Month: July 2005

In The 80s has a nice side by side comparison of the 1984 Nena songs 99 Luftballons and 99 Red Ballons. The German lyrics from 99 Luftballons are translated into English and compared to the English lyrics from 99 Red Balloons. With my rudimentary German language skills I always knew that the two songs were different, but this direct comparison highlights by just how much.

Remember those handheld LED games of the ‘70s and ’80s? I had a hockey one (seen at right) that I used to play all the time… Peter Hirschberg has written LEDhead, a Classic Electronic Handheld Game Simulator that emulates a dozen classic handheld electronic games for the Windows, Palm, and Pocket PC operating systems.

The Flickr photoset “London Stands” shows defiance in the face of last week’s terrorist bombings in the form of remixed Underground signs. Apparently, proceeds from T-Shirts based on the artwork go to the Red Cross London bombings relief fund (US link | EU link).

The cartoon The All-New Sesame Street defies easy descriptions…

The Flash game Chaos Theory has a simple premise: “use the left mouse button to set off an explosion and create a chain reaction.” It’s more difficult than it sounds, and fiendishly addictive as well. My best score so far is 122… ;-p

A recent article in The Onion reveals that W often “regales dinner guests with impromptu oratory on Virgil’s minor works.” It’s a side of W that the public rarely gets to see… 😉

I really enjoyed Steve Martin’s novella Shopgirl, and I had no idea it was even in development as a movie until I came upon the movie trailer at ifilm. I can already see that some things have been changed, but I suppose that’s unavoidable. If they haven’t totally ruined the book, then it could be a really nice film…

Google Earth Hacks abounds with add-ons and tutorials for Google Earth, the amazing free application that Google released last week. The downloads forum has sections devoted to: individual 3D models like Stonehenge and the Golden Gate Bridge, for example; sightseeing locations; weather and traffic overlays; a newly-created section on current events; and more. Very cool…

I also found another fun hack at Lifehacker that allows you to display the 50 closest Flickr photos near a place you’re viewing using Google Earth:

1. In Google Earth, right-click on the “My Places” icon in Places.
2. Select “New” and “Network Link”
3. Enter a title (i.e. Flickr) and for the Location enter http://www.geobloggers.com/makeXML.cfm
4. IMPORTANT: Change the View-Based Refresh to “After Camera Stops”

I love this stuff…

I’m not sure how to characterize the Danish Bacon commercial Bump & Rind (embedded QuickTime video). Let’s just say I’ll look at breakfast in a whole new light…

The Live 8 Video Download site collects the Live 8 music videos offered for free by AOL into an easier to download format.