Off-Topic

Haley Joel Osmont on Walker, Texas Ranger. How can something so lame be so satisfying? (via Malcolm Spellman)

Looks incredibly slick, like a web version of Interface Builder.

1. Human beings will never leave the solar system.
By “human beings,” I mean squishy organic lifeforms like you and me. Will some form of humanity make it to another planet? Sure, because…

2. Digital versions of consciousness will come sooner than we think.
And with them, the distinctions between dead and alive, “you” and “I”, being and knowing will seem quaint and charming.

3. Conspiracy theories are preposterous.
They almost always fail the Occam’s Razor test — which, ironically, they often invoke. Yet they persist as sticky memes, because…

4. We want to believe the world has a narrative. But it doesn’t.
The world is so complex, we try to discern plots and heroes and villains. But they’re illusions. History is simply a story. So is “now.”

5. There is almost certainly extraterrestrial life. We’re just not interesting enough to merit attention.
ET hasn’t come to visit because there’s nothing here he needs or wants, just as we don’t visit every termite hill in the Amazon.

6. Population will plummet.
With or without a super-plague, the global birth rate will fall a lot faster than expected. Obviously, there are pros and cons to this.

7. Theatrical movies will be viable for at least 15 more years.
As long as teenagers want to get out of their parents’ house, movie theaters will endure.

8. A transformative energy breakthrough will happen, changing everything.
It won’t be switchgrass, or better solar cells, but something we’re not even considering.

9. High-speed rail will become common in the U.S.
LA to NYC will still be a flight, but traveling anywhere in your time zone will be by train.

10. Madonna will never die.
Some combination of science and branding will make her the first everlasting celebrity.

A more sophisticated way to add Scrippets to your EE site. As a WordPress guy, some of this went whoooosh over my head.

How to Play Piano like Phillip Glass (via Kottke).

Oh, Onion. Please never change.

Nice extended bit on EW.com. I loved Juliet. Loooooved. I could watch her boil water. But drama is hurting the people you love, so I’m fine having her gone before the last season.

Plus, she’s still alive in flashbacks.

Hecq Vs Exillion - Spheres Of Fury (on Vimeo)

Overclocking the Canon 7D allows for some excellent slow-mo. Great editing and music sell it.

The Golden Age of Video (Ricardo Autobahn) :: we came, we saw, we kicked its ass. (via zefrank)

Prop. 8 cuts both ways, by Tim Rutten in the LA Times.