WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
Custom Newtonmas ornament Cookie recipes for Christmas or any day Best Bait Snow cone machines for homeland security How to transfer your domain name No. Nobody found Mayan ruins in Georgia What is snot? And why do some people eat it? William Gibson and Timothy Leary in conversation, 1989 Cute ABC book for Android Cool kite made from 3D printed parts GoDaddy withdraws support for SOPA The psychedelic origins of Santa Claus Maker of 10-lb marzipan pig decides it's too gruesome to give to his daughters FOGCon: new literary sf convention in San Francisco AraabMuzik hammering on his drum machine Walk through an airport with Bruce Schneier Pet dog from 30,000 years ago Frog plays Ant Smasher Microsoft and CES part ways: who benefits most? Tip of the iceberg Minicraft Hypnotic folk dance Winter solstice, 2011 Prometheus trailer reveals Alien prequel Guy Laramee's books Jack Goldman, 1921-2011 Copyright troll Righthaven in its death throes, domain going up for auction Smartphones, the record of everything Custom Newtonmas ornament
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 23, 2011 09:50 pm Reader synapselapse had this made for his family's tree. He says: This came from an episode of Big Bang theory. They observed that Dec 25th isn't actually Jesus' birthday, he was most likely born some time in Sept, but it is Sir Isaac Newton's Birthday. So it makes more sense to put him on the ...
Read in browser Cookie recipes for Christmas or any day
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 23, 2011 09:20 pm This year, as a Christmas gift to my family, I scanned the pages from my Grammy's recipe folio and turned them into a spiral-bound cookbook with the help of Lulu.com. The project took several months. But, through it, I feel like I was granted some extra time with the woman who was such an important ...
Read in browser Best Bait
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 09:06 pm Retailer Best Buy took Black Friday orders that it could not fulfill, waiting until days before Christmas to cancel them [NYT]
Read in browser Snow cone machines for homeland security
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 23, 2011 09:05 pm A federal- and state-designated homeland security agency in Michigan recently purchased 13 snow cone machines at a total cost of $11,700. A spokesperson for the agency explains why the purchase was essential: "It is used to attract people so they can be educated and prepared for homeland security," Dey said from his office in Muskegon. ...
Read in browser How to transfer your domain name
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 07:34 pm GoDaddy may have dropped its support for SOPA, but Jason Kottke points out that there are many other reasons to give it a wide berth. At Macworld, Glenn Fleishman (previously) posts a fat guide to the technical ins and outs of transferring domains, with special attention given to getting them out of one particular registrar. ...
Read in browser No. Nobody found Mayan ruins in Georgia
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 23, 2011 07:27 pm I hate to lend any dignity to this story by commenting on it, but it's making the rounds, so here goes. Two things: 1. Nobody found Mayan ruins in the U.S. state of Georgia. An article posted on The Examiner claimed this was the case. That article is full of it. So full of ...
Read in browser What is snot? And why do some people eat it?
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Dec 23, 2011 06:56 pm The Stranger's "Ask Science" column offers a detailed explanation of just what, exactly, boogers are. It is simultaneously gross and mesmerizing: Mucus, chemically, is quite fascinating. Sugar chains are attached to a protein backbone in mucus cells, with the contraption released out into the open. These glycoprotein molecules rapidly and aggressively suck up water ...
Read in browser William Gibson and Timothy Leary in conversation, 1989
By David Pescovitz on Dec 23, 2011 06:27 pm As part of RU Sirius's Mondo 2000 History Project, he's posted a bit of a recorded conversation from 1989 between Timothy Leary and William Gibson. RU writes: We were working on our first Mondo 2000 issue. It was going to be the cyberpunk theme issue and we'd gotten interviews with the major cyberpunk SF writers, ...
Read in browser Cute ABC book for Android
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 23, 2011 06:10 pm Wuffabet is a new Android app for small kids: an ABC book with great illustrations and music and really cute animations (it also has some very good nonstandard animal choices, like U for Urchin (sea urchins), F for Flying Squirrel, N for Narwhal, O for Octopus, and Y for Yaffle!). It was created by Chad ...
Read in browser Cool kite made from 3D printed parts
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 23, 2011 06:03 pm This otherwordly kite is made from "1700 3D-printed connectors linking carbon fiber rods that support cubenfiber aerospace fabric sheets." It doesn't look like it flies very well (at least based on this video) but it certainly looks good! (Thanks, Rob!)
Read in browser GoDaddy withdraws support for SOPA
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 05:57 pm GoDaddy just released a statement withdrawing its support for SOPA. Go Daddy is no longer supporting SOPA, the "Stop Online Piracy Act" currently working its way through U.S. Congress. "Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation - but we ...
Read in browser The psychedelic origins of Santa Claus
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 23, 2011 05:54 pm [Video Link] guyjames says: Is the myth of Santa Claus inspired by tales of Siberian shamans consuming sacred mushrooms? Why do we decorate our Christmas tree with tinsel and a star on top? Was Santa an early psychedelic voyager? I have written a song and made an accompanying video exploring these important questions! The song ...
