Links posted in March 2005
March 31, 2005
Assistance Wanted. From Craigslist-LA:
You can call me Amy. I'm a reporter for a prominent Los Angeles newspaper. My friend was kidnapped last month while we were working on a story on drug-runners in Mexico. The authorities have given me the run-around. In short, I have a problem, and no one else can help. Can I hire you?
I'm looking for a crew of approximately four -- a pilot, a veteran with leadership qualities, a bouncer-type who knows his way around a welding torch, and a face-man. Crack commando experience a plus. Own van and car a plus. Access to cropduster a definite plus.
They're so freakin' smart. In Firefox or Mozilla, Google now preloads your first search result. There are many more nifty google features (incl. a cheatsheet) you might not be aware of. Also: check out what 600673.com resolves to.
Supergravity: 'A' Supersymmetry - are particle theorists aware of this important work?
How four illegal immigrant high schoolers went head to head with M.I.T. and other top colleges in the national underwater bot championship and didn't finish last.
You know how people are afraid of the bizarre world of nanotechnology? Wouldn't it be nice "to put a friendly face on the technology—humanize it, give people a chuckle?" Thank goodness then for a new comic strip about grey goo.
March 30, 2005
Someone is a very, very, very bad person. I guess it shows just how sick I am of this story that I found this funny.
March 29, 2005
Water glowing yellow and as hard as steel? Giant planets may host superionic water.
For those coffee drinkers and bicycle riders out there, a new product has arrived to satiate you. [more inside]
March 28, 2005
The Brunching Shuttlecocks Quizzes
by Lore Sjöberg
She has flowing hair, smooth skin, languid eyes, and she's completely naked. Are we discussing here a star of one of the approximately four hundred thousand single-, double-, and triple-X-rated films out there, or one of the approximately four hundred thousand different "My Little Ponies" they flooded toy stores with in the Eighties?
That's what we're here to find out. Below is a list of names. Each name belongs to either a porn star, or a My Little Pony. Your job is to try and tell the fornicator from the latter. Supine or equine? New Wave Hookers or new-agey hoofers? You make the call.
[ Porn Star ] [ Pony ] Porn Star Pony
Cherry Treats
Lucky Star
Love Melody
Daisy Sweet
Sunshine Blue
Honey Rose
Ruby Lips
Misty Rain
Green Eyes
Heart Throb
Chocolate Delight
Sweetie Pie
Just in case you were wondering, you can *easily* configure Windows 2000/XP to set its clock from the NIST Time Servers. [more inside]
March 27, 2005
The Old Negro Space Program - The Shocking-But-False Story of America's Blackstronauts
Tweakerville - Streaming Aqua Team Hunger Force, Arrested Development, Harvey Birdman, Space Ghost, Family Guy, and The Venture Bros. Marked NSFW because it does have some adult content (if you click on Featured Porn Stars).
March 26, 2005
Oral Sex in Accordance with God's Will - from Sex In Christ (Sexuality According to the Word of God)
Happy Holi, everyone! Holi is one of the cooler holiday celebrations in India. The most notable feature is probably the color wars that happen nationwide. Balloons and squirt guns filled with dyed water are aimed at everybody and people look like they walked through a tie-dye bomb by the end of the day. Moreover, no one is really safe which makes it fun for kids: if you're outside and wearing white you're probably getting soaked at some point. It's also a time to celebrate women, and particularly newlywed women. Plus, there seems to be plenty of food to go around.
Reading about it got me all excited, so look for a Bollywood movie in the next few weeks at ExMFC (maybe with a Holi theme?)
March 25, 2005
Oh no, not the hardbound bible [mp3]! According to the email that accompanied this link, a Jack in the Box employee was leaving a message for his boss about being late to work when he witnessed an accident.
I think part of the reason I like this is the guy's laugh.
OK, everyone knows that Stairway to Heaven has backwards masking. But Britney Spears? Crazy. Judge for yourself.
Can anyone tell me a reason why this isn't completely stupid? I can't believe that anyone finds Bush credible when he says that he is supporting the spread of democracy, and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. How the hell do F-16s help stop terrorism? Ugh. At least we aren't selling them to Uzbekistan.
I really shouldn't read google news or metafilter anymore because it just gives me that hell-in-a-handbasket feeling. To whit:
- Ohio's gay marriage ban defangs domestic assault law for unmarried straight couples
- Goddamned retarded mistakes in NYC math books (including misspelling "Fourth" on the cover)
- and, of course, where would my depression be without Peak Oil discussed in Congress?
March 24, 2005
this is one of the greatest fark headlines evar!
I wanna know who ends up with the playstation portable first.
my money's on nedbecky.
I'm the kind of person that immediately stops paying attention when people talk about math much beyond differential equations or what I call "useful math", but I do likes me some higher math that I can hold in my hand. Hence, this thing, which makes me think of beckto's qualifier.
