Context here.

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Last Sunday’s New York Times juxtaposed two interesting and seemingly contradictory pieces on art, money, and modern culture.  The apparent decline of music for music’s sake is lamented, but few stand in the way of the evolution.  The loss of art for art’s sake is more stridently resisted.  These are similar but not identical issues; they receive [...]

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Here is one example entitled “Israeli Air Force Strikes Terror Targets in Gaza 29 Dec. 2008″:

The YouTube channel maintained by the Israel Defense Force Spokesperson’s Unit is here. Text there explains:
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit is the Israel Defense Forces’ professional body responsible for media and public relations in Israel and around the world. This is [...]

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No, not this kind! Instead:
Hamster Paper Shredder

“An energetic hamster is powering an environmentally-friendly paper shredder by running on his wheel. And he’s certainly got his work cut out for him – as he has to run flat out for 45 minutes to shred one sheet of A4 paper. Happily, he is able to enjoy [...]

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If you like aleatory music, you’ll love the new iPhone app RjDj:
The application includes a set of entrancing songs that go on forever, using the iPhone’s internal microphone to ‘listen’ to the noises and voices heard in your proximity to dynamically create music.
I earlier blogged about this type of unexpected fixation of sound [...]

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As the $700 billion bailout for banks falters, the US needs to be very careful about future investment programs. Though I’ve endorsed a broadband stimulus proposed by Yochai Benkler, there should be at least some window of opportunity for consumer groups and others to make demands of telcos in exchange for the money. [...]

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At Ad Broad. Here’s an excerpt:
My life as a Mad Man began as a lark. On August 26, just after AMC lawyers changed their minds about closing down Mad Men twitter accounts (persuaded in part by bloggers and journalists who couldn’t believe AMC would toss away a brilliant promotional idea that did not cost them [...]

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Format wars buried two victims this year:  instant photographs, and VHS videotape.  Curiously, the demise of Polaroid and instant photography is accompanied by poignant farewells in The New York Times, for example, while in the pages of the Los Angeles Times, for example, just about no one is shedding tears over videotape.   
Why the difference?  Why the [...]

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Yesterday’s NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers (31) and the Cleveland Browns (0) prompted one of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s sportswriters to note that the Browns’ quarterback narrowly missed a Blutarsky.  The QB, one Bruce Gradkowski, achieved a passer rating — a measure of the player’s efficiency — of 2.8.  If you’re not an NFL fan, [...]

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This year, part of our family’s annual orgy of holiday film-going included Marley & Me. I usually make a point of sitting all the way through the closing credits, and that’s a good thing, too, because it took me almost two hours to notice something worth blogging about the movie.
The song “Happy Birthday to You” [...]

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Via Andrew Sullivan, the the long-awaited explanation of that classic A-ha video:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
Which reminds me of Howard Jones’s Everlasting Love, the most visually literal video I can remember….

PS: There’s a law prof competing for Sullivan’s prestigious Hewitt award–be sure to vote!

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Via.

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Forbes reports that a Beverly Hills physician who removes human fat by liposuction uses the fat as fuel for two biodiesel SUVs (his Ford model and his girlfriend’s Navigator). Apparently, “A gallon of grease will get you about a gallon of fuel, and drivers can get about the same amount of mileage from fat [...]

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Larry Lessig was on Fresh Air yesterday talking about his new book and the Stanford -> Harvard switch.  For diehard Lessig fans and followers (like me) there wasn’t much you haven’t already heard, but then again, it’s always interesting to listen to attempts to educate the public (well, the NPR listenership at least) in the [...]

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Via.

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From the MIT Press page:
Today government agencies not only have official Web sites but also sponsor moderated chats, blogs, digital video clips, online tutorials, videogames, and virtual tours of national landmarks. Sophisticated online marketing campaigns target citizens with messages from the government—even as officials make news with digital gaffes involving embarrassing e-mails, instant messages, and [...]

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