned parents ourselves, we wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children. And in the interest of furthering sex worker’s human and civil rights to life and personal safety, we object to any media which represents sex workers as legitimate targets of violence, rape and murder. Censorship is a blight on the freedoms we hold dear but we wholeheartedly encourage citizens to vote with their dollars by refusing to purchase products which encourage the denigration and destruction of prostitutes. Since the video game Grand Theft Auto accrues points to players for the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes, SWOP-USA calls on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto."
link to SWOP
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Life Cycles
Hm, so this foto of a guy in cardboardboxes holding a sign "free robot sex" (which sergey teterin pointed out to me already back in october) finally turned up on boingboing ...
like in the video mentioned below the boxes could have used a silver paint job.
p.s. i just found sergey's own blogpost from oct. showing it, unfortunately i cannot read any russian ;(
update: the free robot sex robot keeps haunting the net ..
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Life in Pain
chronic pain is bad. acute tooth ache is not good either!
after a day of 8/10 (*) toothache it just now went down a bit after i decided to throw in a bit metamizol - extra intake of my regular pain med tramadol proved effectless. having surfed netdoktor a bit i also decided to down a few drops of my codein containing throat drops.
this started in the night already, when the pain would wake me up ...
today being saturday, showing up at the walk-in clinic where i usually am being dentistered upon, would have been futile.
and i just couldn't make my mind up yet to go to "barmherzige brüder" (merciful brethren) to get the tooth removed yet (it doesn't get more sophisticated there, i know from experience, alas).
(*) pain patients will be familiar with the scale of felt pain: 0 for no pain, 10 for screamin out loud pain
after a day of 8/10 (*) toothache it just now went down a bit after i decided to throw in a bit metamizol - extra intake of my regular pain med tramadol proved effectless. having surfed netdoktor a bit i also decided to down a few drops of my codein containing throat drops.
this started in the night already, when the pain would wake me up ...
today being saturday, showing up at the walk-in clinic where i usually am being dentistered upon, would have been futile.
and i just couldn't make my mind up yet to go to "barmherzige brüder" (merciful brethren) to get the tooth removed yet (it doesn't get more sophisticated there, i know from experience, alas).
(*) pain patients will be familiar with the scale of felt pain: 0 for no pain, 10 for screamin out loud pain
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Life is Linking
the 'unavoidable daily link' to boingboing leads to the article on videobomb - a Participatory Culture Foundation project.
there i found this 'robot wars' video ...
great idea, unfortunately they could have spent more time on the costumes ...
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Geek Life
today i downloaded and enjoyed episode 3 of the british TV-show 'The IT Crowd' ...
recommended on boingboing (cory actually did some 'small consulting')
recommended on boingboing (cory actually did some 'small consulting')
Better Life
i just came up with a wonderful idea how to make life on this planet better for all of us.
since not only "america is addicted to oil" as mr. bush nicely put it, but generally world economy, but more importantly also ordinary folks depend on oil products to fuel their vehicles and heating their homes - i think prohibiting commercial trade of this substance would make a great first step!
ressources so vital to all of us should not be handled by private companies. nor nation states. a new UN-subdivision can easily be financed replacing the structures which momentarily are in charge of produce and sale.
of course end users still have to pay for their use of a limited energy source, but the revenues that now pay for the fancies of a few, would be put to way better use.
by the way, of course users will have to register as addicts. america, having been the first to out itself, should be rewarded getting some kind of premium prescription, no generics and stuff.
rereading this post, i notice some of it might really make sense!
since not only "america is addicted to oil" as mr. bush nicely put it, but generally world economy, but more importantly also ordinary folks depend on oil products to fuel their vehicles and heating their homes - i think prohibiting commercial trade of this substance would make a great first step!
ressources so vital to all of us should not be handled by private companies. nor nation states. a new UN-subdivision can easily be financed replacing the structures which momentarily are in charge of produce and sale.
of course end users still have to pay for their use of a limited energy source, but the revenues that now pay for the fancies of a few, would be put to way better use.
by the way, of course users will have to register as addicts. america, having been the first to out itself, should be rewarded getting some kind of premium prescription, no generics and stuff.
rereading this post, i notice some of it might really make sense!
