Links for July 14th from 11:50 to 17:00

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Sometime between 11:50 and 17:00, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • Blackbird that can mimic the sound of ambulance’s siren makes family’s life hell: He can ring like a mobile phone, peal like a car alarm, wolf-whistle and every morning as the sun rises he lets out a wail that sounds exactly like an ambulance siren.
  • Citizen Camera: Neat idea: tie disposable cameras to a few different locations with a note telling people to have fun, then walk away. Pick up the cameras a few hours later, and see what's on 'em.
  • McCain encourages adoption, unless you’re gay.: Mr. McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted daughter, said flatly that he opposed allowing gay couples to adopt. “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.
  • Building demolition based on old Japanese game: Kajima Corporation, a Japanese construction company, demolishes high-rise buildings from the bottom up. They install giant hydraulic jacks on the first floor, break up all the building material on that floor, then lower the jacks and repeat the process.
  • FoxTrot does Webcomics: I recognized all three of the webcomics in this FoxTrot strip, and currently read three of them.

This is Journalism?

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I’ll freely admit that, while geeky, I’m not one who will stand in line for hours for an item I can get faster and easier if I wait a few days. I’m less concerned with “firsties” than with my own convenience.

That said — I love the fact that the customer in this video actually calls the reporter on his idiotic “reporting.” I wish more people would do this — perhaps we’d actually get a bit more news in the news, instead of mindless fluff.

Probably not. But perhaps.

Goodbye (and Good Riddance) Alfaretta!

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Yesterday, the Stranger’s Slog posted about the number of “gorgeous old buildings” that are disappearing in the name of progress. Most of what was talked about was a building on Broadway, disappearing to make way for the light rail system, but one address caught my eye…

On Eighth Avenue and Seneca Street, the wrecking ball is halfway done leveling this old brick building….

8th and Seneca. I used to live at 8th and Seneca, in an old brick apartment building. I don’t suppose…

8th and SenecaYup, that’s it. The Alfaretta Apartments, formerly the Park Seneca Apartments, is going down. And to that, I say good riddance! I tried to post the following comment, but it kept running afoul of the Slog’s spam filter. Here, then, for posterity, is my reaction to the sad news of this gorgeous old building being torn down:

Oh, wow. Lots of old buildings might be worth mourning, but the Alfaretta, that building at 8th and Seneca? Just a poorly-managed shithole. During the years I lived there, I had to deal with two water shutoff notices from the city because the management hadn’t paid the water bill, an elevator that seemed to be broken more often than not, a renovation that seemed to drag on forever, with constantly shifting reports on when various services would be turned on or off, months without on-site laundry services, a few weeks surrounding the replacement of the water heater when there was little to no hot water at all in the building, and an often broken front door that had us occasionally having to have a drunk or drugged transient ‘escorted out’ after they went wandering the halls, or — once — started squatting in one of the vacant apartments.

Factor in the constant hassles from the Jensonia next door, whose residents seemed to embody all the worst stereotypes of Section Eight housing, which only stopped when the third fire in as many months finally did enough damage to condemn the building, and it’s a wonder I put up with the Alfaretta as long as I did.

That’s one old brick building I’m not at all sorry to see disappear.

Links for July 9th through July 14th

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Sometime between July 9th and July 14th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • The Greatest Sideshow Video Ever Made: The Greatest Sideshow Video Ever Made was shot at the Moore theater in Seattle in 1992. The oddball cousin of Seattle's grunge music scene, the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow mixed vintage sideshow acts with novel stunts never before seen.
  • A Web of Geeks, Every One of Which Knows a Lot about Something: Vegging Out vs. Geeking Out. Romance as the MSG of film. The bifurcated careers of Lucy Lawless, Sigourney Weaver, and Hugo Weaving. Characters making smart decisions vs. stupid decisions. Neal Stephenson discusses Sci-Fi/Speculative Fiction…
  • iPhone BookShelf: BookShelf is an easy to use electronic book reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Available through the AppStore, BookShelf installs easily on your mobile device.
  • Snack Foods That Sound Like Sex Acts: Immature, yes. Really damn funny, though.
  • Wonderlic Test: I'd never heard of this before, but just took it yesterday. The average score is 24. I don't remember exactly, but I'm very sure my score was at least a 36, perhaps as high as 40. Apparently I'm a smarty-pants! ;)

