Manly building activities

I has built a dog kennel.

OK, so it's an apple crate with some corrugated iron sheets screwed on top, but a dog kennel it still is.

Scout seems to like it, especially as it is getting rather cold at night these days. (note the hand knitted sausage dog jumper from grandma)

Raaar. Manly building. I is doing it right.

WANT!

I require this t-shirt.

I also require to wear it in Northcote, Brunswick or Fitzroy on a Saturday afternoon.

What really motivates you?

How do you spruce up a talk and make it exciting to an interwebs audience? Doodle the whole thing on a whiteboard and time-match it to the audio, of course.

This video is astonishing. Not just because the content is fascinating (a talk by Dan Pink - Al Gore's former speechwriter - on the need to shift business thinking away from profit-driven incentives to purpose-driven incentives), but in the delivery of the message.

By providing a new, innovative visual style to a normally boring 'stick a video of the talk on YouTube' technique, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) have successfully managed to maintain my attention for a staggering 10 minutes and 48 seconds! New world record!

via Crikey

Fresh Prince of Mordor

This guy is EPIC!
Hunter Davis does a mad Gandalf impression. But rather than waste it talking about midgets, jewellery and glowing forest bitches, he opts to recite the Fresh Prince of Bel Air opening theme song.
EPIC!

Frazil ice in Yosemite

This is cool. It's made me actually want to visit America. Just to see Slurpee ice flow down a mountain.

via BB

An achievable bucket list

Sick of people telling you to make lists of all the goals you want to achieve in life?

Then hop on board Mike Sowden's 50 Amazingly Achievable Things To Do Before You Die.

A sampling:

• 1. Turn round and look at something you’ve just tripped over in the street – then realise you’re spending slightly too much time doing this to look entirely normal, and move onwards.
• 11. Whittle a new hole in a belt.
• 16. Look at somebody’s bottom.
• 26. Suffer an ice-cream headache.
• 43. Bite into a tomato and have it fire all over you.

Giant domo alert!

So, Eb and I are strolling through Sydney's Chinatown in search of dumplings, when we are suddenly confronted with a whole window of Domo.

Epic want! There ain't nothing more important than a two metre high stuffed Domo toy! Now, to justify such a spend in the budget...

Print your blog

Genius! Why didn't I think of this!?!

Blog2Print will transfer your Blogspot blog into the realm of the real - automagically laying out posts into a proper book.

It's not free (not even for the downloadable PDF) but still - great idea, and not badly done either.

But wait, I have now entered a meta feedback loop, by posting about this service on a blogspot blog. What if I ever do use Blog2Print for my own blog!? Uh oh...

San Fran Soapbox Derby 1975

OK, I reeeeaaaally want to enter a soapbox derby now!

Mad flash skills. I has them.

I am so smart. I done builded a flash graph showing the general crapness of the Australian Government on foreign aid spending. Lookie.

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

Pantone pron

Epic design WANT!
The Pantone press - capable of printing 28 simultaneous colours on the one sheet of paper.
At the same time.
Woooooaaaah....

Woolworths no longer accepts Visa debit

It would seem that, quietly and without notice, Woolworths Australia no longer accept Visa debit at the checkout.

To be more specific, as the Woolworths site explains, the company has not barred the use of debit cards — it has switched to processing payments on those cards via the local EFTPOS network, rather than clearing them through the international credit card networks. As a result, the option to select ‘credit’ as an account doesn’t show up on its payment terminals, but the accounts associated with the card will appear.

This IS effectively the same as denying customers the ability to pay via their preferred account. With the recent change to PINs on credit cards, some credit cards have effectively become EFTPOS cards. However, this move forcibly changes this in reverse. EFTPOS cards that were accessible via Visa have now been forced by Woolworths back to being EFTPOS cards.

I know, methods do update and change - we've seen AMEX cycle out, cheques no longer accepted and I can never find a 7/11 who will take gold doubloons for a Slurpee these days. But I'm not comfortable with a consumer outlet dictating the options made available to customers by their financial institutions.

My credit union provides Visa debit at no charge as compensation for their lack of accessible ATMs. We choose to do our banking with a credit union due to the ethical choices of that union, and take advantage of Visa debit to make up for the inconvenience this creates.

However, as Lifehacker Australia points out, there might be an easier solution for some:

If the only reason you’ve been using a debit card to pay your grocery bills is to avoid EFTPOS charges, switching banks to get more free EFTPOS transactions might be just as useful a strategy as switching supermarkets (especially if you end up travelling further in order to do that).

