http://www.patrickunscripted.com Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:48:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Since it's been over a year since I last wrote anything, I may as well admit that blogging is no longer an avocation I'm interested in keeping up. I'll doubtless continue to tweet, and occasionally post photos to flickr and videos to vimeo, but the long-form blog post—or journal entry, ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2009/09/06/blogging-is-dead-long-live-the-blog/ I never got around to finishing this website, and I won't be updating it from overseas, so follow me on twitter or flickr if you care to know what I'm up to. See you in '09. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/26/watch-this-space/ Image stolen from Shepard Fairey, text from some hippies that Tom Wolfe was hanging out with in the 60s. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/19/the-next-goldwater/ Using Photographs to enhance videos of a static scene (via Daring Fireball). I can't wait for the Final Cut plugin. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/15/using-photographs-to-enhance-videos-of-a-static-scene/ Climate change is too benign a term to impel emission reduction. How about climApocalypse or thermageddon? http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/15/an-inconvenient-thesaurus-entry/ Since it's a slow news month, I don't care about the olympics and the conventions aren't for another two weeks, I think I'll kill time by watching some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi trilogies. I've started with history's longest New Zealand travel advert, which has remained improbably high on IMDB's ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/15/its-trilogy-time/ Click through for more nerdy goodness. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/10/images-of-the-day-science/ While we're talking about the LHC, Sean at Cosmic Variance discusses some of the discoveries it might yield. After reading that I had to spend a good half hour on Wikipedia reminding myself what elementary particles are bouncing around these days. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/08/speaking-of-hadrons/ Because every new WordPress upgrade breaks K2, my previous theme, I'm working on a new home-grown alternative. Until it's ready for prime time, here are some random items of interest: Some people still believe the earth is flat. Oddly, this misconception isn't as old as many think. NYT's Solzhenitsyn obit is 8 ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/04/hors-doeuvre/ Even if the LHC doesn't create an earth-consuming black hole, photographs reveal it to be the most sinister-looking technological artifact in Switzerland. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/08/02/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-hadron-overlords/ If advertising or research is funded by the producer of a potentially dangerous item, it should probably be regarded with increased suspicion. Witness Corn Product International's High-Fructose Corn Syrup advertising campaign: whereas refined sugar and HFCS have been implicated in the rise of obesity and diabetes in developed countries, the ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/23/better-food-through-advertising/ Over the last few months both of my Hewlett-Packard printers have failed. I'll admit they were loss leader inexpensive and thus quite likely to break after I had already purchased additional absurdly expensive cartridges. I don't mind running down to the business center to print things out (for free); in ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/18/inked/ The Truth about Barack Obama: "Barack Obama says that Americans cling to GUNS and RELIGION because they are AWESOME." http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/18/the-truth-about-obama/ Gore endorses Obama. Wonkette's analysis: "One thing is clear: You can take anybody and stick them in front of that Obama background and they will look 10 percent leaner, more youthful, and Hopier." http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/16/obama-gets-gored/ Where's the good music this year? I've only acquired 4 new albums this year (Colin Meloy, Jack Johnson, The Magnetic Fields and Vampire Weekend) and will probably buy the new Sigur Rós when it's released next week. Death Cab got mixed reviews last month, so I haven't picked that one ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/16/stuck-between-stations/ "A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income" (via kottke.org) http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/14/taxing-stupidity/ Whether you've been avidly following the Democratic primary excitement over the last several aeons or not, this video is supremely informative and surprisingly funny. Edit: Belated hat tip to Kristina, who noticed this ages before I did and included an anecdote about how left-leaning the WaPo is. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/13/perish-the-thought/ If you find the quantity and variety of available nutritional advice frustrating, find relief in Michael Pollan's simplified rules: Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. In the last 50 pages of In Defense of Food, he parses this guidance into an only slightly more complicated algorithm, the highlights of which ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/08/what-i-learned-today-in-defense-of-food-ii/ Nothing says "I love you, Dad" like a John McCain Golf Pack. Unsurprisingly, Golf Gear shares equal importance with "Strategy" and "General Election" on McCain's website. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/08/mccain-golf-gear/ The Big Picture recently showcased some amazing photos of Saturn from NASA's Cassini Spacecraft. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/08/stunning-photos-of-saturn-from-nasas-cassini-spacecraft/ So now you can comment directly on digressions (the short posts with no title) by clicking on the little date/comment combo directly following the entry. This totally breaks my film review system, which I probably need to take out of the digressions category anyways. ALSO, if you want an avatar to ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/08/back-by-unpopular-demand/ In what is likely the least coherent endorsement of the season, enigmatic artist Bob Dylan has come out in support of Barack Obama, just a few days shy of Clinton's concession. You can add this to the three billion other endorsements Obama has already scored. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/08/dont-criticize-what-you-cant-understand/ SensibleUnits.com converts selected SI and customary units (length, area or mass only) into arbitrary artificial units. It's good to know that I weigh as much as 14 "average domestic cats." http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/04/656/ That's Ferdinand Ries' 2nd Symphony, by the way. I promise this isn't becoming a YouTube-regurgitation site. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/04/musical-roller-coaster-like-whoa/ This Weezer music video gleefully channels some of the funnier internet memes of this millennium. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/01/all-your-pork-and-beans-are-belong-to-us/ In honor of the HST's 18th birthday last month, NASA/ESA published a page of photographs of merging galaxies. The idea for satellite telescopes goes back to the 1920s, but the HST didn't launch until 1990, and a significant problem with it's original mirror wasn't corrected until 1993. Despite its importance ... http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/01/merging-galaxies-now-thats-sexy/ Though unlikely to pass, a vote extending "the period for which a terrorist suspect can be detained without charge from 28 to 42 days" would at least provide another candidate for the ultimate question. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/06/01/the-subliminal-reason-behind-gordon-browns-proposal/ Things younger than John McCain: the Golden Gate Bridge, the ballpoint pen, the chocolate chip cookie, Velcro, 91% of Americans. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/05/31/things-younger-than-mccain/ Wonkette: Is Hillary Clinton too drunk to be president? http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/05/30/is-hillary-clinton-too-drunk-to-be-president/ Who needs expensive game consoles like the Wii or PS3 when you can play free games online ... like BUDGET HERO. It's fun and informative. http://www.patrickunscripted.com/2008/05/29/budget-hero/