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January 31, 2008
E-Bracelet. Slap Books, Photos, Videos on Your Wrist. Sweet.
My love for e-paper has not dimished.
(via geekologie, sparking tech)
Posted by Groonk at 09:13 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of E-Paper, The Future
You are an Ambassador for Anonymous. Generate Win.
The Intertube Madness is about to transcend datastreams and vox addled voice effects. February 10th marks the day you can march for Anonymous. They have rules, as noted, in the video below.
I won't be there. I will be watching.
(via warren eills)
Posted by Groonk at 09:03 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Intertube Madness, Video
Russia's Latest Delicacy: St. Petersburg Under Glass
It's not quite a glass-domed city yet, but St. Petersberg has taken the first steps towards that goal. British architecture firm Wilkinson Eyre, best known for the design of the Gateshead Millenium Bridge in Newcastle, unveiled a bold new plan to revamp the old market of St. Petersburg, Russia by putting it entirely under glass. Over the next few years they'll be putting a giant sheet of reinforced glass over Aprasin Dvor, a shopping district. A matching glass bridge will span the river.
(via i09, ponzu
Posted by Groonk at 08:46 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of The Future
BLIND CLICK 22
(found because of geekologie. the bastards)
Posted by Groonk at 07:36 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blind Click, Intertube Madness
Last Struggle of the Independant
It has been some time since I've seen a Handsome Donkey video.
That was all too short.
(via handsome donkey email, Agnes and Myrtle)
Posted by Groonk at 06:15 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Intertube Madness, Politics, Video
January 30, 2008
The Insanity Continues with Another Surprised Fur Bearing Critter
(via college humor, ponzu)
Posted by Groonk at 07:14 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Intertube Madness
January 29, 2008
Small Canadian Town was Poisoned, from Space
Don't get any fucking new ideas, Chris Carter. Better yet, don't bother revisiting old ones.
Well water of the tiny Canadian town of Gypsumville, Manitoba (population 65) has been poisoned by an extraterrestrial.
The invader: A meteorite which struck down almost a quarter-billion years ago, creating the 25-mile-wide (40-kilometer) Lake Martin impact crater.
The ancient impact shattered the granitic ground so that extraordinary amounts of fluoride now taint the well water. Slightly higher than recommended amounts of fluoride can cause mottled teeth, while even higher concentrations can lead to neurological problems and softened bones.
Posted by Groonk at 08:09 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science, Space
Man Sells North American History to Pay Bills
There is a special hell for you, sir.
A state archivist was charged Monday with stealing hundreds of artifacts — documents representing "the heritage of all Americans," according to the history buff who found some of them on eBay — to pay his household bills.Daniel Lorello, 54, is accused of taking the rare items from the New York State Library, including Davy Crockett Almanacs, Currier and Ives lithographs and the 1865 railroad timetable for Abraham Lincoln's funeral train. Authorities believe he hawked them for tens of thousands of dollars, using much of that to pay off his daughter's credit card debt.
"This crime is especially repugnant, because it's dealing with historic documents," state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said. "It's literally stealing the legacy of the state of New York page by page."
[...]
In a handwritten statement released by Cuomo's office, Lorello said he took "more than 300 or 400 items in 2007 alone."
He said he "particularly liked" artifacts associated with the Revolutionary, Civil and Mexican wars, World War I, black Americana and "anything related to the Roosevelts and Jewish items."
Officials found hundreds of documents and artifacts in Lorello's home over the weekend. Authorities believe the theft goes back to 2002, although it accelerated in 2007.
"I took things on an as-needed basis to pay family bills, such as house renovations, car bills, tuition and my daughter's credit card problem," Lorello wrote.
He said he took many items last year because his daughter "unexpectedly ran up a $10,000 credit card bill."
Incompetence runs in the family. Surprise.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 08:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of History, USA
Ambient Intelligence (AmI): Our Houses will Talk to Us. Tell Us Useful Things.
Things I look forward to seeing.
Ambient Intelligence is a key component in the next epoch of mobile and wireless communication systems.[...]
However, the enabling technology that provides systems with information to allow for Ambient Intelligence has been neglected and currently consists of many independent modes of input, mainly relying on active user interactions or specialised sensor systems gathering information.
