Incredible contact juggling video
Filed Under Interesting, Skill Toys, Video |
We interrupt your regularly scheduled posts of Ed complaining about computers to bring you this amazing video:
via Rubin
Websites as graphs
Filed Under Art, Geek, Interesting, Internet, Websites |
Here’s something that’s kind of neat, representing websites as a graph of points. There’s a nifty script that will make one for you by just providing it with a URL. Here is geeked.info (click to enlarge):
You can also download the source code and run it on your local machine to create a larger, higher resolution image that’s suitable for posters, t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.
If you want to check out more of these, there’s a flickr pool of course. Some of them are quite aesthetically pleasing. If you’re wondering what each node stands for, here’s the legend from the site:
What do the colors mean?
blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags
Thanks for pointing this site out exiva
Escape from Berkeley: Racing to Vegas on alternative power
Filed Under Art, Geek, Interesting, News |
This 4th of July weekend will see the first annual “Escape from Berkeley” with a race from Berkeley, CA to Las Vegas, NV. This three day race will be unlike an ordinary race as all of the vehicles will be running on non-petroleum fuel! The announcement arrived via an email from Jim Mason, a well known East Bay artist who is responsible for large scale art projects and the Shipyard. All sorts of vehicles are permitted to enter the race as long as they are not powered by any petroleum based fuel or something that is “currently sold as a motor fuel”. You are allowed to store 10kwh of power in any form to get you going, but past that you’ll have to use your creativity. Some of Mason’s suggestions (other than the typical solar and steam) include: biomass, gasifiers, fast starch anaerobic digesters, on board sugar stills, tesla free energy vortexes, cold fusion, humans, and hamsters. On top of this, you can’t carry any fuel with you and you can’t purchase it on your way. Contestants will have to scavenge their fuel/power for free on the side of the highway.
So what do you win? Besides the geek pride and bragging rights, there will be a “significant cash prize for the winnner”. More information will be announced in the near future, but if you’re already interested in entering, get in touch with Jim. As this race is being compared to the Grand Challenge and Cannonball Run, it should be interesting to see what vehicles make it to Vegas, and who actually makes it there first!
Introducing a Puddle of Frogs
Filed Under Education, Funny, Interesting |
Bits and Pieces has a post with a collection of collective nouns. You know, those weird terms you use to describe a group of things without using the word “group”. Here’s some of the more obscure ones:
# drove of pigs
# cartload of monkeys
# kindle of cats (kittens)
# rhumba of rattlesnakes
# convocation of eagles
# prickle of hedgehogs
# tons more here
And we would like to take this moment to propose that a number of frogs shall now be referred to as a “puddle of frogs”. Yeah, we made that one up, but who’s to say the other ones on the list weren’t just someone having fun?
Blogging from the past
Filed Under Interesting, Internet, Websites |
For awhile now I’ve debated starting yet another blogging project. One where I blog about current events, but set them up so that they are posted 5,10,15, or more years in the future, but on the same date. Basically taking the idea of time-shifting and applying it to a blog. Well it looks like someone’s doing something similar. I came across WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier, a blog being written through the letters of a soldier in World War I. The posts are being published 90 years after the dates the letters were originally written by his grandson. The blog also contains additional posts with more information, pictures, and scans of things the grandson has discovered in his research of his grandfather’s life which, while they may destroy the purity of the concept, provide more context and back story. Definitely worth checking out, especially for those that are history geeks.
Floppy Disk CDRs
Filed Under Art, Geek, Interesting |
designboom is selling some unique CDRs. While they may look like floppy disks from the days of yore, these little square disks are actually writable CDRs. Each one is designed to fit 200 MB of data and comes with blue, red, green, and yellow labels so you can scrawl “stuff” on each just like back in the day. You can get a single one for $14 after shipping, or a deal on 4 of them for $32 (including shipping).
Remote Control Bus Stop Rave Flash Mob
Filed Under Fun, Funny, Interesting, Pranks, SF Bay Area, Video, sf0 |
Oh sf0, you are responsible for so many great things (not to mention me moving to San Francisco). What’s the next best thing? Oh, a sequel to the great Remote Control Bus Stop Rave Flash Mob? You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ll be there!
No idea what I’m talking about? Here’s the video from the last one:
And here’s the task that was posted on sf0.
And here’s info for the one this Friday:
Greetings fellow humans!
