Post links to strange stuff you find on the internet! For example, "Do llamas have dorsal fins (http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=285076#post285076)?"
Today's fresh find: a craigslist ad about turning your dirtbike into a snowmobile: http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/mcy/1480754565.html
Don't diss them snow kits! Those are awesome! If a little impractical and just as costly as a used snowmobile. But still awesome! I'd still rather have a snow cat.
I had never heard of such a thing. It looks impractical because your center of gravity looks much higher. Nonetheless, awesome absurdity :)
As a part of the worst of the internet (and because of that, in some peoples opinion, part of the best of the internet) I offer up Frys Forum dot com (http://frysforum.com/) for your consideration.
ahhh! I got sucked in again. But I made it out alive!...and back to this forum ???
Darth Vader prosthetics for as little as $50! (Ok, not really, it's snowgear)
http://www.rei.com/product/791254
http://www.rei.com/product/791256
Thats kinda cool in a strangely dorky looking way.
I accidentally fell into an internet conversation about texting* while driving. Most comments in essence say, "ban it!" but fail to mention they do not want restrictions imposed upon themselves. Anyway, level-headed or not, one person posted the link below. Read it if you're bored. The title is obnoxious, but yeah, it's alright.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/freedom-to-text133.html
* I reserve the right to still hate the use of "text" as a verb.
"But it is different with government. No matter how preposterous the rule, it stays and stays, regardless of whether it works to accomplish its end."
How sadly true. There should be a time restriction on all bills though would limit something like that. If at the end of the time limit there is no evidence that the bill or law is accomplishing its designed purpose or if there are more cons then pros from its effects then it would be allowed to expire. Then a new bill could be drafted to fix the shortcomings of the old, or things could simply be allowed to return to what they were before.
Yep, that makes sense. I found several several quotables in there. Aren't the internets fun?
On a multi-tangential adventure after searching for "parts of a castle," I ran across a site about making mead in a bucket at home. I only mention this because Cody mentioned mead the other day in referencing some old, clumpy honey. I asked, "Um, what is that?" It is, of course honey-wine.
I have little more than a passing curiosity of its taste; wine is far from my favorite thing to put in my mouth. I mostly found it interesting because it was a "do it yourself" article. For some reason, I am interested in knowing how to do things that I don't even care to do -- just curiosity of the workings of the world, I suppose.
Here is my search history, in reverse order:
http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/index.htm
http://castlefiction.com/heroicdreams/medieval-polearms.html
http://www.castlefiction.com/heroicdreams/
http://medievalcastles.stormthecastle.com/parts-of-a-medieval-castle.htm
http://www.google.com/search?q=parts+of+a+castle&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
Some would argue that mead is an integral part of a castle. Especially when drinking the local water will kill you. Dysentery and all that.
For my fellow peoples knowing of the awesome that is MacGyver:
http://macgyver.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_problems_solved_by_MacGyver
That is funny :) People put a lot of effort into useless things...oh...wait. Look who's talking!
Um, yeah -- http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2008/12/10-weird-forms-human-transportation-picture-gallery.php
HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Nice find. I can't decide if the couch bike or the human-powered fork lift is mt favorite!
This one registers more on the best of the internet then the worst.
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/30/uav-reigns-down-vengeance-upon-thee/
Now I want to make one! Only about $500 in parts :(
Ever want a mid-engine skateboard? Well, duh! Doesn't everyone? Check it out :)
(http://www.randal.com/images/history/motor1.jpg)
http://www.randal.com/visual_motorboard.html
That's a special combination of hilarious, awesome and absurd. I like it. Do they make it in an off-road variety?
Hehehe, I was going to make a crappy photoshop of that. I amused myself momentarily by trying, but gave up. Sorry.
http://lifehacker.com/292718/build-a-laser-spy-microphone-on-the-cheap
Kinda cool. Need one that works with UV or IR light (the IR will have a 100% reflection/absorption from the glass as it will not penetrate it.) One could use it to transmit data wirelessly over line of sight (both data and audio should work. Be easish to hook it up to a pair of modems :) Probably harder to get ethernet over it.
That is cool :) We should conjure up some pet project whih combines this with your Wi-Fi robot and Wiimote control!
I'll take that as a "no" to a Wii-fi spy-bot. :)
Perhaps more practical (or achievable) is this computer vision stuff I'm looking at. There is a library called OpenCV. There is a decent tutorial here (http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~laganier/tutorial/opencv+directshow/cvision.htm). Of particular interest to me is the Sobel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobel_operator) edge detection. I'm not
really sure what I could do with it, but it is something I've found interesting for a long time.
Wifi bot that can recognise obstacles and people? Perhaps even shoot people it does not recognise with nerf darts.
It could be an interesting project. But my time is probably better spent on fixing projects I've already started. Like Randomland's image gallery!
Some time I do want to play with programmig a Wiimote. Supposedly all you need is a Bluetooth receiver.
Is the BLM generally fairly awesome (http://www.blm.gov/or/faq/index.php)? Yes, mostly, from what I gather. You never know, that FAQ page might come in handy...
Good to know. Though they contradict themselves on the topic of firewood collection.
