If you’ve got an hour to spend, this Google Tech Talk by David Weinberger is worth a listen. In it he explains how the breakdown of categorization designed for physical objects when applied to digital or abstract objects (such as thoughts) can be overcome through new kinds of categorization—ie. tagging.
Exciting World of Warcraft Sequel
The Onion News Network presents a story about a Warcraft sequel that lets you play a character playing World of Warcraft.
For the record, despite the fact that I’ve played a lot of video games in my time, I’ve never played World of Warcraft.
Religulous
After several setbacks (including the Writer’s Strike) comedian Bill Maher’s new documentary, Religulous, will be released in theatres October 3rd, 2008. Known for his stance against religion, Bill Maher’s views on the various world religions are explored as he travels to numerous religious destinations, such as Jerusalem, the Vatican, and even Salt Lake City. He interviews believers from a variety of backgrounds and groups, including Jews for Jesus, Muslims, polygamists, Satanists, Hasidic scholars and even Rael of the Raelian Movement.
From a Variety story on Religulous:
Explaining his impetus to make the film, Maher said: “I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny. In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today’s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee-slapper. Unless, of course, you’re religious; then you might not like it.”
A trailer for Religulous, is online at Apple. (Also on YouTube)
2008 Democratic Primary in 8 Minutes
“In case you haven’t been paying attention…” here is Slate’s pleasant recap of the Democratic Primary in a mere 8 and 1/2 minutes 7 minutes.
I find it hard enough paying close attention to my own country’s politics, but this recap is nice because it succinctly summarizes the highlights of the race so far.
Chris Farley Interviews Paul McCartney
A classic SNL moment: Chris Farley interviews Paul McCartney.
Reinventing Invention
Last month the New Yorker held it’s annual conference: Stories from the Near Future. They’ve setup a videocast for the talks. Below is the video of Malcolm Gladwell speaking about innovation, genius, and the mismatch problem in his talk, Reinventing Invention.
See Reinventing Invention in pristine MP4 format.
Big Buck Bunny
I’ve played around in the open source 3D modelling software Blender a little bit. It may not be as fancy as the retail software on the market today, but if you compare it with versions of Maya or MAX from just a few years ago, it blows them out of the water.
A team of creative folks used the free software to make a short animated cartoon, Big Buck Bunny. They were funded by Blender foundation support and pre-orders of the DVD by the Blender community.
It’s licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, so it’s free to watch and distribute so long as the credits are attached. Theoretically you could even download the source files, remix the movie and then sell it for a profit. Here is the original movie via YouTube:
Watch Big Buck Bunny now on YouTube or one of the many other official viewing options.
Drayton Valley Bound
I’m off to Drayton Valley to visit my sister and her family. She’s got three of the cutest kids imaginable:
In the meantime, posting may be sporadic, but I’ll be back soon.
Wedding
My friends, Dave and April, were married on Saturday. I was lucky enough to be along with the wedding party and take a few candids at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden in Lethbridge.
Here’s one of mine catching the official photographer in action:
LETHBRIDGE – 31 MAY 2008, David Logue and April (Matise) Logue pose for wedding photos in Lethbridge’s Japanese Garden.
It’s a great place to take photos; I highly recommend it.
The Amazing Colour Changing Card Trick
As a former magician myself, I don’t believe in telling how the trick is done, but in this particular case the spoiler doesn’t just reveal how it’s done but is the actual trick.
Watch carefully.
[Colour Changing Card Trick – YouTube]