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April 30, 2008
MAVs: Transforming Mini Bots that Fly Around
(via micro air vehicle you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 11:57 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Robots
Tomorrow's Concerns: Interface and Identity
Perceptive Pixel and Identity 2.0. Both have things to show you.
WATCH: Perceptive Pixel & Identity 2.0
PP wants to give you the future in GUI interface.
Identity 2.0 wants to manage who you are in this new Internet Age.
(via 7d, random finds)
Posted by Groonk at 11:49 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of The Future
Rocket Racing: The Future is Finally Fucking Here!
Is it still NASCAR if it takes place off the ground?
(via rocket racing league, digg)
Posted by Groonk at 11:17 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of The Future
Bright Lights and Weird Noises in Baltimore Not Aliens After All
Earlier this week:
"It wasn't until we caught it on tape that we realized the magnitude of what they were actually talking about," said Sgt. Warehime. "The sound is almost deafening. You can't describe it. Seeing it on tape without hearing the sound doesn't do it justice."Videotape taken at 3:34 a.m. on April 23 does show a flash of light that lasts a fraction of a second and lights up an area the size of a football field in the middle of the night.
The flash on the tape is accompanied by loud boom that sounds like a crack of electricity or lightning.
What it was discovered to be was some irate old man pissed at his neighbors, armed with fireworks, and low-rent psyops tactics.
That's how police met Mackler, who apparently confessed to creating the disturbance. Inside his home, investigators found quantities of drugs, guns and fireworks. Police say he had been having problems with neighbors in the building."He would get up in the middle of the morning, around 2 o'clock, fire one of these pyrotechnic devices and be done," Hill said.
Posted by Groonk at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Research
The Rocket City Cares More About a Mall than the Moon
Yeah, it's a filler piece of news, but I live here(Rocket City/Huntsville) and damn if the article ain't true. The city where von Braun built spaceships to the moon is more infatuated with the new mall. Space conquests are afterthoughts, if that much.
Yet NASA's mission to return astronauts to the moon - and eventually send them to Mars - has attracted little public interest here, despite the fact that Huntsville engineers are developing the next generation of rockets for the project, which could create as many as 2,900 jobs in the city within five years."In the '60s and '70s, it was exciting. Everyone had space fever," recalled Polly Morton, a longtime resident who works with the city's tourism bureau.
These days, she said, plans to explore the heavens are overshadowed by more immediate earthly concerns - like the war in Iraq and concerns. about whether the government will have the money to complete the $100 billion Constellation program that began in 2005
"Mars is the next thing," Morton said. "But right now, because of the war and the funding, it's not talked about as much."
It is things like this...
"I don't know anything about it, and I don't want to know anything about it unless they bring me back some gas," said McCall, 21.
...that reminds me I must despise people.
(via 7d, myway news)
Posted by Groonk at 10:32 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Alabama, Mars
5 Fists of Science: The Play
The Matt Fraction residency on Whitechapel revealed much to me.
l: 5 Fists the Play - r: 5 Fists the Comic
(via whitechapel, yale caberet, 5 fists of science: stage play)
Posted by Groonk at 10:14 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Interviews, Just Freaking Neat
We're Just Bacteria of the Universal Body
Scientists have figured out what stoners and beatniks have known for over half a century.
Left: slices of mouse brain. Right: Computer Simulated Grown Universe
(via nytimes)
Posted by Groonk at 10:04 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
April 29, 2008
Albert Hofmann ( 1906 - 2008)
Albert Hofmann, the mystical Swiss chemist who gave the world LSD, the most powerful psychotropic substance known, died Tuesday at his hilltop home near Basel, Switzerland. He was 102.[...]
Dr. Hofmann first synthesized the compound lysergic acid diethylamide in 1938 but did not discover its psychopharmacological effects until five years later, when he accidentally ingested the substance that became known to the 1960s counterculture as acid.
He then took LSD hundreds of times, but regarded it as a powerful and potentially dangerous psychotropic drug that demanded respect. More important to him than the pleasures of the psychedelic experience was the drug’s value as a revelatory aid for contemplating and understanding what he saw as humanity’s oneness with nature. That perception, of union, which came to Dr. Hofmann as almost a religious epiphany while still a child, directed much of his personal and professional life.
(via whitechapel, nytimes)
Posted by Groonk at 11:48 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of People Who Died
The Post Apocalypse Muxtapes
I love you folks atWhitechapel.
So it's the end of the world and you are one of the few survivors wandering around. During the long tedious hours of looking for food, water, gasoline, weapons, ammunition, and fighting off the occasional mutant biker gang you need to listen to some music that fits the situation you are in and perhaps even make things seem less horrible.
TAPE 1
titled: "Just Walk Away"
http://postapocalyptic1.muxtape.com/
TAPE 2
titled: "I Fucking Hate This Deserted Wasteland"
http://postapocalyptic2.muxtape.com/TAPE 3
currently untitled
http://postapocalyptic3.muxtape.com/
When the world ends, I'll be listening to awesome.