Read in browser Maker of 10-lb marzipan pig decides it's too gruesome to give to his daughters
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 23, 2011 05:51 pm spindelmann says: "Jonas Laberg made a 10 kg marzipan pig for his five- and seven-year-old girls. It turned out pretty evil."
Read in browser FOGCon: new literary sf convention in San Francisco
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 23, 2011 05:20 pm Keyan sez, "FOGcon is a new literary-themed SF/F con in the tradition of Wiscon and Readercon, but based in San Francisco Bay Area. It was held for the first time in 2011. This year (2012) it'll be from March 30-April 1, 2012, at the Walnut Creek Marriott. The theme is 'The Body', with two wonderful ...
Read in browser AraabMuzik hammering on his drum machine
By David Pescovitz on Dec 23, 2011 04:25 pm Please enjoy Abraham Orellana (aka AraabMuzik) hammering on his Akai MPC drum machine/sampler/sequencer at the 1500M2 nightclub in Warsaw, Poland.
Read in browser Walk through an airport with Bruce Schneier
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 23, 2011 04:24 pm Vanity Fair's Charles C. Mann walked through Reagan International Airport with Bruce Schneier, noting all the ways in which "security" adds expense and inconvenience without making us safer. By the end of the trip, he concluded: To walk through an airport with Bruce Schneier is to see how much change a trillion dollars can wreak. ...
Read in browser Pet dog from 30,000 years ago
By David Pescovitz on Dec 23, 2011 04:17 pm This is the skull of someone's pet dog from more than 30,000 years ago. It was buried with a mastodon bone clenched in its chompers. Found in Czech Republic by archaeologist Mietje Germonpré of Belgium's Museum of Natural History and colleagues, it's one of three canid crania they discovered from the era. The skulls support ...
Read in browser Frog plays Ant Smasher
By Mark Frauenfelder on Dec 23, 2011 03:54 pm [Video Link] With a surprise ending! (Thanks, Sarina!)
Read in browser Microsoft and CES part ways: who benefits most?
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 03:30 pm Microsoft announced that 2012 would mark its last Consumer Electronics Show Keynote presentation, citing a desire to avoid tying product and marketing cycles to the midwinter event. The organizers of CES, however, says that this came only after it told Microsoft it wanted someone else to take over the Keynote role. MG Siegler rounds up ...
Read in browser Tip of the iceberg
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 02:56 pm At TechCrunch, Alexia Tsotsis counts more than 40 tech companies publicly opposed to SOPA.
Read in browser Minicraft
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 02:48 pm Minecraft developer Markus "Notch" Persson entered rapid game-dev competition Ludum Dare, which provides just 48 hours to see a project from inception to completion. One must start from scratch, but Notch went even further, livecasting every second of the process and blogging the milestones. The result was Minicraft, a stripped-down 2D version of the megahit. ...
Read in browser Hypnotic folk dance
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 02:16 pm Found by @nomatterband and Robert Popper, who notes that one must watch to the very end.
Read in browser Winter solstice, 2011
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 02:07 pm The longest night of the year, at Stonehenge. Photo: Kieran Doherty, Reuters
Read in browser Prometheus trailer reveals Alien prequel
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 02:03 pm The high-definition trailer for Ridley Scott's forthcoming science fiction movie, Prometheus, is bound to impress. [iTunes]
Read in browser Guy Laramee's books
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 01:58 pm The Great Wall and Biblios are projects by Guy Laramee, in which books are delicately carved and illustrated to create transfixing sculptures and scenes. "When I was younger, I was very upset with the ideologies of progress," writes Laramee. "I wanted to destroy them by showing that we are still primitives. I had the profound ...
Read in browser Jack Goldman, 1921-2011
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 01:45 pm Jacob "Jack" Goldman, the founder of Xerox PARC, died Tuesday at 90. In the New York Times's obit, John Markoff describes how Goldman's vision convinced a copier company to invest in the future, even if it had no idea what to do with the returns: "PARC researchers designed a remarkable array of computer technologies, including ...
Read in browser Copyright troll Righthaven in its death throes, domain going up for auction
By Cory Doctorow on Dec 23, 2011 01:19 pm Copyright troll Righthaven was conceived of as a way of extorting money from websites on behalf of newspaper owners when quotations from those newspapers were posted to the web. The idea was that the newspapers would assign "the right to sue" to Righthaven, which would pursue lawsuits on their behalf, and share the take. Righthaven's ...
Read in browser Smartphones, the record of everything
By Rob Beschizza on Dec 23, 2011 01:17 pm Cameras, GPS, and always-on internet connections come with our cellphones, putting the all-seeing eye always within reach. Everyone is watching, not just Big Brother. So you'd better behave yourself. To a group of delayed travelers, a man who assaults an accused fare-dodger on public transport might be a hero. But the cold light of YouTube ...
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