Distractions

Fin

2007-01-04T23:57:00.000-08:00

My readers, I have not nearly been distracted enough lately to justify maintaining a blog. I have been working too hard. This blog was just for odds and ends and not so serious subjects. Even so, the quality has been seriously dropping off and so I am signing off. Distractions I assure you will be revived in another form at some point.

Adios

And People Thought Grand Theft Auto Was Bad...

2006-12-13T09:04:00.000-08:00

This videogame incites Christians to Apocalyptic holy war and murder. Just what the world needs.

CNN

2006-12-06T05:09:00.000-08:00

This morning I find this article in the default Google personalised homepage. Why CNN would be among the members is well beyond me. Why CNN, a supposed news organisation, would report on this boggles the mind. Why police would arrest a 12 year old for opening a present and playing gameboy is completely absurd. It is a waste of police resources and a false arrest. Amazing.

The Power of Art

2006-11-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

Simon Schama, a brilliant historian at Columbia University, has a new series focusing on the histories of famous artists as seen through their masterpieces. To use a hackneyed phrase: It is television at its finest.

Here is the UKNova link. If you are without a membership to this site and wish to obtain these files I may be able to help. It would be a shame to miss out on this masterpiece.

Borat and Breast Milk

2006-11-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to a torrent of the new Borat film. I was somewhat disappointed with some of the skits that they were cut very short. We never see the full riot he caused at the rodeo nor much of the interview with Allan Keyes.

At one point when meeting with a foreign dignitary, Borat presents some cheese to his interviewee which he then informs comes from his wife's breast milk. A friend of mine who knows my thoughts on the matter asked me to share with the world my unconventional theories about human breast milk and after reading it, you will understand my reluctance.

As a mammal and a large consumer of bovine milk as well as occasionally cheese made from goat's or sheep's milk, I have often considered how strange it is that in a modern consumer society, the commercial consumption of human breast milk does not occur. Before the invention of baby formula, women were of course hired as nurses to feed other women's children. Considering the size and fertility of humans, the potential to transmit disease and competition with feeding babies, human breast milk is very dear and commercialisation faces many hurtles. Maintaining freshness and ensuring a consistent, fresh supply of organic, hormone and disease-free mothers willing to sell the milk they once fed their baby is very expensive to say the least. Still I would expect in large metropolitan areas for such a thing to exist for babies at hospitals and specialty food stores for the smug elite.

After doing a little searching I found a couple news stories and a few medical organisations that sell milk for a high premium.

Something to Hide

2006-11-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

I am often amazed with the vitriol and passion of many homophobes. I have noticed it often comes from those insecure with their own sexuality. The recent Mark Foley scandal and National Association of Evangelicals illustrates the point quite well. It is OK to be gay, and those who are should be made to feel comfortable enough with it that they can be honest rather than repressive to the point of harming or attacking other gays in a sad attempt to prove their own heterosexuality. It just so happens Ted Haggard of the gay methamphetamine evangelical row was also featured in Richard Dawkin's atheistic documentary, 'The Root of All Evil?' Watch the segment on YouTube.

See Bruno with Pastor Quinn.

Scanner Darkly

2006-11-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

I watched the film recently, 'A Scanner Darkly' which originally was a novel by Philip K. Dick. Here is the audiobook. The film was masterfully directed by Richard Linklater who also directed 'A Waking Life.' The most striking feature about these films is the revoltionary animated filming technique.

Richard Dawkins on Religious Assault

2006-10-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Richard Dawkins is quite correct in his attack on Creationism which rejects the basic foundations of science. Lately, with the publication of his new book, he has been aggressively and passionately hammering the rational notion that God almost certainly does not exist. He makes some very good arguments e.g. that atheism now has the same status homosexuality did 50 years ago and deserves more respect. While one cannot easily discount his points of the probable nonexistence of God, one should also not dismiss the richness of culture that religion has given humanity. Religion has often provided a level of cohesion and psychological comfort in society which surely must at times have been an evolutionary advantage. Just as people now use artificial birth control rather than abstinence to control population, people naturally have a hard time giving up the supernatural in their life even if they know rationally it is probably false.

*Update*
His new book is called 'The God Delusion.' The torrent for the audiobook read eloquently by the author himself is available here.

