A new XBox 360 app from Digimask lets you take a couple pictures (full front, profile) of yourself and then map your face onto your game-characters' heads. Link (via Gizmodo)

The Berkeley Film Archive is running a series of pirate moveis (movies about pirates) in September and October:

Avast, me hearties! We have charted dangerous waters to bring you this flotilla of films, from classic swashbucklers the likes of Michael Curtiz's The Sea Hawk, Jacques Tourneur's Anne of the Indies, and Alexander Mackendrick's A High Wind in Jamaica, to a strange brew of post-piratical features like Vincente Minnelli's The Pirate, Ulrike Ottinger's Madame X, and E. R. Nelson's The Pirates of the Great Salt Lake, each a broadside to the hull of the USS Hollywood. The recent rise of Pirates of the Caribbean has left us questioning just what kind of rogues these pirates be—are they ruthless renegades of the seven seas, gallant privateers swinging gracefully from mast to deck, or rouged and dandy buccaneers, drunk on the grog of grandiosity? And with the galley of pirate fanciers growing daily, between seafaring supply stores, fathomless blogs, and Blackbeard impersonators, we wonder what could be the course of this barbarous affection. While we divine what might a pirate be, we add a new member to the crew, the cultural scrounger who burns booty to fashion into artful trinkets of commerce and commentary. Craig Baldwin's Sonic Outlaws and He Jian-jun's Pirated Copy sail under these new colors, pirates to their dying day. Join us as we set to see.

Link (Thanks, Paul!)

The US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has set up shop in Second Life. Their hang-out is called Meteroa, and if you visit you'll apparently find interactive educational demos about the oceans and weathers. Given that climate/weather researchers are always pushing the limits of scientific simulation, I find it, um, meta-interesting that they're now participating in the synthetic world of Second Life. From Second Life Insider:

On this lovely island sim you can find fully interactive educational demonstrations about the ocean and weather. Examples include a sea life submarine ride created by The Magicians, and two different tsnuami demos by Aimee Weber Studios and Electric Sheep Company (seen here). Other fun stuff includes a demonstration of a real-time temperature map powered by Yahoo, narration by Exploratorium Chief Scientist Paul Doherty, an airplane ride into a hurricane, and a melting glacier demonstration.

The NOAA's arrival may be a great sign of things to come. United States government agencies aren't exactly what you call flamboyant, trendy, or fashionable. Their interest in Second Life as a solid educational tool may give other companies a greater sense of comfort in the stability of the platform.

Link (Thanks, Sean Ness!)

A massive mob of brain-eating zombies invaded San Francisco this afternoon. BB pal Scott Beale was on the scene and documented the mayhem. More at Laughing Squid. Link

Last February, Transport for London successfully lobbied a UK web-hosting company to censor a funny remixed tube-map where all the station-names were replaced with anagrams. Now the map's creator has put it back online in a new map that unscrambles each station's anagram when you hover your mouse over it. Link (Thanks, Robert!)

A drunken Mel Gibson mugshot with the word "Schmuck" beneath it in Hebraic script: what more needs to be said? Link (Thanks, Alice!)