Mysterypig

Be afraid of Google?

Mike — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:51:10 PST

An anti-Google privacy group bought some jumbo-tron time in Time Square to show this really creepy video. Their goal is to have legislation create a 'do not track me' list to allow people to opt-out of data tracking/mining.

I don't know, should we fear what Google knows?

Beavis and Butthead are back

bob — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:49:09 PST

Mike Judge is back at MTV making new episodes of Beavis and Butthead.

I have seen the top of the mountain. And it is good.

Inside insides

bob — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:17:38 PST

Animated MRI scans of fruit. Thumb is from pineapple.

Michael Jackson - Leave Me Alone video

bob — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:45:32 PST

I didn't even know this existed until right now. The song is not particularly special but the video is crazy great.

Hunter S. Thompson: Rare Articles

Youness — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:32:20 PST

Since I haven't posted anything in a while and since Carl won't post this until at least 2015... here's a link to some old and rare HST articles Carl sent me a while ago. There's some good stuff here, I particularly enjoyed the two on Big Sur and the one about L.A.

Awkward Family Photos

Mike — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:11:28 PST

A nice collection of user-submitted pictures that never should have been taken. The guy also made a book of of these pics that is available for those who want a hard-copy of what not to do when taking pictures.

More hand-selected pic's in extended.

Reggie Watts - Fuck Shit Stack

bob — Sun, 09 May 2010 19:50:00 PST

Music video for a song by a guy called Reggie Watts. It entertained me for a minute today.

Dontevenreply.com

manofsuit — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:58:51 PST

Joke responses to craigslist ads, most of which are pretty hilarious!

Now fixed so that I didn't forget the link.

Hacking speed/red-light camera systems

Mike — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:06:09 PST

I don't know if this will actually work but I guess it's worth a shot, right? Someone came up with the idea to use a SQL injection type hack against image/text recognition camera systems used for speed and red-light cameras. If the syntax is correct and the input data not filtered properly, it's possible to actually hack the system running this database query and alter it in some fashion.

Wouldn't want to be the guinea pig on this, but it would be interesting if it worked!

3M Sticky Bears

Chris — Mon, 07 May 2007 16:13:44 PST

Check out the latest innovation from 3m.

Alien vs. Pooh

bob — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:42:02 PST

A new take on the classic.

It all began with an unusual discovery in the 100 acre wood...

ACORN supports underage prostitution and brothels

Mike — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:14:41 PST

This guy is awesome. He and a girl pretended to be a pimp and a prostitute and walked into two ACORN offices seeking tax help. For what, you may be asking? To setup a brothel with underage girls from El Salvador. In both cases the ACORN employees showed them how to lie on their taxes to hide the illegal income and even call the underage girls dependents. The one in DC is even better because the guy said he wanted to filter the illegal income into campaign money for him to run for congress. He said no one else will help him because it's illegal but this lady explains how he can do it without being caught.

You can follow the link or the videos are embedded in extended.

I'm amazed that this is an organization that gets federal funding when it is obvious that at least 2 of their offices actively participate in illegal activity.

"I want to weigh 1000 lbs"

Mike — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:42:52 PST

I can't decide if this is funny or sad, so I will let you folks be the judge.

Ignorance is on the Move Again

Carl — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:21:12 PST

It's like the "Secret" for Aids.

Twenty 5-second films

bob — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:16:51 PST

Just a youtube video but it made me laugh. For 3:18 you get 20 short films plus some filler material. Awesome!

Hot 'n' Cold by Los Colorados

bob — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:10:34 PST

In case you were wondering what a shitty American pop song would sound like when performed by a Ukrainian polka band.

I can't exactly call it good, but watching it made me really happy.

Leo where'd my stolen WiFi go?

Mike — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:56:39 PST

Lady calls in to Leo Laporte's "The Tech Guy" asking why her 'linksys' WiFi stopped working.

Video in extended.

Lele Breakfast

Youness — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:52:56 PST

Bitch You Breakfast.

TV Tropes

bob — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:50:09 PST

TVTropes.org is a massive wiki-based repository of all the cliches and recycled bits that make TV and movies tick. Link goes directly to "The Bald of Awesome", which is a good place to start.

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski

bob — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:15:20 PST

I don't know why but this cracked me up.

As writ by Mr. Adam Bertocci
Taking inspiration from Mr. William Shakespeare
and the Brothers Coen.

No more spending limits for political campaigns

manofsuit — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:59:38 PST

In a decision today, the US Supreme Court overturned previous bans on campaign funding by private organizations (i.e. corporations), stating that corporations were entitled to the same first amendment rights as individuals.

Singing about the body

bob — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:31:29 PST

Based on samples from thousands of songs, FleshMap has a chart showing the frequency with which various body parts are mentioned in a variety of different genres. No real surprises, but it's interesting for a quick look.

Trailer Park Boys

bob — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:34:25 PST

This is my favorite TV show of all time. It's a Canadian half hour sitcom about some guys that live in a trailer park. Try it and you will love it.

Big Head Mode

bob — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:03:02 PST

A dude made an oversize paper model of his head for his Halloween costume.

John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"

manofsuit — Wed, 02 May 2007 14:18:36 PST

The book that inspired "The Thing," which I think is one of the best horror movies ever made.

The Things

bob — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:58:54 PST

A short story by Peter Watts based on John Carpenter's epic The Thing, which was in turn based on John W. Campbell's Who Goes There.

It's an interesting and thoughtful take on the movie that I quite enjoyed.

Unnecesary censorship - Sesame Street

Mike — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:14:44 PST

Skit from the Jimmy Kimmel show with Sesame Street over-censored. Maybe I just have a dirty mind but I thought it was hilarious. Video embedded in extended also.

How to Stop Alien Abductions

bob — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:05:00 PST

Detailed instructions for making and using a special hat that keeps aliens from reading your mind.

I heart the internet.

Aliens will try to stop you from wearing the helmet both mentally and physically. Remember that they can read your mind. Before you make one they may try to influence you that you don’t need one. Once you start wearing a helmet they may harass you or perhaps threaten to kill a pet in retaliation. They are good at manipulating your spouse to have a conflict with you about wearing the helmet.

Earthmine One-Ups Google Streetview with Real 3d data

Chris — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:16:47 PST

Wired: "San Franciscans may have noticed an odd, camera-laden car driving through city streets taking photos of everything, but this time, it wasn’t Google. The car belongs instead to earthmine, whose cameras capture more data than Google’s do, using a higher-resolution, stereo photography technique that assigns specific points in space to every captured surface."

Apocalypse - The TV Show

bob — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:32:10 PST

A pretty awesome music video.

This is the best thing to come out of Japan since those porta-potties that turn into jet skis

Trucker's Delight

bob — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:33:21 PST

An incredibly vulgar music video animated in a style reminiscent of classic Lucasarts games.

Did I mention it's incredibly vulgar? Be forewarned.

The Nature of Black Holes

Youness — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:23:24 PST

A series of short interviews containing the best explanations I've ever heard on how black holes work and what current science is doing to explore them.

Watch the whole story of black holes in a series of 15 short interviews with famous scientists from all over the world, for whom black holes are their work and their passion.

2010 Marriage Protection Act

Youness — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:09:49 PST

Safeguarding marriage from the evils of divorce.

Taking the next logical step from the marriage protection "victory" procured by 2008's Prop 8, this organization is looking to protect marriage once and for all..... by making sure you can't get out of it!

You said “Til death do us part.” You’re not dead yet.

Clean water thanks to moss

bob — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:50:06 PST

Discovery article about David Knighton, a surgeon who is developing systems that use sphagnum moss to clean pools, spas, and even drinking water!

"Northern Minnesota is the Saudi Arabia of moss"

Pussycat claymation

bob — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:02:28 PST

A surprisingly entertaining claymation by Takena Nagao.

A pretty female cat gets into trouble. What's gonna happen?

It's a sexy and violent sexploitation clay-animation!

Ants Eat a Gecko

bob — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:09:30 PST

Kind of disgusting but also totally fascinating.

Gator Hunting Crossbow

Chris — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:24:58 PST

The fact that this product exists hints at an incredibly dangerous and stupid sport. I'd love to try.

Dead flies, funny cartoons

bob — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:46:37 PST

A series of amusing comics drawn in pencil around dead flies.

32 Exoplanets Discovered

Erin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:35:05 PST

Presently, in a galaxy far far away...

Great animated films from around the world

manofsuit — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:23:09 PST

I recently discovered a youtube channel which features obscure animated films, most of them from other countries. Some are classics, some I've never heard of, but I've watched about half of them and so far most are excellent!

Spike Jonze Skateboarding Videos

manofsuit — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:07:20 PST

Some old skateboarding videos directed by Spike Jonze, the director of "Being John Malkovich" and the upcoming "Where The Wild Things Are."

Look in your ear to see if you're crazy

bob — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:02:43 PST

Australian scientists claim to have developed a new diagnostic tool that can detect and differentiate schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disease among others.

It works using a probe that goes in your ear and reads electric potentials from your tibula nucleus. They then disrupt your balance and watch the evoked potentials, which apparently form different curves to indicated different mental illnesses.

If it really works this would be a huge leap forward in diagnoses of mental illness.

Employees Really Must Wash Hands

bob — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:36:05 PST

The HyGreen Hygiene Sensor is a complete system for hospitals to help encourage and track hand-washing among doctors and nurses.

When health care workers enter a patient's room, they wash up and run their hands beneath a nearby HyGreen sensor. The HyGreen sensor activates a green LED light on workers' badges to signal that their hands are clean.

Crate Man Invades Melbourne

Chris — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:48:59 PST

Melbourne residents are noticing something between graffiti and Lego popping up in their neighbourhoods. Sculptures created of brightly painted milk crates have been spotted in various locations and feature "Crate Man" in numerous activities including showing off his large Crate-Man-Member.

Pop Quiz

Chris — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:41:55 PST

What pierces its skin with bone spikes and has quick-healing abilities?

1959 Bel Air vs. 2009 Malibu

bob — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:05:15 PST

To celebrate its 50th anniversary the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety smashed the shit out of a classic car.

It's a pretty cool video and it really says something about how far automobile safety has come.

Video was removed from YouTube so I changed the link. Click "Watch a video of the crash test" on the right to see it.

For Best Results Do Not Let Your Kids Maul Themselves

Chris — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:39:44 PST

On the back of a set of steak knives I bought from K-Mart.

The housing bubble / crisis explained visually

Mike — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:13:40 PST

Short (10 minute) video that explains what happened with the financial markets and how things went bust. This guy did a really good job of outlining what happened in fairly simple terms, identifying each step along the way and why it happened.

Research Determines Dead Salmon Can Think

Chris — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:07:18 PST

Apparently dead salmon can think-- according to the results of some MRI brain scanning research done at Dartmouth. This reminds me of Bob's earlier post about the decrease of the placebo effect; when placebos were introduced into pharmacological trials, it was a huge wakeup call for everybody developing medicines at the time as it was shown that they weren't as effective as people thought. These researchers have now challenged the validity of current analysis techniques of MRIs by publicising some ridiculous results.

Novelty fruit!

bob — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:48:36 PST

You've (probably) seen pictures of square watermelons, and possibly even heart-shaped cucumbers, but how about pears shaped like the Buddha?

A Chinese farmer spent 6 years perfecting his molding technique and is now selling his Buddha-shaped fruit.

More novelty fruit in extended.

Gene therapy cures colorblind monkeys

bob — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:50:10 PST

University of Washington scientists used a custom built virus to transfer a gene into monkeys that cured their colorblindness.

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to see color for the first time. It's going to be a trip when they can do this to people.

Google Maps for the Stars

Chris — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:18:54 PST

Imagine Google Maps pointed up-- French photographers have stitched together thousands of long exposure photographs of the milky way and have provided a web interface to zoom and pan. Next feature: spaceship flying directions!

Your friends are important

bob — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:16:20 PST

Article in Wired about recent analysis on the Framingham Heart Study, showing that the influence of friends and relatives can be seen in everything from cigarette smoking to obesity to general happiness.

Olivio Barbieri Creates Fake Minis

Chris — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:20:54 PST

Since when do you want to make things look smaller? Italian photographer Barbieri has created landscape photographs of real landmarks that appear to be miniatures. Using tilt-shift techniques and artificial depth of field, his aerial photographs strangely have the appearance of your weird uncle's model train landscapes.

Hydro-onion Day 7

Chris — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:54:26 PST

Roots are forming well and I have decided to hook up the onion to constant aeration with a pump.

The Pig that Tweets

bob — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:53:43 PST

MysteryPig is on Twitter! From now on every single post will be instantly tweeted to the official MysteryPig twitter account, appropriately named "MysteryPig".

MysteryPig - always at the bleeding edge of two years ago.

Giant pitcher plant eats rats

bob — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:43:01 PST

Nepenthes attenboroughii (named for famed naturalist David Attenborough) is a giant pitcher plant big enough to eat rats and mice.

Mechanics Take Model Spaceship Building to New Dimensions

Chris — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:40:28 PST

An awesome model of the U.S.S. Enterprise incorporating recycled materials and the ability to autonomously move itself. The second article in Mystery Pig's "The Next Generation" column.

Salvia Struggle

Erin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:44:00 PST

The battle between the U.S. Drug Enforcement Adminstration and Researchers across the United States

"The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has listed salvia as “a drug of concern” and is looking into the drug to determine whether it should be declared a Schedule I controlled substance, on par with heroin and LSD... Tom Prisinzano, a medicinal chemist at the University of Kansas, points out that some chemical transformations of salvinorin A have different pharmacological abilities—such as a longer-lasting action or an enhanced ability to bind to receptors—and no hallucinogenic properties. Modifying its novel structure, he says, “could potentially treat a number of different central nervous system disorders.”

Boost your Brain with Powerful Drugs

bob — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:17:06 PST

Wired has a very unscientific review of a handful of over the counter supplements that claim to increase your mental powers in various ways.

The author claims that one of the supplements gave her a significant, noticeable performance boost, although a commenter further down the page mentions that many of the ingredients are suspects for serious side effects.

It's an interesting concept though and it got me thinking. Does anyone here have experience with mental performance enhancing substances?

The Flying Crowbar - America's Nuclear Ramjet Bomber

bob — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:20:15 PST

An old article from Air and Space magazine about an attempt back in the 60s to build a nuclear powered ramjet rocket to bomb the shit out of the Russians.

Project Pluto would have been a locomotive sized sled designed to cruise for thousands of miles below radar, dropping hydrogen bombs across Russia like a nuclear powered Santa Clause and leaving a trail of ionizing radiation everywhere it went.

The scariest part is that they got as far as a working prototype engine!

People of Walmart

bob — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:16:19 PST

A blog of amusing candid shots of people shopping at Walmart.

Semi-voyeuristic photos of unselfconscious Americans. Hooray!

Converted electric...El Camino!

Mike — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:42:27 PST

Watch out all you Prius drivers out there, there's a new electric beast on the roads. This guy spent 6 weeks retrofiting an '81 El Camino with a 100% electric system. When asked why an El Camino and not a lighter car (as a fellow tank...err El Camino owner I wondered this myself), he replied:
“The Civic would have a bit more range, but which would you rather drive?”

The total cost of 30k included the cost of the car and 18k for batteries.

Snow Leopard Upgrade ($39) Is full Operating System

Chris — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:28:47 PST

"Even though Apple suggests Mac users without Leopard buy the $229 Mac box set to get Snow Leopard, anyone can purchase the $39 Snow Leopard disc and install Snow Leopard in its entirety without having already installed Leopard."

Loud Rock Music Is Good for Your Brain

Chris — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:19:10 PST

"According to researchers at Manchester University, music fans are stimulating part of the inner ear known as the sacculus, which responds to the beat in music. This gives the brain pleasure and makes us feel good - during the music and afterwards.

The sacculus, which is not thought to have any hearing function in humans, appears to be sensitive only to very loud volumes, above 90 decibels."

I Met the Walrus

Youness — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:50:54 PST

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace.

38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation.

Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit, and timeless message.

In the six-minute animated film which John Lennon talks about global conflict and the need for peace has caught the imagination of Hollywood.

Museum of Animal Perspectives

bob — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:35:54 PST

A Flickr stream of videos made by attaching cameras to animals. Wolfcam, cowcam, armadillocam, goatcam, scorpioncam, and many more!

Some of them are hard to follow but there are some pretty cool shots. Wolf sniffing after squirrel is a good place to start.

MysteryPig: As Valuable as ... this Recliner?

Denise — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:05:33 PST

If I could sell MysterPig, I could buy this sweet "lazy boy-esque" recliner chair and still have enough left over for lunch!

mysterypig.com Estimated Worth $211.7 USD!!

Humiliate Your Dog

bob — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:19:13 PST

The poo trap is a product that's just too amazing and horrible not to post. Watch the video in the extended, then click the main link to go to their site.

My favorite part is that they pixelate the poop so as not to offend the eyes.

Rise of the Placebo

bob — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:08:38 PST

Wired article about an interesting trend in pharmaceutical testing: The placebo effect has been getting stronger.

Haruo Suekichi, watch maker

bob — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:59:52 PST

This guy makes the craziest watches I've ever seen. No formal education and a true tinkerer... If life were a role playing game, he's the guy you'd get to fix your broken airship.

Living Root Bridges

bob — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:10:18 PST

In Cherrapunji, India they don't build bridges: they grow them!

Orgone Energy

bob — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:11:43 PST

I ran across somebody's crazy ramblings about Orgone Energy in my travels around the internet. Besides being totally crazy, it's also surprisingly widespread.

Main link goes to wikipedia article. Example of crazy Orgone ramblings in extended.

Orgone energy is a hypothetical form of energy first proposed and promoted in the 1930s by psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.

Barney Frank - Best Congressman Ever

bob — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:11:27 PST

Watch him respond to a woman at a town hall meeting who compares health care reform to Hitler.

He may be the Churchill of our time.

Yahoo! Calls Itself "Hopelessly Out of Touch"

Denise — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:05:11 PST

Is Yahoo! out of touch with itself?? See the image I created from my screenshot. I don't know who to believe!!

Where Have All the Mailboxes Gone??

Denise — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:36:45 PST

Have you noticed that where once there was a USPS blue mailbox, there is no longer? Well, here's a useful site that lists locations for your mailing pleasure

The Past and Future of Comunication Reality

bear with a hat — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:01:05 PST

Narrated by Philip K. Dick

Tricia Helfer To Play Kerrigan In StarCraft II

Chris — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:48:32 PST

This event is ridiculous, but the game sequel looks very cool. Can't wait, as I am a fan of the original Starcraft.

"This news comes straight out of Blizzard’s voice actors panel at BlizzCon. Blizzard has revealed that Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer will be playing Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, in StarCraft II."

Patrick Stewart Sings the Alphabet Love Song

Chris — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:32:56 PST

A spatial anomaly is encountered by the Enterprise and alters the mind of Captain Picard.

Aussie straps in beer, not child

Chris — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:29:43 PST

Australians really like their beer.

Fancy Fast Food

bob — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:29:32 PST

A blog about deconstructing fast food meals into their constituent ingredients and remaking them into fancy looking (but still unhealthy) dishes.

