techyum

I just got an email from a friend in LA who is part of the ongoing photo show Automolove, depicting cars and babes at Antebellum (weird popup warning). On a whim I looked up a show participant, the auto-obsessed Brett Barris (sound alert). In his gallery there are several dozen gems, especially the incredible Kargoyle. It's a hearse that's been chopped, lowered, painted purple, and most appropriately, it was given suicide doors. So very cool. If you cruise around Barris' site check out some of the weirder cars, and if you're like me, you'll enjoy the old models as much as the -- models. Like the one below.

posted by violet at 7:00 PM | Comments (0) | :cults :death :photos

I sincerely hope that the bacon bra does not cause cancer, no matter how much nibbling one does. Mystery of the meat-eaters' molecule explores the recent revelation that humans, unlike all other primates, do not produce the molecule Neu5Gc and that when we eat certain animal products, our bodies attack the introduction of the molecule (in the meat) like it's an invader. Not good. Check it out:

The story began in 1984, when Prof Varki was working at the University of California, San Diego. When treating a woman with bone-marrow failure, he injected her with horse serum. The treatment carried the risk of a side effect called "serum sickness", in which the patient's immune system launches an attack on a molecule present in the serum called Neu5Gc.

Sure enough, her skin erupted with an itchy red rash. Investigating further, Prof Varki found that Neu5Gc was foreign to humans, even though we carry a very similar version of the same molecule - which may be one reason why animal-to-human organ and tissue transplants do not work well.

But in recent years, he has come to believe that the implications of this molecular difference are much wider. He has built up a range of evidence that potentially links Neu5Gc, a so-called sialic acid, to chronic disease.

This is because the animal version is absorbed by humans as a result of eating red meat and milk products, and there is evidence that the body views it as an invader.

Eating these foods could trigger inflammation and, over the long term, heart disease, certain cancers and auto-immune illnesses. Prof Varki stresses, however, that "we have not proven any link to disease, just suggested that it is something to explore".

This sialic acid plays a number of roles: it helps us recognise cells and helps cells stick together (this stickiness is also exploited by microbes, which latch on to the sugary molecule to invade our cells). It also helps regulate our immune response, which may influence the progression of diseases and even play a part in human evolution. (...read more. Thanks, Eve!)

posted by violet at 4:40 PM | Comments (0) | :mutants :news :science :yum

I insist that you click right over to the exclusive Engadget gallery and video that's up right now, featuring the steel robotic sculptures of machine art mastermind Choe U Ram. The pieces are from the now-closed show Anima Machines -- and are like Arthur Ganson's larger works after a forced infusion of H. R. Geiger's thick blackened alien blood and midwifed from a screaming CNC mill into the hands of a very evil horticulturalist. Just sayin'. I'm in love.

* Video: Choe U Ram's creepy robotic art (engadget.com)

posted by violet at 10:43 PM | Comments (0) | :art :design :machines :robots :shiny

This is so exciting! Few films have been as important to me as Metropolis, and now it looks like some missing scenes have been recovered, changing the narrative. Guardian UK writes,

The cinematic world was today celebrating the rediscovery of missing scenes from German director Fritz Lang's legendary silent film Metropolis - thought lost for 80 years, until they were found in the archive of a museum in Argentina.

Key scenes cut from the science fiction picture - either because they were considered to be too brutal or too long - will now be available for the first time since May 1927, when the original version was last shown in Berlin, where it flopped badly. The head of the Berlin film museum Deutsche Kinematik, Dr Rainer Rother, called the find a "sensational discovery", adding that one of the most famous films of all time "can now be seen through new eyes".

Metropolis, which is set in a futuristic city state and explores the clash between workers and their capitalist exploiters, was at the time one of the most expensive films ever made. Produced in the Babelsberg studios on the outskirts of Berlin, it cost around 7m Reichsmarks, but was hated by critics and the public alike. It was shortened by the American company Paramount Pictures, who considered it impenetrable for the US market, leading to an oversimplification of the plot, the disappearance of key scenes and the sidelining of significant characters.

