8 May 2010
[relax] Rainy Mood … a single-serving website that plays the relaxing ambient(ish) sounds of a rain storm.
7 May 2010
[apple] The Mozzarella Cheese Head of Steve Jobs … file this under things John Gruber will probably never blog … ‘Love mozzarella cheese? Love Steve Jobs? Then you’ll love this.’ [thanks Andy]
9 April 2010
[weird] The Porn Detection Stick … when you absolutely positively gotta find all the porn hidden on a computer – Accept no substitutes.
19 March 2010
[funny] Funny Japanese anime summary of British stereotypes … ‘Fish ‘n’ Chips!’ (more…)
15 March 2010
[ufo] First Contact: The Man Who’ll Welcome Aliens … Jon Ronson meets the chairman of Seti’s Post-Detection Taskgroup …
…you can tell the abductees are lying or delusional because their descriptions of the aliens and their craft are always so unimaginative. As he writes in The Eerie Silence, the giveaway is the banality of the aliens’ putative agenda, which seems to consist of grubbing around in fields or meadows, chasing cows or cars like bored teenagers, and abducting humans for Nazi-style experiments.
23 February 2010
[war] Lost Nazi nuke-project uranium found in Dutch scrapyard … ‘Forensic nuke scientists at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) traced two pieces of metal – described as a cube and a plate – back to their exact origins and dates. Apparently both came from ores extracted at the “Joachimsthal” mine in what is now the Czech Republic, though the two are from different production batches.The cube, according to specialists at the JRC’s Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), was produced in 1943 for the Nazi nuclear programme and was used in the lab of famous boffin Werner Heisenberg (of uncertainty principle fame).’
5 February 2010
[space] Spectacular Hubble View Of The Aftermath Of An Asteroid Collision … Asteroids collide or spacecraft? You decide…
29 December 2009
[meme] What Are The First Three Words You See On This Grid? … Bail, Kick, Past.
14 December 2009
[music] Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” compressed over and over as an MP3 666 times… If you listen to this you will bleed goats blood out of your ears – FACT … ‘and if u r wondering, YES it does lose quality each time it is compressed.’ [via Kottke]
4 November 2009
[space] The Average Color of the Universe … ‘The answer, depicted above, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige.’
2 November 2009
[tv] Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome … ‘Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome (also SORAS or rapid aging) is the term used to describe the aging of a television character (usually an infant or child, but also sometimes a teenager) that is faster than they should be aging, given the timeline of the show. The process is usually done to allow for more rapid character development, and to allow the writers to develop new storylines for the character.’
26 October 2009
[weird] Meet the Georgetown University Sophomore Who’s Hiring a Personal Assistant … ‘Tasks such as doing laundry that involve a lot of waiting around (time when you could be doing other tasks or doing your own stuff) will be counted for the approximate amount of time it would take to do the labor involved. For instance, laundry will be counted for half an hour even though a laundry cycle takes 1.5 hrs to complete.’
22 October 2009
[weird] Take A Weird Break Blog … a blog collecting weird headlines from Take A Break style magazines. [via qwghlm.co.uk]
19 October 2009
[weird] Left Brain / Right Brain Conflict … Look at the chart and say the COLOUR not the WORD and then get very tongue tied.
16 September 2009
[weird] 20 most bizarre Craigslist adverts of all time … For example, Pope Hats: ‘Because of this terrible economy, I’m having to shut down my business. I have OVER 1300 Pope hats (replicas) that I REALLY need to get rid of. The pope hats came from China and are a little too small for most adult heads and are also irritating to the skin, so you would need to have long hair or wear a smaller hat underneath (just like the REAL POPE). Dogs do not like to wear these pope hats, but maybe a large cat or maybe a nice dog would wear one.’
20 August 2009
[war] The Wandering Soul Psyop Tape Of Vietnam … ‘Listen to the eerie sounds of “The Wandering Soul” – also known as “Ghost Tape Number 10” – that was broadcast by loudspeakers installed on Swifts and other units during “Chieu Hoi” and Psychological Warfare missions to “taunt” the enemy.’
