September 27, 2013
Precision guided firearms (PGFs) are long-range rifle systems designed to improve the accuracy of shooting at targets at extended ranges through target tracking, heads-up display, and advanced fire control.
Inspired by missile lock-on and fighter jet technology, the application of PGF technology to small arms mitigates multiple sources of marksman error including mis-aim, trigger jerk and shot setup miscalculation. PGFs can significantly increase first shot success probability (FSSP) out to extreme ranges of 1,200 yards or more. PGFs are fully integrated systems consisting of a standard caliber bolt action or semi-automatic rifles combined with a networked tracking scope and a guided trigger.
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September 27, 2013
Ding zui [ding zoo-ee] is the Chinese practice of hiring impostors or body doubles to stand trial and receive punishment in one’s place. The term translates as ‘substitute criminal,’ and is reported to be a relatively common practice among China’s wealthy elite.
Accusations of ding zui surfaced in 2012 during the trial of Gu Kailai. The term ‘body double’ quickly became popular on Chinese Internet fora, and Chinese authorities attempted to censor related messages. Similar allegations had arisen in 2009 after the trial Hu Bin.
Posted in Money, Politics, World |
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September 26, 2013
‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete‘ was an American children’s television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon than ran from 1993 to 1996. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various interactions with family, friends, and enemies.
The show was created by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi and began as minute-long shorts in 1989 that aired in between regular programs. Owing to the popularity of the shorts, five half-hour specials were made, followed by a regular half-hour series.
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September 26, 2013
Danny Tamberelli (b. 1982) is an American actor, comedian and musician. Tamberelli played Jackie Rodowsky on the television series ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’ shortly before more notably playing Little Pete on the Nickelodeon television show ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete’ and provided the voice for Arnold in ‘The Magic School Bus,’ as well as appearing in the films ‘Igby Goes Down’ and ‘The Mighty Ducks.’ Many may also know him for his work on Nickelodeon’s ‘All That,’ as well as ‘Figure It Out’ (and his famed ‘head flip,’ where he would flip his head back after getting slimed to cover the audience in slime).
Tamberelli was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey. He is a graduate of Hampshire College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts focusing on music performance and booking management. He is the bassist and vocalist for the rock band Jounce, formed in Northern New Jersey. They released an eponymous debut album in 2006, followed by their sophomore effort, ‘These Things’ in 2009. Tamberelli is also a member of the sketch comedy group ‘Man Boobs Comedy’ with co-creators Brendan O’Rourke and Jeremy Balon. Tamberelli appears in the 2013 video game ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ as Jimmy De Santa.
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September 25, 2013
Ronald Dworkin (1931 – 2013) was an American philosopher and scholar of constitutional law. His theory of law as integrity, in which judges interpret the law in terms of consistent and communal moral principles, especially justice and fairness, is among the most influential contemporary theories about the nature of law.
Dworkin advocated a ‘moral reading’ of the United States Constitution, and an interpretivist approach to law and morality. He was a frequent commentator on contemporary political and legal issues, particularly those concerning the Supreme Court of the United States, often in the pages of ‘The New York Review of Books.’
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September 24, 2013
‘Thought for Food‘ is The Books’ first album. It contains all the characteristic elements of their sound: rich and varied sampling from a variety of mundane and instrumental sources combined into songs. In 2000, The Books started work on what would become their début album.
Guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong moved locations constantly during this time, recording in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and finally in the basement of a hostel in North Carolina where Zammuto worked for a while after hiking the Appalachian Trail. The album was released in 2002 and was praised by critics for its distinctive sound: extensive sampling from obscure sources coupled with acoustic instrumentation.
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September 24, 2013
‘Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities by The Books‘ is a 2006 release by NY electronic duo The Books. It is a compendium on mini CD of four pieces created for the ‘1%’ art and sound installation in the Ministry of Culture in Paris, France in 2004.
