Art, done right, provokes.
It can make you feel: disgust, happiness, anger, sadness, rage.
This makes me laugh every time I look at it:

Done by artist Spector, found via Wooster Collective

Well, ShopComposition has decided to ditch their Flash interface (which was awesome) and use HTML with some extra JavaScript sauce.
I love Flash (and have a career because of it), but it’s great to see great alternatives.

*note – I tried it in Firefox (2.0.0.14) on the Mac, but it seems to work smoother in Safari (3.1.1).

Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82

Anything you do will be an abuse of somebody else’s aesthetics. I think you’re born an artist or not. I couldn’t have learned it. And I hope I never do because knowing more only encourages your limitations.

– Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg. Bed. 1955. Combine painting: oil and pencil on pillow, quilt, and sheet on wood supports, 6′ 3 1/4″ x 31 1/2″ x 8″ (191.1 x 80 x 20.3 cm)

Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs.
Being in a post-industrial society in the United States, it’s interesting how working class jobs have become a novelty, something we find entertaining enough to create television shows about.

Thanks s.c. durkin

This was pasted around a few years ago, but it’s always refreshing to watch (although the narrator’s voice is pretty stale):

Know your music history!

Swissmiss has post on THEBLOG WEEMADE, a blog dedicated to showcasing kids artwork.
Meh.
It’s missing something….
…maybe it’s missing some Maddox flavor: I am better than your kids, parts 1 & 2.
This image has some serious explaining to do:

I would seriously be crapping my pants if I had a big-busted, Viking-looking teacher that looked like that. Check out those HEELS!!!!!

I Really Hope Microsoft Has More Than This – If Microsoft wants to even think about competing with Google* – they’re going to have to figure out a new business strategy.
I’ll be truly surprised and impressed if Microsoft does.
*Yes, I said Microsoft has to compete with Google, not Google has to compete with Microsoft, because Google has changed the rules of the game by offering a Sharepoint and Office alternative that is free AND online.
Microsoft has to play on Google’s turf and time is running out.
Game on!

Buckethead and Claypool tear it up so much in this clip that I didn’t notice all the nasty hippies:

Last month marked the retirement of my Palm Treo 650. This phone, combined with my Treo 600 before it, lasted me for over 3 years – and it did it’s job very well. Its top selling point for me was the Hot Sync ability. The fact that if I ever lost or broke my phone, I could just sync my new phone with my computer and all my contacts would be back. In fact, the information on my Treo(s) was actually legacy information from my Samsung SPH-300 (Palm OS) and my Palm Vx before it. So you can see, syncing is very important for me. The idea of having to re-enter info into a phone annoys me to no end.

In January of 2007, I was almost ready to renew my contract with Cingular and get a new Treo 680 – but then Apple dropped the iPhone and that changed the whole game. Suddenly the Treo looked dated. Ok, fine, most mobile phones still look dated, but before the iPhone, the Treo had no foil, nothing innovative and modern to contrast its dated operating system. Looking at the Palm Treo now next to the iPhone is like looking at the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System next to a Playstation 3.

…and like the NES, I still love my Treo, but it’s day has passed. I might occasionally pick it up to look nostalgically at the antiquated OS.

…or to play Dope Wars.

I’m not sure who Alex English is, but I’m really digging the hockey-masked busts.

Yes. This is what you get when a Microsoft eats a Yahoo!
Soft!
So Microsoft is offering $44.6 billion for Yahoo! Great, good for them.
This whole deal is soft.
I mean, this whole deal is Soft!
If Microsoft has proven anything with its many acquisitions, it’s that money can’t buy you market dominance (licensing your product can, which is why they are where they are today).
Daring Fireball has a great little breakdown of things.

So I’m a little late this this, but FFFFound is hot. Very hot. I think of it as Flickr with a purpose, or Flickr with a brain or something. Dalematic told me, “It’s better than going to the bookstore …almost.” What is great about the site is the simplicity. It’s easy to start browsing just the images that speak to you.

I have some links I ran across today in my Google Reader RSS feeds. It’s sad that I run across so much bullshit, fake product competitions and hyperbole. Let’s spew out some exhaust, it’s long overdue:
HBO begins offering Internet video service – It’s bullshit that’s it’s Windows-only, but it does prove there IS life outside of iTunes Music Store. (Amazon is proof of that.)
Lenovo already prepping “Air killer” subnote? – No. It’s a friggin’ compact sub notebook. It’s software-ically impossible for it to be a Air-killer since it runs Windows.
Let’s please stop using “killer”, to instigate fights and arguments.
Also, I’m sick of people confusing coincidence with irony. If you’re confused, or even if you aren’t, please read this Wikiquote page to refresh yourself. George Carlin’s examples are particularly enlightening.