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June 30, 2005
Ex-hostages confirm Iran's President was one of their captors: "You could make him a blond and shave his whiskers, put him in a zoot suit and I'd still spot him."
The Fleet Type Submarine Online Submarine Sonar Operator's Manual - as well as others relating to the care and feeding of US Navy submarines from WWII.
Reprinted for posterity: BYTE Magazine(oh how I miss it so!)'s review of the Apple Macintosh 128k. Ahh... "It has absolutely no IBM PC/MS-DOS compatibility, and it would appear Apple plans none." well, at least not for the next 20 years...
Posted by Hamish at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2005
Demand for No. 2 Pencils increases as Sodoku sweeps the world
The text of the USDA Report on the tiger attack that left Roy Horn, the darker-haired half of the Siegfried & Roy performing team, partially paralyzed, has been made available online. Montecore, one of S&R's bevvy of preened and puffed-up tigers, lunged at Roy during a performance, chewed into his neck and dragged him offstage to the horror of onlookers. Numerous tinfoil-hat theories have been offered for an explanation but in the end, even the USDA couldn't figure out why a tiger might choose to attack its 'master' during a circus performance they had done over 2,000 times before. I think the tiger had basically had enough, and had been biding his time waiting for the perfect moment. Speaking of tigers, I read Yann Martel's Life of Pi recently and the character of Richard Parker (a tiger) figures highly. Turns out the Trivandrum Zoo in South India, where the protagonist (Pi) grew up, is a real place.
It's official - Canada will be the third country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriages. For the time being, the religious interests in Canada have been given a legal 'out' to refuse to perform same sex marriages if they feel such unions go against their grain. Until 'tolerance' changes to 'acceptance', the religious right in our country, will be caught playing catch-up more and more.
Distopia.com is a fun place to be.
Posted by Hamish at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
Monkey Bites Drive-Through Worker
Instead of "Today's Links" as a title I'm going to pick a headline I see today and use that - without any further explanation. But it will always be factual.
Le Building is an hilarious animated short from France...
NASA's PlanetQuest 3D New Worlds Atlas - explore and learn about some of the more than 100 planets orbiting other stars... Neato.
Cool! Make your own online flipbooks.
Fleep - one of the best online comic strips ever. Suspense in every frame. "It's about a boy who wakes up in a telephone booth which has been mysteriously selaed in an envelope of concrete. Using only the contents of his pockets (two pens, a paperback novel, three coins and 20 ft of unwaxed dental floss) our hero must fashion and execute an escape plan before he runs out of oxygen."
Posted by Hamish at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2005
Today's Links
Beautiful - (shockwave animation)
A collection of Design Cliches - to be avoided if you seek success in the corporate world. Or at least respect.
The Body Worlds exhibit is coming to Toronto! This is so awesome. I actually wrote emails to the Ontario Science Centre, the AGO and the Korperwelten people in Germany encouraging them to come to Toronto. Finally.
Malls of America documents Shopping Malls of the 60's and 70's.
The Photographers' Railroad Page - awesome.
Another link
Posted by Hamish at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Today's Links
Blogging from Antarctica - Simon Coggins has been living in a research station in Antarctica since November 2003. His blog is a really interesting look into life in a polar research station.
A great collection of photographs of New York City nightlife from the seventies. Some not safe for work - the best kind!
This person creates a new stuffed animal every day. Wow!
The ONION this week broadcasts from the year 2056. Awesome.
Create your own Polaroids with the Polaroid-o-nizer!
Posted by Hamish at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2005
Today's Links
Reporter George Weller snuck into Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city in August, 1945. He wrote a series of reports that were censored by the US military. A relative of Weller found the articles and they have recently been published in Mainichi News, a Japanese daily. The text of the articles can be found here. - it's a riveting read.
A great collection of photographs of rotting soviet buildings.
Cory Doctorow's new book, "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" has been released in bookstores, and is also available for free download here, under a Creative Commons license. Cory's on the bleeding edge of science fiction writing as well as new media and the copyfight. The book is already receiving rave reviews.
Le Petit Dejeuner, owned by my friends Johann Maes and his wife Tanya, has received another good notice in Toronto Life this month. This time it's for Eat Cheap 2005 - and they basically heap the praise on Johann's cooking:
Le Petit Dejeuner191 King St. E., 416-703-1560
Like Canadian Tire, this narrow boîte has outgrown its name. Sure, it’s still worth queuing for the weekend brunch, but lately chef-owner Johan Maes has also been serving dinner Thursdays through Saturdays—a far better canvas for his talents. Maes apprenticed at two- and three-star Michelin restaurants in France and his native Belgium; in Toronto, he rose to sous-chef at the Windsor Arms. Now in his modest little diner—decorated with sparkly green vinyl banquettes and other ’60s kitsch—those lessons season every dish. Whether it’s the three-course prix fixe for $25 or the more ambitious à la carte that costs barely more, the bistro classics (and Maes’s clever variations thereon) are home runs, every one.
