By Xeni Jardin at 9:20 pm Monday, Dec 20
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Gizmodo editor Joel Johnson shares this snapshot with BoingBoing -- he says it depicts:
"A guy with his hand-made robot playing songs for change at the Bedford L (subway) stop (in New York City). It was so understated. The robot was an art project from the guy, who said he wasn't really into robotics. Sort of like, Yeah, that's my goddam robot.
Like the robot was trouble or something, or he had inherited it -- even though he'd made it himself."
Link
Update: reader Joshua Dickens says, "In reference to the robot from Bedford Ave post, I actually encoded a video for the robot-creator in question and am hosting it on my web site: Link. The robot paints to [the music of the 30-year-old hair band] Rush.
Oh, and maybe someone can torrent the video in case my site gets slammed!"
I am bleeding through my eyeballs I'm laughing so hard right now. Email Josh if you want to help with the torrent: Link
And reader Ben Seigel says, "A correction: Rush is not a '30-year-old hair band,' but rather, a 30 year old progressive rock band. Please don't lump them together with Ratt and Poison." Ben, I thank you, and mea maxima prog-rock culpa.
By Xeni Jardin at 9:15 pm Monday, Dec 20
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Following up on
this previous BoingBoing item about "Good word algorithms gone bad," one reader suggested that I type the word "dead" into Google. I did, and received this interesting AdWords recommendation (
Link to 70k GIF screenshot, sweartagod it's not altered):
Sexy Dead Singles
Free photos, personals and hot
profiles of local singles.
www.infobert.com
Emboldened by this success, I searched for the missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and sure enough, eBay had 'em! Why didn't those pesky world leaders look here?
Link to screenshot of the text ad suggested for a Google search on "WMD.".
Wmd
Brand new and used. No bidding.
Buy Wmd at eBay! (aff)
www.eBay.com
Reader Matt Baume says,
I enjoyed your post about the apocalypse and devasation on ebay. Thought you might like to know, i've stumbled across two other unsettling algorithmic hiccups: searching for "11-year-olds" gets you ebay ads for children, and searching for "ringworm" results in "sexy ringworm singles." i've got screenshots of each on my blog: one, two.
I attempted to repeat Matt's results, and got even worse returns on "11-year-olds" from Google. Not only did AdWords suggest "Great deals on new and used 11 year olds now!" from eBay, but "7 Year Olds at Amazon.com" were also indecently proposed in the same breath as "Sexy Adult Personals" and "Photos of Hot Local Women Who Want to Find Sex Partners."
Link to screenshot. Well then.
Reader Larry Swanson says,
Couldn't resist playing along. These are all actual AdWords results from today:
Famine
Find Everything You Want at Ebay
It's Fun, Quick & Easy to Buy! -aff
www.eBay.com
Find Drought
We have what you're looking for.
Drought & much more!
www.eWoss.com
Vomit
600+ Popular Stores - One Website &
One Simple Checkout - Shop Now!
SHOP.COM
Lint
Lint for sale. aff
Check out the deals now!
www.eBay.com
By Xeni Jardin at 8:55 pm Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing pal Mike Outmesguine says, "A while ago on BoingBoing, I read something about Postal shipping kiosks taking your picture. There's one of those at my post office so I got some pics of its beady little eye for you guys if you want. PS: I hope I don't get jacked up or sued under RICO or DMCA for taking pictures of publicly accessible computer equipment." Link to photos:
one,
two,
three,
four.
By Xeni Jardin at 8:22 pm Monday, Dec 20
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Blogs for Christmas is a cool new service for giving the gift of -- well, blogs. Send "specially-wrapped" blog packs or a mix of categorized rss feeds to friends and loved ones for the holidays. Get whuffie-enhanced "virtual eggnog" in return. Made by the same good folks behind
Participatory Politics Foundation and
Rolling Resistance (formerly
Internets Vets for Truth). It's free. And Chappy Chanukah.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 8:04 pm Monday, Dec 20
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The M&Ms website includes an online service for ordering your very own personalised M&Ms. The
printing dos and don'ts are a fun read, though -- don't even think about mentioning landmarks, or other terms that might raise copyright issues for the candy maker. Certain dirty words are prohibited -- some variants of
BUTT SEX IS AWESOME in the "Classic Wedding Blend" color palette returned null results. Other offensive terms were just fine. Damn you, chocolate censors! But high carb free speech prevailed when I chose the message shown here in the "Especially for Her Blend" color scheme.
Link (
Alex)
By Xeni Jardin at 8:00 pm Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing reader
Juergen says,
In Japan we don't only have capsule hotels. No -- we also have capsule buildings. At the outskirts of the posh Ginza district stands the now almost forgotten Nakagin Capsule Tower, the world's first capsule architecture built for actual use.