The Cost Conundrum

bob — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:44:50 PST

You've probably already seen this, but in case you haven't: It's a New Yorker article by Atul Gawande investigating the reasons behind medical costs that vary from town to town.

It's the article that Obama made required reading for his aides. And it's pretty good too.

Little Red Riding Hood

bob — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:14:52 PST

A video reinterpretation of the classic fable in the style of industrial design. By Tomas Nilsson.

NAWLZ - the comic of the future

bob — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:51:55 PST

NAWLZ is a webcomic done in Flash that integrates sound, animation, and some interactivity. The art is very urban graffiti, and the plot has some definite cyberpunk elements with a surrealist bent.

Too much static clinging to my earlobes. GEEZUS!!!!!!

Google meets Earth meets Flicker for an Awesome Threesome

Youness — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:47:45 PST

A cool improvement on the already pigged flicker site that allows you to view peoples pictures from around the world. This is basically the same thing, except its linked with Google Earth which allows you to click on any country and see random flicker pics from that country only. North Korea is conspicuously missing.

Netflix Prize Snagged

bob — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:56:56 PST

It hasn't actually been collected, but it looks like the conditions for the Netflix prize have finally been met.

Update to this post, itself an update to this post.

John Hodgman on the First Nerd President

bob — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:21:07 PST

John Hodgman from the Daily Show (though perhaps better known as the "PC guy" from the Apple commercials) giving a speech at the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner in front of President Obama.

I laughed my ass off.

Groundbreaking at world's deepest underground lab

bob — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:48:58 PST

Beneath the Black Hills of South Dakota, a 4,850 foot deep lab is being built to help scientists look for dark matter.

Mark Wagner's Currency Collages

bob — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:09:10 PST

This guy has done some wild things with dollar bills.

Reflections in Puddles

bob — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:54:32 PST

A set of photos by Serbian photographer Vlado Marinkovic of buildings reflected in puddles. A really cool and surreal effect.

Ames' Window

bob — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:19:48 PST

Youtube video of a truly bizarre optical illusion.

Even knowing what's really going on it takes continual effort to see what's actually there.

$2.5 Billion spent on hippie bullshit

bob — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:10:07 PST

Over the last decade the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has spent two and a half billion dollars researching alternative medicine, and really hasn't turned up anything interesting.

See extended for my comments.

Banksy Goes Mainstream in Bristol

bob — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:40:03 PST

The world's most famous graffiti artist has a new exhibition at the city museum in his hometown of Bristol.

Banksy said: "This is the first show I've ever done where taxpayers' money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off."

CunninLinguists "Never Come Down"

bob — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:48:08 PST

A music video by the CunninLynguists.

I smoke trees'ins through all four seasons
But I’m like gas prices, high for no reason

See-Through Concrete

bob — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:56:33 PST

OK it's not actually transparent, but it does transmit light from one side to the other without severely compromising structural integrity.

It's called Litracon, and it works through the magic of scads of tiny optical fibers running from one side to the other.

cell phone usage impairs neurological functioning

Erin — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:43:36 PST

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081205095956.htm

"...the findings may be related to the team's earlier findings, that is, that microwave radiation from cell phones can affect the so-called blood-brain barrier... The research team also found certain nerve damage in the form of damaged nerve cells in the cerebral cortex and in the hippocampus."

firefox doesn't think hippocampus is a word?
well, i guess it doesn't think "firefox" is a word either.

The start of 'hacker spaces'

Mike — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:30:07 PST

Interesting blog about hackers (mostly just DIY stuff, not like Conficker) linking together and maintaining shared common areas. Kind of a cool concept, like a permanent LAN party. Anyone interested?

Their main site is down so I couldn't look to see if there were any in SD but sounds like it would be fun.

Quit Playing Videogames and Get Laid

bob — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:25:27 PST

I'm back on MysteryPig and I'm going to be posting a lot more. To celebrate, click to the extended for the Dragon Boy Suede video "Quit Playing Videogames and Get Laid"

I wanna dip my balls in it!

bob — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:32:45 PST

MTV classic sketch show "The State" is finally being released on DVD.

I hope it's still as awesome as it was when I was 12!

Fast food advertisments vs. reality

Mike — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:39:12 PST

Interesting graphical comparison between the images used in ads and what you actually get in reality, done for a number of fast food items (Big Mac, Whopper, Nachos Bell Grande, etc.). Some of these actually look somewhat similar in real life but others are way off. Kinda makes you want to claim false advertising.

iPod Touch catches fire, in some kid's pants

Mike — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:34:44 PST

Apple was just sued by the parent of a kid who said his iPod Touch was off in his pocked during school when it 'popped' and caught fire. It was supposedly hot enough to burn his pants, melt his underwear, and send him to the hospital for 2nd degree burns.

Who knows whether this has merits or not, but they stupidly included 10 people from the Mac retail store that sold the product to the mom. I don't know if the had to include them for legal reasons (to complete the liability chain possibly?) but it sounds like kind of a stretch to me. Do people who sell something really have a responsibility to test and ensure that the product is not defective?

Ponzi schemes for dummies

Mike — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:09:07 PST

The actual allocution of Madoff detailing how he conducted the world's largest Ponzi scheme for almost 20 years (since the early 90's). He could be sentenced for up to 150 years in prison for various charges including multiple counts of fraud (securities, mail, wire), money laundering, and perjury.

Stimulus at work - graphic design and web development

Mike — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:11:27 PST

With yet another parallel to the New Deal, a new 'American Recovery and Reinvestment Act' logo has been unveiled and will start being pasted everywhere. Nothing like more propaganda to soak into everyone's brains.

Derren Brown's "Messiah"

manofsuit — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:49:20 PST

Derren Brown is a magician who, in this special, uses classic stage techniques ("suggestion, psychology, misdirection, and showmanship") to examine various US belief structures and the naivete they run on. He's an outspoken atheist who has worked with Richard Dawkins and has a huge list of other TV specials, all of which sound just as clever as this one. Link is to first part of video (embedding is, sadly, disabled).

I.O.U.S.A

Youness — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:52:40 PST

Watch this! Even if this ain't your bag baby, cuz its really 'insert the expletives here' important!

Way better than a nipple!

Youness — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:58:06 PST

"Arizona fans tuning in for the climax of American football season get 30-second view of Club Jenna cable channel."

Once the pictures from the Super Bowl returned, Cardinals fans did not get the climax they were looking for.

Magneto!

manofsuit — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:14:08 PST

Clips from the old (and absolutely awful) "Fantastic Four" TV cartoon, in which Magneto appears. In the first clips he's an arrogant asshole, in the second a borderline retard.

Superheroes, as organized by religious affiliation

manofsuit — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:30:16 PST

Proof that comic book fans have far too much time on their hands.

Pionen - the world's coolest data center

Mike — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:22:24 PST

Located in Stockholm below 100ft of bedrock this data center used to be a nuclear bunker. Now it boasts simulated night and day, a full greenhouse, German submarine engines for backup electricity, and triple physical redundant connections to the internet backbone in the EU.

More details in extended but check out the link for more pictures.

Eight-Bit-Awesomeness

bear with a hat — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:13:17 PST

An epic 8-bit music video

The no longer Secret Lens

Youness — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:04:02 PST

The lens allows you to capture unwitting humans of time, without triggering waves of paranoia through their spine!

Armed With Wings 2

manofsuit — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:15:32 PST

One of the neatest Flash games I have ever seen. And a one-man job!

Super Mario Bros Theatre

Youness — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:25:19 PST

This is awesome!!!

Just watch it already...

第81回仮装大賞準優勝作品【スーパーマリオ】
第81回仮装大賞準優勝作品【スーパーマリオ】

Paul Robertson Syke ad

bob — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:15:02 PST

A new video from Paul Robertson, who you may remember from Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight.

It's an ad for a fictional energy drink that seems to be the viral marketing focus of some kind of concert promoter. Stupid concept but it's another great Paul Robertson joint.

Water Glasses

jack — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:08:28 PST

Dial in your own prescription
without an optometrist

Porn Industry Seeks Federal Bailout

bob — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:10:05 PST

Larry Flynt is asking congress to allocate $5 billion to bail out the adult entertainment industry.

This is the guy that took out a full page ad in the Washington Post offering a million dollars for anyone who could prove they had an adulterous encounter with any high ranking government official.

It's All Bullshit and it's Bad For You

bob — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:56:19 PST

A new George Carlin HBO special aired live last Saturday. Youtube videos of the whole thing are in the extended!

(videos have been replaced with working ones)

The Speed Camera Pimping Game

bob — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:02:13 PST

Step 1: Print a fake license plate on photo paper with a number belonging to a peer or authority figure.
Step 2: Intentionally speed and get caught in the act by an automatic camera.
Step 3: Laugh maniacally knowing your innocent victim will be getting a ticket in the mail.

Flame by BK

bob — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:24:04 PST

Burger King has just released its new cologne! In time for the holidays!

The WHOPPER sandwich is America's favorite burger. FLAME by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.

Why You Yawn

bob — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:15:01 PST

Researchers at Binghamton University have developed a new theory to explain and predict yawning behavior, and successfully tested their theory on parakeets.

They claim that yawning is a cooling mechanism designed to regulate brain temperature. Sounds reasonable to me.

Yaaaaaaaaaawn!

Nine

bob — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:45:33 PST

A cool short animated film by someone called Shane Acker.

Lost your virginity? Why not text your dad!!!

Mike — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:42:11 PST

Who knows if its true, but supposedly this girl text'ed her dad after losing her virginity on a school trip. I'm sure it was an awkward conversation when she got home.

KFC employees caught bathing in sink

Mike — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:26:32 PST

3 girls who worked at KFC found out a new way to get fired from their jobs by taking a bath in the dish-washing sink (more like a tub). Why they wanted to take do that is beyond me, seems pretty stupid.

Plus, stupid things are always better when they photo or video document it and put it on the web for everyone to see.

Aubrey De Grey on the Colbert Report

Youness — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:17:57 PST

Mfund legend Aubrey De Grey from a recent interview by Steven Colbert.

A BetaMaxMas

bob — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:10:14 PST

Christmas 1988! If the TV is a little fuzzy, just wiggle the antennas.

Welcome to my basement, I've got it wired for Hi-Fi. Check out what's playing in the TV Guide, or flip through the channels to see what's playin'.

Happy Holidays.

The Persistence of Memory

bob — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:14:27 PST

A National Geographic article by Joshua Foer that discusses the current understanding of human memory through the lenses of two extraordinary people. One has a memory of perfect clarity, and the other has no memory at all.

I want to take him by the arm and shake him. "You have a rare and debilitating memory disorder," I want to tell him. "The last 50 years have been lost to you. In less than a minute, you're going to forget that this conversation ever even happened." I imagine the sheer horror that would befall him, the momentary clarity, the gaping emptiness that would open up in front of him, and close just as quickly.

Elect Stephon Marbury a All-Star Game Starter!

Youness — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:36:09 PST

Why? He calls himself StarBury! Plus I think it would be f*funny....

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

bob — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:12:07 PST

An op-ed piece in the New York Times yesterday advocating a laissez-faire approach to the American automobile industry's current troubles.

It's well written, logical, and I find myself in agreement with most of its points. The weird part? It's written by Mitt Romney.

My thoughts in extended.

Sit Or Squat

bob — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:27:20 PST

It's a web and mobile service to help you find the nearest public bathroom. Complete with ratings and photos posted by other shitters.

I might have to get a smartphone just for this.

Psychedelic Optical Illusion

bob — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:38:56 PST

An optical illusion I had never seen before.

It's trippy... try it!

The Lego Minifig Timeline

bob — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:31:53 PST

Gizmodo has a huge post detailing every Lego minifig ever produced, by year. I'm not a huge Lego maniac (like some folks) but even I enjoyed this trip down memory lane.

Actually they seem to be missing a few sets that I'm familiar with, notably Blacktron and Ice Planet. But it's still cool.

Roger Shawyer's Relativity Drive

bob — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:26:49 PST

Roger Shawyer claims to have developed a spacecraft engine that turns energy into thrust with no moving parts.

Sounds like a dime-a-dozen nut case, except that he's a respected space engineer. And he has a working prototype.

It sounds to me like it violates the conservation of momentum, but my understanding of microwaves is not so good. Anyway it's a pretty good article from the New Scientist.

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:32:12 PST

Youtube video from some nature show about an octopus that mimics other animals.

Popular Science best of 2008 for computing

Mike — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:05:27 PST

Some interesting things listed. If you notice about half-way through there's Gobi, which as some may know is something I know a little about :)

Music Video by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

manofsuit — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:40:39 PST

I've just discovered that the fantastic director of "Delicatessen" and "Amelie" had earlier done a very cool music video for the Jean Michel Jarre song "Zoolook" (which I also love).

Gay marriage: the database engineering perspective

bob — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:09:29 PST

A database engineer named Sam discusses the logistical difficulties that gay marriage presents.

An entertaining read if you happen to be a database nerd.

Earthbound 2

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:51:12 PST

For those like me who grew up with Nintendo and SNES, Earthbound represented the apex of the 16 bit RPGs genre.

In 2006, 11 years later, Nintendo finally released the sequel, Mother 3. But they only released it in Japan, and apparently have no plans to translate it. So fans volunteered and did it themselves, and now finally the fan translation is finished.

Main link goes to the official translation website, or see extended for a torrent of the whole enchilada.

Magnapinna - the Elbowed Squid

bob — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:10:55 PST

Shell Oil presents a short video captured by one of their submersibles at a drilling site a mile and a half under water. Have you ever seen a squid with elbows?

Thumb is an alien from the movie Independence Day.

Slime Molds

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:32:38 PST

A gallery of photos of Russian slime molds on EnglishRussia.com. Some of the most otherworldly things you'll ever see.

And a bonus time-lapse Youtube video of slime molds and mushrooms doing their thing!

Aspirational TV

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:26:45 PST

Youtube video from the BBC of Charlie Brooker talking about TV shows that make him feel inadequate. It's a pretty interesting rant.

Tilt-Shift Photography

bob — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:28:35 PST

Smashing Magazine has a list of 50 beautiful examples of tilt-shift photography used to fake miniatures.

Tilt-shift is a photographic technique in which the lens is tilted relative to the image plane. This can be used to distort the focus to simulate the shallow depth of field of a macro lens, making the image look like a miniature.

Violent Death in the Insect World

bob — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:44:13 PST

A great set of photos of insects and spiders killing, dying, eating, and being eaten.

Transmission: My choice for a Mac BitTorrent client

Carl — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:18:35 PST

After months of Vuze causing my computer to crash, I decided to go in search of a new BitTorrent Client. Apparently I was not alone, and am fairly late to discover the benefits of Transmission. However, for the benefit of anyone as out of the loop as I apparently have been, I highly recommend giving this lightweight client a try.
Screen shots in extended...

Obama's weekly Youtube address

bob — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:52:56 PST

This is his second one. It made me feel good.

We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building windfarms and solar panels, fuel efficient cars, and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead. These aren't just steps to pull us out of this immediate crisis; these are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long.

Mike Rowe - The Dirtiest Mind in Business

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:01:49 PST

Article on Fast Company about the man behind the Discovery show Dirty Jobs. How he got his start in TV, how Dirty Jobs came to be, and the philosophy behind the franchise.

When I was your age we used video game controllers...

Erin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:05:24 PST

kiss your cordless wii controller goodbye and get ready to use telekinesis to play video games.

Bionic Arm

Erin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:58:06 PST

First woman with Bionic Arm!

Honda's new Walking Assist Device

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:08:03 PST

Honda recently unveiled a new experimental device to help with walking or crouching. It's sort of a bicycle seat looking with its own set of metal legs ending with a pair of shoes. You wear the shoes and the seat goes between your legs to help support you.

Besides the disabled, this will also benefit people whose jobs involve squatting in uncomfortable positions for hours at a time. And it will be great for when I get so fat I can't stand on my own.

Microscopic Photography

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:47:04 PST

The Boston Globe has an article with 32 pretty amazing microscopic photos.

UPS to deploy Hydraulic Hybrid trucks

bob — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:39:01 PST

Early next year UPS will be testing seven hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks - diesel trucks with a hybrid drive system that uses a fluid pressure differential to recycle braking energy.

I just thought this was cool because I've never even heard of this technology and it's already being deployed.

Awesome Interactive Design from The Netherlands

Youness — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:28:22 PST

A really cool blog from the Royal Academy of Art at The Hague. Check it out for consistently rad and interesting postings about new interactive design ideas and products. I recommend starting with this one.

Hermes Birkin Handbag Sells for $42,500.00

twokad — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:11:09 PST

A Hermes Birkin handbag sold for $42,500.00 to an unidentified buyer...

As you will see from looking at the two screen shots of the sale, at the bottom of this post, there are a lot of Hermes handbags for sale...

Opinions are Emotional NOT Rational

Denise — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:36:36 PST

Basically explains why you should never discuss politics or religion

“The heart has reasons that reason does not know,” -Pascal

What Science Expects of the President elect

Youness — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:29:32 PST

An excellent podcast, featuring interviews with scientists in several fields and an outline of what we should expect and not expect of the 44th President on issues such as embryonic stem cell research, global warming, education, and the space program.

Repower America

Carl — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:05:49 PST

Gore's plan to have America running on 100% clean energy in just 10 years.

You Can Run, But You Can't... Run

bear with a hat — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:06:29 PST

The Italians make Our CrownVictorias look indeed Black and White.

"Don't even think about trying to outrun the cops in Lazio, Italy... the boys in blue are rollin' in a 560-horsepower Lamborghini Gallardo that'll do 203"

State Senator from Nebraska sues God; case is dismissed

Carl — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:45:23 PST

Finally the guilty party for "Acts of God" is almost held accountable...

OLEDs: The future of lighting?

Youness — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:14:56 PST

What would you do with thin and bendable luminescent lights attachable to any fixture?

3d Platform for Flash

Chris — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:40:07 PST

Check out this Russian programmer's progress into his 3d engine for Flash.

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

bob — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:47:48 PST

A new pet store just opened in New York... and it's a little different!

Photosafari in Chernobyl

bob — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:34:29 PST

Somebody's photo travelogue of their tour of the Chernobyl disaster area. A true post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Armed Robbery of the Year

bob — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:07:51 PST

He used Craigslist to recruit a bunch of decoys, pepper sprayed an armored car driver, and escaped with a large amount of money in a getaway inner tube.

Online Poker sites caught Ripping Off Players

bob — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:11:59 PST

Rogue employees at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet have been systematically cheating at online poker for the last 3 years, "winning" about $10 million from suckers.

Yay for Octoberfest!

Mike — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:53:17 PST

Can you say boobs? I can't describe it any better, just open the link.

The Power of Politcal Misinformation

Carl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:19:07 PST

How do you make the crazy crazier? Tell them they're wrong. A number of studies have shown that corrections to political misinformation helps further spread the belief in that same misinformation.

The Street comes to an end

Mike — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:45:41 PST

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley have decided to pull the plug on investing and transition to deposit-taking lenders. Evidentaly they think the model is 'fundamentally broken', and it only took them $700 billion to figure that out.