29 June 2009
[tweets] Jon Ronson (posted on Twitter): ‘dennis neilson did the Braille translation of my book, Them.’
24 May 2009
[weird] Have you heard ‘the Hum’? … BBC News on people who’s lives are ruined by hearing a constant strange hum … ‘A low-pitched drone known as the “Largs hum” has troubled the coastal town of Largs in Strathclyde for more than two decades. At least one suicide in the UK has been linked with the hum.’
19 April 2009
[tv] Disturbing Strokes … the opening to Different Strokes set to music from a horror film … ‘This has turned out far more creepy than I thought it would.’
13 April 2009
[science] Go Watch: What happens when you drop a cannon ball in a bath of mercury? [via Kottke]
17 March 2009
[weird] Computer programmer from Finland has lost finger replaced with USB drive … ‘Using a traditional prosthetic finger Jerry has been able embed a ‘USB key’ – like the ones used in traditional flash drives – giving him the world’s only two gigabyte finger. The finger is not permanently attached to his hand meaning it can be removed when plugged into a computer.’
6 January 2009
[funny] Let’s look back on the year to come … David Mitchell on the events of 2009 … ‘James Bond to commit suicide in next film: Bond purists were outraged by the news that the suave womanising superspy hero will finally lose the will to live at the end of the next movie, Die and Live Death is Golden Casino Gun Depression (working title).’
[funny] The Great British Sandwich … there are some odd layers in that there sandwich! …‘Help build the world’s tallest sandwich’ [via Mondo a-go-go]
5 December 2008
[tv] Watching: YouTube – Ludwig … (more…)
4 December 2008
[comics] Watchmen Unmasked … Occult symbolism in an Alan Moore comic. Really?! … ‘On the morning of September 11th, 2001 A.D., I was not working. On my day off, my mother phones me at 7:00 PST to wake me up: “Something incredible is happening”. When the first tower came down, I saw the beast more clearly than I have ever seen it, and yes, for a moment it looked just like a giant octopus driving this giant building straight down DIRECTLY THROUGH THE PATH OF GREATEST RESISTANCE LIKE A NAIL. And I thought, “It’s Chapter Twelve of Watchmen. It’s a stunt, a gag, a hoax. Someone has done this thing to fool us all again. Who? WHO HAS DONE THIS THING TO ME?’ [via BeaucoupKevin]
7 November 2008
[funny] Matt Webb’s 100 Head Cattle Drive 2008 … go help Matt achieve his dream …‘I like small plastic cows. I don’t know why. I haven’t owned any until today. For many years I have wanted a herd for my home. Perhaps 100 or so. Yes, 100 would do nicely. DO NOT ASK ME WHY. (I think it would be a neat thing.) … A promise: IF I GET 100 × SCHLEICH HOLSTEIN OR FLECKVIEH COWS, I WILL DONATE £500 TO A CHARITY CHOSEN BY MAJORITY VOTE.’
21 September 2008
[end] How To Destroy The Earth … ‘You’ve seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You’ve heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world. Fools. The Earth is built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you’ve had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily.’ [via Metafilter]
15 August 2008
[funny] Best of Craigslist: Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend … ‘Evil laugh preferred.’ [via iamcal.com]
21 June 2008
[life] Trapped in a Lift … slightly disturbing time lapse video of a man stuck in a lift for 41 hours.
