3D street paintings

3D Street Art

Via Joe.My.God.

German artist, Edgar Mueller, is painting 3D illusions on the streets of (so far) Geldern (Germany), Moosejaw (Canada) and Dun Laoghaire (Ireland).

For more information and photos of this and other paintings, follow this link (Daily Mail Online).

Mystery recycling

From the LA Times:

"About a month ago, Gloria Sohacki goes out to roll her big blue recycling bin to the curb for pickup, but it's so heavy she can barely budge it. Two neighborhood boys see her struggling and come by to help, and Sohacki says, 'What is in here, a dead body?'

"She pops the lid, peeks inside and finds hundreds of copies of a soft-core magazine called Cybersocket, a monthly promo for a triple-X Web magazine by the same name. On the cover is a shirtless, come-hither youth who is pulling his pants down. The headlines include, 'THE FUTURE OF THE PORN INDUSTRY,' 'THE BOYS OF BEL AMI,' and 'WHY WE LOVE STR8 BOYS.'

"Sohacki quickly shuts the lid and tells the boys thanks, but she'll be fine without their help. 'I didn't want them to see that stuff,' she says, which is understandable. She works as an administrative assistant at a neighborhood youth center, where she doubles as the dispatcher for the anti-graffiti patrol. It might have been difficult to explain why she had a trash can full of bare butts and stories about gay sex.

"Sohacki then manages to wrestle the bin down to the street for pickup, but when she returns home from work, the truck has come and gone and the magazines are still there. So she bulls the bin back onto the sidewalk until a week later, when she opens the lid and finds that the sex magazines have multiplied like rabbits.

"Again, she pushes the bin to the curb.

"Again, the truck blows right past it.

" 'I am not nuts, you can ask Hilda,' Sohacki said in her e-mail to me. 'I secretly think someone is targeting me in the hopes I will answer the ads in the magazines -- after all, I am a gorgeous-looking 62-year-old redhead -- just kidding.'

"Sohacki moonlights as a hostess at Taix restaurant, where she told her story to customer and friend Jesus Sanchez, who posted her predicament on his Eastsider blog.

" 'My problem,' she told the Eastsider, 'is that if the delivery person makes another drop next week it will overflow onto the sidewalk . . . and then onto the street where the rain will probably cause it to float into the storm drain and go out to sea.'

"Sohacki said she called the office of Councilman Ed Reyes and was told to transfer some of the magazines to other recycling bins so the trash truck could handle the load. But diving down through all those magazines did not appeal to her.

"She guessed a distributor was dumping Cybersocket instead of delivering it to news racks, so she looked up the name of the owner in the index and fired off an e-mail.

" 'I apologize,' Cybersocket founder Morgan Sommer promptly responded. 'We are on the issue today.'

"But a week later, Sohacki's bin was still filled to the brim. There might have been as many as 1,000 magazines in there.

"On Friday morning, she scooped a copy of the latest issue out of the can.

" 'It says, "Virtual sex is now a reality," ' she told me.

" 'What does that mean?' I asked.

" 'I have no idea,' Sohacki said, flipping through the magazine. 'Looks to me like they've got more plugs than sockets in here.' "

Tiddy Bear

Tiddy Bear

As much as anything, this is remarkable just for the number of times the announcer says "Tiddy Bear."

Sir Terry

From the BBC:

"Author Terry Pratchett has been knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace for services to literature.

"Sir Terry, 60, was named in the New Year Honours list.

"Best known for his hugely popular Discworld series of comic fantasy novels, he has sold more than 55 million books worldwide.

"In 2007 Sir Terry was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease and has since campaigned to raise awareness of the condition."

A Day in the Life of Abbey Road

Garble Arch

Found via Boing Boing.

It's not really a time-lapse video. It's a video that speeds up and slows down repeatedly -- speeds through the boring parts, then slows down for the interesting bits.

It's still entertaining, though.

Facebook

Facebook in reality

All your worst Facebook fears come true.

Jerry Springer: The Actor/Singer/Dancer

Talk about your "stunt casting."

Jerry Springer is going to appear in the West End production of "Chicago" as Billy Flynn.

His six-week tour of duty starts on June 1.

According to an article in the Evening Standard, "Springer says he has begun preparing for the gruelling eight shows-a-week run.

"'I'm taking this very seriously. It's an honour to get the opportunity.

"'I'm walking around with an iPod and learning all the songs. I've been practising in the shower. Last night I had to stop singing at 2am because the guys in the next hotel room banged on the wall, begging me to stop.

"'I will watch the movie, although I will not try to imitate Richard Gere. He is great at whatever he does and he has the look. I could be Richard Gere on the radio.'

"Springer, who lives in Chicago, added that he was a fan of the musical, which has been running for 11 years in London.

It's Everywhere! It's Everywhere!

