March 2007
44 posts
Chocolate Christ art exhibit cancelled
David Pescovitz:
Artist Cosimo Cavallaro’s 200 pound, milk chocolate sculpture of Christ was to be exhibited next week at Manhattan’s Lab Gallery but the Roger Smith Hotel that houses the exhibition space cancelled the show today. After hotel officials bowed to pressure from pissed off Catholics, Gallery director Matt Semler resigned. From the Associated Press (image from...
Day Clock, for the Approximate Time
For those who don’t necessarily value precision or perfection, here’s the clock for you. What time is it? Just tell ‘em it’s always 4:20, and hey, at least you’ll know what day it is.
Doesn’t today seem like a Thursday? Only the $40 Day Clock will know for sure. Could be the perfect gift for that April Fool on your list. – Charlie White
Product Page...
PRIZE: Ask's rivals respond
A prize — a $50 Amazon gift certificate — to the person who supplies us with the first published photograph of the new billboard on Highway 101. You’ll see it heading south from San Francisco to go down to the Valley. White letters. Blue background. No obvious sponsor. A simple slogan: The algorithm killed Jeeves. Excellent: a slanging match! We’re hoping this is...
Pencils made from cremated humans
Cory Doctorow:
Artist Nadine Jarvis can fabricate pencils from carbon left over by incinerating human remains — it’s part of a larger “research project into post mortem.” She notes that “240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash - a lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind.”
Link
(via Cribcandy)
(via Jason’s shared items in Google...
The Difference
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
Otters holding hands
David Pescovitz:
Here’s a video of sea otters holding hands that will make your teeth hurt. Awwww (Thanks, Lindasy Tiemeyer!)
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
Afternoon Tonic: Sad Kermit Covers Johnny Cash...
Are you sitting down? Into a bathtub of tears? Unwrapping a cupcake filled only with pain?
Perhaps then you are prepared for the most gut-wrenching puppet story since Howdy Doody was infested by nematodes: Sad Kermit covering the Johnny Cash version of “Hurt.”
Bonus: Johnny Cash on the Muppet Show [YouTube]
Share This
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
CULTURE: Who Wrote Frankenstein?
Fittingly, the story behind the creation of the novel Frankenstein is almost as famous as that of the monster itself.
Mary Shelley, only nineteen at the time, spent the cold summer of 1816 with her future husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley; Lord Byron; and Byron’s doctor, John William Polidori. Due to the subnormal temperatures, the group was forced to stay indoors where they entertained each...
MUSIC: Against Me! Delays 'New Wave'
Folk-punk tunesmiths turned full-fledged rock stars Against Me! have revealed that New Wave, their major label debut, will be pushed back to a summer release date. In a recent interview, frontman Tom Gabel blamed “mixing issues” for the delay and seemed as bummed as fans.
“It’s really frustrating,” Gabel says. “I’d prefer to have it [a record] come out...
Answers To Yesterday's Pop Quiz
Time’s up, people! Here’s yesterday’s pop quiz again, in case you forgot:
RADIOHEAD SONG, OR DRUG FOUND IN ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S AUTOPSY REPORT?
A) Myxomatosis
B) Diazepam
C) Diphenhydramine
D) Polyethylene
E) Melatonin
F) Atropine
A, D, E: Radiohead songs
B, C, F: Drugs found in Anna Nicole Smith’s autopsy report
Thanks for playing!
(via Jason’s...
Alternative Spring Break Devolves Into Real Spring...
BILOXI, MS—Rebuilding is now even further behind schedule, with some houses requiring extensive repainting after being covered in volunteers’ school colors and slogans. (via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
YouTube API Call -... →
Translate this to RSS ftw.
MARK ZUCKERBERG: Oh Boy That Crazy Dot-Com Boy!...
NICK DOUGLAS — Why even bother recapping the Wall Street Journal’s latest profile of Mark Zuckerberg? Andy Kessler’s profile of the Facebook founder (published with the embarrassingly Matthew-Perry-esque illo shown here) is a parody of itself, really, like a Mad Lib built from all the other silly profiles of him and his site. In fact, the only surprising thing about this profile...
Video: Close Up Lightning Strike
This bloke is lucky enough to be pointing the camera in the right direction at the right time and catches a lightning strike. [via] (via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
Dream Girl
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
Print Media Demise, Cont.