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Robot Life
'I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary.' ... quote from interview with mark tilden (RoboSapien creator) - http://www.you-review.net/features/interviews/mark-tilden/
(found on robots.net)
(found on robots.net)
Queer Bird Life
gay flamingos in british zoo steal eggs and foster chicks!
'The pair have reared three generations of adopted flamingos, by making off with the freshly laid eggs of their heterosexual neighbours. ... They have been known to fight the heterosexual birds and steal their eggs. There is usually a 'handbags-at-10 yards' moment where they scrap with the couple before stealing the egg.' (news.telegraph)
while straight flamingos usually find a new partner every year, carlos and fernando have been together more than five years.
'The pair have reared three generations of adopted flamingos, by making off with the freshly laid eggs of their heterosexual neighbours. ... They have been known to fight the heterosexual birds and steal their eggs. There is usually a 'handbags-at-10 yards' moment where they scrap with the couple before stealing the egg.' (news.telegraph)
while straight flamingos usually find a new partner every year, carlos and fernando have been together more than five years.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
High Life
Hotel Sacher, home of the world-famous sacher tart, after the recent upgrading modification of the building, offer chocolate baths in their spa ...
cocoa beans contain antioxidative polyphenole, theobromin and coffeine. cocoabutter is rich in proteins, fat, oleic and linoleic acid, which protect from loss of moisture.
110 minutes cost €179,-, 50 min "only" 96,-, so i won't try it soon.
(source: derstandard)
yesterday i spent the whole day and as far into the night as i could manage, reading the 'Things I Learn From My Patients' thread on student doctor network's emergency medicine forum. in the midst of it the pharmacists decide to start the same thread on their forum, so now i am also reading that. will take me a couple more days. it's just hilarious.
(source: boingboing)
cocoa beans contain antioxidative polyphenole, theobromin and coffeine. cocoabutter is rich in proteins, fat, oleic and linoleic acid, which protect from loss of moisture.
110 minutes cost €179,-, 50 min "only" 96,-, so i won't try it soon.
(source: derstandard)
yesterday i spent the whole day and as far into the night as i could manage, reading the 'Things I Learn From My Patients' thread on student doctor network's emergency medicine forum. in the midst of it the pharmacists decide to start the same thread on their forum, so now i am also reading that. will take me a couple more days. it's just hilarious.
(source: boingboing)
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Bird Life
local newspaper Der Standard just posted on their online edition, that 40 birds, who's death raised brief bird-flu suspicions, died because they were under the influence, when crashing into windows of U-Bahn stations. actually they had enlarged livers, which indicates they were hardcore alcoholics.
the "european waxwing" only rarely visits vienna on his winter holidays from north, it is believed the intoxication was a result of fermenting berries the birdies ate.
the "european waxwing" only rarely visits vienna on his winter holidays from north, it is believed the intoxication was a result of fermenting berries the birdies ate.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
City Life
Cafe Tuchlauben has a new owner ... the long-established cafe in downtown vienna is furnished fifties style, the new owner bought all the sweet dish recipes too, like the gugelhupf.so the only radical change for the regular patrons is the removal of the curtains, which shielded them (and the cafe) from public notice.
not only do i like the oldfashioned look of the place, i also dig the fact that the waiter-owner went through the place several times refilling water glasses, which is everything but the norm in vienna!
Update: forgot to mention, new owner Markus Muliar renamed the cafe to "Markusplatz Cafe Tuchlauben" (without replacing the vintage signs with the old name) ... by now there'a also an article in Falter (in german).
Update 2: Cafe Markusplatz has a webpage
Life is Learning
it's always nice to learn more about cocktails ...
this article on Bloody Marys in the l.a. times even mentions an austrian vodka, i never heard of!
this article on Bloody Marys in the l.a. times even mentions an austrian vodka, i never heard of!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
