Vorg Blog

Overheard in Beijing

chrisdye — 2008-08-25T08:56:19-04:00

(Korean baseball fans, impromptu, to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb):
"Dongjoo, Dongjoo, Kim Dongjoo
Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah!
Dongjoo, Dongjoo Kim Dongjoo!
[Something in Korean] Kim Dongjoo!"
(upon which Kim Dongjoo knocks in the winning RBI to beat Japan in the semi-finals).

American twentysomethings, on trying to understand the nature of the Ippon in Judo:
"Oh, faceslam!... Faceslam is a thousand points!!!"

New Zealand field hockey fan, during a 5-minute video review:
"The Chinese built the Great Wall faster than this!"

New Zealand field hockey fan, on seeing an injured Spaniard on the field:
"Get up, this isn't soccer!"

Baseball announcer, having to introduce the Olympic mascots, which have no traits describable in the English language:
"It's Fuwa time!...Fuwa for you!"

P.S. We saw Jackie Chan! 20 feet away! Beat that for Chineseness, Chronomorph!

For Bryan

vinny9 — 2008-08-22T16:15:35-04:00

5 alternate medal tables

Vertiginous

vinny9 — 2008-08-22T10:11:05-04:00

Olympic Water Cube from the 10m platform

With audio.

50 Cent (diluted earnings per share)

vinny9 — 2008-08-21T11:34:14-04:00

Hip-hop Portfolios

The new king of hip-hop wealth [50 Cent] banked $100 million after taxes on one deal alone when his stake in VitaminWater's parent, Glac�au, was bought by Coca-Cola as part of a $4.1 billion deal. 50's portfolio also includes the popular G-Unit clothing line and record label, plus films, videogames and a slew of platinum albums, including last year's Curtis. Also in the works: a mining partnership with South African billionaire Partrice Motsepe.

Alexandre Despatie dives better than Jaromir Jagr

chrisdye — 2008-08-21T05:38:41-04:00

Did anyone see us on TV during the Olympic 3m mens diving? We saw ourselves on CCTV, trying to keep a stony silence while a bunch of Russians cheered their diver as loudly as they could.

Some other highlights of our recent travels:
- a guy chucking his bronze medal onto the floor and storm off the podium in disgust (that's right, 3rd place is 2nd loser!)
- seeing the Lakeside Pavillion of Washing the Tassle of My Official Hat in the Master of the Nets Garden!
- seeing 24 pandas: 2% of the world's population!
- 100 dumplings in 48 hours!!!
- this awesome song!

(P.S. If you don't think it's awesome, play it 49 more times in the next 8 hours.)

Smells Like Melted Plastic

vinny9 — 2008-08-20T16:33:15-04:00

MagSafe Adapter replacements

No kidding. I just had to buy a replacement due to their crappy design. I reinforced my replacement with some electrical tape. I'll be going to get my refund.

Movie Poster Quiz

vinny9 — 2008-08-19T22:01:51-04:00

Guess the titles from a single letter
(not necessarily the first letter of the title, which fooled me for a bit)

I only got 16. Surely you can top that.

Compensation

vinny9 — 2008-08-19T13:59:20-04:00

Crazy pics of the Burj Dubai, world's tallest building

Teleport - Lux Map of the Week

dustin — 2008-08-18T14:44:16-04:00

Okay, here's how it works. Each "platform" is made up seven chunks and is worth ten bonus armies for controlling it. At the center of each platform is a "teleporter". A "teleporter" can attack any other "teleporter" and may also attack (one-way only) the outer-ring of any "platform" except for t... [read more...]

Teleport was created by Patrick Cummings. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

'An Affectionate Gesture'

vinny9 — 2008-08-13T16:19:09-04:00

Spanish basketball team takes publicity shot while making "Chinese eyes"

Hand Island - Lux Map of the Week

dustin — 2008-08-12T19:34:47-04:00

It is the 16th century and the kingdom of England starts to miss some crucial natural resource to meet its needs.

The king decides to send a naval fleet in order to discover other territories to fill their lack of resource.

The fleet discovers an island which abounds in ... [read more...]

Hand Island was created by Eric Labadie. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Obama will never give you up

registeredname — 2008-08-09T18:33:57-04:00

Il etait un fuwa

chrisdye — 2008-08-07T07:51:55-04:00

The Fuwa (ridiculously translated as "Friendlies") are the Beijing Games mascots. They each represent an Olympic ring colour and a traditional Chinese element, as well as being animated Olympic/Chinese characters: Beibei the fish, Jingjing the panda, Huanhuan the Olympic flame, Yingying the Tibetan antelope, and Nini the Beijing swallow.

We thought the Vanouver Olympics could also have five mascots, representing the regions of Canada:

- Toketoke the Vancouver joint
- Graingrain the motionless blade of Saskatchewan wheat
- Slagslag the lump of Sudbury coal
- Rockrock the Inukshuk
- Clubclub the baby seal

Also on our list as possibilities are curdcurd the poutine, puckpuck the hockey puck, and meme the Torontonian. Other suggestions are welcome.