Tangible results of the SENSEI project are: 1) A highly scalable architectural framework with corresponding protocol solutions that enable easy plug and play integration of a large number of globally distributed WS&AN into a global system -providing support for network and information management, security, privacy and trust and accounting. 2) An open service interface and corresponding semantic specification to unify the access to context information and actuation services offered by the system for services and applications. 3) Efficient WS&AN island solutions consisting of a set of cross-optimised and energy aware protocol stacks including an ultra low power multi-mode transceiver targeting 5nJ/bit. 4) Pan European test platform, enabling large scale experimental evaluation of the SENSEI results and execution of field trials - providing a tool for long term evaluation of WS&AN integration into the Future Internet.
(via grinding.be)
Posted by Groonk at 01:43 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology, The Future
The Negotiating Table should be Serious
Seth McFarlane. I like what he did here.
Joked on both sides.
Check.
Made fun of BIONIC WOMAN.
Check.
Seth McFarlane, stop trying to make me like your comedy again.
(via ontd, squirrel monkey you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 01:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Video, Writer's strike
Track 2007 TU84's Heavenly Orbit
NASA has a 3D orbital diagram up. You can look at that curiously fashionable doomdate of 2012 if you like.
Blurry radar images are a must.
(via spaceweather.com)
Posted by Groonk at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Space
January 28, 2008
Humans may have Created new Geologic Epoch
Instead of the Holocene Epoch, defined as about 11,500 years ago to present, we may be already a couple of hundred years into the Anthropocene Epoch as human effects begin to dominate the planet. Those influences will leave a profound mark in the geologic record.[...]
"In terms of biology," said Allenby, "there's probably not a place on Earth that's not affected by humans."
Which raises another question: Are we truly in a new epoch, or just serving the same role as an asteroid impact, i.e., ending one epoch and making room for the next? Two centuries may be a lot in terms of human history, but it's insignificant in terms of geological time.
"We don't know just yet," Allenby told Discovery News. "We're just beginning the story here. It may be that we're just a flash in the pan."
Coal followed by steam engines are noted to have aided in the immense changes upon the world.
(via discovery news)
Posted by Groonk at 10:48 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
January 26, 2008
Amazon.com Bought Rowling's, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Turn My Eyes Green.
I learned about this acquisition through 7d just now.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is extensively illustrated and handwritten by the bard herself--all 157 pages of it. It's bound in brown Moroccan leather and embellished with five hand-chased hallmarked sterling silver ornaments and mounted moonstones.Enjoy these first images of the book and reviews of each of the fairy tales (if you want to be sure of a link that will permanently work, use www.amazon.com/beedlebard).
Amazon.com has dedicated several pages full of information, reviews(SPOILERS in there) and rather large photos of the book in effort to lord over the rest of us peasants what we don't have and can never buy.
Bastards.
(via 7d, amazon.com)
Posted by Groonk at 08:44 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Books, Just Freaking Neat
Self-Assembling Bionic Eyes are Here, Finally
Sporting circuits a few nanometers thick and grain-of-sand-sized light-emitting diodes, the lenses have full Count Zero potential. They're also the product of some ingenious hackery: since contact lenses are delicate and circuit manufacture is hot and toxic, the researchers designed each component to attach itself only to certain other components. Their powder of circuits and diodes literally self-assembled into gadgetry when sprinkled onto the lens plastic.
So how long do geeks have to wait? According to the press release, a stripped-down display with just a few operational pixels could be available "fairly quickly." More complicated lenses will take longer, but for good reason: they'll be wireless-enabled and powered by a combination of radio waves and solar energy.
Oh, crap. DOKTOR SLEEPLESS just came to mind. Newsfeds, TV, and porn fed straight to my lenses are dancing about my dreams. I'm pretty sure it's not the first ficitonal use of that idea. It's the most recent on my mind.
(via wired)
Posted by Groonk at 08:22 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology, The Future
About Asteroid 2007 TU24: Don't Panic
You know, the one that was supposed to hit Mars? Then they figured out it wouldn't. I was looking forward to it hitting Mars. The Universe denies me all the simple pleasures.