What Would Dilbert Do?

Carl — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:53:05 PST

"Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, commissioned a survey of over 500 economists to find out which candidate for President of the United States would be best for the economy long term."

Optical Illusions (more)

Mike — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:34:53 PST

These two are pretty trippy, this is the first time I've seen something like this. Check it out.

SlotMusic - Full albums on microSD cards

Mike — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:37:40 PST

SanDisk announced that they will start to sell full albums on microSD cards. There's a lot of talk as to whether or not this will actually take off, but at least someone's thinking about way to try and evolve the model. I think more interesting is the agreement that they have to distribute not just MP3's, but at a higher bitrate (320kbps) than what I've seen commonly available.

Bill Maher on the state of the Union

Youness — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:11:48 PST

A recent interview with Bill Maher cutting through the bullshit and talking sense. The interview centers around the upcoming election, the economy, Iraq and Afghanistan.

They don't hate us for our freedom, they hate us for our air strikes.

Western Spaghetti by Pes

bob — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:57:10 PST

You may remember the twisted films of Pes from this post. Now Pes is back with a new film about making spaghetti!

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

bob — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:19:19 PST

This is a lecture by Mark Miodownik, Head of the Materials Research Group at King’s College London. It's a 45 minute MP3 in which he walks through the entire process of making a cup of coffee, starting with the fruit on the tree.

Here's the direct download link for the MP3.

thewebsiteisdown

Mike — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:09:32 PST

Haha wow. I'm glad that I don't work IT but somehow miss it, all at the same time.

Estonian Underwater Vodka Pipe

bob — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:24:53 PST

Tax and customs officials in Estonia busted 11 people in connection with the 2km underwater pipeline they were using to smuggle vodka from Russia.

Thumb is cosmonauts drinking vodka from tubes.

30 Minute Putin Interview with CNN

bob — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:07:18 PST

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave CNN an exclusive 30 minute interview. Only you won't be seeing it on TV, because CNN cut almost everything away to make him sound like a crackpot. The Exile has an article about the interview with excerpts from what was cut, as well as a link to the full interview (in Russian unfortunately) on Youtube.

Barack Obama Inside "the Lions Mouth"

Youness — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:46:19 PST

Obama on the O'reilly Factor, nuff said.

National Programme on Technologically Enhanced Learning

Chris — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 05:33:21 PST

A Youtube group that publishes full video lecture sets from the Indian Institute of Technology. Some cool stuff inside!

Hadron Collider Rap

Youness — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:56:30 PST

This rap will blow your mind....scientifically speaking that is.

This is your mouse brain on drugs

rachel — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:33:26 PST

Mouse Partay!

Comcast Trying to Cap Internet Usage

Youness — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:32:20 PST

Here's a link to the story posted on the Grandview industry news site. Basically, Comcast is battling the FCC over whether or not it has the right to limit how much data its users can download each month. If Comcast wins it could set a precedent that effects the entire industry, and our individual freedom on the net.

Google eyes new data center relestate

Mike — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:48:34 PST

Google has just been granted a patent to house data centers in the ocean. The new data centers, placed 3-7 miles off-shore, would be hubs that sit 50-70m below the surface and use ocean water to cool and wind energy to power possibly self-contained hubs. Crazy idea!

Google Chrome - the Comic Book!

bob — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:28:32 PST

You may (or may not) have heard that Google is releasing their own web browser, "Chrome". It's supposed to be out today but there's no sign of it yet.

What they did release today is the Google Chrome comic book - a Scott McCloud creation that explains the features and reasoning behind Google Chrome. It's actually a really effective sales pitch... I read the whole thing and now I'm looking forward to getting the browser.

Tobacco Saves Lives!

bob — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:03:03 PST

... well it could anyway. Specifically the tobacco mosaic virus, which could soon be used as a protective case to ferry small interfering RNA molecules into the human body and inject them into their target cells.

Those siRNA molecules have tremendous potential to treat all sorts of diseases but until now have lacked an adequate delivery system.

99 cent store raises prices

Mike — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:05:56 PST

Kind of. Instead of just being 99 cents, the store announced that the max price will now be 99.99 cents. The cause of the less than one cent increase was rising gas/consumer prices. Liars, it's not really 99 cents anymore!

Freaks

bear with a hat — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:49:35 PST

real people with real problems really

Nicholas Ainley Art

Youness — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:00:26 PST

Inspired by Bob's great artistic findings...more cool art!

US Spies to use Social Networking Site as Tool

Youness — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:25:08 PST

On September 22nd all 16 national intelligence agencies will be able to share information using a social networking site, called A-Space. Sounds like a great idea as long as it is secure from hackers and the office of the Vice President. No word on why they chose such a lame name.

Instead of posting thoughts about the new Avenged Sevenfold album or Jessica Alba movie, CIA analysts could use A-Space to share information and opinion about al Qaeda movements in the Middle East or Russian naval maneuvers in the Black Sea.

Trippy Fantasy Art

bob — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:06:56 PST

If you're like me, you have an inexplicable and unwarranted love of fine art that would look right at home in the pages of a D&D manual. Here's a fairly large gallery of great fantasy art courtesy of the DMT Nexus.

Bar Tricks

bob — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:05:37 PST

A half dozen bar tricks explained in videos. These aren't so much "magic tricks" as they are "cruel tricks you can use to win money or alcohol from people in bars". As with any betting tricks, it helps if your audience/victim is somewhat naive and/or intoxicated.

Advanced Tactical Laser

bob — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:42:52 PST

Earlier this month Boeing announced the first test firing of its Advanced Tactical Laser, the first weapon system of its kind. It's basically a big-ass laser mounted on a plane, and it's capable of destroying targets (ie. people and vehicles) with unheard of precision.

Science Debate 2008 - Obama answers

bob — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:51:20 PST

You may remember this ancient post about Sciencedebate.com - a coalition of scientists, engineers, science organizations, Nobel laureates, etc. who joined together to call for a presidential debate on science.

Still no debate scheduled, but Barack Obama has answered their 14 questions in written form. McCain has also agreed to answer, but has not yet done so.

Watchmen Trailer

bob — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:32:49 PST

Will it be good? I don't know, but at least it will look good.

Claymation Epic

bob — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:22:33 PST

This might be the most awesome thing I've ever seen on Youtube. Video in extended.

Palm Vein ID Scan Makes US Debut

bob — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:42:59 PST

The Graduate Management Admission Council is going to start using palm vein scanning technology to verify business school applicant identities. Palm scanners are cheaper than retinal scanners, and more accurate than fingerprints. This is something we're likely to see a lot more of in the future.

IPhone ad banned from UK for being a lie

Mike — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:44:35 PST

According to the UK Advertising Standards Authority (or ASA), saying "all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone" is lying if you don't support Flash and Java. According to Apple, they meant that the page itself, not the content, is available, meaning no webpages are blocked by the phone/provider. Stupid argument, no websites these days are blocked unless you live in China.

The Drug of the Future

bob — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:52:06 PST

There's a Larry Niven story about a man with an implanted transformer which delivers current directly to the pleasure center of his brain. He starves to death because the cord won't reach the kitchen and he can't unplug.

What I didn't know until I read this article is that that technology is real, and has been around since 1954!

The 50 Best Pun Stores

bob — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:33:37 PST

A photoblog with 50 pictures of stores whose names are puns. An impressive collection! Made me laugh anyway.

Making Unhealty Behavior Uncool

jack — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:56:43 PST

Studies about linking behavior to a group unpopular with the individual. They will reduce the behavior so they won't be associated with a group they don't want to be part of.

When advertising goes bad (part II)

Mike — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:14:24 PST

Danny sent me a link to this blog about new Burger King artwork. One of those cases where you wonder if they actually look at something before they use it. Check out the link for the other amazing parts of this image that are just wrong.

Cell Change Keeps Organs Young

bob — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:07:38 PST

Researchers at Yeshiva University in New York have found a combination of gene modifications that combats the decrease in efficiency of protein recycling in the liver that occurs in old age.

When examined at two years old, the liver cells of these mice were far more effective at recycling protein compared with normal mice.

Hacking the hackers

Mike — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:51:56 PST

Reporters at this year's Black Hat conference decided to venture into the 'hacking-free' network that was installed for the press with a nice little attack using ARP poisoning. The result: they hacked at least two corporate accounts of their competitors. Once they were discovered, which probably didn't take very long in a conference full of hackers, they were escorted out of the conference.

2057 - The Discovery Channel Series

Youness — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:52:33 PST

If you haven't seen this show yet, its worth checking out. The story line is a bit cheesy but the technology they're discussing rocks! I've only linked to one show, but they're all available online.

Educational video about what scientists and technology developers have accomplish and plan to have accomplished by 2057. Hosted by Michio Kaku.

6.6 degrees of seperation

Youness — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:13:37 PST

A new study concludes that people around the world (at least on msn messanger) are separated by an average of 6.6 degrees of each other. Whats really trippy about this is that 6.6 is equal to Pi*Phi + 1.02!!! (ok maybe I'm stretching the importance a little bit)

The Gym: Finally in Pill Form!

Carl — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:00:02 PST

It's Wednesday night, time for our weekly workout... or pill swallowing.

Don't talk to police!

bob — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:18:26 PST

A couple of excellent videos of a lecture on why it's never ever a good idea to talk to police.

One is by a law professor and former defense attorney, and the other is by a police officer. So you get both sides of the story.

José González - Teardrop

bob — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:10:54 PST

An accoustic cover of the Massive Attack song Teardrop by a guy named José González. There's a bizarre but really cool video to accompany it.

Reprap - the Self Replicating Machine

bob — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:07:51 PST

Based on a paper by Adrian Bowyer at the University of Bath, the Reprap project is working to design an inexpensive fabrication machine that can be used to make copies of itself.

And they've done it, sort of. Reprap 1.0 can make close to 60% of its parts. And the rest are (mostly) inexpensive, off-the-shelf parts.

The piggy-back ride to space

bear with a hat — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:42:53 PST

WhiteKnight2 is Virgin Galactic's newest concept for launching the SS1, twelve of which are now in production.

The original WhiteKnight carried SS1 into the upper atmosphere before releasing it at 48,000 feet. The SS1 then fired its booster and flew to an altitude of over 110,000 meters (69 miles), well past the Kármán line, which is commonly used to define the edge of space.

What happens when you crap in outer space?

bob — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:29:15 PST

Finally! Chris Hadfield, Canadian Astronaut, answers the question we've all been dying to ask.

Think of this next time you see a shooting star.

Passive Aggressive Notes

bob — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:34:07 PST

It's a blog that collects peoples' passive aggressive notes. Kind of a voyeuristic thrill.

Beijing 2008 Preparations - Three Weeks to Go

bob — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:57:07 PST

A photo-journal of the preparations going on in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games that will be starting in 3 weeks. They've done some pretty impressive building!

Gore's Plan to Save the Planet

Youness — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:32:18 PST

A Time article investigating Gore's 10 year plan to transform the U.S. to a 100% renewable energy society.

I think its an interesting article, though somewhat pessimistic. If the scientists the author refers to and Gore are right, that we have about 10 years to reverse what we're doing to the planet before its to late...than what do we have to lose in trying to meet this 10 year deadline? Even if it doesn't seem currently achievable.

Romp in the Reef

Chris — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:30:23 PST

Oi! Some pictures from my trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Brian Dettmer's Book Autopsies

bob — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:37:01 PST

Brian Dettmer carves old books into sculptures.

Grimjack: the Manx Cat

bob — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:13:28 PST

Grimjack was a comic book published by First comics in the mid 80s. Now the character is back in a new series by the original creators, published exclusively online for free. It's pretty good if you like that kind of thing.

GrimJack is the street name of John Gaunt, a sword-for-hire, ex-paramilitary, war veteran and ex-child gladiator. He operates from Munden's Bar in the Pit, a slum area of Cynosure, a pan-dimensional city to which all dimensions connect.

Land of the Free

bob — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:41:40 PST

A gallery of photos by Steve Schofield of costumed nerds in their natural habitats. Trekkies, stormtroopers, and injuns abound.

Some of these are really great photos. His commissioned portraits are not bad either.

Here comes Dr. Tran!

Mike — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:30:17 PST

I don't know what else to say except that it's all about hickory smoked horse anus.

There's also more videos on their website.

Red Cross finds Bush Administration Guilty of War Crimes

Youness — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:19:05 PST

A follow up to the earlier post on torture by Bob.

A new book claims that the International Red Cross has done a study on Gitmo and difinitively ruled that some of the treatment the US has dealt out to its detainees is 100% certifiable torture.

This may never happen but it would be nice to see the international community hold the bush administration accountable for their crimes. Especially since Congress isn't ever going to have the political will power to do so.

"I'd never thought I would say this, but I think it might in fact be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that."

A fitting monument

Youness — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:12:06 PST

San Francisco to vote on naming sewer after George Bush! This made my day...I guess in small ways, there is justice in this Universe.

Del Mar Concerts this Summer

Youness — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:08:11 PST

Here's the list of the free concerts and other events going on this summer at the Del Mar Racetrack.

Of note Gnarles Barkley is playing on Saturday, July 26th, The Wailers are playing Friday, August 15th, and there's a Microbrew festival accompanying Devo on Saturday, August 30th.

Interesting Web Sites for You Freeloaders!

Youness — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:30:03 PST

Neighborow is a website where you can lend and borrow books, movies etc. to people in your neighborhood.

Ride Amigo tries to connect people looking to carpool to save on gas. It has search options for one-time or continuos ride sharing.

The Future of Solar Power

bob — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:41:44 PST

Scientists at MIT have found a way to use specially treated glass panes to replace expensive solar cells and sun tracking devices. The dye-treated panes channel light to their edges where it is collected by smaller conventional solar cells.

Astoundingly, the process increases the amount of power output by a factor of over 40, and is simple enough that they believe they'll be market ready within 3 years!

Fallout 3 is coming

bob — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:57:02 PST

I've been looking forward to this for a long long time. There are three clips: one is an awesome trailer and the other two show actual gameplay. The emphasis in the gameplay videos is on the combat system and 3d engine, but the trailer gives me hope that they've put enough effort into the story to make the game live up to the standard set by Fallout 1 and 2.

Believe Me, it's Torture

bob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:36:41 PST

Christopher Hitchens gets waterboarded and writes about the experience in the latest Vanity Fair.

Street Balloon Animals

bob — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:19:56 PST

Joshua Allen Harris makes animals out of trash bags and animates them with the help of air from city subway vents. There was a video floating around of a dog-like creation of his a while ago. Now New York magazine has a video interview with him that shows some of his newer work.

What You Spent Your Rebate On

bob — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:25:08 PST

An internet market research company in a certain industry has identified an "uncharacteristic increase" in spending correlated to the tax rebate checks sent out for Bush's "stimulus package".

Can you guess which industry?

Chess Boxing

bob — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:25:51 PST

Chess boxing is a new sport which hybridizes chess and boxing. It starts with four minutes of chess, then three minutes of boxing. Repeat for up to 11 rounds!

Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board.

Does anyone know of a good internet archive source?

Youness — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:34:21 PST

The reason I ask is because of this post I found on digg, which if real, sums up everything I hate about the national media. Unfortunately I couldn't confirm it with any archive websites that I found. The main link for this post takes you to a site with some sources, but I couldn't find anything that takes me back to CNN.com as of December 17t, 2007 @ 10:00 pm EST.

Tupelo by John Lee Hooker

bob — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:38:58 PST

My Dad sent me a link to this video of John Lee Hooker singing a song about a flood.

This guy is so cool, I have a magnet of him on my fridge.

Slaughterhouse 1945

bob — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:44:49 PST

The latest issue of Newsweek features a letter that Kurt Vonnegut wrote to his father in 1945 after his release/escape from a Nazi POW camp.

Like all his work, it's brief but interesting.

Arrested Development movie confirmed

bob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:32:11 PST

Jeffrey Tambor has confirmed an Arrested Development movie. No word on when yet.

Video of Jason Bateman and David Cross on Olbermann in extended.

FireFox 3 : all about robots

Mike — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:50:53 PST

For those FF users who are used to about:config or about:blank, there's a new page in town. about:robots is, you guessed it, all about robots! Haven't upgraded yet so I haven't tried it out but has anyone else given this a shot? Oddly enough it makes upgrading more appealing.

Moving Skyscraper planned for Dubai

bob — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:45:42 PST

In yet another example of spending their barrels of oil money on awesome forward-thinking projects, Dubai is planning to build the world's first fully wind powered, dynamic moving skyscraper.

More about Oil Futures

bob — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:16:59 PST

In one of the comments to this post, Youness linked to an article defending the oil futures market. I think it's interesting enough to deserve its own post, so I'm reposting it here, with my (somewhat lengthy) comments in the extended.

To Live and Age in LA

Youness — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:10:48 PST

A wired article about Aubrey De Grey's progress in getting the 'fight against aging' recognized as legitimate by the scientific community, and mention of a conference on Aging being held at UCLA today and over the weekend.

Bike rider vs. bear

Mike — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:32:52 PST

For all the bikers out there just be glad you don't live in Colorado. This guy was riding an estimaged 45mph down a canyon when suddenly a 500 lbs. bear jumped in front of him. A bear! What are the odds of that? Evidentially pretty good. This was the 2nd biker/bear accident in that particular canyon alone in the last 2 years. Glad I don't live in CO.

What is the Enron Loophole?

bob — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:51:02 PST

Keith Olbermann discusses John McCain's connections to the Enron Loophole - an amendment to an appropriations bill a few years back that gives energy traders free reign to fix markets and screw everybody.

I had never heard of this.

New Documentaries: Religulous and Gonzo

bob — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:39:29 PST

Two new documentaries coming out that look interesting:

First up is Religulous, in which Bill Maher travels the world and interviews people about religion.

Next is Gonzo, about the life and times of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

Main link is for Gonzo, trailers for both in extended.

Maglev speed trains coming soon! (maybe)

Youness — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:40:15 PST

A short article about the future of speed trains in the US.

The Art of Jim Denevan

bob — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:27:22 PST

Jim Denevan recently claims the world record for the largest freehand drawing. Reminds me a bit of Kirkos except a little bit more into self promotion. Anyway some of his desert sand drawings are pretty cool.

To Play Us Out

manofsuit — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:45:48 PST

A young Bill O'Reilly demonstrates the level-headed intellect which helped him become one of our country's top political commentators.

Latest security risk? Your coffee!

Mike — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:34:16 PST

An internet-capable coffee machine that allows, among other things, hacking via the internet. Add in the ability to take over the connected host PC and you get a lot of bang for your buck. For $2000 I would expect something a little more solid though.

Geography Quiz Time!

bob — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:31:46 PST

OK kids, it's quiz time. Read the name of the country, then click it on the map to prove you know where it is. Post your scores to compare!

Absent-minded product developers

Mike — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:55:30 PST

I really hope this isn't real. If it is someone should be fired. If I were some sort of pervert or from Nevada there would be a lewd joke here about children consuming these by the mouthful, but I'm not. Plus then I'd have to un-check the 'safe for work' box and I'm way too lazy for that.

