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May 31, 2008
Stravinsky Conducts Firebird
(From Uncertain Times)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Musicians and their Music Here
May 31, 2008 in Music_ | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 30, 2008
Cube ads
Cube ads created by Matt Eastwood of DDB Australia
Rubik’s Final Solution. (Onion audio)
The Making of The Pentultimate: In early 2007, I made a pencil sketch of a deep cut vertex turning icosahedron puzzle. I later realized this ground had been covered by others before in dodecahedron form, including Christopher Pelley, who coined the name "Pentultimate". The first Pentultimate was completed on March 19th at around 8 PM. Here's a little back story on how this puzzle was created…
Build Your Own Rubik's Cube Subwoofer in 164 Easy Steps
Twisty puzzle mods. (Re-post)
Bob Burton has been solving Rubik's Cubes since 2001 and competed in over twenty official contests all over the world. He has held several world records and national titles for Rubik's puzzles, including the Rubik's Magic and Square-1. Here is shows you how to easily solve the cube. (Thank you, Matt D.)
A Huge Depository of Links About Rubik’s Cube and Hundreds of Other Games Here
May 30, 2008 in Games - Rubik's Cube | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 29, 2008
Tennis For Two
Way back in 1958, William Higinbotham invented “Tennis For Two” to liven up visitor day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, his workplace. The game uses an oscilloscope with two control pads. It remained largely unknown until 1981 when a lawyer trying to break Magnavox's patent for video games came across writings talking about the game.
Blueprints of it were found to predate Magnavox's game, the case was settled out of court, and the game found fame as the second ever invented, since it was later predated by A.S. Douglas' 'OXO' game from 1952.
In retrospect, Higinbotham agreed he should have applied for a patent. But if he had, the patent would have belonged to the Federal government, and no riches would have come his way, anyway. The reason he did not apply, was that at the time, it didn't seem to be any more novel than the bouncing ball circuit in the instruction book
(Music on the video is 'To Find Our Freedom' by Peacekeepers, from the album 'Message From Planet Earth')
A Huge Depository of Unusual ‘First Ever’ Stories Here
May 29, 2008 in First Ever | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 28, 2008
The Smell of Roses at Night
A digital poem - The Smell of Roses at Night by Ian Harris (at Born Magazine)
Moscow based design agency FIRMA
The website of Halfdan E, the Danish film composer
Re-post: grow-a-brain Visualizer, or discover any website as a graph, by Fernando Luis Lara
Scott a. a. Bibus: Rogue Taxidermist
Hottest To Coldest by Aleksandra Domanovic - Continuously arranges a list of all the worlds national capitals according to their current air temperature
A Huge Depository of Digital Eye Candy Here
May 28, 2008 in Digital Art | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 26, 2008
Raftman's Razor
Two geeky teenage boys follow the story of a superhero who doesn't really do much. The Raftman's Razor by Keith Bearden
More about the short at Movie Pie. (From Nag on the lake)
A Huge Depository of Boating and Sailing Links Here
May 26, 2008 in Boating | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Made in Timbuktu
A large collection of “Made In” tags, part of the labels project
Pajamas as Outdoor Wear in Shanghai. The prevalence of pajamas, according to photographer Justin Guariglia, was due to both the extreme summer heat and the lack of plumbing. The area where most of the pictures were taken was one where many people had to use outdoor communal toilets and thus the boundaries of what was considered home expanded past people’s houses to the public bathrooms. Once that relaxation of the dress code became acceptable (starting around the 1980s) the perimeter for PJ-wear just kept expanding until many people were wearing them day in day out…
When Bodybuilding and Steroids Go Too Far
A Huge Depository of Unusual Fashion Trends As Well As Growabrain T-shirt Closet Collection Here
May 26, 2008 in Fashion | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 25, 2008
Procrastinator's Clock
How do procrastinators think of time? Why is it that they leave things until the last minute? How does their internal clock operate? Now you can customize your Google page with Procrastinator's Clock, a clock that will make you get there on time, since it can be up to 15 minutes early. (No Joke)
Analogy by Jesson Yip is a typographic clock which explores the numerical and spatial qualities of digital and analogue clocks.
A Huge Depository of Unusual Clocks and Watches Here
May 25, 2008 in Clocks & Watches | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Shout, Sister, Shout
Rosetta Tharpe (1915 – 1973) was a pioneering Gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock accompaniment. She became the first great recording star of Gospel music in the late 1930s and also became known as the original soul sister of recorded music
A Huge Depository of Unusual Musicians and their Music Here
May 25, 2008 in Music_ | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
One day I'll be bigger than the VW Beetle
…Jesus 'Jesus' Christ was born Jeshua Evan Williams in Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire, in the year 0000. Although West Wales was suffering from industrial decline and high unemployment at the time, he was fortunate to have a stable background. Both his parents were employed, his father working as a ghost for the local council and his mother as a carpenter.
