Year: 2016
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Blockchain Graffiti
Two pieces of art that cleverly co-opt corporate trademarks to promote an alternative. From @cryptograffiti
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Father Christmas 2016
Each year the guys on my block take turns dressing up as Father Christmas and sit out on a sled in the median on our street asking kids who line up each night between 6:30 and 8 chatting about their hopes and dreams for Christmas morning. It’s a tradition that goes back to the 30’s…
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What happened last night?
There’s a video is going around in Japan trying explain to people there how Donald Trump tapped into the under-represented and dispossessed to win the election. Over the moaning cellos from Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack, Michael Moore rants in a clip from his latest movie TrumpLand against a gliding montage of Ken Burns-ed images of Trump supporters. Moore warns of the political landslide to…
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Said the Rookie to the Veteran
Game 7 in which the Chicago Cubs took the World Series for the first time in 108 years was one for history books. The back-and-forth battle had everyone on the edge of their seats nervously finishing off the rest of their halloween candy well into the night. There were many amazing plays but it was…
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Wither Vine
@kaz nailed it when Vine launched back in early 2013, the app which looped 6-seconds was perfect for sports clips, especially that amazing slam dunk or football catch that you just had to see several times to appreciate or understand. The unfortunate problem is that in order to create a sports highlight Vine you need to be able to…
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Autonomous Driving Update
Back in April there was a run of stories about autonomous vehicles. Singapore was rolling out driverless taxis (one has since been involved in a minor fender-bender). Roborace, the first driverless race car event was announced (the kinks are still being worked out and Audi just reported that they dropped out of Le Mans to focus on…
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I was only trying to help…
Stories surfaced of a botched restoration of baby Jesus’ head at a Canadian church. The local artist volunteered to provide her services, saving the church the $10,000 quoted for a professional restoration. She was honored to be chosen but was clearly out of her league and openly admitted her experience was thin. She had learned…
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12 Hidden Gems from Rio
There were so many stories that came out of Rio but what I enjoyed the most from the SmartNews Rio Olympics page were the lesser reported stories that bubbled up on the page. Over the past couple weeks I kept a list of my favorites and below are the best. ONE: Before the games even…
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Tables – poking fun at tech advertising
I finished Season Three of Silicon Valley, the HBO comedy series built around the mythical company Pied Piper. One of the episodes opens with a brilliant takedown of every over-produced tech commercial you’ve ever seen. What do you do when you have a technical product that defies simple explanations? You string together a bunch of…