Big Science - the Large Hadron Collider

bob — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:47:53 PST

National Geographic article (from March 2008 - the FUTURE) about the Large Hadron Collider. It's an enormous underground ring 17 miles in diameter that's going to unlock the secrets of matter and energy. Or create a black hole. Or do nothing.

Trevor Paglen and the 189 Secret Satellites

bob — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:58:50 PST

Trevor Paglen is a guy who makes his living photographing things that officially don't exist, like secret military bases. His latest exhibit features astronomy photographs of 189 satellites that do not appear on any officially recognized charts.

"The National Reconnaissance Office cannot classify Kepler's laws of planetary motion," Paglen says. "They just work ... and they're unbelievably accurate."

Ice on Mars

bob — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:57:48 PST

In case anyone hasn't seen this yet... pictures taken by the Phoenix lander show chunks of white stuff disappearing over a 4 day period, which can only mean that they are chunks of ice sublimating. Water on mars!

How to Reset your Body Clock

bob — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:31:12 PST

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered a new way to effectively reset your body clock: Fast for 12-16 hours before the time you want to be waking up, then eat to break your fast. This engages a secondary body clock that overrides your circadian clock.

Doesn't sound like much fun, but it could prove useful if it works.

Writing for the Lazy Reader

bob — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:23:05 PST

Article from Slate called "How we read online." It's interesting and written in a way that makes it easy to skim.

One idea per paragraph

Half the word count of "conventional writing"! (Ouch!)

Sega toys to unleash the worlds first robot girlfriends

Youness — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:09:19 PST

The future is now!

A Japanese firm has produced a 38 cm (15 inch) tall robotic girlfriend that kisses on command, to go on sale in September for around $175, with a target market of lonely adult men.

Tammy Wynette

jack — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:07:21 PST

Singing "Stand By Your Man" in a Red Sequin Dress on the Back Porch. This is country music.
Hope you like it.

Create your own electoral map

manofsuit — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:11:54 PST

An interesting, simple program from the LA times, allowing us politically-minded folks to experiment with possible outcomes in the upcoming presidential election.

Scientist catches E-coli in the act of evolution

bob — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:06:30 PST

Richard Lenski of Michigan State University has been watching twelve colonies of E-coli bacteria evolve for twenty years, through over 44,000 generations. Around the 31,500th generation one of the colonies suddenly gained the ability to metabolize citrate, a trait unheard of in E-coli.

The awesome thing is: Lenski has been saving samples every 500 generations. So he's able to go back and replay the mutations that lead to this evolutionary change.

Julian Beever's incredible pavement drawings

bob — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:57:07 PST

He does these amazing tromp-l'oeill optical illusion chalk drawings on public streets. For a couple of them there are pictures of what they look like from the wrong side, which is totally bizarre.

Lion vs. ???

Chris — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:50:25 PST

Somehow I got into a "Lion vs. ???" mood on youtube, late last night.

Crazy guy destroys office

Mike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:21:18 PST

Think Office Space, but actually done in the office with everyone there.

ISS construction animation

Mike — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:26:30 PST

Would be better if they were actual pictures but the animation is still cool to see the progress and sequence of how things are built. The number of components that they add temporarily just to move them later is pretty cool, the whole thing is very modularly designed.

Very Large Squid Caught on Video

Chris — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:03:24 PST

Scientists capture an already large humboldt squid in hopes it will lead them to an even larger squid. Incredibly, it works.

David Byrne plays an entire ferry terminal

bob — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:57:54 PST

Byrne has retrofitted the Battery Maritime Building in New York to be a gigantic acoustic instrument controlled by an antique organ.

Main link goes to an NPR story, or visit Byrne's own site for more info.

The Giant Pool of Money

bob — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:47:35 PST

"This American Life" is a radio show on NPR. A couple of weeks ago they did a show about the credit crunch, tracing it back to where it started and interviewing a lot of people at a lot of different levels. Normally I'm not a big fan of its touchy-feelie approach to news, but this episode is really good. Download the mp3 and listen at your leisure.

Getting Ahead of Advertising

bob — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:51:43 PST

Somebody has been going around London decapitating billboards. Some seriously awesome graffiti.

Vadrum Shreds Super Mario Bros. 2 on Drums

bob — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:04:49 PST

Youtube video of an Italian dude playing drums along with the theme music to Super Mario Bros. 2. Normally I wouldn't post something like this, but he's just so good... Seriously, it's awesome.

The best part is the underground theme.

Italian Spiderman Returns

bob — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:40:48 PST

Finally Alrugo has followed up on the promises made in their Italian Spiderman trailer by releasing Part 1 of the Italian Spiderman movie!

Follow-up to this post.

Music Video Threepeat

bob — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:13:19 PST

I'm in a music video mood, so here are three gems. "Straight Out of Canton" by the Notorious MSG and "Baby's Got A Temper" by the Prodigy are in the extended, and the main link goes to "Stress" by Jim's Big Ego because it's not Youtube so I couldn't embed it.

Seen any good music videos lately? Be cool and post them in the comments.

Tree People

bob — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:02:33 PST

In 1995, photographer George Steinmetz went to Indonesian New Guinea to document clans of tree-dwelling people speaking Korowai and Kombai.

Marked NSFW due to cultural differences on the subject of modesty, but well worth seeing for their awesome tree-based existence. Be sure to check out the rest of his photos too.

Bioscientists photoshop their cultures to fake results

Chris — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:03:22 PST

"Researchers often use Photoshop to clean up the images they produce in the laboratory. If the experiment didn't go quite right, a bit of tampering can make a gel look like things did work."

Italian Spiderman

bob — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:28:09 PST

The next big summer blockbuster.

Una fantastic voyage du spidermafication!

A Use for Crows

bob — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:52:34 PST

Joshua Klein has built a vending machine for crows. They put in a quarter and get a peanut.

Main link goes to his site, TED talk video in extendd.

Rice Boy

bob — Mon, 26 May 2008 15:40:56 PST

Rice Boy is a surreal comic by Evin Dahm. The complete 5 book epic is free to read online, and does not disappoint.

GRAIL to probe lunar gravity

bob — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:26:27 PST

The moon's gravitational field is lumpy. Subsurface mass concentrations (called mascons by busy scientists) make its gravitational field so messed up that virtually every satellite sent to orbit it has eventually crashed. Now NASA is planning a mission to precisely map that gravitational field.

Here's how it works: GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft, one behind the other, around the moon for several months. All the while, a microwave ranging system will precisely measure the distance between the two satellites. By watching that distance expand and contract as the two satellites fly over the lunar surface, researchers can map the moon's underlying gravity field.

Beating the Flu

bob — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:12:15 PST

Walter Fliers is a molecular biologist at Ghent University in Belgium who is working on a vaccine for the flu. The vaccine, which targets a protein called M2e, could be the first vaccine for influenza which is not affected by seasonal mutation.

Keep your Rifle Clean

bob — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:48:06 PST

A comic book style guide for proper care and feeding of the M16A1 rifle issued to GIs in the Vietnam war. Interesting because it's illustrated by Will Eisner, progenitor of the modern comic book and the man from whom the Eisner Award takes its name.

Idiots dig up grave for skull bong

Mike — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:40:49 PST

From his head to yours, just take a nice long hit off the skull. I've said it before and I'll say it again, people are stupid.

hree teenagers were arrested after two of them told police they dug up a secluded grave north of Houston, removed the skull from the coffin and converted it into a marijuana bong.

Give your brain to science - NOW!

bob — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:55:38 PST

Scientists at UW have developed a game called FoldIt that lets ordinary folks tackle real life protein folding problems. Instead of using supercomputers to brute-force protein folding, they're relying on human problem solving ability. The future is here.

Eventually, the researchers hope to present a medical nemesis, such as HIV or malaria, and challenge players to devise a protein with just the right shape to lock into the virus and deactivate it. Winning protein designs will be synthesized in Baker's lab and tested in Petri dishes.

New Apple Virus!!!

Mike — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:59:23 PST

Who says that Mac's are immune...this one hits ICAL. According to the article the security company told Apple back in January and they still have yet to patch it, so after they delayed publishing three times because Apple pushed the patch back they sent out the security notice before the fix is ready. Rock on!

Investopedia Stock Trading Game

Chris — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:49:52 PST

Get $100,000 in fake money to invest in the real stock market! Who's in for a 6 month game, for say a 20 dollar buy in, winner takes all?

Welcome to the Layer Cake

bob — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:34:11 PST

Article from the Guardian with a story about the (real life) murder of a high level cocaine buyer which has put in motion events that could be leading to a major drug war.

6 Most Frequently Quoted Bullsh*t Statistics

Mike — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:44:52 PST

Interesting collection of 'urban legend' stats and their fake origins. The analysis on being correct or incorrect is a bit shakey, but the research is there to say where they come from. That, and, anyone who says I don't really eat spiders in my sleep is good in my book.

Of all the places to land

Mike — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:23:46 PST

With a whole runway in front of him this guy landed on a plane that was trying to take off. I think it's time the airport invests in a control tower.

Muto - Wall Painted Animation

bob — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:27:25 PST

An animation by a guy named Blu. Thumb is an image from his sketchbook.

An ambiguous animation painted on public walls

Made in Buenos Aires and Baden

Submission, part 1

Youness — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:12:07 PST

Short film about women in islam directed by Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh (who's the nephew of Vincent van Gogh) ended up being murdered for it within the year.

"Nobody kills the village idiot" - Theo van Gogh

Great tits cope well with warming

bob — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:28:13 PST

Great tits in the UK

The research uses a long record of great tits in a breeding site at Wytham Woods near Oxford, where observations began in 1947.

Worst path in the world

Mike — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:49:39 PST

Since this is primarily used by mountain climbers I guess it's not that big of a deal for them but you would never find me on this trail!

Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an aproach to makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro.

Free Chong! (again)

bob — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:04:32 PST

Tommy Chong did time for selling paraphernalia, got out, and made a documentary about it. Now the FBI has once again raided his offices, and this time confiscated 10,000 copies of his documentary.

60 bike pile-up

Mike — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:00:30 PST

An Australian driving a car got mad at a group of 60 professional and Olympic cyclists going 40-60kmh on a roadway. In what is being described as an intentional move he pulled in front of the group and slammed on his breaks, causing the whole pack to crash into the back of his car. Fortunately a semi truck following closely behind was able to stop without hitting them, despite jack-knifing in the process. People suck.

You Walk Wrong

bob — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:14:59 PST

Article in New York Magazine about why shoes are bad for you.

In a 1997 study, researchers Steven Robbins and Edward Waked at McGill University in Montreal found that the more padding a running shoe has, the more force the runner hits the ground with: In effect, we instinctively plant our feet harder to cancel out the shock absorption of the padding.

2000 Wikipedias

bob — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:33:17 PST

A brief but interesting blog post by Clay Shirky called "Gin, Television, and Social Surplus", arguing that television in modern society occupies the same niche as gin did during the industrial revolution.

LA Real Estate Mogul Plans to Light Up Blade Runner Style

Youness — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:21:45 PST

Ahh nothing like a little overindulgence to spark a sagging economy!

The 55-year-old real estate mogul is planning to bring 2019 Los Angeles to life in the form of two 14-story animated billboards modeled on Ridley Scott's opening sequence. "I saw Blade Runner at least five times," says Astani, whose empire encompasses thousands of Southern California apartment units. "The billboards always struck me."

HP makes circuit discovery

Mike — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:56:33 PST

It's called a memristor. Theorized in 1971, a memory resistor has been equivalently built in the past but takes too many components. HP has finally done it as a single, passive element which will change circuit engineering forever.

When used as memory this could be faster than anything else available (faster than they can measure), use almost no power and retain it's state after being shutdown.

It will also require all the EE textbooks in the world to be re-written. Crazy stuff.

Home Shopping Network Screw-ups

manofsuit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:20:16 PST

A cracked.com collection of some very funny mistakes which went out live on the home shopping network. Most involve some form of injury.

Zip Zip USB Memory Brick

bob — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:25:12 PST

I found this while google-imaging for "memory" and found it too cool not to post. It's a Lego compatible brick with a USB memory stick inside.

Remember not to forget

bob — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:18:21 PST

Article in Wired about Piotr Wozniak, a Polish inventor who created a program called Supermemo designed to help memorize facts by providing timely reminders.

The article also summarizes the history of memory research, and chronicles Piotr's slow descent into obsession and madness.

Merry Passover!

Youness — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:42:08 PST

A tip on eating matzat from the Japanese.

The Clone War meets the Drug War

bob — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:13:42 PST

South Korean scientists have begun training cloned Labrador retrievers in order to decrease the cost of breeding suitable drug-sniffing dogs.

In February, all seven dogs passed a behavior test aimed at finding whether they are genetically qualified to work as sniffing dogs. Only 10 percent to 15 percent of naturally born dogs typically pass the test.

Cluster Ballooning Priest Goes Missing

bob — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:16:10 PST

Anybody remember this venerable post on Cluster Ballooning? Well here's a related story.

Father Adelir de Carli, a Catholic Priest, disappeared off the coast of Brazil while attempting to fly from Paranagua to Dourados with 1000 balloons to break a world's record.

Trapped in an elevator for 41 hours

bob — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:14:09 PST

A timelapse video of Nicholas White, a Business Week employee who was trapped in a malfunctioning elevator for 41 hours in late 1999.

Intrigue at News Corp

bob — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:36:51 PST

A case goes to trial this month in which NDS Group, a Rupert Murdoch owned subsidiary of News Corporation that makes smart cards for DirectTV, is accused of hiring hackers to break the encryption on smartcards made by EchoStar, a rival, and releasing the codes on the internet.

The case involves a colorful cast of characters that includes former intelligence agents, Canadian TV pirates, Bulgarian and German hackers, stolen e-mails and the mysterious suicide of a Berlin hacker who had been courted by the Murdoch company not long before his death.

the Giant Amazon Water Lily

bob — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:56:20 PST

Sort of a follow-up to Carl's post about the sexual antics of orchids and wasps. The giant amazon water lily uses a similar sort of ruse to get itself pollinated.

Video in extended with some great time-lapses.

Flies get 'mind-control sex swap

Youness — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:28:34 PST

Speaking of insect sex...

Scientists have been able to take control of flies' brains to make females behave just like males.

More Starcraft in English

bob — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:16:10 PST

GOMTV, the company that broadcast the Gom Star Invitational a couple of months back, is hosting the Averatec Classic, their second Starcraft tournament to be broadcast with an English language announcer.

For any interested nerds.

Mccain Releases Budget / Taxes (sort-of)

Youness — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:31:02 PST

Rich jews disapprove.

New David Byrne / Brian Eno collaboration in the pipeline

bob — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:10:15 PST

The guys responsible for My Life in the Bush of Ghosts are finishing up a new album and planning a live tour. Sweet!

They're Made Out of Meat

bob — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:08:16 PST

Awesome video adaptation of a Terry Bisson sci-fi short story.

April 12th is Cosmonautics Day in Russia

bob — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:19:18 PST

April 12th, 1961 was the day when Yuri Gagarin, Soviet Cosmonaut, became the first human in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

Now it's sort of an international party excuse they're calling Yuri's Night. Almost 200 parties in 50 countries around the world.

Orchid's sexual deception triggers ejaculation

Carl — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:34:50 PST

I wonder if the wasp feels dirty and used afterwards...

The Bakken Oil Formation

bob — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:29:44 PST

According to this (shady) article, the USGS is about to release a report re-estimating the amount of recoverable oil in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota. The article says they are estimating between 175 and 500 billion barrels, which would be a tremendous windfall to the US economy.

Ten Thousand Cents on Amazon's Mechanical Turk

bob — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:18:43 PST

Some art students got ten thousand people to each draw a tiny little piece of a $100 bill and put them all together into one big bill.

The art itself is kind of lame, but what's really interesting is how they arranged the labor: they found workers and paid them each $.01 for their trouble via Amazon's Mechanical Turk.

The Real Tuesday Weld

bob — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:30:22 PST

It's a band. They made some music videos. A couple of them are really cool. Maybe they're your kind of thing, maybe not.

Their webpage is not so good so just skip it and watch the Youtube videos in the extended.

Mike Gravel gets weird

bob — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:08:33 PST

Mike Gravel, that zany Alaskan democrat senator and libertarian presidential candidate, is featured in this bizarre Youtube music video cover of Helter Skelter, a song that Youness informs me was originally by the Beatles.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Fast food, German-style

Carl — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:18:28 PST

The first fully automated waiterless restaurant opens in Germany.

The Truth Behind: The Truth Behind 9/11

manofsuit — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:27:12 PST

An entertaining and well-written article by David Wong, on why the conspiracy theorists behind such products as "Loose Change" are liars and/or idiots.

I'll buy that for a dollar and 63 cents!

Youness — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:46:38 PST

A recent Cornell University study suggests that people find homes that are specifically priced down to the dollar are relatively seen as more valuable than homes with asking prices that end in a bunch of zeros.

Garfield Minus Garfield

manofsuit — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:19:19 PST

In keeping with the "strange variations on Garfield comics" theme, here is a site where all characters except Jon have been digitally removed from the strip.

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let�s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

The Future (and present) of Regenerative Medicine

bob — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:54:24 PST

CBS News article about new regenerative medicine technologies, including a powder made from pig's bladders that helps regrow body parts.

"I powdered it on until it was covered," Spievack recalled.

To his astonishment, every bit of his fingertip grew back.

Suddenly Last Supper

bob — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:03:30 PST

An exhaustive collection of pop-culture versions of da Vinci's The Last Supper. Kind of amazing how many times its been co-opted for advertising or just for art.

My favorites? The one that's all Popeye characters (Bluto is Judas of course) and the one where everybody is James Woods except John, who is Robocop.

For those not familiar with the original I refer you to Wikipedia.

Epileptic Foundation Forum Seized

bob — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:33:13 PST

Somebody posted a bunch of seizure-inducing graphics to the Epileptic Foundation's forum, with predictable results. A lame thing to do, but also kind of interesting in that it is (in the words of Wired) "possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims".

Also: All glory to the hypnotoad.

The Art of Sand

Youness — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:19:26 PST

Those of you who've been to Stone Steps beach during low tide have probably enjoyed this guys work.

Being able to elicit such pleasure from both child and father simply by translating his geometric ruminations to the sand has held him captivated with sand painting for over a decade.

Do butterflies remember the good old days?

bob — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:08:45 PST

Scientists at Georgetown finally got around to experimenting with caterpillars to determine whether or not they can be taught things that they will remember after metamorphosis.

Spoiler: They can.

Conan the Bacterium sings It's a Small World

bob — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:42:57 PST

So I was reading about this bacterium, Deinococcus radiodurans, which is notable for being the most radiation resistant life form known. So much so that it actually grows on the fuel rods of nuclear reactors.

So then I ran across this article in the New Scientist about researchers who are using this bacteria to create nuclear-catastrophe-proof data storage by encoding their data right into its genetic code. What a world.