(via whitechapel)
Posted by Groonk at 10:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Digital Share, Music, Muxtape
Bootleg Dark Knight Trailer Makes Me Feel Dirty, Excited
Sure whoever made this highly illegal and unorthodox bootleg could have had the decency not to talk during the damn thing or to turn the blasted auto focus off.
Having watched the new Dark Knight trailer, I officially have this to say: Hell. Fucking. YES!
(via idon'tlikeyouinthatway)
UPDATE: well that didn't take long. The Suits have reached across the Internets and stopped the signal.
Posted by Groonk at 03:35 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Digital Share, Movies, Trailers
April 27, 2008
Alternative Fuel Source Found: BLOODCAR
OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.bloodcar.com/
I hear it was shot in Atlanta a few years ago and that it's Netflix available. My curiosity is growing.
(via thinking red you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 08:18 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Movies, Trailers
April 21, 2008
Stephen Hawking Knows Something We Don't, Wants Humans the Hell Off Earth
Stephen Hawking called for a massive investment in establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars in a lecture in honour of NASA's 50th anniversary. He argued that the world should devote about 10 times as much as NASA's current budget – or 0.25% of the world's financial resources – to space.The renowned University of Cambridge physicist has previously spoken in favour of colonising space as an insurance policy against the possibility of humanity being wiped out by catastrophes like nuclear war and climate change. He argues that humanity should eventually expand to other solar systems.
But in a speech in Washington, DC, US, delivered in honour of NASA's 50th anniversary in 2008, Hawking focused on near-term possibilities, backing the space agency's goals of returning astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and sending humans to Mars soon after that.
The Moon is a good place to start because it is "close by and relatively easy to reach", Hawking said. "The Moon could be a base for travel to the rest of the solar system," he added. Mars would be "the obvious next target", with its abundant supplies of frozen water, and the tantalising possibility that life may have been present there in the past.
Having all your eggs in one basket *is* a bad idea.
(via new scientist)
Posted by Groonk at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
BLIND CLICK 30: It's Monday Internet!
(via Matt Staggs)
Posted by Groonk at 10:09 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blind Click, Flickrlicious
April 19, 2008
Black 20 Renewed My Faith in Creativity
Well only this one trailer thus far. I have a hope for more.
(via black 20)
Posted by Groonk at 12:50 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Intertube Madness, Movies, Trailers
April 18, 2008
The Internet's Getting Interesting Again
I take a few days away and an artist named Aliza Shvarts shakes up a few people.
Art major Aliza Shvarts '08 wants to make a statement.Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.
This turned out to be as Mr Ellis predicted: "the first "great" conceptual artist of the internet age."
I'm not one for performance art, but this little stunt generated some curious reactions. And, it seems to have some actual thought behind it. Unlike other performances I've seen.
Statement by Helaine S. Klasky - Yale University, SpokespersonNew Haven, Conn. - April 17, 2008
Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman's body.
She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.
Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.
(Via warren ellis: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Posted by Groonk at 02:21 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Intertube Madness, USA
April 15, 2008
WATCH: Portishead in Portishead
(via somebody's twitter, current tv)
Posted by Groonk at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Digital Share, Music
Don't Make a Sandwich with That
Posted by Groonk at 03:42 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of People I Know
BLIND CLICK 29: President Lincoln is Part of Green Lantern Corps
Posted by Groonk at 01:40 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blind Click, Flickrlicious
Bikini Atoll Coral 'A OK.' Coconuts Still Atomic, Though
Three islands of Bikini Atoll were vapourised by the Bravo hydrogen bomb in 1954, which shook islands 200 kilometres away. Instead of finding a bare underwater moonscape, ecologists who have dived it have given the 2-kilometre-wide crater a clean bill of health."It was fascinating – I’ve never seen corals growing like trees outside of the Marshall Islands," says Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia.
The ecologists think the nearby Rongelap Atoll is seeding the Bikini Atoll, and the lack of human disturbance is helping its recovery. Although the ambient radiation is low, people have remained at bay.
This does not prove that we(humans) can do anything to the Earth and still survive. This proves that nature finds a way to survive. A disaster of this proportion, or greater, will very likely turn us into Hideous Mutant Freeks thirsting for the blood of everything.
Don't ever doubt that.
(via digg, newscientist)
Posted by Groonk at 01:29 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of History, Science
April 14, 2008
New Nike Olympic Shoe, Strangely Attractive
Posted by Groonk at 07:56 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Sport, The Future
WATCH: The Wheel
And so it seems The Internet crowdsource has caught up on an animated short I viewed a little over 2 years ago.
(via digg, Rad Google)
Posted by Groonk at 05:29 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Just Freaking Neat, Movies, Timey Wimey
April 13, 2008
That Song. This video. GORGEOUS
(via eggradio, theraputic you tube)
Tighten your buttocks...
