Oooooo I'm so excited!

I can hardly contain myself.

congress mandating ISP snooping? /gasp

tis true. click on the picture for all the info.

10,000 days. tool is back all sharpened and ready for the summer.

finally. 5 years after lateralus, 10,000 days comes out next tuesday. it got leaked and there are copies floating around in the nether of the internet. having gotten a hold of one of them and listened to it non-stop for the last day and a half i must say- its brilliant work. the sound has evolved once again and the emphasis has really been turned onto the music, maynards voice is incredibly well-woven into the symphony of instruments and supplements the arrangement beautifully. it has less of the lateralus feeling of "wow, i dont understand what hes saying and everything i read about it sounds like some sort of crazy-burned out on acid philosophy." and returns to a lot of the nuances of AEnima while encorporating the musical complexity of lateralus. definately one of the best things ive heard this year.

Strike Three for Creationists

Strike One: The Missing Link between fish and land dwellers.

Strike Two: Skull that links the extinct Homo erectus with modern man.

And now,

Strike Three: The oldest living thing ever found; about 200 million years old.

Sorry folks, but you're out.

Monk Sand Art

These monks (Shaolin I believe?) painstakingly create the most beautiful pattern out of sand. They say a few things and sweep it up. Breaks your heart.

Artist: Bamboo Love

Bamboo Love does amazingly large and detailed drawings which he recently exhibited in a show called "Japanese Graffiti". From the site:

If you ask people the art as the quality or the amount, the majority should answer "quality".
That is the high-quality products is selected.
However, I do not think the high-quality products are good things.
Because, sometimes a huge amount of quantity makes quality.
Only one line is a "scrawl", however it turns to the "art" when building up the lines, and the lines beyond a threshold.

Net Neutrality Not an Optional Feature of Internet

Big Phone Companies like Verizon, AT&T, and etc, are trying to profit gut the Internet. It's a bogus attempt to charge users for things that are already accounted for. They want high-traffic sites like Google and Amazon to pay a premium for the amount of internet-traffic they use. They already pay for their access to the internet, but the big communication companies don't like people making more money than them using "their" internet.

Gigaom.com has a great article about "Net Neutrality":

The Internet does not exist without net neutrality. Consider the misleading assertion that tinkering with network neutrality simply amounts to adding class of service as in the case of air travel or HOV lanes on highways. Network neutrality refers to the uses of the Internet not the quality of access. There already exists an infinite range of classes of service as regards Internet access. End users pay for what they get regarding the performance and capacity of Internet access. Internet content and service providers like Google, Amazon, and Vonage already pay for access to the Internet.

The telco and cable companies have in mind creating another type of customer not a class of service. They want suppliers to pay for the right of transit. It amounts to airlines charging Time Warner for the right of readers to take Time magazine on an airplane. It means charging Ford tolls in addition to drivers for the right of Ford cars to use highways.

Media Link Dump

GreyLodge.com has a mind-blowing list of YouTube videos of artists, performances, concerts, films, etc.

Just a few:
- Jean Michel Basquiat - Painting Live, Downtown N.Y. (1981)
- John Lennon 31st Birthday Home Movie - 1971
- Salvador Dali - Lanvin Chocolate
- Nam June Paik - (1969) - Videotape Study No.3
- Miles Davis & John Coltrane - SO WHAT
- Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen

Bald Eagle Nest WebCam

This is mesmerizing. The "Eagle Eye Cam" is a live web cam of a Bald Eagles nest in Canada. It's beautiful.

Song of the Moment: The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth

The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is jammin'. It's the best when you're driving with all the windows down. Check it out.

World's Largest Tetris Game

Cooooool. I want one for my building.

Brix

Brix is composed of a wall of virtual bricks and a camera that sees what is happening in front of the wall. When one approaches the wall, the surface reflects the image captured by the camera, in a thousand rectangular pixels. The image of the inter-actor slips onto the wall and after a few seconds, freezes as a photograph. Brix, prefigures a new form of palimpsestual electronic architecture.

