A long time ago … when special effects were really hard
Computer Graphics From a Long, Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away from Topless Robot:
Oh man. /Film started my day with this 10-minute documentary from Larry Cuba about how he made the computer graphics for Star Wars, specifically, the Death Star assault video Dodonna plays for the Rebel pilots, and it is so, so awesome. Cuba is obviously so proud when he says he’s moving his Death Star model in real time, and he should be, since back in 1976 that probably needed 400 computers glued together and the blood sacrifice of a white calf. Anyways, it’s fun for Star Wars fans and a neat look back for computer nerds alike.
Imagine the movie industry doing what they do now without the plastic reality offered by oceans of computing power and unbelievable software.
Topless Robot is a kickin’ site that features geek chum like Teenage Mutant Reservoir Turtles and The 10 Best ’60s Batman TV Villains Who Should Make the Leap to Comic Books (10 villains, 10 videos including Vincent Price as the Egghead).
Home from the War
Welcome Home, War from Mother Jones talks about how the technologies pioneered in overseas military action seem to always find their way home. From centralized data, covert penetration, and disinformation developed during the first counter-insurgency campaign in the Philippines up to the present day, it’s a chilling look at what a democracy doesn’t want coming home from the war.
Pushing ever closer to the boundaries of what present-day technology can do, by early 2008, US forces were also collecting facial images accessible by portable data labs called Joint Expeditionary Forensic Facilities, linked by satellite to a biometric database in West Virginia. “A war fighter needs to know one of three things,” explained the inventor of this lab-in-a-box. “Do I let him go? Keep him? Or shoot him on the spot?”
A future is already imaginable in which a US sniper could take a bead on the eyeball of a suspected terrorist, pause for a nanosecond to transmit the target’s iris or retinal data via backpack-sized laboratory to a computer in West Virginia, and then, after instantaneous feedback, pull the trigger.
This kind of stuff creeps the crap right out of me, especially when I read that the Obama Administration is expanding (rather than rolling back) a lot of the national security measures developed during the Bush administration.
The photo is Warrior Spirit by country_boy_shane. Shane has some amazing photoshop & photography skillz – check his work out via Flickriver.
What is it with Gordon Lightfoot and internet video?
I was noticing the other day that two of my absolute favorite videos on the internet have one surprising thing in common: Gordon Lightfoot.
He of course wrote the classic ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald which is the soundtrack for this amazing video by Joseph Fulton:
He also wrote a little known song, Black Day in July about the Detroit Riot of 1967, which captured in equally stunning fashion by KeylaBb:
Both of these videos are ridiculously well done – watch them please.
350 … it’s a number we need to know
Getting Naked for Wine
This past weekend 713 hardy French men and women stripped down to send a message about climate change. They posed nude in French vineyards to warn the world about the impact of global warming on the French wine industry.
In Burgundy, the heart of the French vineyards, on a sunny day (luckily), Spencer Tunick posed the happy participants in 4 different poses; one with women alone, one with men alone and two more in different vineyards. Organised with Greenpeace, it’s all part of the campaign to urge political leaders to take action in the lead up to the U.N.’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
Definitely check out the article, Spencer Tunick’s site and also the Unofficial Spencer Tunick Experience Website which has some pretty cool links. I think that stuff like this is ultimately what will turn the tide on this climate madness. People – from snowboarders & skiers to teachers to farmers to people who eat shrimp I guess – will have to campaign against climate change in their own way. It has to be seen not as an esoteric maybe/maybe not issue of ivory tower dwelling people named Al Gore, but rather what it really is: the single most dangerous threat to our survival as a civilization and species.
Thanks Kathy for the pointer! Let’s close with Spencer Tunick at the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland.
10 to the 100 to the Google
Project 10100 is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
After not too much deliberation, I decided to…
Help social entrepreneurs drive change
Opportunity
Create a fund to support social entrepreneurship. This idea was inspired by a number of user proposals focused on “social entrepreneurs” — individuals and organizations who use entrepreneurial techniques to build ventures focused on attacking social problems and fomenting change. Specific relevant ideas include establishing schools that teach entrepreneurial skills in rural areas; supporting entrepreneurs in underdeveloped communities; and creating an entity to provide capital and training to help entrepreneurs build viable businesses and catalyze sustained community change.
Speaking of that, check this out.
Bridging the gaps
ETHAN ZUCKERMAN: I spent 20 minutes this morning researching Kenyan wedding rituals.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: But you’re weird!
Mike sent me this interview from On the Media with with Ethan Zuckerman, founder of Global Voices, and Clive Thompson, technology writer for the New York Times Magazine and Wired. They were discussing homophily: the tendency for individuals to seek out others who share their preferences, ideas, age, gender, class, organizational role, etc. and whether the internet was increasing it or helping build bridges of understanding. They also discuss people who are getting beyond what’s known as the Dunbar number and having deep (or not totally shallow) connections with well more than the 150 or so people we’re thought to be able to “know” through social media. Clive relates that as a result of his network, he’s shocked at how much more he knows about things.
For example, I mean, some people’s homophily problem might mean they don’t know anything about international relations. My homophily problem is I don’t know anything about pop culture. I don’t watch any TV. I don’t watch any movies. I don’t listen to much music. And this becomes a real social deficit. I’ll go a party and people like will mention a major A-list star and I have no idea who the hell they’re talking about.
And so, what happens is that in the periphery of my large number of weak links, something will sort of begin to move. Like I’ll see a bunch of people say, wow, Christian Bale is a total badass, and someone else will go, go Christian Bale, go. And I’ll be like I sense a disturbance in the Force.
Mike thought I’d like it, and I did. It’s 20 minutes of very interesting discussion – have a listen if you can.
The photo is Bridging the East River by Randy Wick and you should definitely check it out bigger or in his Most Interesting slideshow.
Anyone who has a song called “Buttmachine” can’t be all bad
You know, That 1 Guy. Also check out Mustaches and (live) Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Home at last
Another Andy McFarlane, this one 47 and serving under the Union Jack in Afganistan writes:
Repatriation
The leviathan of the sky does land
In England’s green and pleasant land
Its cargo more precious than gold
The body of a hero, boldOnce the giant’s engines stopped
The cargo ramp is gently dropped
Carried by six on shoulders true
The hero is saluted by the crewThe coffin draped in Union Jack
Is slowly carried out the back
Out of the dark and into light
Slowly down the ramp and to the rightThe six approach the hearse all black
And place the hero gently in the back
The six then turn and march away
Their duty has been done this dayPoliticians usually have much to say
No sign of them near here this day.
They hide away and out of danger
Much easier if the hero is a strangerThe hearse with its precious load
Moves slowly out onto the road
The floral tributes line the route
While comrades snap a smart saluteAt the edge of a Wiltshire town
The cortege slows its pace right down
The streets are packed, many deep
Some throw flowers, most just weepThe crowd have come to say farewell
The church bell rings a low death knell
Regimental standards are lowered down
As the hero passed through the townThe cortege stops and silence reigns
The townsfolk feel the family’s pain.
The nations’ flag lowered to half mast
Our brave hero is home at last
How many times has the Union Jack or Old Glory or Whatever They Affectionately Call Your Flag come “home” atop a coffin? And how many more?
It’s hard to select a photo of someone else’s flag. M,! didn’t name hers. It’s part of her i am not a robot set.
