Free audiobook of Stross's Heinlein-meets-Wodehouse science fiction novella "Trunk and Disorderly"

Free audiobook of Stross's Heinlein-meets-Wodehouse science fiction novella "Trunk and Disorderly": "Subterranean Press has produced a free MP3 audiobook of Charlie Stross's comic science fiction novella 'Trunk and Disorderly.'

Charles Stross is damned funny, both in person and on the page. You’ll have to take my word on the first count. As to the second, here’s a P. G. Wodehouse meets Robert A. Heinlein as filtered through Mr. Stross’s sensibilities. In other words, it’s funny and indescribable as hell, and probably my favorite story this year.

Link

(via Charlie Stross)

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Bampot of the Week: Alexander Wolfe

Bampot of the Week: Alexander Wolfe: "

Fraser Speirs takes apart a jackassy piece by Alexander Wolfe positing that developers are ‘angry’ at Apple regarding the restrictions in the iPhone SDK.

'★'

"

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Most excellent Spitzer-related media gaffe: CNN

Most excellent Spitzer-related media gaffe: CNN: "I have nothing to add to this excellent sentence:

CNN apologized today for getting on-air analysis of Gov. Spitzer's legal options from a former U.S. Attorney who resigned after being accused of biting a stripper.

Link (via For Your Entertainment, Thanks, Mark Frauenfelder!)

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Curious property of Prince Rupert's Drop glass

Curious property of Prince Rupert's Drop glass: "

If you drop molten glass into a bucket of water, it will solidify into what's called a 'Prince Rupert's Drop.' According to this Corning video, the surface of the drop is in a state of great compression, while the interior is in a state of great tension. You can squeeze the bulbous part of the drop with pliers or bang on it with a hammer to no avail. However, if you snap off the hair-thin tail at the end of the drop, it'll shatter into dust. (Via forgetomori)

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Sarah Connor Chronicles (Terminator) ARG: BBtv exclusive edition.

very very cool

Sarah Connor Chronicles (Terminator) ARG: BBtv exclusive edition.: "

Today on Boing Boing tv: an exclusive edition of the Alternate Reality Game (or 'ARG') for the Fox tv series Sarah Connor Chronicles (and the Terminator movie trilogy).

Enitech Labs designs cameras can take pictures of a future event by capturing faster-than-light 'tachyon' particles. When pictures of ordinary scenery foretell post-apocalyptic outcomes, the developers find themselves in a race against time to publicize their findings and warn the public of the horrors to come...

Link to BBtv episode, with discussion and downloadable video.

(Thanks, Bart Cheever / millionsofus!)

Previously on BBtv:

Sarah Connor Chronicles (Terminator) ARG sneak peek: part 1.

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Food Court Musical, by Improv Everywhere

LOL

Food Court Musical, by Improv Everywhere: "

The pranksters at Improv Everywhere describe their latest noble work thusly:

For our latest mission, 16 agents staged a spontaneous musical in the food court of a Los Angeles shopping mall. We used wireless microphones to amplify the vocal performances and mix them together with the music through the mall’s PA system. We filmed the mission with hidden cameras, mostly behind two-way mirrors. Apart from our performers, no one in the food court was aware of what was happening.

Link to their blog post with more details and pix. (thanks, White Male in Business Attire!)

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Muppet popculture photoshopping contest

Muppet popculture photoshopping contest: "


Today on the Worth 1000 photoshopping contest -- pop culture remixes of puppets, especially Muppets.

Link

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Web Zen: literary zen

Web Zen: literary zen: "

the moth


ny writers coalition


miranda july


and then we came to the end


the dagerous book for boys


lewis carroll scrapbook


literary will


ninth letter



previously on web zen:

literary zen 2004

Link, Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)

Image: Bibliodyssey.

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Waterboarding employees

Waterboarding employees: "A company in Utah allegedly used waterboarding on an employee. Frankly I think it's an exceptional idea. We've got legal looking into California statutes on this. Um, developer tools engineers? Are you paying attention? Anyone want to find out how long you can hold your breath?

"

(Via The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.)

New Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Wolverine Shots Online!

New Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Wolverine Shots Online!: "Between Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you can expect your local cineplex to be a very Marvel-lous place for the foreseeable future. How about an advance look at the studio's tentpole trio?"

(Via Rotten Tomatoes: News.)

Awesome rant against Diet Pepsi

o wonder I like it - I call it nothing cola

Awesome rant against Diet Pepsi: "Wolfrum hates Diet Pepsi more than you hate anything.

If you haven't tasted Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi, but would like an idea of what it tastes like, do this - keep a straw in your pocket and wander around outside until you find a pigeon or squirrel that's been dead for, oh, say three months. Stick the straw into the dead animal and suck. Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi tastes like that, except worse. Plus, the taste lingers in your mouth for months. And gradually gets worse until it's like your mouth was invaded by the notoriously rare and deadly Asian Shit Ant.

What gets me is that they had high-paid executives sitting around a table, drinking this dreck and all nodding approvingly, 'Oh yes, this is what America wants, a 'light, crisp, refreshing' beverage that tastes like Cheney sputum.'

You want to defeat terrorists? Force them to drink Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi. I'm sure it would violate the Geneva Conventions, but they'd immediately tell you anything they knew, then hang themselves. Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi is torture in a 12-oz can.

Link (Thanks, Coop!)

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Pi as music

endless fun

Pi as music: "


pi10k converts the first 10,000 numbers in pi to musical notes. You determine which notes correspond to each integer. Just for kicks, I used the familiar five-note musical motif from Close Encounters of the Third Kind as the basis of my pi melody. Link (via easternblot)



Previously on BB:

• Pi gang hand symbol Link

• Pi memory record broken Link

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

New Obama campaign logo to debut

New Obama campaign logo to debut: "

Heh. (thanks Aaron).

"

(Via Boing Boing.)

Nanotech lab porn

sincerely

Nanotech lab porn: "

Photographer Dave Bullock shot a totally NSFW* gallery of UCLA nanotech lab photos for Wired. week at UCLA. 'I was given a really interesting tour of Dr. Omar M. Yaghi's laboratory where he and his students have created some amazing nanotechnology that has nearly unlimited potential,' Dave explains. Shown here:

An array of ZIF, or zeolitic imidazolate framework, crystals that were photographed by a robotic microscope using polarized light to show detail. ZIF crystals are the primary substances that Yaghi and his crew develop. The nicely formed and innately beautiful crystals at left await further testing in the lab. The finer specimens may be individually mounted and imaged using X-ray crystal diffraction.

(* NSFW = Nanotechnology is So Frickin' Wonderful).

"

(Via Boing Boing.)