(photo from Ambient Images)

Sailing in a watercraft made from junk, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, the JUNK team is raising awareness about plastic junk in our oceans.

JUNK blog

(via Notcot)

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[This is an update of an earlier post.]

Cool idea: this disposable paper coffee cup is actually a ceramic mug.

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Oh man . . . my creativity gland is sore from spending the day at the 2008 Maker Faire. I don’t even have the energy to make a video of it; below are some photo highlights.

If you live in the Bay Area: GO!
It’s happening tomorrow (Sunday) also.
GO! . . . and be crafty.

Bonus Round: Hacker Mullet!

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This Saturday and Sunday (May 3nd - 4st) is Make Magazine’s third annual ‘Maker Faire’ - a festival of DIY and all things hacker.

At the San Mateo County Fairgrounds, adult day pass $25, student $15, child $10.

Here’s a video I made of last year’s Maker Faire:

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Last Fall, someone tried repeatedly to break into a neighbor’s apartment - windowscreens torn or pulled off, and attempts to pry open the window locks. I helped her to better fortify her windows and I decided it would be wise to protect my own.

I went with minor antipersonnel gardening: planter boxes beneath all of the windows, each filled with cacti. The project itself cost around $25 for each antipersonnel planter box, and it took an afternoon to do. IKEA (at the time) had sets of 3 small cacti for ~$5.00 and single large cacti for ~$5.00 each.

Some points to consider:
• This won’t prevent anyone from breaking in if they are hellbent on doing so. It provides ‘disincentive’ - making it uncomfortable or more difficult to casually approach and open windows from the outside. They provide a visual threat (I’ve considered adding poison oak to some of the planter boxes, also).

• The cost is relatively low.

• It is easy to do - Screw the planter box into the bottom of the window sill. I suggest you use BBQ tongs or pliers to handle the cacti when you’re planting them.

• It is easy to maintain - Cacti are low-maintenance and often only need watering on a monthly basis.

• It looks cool - every time I look out the window, it looks like I’m in Arizona.

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Check out this hilarious clip of a reporter unknowingly getting high while he does a story on the marijuana and cocaine burning behind him!

[update from Heywood]: According to you a YouTube comment, this is a clip from a British TV comedy called ‘Drop the Dead Donkey‘. Still; pretty freakin funny.

(via Ronnie; via BeVideo)

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It goes without saying that there are certain things that white people love (usually because no one else wants to go near these things for good reason). Stuff White People Like is dedicated to chronicling the things that affluent white people go berzerk about:

• #74 - Oscar Parties
• #67 - Standing Still at Concerts
• #64 - Recycling
• #63 - Expensive Sandwiches
• #62 - Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
• #60 - The Toyota Prius
• #57 - “Juno”
• #49 - Vintage Clothing
• #47 - Arts Degrees
• #45 - Asian Fusion Food
• #44 - Public Radio
• #36 - Breakfast Places
• #28 - Not Having a TV
• #25 - David Sedaris
• #21 - Writer’s Workshops
• #17 - Hating Their Parents
• #16 - “Gifted” Children
• #11 - Asian Girls
• #10 - Wes Anderson Movies
• #5 - Farmers Markets
• #1 - Coffee

(via Susan)

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…would there be vending machines that sell marijuana. That’s right, Los Angeles, CA recently rolled out 2 herb-laden machines, where medical marijuana users can get access to the medicine they need, 24 hours a day.

Say what you want to say about pot, but this is certainly interesting, and I will be curious to see how this experiment works out for all parties involved. Machines are ‘open’ for business 24 hours a day, and have security guarding them. Furthermore, potential consumers will have to check in and have prescriptions approved, have a photo and biometric fingerprint scan taken before making a purchase, and use a prepaid ‘credit’ card with dosage information pre-programmed in to prevent people buying more than their allotment.

Patients can buy 3.5 or 7 grams, up to 1 oz. a week, in 5 strains “including OG Cush and Granddaddy Purple, the mildly hallucinogenic forebear to Prince.” Perhaps we will see some of these products in vending machines in the future?

As one poster astutely asked, “Is there to be a regular vending machine next to the marijuana machine to cure the resulting munchies?” Another poster replied, “That’s a fantastic idea– this way they can sell Doritos for $20 a bag!” Simpy Classic.

