A curtmerrill.com blogTumblr (3.0; @curtmerrill)http://north.curtmerrill.com/<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz0smzwJqX1qzc6qso1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Water usage (flushing, e.g.) in Edmonton, Canada, during Gold Medal hockey game.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/436939083http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/436939083Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:06:00 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IeA9gH_iWXY&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IeA9gH_iWXY&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/><p><a href="http://lonelysandwich.com/post/428749512/how-to-iron-a-shirt">lonelysandwich</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><b>“Ironing techniques by professional craftsmen (shirt)” - プロの職人によるアイロンがけテクニック(ワイシャツ)</b></p> <p>This short instructional film showcases unmatchably masterful ironing technique that we’d all do well to learn from, but it’s also one of the most absorbing, delicious demo videos I’ve ever seen.</p> <p>via <a href="http://twitter.com/joelzimmer/status/10035958154"><span>Joel Zimmer</span></a>, from a series of similarly beautiful instructional videos at <a href="http://garra.jp/style/tailored/index.html">Garra.jp</a> (WARNING: ALL-FLASH and Japanese)</p> </blockquote>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/430156945http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/430156945Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:39:52 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ijpH6an-JIQ&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ijpH6an-JIQ&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/><p>Lego lightsaber duel</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/428387041http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/428387041Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:14:16 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FJRMwdmFYWg&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FJRMwdmFYWg&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/426369409http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/426369409Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:37:35 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kypyys3H7G1qzz5mwo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://twheat.tumblr.com/post/424534160/star-wars-mini-amigurumi-via-angry-angel">twheat</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Star Wars Mini Amigurumi (via <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/96575205@N00">Angry Angel</a>) - thanks for spotting these @Klu1</p> </blockquote>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/424659272http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/424659272Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:23:49 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DYktDghfoFM&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DYktDghfoFM&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/422214046http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/422214046Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:17:08 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kygwprdwLc1qzc6qso1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/413903107http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/413903107Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:22:39 -0500<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="400" height="348" id="VideoPlayerLg44277"><param name="movie" value="http://g4tv.com/lv3/44277" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://g4tv.com/lv3/44277" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="VideoPlayer" width="400" height="382" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br/><br/><p>I was going to excerpt a quote to put here, but there are too many good bits; I couldn’t decide which one to choose. Just watch it.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/413255083http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/413255083Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:40:04 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/c6bAMuukqUM&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c6bAMuukqUM&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/><p>Dogs in slow motion (via <a href="http://www.notcot.org/">NotCot.org</a>)</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/408940095http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/408940095Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:53:23 -0500<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky1slzEuER1qz4csmo1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://kmikeym.tumblr.com/post/396859707/vintage-sexism-dating-guide-edition">kmikeym</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.feministing.com/archives/020063.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Feministing+%28Feministing%29">Vintage Sexism (Dating Guide Edition) - Feministing</a></p> </blockquote> <p>“When a man dances, he wants to dance.”</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/396895011http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/396895011Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:59:04 -0500<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky1hadKDXq1qzc6qso1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>These are the pants worn by the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/vancouver/2010-02-16-talk-of-vancouver-wednesday_N.htm">Norwegian Curling team</a>. Yours for <a href="http://estore.websitepros.com/1957025/-strse-1456/Dixie-dsh-A/Detail.bok">$90</a>.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/396569360http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/396569360Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:25:00 -0500<p><a href="http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/393140797/16-9">mrgan</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>There’s nothing magical about the 16:9 aspect ratio. It is suitable for one thing and one thing only: video. And even there, it’s not the Holy Grail. Some of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CX9E?ie=UTF8&tag=nevmrgsblo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00003CX9E">greatest</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6305174083?ie=UTF8&tag=nevmrgsblo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=6305174083">movies</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JLV6?ie=UTF8&tag=nevmrgsblo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00005JLV6">of all time</a> were shot in 4:3.