The scientists took the words of the song It's a Small World and translated it into a code based on the four "letters" of DNA. They then created artificial DNA strands recording different parts of the song. These DNA messages, each about 150 bases long, were inserted into bacteria such as E. coli and Deinococcus radiodurans.

Initiation With Giant Tropical Bullet Ants

ben — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:29:07 PST

Just one of the many fun things that can be done with Giant Angry Carnivorous Ants.

Russian Rambo is dead

bob — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:04:29 PST

Alexander Bichkov has been living in the Kologriv woods on his own for 20 years, hunting for food, terrorizing the local populace, and defying the police. Now he's dead. Kind of an interesting story.

The Best Cooking Show Ever

bob — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:30:32 PST

I read that God has a plan. But it's hard to imagine that this was part of it.

And remember: You ain't cookin with fire. You ain't cookin with grease. You cookin with Coolio mothafucka!

How to Become Invisible

bob — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:49:05 PST

These pictures have been around for a while, but they're pretty damned impressive.

The History of Predictive Text

bob — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:38:33 PST

A humorous Youtube video about predictive text on mobile phones.

Mindhabits - the Stress Reducing Game

bob — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:53:34 PST

A game that's supposed to alter your mind habits to reduce stress and increase confidence. The game sucks and I'm extremely skeptical of the effects, but it is (loosely) based on published research which is kind of interesting. More about this snakeoil in the extended.

We started with the idea that just as playing the game Tetris over and over for hours can start to shape the way you look at the world (even in your dreams!), playing a specially-designed computer game might also help to improve your thoughts and feelings about yourself.

Psychedelics for creative problem solving.

ben — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:33:59 PST

A mid 1960's study aimed at determining the effects of psychedelics on creative problem solving - using an engineer, a physicists, a mathematicians, and people from several other fields as test subjects.
Also available is a 2003 lecture in mp3 format by James Fadiman (one of the authors of the study) at: http://www.matrixmasters.net/blogs/?cat=81

Pierre Pinoncelli: My Favorite Art Vandal

Carl — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:26:29 PST

This guy is my hero... he owes a French museum 200,000 euro for using a normal, albeit autographed, urinal. His actions ask if the intended message of art is more important than the object itself. See extended for a link to other exciting art vandals.

Speaking of art vandalism...

bob — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:04:16 PST

In response to Carl's post about Pierre Pinocelli, this is an article about Steve Wynn (the Las Vegas casino mogul) and his "40 million dollar elbow".

Direct Note Access

bob — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:03:45 PST

A video about a new sound editing technology being developed for the Melodyne audio editing program. It allows the user to change individual notes in recorded audio. It can't possibly be as easy to use as the video makes it look, but it sure looks cool.

Web 2.0- The Machine is Us/ing Us

rachel — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:11:45 PST

The video was made by a cultural anthropologist exploring the impacts of new media on human interaction.

watch out... the pig is us/ing us :)

The Virtual Barber: The Virtual Haircut

ben — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:33:42 PST

Put those headphones on and get a super duper trim from a barber of questionable Italian heritage.

Arm your Bricks

bob — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:32:41 PST

Those of you who are Lego Maniacs probably already know about this, but in case you don't - BrickArms is a company that makes Lego compatible guns and uniformed mini figures.

Top 10 Interesting Abandoned Places

bob — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:29:23 PST

A list of weird surreal abandoned cities and structures around the world. With pictures!

Local Bird Infestation

bob — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:51:39 PST

I apologize for posting this. It's terrible. No spoilers, just watch.

Salvia divinorum

Mike — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:24:11 PST

The legal (for now) hallucinogenic drug from Mexico that evidentally takes effect within minutes and causes a trip that can be like LSD, although some say that is not a well-supported comparison.

It can be smoked, chewed, or drank as an extract and can be found in various forms in head shops and on the internet.

So far 8 states have made it a controlled substance but CA is still investigating.

Anyone heard of this?

Bush Sings Farewell Song

Youness — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:36:54 PST

Dub sings a farewell song at a Washington elite event closed to the public...D'oh!! Next year no cell phones!

�Here comes Scooter, finally free of the prosecutor�and I looked at Chaney strolling with documents that he�s been withholding�

Nicholson endorses Clinton

manofsuit — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:55:00 PST

Jack Nicholson put together a video of his own movie clips, apparently telling us about why we need Hillary Clinton as our next president

BIL & TED's Excellent Conference

bob — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:32:33 PST

BIL: The TED conference's low rent cousin.

The catch for many of us is that TED is $6,000, which is too expensive for most people, including a great number with good ideas worth spreading. BIL has been created as a free space for people with ideas to come together and share them.

Update on the Netflix Prize

bob — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:25:04 PST

A wired article about what's been going on with the Netflix prize - a $1 million prize they're offering to anyone who can improve their movie recommendation algorithm by 10%. Follow-up to this post.

The danger is that it's all too easy to find apparent patterns in what's really random noise. If you use these mathematical hallucinations to predict ratings, you fail. Avoiding that disaster - called overfitting - is a bit of an art; and being very good at it separates masters like BellKor from the rest of the field.

Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden

manofsuit — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:21:17 PST

Somebody used an RPG-maker engine to create an epic fantasy, sci-fi sequel to Charles Barkley's old "Shut Up and Jam" Sega game. Ridiculous yet amusing.

RPM Challenge Completed!

manofsuit — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:10:14 PST

My submissions to the 2008 RPM challenge. One track features famous guest saxophonist Youness Scally!

Science Debate 2008

bob — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:22:06 PST

A coalition of corporations, foundations, major universities, Nobel laureates, congresspersons, and others is pushing for a national Presidential debate on science.

Of course it'll never happen, but they've got a lot of big names involved and they're getting a lot of press coverage, so who knows?

Stagflation - AKA - Why Ben may win the Stock Game

Youness — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:59:46 PST

Stagflation for you non economists is pretty much the ugliest word that exists in terms of money. Simply put it means things cost more, but you get paid less...

It's a toxic economic mix the nation hasn't seen in three decades: Prices are speeding upward at the fastest pace in a quarter century, even as the economy loses steam.

Pieter Hugo Photography

bob — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:10:25 PST

This guy has done some incredible travel photography. Check out his photos from Nigeria of men and their hyenas and babboons.

Whales sleep!

bob — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:46:04 PST

Some researchers drifted into a pod of sleeping sperm whales and discovered that whales do, in fact, sleep.

Whales and dolphins have only ever been seen allowing one brain hemisphere to rest at a time, keeping one eye open. This is presumably because they need to do important things that require physical activity, such as coming to the surface to breathe or avoid predators. They never fully let their guard down.

Leisuretown

bob — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:08:00 PST

Not to be confused with Lazytown.

Leisuretown is one of my favorite web comics. It's a little dense but worth investing some time. The art is totally unique and the stories are insightful. It hasn't been updated in (literally) years, but there's enough material on the site to keep coming back for a while.

The Crazy Crocheting of Patricia Waller

bob — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:38:17 PST

Patricia Waller is a German woman who does some pretty unique crochet work.

And by "unique" I mean "gory and unsettling".

I will block out the moon!

bob — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:14:35 PST

As proof of my phenomenal power, I am going to cause the moon to eclipse for one hour, starting at 7:01PM on February 20th.

Building a wooden bicycle

bob — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:29:55 PST

This 16 year old high school student built a complete, working bicycle out of wood.

GOM TV Star Invitational

bob — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:34:49 PST

It's a huge Starcraft tournament in Seoul, South Korea. The matches are broadcast live and on demand with an English language commentator and a screaming audience.

I really shouldn't be interested in this, but as a recovering Starcraft addict I find it difficult not to watch.

Better than Free

bob — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:01:47 PST

A piece from Kevin Kelly's blog in which he examines the problem of creating value in a world where the cost of duplication is zero. In other words, if anyone can get anything they want for free, what will people pay for?

VaporGenie - portable vaporizing pipe

bob — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:18:16 PST

For those who like to inhale organic compounds, this might be useful. It's a pipe designed to enable the user to imitate the action of an electric vaporizer using a standard lighter.

The byproducts of burning are the most dangerous chemicals found in smoke. Fortunately, these byproducts are only created at temperatures above about 500 degrees Fahrenheit. So, if tobacco is heated to about 225-375 F, but no hotter, the desirable compounds are released, and the dangerous byproducts of burning are never created.

Sven Prim's photo retouch art

bob — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:18:21 PST

Sven Prim is (apparently) a foreign guy who retouches photos. His site is kind of small, but there are a handful of really cool images there.

House to Debate Contempt Charges for Bush Advisors

Youness — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:30:47 PST

....however they do have time to inquire whether Roger Clemon's wife likes the needles in the butt.

"If the House had nothing better to do, this futile partisan act would be a waste of time," White House Press Secretery Dana Perino said. "Unbelievably, it is being considered in place of legislation to make us safer, address concerns in the housing market, improve health care conditions for our veterans, reauthorize No Child Left Behind or open new overseas markets for U.S. goods and services, among other bills."

Sleeveface

bob — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:48:03 PST

A blog that monitors the apparently huge movement of people who take pictures of themselves with record sleeves in front of their faces.

Some of them are pretty awesome.

Knee Brace Converts Human Energy

Youness — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:40:52 PST

Scientists have invented a knee brace which harvests human energy and converts it to electricity...

A stroll around the park may soon be enough to charge the raft of batteries needed in today's power-hungry gadgets.

Shitty Guitar Videos

bob — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:46:37 PST

Santeri Ojala is a Finnish guy who made a series of parody guitar videos and posted them on Youtube. He took concert footage of rock icons like Clapton, Van Halen, and Santana, then replaced the sound with his own shitty guitar playing. Youtube removed the videos when some of the copyright holders complained, but Wired is hosting them.

Obama's response to Bush's State of the Union

Youness — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:44:30 PST

The video Barack Obama posted after the state of the union. Judge the content for yourself...I think its funny though the way they filmed the youtube style Bush rant as if he's just regular schmo venting.

Build Your Own Desert Island

Carl — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:26:20 PST

See video in extended body.

Ben Stein is an idiot

bob — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:59:28 PST

The teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off is now the star of EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, a movie about the way Big Science is trying to suppress Intelligent Design.

Best Dunk Ever!!!

Youness — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:44:43 PST

ever.........

La Langosta Blanca - the White Lobster

bob — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:26:50 PST

By a trick of the currents, the town of Bluefields, Nicaragua, is the spot where all of the cocaine dumped overboard by Colombian drug smugglers washes ashore.

People here now go beachcombing for miles, they walk until the find packets. Even the lobster fisherman now go out with the pretence of fishing but really they are looking for la langosta blanca - the white lobster."

Books That Make You Dumb

bob — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:22:48 PST

Actually it's just a graphic representation of the correlation between books that students at a given university say they are reading (in their Facebook profiles) and their average SAT scores.

The Secret is notably absent.

Bacon alarm clock

Mike — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:23:12 PST

Hate waking up to a buzzing alarm clock? How about the smell of bacon instead!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

bob — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:03:28 PST

This game looks amazing.

Gun Egg Fryer

Chris — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 04:24:38 PST

I found this product on a site that makes fun of stupid one-purpose products. However, I find this product incredibly cool.

Clever Photos

bob — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 03:01:16 PST

A series of clever pictures from a book by Chema Madoz. Not exactly visual puns, but that's the best way I can think to describe them.

The RPM Challenge

Carl — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:21:06 PST

A challenge for Wolf Wolf:
"...record an album in 29 days, just because you can.
That�s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February. Go ahead� put it to tape."

Camino: One week later

Chris — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:35:55 PST

A one week follow-up on my switch from Firefox to Camino, the mac-optimized mozilla browser.

Automated Stoner Machine

bob — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:17:21 PST

The world's first marijuana vending machine is now open for business in Los Angeles.

Running the Numbers

bob — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:24:25 PST

An art installation by a guy named Chris Jordan consisting of enormous prints of many many small objects. It's kind of cheesy conceptual art but it's kind of cool too. I think it would be really interesting to see in person at full size. Thumb is from "Plastic Bottles".

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

Camino- A Mac-Optimized Mozilla Browser

Chris — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:53:05 PST

I'm installing this tonight and trying it out, I am personally a firefox user. Review inside article.

The Paper Art of Peter Callesen

bob — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:13:29 PST

Some pretty amazing paper art. He starts with a single sheet and builds something that bridges the gap between 2 and 3 dimensions.

Bizarre Behaviors of Parasites

bob — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:04:44 PST

Following up on last week's parasite updates, here are 8 new and interesting parasites!

The site it's on is unreliable, so I put the whole thing in the extended in case the original article is down.

Female parasites enter crab armor by molting and injecting their soft body through an open joint. Once inside her new home she starts to grow root like appendages that extend into every part of the crabs body, even wrapping around its eyestalks.

Helmet May Reverse Memory Loss

Youness — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:12:51 PST

A study on mice has shown that infra-red light can be used to generate new brain cell growth, which has led to a study on humans to see if an infra-red helmet can reverse memory loss in alzheimer patients. Stay tuned, if this works I'm going to be walking around with a helmet all the time!

Animated Knots by Grog

bob — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:50:01 PST

A huge database of information about knots. Knots are organized according to what activity they are used for. Each knot has a simple and clear animation showing how it is tied, and text discussing what it is used for and why.

Bonus article on the science of knots from Science News linked in extended.

MacBook Air

Chris — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 01:56:47 PST

Apple's new ultra-thin notebook. The high-end model comes with a 64gb solid state drive-- an almost unheard of size for an SSD.

Ant Parasite makes host look like a red berry

jack — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:08:21 PST

A newly discovered parasite so dramatically transforms its host, an ant, that the ant comes to resemble a juicy red berry, ripe for picking. An example of a parasite controlling the behavior and appearance of the host.

Stem cells help mice with muscular dystrophy

Youness — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:35:16 PST

Just what the title says it is. To me it looks like another interesting avenue stem cell research appears to be beginning to reap benefits from.

A therapy using embryonic stem cells helped restore muscle function in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children.

10-Fold Yeast Life Span Extension

Carl — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:11:21 PST

"Biologists have created baker�s yeast capable of living to 800 in yeast years without apparent side effects. "

Steve Martin Magic

jack — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:22:06 PST

This could be the funniest video in the known universe. Watch it now!

DIY Drones

bob — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:49:22 PST

A site all about building your own Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). There's a ton of information, and they've got projects suitable for highschool kids with price tags as low as $500.

Fungi of the Czech Republic

bob — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:00:13 PST

Some really stellar photos with commentary of mushrooms found on a walk through the woods surrounding Karlstejn castle in the Czech Republic.

I know it sounds boring, but just look at the photos. Some of those mushrooms are pretty wild!

Xee - improved image browser for Mac

bob — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:31:08 PST

It's a replacement for Preview that's just a little faster, a little more robust, and a little bit better featured.

tree catching

s3an — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:34:23 PST

Can you believe, this man actually thinks he can catch it.

This is really funny

Lasagna Cat - Live Action Garfield Tribute

bob — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:16:26 PST

This is pretty strange. A small film production company has produced a series of live action re-tellings of old Garfield comic strips. And after every one is a music video tribute to Jim Davis set to some random pop song.

Massive Gas Cloud Speeding Toward Collision With Milky Way!!

Youness — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:27:28 PST

Our Galaxy is DOOMED!!! Well maybe...in about 20 - 40 million years. So say your goodbyes while you still have time!

A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is speeding toward a collision with our Milky Way Galaxy, and when it hits -- in less than 40 million years -- it may set off a spectacular burst of stellar fireworks.

Turn Your $60 Router into a User-Friendly Super-Router

Chris — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:49:48 PST

Tomato does almost everything DD-WRT does�from Wi-Fi signal boosting to Quality of Service bandwidth allocation�in addition to offering a simplified interface chock-full of fancy charts and graphs.

Grow your own Rat Heart

bob — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:20:30 PST

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have successfully grown live, beating rat hearts and implanted them into the abdomen of unrelated rats. Article from the New York Times.

The researchers removed all the cells from a dead rat heart, leaving the valves and outer structure as scaffolding for new heart cells injected from newborn rats. Within two weeks, the cells formed a new beating heart that conducted electrical impulses and pumped a small amount of blood.

Hillary, Obama, Edwards and Gore as SuperFriends

Youness — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:54:25 PST

One of the best of this series I've seen in a while.

Another satirical link in extended.

Blue Man

manofsuit — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:39:45 PST

All he needs now is a Group.

The condition he has is called argyria, and NBC�s chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, said it�s caused by the silver that Karason used to treat his dermatitis and has been drinking in a liquid form called colloidal silver on and off for some 14 years.

gOS - Discover a good OS.

Chris — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:17:46 PST

Cool thin-client OS.

Telephone Hacks: Trick Automated Phone Bots into Never Calli

Chris — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:07:57 PST

This is a cool trick for those in the U.S.

Rap Lyrics explained using charts

manofsuit — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:46:06 PST

A website using charts to explain rap lyrics.

"Rap lyrics can now be explained through the use of charts."

The Best of Craiglist

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:16:00 PST

Official picks of the best (or worst) of funny, disgusting, or otherwise incredible postings on Craigslist.

Manhattan of the Desert

manofsuit — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:56:12 PST

Some images I've collected of Shibam, a Yemenese city which, due to the unique vertical nature of its ancient buildings, is considered by many architecture enthusiasts to be one of the earliest examples of skyscraper construction.

The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud bricks, but about 500 of them are tower houses, which rise 5 to 9 stories high. This technique of building was implenented in order to protect residents from Bedouin attacks.

Japanese Bug Fights

bob — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:28:41 PST

On the one hand it's blatant animal cruelty, but on the other hand how can you not be fascinated? It's the ultimate arthropod cage match: two bugs enter, one bug leaves. With all your favorites including scorpion, praying mantis, centipede, tarantula, and even giant bee. There are 30 fight videos hosted by Revver.

Head Busting Fungus and Zombie Snails

bob — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:42:24 PST

Two Youtube videos. The first is about the Cordyceps Fungus, which makes ants go nuts before it literally bursts out of their heads.

The second is about a parasitic worm which takes over a snail's brain and turns it into a pulsating bird-target so that the worms can move into the bird to reproduce.

Main link goes to wikipedia article about the Cordyceps fungus.

Mysterypig New Feature - Firefox Extension

bob — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 01:06:27 PST

Those of you using Firefox can now post things to Mysterypig much faster than before! Just download the handy Firefox add-on and all your dreams will come true. Automatic install link in extended.

Make Fast Flowcharts

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:20:03 PST

This is a cool app, Bubbl.us that allows for fast and easy flowchart making. They look pretty good as well!

How to live forever

bob — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:34:27 PST

Economist article about some of the specific failures that keep us from living forever, and some of the experimental approaches to fixing them.

Kelvin Water Dropper physics class demonstration

bob — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:03:04 PST

Walter Levin, a physics professor at MIT, demonstrates a Kelvin Water Dropper. It's a simple device made out of basically some metal buckets and a tank of water, that generates massive voltage using only dropping water for power. Video in extended, link goes to wikipedia article.