But the restored version, which has so far been seen by only a handful of film experts and critics in Berlin, is said to throw light on key questions that have puzzled and tantalised generations of film buffs.Link.

posted by violet at 2:36 PM | Comments (0) | :feminine evil :robots :video :yum

I am so glad I did not call this post "lick your way around town" because that sounds really yucky, and with the incredible tongue steering device being reported at Reuters, you can actually lick your way around the Internet as well -- it's for more than just wheelchairs. The thing is a revolution and a half, signifying a serious change in quality of life for people with the most serious mobility problems of all. I even know someone I'd like to give one to. Watch the video (autoplay and sound warning) and be amazed, like me! (thanks, Eve!)

posted by violet at 2:32 PM | Comments (0) | :body hacks :news :tech :video

NASA's top ten views of Earth is rather stunning, especially if you add today's satellite views of our smelly California wildfires from Firefighter Blog on top. Views from space = neat!

posted by violet at 8:51 PM | Comments (0) | :fire :news :photos

A truck hauling coffins has caused a fatal accident, and yes, the driver was killed. Snip:

Two lanes are now open on southbound Interstate 880 in San Leandro in the wake of a crash involving several vehicles that killed two people, the California Highway Patrol said.

All northbound lanes are still closed. Motorists are urged to use different routes, such as Highway 238 and Interstate 580, as crews work to clear the debris.

The crash happened about 9:15 a.m. when the driver of a small pickup truck stopped in a southbound lane of I-880 near Marina Boulevard. A big rig traveling south swerved to avoid the pickup truck and crossed over the median into the northbound lanes, the CHP said.

The big rig then collided with a garbage truck, and both vehicles caught on fire.

The driver of the pickup truck, which had been carrying coffins, was killed, the CHP said. It was not immediately known who the second victim was.Link.

posted by violet at 1:01 PM | Comments (0) | :accidents :death :news

This series of long exposure photos taken in St. Petersburg (Russia) are incredibly creepy (and this very cool), but when I first looked at them, I thought the people were some kind of paranormal dirt cloud. I think the most unnerving parts of these photos are the hands and faces. You'll see more of them and read more about "City of Shadows" by Alexey Titarenko and how he created these images in the article Pandemonium at BLDBLG (via).

posted by violet at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) | :art :photos

Why do people always want to eat the pilot? Makes me not want to learn how to fly. Survivors of a plane crash in southern Chile spent five days in sub-zero temperatures awaiting rescue, and upon rescue they're talking about how they almost ate Commander Long Pig. Snip:

The survivors and pilot huddled inside the felage, eating crackers and trying to maintain a fire in sub zero temperatures. Pilot Nelson Bahamondes survived the initial impact but slowly bled to death inside the cockpit, finally dying two days after the crash.

Bahamondes, an experienced pilot with an estimated 16,000 hours of flying time, provided leadership and guidance throughout the first two days of the ordeal, explaining to the passengers that a radio transmitter would help rescuers locate the craft. As the food ran out, Bahmondes died.

"He had a cut on his head, a big wound and he lost lots of blood," said Victor Suazo, a Chilean police officer who was aboard the flight. "We couldn't do anything for him and he died around noon on Monday."

Soon after, the survivors' hunger began to deplete their strength and they debated whether to eat the pilot. "We thought about the pilot, I don't know how to say it ... to feed ourselves from him. Link.

posted by violet at 8:01 PM | Comments (0) | :accidents :death :food :news :yum :zombies

I'm investigating the history of the phallic video game controller and its clitoral cousins, the trackpad and mouse, and I stumbled across this fun Video Game Controller Family Tree. Neat!

posted by violet at 1:45 PM | Comments (0) | :cults :design

No, you read that right. I'm so speechless that the only thing I can add is, "It's not a cult. It's a ranch and it's our home." Snip:

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word "cult" on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A date has not yet been set for him to appear in court.

The decision to issue the summons has angered human rights activists and support groups for the victims of cults.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church's £23m headquarters near St Paul's cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting". (...) Link.

Update 05.23: The courts decided that boy will avoid prosecution! Turns out, the high courts had already called the Church of Scientology a cult on the record, and they think -- unlike the CoS -- that the boy was expressing his opinion, prompting his mother to proclaim it a "victory for free speech." Two salient bits from the piece include "Police said they had "strongly advised" him to stop displaying the sign but he refused, citing a high court judgment from 1984 in which the organisation was described as a cult." Why would London police be, er, policing public speech about the CoS? The article goes on to reveal, "Two years ago, the City of London police attracted criticism when it emerged more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology. The City of London chief superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for "raising the spiritual wealth of society" during the opening of its headquarters in 2006."

posted by violet at 12:05 PM | Comments (0) | :censorship :cults :london :news

Wasn't there a scene in "The Professional" where a body was disposed of with lye? Well, it looks like you can now opt to have your corpse disposed of in just the way a serial killer or a psychotic hit man in a pinch for time might. You can now have your body turned into a "brown, syrupy residue". Um, yay? Here's a snip from Slate's wonderful Human Nature blog post, Human Liquid:

(...) "It uses lye, 300-degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers. ... In addition to the liquid, the process leaves a dry bone residue similar in appearance and volume to cremated remains. It could be returned to the family in an urn or buried in a cemetery. The coffee-colored liquid has the consistency of motor oil and a strong ammonia smell. But proponents say it is sterile and can, in most cases, be safely poured down the drain, provided the operation has the necessary permits."

