Gregarius » Fun

YouTube user data must be turned over to Viacom, judge rules

Posted: July 4th, 2008, 12:34am CDT by Xeni Jardin

A federal judge this week ordered Google to provide Viacom with records of which users watched which videos on YouTube. The ruling raises fears that the video viewing histories of tens of millions of people could be exposed. The sheer amount of data we're talking about here is massive -- for each and every YouTube video ever watched since YouTube launched in 2005, Google now has to to turn over to Viacom the login name of every user who had watched every video, and their the IP addresses.

Snip from NYT story by Miguel Helft:

Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of the site’s visitors. Viacom also said that the information would be safeguarded by a protective order restricting access to the data to outside lawyers, who will use it solely to press Viacom’s $1 billion copyright suit against Google.
Still, the judge’s order, which was made public late Wednesday, renewed concerns among privacy advocates that Internet companies like Google are collecting unprecedented amounts of private information that could be misused or fall unexpectedly into the hands of third parties.
“These very large databases of transactional information become honey pots for law enforcement or for litigants,” said Chris Hoofnagle, a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

Google Told to Turn Over User Data of YouTube [New York Times]

Katamari Damacy Therapy

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 10:33pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

A deeper look inside the personal psychodynamics of everyone's favorite giant-ball-of-stuff-roller-upper. "Katamari Damacy Therapy," by Glitch in the System. [Comedy.com, thanks Ben Fritz]

The Revolutionary iHam

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 8:02pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

From the PR/Marketing firm Shackleton in Spain, a super funny riff on Apple products (which has been circulating in the Spanish blogosphere for months). The introductory video will make you burp bacon, it's so funny. Lulz deconstruction, for non-Spanish readers: the "j" would sound like "h" in Spanish if you said the word "iJam." Anyway, somehow the guy's Castellano accent makes it even funnier, because the "th" sounds are all so fancy to my mexican-spanish-trained ear.

iHam 5Js.

Below: More recently, some guys tried to return their iHam at the Apple store, and were rebuffed. Wikreate's response to Shackleton's iJam.

[Thanks, Ari Kuschnir]

Found: George Washington's house

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 6:10pm CDT by David Pescovitz

Archaeologists report that the remains of an old farmhouse they've spent three years digging up is the childhood home of George Washington. What a deeeelightful pre-July 4 announcement. The excavation, on the Rappahannock River, was the last of three likely sites where the home could have been. The researchers spent the last few years carefully digging out foundation stones, chimneys, wine bottles, forks, wig curlers, a tea set, and even bone toothbrush handles. (No, George's teeth apparently weren't wood even as an adult.) The image seen here shows the home's footprint. From the New York Times:

“What we see at this site is the best available window into the setting that nurtured the father of our country,” Philip Levy, an archaeologist and associate professor of history at the University of South Florida, said in an announcement of the discovery.

Dr. Levy and other members of the excavation team said the foundations, stone-lined cellars and other remains suggested that this was far from being the rustic cottage of common perception, but instead one befitting a family of the local gentry. It was a much larger one-and-a-half-story residence, with perhaps eight rooms and an adjacent structure for the kitchen.

David Muraca, director of archaeology for the George Washington Foundation, said the size, characteristics and location of the structure, as well as many artifacts from the time of Washington’s youth, had led experts to conclude that this was indeed the house they were looking for.

George Washington's house (New York Times, thanks Jennifer Lum!)

Video: cross-species love (not what you think)

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 4:16pm CDT by David Pescovitz

BB community member Takeshi brought this lovely video to our attention. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
Animal Friendship Between Different Species (YouTube)

Dave Hill, inventor of the world's greatest two-man percussive dance theatre troupe

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 4:13pm CDT by Xeni Jardin

Internet funnyman Dave Hill tells Boing Boing:

Recently my friends David Rakoff, Martha Plimpton, Chris Schneider, Miles Kahn, and I made this video chronicling mine and David's attempts at forming the world's greatest two-man percussive dance theatre troupe, like, ever. Please watch it now and then make everyone you know watch it and then have those people make everyone they know watch it, sort of like that shampoo commercial or something. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this video so much. It pretty much has everything. You can totally watch it right here.

Star Trek Trike

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 4:04pm CDT by David Pescovitz

More on this incredible Starship Enterprise tricycle can be found in a BB Gadgets post by the incomparable John Brownlee. Star Trek Trike

Hot rod pedal car

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 3:06pm CDT by David Pescovitz

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Steven Vandervate and Deron Wright modded a 1960s kids pedal car into this killer hot rod ride for Wright's son. From Vandervate's Kischkrieg blog:

The body is a standard 60s vintage pedal car with an incredible candy tangerine job by Nick "O" Teen, the blower is sculpted and cast in resin by Lou Z, while Deron handled the design, machining, and fabrication of the steering, suspension, and wheels. I was left to design and execute the lettering in variegated gold and One Shot enamel. I'd call the whole thing a success and a definite pleasure to take part in.

Hot rod pedal car (Kitschrkieg, thanks COOP!)

Andrew Brandou: new paintings

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 2:34pm CDT by David Pescovitz

Andrew Brandou, one of my favorite pop surrealist painters, has a show of new work opening tomorrow at the Milieu Galerie/Artspace in Bern, Switzerland. Regular BB readers may remember that last year, Brandou showed a provocative collection of paintings based on the story of Jim Jones and the People's Temple. Brandou's new show is titled Mind Manors and he intends it not just as an expression of what he thinks but also a representation of his mind. Andrew kindly sent me a preview of some of the pieces to share here, and also an informal statement about the collection. Click on the images to see them larger.

From his email:

With Mind Manors, i am attempting to construct a metaphor for the way my mind works, or in some cases, does not. Layered above a nebulous ground are the flowers found in much of my work, both a translation of the organic world, as counterpoint to the cerebral architecture or headspace.

The room/containers are areas of my mind, conscious and unconscious, layered and maze like, some with doors and stairwells to make them accessible, others simply boxes, unfinished and empty.

Wandering through this architecture are the bunny and skull, as seen in much of my work. In this case, their roles are that of the active mind and the internal observer. The active mind is seen searching for inspiration or ideas, though it is often asleep or unconscious. The observer is always there, eyes wide open, aware without judging.

This is a rare series for me in that i did very little "research," as opposed to the Jim Jones or Audubon series. Instead, I worked more directly from my personal experience. I did very little in terms of sketching, opting for immediacy and an almost subconscious compositional style. In a way the pieces are Rebus puzzles, using a personal vocabulary of imagery to transmit stories from my subconscious.

Andrew Brandou's site, Milieu Galerie/Artspace

Previously on BB:
• Andrew Brandou: Jonestown Paintings
• Andrew Brandou on his Jonestown Paintings

Amazing photos of migrating Golden Rays

Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 1:49pm CDT by David Pescovitz

The image above depicts Golden Rays in the Gulf of Mexico during their migration from Florida to the Yucatan. It's part of a marvelous larger shot taken along with several others by Sandra Critelli, an amateur photog who was on a whale shark expedition. From The Telegraph:

"It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.

Golden Rays migration photos (The Telegraph, thanks Brad Keech!)