Obama's Elf

I've seen this one so many places that I'm not saying "via Boing Boing" or "via Huffington Post" or anything even remotely like that....

I will remind you of that old quote from Oscar Levant, "A pun is the lowest form of humor -- if you didn't think of it first."

Nifty, neato PSA

Ad Council And National Crime Prevention Council Launch New Cybe - video powered by Metacafe

I can't really add much to that message.

Except to say that you're all a bunch of losers.

Okay. This ad is really aimed at pre-teens, but, frankly, I know a lot of adults who should watch this and take it to heart.

But acting like a jerk online is as old as the Internet itself.

And there's an interesting comment on the Ad Council Metacafe link (above). It reads, "yes let's chip away at freedom of speech a bit more. This is so stupid, it's online... if youd on't like what's said on it, turn off the computer, go out side and play or get exercize... that way you get stronger and faster, then you can beat the snot out of the online bully. 'Online Bullying' is a great way to discern who to be friends with, who to give references to, and who you simply don't associate with. We're robbing our kids of vital life lessons by being so over protective."

I can't decide if the person who left this comment is an genuine asshat or a dry-witted performance artist.

Another foiled burglary

Via Boing Boing:

A few weeks ago, we had the burglary that was interrupted by Thor. A few days after that, there was the man who tricked his carjackers into returning his car.

I like this one better.

According to KGW in Seattle, Patrick Rosario was laid off from his job at WaMu recently. So he was at home one afternoon working in his basement when he heard someone knock on the front door upstairs and then break through the door and start rummaging through the house.

He called 911 on his cell phone. While he was waiting for the police to arrive, he grabbed a hammer and went out the back door. He saw the burglar's van parked out front.

He got in the van and drove it away, still on 911 all the time.

According to the KGW report, "The burglars took off on foot, leaving a pile of televisions, a laptop and a jewelry box by the door. A witness who was visiting a home across the street saw them. According to the detectives' report, 'the males looked back ... and appeared startled.'

"'I wish I could have seen the look on their faces,' Rosario told The Seattle Times.

"He said he recognizes it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, but it nevertheless earned him some high-fives from responding officers.

"'Two pulled up, and they looked over at me and go, "You stole their car — way to go, dude. That's awesome,"' Rosario said. 'Another told me that I just made her month....'

"'We expect responsible adults to make their own decisions,' said King County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart. 'Clearly, this worked in this case, but in another case it might not have.'"

"The Simpsons" goes HD

Simpsons HD Credits

At long last, "The Simpsons" goes HD.

Tonight's episode will be the first to be broadcast in high definition, and apparently these are the revamped widescreen opening credits.

Found on Gizmodo.

Facebook memes

Is it just me, or are these Facebook memes getting just a little too personal?


Support Your Local Identity Thief

(1) PORN NAME (Your middle name and the city where you were born)

(2) ROCK STAR NAME (Your pet's name and the state in which your driver's license was issued)

(3) SECRET AGENT NAME (Your father's middle name, your mother's maiden name, plus your Social Security number)

(4) ARMED SERVICES NAME AND SERIAL NUMBER (Your middle name, the brand of your microwave, plus your driver's license number)

(5) SCIENCE FICTION DEHUMANIZED-WORLD-OF-THE-FUTURE NAME (The full account number of your credit card with the highest available credit line)

(6) EXTRA CREDIT - I'm tired of making up reasons for you to give me stuff, so just go ahead and give me the account numbers for all your bank accounts, the name of the bank and the routing number (it's just to the left of your account number at the bottom of your checks)

Instructions: Fill out your answers to these questions and e-mail them directly to me. Then change all your life insurance policies so that I am the beneficiary. Tag all your friends and tell them that if they don't fill in the answers and send them to me, they'll get seven years of bad luck and all their hair will fall out. Make sure they understand that if any of them call the cops, I will cut them.

Best. Hat. Ever.

We went with HB to see Cinematic Titanic live tonight. On our way home, we stopped to chat at Powell station before we went our separate ways (us to MUNI, HB to BART).

While we were chatting, this woman wearing the best Valentine's Day hat ever stopped behind us to adjust her hat. She was bickering a little bit with her husband, though I didn't really hear what they were bickering about. It wasn't serious, whatever it was.

He saw us looking at the hat and said "Have you ever seen a hat like that in your life?"

I asked if I could take a picture. He said, "Do you want me in it?"

We said sure. So he made a sour face to make fun of the way they'd been bickering a moment earlier.

So that's the explanation of the expression on his face.

I knew you would ask.

Two via Boing Boing

Here are two videos that are totally unrelated except for two things: (a) I like them both; and (b) they both showed up on Boing Boing today.

First, there's the kitten video with the six-year-old girl providing voices for the photos in her book of kitten pictures, which Boing Boing describes as "Best Internet Video Evar?":


Kittens


Then there's the musical homage to Trader Joe's:


Trader Joe's

The name game

So, just for fun, I created a Facebook group for people name William Green (or Greene) or variants thereof.