The pieces were created to be played in the elevator of the Ministry, giving the release its title. Following the initial four tracks (those designed for the elevator) are ‘several ‘classic’ spoken word tracks’ taken from The Books’ sample libraries.
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September 24, 2013
The Books were an American duo consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporated samples of obscure sounds and speech. They released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and released their fourth studio album, ‘The Way Out,’ on Temporary Residence Limited in 2010.
Zammuto and de Jong met in New York City in 1999 as they shared the same apartment building. De Jong invited Zammuto to dinner at his apartment, where he played him some of his collection of audio and video samples, including a Shooby Taylor scat record. Zammuto said of their meeting that ‘we both kind of knew at that moment that we listened (to music) in interesting ways and had similar approaches to music.’ Soon after, they began playing what they considered to be pop music, in comparison to their own works, under the name ‘The Books.’
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September 23, 2013
‘NBA Jam‘ is an arcade game first developed by Midway in 1993 by programmer and game designer Mark Turmell. The game featured 2-on-2 basketball and is one of the first sports games to offer NBA-licensed teams and players, and their real digitized likenesses. Midway had previously released such sports games as ‘Arch Rivals’ in 1989 (another 2-on-2 basketball game, on which NBA Jam’s gameplay is based), ‘High Impact’ in 1990, and ‘Super High Impact’ in 1991, but ‘NBA Jam’ was the company’s first major hit.
The game became exceptionally popular, and generated a significant amount of money for arcades after its release, creating revenue of $1 billion in quarters. Its success gave rise to a new genre of sports games which were based around fast, action-packed gameplay and exaggerated realism, a formula which Midway would also later apply to the sports of football (‘NFL Blitz’), and hockey (‘2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge’).
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September 22, 2013
Clive Thompson (b. 1968) is a Canadian freelance journalist, blogger and science and technology writer. Thompson graduated from the University of Toronto with majors in political science and English. He previously worked for ‘Canada’s Report on Business’ magazine and ‘Shift’ magazine, then became a freelance contributor for ‘The New York Times Magazine,’ ‘The Washington Post, and several other publications. He writes about digital technologies and their social and cultural impact
He started his science and technology blog, ‘Collision Detection,’ in 2002. Thompson lives in Brooklyn with his wife Emily Nussbaum who is the TV critic for ‘The New Yorker.’
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September 21, 2013
Erwin Wurm (b. 1954) is an Austrian artist; since the late 1980s, he has developed an ongoing series of ‘One Minute Sculptures,’ in which he poses himself or his models in unexpected relationships with everyday objects close at hand, prompting the viewer to question the very definition of sculpture. He seeks to use the ‘shortest path’ in creating a sculpture — a clear and fast, sometimes humorous, form of expression. As the sculptures are fleeting and meant to be spontaneous and temporary, the images are only captured in photos or on film.
Most Recently, Erwin Wurm has worked on a series of sculpture titled ‘Fat Car,’ which depict ‘puffy, obese, life-size sculptures that bulge like overfilled sacks.’ The first of this series was developed with Opel designers but they were unsuccessful in achieving the kind of shape that Wurm had in mind. In order to create the quality of fat, the artist uses polyurethane foam and styrofoam covered with lacquer.
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September 20, 2013
‘See You Next Wednesday‘ is a recurring gag in most of the films directed by John Landis, usually referring to a fictional film that is rarely seen and never in its entirety. Each instance seems to be a completely different film. Landis got the title from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’; it is the last line spoken by Frank Poole’s father during Poole’s videophone conversation.
In Landis’ first film, ‘Schlock’ (1973), SYNW is mentioned twice and shown as a poster. Brief casting and plot descriptions are given each time it is mentioned, making it clear that this is in fact two different films both titled ‘See You Next Wednesday.’ In the sketch comedy film ‘The Kentucky Fried Movie’ (1977), the film is a melodrama presented in ‘Feel-Around,’ a technique where an usher stands behind each movie patron and does things to them as they occur in the film, enhancing the movie-going experience, at least until the scene where the woman puts a knife to the man’s throat. Continue reading →
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