Built from 1970 and opened in 1972 the Nakagin Capsule Tower was a innovative masterpiece by architect Kisho Kurokawa. Kurokawa developed the technology to install the 2.3m x 3.8m x 2.1m sized capsule units into a concrete core with only 4 high-tension bolts, making the units detachable and replaceable. The capsules were designed to accommodate the individual as either an apartment or studio space, and by connecting units they could also accommodate a family. Complete with appliances and furniture, from audio system to telephone, the capsule interior was pre-assembled in a factory off-site and then hoisted by crane and fastened to the concrete core shaft. Today the Nakagin Capsule Tower is in rather bad condition and most capsules are rented out as mini-offices for a monthly fee of about 70,000yen each.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 7:22 pm Monday, Dec 20
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Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung unveiled a gigantolicious plasma screen display today -- it measures 102 inches diagonally, making it the largest such display in the world according to Samsung. Out mid-2005.
Link (
Thanks, Isaac)
By Xeni Jardin at 7:16 pm Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing reader
Steve Portigal says, "I received a free pass for a preview screening of the new film
In Good Company and thought the warning info at the bottom might be of interest. Sure, we've heard of this happening, but I don't know if anyone has offered the actual text of the "agreement":
This pass is the property of Universal Pictures which reserves the right to admit, revoke admission or refuse access to the theatre at the discretion of an authorized representative. Please arrive early! Seats are not guaranteed, are limited to theatre capacity and are first-come, first-served. EXCEPT FOR MEMBERS OF THE REVIEWING PRESS. CHILDREN ARE STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. NO ADMITTANCE ONCE SCREENING HAS BEGUN. This theatre is not responsible for seating over capacity. This Ticket Is Not For Resale.
NO RECORDING
This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any recording device into the theatre and you consent to physical search of your belongings and person for recording devices. If you attempt to enter with a recording device, you will be denied admission. If you attempt to use a recording device, you consent to your immediate removal from the theatre and forfeiture of the device. Unauthorized recording will be reported to law enforcement and may subject you to criminal and civil liability.
By Xeni Jardin at 7:11 pm Monday, Dec 20
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HOWTO doc on hacking Coke vending machines by way of the drink selection buttons on the front display.
Link (
Thanks, Jason Sutton).
Mirror one,
Mirror two, and
Google cache (
Thanks, Dan, Jackson Baker and Scott M.)
Update:: Reader Chris Vincent says,
Just thought I'd point out that most of the content on those sites (including the Coke machine article) is verbatim from the Anarchist's Cookbook, a legendary collaborative document that can be found all over the internet. Everything from social engineering to fun explosives to (obviously) Coke machine hacks can be found there.
Another interesting bit of information, this time about Pepsi machines (not from the cookbook, just something I found out about last week):
New Pepsi machines have a "code", a special sequence in which you can push the buttons on the face of the machine, which causes the LED screen to report the number of cans sold and the total cash value. I'm not sure what that code is, and it may be configurable on a per-machine basis. I'm sure somebody out there can shed more light on it than me.
By Xeni Jardin at 7:09 pm Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing reader
Steve Portigal says,
It's probably not the first time that an IP address had led police to capture a criminal but this is certainly a high profile mention of such a technique - and it seems like they moved awfully fast given that it was a regular non-cyber crime.
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 6:54 pm Monday, Dec 20
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Coming in late 2005: the world's first drive-in mega grocery store. Think Sam's Club/Costco meets McDonald's. One less reason for America to get up off of its increasingly fat ass!
Among the more than 17 classifications of products and services that AutoCart said it will offer at the proposed supercenters are grocery, pharmacy, banking, movie and game rental, bakery, office supplies, florists, photography development, dry cleaning, liquor, and lottery sales.
Link (
Thanks, Marc Nathan)
By Xeni Jardin at 6:50 pm Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing reader
Peter Orosz says,
Adobe has this service where you send your PDF to pdf2txt@adobe.com and they reply with an ASCII copy of your PDF attached. Very cool, as all PDF viewers I'm aware of lack this feature. The catch: Adobe "may occasionally access the content you submit" so this is probably only safe for stuff like ebooks.
Link
By Mark Frauenfelder at 3:31 pm Monday, Dec 20
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I'm starting to get interested in podcasting, so I interviewed Matt Webb, the co-editor of the new book, Mind Hacks, just published by O'Reilly. It's 25 minutes long, and I even created a cheesy Garageband theme song for what I hope is the first of many interviews.
Note: Matt wrote me with the following info -- "This is the McGurk video I was talking about. Just proving that I'm nothing without my notes, I incorrectly remembered the
McGurk sounds! It's a visual 'ga' and an aural 'ba' that combine to the
perception of 'da.' No 'va' at all (that's a variation on the experiment)."
The Mind Hack's weblog is here.
Link to BitTorrent file of my interview with Matt Webb.