</p> <p>…</p> <p>Every aspect ratio is a compromise. If a device is ever to be used in portrait mode - and my guess is that people will use the iPad in this book-like mode <i>most of the time - </i>that compromise must result in something closer to 4:3.</p> </blockquote>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/393400741http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/393400741Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:00:30 -0500<a href="http://photofocus.com/2010/02/16/a-lesson-learned-from-coconuts/">Learning from coconuts</a>: <p>A lesson that applies to more than just photography.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/393034006http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/393034006Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:34:57 -0500<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/12/frisbee.morrison.obit/index.html">Frisbee inventor dies at 90</a>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/385878878http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/385878878Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:24:50 -0500<p>Tips from the <a href="http://cardboardleague.com">Card/Board League</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The Scrabble tournament is coming soon (<a href="http://cardboardleague.com/events/1/">Sign up if you haven’t yet</a>). Seasoned players Jessica, Krystal and Tara have a few tips to help you get ready:</p> <p>- Learn a few Q words that don’t require U’s, like QI and QAT.</p> <p>- SUQ (“an Arab marketplace”) and QAT (“an Arabian shrub”) are the most important words you can know to use up a Q. One doesn’t require a U and the other has the Q after the U.<br/><br/>- Each turn’s score is important, but so is making sure your rack stays balanced. If you have five vowels and two consonants, don’t play just your two consonants — you risk pulling even more vowels! It’s usually worth playing a lower scoring word if you need to ditch some tiles that are making your rack really hard to play.<br/><br/>- Remember the musical dealie, “do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.”<br/><br/>- Don’t overly focus on building the perfect word in your rack. Use the best premium squares (triple-letter score!) and build a word around that.<br/><br/>- You should never play an S for less than 30 points.<br/><br/>- If you score out possible plays on a turn, you’ll find that the long single words almost never score as many points as a shorter one that places a high-scoring letter on a premium tile.<br/><br/>- Simple words bring big points if they’re placed right! Look for more than one word per turn by watching both vertical and horizontal placements.<br/><br/>- Good Scrabblin’ takes PRACTICE.<br/><br/>- Good at memorizing? <a href="http://www.k5m.org/uhx/2letterwords.tiff"><a href="http://www.k5m.org/uhx/2letterwords.tiff">http://www.k5m.org/uhx/2letterwords.tiff</a></a><br/><br/>- Never, ever play something that opens up a triple word score tile for your opponent. They WILL use it, even if it’s with low scoring tiles, so you can’t. And if they can pull off even a moderately good word, you could be in the hole by 50+ points in a single turn.</p> </blockquote>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/383796542http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/383796542Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:44:46 -0500<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://north.curtmerrill.com/swf/audio_player.swf?audio_file=http://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/379911033/tumblr_kxkgtaijZ71qzf5u1&color=FFFFFF" height="27" width="207" quality="best"></embed><br/><br/><p><a href="http://morningmellow.tumblr.com/post/379685519">morningmellow</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><b>Josh Ritter </b>‘Change of Time’ From his latest CD, So Runs the World Away, due in May, here is a sparse piano ballad that towers into a triumphant outro.</p> </blockquote>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/379911033http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/379911033Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:54:26 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Wx_5GI0QRdw&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Wx_5GI0QRdw&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/><p>via <a href="http://kottke.org">Kottke</a></p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/358890278http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/358890278Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:43:37 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwit904SIt1qzc6qso1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Learned to tie a bow tie today.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/343446536http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/343446536Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:55:47 -0500<object width="400" height="336"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I2Xt2yHCgwI&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I2Xt2yHCgwI&rel=0&egm=0&showinfo=0&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="336" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><br/><p>My alma mater.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/341530065http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/341530065Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:00:00 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kw5oxqUcU21qzc6qso1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>This is one of my favorite photos from my last roll of cross-processed Holga shots. Followed very closely by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/curt/4269478109/">this one</a>.</p>http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/331219375http://north.curtmerrill.com/post/331219375Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:53:00 -0500