Nikon Small World

bob — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:02:49 PST

Nikon holds a contest for microscopic photography. Some of the entries are by professional photographers, others are byproducts of research. There are 97 pictures, most of which have descriptions so you know what they are.

Clip webpages like you would a magazine

Youness — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:56:12 PST

This is an add on to your browser that allows you to clip exactly what interests you on a particular web page and then repost or save it in whatever manner suits you. I haven't used it much yet but its easy to use and seems pretty handy.

I Am 8 Bit book

bob — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:51:32 PST

A book of work by all different artists inspired by 8 bit videogames. Main link is a Russian website with scans of every page (though all out of order). There's some pretty awesome stuff there.

Ten Thousand Years Ago No One Had Blue Eyes.

jack — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 01:37:53 PST

Man was all one race till 20,000 years ago. Man evolved 100 times faster in the last 40,000 years than in the preveious years. We are changing much more rapidly into who knows what.

Ahhh the things blood money and power buy these days!

Youness — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:35:49 PST

Our good friends at Fox news are up to it again!!!

"Given Ron Pauls support in New Hampshire and his recent historic fundraising success, it
is outrageous that Dr. Paul would be excluded"

This is just stupid:

manofsuit — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:14:22 PST

Apparently, Hillary Clinton had some kind of big contest to decide her official campaign song. Here's a rather mind-numbing commercial she made to promote it, featuring Bill and apparently paying homage to the final episode of "The Sopranos."

A Cure for Sleep

bob — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:07:33 PST

A study funded by DARPA found that sleep deprived monkeys who were given a nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A performed as well as rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

The study, published in the Dec. 26 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, found orexin A not only restored monkeys' cognitive abilities but made their brains look "awake" in PET scans.

Siegel said that orexin A is unique in that it only had an impact on sleepy monkeys, not alert ones, and that it is "specific in reversing the effects of sleepiness" without other impacts on the brain.

Liver damage may be reversible

Youness — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:07:38 PST

I'll drink to that!

Some liver damage caused by heavy drinking or hepatitis could be halted or even reversed, claim researchers.

Envoy Medical Shows off Implantable Hearing Aid

Chris — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:19:35 PST

I'm waiting for the bluetooth version so I can stream music into my skull.

Dubbed "Carina," the hearing aid consists of four separate pieces that are designed to be countersunk into the skull, including a microphone the size of a fingernail that sits behind the ear and a main processing unit that also houses the rechargeable lithium-ion battery that powers the device. That, as you're no doubt wondering, gets replenished by a charging unit that's held in place with a magnet and must be worn for an hour or two a day.

Virtual Reality with the Wii

Chris — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:23:22 PST

Another awesome Wiimote hack from our good friend Johnny Chung Lee.

Wireless USB Coming Soon

Chris — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:31:01 PST

The FCC is now testing the Corsair Wireless USB dongle. This device will allow you to make a wireless connection to USB devices with the same plug and play functionality of a physical cable. Can't wait, this would be great for my digital camera and external hard drive.

It would also be awesome if this technology could be licensed to manufacturers of devices and computers, so that USB became a wireless transfer standard.

Don't Blend your Baby

Chris — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:34:53 PST

This is a strange new product marketed towards parents of infants. Baby margaritas anyone?

Merry Christmas from Endor!

manofsuit — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:52:04 PST

Starring R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leaia, and Han Solo (who looks pretty embarrassed to be there).

Merry Christmas from Bush and Barney!

manofsuit — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:23:52 PST

A delightful new Christmas video starring our fearless leader and the first dog. With special appearances from Tony Blair, country singer Alan Jackson, and the disturbingly attractive Bush daughters.

Karl Rove, following his resignation, made his true thoughts about Barney, the first dog, known to all. "Barney's a lump," Rove told the New York Times.

Merry Christmas from Johnny Cash and friends!

manofsuit — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:28:39 PST

Featuring June Carter, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and a bunch of people I don't recognize.

Merry Christmas from the Kinks!

manofsuit — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:09:14 PST

Not one of their best songs, but I do like the lyrics.

Merry Christmas from Run-DMC!

manofsuit — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:02:07 PST

An old-school hip hop celebration!

Aptera 300mpg hybrid car

bob — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 12:38:16 PST

Popular Mechanics video about a car being developed in Carlsbad called the Aptera. They have an all electric version and a hybrid that they claim gets 300mpg. Besides that, it's just a rad car.

Soviet Christmas Cards

bob — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:01:23 PST

Andrew sent me a link to this gallery of Soviet era Christmas cards. Just goes to show that even in a totalitarian secular communist country people are still wasting money on disposable Christmas crap.

DIY Solid Freeform Fabrication - using pure sugar

bob — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:10:38 PST

It's a homemade freeform fabricator that fuses pure sugar into large shapes using a stream of hot air from an inexpensive heating element. It's pretty low resolution but still a fairly impressive project.

uTest, Get Paid to Find Software Bugs

Chris — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:05:22 PST

Get paid for testing software, payment per bug you find. If anyone tries this out, let me know how it goes.

Meaty Objects

Chris — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:20:25 PST

Simone Richeli sculpts with good ol' red meat (or at least made to look like it).

David Byrne on the music industry

bob — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:45:42 PST

Wired Magazine article by David Byrne about the past, present, and future of the music industry. With audio clips of David Byrne talking with Brian Eno, the managers of Radiohead, and others. Also lots of charts and graphs!

Technology changed all that in the 20th century. Music � or its recorded artifact, at least � became a product, a thing that could be bought, sold, traded, and replayed endlessly in any context. This upended the economics of music, but our human instincts remained intact.

Make a Touchscreen Display with a Wiimote

Chris — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:45:33 PST

Johnny Lee of Carnegie Mellon University demonstrates how to create an interactive surface using the infrared camera on a Wiimote.

Google Challenges Wikipedia

Chris — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:08:35 PST

Google is planning a competition open-source encyclopedia called "Knol". Wikipedia ranks on the top of many Google searches, so it is no suprise that they want a cut of the traffic. Knol is current in a private release phase open to authors by invitation only.

Google's model of a user-created encyclopedia is a little different however, for one thing, articles are not limited to single page. Multiple articles are allowed per subject, users voting on the top article. Also, authors are given a cut of the revenue from ads on the articles, giving an incentive to write the top trafficking post. It does seem like an interesting way to improve open-source knowledge by creating an element of competition and financial incentive. On the other hand, can we trust a multi-billion dollar company to back a forum of public, non-biased information?

Geminid meteor shower strikes TONIGHT

bob — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:47:49 PST

The Geminid meteor shower is supposed to peak tonight. It's an annual shower with its radiant in the Gemini constellation, which will be visible in the east at 10PM and directly overhead around 2AM. More info on finding it in the extended.

BugMeNot and RetailMeNot

bob — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:14:10 PST

Everybody has probably already seen these, but just in case here are a couple of very useful sites. BugMeNot is a tool for sharing logins and passwords of sites that require pointless registration. So when you want to read an LA Times article but don't have an account, just go to BugMeNot, type in latimes.com, and it will spit out a working login and save you some trouble.

RetailMeNot is the same concept applied to coupon codes for online shopping carts.

N.A.T.A.S.

manofsuit — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:31:09 PST

National Anti-Tesh Action Society. Your thoughts?

Unconventional Halloween Costumes

manofsuit — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:48:04 PST

While performing an image search for "John Tesh Alien" I came upon a rather odd image of a man whose skin was covered in genitalia. It was from the attached site, which archives odd and (in many cases) shocking costumes, and is pretty amusing, if not entirely safe for work.

Flying Mann!!!!

Youness — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:21:53 PST

Jeb Corliss flying wireless

Utah Firm Builds Real Mechwarrior Suit

Chris — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:16:51 PST

Utah Robotics Firm has been developing a robotic-assist exoskeleton for soldiers. The current model is tethered to a powerline, but the video shows a highly agile and able power suit.

Excellent Herbie comic for you to read

jack — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 03:40:03 PST

Better than a great movie!

USB Humping Dog

Chris — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:35:21 PST

Where can I get one of these?!

Fun with The Macbook SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor)

Chris — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:07:30 PST

I recently did some research on the applications of the Sudden Motion Sensor installed on all Macbooks.

the World's Strongest Beer

bob — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:17:12 PST

Since 2003 the Boston Beer Company been producing an annual limited edition Samuel Adams beer with the highest alcohol content of any commercially produced beer. It's called "Utopias" and the 2007 edition weighs in at a whopping 27% alcohol by volume.

Tinker with Style

Chris — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:07:34 PST

Awesome pair of steampunk-esque safety goggles. Good for repairing your automatons or riding your helicopter bike.

Finnish Dorm Room Tetris

Chris — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:05:42 PST

University Students network dorm room lights to create a giant game of Tetris.

The Sculptures of Jeff de Boer

bob — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:33:46 PST

Some incredible intricate metal sculptures by Jeff de Boer. He builds full on suits of armor for cats and mice, as well as awesome executive-wear like armor ties and a sword-hilt briefcase.

Bruce Schneier talks about everything

bob — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:55:05 PST

Bruce Schneier is an internet security consultant of some renown. In this New York Times interview he answers about a thousand reader submitted questions on questions that are all over the map. If you're at all interested in computer security it's a fascinating interview, and he links to a number of really good essays.

There�s this rampant myth that you shouldn�t write your passwords down. My advice is exactly the opposite. We already know how to secure small bits of paper.

Create Emotion-based Playlists on the Fly

Chris — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:39:46 PST

Moody is an iTunes controller that allows you to rate your songs on a 16-square emotional grid. Set your mood and put your iTunes on random for an intelligent playlist.

Sonya Thomas - the girl who puts Cool Hand Luke to shame

bob — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:03:12 PST

Sonya Thomas, known in competitive eating circles as "The Black Widow", holds two world records for eating hard boiled eggs (among dozens of other things). And she weighs like 100 pounds.

Hard-Boiled Eggs:

(1) 65 in 6' 40 seconds.

(2) 52 in 5 minutes.

Japanese Aquarium Toilet

Chris — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:59:23 PST

Don't worry, the fish won't look.

VectorMagic - Precision Vectorization Online

bob — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:56:51 PST

For anyone who ever converts raster to vector art, this is a really cool tool from Stanford. You upload your raster image, go through some simple configuration menus, and it lets you download the result as an EPS or SVG file. It's reasonably quick and it seems to work considerably better than the LivePaint functions in Illustrator.

The Problems with Homeopathy

bob — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:57:59 PST

An article by Dr. Ben Goldacre published in the Guardian about his problems with homeopathic medicine. The first half is all about how you can know that homeopathy doesn't work, but the second half gets into some pretty interesting ethical quandaries.

Safety First

bob — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:15:51 PST

A series of public service announcements from Canada that encourage workplace safety by demonstrating grisly accidents.

WARNING: These are somewhat graphic.

There really are no accidents.

440 pound snake found in Brazian home

s3an — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:38:48 PST

Imagine finding one of these at your house.

Skin ageing 'reversed' in mice

Youness — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:21:14 PST

One step closer to living forever ladies and gents (mostly gents)...

Scientists have reversed the effects of ageing on the skin of mice by blocking the action of a specific protein.

Simulating the Brain

bob — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:24:19 PST

A group of researchers funded by IBM and the Ecole Polytechnique F�d�rale de Lausanne believe they have created a computer simulation that successfully models the behavior of a rat's neocortical column, a particularly complex part of the brain. They say this could lead to complete modeling of mammal brains within 3 years.

The Real "Cool Hand Luke": Donn Pearce

Carl — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:32:38 PST

This is a pretty interesting article from Esquire about the life of Donn Pearce, the author of Cool Hand Luke. I'm not much of a fan of the journalist writing this piece but Donn Pearce sounds like a pretty exciting guy.

Art of Takashi Murakami at MOCA

bob — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:36:30 PST

Takashi Murakami is sort of the Andy Warhol of Japan. His art is Pop, and appears on everything from gallery walls to keychains to $5000 Louis Vuitton handbags.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in LA is currently featuring a show called �MURAKAMI, a retrospective of his work. Go to their site to watch videos of him walking around explaining it.

Darwin's Surprise

bob — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:46:31 PST

A New Yorker article about researchers who are resurrecting ancient retroviruses using DNA found embedded in the human genome. They're using them to study human evolution as well as the workings of modern viruses such as HIV.

�If Charles Darwin reappeared today, he might be surprised to learn that humans are descended from viruses as well as from apes,� Weiss wrote.

See What People are Posting to Flicker Right Now!

jack — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:22:03 PST

How can you not want to know what pictures people are putting up on flicker at all times. Here is a world map showing pictures put up in the last few minutes and where they came from.

Bush's I-pod playlist is leaked

manofsuit — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:12:50 PST

Apparently, an aide to the President leaked the list of songs in his MP3 player, which is now being scrutinized by people with nothing better to do.

Caitlin Moran noted: "No black artists, no gay artists, no world music, only one woman, no genre less than 25 years old, and no Beatles."

Perian - The Swiss-Army Knife of QuickTime Components

bob — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:13:34 PST

This is for those of us with Macs. Perian is a nifty tool that lets Apple's QuickTime Player play just about anything. VLC is great but I like QuickTime Player's interface a bit better. I've been using this for a couple of weeks and it seems to be very reliable and problem free.

Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats.

I was right they dont have the balls!

Youness — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:24:41 PST

The e-mail response I received from Senator Feinstein after signing some online petition to have Bush impeached.

The best short film evar!

wintermute — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:35:10 PST

Or Robots vs. Monkeys. Yeah that's right.

The Case of the Disappearing Car Door

bob — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:17:52 PST

New car door technology that sort of slides out of the way. I'm not sure how safe and reliable it would be, but it's kind of a cool idea.

Warning: Video with sound plays immediately.

Guerilla Clock Restorers Strike Paris Panth�on

bob — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:53:56 PST

The clock in the Panth�on in Paris has been broken since the 60s, when it was smashed up by a disgruntled employee.

The UnterGunther is a Swiss-French urban explorers team whose activity is to restore the invisible parts of the heritage in total clandestinity.

In November 2005, the UnterGunther infiltrated the Pantheon of Paris and, with the help of their professional clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot, started to restore the abandoned monumental 1850 Wagner clock before its irreversible state of defacement.

This is a European company

s3an — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:01:44 PST

There are only two steps in a European company.

If you liked the other advertisement, wait until you see this one.

They Should Teach this in College

Chris — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:08:35 PST

How to seal an open bag of chips without a chip clip or rubberband-- essential knowledge that I feel robbed not knowing until now.

Hydrogen fueled bike gets you where you're going

jack — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:53:59 PST

And it folds so it fits in your turnk.

Anti Boredom Campaign

s3an — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:23:40 PST

This is what an old woman can do with a steering wheel.

Try this one next time you're driving

New Development in Downtown Encinitas

bob — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:42:52 PST

John DeWald has a plan to build a huge complex in downtown Encinitas.

"Pacific Station," the "mixed-use" project proposed by Encinitas developer John DeWald, calls for two three-story buildings, a two-story restaurant and two levels of underground parking on the 1.39-acre lot between E and F streets. The 33-foot-tall buildings would be among the tallest in downtown Encinitas.

The project also would include a grocery store or pharmacy as the anchor, along with offices and smaller stores. The businesses would have 47 one- and two-level condominiums built on the floors above them.

10 strangest gadgets

s3an — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:19:34 PST

This is really cool, it has anything from a transparent toaster to a self cooling beer can. I hope you like it! Its my first post. I'm Chris's cousin competing in stock game.

10 weirdest USB devices

s3an — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:27:20 PST

USB devices that you will put on your Chrismas list. i hope you have enough USB ports

Open House

bob — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:41:06 PST

A new condo building planned for New York's Chelsea district will have 20 foot glass walls that move out of the way to expose the innards of the house to the outside.

Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator

bob — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 05:06:33 PST

The nuclear green sports drink from Idiocracy is about to become a real live product that you can actually buy.

It's got Electrolytes! It's what plants crave!

The Matrix Vs. Carl Sagan

Youness — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:45:38 PST

The title and the clip due all the explaining

Immersive 360 Humvee Simulator

Chris — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:23:58 PST

This looks incredibly fun.

First Queen, now Chancellor

bob — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:14:43 PST

Brian May, the guitar player from Queen, has been named chancellor to Liverpool John Moores University.

Actually that should be Dr. Brian May, since he just completed his doctorate in astrophysics.

"Biobots Borrow Design from Millions of Years of Evolution"

Chris — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:54:49 PST

Interesting video collection of nature inspired robots. Included is also the roach-bot that Bob posted about earlier this month.

Astrology!

Youness — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:09:34 PST

A short video clip of Bill Nye explaining why peoples Zodiac signs are off. Also here is a link (just copy and paste it in your browser, I couldn't get it to work straight out) of Carl Sagan explaining why its all BS anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iunr4B4wfDA

Ghost of John

Chris — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:52:43 PST

Step back from these stripes for an interesting optical illusion.

"Nerf Sniper Rifle is 3 feet of fun"

Chris — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:41:37 PST

I wish we had these when we were kids.

Smoke Ring Cannon

bob — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:27:58 PST

A quick video of a bigass cannon shooting smoke rings.

Lego Stop-Motion Counterstrike

Mike — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:52:53 PST

Someone spent way too much time on this but it looks pretty good.

Video in extended.

Another brick in the wall

Youness — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:58:11 PST

New companies are now offering people the ability to understand their own DNA and what that means their medically pre-destined to experience...

For as little as $1,000 and a saliva sample, customers will be able to learn what is known so far about how the billions of bits in their biological code shape who they are.

Opec summit televised by accident

bob — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:11:33 PST

A technical error resulted in a very private meeting of Opec's leaders being broadcast to the media for a good half hour before it was caught. Some interesting revelations.

Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, warned that even the mere mention to journalists of the fact that leaders were discussing the weak dollar would cause the US currency to plummet.

Comet Holmes Update

bob — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:03:13 PST

So that mystery comet from a few posts back is no longer getting brighter, but it is getting larger. In fact, it is now the largest object in the solar system, including the sun!

The Hawaiian astronomy team writes in a press statement: "This amazing eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid nucleus made of ice and rock, only 3.6 kilometers (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter."

Robot Judas Roaches

bob — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:01:02 PST

A judas goat is a trained goat that works at a slaughterhouse leading other animals to their doom. Researchers in Brussels have achieved a similar effect using robot replicants to fool crowds of cockroaches into making bad decisions. Next up: cockroach bladerunners.

In the roach world, however, looking right is not as important as smelling right, and the scientists doused the machines with eau de cockroach sex hormones.

Soviet Era All-In-One PC

Chris — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:49:53 PST

Pretty awesome casemod. All it needs is a keyboard made of an old typewriter.

Black Sea totally screwed by oil

bob — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:01:46 PST

On Sunday a massive storm wrecked a river tanker in the Strait of Kerch, spilling 560,000 gallons of "bunker fuel", the dirtiest fuel there is. That's nearly ten times as big as the spill in San Francisco Bay last week. More about both spills in extended.

SausageFest.com

Chris — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:22:22 PST

LOL. It's ok, this is SAFE FOR WORK.

