(Found at Daring Fireball, of course. More at the online remains of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. With a name like that, no wonder they went bankrupt.)
Category Archives: Video Clips
I believe the look is one of incredulity
Or in other words, “Do I really have to take this person I’m talking to seriously?”
Observe Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (to whom my reaction has been tepid at best, but I’m warming up to him after this) listening to, and attempting to answer, a question posed to him today by Rep. Michele Bachmann, regrettably of Minnesota’s regrettable 6th District:
Pay particular attention at 1:14. That is precisely the moment where Secretary Geithner realizes he’s dealing with a crazy person. Priceless.
Soon the look of incredulity may become known simply as the Bachmann Effect.
Regrettably, I also bothered to visit Earth2Obama.org, the site that apparently posted this C-SPAN clip on YouTube (as evidenced by the omnipresence of their URL in the clip), and I have to guess from that site’s stance that they actually think Michele Bachmann is right in all of this. Sheesh. Where were all of these right wing constitutional literalists during the Bush presidency?
One last comment on the general matter of how this person got elected to Congress, and what that says about her district, the caption in the still from this clip says it all: MN-6 is a prime example of gerrymandering at its worst. There is no logical reason that Woodbury (an eastern suburb of St. Paul) and Waite Park (one of the cluster of communities that makes up the St. Cloud micropolitan area, 92 miles away) should be in the same congressional district. The 6th district wraps around the northern ring of Twin Cities suburbs and extends awkwardly to the northwest, appearing like some blocky beast preparing to devour the metro area in its gaping, Limbaugh-esque maw. More specifically, it’s the most politically conservative area (if it can even be called an “area”) of the state, sitting on top of the geographically smaller, more densely populated, most liberal area of the state — the 5th (Minneapolis) and 4th (St. Paul) districts. The district is contorted in its southeastern-most corner to absorb the population of the conservative eastern suburbs instead of extending into more moderate, less populous (but more geographically contiguous) areas around St. Cloud.
I’m not sure who was responsible for the gerrymandering of the current Minnesota congressional district map — whether it was Democrats looking to sequester hardcore conservatives in a single district, or Republicans hoping to expand their influence over a generally “blue” (or at least “indigo”) state. But in the end, all that matters is that it produced an environment that would not only elect Michele Bachmann, but even re-elect her after she had already become a national laughingstock last fall.
(Thanks to Dusty Trice for this one.)
How to write like an architect
I found this on kottke.org, and I know Jason Kottke’s audience outnumbers mine by several orders of magnitude, but I still found it interesting enough that I wanted to share it here.
I’ve been thinking about architecture (the occupation, not buildings themselves) a lot lately as I’ve been working with some architects as clients. The thing I like about architects is that I think there’s a lot of similarity between what they do and what I do — both architecture and web design/development require a mix of artistic sensibilities and methodical, scientific thinking that don’t often come together in other fields. Of course, it takes a lot more training and skill to become an architect; I won’t even pretend we’re in the same league in that regard.
Probably the biggest difference between the two fields is that what I do is almost entirely based on computers (obviously), whereas while computers are certainly an integral tool to architects, the end product of their efforts, along with many of the tools and techniques they use to do their jobs, are physical, tactile, hands-on. Paper, pencils, T-squares, rulers, etc. I use those types of physical tools so rarely anymore that I can barely even write my own name legibly.
Which brings me to this pair of videos on How to write like an architect. It’s fascinating to see how these letters come together and the orderly yet stylized results.
And here’s how you do it with a pencil…
In another age (maybe even if I were a mere decade older), architecture is likely something I would have pursued instead of the path of least resistance web design offered me when I emerged from college at precisely the right moment (1996). Working with architects as clients has allowed me to get a vicarious taste of that world.
The Mother of All Funk Chords
I just had to pile on to the mountain of people sharing this because it’s so cool:
Merlin Mann pretty much sums it up:
Unsolicited tip for media company c-levels: if your reaction to this crate of magic is “Hm. I wonder how we’d go about suing someone who ‘did this’ with our IP?” instead of, “Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment,” it’s probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page.
Because, this is what your new Elvis looks like, gang. And, eventually somebody will figure out (and publicly admit) that Kutiman, and any number of his peers on the “To-Sue” list, should be passed from Legal down to A&R.
Greg is not an alien
I don’t think this skit from last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live will necessarily enter the canon of all-time classics, like John Belushi’s Little Chocolate Donuts commercial, or the Christopher Walken/Will Ferrell “more cowbell” mock-rockumentary. Dwayne Johnson’s delivery was uneven at best. But what can I say? I’m a Bill Hader fan, and this is definitely one of his finest moments.