The Random Post

This Machine Kills Fascists Too. (thx Steve Kinney)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:21:41 -0600

This Machine Kills Fascists Too. (thx Steve Kinney)

This Machine Kills Fascists (thx Cool Hunting)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:12:21 -0600

This Machine Kills Fascists (thx Cool Hunting)

The War Effort.

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:23:35 -0600

The War Effort.

"Life packed end to end. Beginning to feel spread thin. Wish life was pretend."

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:56:22 -0600

“Life packed end to end.
Beginning to feel spread thin.
Wish life was pretend.”

- Me

The Typewriter and the Shotgun – Shawn Blanc

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:49:00 -0600

The Typewriter and the Shotgun – Shawn Blanc:

This is one of the cleverest pieces I have read in a while. Even more so for what it does not say (“the pen is is mightier than the sword”) than what it does. It is like the perfect school piece on how to write – Tell a story in a few words as possible, avoid cliché, respect your audience and their time, etc. I have tucked this away for future reference because this is how all writing should be.

Levenger 5-Year Journal

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:23:00 -0600

Many of my long time readers and those that follow me on Twitter and elsewhere, know how long and deep my love affair with Levenger runs. I have been a customer for over 20 years now. Words are not enough to describe the quality of their products, the attention to detail, or the outstanding customer service. Properly maintained, Levenger products are made to last a lifetime and then be passed along to your descendants for theirs.

I recently purchased a Levenger 5-Year Journal and it is true to every word stated until now. For those not familiar with how a 5-Year Journal works, there are Pages for 366 days, including February 29, with 1 page per day, with 5 line entries – one for each year. It allows just enough to highlight the bullet points of a busy day but forces brevity. It is like Twitter for a private and bygone era. There is no pressure to catalog every detail of life or how you are feeling. Want to simply write a single thought or idea? Well, that is OK too. The beauty is that, those who have felt the pressure of maintaining a journal in the past (like myself) will likely feel far less so with such a low barrier to entry. Take just a few seconds at the end of the day and write what strikes you.

The quality is extraordinary. The paper is bright, thick and takes fountain ink well with no feathering. The binding is clearly meant to last as a living document of record to be passed down for generations. The cloth and leather make it a stately addition to any desk or shelf. If I have one concern it is this – will I have enough for all of my years. I am seriously considering buying 10 more right now, for fear that I may not be able to 50 years from now.

Akihabara Majokko Princess - Kirsten Dunst (via...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:08:44 -0600

Akihabara Majokko Princess - Kirsten Dunst (via sailorsean)

I’m not even sure where to begin with the awesomeness that is this…

Fact: I am still surprised by the number of folks who don’t know that “Turning Japanese” is a metaphor for the jerking off (which is what this song is about).

The video is NSFW by the way and neither is this post really.

Business Advice From Van Halen

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:59:51 -0600

Business Advice From Van Halen:

malumelegans:

Dan and Chip Heath for Fast Company:

Van Halen buried a special clause in the middle of their contract. It was called Article 126. It read, “There will be no brown M&Ms in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.” So when Roth would arrive at a new venue, he’d walk backstage and glance at the M&M bowl. If he saw a brown M&M, he’d demand a line check of the entire production. “Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error,” he wrote. “They didn’t read the contract…. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show.”

I have been aware of this for years but it is always a good reminder. Having attended a show on just about every Roth era Halen Tour, I can vouch that they were always some of the most impressive and deftly executed rock shows ever staged.

That said, many other bands and performers use similar methods to ensure not only technical perfection but also give them an easy out of their contracts with a venue should anything not be just so. People often look at this stuff as arrogance but, as you can see above, most of the time it is simply to ensure that all parties are paying close attention to detail.

Duluth Pack Sparky Bag

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:17:00 -0600

doanepaperfeed:

One more month of this garbage and then it’s time for spring, why not celebrate with a new day pack? The Duluth Pack Sparky Bag is constructed out of burly 18-ounce canvas and offers up two “winged” zippered outside side pockets. Look at all those rivets securing the back straps in place! Like all Duluth Packs it’s guaranteed for life and made in the USA.

I’ve always been a sucker for bags and this one is certainly lust worthy. Plus, being I’m in Minnesota, if fits my “buy local” sensibilities.