I have described it this way:

"According to http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/, the most recent census shows that the USA is home to approximately:

"8,869 people named William Green (or Greene)
"65 people named Will Green(e)
"1,439 people named Willie Green(e)
"18 people named Willy Green(e)
"404 people named Bill Green(e)
"909 people named Billy Green(e) and
"40 people named Wiley Green(e).

"That's 11,744 of us who get each other's mail, phone messages and attempts at debt collection. And some of us are probably related to each other.

"A Facebook search on the name, 'Bill Green,' produces what it refers to only as 'over 500 results.'

"Membership in this group is limited to people named William Green (or Greene) or some variation. No other qualifications."

So pass this info along to anyone you know who qualifies.

Signs of February

First sign of February: The cherry trees blossom. They've actually been in bloom for nearly a week now. I just haven't had time to write this note until today.

Every year, like clockwork, the cherry trees on our street and on the surrounding streets blossom in early February. Then it gets just cold enough to kill the blooms, and they go back to looking like bare twigs stuck in the sidewalk. This cycle might happen more than once (bloom, die, bloom, die). Then in March or April, they stay in bloom when the weather decides not to get below 55 for several months. Then the cherries appear. Then the cherries ripen and fall, leaving purplish-red paintball splatters all over the sidewalk.

Another sign of February: Huge crowds of people out and about. Yesterday (day of the Chinese New Year's Parade), as I was going to work, I was amazed at the sheer volume of people clogging up the sidewalks of the Castro. But I suppose it makes sense, seeing how it had rained for a couple of days prior to that. Maybe they were all going stir crazy and had to get out of the house.

Then there's the sign of just plain city livin' at its finest. About half an hour ago, as Chip and I left the gym and walked up Market Street, a man in his late twenties or early thirties was coming in the opposite direction toward us on the sidewalk. He stopped right in front of us, looked us square in the eyes and said in all sincerity, "Peet's Coffee is for people who can admit they're not bulemic." Then he walked on past us.

When typos attack

Jim Knight, Member of Parliament, keeps a political blog and an online diary and a Facebook page. He updates them all himself, and apparently he's been a little lax about spelling and grammar checks in recent days. On Thursday, he made the following post to his political blog:

"You may have seen reports in the media today about spelling errors on my blog. Good spelling is really important, as is always checking your work. I update my own blog and facebook page, often from my phone when I am on the move. As a result, mistakes do occasionally creep in. In the future, I ‘must do better’ and always check my work."

So why would people be running news stories about an MP's misspellings and typographical errors? What's the big deal?

Oh. Did I forget to mention? Jim Knight is Schools Minister.

The Telegraph's headline: "Education minister's blog littered with spelling mistakes"

The BBC's headline: "Education minister's online typos"

Here is the Telegraph's list of misspelled words found on the blog: maintainence (maintenance); convicned (convinced); curently (currently); similiar (similar); foce (force); pernsioners (pensioners); reccess (recess); archeaological (archeological); acheiving (achieving); and receieved (received).

According to the BBC, "Some of his sentences also had words missing or were otherwise mangled," and they give a few examples, including this:

"In one entry, Mr Knight talks of his pride at steering through Parliament the legislation raising the education or training age to 18.

"He says: 'This is something that Winston Churchill first proposed 100 years when he put forward the idea of raising the age to 17, then another attempt to raise the leaving age after the First and Second World Wars.'"

The BBC also points out, "The heading of Mr Knight's blog includes the verb 'to feedback'."

Bandages

Via Boing Boing:

More novelty bandages.

This time, "Scabs" bandages, decorated with sutures, scars, worms and eyeballs.

So much better than "Care Bear" bandages.

I think these are my favorite since Duct Tape bandages:

Life imitates "The Tin Drum"?

Via Huffington Post:

The Mirror reports that a baby girl in England is "refusing to grow," like Oskar Matzerath in Gunter Grass's "Die Blechtrommel."

Suraya Brown was born prematurely and weighed only 2.6 pounds. But, unlike most premature babies, she did not start putting on weight immediately. Now, aged 14 months, she only weighs 7 pounds (compared to the expected 20 pounds), and she measures only 19 inches long.

Doctors describe her condition as "a real conundrum." So far all tests, including tests for various forms of dwarfism, have all come back negative.

Mother Atlanta Ruzman is quoted as saying, "She is just like a real-life doll. In fact my other daughter has a doll that is bigger than her."

Shining Light

Shining Light

New Annie Lennox song and video. It's one of two new tracks on "The Annie Lennox Collection," a greatest hits CD and DVD that's being released on February 17th.

It seems kind of like "I've Got a Life" -- an okay song and an okay video. She's done better, and she's done worse. But, like Kate Bush, her worst is better than the best of the stuff put out by a lot of popular artists.