This Friday, September 21, starting at 9PM, there will be a remote control bus stop rave flash mob. Someone set up a music rig (hidden in the eaves of the bus stop) that goes off when someone sits in the bus stop or walks in front of it. Join the mob, it will be fun. Watch this youtube video of a previous bus stop rave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktm-LxCoe_I
WHERE:
- Bus stop at the corner of Haight and Fillmore in SF (headed west)
- CLICK HERE to see a mapWHEN:
- Friday, September 21, 9:00 PMWHAT TO DO:
- When the music and lights start, go to the bus stop and dance.
- When the music stops, vacate the bus shelter,
- Be friendly to passer-bys and locals. Encourage them to dance.
. Eventually, as the night goes on and we all become more intoxicated, this will evolve from a flash mob into a more of a bus stop rave.Bring your friends. It really is a lot of fun to party in bus stop that has its own sound system.
I give it 15 minutes, but dammit, those will be 15 good minutes of fun.
Math is fun!
Filed Under Education, Interesting |
739391133
73939113
7393911
739391
73939
7393
739
73
7
… are all prime. So are:
357686312646216567629137
57686312646216567629137
7686312646216567629137
686312646216567629137
86312646216567629137
6312646216567629137
312646216567629137
12646216567629137
2646216567629137
646216567629137
46216567629137
6216567629137
216567629137
16567629137
6567629137
567629137
67629137
7629137
629137
29137
9137
137
37
7
Octapult - a kinetic sculpture
Filed Under Art, Gadgets, Interesting, Video |
We stumbled upone this video and were strangely mesmerized. Something about the rhythmic movement and the sounds that it made were entrancing. The engineering behind it is beautiful and the resulting product is great.
Here’s what the artist has to say:
The “Octapult” is a kinetic sculpture designed and built on commission by Bradley N. Litwin of Philadelphia, PA. With 8 synchronized catapults, 160 plastic balls per minute are launched, caught, and recirculated. Made mostly of wood, the work is ~36 inches in diameter. On permanent display in the lobby of Lower Merion Elementary School, Merion Station, PA. Also a performing jazz musician, more of Litwin’s work may be seen and heard at www.bradlitwin.com.
Sokushinbutsu, or How To Mummify Yourself in 4 Easy Steps
Filed Under Body Modification, Education, Interesting |
1. Change your diet
For 1000 days (almost 3 years), only eat nuts and seeds that are naturally found. This, in combination with hard physical training will reduce your body fat to nearly nil, eliminating an easily decomposable part of your body.
2. Switch to Bark
Ok, now that you are sick of eating nuts and seeds for almost 3 years, it’s time to switch it up. For the next 1000 days, eat only the bark and roots from pine trees. This will reduce the amount of fluid you have in your body, leaving you even more dessicated.
3. Start drinking poisonous tea
Towards the end of your 1000 day stint eating delicious bark and roots, start drinking tea made from the sap of the usushi tree. Usually this sap is used to make laquer, but it will help you vomit, sweat, and urinate more often. This will help get rid of that terrible moisture in your body. Oh, and it will help to kill any maggots or other insects that might try to eat your mummified body later.
4. Lock yourself in a tomb
Finally, you’ll want to enclose yourself in a tiny tomb, just big enough to sit lotus style in. You’ll hang out in here for the next 1000 days, but chances are you’ll die long before you hit the 1000 day mark. How will you breath? A small tube will be run into the tomb. How will everyone know when you’re dead? A bell will be placed inside. Ring this bell every day until you die, then stop ringing it. When we don’t hear the bell anymore, we’ll pull out the air tube and seal up the tomb.
When the last 1000 days are up, we’ll crack open the tomb to see if you were successful. If we find a mummy, hurray! You’ll be considered a Buddha and will join an elite group of only a couple dozen monks who have succeeded over the years! If you’re all rotted, we’ll commend you for your effort, and tell you better luck next time. Want some tips? Try drinking the water from the sacred spring on Yudono mountain in Yamagata. I hear it helps because it has arsenic in it to help kill off any bacteria or micro-organisms. Oh, and watch out for the government, this whole practice was outlawed by the government back in the late 19th century.
Buddhist Mummies of Japan(image #1 source and a listing of visits to the different mummies along with a few pictures)
Buddhist Mummies of Japan (image #2 source)
Article in JSTOR that I wish I had access to Thanks to Bethany for hooking me up with a copy!
The Very Special Dead - more pictures
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