Sunday, January 30, 2005
10:55 PM

Star Wars fun: "What Star Wars SHOULD be. Because parody is GOOD."

(Via metafilter.com.)

Thursday, January 27, 2005
09:20 PM

Mac mini: “a Slick Little Budget Computer”: "Edward Baig writes for USA Today, ‘It [Mac mini] resembles a coaster on steroids — or a container for Wonder Bread. The familiar Apple logo is the only obvious sign that the handsome 2-inch-tall, white-with-silver-trim, square box on my desk is a different sort of wonder.’ [Jan 27, 2005]"

(Via Apple Hot News.)

Thursday, January 27, 2005
09:03 PM
arrrrrrr

Pirate Pirates of the Caribbean script: "Cory Doctorow:
Someone has produced a fan-script for the Pirates of the Caribbean movie:

Elizabeth : Wait! You have to take me to shore. According to the Code of the Order of the Brethren -

Barbossa: First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate’s code to apply and you’re not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl , Miss Turner .

Link

(via The Disney Blog)"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Thursday, January 27, 2005
08:54 PM
but are they on itunes

Top 100 Soundtracks: "David Pescovitz:

MOJO music magazine's list of the Top 100 Soundtracks of All Time is phenomenal. Out of the top 10, the only one I have is Number 4, Miles Davis's 'Ascenseur pour l'échafaud,' and it's one of my favorite jazz albums of all time. I want every one of the rest! Vinyl would be preferable, especially since so many of the albums have stunning cover art.
Link (via MetaFilter)
"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Thursday, January 27, 2005
ahha
08:53 PM

Business 2.0's 101 dumbest moments in business: "Mark Frauenfelder:
This year's Business 2.0's annual '101 dumbest moments in business' package has plenty of ironic gems in it.

What's the problem? We love a guy who stands behind his product.
James Joseph Minder, chairman of gunmaker Smith & Wesson, is forced to resign when newspaper reporters discover that, before becoming a corporate exec, he'd spent 15 years behind bars for a string of armed robberies and an attempted prison escape.

Do as I say, not as I...hey, get a load of those!
After joining the Bank of Ireland as CEO, Michael Soden issues a dictate: No porn surfing on the job. His next dictate: The IT department is to be outsourced to Hewlett-Packard. Shortly after the outsourcing deal goes through, IT staffers, now employed by HP, discover porn on Soden's computer. Soden resigns, leaving the bank and HP scrapping over who should pay his severance, estimated at $5 million.

Link
"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Thursday, January 27, 2005
08:52 PM

I'm picking something up on sonar captain...

Submarine hits underwater mountain: "Mark Frauenfelder:

Todd Lappin sez: 'A few weeks ago, my city's namesake submarine, the USS San Francisco, struck an uncharted undersea mountain while traveling in the South Pacific at a depth of 500 feet. At the time, apparently, the sub was traveling at almost full speed. One sailor died in the accident, and 20 more were injured. The Navy has released some photos of the San Francisco, now that she's been hauled into drydock. Wow.' Link (WashPost backgrounder on the accident, and the uncharted mountain. Nice lil' gif of the ship's logo)
"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Thursday, January 27, 2005
08:48 PM
but its de prez

A pronounced deficiency in IQ: "Redneck ebonics triumphs. Merriam-Webster online now gives 'nu-kyu-lar' as an alternative pronunication of 'nuclear.' While dictionaries have become more descriptive and less prescriptive over the years, shouldn't they at least list it as [idiotic variant]?"

(Via metafilter.com.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:52 PM

The madness of King George: "Xeni Jardin:


An anonymous inauguration coronation day gift from a friend of BoingBoing.


Link to full-size."

(Via Boing Boing.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:52 PM

Scary looking home-theater receiver: "Mark Frauenfelder:
The back of Onkyo’s TX-NR1000 home-theater receiver looks like something from a stress-induced nightmare. Why so many jacks? Onkyo said it's to 'future proof' the thing. My idea of the future doesn't involve cables.