8 May 2008
[london] Time-lapse Vid of Dissolving an Oyster Card in Acetone (aka Nail Varnish) … which seems to leave behind a usable RFID Tag and it’s antenna … ‘So tomorrow morning I’ll attempt to use this naked oyster card to journey to work. If I’m successful (and not arrested for terrorism) I’ll have to decide what my new oyster card will be. So far I’m thinking either stitching it into my watch, or wrapping it around a magic wand…’
1 April 2008
[weird] File Under Wrong: Most. Distrubing. Teddy Bear. Ever. [via Sore Eyes]
12 February 2008
[space] An astronaut from NASA describes the smell of space: ‘At first I couldn’t quite place it. It must have come from the air ducts that re-pressed the compartment. Then I noticed that this smell was on their suit, helmet, gloves, and tools. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces. It is hard to describe this smell; it is definitely not the olfactory equivalent to describing the palette sensations of some new food as “tastes like chicken.” The best description I can come up with is metallic; a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation. It reminded me of my college summers where I labored for many hours with an arc welding torch…’
31 January 2008
[food] Dip Once or Dip Twice — a food microbiologist examines double dipping at parties as practiced by George in Seinfeld … ‘On average, the students found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip. Each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip. That means that sporadic double dipping in a cup of dip would transfer at least 50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite.’ [via Kottke]
9 January 2008
[weird] Dearly departed to heat Manchester crematorium — Mega City One’s Resyk comes one step closer … ‘A Manchester crematorium where “grieving friends and relatives have complained of the cold during services” will tackle the problem by using the “body heat” generated in the incineration process to crank up the temperature…’
21 December 2007
[vids] 2007’s top 10 online videos — this video of 1500 prison inmates in the Philippines performing Thriller is worth checking out … (more…)
8 December 2007
[comics] Another weird comic guest-star: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen meets Don Rickles … ‘Kirby’s early 70s run on JIMMY OLSEN was his first work for DC after leaving Marvel, and DC let him go hog wild with the book. Kirby used it as a springboard to introduce his “Fourth World” concepts like Darkseid, the New Gods, etc. Oh, and famous insult comic Don Rickles’ twin, “Goody” Rickles.’
7 December 2007
[comics] Scans of Daredevil #133 — from 1976 – oddly guest starring Uri Geller … ‘Daredevil, Wait For Me — I’m a Mentalist, not an Acrobat!’
5 December 2007
[funny] Arnold Shares his Deepest Feelings — yet another of those amusingly weird YTMND pages. [via linkbunnies.org]
30 November 2007
[shopping] Complete Receipt Defeat … ‘I recently bought a four-pack of Play-Doh – big plans for the weekend – at my local Toys R Us and received, along with my purchase, over a foot and a half of receipt. That comes out to almost an inch of paper for every dime I spent. Here it is, broken down by height in inches…’
15 November 2007
[war] British Nukes were protected by Bike Locks … ‘To arm the weapons you just open a panel held by two captive screws – like a battery cover on a radio – using a thumbnail or a coin. Inside are the arming switch and a series of dials which you can turn with an Allen key to select high yield or low yield, air burst or groundburst and other parameters. The Bomb is actually armed by inserting a bicycle lock key into the arming switch and turning it through 90 degrees.’ [via Grayblog]
12 November 2007
[music] The Hidden Message in Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust — a demonstration that you can hear “It’s fun to smoke Marijuana” if you play Queen’s song Another One Bites the Dust backwards. [via linkbunnies.org]
2 November 2007
[food] Using McDonalds’ As Pizza Toppings … ‘This is a culinary Frankenstein cooked by Bizarro, a crude combination of deliciousness into an artery-jamming fatty Voltron. The thing is, I would totally eat it. You would, too, stop lying.’ [via iamcal.com]
29 October 2007
15 October 2007
[weird] Right Brain v Left Brain Optical Illusion … I see this rotating anti-clockwise until after concentrating on the feet it flipped on me and started rotating clockwise. Weird! :) [via Kottke]
12 October 2007
[food] Fraser Lewry’s Animal Alphabet — Fraser of Blogjam attempts to eat an animal for each letter of the alphabet … ‘I’m a) not allowed to use Latin names, and b) if I’m struggling to come up with an animal beginning with ‘R’, for instance, I’m not allowed to use “ring-tailed lemur” because all lemurs are filed under ‘L’. Not that I’d eat lemur, of course, because they’re an endangered species, which brings me to c) no endangered species.’