Juice on your chin...
I promised my girlfriend...
I'd learn the violin.
Posted by Groonk at 04:48 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Just Freaking Neat, Music
Robots Like to be Pretty Too
WATCH : Doll Face (high res)
(via neil gaiman, pretty robot you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 12:49 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Movies, Robots
April 05, 2008
Secret Journalism on North Korean Life
A North Korean citizen is being trained in the techniques of using a hidden camera.
His identity is a closely guarded secret, so he chooses to use the name Lee Jun.
Mr Lee is one of a group of citizen journalists that has begun working inside North Korea, producing written reports and video footage which are then smuggled to the outside world.
He has crossed the border on numerous occasions, bringing hours of material showing everyday life in the street, on trains, even in police stations.
(via bbc news)
Posted by Groonk at 01:45 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
This Used to Be Your Horrifying and Life Scarring Playground
Goth kids should be in love. You'd have to go to Russia or China to find these curious children's playgrounds.
(via dark roasted blend, buzzfeed)
Posted by Groonk at 01:34 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture
Navajo nation to Lose Their Internet Monday
The thousands of Navajo Nation residents who rely on the Internet to work, study and communicate across their 27,000-square-mile reservation will be out of luck Monday, if their service provider shuts access as planned.[...]
A tribal audit last year revealed that Utah-based provider OnSat Network Communications Inc. may have double-billed the tribe, and it raised questions about how the tribe requested bids for the Internet contract.
Those discoveries led the Universal Service Administration Co., which administers the service under the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program, to tell the tribe March 28 that it would withhold $2.1 million from OnSat.
Jim Fitting, an attorney for OnSat, said the delay in payment means it can't pay subcontractor SES Americom for satellite time.
"With USAC taking this particular position, it doesn't look like we're going to get paid in the foreseeable future," Fitting said. "We're already $4 million in the hole, so why should we continue doing it?"
(via cnn )
Posted by Groonk at 01:28 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Intertube Madness
April 03, 2008
Ben Templesmith is Wise and True
(via twitter)
UPDATE: read the complete conversation
Posted by Groonk at 06:22 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Intertube Madness
April 02, 2008
Bacon Chocolate Makes Me Barf, Curious
It should not exist yet here I sit, looking at it. Mo's Bacon Bar. It's candy. Horrible pig flavored, chocolate candy.
Oh, and Diesel Sweeties RStevens is having a chat fest this week on Whitechapel. Go talk to him.
Show him some bacon-porn.
(via whitechapel's rstevens chat-out)
Posted by Groonk at 08:11 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Intertube Madness, Weird
I Spent a Swank Evening at Wayne Manor
And I am all the better for it.
LISTEN: "Another Swank Evening At Wayne Manor"
(via whitechapel, b00mb0x)
Posted by Groonk at 05:18 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Digital Share, Just Freaking Neat, Music
April 01, 2008
There's Something Out there. On Saturn's Moon.
An international spacecraft that dove through geysers erupting from the surface of a Saturn moon found organic matter, one of many ingredients that make an environment hospitable to extraterrestrial life, scientists said.
[...]
While the jet plumes were mostly water vapor, the probe found traces of methane and simple organic compounds, said Hunter Waite of the Southwest Research Institute, who is the principal investigator of one of the spacecraft's instruments.
"We clearly have the organics and are closing in on the question of liquid water in the interior," Waite said.
In 2005, Cassini spied gigantic geysers spewing from fractures known as tiger stripes on the moon's south pole. Scientists theorized that reservoirs of liquid water below the surface were likely supplying the ice and vapor seen in the plumes.
(via discovery news)
Posted by Groonk at 11:27 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Space
Gonzo to Stream New Anime Series Simultaneous with Airing
I must keep this in mind come Friday.
The Japanese media company GDH has announced that the YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST online video services will be streaming new titles from GDH's Gonzo animation studio — worldwide and on the same day as their Japanese broadcast. The video streams, which will be in Japanese with English subtitles, will start with The Tower of Druaga: the Aegis of Uruk (pictured at right) and Blassreiter anime series. Druaga will premiere on April 4, and Blassreiter will premiere on April 5.[...]
GDH added that its "decision to provide its content globally in parallel with Japanese broadcast is an effort to offer equal accessibility and new viewing opportunities to fans around the world, while at the same time showcasing a legal online alternative to illegal file-sharing and downloading."
(via warren ellis, anime news network)
Posted by Groonk at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Anime
Dr Horrible vs Dr Sleepless
The Dr Horrible movie poster is up featuring The NPH decked out in his "operating" gear.
Separated at birth? A ripple in Ideaspace? An homage?
You decide.
(via dr horrible and dr sleepless)
Posted by Groonk at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Intertube Madness, Movies, Versus
You Need a Lesson. You Dig?
Don't be a drag, man.
(via skyelab)
Posted by Groonk at 07:37 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Digital Share, Grammar, History, Tutorials