Link (Via Endgadet)
"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:50 PM

More on big dead SoCal squids: "Xeni Jardin:


Following up on this Boing Boing post about the disturbing appearance of large, dying squids on California shores, reader John Jensen says, 'Isn't it funny how sometimes you can hear about something in the media, and then just go right outside your house and see it? For me, this was a drive across town.'




Link to full-size snapshot."

(Via Boing Boing.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:46 PM
oh you betcha

Do these toilet paper rolls make my ass look big?: "Xeni Jardin:

Caption this, please. More from designer Jefferson Kulig at today's installment of Sao Paulo Fashion Week.
Link (Thanks Susannah)"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:46 PM

Difference between male and female brains: "David Pescovitz:
UC Irvine researchers have found that men and women have very different brain designs. Women have more much white matter and men more gray matter related to intelligence. Still, there are no real differences in general intelligence between the two sexes. From the UCI press release about the study:

Gray matter represents information processing centers in the brain, and white matter represents the networking of – or connections between – these processing centers.



This, according to Rex Jung, a UNM neuropsychologist and co-author of the study, may help to explain why men tend to excel in tasks requiring more local processing (like mathematics), while women tend to excel at integrating and assimilating information from distributed gray-matter regions in the brain, such as required for language facility. These two very different neurological pathways and activity centers, however, result in equivalent overall performance on broad measures of cognitive ability, such as those found on intelligence tests.

Link"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:39 PM
Us jugglers understand

Claude Shannon, master juggler and juggling robot builder: "Mark Frauenfelder:


The late Claude Shannon is recognized as the father of information theory, but he was also a juggling enthusiast (he liked to juggle and ride his unicycle up and down the halls of Bell Labs), as well as an animatronic maker. My mind is reeling after watching this movie clip of his juggling robots. It's my pick for 'Wonderful Thing' of the week. Link
"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Saturday, January 22, 2005
06:38 PM

Bon Anniversaire!: "David Pescovitz:

At the end of a perfect night out with our dearest Parisian friends, DMD presented me with this in celebration of Boing Boing's fifth anniversary. I was touched. As he said, it seemed very Boing Boing to use trick candles. Thank you buddy! And thank you all!
"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Friday, January 21, 2005
06:40 PM

Bunny Suicides: "Bunny Suicides"

(Via metafilter.com.)

Sunday, January 16, 2005
10:41 PM

Sutro Baths: "Diving into the past"

(Via Interesting Thing of the Day.)

Saturday, January 15, 2005
10:03 PM

Neuroeconomics: Biotech Meets Economics: "grimiore1 writes 'The Economist has a story today introducing the concept of Neuroeconomics, which uses brain scanning technology and neuroscience to create new economic models and theories.'"

(Via Slashdot.)

Saturday, January 15, 2005
10:04 PM

Titan Photos and Sounds: "ahsile writes 'NASA and the ESA have released the first images from Titan. The ESA also has available sounds from the surface.' Reader ZZip writes: 'Apparently a bunch of enthusiasts has compiled the first mosaics from the raw data delivered by the Huygens probe. Meanwhile space.com has more coverage and pictures from NASA/ESA.' Say a silent thank-you to the persistent troubleshooters of the world, without whom none of this would be possible."

(Via Slashdot.)

Saturday, January 15, 2005
09:33 PM

Analyst: iPod reaching iconic status: "With the iPod leading the way for Apple Computer Inc.'s charge into the consumer market, NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin said the iPod is reaching iconic status. While the iPod Shuffle aims to openly compete with many other players in the MP3 market, the upcoming release of iLife '05 may quietly threaten products of third-party developers."

(Via MacCentral.)

Saturday, January 15, 2005
09:28 PM

Web Zen: Album Cover Zen: "Xeni Jardin:


punk + new wave 8-tracks |

10 worst covers of all time |

museum of bad album covers |

album cover challenge |

knockoff project |

bollywood |

cover heaven |

unusual cover art |

bizarre records




Image: cover from of an old 8-track tapes. web zen home, web zen store, (Thanks, Frank)."

(Via Boing Boing.)