What is it? Game 82
All right, all you guessing experts - here’s this week’s collaboration What is it? blog: can you guess what this strange object is (and don’t say trumpet, cuz it’s not!)
Place your guess in the comment section - no prize this week so you’re playing for bragging rights only.
For more clues, check out the What is it? blog. Good luck!
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Should We Bail Out the Automakers?
I’m sure many of you are aware that Detroit automakers are lobbying the government (and the public in their website GM Facts and Fiction) for a $25 billion bailout loan package. The CEOs of the Big Three automakers, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler went before the House of Representative … and got grilled over their use of private jets (estimated at $20,000 apiece):
Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.
"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
"It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."
He added, "couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."
What do you think - should the federal government bail out the automakers?
Loading …Update 11/19/08 - Here’s a thoughtful op-ed piece by Mitt Romney at The New York Times: Link
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Fairy Tale Scenes by Magdalena Bors
Woodland Scene (2006)
Castle on the Hill (2007)
Belgian artist Magdalena Bors’ artworks depict a fairy tale scene woven directly out of common household things. Check out her website for more: Link - via Notcot
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1001 Rules For My Unborn Son
1001 rules for my unborn son is a fantastic tumblr blog where you will find hundreds (so far) of words of wisdom about life. For example:
270. Stand up to bullies. You’ll only have to do it once.
269. If you’ve made your point, stop talking.
268. Watch your language at the ballgame.
Sometimes, you find a gem like this one:
Always keep a recent photograph of yourself on file in case of emergencies or unexpected notoriety.
Link - via Nag on the Lake
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Flair Hair: The Uber-Toupee
Bald? That’s not a problem with this "flair hair" visor from Kotula’s:
We all have "bad hair" days; some of us have "no hair" days. When you need to cover your dome, you’ll want something that does the job, something that adds a little fun, a little flair; your very own FlairHair visor. This cool little item will keep you covered and its built-in visor will protect your eyes from the sun, all while giving you a distinctive, 1970s, Bjorn Borg-at-Wimbledon look. Adjustable visor features hook-and-loop enclosure. Meeting with the queen not included.
Link - via Museum of Hoaxes
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The Princess Phone and Other Japanese Words and Phrases of 2008
Japanese publishing company Jiyu Kokuminsha released its annual list of 60 most popular Japanese words and phrases of 2008 - and thanks to Pink Tentacle blog, we can all read about them in English 
For example:
9. Hime-den: This abbreviation of hime-denwa (lit. “princess phone”) describes a garish style of mobile phone decoration popular with junior high and high school girls. Hime-den are typically decorated with glitter, fake jewels, ribbons, lace, and little teddy bears.
19. “The Homeless Junior High School Student” (homuresu chugakusei/kaisan): “The Homeless Junior High School Student” is a best-selling memoir by comedian Hiroshi Tamura, who became homeless as a 10-year-old after the death of his mother and the break-up of his family. Some of the hardships Tamura recounts include spending nights in public parks and eating cardboard and grass to survive. The book sold over 1 million copies within two months of its release, making it the fastest selling non-fiction book on record in Japan. The story was adapted to the screen this year as “Homeless Chugakusei” (”The Homeless Student”).
23. “It’s all good.” (kore de ii no da): In the eulogy, Tamori also borrowed a phrase used frequently by a character in Akatsuka’s Tensai Bakabon manga series, when he said: “Your liberating ideas helped us accept and affirm the way things really are. That is, you taught us, ‘It’s all good.’”
41. Manager in name only (nabakari kanrishoku): “Managers in name only” are company employees who put in lots of overtime but do not get paid for their extra work because they are called “managers,” even though in fact they have no administrative authority. One of these “managers in name only” at the McDonald’s fast-food chain filed a lawsuit against the company for unfair labor practices. In January, the Tokyo District Court ruled in his favor, ordering McDonald’s to pay its outlet “managers” for overtime because they are given no administrative authority. (The law is designed so that companies in Japan do not have to pay overtime to real managers with actual administrative authority.)