A Good Reason NOT to Vote for Someone

2006-10-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

Forget racial or sexual scandals, the fact that George Bush is openly endorsing these candidates and joining their campaign is the best reason to vote against them. They may as well have Kim Jong-Il or Saddam Hussein running their campaigns.

Gaming Addiction

2006-10-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

Humans did not evolve from simpler life forms by spending 10 hours per day playing World of Warcraft. Like any activity, distraction, or recreational drug, moderation is key. This /. post illustrates just how destructive online multiplayer gaming can be to a person's health and relationships.

*Update* As commented by Tim, there is a South Park episode addressing this issue. Follow this link to view the South Park park episode 'Make Love Not Warcraft' in season 10 (and every other episode). I only heard about/saw it yesterday and it is one of the best episodes I have seen from a regularly excellent show.

Risk Takers

2006-10-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Now that my friends have started blogging, I have been more and more distracted by some of their posts such as this one about a man who climbs skyscrapers with no equipment.

Mormon Theology

2006-10-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the claims in this video. It underscores some controversial things I had understood to be true about Mormon belief. Anyway, it killed 6 minutes at work today so it was a good distraction.

Battlestar Galactica

2006-10-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

If you haven't gotten the memo, the new BSG is an excellent science fiction series (Season 1 torrent, Season 2 torrent). Crooked Timber has an insightful post about it. Season 3 will start soon and I am looking forward to it.

I have wondered whether the original BSG could be where the industrial-scale coffee shop, Starbucks, got its name?

Stupidity

2006-10-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

Read this post from Brad DeLong.

Gaming and Cosplay in Japan

2006-09-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

I have not posted in a while. I have not been distracted enough from my work I guess.

BBC News article.

Sensitivity to Islam

2006-09-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Political Animal is a pretty good blog as far as political blogs go. Openly criticising or insulting Islam or the Prophet is a dangerous and irresponsible behaviour in this day and age as Political Animal points out, especially for social leaders. Link to the referenced John Stewart segment.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a Genius

2006-09-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

I cannot wait for the Borat film. (article)

Trailer 1
Trailer 2

Borat Homepage, MySpace

Response to Kazakh Foreign Ministry

Better than Christmas!

2006-09-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

I just received a new Apple MacBook Pro Dual Core Intel 2GB RAM. Saint Nicholas was never this good. Next step, get Parallels up and running so that I can virtualise M$ Windows and Linux.

Robo-Basho

2006-09-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

I know the creators of a new robot arcade game, Robo-Basho, by the company Robotic Amusements. It is a brilliant creation which demonstrates the amazing talents of these two individuals from conceptual design to mechanical, electrical and software engineering. Robo-Basho is fun for all ages.

Here is the YouTube video featuring the inventors.

Legend

2006-09-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

Steve Irwin, aka the Crocodile Hunter, will be dearly missed.

The Yes Men

2006-08-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

'The Yes Men' (torrent) is a fantastic documentary about a group of activists who pose as WTO officials, speaking in front of students, on television intestviews, and government officials to raise political awareness and spark discourse. Today from John Micah Marshall, I find this.

Conan O'Brien

2006-08-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

Conan O'Brien is probably the best nightly comedian out there. Charlie Rose does a great interview of him.

Fiber Optic Internet

2006-08-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Verizon FiOS + BitTorrent = A Very Dangerous Combination

Surfing

2006-08-05T00:18:00.000-07:00

I am truly inspired by the romantic, thrilling and self-fulfilling sport of surfing where mankind in conquering nature's challenges reaches a profound harmony with her. The following films explore the history and phenomenon of big-wave surfing.

1) Billabong Odyssey
2) Riding Giants

The second film features surfer Laird Hamilton whom I first saw interviewed by Tavis Smiley on PBS while promoting his latest film "All Aboard the Crazy Train." (no torrent yet) The funniest part of the interview:

Tavis: Okay, so I'm a novice here, obviously. I've never done this, never tried it. Matter of fact, my grandmother used to say, Big Mama, God rest her soul, used to say, Laird, only White folk would do stuff like that. (Laughs) Ain’t no Negroes gonna be caught out on no six foot tall building size of a wave. Only White boys do stuff like this.

