Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Tech'

Russell Hoban, The Kraken, and the US Edition of Linger Awhile

June 5th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Books, Culture, Fantasy, Internet, Journal, Lit, Mythology, News, Online Communities, Russell Hoban, Science Fiction

A few days ago I got a package in the mail from the David R. Godine publishing house, who last year republished both of Russell Hoban’s hilarious Captain Najork children’s books in the US (and did a lovely job of it). Inside the package was an advance copy of the forthcoming US edition of Russ’s […]

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Roundup: Magnum Opus Edition

June 4th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Magnum Opus Edition · Apple, Books, Comics, Culture, Food, Heroes, iTunes, Language, LGBT, Lit, Media, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Tech, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan

COMICS: For once I’m starting out with the comics section, in honor of the fact that Salon has added Opus by the mighty Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County, Outland) to their repertoire. Oh, happy day. Here’s the first installment. Along with my favorites This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow and Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben […]

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Ocpot Presents … LOLHeroes

June 3rd, 2007 · 17 Comments · Blogs, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Heroes, Internet, Photos, Science Fiction, TV

OK, I’m a late bloomer on this, but having seen all of this insanity, via Jason at What Is This, 1999?, just sort of pushed me over the lolcats edge. I have put in my guilty share of time at I Can Has Cheezburger?, and I had previously seen the LOL Trek episode “We Has […]

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iTunes Random Ten: My Very First Time

May 27th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Culture, iTunes, Journal, Meta, Music, New Wave

The Rubber Nun is a big fan of this Random Ten meme-thingie and I’m a big fan of the Rubber Nun, so in honor of the elastic sister I thought I’d give it a spin myself. Of course I think you’re supposed to do it on Fridays … but isn’t it still Friday in Singapore, […]

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Roundup: Pottymouth Jar Edition

May 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Blogs, Business, Comics, Culture, Foreign Policy, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Macintosh, Music, News, Politics, Religion, Tech, Terrorism, Torture

It’s the foreign policy, stupid: This great post at Crooks and Liars takes apart the simplistic and unhelpful notion that terrorists “hate us for our freedoms.” As Michael Scheuer, former station chief of the CIA’s Osama Bin Laden task force, says: “The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that ‘Muslims hate and […]

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Rescued! (by DKos and Akismet)

May 19th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Internet, Journal, Meta, Pets, Politics

Hey! As I just noted in an update to my NY Ferrets Against Giuliani entry from Thursday, I cross-posted it as a diary over at Daily Kos, and it made the Friday Night Diary Rescue list! Not too shabby for only my second diary over there. Also, regular commenters may have noticed that the comment […]

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Baffled by the Internet (and How It Really Works)

May 18th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Culture, Education, Internet, Law, News, Politics, Tech

I’ve been disturbed for a couple of days now by this story about a judge in the UK who was baffled by the concept of a Web site. A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like “Web site” in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism […]

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Fool MSNBC Twice, Shame on You

May 15th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Internet, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, TV, Video

Funny stuff. Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo roasts MSNBC for mistaking a parody White House site for the real thing in their Falwell coverage. The second time around, the anchorpersonage has a wee bit of trouble understanding the nature of her earlier mistake.   MSNBC needs to hire some kids to explain the Web […]

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Roundup: Carrot Whittling Edition

May 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Education, Energy, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech

White light, green heat: LEDS aren’t just for clock radios any more. In fact, LED lightbulbs may turn out to be the bulb of the future instead of compact fluorescents. Thanks to a breakthrough in the 90s, modern LEDs can emit white light instead of just red or green. They last up to five times […]

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Comment Moderation Engaged

May 14th, 2007 · Comments Off on Comment Moderation Engaged · Blogs, Internet, Meta, Software

Ah, it’s come to this. I’ve had to turn on comment moderation because the evil hordes of the Cømm3nt-Sp@m Børg have found their way to Ocelopotomus. So, if you comment, you may experience some lag time before your brilliance actually appears on the site, depending on whether I happen to be asleep/cleaning up Mr. Blue’s […]

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Happy Fontiversary Helvetica, All About Arial, and Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface

May 13th, 2007 · Comments Off on Happy Fontiversary Helvetica, All About Arial, and Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface · Culture, Design, Film, Internet, News, Software, Tech, Typography, Video

Via an email from my friend Jorjet, I see that Helvetica is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Helvetica comes from Switzerland, which is fitting considering its essentially neutral personality. We should all be so functional and wildly popular as Helvetica at our half-century mark. Of course, Helvetica has its detractors as well: “When people […]

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Roundup: The Bitch Is Back Edition

May 11th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: The Bitch Is Back Edition · Apple, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Doctor Who, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, Peace, Pet Food, Politics, Science Fiction, Tech, Torture, TV

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Music: Amnesty International’s Instant Karma — The Campaign to Save Darfur

May 9th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Activism, Culture, Human Rights, iTunes, Music, New Wave, News

Green Day’s cover version of “Working Class Hero” by John Lennon was released May 1 as the third single from Instant Karma: the Campaign to Save Darfur, Amnesty International’s album of Lennon covers by various artists to raise awareness about the human rights catastrophe in the Sudan. All proceeds from the album will go to […]

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Roundup: Giant Hourglass Edition

April 30th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Apple, Blogs, Books, Culture, Education, Fantasy, Foreign Policy, Health, Human Rights, Lit, Media, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech, TV

As part of an international day of protest over the genocide in Darfur, campaigners in London displayed a giant hourglass filled with “blood” to symbolize time running out. The image at right is from a video featuring Hugh Grant tied to the campaign. More than 200,000 have died, with 2 million displaced and 4 million […]

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