Save the Internet Coalition

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition is made up of dozens of groups from across the political spectrum that have banded together to save the First Amendment of the Internet: network neutrality.

via BoingBoing:

Snip from the manifesto for SaveTheInternet.com, which launches on Monday:

We believe that the Internet is a crucial engine for economic growth and democratic discourse. We urge Congress to take steps now to preserve network neutrality, a guiding principle of the Internet, and to ensure that the Internet remains open to innovation and progress.

Network neutrality is the Internet’s First Amendment. Without it, the Internet is at risk of losing the openness and accessibility that has revolutionized democratic participation, economic innovation and free speech.

From its beginnings, the Internet was built on a cooperative, democratic ideal. It has leveled the playing field for all comers. Everyday people can have their voices heard by thousands, even millions of people. Network neutrality has prevented gatekeepers from blocking or discriminating against new economic, political and social ideas.

The major telecommunications legislation now under consideration in Congress must include meaningful and enforceable network neutrality requirements to keep the Internet free and open to all.

Escher's Waterfall Recreated

Shigeo Fukuda created Escher's Waterfall in a beautiful small scall model. It's amazing that he managed to keep the illusion alive even in a 3d format. Check out the video.

Drilled Core Exposes Previously Unseen Layer of Earth's Crust

Since the 1950s, scientists have been trying to drill through the oceanic crust to expose the mantle below. Although that goal remains out of reach--the crust is more than four miles thick--a new drilling project at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean has reached almost a mile below the sea-floor and exposed what lies beneath the uppermost layer of crust for the first time.

Ahh Rainbows..

Can't beat 'em.

Flexible Screens are here!

The future is upon us... The Universal Display Corporation has come out with a flexible screen that you can roll up after each use. They see them for cameras, cell phones, digital books, etc. The list goes on and on. Personally, I'm going to grab one of these as soon as I can.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays one and all!

Marc Ecko tagged Air Force One! Update: Liar...

Marc Ecko a.k.a StillFree has a video of him tagging Air Force One. I'm shocked he didn't get shot, but props to him.

Update: It seems this video is a fake... damn. had me totally convinced though. I would have loved to have seen that on the news, not that they would have talked about it anyway.

Longest Chain Reaction I've Seen

This is beautiful. Def Lauf Der Dingeis incredibly complex and long at about 30 minutes. Oh, and a lot of great fire. Eat your heart out Rube Goldberg.

HIV Vaccine to begin testing

12 volunteers are going to begin getting small doses of a new HIV Vaccince licensed by GeoVax Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia.

This is only the phase one tests where uninfected volunteers get small doses of the drug, but in a few months a second higher-dose test will be conducted on 36 people. Everyone wish them luck.

Holographic Storage

InPhase Technologies have announced that they have created the highest data density ever, with 515 Gigs of data per square inch. It's mind boggling!

"AT&T wants to turn the Internet in mere TV"

BoingBoing has a great post about an article from Salon about "Network Neutrality", and how companies like AT&T think that they can start charging businesses for "preferential" internet treatment, namely fee's for using the bandwidth that they are already paying for.

It's a shameful attempt by AT&T to take control over businesses and bury the fee-hook into everybody. Bastards.

The ASCII Incredibles

This is bizarre. Behold, a scene from The Incredibles, done in ASCII (text images).

Song of the Moment: Here's What's Left

This one is by my boy, RJD2. I saw him live in Massachusetts and it was amazing. He used 4 turntables and a mixing board and blew my mind. You should all check him out, but for now just enjoy Here's What's Left.

Acupuncturist's Chi Power

Wow. This acupuncturist can use his chi to shock patients with what he describes as a type of electricity. Not only that, but he can use his chi to light a balled up newspaper on fire. I was skeptical at first but now I'm sold, and I think it's changed my life.

2,500 Polaroids

This very cool video used 2,500 polaroids to create a really interesting music video. I've seen the stop-motion photograph technique before, but this is still a very cool video.