This 9 GB torrent, features several surfing films.

Inane but Funny

2006-07-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

I received an email today from a friend suggesting if I have 20 minutes to kill, this video is funny. It involves Kevin Smith whose films I find mind-numbing and silly if not absurd. Since I clearly do not have amazing focus in my life right now, I killed the 20 minutes and was amused by the moderately funny story which mostly serves to further illustrate how worthless and absurd Hollywood is.

Secondly, DeLong yesterday referred to Colbert as a "National Treasure" in citing this segment. Indeed I agree with the sentiment, but this segment is just average for Colbert who is regularly excellent. It is mostly a follow-up to the Ten Commandments incident.

I was not going to post either of these, but since this blog is called "Distractions," I figured why not live up to the name. Seriously, only watch these if you are killing time.

The Ten Commandments

2006-07-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

I know that I previously posted on this, but the post has been mysteriously deleted.

In this video, Stephen Colbert interviews US Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia who co-sponsored a bill to require the display of the '10 Commandments' in the US Senate and House of Representatives. When asked, the Congressman could only name three of the Commandments. This video is sad but funny.

Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

2006-07-26T02:16:00.000-07:00

I am about a year behind the times, but I recently watched 'No Direction Home,' a 3.5 hour documentary about Bob Dylan directed by Martin Scorsese. The film was aired on PBS and the BBC and was underwritten by Apple. Anything with the such a selection of participants cannot be bad. The soundtrack alone is quite good and consists primarily of little known recordings. Strangely while Apple paid for this film, it is not yet available to download on the iTMS. Not to fear, I have provided a link to the torrents. This 4-part podcast is an adjunct to the series.

Soundtrack torrent
Film torrent

Portal

2006-07-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

Portal: preview for a new First Person Puzzle game via Mattheus.

Code 46

2006-07-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

Partly produced by the BBC, Code 46 (torrent) is one of the most conceptually interesting science fiction films I have seen in a while. Set in the near future, it is a bit of Gattaca, Brave New World, and Oedipus Rex. Just as today, this world retains legal geographic borders between the very rich and the very poor. The all knowing computer "Sphinx" controls individual citizens' lives and freedoms for their own supposed benefit and that of society. Those in blatant violation of the rules of the system are either corrected through memory deletion and genetic therapy or simply exiled into extreme poverty.

Canadian Classic Animation

2006-07-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

From Boing Boing:

The National Film Board of Canada has put 50 of their brilliant animated short films online for free viewing. The collection spans 60 years and includes Norman Mclaren's groundbreaking experimental films from the 1950s and some of the most hilarious cartoons ever created.

Unfortunately these films follow the current trend of being contained as streaming video using Macromedia Flash. Both of these formats I dislike.

Andy Warhol

2006-07-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I visited the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. He has become one of my favourite personalities of the twentieth century. Recently, I enjoyed this PBS documentary about the artist.

La Fin de la Coupe du Monde

2006-07-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

L'histoire de Marco Materazzi, qui a provoqué la colère de Zinedine Zidane, le capitaine des Bleus, à la finale de Coupe du Monde.

The Music Animation Machine

2006-07-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

Something reminiscent of a Player Piano or musicbox, the Music Animation Machine by Stephen Malinowski is a visualisation for musical pieces. Ideally suited to classical or non-vocal music, the MAM gives an excelent sense of musical structure. Even my musicly snobby brother regarded this technology well (although he did complain about audio quality in the videos I showed him). I suggest starting with J.S. Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor' (YouTube). Malinowski also has a new software available which will apply this visualisation to any midi file.

Jackie Chan

2006-06-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the Jackie Chan film City Hunter which was an amusing was to spend time after a night of partying. It was much better than I expected. It seems he will be giving much of his wealth to charity after his demise.

Robot Chicken: Darth Vader

2006-06-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

This comes via a good friend. Short and funny video.

Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft on Streaming P2P

2006-06-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

Generally I find Streaming on Demand technologies to be completely backwards. They are a feeble attempt by content providers to maintain control of viewed content.