I know it sounds bad. Lye is what we use to dissolve dead animals, and, over the years, mass-murdering dictators have given it a bad name, using it to torture people and get rid of bodies. But think of the benefits: "Alkaline hydrolysis doesn't take up as much space in cemeteries as burial. And the process could ease concerns about crematorium emissions, including carbon dioxide as well as mercury from silver dental fillings." Link.

posted by violet at 8:39 PM | Comments (0) | :death :machines

This innocuous looking device, discovered on Gizmodo, is a new bluetooth microphone designed to be a dental implant. Installed in a tooth, it insures that you always look like you've come from lunch without checking your teeth. After the dentist appointment this morning, I think I'll wait until there is some sort of implant involving invasive surgery. Wonder how it reacts to tinfoil?

posted by lance at 7:28 PM | Comments (0) | :body hacks :gadgets :lance :phones

Image at Boston University last night, via pt.

It was exactly a year ago today when the Aqua Teen Hunger Force marketing team from Catroon Network's Adult Swim caused a panic in the streets of Boston (and later, a few other US cities) with their infamous LED "Mooninite Marauders". The lit, bird-flipping signs were placed all over in high -- yet viewable -- spots, and were of course mistaken by police to be bombs or terrorist devices, causing panic and shutdown in many parts of the city (that link has complete coverage, plus video).

Today is the year anniversary, and as you can see by the above image from Flickr, people in Boston are re-creating the event in a wonderful pranky memorial. Early in the month, kits to make your own were being sold by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories so this isn't a total surprise, but it'll be fun to see how tonight plays out.

Make Blog has this great post about how the "memorial" is unfolding today, and a terrific commemorative post that -- you guessed it -- has a lot of DIY in it.

Three Mooninite Marauders were found here last year in San Francisco; images of the now ultra-collectibles (and their adorable rescuers) are here, I've got video here, and we've got this great GETV episode, Holy Blinky Devices of Terror!

posted by violet at 2:00 PM | Comments (0) | :homeland insecurity :pranks

Director Cathryne Czubek is making a full-length feature documentary about girls and guns, specifically the significantly growing number of teen girls who love guns (and are damn good at using them). Embedded above is the short version of the doc from Current, which is still in progress -- and OMG they have the prettiest guns! Rainbow grain rifles, shot wearing turquoise nail polish. I especially like the parts where they talk about how boys at school don't take them seriously -- and then they do. These young women clearly have no issues with equality or empowerment.

See also: A Girl and Her Gun (official site)

posted by violet at 3:28 PM | Comments (0) | :feminine evil :guns :video

From OhGizmo via the Museum of Hoaxes coms a link to my dream prank... the Wrong Number Generator.

The $89 box has modular plugs (damn... it's been a while since I saw one of those things) and can be plugged in anywhere on the victim's landline -- like for instance, inside the wall so he or she will never find it. (Serves 'em right for still using a landline!) It makes all calls from that phone line reach wrong numbers unless the mark dials 911, which always goes through. Replacing the telephone won't do any good since the pranker has cleverly placed the thing inside the wall. Best of all, it allows one-quarter of the calls to go through correctly, encouraging victims to believe that they've gone totally insane.

At press time SpySite, sadly, is out of stock on this badboy. The evil muthas out there will have to satisfy themselves with the Disconnected Number Generator or Dead Ring Generator, both of which only affect incoming calls.

Link to Spysite.com.

posted by thomas at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | :gadgets :linkbait :pranks :retarded awesomeness

New Scientist has an article and awesome gallery about the 100 Weirdest Amphibians List, as designated by the Zoological Society of London. Ninety percent of the top 100 predate the dinosaurs - and therefore survived whatever killled the big reptiles.

The motiviation of the ZSL is to raise awareness of how endangered many of these creatures are; because they tend to absorb things through their skin, amphibians tend to be extra vulnerable to environmental poisons, and the ZSL says 85 of the top 100 weird amphibians have no conservation efforts directed at them.

Link.

Image: Chinese Giant Salamander, the world's largest amphibia at 1.8 meters. Via.

posted by thomas at 2:46 PM | Comments (0) | :hardcore nerdiness :mutants :science :thomas

The German container ship MS Beluga Skysails began its maiden voyage from the port of Bremerhaven to Venezuela on January 1. The ship is the first commercial use of the "skysail" technology, in which a sail much like a paraglider is deployed on a cable to reduce the fuel consumption of the ship and thus reduce carbon emissions. The height of the sail gives it an advantage over a traditional sailboat or sailing ship because it's deployed at a greater height, giving it access to stronger winds.

