The Null Device

2003/10/22

This looks pretty nifty. It's an electric scooter (although not one of those little dinky toys, nor one of those daft Segway things that all the geekerati seem to have convinced themselves are the future of transportation). It's virtually noiseless, does up to 30mph (though they're working on faster ones), and it looks pretty sharp too. It costs US$2,800, which is less than the price of a new Vespa here. (via Gizmodo)

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Scientists in the Netherlands have discovered that an orgasm is neurologically equivalent to a hit of heroin. By getting volunteers to have sex whilst keeping their heads perfectly still in a PET-scanning machine, researchers at Groningen University were able to form an image of the neurological effects of orgasm.

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Memewatch: The ironic-trucker-cap meme seems to be fizzling out; MX (the free wire-story/press-release/celebrity-gossip paper in Melbourne) had a 1-page feature showing 12 caps from brands like FUBU, Freshjive, Stussy and Mambo. In the time that the meme took to arrive to Australia, it seems to have jumped right over the ironically-slumming hipster contingent (other than one or two Architecture In Helsinki fans, I haven't seen any hipster types wearing trucker caps here), lost its irony and gone to the Chapel St. designer-label crowd. And now that MX has covered it, its days are probably numbered. (Then again, didn't Justin "J-to-tha-T" Timberlake wear one on TV or something?)

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First there was the Millennium Dome, then the London Eye, and then that American wanker in the glass box; now, the global theme park that is London is to get a new attraction: a giant circular video screen/camera that links London to a similar system in Vienna. (Why Vienna, you ask, and not, say, Berlin or New York or somesuch? because the company behind the thing is from there.) The screen captures live video of people in front of it and sends it to the screen in Vienna, which does the same, effectively creating a huge portal between these two cities (sort of like the Lucky Dragon franchise thing in that William Gibson novel). Except for the 13% of the time that it blasts ads at all in earshot.

That all reminds me of a high-concept, Disneylondon version of that "alt.tv" screen in Bourke St.; originally it was meant to be some sort of hip, underground pop-culture thing, run by the custodians of pop-culture, ad agencies. It showed animations, BMX/skateboarding segments and interviews with People Off The Street. Oh, and every so often it would show ads, when the speakers arrayed around the nearby streetscapes would come to life and provide a soundtrack to the captive audiences waiting for trams.

The "alt.tv" concept (I wonder if they tried to take over the USENET newsgroup as a promotional medium) fizzled, and the screen seems to have been taken over by stock quotes, news tickers, and Leunig claymations on repeat. Oh, and ads.

Anyway, back to Disneylondon, the theme park that the Second City of McWorld (the title of First City being shared by New York, Washington and LA) is turning into. Maybe if they actually handed over management of the city to Disney Corp., the Tube would run properly and not keep crashing into tunnel walls. And they could use the decommissioned postal rail tunnels for theme park security.

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Man bequeaths estate to The Smiths (or, more specifically, to Morrissey and Johnny Marr), but only if they can stay in the same room for an hour. Um, OK... (via Rocknerd)

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A future history of the fall of the United States, which descends into authentic fascism under the influence of reality television, celebrity politics and news/entertainment programming. (via MeFi)

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