Jeff James » Random Cool Stuff

Racing Towards Insanity

Jeff — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:43:47 +0000

In “That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger“, we find a cyclist who goes insane every time he races:

The craziness is methodical, however, and Robic and his crew know its pattern by heart. Around Day 2 of a typical weeklong race, his speech goes staccato. By Day 3, he is belligerent and sometimes paranoid. His short-term memory vanishes, and he weeps uncontrollably. The last days are marked by hallucinations: bears, wolves and aliens prowl the roadside; asphalt cracks rearrange themselves into coded messages. Occasionally, Robic leaps from his bike to square off with shadowy figures that turn out to be mailboxes. In a 2004 race, he turned to see himself pursued by a howling band of black-bearded men on horseback.

(via @colinmeloy)

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Overton Window

Jeff — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:14:46 +0000

The Overton window is a concept in political theory, named after its originator, Joe Overton, former vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. It describes a “window” in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse, in a spectrum of all possible options on an issue.

Overton described a method for moving that window, thereby including previously excluded ideas, while excluding previously acceptable ideas. The technique relies on people promoting ideas even less acceptable than the previous “outer fringe” ideas. That makes those old fringe ideas look less extreme, and thereby acceptable. The idea is that priming the public with fringe ideas intended to be and remain unacceptable, will make the real target ideas seem more acceptable by comparison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

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Wakaresaseya

Jeff — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:34:41 +0000

Wakaresaseya (literally “breaker-uppers”) is the nomenclature or slang for Japanese businesses that specialize in drawing an individual into an affair. Though most often used to gather evidence of infidelity for use in a divorce case, it may also be used for purposes ranging from bringing shame to someone or securing a resignation of an employee. Employees of these companies pose as strangers who happen to meet the target, and then become involved in an affair. In 2005, there were around twelve such companies in Japan, but has grown since with companies offering services through the internet.

(via WikiPedia)

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Adorable Non-Union Cat

Jeff — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:10:17 +0000

This video caused the very definition of laughing out loud.

© Jeff for Jeff James, 2008. | Permalink | No comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: David Cross, Felines, writer's strike

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A Car Seen Parked on South Congress, Saturday Night

Jeff — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:12:21 +0000

How cool is that? The photo is a bit blurry, but I think you get the basic idea of the kind of metalwork that went into this thing. Aaron wanted to sit in it, but I pointed out that the owner was probably a skilled master of the blowtorch and would not take kindly to interlopers…

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Those Crazy Dancin’ iPod Silhouettes

Jeff — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:11:58 +0000

I’ve just learned a fascinating bit of trivia about those ubiquitous iPod commercials… apparently one guy does a lot of the dancing, even if the figures don’t necessarily look like him. All of the tall, skinny dancers with a particularly rubbery dancing style are David Elsewhere, possibly with someone else’s head superimposed on his body.

ABC News did a little story about him:

I had never actually seen the original Kollaboration video, but I highly recommend watching the full thing. My mind has been blown a full six years later. It’s kind of amazing that this guy has built a career of sorts out of a YouTube video.

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Miscellania

Jeff — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 08:25:40 +0000

A couple of things. First, “here’s a gallery of photos from the trip”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/49649144@N00/.

As for my stories about the trip… soon, soon, I promise. I’m still recuperating from all of it. I’ve got a nice detailed travologue in my head coming to a blog near you very soon. In the meantime, “one of my lovely hosts has some more pictures and a bit of a recap”:http://timanddee.blogspot.com/2006/07/house-guests-2-and-3.html on her site.

Second:

Third:

(Be careful, that last one might give you nightmares.)

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Not So Bad, But Not So Good

Jeff — Mon, 15 May 2006 13:46:42 +0000

falÂ·low (fÄl’Å)

adj.

1. Plowed but left unseeded during a growing season: fallow farmland.
*2. Characterized by inactivity: a fallow gold market.*

1. Land left unseeded during a growing season.
2. The act of plowing land and leaving it unseeded.
3. The condition or period of being unseeded.

tr.v., -lowed, -lowÂ·ing, -lows.

