May 13, 2010
Testing
This is only a test
Posted by bmiraski at 3:35 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2008
Cool Economic Word Cloud
I can't take credit for this. However, this is one of the best uses I have seen of the word cloud concept yet.
A user named Econymous took Ben Bernanke's speech before Congress and turned it into a word cloud.
Anyone think that the FED isn't looking at Oil Price, Inflation, and the Financial Credit markets after seeing this?
Click through for a larger version.
Posted by bmiraski at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)
July 1, 2008
Dance with Matt
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
The best four and a half minutes of your week.
Posted by bmiraski at 4:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2008
Make sure you read the signs carefully
The BBC has an interesting story on the efforts that the American and British forces have to go through to ensure that names of towns in Afghanistan are translated properly.
The issue is that the written Arabic script does not include symbols for vowels, so multiple towns could have their names written the same way using the only the consonants.
"Let's imagine there are two villages written as Mskr perhaps 10 miles apart, with one really being Maskar and the other really being Musakkir," says Paul Woodman, secretary of the PCGN.
"Then imagine that one of those villages is occupied by the Afghan security forces and the other by the Taleban.
"You'll see why we and the BGN need to be in touch all the time - to make sure that we not only have identical naming policies in place, but to ensure that we Romanise every little village and hill and valley exactly the same way.
"Otherwise there is the danger that food parcels, school textbooks, or whatever, will be inadvertently directed towards the village held by the Taleban, with lives endangered as a result."
A dangerous situation indeed.
It is these little things that no one thinks about when a country is at war.
Posted by bmiraski at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
Chihuly
One of my Flickr friends, Thomas Hawk, has an amazing set, including the picture above taken of the Chihuly exhibit on display near him.
I last saw a major exhibit like this at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, and was blown away by the glass art within the natural setting. However, I think having the work on display on its own adds a new dimension to the pieces, especially given the lighting that seems to have been added.
This Flickr set will surely show you something special.
This picture has some rights reserved.
Posted by bmiraski at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2008
Blank
If you want to teach someone to type without looking at the keys all the time, I think the best method might be to get one of these.
It is Das Keyboard, a totally blank keyboard which recently got a review on the CrunchGear website.
The keyboard also features a much improved response to normal keyboard action which is the main reason it costs $100. However, that $100 price is for a limited time only.
It seems cool, and I would totally want one, but I know there would be that time when I am trying to remember what key something was on and it would take me more than 5 minutes of random button pressing to get it correct.
Still, I totally could go for one of these for my desktop. (and yes, they also offer a printed version but the blank one is so much cooler.)
Posted by bmiraski at 2:25 PM | Comments (0)
Something doesn't seem right about this
For my $40K graduate journalism education, I not only get education, I get access to PR Newswire.
Something doesn't seem right about this press release that just loaded into my inbox:
Indiana Sales of Hennessy Cognac to Raise Funds for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund
NEW YORK, June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Hennessy, the number one cognac in the world, announced it will raise funds for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. From now through mid July, proceeds from every sale of Hennessy Cognac in Indiana will be donated to the Fund, which provides resources, opportunities and advocacy to 47 Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Yeah, something about that just doesn't seem right.
Posted by bmiraski at 1:16 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2008
Happy Birthday? That will be $12.50
I feel like a megaphone for boingboing today.
However, this post caught my eye.
Who knew there was a copyright issue with Happy Birthday? Apparently professor Robert Brauneis did.
Imagine if the royalty rates were the same as the AP is proposing for bloggers quoting its stories?
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Dirk, Happy Birthday to you." : $12.50
But don't do the second verse, or it will bump you into the second price band.
I first head about this controversy when the good professor was a guest on the very good Sound Opinions radio program that airs on NPR with the voices of Chicago music critics Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot. That aired a few weeks back. Good to see that the news is getting out there about this.
Posted by bmiraski at 4:57 PM | Comments (0)
Smithsonian Photos online
boingboing is pointing out that the Smithsonian has posted a collection of photos from its archives to Flickr.
It looks like all of the photos are copyright free, so this is a wealth of riches for bloggers and others who might need a great illustration of say Alexander Graham Bell.
Feel free to make the Smithsonian your Flickr friend, because this is a great idea from a very old institution to get its knowledge more available in the web age.
Posted by bmiraski at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2008
7 Deadly Glasses
Speaking of raising a glass, these are disturbing and awesome at the same time.
As boingboing wrote:
Hamilton Design's "Seven Deadly Sins" wine-glasses come in seven shapes, one for each sin. No idea what they cost, but you could sure have a fun themed dinner party with 'em.
Just imagine bring out that box at a party to hand out to your guests. Talk about freaky.
My favorite by far is Greed.
Found via boingboing
Posted by bmiraski at 9:52 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2008
Frank Lloyd Wright
It seems that I have seen an abundance of Frank Lloyd Wright in the last couple years, including Taliesin West out in Arizona.
Turns out that Sunday was his birthday.
With that in mind, this little snippet comes from my Powell's Technica newsletter this morning:
Dehumidifier Needed
Did you build a paper model to celebrate architect Frank Lloyd Wright's recent birthday on June 8? Born in 1867, Wright is best known for his houses that feature low-slung roofs and incorporate nature. Fallingwater is his best example - a house above a waterfall in Mill Run, Pennyslvania. The structure is quite beautiful, but natural elements take their toll on architecture. The original owner, Edgar Kauffman, nicknamed the house "Rising Mildew."
Posted by bmiraski at 9:48 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2008
Harvard doesn't like J.K. Rowling
Apparently Northwestern isn't the only school whose seniors aren't happy over the choice for graduation speaker.
Some Harvard students didn't like the choice of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling as their speaker.
I don't blame them.
However, you would think someone who graduated from Harvard would have better grammar.
"I think we could have done better," shrugged computer science major Kevin Bombino. He says Rowling lacks the gravitas a Harvard commencement speaker should have.
"You know, we're Harvard. We're like the most prominent national institution. And I think we should be entitled to … we should be able to get anyone. And in my opinion, we're settling here. "
Italics mine.
Posted by bmiraski at 9:44 AM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2008
If you thought real airport security was bad...
Be glad you aren't a vegetable.
Apparently Amsterdam Burger King restaurants actually are using tray liners which feature a fairly graphic scene from a fake airport security.
Graphic and hilarious.
Found at boingboing
Posted by bmiraski at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)
June 3, 2008
17 Male African Elephants
That is 200,000 pounds in a form that most people could understand.
The very interesting and useful-for-journalists SensibleUnits.com can translate those hard to understand measurements.
For example:
- 16 Tons = 22 cows
- 100 meters = 5.6 10-pin bowling lanes
- 109 acres = the size of Vatican City
Information for life.
Posted by bmiraski at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
Grease Freak
Oh my, best idea ever.
Brian Boyer who runs the very well done Sixth W on technology in journalism turned me on to GreaseFreak.com, a site that rates all of Chicago's really-bad-for-you-but-yummy-tasting fast food: hot dogs, italian beef, burgers, italian subs and more.
Posted by bmiraski at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
Funny Money
Kids: Don't deface currency. It is illegal.
But if you are going to do it, it better be as cool as this.
Otherwise, you are wasting your time.
Posted by bmiraski at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)