january

01.31.01

i know. i'm a bad, bad person for not having any links today. but i have a good excuse - i found last minute tickets to see they might be giants tonight and i didn't have any time for this internet thing. i hope you can forgive me.

01.30.01

dr. kathryn clark, senior scientist for nasa's international space station gave a spectacular lecture at work this afternoon. now i know what would really happen to my body if i stepped out into the cold vacuum of space. i also know that the space station is visible to the naked eye - nasa's satellite sighting information page can tell you when you can catch a glimpse of spacecraft over your city.

salon has chosen matt groening as their 'brilliant careers' subject for the month.

jory points out this postal experiment by the fine staff members at the annals of improbable research. through rain or sleet or snow or hail - the usps will get your dead fish there... just wrap it first.

01.28.01

wondering when the blackouts will hit? here's the california iso graph on system loads and system projections of power usage. the only thing that doesn't seem to change on this page is the big red 'stage 3' notice in the upper right hand corner. (via memepool)

in the midst of violent protests and destruction in zurich, a swiss installation artist is projecting messages from around the world via the web onto a mountain overlooking the world economic forum in davos. if you have any issues you'd like to bring to this international conference, you can submit your message at the hello mr. president website.

speaking of europe, when i was there last summer, the most distressing thing was the huge amounts of coinage i had to carry around - five tons of metal was roughly equivalent to a dollar fifty. it doesn't surprise me that americans have largely ignored the arrival of the sacagawea gold dollar coin.

the universe is pretty

01.25.01

this has been pointed out to me by one of the mailing lists i reside on:

  step one: go to http://www.google.com

  step two: search for "dumb motherfucker"

  you probably won't be surprised by the first result, but it's funny anyway.

it is the year 2001 and i want my arthur c. clark future. i want my own personal spacecraft.

my post about duct tape the other day made me think of duck eggs. when i was 13, my cousin dared me to try balut, a filipino delicacy. it's... crunchy.

01.22.01

lately, travelling has started to become more and more hellish. now that two mega-airlines are merging, it's going to be even more gruelling than ever before. hey... at least tom tomorrow agrees with me.

well, they didn't have any asians to choose from so i just had to make do. if you visit stortroopers, then you too can make your own avatar icon. it's like dress-up-jesus - but instead of the son of god, it's you!

ok, i have proof that there's some weird shit out here on the internet. here are photos of people who have duct taped themselves to walls.

01.21.01

this is totally, totally disgusting, so i guess i need to share it with you all. fat wrapped in chocolate, anyone?

it's been a fairly relaxing weekend, so my angst-o-meter seems to be at a pretty good level. the global angst measurement tool records your stress levels and calculates it along with other users to determine a general angst reading of all participants. it's the mood ring of the aughts. (via usr/bin/girl)

i know i'm obsessed, but here's time magazine's photo essay on the making of crouching tiger, hidden dragon. feel free to share my obsession or ignore it.

this is one of the funniest things i've seen come out of the white house since... oh wait... dubya's in the house now, right? anyway, here's the official list of drug street slang from the office of national drug control policy. i'll give you five points each for any term that you've actually heard before. my theory is that most of these phrases came from people having a little bit of fun with government officials. (via cruel site of the day)

01.19.01

my cow-orker stumped me today when he asked what was the name of the restaraunt that the sea captain owns on the simpsons. further research showed that it was originally called 'the rusty barnacle' - but then they changed the name to 'the frying dutchman'. yes, my friends. that is genuine comedy.