On that note, check out the Presidents of the United States of America video made out of hundreds of cell phone camera pictures.

Oops!

Plan: Test the Fire Retardent Foam System in an airplane hanger. Result: System would not shut off and the foam fills the entire hangar and spills onto the runway.

Fire Retardent Foam: $3,645
Foam Dispenser System: $45,643
Fucking up and paying the price: Priceless

Update: The military is now saying they did this on purpose...

Photographing "The Void"

You know when you look up at the stars and there is all that blackness? Ever wonder what's out there in the 'empty space'? These photos are of exactly that.

The picture was taken with a 64 hour exposure and can see things hundreds of times fainter than what we can see with the naked eye. If you noticed the swirly galaxies, imagine this; Each one of those is comparable in size to our own Milky Way and consists of billions of stars! I wonder if Ford Prefect is out there somewhere...

First wooden Cadillac with two engines

What a masterpiece. Jerry Nickel is one extraordinary man. He built an entire Cadillac out of wood, and put two V8 engines in it! I hope that when I retire I end up doing something badass like this. Let's hear it for Mr. Nickel!

Cell Phones with Mini LCD Projectors

Sweet! I think this is a great idea. Cell Phones that can project onto a wall, making a roughly 7" screen.

Technology is getting more and more Star Trekky. We even have a Tricorder.

Touched by His Noodly Appendage

"In the beginning he created a Mountain, Trees, and a Midget"

Bless the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Oh it's so sacrilicous...

Our Monster, whose art is everywhere
hallowed be thy fame
Thy pirates come
thy will never be out done
On spaghetti and in meatballs
Give us every day intelligent design
And influence our sauces
as we forgive those who want pasta like us
And lead us not to carbon dating
but deliver us noodly appendages
For thine is the mountain, the tress and the midget.
For ever and ever.

Ramen

Larger Than Life

Ron Mueck is an Australian hyper-realist sculptor who creates gargantuan-sized sculptures that capture details of the human body so well that they're hard to believe. Mueck is a master at capturing human expression and recreating the detail of muscles, skin, fat and bones that we are all made of. Also - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mueck - via digg

Amazingly realistic, albeit a little creepy.

Taxing per mile?!

Ok, this took me awhile to believe but it's true.

Legislators in Oregon began worrying about hybrid cars and the like, and people not relying on oil as much, thus paying less gasoline tax. A valid concern for a State. I'm sure it is a huge part of their income. So, legislators are scheming up some ideas.

Ideas like requiring all cars to have a GPS device installed and taxing people for every mile they drive. They call it "fair and even". I call it "Big Brother".

The article is very informative and impartial. It speaks to all concerns in a very intelligent manner. I'm going to let it do the talking since all I want to do is spew expletives and stomp my feet.

The End is Nigh.

My Ukulele Gently Weeps

Check out Jake rocking hard on his Ukulele playing the Beatles "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Boy's got some skills!

Damen: Digital Painter Extraordinaire

Oh.. My.. Jebus.. This incredible image is NOT, I repeat, NOT, a photograph. This is 100% digital, done in Illustrator and Photoshop. With over 15,000 layers and 250,000 paths, it's the most detailed illustration I have ever seen. Damen, you get a Medal of Honor in my book.

Mars is having a good day

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, show the Galle Crater, an impact crater located on the eastern rim of the Argyre Planitia impact basin on Mars.

Turns out Mars is having a great time.

Chocolate Printer made from Legos

I can't believe it either! But it's true, a chocolate printer!. If that isn't cool enough for you, it's made from Legos! Even though the documentation is scarce, it might just be possible for you to make one of your own.

Construction Signs Hacked

A group at the University of Toronto managed to hack the LED signs at a construction site, so it now shows info like "Don't Drive" and "Take your SUV back to Detroit."

The rumor is it was done by a UoT group called "Cars off Campus." But that's just a rumor... Well done guys.

Deviant Art: Selfillumination by Kutsche

Selfillumination is a very creative 3D piece by Kutsche. Very well modeled and rendered, and a great concept to boot. Thumbs up from me.

