techyum ::

A recently discovered research video, filmed 17 years ago, remarkably predicted the arrival of the iPad.

Scarily accurate, the video predicts the form factor of the iPad – an impressive feat given the era of the film was produced in was dominated by gray desktop PC and CRT monitors. It pre-dates the emergence of the flat-screen monitor or the all-in-one computer. Also accurate were the weight of the device, the touch-screen interface and one of the most popular uses for tablets – catching up on news.

In explaining the possibilities for tablet-based reading of editorial, the film introduces the concept of embedable video within a story – again something that was not currently possible back 1994.

Perhaps the only significant prediction that is wildly incorrect is that the content for the tablets would be delivered by storage cards inserted into them, rather than the Internet. Given that the Internet was already gaining traction within early adopter and academic communities in 1994 it is surprising this wasn’t considered as a more likely delivery route.

The film which was produced by former media-technology and publishing firm Knight-Ridder, now owned by McClatchy.

After seeing the selection of NY MOMA (New York Museum of Modern Art) comment cards as separated out by child visitors, it seems that the museum does please overall, yet still leaves quite a bit to be desired in the dinosaur department. You can see all the “I went to MOMA and…” cards here, but my favorite selections are in the MOMA post where they made a gallery of all the responses from kids. I’ll be the first to suggest that all art, film and TV be critiques exclusively on paper with No. #2 pencils by the under-12 set. Vegetemoose for the win. Someone call Arianna Huffington, as we’ve found a crop of tastemakers to fill the ranks of TV and film bloggers she can’t seem to replace on those AOL brands she’s managing…

This past week, my old schoolmate David Solmonson, who now writes the blog 12 Bottle Bar wrote up a hilarious and fun feature on how to make liquor-infused Peeps:

While some may choose to debate the Christian versus pagan symbolism and circumstance surrounding the Easter holiday, we at 12 Bottle Bar instead turn our sights on that most eternal of vernal demagogues:  the PEEP®.  Whether you are in the love-em or hate-em camp when it comes to PEEPS®, we’re certain that you’ll appreciate the question that begat today’s Easter post:  Could we booze “peeps” up? The answer proved to be simple, yet eloquent:  Hell, yeah.

The rules, which present an opportunity for drama, pathos and excursions into science and human history, are as follows:

• The “peeps” had to use a real cocktail as their base liquid, and one which tasted good.
• They had to have appropriate “peep” shapes, colors, and consistency.

[Link.]

The real opportunity, of course, is not just the kitchen-chemistry-set goodness of liquoring up your peeps, but also the amusing detour into the too-little-studied field of Peep History, which I didn’t even know was a subject (it is), and Peep Science, which (especially if you read the comments) turns out to be a mildly complex science, and pretty fascinating.

Best of all, you can follow David’s instructions and end up with some tasty drunken Peeps of your own, if you dare — just in time for Easter!

For some time, I’ve admired David’s writing at 12 Bottle Bar — and not just because the guy used to give me rides on his red Honda Scooter and loaned me a skinny pink tie for my very first date. Those two things help, sure. But I also admire the blog because the site combines three of favorite things: liquor, thrift and LOLZ.

The site takes as its premise that interesting cocktails can be created by everyone — not just professional bartenders, and not just those who can afford a huge well-stocked bar of expensive liquors, liqueurs and mixers at home. Limiting itself to just 12 bottles at a time (the ingredients rotate as they get used up), 12 Bottle Bar presents a variety of interesting drinks along with pieces of fascinating alcoholic and gustatory history, all poured out with an irreverent yet friendly tone. It’s always a fun read and involves enough illuminating backstory to keep history nerds fascinated even if you prefer your whiskey neat.

Public Domain Image.

A CNN article this week addresses “11 Political Myths and Conspiracy Theories” — how can a guy like me not click that shit? The 11 myths “debunked” are Presidential in one form or another, with a single exception: Gary Condit and the murder of Chandra Levy.

The list is mostly a warmed-over retread of other squibs CNN has published over the years — they seem to trot this stuff out in time for every presidential election. But one aspect of it really bugs me this time.

