March 5, 2011
NSFE (Not Safe For Electrosensitives)
Unless you are in an extremely remote location, your environment is likely filled with an invisible mesh of dozens of wireless signals, silently communicating. What would you see if that electronic aether was made visible? Some attempts to do just that: lightpainting the “electronic terrain” of WiFi in Oslo, “Immaterials”, visualizing the volume and shape of RFID signals, and a delightful little Rube Goldberg-esque film of devices and objects influencing each other in a chain reaction of nearfield wireless communication. Also: Wireless in the World and its sequel, along with Magnetic Movie.
Recording the Star Wars Saga
More of the Human Planet
The BBC nature series, Human Planet, has been mentioned here before. Photographer Timothy Allen traveled with the film crew and has created this audio slideshow. [more inside]
Having it both ways on an old standard
Solo duet - "Dream a Little Dream of Me." Sophie Merry, AKA Groovy Dancing Girl (previously, more, videos, to enjoy), made this video where she lip synchs and mimes both parts of the classic Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong duet.
NASA Scientist Finds Extraterrestrial Bacteria In Meteorite
Dr. Hoover has discovered evidence of microfossils similar to Cyanobacteria in freshly fractured slices of the interior surfaces of the Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites. The scientist's conclusion is that the fossilized bacteria are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in the parent bodies of these meteors, e.g. comets, moons, and other astral bodies. The implications are that life is everywhere, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets.
Wonder Woman
She's completed ten marathons, climbed 6.5 of the Seven Summits, and she's preparing to dogsled to the North Pole. Wendy Booker also has multiple sclerosis. Interview with Craig Ferguson.
Up and down
Don't Feed the Animals
Speculators Gonna Speculate
The World Development Movement (WDM) published a report six months ago on How Banking Speculation Causes Food Crises. It describes why the deregulation of commodity derivatives, specifically food commodity derivatives, has led to a state of global instability in the price of food. Political instability in the Middle East is not helping either. The European Commission is considering methods to introduce regulation in commodity derivative markets [Strategy Outline PDF]. In the meantime, speculators gonna speculate. [more inside]
Stay and play with me ... forever ...
Spanish TV hidden camera prank with a fun twist -- Place a creepy, ghostly little girl in a hotel hallway. [more inside]
Parents are the very last people who ought to be allowed to have children.
Parents are a pain. Kids are a pain. But kids have their uses--and sometimes, parents do too.
They can build things like a marble track around your room. Or just hire someone to design a pirate ship bedroom for you. Maybe teach you the alphabet in Star Wars. Build a mini catapult for your toys. Turn you into Robocop for Halloween (or the Death Star). Cut snowflakes with you in the winter. If they get tired of pulling you and your sled up that hill, they can rig an engine to do it for them. And who knows, they might inspire you to start building your own projects. [more inside]
Finally you can afford to satisfy your lust for power
The Sinclair ZX81 is 30 years old today. The ZX81 was a hugely successful low-cost home computer produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured by Timex in Dundee, Scotland. The ZX81 came with 1 KB of on-board memory, for extra gaming power Sinclair produced a 16 KB add-on memory module and a thermal printer.
Braindriver
Braindriver is a car that allows you to steer, accelerate and decelerate with nothing more than the faint electrical signals generated by the brain.
The 9 billion-people question
The Book That Tried To Kill Me
I mentally seceded from the US in 2004
Cartoonist Tim Kreider (previously, previously) of The Pain talks about the last decade, our "disastrous decline" and his latest book of cartoons and essays, Twilight Of The Assholes. Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Chess Music
"For absolutely no good reason, I found myself wondering what a chess game would sound like if played on the piano"
I'm 4 years old. AMAA.
Q: what is best in life? A: Eating cake. I mean spending time with my family.A gosh darn cute Reddit AMAA featuring a 4-year-old.
A History of Picture Books
A timeline of children's picture books, from their beginning in 1658 to present.
Crater love
Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world's largest active volcanoes. The Boston Globe presents photographer Oliver Grunewald's amazing photo essay of a June 2010 expedition to the lava lake sheltered inside the crater. [more inside]
"It [abstract art] should be enjoyed just as music is enjoyed – after a while you may like it or you may not." Jackson Pollock
“My monkey could have painted that.” 1 in 3 Art Students Can’t Tell Famous Paintings from Paintings by Monkeys. Take a look at the two images in this post. Can you tell? [more inside]
Don't Call Me Out My Name Again
Let's Get Small
Suppose you love to sail. Suppose, further, that you would like to do some cruising (travelling by sailboat) but can't afford the cost of an offshore-capable yacht. Or suppose you're reluctant to become dependent upon the many complicated systems that a modern cruising sailboat relies on. Or suppose the whole luxury RV aesthetic of modern cruising sailboats turns you off.
What then? Well, maybe you should think smaller. [more inside]
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