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Amazing- motivated people investing time and effort the kind of thing friends and I have always joked about doing. Rent one here.
The Bicycle Forest, the guys behind this, are pretty nifty- besides the Couchbike, they also produce BikeCAD, a mountain bike design program, and host a gallery of homemade bike mods.
(thanks, Web Urbanist!)
I'm going to take a little time to talk about my all-time favorite IM client, Digsby. Like many, I have a few different internet communication services going- a Gtalk/Gmail account, AIM, Facebook, a Jabber service at my work, and twitter.
I've tried serving them all out of one program with limited success- Trillian did most things pretty well, Gtalk did Gmail and AIM great (as did chatting straight out of the gmail web client), but left out any other functionality.
However, I just discovered Digsby, an amazing cross-platform client that serves up about any account you can think of. Not only does it let you chat across services, but it shows you facebook updates in a way that makes sense, and lets you interact with Gmail messages without opening up a browser (not even Google's own IM client does that!).
Here's Digsby on AIM (SMS and file transfer work fine):
And here it is doing twitter:
You can see exactly what sort of facebook updates are waiting for you:
And my favorite, gmail. Actually, any of the clients can be displayed as tiny icons in the taskbar as well as from the sidebar, but gmail is my favorite, because I can see a snippet of the message, and instantly archive it (I've been working on the theory of Inbox Zero lately) if it's something I don't need to deal with.
All in all, a sweet client, and the best part is that your preferences and accounts sync across computers! Digsby runs a free server that stores user settings, so when I get home from work and boot up, my digsby client behaves exactly the same as the one on my work laptop. Genius!
[UPDATE: Consumerist has a new, in-depth post on the subject below]
I was at US bank, trying to make a deposit, and I wrote the cash amount in the check line and vice versa, so I scribbled it out and changed it. Then the teller told me I needed to initial my changes, and I'm just thinking "Really? I mean, I get that there's some verification you can do on a signature, and if you want me to write out a clean deposit form, that's cool too, but initials?" So I wrote "MAC DRE" in big capital letters next to the change. She didn't say anything, but she processed my transaction.
Speaking of silly instructions from people behind counters that you don't listen to, you don't need to provide ID to use a credit card (an, and having a minimum charge or service charge for using a credit card can get a business fined big-time from the card companies. Consumerist had an interesting article about all the things businesses do that, if they were to be reported, would get them hit with a fatty fine or even an account cancellation from their credit card companies.
1) Unsigned Cards Are Not Valid And Merchants Can And Will Refuse Them
2) The Maximum Liability For Unauthorized Use Of A Credit Card* Is $50 According To Federal Law
3) Merchants Cannot Require You To Present ID, Unless Your Card Is Unsigned
4) Merchants Cannot Require A Minimum Transaction Amount5) Merchants Cannot Charge A Surcharge For Using A Credit Card, However, They Can Offer A "Cash Discount"
6) Many Credit Cards Have Programs That Will Automatically Double The Manufacturer's Warranty And Other Excellent Benefits
7) Merchants Are Not Allowed To Make You Give Up Your Right To A Chargeback
8) Merchants Are Not Allowed To Place A Hold For The Estimated Tip
9) If Merchants Suspect You Of Fraud They Are Supposed To Call With A "Code 10"
10) If Merchants Break These Rules, You Can Report Them To The Credit Card Company
With a lot of these, I feel like I'd be unlikely to report a business I liked, but if you want a service and the guy's being a dick and not letting you charge it to your card, feel free to let him know that he needs to let you make the transaction or you'll be giving Visa a call. I really recommend reading the full article on Consumerist; it has links to the Visa/Mastercard policies that back these claims up, as well as information about how to report violations.
[UPDATE: Consumerist has a new, in-depth post on this subject; I would check it out]
If you've ever worked in IT, this should have you laughing until it hurts.
The official title of the video is "Sales guy vs. Web Dude," and it was put together by a crack team of jaded nerds, mashing up various IT horror stories into a nightmarish-but-possible episode in the life of a corporate techie.
This documentary about Japanese male "host" clubs is possibly one of the most troubling films I've ever seen.
Host clubs in a nutshell:
Women begin by sitting down and paging through a catalog of the club's wares, an assortment of crazy-haired, blinged-out, slightly effeminate (to my American eyes) Japanese twentysomethings. They then choose their host, who entertains them for the night, drinking with them, teasing them, talking with them, and generally making them feel special. It's largely platonic, though there are exceptions- women visit the clubs for emotional more than sexual fulfillment.
On the surface, not so bad, right? It may seem a little off, but people like to feel special, and there's nothing wrong with selling a service that provides that, is there? These were my initial sentiments when I heard about these clubs, and I'm sure there are perfectly healthy host-client relationships where the host is little more than a paid drinking buddy.
However, Rakkyo, the #1 club in Japan and the subject of the film, is anything but healthy. Its clients drop anywhere from $300 to $3000 in a night, competing for the affections of the top hosts in Japan. Interviews with the women reveal delusional, addicted girls, genuinely believing they can one day be together with their host, and often turning to hostessing or full-blown prostitution to fund the habit.
