bookofjoe

Cassette Tape Skeleton

Created by

Brian Dettmer,

it was displayed

 

last summer

at the

International Museum

of Surgical Science.

[via Wacky Archives and Milena]

World's thinnest flash drive

Weighs 9 grams —

the size and thickness

of a credit card for easy wallet carry.

4GB drive is

USB 2.0 and 1.1 compatible and

works with Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

Clear, Blue, Red, Smoke or Orange.

$24.99.

'Facebook sets tone in Iran's electoral contest' — Strangest headline of the day

And it's not from The Onion but, rather, The Financial Times.

It led Tehran FT correspondent Najmeh Bozorgmehr's eye-opening story about how integral Facebook is to the hopes of several candidates for Iran's presidency in the upcoming June 12, 2009 election.

For anyone (except possibly the Murdochians) who believes MySpace still matters, this piece should put paid to that.

Long story short: "Of Iran's 70m population, 47m have mobile phones and 21m access to the internet. Moreover, 60 per cent are younger than 30 and obsessed with technology."

The FT article follows.

•••••••••••••••••••

Facebook sets tone in Iran's electoral contest

As they struggle to compete with an Iranian president who has the support of a state apparatus, leading candidates in June's election are resorting to Facebook.

Of Iran's 70m population, 47m have mobile phones and 21m access to the internet. Moreover, 60 per cent are younger than 30 and obsessed with technology.

About 475 people registered for the June 12 presidential election. But only three are serious contenders hoping to deny Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the fundamentalist president, a second term. They are MirHossein Moussavi, prime minister from 1981-89; Mehdi Karroubi, a former reformist speaker; and Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's election headquarters is the quietest but almost all his populist plans, including higher salaries, are played up on state radio and television.

By contrast, only during the official campaign period, starting on May 22, is each rival candidate given equal time to show videos and elaborate on television.

"We are using new technologies because they have the capacity to be multiplied by people themselves who can forward Bluetooth, e-mails and text messages and invite more supporters on Facebook," said Behzad Mortazavi, head of Mr Moussavi's campaign committee.

Wireless technology would be used "extensively" to send speeches and slideshows. Supporters of Mr Moussavi have opened about 20 Facebook pages and attracted 7,500 members.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's opponents on Facebook are not yet campaigning against his re-election but their posts could fuel the anti-incumbent mood among the elite.

A page called "I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who dislike Mahmoud AhmadiNejad" has attracted more than 35,000 members, the highest number in all pages related to the president.

Mr Moussavi's campaign highlights his status as a descendant of the Prophet to attract poorer voters.

Analysts say the president's opponents may have one key advantage: they do not risk being seen to be supported by the regime.

"People's behaviour will depend on who they see in the campaigns as a representative of the regime and who they consider as a resistance candidate," says one fundamentalist politician, adding the latter would have a better chance to win.

What is it?

Answer here this time tomorrow.

bookofjoe MoneyMaker®™© — OpenLine

Since forever I've enjoyed staying on the line after the person on the other end of the phone conversation says "Good-bye," thinking they hung up — but didn't.

With the advent of cellphones as opposed to antediluvian wired iterations, it's much more likely to result in an open line.

When people put the phone in their pocket or bag and then go about their business, you hear all kinds of great stuff.

OK joe, enough about your nosey parker habits — cut to the chase already.

All right.

The idea is that using a Vonage or Skype-like interface, you leave your computer open to any and all who choose to listen, and in return get to listen in on someone else's location.

No one knows who they're listening to or where in the world they are, so you might get some language you haven't a clue about.

The premium version would let you pick a country and maybe more.

Nice, eh?

All yours for free.

Worth every penny you paid for it.

Wait a minute....

Liquid Lamp

Designed by Kouichi Okamoto.

Table or wall lamp in red or white, made of iron plate.

Table: 11.2"W x 7.9"D x 11.8"H.

Wall: 9"W x 9"D x 13.8"H.

$199–$238.

AreaCodeLocations.info

The thing I like about this site compared to the zillions like it is that on the page with your results there's a link to a map (top) showing the area code's geographic location.

Very helpful.

Call for assistance by my crack research team

James Cooley sent me the photo above, writing "Thought this was cool enough for you. I want one! Can your crack research team find a vendor?"

In a word: No.

They failed dismally, spending collectively over 50 hours in their fruitless search.

Time to clean house, seems to me... but I digress.

Flautist?

Bueller?

Simko?

Anyone?