Two Phrases

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Nothing terribly new here, I’ll admit, but I just stumbled across this, and I’ve had this rant (or variations upon the theme) many times over the past few years: Two Phrases That Destroyed American Culture:

The phrase ‘The Customer is Always Right’ is the single worst philosophy that has ever been adopted by American culture. It gave an entire generation of people the green light to be as impolite, unreasonable, and demanding as their little hearts desired because they were always going to be considered right. It destroyed the entire concept of courtesy and rendered manners obsolete. People began to treat their peers in the service industry like incompetent morons, lacking in feelings or human dignity, who deserved to be browbeaten and abused for no other reason than they had the audacity to run out of a particular brand of coffee. Furthermore, instead of suffering negative repercussions for their appallingly disrespectful behavior, they are awarded with free coupons and plenty of ass kissing. In reality, they should be shunned and humiliated for behaving like such self absorbed little children.

Speaking of respect, another idea that has ruined American culture is the one that states, ‘I don’t give respect freely. You have to earn my respect.’ This one is most often uttered by punk kids with bad attitudes and black fingernail polish.

Fucking gag me.

I mean, how egotistical does one have to be to automatically assume that their respect is so fucking important that one must jump through multiples hoops in order to earn it? How about we give people respect because they are humans with lives and feelings just as important as our own? Why not give people a default level of respect and more or less can either be won or lost based on the behavior of the individual? The loss of respect is something that should be based on actions. The idea that that one must win basic respect in the first place is incredibly belittling. How narcissistic can you be to embrace that ideology?

Struck by Lightning

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lightning through my camera

Originally uploaded by SLOWLORIS

Flickr user SLOWLORIS was hanging out on her balcony taking video of a thunderstorm, when she was hit by lightning. She’s fine, and apparently so is the camera — ’cause she’s got the video to prove it!

From what i understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, just a really good zap!

Just amazing.

Encroachment

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Encroachment

Encroachment, originally uploaded by djwudi.

Taken near the Old Fishing Hole in Kent, WA. It was a gorgeous day, and the construction equipment looked really out of place against the blue sky and greenery. I think they were actually just working on some of the golf course that’s just over the rise, but there was something slightly ominous about them from this angle (in a bright yellow sort of way), like it wouldn’t be long before the view was of naught but concrete and steel.

Links for July 8th through July 9th

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Sometime between July 8th and July 9th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • Octopuses given Rubik’s Cubes to find out if they have a favourite tentacle: Scientists believe the intelligent sea creatures have a preferred arm out of eight that they use to feed and investigate with. They are now testing this theory with a month-long observation project in which the octopuses will be given food and toys…
  • New Nikon D700: Extreme weather photographer Jim Reed was asked to test-drive Nikon's D700 during the 2008 storm season. The following gallery contains fifteen assorted images from the record-setting period.
  • Getting your point across: Wei Shengchu, 58, a supporter of traditional Chinese medicine, poses for photos in front of Beijing Railway Station with his head covered with acupuncture needles depicting 205 national flags and an Olympic torch, 7, 2008.
  • Ayluro → Corkboard. ⌘C and ⌘V are so 1984.: This is the first clipboard replacement/enhancement software I've seen that catches my eye. Could be handy.
  • Exposure: Exposure brings the wonder of Flickr to your iPhone and iPod touch. If you like great photography, Flickr has the images and Exposure brings them right to your mobile device.

Links for July 4th through July 7th

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Sometime between July 4th and July 7th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

12,000 Free Hugs

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Seattle Pride 2008: Pride Parade: Spectators 37

Seattle Pride 2008: Pride Parade: Spectators 37, originally uploaded by djwudi.

Buried in the midst of my Pride photos: my 12,000th photo uploaded to Flickr. Yeesh!

Another 8,000-some shots and I’ll have as many pictures on Flickr as I have tracks in iTunes.

Photowhore and musicwhore, that’s me!