Regardless, it would seem my shopping days at Woolworths have come to an end. We use Visa debit, linked to our savings account, for nearly everything in day-to-day life, with the only exception being cash-bought fruit and veg from the market. We have the benefit of living in an area spoilt for supermarket choice, so it's easy to scratch Woolworths from the shopping list.

I did like this gem in the FAQ provided by Woolworths:

Q. My bank says I must always press Credit [CR].
A. Regardless of which button you press you still access your own bank account. You can still use your card to access these funds at Woolworth's.

I have a great image of someone standing at a checkout, furiously pressing the Credit button, to no avail. I do love an ambiguous non-answer in a FAQ.

iHipsters

So, for me, this new iPad ad basically feels like a hipster is scorning at me over his single-gear bike, ironically tight jeans and keffiyeh-wrapped stubble. 'Like, it's cool. Ghod! If you don't, like, get it, then don't bother. Ghod!'

Total Recall: The Musical

It's about time someone made a musical version of Total Recall.

It's a trap... I mean bag!

I require the The Star Wars Craft Book. It includes this epic Admiral Ackbar paper bag puppet.

"By reusing a paper lunch bag, you're recycling while making a cool puppet of Admiral Ackbar from Return of the Jedi. Have fun making other character bag puppets from the Star Wars universe."

You can't repel paper cuteness of that magnitude!

via BB

Homeless McKellen

I love it - Sir Ian McKellen's costume and mannerism for Waiting for Godot is apparently so convincing that people are offering him money in the street.

The 70-year-old actor is rehearsing Waiting For Godot in Melbourne, Australia, and was sitting in his tramp costume having a break when a passer-by gave him an Australian dollar. He said: "During the dress rehearsal of Godot, I crouched by the stage door of the Comedy Theatre, getting some air, my bowler hat at my feet (and) seeing an unkempt old man down on his luck, a passer-by said, 'Need some help, brother?' and put a dollar in my hat."

via BB

More flames!!!

One day after the Federal Budget is released, while every other newspaper in the country is covered in budget praise or criticism - and what does the Northern Territory News decide to put on the front cover?

"Topless heroine puts out fire."

Stay classy, NT.

via The Drum

iFalcon 2.0

EPIC WANT!
This is a Powerbook G4... built into a Millenium Falcon!!!
I have never wanted something more in my life.
Well, besides a working Mr Fusion and Flux Capacitor...

Designing for America

I'm Tim, and I approve of this message.

Batman Begins plotline

Now my head hurts.

via Barry

ABC fail

Can’t wait for that extra-long Lost finale? Well, neither, apparently, can the Muppets.

The video was uploaded to the show’s YouTube channel yesterday — depicting Rizzo the Rat and Co. invading the Lost offices, looking for answers — and is just the latest in a stream of Muppet/pop culture integrations. They’ve riffed on a ton of songs of late — including Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” for which they won a Webby.

Well, I would have liked to have seen this video (even though I'm not a Lost fan, I am certainly a Muppets fan)... but if you click to view from within Australia, the following message appears:

This video contains content from ABC, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

Nice work ABC. You blocked a viral video from another producer, advertising the public interest surrounding the last episode of your own show.

Viral advertising fail.

WANT!

The California Association of Museums are mounting a campaign to allow official Snoopy branded license plates in California, with all proceeds going to fund museums.

I want this in Australia!
Why don't we have sponsored license plates!?
And why can't I have a Snoopy plate!?
And why can't the profits of my license plate go to funding museums!?
WHY!?

Woah. Chrome Fast. Apparently.

EPIC ad for Google Chrome - featuring speed comparisons of a potato gun, sound waves and lightening vs the Chrome browser.

I'm still rather scared of the Skynet/Google phenomenon, but I might just have to try out Chrome. Particularly since I'm convinced they're purposely slowing down Google Maps on Firefox just to piss me off.

Get out of there!

To accompany the previous genius that was a montage of 'We've got company' shots, we now have the 'Get out of there' montage. Enjoy

via Laughing Squid

WANT!

Awesome BP t-shirt design from DespairWear

BBC takes a big step into media interwebs

Great article by Jonathon Stray on the BBC's recent decision to increase the amount of outgoing links it provides on news articles online.

The new strategy review from the BBC lays out the goal of:

Turning the site into a window on the web by providing at least one external link on every page and doubling monthly ‘click-throughs’ to external sites

Finally, a news outlet that understands the benefit of providing proper context and further reading for viewers. It is certainly a concept that major news outlets around the world have, and will continue to struggle with.