This silly cycle (http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-the-SpinScooter/) looks cool and I wish it had a video. And by my eye, those are some nice looking welds.
Those are nice looking welds. They speak of more skill and better equipment that what I have. Kinda impractical looking for long distance or up hill, but would be fun to play with :)
We should weld something. Those "power handle" pictures need to make their way to Randomland... :)
Yes, I agree. I also noted another weakness on the power that needs addressing. Then it will truly be super-beefy. Like a combat burrito.
http://reubenmiller.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/05/picture_2.png
Table of condiments that periodically go bad.
I have eaten some things *long* after this chart said they were bad. Especially pickles.
Does this could as chemistry humor?
:) that picture! And yes, it counts. I like it!
I cannot resist: http://jalopnik.com/5647032/whats-the-most-ridiculous-spoiler
In case you don't yet feel lame enough about your lack of a Halloween costume, check this (http://tv.gawker.com/5675998/this-is-the-most-amazing-halloween-costume-ever) out! My mind was very nearly blown.
http://scanwiches.com/
No need to say more....
Have you guys seen the SCP (http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-series)? It is the website of a fictitious organization for containing and controlling paranormal objects. They've got a list of nearly 1000 fictitious objects with paranormal properties. Each has details of known properties of the object as well as the results of experiments performed on them. Makes for interesting reading if you're bored.
I saw that on reddit the other night! Some of those 'accounts' are rather well written and kinda creepy. I also recommend checking the site out.
This car is awesome. This is what would happen if we put lots of effort into Suriboka. And I say that in the most encouraging way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfNfwNWWphI
A while ago I mentioned that there are people writing applications in paint by creating the correct binary values by putting done pixels of specific colors...
This isn't that, but it kinda close and still really weird. Piet is a programming langauge written by creating pictures using a 20 color pallette. Check it out. http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/piet.html
Origins of the term 'daemon' in computing use.
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/i7yd7/the_origin_of_the_word_daemon/
Link to article is at top of discussion.
Oh wow, I am unaccustomed to Reddit (especially from a phone). I thought the meat of the article was in that comment thread....then I realized that drivel wasn't what I was supposed to be looking at. Yeah. Now I feel dirty, kind of like trawling the Slashdot comments. Ugh.
Yeah. There are often a few gems in the comments. Like the discussion on readability programs and the discussion of physics thought experiments. But there is always a bunch of (sometimes amusing) comments sourounding them that are less then enlightening. Reddit seems higher quality on the whole them most sites of its kind. But much less mature then the more focussed forums. And if you read long enough you will eventually stumble upon some of the more disturbing contributers. But your best avoiding them.
In the same vain of computer science history, I came across this rather interesting presentation (http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/theater/video.php?v=crockonjs-1) from a lead developer of the JavaScript language. (You could watch the video, but he's more interesting in text -- just read the transcript)
Linked from that is a 1968 software demonstration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfIgzSoTMOs) including things like the first-ever mouse device, the precursor to half a dozen present-day applications, and just just old-school awesomeness. It's not exciting, but I found it interesting and inspirational. Check it out if you have time to burn.
Interesting video. I didn't have time to watch it all, but what I did see was pretty cool.
If only physics class was more like this: Why exactly can nothing go faster than the speed of light?
(http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/fjwkh/why_exactly_can_nothing_go_faster_than_the_speed/c1gh4x7?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=10%20Things%20In%20Tech%20You%20Need%20To%20Know&utm_campaign=10ThingsTech_NL_022211)
http://www.google.com/trends/correlate/draw
Curbside Classics (http://www.curbsideclassic.com), a photo-blog with commentary on old(er) cars. The tagline is something like "Every car has a story". I found the most glowing 800 words ever bestowed upon the Geo Metro here.
Today's theme seems to be old pictures of parking lots. I like this: when mundane pictures surface years later, giving a glimpse into the everyday past.
The guy appears to be from Eugene (...and may personify a few of its stereotypes) and is fairly well composed. At any rate, it's worth a look at for anyone who likes car trivia, pictures of rusty things, or justification for the existence of the Subaru Justy (see Three Pot Stew post).
Here's a fun one: 1984 Mitsubishi Starion â€" Or Is It Stallion? (http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1984-mitsubishi-starion-or-is-it-stallion-did-i-finally-solve-the-mystery-of-its-name/) explores the myth that the Starion's name originated from a Japanese-tongued pronunciation of "stallion". Good old fashion urban legends about a good old fashion Japanese classic.
Whatever it's called, I'd still take one :)
That's rather cool. There is a strange excitement that gets attached to uncovering mysteries of the past.
The time and dedication put into investigating something that hardly matters, it's inspiring! But then again those cars (probably any sporty car) have a bit of a following. I remember Robert talking about them a lot when we were both working at the pizza place.
More excitement centered around corporate mishaps:
I was reading a message board (reddit) a while back while people were talking about a lost Nickelodeon movie that was deemed too scary and subsequently only ever aired once. Supposedly there were no copies of the movie in the wild until a reddit user offered up an old home recording they had never disposed of. It was interesting to see so many people get so exited about a movie they hadn't even known exited before that day.
