my.bicycle

Check out Line Rider “beta” and try your hand at it. Then check out these crazy ass skills at YouTube. If these cats could introduce a sharing feature in the next version, either viewing or collaborative, this could be really sweet. (tokyopia)

Labels: video

Before deciding whether or not to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections, just ask yourself these related questions: With the five years that have passed since 9/11, what progress has been made against Al Qaeda, where has the bulk of our military effort been focused, and has it made the US any safer from terrorist attack? Do you feel we are on the right path? Are you happy with the way your tax dollars are being spent? Are you satisfied knowing that Americans are still being injured and killed in a war that has been proven to have been initiated by the US under false or mistaken pretenses?

Vote, and then we can ITMFA.

“The biggest hole in the world” (some in the linke site’s Comments claim it is not the biggest hole, though it may be the most dramatic) (thanks, timK!)

These artists need a new hobby: Representational vector art from Adobe Illustrator. Make sure to contrast the actual vectors (linework) against the color composites. This stuff is insanely detailed, and at least as representative of the source material as, say, a Playboy centerfold, post-airbrushing... (gizmodo)

Look on, in terror and amusement, at a collection of dialog boxes, error messages, and other helpful things appearing in unhelpful ways or manners (timmeh)

Whenever I use wikipedia, I try to hit the Random Article link once after finding the information I was actually there to get. Usually it links to some stub article that has no bearing at all on anything of interest. And sometimes I strike gold:

“Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.”

Ask Yahoo! - What exactly is a booger?

A revised look at the Threat Level alert system, and what things are actually likely to affect us, via Wired News: One Million Ways to Die:

S E V E R E Driving off the road: 254,419 Falling: 146,542 Accidental poisoning: 140,327

H I G H Dying from work: 59,730 Walking down the street: 52,000. Accidentally drowning: 38,302

E L E V A T E D Killed by the flu: 19,415 Dying from a hernia: 16,742

G U A R D E D Accidental firing of a gun: 8,536 Electrocution: 5,171

L O W Being shot by law enforcement: 3,949 Terrorism: 3147 Carbon monoxide in products: 1,554

The Modern Arcana (jwz)

“The first new idea was called ‘Area of Relevance.’ Somewhat like ‘Level of Detail’ for graphics (or Stephen Hawking’s Time Cones—depending on your preference), it’s a set of circles that emanate out from you, and the amount of data that we send back depends on what can actually affect you at a distance. A good example of this is the sniper scope. When you’re not using the scope, we send less information about players that are a long way away from you—for example, the exact direction their head is facing—but when you zoom in with the scope, we tighten that cone (and area of relevance) and again send this data with more regularity.”
GameSpy: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

(wigu LJ)

The name of this short film, “ウシガエル” translates to “cow-frog” The technology, such as the rotary-dial cellphone, is charmingly rendered. (4rthur)

“This month, the lovely people at Microsoft have decided to let gamers experience Xbox Live Gold for over a week from 20th to 29th September so everyone can play together. This free week will be brought to you by Windows Live Spaces.
This means if you have a silver account, it will magically turn into a gold one with their magic fairy dust, meaning you can play multiplayer between those dates for absolutely nothing, so we’ll see you on Live.
Stay with Club Skill for more gaming news when we get it through our internet tubes.” (via Google Alerts)

Labels: games

According to the only fan-site I can find for the show, there will be a Blade: The Series marathon this weekend on Spike TV:

(...) Spike TV this upcoming weekend (Sep. 9th and 10th). It looks like they’ll be playing all 12 previously aired episodes (counting the pilot as two episodes). The marathon will include this Wednesday’s episode as well. The marathon goes from 2 PM - 7 PM Saturday and Sunday.
This is a great chance to catch up and if you’ve got some friends or family that you’re trying to get hooked on the show, this marathon provides the perfect opportunity to show them why it’s such a great show.

I’ve only seen four unconnected episodes so far, but it shows a lot of promise. I’m just about to purchase the “season pass” through iTunes Music Store. iTMS was what introduced me to the show; the pilot episode and one other were given away for free through it, and after finding a few more on P2P, I am hooked. The show is structured along the lines of Babylon 5 or 24, where things happen in each episode that affect later episodes, and standalone episodes are the exception, rather than the rule. Plus, hey, swordfights, gunfights, gore, blood, and partial nudity because it airs on Spike, not standard broadcst. Apparently they’re shooting additional footage and dialog for the DVD, which will be even more graphic in all regards.

Labels: community, TV

YouTube - Japanese Gatorade Commercial "MIX SPORTS": It doesn’t matter if the BMX rider is “safe” - he is clearly pwned by the sumo chappie.

Labels: TV, video

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 will be preceded by a series of 10 webisodes called The Resistance, starting Sept. 5 and broadcast every few days until the (presumably) standard broadcast season premiere.

Labels: sf

Grotesque, and grotesquely prolific director, Takashi Miike’s live action movie to promote the newly localized videogame, Yakuza, is up for viewing at the Official Yakuza Website. (kotaku)

A lovely gallery of promotional pictures, very high resolution promotional pictures, for BSG season 3. (4rthur)

YouTube - Daily Show Gov. Bush Vs. Pres Bush

Related: Last chance to register to vote from abroad.

Labels: video

Star Trek inspirational posters. I encourage you to make your own...

Labels: sf

Banksy targets Paris Hilton
(...) the “guerrilla graffiti” artist Banksy has taken aim at the cult of empty celebrity and its current poster child, Paris Hilton.
The secretive artist has smuggled 500 doctored copies of Paris Hilton’s debut album into music stores throughout the UK, where they have sold without the shops’ knowledge.
Independent Online (stereogum)

Labels: video

Over at Crooks and Liars, check out Keith Olbermann tearing into Rumsfield for his inappropriate, ironic, and indignancy-inducing comments that we, as Americans, should temper our right to criticize government. Go. See. Now. Both in Quicktime and WMV. (thanks, Sean)