A Wimbledon referee is attempting to crack down on the grunting noises made by female tennis players when they serve.. Seriously those stodgy Brits have to get a clue... first the restrictions on how the players can dress, now this? "One of the loudest of the modern grunters is defending women's champion Maria Sharapova, who, according to the paper, makes a 100-decibel grunt, roughly the same volume as small aircraft landing nearby." Now, I think Maria Sharapova is one of the best things to happen to the sport of tennis in a long time - she's a combination of Chris Everett and Anna Kournikova - she's got mad skillz and is stunningly attractive to boot. Not only that, there's something of a Lara Croft Tomb Raider aspect to the grunting... "In Soviet Russia, Beautiful Fembot Tennis Players Service YOU!"
Today's Ha-Ha goes to the Fort Dodge, Iowa Messenger - a small town newspaper that didn't pick up on the fact that the team names of the local "mud volleyball" league were a little off colour. And they printed it on page one, too:
"Mud bath breaks out at River Days--Dirty work all part of a day of festival fun
The Hatchet Wounds, Moose Knuckles, Mud Puppies, River Rats and Wet Warriors. Such interesting team names could only mean one thing — mud volleyball at the Lehigh River Days..." (continues, unfortunately)
...except that the first two team names are euphemisms for the female pudenda...
Posted by Hamish at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2005
Teh Rock - or Katie's Claw - Your Pick
Katie Holmes shows off the diamond engagement ring she received from Tom Cruise for the privilege of marrying him (or becoming his third beard, depending on your view).
Posted by Hamish at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2005
Today's Links
Today is the 25th anniversary of Pac-Man coming to the West... Coincidentally, it is also the 25th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian Pride festivities in Toronto. Are these two events connected? Probably not. We know that Pac-Man was hetero. Or was it just for show? Originally called "Puck-Man" in Japan, the little guy was the first 'character' players could take on in a game. Apparently the design for the character came from the inventor seeing a pizza missing a slice.
The Gamer's Manifesto - 20 things gamers want from the seventh generation of game consoles.
MORE by Mark Osborne - an animated short that was nominated for an Oscar - didn't win, but is still great.
Last week, Senators in the US voted to condemn the lynching of black citizens. The saddest thing about this is that the vote wasn't unanimous. And guess who voted against the measure? Red States. Tennassee, Missouri(2), Texas, Wyoming(2), Indiana, New Hampshire (2) and Utah. Incredible. Oh, and here's a link to "Without Sanctuary" - a collection of Souvenir Photographs and Postcards(!) of Lynching in America. Went to a Lynching... Wish You Were Here...
Posted by Hamish at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2005
Today's Links
After beating the world's best at Chess, deep-thinking computers turn their electronic minds to, what else, Poker. The world's first poker-for-money tournament for robots. No one expects the games to proceed in the same way that a human poker game would - computers have no understanding of bluffing and play for percentages only, but it will be an interesting demonstration of the mathematical probabilities that form the background noise to the instinctive play that personifies a good poker player.
A good UK blog I came across - "someone else's life" this guy does interesting things. Sometimes blogs are just about putting your life down on the screen and some people do it pretty well. Love the pictures, too.
Posted by Hamish at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2005
Today's Links
So famous-just-for-being-famous socialite Paris Hilton has declared that she will retire from public life in two years - at which time she will be 26. Well, good for her. We could all use a break. One person I can imagine would like to retire from public life would be Michael Jackson, who was declared innocent of wrong-doing for the second time, yesterday, on all 10 counts of molestation, corruption, etc of a minor. The jury, not restricted from comment like Canadian juries, were quick to provide their opinion publicly of the prosecution's case, which some of them said was not convincing enough - which is all the judge needed to hear, evidently. One would hope so. I really hope Jackson uses what money he has left to buy himself a flight to a secluded location somewhere away from the prying eyes of society... But he won't, and we'll probably have to deal with another trial just as soon as that prosecutor Snedden figures he can make another case.
We could all use a little Goodle, a parody of Google's news service, where only the good news gets printed.
A boom-box casemod made to look like an AT-AT from The Empire Strikes Back. I want one!
Posted by Hamish at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2005
Today's Links
This site has a great collection of old radio serials as podcasts. Oh the nostalgia!
FARK.com had a photoshop challenge to create "Crappy bootleg DVD covers": "The Lord of The Wings" is my favourite...
Hard to believe but there is actually a segment of the population who have grown up with the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, and who haven't yet seen the original trilogy. This blog has a list of questions that came up upon first viewing of the original trilogy by a fan of the prequels.
A website devoted to "The Downing Street Memo" - the document that details the UK government's (fabricated) justification for going into Iraq with the U.S.