You Take A Block From the Bottom

vinny9 — 2008-08-06T14:55:43-04:00

Animation of the International Space Station being assembled

Old Skool Punks

dustin — 2008-08-06T14:39:37-04:00

Comix

vinny9 — 2008-08-06T10:21:34-04:00

Calvin and Jobs

South Carolina - Revolution - Lux Map of the Week

dustin — 2008-08-05T20:05:21-04:00

It is August 1780; the American situation in South Carolina is bleak. The continental Army under general Gates has suffered a devastating defeat at Camden leaving the American army in shatters. Now, the only Patriot forces left are scattered bands of militia. General Clinton seizes this opportunity... [read more...]

South Carolina - Revolution was created by Mark Bauer. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Improv Classes

Chronomorph — 2008-08-03T20:55:51-04:00

Last month, Brent Skagford and I taught an intermediate class at the OFF space on St-Laurent and put on a showcase where our workshoppers dazzled the audience with their incredible improv skills. For late summer/early fall, I�m organizing a BEGINNERS class, so if you�re interested in getting on board the improv train, now would be a good time. You can check my website for more information.

This Is So Wrong

vinny9 — 2008-07-31T23:17:17-04:00

Nothing on the Schedule Today

vinny9 — 2008-07-31T16:03:48-04:00

NASA is paying people to not move (well, as little as possible) for 90 days in a controlled environment so they can study the effect of long-term immobilization on the human body.

One of them is blogging the experience.

Zipcar, the Car Co-op and New Drivers

dustin — 2008-07-30T17:58:14-04:00

Zipcar and the Co-operative Auto Network both have cars parked right outside my building. Members can use the cars when they need one. This would be great except for the fact that neither of them will let me join.

Zipcar and the Co-op both require customers to have 3 year driving records. I only recently got my BC driver's license, and I still have my N, labeled as a novice driver.

As a new driver, I think I'm the prime demographic for a car sharing service. Lock me into your program when I'm young and getting started driving and there's a good chance they'd have me as a customer for a long, long time.

It's been good to see the 2 services competing against each other by adding more locations around Vancouver. I'm hopeful that one will see the opportunity here and create a way for new drivers to join.

Rejecting new drivers hampers the growth of car sharing, and pushes people to buy cars. Here's the research on how to buy a used car and Canadian car buying tips.

Washington, Washington - He's coming, he's coming

registeredname — 2008-07-29T13:09:29-04:00

Everything you ever wanted to know about George Washington but were too afraid to ask.

Prussia - Lux Map of the Week

dustin — 2008-07-28T14:38:55-04:00

Prussia at the beginning of the 20th century

Prussia was created by Lupus ferox. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Sine O' the Times

vinny9 — 2008-07-28T10:49:54-04:00

Workaround for YouTube audio compression

The Distant Future, the Year 2000

vinny9 — 2008-07-25T10:48:44-04:00

Japan on course to make all anime come true

The first epistle of Chrisdye from the Philippines

chrisdye — 2008-07-25T03:11:08-04:00

Some things you should consider visiting while in Asia:

http://siamniramit.com/ An awesomely cheesy musical dance show featuring all of Thailand's history and culture, featuring a live elephant (which you can ride before the show) and green deities with two foot crowns flying across the dry ice-filled stage.

Vietnamese water puppets: cheesy goodness at one fifteenth the price of Siam Niramit:

Possibly to avoid is the Petronas Twin Towers observation deck, which at floor 41 of 88 floors, is slightly higher than the lunch room at my office.

Dropbox

vinny9 — 2008-07-23T23:35:58-04:00

Ok, they win some word of mouth.

I signed up for the Dropbox beta ages ago and got my invite today.

I really like the idea and the implementation is pretty slick. If anyone wants to try it out, I have 10 invites.

Books and Art

vinny9 — 2008-07-23T15:02:09-04:00

Tor Books is giving away DRM-free electronic copies of some of their books.

Even if none of the books interest you, there is also a whole slew of book cover art available for download (gorgeous!).

Why Can't Global Politics Still Be Like This?

goodladd — 2008-07-23T14:10:38-04:00

Apologies if you've seen it before.

The Messenger God

goodladd — 2008-07-22T10:16:52-04:00

This year's Mercury Prize shortlist has just been announced. The Mercury Prize is an annual award given to the British or Irish artist deemed to have released the best album in the preceding year. Past winners include Franz Ferdinand, Badly Drawn Boy, Dizzee Rascal, Ms Dynamite, etc.; but the best part of the MP is the obscure shortlisters that even finger-on-the-pulse musicblogger Sean Michaels confesses never to have heard of, sometimes. A lot of my favourite songs are from artists I discovered through the MP shortlists, so I'd highly recommend checking them out.

Also, because it's Sillytech (sorry, Velourg), my pick for this year's winner: Estelle.