kottke.orgJason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext productsGrand Theft Festal- September 17, 2008 This year's harvest of crop art from the Minnesota State Fair included Grand Theft Festal, a mashup of Grand Theft Auto and Festal-brand canned corn done in millet, alfalfa, canola, and white clover seeds. The artist recorded a timelapse video of its construction. (via mark simonson) (link)http://www.kottke.org/08/09/grand-theft-festal Guesstimations- September 17, 2008 The results of some back-of-the-envelope calculations: - The air in the Empire State Building weighs about 4 million pounds. - The energy consumption of the world's population will be greater than the energy coming from the sun in less than 500 years. (Peak photons) What's surprising about such estimates is how often they are very close to the reality. This is especially true in a multi-step approximation, where over- and underestimates at various steps tend to cancel each other out, usually..http://www.kottke.org/08/09/guesstimations Soulja Boy reviews Braid- September 17, 2008 Video of rapper Soulja Boy reviewing Braid, an innovative Xbox 360 game in which a player can rewind the action to travel back in time to change previous actions in different ways. Soulja Boy really likes the time travel aspect of the game. I wish all game reviews were this exuberant. (via waxy) (link)http://www.kottke.org/08/09/soulja-boy-reviews-braid Dignan's notebook- September 17, 2008 Dignan's 75-year plan from the movie Bottle Rocket. E. Develop outside interests a. Travel b. Art c. Science (thx, tommy) (link)http://www.kottke.org/08/09/dignans-notebook The totem fridge- September 16, 2008 For creator Stefan Buchberger, a design student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, the idea grew out of a semester-long theme about keeping personal space clean and tidy. "I decided to create Flatshare fridge because there is nothing more disgusting than a dirty fridge in a shared flat," he says. "At the time, I was living in such a flat!"The fridge consists of a base station and up to four stackable modules. The modules allow each individual user to have his or her own refrigerator.http://www.kottke.org/08/09/the-totem-fridge Every Photoshop filter- September 16, 2008 Dorothy Gambrell applies every Photoshop filter to an image in order and posted the results, including all the tweens. (via waxy) (link)http://www.kottke.org/08/09/every-photoshop-filter Rothko remembrance- September 16, 2008 Mark Rothko's daughter Kate remembers her father nearly 40 years after his death. Rothko may have been depressed at the end of his life, he may not have been as clear as he should have been when it came to writing a will; but with regard to his work, and where it might end up, he had long held strong views. While selling to private individuals from his studio, he would scrutinise their reactions to paintings; they had to pass a test they did not know they were taking. If they failed, they went.http://www.kottke.org/08/09/rothko-remembrance Only say true things- September 16, 2008 At McSweeney's, Zadie Smith on the organizing principle of David Foster Wallace's writing: If we must say something, let's at least only say true things. Lots to say about that and him, but the words, they aren't here yet. I don't have heroes but made an exception for Wallace. Still stunned. (link)http://www.kottke.org/08/09/only-say-true-things The economics of fruit picking- September 16, 2008 A British fruit company gave three economists the chance to increase the company's fruit harvest by tinkering with pay schemes of the pickers. The owner had been paying a piece rate -- a rate per kilogram of fruit -- but also needed to ensure that whether pickers spent the day on a bountiful field or a sparse one, their wages didn't fall below the legal hourly minimum. Farmer Smith tried to adjust the piece rate each day so that it was always adequate but never generous: The more the work...http://www.kottke.org/08/09/the-economics-of-fruit-picking Why people pirate games- September 16, 2008 Last month, indie game developer Cliff Harris asked on his blog: why do people pirate the games I make That question made its way onto some popular web sites and he got hundreds of thoughtful responses. Kevin Kelly summed up the responses that Harris received. He found patterns in the replies that surprised him. Chief among them was the common feeling that his games (and games in general) were overpriced for what buyers got -- even at $20. Secondly, anything that made purchasing and starting...http://www.kottke.org/08/09/why-people-pirate-games |