February 2004

Sunday 29 February

  • Bioethics (23:37) - When the White House waits until late Friday afternoon to make an announcement you know it's not a good thing. This time he was trying to slip it past that he was sacking two members of his Council on Bioethics...

Saturday 28 February

  • crosswalk buttons... mechanical placebos (22:40) - According to this article in the Times, over 2500 of New York City's 3250 crosswalk buttons are inoperable, and have been for some time. "Most of the buttons scattered through the city, mainly outside of Manhattan, are relics of the...
  • Panopti-john (14:09) - A port-a-john with one-way mirrors (seeing out, not in) is the idea for this outdoor art installation outside the Tate Britain. The title "Don't Miss A Sec" refers to its conception at an art opening where people were too afraid...
  • Advanced Racquetball (04:30) -
  • Hacker Porn (02:33) - Being leet with Nmap takes the Naked News approach to teaching the use of nmap....
  • Magnesthesia (01:18) - Having a magnet implanted in Todd Huffman's finger hasn't just allowed him to pick up metal objects. It has given him a new sense through which to encounter the modern electronic world. With a simple magnet he has joined the...

Friday 27 February

  • Some new things about me: (15:06) - Yesterday, I finished chapter 4 of my thesis -- only 2 chapters to go! I recently bought I Am The World Trade Center's album The Tight Connection and I can't stop listening to it. My cooking club joined this CSA....
  • Closings & Delays (14:43) - Humorous closings and delays. Also a good way to get free advertising. View them all....
  • "The Passion" part II (05:51) - The NY Times is reporting: Two long-awaited studies have found that the Roman Catholic Church suffered an epidemic of child sexual abuse that involved at least 4 percent of priests over 52 years and peaked with the ordination class of...
  • Collective Hilarious (03:49) - Want to see what images the Internet collective currently thinks is funny? At IRC Images you can browse the hundreds of images that some IRC channel somewhere deemed worthy of setting in their topic, which should be the cream of...
  • Mario Bruthas (03:36) - Technically mediocre, not very funny three part Super Mario flash series. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3. Compare to this. [via boingboing. I have to say that Cory Doctorow is a bloody wanker.]...
  • Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children (01:03) - Top twelve reasons homosexual marriage should not be legal...

Thursday 26 February

  • SimWar (03:05) - Another non-gaming use for sim game technology: the Department of Defense is having the developers of the online sim There develop an Earth simulator that is to scale. It will be used to simulate warfare as well as to practice...

Wednesday 25 February

  • The Passion of The Christ (23:24) - The Passion of The Christ came out today. In case you live under a rock, "The Passion" is about the final 12 hours of Jesus' life and has been widely criticized as being anti-Semitic. The film is so violent that...
  • Pimpin' Ain't Easy (03:01) - Here's a sim that's NSFW: Play The Pimp And Get Rich. Similar to the traditional dating sim in that the player has to forge relationships with girls and make them happy. After you've satisfied them with "a good humpin'" you...
  • Ninjews (01:16) - Japanese Jews?? NINJEWS!...

Tuesday 24 February

  • SimCity (13:12) - The UK has a new weapon to fight flooding, a 3D SimCity-like video game called FloodRanger which allows players to budget and plan for jobs, housing, infrastructure, and, of course, flooding. The player can build dams or reservoirs but must...

Sunday 22 February

  • Urban Green Space (23:38) - Fukuoka, Japan, was in need of a new government office building and the only available site was a large two-block park that also happened to be the last remaining green space in the city center.That's one way to make...
  • Hurricane Kick (22:55) - How does this happen?...
  • Ralph Nader announces his candidacy (18:54) - Nader annouced he will be running for president today on meet the press, you can watch some of the interview on the site. Nader will be running as an independent this time around. The Green Party released a response today....

Saturday 21 February

  • Messy Desk Contest (12:13) - bash.org is having a contest for the messiest desk. Submit the photos of your computer workspace. I hear Polamex could be quite the contender....
  • A defense of President Bush (10:50) - In all the political debates that have taken place on this site, I have yet to hear one defense of President Bush. When someone is critical of Bush, all I read are insults and sarcastic remarks in response. I am...

Friday 20 February

  • Li'l G n'R (13:04) - What happens when you mix 9 year old girls and Guns N' Roses? You get Li'l G n'R, the first Guns N' Roses child tribute band. They are playing at CBGB's in NYC this Sunday. I'm trying to decide...
  • Impeach Bush 12 Galaxies Guiltied To A Zegnatronic Rocket (13:02) - The popularity of Frank Chu in San Francisco is so great that a new bar called 12 Galaxies has opened up in the Mission District....
  • Feel Great! (12:50) - Nutrigrain. Feel Great....

Thursday 19 February

  • Science under the current administration (22:58) - James Glanz for the New York Times has published two stories in as many days about documents released by a group of influential scientists which included 20 Nobel laureates. The first, published yesterday in the science section is titled "Scientists...
  • Pet Aliens (21:03) - These Don Sphynx kittens are for sale....
  • never lose at pepsi's itunes giveaway (20:50) - Read the article....

