« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
April 25, 2008
The If You Rode a Bike You'd Be Home By Now Ride
“The city is an organism plagued by congestion. Its corridors are blocked by overpopulation and car dependent laziness. Angry drivers are trapped inside their sluggish automobiles. But why should you care? You ride your bicycle and will most likely be home an hour before them. Crimanimal Mass is rising like the Phoenix, out of the ashes of a longstanding legacy of carbon emissions and car-culture…”
The Freeway Traffic Jam Ride was conceived on Wednesday, April 4th in the 2008th year of the common era, by boogalooshrimp and Cyper. It is a form of Bicycle Street Theatre. The inaugural ride took place on April 18, 2008. It is a mobile semi-regular ride
More local bike events at Ibikeu
Another guy Biking through the Holland Tunnel
A Huge Depository of Unusual Los Angeles Links and Orange County Links Here
April 25, 2008 in Los Angeles | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Mouth Face
MOUTHFACE
A long List of Links That Will Waste Your Time or that are Simply Stupid Here
April 25, 2008 in Waste of Time | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Designer Coffins
There's nothing cheerful about a coffin - until you cover it with colorful pictures. The idea of decorating caskets is helping some people come to terms with that only somber certainty we all have in life.
Colourful Coffins is the UK's leading supplier of custom design picture coffins
(From a story by the BBC)
When the Chinese herbalist Li Ching-Yuen died in 1933, newspapers around the world reported the news of his passing. According to his own testimony, he was 197 years old
Unrelated: Mieke Gerritzen’s Fake for real Meta-game
No time to blog tonight. Sorry.
A Huge Depository of Unusual Coffins and Other Links About Death and Eternity Here
April 25, 2008 in Death - Coffins | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 24, 2008
Sosumi, a sushi bar that caters exclusively to lawyers
Jacket Lunch box Featuring Popular Album Covers
Oh, for crying out loud, here comes the $1,000 Sushi Roll
Gorgeous Market reports from local farmer’s markets around the country. By "Seasonal Chef" (Explore inside)
Unrelated: Want your ex-boyfriend back? [Unfortunately] I can help
No time to blog tonight. Sorry.
A Huge Depository of Unusual Sushi Links Here
April 24, 2008 in Food - Sushi | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 23, 2008
My Doppelganger
"A doppelgänger or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation..."
Last Thursday we drove to San Diego and spent the day touristing around. The weather was perfect, and we had a good lunch at the Edgewater Grill, visited the Coronado Hotel, etc. I snapped many pictures, some of which turned out to be pretty nice. When I got home I looked at the photograph above, which I took at Old Town, and discovered in the background a guy who looks exactly like me!
Spooky!
Unrelated: LSD vs Alcohol vs Tree
A Huge Depository of Unusual Links about Orange County and Riverside, California Here
April 23, 2008 in Orange County, California | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
“My friend’s wife is a really bad cook. I broke a tooth on her coffee”
“America is certainly the great melting pot. Where else could someone like Slim Gaillard sing a tribute to matzoh balls and gefilte fish? It’s the kind of thing that makes me proud to be an American. Sing it, Slim.”
People have long wondered what goes on in Bob Dylan’s mind. But if you pay attention to what he says and plays on his XM satellite-radio program, Theme Time Radio Hour, you can actually get a pretty good idea. Inside Dylan’s brain. (From J-Walk)
A German art gallery in the town of Chemnitz mounts the first-ever exhibition of water-color and gouache paintings by Bob Dylan
4/24 Update: A slide show of the art, and the story behind it found on “Intelligent Travel”
11 year old Korean guitarist Sungha Jung plays an arrangement of All Along the Watchtower
The most of early Dylan
Bruce Springsteen sings ‘Trapped’
A Huge Depository of Unusual Dylan Links Here
April 23, 2008 in Music - Bob Dylan | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 22, 2008
Happy Earth day
You say it's your earth day
It's my earth day too, yeah
They say it's your earth day
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your earth day
Happy earth day to you
B3ta Photoshop The Beatles challenge. (From Tony Zimnoch)
Ringo loses his head: A foliage sculpture of Beatle Ringo Starr in the band's home city has been beheaded by vandals
A Huge Depository of Unusual Beatles Links Here
April 22, 2008 in Music - Beatles | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
A Message to Pennsylvanians from Bill Clinton
Much more about the 2008 Election. Also, the 2004 election and other Political Posts Here
April 22, 2008 in 2008 US Election | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
12 Bad situations
12 Bad situations to wait until the last minute and 2 that are worth waiting for
Chaetopterus pugaporcinus, the Pigbutt Worm, the most NSFW creature ever. (From Coil House)
Inside stuffed animals
Chain food characters by Genevieve Gauckler
The photoshop art of Francois De Witte
Submitted photos of people playing chess on roller coasters
Loopable is a blog that collects loopable animated GIFs. (From Who Killed Bambi)
Make new friends, practice wrestling. With Manual de Lucha Libre
Use a bowl of milk, some food colors & washing liquid to perform the Milk Trick. (YT)
A Tufted Titmouse (flickr)
Flip that Ho: Is DirecTV's programming guide racist?