The technology is proposed by use not only by container ships but by superyachts -- promising to ease the fuel-cost anxieties of multizillionaires worldwide, I'm sure. National Geographic has a video featuring interviews with Beluga Shipping officials and animation of the ship under sail on the high seas, and Sail-world.com has an interesting article on the topic.

Link.

Image via.

posted by thomas at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) | :design :shiny :tech :thomas :video

Image via Moon River.

These images represent four texts analyzed by a program by JK Keller. As described on Bioephemera:

Red cubes represent non-unique words, with size depending on number of occurrences; blue cubes are unique words. The X-axis represents the order of the text, from beginning (top) to end (bottom). The diameter of the column is determined (somehow) by length of paragraph.

With the ability to analyze text in such away, why hasn't someone tackled the task of subject, type, style or any other useful search or organization tools for the various free e-books flying about the net? Perhaps Project Gutenberg needs to add a tagging feature, which is now available for many Library of Congress and National Museum of Health and Medicine photos via Flickr.

A belated goodnight to Laura Huxley and a happy 102nd birthday to Albert Hofmann.

posted by lance at 3:55 PM | Comments (0) | :art :death :drugs :lance :laughing squid :photos

This mash-up, via High T3ch, gives so much more meaning to the phrase "shooting a film." Want.

posted by lance at 3:47 PM | Comments (0) | :design :guns :lance

The Department of Homeland (In)Security is considering three different anti-missile systems for commercial airplanes. All three of these systems are ground-based technologies, most of which are tied to sensors either on the plane or on the ground. We can ignore the fact, for now, that a missile has never been fired at a commercial flight domestically, because a DHL plane was struck. In Iraq. Five years ago. Which landed safely. We must have this technology at all costs. Which is about $600 million up front.

Read the great Threat Level post on the subject here.

I have enough trouble flying without my government aiming things up in the skies at me, thank you.

posted by lance at 6:34 PM | Comments (0) | :homeland insecurity :lance :weapons

The Bioephemera blog has a great post today on The Bowes Silver Swan, a clockwork swan, swimming, fishing and preening in a clockwork stream. An amazing automaton supposedly built by a man named Merlin in the 18th century.

Link

posted by lance at 6:19 PM | Comments (0) | :art :design :lance :robots :shiny :video

Image via.

If you are in the habit of signing your soul away, Bob Parington invented this lovely blood pen just for you. Victims and spare souls not included.

posted by lance at 9:11 PM | Comments (0) | :design :lance :shiny

Image via.

Dubai, not satisfied with The World, is now planning to recreate the French city of Lyon in its backyard. Saeed al-Gandhi, a businessman from Dubai, came up with the idea while working on plans to build a French language university. From the TimesOnline article:

Not wanting to be outdone by Abu Dhabi, another Arab emirate, which has announced it will build its own version of the Louvre, al-Gandhi hit upon the idea of “Lyons-Dubai City”, as the new metropolis will be known, or “Lyons' oriental little sister”, as they call it in the French town hall.

Perhaps the 700 acre replica, which brought £350million to Lyon itself, will sit comfortably in the shade of The Palm?

posted by lance at 8:00 PM | Comments (0) | :lance :news

College students in South Korea are participating in a fad in which they climb into coffins and pretend to die -- right down to the funeral.

CHUNGJU, South Korea (AP) -- After solemnly reading their wills, seven perfectly healthy university students climb into caskets in a dimly lit hall.

"I want to give all of you one more day to live, but it's time to be placed into coffins," a man in a black suit says in a resounding voice. "I hope your tired flesh and bodies will be peacefully put to rest."

Workers nail the coffins shut, then sprinkle dirt on top as the lights are switched off and a dirge is played. Muffled sobs can be heard from some of the coffins. About 15 minutes later, they are opened and the five men and two women are "reborn."

The mock funeral, which aims to get participants to map out a better future by reflecting on their past, is part of a new trend in South Korea called "well-dying." The fad is an extension of "well-being," an English phrase adopted into Korean to describe a growing interest in leading healthier, happier lives.

Link.

Image via Wikipedia.

posted by thomas at 10:57 PM | Comments (0) | :death :thomas

Image via.

First spied on Laughing Squid, then tackled by Boing Boing, but I could not help blogging about these lovely goodies from Urban Trend. My cholesterol is already through the roof, so I'm concocting new recipes in my head as I add this to my most wanted list.

posted by lance at 6:30 PM | Comments (0) | :guns :lance :laughing squid :shiny :yum

Image via.

