Mind Blown

This might be his most popular song

Why are we more happy and innocent when we are young?

From Asbury Park to the Promised Land

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia has opened a new exhibit, "From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen," which is running now through September 3. What Springsteen has to do with the United States Constitution I'm not entirely sure. But ever since Philadelphia's own, Ed Sciaky, discovered Bruce in the early 70's, the city looks on him as their adopted son and figures out ways to show it.

In any event, in coordination with the exhibit, WXPN, the University of Pennsylvania's public radio station, is taking nominations for the top five Springsteen songs of all time. On July 4th, WXPN will play back the top 88 songs as voted (88.5 being its radio frequency). All voters will be automatically entered to win an iPad2 loaded with all of Springsteen’s studio albums.

There are, of course, the obvious choices like "Born to Run" (once described by Jim as the most perfect rock song ever recorded), "Rosalita," "Jungleland and "Thunder Road." I have a few other favorites which are lesser known: "New York City Serenade" (She's afraid them tracks are gonna slow her down), "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City", "Wild Billy's Circus Story" (oh, God save the human cannonball) and "Point Blank."

So, what are the other ones I've missed? Springsteen favorites, anyone?

This is cruel…but tellingly funny if patient

(I suspect this may also go viral…but you get it first In Progress.)

Mental Health Break -- Walk Like an Egyptian

It's the 80's: girl bands, big hair, spandex, mindless lyrics and ... walking like an Egyptian.

In the “While much is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened” department, this song made a brief resurgence as one of the revolutionary anthems during the occupation of Tahrir Square.

Justice is blind (and hard of hearing)

Frank M. Fazio is suing Apple in California federal court for "intentional misrepresentation." Siri does not do what he asks.

He gives the example of using the virtual assistant as a navigational aid, saying that when asked for directions to a certain location, "Siri either did not understand what Plaintiff was asking, or, after a very long wait time, responded with the wrong answer.”

Such action was not shown in Apple ads.

Reportedly, Siri wanted to counter sue but the judge couldn't understand her.

This is called a 1st world problem.

There's a rumor it's just a publicity stunt by Apple.

Fazio is also upset that he hasn't run into any beautiful girls yet after trying a new deodorant.

Talking of TED…

TED has introduced a new program called TED Ed: Lessons worth sharing. What do you think?
(For starters, try out the 2nd "Playing with Language" video called "Stories: Legacies of who we are" or the first Awesome Nature one called, "The cockroach beatbox".)

Fair and unbiased

I can only watch TV news for as long as I can watch Petticoat Junction or Jerry Springer. Even worse is local news with the quotidian (use it 3 times and it's yours) fire and animal story. Here's another viral video which explains better the value of local news.



(Sorry about the ad…well, I guess the whole video is an ad masquerading as news.)

God Hates Gravity

A couple of prophets disclaiming profits at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Now it's personal!

These guys wanted to make a "God Hates Gays" sign but had left over paint.

Actually, their well designed game was more performance art than protest. If anything, they were protesting against games which act as marketing schemes designed to continually suck more money out of the button pushing player.

Some thought it was the only fun participants had at the conference. However, these days one must be careful, since the mere mention of God generally brings out the worst in all kinds of people.

If the iPad really were a magical device

The B.S. Report

A few things on this video:

I discovered this video by looking up the source of Jim's "Smacketology" image. It turns out to be from a website called Grantland, editied by ESPN's most popular sportswriter, Bill Simmons. I guess that I should know Simmons, but I don't (not until just recently). You learn something new everyday.

But, having watched the video, I can see why the guy is popular. He's incredibly entertaining, and is somehow able to engage in conversation with the leader of the free world, as if he's some guy down at the gym.

Obama himself is pretty engaging. Which of the Republican candidates could be so savvy about sports and speak about them so intelligently?

This is but the first of several videos. To watch them all tune to B.S. Report: Barack Obama

And Simmons does get around to asking the Smacketology question of Obama. When asked who is the greatest Wire character of all time, the Commander in Chief didn't hesitate: "It's gotta be Omar, right? I mean, that guy is unbelievable, right?"

Required iPad Article

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has ruled that every web site must post an article on the new iPad from Apple so here is our compliance article.

Virtually every rumor came true today with the unveiling of the new iPad. From retina display to new processor to quad core graphics to 5 megapixel camera to HD video recording to LTE to blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, once again it does not diaper the baby, so we have the inexorable doom reviews. This one, however, unintentionally takes the cake, stating that Apple is doomed because 1) Apple uses "Resolutionary" on their web site, 2) Tim Cook left his shirt tails out, and 3) the new iPad is called "the new iPad". The best (and most honest) review was here. 