Slightly-used Rubber Fist for sale
A Huge Depository of Unusual Oddities and Crazy linkage Here
April 22, 2008 in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 21, 2008
Yacht Prices Sinking Fast
Yacht prices have gone up so far so fast that they’re bound to settle down. Last year, it cost more to buy a used yacht than it did to build a new one, because of buyers’ need for instant gratification. Yacht flipping became the new house flipping, with buyers selling boats for millions in profits before the vessels were even built.
This year, yacht flippers may face the same fate as Florida condo flippers. The good news for boat buyers: that 150-footer of your dreams may come down to a reasonable $20 million
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
People stroll around the Dutch cargo ship "Artemis" in Les Sables d'Olonne, on France's west coast, after strong winds pushed it off course
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Re-post: Airplane Graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base outside of Tucson, AZ
Pooh stick and sand eggs made by this rake-sand artist. (From Metafilter)
A Huge Depository of Boating and Sailing Links Here
April 21, 2008 in Boating | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Ten Classically "Neato" Things
Getting raised aloft by a kite.
"The wind gusted a bit stronger now, and I soared up a scary five feet before settling back on the hilltop. 'Neato!' I yelled, remembering for the first time in two minutes to take a breath." —Patrick McManus, The Good Samaritan Strikes Again, 1993, p. 208.
The wings on a pilot's flight jacket.
I say, 'Neato!' It's all I can think of." —Sterling Watson, Sweet Dream Baby, 2004, p. 27.
The leather seats in a police chief's Lamborghini.
"'Heck! This is neato!' Jerry Randy said, stroking the leather seats. 'Real Neato!'" —Louis Serra, The Curator's Orb, 2007, p. 161.
Pureed fruit soups with exotic garnishes.
"You can get all sorts of neato-sounding soups . . . like melon soup or jute soup, all served with some sort of neato-sounding 'dumpling' material, like fufu or pounded yam." —Dan Leone, Eat This, San Francisco, 1999, p. 111.
A vintage camper trailer.
"The interior is positively neato, with miniature everything—a real icebox that uses a real block of ice, bunk beds and shelves that fold into walls." —Ann-Marie MacDonald, The Way the Crow Flies, 2004, p. 557.
Outdoor glass elevators.
"We go up the tall, tall Dune casino in a glass elevator, climbing soundlessly up the side of the skyscraper, higher and higher above the blimming lights in grids. I stand close to my dad and we star at the daylight light. 'Wow! Neato!' he says, hands patting my shoulders." —Mike Albo, Hornito: My Lie Life, 2000, p. 63.
A Ouija Board (séance game).
"We would probably never have heard of Peter Wagschal, or of his neato Ouija Board Studies Program, if it hadn't been for one Larry Zenke, a pretty neato guy." —Sara Tulloch, The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 1991, p. 209.
Three weeks of Christmas vacation.
"'Neato!' My life was definitely looking up. . . . I [had] just been sprung from seventh grade for three whole weeks of Christmas vacation." —Patrick McManus, The Bear in the Attic, 2002, p. 28.
Thin vodka glasses.
"Vodka in those really neato thin glasses in a bucked of ice." —Barbara D'Amato, White Male Infant, 2003, p. 187.
Mombian, a lesbian mom.
"When I was in fourth grade . . . I just thought it was neato. I would just go around like, 'My mom's gay.'" —Janet Wright, Lesbian Step Families, 1998, p. 148.
And a bonus link: Great Wall 360 degree panorama at Jinshanling
(Graphic above by designer Harvey Rayner)
“Neato” as it is known in the “blogosphere” is probably mostly connected in readers’ mind with Neatorama, Alex S’s hugely popular blog. I could have replaced Craig Conley’s suggested moniker with "Swell" or "Awesome", but eventually decided to keep this post as it was written.
This is another post that was composed by on-going contributor Craig Conley of the Abecedarian blog fame. Craig's new book is A Field Guide to Identifying Unicorns By Sound, available in an eco-friendly low-wattage palette. Thank you again, Craig! (All previous co-blogger's posts archived here.) If other bloggers are interested to share the forum here on any other topic, please contact me for details
Please show Craig some love by leaving lots of comments below!