It's not gonna do a damn thing to Earth. Didn't realize some asses out there were preaching doom from the heavens again.
(via bad astronomy)
Posted by Groonk at 04:30 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Space
January 25, 2008
Some Dolphins are Attacking Porpoises to Death
No matter how intelligent or cuddly you think they are, they are wild animals. Their reasons are always their own.
Film taken of gangs of dolphins repeatedly ramming baby porpoises, tossing them in the air and pursuing them to the death has solved a long-term mystery of what causes the death of so many of these harmless mammals - but has left animal experts baffled as to the motive.Another mystery is that the animal 'murders' have only been reported in two parts of the world - along Scotland's East Coast and in America off the beaches of Virginia, where even more alarmingly, the victims were scores of the dolphins' own young.
The first clues to solving the riddle came in 1997 when, by coincidence, marine biologists in Virginia were finding young, dead dolphins with horrific internal injuries at the same time as young porpoises were washing up on Scotland's north-east coast with identical causes of death. The body count was growing in both locations.
And that video is more sensationalist than it should be. Where are the proper scientists? When they start screaming, "Dolphins are tired of porpoisecide and want to use our blood for bathwater!" That's when I tie the boat to the dock and run for the rockies.
(via dunc!, telegraph.co.uk)
Posted by Groonk at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Research, Video
January 24, 2008
Tesla Roadster: USA Street Legal, Ready to Sell
Damn. I was looking forward to buying the thing on the auto black market. I'll become a rebel to ween myself of that Black Gold giving teat.
Tesla Motors announced that it has received all regulatory approvals to import the first production Tesla roadster, code-named P1, for sale. While P1 will immediately be given to company chairman Elon Musk, an estimated 600 customers who have signed pre-orders for the car will have to patient for several more months: Series production of the car is scheduled to begin on March 17 of this year.
(via engadget, tesla motors blog, tg daily)
Posted by Groonk at 11:22 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Tesla, USA
Alaska: Last Speaker of the Eyak Language has Died
A woman believed to be the last native speaker of the Eyak language in the north-western US state of Alaska has died at the age of 89.Marie Smith Jones was a champion of indigenous rights and conservation. She died at her home in Anchorage.
[...]
Ms Jones is described by her family as a tiny chain smoking woman who was fiercely independent, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles.
"To the best of our knowledge, she was the last full-blooded Eyak alive," her daughter Bernice Galloway told the Associated Press news agency.
"She was a woman who faced incredible adversity in her life and overcame it. She was about as tenacious as you can get."
(via warrenellis, bbcnews)
Posted by Groonk at 11:12 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Grammar, People Who Died, USA
Sundance gets Access to One Last Shot
Last year it was that "What's Your Crime?" bit. This year, it's polaroids of celebrities.
"I forgot to bring my deodorant, so I've been checking all day to make sure I'm not too offensive!"
-Transsiberian star Emily Mortimer on forgetting to bring one of the must-have items for a grueling day of press interviews.
"I'm trying to keep it all inside, but I could not be happier!"
-Colin Hanks to reporters at the premiere of The Great Buck Howard, which was produced by his famous father, Tom.
I'm not as amused as I was with last year's scheme, but professional photos of "celebrities" always tends to draw my eye.
(via ontd,instyle magazine, One Last Shot Project Polaroids )
UPDATE: more Sundance polaroids
Posted by Groonk at 08:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Marketing, Movies, Photos
Cheney wants to Tap Your Phone, Forever
But Vice President Cheney said in a speech yesterday that Congress "must act now" to renew the expiring surveillance law and provide telecommunications companies with protection from lawsuits alleging they violated personal privacy rights while helping the government after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.[...]
The temporary surveillance law -- approved under heavy White House pressure -- gives the government broad powers to eavesdrop on the communications of terrorism suspects without warrants. It effectively legalized many of the practices employed by the National Security Agency as part of a secret program approved by Bush in late 2001.
The White House and Republican lawmakers are pushing to make the law permanent while also adding legal protections for telecommunications companies, which face dozens of lawsuits. Most House Democrats and civil liberties groups strongly oppose immunity for the communications firms, but other Democrats -- including John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate intelligence committee -- have backed the GOP position.
(via washington post)
UPDATE: Well, hell.
