This is an astounding metaphor for our culture and the gravity of our situation as lifeforms on a planet we know next-to-nothing about:
enveloped by the inelegance of our current technology, with wires and all kinds of ugly schwack running up and down the walls surrounding and protecting him, Ed Lu is aboard the International Space Station. Technically, he IS out of our atmosphere and orbiting in space, though, he is only BARELY off-world. Consider the resources and history it took just to get him THIS far.
Meanwhile, he engages in this arguably “unproductive” act of pure beauty, playing a sonata written by a composer who’s been dead almost 200 years.
Ever so slowly but surely, this clip seems to make it all worth it:

cheers to @drwave for turning me onto this:

perspective : technology integration and learning

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I don’t believe i ever saw this as a kid but it still holds up well : even as a kid pretending to be an adult :

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Twenty-five years ago, the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner became an instant science fiction classic. Set in a sodden, squalid Los Angeles of 2019, the neo-noir masterpiece influenced a generation of filmmakers and video-game designers. Scott’s cyberpunk gem almost instantly became the most important film in the canon of movies people like me love.

Admittedly, I’m still such a fan that I watch it at least once every few months.

In Blade Runner’s dystopian near future, replicants [genetically engineered humanoids] do the hard work on off-world colonies. After a bloody mutiny the androids are forbidden from coming to Earth. So when six rogue replicants return home, they must be “retired” [hunted down and killed] and Ford’s Deckard, once a top replicant hunter, or “blade runner,” is pulled out of his own retirement to do the job.

F/X experts who’ve worked on Star Wars Episodes, on the Matrix films, on AI and Terminator agree that 25 years later there are ways in which Blade Runner surpasses anything that’s been done since.

Watching it even now showcases Scott’s genius for creating stunning effects with simple technology.

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This is one of my favorite books of all time!

Edwin Abbott wrote the story in 1884 and it stands as a great epic to this day.

I first read it while living in Chapel Hill and recently discovered it on YouTube recreated as a somewhat crude animation:

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Doctors laugh at me when they ask me ideally what do i want to do about my knee problem and i tell them how i’d like them to just lop it off and gimme a rad prosthetic.

if there are any doctors out there who’d like to help a fella get his quality of life back by hooking him up with something akin to this would you email queue [ - at - ] thinfilmsproductions dot com, please?

i don’t wanna be the fastest runner on my block or break any records other than the furthest walk i’ve had in months.

there’s no doubt this new technology is fascinating but, as we all know, every new solution brings with it a new set of dilemmas.

Whatever. You are my total fucking hero! THANKS, OSCAR!

click here to learn more about Oscar.

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WASHINGTON – Thirty years ago, in theaters near and far, far away, a movie opened the imaginations of millions, combining the magic of mythology and special effects to launch the “Star Wars” phenomenon.

A star of these films — the brave little droid R2-D2 — is about to take a turn collecting mail as the Postal Service and Lucasfilm Ltd. commemorate the launch of the first “Star Wars” movie.

The post office is wrapping mail collection boxes in some 200 cities nationwide in a special covering to look like R2-D2.

[more]

Given the cult-film status of 1971′s THX 1138 in the George Lucas universe, it should come as little surprise that the total capacity of Lucasfilm’s giant data center is 11.38 petabits per second.

Granted, that number–which represents the value one would get by adding up the bandwidth capacity of all the company’s 1 gigabit per second desktop machines and its 10-gbps backbone–is purely theoretical. But in an environment like Lucasfilm, which is celebrating four Oscar nominations this week, and where self-referential history is a big parlor game, numbers like that are nothing to be messed with.

The 10-gbps backbone is the core of the data center’s network. That rate is faster than the prevailing industry standard of around 1 gbps for most servers.

“They’re hesitant to change that capacity,” Kevin Clark, Lucasfilm’s director of IT operations, said of the total theoretical bandwidth number.

Take a video tour of this badass datacenter here!

dunno if many other people grew up watching this show in the 70′s and 80′s or not but it was a staple in my early TV diet.

my friends and i played Ultraman in snow, rain and shine. we lived it, actually, and each of us had our respective Beta Capsules so as to be prepared when it was our turn to be Hayata.

it was a cathartic game, after which we all felt restored and empowered. especially after those run-ins with bullies who [more than anything] hurt our self-confidence.

Happy Birthday to an icon that inspired me while providing hours of imaginative playtime with pals.

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