1. To plow (land) without seeding it afterward.
2. To plow and till (land), especially to eradicate or reduce weeds.

I should also mention “the electric sheep screen-saver”:http://electricsheep.org/.

!/images/sheep.jpg!

Who wouldn’t want a screen-saver that looked like that?

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wait, so… is this supposed to make me buy more perishables?

Jeff — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 07:39:16 +0000

Tonight I had the rather odd experience of going to HEB and hearing “Lost in the Supermarket” by The Clash over the in-store speakers. If you’re not familiar with the song, here’s a pertinent lyrical sample:

bq{font-style: italic;}.. I’m all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

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get yer war on

Jeff — Sat, 26 Mar 2005 00:15:01 +0000

(click for more)

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uqusnrae dcnae

Jeff — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 06:43:29 +0000

Aoccdrnig to rsareech at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

check out “the scramblizer”:http://www.scramblizer.com/

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satan loves lesbians…

Jeff — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 06:23:52 +0000

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aw, what the hell is that clown doing?

Jeff — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:54:37 +0000

so here i was, trying to nudge google into coughing up some more information about the “matriarch/patriarch/craftsman/clown” set of archetypes that i sort of touched on last week – i was made curious by this because i was looking in the webstats, and someone else out there was searching for this, and i wondered if there was more information about it.

so i punched in “matriarch archetype” and “craftsman archetype” and finally “clown archetype”, and what does it come up with, but this: (and how could i resist, in my horror?)

in the interest of combating any unfortunate trauma you may now be having due to that little image up there, i offer the following:

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more scientology

Jeff — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:56:51 +0000

thanks to a visitor who found this page on google, i’ve been given an interesting link detailing “beck’s history with scientology”:http://lermanet.com/beck/. scary stuff.

*EDIT:* I just checked, for curiosity’s sake, and i’m on the fifth page of the google search results because of my entry. not bad, considering i’m just writing whatever i want.

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i think this picture speaks for itself…

Jeff — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 10:33:10 +0000

That Borg gentlemen sure is getting hands-y…

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Good Lord!

Jeff — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 09:42:15 +0000

This tattoo took 9 hours to apply, but honestly… it’s the first time I’ve seen a tattoo that I wouldn’t mind having on myself. Theoretically. If I loved Zelda that much.

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miscellania

Jeff — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 11:01:11 +0000

# Entertainment Weekly named The Grey Album as “Album of the Year” (“More…”:http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,1009259_4_0_,00.html)
# I downloaded a cool doohickey called “Konfabulator”:http://www.konfabulator.com/ for my Mac. Mark says it’s “so two years ago,” but I’m hooked.
# I’ve seen a ridiculous number of movies in theatres recently:
** Closer – 4/5 : Natalie Portman really is a good actress
** Kinsey – 5/5 : It’s amazing to think how differently people viewed sex just 50 years ago…
** Life Aquatic – 3/5 : I liked it, and yet it was my least favorite Wes Anderson movie.
** Lemony Snicket – 4/5 : Jim Carrey is both wild and a good actor in this movie, although he never grates or spends too much time onscreen.
# Oh, I forgot! What do you get when you cross The Beatles with the Beastie Boys? “The Beastles”:http://halley.lunarpages.com/~djbc002/beastles/

© Jeff for Jeff James, 2004. | Permalink | No comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Jim Carrey, Lemony Snicket, Life Aquatic, Natalie Portman, Wes Anderson

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Dildo Lightsabers

Jeff — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 10:30:11 +0000

Okay, this is hilarious: Dildo Lightsabers (don’t worry, it’s not actually porn.)

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This Modern World

Jeff — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 18:23:59 +0000

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Structured Procrastination

Jeff — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 18:21:27 +0000

Good article, found on “John Perry’s website”:http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~john/procrastination.html

bq. “Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The few tasks on his list will be by definition the most important, and the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing. This is a way to become a couch potato, not an effective human being.”

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