On a vote of 60-36, the Senate rejected an alternative proposal, which would bolster protection of privacy rights of U.S. citizens without shielding phone companies from lawsuits.Nearly 40 lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp of violating Americans' privacy rights in helping the government's warrantless domestic spying program.
Posted by Groonk at 06:12 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics, USA
Ring Gun: Small. Stylish. Old. Deadly?
Also, it won't pass through Airport Security.
Duh.
Also of interest:
Watch Gun
Crucifix Gun
a fucking Hand Canon!
(via curio&antik, gizmodo)
Posted by Groonk at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of History, Religion, Research, Technology, USA
I am your SP
Of the 3 spoofs of that Cruise video, that I've seen, that made everyone laugh harder at a pompous fool, I like this one the 2nd best. Damn you O'Connell for being funny once.
Please note that all searches I made on You Tube for this came up empty. Hmmm.
(via iklipz)
Posted by Groonk at 01:48 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Intertube Madness, Video
January 23, 2008
Hello, Distant Galaxy? It's Me, Groonk.
What they found, however, was totally unexpected: methanimine and hydrogen cyanide.The discovery, which was unveiled at the American Astronomical Society conference in Austin, Texas, last week, is significant because methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are building blocks for amino acids, the foundation of life.
(via discovery channel)
Posted by Groonk at 02:34 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science, The Future
Space Ship Two: Taking Rich Bastards Into Space by 2009
SpaceShipTwo is what the passengers will actually ride in, and White Knight Two is the launch vehicle that carries it to a high altitude before releasing the rocket. (It takes less energy to launch from 50,000 feet than from the ground). The design is a little bit different than the initial SpaceShipOne and White Knight One. Both are all carbon-composite vehicles, and are designed with an open architecture so that in the future other companies can use it as a foundation to create space vehicles for unmanned missions. White Knight Two is a double-hulled launch plane with four engines from Pratt & Whitney.
Intial flight price: $200,000. To which Branson says:
Within five years of launching, we hope that price will come down dramatically. We accept that $200,00, even though the dollar is not worth much anymore, is still too expensive for the majority of people.
Techcrunch provides a brief history lesson, "a trans-Atlantic flight in 1939 between New York and England cost the equivalent of $47,000 in today’s dollars. That was one-way and coach."
So the future of space travel is heading in a direction anyways.
(via buzzfeed, techcrunch )
Posted by Groonk at 01:34 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology, The Future
Last.fm Becomes Relevant Again, Frees the Music
As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website.Something we’ve wanted for years—for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free—is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—and the artists they work with—plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.
The good.
They're paying artist for the music they play.
The catch.
You can only play it 3 times before it barks at you about some new subscription service.
A decent start.
(via digg, last.fm blog, everywhere else it seems)
Posted by Groonk at 01:11 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Digital Share, Music
Banksy Strikes True, Again
(via digg, sepultura's flickr)
Posted by Groonk at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Flickrlicious
January 22, 2008
May 11, 1999: Solar Wind. Missing for 2 Days.
From May 10-12, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared -- the most drastic and longest-lasting decrease ever observed.
Dropping to a fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Sun's corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also changed the shape of Earth's magnetic field and produced an unusual auroral display at the North Pole.
Starting late on May 10 and continuing through the early hours of May 12, NASA's ACE and Wind spacecraft each observed that the density of the solar wind dropped by more than 98%. Because of the decrease, energetic electrons from the Sun were able to flow to Earth in narrow beams, known as the strahl. Under normal conditions, electrons from the Sun are diluted, mixed, and redirected in interplanetary space and by Earth's magnetic field (the magnetosphere). But in May 1999, several satellites detected electrons arriving at Earth with properties similar to those of electrons in the Sun's corona, suggesting that they were a direct sample of particles from the Sun.
"This event provides a window to see the Sun's corona directly," said Dr. Keith Ogilvie, project scientist for NASA's Wind spacecraft and a space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. "The beams from the corona do not get broken up or scattered as they do under normal circumstances, and the temperature of the electrons is very similar to their original state on the Sun."
(via digg)
Posted by Groonk at 08:54 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Research, Science
The SPs are Organized
Somebody has declared war on Scientology. The video won't survive on You Tube long and that's for sure.
