Tuesday, April 30, 2013

"Microsoft Includes Free Disposable Wifi Router In Forbes Magazine"

Consumerist:
The four-page ad promoting cloud-based Office 365 is an exciting innovation in both advertising and e-waste. It’s a fully-working T-Mobile hotspot. Naturally, people tore it open immediately to see what was really inside.

Monday, April 29, 2013

"6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person"

Cracked:
Name five impressive things about yourself. Write them down or just shout them out loud to the room. But here's the catch -- you're not allowed to list anything you are (i.e., I'm a nice guy, I'm honest), but instead can only list things that you do (i.e., I just won a national chess tournament, I make the best chili in Massachusetts). If you found that difficult, well, this is for you, and you are going to fucking hate hearing it.

Nancy Drew updated



Nancy Drew updated.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Alien specimen





Alien specimen by Jacob Petersson.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Glitchy warning from Zod



Via this interview with David OReilley about his Adventure Time episode:
A lot of people complained that scene was too extreme for kids' TV, but I think people don't give them credit for what they can tolerate. If they have the Internet they're pretty much exposed to the open mouth of hell at all times.

Kindergarten Cop references in Silent Hill

Photo gallery.

"Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca demoted three top supervisors this week in connection with an alleged cheating scam during a regional law enforcement relay race last year"

LA Times:
The allegations arose from the "Baker to Vegas" event — a foot race for charity that draws police agencies from several states. After that race, the event's organizers received word that one of the contest's faster participants was not a law enforcement employee. 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

"Are All the Top French Chefs Freemasons?"

1. "At the heart of the French food world lies a mystery: Are all the top chefs members of the Freemasons? BA opens a 'forbidden' door on this secret society".

2.  Washington Post:
Thirteen female corrections officers essentially handed over control of a Baltimore jail to gang leaders, prosecutors said. The officers were charged Tuesday in a federal racketeering indictment. 
The indictment described a jailhouse seemingly out of control. Four corrections officers became pregnant by one inmate. Two of them got tattoos of the inmate’s first name, Tavon — one on her neck, the other on a wrist.
3.  NatGeo:
The giant moray eel can grow to three metres in length and bites its prey with two sets of jaws—the obvious ones and a second set in its throat that can be launched forward like Hollywood’s Alien. It’s not a creature to be trifled with. But the coral grouper not only seeks out giant morays, but actively rouses them by vigorously shaking its body. The move is a call to arms that tells the moray to join the grouper in a hunt.

Master Blaster



By Dustin Harbin.

*Buy Mad Max toys at ebay.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Mystic Point at Disneyland Hong Kong





Take a tour of Mystic Point at Disneyland Hong Kong.

"After years of failed treatments, he agreed at age 82 to have the lens of his left eye completely removed"

Claude Monet:
Light could now stream through the opening unimpeded. Monet could now see familiar colors again. And he could also see colors he had never seen before. Monet began to see--and to paint--in ultraviolet.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Real Action Heroes Rohan Kishibe



Real Action Heroes Rohan Kishibe available at ebay and Amazon (expensive).

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Link roundup

1. Nightmare fuel.  And more.

2. "A 25-year-old Japanese man confessed this week to slashing as many as 1,000 tires in a bizarre, yet apparently successful scheme to pick up female drivers."

3.  Penelope Trunk:
At one point I dated the youngest doctor in Illinois. He was gorgeous and brilliant. He worked in the emergency room and in between patients, almost every night, he had sex with nurses. He broke off three engagements and moved to a state where he knew no one. And he's worked the emergency room night shift for the last twenty years because that's a lifestyle that is most likely to allow for avoiding social engagement.

Nike Free Trainer 5.0 - Jon "Bones" Jones edition





Nike Free Trainer 5.0 - Jon "Bones" Jones edition available at Nike.

Friday, April 19, 2013

The Cincinnati Redlegs

The origin of the nicknames of Major League Baseball teams:
Before the 1953 season, club officials announced that the team would once again officially be known as the Cincinnati Redlegs. Around the same time, the team temporarily removed "Reds" from its uniforms. As the AP reported in 1953, "The political significance of the word "˜Reds' these days and its effect on the change was not discussed by management."

