April 1, 2008
And I Feel Fine
The End Of The World As We Know It. If you want to imagine the catastrophe - how you would cope, what would you do to save yourself and your family - where do you turn for advice?... The idea of dying together, all of us, in some ways seems less appalling than the thought of going alone.
Via.
ADA-Compliant Pornography
Porn for the Blind is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing audio descriptions of sample movie clips from adult web sites. This service is provided free of charge. [NSFW]
You don't want to get hit by one of these.
Mack Truck History. Mack Truck Photos. Mack Truck Forums. Lots and lots and lots of Mack Truck videos.
Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial
It's Coming Down Fast
Gravelter Skelter [video, WTF content].
High-Tech Lightning Watching
A cool map of lightning frequency over time across the globe. And a live version for the U.S. Heck, a zoomed-in version on the Northeast for the past 60 minutes. It turns out that you can even buy a small Lightning Detector to map local lightning strikes on your PC. It listens for the signature static crashes from lightning, sometimes called sferics (short for atmospheric noise), much like you can hear on an AM radio during a storm. You can even listen to streaming audio from NASA's (Alabama) VLF receiver.
Biographicon: crowd-sourcing non-notables
100,000,000 years
The little windows in the walls of time amber provides aren't always open. Opaque amber is common and, until now, has hidden away many fossil creatures. 100,000,000 years.... via bbc [more inside]
Intelligence is Sexy
Hot For Words - a youtube classroom series on etymology taught by Marina, a... hot Russian philologist. Mildly NSFW. [more inside]
Dancing boys of Afghanistan
An ancient tradition or despicable exploitation? As in ancient Greece and Shakespeare's theatre, boys dress as women to entertain men. A hint of Afghan homosexuality was included in the movie The Kite Runner. An Uzbekistan theatre group is presenting two plays on this theme in Seattle this month. The homosexual element of Afghan culture has waxed and waned depending on who is invading their country at the time.
Biomimetics
Biomimetics: Design by Nature. "Burs on a dog's coat led to the invention of Velcro. That's an example of biomimetics—the young science of adapting designs from nature to solve modern problems. Now it may be coming of age."
To the library!
IDF Hit Syrian Nuke Site Built with NK Help
According to the English language edition of the Asahi Shimbun, an Israeli airstrike against Syria last September targeted a nuclear-related facility that was under construction with technical assistance from North Korea, according to Israel's prime minister...It is apparently the first time that the intended target had been disclosed to the head of a foreign government. Original Japanese link here.
Via the wonderful Marmot's Hole. [more inside]
Mario Paint Hero
Mario Paint Composer emulates and extends the composer function from Mario Paint for the SNES. It has been used extensively to cover classic game music, popular hits both old and new, some of the greatest songs on earth, and even the occasional classical piece
Facial Expression Simulator Lets You Play with Emotions
Facial Expression Simulator Apparently it's useful for helping autistics learn facial expressions, among other things. Related.
How To Speak Hip
Max Mosley's little vice
Max Mosley, controversial president of the FIA (the governing board of F1 and other international motorsports), made headline news this past weekend for a "sick nazi orgy with 5 hookers" that was caught on tape (posted, but has since been pulled down). He has apologized, but does not plan to leave his position, despite many who feel his vices may detract from motor racing.
How to breed a minotaur, step one.
"At Once Idiotic and Utterly Mesmerizing"
The hippest of today's French youth can't get enough of Tecktonik--a dance (YT), cultural movement and apparent marketing ploy (in French), Tecktonic is a style of dance characterized by its lack of footwork and embrace of various ridiculous arm gestures. Coupled with a strong fashion sense (in French) involving copious amounts of neon, pseudo (or full-on) mullet haircuts and jeans that could be painted on, Tecktonik is a dance craze that, since its birth in 2000 at a Parisian nightclub, has only increased in popularity. [more inside]
Republican microverse
"In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue—that is why academic politics are so bitter."