They’re doing a crappy job of debunking at least a few of these myths. Let’s start by putting a few 6.5 mm Carcano slugs in some barrel-grown Presidential salmon, shall we? Here’s CNN:

#9 The theory: Someone besides Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK.

The facts: Decades after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, the shooting and the events that followed continue to fascinate many Americans.

Much of that interest rests on the theory that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy — not the act of a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Theories include that Kennedy “was killed by CIA agents acting either out of anger over the Bay of Pigs or at the behest of Vice President Lyndon Johnson,” by the KGB or by “mobsters mad at Kennedy’s brother for initiating the prosecution of organized crime rings,” according to Time magazine.

But the Warren Commission, established to investigate the assassination, found that Oswald was the lone gunman — and that there was not a second shooter.

 

Ba-da-bing! Zing! Hibbity-skibbity-yow! Who knew it was that simple? Read more…

Having cut my teeth on Kathy Acker’s Blood & Guts in High School, I find it difficult to believe the film version of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies will ever be able to beat the judge demanding of Hester Prynne, “Now pretty please tell us who you fucked?”

Nonetheless, I think it’s Hollywood’s Jane Austen craze as much as its zombie craze that has led the film version to get pushed along. There’s been a fever to make the perfect date movie by adapting this “novel,” which added text by Seth Grahame-Smith to Jane Austen’s original, based on an idea by QuirkBooks editor Jason Rekulak. The infectious desire to make P&P&Z has been been infecting Hollywood almost as much as the drive to completely fuck up World War Z.

Signed on now is director Craig Gillespie, of Lars and the Real Girl fame, who “finalized” a deal yesterday, which in Hollywood means virtually nothing at all, since people leave projects they’ve “finalized” constantly.

But just in case not everyone understands how thoroughly dead Hollywood is, note that:

“Gillespie recently wrapped a remake of the ’80s cult classic Fright Night, with Colin Farrell as the unfriendly neighborhood vampire.”

…which would probably hurt my brain to think about even more than it does, if I could remember who the hell Colin Farrell is, other than the scary face in my nightmares.

Gillespie “plans to begin shooting Pride & Predjudice & Zombies at the end of the summer,” which in Hollywood is a bit like saying you plan to have “Marty” over for dinner at your loft the next time he’s in L.A. Gillespie did an interview with Entertainment Weekly in which EW, as usual, really kicked out the jams when it comes to asking thought-provoking questions: Read more…

Where the Tweet meets the street… Connecticut based artist Ted Mikulski seems to always have some kind of art project going, even if the title of his book is “Art Is Dead.” Apparently not, as it looks like the artist has been busy with a little side project where tweets are taken out of context on Twitter, turned into stickers, and placed into real-life contexts that give a new depth and scope to the original writer’s 140 characters. And they’re a little pranky, too, which we love. (Thanks, E!)

• Urban Tweet Art by Ted Mikulski

I’m a little bit late to the nail-painting party on this one, but it’s just so much fun to be pretty that I really can’t help myself. Just in case you missed it:

Last week, Fox News manufactured a controversy on Monday the 11th to punish J. Crew for gracing a newsletter with a photo showing J. Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons painting her son’s toenails pink. As Jon Stewart would later observe, this was clearly intended to be a fun bonding moment between mother and son. But Fox’s columnist Keith Ablow, MD saw it — no, I’m not kidding — as a “clear attack on masculinity.” Abelow claimed young Mr. Lyons’s pink nail polish just goes to show what happens when you let the whippersnappers social-network and stuff. Said Ablow:

In our technology-driven world—fueled by Facebook, split-second Prozac prescriptions and lots of other assaults on genuine emotion and genuine relationships and actual consequences for behavior—almost nothing is now honored as real and true.

