missing in action, prisoner of work

i’ve been busy, working on the new site, reading, watching the olympics, corresponding with mr. morgan craft recently relocated to tuscany, and have not been much interesting in casting links into the void. i fully intended to keep blogging while i went on with the redesign but have not had the energy or to honest the interest. still surf but have not been finding much worth bothering to mention. maybe tomorrow will be different. we shall see.

posted by jmorrison on 08/16 | announcements | | permalink
flatland, a romance of many dimensions

edwin a. abbott’s classic tale of interdimensional experience from 1884. illustrated and complete for your reading pleasure. here’s some related material.

posted by jmorrison on 08/12 | sights & sounds - books | | permalink
insert lame “going postal” reference here

wired has a story on a new program from the post office that will allow you to get postage stamps made from any image you like. here’s the program’s site called, imaginatively enough, photo stamps. from the terms and conditions: you agree not to upload, order for print, or otherwise transmit or communicate any material that is obscene, offensive, blasphemous, pornographic, unlawful, deceptive, threatening, menacing, abusive, harmful, an invasion of privacy or publicity rights, supportive of unlawful action, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, illegal or otherwise objectionable. so what the hell is the point then if it can’t be a personalized, extreme anus close-up?

the look of love, or whatever

the rise and fall of the “photo-realistic” newspaper strip. cool stuff, but i’m not sure in what universe any of these strips qualify as photo-realistic.

posted by jmorrison on 08/12 | sights & sounds - art | | permalink
old men crying

ha hahaha haha hahaha hahahhah aha ha ha… ha.

posted by jmorrison on 08/12 | lost & found - wtf | | permalink
gui-debook

site dedicated to preserving and showcasing graphical user interfaces. includes timelines, articles, icons, sounds, splash screens, interfaces, etc. dig those funky system 1.1 screenshots. aw yeah.

seti inside

some dude named paul davies is of the opinion SETI ought to search in another place for messages from extra terrestrial intelligences, namely, in our dna. all i can say is, if a “message” were found (as if all that info that makes a human were not enough of a message) its authorship would instantly be attributed to the great bearded one, god, and much painful numbskullery would follow. so i say, forget the whole thing. please. spare me.

posted by jmorrison on 08/12 | tech & science - theory | | permalink
putting the transhuman before the cart?

link laden article at reason about transhumanists and their quest to promote the ideas of transhumanism. relevant or a bit pre-mature for us hairless apes? don’t know. check out the transhumanist lexicon for extra context.

posted by jmorrison on 08/12 | lost & found - ideas | | permalink
the 50,000 dollar kitten(s)

the quest for immortality continues albeit transfered to our poor, unsuspecting, short lived pets. a local station in austin, texas is reporting on some successfully cloned cats. specifically two bengal kittens named tabouli and baba ganoush, both approximately 8 weeks old. they are not only healthy and nearly identical, but filled with cute kitteny goodness. in other words ka-ching! the company responsible sees this as a green light to what’s sure to be the lucrative business of pet cloning. they already have 5 customers lined up at $50,000 a pop. “mommy why does poofy need to die?” poofy need never die now honey! poofy and her genetic progeny will one day sit unperturbed on your casket. now don’t you feel better?

posted by jmorrison on 08/09 | tech & science - bio | | permalink
voyage to our hollow earth

want to board a north pole bound russian nuclear icebreaker and set sail for wackiness? what kind of wackiness you ask? some juicy hollow earth theory wackiness, that’s what! from the site: “don’t miss this chance to personally visit that paradise within our earth via the northpolar opening and meet the highly advanced, friendly people who live there. We are of the opinion that they are the legendary lost tribes of israel who migrated into the north country over 2,500 years ago and literally became lost to the knowledge of mankind.” ha ha. so… uh… can anyone get a nuclear icebreaker then?

posted by jmorrison on 08/08 | lost & found - wtf | | permalink
what accounts for consciousness?

nobel prize winner for physiology and founder of the neuroscience institute talks human consciousnes.

posted by jmorrison on 08/07 | tech & science - theory | | permalink
as the approval wanes the alert appears

the bush approval vs. terror alert relationship. long suspected, now plotted and graphed for your sickened annoyance.

posted by jmorrison on 08/07 | news & views - headlines | | permalink
r.i.p. henri cartier-bresson

legendary photographer, capturer of the “decisive moment”, henri cartier-bresson has died at the age of 96. here is a gallery including 352 of his works. here is some audio via npr.

posted by jmorrison on 08/05 | news & views - people | | permalink
low morale

came across these short flash animations about “one man’s struggle to cope with the soul-sapping, will-to-live draining, life-force mugging, morale crushing experiences of work”. office work to be exact. 7 pieces so far, topped off with a beautiful animation set to an acoustic version of radiohead’s creep. extremely well done.

posted by jmorrison on 08/05 | sights & sounds - art | | permalink
“how to be creative”

i know, i know, the title just begs for the great nonist scoff, but as it turns out these few little tidbits of wisom are right on the money. so much so that if you can’t relate to them, or at least intuit their inherent truth i’d wager 1 of the following 4 things is true: 1) your not a “creative person.” 2) you are twenty years old, or younger 3) you sucked and fucked your way (metaphorically or otherwise) into a decent or even highly lucrative career in art already. or 4) your delusional about your prospects, your talent, or both. grrrrrrrrrr! ok… i take that all back, very cynical, but this list does resonate… with me at least.

posted by jmorrison on 08/04 | lost & found - ideas | | permalink
some future mission concepts

NASA has selected nine studies to investigate new ideas for future mission concepts within its astronomical search for origins program. read all about it.

posted by jmorrison on 08/04 | tech & science - space | | permalink
the panopticon singularity

not to be confused with vinge’s singularity. “note that I am not using the term “panopticon singularity” in the same sense as vinge’s Singularity which describes the emergence of strongly superhuman intelligence through either artificial intelligence breakthroughs or progress in augmenting human intelligence, but in a new sense: the emergence of a situation in which human behavior is deterministically governed by processes outside human control. to give an example: currently it is illegal to smoke cannabis, but many people do so. after a panopticon singularity, it will not only be illegal but impossible.” i see.

posted by jmorrison on 08/04 | lost & found - ideas | | permalink
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