The Michigan Federation of College Republicans deals with back-biting, bribery, barratry and small stakes. [more inside]
Classic Tales and Fables
Over 2000 classic tales and fables including Aesop's Fables, Bulfinch's Mythology, Indian "Why" Stories, tales by Oscar Wilde, Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling, Louisa May Alcott, L. Frank Baum and Harriet Beecher Stowe and stories about Abraham Lincoln, Robin Hood and Baron Munchausen. And more! The folk and fairytale collection is particularly rich, with hundreds of stories from all over the world.
I'd like to say hello to all people on this board.
Who is Janek Makowski? One man, in a struggle against the trolls and spammers of the internet. One man, spreading the friendliness across untold forums. One man, Janek Makowski. [more inside]
TMI LOL
"When you have a TV at full blast, and there's a talking head, you hear his intake of breaths in between sentences really, really clearly. Ha-ha! And if you listen carefully for those, as though that was the important part of communication, you wind up not really hearing anything else! It is just a person gasping for breath! Ha-ha. The effect is especially great with Nancy Pelosi." Gene Weingarten spends a day with the media firehose. [more inside]
Slipping the mortal coil
Life Before Death - (from the site) "This sombre series of portraits taken of people before and after they had died is a challenging and poignant study. The work by German photographer Walter Schels and his partner Beate Lakotta, who recorded interviews with the subjects in their final days, reveals much about dying - and living."
Lords a-blogging
Lords of the Blog is a collaborative blog written by Members of the House of Lords for the purposes of public engagement - a pilot project. [more inside]
NKOTB Reunion?
The New Kids on the Block are getting back together according to the Boston Globe. It wouldn't be the first time the Globe played an April Fool's Day prank on its readers. But it's also in RollingStone. Countdown to the reunion. NKOTB myspazz.
Immigration on the UK political agenda
Record levels of immigration have had "little or no impact" on the economic well-being of Britons says a report (pdf) from an influential House of Lords committee. Initial reactions from the various parties, institutes and publications have been largely predictable. Coming so closely on the back of the BBC's recent "White" series on white working-class Britain, it looks likely to provoke some debate on British attitudes to immigration (pdf). [more inside]
Redskinecks
Finnish band Leningrad Cowboys perform "Sweet Home Alabama" backed by the Red Army Choir.
Matchbox Computing
"Once you've constructed your Hexapawn opponent, it's time to start playing against it... If you play this game repeatedly ... you'll quickly notice that your matchbox opponent plays better and better until it is unbeatable!" Martin Gardner created a game called Hexapawn, and also devised an artificially intelligent opponent you can build yourself out of matchboxes and colored beads. Bonus link: An interview with Martin Gardner.
The Adventure of Many Lifetimes
"Google and Virgin Group today announced the launch of Virgle Inc., a jointly owned and operated venture dedicated to the establishment of a human settlement on Mars." Virgle - with their 100 year mission to boldly go where no tycoons have gone before - to Mars! Why not join their startup civilization (apply here folks), become a pioneer and live in Virgle City! But for all of you potential astronauts out there - don't look here!
3D Map of Shanghai
3D map of Shanghai. Double Click a building and get a pic of the building My Chinese isn't up to it but if you double click a building you seem to get a pic of the building and nearby flats for rent. The links on the lower left seem to take you the nearest McDonalds, Hospital, and KFC.
You start in the new area of Pudong, go west of the river (direction left) to find the older sites. The cranes on building sites is a nice touch.
If you want to see Shanghai from ground level try here:
City8
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Gray. What, you expected something else?
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ShelBroCo which has brought us:
The ShelBroCo Chain Cleaning System
FasterCard Titanium
The Nanodrive
Product W
Carrababy
Tork-Grip
Real Man Bicycle Saddles, and
SYMMETRISPOKES!;
this year brings us.....
Crank on Captain Bike. In memoriam to Sheldon Brown.
The ShelBroCo Chain Cleaning System
FasterCard Titanium
The Nanodrive
Product W
Carrababy
Tork-Grip
Real Man Bicycle Saddles, and
SYMMETRISPOKES!;
this year brings us.....
Crank on Captain Bike. In memoriam to Sheldon Brown.
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