This year, Soma FM is doing a lounge Christmas channel (warning, auto-opens a pls file and starts playing). So far it’s been spectacular fun, and certainly not your average crappy Christmas music. Also, they play good music during the rest of the year, and run on donations like your local public radio station.
And now, straight off of youtube, someone took the Quantum of Solace opening credits and pasted in Joe Cornish’s proposed theme song. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I understand it’s much better this way.
Today, I marveled at how well Network Appliance’s cluster failover feature worked. One head of a pair lost communication with its disks, the other head took over, and nobody noticed.
From the BBC Tech-Ops history site, devoted to lore and information about TV through the history of the BBC from the perspective of the studio techs, a post with information and a recreation of the very first pre-television moving picture broadcast, on the Baird Televisor. The rest of the site is just as interesting.
At some point, people will simply stop listening to ideological bluster, and talk about the real reasons for problems with the auto industry, as opposed to what the GOP wishes were the problems. Illustrated with a graph. Via Reddit. (Update: Via Salon.com, part ‘Two:’ of this conservative blog post is what I want to see more of. Analysis and educated decision making, not bloviating.)
Here’s a really good idea for natural lighting, though sealing the cap might be problematic. Video in Portugese, but the concept is understandable. Recycling old water bottles as floodlights. Via Reddit.
First they found one in Russia, now one from England. Seems schoolchildren have been doodling while bored in class for centuries. Scary to think that some random note or notebook sketch may turn up as an amusement in the year 3000. Via Reddit.
Tonight, via Reddit, Peter Sellers beats out William Shatner by about 40 years. A Hard Day’s Night in the style of Sir Laurence Olivier’s Richard the III.
I’d go for this bailout — give everyone a sum they have to use to buy things instead of paying down debt or investing with. Like the “stimulus checks” but guaranteed to be shoveled back into the economy. Via Reddit.
This is rather moving; the surviving Tuskegee Airmen to be invited to Obama’s inauguration. And it’s Sen. Feinstein of California of all people who sent the invite — not someone I agree with a lot of the time, but she did an impressively good thing this time. Via Reddit.
Not normally a fan of Reader’s Digest, but every now and then they do an impressive article. Here are eighteen memos to President Obama from various political and cultural leaders. A few (esp. Grover Norquist’s) surprised me. Via Reddit.
For the aspiring MacGyvers out there, or at least someone who always wants to be prepared, Parachute-cord bracelets. So you’ll always be ready to rappel down the side of a (two-story) building. Via NOTCOT.
Here’s a fun metafilter thread to read (especially in lean times!) — what pieces of everyday life can be upgraded, usually for not a lot of money, for something durable and well-made and even pleasurable to use. It drives me nuts when people will buy a poorly-made knockoff or off-brand item because it’ll save them a few bucks, then being unhappy with the result, when a few extra bucks would have gotten something decent. If the difference is only a little bit, save a little longer and buy the better made product that lasts longer. No matter what you’re spending, even if it’s $5 for a can opener, you can’t afford to throw away money on something that’ll break in a few months. A few of the answers can get ridiculous (Aeron chairs? I wish!) but many of them are very interesting to read.
Easyweb is a French company that uses (bright) laser projectors to project spectacular 3D graphics and imagery on buildings, using building features in the presentations. Their six minute portfolio video is absolutely amazing; just sit back and enjoy it. Via Reddit.
Here’s a lovely concept — a cuckoo speaker (which is probably not a clock). Via gizmodo.
Adobe and University of Washington put together an interesting tool called Zoetrope — sort of like a visual WayBack Machine. MIT Technology Review put up a video about it, and Gizmodo did a quick writeup.
Sony’s released specs on their Cell-CPU-based server called Zego. Could be an interesting change from x86, especially for visual processing — and might give Cray a run for its money.
Tonight’s video: Real life Mario Kart! (via everywhere)
Accomplished & 
Tired
Awake & 
Exanimate & 
Sore & 
Exhausted & 
Recumbent &