Aside from being a little creeped out, I am intrigued. Ellis points out it's some internet strike group called Anonymous. Noted here.
EDIT: A glossary for crazy can easily be read and laughed at.
(via warrenellis)
UPDATE: Anonymous is clearly organized and won't be "taken to school".
Posted by Groonk at 08:40 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Intertube Madness, Research, Video, Weird
In Other News, Jerry O'Connell is working Hard to be Cool
Priceless and yet you're not getting off my do-not-watch list that fast O'Connell.
(via ontd)
Posted by Groonk at 04:43 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Intertube Madness, Video
Heath Ledger 1979 - 2008
I know just about as much as you do at this time. The news is filtering through all my feeds like wildfire. I don't even know the man yet I can't wrap my head around it. I think Veronica Belmont just summed up the feeling best.
no, it's not more sad than any other death. but people claim ownership of celebrities: we feel like we know them. so it's shocking.
Veronica Belmont
(via everywhere. but Buzzfeed should have updates for a while)
Christopher Nolan has his say:
One night, as I’m standing on LaSalle Street in Chicago, trying to line up a shot for “The Dark Knight,” a production assistant skateboards into my line of sight. Silently, I curse the moment that Heath first skated onto our set in full character makeup. I’d fretted about the reaction of Batman fans to a skateboarding Joker, but the actual result was a proliferation of skateboards among the younger crew members. If you’d asked those kids why they had chosen to bring their boards to work, they would have answered honestly that they didn’t know. That’s real charisma—as invisible and natural as gravity. That’s what Heath had.Heath was bursting with creativity. It was in his every gesture. He once told me that he liked to wait between jobs until he was creatively hungry. Until he needed it again. He brought that attitude to our set every day. There aren’t many actors who can make you feel ashamed of how often you complain about doing the best job in the world. Heath was one of them.
One time he and another actor were shooting a complex scene. We had two days to shoot it, and at the end of the first day, they’d really found something and Heath was worried that he might not have it if we stopped. He wanted to carry on and finish. It’s tough to ask the crew to work late when we all know there’s plenty of time to finish the next day. But everyone seemed to understand that Heath had something special and that we had to capture it before it disappeared. Months later, I learned that as Heath left the set that night, he quietly thanked each crew member for working late. Quietly. Not trying to make a point, just grateful for the chance to create that they’d given him.
Those nights on the streets of Chicago were filled with stunts. These can be boring times for an actor, but Heath was fascinated, eagerly accepting our invitation to ride in the camera car as we chased vehicles through movie traffic—not just for the thrill ride, but to be a part of it. Of everything. He’d brought his laptop along in the car, and we had a high-speed screening of two of his works-in-progress: short films he’d made that were exciting and haunting. Their exuberance made me feel jaded and leaden. I’ve never felt as old as I did watching Heath explore his talents. That night I made him an offer—knowing he wouldn’t take me up on it—that he should feel free to come by the set when he had a night off so he could see what we were up to.
When you get into the edit suite after shooting a movie, you feel a responsibility to an actor who has trusted you, and Heath gave us everything. As we started my cut, I would wonder about each take we chose, each trim we made. I would visualize the screening where we’d have to show him the finished film—sitting three or four rows behind him, watching the movements of his head for clues to what he was thinking about what we’d done with all that he’d given us. Now that screening will never be real. I see him every day in my edit suite. I study his face, his voice. And I miss him terribly.
Back on LaSalle Street, I turn to my assistant director and I tell him to clear the skateboarding kid out of my line of sight when I realize—it’s Heath, woolly hat pulled low over his eyes, here on his night off to take me up on my offer. I can’t help but smile.
--Christopher Nolan
(originally on the strangely disappeared dark knight blog also on ontd)
Posted by Groonk at 04:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of People Who Died
Tuesday Zen: Chuck Norris vs a Bear
Cracked.com has a list(don't they always) of the 5 Martial Artists that Lost a Deathmatch to Diginity. As you see, Chuck Norris made number 1. Rightly so, I must say. The Cash Cow has been thoroughly milked to death when the script calls for you to stare down a grizzly bear and win through the magic of the native american flute sting that accompanies such TV moments.
