July 18, 2008
Totem Destroyer
Totem Destroyer... a puzzle game where you strategically remove blocks in order to lower a golden idol closer to the ground. Get it within 3 squares from the bottom, but not touching it, and you move on to the next level. (via)
Guinness World Records Podcast
Meet the World's Greatest Distance Zorber [what's zorbing?], some dude who put ten rattlesnakes in his mouth?, the rellepS drawkcaB tsetsaF s'dlroW, TheWorld'sFastestTalker, and a host of others who are the World's ____-est via the Guinness World Records podcast. [all links are in .mp3 format except to the main site.]
The Sacred Mushroom
One Step Beyond - The Sacred Mushroom. A 1961 episode of One Step Beyond investigates whether or not psilocybin mushrooms can give you extra-sensory perception. Part 2, Part 3. [Via Neurophilosophy]
Vanhacking
In a time before the Prius, the custom conversion van ruled the roadways. Pushing the boundaries of the airbrush form, testing the limits of mobile interior design, featuring the latest in automatic pink leather bed, compact toaster, 8-track, and love machine technology, the 70s van was celebrated in song and cinema. You started with a factory model, new or used, and ended at a place limited onlyby your creativity, your budget, and your old lady's patience (NSFW). Ford could make you a man.If push came to shove, you could even live in your van. It was fantasy on wheels: van-tastic, man. [more inside]
Italian metal band Fratello Metallo's lead singer is a Capuchin friar
Br. Cesare Bonizzi, "the heavy metal friar"(watch out for the volume on that last link), says he was inspired by the energy of Metallica and that he is not trying to convert anyone to Christianity, but rather to "convert [listeners] to life" and get them to live their lives "full stop."
Leopard Vs Crocodile.
It's the Pew News IQ... Comin' right at you...
What's YOUR Pew News IQ? (not to be confused with the New Zoo Revue, even though it rhymes) We've discussed Pew's surveys about news knowledge before, but this time you can test yourself. Just 12 eeeee-zeee questions (not 100). Wendell got them all correct. Can you? [more inside]
How do you rate as a husband or wife of the 1930s
This scale was first brought to my attention by the blog "The Unwound Road". It appears someone took the original 1930s rating scale and posted it to Flickr. From there it was a natural progression to Internet quiz. So, how would you rate as a husband or wife in the 1930s? Answer 100 true or false type questions and find out!
how I'll dream fast asleep
The flora....The flora....
They started out as spritely saplings, but something went horribly wrong.... The lucky ones merely got a little funny, the others became tormented, monstrous. Creepy Trees.
Kay Ryan is the new Poet Laureate
Magnificent Obsessions # 5,184
MIT TechTV
The best years of their lives
Listen, can you hear them talk? They might be soft spoken, and not easy to get along with, but they can still command (previously) our respect. Read how they are looked after around the world, and the stories which affect their daily lives. Also, here (pdf) is a comprehensive study of their living conditions in different kinds of societies across the globe.
Bleeps and bloops
NASA's Deep Impact Films Earth as an Alien World
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has photographed Earth from 31 million miles away. NASA has woven the images together, creating a video of Earth as the moon orbits around it. Videos: 1 | 2 [.mov]. [more inside]
Duke Nukem Trilogy
The developers of the long awaited vaporware title masterpiece, Duke Nukem Forever, had previously expressed their disdain for the E3 game conference, calling it "irrelevant nowadays," but in a surprise move they showed up for the conference and released this stunning four minute trailer for the three new handheld Duke games that are in development. "Duke Nukem Trilogy trailer redefines awesome," declares joystiq.com
Feel like a dork for humming the Superman theme? Now you can SING IT.
Mario is at bat, man! Just in time to handle your jones for singalong fan bonding, to speak the heretofore unspoken truths of super jawesome classic film themes. Also he dresses up, like it's, um, Halloween.
Type is Art
Type is art. Take little pieces of letterforms and make something new.
An Engineer's Delight
Encyclopedia of Greece, from ancient times to the modern day, focusing on science and technology
Hellenica is an encyclopedia of Greek culture, from classical Hellas, through the Byzantine Empire until the modern day, though its focus is on antiquity and especially the science and technology of Ancient Greece. Featuring technical diagrams and explications, there's no better site if you seek information on gigantic galleys, now obscure great Greek mathematicians, the last still working Ancient lighthouse and gears and how they were used by Archimedes and other ancients. This is not to denigrate other sections of the site, such as the page on the Olympics (including a Google Map of the site of the games), biographies of ancient, Byzantine and modern Greeks, the warring and healing of the Byzantines or the overview of Greek literature, taking in antiquity, the medieval era and modern times. That said, Hellenica is at its finest when treating science and technology.
Not Marvel
"That kid at your door with a magazine order form will tell you a story -- part sad, part hopeful."
Winding their way down from California, they lost a few agents. Two were arrested in Albuquerque after they allegedly forced their way into the home of an elderly couple and beat them to death, raping the wife first.... Then, in West Texas, a van flipped, killing one agent and injuring three others. That's seven agents out of commission. That's about a $2,800 loss per day. After they turn in their cash and receipts, two agents, a pudgy girl and a lanky guy, hit the parking lot for a smoke.... It's a blast, they say. You lie all day to sell subscriptions, and you unwind afterward with some smoke. You tell the customers that you live a few streets over, that you go to the local school and play on the soccer team, that you just sold subscriptions to their neighbor, and the idiots buy it because by now you've got it down to a science. And on to the next town. And the next.
Forget about this," she says, "it's for interest only."
A recently uncovered musical experiment by Delia Derbyshire predicted the sound of modern dance music three decades before it became fashionable. [more inside]
An effluent tribute for the man who did so much to help the affluent.
The San Francisco Department of Elections has qualified our initiative. The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco has won its ballot initiative to honor George W. Bush: Should The City And County of San Francsico Rename The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W Bush Sewage Plant?
Something Awful Forum Hilariously Hijacks CBC Anthem Contest
Something awful in a new CBC anthem. The CBC's Hockey Night in Canada is one of the highest-rated programs on Canadian television. It's something of a national shrine to our beloved sport. For the past 40-odd years, it's had a distinctive theme which most Canadians could hum. After something of a fiasco, the CBC lost the rights to the theme. They're running a contest to replace the venerated theme. A Something Awful forum user composed a truly dreadful entry ("mostly comprised of cat and sheep sounds, baby cries, and gunshots/explosions"), and got the community to 'vote it up' on the Anthem contest site. You really need to hear the awfulness to truly appreciate it. [more inside]
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