Ablow, incidentally, is a psychiatrist — so he knows all about the genuine emotion and genuine relationships, I’m sure, not to mention the Prozac prescriptions. Ablow further claimed it’s attitudes like this that are to blame for rampant teen sex, girls dressing slutty, and…um…guys doing crunches, I guess. And a bunch of other stuff, like the imminent end of war: Read more…

Reading Pravda still messes with my mind. For the first half of my life (so far) this Soviet publication was a Cold War joke — something a righteous American couldn’t read without feeling resoundingly superior and possibly humming The Star-Spangled Banner. But the days of Steel Joe and Nikki Boy Kruschev are long passed. Now, when I want information about the “emerging disease” Morgellons, I go to Pravda.

But lest you think reading Pravda is no longer an exotic experience laced with Siberian weirdness and plenty Huh!?, just check out the first graf of the Pravarama’s 13.04.2011 article on today’s 10 Most Mysterious Diseases:

There is a great deal of illnesses, which can be cured easily. However, there is a list of well-known illnesses to which scientists still have not found a clue. They are still incurable.

I will grudgingly admit that scientists still have not found a clue, but they are far from incurable. Just loudly express your opinion on the Pentagon cover-up of the proof of intelligent design, and whenever you say the word “science,” be sure to put it in air quotes — and sometimes say “western science” for additional clinical impact. That should get rid of any scientists in the vicinity. For post-eradication maintenance, a blank stare is mandated, though that will not protect you against the frequently co-morbid affliction, “pseudo-scientists.”

Regardless, though, it’s only Pravda that has the massive babushkas to take on the dreaded Morgellons Disease, which they place at #10 on their list:

The symptoms of this mysterious ailment remind a scene from a sci-fi thriller. Patients say that they can feel something crawling underneath their skin. The condition is characterized by a range of skin symptoms including crawling, biting, and stinging sensations; finding fibers on or under the skin; and persistent skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). Most doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, regard Morgellons as a manifestation of known medical conditions, including delusional parasitosis. Read more…

If you’ve ever received by email a desperate plea for help from the 90-year-old widow of the Sultan of Nigeria to “please to allow as desperate assistance forthwith transfer the sum of US20000000000000000 into your bank account for which you will kindly be entitled to a fidners fee of 23.74% ass establish under INTERPOL and the funds of the legal European Union, praise be God and find you well,” then perhaps you’ve visited Snopes.com. I certainly hope so.

Snopes, as you then probably know, catalogs and debunks (or in some cases verifies) urban legends. Run by a husband-and-wife team, it started out as a way to investigate whether a teenage girl in the ’50s really had her brain eaten by spiders, or whether AIDS Mary was really trolling bars in your neighborhood wickedly seeking to infect you by taking a sip from your Captain Morgan’s and Coke. In the years since its launch, Snopes has migrated into a sort of bullshit-cop role, tracking down and debunking the completely jackass tickets to looneyville that people seem to send out on the internet for God Knows Why. Read more…

I don’t know about you, but I fly a lot and I always have these emergency fantasy scenarios in my head – not the “mile high club” kind. The kind where something goes wrong, horribly wrong on the plane and I have to save myself. The kind where I break out the emergency miniskirt and go-go boots and do something superhuman and impossible and kill all the motherfucking snakes, just like in the movies. Don’t pretend you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about.

The recent incident where a Southwest plane had a hole suddenly crack open in its ceiling during flight scared the crap out of everyone that flies. Period. Especially those of us who had just come back from SxSW 2011 on Southwest Airlines – and we had been delayed six hours due to a technical problem. I am trying to not think about this. But the plane with the hole in it – didn’t you see the story and think about what you would do to survive, if it happened to you?

Well, according to a new article on Discovery News, when there is a hole in a plane that can suck you out of it, you are a snowball in hell and you melt really fucking fast. In fact, the article is rather gruesome, as it goes into detail describing what actually happens when there is a hole in a cabin at altitude, and what happens if you end up outside the plane in that event. Nevermind the fact that you don’t have a parachute. Snip:

For passengers on Southwest flight 812, the consequences were far milder: Soon after its takeoff from Phoenix, the plane made an emergency landing, and everyone was fine.

But people have been hurled through holes in cruising airplanes before. And that raises an important, if gruesome question: What would happen to you if you were sucked into the atmosphere at 30,000 feet?

The prognosis, experts say, would not be good. [Link]