WATCHISMO TIME MACHINES - Timing is everything...
RIP, Moebius Young fellow makes, tests and celebrates outstanding Rube Goldberg machine Time-lapse video of an ant colony eating a scanner, captured with the scanner in question 14-y-o Florida girl buys foreclosed house with money from Craigslist furniture-selling hobby RFID your stuff, find it with your mobile phone Just look at this Banana Man. Modding Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Looking for Lenny: Lenny Bruce, comedy and free speech Barista plunges three Aeropresses at once Joy Division's "Atmosphere," accompanied by slapped cats Must-listen radio: "Nuclear Power After Fukushima," documentary from BURN: An Energy Journal Computer-generated PR spam trying not to look like computer-generated PR spam Outernationally-inspired global punk from Neung Phak Woman terrorized by Godzilla, the turkey from hell Still more proof NYPD spying program focused on Muslims who were not suspected of any crimes Meet Slovak Batman Amanda Visell's chicken reproductive poster Charming silent film short about tree climbing If you're on parole, don't steal a judge's office-door nameplate (If you do, don't pose with it on Facebook) Earliest recorded music Fracking earthquakes Stephen Wolfram analyzes 20 years of his own keystroke activity Publicly funded birth control saves public money The case for dolphin rights Should the estate of John Cage sue for the long silences played on Rush Limbaugh's commercial breaks? Solar Techno Park in Japan Cancer is even more complicated than we thought RIP, Moebius
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 10, 2012 12:35 pm Jean Giraud, the comics artist who worked under the name Moebius, has died at the age of 73. Moebius defined the style of Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal, a surreal, madcap, sometimes grotesque science fictional visual style that is often imitated but which Moebius himself produced to high spec and in such great amounts. On Tor.com, art ...
Read in browser Young fellow makes, tests and celebrates outstanding Rube Goldberg machine
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 11:09 pm Seven-year-old Audri designed this astounding Rube Goldberg machine, and then systematically studied its failure modes and improved it, producing a fine video account of his work. He is made of pure distillate of awesomesauce. Audri's Rube Goldberg Monster Trap (via Make)
Read in browser Time-lapse video of an ant colony eating a scanner, captured with the scanner in question
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 08:53 pm François Vautier infested his flatbed scanner with an ant-colony and scanned the burgeoning hive-organism every week for five years, producing a beautiful, stylized stop-motion record of the ants' slow consumption of his electronics. Five years ago, I installed an ant colony inside my old scanner that allowed me to scan in high definition this ever ...
Read in browser 14-y-o Florida girl buys foreclosed house with money from Craigslist furniture-selling hobby
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 07:52 pm NPR's Planet Money profiles Willow Tufano, a 14-year-old Florida girl who saved thousands of dollars by harvesting furniture from foreclosed houses and selling it on eBay. She's just bought half interest in a house that went for $100,000 at the peak of the bubble. Her mom owns the other half, and the house went for ...
Read in browser RFID your stuff, find it with your mobile phone
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 06:48 pm Mitch Wagner sez, "uGrokIt lets people attach RFID tags to their stuff, locate it with a device that attaches to a smartphone, just like in Cory's Makers." The Geiger counter-style audio cues are a nice touch, and I like the salaryman who uses the gizmo to remind him that he's left his phone-charger under one ...
Read in browser Just look at this Banana Man.
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 06:19 pm Just look at him. Bananamanology
Read in browser Modding Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
By Dan Pashman on Mar 09, 2012 05:56 pm We wanted to make our own version of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots for the Americans Elect lounge at SXSW, so we decided to replace the heads with a donkey and elephant heads, to represent the two political parties. This also goes with the giant plush donkey and elephant that people may see in action ...
Read in browser Looking for Lenny: Lenny Bruce, comedy and free speech
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 05:47 pm Looking for Lenny is a new documentary about Lenny Bruce and the way that free speech issues still resonate today. It's packed with comedy/spoken word legends talking about Bruce, from Robin Williams to Phyllis Diller, Mort Sahl, and Henry Rollins. Looking for Lenny (Thanks, Dustin!)
Read in browser Barista plunges three Aeropresses at once
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 04:43 pm Johanna writes, "Carlos Aguirre, a trainer at Academia Barista Pro, stunned audiences worldwide when he pushed not 1, not 2 but 3 aeropresses at the same time for his signature drink during National Salvadoran Barista Competition." That's a lot of aeropressin'. The key scene starts at 20:41. SUBCAMPEON de Baristas en El Salvador GANA Mejor ...
Read in browser Joy Division's "Atmosphere," accompanied by slapped cats
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 04:14 pm [Video Link]. Yes, this remix video is months old, but you probably missed it—and it's not like stuff this weird ever grows old. The song is here. (Thanks, Tara McGinley!)
Read in browser Must-listen radio: "Nuclear Power After Fukushima," documentary from BURN: An Energy Journal
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 03:47 pm Veteran radio journalist and master storyteller Alex Chadwick (who's also a personal friend—he's taught me so much about journalism over the years) hosts a must-listen radio documentary premiering this weekend on public radio stations throughout the US. BURN: An Energy Journal is a four-hour, four-part broadcast and digital documentary series exploring "the most pressing energy ...
Read in browser Computer-generated PR spam trying not to look like computer-generated PR spam
By Rob Beschizza on Mar 09, 2012 03:42 pm PR people sometimes say "I loved your coverage of x, perhaps you'd like to hear about y!". The idea is to ensure that I, Esteemed Journalist, know that I am worthy of personalized attention, rather than being an entry on a mailing list. Some of them, however, are trying to have their cake and eat ...