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Blood Dragon: The Cyber War



A short film by Corridor Digital inspired by Far Cry 3 : Blood Dragon.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Rime of the Ancient Mariner-inspired Warhammer army and kraken attacks diorama











Rime of the Ancient Mariner-inspired Warhammer army by GMM Studios.

*Buy painted miniatures at eBay.

Human-powered ferris wheels in Myanmar




These were featured on Anthony Bourdain's great CNN show Parts Unknown last night - - ferris wheels in Myanmar powered by men hanging from the wheel and then pushing the carts as they fly past.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

"The Invisible Hand Illusion"

NG:
The team’s work was inspired by the classic rubber-hand illusion, devised by two Princeton scientists in the 1990s. You sit with your real hand under a table and out of sight, while a rubber hand sits in front of you. By stroking the fake hand in time with your real one, an experimenter can convince you that the fake hand is yours. The trick proved popular at college parties, and when Ehrsson tried it, the experience was revelatory.

It suggested to him that even though we have a lifetime’s experience of owning our bodies, this seemingly ingrained feeling is actually very fragile. Our brain constructs it all the time using information from our senses.

Chainmail and armor leggings



By MITMUNK.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Drama at the Roosevelt Island Garden Club

NYT:
It started with the accusations of sex behind the back pond. Of late-night parties that begot stitches and adultery. Favoritism. Misspending. Bullying.

Since then, the police have been called, e-mail access has been revoked and Robert’s Rules of Order repeatedly cited. Expletives have been tossed around. Herb lovers have nearly come to blows.

A toolshed burned to the ground; the word arson was uttered.

So goes life these days at the Roosevelt Island Garden Club, where palace intrigue surrounding the garden presidency has grown as abundant as the daffodils, organic vegetables and lazy cats that populate this speck of earth in the middle of the New York City map.

This is no garden-variety garden dispute. After all, in a neighborhood where most people are renters, a patch of flowers and shrubbery to call one’s own is no insignificant thing — especially when the waiting list for such a plot can outstrip the lines for the most coveted kindergartens.

Link roundup

1.  More on Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon:
Dean told me they've basically approached the project with a B-movie mentality. For instance, instead of just having the character designers do their thing and create some kind of sci-fi looking guy, the team imposed a real world budget of $150 to reskin the enemies from Far Cry 3. What items would you buy with $150 in real life to pull off that sci-fi look?
One example is the heavy fire unit enemy. They gave him a toaster for a helmet, and a vacuum in order to resemble a flame thrower pack. Other enemies will be wearing motorcycle helmets with crappy LEDS, stripped down hockey pads, and even a salad bowl as a helmet.
2.  This month's ESPN magazine has an article about baseball cards:
Waiting patiently in line is a new acquisition, Jason Bay, who's in his 11th year in the majors. "I'll never forget the first time I ever saw a card with my picture on it," he says. "It was at a junior hockey game in my hometown [Trail, British Columbia]. A guy came up to me and asked me to sign my 2002 Expos Prospect card. I went out to the 7-Eleven and must've blown $60, $70 buying every pack they had. But my card wasn't in any of them. My parents, though, found me for 99 cents on eBay."
3.  Funny article about two Gawker writers attending a massive Zumba event.  They were big fans of the lead instructor:
Since she never talked, she was like a mime. The spiciest mime.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Plainview



Aaron Jasinski's submission for an upcoming Scorsese-themed show at Spoke.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The three Matthews

Bryan Lee O'Malley:
my wife Hope told me she dated 3 different Matthews which partly inspired the idea of 7 evil exes.

Iron Man #12 cover



By Greg Land.

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon official trailer and website



Check out the Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon official trailer (apparently salvaged from a VHS tape) and retro website. "It's the near future. The apocalypse has had a apocalypse."

