Archive for June, 2007

Transformers: Vandalism in Disguise

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

Okay . . . because “Transformers: The Movie” is coming out in less than a week and geeks everywhere are getting worked-up about it (myself included), I thought I’d post something of a confession: here are some sketches from my (delinquent + geek) graffiti/spraypainting days in the late 80’s. I did a Tranformers “Unicron” piece beneath a bridge, and here’s a sketch I did of the Transformers logo in Japanese. Remember: it was the late 80’s and I was young and both graffiti and geekdom were still oldskool.




Safari West

Friday, June 29th, 2007

If you have the time, visit Safari West - an African animal preserve on the outskirts of the Napa Valley in California. My wife and I recently spent a night there; there’s nothing quite like waking up to the squawking of ring-tailed lemurs. The video will explain it all:

iPhrenzy

Friday, June 29th, 2007

I feel a great disturbance . . . as if a million geeks cried out in ecstasy and then were suddenly silenced.

Location: the Apple Store, Downtown Palo Alto (University Ave.), CA. (”The Heart Wallet of Silicon Valley”)
Time: 6hrs 11 mins to iPhrenzy.
Local Mood: Perhaps the largest collection of geeks without Star Wars or Renaissance Faire costumes on (and Shatner isn’t at a table signing stuff).
Am I Buying An iPhone?: Hell no. I prefer $600 in groceries. I just duct-taped my iPod to my cellphone and it’s pretty much the same thing.

Footage as of 11:35AM, Pacific Time.

Footage as of 12:30PM - The News Media ClusterF**k Has Begun (if you enlarge the photos, you’ll see how incredibly short some reporters are).

Report by: Blogadilla NewsTeam Field Reporter, Tim.
Linkety-Link

Paris (not France!) vs. Iraq . . . which is more newsworthy?

Friday, June 29th, 2007

I wish more journalists would be like Mika Brzezinski, but one must wonder if she’ll be able to keep her job after this (even though it certainly is admirable):

(via Laura, via PerezHilton.com)

The Newest X-Game: Extreme Ironing

Friday, June 29th, 2007

Are you just over snowboarding? Are moto-x and vert skateboarding too tame for you?

If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then I’ve found the next sport for you…EXTREME IRONING.

Extreme Ironing is the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt.

And according to its wikipedia page, Extreme Ironing has taken place on the mountainside of a difficult climb, in forest, in a canoe, while skiing or snowboarding, on top of large bronze statues, in the middle of a street, while parachuting, and even underwater. Enjoy!

Friday, June 29th, 2007

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when you bore people, they think it’s their fault.

GPS-Pedometer - sweet

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

Enter the wonderful world of Google mashups, this is an oldie but a goodie. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

Enter points on the map where you want to go, zoom in and be as detailed as you want.  It calculates the distance and allows you to save and send the link.

Distance form door step to mail box? Done that 0.0151 miles to be exact (I will be driving next time)

From one side of golden Gate to the other? The uses are endless! Runners, walkers, bored geeks who don’t want to go outside!

gg_bridge.JPG

Urban Non-Legend: The Candirú

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

If you find yourself swimming in the Amazon River, wearing loose shorts (or naked), and urinating in the water - you may be in grave danger. A candirú just might swim into your urethra and lodge itself there. Long considered a myth or “bush legend,” this fear has recently (and unfortunately) come to light as true. The name “candirú” actually refers to several species in the Trichomycteridae family and the Vandelliinae subfamily - they are tiny, parasitic, transparent catfish that subsist upon the blood of larger fish. Most of these species lodge themselves among the gills of larger fish (they have sets of backward-facing spines around their head) and live on the blood of their unfortunate hosts. Accounts* also note that some candirú species lodge themselves in the anuses of larger (and terribly unfortunate) fish. Perhaps as a case of mistaken identity, they seem to be attracted to human urine (which perhaps has a chemical signature similar to fish excreta or gill respiration) and will advance to the source, and at times lodge themselves in that source. A 1997 incident of a young man (23 yrs old) near Manaus, Brazil who had a candirú removed from his manhood is one of the first extensively and scientifically documented cases (gnarly web archive photos of the procedure here). The dead specimen (a species of Plectrochilus), which was removed with some difficulty, measured 133.5mm long and 11.5mm at the widest part of its head. The man and his equipment survived intact. A fish this size seemed to have little difficulty working its entire body into the urethra of the poor man. To offer a sense of scale, here is an illustration of a Trichomycterid candirú with an American quarter (specimen illustration redrawn from Spotte).