"Free Spirit Spheres"

These things are very cool. Tom Chudleigh creates and installs these spherical tree-houses called Eve & Eryn. They are wired for electricty and sound, and even have a spiral staircase to get up to them. I want one.

New Jersey Solar Power Initiative

This is for all the Jersey-folk. Looks like New Jersey is going to create the largest Solar-grid ever. The plans are to put the panels on buildings, parking lots, even trash dumps. It's a good start. Go Jersey.

Just Another

Just Another is not just another video. Created by Carlos Florez, Jordan Sanford, Graham Wilson and few other students of MICA, it just blows my mind. I gotta give it to my boy Carlos for the amazing production, and my guru Jordy for the sick rhymes. Kudos, fellas.

Cabspotting - San Francisco Cab Tracker

This is very cool. Cabspotting tracks the cabs in San Francisco in real-time and traces their paths.

"Cabspotting traces San Francisco's taxi cabs as they travel throughout the Bay Area. The patterns traced by each cab create a living and always-changing map of city life. This map hints at economic, social, and cultural trends that are otherwise invisible. The Exploratorium has invited artists and researchers to use this information to reveal these "Invisible Dynamics.""


Brought to us by The Exploratorium.

Great Artist: Bansky

Bansky from the U.K. has some serious talent. I need to say no more. Check him out.

Graffiti Animation

This is a great idea. Krišs Salmanis did a bunch of stencils and made a very cool animation out of it. The figure walks forward slowly like he's meandering through a chaotic city. It's short but sweet.

Scientists may have found a Planet forming disc

Scientists think they have solved the mystery of how planets form around a star born in a violent supernova explosion, saying they have detected for the first time a swirling disk of debris from which planets can rise.

We learn something new every day... Today it's how planets are made! Very cool stuff.

GIANT list of Designer Resources

DesignEducation.ca has more design resources than I can fathom. 3,765 Birds, One Stone. Good job guys.

Song of the Moment: Nujabes - Mystline

My newest song addiction is Nujabes. He does all of the music for Samurai Champloo, and he is amazing.

Everything he does is great, but for now just one is the Song of the Moment: Mystline. I can't stop playing it.

Home Sweet Home...

*sigh*

Deviant Art: 'Destructive Spending'

This is not a design set out to tell people how evil the government is. If you read that, you're mistaken. Rather, this is meant to simply question the spending habits of the administration. David and I don't particularly like weaponry, and think it's a waste of money. Don't comment on this letting me know how I've unsheathed the evils of the government, you hipster dufus.

Destructive Spending by Liquisoft and David Caneso is great. Beautifully executed, great idea, and a very good comment by the artist.

Silent Hill coming to the Silver Screen

tis true, another in the continuing trend of video game movies riding on the coat-tails of resident evil. Silent Hill is slated for release on the 21st of this month. (april) Silent Hill was originally released for the play station by konami in 1999, and like the movie was about a mother searching for her lost child in the town of Silent Hill. taken from wikipedia:

What distinguishes the Silent Hill games from other survival horror games (such as Resident Evil) is that Silent Hill focuses on story, character, and atmosphere rather than action and violence. There are plenty of monsters to fight in Silent Hill, and plenty of weapons with which to fight them. But there are also complex puzzles to solve, detailed--and often disturbing--environments to explore, and engaging stories revealed through numerous cinematic cut scenes. Each game unfolds like a movie with several possible endings; the player's choices during the game determine which ending actually occurs.

should be a pretty sick movie.

"Terrorists" Caught in New Jersey

The "Terrorists" are 15 years old... They were caught plotting to kill 25 of their fellow students and are going to be charged with "Terrorism", something no one has been charged with in New Jersey.

Ok, good, you stopped kids from killing other kids. But, I don't think this qualifies as Terrorism. I think they are just itching to use their new powers under all the Homeland Security bullshit. I can't believe they are going to try and give these kids a minimum 30-year sentence because they finally have a chance to "catch some Terrorists".

