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"Operator…Give me WASHINGTON."

Homeland Security Operations Morning Briefs - 27 September 2004 to 6 January 2005

The brain eno fits this.

Ipod bizzaro

Many years ago (1995, I think), we were brainstorming new game ideas at my office. Under the "no idea is a bad idea" principle, I came up with a suggestion of a massively multiplayer morphing artwork, where each person in the game would be in charge of the color of one pixel, and teams would compete to see who could draw certain images (a bicycle, a house, a face, etc.) the most rapidly. I sort of envisioned it like a cyberspace version of those big sports stadium events where a part of the audience would all hold up cards in sequence, to make a design.

Well, my idea was greeted with near universal derision: "Ha! That sounds totally boring, no one would ever play that," (so much for the spirit of positive-reinforcement brainstorming, heh).

Anyway, my arch-critic from back then recently sent to me this link, of a "pixelfest collaborative artwork". It's not quite the real-time dynamic team-based thing I had in mind, but it's close enough to make me smile. :)

Feel free to add your own pixel!

- Elonka

Update: To see an animation of the 7000-odd pixels that have been placed so far, check here: http://haub.net/pixelfest/ . I found it especially interesting to see how certain people tried to "grief" the image early on with four-letter words, but then the community responded by erasing words as soon as they started recognizing them. Some interesting dynamics there. :)

Experiments - Pixelfest collaborative artwork

Manga.

Directmanga.com » Free Direct Manga Downloads!

] Hangs on your keychain and
] turns off virtually any television!

heh

TV-B-Gone From Cornfield Electronics

] Let's say it's the early 1980's. You've just bought a
] Quick and Dirty Operating System and repackaged it for
] IBM to include with their new "Personal Computer" (IBM
] had such a revulsion for non-mainframe things that the PC
] was created by the "Entry Systems Division", which
] suggested that these were things you used until you got a
] real computer).
]
] You're a hot rising software star, and hot rising
] software stars need dates. Which photo should you send
] potential soul mates?
]
] This one?

It's a damn shame you can't post photos yet

The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Joey deVilla's Weblog :: Sexy Beast

] (CNN) -- Huygens successfully transmitted its first
] packet of irreplaceable data from Saturn's moon Titan
] this morning as scientists at the European Space Agency's
] operations center in Germany erupted in applause.

CNN.com - Earth receiving data on Titan's secrets - Jan 14, 2005

] When a 14-year-old British boy was savagely stabbed, no
] one could have imagined the bizarre chat-room fantasy
] world that lay behind the attack. A story of a near-fatal
] Internet attraction
,,,
] Four months after the stabbing, the charges were amended.
] Mark was still accused of attempted murder, to which he
] ultimately pleaded guilty. But this time John also was
] charged—with inciting murder. His own murder. This is a
] legal novelty in Britain, and very likely throughout the
] world. "Yes, I'm not aware of any other case where
] somebody's incited somebody to murder themselves,"
] Nicholas Clarke, the prosecutor, declares in his
] Manchester office, each syllable clipped with derision.
] It is clear he doesn't have much sympathy for the boy
] whose brush with death prompted the unprecedented charge.
] "I would say, of the two teenagers, John was the more
] wicked and more criminally culpable."

VANITY FAIR : ROUNDTABLE : CONTENT

] ManWoman: tattooed Canadian Pop artist's
] transformational art visions. This biographical artsite
] educates about the sexual/spiritual experience, death,
] rebirth and ecstasy and his quest to cleanse the
] swastika.

ManWoman's Gateway to the Great Beyond

] JANUARY 6--While jury selection is scheduled to begin
] later this month, specific details of the criminal
] molestation case against Michael Jackson have been
] shrouded through a judicial gag order, heavily redacted
] legal filings, sealed court proceedings, and other
] secrecy measures. But now, for the first time, The
] Smoking Gun has compiled an authoritative,
] behind-the-scenes account of the prosecution's case
] against the King of Pop, who was indicted last April on
] ten felony counts for the alleged sexual abuse of a Los
] Angeles boy in early 2003. This story (and the ones
] linked at right) are based on a review of confidential
] law enforcement and government reports, grand jury
] testimony, and sealed court records provided to TSG by
] sources.

The Case Against Michael Jackson - January 6, 2005