Lots of fascinating commentary the last few days on the demise of print media:
Tim O’Reilly: SF Chronicle in Trouble
Jessica Guynn: InfoWorld To Fold Magazine
David Lazarus: Here, let me throw myself under this bus
David Lazarus: Gets up from under bus, throws himself in front of train
Print media is what it is. I can’t imagine anyone will be printing news on paper twenty years from now in...
Free Netflix Rentals For Brooklyn Residents?
The Brooklyn Public Library may replace its DVD inventory with a Netflix subscription. According to the NY Post, talks are underway to offer free Netflix deliveries to any Brooklyn resident with a library card. The proposal makes sense when you consider the challenge of maintaining a DVD collection in fifty-eight branches.
“DVDs are very expensive to buy, and they’re also very...
a softer world
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
Breaking: PS3 Folding: PS3 Triples Folding At...
This is freaking amazing. I was checking out some message boards last night on the Folding Forums, at Stanford, and discovered that a small legion of 13,000 PS3s are running the Folding at Home app, yet accounting for about 56 percent of the computing power in the project (PS3s = 316 measured TFLOPS). On average between the super fast and super slow PCs, 159,033 PCs are only doing about half...
Does The New NBC Universal/News Corp. Video...
Well, we were hopeful that the new effort by NBC Universal and News Corp. to create their own video distribution system was actually a step in the right direction, but as the details come out, it’s sounding like it’s going to face a lot of challenges in gaining any serious traction. The official announcement isn’t entirely clear on the details, but there are some troublesome...
Cutlery with wrenches on the end
Cory Doctorow:
This tool-cutlery (knives, spoons and forks with wrenches on the other end) is just fantastic — though at $24 per place setting, it’s the kind of thing you might want to reserve for good company and special occasions.
Link
(via Make)
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
it's true, people do ralph all the time
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Project Wonderful - Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0
March 23rd 2007:
I meant to mention sooner that Dinosaur Comics is now running weekly in the Portland Mercury, CLEARLY the most kickin’ paper in Portland! If you are in Portland...
Error'd: Now Hiring SQL Injectors
Dice.com has done some ridiculous advertising in the past and, as Robert B. points out, they’re still doing ridiculous advertising. Now they’re targeting SQL developers. If this is actually how you do job searches on their site, they may want to add a disclaimer; Please do not enter the following in either field: “;DELETE FROM JOBS;SELECT * FROM JOBS WHERE “1” =...
Oh Deer
Did you hear about the Wisconsin man who is charged with having sex with a dead deer that he found in a ditch?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1122061deer1.html
His defense was that the deer was already dead, so it wasn’t technically an “animal” when the sex happened. The judge disagreed and ruled that a dead deer is still an animal.
This decision sets a dangerous precedent. By the...
Elephant shit paper
Cory Doctorow:
The Elephant Poo Poo Paper company makes stationery and related goods out of dried, odorless elephant shit:
We can make about 25 large sheets of paper from a single piece (or turd) of elephant poo poo!!! That translates into about 10 standard sized journals including the front and back covers! Neat, huh!?!?!?
Link
(via Cribcandy)
(via Jason’s shared items in Google...
Office Supplies Fetish: Memo pad mousepad
For those of us who like to write things down with pen on paper even when we’re at the computer, Galison Memo Mouse Pads save desk space and keep your important, scribbled lists in sight.
In essence you’re mousing right on the pad itself, which comes in a few different styles - a day calendar, or my favorite, a “My Lists” version, with sections to write down people to...
Top 6 List of Programming Top 10 Lists
Presented, in no particular order, for your reading pleasure: my top 6 list of programming top 10 lists. To keep this entry concise, I’ve only quoted a brief summary of each item. If any of these sound interesting to you, I encourage you to click through and read the original author’s thoughts in more detail.
Jerry Weinberg: The 10 Commandments of Egoless Programming
...
Blagofaire
(via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
webpage wind maker
an ambient weather widget that applies the current wind conditions to any user-chosen website. it uses a United States ZIP Code to grab local conditions from the Yahoo Weather RSS feed, & animates individual pieces of the website, such as text blocks & images, according to the strength of the wind.
see also informative google themes & unseen weather video & voloce weather...