Link to BitTorrent stats. (Thanks, Chuck!)
By David Pescovitz at 11:04 am Monday, Dec 20
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I randomly happened to read Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code right when it came out. When I told my pal Vann Hall about the novel, he said the basis of the plot sounded like a non-fiction book from the early 1980s called
Holy Blood, Holy Grail. A few months after Da Vinci Code hit it big, I noticed that Holy Blood, Holy Grail had also made it to the bestseller lists, more than twenty years after it was first published. Now it seems that the Holy Blood, Holy Grail authors are suing Dan Brown for ripping off their research.
Link
By David Pescovitz at 9:15 am Monday, Dec 20
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"Traditional academic surgeons look at what I do and thumb their noses," said James Rosser Jr., director of the Advanced Medical Technologies Institute at Manhattan's Beth Israel Medical Center. Rosser was speaking at the first ever
Video Game/Entertainment Industry Technology and Medicine Conference, a symposium he helped organize to discuss interfaces between medicine and entertainment technology. The conference was sponsored by the US Department of Defense's
Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. From a Reuters report:
Surgeons who play video games three hours a week have 37 percent fewer errors and accomplish tasks 27 percent faster, (Rosser) says, basing his observation on results of tests using the video game "Super Monkey Ball."...
More than 5,000 people, from schoolchildren to surgeons, have done training exercises on a system Rosser calls "Top Gun," designed to train laparoscopic surgeons, doctors who use minimally-invasive techniques to repair injuries.
Link (via Near, Near Future)
By Xeni Jardin at 8:34 am Monday, Dec 20
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And speaking of fine films:
Link (
via Adam, thanks Kelly Sue)
By Xeni Jardin at 7:45 am Monday, Dec 20
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Run to the theater and see this film. I find it impossible to write anything about Pedro Almodóvar's movies, particularly this one, without resorting to hyperbole, ALL CAPS, and liberal use of the expression "OMGOMGOMG." That is because he is the greatest living director, and save your emails, this is not a point I care to debate. All I want to tell you is that this is a spectacularly beautiful, nuanced, and mature work. It's technicolor film noir. It is so good, you walk out of the theater glad to be alive because film exists, and it is possible for someone to make one so fine that it really does capture a little chunk of human soul. Also, Gael García Bernal plays a trannie.
La Mala Educación / Bad Education: Link to website, Link to trailer, Link to IMDB listing, Link to reviews and US showtimes. OMGOMGOMG.
By Xeni Jardin at 7:32 am Monday, Dec 20
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Jackola says, "Brad Fitzpatrick, LiveJournal's founder, installed a Squeezebox in the gazeebo of his hot tub. Imagine playing the music stored on your computer through WiFi to your hot tub!"
Link
By Xeni Jardin at 7:30 am Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing reader Alistair says, "Saw your post on the dunking cup on boing boing. I sent the link to Nicey from
nicecupofteaandasitdown.com (the web's primary site for tea and biscuit culture). His response, which I can't take to be anything other than Gospel Truth was a bit dissapointing.
"They are a bit crap really, not enough tea capacity and the biscuit compartment is too limiting. I used them for pouring old bacon fat into. "
"Shame, really."
Link to previous BoingBoing post on Dunk Mug (via
Gizmodo), and
link to previous post on nicecupofteaandasitdown.
By Xeni Jardin at 7:29 am Monday, Dec 20
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BoingBoing reader Bhoarl says, "Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey exploit how the chlorophyll amounts in grass respond to light variation to produce monochrome images. Hack the planet?
Link to gallery, and here are two other sites that deal with work from this duo:
Link one, and
Link two." (
and thanks, Terry Towery)
By Xeni Jardin at 7:22 am Monday, Dec 20
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A photograph of the gigantic, room-sized map used to plan President Bush's inauguration parade through DC. (The General standing on the map was the man at Mrs. Reagan's side during the state funeral for her husband.)
Link. Related WaPo article:
Link (
Thanks, Alex Rosen)
By David Pescovitz at 5:13 am Monday, Dec 20
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A Vatican university will teach a seminar for Roman Catholic priests on satanism and exorcism. The Regina Apostolorum, an esteemed pontifical school, is holding the course entitled "Exorcism and prayers of liberation."
The courses, starting in February, will deal with demonology, the presence of the notion of the devil in sacred texts, and the pathology and medical treatment of people suffering from possession.
"The seminar will conclude with the testimony of two exorcists who will explain how to distinguish between someone who is ill and requiring medical care, and one is 'possessed by demons,'" (university teacher Carlo) Climati explained.
Link
By David Pescovitz at 4:24 am Monday, Dec 20
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This shot-by-shot recreation of Michael Jackson's Thriller video using Legos is magnificent.
Due to our strong personal convictions, we wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.
Michael Jackson
Philipp Lents
Miriam Lents
Link (via MetaFilter)