Wednesday 18 February

  • Your technique is very strange (12:03) - The 1000 secret fighting techniques of Donald Rumsfeld, including: Sleeping Dragon TechniqueFist of the West Side ...
  • Technology that heals (02:48) - It should be easier to think of useful applications for a "bio-ink" printer than a paper folder. Organs on demand? Also from Longevity Meme comes this AP article that well sums up what the anti-science Bush administrations actions have directly...
  • We are slowly but surely winning the war on terrorism (01:37) - I mentioned before a Nature article about the negative effect of the "war on terror" to stateside university research. Now, the effects of Homeland Security are hitting home: The "Homeland" Security restrictions (including a Patriot-act created student database) against foreign...

Tuesday 17 February

  • bio diesel (15:15) - I was looking for a recipe for fish and chips today when I learned that you can run a diesel car on organic oils like vegetable and soy based oils. Turns out that in Wales it is cheaper to run...
  • Robot Reelz (03:38) - Casshern looks like it will be a pretty dramatic Japanese cyborg action movie. It looks a bit cheesy, maybe a lack of a real Hollywood budget. However, for an Asian robot movie that you might actually get to see in...
  • Remote Control (01:11) - See how the above, entitled "Remote Control", was made in this video. It is a large-scale commissioned stencil work on the wall of a carpark (Australian for parking garage) by Meek in Melbourne, a hotspot for stencil graffiti legal...

Monday 16 February

  • Picture Yourself In Plastic (21:16) - Make your own Lego-like abomination at Reasonably Clever. Pictured above is "Doctor Wolverine at the Beach" by my friend Ben....
  • Sensitivity Training (14:35) - Terry Tate, Office Linebacker in: Sensitivity Training?...
  • Alphaville (02:19) - An essay by Peter Ludlow, a UMich philosophy/linguistics professor, about the thugs in The Sims Online called "griefers" who have organized into actual mafias and the concerted reactions of groups of Sims citizens forming shadow governments to fight back in...

Sunday 15 February

  • Utopolis (16:40) - Started in 1996 this oceanfront development of skyscrapers expands along an avenue of parallel to a fictitious shore. This skyscraper city is made out of LEGOs. While the buildings do look cool, something seems to be amiss. Is it the...
  • Animated (16:18) - Appleseed out in April featuring music by Boom Boom Satellites, Carl Craig, Akufen, among others. Innocence, the sequel to Ghost in the Shell, will be out in 20 days from Production I.G....

Friday 13 February

  • Cum In The Streets (00:03) - Stickers, wheatpaste, and stencils of erotic street art in Belgium: Cum....

Thursday 12 February

  • Under the Freeway (02:30) - Awhile back there was a Metropolis Magazine article about a proposal to reclaim the areas underneath the elevated Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, which cuts through downtown along the waterfront. These highways that cut through urban centers often serve as a...

Wednesday 11 February

  • Diamonds are Forever (17:27) - You can't take it with you. But when you die, you can have your ashes compressed into an artificial diamond. If you're feeling generous, you can have more than fifty diamonds created out of your remains....
  • Virtual Democracy (01:30) - An interesting Wired News article on how government agencies are taking lessons from online game world developers on democratic participation. Will useful social experiments, whose results are applicable to the real world, one day be conducted in these virtual worlds,...
  • Street Steez (00:54) - Japanese street fashion (mostly Osaka) versus American street style....

Tuesday 10 February

  • Students for Society (16:09) - Students for an Orwellian Society. "Because 2004 is 20 years too late." 1959 was the year the Students for a Democratic Society was founded. They eventually splintered into many different groups including the Weather Underground. SDS has been revived. People...
  • Flute Beatboxing (03:02) - Flute Beatbox, n: The art of woodwind percussion. Flutes don't sound as funny as harmonicas....
  • Internet Medicine (02:30) - News: People are using online medical consultation. It's becoming more convenient to talk to your doc online with off the shelf software packages and more convenient for doctors to bill you, with the American Medical Association taking care of some...

Monday 9 February

  • Dither (23:44) - A vigorous workout in abstract lo-bit dithering technique. Just ignore the words and enjoy the show. [via firteen.com]...
  • Bad Dos (23:03) - This is what happens when you do drugs. Wait. Wait. This is much better. Also from the Smoking Gun. It's hard to believe this guy is now our president....
  • Two Dollar (22:57) - "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A $2 BILL." Also, fun with knives. [via 90% crud]...
  • drummachine (22:54) - The full version of Tokyoplastic's Drum Machine. It's worth watching again....
  • Tetris: From Russia With Love (22:35) - Everything about its development links so closely into that era's political and economic context. Tonight on the Beeb there was/will be a documentary on the creation of Tetris. I wish I could watch it....
  • utilities included (19:35) - I snapped this tonight right by my apartment. Guess I'll have some interesting new neighbors soon....
  • Crazy Moms (19:23) - Some guy posted photos of his mother's house that is cluttered with more shit than one could imagine. There are about 5M worth of photos to that link, so it takes a little while to load. Ignore the "YOU HAVE...
  • Real World Philadelphia (11:14) - MTV's The Real World will begin filming here in Philadelphia this April according to E. From what I understand they will be living at 3rd & Arch in Old City and will work at one of Stephen Starr's restuarants (if...
  • It's named "cow_humping_fall_over.mpeg". (03:53) - The video....
  • Stencil Graffiti (03:48) - At the end of 2003 I went to Toronto. I brought back stencil graffiti photos from the Chinatown area. Also, local stencil artist Please stopped by and added insider info comments to many of the Ann Arbor stencil photos. He...

