3D Printed Robot head Wikileaks: Guardian journalist negligently published password to unredacted cables (Update: Guardian denies) Venice Beach Freak Show Man faces 75 years for recording police Woman buys valuable piece of outsider art resembling iPad for $180 T-shirts replace band names with scientists and thinkers TOM THE DANCING BUG: Billy Dare, in "Captain CEO's Fate!" Cat meets balloon cat Philosopher describes the Simulation Argument London Beer Flood and other food disasters JC Penny t-shirt (now pulled): "I'm too pretty to do homework" Short interview with creators of Cleverbot avatar video The Economist on BB's comment policy Man drives burning car into gas station, amazingly nobody dies Artists alter paint-by-numbers for exhibit Collectors of barbed wire With computers doing the thinking, the executive is lonely The Infinite Adventure Machine 
Watchismo Vintage & Modern Horology - So many cool watches, so few limbs to put them on
3D Printed Robot head
By Rob Beschizza on Sep 01, 2011 02:15 am Last night, a PR person contacted me and said to expect a mysterious "puzzle piece" to arrive the next morning. I steepled my fingers, squeezed in my monocle, and warned her that it was unlikely that we'd participate in a …
Continue reading → Read in browser Wikileaks: Guardian journalist negligently published password to unredacted cables (Update: Guardian denies)
By Rob Beschizza on Sep 01, 2011 12:03 am Wikileaks, facing criticism after unredacted versions of diplomatic cables escaped into the wild, today accused a Guardian journalist of negligently publishing the password required to decrypt them. A Guardian journalist has negligently disclosed top secret WikiLeaks' decryption passwords to hundreds …
Continue reading → Read in browser Venice Beach Freak Show
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 11:23 pm When I was at Venice Beach with my family, we came across a freak show. The barker in front had a couple of two-headed turtles in a plastic tub filled with water. He said admission was $5. The barker also …
Continue reading → Read in browser Man faces 75 years for recording police
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 10:16 pm 42-year-old Michael Allison of Illinois could spend the rest of his life in prison for recording police in public. He faces five counts of eavesdropping, a class one felony. Of course, the police are allowed to video people in public …
Continue reading → Read in browser Woman buys valuable piece of outsider art resembling iPad for $180
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 09:43 pm The spectacularly shrewd Ashley McDowell was approached by two men in a McDonald's parking lot where they offered to sell her an iPad fetish for $300. She only had $180, but they gave it to her anyway. When she got …
Continue reading → Read in browser T-shirts replace band names with scientists and thinkers
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 09:32 pm The Monsters of Grok t-shirt line is funny. (Via Liz McLean Knight)
Read in browser TOM THE DANCING BUG: Billy Dare, in "Captain CEO's Fate!"
By Ruben Bolling on Aug 31, 2011 06:30 pm 
Read in browser Cat meets balloon cat
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 06:03 pm Cat meets balloon cat
Read in browser Philosopher describes the Simulation Argument
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 05:34 pm Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom describes his Simulation Argument on a recent episode of the excellent Philosophy Bites podcast. He proposed the argument in 2003, and it is interesting to hear him discuss it here. As I understand it, one of …
Continue reading → Read in browser London Beer Flood and other food disasters
By David Pescovitz on Aug 31, 2011 04:33 pm On October 17, 1814 at the Meux family brewery in Tottenham Court, London, a massive vat of beer cracked open, spilling 3,500 barrels of beer and killing eight people. Smithsonian's Food & Think blog sums up the "London Beer Flood" …
Continue reading → Read in browser JC Penny t-shirt (now pulled): "I'm too pretty to do homework"
By David Pescovitz on Aug 31, 2011 04:18 pm JC Penny was called out for selling this t-shirt, emblazoned with the words "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." What a positive, empowering message for girls aged 7-16, apparently the target …
Continue reading → Read in browser Short interview with creators of Cleverbot avatar video
By Mark Frauenfelder on Aug 31, 2011 04:00 pm Kevin Kelly interviewed the two grad students at Cornell Creative Machines Lab who posted that amazing video of Cleverbot-driven avatars having a conversation. You've probably seen the viral video of the AI bots arguing with each other. Almost the first …
Continue reading → Read in browser The Economist on BB's comment policy
By Rob Beschizza on Aug 31, 2011 03:58 pm For The Economist, Glenn Fleishman wrote an item about our comment policies, which are strict as fuck. (Disclosure: Glenn also writes for BB occasionally) Beschizza approvingly cites an essay published in July by Anil Dash, the first employee of blog-software …
Continue reading → Read in browser Man drives burning car into gas station, amazingly nobody dies
By David Pescovitz on Aug 31, 2011 03:55 pm In Hamilton County, Tennessee, a gentleman noticed that his Cadillac was smoking so he pulled into a gas station. He lifted the hood to reveal flames on the engine which in turn caught the adjacent gas pump on fire. Fortunately, …
Continue reading → Read in browser Artists alter paint-by-numbers for exhibit
By David Pescovitz on Aug 31, 2011 03:42 pm In Seattle, Marlow Harris and JoDavid curated a rather curious and delightful Paint-by-Number art exhibition for the 2011 Bumbershoot Arts Festival. More than 40 artists altered vintage (and completed) paint-by-number paintings for the show. Bill Blair painted massive paint-by-number backdrops …
Continue reading → Read in browser Collectors of barbed wire
By David Pescovitz on Aug 31, 2011 03:30 pm Over at Collectors Weekly, BB pal Ben Marks lays out the fascinating history of barbed wire through the eyes of those who collect the stuff. Yes, there are barbed wire collectors. From Collectors Weekly: This legacy is of keen interest …
Continue reading → Read in browser With computers doing the thinking, the executive is lonely
By Rob Beschizza on Aug 31, 2011 03:07 pm Enjoy this report by the BBC's Tomorrow's World into the new phenomenon of desk toys for bored modern executives. At the weekends, he polishes his flowers with aerosols. Video Link [BBC]
Read in browser The Infinite Adventure Machine
By Rob Beschizza on Aug 31, 2011 01:47 pm David Benqué's Infinite Adventure Machine creates random folk-tales, and is itself an adventure in what he describes as an unsolved computer science problem: automatic story generation. Tales and myths; the core narratives of human culture, have been transmitted for generations …
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