Some folks (and some cats) don't appreciate the complexities involved in creating a piece of great art.
Get Your War On is pretty good this week.
Wouldn't you think that most people would be happy to have their entertainment projected super-big on their wall at home? Well anyway, at least I sure would. I guess you have to learn the hard way what ol' Honest Abe (apocryphally, at least) knew long ago: there's always a critic (usually a vocal one).
[more inside]
March 23, 2005
The "press release" Lawrence Krauss was talking about. Those of you who came to Wednesday's colloquium by Lawrence Krauss (of Physics of Star Trek fame) may have missed his reference to press releases in the academic community.
For those of you that missed the talk itself, there is . . . [more inside]
Check out this email I got from the Moveon.org PAC about the whole Terri Schiavo legal wrangling ordeal. Talk about a bunch of double talking republican ass-munches. I guess states rights are only for keeping negroes out of white schools and evolution out of the textbooks, right boys? [more inside]
You know, if you're going to kill your friends and enemies in the fabulously successful game Halo2, why not degrade their corpses after their entirely timely demise? THAT'S what gaming is all about.
And I'm proud to be an american...
Southern IMAX theaters won't show movie that includes references to evolution.
I for one would like my feeding tube removed please.
Damnit, ever since checking out Ziggy's post and the links to those condoms, amazon.com thinks I'm gay. Here's the recomendation that was sitting on the front page: So you want to be gay? Here's what you'll need.
It's a pretty funny list, and ironic that I have the barbera streisand album already...
Got an original Creative Labs Audigy sound card? You might be able to collect up to $62.50 from them in a class action settlement.
VIEWSONIC TPCV1250S PM-1G 40GB ( TPCV1250S-1303 )
Features:
* 10.00 GHz AMD Athlon
* 2000 MB DIMM
* 30000 GB IDE Hard Disk
Read the Comments
March 22, 2005
As an alternative to their more frequent Commentary Tracks of the Damned, The Onion AV Club this week has Commentary Tracks of the Blessed in which they comment on some really good, or, at the very least, fitting, commentary tracks to a few movies. [more inside]
The Brawny Man knows it's hard, that thing you're going through ... be sure to explore the rest (hit "Create a Greeting").
March 21, 2005
Check out the new mural at Discount Electronics of Michael Dell and Bill Gates.
March 20, 2005
Is appearing as a guest on The Simpsons bad for your health? Has America's favorite family gone crazy with megalomania? An investigative reporter reveals the secret deaths behind the series.
March 19, 2005
First, read the summary by Men's Health of the 30 hottest things to say to a naked woman. Now, read the alternative list produced by Defective Yeti: The 30 least hot things to say to a naked woman.
March 18, 2005
I thought that the new nominee for the NASA head position might be a good choice, seeing as he is a scientist and all. Leave it to What's New this week to point out all his prior work for Star Wars under Regan and an interpretation of his testimony to the House Science Committee. [more inside]
"Using accelerators we can make single particles (like a proton) go as fast as the speed of light (300'000 km/sec)." which is, amazingly, the claim made by CERN on their educating the public pages. scroll down to the middle somewhere. [more inside]
March 17, 2005
Post-it® Mario - UCSC Engineering Building Gets an 8bit Upgrade
Are you nerdy enough (and rich enough) to wear a slide rule on your wrist? Maybe if they made a budget version...
This is interesting, it's a program that takes the DRM off of your AAC files that you bought through itunes. hymn-project.org
March 16, 2005
I was listening to the loveline featuring the characters who played uncle rico and pedro tonight, which made me act on a feeling I had. After I finished (insert masturbation joke here) I wanted to confirm my feeling that uncle rico (Jon Gries) from Napoleon Dynamite was the same guy who played Lazlo Holleyfeld in real genius. Well, turns out it was. [more inside]
Forklift safety video. Starts out slow, but give it time. Knowledge of German not necessary.
Yay, the senate approves drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge. Guess it's not really a refuge now though.
Bryson shows skill as a writer and adds colour to his account with many alarming and well-referenced stories, often focusing on individuals. Unfortunately, his desire to make the book more exciting leads him into the all-too-familiar trap of tarring with the same brush anything associated with, or even sounding like, fluoride or fluoridation. This is especially ironic after he starts the book with "notes on terminology", saying "fluorine and fluoride should not be confused". However, in the next section he tells us "the same potent chemical that is used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, to prepare sarin nerve gas ... is what we give to our children". No doubt we can expect a series of books on chlorine ("the same potent chemical used in insecticides is what we put on our children's food") and oxygen ("the same potent chemical used in the strongest acids is what we allow our children to breathe"). [more inside]
Could this be the last NES you'll ever play? Somehow I doubt it.