The hosts fare no better. While at first they seem like actors, putting on a nice show and entertaining a girl for a night, they string girls along, always hinting at a relationship but holding it just out of reach, all the while binge drinking and encouraging their "dates" to do the same. They pander, lie, and read and manipulate girls' feelings enough that they talk about going numb, about being unable to have an actual relationship with anyone.
This film swings your feelings for the characters back and forth, revealing insecurity, manipulation, and abject materialism on both ends of the relationship. The world of host clubs is a crazy one: hosts regularly bring in over $100,000 a year drinking in nightclubs, a top host downs ten bottles of champagne in a night, vomiting as necessary to keep the alcohol from killing him, and girls profess their love to a host at one club while hitting multiple clubs over the course of a week, then talk later about the true, deep love they feel for their host at Rakkyo.
The direction is awesome in its simplicity; the directors simply intersperse footage from an actual host club with interviews with its denizens. The camera feels like the eyes of someone simply curious about this phenomenon: transparent, honest, and occasionally voyeuristic. Hosts and clients play their teasing, lying love games as if no one was watching, and the picture that emerges is fascinating and twisted.
Watch the trailer here
If you have Netflix, you can watch The Great Happiness Space online here. Otherwise, there's always Amazon.
Pop culture (songs for the most part), simply and elegantly illustrated through the use of tools normally reserved for displaying meaningless information to people who don't care.
Today: Let's Dance
As a bonus, many of the graphs include links to the relevant music videos for the song they illustrate:
Other gems (click through for the referenced pop culture):
See a whole bunch more at GraphJam
Barocrates (buh-ROK-ruh-teez) n. An obscure Greek philosopher who pioneered a method of teaching in which sensitive topics are first posed as questions and then evaded. Post-Baratic stress disorder (pohst buh-RAT-ik stres sin-drohm) n. A sporadic recurrence of giddiness typically displayed by those who have recently returned from an Obama rally. Barachmaninoff (buh-rahkh-MAH-nuh-nawf) n. A celebrated Russian composer hired by Obama to pen expansive, masterful campaign songs.From Obamamania: The English Language Barackified.Example: Although critically acclaimed, Barachmaninoff's first concerto struck many Americans as unnecessarily complex and inaccessible.
Obamnipresent (oh-BAHM-nuh-PREZ-uhnt) adj. Pertaining to Barack Obama's ubiquity in discussions overheard in restaurants, subways, bookstores, newsrooms, etc.Example: After hearing an elderly woman mention the name "Barack Obama" for the third time in as many minutes, even Josh agreed that the candidate was Obamnipresent.
Obamnivore (oh-BAHM-nuh-vohr) n. A Democratic voter who may have originally supported Hillary Clinton but is capable of digesting the platforms of either primary campaign.Example: Though he voted for Sen. Clinton in the primary, Andy's obamnivoric tendencies allowed him to transition his support to Obama for the general election.ZOMG UPCOMING PHYSICS NERDINESS ALERT!
Barackyogenesis (buh-RAK-ee-oh-JEN-uh-sis) n. An attempt to explain why there were more Barackyons than anti-Barackyons in the Democratic Party, a condition necessary for the formation of heavier election matters. Example: There must be some initial perturbation to explain the Barackyogenesis problem. Many political scientists have suggested that an imbalanced density of subatomic particles known as "charm quarks" in the candidates led to the dominance of Barackyons over anti-Barackyons. CHARM QUARKS! YES!
From a New York times article on the rising popularity of novelty architecture in family homes. I hope one day I can do something badass like this with my house.
Secret rooms speak to the homeowner’s sense of playfulness and perhaps to something deeper. “When we started the company we thought we were going to only attract eccentrics,” said Krystal Strong, co-owner of Hide a Door in Humble, Tex., whose doors’ average cost is $1,600. “But I think everybody is on the eccentric side; they want to make their home unique.” ..... For Mr. Coile, building a home with a secret room was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Behind a bookcase in the library of his house is a compact spiral staircase that connects to an upstairs writing area overlooking the library and to a downstairs home theater as well as to a nondescript room with a view into a bar through a one-way mirror. They have shown the setup to so many friends that its secrecy has evaporated, which Mr. Coile said is fine with him. “What use does this have?” he said. “Absolutely none. My builder’s eyes rolled back in his head when I told him I wanted a secret room. What can I say? I watched too many Disney movies when I was a boy.”True story. Utterly frivolous, but awesome nonetheless.
NY Times fulltext
I've been into swing and blues dancing for a while now, and it's West Coast swing and blues, the modern, soulful, edgy cousins of Lindy and East Coast, that have really clicked with me. This guy does a great demo of some blues and west coast swing against indy, gothy music. He's got an awesome vibe, great rhythm and really good interpretation from the music.
(If anyone's in the portland area, last I checked, there was some blues going down Sunday nights at the Masonic Rite, and Tuesday nights at Lenora's room. If you're in the SF Bay Area, try Friday Night blues on Heron st. or Roots blues at SF Ballet. No word on good West Coast swing out here)
