Zombies and other concerns for the CDC, among other items...
The CDC may have hit upon something that's both genius and a long-term problem: They've made a plan for surviving a zombie apocalypse. It's a way to make disaster preparation more 'fun' by cloaking something dreary and dull in something more exciting. The weird thing is that it's the less likely scenario, the dead rising and eating the living, that gets more of us thinking ahead than actual disasters. Of course, the threat of supernatural reprisal has been used to get people to behave themselves for millennia, and I suppose it's a small price to have the people believe in the walking dead if it gets them to bury any stray corpses they have lying around; the stones they put over their heads to keep them down are a nice touch and come in handy when someone thinks great granddad really wanted them to have the jewelry he was buried with. But this could just be the start of behavior modification based on pop culture memes and ideas:
- Tsunami preparedness as C'thulhu evacuation plan. You just can't mention the part about how nothing can stop C'thulhu; that might be dispiriting.
- Boating safety as instructions for surviving an undead pirate attack.
- Courtesy in libraries and movie theaters presented in the pamphlet, 'Ninjas Are Everywhere: How to Avoid Attracting Their Attention.'
- 'Do Not Litter' campaigns cast as advice for those 'you never know which object in your inventory will keep you from dying' adventure video games.
I think I just wrote my dream job if I ever got to work for the CDC. If anyone in their HR department is reading this, I'm available.
So the record industry is discovering that its digital files aren't aging all that well or they're getting lost. The Library of Congress isn't thrilled with digital files, either, both because of volatility and formatting issues. I think we might have a solution: The Smithsonian will take over, at taxpayer expense, archiving all audio for the record companies on multiple long-lived formats. The record companies can have access to their files whenever they wish, so they don't have to pay to keep backups safe. Taxpayers can stream music from the archive or download tracks that have become public domain. In return, the recording industry must stop suing everyone and their dog. There's another up side to storing music in some kind of digital format: It might convince Skynet we're worth keeping around so long as we keep the MP3s and movies coming.
As if you needed another reason to see 'The Hobbit,' Stephen Fry will be playing the Master of Laketown. It's not a huge role, but I'm sure Fry will make it seem so. Now if only Hugh Laurie were cast as Bard the Bowman, we'd have some great deleted scenes for the DvD. In fact, if every British comedian who's appeared on "Q.I.," "Have I Got News For You," and "Mock The Week" would get together and film a version of 'The Hobbit' using the same script, I think it'd be greatly appreciated and make for a wonderful double feature.
Jennifer Lawrence is looking pretty good for the movie adaptation of 'The Hunger Games.' I'd buy the outfit as believable within the story's context. I'll be interested to see if they create costumes for the pre-games ceremonies and interviews as well, since the descriptions of those sounded like they could eat up many a movie's effects budget. I'm hoping this heralds a revival of the post-apocalypse genre in young adult media, as the 'monster as misunderstood superhero' themes are getting pretty thin.
I think I have found something far too twistedly funny to pass up. If you have any young'uns just learning to read, they might want to be sent elsewhere, not because there's anything particularly bad with any specific words in this next post; it's the order they're arranged in. My First Dictionary is a blog of vintage art paired with some of the most sick 'n' wrong (and hilarious) text you're likely to come across (this week). I have a short window of opportunity to read this stuff to Josh before he actually starts comprehending it, if for no other reason to give us both a rest from his latest obsession, the muppet version of the Manah-Manah song.
I'm trying to give Josh a variety of muppet songs to get hooked on, though he still gravitates back to his current fav. I've gotten him to at least smile at a few of the following:
- Sax and Violence, which he likes for the 'ding' noise. 'Ding' in our house usually means someone just made something in the toaster, which he claims a portion of.
- Java, which made him dance funny for a while thereafter, until he lost his balance.
- Just An Old Fashioned Love Song. This one was more for my own nostalgia than for the kid's amusement. And Paul Williams made an appearance on Dexter's Laboratory.
- Animal vs. Rita Moreno, 'Fever.' I've been told I can show him this one, but I'll be punished if he ever starts running around the house yelling "Woman! Woman!"
I'm hoping to accelerate the time it'll take for him to dig the Swedish Chef without damaging his brain's language centers. And speaking of brain damage, something in here should cause a few dings to the ol' gray matter:
- Here's something that might give us a clue about that Porsche steering wheel I posted recently with every control, ever, on it: Why Formula 1 steering wheels have over 20 buttons and what they do. Scroll down past the video embed for a detailed list.
- "It's all over, Higgins." "You mean..?" "Yes, get everyone to the escape pods, liquidate the bank accounts, cancel the cable bill, and activate the self-destruct on the lake."
- Bad Astronomy looks at how likely we are to collide with one of those shady-looking 'rogue planets.' Just like in D&D, be sure to check your coin purse if one passes by too close.
- And thank goodness we haven't started manned interplanetary travel yet, as we only now have Space Beer technology.
- From one of the writers, here's what Stargate Universe could have seen beyond season 2.
- Here's a page in flash that shows off the anatomy of a Daft Punk mashup, with visuals demonstrating where tracks are brought in, their prominence, etc.
- I think we can make room for another zombie movie if it has Ian McKellen in it and it's titled The Curse of the Buxom Strumpet.
- Here's a smartphone app for those of us who can barely tell an oak tree from a flag pole: Leafsnap tries to identify leaves and tell you what species of tree they came from. I'd love a gag version that identifies nearly every one as "The Larch" in John Cleese's voice.
- We've played other 'sandworm-eating-people' games before, but Death Worm claims to be 'the original,' so there's our excuse for having another go.
- And since I think I've posted the other three, here's Ragdoll Cannon 4. Fire the ragdolls from the cannon, hit the target, try not to notice how many of them you (and by you I mean 'I') need to pass each level.
- This next link is of a scatological nature, but it's science, so let's do the poo: Scientists are working on a flavor of E. coli that will, in the presence of certain diseases, will tint the color of your 'output.'
- Apparently there's a Minecraft mod that lets you experience play as if you were Timothy Leary (except not dead). I'm only guessing, but if you find yourself too medicated to play Minecraft, this mod might cancel out the effects, allowing play to proceed normally.
- Because it needed to be: caffeinated soda shampoos. If anyone ever sees my kid foaming at the mouth, chances are I bought a bottle or two.
- Daleks are Tikis now. Tikis are cool.
- Princess Saver is a 'Crush the Castle' game with a difference: You not only need to knock down the keep's walls, you have to catch the maiden fair to pass each level. Note: your bombs fly through walls and detonate where you click-n-hold (to increase their explosive power).