Take the current uproar about Catherine Deveney's sacking from The Age over offensive tweets. I'm not going into whether she should or shouldn't be sacked - I don't care. What I do care about is The Age covering a digital media story, without utilising digital media capabilities and functions.

This article about the sacking links to three addresses:

• Catherine Deveney's personal website <- good, you're learning
• A previous Age article about the controversy <- bad, internal focused
• Another previous Age article about the controversy <- also bad

There are countless articles from reputable, experienced and knowledgeable online sources that could have been provided as links, either via hyperlinks within the body of the article, or as 'further reading' links at the bottom of the piece. But this would have resulting in traffic flowing out of The Age's grasp - we can't have that!

There are also serious questions about the use of online media in the coverage of online events. Granted, this is a very recent development, but Twitter just launched the ability to link and embed to direct tweets. This is a story that could have benefited greatly from direct links to the relevant content on Twitter.

But no - in a dying media world obsessed with clinging on to the last vestiges of their print empire (and blindly applying them to the online environment), The Age couldn't possibly send viewers anywhere but circling around and around within their own site.

To look at the alternative example, look to Crikey for a brave yet forward-thinking media distribution model. Not only do they heavily rely on email delivery to supplement regular web traffic (versus print as the majors do), the layout and design of their site is tailored entirely towards external content.

By offering headlines, bylines and links to content from all around the globe, Crikey become the aggregator of news rather than merely a producer. In the age of social media and (although I hate the term, it is valid here) citizen journalism, it is the communicator in their central hub, able to inform and update their listeners, that is king.

We should no longer put journalists on their own pedestal as the fountain of all knowledge and intellect. A huge percentage of the population recieve their news and info from peers via social networking sites, and in an age where Jon Stewart is voted America's most trusted news reporter, you've got to stop and realise that something is wrong with the current news model.

The BBC's move to a more 'window to the source' model is a welcome step for open, accountable and less ivory tower-based media.

As Stray points out:

Aggregators flourish because users find them useful. The weekly link roundup and the top-ten list remain perennial blogging forms. And while every statement in news writing is supposed be attributed, in practice Wikipedia articles link to their sources far more reliably than news stories. The BBC may be on to something here.

My lord, there are thousands of uncharted settlements...

Damnit! Why did we buy a NavMan and not a TomTom! I coulda had a Darth Vader voice!

Oh that's right - they were twice the price.
Still... Darth...

Nice use of viral video from TomTom - long-winded but still worth it. And really the only way to communicate to the masses of map-dependent geeks out there.

Costumes scare me

I am so terrified right now. I'm sourcing some costumes for an upcoming campaign action, and the available costumes are really quite bizarre.

Check out this short sampling from this store:

• Townsend, Pete
• Taliban Fighter
• William Shatner
• Irishman
• Killer Tomato

How the hell do you get a costume that looks like William Shatner? Face sag cream, alcoholism, terrible acting and a yellow jumpsuit?

However, I am impressed to see they have a Donnie Darko Bunny Rabbit suit. I am so getting this for my five year old niece's next birthday.

Exxon Valdez scale

I always find it easier to understand things when they are both visualised and comparable. This handy infograph from Tango Echo offers both those criteria in explaining the impact of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Big Ben becomes unwitting election results screen

The BBC are planning to live-project UK election results onto the side of Big Ben.

The images, illustrating the state of the parties, will be beamed from the moment the first result is declared until about 0530 BST the next morning. The BBC said it was “delighted” with the initiative.‘

The Parliament has joined the BBC in this endeavour to project the election results onto the most famous tower of the House. This is the first time such projection is organized in Britain.

God I wish I lived in London. And had a high powered projector. And a good vantage point. And could outrun police.

via Datanamics

Virtual Street Corners

This is the most brilliant project I have seen in a long time!

In an effort to bridge gaps between two neighborhoods of Boston, digital media artist John Ewing created the public art project Virtual Street Corners. The project, set to unveil June 2010, uses live video feeds between Boston suburbs Brookline and Roxbury to encourage neighborly affection between the predominantly African-American and Jewish neighborhoods.

In conversations with the public, Ewing found people kept to their own neighborhoods, rarely venturing beyond familiar stomping grounds. Virtual Street Corners aims to mediate that disconnect by using video and microphones to encourage virtual dialogue.

via Cool Hunting

Rainbow rings

Now available - Unicorn ringholes! Freshly chopped and pickled, from an open-range unicorn's arse to you!

The perfect accompaniment to your Unicorn Spam.

The Daily Mail song

Dan and Dan have written a lovely little song about headlines from the Daily Mail.