Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Toycutter updates



Over at my action figure and miniature customizing blog, recent posts include King Leonidas, Darth Maul, and Flying Monkey Munnys, tips on choosing the right glue and sculpting hands, and an Alex Ross-style Wolverine action figure.

Cheeseburger in a can



Buy.

Rice vs. Clinton book cover



Found here.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Interesting: BP plays a major part in the new version of SimCity

BP and EA have partnered to create SimCity Societies, the city-building game that deals with the causes and consequences of global warming. The game presents options for city power generation through various high- or low-carbon means, making available solar power, wind power, hydrogen power, natural gas and biofuels — the same alternative, cleaner forms of energy BP is working with leading researchers, scientists and engineers to provide.

Official site.

Mecha Naga Buddha T-Shirt Design





Vote for it here.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Toy: Baby-Eating Crocodile by Amanda Visell



Part of the new StrangeCo Vivisect Playset.

The secret history of Silicon Valley

In WW2, 3/4 of aluminum foil "disappeared." The populace didn't know that the US had figured out how to use aluminum to foil German radar.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Don Solomono, the Jewish Indian Chief

From the earliest contact between North American Indians and white European settlers, the Europeans held the upper hand. Almost unremittingly, the Europeans imposed their idea of private ownership of land on the Native Americans, obtaining it from them by purchase, stealth and war. Virtually every Indian tribe in North America found its contacts with white settlers painful, if not fatal, and few Indians trusted or respected, much less loved, the white men and women they knew.

One exception to this generalization was Solomon Bibo, a white trader who won the trust and affection of the Acoma Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. In 1888, "Don Solomono," as he was known to the Acomas, became governor of the Acoma Pueblo, the equivalent of chief of the tribe. Remarkably, the Acomas asked the United States to recognize Bibo as their leader. Even more remarkable is that Bibo was a Jew.

Keep reading.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Friday, January 18, 2008

Funny screenshot from Jumper



I love this screenshot from the upcoming movie Jumper, showing the main character teleporting an enemy into a shark's path. Found here.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Flying hotel is a cross between a whale and a zeppelin



More concept images of "Manned Cloud" here.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

"Mommy, why is there a server in the house?"





Apparently a Microsoft giveaway at CES. See more images from the booklet here.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Kayaking with huge shark



Allegedly not photoshopped. Buy a poster.

Smoking mittens with built in cigarette shaped hole




There's no longer any reason for your hands to get chilly when you sneak out for a smoke. Buy.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Monday, January 7, 2008

Saturday, January 5, 2008

100 things we learned this year, courtesy of the BBC

For example, Anthony and Cleopatra were ugly. Full list here.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

How Archie Leach became "Cary Grant"

An insipid, undefined pretty boy on screen, he appeared in twenty pictures in four years, nearly a quarter of the films he'd ever make, and failed to distinguish himself—though he woodenly received Mae West's most famous, and most misquoted, line: "Why don't you come up some time and see me?" Indeed, his pervasive, obvious discomfort in these creaky movies is the only evidence of his innate intelligence and taste as an actor. But in 1936, something clicked when he played a supporting role in Sylvia Scarlett. Though it was a mess of a picture, he shone as a Cockney swindler, a character close to his roots, rather than the stilted Valentino he usually played. The film's director, George Cukor, recalled that the nearly thirty-two-year-old Grant "flowered; he felt the ground under his feet.
Read on.

Awesome U.S. Military Patches Part 5

I thought it'd be fun to post some military patches, and ended up finding a treasure trove of good ones. I'll be posting more soon.












Awesome U.S Military Patches Part 1

Awesome U.S Military Patches Part 2

Awesome U.S. Military Patches Part 3

Awesome U.S. Military Patches Part 4


These patches (and many, many more) are all on sale at McGrogan's.



Finally, this book about military patches sounds great:

Shown here for the first time, these seventy-five patches reveal a secret world of military imagery and jargon, where classified projects are known by peculiar names ("Goat Suckers," "None of Your Fucking Business," "Tastes Like Chicken") and illustrated with occult symbols and ridiculous cartoons. Although the actual projects represented here (such as the notorious Area 51) are classified, these patches-which are worn by military units working on classified missions-are precisely photographed, strangely hinting at a world about which little is known.

By submitting hundreds of Freedom of Information requests, the author has also assembled an extensive and readable guide to the patches included here, making this volume the best available survey of the military's black world-a $27 billion industry that has quietly grown by almost 50 percent since 9/11.

I Could Tell You but Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagons Black World

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Freeform Sofa and Ottoman



Link.

Awesome U.S. Military Patches Part 4

I thought it'd be fun to post some military patches, and ended up finding a treasure trove of good ones. I'll be posting more soon.












Awesome U.S Military Patches Part 1

Awesome U.S Military Patches Part 2

Awesome U.S. Military Patches Part 3


These patches (and many, many more) are all on sale at McGrogan's.