*The definitive work on this subject is marine scientist Stephen Spotte’s “Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes.” Spotte has left no stone unturned in this extensive collection of candirú accounts and current research. I got it for Christmas, an awesome read.

Edgy Goodness

Monday, June 25th, 2007

Mmmm, all edge brownies. Now, if ‘they’ can only come up with an ‘all butt bread loaf”, an “all dark meat chicken”, and an “all skin pudding” I can die happy. Baker’s Edge is also in the process of making an all edge lasagna pan too.

Ryan vs Dorkman 2

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

Yes. It is geektacular. But you gotta admit these guys did an impressive job (twice).

im in ur _____ _____ing ur _______

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

A nice write-on wash-off T-shirt from Think Geek.*

*If you don’t get it, see this. If you don’t like it, see this.

My Ears Are Burning

Sunday, June 24th, 2007


Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Thermometer earrings - $52.00 at Shana Logic.


. . . and keep constantly informed of your wrist circumference with their ruler cuff/bracelet, $44.00.

Definately Definetly Definitely

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

How the hell do you spell “definately”?!?

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

In Hollywood, brides keep the bouquets and throw away the groom.

Onionized: Apple’s iPhone

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

 

Apple is set to release the much-hyped iPhone Friday, June 29. Here are some of its most highly anticipated features:

  • Nanotechnology enables it to reassemble itself when thrown against wall
  • Exclusive link to Google Street View so you can watch yourself using your iPhone at all times
  • Takes Polaroids
  • When moved from hand to ear, makes Lightsaber sound effects
  • Prominent Apple logo
  • Reproduces through asexual budding
  • Has way, way more PRAM than the last thingy
  • Comes with an iPhone hat, so people know you own an iPhone during the brief periods you’re not using it
  • Apple's New iPhone

    (via TheOnion - June 20, 2007 | Issue 43•25)

    The Amazing Singing Tesla Coil!!

    Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

    SteveB sent this to me on Thursday, and I immediately thought we should post it. In fact, I assumed he would have already done so, because it’s that cool. But because more than 24 hours have gone by since Stevo shared it with me and it’s still not up, this video is fair game upon which I am going to sieze.

    And behold….The Amazing Singing Tesla Coil!  That’s right, a Tesla coil that ‘plays’ along with some pretty solid music.

    Ya gotta love the Nintendo throwback.

    (For the full story and a bit of science, head over to HauntedFrog)

    Random2.0: UrbanDrinks.com

    Friday, June 22nd, 2007

    UrbanDrinks

    How cool is this?
    UrbanDrinks.com is a site developed here in Portland to make your “getting-drunk-plans” easier. They’ve even added a Pub Crawl section where you can add your upcoming drunken events. This is especially handy, as we put on an annual pub crawl. They have plans to expand to other cities, so stayed tuned. Check it out ›

    UrbanDrinks.com is the work of a small group of friends who have made it their mission to provide you with the most up-to-date happy hour information.

    Got Boom?

    Friday, June 22nd, 2007

    Take a step back in time, way back. The day’s of sore shoulder’s are long gone with growing weeds of nasty small personal “music” players taking over our world. What happened to the day’s when you could walk around with a small house on your shoulder making sure everyone knew what music you wanted everyone to hear.

    My weapon of choice for music shoulder weaponry was the Panasonic RX5500 (sounds sexy huh, and it was!).

    It had it all, including two LED meters, sweeeeeet!

    panasonic-rx5500.jpg

    To get your boom on, head over to the Boom Box Museum

    iFone - like iPhone, sort of.

    Friday, June 22nd, 2007

    OhMyGod!!! iPhone is coming out in a week!! You can hear the sound of thousands of geeks frothing at the mouth and screaming out in ecstasy. It’s almost here!!!
    If you want to have some fun, make your own iFone. It’s like an iPhone, but not. Simply upload the iPhone stock ringtone and the iFone wallpaper to your phone. It’s fun to let your iFone ring in places frequented by geeks - heads turn, and for a brief moment you become a geek demigod as they assume you have some super-secret insider early release.

    (inspired by the magic of the Neistat Brothers)

    Dropping Science on 9-11

    Thursday, June 21st, 2007

    A Purdue University research team (the Rosen Center of Advanced Computing) released a video of their computer simulation of the 9-11 aircraft collision into the World Trade North Tower. This reconstruction is the product of two and half years of research to help understand this tragedy from an engineering standpoint.