Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Darth Kitty

This is how the world ends:

(via Braddlee's Twitter)

Curse of the mock Soviet werewolf

Red Moon is a fantasy Soviet werewolf submarine love story comedy. Yes, really:

"Oh no, Comrade Captain Ovechkin - how could I have known you were a werewolf?"

Those are very silly beards.  Among other things.

(thanks to the overfiends at Coilhouse)

The horror underneath XHTML

Web fear, markup edition. 

(via Bruce Sterling's crawling chaos)

Disney Gothic

Here's a good ghost story from a Disneyworld ride.  It's about the ghost of George, who haunts the Pirates of the Caribbean. 

I'm not a Disney fan, so some of this is lost of me.  George seems to cover both cast workers and audience.

Nice bit about a mysterious door:

George's Door... must be closed at all times. If George's Door is left open, the ride should not be powered up in the morning. This is fine for show quality reasons in the morning, and building maintainence and Imagineering know well enough to shut it behind them. However, sometimes, the door begins the day shut and will, in the middle of the day, mysteriously creak open.... and if George's Door is open, it is said, a serious breakdown is sure to follow.

(thanks to Peter Naegele)

Recent Weird from China Mieville

Some good thoughts on weirdness from China Mieville.

For example,

I’ve been thinking about the traditional notion of the “sublime,” which was always (by Kant, Schopenhauer, et al) distinguished from the “Beautiful,” as containing a kind of horror at the immeasurable scale of it. I think what the Weird can do is question the arbitrary distinction between the Beautiful and the Sublime, and operate as a kind of Sublime Backwash, so that the numinous incomparable awesome slips back from “mountains” and “forests,” into the everyday. So…the Weird as radicalised quotidian Sublime.

(via MetaFilter)

Facebook seeping further into everyday life

State authorities did not jail an Ohio man, despite his failing to finish apologizing to his wife on Facebook.

Every day Facebook sinks more deeply into our lives.  This whole story began on Facebook:

A June court order prohibited Byron from causing his wife physical or mental abuse, harassment or annoyance. She asked in December that he be found in contempt after learning of the Facebook comments.

It then continued on that platform, in a form of creative sentencing:

Domestic Relations Magistrate Paul Meyers in January found Byron in contempt of a protective order because of his Facebook comments. He said Byron could avoid a 60-day jail sentence and a $500 fine by posting the apology — written by the magistrate — to his wife and all of his Facebook friends and paying her attorney fees. The same apology had to be posted every day no later than 9 a.m.

Apparently he posted enough to not get in more trouble.

When will this use of Facebook become unremarkable? and does it help keep Facebook away from the fearsome media world?

(thanks to Andy Havens)

Dawn of the vibrating tattoo

Coming soon: vibrating, remote-controlled tattooes.  Nokia has a patent filing for:

 the application of tattoos with ferromagnetic inks, that will vibrate based on commands from your phone.

Think of it: "You must have a call, as your tattoo is vibrating." Or when will the first time happen, when we wonder about another person's twitchingskin, which seems to reveal a tic.  Is it a muscle spasm or file downloading, or something horribly other?

Applications for sex and torture are obvious.

So how would it work in practice?

The tattoo would be applied using ferromagnetic inks. The ink material would first be exposed to high temperatures to demagnetize it. Then the tattoo would be applied. You’ll apparently be able to choose the actual image you want as the tattoo. The procedure is identical to that of getting a ‘normal’ tattoo – only the ink is special.

After the tattoo has been applied, you’ll need to magnetize it. That means bringing the tattooed area in the close proximity of an external magnet, and going “several times over this magnet to magnetize the image material again”. The tattoo will then have enhanced sensitivity towards external alternating magnet fields, and will basically function the same way the aforementioned material attached to your skin did. Only in a more permanent fashion, so to speak.

What will the art forms enabled by tattoo 2.0 look like?

(via Slashdot)

Fear the games

United States legislators called for a federal law against computer games, again.  This time the plan is to mandate negative labels on games, like so:

WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior

Note the ambitious use of passive voice, "has been linked."   Er, passive voice was used well.  Nothing like the old "the Surgeon General has found..."

In justifying their move, the law's sponsors explain themselves through a fine catalog of fearsome media tropes.

1. Squishy language about potentials, possibilities: "The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families and to consumers — to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products," Baca said.
2. Addiction language: "Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents — and children — about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior," Wolf said. 
3. Protect the children: "As a parent and grandparent, I think it is important people know everything they can about the extremely violent nature of some of these games."

Speaking of ambitious, the proposed bill goes beyond attaching the label to games already marked as violent:

The label would have to appear on any game — regardless of whether it is considered violent or not — that is rated "E" for everyone, "E10+" for everyone 10 and older, "T" for teen, "M" for mature or "A" for adult.

The only games excluded from the requirement are those rated "EC," which stands for "early childhood" and applies to games meant for children ages 3 and up.

In other words, "The proposed label would be required even if the video game in question is not violent." (Ars Technica) So it's not really an information campaign aimed at informing consumers about products.  Instead it's about using the products as an involuntary information platform for a broader commentary about the entire industry.

Internet fear shapes a jury

A Georgia jury went for serious damages against a blogger, and their fear of cyberspace played a role.

The note asked the judge to seize the notes [the defendant] had taken throughout the week-long trial.

"The judge appropriately denied the jury's request, but the note demonstrates in our view that the jury was being influenced during deliberations by their own fears, not just the evidence," [attorney Thomas M. Clyde] said. The defense considered the note an indicator of the jurors' "fears about the Internet."

One caveat: that was the defense attorney.

(via Steve Worona's Twitter)

Facebook terror plot

British authorities arrested two individuals for a terror plot.  They apparently used Facebook for organization and logistics.

secret Facebook plot to blow up Italian synagogue

Interestingly, while Facebook gets the attention, the alleged plotters schemed using other platforms.  So there's Facebook:

Italian police believe he created seven 'super secret' Facebook profiles to discuss terror tactics...

Italian police claimed the woman in London had been in regular 'electronic contact' through  Facebook with Mr Jarmoune, but they had not physically met... 

But also the rest of the internet:

Officers in Brescia said they had intercepted messages on extremist websites and discussion boards in which Jarmoune allegedly spoke of carrying out a 'jihad mission'....

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Her arrest is in connection with an alleged posting of extremist material on the Internet.'

Perhaps we're seeing two things going on.  First, the conflation of internet->Facebook.  Second, a differentiation of anxiety, with one of those realms (Facebook or the rest of the net) becoming perceived as safer than the other.  Which will it be?