This site predicted the whole phenomenon two years ago.  

Quotes of the Day

"'The Rush Limbaugh Show' is the top-rated radio show in the country, reaching an estimated 15 million listeners on nearly 600 stations."
     —ABC News

“83 Percent of All Statistics are Made Up on the Spot.”
     —Dr. Tim Ball, Canada Free Press, August 31, 2009

“A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.”
     —Saki (H.H Munro)

In progress still

In Progress is still in progress with no curbs on what it is or will be. One thing I hoped it would be is a place where we could learn about the diverse expertise that its readers would share. Ted's post on the non-link between autism and vaccines fits this perfectly. I'm still waiting for young Steve's post on the working conditions at Foxconn in China and Patrick's post on the sex life of bonobos in the Congo. Why haven't they appeared?

So I apologize for simply making some links, but I found this curiously hilarious. Here is the familiar View From Your Window Contest from the Dish, which in this case is almost a parody of itself, followed by an irresistibly funny parody.

Wire Madness

Now that the brackets have been released, what is with Lester Freamon receiving only a #5 seed?…or 'Bubbles' with a #7? It also shows the ludicrousness of preseason predictions, as McNaulty only receives a #3 seed, and that was probably a gift.

End to the autism/vaccine debate?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/07/p.autism.vaccine.debate/index.html

If the vaccine/autism controversy has taught us one thing, it's that once science messes up (in this case, the journal Lancet publishing the conclusions of a poorly conducted study) it is difficult to retract damning conclusions even when subsequent scientific inquiry shows the original science was completely bogus. Even as subsequent studies continue to show there is no link at all between vaccines and autism, and the study has been withdrawn from the journal in an unprecedented move, it continues to be extremely difficult to eradicate the belief among the public that there is some correlation.

I understand it becomes more difficult to make decisions about vaccines when science seems to be at odds with itself (especially when children impacted by a parent's decision), but it begins to make little rational sense to deny children vaccines when the negative study has been proven incorrect an EVERY OTHER study has shown there is no link between vaccines and autism. Of course, if at any point multiple studies do show that childhood vaccines are related to autism, I will change my tune, but until then, I am going to go with science over pseudo-science, even if I end up disagreeing with Jenny McCarthy.

Pirates' major improvement

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost their first Grapefruit game against Toronto Blue Jays 7-1. This presaged nothing, of course, but was appropriate. Whenever the Pirates lose it is appropriate. Today they play their first game at home at McKechnie Field. However, this season the Pirates greatly improved in one area.

From 2006 to 2011 Pirate games were broadcast on WPGB. This was anathema to a tradition with KDKA going back to 1955 and the station which broadcast the first baseball game ever on radio in 1921 (Pirates-Phillies). This year KDKA-FM becomes the flagship station broadcasting the Pirates' games again. This means that tuning in early or on the wrong day means you won't have to listen to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Michael Savage. This can only make the Pirates and their fans better.

The only down side is the radio station is called KDKA-FM 93.7 The Fan. Hopefully, 'The Fan' isn't a swing and a miss.

Campus Greens Recycle Flash Mob

The Campus Greens is the student environmental group at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The following film was edited by Ellen. Most of all, it got her on the HWS website -- one more life goal achieved.

In the Where's Waldo department, see if you can spot her in the video.

Ethics and Aesthetics

"Ethics and Aesthetics are one"
     —Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Because the poet traffics in mimesis, ungoverned by reason, appealing to the irrational part of the soul, this makes it right for us to proceed to lay hold of him and set him down as the counterpart of the painter, for he resembles him in that his creations are inferior in respect of reality, and the fact that his appeal is to the inferior part of the soul and not to the best part is another point of resemblance. And so we may at last say that we should be justified in not admitting him into a well-ordered state, because he stimulates and fosters this element in the soul, and by strengthening it tends to destroy the rational part, just as when in a state one puts bad men in power and turns the city over to them and ruins the better sort."
      —Plato (To be fair, Plato did consider music as a higher form of art than poetry or painting.)

Ethics and aesthetics constitute a profound unity
     —José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema in 1975

TED, but mostly E

The jury is still out on whether TED Talks are

1. "ideas worth spreading"
2. Oprah II - inspirational couch
3. circus performing scientists
4. primetime infomercials

T.E.D., after all, does stand for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. This first one fits all three spectacularly, but the purpose may be that we need more than that to have a purpose.

This one, again, has all three with a purpose of the "E" part of TED.