Since then it seems that Nickelodeon has capitalized on all the hype and pulled a copy out of storage for showing last Halloween.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/28/us-nickelodeon-idUSTRE79R69620111028
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_Baby_Lane#Availability
The original reddit post:
http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/jedpc/til_nickelodeon_released_a_tv_movie_in_2000_that/
The person claiming to have the video has since deleted her account due to harassment by internet jerks :(
Command and Conquer in HTML5 + javascript:
http://apps.nahklick.de/cnc/
Kinda cool.
Anybody ever read the we comic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja? It is about an Irish ninja doctor who struggles with his dual compulsion to heal and kill. It also involves Mexican bandits, raptors, the clone of Benjamin Franklin and moustaches.
So far i've found it to be pretty funny. http://drmcninja.com/
That is rather funny...and very random. But the worst of the internet I could find today was some guy on a forum telling another guy that his computer sucks because it took longer for him to download a file...
Now I am no expert in these things really...but last time I checked, a computer's CPU, RAM, video card, hard drive space and other aspects that make a computer generally good or bad have very little to do with how fast you can actually download a file.
For example, my piece of crap laptop (which is running an operation system it isn't meant to, has only a gig of ram, built in video and an ancient processor) has, on many occasions, proven it is capable of downloading at speeds many times that of this computer I am using...which is quite a good computer. I mean my laptop has trouble running Solitaire but it was quite content to download at speeds approaching 2 megs a second whilst this one can currently only reach 190kbps!
Hmmm...I wonder why...
My rant for the evening is done. People on the internet are retarded.
I think the other stories after the Lumberjack one get much better.
You would have to have some seriously speedy internet for your hdd transfer speed to be the limiting factor. Even then the website you are downloading the file from must also have an unbelievable fast connection. Maybe if you had a super connection and were using bittorrent with like a zillion seeds... there may still be an overhead issue with too many simultaneous connections. People are dumb, and there are a lot of people on the internet.
Here is something from a less-dumb person on the internet. A new what-if series from the ever awesome, raptor fearing, XKCD dude.
http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/
I must say I found that rather interesting, actually.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/u-postal-asking-floridians-stop-crashing-post-offices-213551323.html
Dangers of living in Florida :P Or more precisely, the dangers of living with old people on the road.
You should see how scary and "special" these Florida drivers are!! Not a fan at all!!
Sent from my {amazing windows phone} using Board Express
South of the Retiree Divide, mistaking the gas pedal for the brake may be the biggest problem. But around here, people seem to view traffic lights' yellow and red as varying shades of green.
Yesterday, I seriously saw a guy halfway through the intersection before his light was green.
We need to do more stuff like this:
http://www.manapotions.com/Chaingun.html
(The video is pretty dorky until about a minute in)
Dang. That is a awesome beast. How to keep it firing for more then a second though...
That would be so awesome!
I was really hoping to find something a little more...well, a little more like THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eBatKA-Bjs4#t=27s)! You know, a jaw-dropping barrage of foam projectiles.
But alas, Nerf gun the mechanics would never hold up. You'd probably just be standing in a puddle of molten plastic. Still, I thought it was pretty cool.
It would still be rather cool if you started melting the nerf gun you were shooting so fast.
Ok, maybe it's just me, but I find this (http://spark.rstudio.com/jkatz/SurveyMaps/) fascinating. It's a dialectic survey across the continental United States.
It highlights some of the finer nuances of spoken English ("gramma" vs "grandma") along with some easier ones ("coo-pon" vs "cyoo-pon"). And it's interesting how intensely regional a few terms are (see "New Haven").
It also has, hands down, the best y'all-map I've found. I attached a few favorites. Do enjoy -- I've spend hours looking at this :P
http://spark.rstudio.com/jkatz/SurveyMaps/
Y'all might like this :)
Fun with cameras and ceiling fans:
http://jeremiahwarren.com/blog/2013/06/30/how-to-create-a-diy-matrix-bullet-timetime-slice-rig-using-a-ceiling-fan-and-a-gopro/
Ok, that's cool. And inspiring! I want to do more awesome things like that. I need to be less lame...
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=-115.91,16.11,469
I found this to be cool. It is a real time wind map map of the world with vectors.
That is somewhat mesmerizing...and awesome.
Also I found this comment in a guy's review of a video game somewhat humorous. "I personally think the sound of the gun is too loud with the first person camera."
I don't know if he has ever shot a real gun, but they are pretty freaking loud. I don't exactly expect to hear the birds singing while I shoot my machine gun.
Has anyone seen Twitch Plays Pokemon (http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon) yet? It's thousands of people attempting to play a pokemon game through IRC chat all at once. Everyone is attempting to control the same character. It's kind of entertaining in an chaotic way.
Right now it's being played by more than 72,000 people.
So that's what that is. I kept hearing references to it, but I thought twitch was some dudes handle. I will check it out. Sounds absurd :)
Play your favorite YouTube video. While it is playing, click on some blank area of the page and hit the keys 1980. I was most amused. Perhaps a little too amused.
Kickstarter backed movie "Kung Fury"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg&feature=youtu.be&t=615
It is 1980-esk kungfu-parody glory.