Sunday 8 February

  • eugene mirman (22:55) - I was at a show this week and in between bands they had some of Eugene Mirman's comedy. My favorite was his response to the drug council of America commercials....
  • Cammy Cosplay (12:28) - Cosplayers as Cammy from Street Fighter! (beware of random nsfw images on top and bottom of page)...
  • Spot the faker (12:20) - Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. One possible explanation for this is that it may be easier for people to get along if they don't always know what others are really feeling. How well can you spot...
  • 2004 Korea Trip Report (01:05) - in America, being a Buddhist means you're an ascetic ex-hippie who gives up meat, excitement, strong emotions, and material possessions in exchange for meditation, crystals, and an irritating sense of smug self-satisfaction: a sort of 'less is more' philosophy. but...

Saturday 7 February

  • Geek Humor (21:23) - <HTML-HUMOR> Via the not quite dead memepool comes instructions for building your own gas mask out of computar parts. It may not filter gasses but it will surely filter girls. #5. Yo momma's so fat, she uses FAT256. Robots save...
  • Lodger (19:01) - Two very excellent flash animations by Lodger making good use of the medium....

Friday 6 February

  • Two Headed Babies (23:17) - Operation Begins on Two-Headed Baby. A team of surgeons began a rare and risky operation Friday to remove the second head of a Dominican baby a partially formed twin that threatens the girl's development....
  • Dilbert (19:08) - High magnification of a computar chip reveals this Dilbert easter egg....
  • Flyers (00:31) - A collection of oldschool flyers from parties (read: "raves") from over a decade ago. When's the last time Moby played at a rave? They are all ones where Detroit DJ Eric Haupt performed and so are mostly in the Detroit...
  • Methuselah Mouse (00:11) - The Methuselah Mouse is one of those contests that even kids can participate in. All you need is a mouse and some time, the goal being to keep alive the former the longest amount of the latter. As my personal...

Thursday 5 February


Wednesday 4 February

  • Mandatory tutoring for adults with children (22:51) - My friend Josh --a teacher-- has a brilliant idea to make communities and schools better: adopt the jury duty idea and make tutoring mandatory for adults with children. It makes a ton of sense. Require parents to take a few...
  • Gallery of Computation (14:58) - At Complexification you can find some beautiful computation based images. Art or math? You be the judge....
  • The Patriot Act's Problem Parts (14:12) - "Undercover officers may shake Arab-Americans upside-down until the bombs fall out." [theonion]...
  • Science in the South (12:50) - There's a great inequity in the amount of scientific output as measured in numbers of articles published between developed and developing nations, which is a serious problem according to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in this PLoS Biology open access journal...
  • Click'n'Clone (02:09) - It's still not a DIY home cloning kit, but the Genetic Science Learning Center at the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, University of Utah has a little Flash Click'n'Clone toy with which you can clone a mouse. Hey, it doesn't...

Tuesday 3 February

  • Game Fashions (23:02) - 1up.com's "Game Fashions" features video game-related clothes and where to find them. The above can be found at Hot Topic....
  • War Pipe: Broadband for Gamecube (07:30) - The folks over at warpipe.com have created software for Windows, OSX and Linux to link up Gamecubes to your home network + Internet for multiplayer action online. Currently they support Mario Kart: Double Dash, 1080: Avalanche and Kirby Air Ride....
  • Update (02:24) - Some of the later SB ads were better. If there was any doubt before, IBM is seriously trying to mainstream Linux. Even Kurt Vonnegut is getting in the mix. Also, regarding the new Pepsi free music download campaign: Pepsi drinkers...

Sunday 1 February

  • Advertising (22:29) - A member of Negativland, who are known for their culture jamming art and sampling controversies, presents the film Value-Added Cinema, a collage of pure, unadulterated product placement shots. I'm waiting for the rest of the Superbowl ads to get updated...
  • Looking to India for jobs (19:10) - Although Americans aren't relocating to India en masse, it appears to be on the rise. The economy over there seems to be doing quite the opposite of how it's doing here. Their manufacturing companies are doing well and even opening...
  • S.S. United States (13:24) - Every time I am in South Philadelphia I can see two decaying smokestacks peaking out near the waterfront. A closer view reveals an enormous abandoned cruise ship, the S.S. United States. The United States was the largest and fastest cruise...