Posted by Hamish at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
Today's Links
Saw a restaurant on Queen St. with the best name I've seen in a while: Syrian-dipity. Just thought I'd mention it. It's a pita place, of course.
-- I've posted this to BoingBoing but I might as well put it here for official-dome's sake:
"Norman Elder, explorer and exotic animal owner and one of Toronto's legitimate eccentrics, died in 2003 of an undisclosed cause. I knew Norm on and off from the time I was 12, as he lived around the corner and I was a kid on a CCM exploring the neighborhood. I helped with his "From Polar Bears to Penguins" Saturday morning class at Dufferin Collegiate, and later on I lived in his gigantic museum/rooming house in the Annex when I was in my early 20's - along with four or five of my friends. I visited his house last year as it was being gutted (!) to make way for a Yuppie family to move in - the pictures are at http://hame.ca/norm04/ -... since then, I have received a few emails from people who lived at Norm's over the years asking for info on what happened to him, etc... I don't have the answers. What I do know is my site is the only link to him on the web at the moment, and I want to assemble a site devoted to remembrances of him, collecting pictures from people's files, etc. I don't know how far the project will go but the first step is to ask for help and see who's out there and who has what. Pictures are most important to begin with. I can be contacted at bigdaddyhame@gmail.com. Thanks for your help!"
Ratzinger Pope is more of the same on AIDS in Africa situation - abstinence, not condoms, is the solution. Sheesh.
Christopher Breen at Playlist magazine asks the question "How do I make a copy of the new Dave Matthews Band CD if it's copy-protected with Sony BMG's new scheme?" - well, the CD comes with a FAQ that explains one interesting thing: "Apple’s proprietary technology doesn’t support secure music formats other than their own, and therefore the secure music file formats on this disc can’t be directly imported into iTunes or iPods." - except that when you put the CD in a Mac, it plays, rips and burns as if there was no protection at all. Question answered.
Posted by Hamish at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2005
Today's Links
How to hook up your iPod to your car's factory stereo - especially if it has an external CD changer. More comments here. Myself, I bought a 3rd party head unit (Pioneer) that already has an AUX port built in, and purchased a pre-amp adapter (RB-10) that boosts the sound a bit. Works like a charm.Posted by Hamish at 09:28 AM
June 08, 2005
Today's Links
Cubans seeking refuge in the United States have long used the short distance between Cuba and the Florida Keys as a means of escaping Castro's regime. On Tuesday, a group of refugees were intercepted using a vintage TAXI converted as a boat. Cubans are well-known for their resourcefulness in keeping their fleet of 40's and 50's American cars 'afloat' using scrabbled parts and a lot of love. This is only the most recent use of a converted car:
Posted by Hamish at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2005
Today's Links
Rapid coloured afterimage - a cool visual effect. Colours appear and disappear.
Patent o' the Week: ROBOGOLFER! "A mobile device to launch a golf ball pneumatically and play golf...for an individual unskilled or physically handicapped in swinging a golf club." Well, if it can be taught to drink a beer at every hole and get progressively worse over through the back 9, then we can do away with golfers altogether. Does it come with plaid pants?
Today's Shark Attack brought to you by Cape Town, South Africa. "It was incredibly fast. The two spear fishermen were not far from the beach. Suddenly a huge shark surged from under the water taking the one diver [from his legs upwards] to his arms in its jaws," he said."
The Chinese Hive Mind have decided that it is a good thing to be tall, and so therefore it is logical that a national craze for stretching by any means available, mechanical or otherwise, should come about.
MacWorld's editors discuss the amazing revelation that Apple is switching to Intel processors from the IBM-made PowerPC chips they've been using for the past 11 years. From what I understand, if developers have been doing it right, they don't have a lot of work ahead of them to make the transition. And, this may mean much tighter compatibility between the platforms, AND more access to games. Levelling the playing field, essentially. It will be that much harder for Windows users to make arguments based on software or peripheral availability, given that many already concede OS X is a superior working environment.
Vintage Pharmaceutical Ads (via BoingBoing) - hilarious! "TYRANT IN THE HOUSE? THORAZINE CAN HELP CONTROL THE AGITATED BELLIGERENT SENILE"
SignonSanDiego reports that Wal-Mart and other cheapo photo-processing shops that offer digital services are refusing to release digipics that they think might have been taken by a 'professional' unless a proper release form is provided. Now, if you happen to be a very good, but amateur, photog, you're up shit creek 'cuz you have no way of proving you took the shots - I mean, who carries release forms around with them to give to Wal-Mart employees? W-M, etc. fear copyright violations and lawsuits, after concerns lodged by a number of Photographers' Associations.
Posted by Hamish at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2005
Today's Links
OldComputers.net is a compendium of info on, you guessed it, old computers - they still have a few holes - like they have the Atari 800 listed, but not the 800XL that my brother had back in the day. But, they do have a lot of info about the computers they DO list.