(Thanks Steve; via Thrillist)

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I got this in a used bookstore. 1972. Naked Yoga. Awesome.
[click on the tiny photo for multiple images; NSFW, though nothing vulgar]:

Step 1 - Get a Persian rug.
Step 2 - Grow long, frizzy hair.
Step 3 - Strip.
Step 4 - Get comfortable with seeing your own buttocks hovering over your head.

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Put them in this:

Need I say more?

(via Galyn, via Stylehive)

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Last month I posted an Urban Non-Legends article about “FrankenBerry Stool” - the medical term given to false “blood in stool” readings caused by red food coloring (the term arose from the early years of FrankenBerry cereal, which had horrified parents rushing red-stooled children to doctors). Last month I tested this and it appears that they changed the recipe: FrankenBerry came out indistinguishable from Count Chocula.

A friend reported “a recent colorful outcome” with BooBerry cereal (FrankenBerry’s poltergeist counterpart). I got some and gave it a try.

The results of “Operation BooBerry”
Though BooBerry turns milk blue, the final outcome was wholly unexpected: it was quite colorful, but not blue at all.

In sum: “FrankenBerry Stool” cannot be achieved anymore (with FrankenBerry). And “BooBerry Stool” is spectacularly vibrant, but not blue - to be technical about it (because this is scientific research after all and I’m not enough of a sicko to post photos), it is Pantone 368 or hex# 77bd33 (thanks Chris).

On a related note - it’s uncanny how Al Franken looks like FrankenBerry and Scott Bakula looks like Count Chocula.
(Yes: I had a lot of free time on my hands to make these. I <3 Photoshop)

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You can buy an Ewok treehouse from Free Spirit Sheres! “Eryn” is the wooden sphere and runs around $150,000, and “Eve” is the $45,000 fiberglass version. OR, if you’re in Vancouver Island area, you can rent one for $150 a night. I don’t know if I would call this environmentally friendly, it’s more like a neat way to convene with nature…AND you can pretend you’re the all-seeing eye in a giant tree monster.

(via SuperNaturale.com)

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[UPDATE: 7/30/07] Here’s the Southwest version.

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Along the lines of sticking “i” in front of everything and calling it a product, Sea to Summit have a clear winner! No $hit! It is a camping trowel for the fancy die hard color oriented camper. Hollow handle for other such vital camping items like your drugs or mini-vodka bottle.

• Lightweight & compact; weighs only 3.5 ounces (99 grams)
• Handle collapses to fit inside the shovel blade; to open push handle to full size and lock into place with a spring-loaded button lock
• Approximate length at full size 9.75 inches; collapsed length 5.5 inches
• A handy hollow handle for storing useful items like toilet tissue, hand sanitizer or lighter
• Handle has a comfortable, full-size grip for easier and more efficient digging
• Made of a super-strong, ultra light 6066 - T6 aluminum alloy
• Hard anodized blade to Rockwell C 70
• Available in four fun colors
• Comes with its own stuff sack
• Designed to support Leave No Trace practices

Leave no trace camping is a good thing, but the second you say ” Hey guys, iPood!” you body will be found all beaten and bloody at the side of the trail.

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Not really, but Hersheys is suing the California maker of these spoof cannabis candies, 40 year old Kenneth Affolter from Lafayette. That’s right, they’re suing for TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT. Professor Feldman of UCSF law school has this to say: “Does the customer really believe Hershey is making marijuana-laced candy? I don’t think so. But now you’re associating illegal drugs with the Hershey mark. You’re thinking about bad things, illegal things, things that will harm your body when you think of the Hershey mark, and that is terribly damaging to the company and its mark.”

(Via ABC News)

Click the read more link to see more images of the “infringing” products…

(more…)

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May 19th-20th (last weekend) was the 2007 Make: Magazine “Maker Faire”. It was a spectacular event: steam-powered robots, battery-powered motorcycles, tinfoil hats, human-powered carnival rides, a life-sized version of the game “mouse trap,” and lots of explosions.
Below is a video I put together for Blogadilla, and below below are some nice shots of the event by our own Blogadilla photographer, Garry. [click on photos to enlarge]

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Greensulate - growable, moldable (no pun intended) home insulation made from living mushroom fiber (mycelia). Cheap and green. Live like a Smurf.

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