Born with a full head of hair, a luxuriant beard and a halo, it was clear from the outset that he was a special child. At school, his academic performance was average, but in reports by his teachers we find indicators of his later career, such as the occasion when he resurrected a box of frogs intended for dissection in O Level Biology, or when he disappeared for 40 days during a cross-country run…
A Huge Depository of Unusual Jesus Links Here
May 25, 2008 in Jesus | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The Do Nothing Grinder
A Nothing Grinder, also known as a Do Nothing Grinder or a Bullshit grinder, is a toy produced by regional woodworkers in New England, and is often sold in gift shops.
The device is a classic example of adapting elliptical to linear motion along two axes. The base of the device is a square block of wood with two perpendicular routed grooves. Two shuttle pieces move back and forth in the grooves. The mitered grooves are made in such a way that the sliding shuttle parts are captive and cannot be removed. These shuttle pieces are attached by a pivot joint to the center and end of a lever. The unattached end of the lever has a handle which the operator turns in an elliptical motion. As the handle is turned, the shuttle parts slide past each other almost effortlessly, achieving absolutely no purpose other than entertaining the operator and tracing out a perfect elliptical path.
As a device other than a toy, the mechanism can in fact be used for something useful, such as drawing or routing ellipses, mainly in wood.
A Huge Depository of Unusual Inventions & Discoveries Here
May 25, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
May 23, 2008
All’s Well That Ends Well
...Jon was excited, sitting on the seat next to him was his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Jon had read every Potter book, he had even memorized the last line of The Half Blood Prince, the sixth book.
His hand closed automatically around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.
He took his book, went inside, and sat down in his favorite chair. He was ready to begin reading when Mary, his wife said, “Dinner’s on the table.” He’d waited two years for this moment, and a few minutes more or less was fine with him...
(From Mostly Anecdotal)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Literary Links Here
May 23, 2008 in Books & Literature | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 21, 2008
No time to blog today
I’m too busy right now.
You can visit more than five years of archive posts here
May 21, 2008 in Website News | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
May 20, 2008
Old San Francisco
Yerba Buena, 1851. (Actually, its name was changed to San Francisco in 1847. The same location, Portsmouth Square, today)
Old San Francisco photographs by JB Monaco (1856-1938)
All Historic Sites in San Francisco
Elks Lodge, #99, at MacArthur Park, from a Los Angeles flicker collection
You have reached the end of the internet. Please turn off the lights before you leave.
A Huge Depository of Unusual Links About San Francisco and About Los Angeles Here
May 20, 2008 in San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 19, 2008
Paranoia
“Ladies and gentlemen, you have been invited here today for the official announcement of the inquiry into the death of Senator Charles Carroll. This is an announcement, not a press conference. Therefore, there will be no questions. A complete transcript of the investigation is being prepared for publication on March 1st. At that time, the committee will hold a full-scale press conference. After nearly four months of investigation, followed by nine weeks of hearings, it is the conclusion of this committee that Senator Carroll was assassinated by Thomas Richard Linden. It is our further conclusion that he acted entirely alone, motivated by a sense of patriotism and a psychotic desire for public recognition. The committee wishes to emphasize that there is no evidence of any wider conspiracy; no evidence whatsoever. It's our hope that this will put an end to the kind of irresponsible and exploitive speculation conducted by the press in recent months, as I've said in the complete text of the hearings, which provides the bases for the committee's findings which will be published on March 1st. When you've had a chance to examine the evidence, you'll have every opportunity to ask those questions which remain unanswered, if they are any. That is all. Thank you.”
(I started having nightmares that sometimes in the next 5 months, some crazed White supremacist will manage to assassinate Obama, the Black Helicopters will land, and the whole country will erupt in chaos & blame, as McCain gets elected)...
Who should Barack pick as his running mate?
What Went Wrong? The exclusive story of Hillary's fall, as told by the high-level advisors, staffers, fundraisers, and on-the-ground organizers who lived it
Much more about the 2008 Election. Also, the 2004 election and other Political Posts Here
May 19, 2008 in 2008 US Election | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
The Giant Makeup mines of Peru
A former Lebanese taxi finds a new life as a pampered summer car, and other Mercedes-Benz Type 180 restoration stories
Humpty Dumpty in Jerusalem by Pat Condell
Salt evaporation ponds in Peru, in Bulgaria and in Alviso, California on Google Maps. (From Digg)
Many maps from the Middle East
6 better ways of crossing the borders than in the Middle East (YouTube)
Engineers and computer scientists at Purdue University have created the first scientifically accurate visualization of the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11
(No time to blog tonight. Sorry)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Stories from the Middle East Here
May 19, 2008 in Middle East | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack