The Earth is Shining Under the Soot

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Library, The Cultural Devision, Video | 0

They Might Be Giants (band) got their name from They Might Be Giants (film), the title of which was a reference to Don Quixote‘s belief that windmills were giants. As explained in the film,…

“Of course, he carried it a bit too far. He thought that every windmill was a giant. That’s insane. But, thinking that they might be… Well, all the best minds used to think the world was flat. But, what if it isn’t? It might be round. And bread mold might be medicine. If we never looked at things and thought of what they might be, why, we’d all still be out there in the tall grass with the apes.”

Ape Con Myth is all about the might of might.  TMBG (film) summed it up in less than two minutes some 42 years ago…

… and 23 years ago TMBG (band) knocked it out in 47 seconds.

Finally, in 2007, Ape Con Myth summed it up in three words.

…  Eventually, we won’t have to say anything at all.

We Won’t Be Satisfied Until All the Charts Go Through the Roof

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Video | 1

When it comes to prisons in the United States, the thing that really sticks out is how increasingly prone we are to put people in them.

And the worst part is, who is really going to stop and ask why?  It’s so much easier to assume they all deserve it.  Because, you know, everyone knows life isn’t fair, except when the courts are involved.

Yep, we’re all just a bunch of people getting exactly what we deserve!

[Chart from Wikipedia, Video via exp.lore.com]

This Waste of Time Brought to You by Connecticut

by | posted in: External Screenshot, Smog, Video | 0

The good news is Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) is not running for re-election this year.

The bad news is he is still a senator until then.

The worst news is that he is about to waste a couple minutes of your time and effort so that we avoid him hurting the country before he leaves.  After not getting support for his CSA2012 bill in February, Joe is back with the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and everyone concerned about your rights and privacy is concerned about this new bill.

That’s why Fight for the Future is back with a new site at DoYouHaveASecret.org to walk you through why you should and how you can take action…

(click image to launch the presentation)

Or perhaps EFF‘s video on the subject is more your speed…

They’ve made it so easy for you to get involved you can do so right here, right now…

And last but far from least, the ACLU has more info to share, including what you need to know about the Franken-Paul pro-privacy amendment.

Okay, get to it.  The more time we spend putting out fires, the less time we spend building.  And Connecticut, you owe us (more than) one.

Q&A From Another World (or Marshall McLuhan on Canadian Television in 1967)

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Video | 0

Answer to the question at 3:55, among other things…

I have no point of view.
As for example now, see I couldn’t possibly have a point of view,
I’m just moving around and picking up information from many directions.
No, a point of view means a static fixed position
and you can’t have a static fixed position in the Electric Age.
It’s impossible to have a point of view in the Electric Age,
and have any meaning at all.
You’ve got to be everywhere at once, whether you like it or not.
You have to be participating in everything going on at the same time
and that is not a point of view.

For more, check out the archive at Marshall McLuhan Speaks.

We’ll Get to the Pirates Later

by | posted in: Maps, The Geography Club, Video | 0

Last week we looked at world trade from the angle of who and what.  This week we consider part of the how.

First, a little perspective on shipping by way of Spanish, Dutch and English routes from 1750 to 1855.  Each line represents a voyage based on the ship’s log book.

How do we roll float these days?  As you might guess, we’re not so much for the squiggly lines anymore.

[Video from Sapping Attention via kottke, Map by Bernd Blasius via Wired]

Maiden, North Carolina: “a town with a future” (and a past)

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, External Screenshot, Video | 0

“When two separate events occur simultaneously pertaining to the same object of inquiry, we must always pay strict attention.” – Special Agent Dale Cooper

Our object of inquiry in this case is Maiden, NC…

The Question:  Why did “The Biggest Little Football Town in the World”, population 3,310, make the news two days in a row this week?

Item #1 came from the Huffington Post with the disturbing headline, Charles L. Worley, North Carolina Pastor: Put Gays And Lesbians In Electrified Pen To Kill Them Off, and this equally disturbing video…

Then, as if beckoned from the other end of the universe, item #2 appeared in Wired under the title, IBM Outlaws Siri, Worried She Has Loose Lips.  The story relates how IBM has banned the iPhone’s voice-activated assistant from its offices for fear their employees’ queries might be collected and, presumably, betray the company in some way. Where might such a collection exist?  At the data center in Maiden, NC where Siri sends every question you whisper in her ear.

And there you have it.  As a Bokononist would say: busy, busy, busy.  If IBM were a person, it might get called paranoid.  But you know, there are some loose lips in Maiden.

We’re Not Going To Take It and It Would Help If You Didn’t Either

by | posted in: Library, The Cultural Devision, Video | 0

It’s easy to do what everyone else is doing and eventually we might find out that’s been our only problem all along.  If you question how different daily life could be, witness what one artist and a 90 piece marching band were able to do in the city of Denver.

Now imagine what kind of show 7 billion people could be putting on if everyone wasn’t so busy taking it.

[from Lee Walton‘s Playing Apart] [See also: 7 of 27]
1 2 3 4