7 August 2007
[comics] I Am Punisher (Black) — Chris’s Invincible Super Blog looks at the one of the odder moments during Frank Castle’s adventures in the Nineties … ‘Thus, wanted by the law, hunted by the Kingpin, and being, y’know, black, the Punisher decides it’s time for a little road trip, and hits the open road for a trip to Chicago in order to take the most appropriate course of action. He starts hanging out with Luke Cage…’
25 July 2007
[crime] Crime Scenes with Shapes — pretend you’re Gil Grissom with Microsoft Visio. ‘…many new shapes for creating Visio drawings to depict crime, accident, or incident scenes for courtroom presentations.’
17 July 2007
[politics] Margaret Thatcher and Ice Cream: ‘Fans of the Mister Softee style have Margaret Thatcher [..] to thank. She was one of the team of chemists at J Lyons who first developed soft frozen ice cream.’ [via boundr]
3 July 2007
[uÊopÇpısdn] dı1ÉŸ — .sʇɹnÉ¥ pÉÇÉ¥ ʎɯ .uÊop Çpısdn ʇxÇʇ dı1ÉŸ oʇ 1ooʇ qÇÊ :)
30 June 2007
[science] Yes, the universe looks like a fix. But that doesn’t mean that a god fixed it … ‘The impression of design is illusory: our universe has simply hit the jackpot in a gigantic cosmic lottery. The multiverse theory certainly cuts the ground from beneath intelligent design, but it falls short of a complete explanation of existence. For a start, there has to be a physical mechanism to make all those universes and allocate bylaws to them. This process demands its own laws, or meta-laws. Where do they come from?’
28 June 2007
[politics] Go to Australia or use your own Judgment … ‘As prime minister, with ultimate responsibility for Britain’s nuclear deterrent, Mr Brown has to write a letter, in his own hand, giving instructions detailing what the UK’s response should be in the event of a pre-emptive nuclear attack. The letter will be opened only by the commander of a British Trident submarine, who would have to assume that the prime minister was no longer in a position to take “live” command of the situation. The options are said to include the orders: “Put yourself under the command of the US, if it is still there”; “go to Australia”; “retaliate”; “or use your own judgment”. Each new prime minister writes the letter as soon as he or she takes office…’
26 May 2007
[games] Pac-man’s Skull — a photo of what a real Pac-man’s skull might look like.
26 April 2007
[blogs] In which Weird and Inexplicable Things Happen Involving Letters, Trees, Front Doors and Keys — Dave Gorman on why he’s changed his locks … ‘It was about 9.30 on Sunday night and I and a friend were watching some TV and having a lazy time of it. Pizza was involved and bellies were full. I heard a key in a door and I heard a door opening and there was a moment before I realised that it was my door opening. Now… no one else should have a key for mine and no one else should be letting themselves into my house at 9.30 on a Sunday evening…’ [via Feeling Listless]
24 April 2007
[drugs] 72-Hour Party People … behind the scenes at 3 day meth binge — ‘”Oh, my God, you know the fucking war, right? The liberation, the occupation, whatever? And the Palestinians, right? And the Israelis and the Muslims and Hindus and all the hate and the fucking guns and the bombs and the, uh, the, uh, you know, all the children with their legs blown off by land mines in Afghanistan, right? You see what I’m saying? I mean, you all know, you’ve all seen like a million times that one picture of that little boy from Afghanistan, right? And he’s in his little purple robe, with his little white sheepherder’s hat, and his little Christmas Carol, um, what do you call it? His Tiny Tim crutches, you know, right? And he’s got these, like, you know, like these little sad, brown, puppy dog, fucking abused-animal, dog-pound, take-me-home-please eyes, right? I mean, God…okay, right now, let’s get online, and let’s find out who he is and where he lives and, and, and, let’s find out what we need to do to buy him a new leg, right now! Who’s got a laptop?” Bonnie is 27 and a florist…’ [via Metafilter]
17 April 2007