Saturday, June 29, 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The imprisoned Titans from Tarsem's "Immortals"




Link roundup

1.   Airwolf-themed Monopoly.

2.  Jeanne de Clisson (1300–1359):
The ships that Clisson purchased were painted all black on her command, and the sails dyed red. The 'Black Fleet' took to the waters and began hunting down and destroying the ships of King Philip VI, and were merciless with the crews. But Clisson would always leave two or three of Philip's sailors alive, so that the message would get back to the King that the “Lioness of Brittany” had struck once again. Jeanne and her fleet also assisted in keeping the English Channel free of French warships, and it is very likely that as a privateer she had a hand in keeping supplies available to the English forces for the Battle of Crécy in 1346. When King Philip VI died in 1350, it was not the end to Jeanne's revenge. She continued to wreak havoc among French shipping, and it was reported that she took particular joy in hunting down and capturing the ships of French noblemen, as long as they were aboard. She would then personally behead the aristocrats with an axe, tossing their lifeless bodies overboard.
3.  "Revealed in pictures at last: How might of US Army responded to Viet Cong sniper; But, despite massive 1970 firepower, they never found him."

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Tattoos



Tattoos.

The Pandigital Handheld Electronic Encyclopedia



Available at Amazon:
Get in the know with the Pandigital WikiReader. This palm-sized electronic encyclopedia contains the entire English Wikipedia covering 3 million topics -- equivalent to more than 1,000 volumes. No internet connection is required, it comes preloaded with the entire Wikipedia and is ready to use right out of the box. Easy touchscreen controls and touchscreen QWERTY keyboard allow you instant access to a world of knowledge. Never be out of date, either, as the content can be updated quarterly via online download or via MicroSD card. Runs on 2 AAA batteries which will last approximately 1 year.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Jupiter print


Art from Gallery 1988's Space show is now online.  This is by Joe Van Wetering.

Link roundup

1.  On cleanse diets:
We live in an age of what William James called “medical materialism,” so instead of fretting about a fallen world, we speak of a poisoned one. In a modern version of original sin, the corruption of our environment is so thorough that it defies individual efforts to transcend it
2. "An undercover police officer posing for years as an environmental activist co-wrote a libellous leaflet that was highly critical of McDonald's, and which led to the longest civil trial in English history, costing the fast-food chain millions of pounds in fees."

3.  Tumblr dedicated to female archaeologists.

Link roundup

1.  "Don't Want the NSA to Read Your Documents? Use This Font."

2.  Top Chef Texas winner sold drugs for seven years.  And in other food news, "apparently a perk of being one of Cheesecake Factory's 174 general managers is the brand-new BMW you're given every three years."

3.  Sheep-eating plant:
In the Andes it uses its sharp spines to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death. The animals then decay at the base of the plant, acting as a fertiliser.

Friday, June 21, 2013

3 3/4"-scale custom District 9 action figures



3 3/4"-scale custom District 9 action figures by Sabretooth.

Link roundup

1.  Google now says its complicated interview questions don't work:
On the hiring side, we found that brainteasers are a complete waste of time. How many golf balls can you fit into an airplane? How many gas stations in Manhattan? A complete waste of time. They don’t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart.
2.  "One billion euros in aid that the EU gave to Egypt over the past six years has gone to waste, the EU’s spending watchdog reported today in a scathing assessment. Sixty percent of that aid—€600 million—is unaccounted for."

3.  The three highest paid officials on the Pentagon budget are the football coaches at Army, Navy and Air Force.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

New music video featuring the Cold Steel guy chopping stuff




Lynn Thompson, star of Cold Steel's brilliant commercials, is featured in the video for That's On Me by Wavves.

“The waistband is the only part of the boardshort that actually touches your body"

"It anchors to the body, yet allows for a full range of motion."

Yuki 7



Yuki 7 statuette.

Aliens Lego Dropship



Lego Aliens dropship by Legohaulic.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Link roundup

1.  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were actually in Assyria, Babylon's great rival as the superpower of ancient Mesopotamia.

2.  Necropolis by Jake Wyatt.

3. Valleywag:
Want to know all the code names for America's massive intelligence gathering programs? Just browse through the "intelligence analysts" who post their resumes on the public career networking site LinkedIn.
4. "Alas, the sound these insects make is too quiet for most of us to hear, and you would need a specialized microphone to pick up their replies. But still, I think it is pretty amazing that there is a tiny creature hiding somewhere in the bushes, listening to me and repeating my words, hoping that maybe I will get close enough that he can have a shot at catching me for dinner."

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Harry Potter Munnys



Harry Potter, Voldermort and more Munnys by Jared Cain.

"Neil Gaiman's top 10 mythical characters"

TG:
Lilith
I was told about Lilith by my barmitzvah teacher as a boy: how she insisted on having sex on top, a crime so great that Adam was forced to disassociate himself from her, and how she did not mind and went off and had sex with demons instead, Adam being all there was in the way of men at the time. She also appeared never to have died, which meant that she sounded cooler than anyone else in the whole of Genesis. Even though she wasn't actually really even mentioned in Genesis.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Google's Project Loon

Google's Project Loon:
Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But two-thirds of the world’s population does not yet have Internet access. Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

"Nicaragua waterway to dwarf Panama canal"

"Chinese firm to build and run $40bn trans-oceanic plan as opponents demand proper scrutiny of environmental impacts"

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Link roundup

1.  WRM:
The Nile actually runs through 11 countries, and therein lies Egypt’s problem. One of those countries, Ethiopia, is planning to dam the mighty Nile. The dam, which will eventually be Africa’s largest, is already under construction, and several days ago Ethiopia began diverting water from the Nile’s normal course. Downstream in Egypt, outrage is gaining momentum.
2.  BB:
In July, millions of people will travel to Saudi Arabia to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. When they do that, they might be at risk of contracting MERS — Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome — a coronavirus, similar to SARS. They could also be at risk of carrying MERS back to their home countries. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabian authorities have released so little information about MERS that global public health experts don't know how to advise these pilgrims as they prepare for travel.
3.  Mike Krahulik tries out Google Glass:
I was not embarrassed or worried she would think I was a dork. I AM a dork! What I was worried about was being rude. I feel like walking around with a camera pointed at people even if it’s not recording is just not polite. It’s a very strange feeling that I’m only just now trying to get my head around. I think the technology is incredibly cool but I wonder if socially we are ready for Glass. I’m starting to think the Google Glass Explorer program might be less about testing hardware, and more about testing people.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Monday, June 10, 2013

Cthulhu relic



Faux scrimshaw Cthulhu idol by Britta Miller.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Secret Cinema's latest showing was Terry Gilliam's Brazil



Secret Cinema's latest screening was Terry Gilliam's Brazil. There's a great photo gallery here.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Link roundup



Foul ball snatcher.

1.  "But Google Glass + NSA PRISM essentially amounts to a vision in which a foreign country is suddenly going to be flooded with American spy cameras."

2.  "Hypothesis: One begins living in a William Gibson novel the moment one first begins to read a William Gibson novel."

3.  Los Angeles: "1,021 drivers stopped at Burbank DUI checkpoint; 0 were drunk."