bookofjoe

Cheddar Potato Bake

So good.

At grocery stores everywhere in the frozen foods aisle.

Everything not saved will be lost.

'The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life' — Erving Goffman

It's been a while since I featured this iconic 1959 book, published when Goffman was 37 years old.

It became an instant classic and led to his being considered by some the most influential American sociologist of the 20th century (though he didn't leave his native Canada for the U.S. until he was 23).

No matter.

You're saying "I dunno, I'm not sure I wanna fork over $16.39 just because some brain-dead anesthesiologist — long past due, retired, even — recommends it.

Your wish is my demand.

Read the book here —  free, the way we like it.

Life Imitates Pixar

Electron microscope view of Nereis sandersi, a polychaete worm that lives in deep sea thermal vents.

Triple Outlet Adapter

 

All the outlets are taken?

Not if you've got one of these.

Cheap way to make friends in a hurry.

$5.73.

Crossing the uncanny valley

YouTube description:

The SIGGRAPH Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques.

SIGGRAPH 2022 will be presented in a hybrid conference format August 8-11, 2022 in Vancouver and virtually.

Click here to register and learn more about the conference.

For detailed information and a complete listing of Technical Paper content, click here.

Great Gray Owl Demonstrates the Art of Camouflage

Bobby Leach, the first man to survive going over Niagara Falls, died after injuring himself by slipping on an orange peel

Pictured above, Leach took the plunge over the falls on July 25, 1911.

He was 69 when he died on April 26, 1926 while on a publicity tour of New Zealand.

After slipping on an orange peel he injured his leg, which became infected such that gangrene necessitated amputation. 

He died of complications two month later.

Annie Taylor (below)

was the first person to go over the falls and survive, doing so on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901.

You could look it up.

Most Popular Websites Since 1993

One Google to rule them all.

E-Ink Watch

From the website:

Watchy Kit + Case:

A fully open source & customizable E-Ink watch.

Includes E-Ink display, Watchy assembled printed circuit board, battery, double-sided tape, wrist strap, and injection-molded plastic enclosure.

Assembly required.

Features and Details:

• E-Paper display with 200x200 pixel resolution

• Glare-free visibility under bright sunlight

• Ultra-low power consumption

• Weight: 13 grams (0.46 oz)

• 46mm x 35.5mm x 9.5mm

• Built-in WiFi/Bluetooth

• Near 180° view angle

$59.

Visafoto — Passport or Visa Photo in 2 Seconds

News travels slowly to Podunkville: Visafoto started doing what it does nine years ago, in 2013, and I'm just finding out now.

But I digress.

Any reader who's used this service or plans to, let me know what you think and you'll get a boj namecheck.

You can't get any bigger than that. 

'The Perfect Human' — Jørgen Leth (1967)

From Wikipedia:

"The Perfect Human" (Danish: Det perfekte menneske) is a cult 13-minute short film in black and white by Jørgen Leth about a middle-class Danish couple performing everyday rituals.

The film examines human behavior in a suave, pseudo-scientific way.

It depicts well-dressed actors, a man and a woman — both labeled "the perfect human" — in a detached manner, "functioning" in a blank boundless room, as though they were subjects in a zoo.

The tone of world-weary detachment is created through a voice-over providing comments on their mundane actions.

The film was later seen in five different versions when Leth was challenged by filmmaker Lars von Trier, resulting in von Trier's full-length 2003 film, "The Five Obstructions." 

Leth's "The Perfect Human" is von Trier's favorite film: von Trier gave Leth the task of remaking it five times, each time with a different "obstruction" imposed by von Trier.

More?

Your wish is my demand.

Watch "The Five Obstructions" here.

Free, the way we like it.

Fair warning: there goes the day.

Strandbeest Evolution 2021 — Theo Jansen

YouTube description: 

Strandbeest Evolution 2021 provides an update on their evolutionary development.

Every spring I go to the beach with a new beast.

During the summer I do all kinds of experiments with the wind, sand, and water.

In the fall I grow a bit wiser about how these beasts can survive the circumstances on the beach.

At that point I declare them extinct and they go to the bone yard.

More on Theo Jansen and Strandbeests here.

NO SATELLITE DISHES PERMITTED

Emergency iPhone Charger

I can't speak for you but I know several people whose first words when they answer the phone are "my battery's about to die...."

Be a tech rescue ranger and give them [battery] life.

From the website:

• no cords
• 1000mAh capacity
• up to 5 hours of talk/text time
• charger measures 50mm x 40mm x 12mm
• plugs directly into iPhone via integrated Lightning connector

Five for $28.

On the fence?

Watch 

the video.