(via cracked.com, the magic bear stare down You Tube)
Posted by Groonk at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Martial Arts, Versus, Video
January 21, 2008
Wild Monday: Japanese Hornets vs Japanese Honeybees
European honey bees are weak and soft and die swiftly. While Japanese honey bees surround their enemy and roast them with the heat from their own bodies.
Not kidding.
(via ectomo, educating You Tube )
Posted by Groonk at 06:50 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Only in Japan, Versus, Video
Let's Take that HELL RIDE Together
Movie one-sheets have been dismally unimaginative the past, let's say, decade. So when I see one that stands up and asserts itself in badassery, I take notice. HELL RIDE. Quentin Tarantino backed the movie. Larry Bishop wrote it. I'm ready to see it.
Bring it!
(via iwatchstuff )
Posted by Groonk at 05:54 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Just Freaking Neat, Movies, One Sheets
TRex R/C Helicopter Makes Me Wish I had Money
I would take that, modify a brain chip, implant said brain chip, and control it with my MIND.
(via geekologie, remote air trickery you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 05:47 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Just Freaking Neat, Research, Video
Led Zeppelin is all about Kicking Doors
"When the door is cracked slightly, you don't just peep through -you kick it open,"
--Jimmy Page
Posted by Groonk at 02:26 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Music, Quotables
Bjork wants You to LOL More
"I'd like to see Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix walk down the red carpet at the MTV awards but I think they would just be ridiculed. There's just no room for this when it's so conservative."
(via ontd, theage.com.au )
Posted by Groonk at 01:55 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Music, Quotables
January 20, 2008
Japanese Cell-Phone Novelists get a bit of Cred
Five of the top 10 best-selling novels in Japan last year began as novels written on cellular phones, mostly composed on keypads by young women and read by others on their mobile phones, the New York Times reported.[...]
Would-be novelists are paid only if their novels are reproduced and sold as traditional books, not when readers access their works online, the newspaper said. One such novel, "If You," was the No. 5 best-selling novel last year with 400,000 copies, the Times said, citing book distributor Tohan.
Posted by Groonk at 09:34 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Books, Only in Japan, Technology
JJ Abrams Reflects on the Obvious
Abrams glanced upon something I mused on before walking into the CLOVERFIELD theater.
Stirring up uncomfortable feelings is not entirely without purpose for a monster movie, Abrams notes. It's a standard of the genre. "'Godzilla' came out in 1954 in the shadow of the bomb being dropped in Japan. Culturally, you had people living with this terror they had experienced - but in the guise of something absurd and preposterous. My guess is that it enabled people in Japan to have a catharsis."
Even though I had a few issues with CLOVERFIELD, I will say it ran circles around the hot mess known as 1998's GODZILLA.
Posted by Groonk at 09:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Movies, Only in Japan, Quotables
January 19, 2008
16 Year Old Player with Only Half a Plan
The 16-year-old boy entered a hostess bar in Niiza City near Tokyo on Wednesday night and -- over the course of six hours -- ordered two bottles of Dom Perignon champagne as well as 60 glasses of whiskey, beer and cocktails, said local police officer Hitoshi Morohashi.The boy also sang karaoke songs with several hostesses, Morohashi said.
When it was time to pay the bill, which had ballooned to $3,490, the boy told the staff he had no money, Morohashi said.
Next time, plan the escape route, my friend.
(via cnn and ponzu)
Posted by Groonk at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Only in Japan
In the Future, Hot Robot Luvin' will be Normal
Weeks ago, Warren Ellis posted a much blog reacted(53 as of this posting) Three Laws of Robotics. The special thing about these laws are they came from his mind...so...you know, be sitting down when you read them. I almost cracked a rib from laughing.
A few days ago the Colbert Report interviewed David Levy who wrote an entire book on the subject called Love + Sex with Robots. Levy did this without a scent of parody or snarkiness or satire. In fact, he proclaimed sex with robots will occur within 5 years. Love will take another half century.
The one thing Levy didn't touch on is that no one will expect them to be as smart as they are sexy.
A dangerous mistake to make.
