Max is in the living room right now watching the original Night of the Living Dead.

As it was starting +Julie Abuelsamid recalled reading a very critical article of the movie in Readers Digest when she was a child and asked me try and find it online. Of course the all-knowing GoogleBot found a scanned version of it as the first result.

Surprisingly it turns out that it was a condensed version of a story that Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times in January 1967. Ebert's piece was less a review of the movie, which he actually liked than a criticism of the hypocrisy of censorship and ratings systems. Even in January 1967, Ebert was believed censorship was a bad idea but was more troubled by the dichotomy in attitudes toward nudity and violence.

"Censorship isn't the answer to something like this. Censorship is never the answer. For that matter, "Night of the Living Dead" was passed for general audiences by the Chicago Police Censor Board. Since it had no nudity in it, it was all right for kids, I guess. This is another example, and there have been a lot of them, of the incompetence and stupidity of the censorship system that Chicago stubbornly maintains under political patronage."

Unfortunately, that same divergent sentiment continues to exist in the ratings to this day as the appearance of a penis or pubic hair can trigger an NC-17 while violence much more extreme than anything seen in George Romero's horror classic passes by with a PG-13.

Why is violence so much more acceptable than a hint of sexuality?

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The Night of the Living Dead :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
Reviews; Great Movies; Answer Man; People; Commentary; Festivals; Oscars; Glossary; One-Minute Reviews; Letters; Roger Ebert's Journal; Scanners; Store. Chicago Sun-Times; News; Sports; Business; …

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The hens free ranging in the back yard

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10/16/11

In album 10/16/11

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Guitarist +Rob Bourassa interviews luthier Gary Zimnicki in his workshop while picking up a new guitar. The instrument is a replica of a 1938 Gibson L-30

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Max is working on a major project for school right now on makers of wooden, stringed instruments known as luthiers. Part of the assignment includes researching his subject and conducting interviews with at least two experts, one of which has to be in person. For the past six months Max has been teaching himself to play the ukelele and learned about Gary Zimnicki on an online discussion forum.

Max contacted Gary who was gracious enough to meet and discuss his vocation. I drove Max over to Gary's home in Allen Park where he spent 90 minutes showing us his workshop and explain how he constructs guitars, mandolins, ukeleles and other instruments. Gary has been building instruments since he was in college in the mid-1970s and has produced some 300 units since then, each one uniquely hand-crafted to the needs of his clients. He produces about 12-15 instruments a year and they are absolutely gorgeous to look at and listen to.

After Max is done with his report, I'll share it here on G+. I want to thank Gary for taking the time to talk with Max. Check out the album from our visit and check out Gary's site http://www.zimnicki.com/index.html.

In album Gary Zimnicki, Luthier (20 photos)

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Molly Erdman does a fantastic Elizabeth Warren impersonation and finally shows the backbone that real politicians seem to completely lack. In 2 minutes and 27 seconds, she tells more truth than a typical politico does in an entire lifetime.

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Too cool! Remote-controlled octocopter + Red Epic for amazing footage you can't get any other way.

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German video effects company builds camera drone for the Red Epic
Engadget

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Reshared post from +Jason Calacanis

Sometime humor is the best medicine huh?

CUPERTINO, CA—Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple Computers and the only American in the country who had any clue what the fuck he was doing, died Wednesday at the age of 56. "We haven't just lost a great innovator, leader, and businessman, we've literally lost the only person in this country who actually had his shit together and knew what the hell was going on," a statement from President Barack Obama read in part, adding that Jobs will be remembered both for the life-changing products he created and for the fact that he was able to sit down, think clearly, and execute his ideas—attributes he shared with no other U.S. citizen. "This is a dark time for our country, because the reality is none of the 300 million or so Americans who remain can actually get anything done or make things happen. Those days are over." Obama added that if anyone could fill the void left by Jobs it would probably be himself, but said that at this point he honestly doesn’t have the slightest notion what he’s doing anymore.

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Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies

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Steve Jobs was perhaps one of the greatest leaders of our time when he finally succumbed to health issues that began with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer several years ago.

Jobs was not an inventor, engineer or even a designer. However, he had an incredible ability to recognize great ideas and talents and then refine them to a level that made them tremendously appealing to a mass audience.

Jobs didn't invent the personal computer, digital animated movie, portable digital music player, smartphone or tablet. Every one of those items was produced by someone else first. But until he and the designers, artists and engineers he gathered around him imprinted his personal design aesthetic on those devices they were strictly niche items for geeks.

Computers were around for decades before Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple. There were even some "personal" computers before the Apple I. But Jobs and Wozniak made computer technology totally accessible to ordinary humans.

Similarly at Pixar, Jobs worked with John Lasseter and the rest of the team to take state of the art digital rendering and meld it with amazing story telling.

Companies like Creative and Diamond had built portable MP3 players prior to the September 2001 introduction of the iPod but they were either too limited in capacity or too clunky to use. Jobs brought Apple's software and hardware engineering talent together with the design chops of Jonathan Ive to create a device with simple controls and an intuitive user interface that would dominate its market segment for a decade.

The first touch-screen phone based on the Palm OS debuted in 1998 and it was followed by various Treos and Windows Mobile phones for the next nine years. It wasn't until 2007 that Jobs and his team created a much more refined and intuitive interpretation that has transformed mobile communications. Today, that design philosophy has infiltrated everything from phones to tablets infotainment systems in cars.

Throughout all of this, he always kept his eye on the horizon. Rather than go for short term revenue gains by cutting prices to maximize volume so that Wall St would be happy, he made sure that Apple created great products and provided outstanding customer service. The result is dedicated customer base that keeps coming back for more and is willing to pay premium prices. Apple is now the most profitable technology company in the world, with the highest market capitalization, despite having only a small sliver of the overall computer market.

Jobs rarely did anything first, but he had the vision to recognize what could actually be useful to people in their everyday lives and bring together the right people to make it reality. Jobs influence extends far beyond the personal computer to communications, transportation and entertainment.

This was all achieved through amazing leadership and thinking differently.

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I'd suggest that we should all boycott companies like Intellectual Ventures for suing Motorola. But wait IV doesn't actually make or sell anything at all. It's entire business model is based on buying up huge quantities of patents (some 30,000 at last count) and then pursuing companies that actually make stuff and employ people for royalty payments. This wouldn't be a problem if the parents were legitimate, but as we know most software patents are so vague and broad as to be meaningless. Even the recent patent reform bill is unlikely to make any difference.

Maybe we should just boycott Nathan Myrvold's oversized and overpriced cook book

http://allthingsd.com/20111006/intellectual-ventures-joins-the-mobile-patent-war-suing-motorola-mobility/

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