Einstein Robot Learns to Smile, Looks Like Hedwig
As reported on Wired Science, this robot can analyze the facial expressions of itself and others and learn to make new ones. But, more importantly, it looks like an old Hedwig with a moustache. It especially resembles the Hedwig with the old mother’s wig.
(big ups to @TheSquare)
Portland Local Media Roundup: Streets of Rage!
I’m in Ur Councilz, Renamin’ Ur Avez
Matt Davis reported this morning on the Portland Mercury’s Blogtown, (somewhat caustically) the unanimous decision of city council to rename 39th Ave. to Ceasar Chavez Blvd. He even used the word, “fucking!” Ooooh. I’m gonna tell!
The KATU readers are once again bubbling right out of the cauldron. (Reading KATU commenters is becoming one of my favorite pasttimes.) Cries for recalling EVERYONE run rampant. One commenter boldly remarks, “City councel members – you are a disgrace to your city and your state.”
“pdxranger1″ said “I thought the illegal day labor site was a symbol recognizing latinos for their contributions? This is absurd, I cannot wait unit Mr. Adams is recalled, then we can focus on booting out the other losers in office,” proving once again that the Adams recall circus, which officially registered with the city yesterday, is spurred on by forward-thinking, non-bigots.
KATU is running this poll as well:
ghostly "Viewers' Voice" graphic haunts poll with improper size, format
No! I don’t agree at all! You should fire them! All of them. FIRE ALL YOUR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS! Wait. What were we talking about?
@PDXPipeline Swallowed by Enigmatic Internet Phenomenon
PDXPipeline, which provides event and nightlife information to thousands of Portlanders daily, suffered an unexpected suspension of their main twitter account, as well as a couple of satellite accounts, including @PDXJobs. The outcry from locals on twitter was immediate and loud. (fancy that) Even several members of the OurPDX community took a break from participation in massive comment-thread flame-war planning to set up a complaint ticket with twitter’s support dept.
Twitter reinstated the account within a day and apologized saying that the PDXPipelne accounts were somehow caught up in a “spam cloud!”
expert artists conception of a twitter spam cloud
OLCC To Oregon: You Kids Get Off My Blog!
The OLCC continues their quest to use current technology in outdated ways. It’s cute in a way, like your 84 year-old grandfather trying to work an iPhone. “Where’s the goddamn on button on this dadgum thing!?” Their latest post, which features a stylish double headline, exhorts proudly the virtue of their revolutionary and effective stale, impotent new campaign, redolent of out-of-touch PSA’s throughout the ages.
OLCC clearly wasting tax dollars on having designers who can do this kind of sleek, sexy formatting
They know you have questions. And they have answers!
“WHAT’S SHOULDER TAPPING? Teens asking adults to buy them alcohol. Also known as “Hey, Mister.”
“Yeah. Gee whiz, mister. It’d be real swell if you could get a couple of 40oz. PBR’s for me and Jimmy here. They’d be great with Mrs. Caruther’s homemade apple pie!”
Would Spidey Make a Good Cowboy?
I think Spider-Man would make an excellent cowboy because he can jump around real fast. He can also use his webs. He does not need a lasso. He can also use his Spidey sense to tell when there are bad guys around. He is also strong and sometimes you need to fight a bull. And when you tame a horse they get mad too sometimes. That is why I think Spider Man would make a good cowboy. What do you think?
PDXSucks Eats From the Tree of Pod-Death?
Instead of a show episode, listeners of local podcast PDXSucks were treated with the following image this morning, on a blog post entitled, “Silence.”
The post offers no further information. The date in the bottom left corner looms thick with finality, though, doesn’t it? I tried to reach Robert Wagner via twitter dm, but he’s said nothing as of yet. Is it just a prank. Did the patrons pull the plug on PDXSucks? Wha’s goin’ on? Throw us a goddamn bone here.
Some controversy occured recently around PDXSucks, bleeding over onto Oregon Media Central, initially incited by Wagner’s comments about Matt Davis and this post. However, I find it difficult to believe that a flame war, even one so intense as that, would spell the end for this show.
I Have a Nightmare
One of my roommates got this mug for his birthday last year. It changes colors so all the states turn blue when you fill it with warm liquids. Much like it’s topical relevance, some of the surface has worn away. It’s even worse on the other side, where things get grisly.
Terrifying image of a future to come, or giant man-spider hybrid fending off helicopter attack?
Little T
A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to spend a few hours with a very kickass baker, at his bakery, Little T, in SE Portland. I interviewed Tim Healea for this week’s feature in the Mercury food issue. Service! 24 Hours Inside an Industry that Never Sleeps. Check it out!
Tim was great to talk to. I learned quite a bit about baking and got to try some excellent bread. I highly recommend you head down to Little T at 2600 SE Division. It just became BLT season! I’ve gotta get down there, too. Yum.
Portland Local Media Roundup!
Hello, cupcakes! Here are some very special things that happened in the Portland media last week.
Gay Rage is Cute
Portland blogger Byron Beck was “enraged” on the Cort and Fatboy show Thurs, July 2. Cort suggested that the homophobic recall clowns might actually have a small chance and caused Beck to fly into an alternately cute and ugly bout of stormy, gay fire. Byron delivered Cort a blow, of fury, calling him “Lars Larson,” and saying “You have no fucking clue what you’re talking about-” Poor Fatboy could barely get a word in edgewise, until he jumped in to end it all, when Beck snarkily said he’d have better things to do than listen to the podcast version. Ouch, Byron!