01.18.01

ang lee, director of such chick flicks as crouching tiger, hidden dragon and sense and sensibility, has been slated to direct the hulk.

i got a little paranoid about all the news from san salvador and checked out the usgs website. did you know that the san francisco bay area has a 70% chance of a 6.7 of greater earthquake before the year 2030? neither did i.

the tronfan.com site has more tron sounds, images and geek fact than you could wiggle stick at.

i just gave my favorite two year old "the giving tree" by shel silverstein for his birthday. before i ever took any recreational drugs of any sort, one of my favorite songs on doctor demento was shel silverstein reading" the smoke off." i was fortunate enough to finally come across a recording of it, but you can read the lyrics here. if you're nice, someday i'll play you the shel silverstein record i own, which contains such great classics as "don't give a dose to the one you love most" and "i got stoned and i missed it." i think i'm secretly warping the two year old though.

01.16.01

if you live in oakland, you should come see our band play at the stork club this wednesday (1.17.01) - we'll have educational films to feed your brain and music to feed your soul.

i find it pretty interesting that the dotcoms are dying off as fast as the art communities that they've replaced. where's your financial messiah now, san francisco?

mad cows have been discovered at italy's exclusive meat supplier for mcdonald's -you deserve a brain today.

as it turns out, there might be a little bit of brain in their fries as well. here's a fascinating article on the flavor industry and why mcdonald's fries taste so good. (via camworld)

vic informs me that skydiving from 14,000 feet just doesn't do it for him anymore, now he's got his eyes set on space jumping. sign me up!

and dave tells me that if a python tries to constrict you, bite it. must taste like chicken.

i've always wondered what horrible origins muzak must have originated from...

01.14.01

my projects have gotten so busy lately i don't really have any time to search the web, but thanks to my fine friends out there, i am able to supply you with 101 art ideas you can do yourself (thanks, mo!)

and brice found this fascinating article about monkeys in india that attack smokers then steal their cigarettes.

this new technology could forever change the way that we enjoy waterslides. look, ma, no friction! (via dave isbister)

i love games, and i love sewing, how could i possibly resist a sewing machine that's operated by a gameboy??!

back in college, my friends and i would get drunk at the local bowling alley and perform punk renditions of cyndi lauper songs at the karoake bar. now that the internet is here, college students can karoake on the internet. (via rebecca's pocket)

01.11.01

memo to self: when going to home depot - don't bring the hatchback. (via pop culture junk mail)

the dead letter office collects letters from the dead. well... they're not dead yet, but it's still some pretty interesting reading. (via eatonweb)

01.10.01

what a lovely binary date - so many ones and zeros!

i'm such a sucker for a magic 8 ball. i'm even more of a sucker when the magic 8 ball is being shaken by a lego mindstorms robotic arm and viewed over the web! ahhh, such bliss. (via /usr/bin/girl)

does anyone else think it's sort of weird that there's an unofficial fan site for industrial light & magic? it just seems a little odd to be stalking a corporate entity.

speaking of special effects, here's a great site that shows the original printed program for stanley kubrick's 2001. (thanks to jay for the link!)

01.08.01

i always knew that i was going to hell, but now it's been verified. check your status on the karmameter and stop kicking that dog. (via cruel site of the day)

this seems like a really interesting use of the web - the guys over at confluence.org are attempting to have a photo of every latitude and longitude point in the world. (via metafilter)

01.07.01

lynda barry is temporarily leaving salon to write a book. if salon goes under, this will be her final strip with them.

it's not quite nanoart, but matchstick sculpting is pretty damn small if you ask me (you did ask, didn't you?)

01.06.01

when i grow up, i'm going to evil science university!

and i thought i was nerdy for liking led flashlights - but the led museum website tells me that there are folks out there far more geeky than i.

in the book future noir: the making of blade runner, paul sammons points out that the microscopy of the snake scale was actually from a microscopic photo of cannibis. the nanoworld image gallery has some other cool tiny photos.

fury.com managed to throw together a perl version of eliza with the aol instant messenger system and the results are really, really funny. do we passing the turing test?

01.04.01

filmfatale industries is now back on the air. sorry for the lengthy hiatus. one thing i've learned from this whole experience is that if the opportunity ever presents itself to me again, i'll be sure to take the green pills.