Dan Dunn's Podium » Web http://www.dandunn.org/blog Arlington, Mass, and More Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:38:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Sound and Sight http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/04/sound-and-sight/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/04/sound-and-sight/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:47:10 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=726 Today I bring you four of your most mellow minutes of the day.  It’s a video by Stomacher.  The song is nice, sorta beautiful, but the video is gorgeous.  Stunning timelapses of nature and urban area, one after another.  Put on the headphones, click the little arrows to fill your screen, and enjoy.

Stomacher – Untitled/Dark Divider from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Found via Towleroad

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/04/sound-and-sight/feed/ 1 Ben Folds does Chat Roulette http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/ben-folds-does-chat-roulette/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/ben-folds-does-chat-roulette/#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:24:55 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=721 This cracked me up. Musical improv. Naughty words, but “we edited the penises out.”

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/ben-folds-does-chat-roulette/feed/ 0 The Taste of Star Wars http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/the-taste-of-star-wars/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/the-taste-of-star-wars/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:51:24 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=719 Everyday, I marvel at wonders of the internet.  Today’s is extra special, because apparently hundreds of thousands of Germans watch this for the fun of it.

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/the-taste-of-star-wars/feed/ 1 Canadians Win Gold In Synchronized Peeing http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/canadians-win-gold-in-synchronized-peeing/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/canadians-win-gold-in-synchronized-peeing/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:20:49 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=716 That blog post title was shamelessly lifted from Deadspin, who picked up the story (with a less-funny headline) from Pat’s Papers.  I really hope it’s not a hoax, because it’s a great example of data display.

Check out the water consumption in the city of Edmonton during the Canada-US gold-medal hockey game:

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/03/canadians-win-gold-in-synchronized-peeing/feed/ 0 Supersonic http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/02/supersonic/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/02/supersonic/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:18:05 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=712 Totally cool video here of an Atlas V launch.  The first 30 seconds are pointless, the next 60 seconds are interesting, and the 1:30-2:00 are just awesome. Hit the little button in the lower-right and watch it full screen.

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/02/supersonic/feed/ 1 How Much Do I Care About Amazon and Macmillan? http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/02/how-much-do-i-care-about-amazon-and-macmillan/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/02/how-much-do-i-care-about-amazon-and-macmillan/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:21:57 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=689 As I was reading my daily blog circuit, I asked myself, “How much do I care about this Amazon and Macmillan thing, anyway?”  After thinking it over for a while, I decided that I care quite a bit.  Enough for a blog post, even, and everyone knows that if it’s blog worthy, then it is vital.

So what is the Amazon-Macmillan thing, anyway?  The short version is that Macmillan said that it wants to sell its ebook-for-the-Kindle at prices up to $15, and that’s $5 more than Amazon has set the price at.  Amazon’s reaction was to pull all Macmillan ebooks, hardcovers, and softcovers from its store – no sales.  After a couple days Amazon publicly relented, but the store still isn’t back to normal.

First, I’ll give two reasons that I don’t care about.  I don’t care about is the Kindle.  I hate the Kindle’s DRM, and I’m mildly surprised that so many otherwise-astute customers are willing to go along with it.  Why on earth would you “buy” a copy of a book that Amazon can remotely remove from your possession without your consent ?  You can pry my books out of my cold, dead hands is the way I feel about that type of thing.

The second thing I don’t care about is the price increase.  One company is trying to keep prices low so that it can create a huge marketshare useful for future profits.  One company wants to have a higher profit margin on bestselling books.  I couldn’t possibly care less which one wins; they’re both trying to extract money out of me.

Here’s what I do care about: my relationship with Amazon.  I’ve been their customer since 1998.  (I even worked for them for a while in ‘98-’99, when they bought PlanetAll.com).  I use them because they’re easy and they have a decent price.  I use them for their recommendations.  I use them to let me know when my favorite authors and bands have new releases.  I use them to complete trilogies and to find the early releases of my new favorite bands.  I order from them so much that I bought Amazon Prime for $79/year, which gives me free shipping.  Think about what my order volume is, given that I would spend more than $79 in shipping!

But I love my John Scalzi.  I love my Charles Stross.  I love my Orson Scott Card, Vernor Vinge and Neal Asher.  And Amazon isn’t giving them to me!  What kind of book store would I go to that wouldn’t sell me these authors?  What kind of recommendation engine would skip these authors who have provided me with so many hours of amusement?  The answer is: not one that I want to spend a lot of time in.

I’m not going so far as to boycott Amazon.  When they have what I want at the right price, I’ll still buy it.  But they’re no longer my go-to vendor.  They’re no longer the place I go to find the new album or the new book that will keep me interested.  I don’t trust them to give me the right answer anymore.  I now know that they’re willing to throw away 1/6 of my bookshelf in order to wield pricing power on a product that I’ll never buy. Amazon broke my trust this weekend, and I’m no longer interested in what they think I’ll find interesting.

I logged in to Amazon tonight and set my Amazon Prime to non-renewal status.  They didn’t ask why.  I guess I know why not: they don’t care about what I want, anyway.

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2010/02/how-much-do-i-care-about-amazon-and-macmillan/feed/ 5 Building a Rink on Fenway – Time Lapse http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/12/building-a-rink-on-fenway-time-lapse/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/12/building-a-rink-on-fenway-time-lapse/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:23:47 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=649 Totally cool – I love how Fenway looks so different. I think if you watch it on my blog you get to avoid their super-annoying advertisement when you watch it on nhl.com.

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/12/building-a-rink-on-fenway-time-lapse/feed/ 2 Spectacular Video http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/11/spectacular-video/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/11/spectacular-video/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:27:10 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=623 I saw this video a few days ago and thought it was cool.  This week, I found myself showing it to people.  It got in my head – the crazy visuals, the era-changing, the costumes, the makeup, the closing picture – just nuts.  I’m not actually a fan of the music.  It’s all about the video.  Feel free to mute the song while you watch. It’s five minutes long, but I’m pretty sure you won’t get bored.

It’s got Russian bath house, 70s, 80s, fur, fire, water, monsters, weird hairless cats and more; just totally weird. I can’t tell you what exactly makes it so compelling, but it is.

I figured if I was showing it to people in real life, I really ought to post it here.

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/11/spectacular-video/feed/ 1 YAPD http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/10/yapd/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/10/yapd/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:41:38 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=621 YAPD – Yet Another Posting Drought.  When all else fails, post a cool YouTube video someone sent you.  Here’s the luckiest pedestrian around:

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/10/yapd/feed/ 0 Obama Is A Robot http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/09/obama-is-a-robot/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2009/09/obama-is-a-robot/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:58:10 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=611 OK, I agree, he’s not really a robot.  Well, probably not.  But anyway, after watching this video, don’t you agree that it just might be possible?

Barack Obama’s amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Apparently this is a mash-up of a bunch of pictures from a single event.

Hattip to Whatever.

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