Oh Internet, you never cease to entertain…

6 06 2007

A couple of goodies from the Internet. First off, I have always been intrigued by Finland. Beautiful location, fascinating history, and happy people, according to at least one study. Now, they, or at least those running Helsinki, seem to be a step ahead of everyone else in the world with the way they distribute information about their public transport. First, they attached GPS devices to each bus that runs a city route. They then uploaded the information transmitted by the GPS device (namely, location) to a company that mashes up the bus location and progress with a Google Maps depiction of the city. The result is a fascinating cross between everyday life as art and functionality. I don’t even live in Helsinki, so I won’t be catching any of those buses anytime soon, but simply watching them zigzag around the city is endlessly fascinating. Give it a try.

On a somewhat different note:

For a long time, Matt Damon has been mildly under the radar, considering he owns an Academy Awards (and deserves at least one more) and has made consistently entertaining and well-done films, from Good Will Hunting to the Bourne Identity to The Departed. Of course, it also goes without saying that his short and shocking appearance in EuroTrip may be one of the best cameos of all time. With all that being said, he is not as flashy or as fast to embrace the Hollywood lifestyle as some of his colleagues, and I get the feeling the accompanying lack of attention is fine with him. However, that may begin to change if he continues to make such memorable appearances on late-night talk shows. Damon, of course, is a born and raised Bostonian, and, accordingly, a life-long fan of the greatest baseball team on Earth. As the Late Show with David Letterman happens to be taped in New York City, Damon had a little fun with the hot start for the Red Sox at the expense of New Yorkers wallowing in the Yankees’ dismal play: