The Fujifilm FinePix X100
Fujifilm has announced the X100, a large-sensor compact camera aimed at professional and enthusiast photographers. The classically-styled camera features traditional analogue controls for shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation. Of particular note is the new ‘hybrid’ viewfinder system which allows the user to switch between optical and electronic viewfinders and project detailed shooting information into the OVF.
102 year old lens on a 5D mkII
This is a must see collection of incredible photography using a 102-year-old Russian 35mm cinema lens on a DSLR. (via jimr.ay)
From the Comments
There is another about voices in a machine.
This rings of the story Derek posted to Sleepingfish. Luca Arnaudo’s The Shepherd.
News Update from the Driftless Region
Remember on Sunday how I mentioned all the sirens and emergency vehicles in my neighborhood?
GALENA, Ill. – Authorities discovered the bodies of an adult man and woman after a fire sparked at a Galena Territory home Sunday afternoon.
The Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Department received the call about 4:16 p.m. Sunday to Glen Eagle Court in the Galena Territory. During the investigation, authorities discovered the bodies of an adult male and adult female in the home. The names are being withheld, pending identification.
The case remains under investigation and authorities declined to offer further details Monday afternoon.
Jo Daviess County Coroner Bill Miller declined to say whether foul play is suspected. He said this early in the case, he’s treating it like any death investigation.
free bird
Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died in Florida. He was 77.
Let’s Kill Interruptive Ads
Here’s what I believe: It doesn’t matter how much money interruptive ads make for publications on the Web. They sap the readers’ tolerance and good will, and any unnecessary amount of that is too high a price to pay. (Videos? Okay, we’re used to that on TV. But serious text-based pubs like Salon and Freeman should chill.)
Here’s what I believe: the biggest challenge the web (and media in general) will have to face over the next ten years is the gradual realization that advertisements aren’t anywhere close to being as useful or effective as we thought they were.
the headline or the quote?
Doctors Use Lasers to Remove Worm From Man’s Eye
Matthews said he “could see it from behind, moving, trying to dodge the laser.”
quote out of context
The basic issue, then, seems to be a conflict between values: prevention of suffering and preservation of animal species.
This is a thought that has plagued my mind for the last year or so. We are powerless to stop suffering in the animal world (beyond our own infliction) without loss of species. Even then, suffering by predation would seem to be necessary to stop population explosions.
Roa’s street art
Sheila’s Robert Lebeck post led me to the amazing graffiti art of Roa. As best I can determine, Roa is male and lives in Belgium. How I have missed him is beyond me.
Two nightclub dancers in their dressing room | Robert Lebeck
Via liquidnight, where you may see more beautiful and arresting images.
Robert Lebeck.
Two nightclub dancers in their dressing room.
Yawata, 1961.
From Robert Lebeck: Tokyo / Moscow / Leopoldville.
Dear Clusterflock
What were the skies like in your youth?
photo caption out of context
mother of all news imposters
On news aggregators (via The Browser):
At the other end of the aggregator spectrum, we have The Huffington Post, one of the smartest digital news machine ever and, at the same time, the mother of all news internet impostures.
The only thing I hate more than HuffPo is the Gawker empire. Of course, kottke’s advice is medicine for the problem, don’t look.
Lady Gaga Flank Steak
via kottke
Being Geek
I love the tasty video goodness of lonelysandwich.
[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/15113923?byline=0&portrait=0 640 360]
‘And there is blue jean in every painting except one’
An anonymous 17th century painter dubbed the Master of blue jeans has provided visual proof of the centuries-long history of the material.
Historians have long traced jeans’ ancestry to two sources outside the United States: a sturdy fabric from the French city of Nimes — “de Nimes”, hence “denim” — on the one hand, and a cotton fustian from Genoa in Italy — “Genes” in French, becoming “Jeans” in English — on the other.
Until now there were only fragmented written records to rely on to document the shipments of low-cost fabric that flooded from Genoa into northern Europe — and especially England — in the mid-17th century.
“We have accounts from an English tailor saying that his fabric came from Genoa, and that is the origin of jeans,” said Gruber. “But this gives us new documentary proof of a historical reality that has been forgotten.”
stop smiling and squinting at the same time
I was pleased when Amanda was here that she shared Amy’s and my distaste for the new State Farm super-friendly psycho spokesman guy.
there’s a word for that
Semantic satiation is a cognitive neuroscience phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who can only process the speech as repeated meaningless sounds.
Say that quickly five times.
(via kavalierandclay)
The Elvis Costello of the mind
David Lester is a research psychologist at Stockton College in New Jersey. His topics of interest include:
Mormons view the afterlife as less pleasant than Jews.
On average, there is no difference in the height from which men and women jump to their deaths.
Wives of coast guards are no more likely than wives of firemen to be depressed following a family move, but are more likely to be taking antidepressants.
There is no relation between religiosity and death anxiety in Kuwait.
Both anxiety about computers and internet skills affect how likely you are to buy a textbook online.
Among organ donors, homicide victims were more likely to have blood types O and B. Suicides showed no differences.
Macintosh users have significantly greater anxiety about computers than PC users.
(via marginal revolution)
Portrait
The Iowan and our son strolling on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland. It’s not difficult to tell the connection between these two, even from behind. I love this picture. And I love them.
spam name
Terquilla Bennett.
moral search engines
If one types the world alcohol into imhalal.com, the search engine produces results that explain the Muslim viewpoint on drinking. Type in “pornography,” and the search engine produces… nothing.
For Christians, SeekFind offers “a research tool for people who are looking for biblical and theological content from an evangelical Christian prospective,” says founder Shea Houdmann, who operates from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
For the Jewish community, the niche is filled by another engine called Jewogle, which bears a passing resemblance to Google.
Musical Theatre Ambush
Two videos in a similar vein, in which musical theatre is foisted upon unsuspecting parties. Best when watched all the way through to the end. And I defy you not to be in a better mood after watching these.
Vanessa’s Wedding Surprise
Fraulein Maria
Five sirens
in fifteen minutes here in the back of beyond, and you begin to wonder what might be up.
Sheila Predicts The Future
From the comments:
And how soon will we hear the Gregory Brothers version?
