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Entries for July 2005
40,000 year-old human footprints
40,000 year-old human footprints found in Mexico. Humans are thought to have come to the Americas only 11,000 years ago.
Eyebeam is looking for R&D Fellows
Eyebeam is looking for R&D Fellows for their new OpenLab. “The ideal fellow has experience creating innovative creative technology projects, a love of collaborative development, and a desire to distribute his or her work as widely as possible. We encourage artists, hackers, designers and engineers to apply.”
Interview with Jeff Bezos on the occasion
Interview with Jeff Bezos on the occasion of Amazon’s 10th anniversary.
Photomosaic version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night
Photomosaic version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The image is made up of over 210,000 individual photographs.
It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur
It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur. Hardware is cheap, software is cheap, labor is cheap, and advertising is cheap.
Photos of the industrial world by Edward Burtynsky
Photos of the industrial world by Edward Burtynsky.
“Lord of the Bings” cherry advertisement in supermarket
“Lord of the Bings” cherry advertisement in supermarket. “One bing to rule them all” and in the parfait bind them?
Jorn Barger, homeless in SF?
Jorn Barger, homeless in SF?. Barger denies this version of the story; he’s the editor of the still-excellent Robotwisdom.
Jet Set Lara, the newest callgirl blogger
Jet Set Lara, the newest callgirl blogger. Maybe this one’s actually real?
Leather master Tom Cruise
Leather master Tom Cruise. “Owning one leather jacket: cool. Owning eleven (and counting) different leather jackets: not so cool.”
Jason Scott on why his BBS documentary
Jason Scott on why his BBS documentary will never make it onto TV.
Kobayashi wins 5th straight Nathan’s hot dog eating contest
Kobayashi wins 5th straight Nathan’s hot dog eating contest. Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas placed second with 37 dogs, setting an American record.
Visiting all fifty states
When I was young boy, knee-high to a 5 1/4-inch disk drive (you know, one of those that went “thhpt-thhpt-thhpt-thhpt” when you tried to read the drive without closing the door), my dad would bundle my sister and I into the car/truck/motor home and we’d tour this country of ours. Twice to Texas, once to California/Oregon/Washington, once to Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia/Florida, once to Virginia/D.C., and just about everywhere between northern WI and our destinations. We’d sleep in the car, at campgrounds, in the motor home, and in cheap motels.
One time at a Texas rest stop, my sister slept in the back seat while my dad and I crashed on the hood of the car because all the fire ants precluded any tent-pitching. A state trooper woke us up at the crack of dawn and chatted with my dad at length; I’m sure he thought my sister and I had been abducted by this guy with the crazy eyebrows, buck-knife on the dashboard, and old beater Chevy Nova. Good times.
By the time I reached high school, I had already visited most of the states in the US. In my 20s, job responsibilities and vacation took care of most of the rest, including Hawaii and Alaska, two of the toughest to get to. This past weekend, with the addition of New Hampshire and Vermont (delightful places each), I can say that I have now visited all fifty US states.
It’s a fun (and unintended) accomplishment, but the US is such a large place that it doesn’t necessarily mean that much. I lived in California for two years, but have spent less than 24 hours in LA, the second largest city in the US. My five days in Anchorage (with a day-trip to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula) covers a tiny part of the Alaskan vastness. Never been to Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Omaha, Memphis, Phoenix, Denver, or Atlanta, except for their airports. My first-hand knowledge of New York State doesn’t extend much past Inwood Park in northern Manhattan.
Still, I have been to a lot of different places in the US, mostly due to those trips I took with my dad as a kid. As I was closing in on the last few states, it was a race of sorts with my dad. He’d been stuck on 49 for years, never having made it to Maine. Dad, thanks for all those trips and this wanderlust that I seem to have inherited from you but you gotta know…I beat you! Woo! :)
Blog of Joseph Duncan, who’s being held
Blog of Joseph Duncan, who’s being held for murder and kidnapping in Idaho. “My intent is to harm society as much as I can, then die.”
Rumor: Karl Rove leaked Valerie Plame’s identity to Time magazine
Rumor: Karl Rove leaked Valerie Plame’s identity to Time magazine.
When one company buys another company, which one benefits more?
When one company buys another company, which one benefits more?.
Pixar’s stock drops because of smaller-than-expected sales
Pixar’s stock drops because of smaller-than-expected sales of The Incredibles DVD.
Brando’s annotated Godfather script fetches $312,800 at auction
Brando’s annotated Godfather script fetches $312,800 at auction.
In celebration of its 125th anniversary, Science
In celebration of its 125th anniversary, Science magazine has a list of the 125 biggest questions facing science over the next 25 years. “How did cooperative behavior evolve?”; “Do deeper principles underlie quantum uncertainty and nonlocality?”; “What is the universe made of?”
Turn your favorite photo into a Polaroid with the Polaroid-o-nizer
Turn your favorite photo into a Polaroid with the Polaroid-o-nizer.
The Scoville Scale measures the spicyness of peppers
The Scoville Scale measures the spicyness of peppers. The hottest pepper ever recorded was a Habenero at 577,000 Scoville units, over a hundred times hotter than a jalapeno.
Sandra Day O’Connor resigns from the Supreme Court
Sandra Day O’Connor resigns from the Supreme Court. Good news for conservatives, I guess.
Time magazine’s decision to name confidential sources
Time magazine’s decision to name confidential sources unnerves other journalism outlets.
Reimagined covers of romance novels
Reimagined covers of romance novels. My favorites are “For the Love of Scottie McMullet” and “Lord of the Tube Socks”.
Crosswalk button hacks thing a hoax from BBspot joke site
Crosswalk button hacks thing a hoax from BBspot joke site. Shoulda known it sounded too [something] to be true.
Podcast subscriptions through iTunes top 1 million in the first 48 hours
Podcast subscriptions through iTunes top 1 million in the first 48 hours. Also, “podcasting is like cappuccino”…read on for the punchline.
Font made from timelapse images of car headlights
Font made from timelapse images of car headlights.
Jeff Veen’s The Art and Science of
Jeff Veen’s The Art and Science of Web Design is 5 years old. To celebrate, he’s made a proof of the entire book available for download.
The difficulty of pre-ordering the new Harry Potter book online
The difficulty of pre-ordering the new Harry Potter book online. If the book is ordered online, how much after the midnight release will the book be delivered? Next day or wait until after the weekend?
Great, sounds like we’ll be seeing a
Great, sounds like we’ll be seeing a lot more advertisements before the movie at the theater.
Pedestrian hackers discover how to click those
Pedestrian hackers discover how to click those crosswalk buttons to get the walk signal at any time.
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