(via warrenellis.com and my writerless TV)
Posted by Groonk at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Books, Robots, Sex, The Future
January 17, 2008
Sockpuppetry Run Amok: 4 Hours of Sifl and Olly!
I loved that show.
(via hand stuck up there google video)
Posted by Groonk at 08:37 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Google-fied, Video
Lasagna Cat FTW
I'm sorry. Lasagna Cat *is* the WIN.
The more I watch. The more I am amused.
(thanks for sharing Dresden Codak)
Posted by Groonk at 07:48 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Intertube Madness
January 14, 2008
Television History Site has First 75 Years of TV
I took a pass through Television During World War-II to learn that nearly all broadcasting worldwide was halted during the war.
Television History - The First 75 Years
That technically makes TV a part of the Greatest Generation, yes?
(via tv history site )
Posted by Groonk at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of History
Milky Way to be Gassed in 20-40 Million Years
Dubbed "Smith's Cloud", it may set off spectacular fireworks when it smacks into our galaxy in 20-40 million years.
It contains enough hydrogen to produce a million stars like our Sun, researchers believe.
When it does fully interact with our galaxy, the cloud could indeed set off a new burst of star formation in the Milky Way.
[...]
The team's new measurements also demonstrate that the cloud is 11,000 light-years long and 2,500 light-years wide.
The monster cosmic "fog bank" is careering towards our galaxy at more than 240km/s (150 miles/s) and is set to strike the Milky Way at an angle of 45 degrees.
Broadly speaking, the cloud is currently rotating with our galaxy, but is also moving in towards it. Astronomers can see a wall of gas being ploughed up as Smith's Cloud thuds into the outskirts of our galaxy's atmosphere.
(via bbc news)
Posted by Groonk at 08:11 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
January 13, 2008
This is Only a Test
Posted by Groonk at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Map, World
January 12, 2008
"Vampira" Maila Nurmi 1921 - 2008
(via ontd, vampira's attic)
Posted by Groonk at 04:10 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of People Who Died
Scientists: Oh BTW, Mars won't get Hit with Asteroid After All KTHXBAI
Tracking measurements of asteroid 2007 WD5 taken from four observatories have greatly reduced uncertainties about its Jan. 30 close approach to Mars so that the odds of impact have dropped to 1 in 10,000, the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a posting on its Web site.Scientists said the best estimate was for the asteroid to pass at a distance of more than 16,000 miles from the surface of Mars, or at worst, no closer than 2,480 miles.
The asteroid was discovered in November by a Congressionally mandated, ongoing search for potentially threatening asteroids and comets. Originally identified as a possible risk to Earth, later analysis showed that the asteroid could be on a collision course with Mars.
(earlier asteroid news, discovery news )
Posted by Groonk at 03:38 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
January 11, 2008
Earth's Geology May be What Keeps Water Wet
Hansen recently stirred the pot with a controversial hypothesis published in last month's issue of the journal Geology. Meteorite impacts early in Earth's history, she suggested, created the first rifts in the crust, jump-starting plate tectonics.[...]
Energizer Bunny Tectonics?
"It's an implicit assumption that plate tectonics never shuts down," Silver told Discovery News. "But it's nowhere stated in plate tectonics theory."Silver and his colleague Mark Behn proposed in the Jan. 4 issue of Science that all it takes to stop plate tectonics is the devouring of the crustal plate under the Pacific Ocean. And that's not as far-fetched as it sounds.
[...]
The end result would be a supercontinent, no remaining subduction zones, and virtually no plate tectonics, at least for a while.
(via disovery news)
"If Mars were to have plate tectonics, it would have to be bigger early on," said Valencia. This is because plate tectonics require a planet to have a lot of interior heat to keep things moving. Smaller planets dissipate their heat faster, and so have a very short window of time for plate tectonics.Venus, on the other hand, is about the same size as Earth, but it lacks water, said Hansen. Without water in the mantle to help melt rocks and trigger volcanic recycling of material, Venus' crust appears to have remained stiff and locked up forever. Had Venus held more water, or if it had been a super-sized rocky planet, it too would have had plate tectonics and perhaps life.