Japanese Musical Roads

Carl — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:43:30 PST

So I'm cruising the streets of J-Pan in my new vending machine skirt when all of a sudden this music comes out of nowhere...

Japan now has grooved roads that make driving musical. Perhaps the most annoying thing ever (See extended body for video). It would be an interesting way to control speed though, by grooving for songs that only sound good at a 65mph tempo.

...more reasons to hate the man...

Carl — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:50:44 PST

"New federal legislation says universities must agree to provide not just deterrents but also "alternatives" to peer-to-peer piracy, such as paying monthly subscription fees to the music industry for their students, on penalty of losing all financial aid for their students."

Ninja Fashion Design

Chris — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:04:16 PST

A contemporary Japanese designer brings back ninja with her new "camouflage" dress for vulnerable women.

What ever the cats looking at, it must be funny!!

Alex — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:15:36 PST

I think the cats laughing at you!

GodTube!

Youness — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:50:16 PST

Holly smokeable carpet Batman! Yes this website is for real...

"Broadcast Him"

Gibson Introduces Self-Tuning Robotic Guitar

Chris — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:05:35 PST

I don't know who would buy this, but pretty cool nonetheless.

Ingenious Homemade Organs

bob — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:38:20 PST

Continuing the theme of homemade organs from my last post, here are a couple of examples of a slightly different type.

Main link is a Bubble Organ built by a student at Art Institute of Chicago. Be sure and check out the video.

See extended for a Youtube video of an even radder homemade organ.

Are we living in a computer simulation?

Youness — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:25:23 PST

Clip from Countdown were Olbermann discusses Nick Bostrom's theory that we are living in a computer simulation.

There's a fly in my Soy Sauce!

Chris — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:58:37 PST

A woman in China runs a fly-breeding business generating 30 tons monthly of insect stock-- the protein source is used in the production of Soy Sauce and MSG.

Organ Printing takes another step forward

bob — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:21:10 PST

University of Missouri-Columbia professor Gabor Forbacs has produced a piece of a beating chicken heart using cell printing technology.

Forgacs says his new research �shows that we can use multiple cell types and that we do not have to control what happens when the cells fuse together. Nature is smart enough to do the job.�

Bush Beats Nixon in Disapproval Polls

Chris — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:35:23 PST

The latest USA TODAY/Gallup survey finds Bush with a 31% approval rating -- and for the first time ever in the polling history, 50% say they "strongly disapprove" of a president.

Keith Olbermann on MSNBC rips the president a new one

bob — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:47:40 PST

A "Special Commentary" by Keith Olbermann about the use of torture by the US and the culpability of the president therein. Whether you agree with him or not, or are ignorant like me, it's refreshing to hear something like this coming from the mainstream TV news.

Laser destroys viruses

bob — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:09:34 PST

Kong-Thon Tsen, a physics professor at ASU, and his pathologist son, have developed a technique using superfast laser pulses at resonant frequencies to destroy the protein shells of viruses. They believe this will have major applications in medicine, for instance disinfecting blood stored in blood banks.

Thumb is the tobacco mosaic virus that they are using in trials.

ASUS eee Micro Notebook

Chris — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:31:21 PST

A new micro-notebook from ASUS Tek. Priced at at $399, the ASUS eee runs Ubuntu Linux and features a 4gb solid state hard disk.

Instant Weight Loss

bob — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:38:13 PST

Remember the post about content aware image sizing from a while back? Here's what appears to be the first application of it that I've seen.

Only with HP cameras...
Instantly trim pounds from your photo subjects with the slimming feature!

4 armed, 4 legged baby

Mike — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:29:04 PST

Congratulations, its a wonderful baby...squid. Yes you read that right, the baby has (had) eight-limbs and they just completed a surgery to remove the extra appendages.

I think she should have kept at least the second pair of arms, think of how useful that would be. She could have been a real-life spiderman!

Discovery to make rare landing

Mike — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:53:41 PST

Not quite as spectacular (for us at least) as the last one at Edwards, but Discovery is going to be approaching from the Pacific north-west and landing in Florida later today.

A Crazy Comet Conundrum

bob — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:58:26 PST

Until recently, Comet Holmes was just a magnitude 17 object - 25,000 times fainter than the faintest thing you can see.

But since October 24th it has brightened by a factor of over a million times its former brightness, making it one of the brightest objects in the sky. And the weird thing is, no one knows why!

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Chris — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:11:16 PST

This is an awesome little gadget posted to ship in November. It's a linux based Wi-Fi device for internet browsing, coolest part is its high res (800x480) and Mozilla browser that supports AJAX and Flash. Check out the gmail screen. And priced at $479 its a great value compared to other PDA's.

DARPA's Urban Challenge ends surprisingly well

bob — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:58:06 PST

The annual robot car racing event ended with 6 out of the 11 finalist cars crossing the finish line, 3 of them within the allotted 6 hour time limit.

Saturday's Urban Challenge sent them along neighborhood roads, through traffic and around jams created by humans. About 50 humans piloted cars equipped with roll cages -- in case of robot road rage.

Students Use LEGOS to Build Robotic Crop Harvester

Chris — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:22:09 PST

For you lego fans out there.

Bacon Unwrapped

bob — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 23:39:42 PST

A blog about that most savory of smoked and salted meats, BACON. Found while searching for beef bacon, which it turns out is actually a real product.

Digital Mirrors

bob — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:49:45 PST

Daniel Rozin is an artist who makes mirrors out of things that are not typically mirrors. His work is really impressive, taking interactive sculpture to a whole new level.

768 motorized and laminated C-shaped prints are assembled on a flat surface that looks like one of a big weaved basket. As you approach, the surface comes to life with little clacking sounds, and paints your portraits using a gradual rotation in greyscale value on each C-ring.

The Art of Mike Mitchell

bob — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:08:48 PST

This guy's art is pretty cool. I especially like his low-budget Batman.

Facing Fear

bob — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:49:20 PST

Quick AP article on recent advances in understanding how the brain unlearns fear, including a new drug that might help. And there's a longer, more in-depth article in the extended.

Gore & Peace

Youness — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:51:12 PST

Most excellent Daily Show clip about the nobel peace prize that Gore just won.

How to Move a 900 Ton Brick Building

bob — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:28:58 PST

A few videos showing giant old 19th century buildings being moved from one place to another.

New Universal WWAN Board

Mike — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:32:31 PST

[shameless plug]New project being rolled out by QCOM that will start a new generation of connectivity.[/shameless plug]

A Few Words in Defense of our Country

bob — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:00:10 PST

January 2007 peformance of a (somewhat) new song by Randy Newman.

Infinite Oz

bob — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:11:45 PST

Promo site for a new SciFi Channel show based on the Wizard of Oz. No doubt the show is worthless, but the website is damned impressive.

Coat Hanger Gorilla

Chris — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:35:14 PST

Thought I'd continue this week's monkey theme. Awesome sculpture of a gorilla made of unlikely materials.

The 6 most terrifying foods in the world

bob — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:58:20 PST

A Cracked article listing 6 foods that are progressively more terrifying, including one that actually attacks you while you eat it. Not for the squeamish of stomach.

Mayor Murdered by Marauding Monkeys!

bob — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:51:21 PST

The deputy mayor of Delhi (India's capitol) was killed by a gang of monkeys today.

Chris Gilmour's Cardboard Art

bob — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:34:14 PST

For all you cardboard aficionados out there: Some incredible cardboard replicas of everyday objects by Chris Gilmour.

Tiny Tech

Youness — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:57:33 PST

Harris & Harris Group, Inc.�, is a publicly traded venture capital firm exclusively focused on investing in tiny technology.

The Man wants to take your porn away

bob — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:37:29 PST

A new law, know colloquially as "2257", is about to introduce a slew of mandates regulating what records must be kept by providers of "adult content". Unfortunately, as this Wired article suggests, this regulation will extend beyond porn producers and into the bedrooms of ordinary Americans.

The Fish that Lives in Trees

bob — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:34:31 PST

The mangrove killifish lives in puddles around mangrove trees. But when the puddles dry up, the fish flops out of the water and spends months at a time hibernating in hollow logs.

I'm a dork

wintermute — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:18:48 PST

As a recent attendee and participant at NWBC I won an award for best microscale.
This picture does nothing to defend my honor.

Fart Facts

bob — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:38:43 PST

A gigantic page of information about farts. User submitted questions include:

- Do fish fart?

- If you fart in the bathtub, is the water polluted?

- Is there any kind of animal that doesn't fart?

- Is it possible to capture a fart in a jar and save it for later use?

BBC on the danger of electronic brain enhancement

Youness — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:32:41 PST

Humorous video about the brain....make sure to have your copy book at hand!

The Joy of Slime Molds

bob — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:02:28 PST

Article about social amoebas, single celled animals that join together when food is scarce to create a complex, multicellular slug creature that can carry them all to safety.

Business analysis of "buying a wife"

Mike — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:26:07 PST

This is a funny blog in response to a Craigslist posting from a girl looking for a rich husband. I don't necessarily find her post that funny but the replies are hilarious.
Always remember, beauty is a depreciating asset.

Tasmanian Devil facial tumors spread by biting

bob — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:05:06 PST

Australia's Tasmanian Devil population has been decimated in recent years by a scourge of facial tumors spread by biting. Scientists now believe the disease started as a tumor in one individual devil, which spread quickly due to the lack of genetic diversity in the species.

The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant

bob — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:10:31 PST

A fable by Nick Bostrom. I found it after reading the computer simulation article Carl posted, but it deserves its own post. Take the ten minutes to read it.

Chili peppers as anesthetics

bob — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:54:40 PST

Scientists at Harvard Medical School have developed a new anesthetic that blocks pain without impairing movement, touch, or awareness. And it's based on capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers that makes them spicy.

Birds See Earths Magnetic Field

jack — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:24:18 PST

Birds may actually see magnetic rays..

Interesting Elevators

bob — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:02:57 PST

A blog post listing a bunch of interesting elevators all over the world. It includes a thing called a paternoster which I've never heard of but now I must try.

Sagan explains the Drake Equation

bob — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:56:38 PST

Carl Sagan calculates the probability of intelligent extraterrestrial life. From his show, Cosmos. Video and bonus "no shit" link in extended.

Robot Chair Assembles Itself

jack — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:48:01 PST

cool to watch. Never expected to see this.

Magnetic Vision

bob — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:02:25 PST

Sort of related to the post about birds seeing magnetic fields. This is an interview with a guy who got magnetic implants in his fingers so that he can sense magnetic fields. It has graphic images of the implantation, so don't click if you're squeamish.

More links in extended.

Newspaper article on Kurzweil

Youness — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:22:51 PST

An interesting article on Ray Kurzweil published in the Boston Globe two years ago. Definitely a good read if nothing else.

reCAPTCHA: Stop Spam, Read Books

bob — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 13:36:15 PST

A CAPTCHA is a Completely Automated Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart. We've all had to use them to register for accounts before. Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a program that uses CAPTCHAs to help scan old books, increasing security at the same time.

Sam Harris on Why "Atheism" is a Bad Term

Carl — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:51:05 PST

We don't have a term for those who don't believe in ghosts, so why have one for those who don't believe in gods? As a group nonbelievers can be rhetorically attacked by believers, but when individuals who do not believe a claim criticize it based on reason, there is nothing left to be debated but reason itself.

Avast today is official Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Youness — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:05:59 PST

So recognize ye scurvy bilge rats!

Top Ten Temples

bob — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 13:43:41 PST

Somebody's blog with a review of the world's best temples. Some pretty awesome monasteries pictured.

Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?

Carl — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:19:56 PST

This is an interesting paper that discusses the chances that what we take for reality is "really" just a computer simulation. The most interesting quote for me was the last line: "Unless we are now living in a simulation, our descendants will almost certainly never run an ancestor-simulation."

Alan Watts Theater

bob — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:35:22 PST

Flash cartoons featuring recordings of Alan Watts, produced by Southpark's Parker and Stone.

Iron Man

bob — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:15:37 PST

I try not to get excited about these things, but this could well be the best Marvel comics movie yet.

Manifold the wacky gravity game

bob — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:52:28 PST

It's a very stylish and somewhat innovative little flash game. Worth a look.

Nintendo Game of the Day

bob — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:21:54 PST

There's a new classic NES game posted here every single day, with an emulator written in Java so you can play them right there on the page. More classic NES in extended.

The Saddest Thing

bob — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:00:54 PST

A RealDoll is a product billed as "the most realistic love doll in the world." This is a BBC documentary about the lives of people who own them.

timelapse bay bridge repair

jack — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:32:44 PST

cool to watch

For jucier bigger brains

Youness — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:22:33 PST

Article on memory enhancement techniques with ratings of some of the products this person has tried (books / cd's etc.)

Pandora Radio

bob — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:52:57 PST

An internet radio station that picks music it thinks you'll like based on your recommendations.

Evil Bee music video

bob — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:09:20 PST

A song called "Evil Bee" by a band called "Menomena". The song is merely acceptable, but the video is pretty rad. Low-res Youtube version in extended or high res quicktime if you click the link. And there's a little something extra for all of you bee fans in the extended too.

Samorost 2

manofsuit — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:27:08 PST

A strange but interesting flash game by a group of 2 Czech graphic designers.

Japanese Half-time show

manofsuit — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:40:25 PST

Or something like that. Technically impressive, whatever it is - a field full of people in multicolored shirts, who somehow create giant images visible only from the bleachers.

Razortooth

bob — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:26:08 PST

My Dad has a song in this thoroughly campy movie about giant eels. The cheeze factor is very high. Also in extended: new discovery about Moray eel swallowing technology.

William Gibson's Alien 3 Script

bob — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:48:09 PST

The rejected script William Gibson wrote for Alien 3. A damn sight better than the movie they actually made. His comments in extended.

Monkey Mob Makes Mischief in Kenya

bob — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:13:05 PST

A gang of 300 or so vervet monkeys is running amok in Nachu, Kenya, stealing food and making sexually explicit gestures at women. The villagers are completely unable to contain the monkey menace.

50mph "bike"

Mike — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:13:48 PST

Nothing like surrounding yourself with spinning 8 foot wheels when you're going 50mph down the freeway. I wouldn't do it, no way.

World's First Virtual Plague

bob — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:54:29 PST

In September 2005 a virtual plague was accidentally unleashed in World of Warcraft. Now researchers at various universities and the CDC are studying the outbreak as a model for real-world diseases.

Bill Murray golf cart DUI in Stockholm

bob — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:10:28 PST

You'd think by now he'd be old enough and rich enough to stop being crazy. Nope. He refused to take the breathalyzer test, "citing American legislation". And although the hotel doesn't hold a grudge, the golf cart was pretty much stolen. Awesome.

Content Aware Image Sizing

bob — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:44:28 PST

Youtube video from SigGraph 07 showing a technique for dynamic resizing of images without scaling. Hard to describe but watch the video and be amazed by the future.

Liquid Smoke

Androo — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:09:33 PST

Scientists are predicting this material to change the world. Its one of the world's lightest solids yet can withstand a direct blast from a kilo of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C.

Free Flaming Lips Show Saturday 8-25

Carl — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:19:06 PST

Yo... we all should go to this: Flaming lips/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club...for free, downtown. Be there or suck!

300 page AT&T phone bill

Mike — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:36:22 PST

This chick just got a new iphone and subsequently her first bill...all 300 pages of it. In fact, they shipped it in a box. I know that AT&T itemizes internet usage down to the KB, my bill is like that. Maybe that's just a little too precise and they could get away with grouping more or something. Really, are 300 pages necessary?

Funny Looking Animals

bob — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:07:07 PST

Somebody's blog reviewing 24 of the weirdest looking animals I've ever seen. Thumb is the White Faced Saki Monkey

LED Puke Flashlight

bob — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:09:53 PST

Intelligent Optical Systems in Torrance is developing (for the DHS) an LED flashlight that disorients and makes you puke with clever light pulses.

Rusty Schweickart - Asteroid Hunter

bob — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:38:40 PST

He's an ex Apollo Astronaut, has been to the moon and back, and now he's dedicated to saving Earth from the potential doom of an asteroid collision. Great interview in Wired from a guy who is actually interested in the future.

Robot Legs by Matsushita

jack — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:57:57 PST

7 times as strong as your legs

Low intelligence gets you laid

bob — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 14:39:47 PST

A blog post about a couple of studies showing that high school kids with low-to-average intelligence scores have the highest probability of being non-virgins, while those with extraordinarily low or high scores are almost all virgins. Also some interesting links between college major and virginity.

Emotion sensing furniture

Mike — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:57:52 PST

Why is my couch blue? Oh, it's because I'm sad...
This is the mood ring taken to a whole new level. The furniture 'knows' what mood you're in by taking cues from known objects placed on it, then adjusts to match. Weird.

The Golden Age of Chicago Prostitution

bob — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:46:24 PST

An interview with Karen Abbott, a new book about prostitution in Chicago in the early part of the 20th century.

What the Tortoise said to Achilles

bob — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:48:15 PST

A short story with a mathematical bent by good old Lewis Carroll. Story is in the extended, main link goes to a place to read many of Carroll's books for free.

CEO of Whole Foods has Sinister Alter-Ego

bob — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:48:40 PST

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, has been posting inflammatory messages that bash his competitors and complement him on Yahoo financial forums since 1999. And he's been doing it under a pseudonym.

Solid Gold Bathtub Purloined

bob — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:49:01 PST

A hotel in Japan is missing an 80kg bathtub made of SOLID GOLD.

Transformers....really.

Chris — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:41:59 PST

This is fucki** rad.

World's Most Expensive Mansion

manofsuit — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:01:24 PST

The richest man in India is currently building a 60-story mansion, complete with hanging gardens and six parking floors for his 168 cars.

Chore Wars

bob — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:45:22 PST

Pretty much the most brilliant thing I've seen this week. It's an online RPG in which you earn experience points and gold by doing actual real-life household chores.

Pimp my Rice Paddy

bob — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:37:34 PST

Rice paddy art is an annual tradition in the town of Inakadate in Japan.

Chinese news report about steamed buns is hoax

bob — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:27:06 PST

I'm posting this because the original story came up in conversation today. Turns out the news report about the steamed bun vendor putting cardboard in his buns was actually just a hoax. Go figure.

Terrorist Logos

bob — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:34:27 PST

A blog post with brief critical analysis of a whole bunch of terrorist organization logos. Many are omitted and his analysis isn't that great, but it's interesting nevertheless. A few of my own additions in extended.

The Cardboard House

bob — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:06:37 PST

A pretty sweet all-cardboard house design by Australian firm Stutchbury and Pape. The design looks a little awkward but the idea is pretty rad. I'd like to see it fully furnished.

Walking robot learns how to scale hills

Chris — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:17:19 PST

Interesting new walking robot that learns and improves its balance.

Give me your money...or wine and a hug

Mike — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:21:29 PST

This has to be one of the weirdest crimes every. It started as a armed robbery with a gun to a 14-year old's head and ended with a glass of wine and a group hug. What?

Ironic Ad

DS — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:06:36 PST

Ad for Asbestos showing the World Trade Center and saying "When life depends on it, trust asbestos". Click to see full ad and a rant about it; also links to other horrible ads.

