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Ad Nauseam: State Farm on the Humiliation of Biking to Work
Streetsblog
Drop what you’re doing, click the “play” button and enjoy 30 seconds of outstanding car culture courtesy of State Farm. [LINK TO YOUTUBE]
The Scene: An African American actor with a shaved head, conservative gray suit and slightly stiff demeanor asks, “Where can you find me? At the intersection of gas prices can not get any higher and guess what? Gas prices just got higher.”
Jangly rock music is playing in the background. The camera pulls back and we see he’s standing in the parking lot of an anonymous corporate office building in Any Suburb, USA. Instead of suit pants, he’s wearing bright red spandex shorts, dark dress socks pulled up mid-calf and white sneakers. He looks ridiculous. And he’s standing next to a bicycle. Adding a surreal touch to the whole thing, he is also standing on a bright red circular carpet.
“You know that place where you’re swapping four wheels for two?” He looks down at his own outfit with an apparent sense of resigned humiliation. “Oh, man, I’m there.”
Editor’s note: Yeah, I know that place. It’s called a city. I actually really like that place, especially in the spring time when everyone is getting back on their bikes and it’s like a Critical Mass ride every morning on Dean Street in Brooklyn. Anyway…
Text rolls across the screen letting us know that State Farm can save us $369 a year. A voiceover says, “State Farm can get you back behind the wheel by saving you hundreds on car insurance…”
(3 April 2008)
Van Jones on Colbert Report (green collar jobs)
Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central
Van Jones tells Stephen about green collar jobs that are good for the Earth as well as the economy. (05:06)
(1 April 2008)
Suggested by David Roberts at Gristmill.
Solving The World’s Water Problems
Big Gav, Peak Energy
Bruce Sterling has a post on “The Segway for Water” (I’m not sure the Segway is a good comparison to use when promoting something, but whatever) – a small scale water purification unit at a low price from Segway inventor Dean Kamen. As usual, Bruce’s interjections are the bits marked “(())”.
More at Wired Science – it sounds like the device works in conjunction with Kamen’s other new invention, a Stirling engine based power generation unit – and Red Ferret.
(((Wired Science, these guys rock. I can’t wait to see what they get up to when we’ve got an Administration that doesn’t hate, fear and attack science.)))
(4 April 2008)
Dean Kamen on The Colbert Report (video from March 20,
“Stephen puts inventor Dean Kamen’s vapor compression distiller to the test.”
At the site, there are more clips from the March 20 Colbert broadcast, which “Stephen dedicates the whole show to water, and pledges not to drink a single drop.”
The Unicyclist – adrenaline, no oil needed
Youtube
You don’t need gas to get an adrenaline rush and risk your fool neck. Big Gav points out the example of The Unicyclist (watch especially the last third; WARNING, do not try this at home.)
The Unicyclist (Kris Holm) speaks: “You put a unicycle into the picture and the whole turns into a playground.” Unicyclist Kris Holm is “a geoscientist specializing in geohazard and risk assessment.” (bio)
(April 2008)