Stacked-Can Art

These people have some excellent can stacking abilites. I love it when mundane stuff gets and upgrade.

Fight Night!

Just finished watching the 2-hour special of Ultimate Fight Night, and the premiere of Ultimate Fighter 3. Alright fights in the special... no knockouts though.

However, in the new season of Ultimate Fighter, it looks like there are some good fighters and good teams! There was only 1 fight tonight... where Kalib whooped ass! That's my boy!

Looks like we're coming out of the woodwork. Watch yourselves people.

"Most Realistic Robet Pet Ever"

Robo-dino is so lifelike, you just might consider replacing your cat.

Sweet. Who needs life forms anyway?

At least the dude who made it is named Caleb.

B-e-a-uuuutiful "Robot Sculpture"

Of all the robots and sculptures I have ever seen, this is by far the most real looking. The gestures this thing can make are so natural its creepy...

Danger Will Robinson!

What is the U.S. missing? More Nukes of course...

Yup, just when it couldn't get any worse the "administration" decides to update and make more nuclear bombs.

Immediatly followed by attacking other countries for doing the same... what a bunch of douche bags.

Followup: The Missing Link!

A new Time article has much better coverage on the new fossil found bridging the gap between fish and land dwellers.

I wonder what the Creationists will say about this one...

Subrosa and the Corpus Callosum

One of my favorite deviantartists- Adam Miller (corpuscallosum) is being featured in several issues of Subrosa online magazine. check out his work from the above link, and subrosa here

'Firewire'

These kids took the idea of burning steel wool to a whole new level, and it's really pretty up there. Awesome, guys.

THE Missing Link fossil found

I know what you're thinking, But haven't we already found the link between apes and humans? You are correct, we have, but now we found the link between fish and land animals.

MIT's "Perfect Mirror" Technology can shrink tumors

Good ol' MIT figured out how to get lasers into the body without destroying everything they didn't want to. With this new technology they can shrink tumors without hurting other parts of the body. In a recent surgery doctors shrunk someone's lung tumor by 90%! Cool stuff. Go MIT.

Deviant Artist: Wirestyle

Another great Deviant Artist, Wirestyle has blown me away. He has beautiful work across the board, but some of the most seamless vector art I have ever seen. Check him out.

Can I still call it Origami?

This guy does such ridiculous stuff with Origami it might need a new name. He does people, animals, machines, extremely complicated geometrics, and even dinosaurs. I think this guy has gone above the title 'Artist'

Zoom Quilt rocks my world

I can barely put words together this is so cool. The Zoom Quilt, a collaborative piece, is a never-ending flying/falling trip through every dream and memory I ever had as a child.

Go through quick once or twice and feel the Vertigo.

Then go SLOWLY and look at the beautiful work.

This has made my day.

RoboCop 0.1

He's not quite at RoboCop abilities, but Jesse Sullivan is getting there with his new robotic arms. He was electrocuted so severly that he had to have his arms amputated. But no worries, he's now a walking, talking, whirring Robo-Man.

Greenwich Emotion Map

Artist Christian Nold teamed up with the residents of the Greenwich Peninsula to build this "Emotion Map". He put sensors on the participants to measure their level of 'arousal' as they moved through the enviroment.

The relationship between people and our enviroment is something that we all can imagine, but is nearly impossible to put into visual or verbal mediums. This is a great start. Check out the little notes people left, they're really interesting.

Deviant Artist: kil1k

I recently discovered kil1k on DeviantArt and was totally blown away. Not only does he have great photography all around, but I am in love with his light painting photos --->

Amazing 'Cut-Away' Illustrator

Kevin Hulsey is a truly amazing illustrator. It's his job to show us what the inside of something looks like. Check out his work and find the big pictures, it's awe-inspiring.

Kung fu Mice!

Interesting video about 'Grasshopper Mice'. These mice are quick little agile kung fu masters. Ever wanted to see a kung fu movie starring a centipede and a grasshopper mouse? You're welcome.