Taser XREP eXtended Range Electronic Projectile

bob — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:27:46 PST

It's a Taser that you fire out of a shotgun. The next apparent step in "less-lethal" weapons. More taserific goodness in extended.

Wii-mote Gun

Mike — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:58:01 PST

The original NES gun made Duckhunt one of the best games ever. Now they're trying to bring the gun back Wii-mote style, but it looks a little akward, especially with the trigger in front of the joystick.

It also mentions a new wheel for the new Mario Kart. I'm not too excited about the wheel, but new Kart is awesome.

the people buy back the corrupt legislator

jack — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:44:36 PST

This short film shows how for $15 a year Alaskan citizens can bribe there own legislators to work for them, not for wealthy private interests!

Swarm Behavior

Carl — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 10:28:34 PST

A simple but fairly interesting article on how the study of Swarm Theory is influencing the management of complex human problems like traffic and truck routes.

Babies Lie!

wintermute — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:59:57 PST

I knew it! Infants quickly learnt that using tactics such as fake crying and pretend laughing could win them attention. By eight months, more difficult deceptions became apparent, such as concealing forbidden activities or trying to distract parents' attention.

The Self-Mummified Monks of Japan

bob — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 17:01:31 PST

These are the hardest core crazy suicide monks I've ever heard of.

Neurochemical Model of Addiction

DS — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:01:28 PST

'Time' article written by an ex-addict who references brain scan images (his own), anecdotal stories, and supporting research to support a physiological cause of and cure for addiction.

Revolutionary Shock-Abosorbent Material d3o

Androo — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:27:29 PST

Holy batcapes! The age of the superhero suit is upon us. Its ROCK-HARD surface can take a full- on assault from a baseball bat, yet remains flexible enough to allow you to kick, leap and roll with perfect ease.

Researcher spots China's new nuclear sub on Google Earth

Chris — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:27:13 PST

A satellite image of China's new nuclear ballistic missile submarine is available on the Google Earth Internet site.

Smoking Ettiquette

Chris — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:59:37 PST

Some interesting informational signs from our buddies across the ocean.

Join SKAB Today

bear with a hat — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:37:01 PST

If it ain�t broke, yer not kickin� hard enough!

Living in Three Centuries

bob — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:36:46 PST

A series of black and white close up photos of very very old people. Interesting pictures, interesting people, and very interesting stories.

Biosub

wintermute — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:29:03 PST

Australian emerges after two weeks in underwater box.

Microwave your trash away

bob — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:48:59 PST

Global Resource Corporation has unveiled a machine they call the Hawk-10 that uses 1200 different microwave frequencies to break down the hydrocarbon chains in plastics and turn them back into usable diesel oil.

Lego Microships

wintermute — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:16:14 PST

Shameless self promotion. My microships. Let me show you them.

A better lightbulb

bob — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:40:29 PST

Sort of a follow-up to Chris's post about designer fluorescents. A company called Ceravision in Britain (in a town called Milton Keyes, strangely) has developed a new product they think will replace classic lightbulbs. It uses microwaves to generate an electric field in a chunk of aluminum oxide, then uses that field to ionize a sealed capsule of gas so that it emits light. This process gives them efficiency 10 times that of regular incandescents!

Crazy Theremin

wintermute — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:20:07 PST

Awesome cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy by the Ether and Aether Experiment

Westboro Baptist Church homepage

manofsuit — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:31:40 PST

This should lead to some good discussion - the personal site for Fred Phelps' church, which organizes picketing of gay funerals, and more.

Brain Activated Toy Train

bob — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:11:55 PST

Hitachi has developed a non-invasive headband that uses infrared light to monitor blood flow in the brain. Their demo is a model train that runs when you do arithmetic in your head and stops when you don't.

The ESP Game and others

bob — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:47:40 PST

A game from Carnegie Mellon university that use players' input to generate descriptive terms for images to use in their search engine. And it's fun too. More similar games from the same people in extended.

Big Cursor

bob — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:34:51 PST

I don't know what to say about this except that it confirms my suspicion that Japan is in fact a very strange place.

Shadow Sculptures

bob — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:52:41 PST

They look like piles of trash in daylight, but shine a spotlight on them just the right way and they turn into intricate shadow portraits. Quite remarkable.

Musical Tesla Coil

Kyle — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:42:47 PST

Super Mario Bros. theme played on a specially constructed Solid State Musical Tesla Coil.

Designer Fluorescents

Chris — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:36:53 PST

I'd love if these caught on...it would awful to light your home or office with these and then have some burn out, only to discover the company has kicked the bucket.

Antique Maps

bob — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:52:23 PST

A large selection of images of antique and ancient maps, sea charts, atlases, and globes. It's the website of an antiques dealer who is selling the maps for exorbitant prices but has also graciously provided high resolution images.

Dazzle Camouflage

bob — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:47:09 PST

In response to the use of torpedoes by German U-Boats during the First World War, the allies invented Dazzle Painting. This camouflage technique uses big geometrics shapes at odd angles to make a single ship look like a hodgepodge of unconnected things and confuse enemy gunners. The results were some pretty flashy looking ships.

Fold your shirts the Japanese way

bear with a hat — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:14:06 PST

Its Cool, its Fast, its Crraaazzyyy!!!

People and their Avatars

bob — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 13:57:49 PST

A piece from the New York Times showing photos of humans side by side with their avatars from online games.

Wireless power?

bob — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:10:35 PST

Various wireless power schemes have been around for decades, but this one looks like it has the three things previous attempts lacked: range, sufficient wattage, and safety. Their successful test made a 60W bulb light up from 2 meters away.

Incredible pencil carving

Mike — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:06:07 PST

Whoever did this must have been very good and very bored. Its carved so perfectly, looks like its even sanded.

Microsoft Reveals "Surface Computer"

Chris — Wed, 30 May 2007 09:16:08 PST

Good to see some new computer solutions from Microsoft-- this is an interesting use of existing technology, but in its format, encourages a shared computing experience (not to mention the tactile analogies of a tabletop).

Stevie Wonder drum solo

manofsuit — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:45:59 PST

See, this is the reason why we should all forgive Stevie for the last 30 or so years, and forget all the bad records he's made in that time. In the 60's and 70's he was simply THAT GOOD.

Safari for Windows and its Implications

Chris — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:23:58 PST

An interesting analysis of Apple's move to offer Safari on the Windows operating system. Read the article for an explanation of the thumbnail.

The perfect sphere

Mike — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:10:47 PST

The most precise sphere ever created. Its for a very scientific cause, to determine an actual measurement for a kilogram. This will be to measure the number of atoms in a one-kilogram sphere, which will be a constant forever. Once done, that number will replace the current kilogram spec.

Did you know that every kilogram is calibrated to the same original metal brick that's in a vault in Paris?

Anamatronic pack animals on a rampage!

bear with a hat — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:05:47 PST

Well not really but they are walking

Pentagon sought 'Gay Bomb'

Mike — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:33:35 PST

I guess this is real, amazingly so. In 1994 the Airforce came up with a proposal to create a bomb of hormomes that could be dropped on an enemy force, making them more interested in sex than fighting. Kind of makes you wonder what other things they're thinking of...

USB Missile Launcher

Chris — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:29:25 PST

Make sure not to point these at Russia.

Road trip snippets

manofsuit — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:32:44 PST

At Bob's request, a selection of short writings from my current travels, through the Rocky Mountain states.

Chinese newspaper accidentally mentions massacre

bob — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 02:40:56 PST

A Chinese newspaper unwittingly ran an ad paying tribute to the "mothers of the June 4th victims" - a reference to the Tiananmen square massacre. The government moved in to investigate and the editors who missed it were fired, maybe arrested.

The Profit Calculator

bob — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:54:04 PST

An article in the New Yorker analyzing the profit margins of various professions and businesses in New York, from drug dealers to drug companies. Some pretty interesting facts.

Crazy Rotating Wall Makes You Wonder if You Are Crazy Too

Chris — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 20:16:08 PST

The UK city of Liverpool is playing host to a rather kooky piece of artwork for the next 18 months.

What the World Eats

bob — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:08:06 PST

A Time.com photo essay showing pictures of 16 different families from all around the world posed with all the food they eat in a week.

Infinte loop zooming

Mike — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:41:09 PST

Amber asked me to post this. Really crazy flash zoom in. Click and hold, then and move your mouse up (zoom forward) or down (zoom backward). Trippy.

Polar Clock

Chris — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:24:51 PST

I'd love to have a physical version of this to put on my wall; seeing it everyday would definitely put some context to it and turn it into a useful visual representation of date and time.

Alcoholic Kool-Aid

bob — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 01:52:13 PST

Well not really Kool-Aid, but along the same lines. A student-run Dutch company has plans to sell a powdered alcoholic beverage. Just add water and it becomes a fizzy lime flavored drink with around 3% alcohol. They're calling it "Booze2Go". More on powdered alcohol in extended.

Teddy Ruxpin to the Rescue

Carl — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:17:59 PST

There I lay, bleeding on the sands of Tikrit. All members of my squad are sprawled dead around me. I've given up all hope for survival. I cry and think of home... Then it appears, slowly gliding across the dirt and rubble, a long forgotten image of a singing teddy bear I had loved as a child. Oh sweet, sweet reassuring face! I am saved!
Play me a song old friend, play me a song!

Watering Hole Shakeup

bob — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:24:03 PST

It's a Youtube video of a crazy brawl at an African watering hole featuring not 1, not 2, but 3 different species of animal!

Laser Fusion

bob — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:27:12 PST

A BBC article about an EU funding proposal for High Power Laser Energy Research. It's one of several projects in the works trying to use lasers to start a controlled fusion reaction.

Diablo Rojo

bob — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:23:01 PST

An article about an encounter with a seven-foot long man-eating Humbolt squid.

Exo-Squad on Myspace

wintermute — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:47:48 PST

Watch the entire series. I used to watch this show when I was a kid. Little did I realize there so much violence and social commentary in addition to badass mecha frames which fly around.

$500 million in treasure found in shipwreck

Mike — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:37:02 PST

Odyssey Marine Exploration, the only commercial treasure hunters, have found what could be the largest (economically) shipwreck from colonial times. They're estimating $500 million in silver and gold. Think they'll share?

Hoshi Saga

jSama — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:26:08 PST

Objective:

Find the stars. :)

Google Earth Shows off "Street Views"

Chris — Wed, 30 May 2007 09:24:24 PST

A new feature of google maps allows for 360 panoramas and "street-view" fly-throughs for major test cities.

Sneek Peak: Creation Museum

Chris — Mon, 28 May 2007 10:42:52 PST

Some photos of the new Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. They even have animatronics of Christian stories!

Robot Kills Danish Man

Chris — Thu, 31 May 2007 11:31:59 PST

Robotic lawnmower kills Danish Man after tumbling off slope.

Fancy Food

bob — Wed, 30 May 2007 01:45:27 PST

A photo-journal of a 24 course meal served at L'Enclume restaurant in Cartmel, England. I wouldn't expect to find something like this very interesting, but the vivid descriptions of bizarre future-foods lured me in.

Cool 3D audio

Mike — Tue, 29 May 2007 10:42:43 PST

Its of a barbershop (odd choice if you ask me) but a really cool 3D audio demonstration. You'll want to listen to it with headphones to get the best stero affect.

Animation on a whiteboard

bob — Mon, 28 May 2007 14:21:49 PST

Youtube video of a pretty incredible animation drawn entirely on a whiteboard. Not much of a story but the style is awesome.

Wheel of Kidney

bob — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:11:15 PST

A new Dutch TV show from the creators of Big Brother gives contestants a chance to win a kidney from a woman with an inoperable brain tumor.

Diggerland

bob — Mon, 28 May 2007 13:23:57 PST

Best theme park ever. I was going to write a description but I think I'll just let their theme song do the talking instead. Warning: sound plays immediately.

ClockWork LapTop for $100

bear with a hat — Sun, 20 May 2007 21:59:40 PST

its small, its cheap, and it runs on crank

Liberality For All

manofsuit — Fri, 25 May 2007 23:15:13 PST

Sean Hannity stars in his own comic book, as a freedom fighter in a world run by Liberals.

IGasm - Vibrator attachment for Ipods

Carl — Fri, 25 May 2007 09:47:45 PST

...it was only a matter of time.

Worlds First 16.7 Million Color Flexible Screen

Chris — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:25:15 PST

Cool....can't wait to see this on some real products.

New Computer Input Device...end of the mouse?

Chris — Wed, 23 May 2007 14:58:55 PST

Maybe this will help with my repetitive stress problem...

Stallone's still got it

bob — Sat, 19 May 2007 20:16:54 PST

New Rambo movie... and startlingly, it looks pretty good!

Bush converses with African leaders

manofsuit — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:30:59 PST

President W proves himself to be a less ethnocentric leader than previously believed, attending an African cultural summit and even learning to speak the local language.

Build your own killer robot with Qwerk

bob — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:31:46 PST

The Telepresence Robotics Kit Project (TeRK) has developed the Querk robot control board with amateur dumbasses like me in mind.

Super Car Engine in VW Golf

Chris — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:38:46 PST

Remember the urban legend of the guy who strapped a jet engine to his car?

The Last Question

bob — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:32:15 PST

An epic science fiction short story by the late great Isaac Asimov. We're all just starting to worry about Peak Oil and here he was 50 years ago worrying about Peak Energy... Full text in extended because I didn't like the other site's color scheme.

Drinky Crow cartoon pilot

bob — Sun, 13 May 2007 18:44:08 PST

Adult Swim has the pilot for the new Drinky Crow show. It's based on Tony Millionaire's Maakies comic strip.

Remains of Giant Turtle Wash onto Beach

Chris — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:49:25 PST

Mysterious photos of a alleged "giant turtle" are found on African beach. Lack of sources though is disappointing...

Guy Ritchie To make New Movie

Chris — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:43:08 PST

The creator of "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" is announced to be creating a new crime-action-comedy.

Walk on Wa- ... Non-Newtonian Fluid.

jSama — Sat, 12 May 2007 17:56:00 PST

Give this one a go: Some Spaniards put walking across "water" to the test.

Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007

Carl — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:36:03 PST

Alberto Gonzales, our beloved Attorney General, is putting forward a new bill that will make attempted piracy a punishable crime.

Infiniti's Interactive Mirrors

Chris — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:09:24 PST

A high-tech twist on the informational kiosk.

The People's Disneyland

bob — Mon, 07 May 2007 16:03:45 PST

Shijingshan Amusement Park is a state-owned Disneyland ripoff in Beijing, China. Their slogan is "Disneyland is too far".

Preventing Sick Spaceships with a Germ Tricorder

bob — Tue, 15 May 2007 17:15:43 PST

So it's not exactly a tricorder, but it's a handheld unit that instantly tests for the presence of germs on a surface. It's being developed by NASA to help astronauts keep their ships clean. Apparently Mir had a lot of problems with bacteria and fungus, and now the ISS is having similar issues.

Dangerous Beauty: the Art of the Shiv

bob — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:36:30 PST

A slideshow of a dozen different and creative improvised weapons confiscated from prisoners in New Jersey�s Rahway Prison more than 20 years ago.

Heads-up-display for Automobile GPS

Chris — Tue, 15 May 2007 10:53:57 PST

I had thought of this idea after seeing reflections of objects on my dashboard on my windshield. Looks like someone beat me to it though!

Helvetica turns 50

bob — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:58:53 PST

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Helvetica font. Why should you care? Well you probably shouldn't. But here's a somewhat interesting article from the BBC about its history, uses, and speculation as to why it's so popular.

Poor Richard's Almanac

bob — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 03:26:48 PST

Complete text of Poor Richard's Almanac from 1733-1758

Reverse Alarm Clock Conditions Babies

Chris — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:34:14 PST

This reminds me of "Brave new world" when they are electrocuting the babies. Seriously though, I'd love to have something similar for myself to wake up when it is still dark.

Around the world on solar power

bob — Sat, 12 May 2007 13:00:10 PST

The Solar Impulse project is working to build a plane that will take off and fly day and night using only solar power. Their goal is a complete world tour. Pretty awesome ambition. It sounds like it's possible, but it will really push current technology to the limit.

Top ten car chases

bob — Sun, 13 May 2007 19:41:26 PST

Somebody's blog entry with Youtube videos of their top ten list of movie car chases. Some of them are pretty entertaining.

A game of ducks and drakes

bob — Sun, 13 May 2007 17:07:51 PST

A piece from the Economist on the co-evolution of male and female duck genitalia.

Turkish Delight

jSama — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:25:12 PST

Kudos to these Turkish choreographers.

Water Bouncer

Chris — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:44:53 PST

Remember those water bugs you used to torment as a kid? Now you can be one.

Mushroom spores could replace polystyrene

bob — Fri, 11 May 2007 11:38:08 PST

A student at Rensselaer Polytechnic has invented a way to grow insulating boards from pearlite, starch, and mushroom spores. The biodegradable boards perform about as well as conventional insulation and could be made for about the same cost. Just don't use the wrong kind of mushrooms...

The Comics Code

manofsuit — Sat, 05 May 2007 02:58:47 PST

The original text for one of the most blatant examples of outright censorship in this country.

Domino Rally PC Towers

Chris — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:04:20 PST

See carl, PC's are cheap.

Test firing a methane rocket

bob — Mon, 07 May 2007 21:09:46 PST

Earlier this year a company called XCOR Aerospace successfully tested a 7,500 pound thrust rocket engine powered by methane and liquid oxygen. The rocket could be a crucial step in building interplanetary craft, since methane is a fuel that can be found or made on many planets in our solar system.

Plant-based Air Filter

Chris — Tue, 08 May 2007 11:51:52 PST

Pretty cool idea, and a nice accent to the modern home.

Sound Canceling Windows

Mike — Mon, 07 May 2007 08:19:24 PST

Windows that actively detect incomming vibrations and create destructive interference patterns. Pretty amazing.

Print in 3D

hairofthedogdave — Mon, 07 May 2007 15:48:46 PST

Within 5 years, three dimensional printers will be affordable for home users. How long before 3D copy machines?

Cool Looking Chess Set

jack — Sun, 06 May 2007 23:25:46 PST

A chess set made of Optical Loupes on a light box.

Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight

manofsuit — Wed, 02 May 2007 14:25:16 PST

Pretty god damn amazing.

All hail the Golden Ratio

bob — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:15:03 PST

You've probably heard that the growth patterns of many plants have a tendency to follow the Fibonacci sequence, which is linked with the Golden Ratio. This week's Science News has an article that presents a pretty clear and convincing explanation of why this happens.

DNA for the People

bob — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:46:56 PST

A grad student at Texas A&M has developed a pocket-sized device that copies DNA using a polymerase chain reaction, just as accurately and much faster than the bulky lab machines currently in use. It's powered by AA batteries. This could allow DNA based tests to be carried out in the field or in developing countries.

I know who I'm voting for this November...

bob — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:54:56 PST

Mitt Romney, Republican presidential hopeful, was asked in an interview to name his favorite book. You can tell a great man by the great books he reads.