60 seconds of beauty submitted by users to the first round of The Beauty Of A Second short film contest.
Today’s government waste story isn’t about stealth fighters, but the slightly less exotic world of smartphone software. How much would you guess a little app to generate the local heat index, and provide appropriate “tips.” Price tag? $200,000. What.
The app, courtesy of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, does extremely little. Its interface looks like a dog’s ass, if that dog read a fifth of an HTML manual from 1994. It works based on free data. And it provides expert environmental insight like “drink fluids.” And it cost, as Rich Jones of Gun.io points out, more than a house.
Why?
There’s no explanation. It was coded by a UK firm for probably 300 times the money it should have. Government waste and incompetence, at best. Something crooked at worst. Idiotic and infuriating either way.
via You Won’t Believe How Much the Government Paid to Make a Basic Weather App that Doesn’t Work.
Michael Jackson Releases Thriller, The Best-Selling Album Of All Time – November 30, 1982
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson’s critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to those of Off the Wall, including pop, R&B, rock and post-disco music.
Recording sessions took place between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a production budget of $750,000, assisted by producer Quincy Jones. Of the nine tracks on the album, 4 of them were written by Jackson himself. Seven singles were released from the album, all of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Baby Be Mine” and “The Lady in My Life” were the only tracks that were not released as singles. In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time, with 110 million copies sold worldwide, and is also tied for the best-selling album in the United States. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys.
Thriller enabled Jackson to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools—the videos for “Thriller”, “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” all received regular rotation on MTV.
Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. The Thriller video was preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was deemed “culturally significant”. [Source]
via via This Day In History – November 30th.
Guiness World Records has proclaimed this the world’s largest 3D painting, located at the Canary Wharf in London. The piece was created by British artist Joe Hill of 3D Joe and Max as a promotion for Reebok Crossfit.
The gigantic painting measures in at a staggering 1,160 square meters or 12,486 square feet! Cheers on the accomplishment Joe, you’re all kinds of awesome!
The 32-year-old photographer was tired of mortgage payments and had a passion for nature. Equipped with a chainsaw, hammer, and 1-inch chisel, the determined family man began construction on a plot of land in the woods, which the family luckily gained ownership of in return for their care of the area. With the help of his father-in-law, who just happened to be a builder, Dale set forth to build his ecological dream home on a budget.
11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food — far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.
via Birke Baehr: What’s wrong with our food system | Video on TED.com.
via i can read.
Buddhist teacher, former inmate and founder of several prison service organizations Fleet Maull talks about life behind bars. Even in the hostile prison environment, Fleet found that people would eventually reveal their humanity, which inspired him to rededicate his life to spiritual practice and service.