This is another reason why it's a very good thing for Canada that Celine Dion has her own dedicated theatre in Las Vegas so she doesn't have to tour. (shudder)
Follow-Up: WIRED thinks the JACK-FM radio format (deeper playlist, less talk) is worthy of an article. Ugh. Our experience in Toronto has been mixed at best - the debut of the station was very good - almost all music with little talk and no personalities, but now they have a morning 'crew' with a personality, and an afternoon drive show as well. Sheesh.
Some friends and I were talking about "The Wilhelm" a sound-effects scream originally recorded for the 1953 movie, The Charge at Feather River, that has become part of the standard repertoire of film sound engineers who incorporate it in their films for kitch value - George Lucas' Skywalker Sound is notorious for this.
- List of films using the Wilhelm scream (wikipedia)
- history of the Wilhelm (wikipedia)
- the Wilhelm in .wav format
Posted by Hamish at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2005
Today's Links
Worth1000's recent photoshop contest - Photoshop an escher image. COOL!
In a follow-up to last year's release of the Complete archive of New Yorker Cartoons, the NY are releasing the Complete New Yorke this fallr - that's right - all of it - scanned in and produced on set of DVDs with a 123 page booklet. AWESOME! I can finally read the articles of Joseph Mitchell in their native form, the reviews of Pauline Kael, etc etc... $94 on pre-order at amazon.ca (discounted from $135)
The Games Page - what are you waiting for - go play! It's Friday after all.
Artists in the Laboratory - The First Annual "Art of Science" Competition at Princeton U. - featuring such works as 'a sub-micrometer size piece of dust on the surface of a silicon wafer, fashioned to look like a dog...' or an illustration 'to depict a view of the left fallopian tube as seen from the inside of the uterus.' Pretty cool stuff, actually.
A collection of popular 78-RPM recordings from the 1900-1930's! Juice up the jukebox!
The Daily Show (of course) has an irreverent look at the Deep Throat revelation.
Posted by Hamish at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2005
Today's Links
This guy has managed to recover colour information from the composite shots taken by the Mars Rovers and produce some stunning images - particularly of the microscopic imagery the Rovers have been collecting lately.
People looking for deals on digital cameras, amongst other popular consumer gadgets, frequently see ads and promos for the Brooklyn (NYC) Stores - apparently they are legion. However, they are also very sketchy and it's caveat emptor in extremis where they are concerned. This fellow has compiled a page of pictures of the actual addresses that are listed for the various businesses that purport to sell digicams over the internet. Very informative.
The Washington D.C. area is about to be blanketed in an all-out banking war. Facing increasing competition, the banks are actually increasing ours and promising better service to customers in order to compete - even to the point of opening new branches and hiring former Gap managers to create a more customer-friendly atmosphere in the typically downbeat banking milieu. I probably have about three or four opportunities a year to use a bank branch these days as I do most of my banking online or by phone. But when I do go, long lines and restrictive hours are a major hassle. Perhaps the banks are realizing that they have to start spending their profits on the very people who have been generating those profits for them? Hope the D.C. trend spreads north.
Follow-Up: Bob Woodward chimes in on the Deep Throat revelation: "How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat' (washingtonpost.com)
Posted by Hamish at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2005
Today's Links
Must've Drank The Water... The Colima Volcano in Mexico Blew its top. An explosion shook a volcano in western Mexico Monday, sending a plume of ash and smoke 3 miles into the air and scattering hot rocks on its slopes. The Colima Volcano also shot rock fragments and burning gas own its slopes. VolcanoCam here.
Super Duper Doppler? - apparently the network news weather market is getting fierce, competition-wise.
Deep Throat follow-up: Washington Post confirms Mark Felt was Deep Throat; Wikipedia entry for 'Deep Thoat'; MediaGuardian.co.uk; Atlantic article from May, 1992.
BELGIUM!!!! As if the real thing weren't enough, Wikipedia has a handy-dandy list of fictional curse-words. Coming soon to a non-fictional context near you!
Concerned that someone will steal your cherished Triple-Brownie-Overload from the lunchroom fridge? Thoughtless, greedy roommates to deal with? Ben & Jerry's, the bastion of good ice cream and political responsibility, now offer the "Pint Lock", a mechanism that restricts access to your pint container of B&J ice cream. Probably works with those Haagen-Dazs containers, too.
The Photobooth Blog - Good stuff... I had no idea, and I am not surprised however, but people make art using photobooth strips. Anyone who has seen the film Amelie can attest to the air of mystery and romance that surrounds photobooths.
Hurricane Season begins today and NASA has launched its own Hurricane Resource Site - play-by-plays, cool satellite images, tracking... all that good stuff for the armchair meteorologist - or just those of us looking for dramatic desktop images...
Posted by Hamish at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)