Links for 2005-01-10

Posted January 10, 2005 12:20 AM.

• What happens to the water-cooler moment when TV is consumed on-demand?
  Michael Sippey on the creation of episode-based micro-communities for people who consume TV episodes after-the-fact...
  (categories: michaelsippey postbroadcast television tv tvseries broadcast pvr dvd alias media mediaconsumption grouplistening)
• Kevin Spacey 'to play Lex Luthor'
  "Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, 45, has been signed up to play Lex Luthor in the Superman sequel, due out in 2006"
  (categories: film kevinspacey briansinger superman superheroes comicbooks adaptations cinema movies)
• The controller of BBC2 is in hiding - according to the Daily Mail at least...
  "BBC2 controller Roly Keating, his wife and their three young children were driven out of their £1million house after a Christian group posted his private address and telephone number on its website."
  (categories: bbc censorship christianity christian bbc2 jerryspringer jerryspringertheopera controversy religion blasphemy god depressing governance)
• Dan Hon on the whole Jerry Springer 'controversy'
  "I can feel the moral fibre within me shrivelling as I type. In fact, I am sure now, more than ever before, that Jesus is a nappy-wearing gay baby. I had my suspicions before..."
  (categories: jerryspringer bbc censorship christianity christian god bbc2 jerryspringertheopera controversy religion blasphemy depressing)
• Check out the comments after this blog post
  How depressing. Comment spammers are - I think - even more reprehensibly bottom-feeding than the human charity spam on the streets that harrass you on the way to work...
  (categories: commentspam weblog weblogs blog blogs comments spam spammers gamingsystem arseholes bottomfeeders vile)
• New favourite "Have I Got New For You"-style guest publication of the week - this week it's The Dairy Reporter!
  Includes stories like, "A Tetra Pak subsidiary has found a dipping and coating solution for novelty ice creams, which it hopes will eliminate sub-standard ice cream coatings – welcome news for ice cream manufacturers..."
  (categories: dairyreporter guestpublication icecream diary cheese milk yogurt weird news industry)
• Clearly faked 'iHome' purports to be the new Apple product (but Media Centre - rather than Center? I think not...)
  I've already linked to it in the main weblog, but I want to keep it for later, cos it's a neat fake...
  (categories: apple rumours expo ihome mediacentre mediacenter cupertino photographs fake)
• David Galbraith's predictions for 2005
  Most interesting one: "Googlets - People cash out and leave Google, creating a startup frenzy in SF"
  (categories: google prediction davidgalbraith 2005 future expectations business technology IPO microsoft)
• Kottke's questions for "Design for Web 2.0"
  This is an old one but really interesting. Lots of questions here that are worth asking
  (categories: design future discussion debate usability innovation groups socialsoftware brochureware ux userexperience userresearch ethnography designprocess process web2.0)
• Daring Fireball on the rumours surrounding upcoming Apple Products
  "It's not hard to imagine that first-day reaction to the Mini would have been better had rumors not set the false expectation that they were going to sell for $100-150..."
  (categories: apple expo rumour software hardware imac osx ipod ipodmini rumor thinksecret daringfireball lawsuit)
• Guardian Review of "The Subterranean Railway" by Christian Wolmar
  Thanks to the 2lmc-ers for mentioning this. Key quote: "This new book is an entry-level history of the Underground, and it becomes clear from reading it that the faults of the system were built into it from the moment the first sod was turned."
  (categories: architecture systems transport underground book subterranean railway train london londonunderground history design)
• G-Cans photos of Tokyo's massive underground flood and water systems
  I was sure I'd posted this before, but I can't find it anywhere on delicious or on the main weblog, so I guess I didn't. Stunning pictures - like something from Quake...
  (categories: gcans g-cans tokyo japan architecture flood water underground systems structure moody atmospheric photographs photos pictures photography beautiful disturbing quake halflife game design)
• An article on overcoming procrastination...
  (1) I've not read it, but it's sat in my to read pile forever so I'm giving up and sticking it in delicious for later. (2) I'm only ploughing through that pile because I'm trying to avoid doing the Apple piece... No joke. I'm a disaster...
  (categories: procrastination work workingpractice motivation selfcontrol selfdiscipline discipline depressing ironic lazy)
• Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sleep (But Were Too Afraid To Ask)
  "What are you doing up so late, staring at the computer screen reading this? For that matter, what am I doing up late writing this at 11pm? Are we all nuts?"
  (categories: sleep science circadianrhythms hormones biology work)
• Dan Heaf and partner declare Airport Express war upon each other...
  Bloc Party vs. George Michael... The dynamics of a thousand upcoming familial battles...
  (categories: airportexpress airtunes music audio technology newmusicalfunctionality apple osx itunes ipod)
• US Army was interested in emerging technologies that might allow you to make straight men beg for sex with other men...
  "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior." The US Army are - bluntly - sick fucking fuck fucks...
  (categories: freaky funny sick homophobic vile gay homosexuality chemicalweapons morale army usarmy usa america americans)
• Videora combines RSS with BitTorrent to create a download-based PVR equivalent
  Mooted a lot last year, very interesting stuff, windows-only which kind of sucks, apparently no better than the RSS plug-in for Azureus...
  (categories: rss bittorrent downloads tv television ondemand pvr download windows azureus feed feeds programmes)
• Ways to fix your life: Quit your job
  And I quote: In some ways, now is a better time than ever to quit. "If you've been at one company for too long, corporate America figures that you are a dud," says Barbara Sher...
  (categories: job employment career careerprospects promotion dedication reward work workplace workpractices workingprocess business life)
• Homer Simpson uses tabbed browsing
  Dumb old link. I shouldn't have posted it, but I did because tabbed browsing is awesome and non-tabbed browsing sucks...
  (categories: humour homersimpson webbrowsers browsers browser tab tabbedbrowsing tabs userinterface funny cartoon tv television)
• US Postal Service reached an accomodation with the band The Postal Service
  "Each side stood to gain from the strengths of the other. One thing is for sure, Tamborello and Gibbard wouldn't have received the same cooperation if they chose the name 'Outlook Express.'"
  (categories: postalservice mail post uspostalservice band music litigation law conflict trademark copyright name)
• February will be Gay History Month
  I feel like I should do something to celebrate it, or educate. I wish I could do something with work. I'll have to think more about this...
  (categories: gay history gayhistory gayhistorymonth lesbian transgender politics campaign campaigning education)
• Spam breeds more spam
  Weblogs where comment spam is left untended appears to attract even more comment spam. Which would suggest that it should be quite easy for Google or whoever to start redressing the page rank (if they're not doing it already)...
  (categories: google pagerank commentspam movabletype weblog weblogs blog blogs comments spammers scum searchengines scripts automation)
• Insane Christian comic book that's designed to demonstrate why Evolution is bunk
  I can't even begin to put into words how terrifying I find this.
  (categories: evolution religion propaganda christianity bunk creationism intelligentdesign parody caricature)