April 21, 2008 in Co-blogged with | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 20, 2008
Elevator problems
...The tenants of a large office building complained about the increasingly poor elevator service. A consulting firm specializing in elevator-related problems was employed to deal with the situation. It first established that average waiting time for elevators was too long. It then evaluated the possibilities of adding elevators, replacing existing elevators with faster ones, and introducing computer controls to improve utilization of elevators. For various reasons, none of these turned out to be satisfactory. The engineers declared the problem to be unsolvable.
When exposed to the problem, a young psychologist employed in the building's personnel department made a simple suggestion that dissolved the problem. Unlike the engineers who saw the service as too slow, he saw the problem as one deriving from the boredom of those waiting for an elevator. So he decided they should be given something to do. He suggested putting mirrors in the elevator lobbies to occupy those waiting by enabling them to look at themselves and others without appearing to do so. The mirrors were put up and complaints stopped. In fact, some of the previously complaining tenants congratulated management on improvement of the elevator service...
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
What do with an outmoded technology? Turn it into entertainment. A plethora of services using photo booths have sprung up. In the UK, Boothnation offers customized booths for use at events
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Victorian Science Fiction: How To Make Rivets
Wallace and Gromit fan patents one of his inventions. A boy of five is thought to be the UK's youngest person to patent an invention after coming up with a labor-saving broom to help his father sweep leaves
Crab-Fu Steam Works
A Huge Depository of Unusual Inventions & Discoveries Here
April 20, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Haircut Project
Mandy and Aaron Dietz have been working on Haircut Art for two years, shooting friends and strangers at Supercuts on Fillmore.
“It’s all about the simplicity of the idea. We chose not to go to a fancy, expensive salon, because that’s a different thing. We set out to capture a basic haircut, and what that does to a person’s appearance – and spirit.” The similarities of the side-by-sides are a result of taking lots of shots to find the best match. “It’s interesting, because the pose is so straight. Your eye looks for consistencies but also finds differences.”
The Haircut Project. (Click to advance)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Projects Here
April 20, 2008 in Projects | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Shakespeare's Pulp
J: My pardon; did I break thy concentration?
Continue! Ah, but now thy tongue is still.
Allow me then to offer a response.
Describe Marsellus Wallace to me, pray.
B: What?
J: What country dost thou hail from?
B: What?
J: How passing strange, for I have traveled far,
And never have I heard tell of this What.
What language speak they in the land of What?
B: What?
J: The Queen's own English, base knave, dost thou speak it?
B: Aye!
J: Then hearken to my words and answer them!
Describe to me Marsellus Wallace!
B: What?
JULES presses his knife to BRETT's throat
J: Speak 'What' again! Thou cur, cry 'What' again!
I dare thee utter 'What' again but once!
I dare thee twice and spit upon thy name!
Now, paint for me a portraiture in words,
If thou hast any in thy head but 'What',
Of Marsellus Wallace!
B: He is dark.
J: Aye, and what more?
B: His head is shaven bald.
J: Has he the semblance of a harlot?
B: What?
JULES strikes and BRETT cries out
J: Has he the semblance of a harlot?
B: Nay!
J: Then why didst thou attempt to bed him thus?
B: I did not!
J: Aye, thou didst! O, aye, thou didst!
Thou hoped to rape him like a chattel whore,
And sooth, Lord Wallace is displeased to bed
With anyone but she to whom he wed.
Pulp Fiction, as performed by the King's Men. (From 2 Boings)
Update: More iambic samples on Metafilter
April 21 Update:: Now with a WIKI!
Re-post: 73 headaches from DirtDirt
All New – Featuring the personal websites of Grow-a-brain’s readers! Today, from Germany Ehrensenf Internet TV. Submit yours for consideration.
A Huge Depository of Unusual ‘Pulp Fiction’ Links Here
April 20, 2008 in Cinema - "Pulp Fiction" | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 19, 2008
Montana Meth Project
The Montana Meth Project is a large-scale prevention program aimed at reducing first-time Meth use through public service messaging, public policy, and community outreach
Mugshot of Matthew Gibeault - Charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in Ada County, Idaho
Unusual Stair Slide
Doug Benson’s new movie Super High Me, opens everywhere today 4/20. Interview with the creator of the movie
Pick your poison: Hello Kitty Cocaine or fruit-flavored cocaine
Playboy Searching for Girls of the Olive Garden. (From All Night Surfing)
Unrelated: April Fools Day On TheWeb brings you the most complete listing of April Fools' Day Jokes that Web Sites have run each year from 2004 all the way up to today. wikipedia’s list of a April Fools' Day 2008 was not too shabby either
A Huge Depository of many illegal drugs especially Acid and Pot Here
April 19, 2008 in Drugs - "Save the Roaches, Arnie" | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack