Shall Not Be Questioned » Weird

Down the Wikihole: The Photoplayer

Sebastian — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:32:32 +0000

After seeing a video on YouTube from a Facebook friend, I started doing some research into something called a Photoplayer. Apparently this is a one man orchestra that is a relic of the silent film era. This lead to looking at examples of this on YouTube, but the one that was the best was the one I saw on Facebook:

Looks like quite a lot of work, and also looks like a fun instrument to play. Apparently the instrument can be played live as well, without the use of a piano roll.

I’ve Already Seen This Movie

Bitter — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:19:37 +0000

Did anyone tell organizers of the 100-year anniversary Titanic re-creation cruise that they already made this movie? It didn’t end well.*

*You probably shouldn’t click on the movie link if you aren’t a fan of extremely campy disaster flicks.

Looking for a Crappy Christmas Gift? No, Really…

Bitter — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:00:59 +0000

This is just the kind of crappy gift all of your kids need to find under the tree this year. When I say crappy, I mean it quite literally.

For those of you who don’t think this will be a hit with the kids, you are WRONG! This has apparently been one of the biggest sellers in Germany.

If you are looking to follow up with a Gassy New Year gift, it turns out that you’re covered there, too.

(h/t to AdAge for the Doggie Doo commercial)

How About Telling us Where to Buy the Sandwich?

Sebastian — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:39:42 +0000

Apparently two armed men robbed a 13 year old boy of his sandwich. Yeadon police say they recovered both the gun and the sandwich. They missed a key piece of information though, which is where in Yeadon to buy a sandwich that’s worth committing armed robbery for? I’m about an hour away from there, but I’ll make the drive to try that sandwich.

I’ll Have the Mammoth Steak, Extra Rare

Sebastian — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:41:01 +0000

Apparently a restaurant in Berlin is featuring a menu made up entirely of “paleolithic cuisine!” I’m not one for trendy food fads, but this is one I’d give a try. The only problem I see here is that quite a lot of the meat our paleolithic ancestors fed on are no longer available, possibly because we hunted them all to extinction. Some humans are revolted by that possibility, but it just makes me want to celebrate our species’ success as an apex predator. This cuisine seems a good way to do that.

I’m going to bet a paleodiet actually turns out to work pretty well for people in terms of weight loss, and controlling all the naughty stuff your doctor warns you about. It’s just a hypothesis, but we evolved as hunter gatherers, and didn’t develop agriculture until fairly recently. It seems reasonable that our bodies just don’t deal well with the types of food agriculture produces in abundance. Of course, we also didn’t live until 80 on average until very recently, and considering nature doesn’t give a flying rats behind about your fitness beyond prime reproduction and child rearing years, it’s quite possible we get sick and die beyond those years no matter what we eat.

But maybe if this cuisine catches on, it’ll create a market for using our biomedical technology to bring back the mammoth. Jurassic Park aside, I’ve always thought that would be a rather cool experiment.

Everybody’s a Freak

Sebastian — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:15:00 +0000

I don’t know how people on the other side of our issue can look at videos, and press accounts like this, and then come to the conclusion that gun rights advocates are weirdos and lunatics.

I don’t really bat an eye when I’m at a gun event and I see camo. It’s kind of like the tie-dye of our side. But the other side accuses us of all manner of freakiness and extremism. I’m trying to think of what most of our folks would think if someone showed up to a political event in a dress military uniform from the SS or, if they wanted to be more stylish, an Italian military dress uniform from the Fascist era? I’m pretty sure most of us would elbow each other, and mutter, “Who the hell is that weirdo?” He would be made to feel unwelcome.

Yeah, sorry folks, no one gets a free ticket out of the freak show. But if I had to choose between having Ted Nugent on my side, or this guy, I’ll take Nugent any day of the week.

Scott Adams on Creativity

Sebastian — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:22:26 +0000

He suggests that you can’t generate creativity, that creativity is something that people just innately have or don’t have.

“There’s no way to stop creativity unless you kill the people who have it. Creators will change jobs, defy the government, move to other countries, and do whatever they need to let the creativity out.”

This blog started during a particularly low part during my career, when our company was floundering badly, and I wasn’t being listened to or respected. In fact, I was being downright abused, and sometimes wish instead of continuing with blogging, I would have just gone to look for another job, back before the financial crisis. But I don’t deny that a particular appeal to the medium was as a creative outlet. I think this point is particularly salient:

I’ve noticed that creativity so often springs from hardship or pain that I wonder if it’s a precondition. That would make sense from an evolution perspective. Humans don’t need to come up with new ideas when everything is running smoothly. We need creativity when we’re threatened and all of the usual defenses are deemed inadequate. In other words, the best way to generate creativity is to induce hardship on humans, which would be unethical. Conversely, the best way to reduce creativity is to – wait for it – make things nice and comfortable for creative people. In other words, any ethical attempt to encourage creativity will have the unintended effect of killing it. Happy creators are not productive.

I think he’s onto something here. When I think back, I’ve come up with some of my best ideas during times of extreme hardship. Interestingly, unemployment seems to stoke my game development itch. The last time I didn’t have a job or a prospect I wrote a pretty large chunk of an online text adventure game (which were still popular back then). Once I got a job, and felt “safe” it just kind of died. This bout of joblessness, I have all kinds of crazy game ideas popping into my head. My best work at my previous employer was when new leadership who listened to us took over, and it we all went from apathy into “save the company” mode. Things were very crazy and uncertain, and I was constantly worried about my job, but I did some of my best work for that company in those couple of years.

At least from my experience, Scott Adams was right. Adversity definitely seems to be what gets me thinking.

Where Do These People Find Me?

Sebastian — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:19:54 +0000

That’s a whole lot of crazy right there. You could bottle that as crazy concentrate right now. No need for a vacuum evaporator, or any special processing. Blog long enough, eventually you’ll think you’ve heard it all, and then someone will come along and prove you wrong.

Now This is Reloading

Sebastian — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:25:48 +0000

An Alabama company will turn your loved ones into ammunition. I kid you not.

Einstein or Marylyn Monroe?

Sebastian — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:03:32 +0000

Go have a look at this image, and then take off your glasses. This has been making it’s way around, and I thought it was pretty neat. I’m not actually near sighted enough without glasses that I see the alternate image, so I had to blur my eyes a bit.