Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends on Google Video

Picture 6-45 Weird Weekends was a BBC2 show (1998-2000) about weird people and weird movements in America: UFO hunters, survivalists, white supremacists, habitual Vegas gamblers, porn actors, swingers, and so on.

It was hosted by Louis Theroux, son of writer Paul Theroux. A few days ago I downloaded a bunch of episodes of Weird Weekends from Google Video, and I have been enjoying them as much as any television I've ever seen. Even the ones I didn't think I'd be interested in (infomercial inventors) were fascinating.

Theroux is funny without being obnoxious, and his sense of curiosity is strong enough to make him ask potentially embarrassing but profoundly revealing questions of his subjects. The people Theroux interviews immediately feel comfortable around him because he is so friendly and non-threatening, which makes them open right up to him. (The only time I've seen anyone get mad at him was when he was interviewing a white racist skinhead family and he refused to tell them if he was Jewish or not.)

He also wrote a book in 2005 called The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures, where he goes back and visits the people he interviewed on his program. I just bought it but I'm going to hold off reading it until I've finished watching all the episodes.

Here are the videos I found (some are from later shows called When Louis Met... and another show called Louis and...). Each one is about an hour long, and you can download them to your iPhone or computer if you want to watch them offline: Survivalists, Neo-Nazis, Westboro Baptist Church, Porn Industry, Black Supremacists, Swingers, Body Builders, UFO Hunters, Apertheid Diehards in South Africa, Legal Nevada Brothels, Thai Brides, Gangsta' Rap, Hypnosis, Televangelists, Demolition Derby, Off-Off Broadway, Wrestling, Vegas, Enlightenment, San Quentin State Prison

UPDATE: Jesse Thorne of Maximum Fun interviewed Louis for The Sound of Young America last year. Here's the interview.



Submitted by New Media Rights on Fri, 02/01/2008 - 4:10pm

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Oldest accurate "road map" of Britain

The Gough Map is a new book that details the fascinating history of the oldest accurate map of Britain, which is amazingly accurate (except for the Scotland bits), especially considering that it was made around 1360. It's also extremely lovely:

"There are 600-odd places and, if you compare it with a modern map, most of them are in pretty much the right spot," says Millea.

"We don't know whether they did the coastline first then filled in the interior, or whether it was done by word of mouth - a verbal map - so they put in London then worked outwards, adding places they knew."

Nick Crane, topographer and presenter of TV series Map Man, thinks they may have used an astrolabe - a highly technical instrument used by classical astronomers, navigators and astrologers which involved checking the horizon, the stars, the sun and all sorts of angles.

"This could be the beginning of mathematical map-making - some of the points of latitude have probably been measured through astronomy," he says.

Michael notes, "As a bonus, there doesn't seem to be a Wikipedia entry about this map yet - a nice little task for someone who feels like getting their cartographic vibe on." Link, The Gough Map: The Earliest Road Map of Britain? on Amazon (Thanks, Michael

Submitted by New Media Rights on Thu, 01/31/2008 - 10:39pm

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Sample contracts and forms for web designers and graphic designers

Submitted by brandon last modified Mon, 02/04/2008 - 10:57am

This post from the Outlaw Design Blog provides a nice listing of sample forms and contracts that could be useful to free-lance graphic or web designers:

http://outlawdesignblog.com/2008/graphic-design-contracts-agreement-forms-webdesigner-contrats/
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How to Hack Your Cell Phone Using BitPim

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 04/18/2023 - 5:05pm

Whether you realize it or not, your cell phone has been holding you prisoner, or rather, your cell phone provider has been holding you prisoner. And we don't mean that you spend too much time talking and texting or that your monthly plan is a rip-off because, as Clark Gable says, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." But we do give a damn about consumers having to pay twice for the same content and consumers not having adequate access to devices they own. This guide will tell you how to use BitPim to set your phone free.

BitPim is a free, open-source software program that gives you access to many of your phone's features, including: contacts, images/wallpapers, call history, text message history, ringtones/music, videos, and calendar. BitPim allows you to backup cell phone data onto your computer and vice versa, meaning you can transfer files from your computer to your phone as well.

BitPim is available for PC, Mac, and Linux operating systems, however, it only works with CDMA phones. In the US, Verizon and Sprint are the largest CDMA carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM networks).


What You'll Need:

1. Download BitPim for: Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Linux (RPM, DEB, & Gentoo), & Mac OS X 1.4+ (Note: BitPim does NOT work with all phones. See this list to determine if your phone is supported or not.)
2. You will need to connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable. Simple enough, but your phone won't work with any old USB cable, you will need to find one specifically made for your model of phone. Think of it like your phone's power cord. There are two ways you can get a USB cable for your phone:
 
  • Buy it through your cell phone provider. Verizon, for example, sells a "Music Essentials Kit" that includes a USB cable specific to your phone. You can buy the kit through a Verizon retail store, the Verizon online store, or an online reseller (just search "verizon music essentials," but here's an example).
  • Buy it seperately through Ebay or another online auctioneer. The Verizon kit costs from $15-$30 depending on where you buy it. The kit also packages the USB cord with headphones and Verizon's Music Manager software, which you may not want to pay for. You can find most phones' USB cables on Ebay for under $5.


3. Find and install your phone's drivers on your computer. Without the proper drivers, your computer will not recognize your phone when you connect it to the USB cable. There are two ways to get your phone's drivers:
 
  • Buy them from your cell phone provider. Your phone's drivers will come packaged with the USB cable in the Verizon Music Essentials Kit mentioned above. You may not want to pay for the other things in the package, but for some models of phones, it is the only way to get the necessary drivers.
  • Download them online from the manufacturer's website or message boards and forums. Some manufacturers make their phones' drivers available online for certain models of phones. There are also a number of message boards and forums where users have posted links to drivers, which you can find by doing a search on the specific model of your phone along with "drivers."

Getting Started:

1. Install BitPim

2. Install your phone's software drivers. (Note: If you are using a CD from your service provider, such as Verizon, you do NOT need to install the other software on the CD for BitPim to work. You ONLY need to install the drivers.)

3. Connect the USB cable to your computer first and then to your phone. Your computer should give you some kind of notification that it recognizes a new USB device.

4. Start BitPim. When BitPim is open and running you should see the model of your phone displayed in the lower right-hand corner along with a green or red light indicating whether or not your phone is connected.

 
 


5. If BitPim is struggling to recognize your phone, first try using a different USB port and rechecking that the drivers were installed correctly. If neither of those work, consult BitPim's Troubleshooting documentation.

What's Next?

 

That depends on why you wanted to hack your phone. We hope the following sections will enable you to do what you had in mind, if not, let us know and we'll do our best to help you out. Also, it's not hard to erase everything on your phone if you aren't careful at a few crucial points, so make sure you read the potential pitfalls before going any further. Best of luck.

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Incredible handmade orrery

Images Orrery Orrery-101
Arkansas artist Eugene Sargent was commissioned to make an orrery, a mechanical system that demonstrates the motion of the planets in our solar system. The just-finished device is absolutely marvelous. Make sure you follow the link to see the detail photos. From Sargent's project page:
The 6 planets and sun and moon are made of glazed porcelain... The gears are bronze. I cast the blanks first, cleaned them up in the lathe, and the little milling machine did the rest. The main shaft of the moon drive train rides on 4 sealed bearings. At present, I don't even use CAD software. All G-code was generated by my own C++ programs.
Link to Sargent's page, Link to posts about the orrery by the people who commissioned it (via MAKE: Blog)

Submitted by New Media Rights on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 12:35pm

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