Link roundup

1. The Miami Police Department's website features a mural depicting five gang members. Two of the five are clearly Jay-Z. Via.

2. Great photograph of Giselle and Tom Brady.

3. He tails off after five minutes or so, but the opening of Hans Rosling's Ted speech is a clinic on grabbing the audience.

Rex Crowle likes to touch

Rex Crowle gave a speech at the Dana Centre about restoring tactility to an increasingly digital world. He posted the slides and text from the show here.

*Previously: Rex Crowle's Grip Wrench.

*Buy Game & Watches at eBay.

Video roundup

League of Extraordinary Dancers in action.






Jesse Schell talks about the present and future of video games. Via.




Dogs catching treats in slow motion.




Tilt-shift video of New York. Via these sites.






Heavy Rain video game playthrough (Mature content).

*Previously: Bioshock 2 video playthrough.

*Buy vintage cameras at eBay.

Kamen Rider Soda (link roundup)

Kamencider cans spotted here.

And a few more links:

1. McClatchy Baghdad bureau reporters evacuated the recently bombed Hamra hotel a few weeks ago. Troubling signs included the brothels that opened across the street and that workers had torn down the protective blast walls.

2. My daily commute gets recognized as the worst in the nation. (One hour to go 15 miles yesterday.)

3. Chris Anderson answers ten questions about the TED Conference, including listing his favorite speeches.

*Previously: Ultraman soda cans.

*Buy Kamen Rider toys at eBay.

Maleficent’s Castle (link roundup)

Maleficent's Castle ("Forbidden Fortress"), sculpted by Larry Nikolai and available April 2010. See also: The Pegasus Family ("Mythic Menagerie") from Fantasia.

And a few more links:

1. Interesting TED talk: While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the globe skimmer, only to discover that it had the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world.

2. And here's another good TED talk: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian tells the story of Mister Splashy Pants.

3. Zombie in love.

*Previously: Maleficent transforming into a dragon sculpture.

*Buy Maleficent collectibles at eBay.

Entertaining math class (link roundup)

I'm not sure if the class is learning much math, but a fun multimedia presentation by Matthew Weathers. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Aspberger's may be eliminated as a diagnosis from the 2012 edition of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual. Via.

2. A time traveler visits the Revolutionary War in a first person shooter.

3. Wild Things on the subway. Via.

*Previously: A vintage speech by Bill Gates as a commando in Doom.

*Buy Where the Wild Things Are toys at eBay.

Horvath's Turtle (link roundup)

Go here for a desktop wallpaper-sized version of this image of David Horvath's new Turtle toy. And there's a few of the turtles on sale at eBay.

And a few more links:

1. Description of a SXSW panel discussion on book publishing gone very wrong.

2. Website devoted to literary tattoos, especially quotations. Via.

3. Bookninja is hosting a book "remasculation" contest, where the idea is to make books more manly. For example:

Charlotte's Web becomes "Charlotte's Web of Death", by E. B. White.

"When Wilbur befriends his neighbour Charlotte he has no idea that he will be sucked in a web of intrigue, deceit and mayhem, leading him as far as Frankfurt and Milan before returning to his humble farm for the chilling conclusion that will leave you breathless."

See a few entries here.

4. You can download for free the movie 24 Hours of Le Mans at iTunes.

*Previously: Reimagined His Dark Materials book covers.

*Buy Uglydolls at eBay.

Maximilian from The Black Hole desktop wallpaper (link roundup)

Download a desktop wallpaper featuring evil robot Maximilian from The Black Hole.

And a few more links:

1. Photos of a koala taking a bath.

2. To make a bs point about fighting malaria, Bill Gates released mosquitoes during his TED talk. His schools are apparently a big failure, by the way. Probably why he has to resort to scary stunts to try to intimidate his audience.

3. William Gibson continues to publish what seem to be small snippets of a sequel to Spook Country.

4. Seems like only yesterday I mocked the garbage posted at Barry Diller's new blog. Traffic has apparently fallen significantly since then. Via.

*Previously: Why you never see Disney's The Black Hole on tv.

*Buy plush koalas at eBay.

Ever wonder how J.K. Rowling came up with the names for the Death Eaters?

Here's part of her terrific commencement speech at Harvard:

“The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I’ve used their names for Death Eaters.”

Via.

*Buy Harry Potter posters at eBay.

A terrific speech by Seth Godin

When I go running, I usually use my iPod to listen to Ted speeches. This weekend, I listened to a speech given in 2003 by "internet marketing guru" Seth Godin. (He has his own action figure.) The content of the speech is fairly interesting (between 2000 and 2003, Pearl Jam released nearly 100 albums and all were profitable). But the speech itself is really well-delivered. I actually listened to it three times just to study his delivery. Anyone familiar with his books? I'd like to try one.

Video: The dangers of blogging, for men especially