March 15, 2005
I'm sorry about this but the expression on this monkey's face makes me laugh. [more inside]
I know you guys are awfully conservative but drilling in the alaskan wildlife refuge is stupid. Take a moment to just sign some online petitions and perhaps email them to your friends. A polar bear will thank you. [more inside]
Don't worry, I'm okay... But the f'n jerk a** drove away! [more inside]
Illustrated Lyrics to Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam [flash].
I want a weiner
On a wizard on a way
and I called and I said and
I won't wanna say it again
March 14, 2005
Here's a good idea, use the sun to illuminate rooms. I've seen similar ideas in the past but these guys have created a hybrid system that supplants fluorescent lighting during the day if the sun is shining brightly. I think our basement lab could use a some new lighting...
A few months ago, online casino GoldenPalace.com made news by purchasing the famous Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich on EBay for $28,000. I thought it would be fun to look at their other auctions. (May need to login to Ebay to view). [more inside]
Time Machine For Sale...SOLD - "From what I put together from all of the findings is that Dr. J. S. Strauss who built the machine in 2239 went into the past to the early 1900's and the time machine broke down or caught on fire or something. "
How to read a tape measure. more complicated than i thought (trivial to flip and mr. lane, however), but then i have only the barest knowledge of trusses and the like. [more inside]
March 13, 2005
Here's how I'd do things differently, if I were an Evil Overlord
March 12, 2005
Wow, this would be an interesting movie to go see at SXSW if I had the patience to stand in line and pay money.
Magazine responses to a subscriber not renewing their subscription:
Expired - Send a few more issues until a data entry clerk in the Renewals department finally updates the records
Tired - Don't send any more issues. Send lots of letters warning the subscriber about all the awesome content he/she is missing
Wired - Hire a collection agency!?
[more inside]
Check out this cool Rube Goldberg machine that some Cambridge students built. [more inside]
SXSW is almost upon us. Cool stuff in extended. [more inside]
March 11, 2005
The underground internet gameboy development community:
Ok, this has to be one of the stranger things I've heard in a while. McDonals to outsource their drive through intercom operators. Thankfully not to india (no offense to the indian readers here), maybe south dakota or so... [more inside]
Wow an american car company made a good decision for once.
I always wondered why the hell social scientists hadn't done this shit ages ago. Yet more evidence that income inequality in this country is pretty absurd.
March 10, 2005
You had better watch out or the Wildcat will run you over and then do a burnout on your flattened carcass.
Search for your favorite patents or trademarks. Be careful what you search for however because I was deeply saddened to learn that "pj's carolina critter sauce" was already taken as well as "porta john". Also, check out the trademark taken out on the "fleshlight". And last but not least the "poop" trademarks, because I've got the humor of a 13 year old boy.
You had better watch out or the Javelinas will run you over and then do a burnout on your flattened carcass. [more inside]
The source of lots of things physlet ah, fun little java physics demos. You know they're nifty.
Google News now has a customizable feature. You don't want to see the Health or Business sections? Get rid of them! You need to keep up to date on the lastest video game stories? Create a custom section!
Web comic strip writer Aaron Williams pointed out this article about the Israeli Defence Force having some issues with D&D. [more inside]
at that point I had 6 javelinas turn on me as I was trying to back up and get out of there The danger is real, the danger is real. Get them guns, we gots borders to protect and piggies to kill!
The killer lakes of Cameroon are nothing to fuck around with. Have a look around this site for some unbelievable natural terror.
Perfect gifts for the alkaline earther in you. This shirts are awesome! [more inside]
March 09, 2005
Gizzoogle
Do I need to explain? Learn more at WashizzingtonPost.com
This is bizarre and a little sad. I always hoped the guy could figure it out. Or maybe Tony La Russa let his obsession with righty-lefty matchups get out of control to the point that this is the ONLY way he can find that left handed power on the bench. Ah well.
This story really saddens me, looks like nasa isn't really intersted in science anymore...
The text below was coppied from nature for those of us without access to that journal. [more inside]
CSI: Texas - lecture on-campus this Friday.
this is really sad and stay away from the cassava balls.
"The vendor who sold the cassava balls insisted nothing was wrong with them and ate a few to prove the point. Now she, too, is in critical condition."
Now why doesn't this happen to W. when he insists nothing's wrong with our environment, economy, etc.?
March 08, 2005
You probably don't know this about me but I've got a dam phobia, which is why this terrifying story has my hair standing on end. This is pretty much the scenario I had envisioned... [more inside]
Ever wanted to play Unreal Tournament, Quake, or Doom (or Heretic?) but can't bear the thought of sitting at your desk? (I know, totally unlikely situation, but bear with me). Why not get a darkened room filled with blacklights (like the one here) and build your own Lazer Tag system? While you're at it, encode the IR light so you can tell who shot who and keep frag totals. Hell, you can even wield the Trogdornator.