However, for live events it makes sense to watch the event streamed. Since in the absence of multicasting, every packet downloaded must be uploaded, streaming is very difficult for the content provider to maintain. The solution comes in the form of P2P Streaming technologies. Here are 2 examples: myp2p and TVU networks. A Chinese firm is to thank for the latter site.

Using this technology with a broadband connexion, one can now see Deutschland crush all rivals in body sports competition in a well organised and disciplined Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft.

Alles Klar?

Fußball und Bier für das deutsche Vaterland

2006-06-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

High Frequency Hearing and the Aging Inner Ear

2006-06-19T00:21:00.000-07:00

There has been some discussion lately about teens using their cellphone ring tones at frequencies that cannot be heard by older people. I am in my mid-twenties and can hear the sound. My teenage sister can hear it at much lower intensities than I and is annoyed much more by it.

Can you hear it? For a more thorough check of hearing, go here.

Folgers Commercial

2006-06-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

So bizarre it is worth seeing. Link

Ignorance and Hypocrisy

2006-06-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

Georgia Congressman Lynn Westmoreland interviewed by Colbert. Off the top of my head, I managed to name 9 of 10 Commandments, however after reading wikipedia, I learned that different Judeo-Christian faiths have slightly different Commandments.

Heaven

2006-06-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

I normally do not eat sweets...at least that was until B&J Mint Chocolate Cookie.

Poison Arrow Frogs

2006-06-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

Some photos of frogs. Frogs are one of the animal families most threatened by climate change and chemical pollution.

Magical Egypt

2006-06-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure to live in Egypt 1999 -2001. A country much in need of economic and social development, it nonetheless possesses a strong cultural character, an exquisitely rich history. With a natural beauty of arid desert, lush oasis, mountain, and warm placid sea, Egypt haunts my dreams and unconscious. The Magical Egypt series evokes the depth of thinking and human spiritual understanding that the Ancient Egyptian civilisation has captured fantastically in their incredible monuments and temples.

*I may be able to assist interested parties with required forum access. email me*

Coca-Cola C2

2006-06-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

I do not recommend the consumption of soft drinks as carbonic and phosphoric acid are very bad for dental hygiene. At first I thought C2 was a good thing because it tasted alright and I was told contained half the sugar of normal coke. What I was not told and failed to take the 5 seconds to read on the label was the other ingredients. C2 contains a nasty cocktail of artificial sweeteners: sucralose, saccharine, aspartame, and corn syrup. I therefore strongly encourage people away from this potentially hazardous substance. So far the science is inconclusive on the level of danger posed by these sweeteners, but I see no benefit to being an uncompensated guinea pig. Other than reducing the caloric intake, there are no health benefits to this product.

RIP Pirate Bay

2006-06-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, The Pirate Bay, one of the most varied torrent site on the web was shut down. For years the site claimed immunity to copyright laws in Sverige, but apparently Swedish officials now beg to differ. No one is sitting in jail as might happen in a less civilised nation (read USA). Hopefully an enlightened Swedish court will find in favour of the Pirate Bay.

*Update - Readers will of course note that the Pirate Bay is back, now being hosted in Nederland. Hopefully the administrators are also enjoying some nice Dutch herb. Our appreciation and thanks to the Pirate Bay. *

Vin

2006-05-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

WineLog is a new site that is being hyped for its ability to rate wines that you have tried, make recommendations to others, and based on your ratings, calculate preferences and make suggestions for new wines to try. If you are a wine connoisseur, you might like this site.

The Pink Panther

2006-05-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed these as a child and was happy to find them available on Demonoid:
Pink Panther Cartoon Collections 1,2,3,4,5,6,Christmas Special.

For Pink Panther fans, here are some links to Peter Sellers films:
The Pink Panther
Return of the Pink Panther
Pink Panther Strikes Again
A Shot in the Dark
Revenge of the Pink Panther

Welcome

2006-05-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

This blog will share a personal selection of torrents and other distractions and amusements. The address is DISTENTUM.blogspot.com from the latin for 'distraction'. May what I share amuse, challenge or inform you as well as it has me. The syndicated feed for this site.

Disclaimer: No files in question are hosted on this site nor server. This site in no way promotes the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. Do not download any copyrighted media without the express permission of the copyright holder. The author of this site is in no way responsible for the material to which it links or refers.