If you’re a Japanophile, this one you definitely have to see: Link
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Lonesome George Got His Mojo … at the Ripe Old Age of 90!
At the grand old age of 90, Lonesome George, a giant tortoise from the Galapagos Islands, suddenly got interested in the opposite sex:
A Pinta Island tortoise, George had showed little interest in sex during 36 years in captivity. At 90, George is in his sexual prime and his low libido even raised tabloid-like rumors the 198 pounds (90 kilograms) creature preferred other males. After trying almost everything from artificial insemination to having George watch younger males mate, his keepers had nearly lost hope. But his new-found libido has raised hopes he could save his subspecies from extinction.
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James Bond’s Weird World of Inventions (c. 1966)
James Bond’s gadgets had captivated moviegoers for a looong time! Here’s a 1966 article from Popular Science detailing some of the gadgets featured in 007’s Thunderball:
Because their success has spawned so many imitators, the Bond producers now have to reach for some pretty spectacular devices to keep Bondophiles on the edge of their seats. So they’ve invested about $500,- 000 for the zany gadgets in the newest 007 thriller, Thunderball, starring Sean Connery.
Most of the infernal devices never existed in the original Ian Fleming stories. “Our only excuse for using them” says screenwriter Richard Maibaum, “is that such devices are available and cry out to be buckled onto James Bond’s back.”
Some of the gadgets actually are buckled onto Connery’s famous back. One is the Bell jet-pack flying belt Bond uses in the beginning of the film to escape from a French chateau. Connery has to wear a special Dacron suit whose color won’t bleach out when touched by the belt’s highly concentrated peroxide fuel. The belt provides about 20 seconds of flight, but only 10 seconds is used for the upward flight. It would be disastrous to run out of power a couple of hundred feet up in the air.
Thunderbolts prize piece of gatgetry is a $300,000. 64-foot hydrofoil yacht. It belongs to 007’s enemies—SPECTRE—a sinister gang of international criminals that has hijacked two H-bombs from NATO. They’re holding the bombs for $300 million in ransom. If the Allies don’t pay off, SPECTRE threatens to wipe out two Western cities.
SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) is led by Emilio Largo from the hydrofoil floating fortress called the Disco Volante.
Ah, the Disco Volante! I had forgotten about that … Link
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5-year-old Dribbler
(YouTube link)
Milan Simon Tuttle is five years old and has been playing basketball for a year and a half. She’s short, skilled, and adorable! -Thanks, Laura!
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Pygmy Tarsiers
Scientists thought the pygmy tarsier was extinct, since the last live sighting was over 80 years ago. Eight years ago, one was accidently trapped and killed in Indonesia. But recently, scientists have caught three live pygmy tarsiers and observed a fourth in the Lore Lindu National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
The pygmy tarsier, or Tarsius pumilus, weighs about 50 grams (1.7 ounces), and has dense fur, large, protruding eyes. In addition to seeming as a living, breathing version of the Furby, it also appears as though it ought to have had appeared in the 1984 movie “Gremlins.”
Unlike other primates, the pygmy tarsier — endemic to a specific area of Indonesia — has claws instead of nails on its fingers. It is half as big as the Philippines tarsier, which has similar features.
The trapped animals were fitted with radio tracking collars and released. Link -Thanks, Thembi!
(image credit: Texas A&M University)
See a larger species of tarsier up close here.
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G-speak
(Vimeo link)
Take a look at the G-speak spatial operating environment by Oblong.
Some of the SOE’s core ideas are already familiar from the film Minority Report, whose characters performed forensic analysis using massive, gesturally driven displays. The similarity is no coincidence: one of Oblong’s founders served as science advisor to Minority Report and based the design of those scenes directly on his earlier work at MIT.
It sure looks cool, but personally I don’t understand the advantages of this system over typing or using a mouse. Link -Thanks, carfeimao!
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Nanobamas
Professor John Hart of the University of Michigan created nanoscale likenesses of president-elect Barack Obama that are each smaller than a grain of sand! The “nanobamas” were made to raise awareness of nanotechnology.