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

"Her action was similar to that performed by Paul Revere, though she rode more than twice the distance of Revere and was only 16 years old at the time of her action"

Real American Hero:
Sybil Ludington (April 16, 1761 – February 26, 1839), daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, was a heroine of the American Revolutionary War who became famous for her night ride on April 26, 1777 to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British. Her action was similar to that performed by Paul Revere, though she rode more than twice the distance of Revere and was only 16 years old at the time of her action.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Ultra 80's tumblr



There's a new standalone update to Far Cry 3 coming out next month featuring an 80's-style synth soundtrack by Power Glove, which has a tumblr:


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Link roundup

1.  Former Microsoft employee Daniel Cook:
Correct games
There is a form to modern console games.  If you've played the recent Bioshock Infinite, you can see the full glory of the vision. 
First there is a world rendered in lush 3D. This justifies the hardware. 
Next are intermittent dollops of plot. These are voice acted because it is a quality signal. They feature intricately modeled characters on a virtual stage. This gives the arc narrative momentum and lets you know you've finished something meaningful. 
Filling out the gaps in the 7-12 hours ride are moments of rote game play with all possible feedback knobs tuned to 11. Blood, brains, impact. Innovation is located at 11.2. This makes you feel something visceral.
2.  Photo gallery: "Every CCTV camera between my house and Dalston Junction station." ("1.4 miles, 140ish cameras.")

3. Techdirt:
 We may come to look back on today's Wikipedia as the project's golden age, before those "with skin in the game" started their assault in earnest, and before Wikipedia editors increasingly gave up trying to ward them off for fear of legal reprisals. 
The news today:
French spies demand removal of a Wikipedia entry, threaten random Wikipedia admin in France when they don't get their way

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Link roundup

1. Improving the penalty box:
Wouldn't the sport of hockey be infinitely more entertaining if the penalty box was converted into a sensory deprivation chamber? I'm talking no light, no sound, no nothing. When players take a penalty they have to spend a whole two minutes in the dark and silence while they feel shame. Not only that, this would mean that when the penalty is over, players get to fall out of the chamber and onto the ice with the same look of disorientation of a newborn baby.
2.  James Bond story in real life--the Chinese hunt for a clever drug lord in the Golden Triangle:
But China had another asset, on the ground. In northern Laos, 10 miles south of where Mr. Naw Kham would eventually be arrested, a lavish Chinese-owned casino called the Kings Roman, decorated with statues of larger-than-life Roman figures and a huge crown affixed to its roof, operates in a special economic zone run by Chinese businessmen on the edge of the Mekong. 
The complex feels like a Chinese enclave: street signs are in Chinese, and Chinese currency, the renminbi, is favored over the Laotian kip. The casino offers stretch limousines for its customers, and a caged tiger to pet. It maintains its own Chinese security force, which probably played a role in the search for Mr. Naw Kham, the Asian official said.
3.  Commentary at the LA Kings' official 2013 trade tracker.  For example:
BUFFALO TRADES THEIR CAPTAIN CONTINUING THEIR GARAGE SALE. THE WILD ARE 8-2 IN THEIR LAST 10 AND POMINVILLE IS THAT LAST PIECE THEY THINK WILL TAKE THEM TO THE CUP (IT PROBABLY WON'T) 
or 
HE'S SO SMALL! HE'S SO BIG! OTTAWA GETS THE TINY CALDER CANDIDATE WHO RECENTLY HAS SEEN HIS ICE TIME DIMINISH.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

"How Dwayne Johnson went from being Warren Sapp's college backup to the biggest WWE superstar of his generation to a bona fide Hollywood movie star"

Grantland:
After college, he signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, but he lasted only two months before being released.

...

Johnson (as Maivia) won the Intercontinental title from Triple H, but the crowd wasn’t having it, even if by that point Johnson had fixed his hair and ditched his tribal frills. These were the last days of the innocent WWF, the days before ECW and the Monday Night Wars and postmodernism infiltrated everything, and Rocky Maivia was the least self-aware wrestler on the roster. When he needed time off to rehab an injury, WWF sent him home with no plan to bring him back. He was played as a hero, but he was “the most hated guy on the roster.”

...

When Dwayne Johnson returned to the WWF, it was as part of a bad-guy black-power faction called the Nation of Domination.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Price Is Right tee



Andy Pitts designed a t-shirt to wear during his trip to The Price is Right.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Manny Calavera illustration



AJ Hateley posted several sketches completed as rewards for supporters of her kickstarter.