Month: August 2006

art

Why The Dutch Continue To Rock

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A young Dutch architect named Janjaap Ruijssenaars has created a floating bed which hovers above the ground through magnetic force. Sure it costs over 1.5 million dollars but still, its a friggin floating bed! The Dutch continue to amaze me, and not just because they have legalized soft drugs. Hup Holland!
floating_dutch_bed.jpg
After the jump, read the article
Via Phyl, a woman who loves the Dutch as much as I do…
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – originally published on 8/8/06
A young Dutch architect has created a floating bed which hovers above the ground through magnetic force and comes with a price tag of 1.2 million euros ($1.54 million).
Janjaap Ruijssenaars took inspiration for the bed — a sleek black platform, which took six years to develop and can double as a dining table or a plinth — from the mysterious monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 cult film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“No matter where you live all architecture is dictated by gravity. I wondered whether you could make an object, a building or a piece of furniture where this is not the case — where another power actually dictates the image,” Ruijssenaars said.
Magnets built into the floor and into the bed itself repel each other, pushing the bed up into the air. Thin steel cables tether the bed in place.
“It is not comfortable at the moment,” admits Ruijssenaars, adding it needs cushions and bedclothes before use.
Although people with piercings should have no problem sleeping on the bed, Ruijssenaars advises them against entering the magnetic field between the bed and the floor. They could find their piercing suddenly tugged toward one of the magnets.

ramblings

Siskel Versus Ebert

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Today, I was sent a link to a blog post that had a sort-of funny clip of Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert bickering with each other while taping a promo for their show a few years back. On that post however, which again was only sort-of funny, MC left a comment which pointed me to the longer and much better clip to which I have linked.
Hang in there until the 2 min mark because that is when things get Gibsony good and yes, I mean Mel Gibson because WASPs and Protestants get absolutely trashed, like when someone says, “G-d damn Protestants, biggest thing to happen for them on Sunday is a bake sale.” Ebert even mentions the “Fucking Jews” just like Mel, though he doesn’t blame the Jews for all the wars in the world.
In keeping with my established theme:
A) Siskel = bald
B) Ebert = fat
Via Neu

ramblings

Who Versus Whom

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I start many letters with “To Whom It May Concern” and usually this is the only time I used the word “whom” in a sentence. When writing an email today, I was stuck as to whether to use who or whom. So, I did some digging and got my answer.
A) Who: when the pronoun acts as the subject of the clause, use who. For example: The prize goes to the runner who collects the most points. [Who does the action of collecting.]
B) Whom: When the pronoun acts as the object of the clause, use whom. For example: The tutor to whom I was assigned was very supportive. [Whom is the object of the preposition to.]
If you can’t tell a subject from an object, you can replace who/whom with he/him. If he sounds right, use who; if him is right, use whom. For example: since he did it and not him did it, use who did it; since we give something to him and not to he, use to whom.

ramblings

Seltzer Versus Soda Water

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When I go to the bodega or supermarket to buy some seltzer, which I absolutely love and easily drink a case of each week, I also notice that club soda is sold. What pray tell is the difference between the two?
A) Seltzer, aka soda or sparkling water, is merely plain water into which carbon dioxide gas has been dissolved.
B) Club soda can be identical to plain carbonated water or it may contain a small amount of table salt, sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, or disodium phosphate, depending on the bottler. These additives are included to emulate the slightly salty taste of homemade soda water.
So, all club soda is seltzer but not all seltzer is club soda, like how all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares.
Answers courtsey of Wikipedia

ramblings

A Versus B Posts: Many To Come

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For a long time now, I have wondered when one should refer to A versus B about many different things. I have decided to help out humanity by not only answering each question which, like how Churchill referred to Russia, can be seen as a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” but by posting the answer to my site as well. In the immortal words of Bill Cosby, I hope you have some fun and learn a bit before you’re done.

movies

The Joker Card Has Been Dealt

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Although I should have gone to bed over an hour ago, I couldn’t help but stay up and read a ton of news articles and low and behold I found out that not only is Christoper Nolan directing another Batman movie – pretty friggin sweet to know its 100% confirmed – and not only is it being named “The Dark Knight” – an homage to “The Dark Knight Returns” which, “along with Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen’ and Art Spiegelman’s ‘Maus,’ helped to raise the medium to a more mature level of literature, and it ushered in the popularity of graphic novels as a form of literature that truly differs from “child-oriented comic books” – but that the new Joker character will be played by Heath Ledger. I also learned Bale (Batman) and Nolan are hooking up on a new movie called “The Prestige” which also stars Logan, aka Wolverine, aka Hugh Jackman. Talk about a cool Marvel/DC cross-over…
Okay, I am going to bed now because I’m defintely not going to find out anything better that this bit of news tonight. I might be dreaming of bats…and possibly Jack Nicholson, though I hope not…
(quote courtesey of Wikipedia – who else?)

ramblings

High Pitched Laughter

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If you are in need of a laugh, watch how this TV talk show host responds to one of his guests (Note: based on the other guest and the audience, it seems to be a pretty serious topic):

Via Ro