Posted by Groonk at 07:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Research, Science
Chimps Eat Dirt to Stay Healthy
Krief collected the dirt along with leaves from one of the chimps' favorite foods, the Trichilia rubescens plant. She found that when eaten alone, the leaves had no pharmacological effect, but when combined with soil, the mixture had clear anti-malarial properties.[...]
Krief also compared the dirt chimps eat to that used by nearby human healers to treat diarrhea. The samples shared many similarities, including a high concentration of the mineral kaolinite, the main ingredient of some anti-diarrheal medicines.
"Local people around Kibale use soil in traditional medicine, associated to different plant parts," Krief said. "It may potentialize the properties of plant or attenuate their toxicity by adsorbing noxious compounds."
(via yahoonews, the complete study to be published in the journal Naturwissenschaften )
Posted by Groonk at 07:45 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Research
January 09, 2008
Marvel's Spiderman has a "Brand New Day"
(via delusional PTBs at marvel.com)
Posted by Groonk at 02:07 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics
January 07, 2008
CHOCOLATE will Kick Your Ass
Andrew Cunningham always shares the best violence.
3 minute promo reel of CHOCOLATE
24fps has updated their posting on Chocolate with a link (via Deknang) to a 3-minute promo reel. It fleshes out the story of the autistic girl (Nitcharee Wismitanant), showing her developing uncanny muay thai and martial arts skills at an early age, as well as getting jacked up on chocolate M&M's candy, hence the name of the film.The girl's mother is injured by a yakuza (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), so when the little girl grows into a fighting machine, it's the yakuza she comes to blows with.
More info after the candied kick.
(via P&P, Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal
Posted by Groonk at 03:02 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Just Freaking Neat, Martial Arts, Movies, Trailers
Graffiti Artist BANKSY Remains Unknown
I think Andy Warhol got it wrong: in the future, so many people are going to become famous that one day everybody will end up being anonymous for 15 minutes.--BANKSY
(via ontd, swindle magazine)
Posted by Groonk at 12:23 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Artist, Quotables
January 06, 2008
Concert Click: Scotch Mist
My favorite poetry reading, between the songs is "Head & Shoulders." And by favorite I mean that it's the one I bothered to pay attention to whilst I was working on other things.
This item is 'perishable.' Due to end Jan. 30th, 2008.
(via egg radio forum, currenttv)
Posted by Groonk at 06:37 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Digital Share, Just Freaking Neat, Music, Video
January 04, 2008
The Harty Boys Solve the Biggest Riddle of All Time
Nothing to pressing today. A Sickness(tm) has grabbed hold of me and is forcing grand amounts of mucous from my body.
Happy eating, Internetland!
(via barats and bereta myspace, sleuthy youtube)
Posted by Groonk at 01:05 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny
January 03, 2008
LOLCat Bible Translation Project is "The Wonderful"
1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.
2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.
3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.
4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1
Try not to waste time there. I darez u.
And then tehre wuz Revelations:
"7 An i oppeneded nuther seal an 4th dood say "Come and lookz!"
8 Lo behold a pale horsez with a dood sitin on it, his naym wuz Deaths, an liek Hadez an stuff followd himz. Him had enuf skillz to kill lots of doodz, with antifreezez and curiositiez."
And shirtses fer wearin'.
(via P&P, lolcatbible, lolcat revelations)
Posted by Groonk at 06:56 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Intertube Madness, Religion
Best Movie Posters of 2007
Somehow I missed/never even heard of number 10 here:
scare me to celibacy then
10. Teeth
Not too many people saw this small release that played well at Sundance, but it certainly has an interesting premise: A girl’s vagina grows some teeth and starts terrorizing her lovers (and for that matter, her va-jay-jay doctor.) The poster doesn’t tell us that — it also doesn’t tell us that this movie is more of a horror movie than a comedy. But that’s what I loved most about it — sometimes deceptive is the right way to go.
The other 9 are after the fall.
(via ontd, official TEETH site)
Posted by Groonk at 05:48 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Movies, One Sheets
January 01, 2008
2008 Brings Lovely Wishes from Lovely People
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.
--Neil Gaiman
Welcome back. I hope this year has everything you need.
--Warren Ellis
More to come as I find them.
I found one.
Ed Helms has the best resolution of all.
(via ontd)
Posted by Groonk at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Happy New Year