What You'll Wish You'd Known. Somewhat inspiring essay on how to do Big Things. Written for highschoolers but its never too late. Read it and see why it's ironic to be posting it here...
Bye Bye Bethe - lived to be 98.
March 07, 2005
FYI, if you leave a sprinkler on in fairbanks alaska during the winter you might end up with a 150ft monolith.
The Hunter S. Thompson tributes just keep coming in... David Halberstam, Norman Mailer and others recall the Freak Power Party Chairman; unsurprisingly, the freepers disagree.
turns out that snake venom originated from proteins found throughout the snakes body and all it took was a very small change to these proteins to make them toxic. evolution is still a sham though...
looks like sonoluminescence really is producing plasma at the core of the bubbles, no word on fusion yet. the secret to producing bright bubbles is to use sulfuric acid and argon, now hot the hell did they come up with that?
A panoramic view from Everest Make sure to scroll right. For those of you that wonder what the world would look like from atop Mt. Everest.
Why do I not feel sorry for sony right now? Oh I know, they're the idiots that keep trying to force us to use their stupid ass proprietary media in their overpriced electronics. Sony is the genius company that introduced an mp3 player that wouldn't play mp3's so everyone would have to convert all of those gigs of songs into the sony proprietary format. Good call...
March 06, 2005
So this is really scary. I'm prone to over-reaction though, but it still seems like some shit's gonna go down.
Manly Kneads - Massage for Men
Note:: NSFW because of picture.
There are all sorts of funny goodies here, too many things to even begin to quote. Make sure you read the section What to Expect During a Session
McDonald's Bathroom Attendant - Latest prank by Improv Everywhere, as seen before (The Moebius and Megstore) [more inside]
go austin go, way to make national news!
March 05, 2005
March 04, 2005
For those of you who like to listen to loveline as much as I do, here's a link to recorded shows in mp3 format.
Weekend Planner : An excel spreadsheet to keep track of your BAC. Link opens my plans for Saturday night. [more inside]
Looks like G Hays is gonna be hurtin' w/ his 'burban, gas prices to jump 24 to 27 cents a gallon in coming weeks.
Flatstock
is a free poster art exhibition held at the convention center on Saturday and Sunday of SXSW. My friend Bryce, who runs his own letterpress company, is coming down to exhibit; he says the Flatstock show is mind-blowingly good.
SxSW is soon... Is anyone getting a wristband? Any bands coming that you like? That you're curious about? That your friend from high school's college roomate's intern's boyfriend plays in? Share your SxSW picks below! (Mine are inside). [more inside]
March 03, 2005
So it turns out that someone went into the student shop and "jimmied" the cabinet door open to get at a tool. Inside is a copy of the email that Dr Downer forewarded to us...
Who the fuck is that dumb? [more inside]
March 02, 2005
Visit North Korea - Welcome to the website of the Tourism Bureau for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. [more inside]
Wow, I'm not sure how I would react to a teacher like this guy. Be sure to watch the video link and note how good the resolution is. That kid must have a nice camera phone.
Women's Landscaping Stencils - "because there's nothing worse than an asymmetrical trim." A new product from Amazon.com.
Presenting Hack A Day: the only website specifically designed with splatnikGanglion in mind®. Witness:
- ipod shuffle disassembly
- use an old palm pilot screen for lcd linux/robotics projects
- new communication protocol using dart guns and RFID tags
- for the discerning pablo in your life, two versions of cell phone jammer.
- and who wouldn't want an Amiga-based MP3 player in their car
March 01, 2005
The Boondocks is one of my favorite comics of all time, largely because of strips like this one. (Image inside) [more inside]
Let's have a look at the trends that shape our world... So true. So true.
A followup to earlier news about Fark.com buying the naming rights to the FleetCenter: Fark went with The Boston Garden (search for Drew in page), since the other names wouldn't fly. In fact, neither would JeterCenter, the suggestion of a bitter Yankees fan who won a later auction. Think this is starting to be more trouble than it's worth? [more inside]
You just got served . . . uh, I mean curled! A realmedia video posted on NPR and hosted by the CBC of what one curling analyst said was the best game-winning shot he'd ever seen.
Journal of Nutrition: Feeding kids a vegan diet is unethical; leads to smaller brains and bodies and lower intelligence
Those developmental stages are important. It's probably safe to say that Kenyan kids probably aren't getting the essential nutrients present in meat in other ways like American vegan kids might.
Optimus Prime Dies of Prostate Cancer - Popular Transformer’s Death Calls for Annual Screening [more inside]
WWII In Color - The Internet's Largest Collection of Rare Color Photographs from World War II.
Engineers devise invisibility shield
Need I say more?
Extra, Extra! Stanford discriminates against republicans, idiots with unfair hiring policies! The best response to the right-wing claim of ivory tower discrimination against conservative faculty applicants that i have seen. [more inside]