A molecule of uranium has a million times more energy than a...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:53:00 -0600

A molecule of uranium has a million times more energy than a molecule of coal.” He and Nathan “Mosquito Zapper” Myrhvold are backing a nuclear approach. It’s called Terrapower, and it’s different from a standard nuclear reactor. Instead of burning the 1% of uranium-235 found in natural uranium, this reactor burns the other 99%, called uranium-238. You can use all the leftover waste from today’s reactors as fuel. “In terms of fuel this really solves the problem.” He showed a photo of depleted waste uranium in steel cylinders at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky — the waste at this plant could supply the US energy needs for 200 years (woah!), and filtering seawater for uranium could supply energy for much longer than that.

Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero! | Video on TED.com

(via boingboing)

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our..."

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:26:59 -0600

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

- His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Big! Exciting! News: ThinkTank Is Now at Expert Labs | Smarterware

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:45:35 -0600

Big! Exciting! News: ThinkTank Is Now at Expert Labs | Smarterware:

The first project that will be putting ThinkTank to use is for the White House itself. The President has identified a series of scientific and technical challenges that are as important to the future as the moon landing was. And we want to help drive feedback on that list, and even suggest what other items should be on there that haven’t been included.

This looks like a really interesting project and an exciting opportunity for Gina and crew. Congrats!

15 Things You Never Noticed on a Dollar - Manage Your Life on Shine

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:31:23 -0600

15 Things You Never Noticed on a Dollar - Manage Your Life on Shine:

Nothing I love more than interesting and historical facts about things that are so ubiquitous that we tend to take them for granted.

David Byrne's Journal: 12.12.09: Art Funding or Arts Funding

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:54:46 -0600

David Byrne's Journal: 12.12.09: Art Funding or Arts Funding:

Funding future creativity is a real investment — there’s a chance these kids will build, write, draw or play something that will fill theaters, clubs, stadiums, web pages, whatever. The dead guys won’t write more symphonies.

So many wonderful thoughts a points here. David Byrne remains one of my all time heroes. Now that JD is gone, he is at the top of my list of someone I would love to spend a few hours with.

Caustic Cover Critic: The 3,988,393,210,272nd Salinger Blog Post

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:55:18 -0600

Caustic Cover Critic: The 3,988,393,210,272nd Salinger Blog Post:

“Before his death, JD Salinger’s publisher, Hamish Hamilton, worked with him to produce jackets for reissues of his books (originally planned for June, they are now due out next month) … [said]Simon Prosser, publishing director, Hamish Hamilton: “There are strict rules about JD Salinger’s covers. The only copy allowed on the books, back or front, is the author name and the title. Nothing else at all: no quotes, no cover blurb, no biography. […] We commissioned Seb Lester, the highly regarded type designer, to hand-draw a font; that font, on the cover of these re-issues, is a one-off and is known in-house here at Hamish Hamilton as the ‘Salinger’.”

Love, Love, Love, Love, Love.

Also, fascinating.

How to Survive a 35,000-Foot Fall

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:14:02 -0600

How to Survive a 35,000-Foot Fall:

givemesomethingtoread:

You’re six miles up, alone and falling without a parachute. Though the odds are long, a small number of people have found themselves in similar situations—and lived to tell the tale. Here’s PM’s 120-mph, 35,000-ft, 3-minutes-to-impact survival guide.

Mark Pilgrim on The Setup

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:05:00 -0600

Mark Pilgrim on The Setup:

Writing will make you a better writer. Writing, and editing, and publishing, and listening — really listening — to what people say about your writing. This is the golden age for aspiring writers. We have a worldwide communications and distribution network where you can publish anything you want and — if you can manage to get anybody’s attention — get near-instant feedback. Writers just 20 years ago would have killed for that kind of feedback loop. Killed! And you’re asking me what word processor I use? Just fucking write, then publish, then write some more. One day your writing will get featured on a site like Reddit and you’ll go from 5 readers to 5000 in a matter of hours, and they’ll all tell you how much your writing sucks. And most of them will be right! Learn how to respond to constructive criticism and filter out the trolls, and you can write the next great American novel in edlin.

A-maze-ing. Every word here is gold, gold, gold.

Front Pages | “All the News That’s Fit without Print”

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:39:21 -0600

Front Pages | “All the News That’s Fit without Print”:

It’s the Tumblr version of Newseum. Except without having to go to DC in January and stand out in the cold looking at LCD screens in the sun.

"When you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense..."

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:31:00 -0600

“When you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”

- J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)

Rest in flowerless peace.

Think Like A Writer

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:10:58 -0600

Think Like A Writer:

Randy is at his best when he is writing about writing. This is no exception.