Saturday, June 30, 2007

Pepsi Optimus Prime

Link

Using mirrors to promote The Fantastic Four

"Four mirrors were placed in the main movie theaters [in Brazil]. Each mirror reflected the 'super power' of the movie’s characters."

Friday, June 29, 2007

Memory test

TL:
Consider an experiment that was done by Daniel Simons, a psychologist at the University of Illinois. He or a member of his lab would walk up to a pedestrian on the street and ask him or her for directions. While the pedestrian was responding, workmen carrying something large (like a doorframe) would walk between them. As the workmen passed, the experimenter switched places with someone else. Only half of the pedestrians noticed, even though the two people could be quite different.

"The 'listening' elephant catches the vibrations with its toes, behind which lie pads of acoustically sensitive fat."

Boston:
elephants actually have two distinct ways of communicating: by ordinary soundwaves rippling through the air, and by vibrations transmitted through the ground to exquisitely sensitive elephant toes.

The seismic waves are set in motion by the same "low-frequency vocalizations" that famously rumble across African savannas, said Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell. The ground sounds travel a greater distance than airborne calls, and may help keep herd members in touch with one another across a dozen or more miles.

...

"They are talking through the ground," O'Connell-Rodwell said. "It's not just elephant-to-elephant noise. It's a richer system of communication than we'd thought. They can discriminate very subtle vibrations through their feet."

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Froot Loops Cereal Straws

Reviewed:
The straws themselves are rather sturdy and hold up well to milk. They last a long time without getting soggy and do actually work as straws. They basically taste like Froot Loops

Matchstick Garden Set

MOMA:
These cute matchbooks hold a clever secret inside. On the tip of each match are seeds already mixed to grow. Choose an assortment of either wildflowers--which includes cornflower, Shasta daisy, corn marigold, and field poppy--or herbs--which includes basil, chives, parsley, and thyme. Simply tear out a matchstick and plant it tip first in the soil. Includes two matchbooks of 10 matchsticks each.

Ann Patchett writes about trying to join the Los Angeles Police Department

WP:
I was 30 years old, a semi-ancient age for pursuing police work. I had no idea if I could pass the long string of entrance exams.

"The wall is what keeps women out," my father told me. "The women protest; they say it's unfair, especially the short ones. The first thing you have to worry about is getting over the wall."

...

When it was my turn, the crowd went wild. I was the mascot now, the favorite girl. No sense in cheering for the two who'd never pass or the one who might beat your score. Cheer for the one who barely makes her time but somehow, miraculously, manages. I yanked the weight backward as the giant men began to chant my name, dragging one syllable into two until it became "Ay-un, Ay-un, Ay-un." It would never happen again; 26 broad-shouldered young men would never call my name at once

Face Your Pockets Project

Scan your face along with the contents of your pocket.

Friday, June 22, 2007

"The Cloud is a dream, suspended between artificiality and reality."

"The Cloud is a speculative design for a resort city elevated 300 metres in the air above Dubai and supported on slanting legs resembling rain."

Monday, June 18, 2007

Samsonite Black Label Alexander McQueen Hero

"The human form is treated just like an animal skin, with the ribcage and sternum at the front of the case, and backbone at the back. The inside is formed by the negative of the outside shape in a soft molded form providing contrast with the outer protective hard shell."

Link

Saturday, June 16, 2007

A Father's Day Thought by Tom Wolfe

And in that moment Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later. For the first time he realized that the man before him was not an aging father, but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps, love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.

Nike Maxsight contact lenses

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Baby monitor picks up video from space shuttle

PALATINE, Ill. - An elementary school science teacher in this Chicago suburb doesn't have to turn on the news for an update on NASA's space mission. She just turns on her video baby monitor.

Since Sunday, one of the two channels on Natalie Meilinger's baby monitor has been picking up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis. The other still lets her keep an eye on her baby.
Link

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

At least 100,000 people in China share the name "Wang Tao,"

"Police in China, where most of the 1.3 billion people share just 100 surnames, are considering rules which would combine both parents' family names to prevent so much duplication, state media said on Tuesday."

Link.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

The One Sentence Blog

Stories told in one sentence, such as:
Five minutes later, she realized that she hadn't thought about him for five minutes.