Google is Supporting GeoRSS
By Brady Forrest
GeoRSS, a very simple to use OGC format that extends RSS by adding location data, can now be consumed via Google Maps and the Google maps API. Congrats to Mikel and the OGC! As Google stated on the Google Maps API blog:
To start we now support GeoRSS as a data format for geographic content in Google Maps. We want to enable users to create data in whatever format is most...
Fixing It Would Break It
Upgrading database server software is scary. I worked at an organization that spent just shy of a year upgrading Oracle 9i to Oracle 10g. But that’s Oracle, and we don’t like Oracle ‘round these parts.
Micro$oft $QL $erver (ha, take that, Micro$oft!) i$ al$o a $cary upgrade. Updating it, on the other hand, is pretty simple. I’ve installed service pack updates, and...
ARMCHAIR GENERAL: Google's tactical error
In Risk, the game of world domination, there is one cardinal rule: never let your position look too strong, because the weaker players will combine to pull you down. That’s the mistake that Google has made in taking on older media companies so unthinkingly.
The Mountain View search engine is terrifying enough as it is, to those media conglomerates with newspaper holdings, because...
Five Little Things We Don't Like About Apple TV
1. The waiting period when you first boot it up is torturous. Staring at a white progress bar for over two minutes is too long. I want to start watching TV on my TV now, damnit!
2. Syncing over a wireless G network is slower than you would expect. Not really Apple TV’s fault, though. Draft-N FTW. Oh, and pick a short password for your wireless network unless you want to take a half hour...
We will miss you Calvert DeForest!
Larry Bud Melman has Passed Away. Larry was there with David from the Beginning and continued to make appearances on the show through 2002. He was 85. (via Jason’s shared items in Google Reader)
What You Don't Already Know About AppleTV
1. AppleTV connects directly to the Net. Software and firmware upgrades will be sent right to the box, and not through your iTunes link. The movie and TV trailers are streamed straight from Apple too. I asked why they didn’t offer a way for people to shop or browse directly from the device rather than through a PC…
…but the Apple folks didn’t want to get into the...
Viktor's amazing 4-bit processor
Viktor writes -
I’ve been a software guy all my life. However, I was always fascinated by electronics, and part of my success as a programmer was due to my thorough understanding of how computers work.
Back in 1999, I put that understanding to the ultimate test: I actually designed, and built, a simple but functional 4-bit computer from low-level electronic components (TTL logic gates.)...
Google's MCI Vet to fix 'Neutrality' Message (Paul...
Google’s MCI Vet to fix ‘Neutrality’ Message — Fear not, network neutrality fans: Google is still on your side, and is working hard to make sure its sometimes mixed messages on the topic are more harmonious in the future. — That was the word from Rick Whitt Tuesday, as Google’s new …
Source: GigaOM
Author: Paul Kapustka
Link: ...
Chasing the duclod man | Advocate.com →
Viacom censors Colbert Report machinima off...
Cory Doctorow:
Wagner James Au sez, “As featured on Boing Boing last October, a filmmaking team created a hilarious spinoff of Stephen Colbert’s ‘Green Screen challenge’ which had him fighting an army of Nancy Pelosi clones, created entirely within Second Life. It included a 15 second section of avatars *watching* the ‘Colbert Report’ from within Second Life,...
Detroit houses selling for less than cars
Cory Doctorow:
Houses in Detroit are selling for less than new cars:
Folks, the ground underneath the house goes with it. You do know that, right?” he offered.
After selling house after house in the Motor City for less than the $29,000 it costs to buy the average new car, the auctioneer tried a new line: “The lumber in the house is worth more than that!”
Link
(via...
Vegas Casinos Mess With Blackjack Rules to...
Blackjack used to be one of the best bets in Vegas. Easy to understand, with decent odds. The house advantage on a single-deck game of blackjack, under standard rules, was a measly .18%.
But the casinos are intent to wring out the fun. Here’s how they’re doing it:
• Cutting the payout for hitting blackjack from 3:2 to 6:5
• Requiring the dealer to hit and not stand on a...
Adventures in Cooking: Pankeggs
I saw the most amazing thing on The Show with Ze Frank a few weeks ago (this show, specifically) — pankeggs. What are pankeggs you ask? I’ll let Ze field this one:
Pankeggs begin just like regular pancakes…Put a little oil in the pan, but make sure you add some butter. That’s where the flavor is. Coat it, and then pour yourself a nice, big pancake. Now watch it. See those...