chad mccall

i really like chad mccall's work. he's a british artist who completed the 'evolution is not over yet' series of paintings in 1999. here's a samping:

these are from here, and there's another great example of his work here.

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Bush-Saud rift

The Bush administration fucks everything up.

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Gymkata

his name Kurt Thomas..."he must compete in an ancient savage ritual. they call it 'The Game.'
But nobody wins and nobody lives but now, until now!! when gymnastics and karate are fused...
the combustion becomes and EXPLOSION!!"

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zach galifianakis + will oldham in kanye west music video

apparently, kanye west approached galifianakis to do an alternate version of his music video and this is the result. general greatness, and an excellent commentary of modern mainstream rap videos, many of which still seem to be based off of the "hypnotize" music video. click the image to watch.

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DARPA's PAM

While proofing some pages from the book The Wisdom of Crowds I came across the author's analysis of PAM, a program about which I'd kind of forgotten. So here's a fun flashback to 2003:

The Policy Analysis Market (PAM), also known as FutureMAP was a proposed futures exchange developed by the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and based on an idea first proposed by Net Exchange[1], a San Diego research firm specializing in the development of online prediction markets.

PAM was to be a "a market in the future of the Middle East", and would have allowed trading of futures contracts based on possible political developments in several Middle Eastern countries. The theory behind such a market is that the monetary value of a futures contract on an event reflects the probability that that event will actually occur, since a market's actors rationally bid a contract either up or down based on reliable information. One of the models for PAM was a political futures market run by the University of Iowa, which has allegedly proven more accurate in predicting the outcomes of U.S. elections than either opinion polls or political pundits. PAM was also inspired by the work of George Mason University economist Robin Hanson.

At a July 28, 2003 press conference, Senators Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) claimed that PAM would allow trading in such events as coups d'état, assassinations, and terrorist attacks, due to such events appearing on interface pictures on the project website. They denounced the idea, with Wyden stating, "The idea of a federal betting parlor on atrocities and terrorism is ridiculous and it's grotesque," while Dorgan called it "useless, offensive and unbelievably stupid". [2] Other critics offered similar outrage. Almost immediately afterwards (within less than a day) the Pentagon announced the cancellation of PAM, and by the end of the week John Poindexter, head of the DARPA unit responsible for developing it, had offered his resignation.

CNN reported the program would be relaunched by the private firm, Net Exchange, which helped create it, but that the newer version "will not include any securities based on forecasts of violent events such as assassinations or terror attacks". ^[1] On June 11, 2007, Popular Science launched a similar program, known as the Popsci Predictions Exchange.

There are now commercial policy analysis markets, such as InTrade, which offers futures on events such as the capture of Osama bin Laden, the U.S. Presidential Election, and the bombing of Iran.

The above from the Wikipedia entry. Well, the author, to my dismay, ended up defending PAM based on his correct but in this case misguided reasoning that a diverse predictions field would provide the best intelligence. . . . Misguided because the market predictions can easily become self-fulfilling when certain people's monies are on the table. . . . Which, I think, was probably the point to begin with.

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norwegian man gored in leg during running of the bulls

so i wonder...how the hell they are gonna clean this wound?

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save africa?

An interesting take on the Wests' obsession with 'Saving Africa' from itself.

from the Washington Post

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prophetic 1952 cartoon strip

from Boing Boing: (click for larger picture)

EEAHH! A PIG!

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Drinking Out of Cups

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mixxx

i uploaded a collection of 11 dancy, sort of electro, rock songs here. it should only take a minute to download, but will keep all ten of your toes tapping for over 40 minutes.

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