(Blackout template by Zachary Johnson) Today’s unprecedented Internet protest against SOPA/PIPA censorship laws was a huge success. Thousands of websites observed a “blackout” and even Google displayed solidarity and has forms posted for contacting lawmakers. So far 13 Senators – mostly Republicans – have withdrawn their support for PIPA. This is not a partisan issue. […]

Letter from Kurt Vonnegut to Marianne Brown shared on Letters of Note. Kurt, we miss you.

11/1/11 (or 1.11.11) – crazy date today! And most likely we’ve also crossed the 7 Billion mark in earth’s human population and we’re now gunning it for the 8 Billion mark sometime around 2020. Is it time to panic? Depends on which estimate in the graph below becomes a reality. The reality is also that […]

Happy International Blasphemy Day!

Romero Studios is the side business of musicians Roderick and Anisa Romero (founders of the 1980s-1990s trancey/alt.rock group Sky Cries Mary) The tree houses they build are not only gorgeous, they are also made almost entirely from reclaimed lumber. They have built tree houses for artists like Sting, Trudie Styler, Julianne Moore, Val Kilmer and […]

Amazing – the Dallas Mavericks are NBA Champs! Dirk Nowitzki now ranks among the greatest basketball players of all time! I’m not a Dallas fan; I don’t even follow the NBA much. Heck – I live in March Madness land. But I do like Dirk’s down-to-earth style and he SO deserves this triumph. Take this […]

We did it! Yesterday, the 11foot8 team @Overheight When Flashing@ participated in the Doughman – “the world’s premier Team Relay Quadrathlon” – and we finished in a very satifying 8th place (out of 75 teams). The race has 5 legs. Each leg starts with an eating challenge before the athlete goes on to run or […]

We are proud to present the 11foot8 Team @Overheight When Flashing@! This intrepid team of athletes will take on the Doughman Race on May 28 – a challenging eating/athletic competition right here in Durham. This race is also a fundraiser for SEEDS – a local nonprofit that builds community gardens and teaches kids to grow […]

Yes … I am selling the Mercedes. It’s a great car. I really enjoy it, but we can’t afford 3 cars any more. The untimely demise of that POS Ford truck tore a big hole in our budget, and so the Mercedes has to go. Here is the listing: This is an original E-series Mercedes […]

Last week, a producer from MSNBC’s “Caught on Camera” contacted me about using my truck crash footage and about doing an interview.I was not so sure about doing a TV interview, but I couldn’t really think of any good reason not to do it, except that I probably would look like a dork. So I […]

Ah … the Irish. What can I say – they know how to party. Dain Phelan and Zack Wheeler yesterday at Dain’s Place in Durham: I don’t much care for catholic saints, but David Plotz’ story about Ireland’s patron saint is pretty interesting: According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy’s […]

Historic day in Egypt! Amazing turn of events … congratulations to all those stubborn activists on Tahrir square and all over the country.

Yeah – that’s a pretty good song. I like it – not just because my website 11foot8.com gets a shout out at 00:22 in the Das Racist piece.  No – it’s really a cool song – better than Juicy for sure. And now we have some real hipster cred. Free Jazzmatazz is a collaboration between […]

“Peace be with you” – that’s how Barack Obama greeted the audience at Cairo University in June 2009. During his speech in the “timeless city” he said I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things:  the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; […]

Polystyrene, better known by its trade name Styrofoam, is a huge environmental burden to our planet.  This petroleum-based plastic is found everywhere, from disposable coffee cups to packaging to insulation. Styrofoam cannot be recycled  and it takes a thousand years to decompose. Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups each year and many, many products are […]

Less than Six Months to the Doughman – the race is on May 29 – so I figured I’d kick off Doughman Season  with a nice lunch-run to Dain’s Place. Oh yeah, baby! Lunchtime rolled around on Friday, I got into my running shorts and jogged the 1.1 Miles to 9th Street. Barefoot, of course. […]

“Oh boy!” – I thought when around luchtime today a reporter and cameraman from a local TV news station knocked at my office and asked me if they could do an interview about the truck crashes I had captured on video. But they asked nicely, and so I agreed to do it. I sent Jacob […]

The big splash about Tata Motor’s ultra-cheap Nano ($2,500) all but buried another announcement from the Indian automaker at the Delhi auto show: they signed a $20M deal with MDI, a European start-up car maker working on commercializing cars that run on compressed air. Of course, the cars don’t “run on air,” rather they use […]

Skysails is a German company that is working on commercializing a simple, brilliant way for large ships to use wind power for propulsion. Large kites tethered high above the ship can generate up to 50 percent of the propulsion energy needed for freighters and large yachts. The company estimates that their product can save 10-35 […]