Category: Neat Stuff

There are framed news paper pages from the past in the hallway up on the 20th floor of my office building. I found this today while waiting and I have to share.

The Editorial Page of the New York Journal
January 23, 1901

Dorothy Dix Says: The Outlook for Bachelors Is Gloomy.

The new century opens up with a gloomy outlook for bachelors. Their liberty is threatened on every side. It has always taken talent to enable an eligible young man to remain single. In the future nothing short of absolute diplomatic genius will keep his neck out of the matrimonial halter.

For several years the cloud has been darkening about his devoted head. Moralists have never wearied in exhorting young men to marry, whether they had anything to marry or not, on the principle, presumably, that one man had as good a right as another to starve a woman. Preachers have also discoursed on the holy estate of matrimony until one might infer that man was created and sent into the world solely to marry, and that his chief end was to glorify woman and pay her bills.

The most radical step, however, against the bachelors’ liberty has been taken by France. Alarmed at the decrease in population, a bill has been introduced into the French Senate for the purpose of levying a heavy tax on celibates. This is France’s way of fostering her infant industry. America has no such necessity. In the number, and quality, and variety of her babies, as in her other productions, she leads the world, and challenges competition. Thank heaven, we need no government subsidy there!

Still, there’s no telling what will happen, and, with such a precedent as France sets, no unmarried man is safe. The very foundation stone of our Government rests on the principle of taxing luxuries, and not necessities, and in any time of financial stress it can easily be shown that single blessedness is a luxury for which a man ought to pay.

More portentous still for the bachelor is the fact that the twentieth century woman is going to take a hand in the love making. She is going to be wooer, as well as wooed, and when one reflects on how thorough, and scientific, and determined the modern woman is in everything she undertakes, it is enough to send the cold chills down the backbone of every man who cherishes a preference for personal liberty.

There will be no dilly-dally business in her love making. He can’t work the bashful dodge then. In other days when he led the attack he could withdraw to a place of safety when the engagement threatened to get serious. It will be a different story when the besieged turns pursuer. Many an army has been captured in hurried flight.

Already a club of twentieth century young women has been organized at Binghamton, New York, with the avowed purpose of taking the initiative in love making, and overthrowing the preposing precidents of the past. They are going to put women on an equal footing with men in prosecuting affairs of the heart, and as an evidence of good faith have pledged themselves to propose matrimony to some man during the year.

Thus are the toils closing in about the hapless bachelor. He may turn a deaf ear to the moralist, he may be willing to pay a tax for the privilege of remaining single, but what is he going to do when lovely woman proposes? Suppose she weeps when he says he can only be a brother to her? What man will be able to resist when he sees himself such a good thing women cry for him?

It is clearly impossible for any man to remain single much longer. A hundred years from now we may look forward to the Barnum of the future advertising, as one of the attractions of his unparalleled side show, a genuine, bald headed bachelor.

Chvrches is playing in town Wednesday but it’s sold out so if I want to see them I have to drive to Dallas Thursday after work which is what I’m going to do. It’s been a long time since I drove somewhere to see a band. In fact, I can’t remember the last time. Adventure!

This is great. The Gregory Brothers have edited together clips from the news and have used Auto-Tune to make the newscasters and pundits sing their news, interviews and discussions along with the background music. They have also done political debates and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Their youtube channel is a treasure trove of delights.

The first one here is actually the second Auto-Tune the News video. Katie Couric’s section is very good. Seriously.

Auto-Tune the News 2

I Have a Dream

Flying robot penguins. Smart walls. Moduluar cube robots. Superbad.

edit: There’s more!

http://www.festo.com/cms/en-us_us/4981.htm

Snowboarding is so last year. Next vacation? Wingsuit base jumping off cliffs in Norway.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Found a link to a pretty cool business card a guy made. The how-to is here and there’s a video showing it in action too.

Apparently you need a laser cutter so that’s a bit beyond reach but that doesn’t mean I don’t want one.

Kyle Gabler is one of the two people behind 2D Boy and the fantastic World of Goo. One of the many awesome things about the game is the music which Kyle wrote. They have now released the sound track and it is free. Go download it and listen because it is super awesome and several of the tracks are significantly longer than what is played in the game.