Drew Daniel, mastermind of the Soft Pink Truth and one half of the daring duo known as Matmos, has written a new book on Throbbing Gristle's "20 Jazz Funk Greats." Part of the 33 1/3 series, it covers what is perhaps the classic album by the best band you've never listened too. Following on the heals of the band's suprisingly wonderful reunion and Dr. Daniel's new position in the English Department at Johns Hopkins University, this is the perfect little volume for those who weren't able to lift Wreckers of Civilisation off the coffee table.

Full disclosure: Dr. Drew is an old friend whom we dearly miss on the west coast.

posted by lance at 6:12 PM | Comments (0) | :lance :noise

Actually, Jim's Gun Supply has many beautiful custom pink guns, just for us girls. Sigh!

posted by violet at 1:45 AM | Comments (0) | :cults :feminine evil :guns

Image via. Thanks Joanna Ebenstein at Morbid Anatomy.

Snopes and Mythbusters aside, the refreshing glow of fable defying facts is about as interesting as a graduate statistics course. Mind Hacks blindsides this theory with a fascinating post on Electroconvulsive Therapy. The post languidly tosses aside the fictions, nullifying the Cuckoos' Nest image, while giving an outline of the real controversies with ECT.

I still have reservations about homebrew trepanation.

posted by lance at 9:07 PM | Comments (0) | :body hacks :lance :science

I'm too astounded to opine, except that I wonder where he would have tried to shove his fist if he'd seen Mary on it instead. Bizarrely, the AP quotes the christian bible in their "reporting" totally out of sequence at the end of the story writeup, as if we're all on the same "page" if you know what I mean. Eeesh. Snip:

Man Cuts Off, Microwaves His Own Hand

A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.

The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.

"It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."

It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality. (...)

posted by violet at 4:34 PM | Comments (0) | :dead media :msm :news :retarded awesomeness

Image via Ubuweb of Henri Chopin's Sol Air (1964). Goodnight Henri.

A week into the new year, I've finally whittled away at the nostalgia and the prophecy of the year-end lists. Beginning by adding to the downpour of CES coverage, I turn your attention to Earth2tech's Green Guide to CES. While the tech-nodes are being stimulated, tickle the ears with Disquiet's rundown of Ubuweb's first "featured resources" of 2008. Rekindle the visual cortex with 2007's best photographers and stretch your brain around last year's top ten new organisms. In case you missed it Hell did freeze over last year and the micronation movement is gaining momentum. Timetravel was made possible thanks to eBay and geek power. On that note, let us not forget all the people who died in 2007. To those we never knew who changed our lives forever, goodnight.

posted by lance at 7:34 PM | Comments (0) | :apple :gadgets :hardcore nerdiness :lance :linkbait :lists :noise :photos :retarded awesomeness :science

Image via Justin Hall.

The interwebs in 2008 are looking good so far. Newly added to the incomprehensible tangle of my RSS is Howard Rheingold's new vlog. As the guru himself puts it:

Twenty years ago, I wrote “A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community”. When I thought about updating it, I realized that video is better than text for showing how I spend time online. This is the first in a series of short videos documenting my use of social media in my professional and personal life.

Now if I could only stop adding feeds long enough to put these Google Reader Knowledge Management Ninja tips into practice.

posted by lance at 7:09 PM | Comments (0) | :indymedia :lance :video

If your favorite seasonal sweet is a fruitcake, move along. If, on the other hand, you are a fruitcake, and your boyfriend/girlfriend/stalking victim frequently lets you know it through threatening emails, broken headlights and/or restraining orders, then you are the target market for Despair.com's BitterSweets, the candy that's just sweet enough to give you that lonely sugar high while you're watching Bridget Jones's Diary and/or The Matrix on a certain upcoming Thursday -- and just bitter enough to see you through the crash afterwards when you realize that those movies suck and so does your life (and so does everything, while we're at it).

This year Despair offers three flavors of BitterSweet, one for each member of the Holy Trinity. You can opt for "Dejected" ("depressing sayings for those spending Valentine's Day alone and in a state of self-flagellation"), "Dysfunctional" ("biting barbs for stirring up the bile in toxic relationships") and the brand-spankin'-new-for-election-year "Dumped," which includes such choice kissoffs as "CELIB8 THX2U," "CALL A 900#" and "U LEFT SEATUP."

Despair, in case you haven't heard, are the cheerful weasels who brought us the Demotivators, straightfaced parodies of those weird inspirational posters you see on the walls of regional offices and car dealerships, and occasionally in th