Things eventually calmed down, with Beck explaining that the mere mention of the chance of success gives the recall nudge (we like to call it a nudge) plausibility. And that Cort “ran with it like a little wild pony.” Aww.
Jasun Wurster was nowhere in site to give out his phone #, as he usually does when anyone in Portland says the word, “recall”. We hope he’s okay.
Podcaster Hates Matt Davis and His Attention Grabs, Podcasts About Them
Ironically-named, fledgling podcast Portland Sucks (13:30) took a little trip to The Portland Mercury’s Blogtown on Friday. Robert Wagner, described by the show intro as the “sultan of scandalous sarcasm”, loves MLS, and hates Matt Davis! Davis drew Wagner’s ire with his Blogtown post, “Rape Allegations: Another Side Effect of Big Soccer?” causing Wagner to bring out the big guns in his description of Davis as a “weasely, inept piece of dog poo.” Scorcher!
Wagner suggested that Davis is just trying to get attention with erroneous, bad headlines, while devoting 8 minutes of a 30 minute podcast to Matt Davis. He then went on to talk about how tired he is of Beau Breedlove getting media attention. Clearly, he is the Imam of Irony.
Local Ad Firm Pisses Off Cyclists to Show They’re Awesome, BikePortland.org Implodes
Portland big marketing delivered a blow to, well, Portland last week. Webtrends did up the side of a max train with the question “Should cyclists pay a road tax?” in order to start a dialogue whip the Portland cycling community into a rabid frenzy/ self-promote. Meanwhile, cyclists declared a cease fire in the raging Bike vs. Car War so they could sit on their computers, making angry comments on BikePortland.org, where Jonathan Maus’s editorial on the subject has 139 comments, as of this posting.
Meanwhile, Webtrends had this to say, “Neener, neener, neener! We’re fuuuuckin’ awwwsome!” Okay. Maybe they didn’t say exactly that, but I’ll bet that’s what they were thinking. (Please don’t sue us.)
America Loves/Hates Puppets
Today, the controversy regarding the Iranian election rages on, with authorities having to close parts of Tehran due to anti-Ahmer Ahmea- Ahmadinejad protestors. Israel put forth their conditions for the creation of a Palestinian state. But who cares about the that!? What’s up with those Nike puppets!?
As you probably know. I live half my life on the Twitters. (Don’t judge.) While doing laundry and browsing, I noticed people complaining about or lauding these puppets. Such passionate controversy, such spirited discourse is difficult to ignore!
Whether you like the puppets or not, Portland-based ad powerhouse Wieden+Kennedy scored big with this campaign. The decision to keep LeBron in the commercials, despite the loss of the Cavs, drew a great deal of attention:
And that, more analytical assessment and opinion is of course joined by many more:
And here’s a sample from the pro-puppet camp, who seems to slightly outnumber the anti-puppet forces:
The debate rages on, ad infinitum.
I think the commercials aren’t bad, but the general campaign strategy seems to be a big winner. And, no matter what you think about puppets, at least they’re not horrifying claymation figures, like the ones pictured below. I still have nightmares about them.
Sharing My Feelings with Portland City Council
I sent the following letter to all five members of Portland’s City Council this morning. Since I can’t be there on Wednesdays at 9:30 AM, to address them in person, I am limited to email.
They look friendly enough. Don't be afraid!
Last time I wrote them, about the 39th Ave. renaming proposal, I received an actual response from Sam Adam’s office, and a form letter from Nick Fish’s (the contents of which clearly betrayed no one had read my letter.) No response from Leonard, Saltzman, or Fritz. Let’s see what they say, or if they respond, this time! I encourage you to write emails to the members of city council as well. Participation in your government is important!
Email Addresses of Portland’s City Council members:
Mayor Sam Adams samadams@ci.portland.or.us,
Commissioner Fish nick@ci.portland.or.us,
Commissioner Fritz amanda@ci.portland.or.us,
Commissioner Leonard leonard@ci.portland.or.us,
Commissioner Saltzman dan@ci.portland.or.us
—–
Members of Portland’s City Council,
As a proud resident of Portland, I’m happy to see us leading the nation in things like sustainability and bike-friendliness. However, I’m also disturbed by the fact that we’ve followed other cities in the trend of taking civil rights away from the homeless, specifically via the sit/lie law (14A.50.030). While SAFE contains admiriable provisions, providing city services, in exchange for the ability to violate civil rights, is a hardly ethical, “quick fix” to the homeless problem. Anyway, the city has failed to deliver the capacity of services promised, while vigorously enforcing the sit/lie ordinance, almost always against the homeless.
Despite Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Michael McShane declaring the law unconstitutional. (”The ordinance encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement,”) you chose in April to extend the law “for further consideration”. Does this deliberation include removing the affordable housing portion of the Urban Renewal fund in Lents? Or putting a giant neon rose up on the Waterfront?
I urge you to not use this extension as a stalling measure, which I perceive it to be, and address this matter as soon as possible. I humbly await the day when I can feel that my beloved city isn’t violating the civil rights of others, regardless of their lack of economic viability or wealth. Hopefully I won’t have to wait until October.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Will
