Warcraft Identity of Obama’s FCC Transition Team Co-Chair Revealed, Analyzed
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Earlier on Boing Boing, Cory blogged that President-elect Barack Obama has appointed Net Neutrality advocates and “virtual worlds nuts” Kevin Werbach and Susan Crawford to co-chair his FCC transition team. Okay, so we might know the guy as Kevin Werbach out here in meatspace, but to his Terror Nova Guild buddies, he’s better known as Supernovan Jenkins (the first name presumably a reference to Werbach’s Supernova tech conference series), and he’s a Level 70 Tauren Shaman. Livejournaler Waltermonkey opines on the deeper meaning of Werbach’s WoW identity:
What does this tell us about him, as a person, as a gamer, as a government official? I will attempt to translate all the dorkese.Read the whole thing: victory or death! yes we can! (Waltermonkey; thanks Drew Coombs of Project Lore! Recompense of phat lewt, reagents, and pizza await thee.)1. - CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Every player in WoW belongs to one of two warring factions, Alliance or Horde. Werbach is Horde. Children often choose to be Alliance because they perceive them as “the good guys”, but students of history (both ours and Azeroth’s) recognize that Alliance culture is based on medieval European culture and Horde culture is based on the indigenous cultures that were supplanted by the West.
Werbach is a Tauren (a minotaur), which basically makes him a Native Kalimdorian. The Tauren revere nature, living in wigwams near giant totem poles. As a Shaman (see below), he could also have chosen a troll (blue-skinned Jamaican-like monster) or an orc (green-skinned Klingon-like monster), so there must be something about the cow-man that appeals to his liberal guilt.
WSJ: How Detroit drove into a ditch
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Great article from the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Ingrassia that summarizes how and why the US auto industry fell to pieces. My favorite part was this telling excerpt:In Detroit, amid worker alienation and the “blue-collar blues,” Chevies, Fords and Plymouths rattled, rusted and rolled over — and those were the good ones. The Ford Pinto’s gas tank was prone to explode into flames when the car was hit from the rear, making the Pinto the poster product for corporate callousness. In 1978, after three Indiana girls burned to death when their Pinto got rear-ended, Ford became the first company to be indicted for reckless homicide. The company later was acquitted, but public opinion judged the Pinto guilty.How Detroit drove into a ditchFor all the Pinto’s infamy, perhaps no car better captured America’s decade-long haplessness than the pug-ugly AMC Gremlin, which debuted in 1970 and died — mercifully — in 1980. The Gremlin’s shape, fittingly, was first sketched out by an American Motors designer on the back of a Northwest Airlines air-sickness bag. On Aug. 20, 1979, 18-year-old Brad Alty, fresh out of high school in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, was driving his Gremlin to work when the car broke down. He was two-and-a-half hours late to his first day on the job at a new motorcycle factory that Honda Motor was opening in central Ohio.
For the next few weeks, Mr. Alty and his 63 co-workers did little but sweep floors and paint them with yellow lines. Then they started building three to five motorcycles a day. And at the end of each day they would disassemble each bike, piece by piece, to evaluate the workmanship.
Ask Engadget: Best DSLR for a committed amateur?
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
With the holiday season fast approaching, there’s nothing that warms the heart like giving a gift with no expectation of anything in return. It’s with that spirit that we pass along Dylan’s incredibly important question: “I’ve been nagging myself to get into digital photography and with Christmas coming soon I’ve decided to get a DSLR so I can dive in. I’m leaning heavily toward the Sony Alpha 350. I’ve always been a big Sony fan but I can back off of that if someone gives me good reason to try Nikon, Canon, etc. I would like to hang around the price range of the Alpha 350; ultimately, I’m looking for a good camera for a newcomer to the scene but I don’t want to have to upgrade soon.”
We hear ya Dylan, and our dutiful readers do too. (Right? Right.) After giving this one a response, feel free to send in your own inquiry to ask at engadget dawt com.
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Ask Engadget: Best DSLR for a committed amateur? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Xbox 360’s lack of Sony Pictures films streaming on Netflix "unrelated" to competition
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
[Via Joystiq]
Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment
Xbox 360’s lack of Sony Pictures films streaming on Netflix “unrelated” to competition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chrysler’s Web Edition vehicle package: includes WiFi, iPod touch and a Dell Mini 9
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Filed under: Transportation, Wireless
Chrysler’s Web Edition vehicle package: includes WiFi, iPod touch and a Dell Mini 9 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nokia adds support for Lotus Notes in Symbian S60
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Filed under: Cellphones
Nokia adds support for Lotus Notes in Symbian S60 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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"Der Untergang" clip used as real estate downfall video
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Some joker used a clip of Der Untergang to portray Hilter as a real estate sucker.
BBtv: Tibetan Sovereignty Supporters Hold Historic Meeting in India to Plan Future.
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
In this special episode of Boing Boing tv (Direct MP4 link for download), Xeni interviews Tibetan sovereignty activists Lhadon Tethong and Tenzin “Tendor” Dorjee from Students for a Free Tibet, over a Skype video chat.
They’re in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government In Exile, and they’re attending an historic week-long meeting taking place this week to determine the future of the Tibetan independence movement.
Snip from a New York Times story by Edward Wong about the “Special Meeting”:
The conclave is the first of its kind since 1991. The Dalai Lama has called for hundreds of Tibetans to gather in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, to help decide on a new strategy for Tibet.Lhadon and Tendor are updating the SFT blog here, and they suggest that people interested in following the story check Phayul.com, and the High Peaks Pure Earth blog, with commentary from Tibetans inside Tibet and China. Here is a statement on the “Special Meeting” from the Dalai Lama, who is not personally attending. The Tibetan Government in Exile is producing video reports from the Special Meeting here. Tibetan poet Woeser has published her thoughts on the meeting here. (Special thanks to Laird Brown, and Phuntsok Dorjee)In a statement released Monday, the government in exile sought to play down speculation that a significant shift in its approach to the issue of Tibetan independence might be near.
“A change in policy need not come from this meeting,” the statement said, according to Reuters. “If a change in basic policy is considered necessary, there is a way that is democratic and which has the mandate of the Tibetan people.”
NYT writer drinks NASA water distilled from the finest astronaut pee and sweat.
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Oh, what won’t intrepid NYT reporter John Schwartz do for space journalism! Snip:
There are many elements of [NASA's current Space Shuttle Endeavor] mission, which is devoted to further construction of the station and improvements that will allow the station to double its crew size from three to six next year. But the gizmo that is getting the most attention is the “water recovery system,” which will recycle the station’s water supply. That’s right: urine, sweat in the air, waste water and other forms of moisture will be fed into the system, distilled and sent back to the tap.You’ll have to read the whole piece to learn how the stuff tastes.The system, created at a cost of about 0 million, will recycle about 93 percent of the water used aboard the station. The cost of lifting supplies up to orbit is so high, though, that NASA estimates the system could pay for itself in as little as two years. Similar systems would be essential to maintaining long-term bases on faraway outposts on the Moon and Mars.
The astronauts don’t have a problem with this system. As Sandra H. Magnus, one of the astronauts who will be among the first to drink water produced by the new system aboard the station, noted in a recent interview, our earthbound water has been endlessly filtered through bodies, evaporated and rained down again. “We drink recycled water every day,” she said, “on a little bit longer time scale.”
Bush snubbed at G20 Summit
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Fun Tech | No Comments
Rick Sanchez on CNN showed this video of world leaders at the G20 Summit refusing to shake hands with President Bush. Sanchez says “It’s almost sad.” (Via The Fire Wire)