Each one contains about 150 million carbon nanotubes stacked vertically like trees in a forest. A carbon nanotube is an extraordinarily strong hollow cylinder about 1/50,000th the width of a human hair.
“Developments like this are an excellent way to bring the concepts of nanotechnology to a broader audience,” said Hart, who made the portraits with his colleagues by working late on a Friday evening. “Also, we thought it would be fun.”
The 3D likenesses are made of carbon and are half a millimeter wide. Link -Thanks, Sid Morrison!
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Too Cute
This is absolutely adorable, it’s a great way to share your love with the world…or at least enjoy a good snowfall together.
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Happy Anniversary to Calvin and Hobbes!
Happy Anniversary to Calvin and Hobbes! It was November 18, 1985 (I know, I’m a day late), that the precocious little boy and his sage stuffed tiger/real tiger first hit comic pages across America. So, I thought I’d hit you guys with a little C&H trivia… I know, it’s not nearly enough to fill the void Bill Watterson has left us, but it’s a little something.
Bill Watterson
Ever since he retired from Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson has been painting and “studying music”. He’s notoriously private and apparently hasn’t changed his lifestyle much. Up until fairly recently, he still lived in his hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Now he lives in Cleveland, not too far away. He doesn’t do pictures or autographs, not for anyone, although he used to sign copies of his books and slip them into a little family-owned bookstore in Chagrin Falls. He found out that people were eBaying them instead of tucking them away in their own private collections, though, and stopped that practice.
Calvin’s Older Brother?
Originally, Calvin and Hobbes were supposed to be minor characters in the strip Watterson was trying to syndicate. They were both the same as they are now – a little kid and his tiger – but were supposed to be only occasional characters. When he sent that strip to United Features, they suggested that he rework the whole thing to center around Calvin and Hobbes. So Watterson did. And United Features rejected the strip anyway. It was eventually snatched up by Universal Press Syndicate instead.
Licensing
You know those decals you see on trucks sometimes that have Calvin taking a whiz on the Chevy logo (or the Ford logo, or the BMW logo, or whatever)? So not legal. Actually, almost anything you see with Calvin and Hobbes on it is copyright infringement. Here is the complete list of things Bill Watterson has approved for mass production:
Watterson issued a cease-and-desist. Some of the makers complied and substituted a different (but similar) boy for Calvin, some replaced him with a female Calvin, and some just ignored him altogther. “I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo,” Watterson once said. Go here for a rather comprehensive site of all of the fake Calvin logos. It’s pretty impressive.
Namesakes
You can probably figure out where Calvin and Hobbes come from (I’ll go over that in a second) but lots of the other characters are inspired by real-life people too – or not-so-real-life people.
Calvin, of course, is named after John Calvin, the 16th century theologian who was a huge proponent of predestination. We don’t know Calvin’s last name. Watterson has said that people often assume that Calvin is based on his own childhood, but he disputes this fact and says that he was actually a very quiet, obedient kid.
Hobbes is named after Thomas Hobbes, who said that the natural state of humans was to be at war. Watterson has said that he feels Thomas Hobbes had a “dim view” of people. Hobbes’ feline characteristics were based on Watterson’s cat, Sprite.
Miss Wormwood got her name courtesy of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. In the C.S. Lewis tale, Wormwood is the nephew of an experienced demon and is being advised by his uncle on how to damn men to Hell.
Susie Derkins received her distinctive last name because “Derkins” was the nickname of Watterson’s wife’s family’s beagle.
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A Hard Case to Prove
Michael Minelli wants you to know he’s not a douchebag, or at least, he doesn’t think so. That’s why he’s suing the author and publisher of the book “Hot Chicks With Douchebags” for including him. The libel lawsuit should be interesting, as the lawyers will have to establish the relative “douchebaggery” of Minelli. I think the prosecution might have a hard time after seeing a picture of Minelli, who claims the book has caused him to receive “hatred, contempt, and humiliation” and has resulted in “friends, acquaintances, coworkers, employees, and strangers alike” calling him a “douchebag.” Here’s a quick excerpt of the page in question:
[Minelli's] popped-collar, spikey-haired presence was so far beyond regular douche, so far beyond uberdouche, he could spontaneously create a new element on the periodic tables–Douche Nine.