Read in browser Outernationally-inspired global punk from Neung Phak
By David Pescovitz on Mar 09, 2012 02:55 pm Last week, I posted about Alan Bishop and Sublime Frequencies, the fantastic label that issues outernational psych, and folk from Indonesia, China, Myanmar, and other locales. Mark Gergis is one of Sublime Frequencies' intrepid travelers and he has his own band, Neung Phak, whose music is inspired by the strange brew of "exotic" music Gergis ...
Read in browser Woman terrorized by Godzilla, the turkey from hell
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 02:42 pm Everything about this video news report by Eric Seals of the Detroit Free-Press is awesome. Edna Geisler, 69, of Commerce Township has been stalked for two months by an aggressive male wild turkey (a "tom") who "lurks in her front yard, screeching at her constantly, even jumping out occasionally and attacking her when she dares ...
Read in browser Still more proof NYPD spying program focused on Muslims who were not suspected of any crimes
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 02:39 pm The AP has published more documents today which offer further evidence that the The New York Police Department "kept secret files on businesses owned by second- and third-generation Americans specifically because they were Muslims." The NYPD monitored these people based solely on their religion.
Read in browser Meet Slovak Batman
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 02:33 pm Zoltan Kohari, known as the Slovak Batman, poses in his home in the town of Dunajska Streda, 34 miles (55 km) south of Bratislava. Kohari, who is 26 years old, lives alone in an abandoned building without water, heat or electricity. For local residents he became known as "the hero in a Batman's costume." While ...
Read in browser Amanda Visell's chicken reproductive poster
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 09, 2012 02:32 pm Artist Amanda Visell has a great new print about the reproductive cycle of the chicken.
Read in browser Charming silent film short about tree climbing
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 09, 2012 02:22 pm I feel like the science posts have all been on the depressing side today, so please enjoy this pleasant, Buster Keaton-inspired film short. Via friendlysasquatch on Submitterator!
Read in browser If you're on parole, don't steal a judge's office-door nameplate (If you do, don't pose with it on Facebook)
By Cory Doctorow on Mar 09, 2012 02:16 pm 21-year-old Steven Mulhall cut a Spicolian caper when he stole the nameplate off a judge's courthouse office-door, then posed with it for a photo, which his romantic ladyfriend posted to Facebook. It was discovered by a law enforcement professional, who took the fellow into custody. Adding to the stupidity quotient, Mulhall did this while already ...
Read in browser Earliest recorded music
By David Pescovitz on Mar 09, 2012 02:15 pm The first ever audio recording we know of was made by Éduoard-Léon Scott in 1857. As Maggie has previously posted here, the recording device he invented, the phonautograph, etched sound waves to paper. They weren't intended to be "played back" and it wasn't until 2008 when researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used a scanner ...
Read in browser Fracking earthquakes
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 09, 2012 02:04 pm Human activities can cause earthquakes. It sounds a little crazy to say, but it's something we've known about for a while. For instance, seismologists say that a 6.3 magnitude quake that struck India's Maharashtra state in 1967 was directly caused by the 1963 construction of a major dam and reservoir project in that region. Basically, ...
Read in browser Stephen Wolfram analyzes 20 years of his own keystroke activity
By Xeni Jardin on Mar 09, 2012 02:02 pm "One day I'm sure everyone will routinely collect all sorts of data about themselves," writes Stephen Wolfram (founder of the eponymous technology company). "But because I've been interested in data for a very long time, I started doing this long ago. I actually assumed lots of other people were doing it too, but apparently they ...
Read in browser Publicly funded birth control saves public money
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 09, 2012 01:41 pm A public investment of $235 million in helping the poorest women in America access birth control would save the public $1.32 billion, according to the Brookings Institution.
Read in browser The case for dolphin rights
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 09, 2012 01:34 pm Recently, I posted a series of videos where science writers talked about some of the fascinating things they learned at the 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science conference. In one of those clips, Eric Michael Johnson talked a bit about a panel session on whether or not certain cetaceans—primarily whales and dolphins—deserve to ...
Read in browser Should the estate of John Cage sue for the long silences played on Rush Limbaugh's commercial breaks?
By Mark Frauenfelder on Mar 09, 2012 01:34 pm To date, over 50 advertisers have stopped paying Rush Limbaugh to spread his hateful, sexually-obsessive tirades. Here are some other stats from Daily Kos: -- A total of 86 ads aired during WABC's online streaming broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show yesterday; -- 77 of those ads were public service announcements donated free of charge ...
Read in browser Solar Techno Park in Japan
By David Pescovitz on Mar 09, 2012 01:26 pm Above is Yokohama, Japan's Solar Techno Park. It sounds like the name of an early 1990s massive rave, but the Park is a solar research facility built by international steelmaker JFE to explore alternative energy technologies. Of course, new energy sources are a hot R&D area in Japan right now following the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami and ...
Read in browser Cancer is even more complicated than we thought
By Maggie Koerth-Baker on Mar 09, 2012 01:19 pm There's some really interesting—and rather disturbing—research coming out of the UK on the nature of cancer cells and why advanced-stage cancers are so difficult to treat. Scientists have long known that the same type of cancer can play out in very different ways, from a genetic perspective, in one patient compared to another. But this ...
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