Month: July 2011

Wednesday various

  • I’m not really sure why you’d want bots to pretend to be you on social network sites, and the confused grammar of the fine print doesn’t really make things clearer [via]:

    The bot does not born with a fictitious identity, but will be added to the real identity of the user to modify it at his convenience. Thus, this bot can be seen as a virtual prothesis [sic] added to an user’s account. With the aim to help him to forge a digital identity of what he would really like to be and by trying to build a greater social reputation for the user. Moreover, this bot can be perceived as a threat by defrauding even more the reality of who is really who on social networks and by showing the poverty of our social interactions on these so-called social networks.

  • The Eternal Shame of Your First Online Handle. I dunno, I’m still using mine on a regular basis. (Though it predates my capping by a couple of years.) [via]
  • Guess the film by the final image. I got less than half. Slightly spoilery, for some films more than others. Of course, I can’t tell you which films without ruining the whole thing. [via]
  • A wonderfully detailed analysis of set design and spatial awareness in The Shining. He concludes, I think rightly, that a lot (if not all) of these “errors” were intentional, meant to disorient and unnerve viewers who would, maybe only subconsciously, pick up on the impossibility of the architecture. It gets to the heart of something I’ve discussed with enthusiasm before: using lies in fiction to tell the truth, creating a more believable world by adding less real elements. [via]
  • And finally, a virtual supermarket in a subway station. [via]

Tuesday

Yesterday was Monday, tomorrow is Wednesday, and today was that day that usually falls right in between.

I have basically nothing else to say about it.

Tuesday various

  • Dyslexie, A Typeface Designed To Help Dyslexics Read. [via]
  • Sure, it was silly and ridiculous when it happened on The Office, but it can be deadly serious when your GPS gives you the wrong information. [via]

    Suddenly, that suggestion that mapmakers sometimes intentionally include false information to prevent copyright infringement sounds fairly irresponsible.

  • On the pleasures of dining alone [via]
  • Speaking of food, this may be the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen. And I watch Bizarre Foods pretty regularly. Seriously, it’s perfectly SFW, but you may want to exercise caution visiting that link, much less watching the video. It’s of a “dancing squid” in a Japanese restaurant, reportedly, and it seems like nothing more than cruelty masquerading as novelty.

    I am not a vegetarian, and I’ve eaten squid. I quite enjoyed the calamari I had on Saturday evening, for instance. But I think we have an obligation towards the food that we eat, the animals that we kill to sustain us. If they give up their lives, they deserve a quick an merciful end. They do not deserve to be toyed with like this.

    That said, if it’s fake…I’m not sure I feel a whole better about it. Although there’s a lot of evidence and commentary (here as well) to suggest it’s real.

  • And finally, on a happier note, Monty Python member Graham Chapman isn’t going to let a little thing like being dead stand in the way of his making a new movie.