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Was This House in the Twilight Movie?
Now that Twilight is out and every teenage girls in the whole United States have seen the movie, would someone tell me if this house is indeed in the movie? The chances of me seeing this movie is pretty slim
It’s my neighbor’s house who rented it out for a movie shoot (rumored to be Twilight): Link
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World Toilet Day
Today is World Toilet Day! The World Toilet Organization invites you to become informed and get involved to promote global water issues and sanitation. 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper toilets. The international charity WaterAid has ways you can help, and some fun stuff like potty games and printable posters. Link -Thanks, Actor 212!
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Picture Indians
PJM at Old Picture of the Day dropped out of the rat race and became a high school teacher.
I can remember my first day of class, I had one class made up of a particularly tough group of students. These students did not have a history of academic success, and struggled in a number of areas, and with a number of issues. On the first day, I threw out the text book, and told the students I was going to teach them to do something useful, and that they would accomplish something that they could be proud of, and that they would be recognized for.
What they did was create a website called Picture Indians. The students learned about web design and coding, copyright laws, and photo restoration. Take a look and maybe send an email to the students to let them know what you think of their project. Link to story. Link to website. -Thanks, Alannah!
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The Lego Lifestyle Home
Legomaniacs, you can do more than just build things from Legos! Display your passion in your home with furnishings made from Lego bricks, home products from the Lego company, and products that have that familiar (if not company-sanctioned) shape. See a roundup of these products at mental_floss. Shown is a sofa you could assemble from interlocking blocks sold by a French company. Warning; having all these items in your home at once may scare away members of the opposite sex. Link
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Monty Python Strikes Back
(YouTube link)
John Cleese, Eric Idle, and the rest of the Monty Python gang have decided to fight back against the unauthorized uploading of their material to YouTube. Link -via Metafilter
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Cool Spy Gadgets
Over the years, you’ve seen James Bond use amazing gadgets you wish you could have yourself. Walyou has a rundown of 15 such spy gadgets that exist in the real world! As someone said in the comments, even if you have absolutely no reason to spy on anyone, you’ll want to own these. My personal favorite is the Com-Bat, a small robotic plane that resembles …well, you see it here. Link -Thanks, Eran Abramson!
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Bike Hero
(YouTube link)
Bicycle + Guitar Hero = Bike Hero. This took some work! Kevin says he went through many takes before getting it right. The music is Prisoner of Society by The Living End. -Thanks, David Ross!
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Photos from LIFE
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
I don’t know about 1750, since photography began around 1826, but the LIFE archives are an amazing resource. Link -via YesButNoButYes
(image credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1936)
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1980s Toys by Artist Robert Burden
(Video Link)
Robert Burden is a San Francisco-based artist who composes paintings of toys from the 1980s, including depictions of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The video above is a time-elapsed video of his composition of an 11-foot high monumental painting of Voltron.
Link via Topless Robot
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Rebel Attack in Lego
Flickr user roguebantha_1138 built a huge Lego diorama that tells a story, set in the Star Wars universe!
Welcome to Mustaneer! (it’s not as distant as Mustafar) Basically it’s a Rebel attack on an Imperial base and mining installation. About a year in the making, on and off, it is 75 by 125cm and all built in 1:200 scale. I’ve taken LOADS of pictures (OK, I’ve taken too many) but I’ve tried to write something interesting with each, so if you have a bit of spare time join me on a journey to a galaxy far far away….
See lots more pictures in the Flickr set. Link -Thanks, xadrian!
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Beauty Mask Video
I have no idea who thought this was a good idea for a product and who in the marketing department thought this video would work to sell it. Oddly enough it makes me think of this as a Michael Myers tribute video. WTF?!
via -BoingBoing
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