Interesting Links for 7-7-2011

[andrewducker]

• Remixing Barack Obama's narration of his own autobiography into myth. (Video of the opening chapter)
  (tags: mythology BarackObama weird art)
• The proper response to being told you have upset someone.
  (tags: argument emotion people conflict)
• Sports help ease aggression in boys
  (tags: sport aggression emotion self-control children men)
• Court orders immediate end to ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’
  (tags: lgbt law military usa)
• Four of the top five solar cell companies are now based in China.
  (tags: solarpower china)
• When The U.S. Paid Off The Entire National Debt (And Why It Didn't Last)
  (tags: debt economy economics usa)
• Space Shuttle Program was a $209 billion mistake
  (tags: space money usa)
• 11 different cover version of the Game Of Thrones theme (everything from medieval instruments to techno)
  (tags: music GameOfThrones)
• Hot summer could wipe out Goth population, experts warn.
  (tags: goths funny weather climatechange)
• Product placement now being inserted Into old sitcoms. For some reason I find this creepier than ordinary product placement...
  (tags: Advertising television usa)
• Some data on gender and the chances of being published in an SF anthology
  (tags: scifi writing gender)
• TSA warns terrorists could surgically implant bombs. I bet they're rubbing their hands together in glee!
  (tags: terrorism tsa travel)
• Dear Photograph - photos of photos from the past, in the present.
  (tags: photography inspiration art photos)

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

When I first heard that TSA thing I was convinced it was an Onion style prank. Simply because, terrorists don't need to surgically implant anything, if they do what prisoners do and just hide things in their arses, it's totally undetectable, and they could ridiculously easily smuggle bombs onto airplanes any time they want.

It's just baffling, I can't imagine what the TSA are after. Unless they're wanting to give people bigger and bigger doses of radiation or something.

[drainboy.livejournal.com]

They're after fear mongering no doubt, to keep the citizens under control.

I just can't see the pragmatics of surgically implanted bombs. First of all, for any signficantly sized device you are going to need *serious* surgery to implant it and, unless you cut out somebody's organs to make some space, you're still going to be very limited in what you can implant. Then what you've done is essentially created a meat box to contain the blast. Seeing as lying on a hand grenade is very effective in stopping it from killing other people, I'd imagine that the only person to be injured in any way would be the person containing the bomb.

Then you've got the problems of someone healing well enough to get onto a plane without being patently obvious as a person whose been under major surgery. All the while hoping the bomb doesn't go off and the body doesn't reject the foreign object inside, either of which could kill the host. The pragmatics just don't add up.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they are trying to deliberately detract attention from the more obvious and easy ways of smuggling a device onto a plane? Because yes, as you say, it just doesn't add up.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Here's why I don't mind retro product placement. As torrent sites flourish more and more people are going to download shows - both current and vintage - and miss the general ads in those shows. They are also less likely to buy the shows on DVD.

This causes a major revenue loss for the shows that has to be made up somewhere - if you want television shows to continue to be made. It also encourages television studios to go after torrent sites.

On the other hand, if you do retro product placement you gain a revenue source that can sustain the show - and can even help generate income for the studio when people download the show (because you know they track that shit as much as they can and will use the download numbers as part of their overall bill to the advertiser.)

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I fully expect the next serious journalist who interviews anyone from the TSA to ask "You're just making this up in order to scare us, aren't you?"

I hope we haven't run out of serious journalists.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

The product placement thing is life imitating Connie Willis.

Product Placement

[doubtingmichael.livejournal.com]

Of course, one of the themes of How I Met Your Mother is the unreliability of memory and narrative, so retroactive product placement is entirely in keeping with it.

In fact, hey, that's what's happening - by 2030 they can put product placement into people's memories, and that's why the DVD on the shelf shows up when Ted is remembering the events!

Re: Product Placement

[andrewducker]

Damn you! You've made me feel positive about retroactive product placement!