Depressed Whale

Penelope Cruz-ish Looking girl Shredding and Peter Chao's Rap Video

I saw these great videos on youtube and just thought i'd share.

HOBOKEN!!!!!

So my friend Cassidy sent me this and it made my day.

Check out how some jokers shopped a Hoboken NJ sign as a RYU Fireball how-to guide.

Hilarious Kanye West Video - The New Workout Plan

LOL what bear is that?

Go Team Detroit!

My friend Audrey and her peeps are on the road trip currently, check out the challenges and stuff. http://detroitsxsw.com/

Uranium Ore for sale on Amazon.com for $39.44

So I saw this ad on woot and was like WTF really?

Check out the amazon listing for Uranium Ore here.....

the listing states that:

Radioactive sample of uranium ore. Useful for testing Geiger Counters. License exempt. Uranium ore sample sizes vary. Shipped in labeled metal container as shown. Shipping Information: We are always in compliance with Section 13 from part 40 of the NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules and regulations and Postal Service regulations specified in 49 CFR 173.421 for activity limits of low level radioactive materials. Item will be shipped in accordance with Postal Service activity limits specified in Publication 52. Radioactive minerals are for educational and scientific use only.

The comment section is comedy gold... and I also liked the part about Customers who bought this also bought:

Mantis Style

Some Origami Mantis Photos I took.



On the topic of the Preying Mantis, check out this sweet Preying Mantis VS Hummingbird vid... Mantis Wins! I found this video link on boingboing.net

Wii Curling Fail

My $14 Ninja Grappling hook has arrived

 

  

So I found this $14 grappling hook on woot.com and I decided to take some practice product shots.

This will be fun to explain if I get pulled over why I need a NINJA grappling hook in the nsx.

I guess I could say it came with the car. =p

Traffic Jam

khappucino's Universal Law of Symmetry

 

BACON TUXEDO -WTF!

 

So I saw this on woot.com.... apparently it is a BACON SUIT TUXEDO..... 

Here is the description from the website:

There's a theory that everything is better with bacon. We believe that theory with all of our heart. To that end, we are introducing our line of bacon formal wear with Uncle Oinker's Bacon Scented Bacon Print Tuxedo. You can get married in bacon, get confirmed in bacon or go to the Oscars in bacon! Wait until Joan Rivers gets a whiff of you. Each Tuxedo is tailored from chemically treated latex print fabric in one of four different sizes. Best of all, it smells just like bacon sizzling in the pan. Dry clean only.

WTF CHTHULU - BIPEDAL WALKING OCTOPUS and other stuff

Octopus Vs Shark


Ninja Octopus hiding in coconut shells

Robot Mozart - Robot DJ - Robot PhD (Super funny Lolz)

So I saw an interesting article on slashdot about a composor who wrote a software program that composes good music automagically.  This is interesting to me because in grad school I studied electronic music composition and one of the things that my friends and I always wondered was at what point will someone decode the mathematics of music that sound good to our brain and just autogen it.

We've seen this with robot DJ's that can seamlessly mix, scratch, and beat juggle music.  We've seen software write techno-babble academic papers that can pass human scrutiny.

Here is a link to the SCIGen Automatic Computer Science Paper generator page.... basically people use this software to see if conferences have low submission standards, to make big lolz, or to just be epic awesom...  super cool if you ask me.
In their own words here is how they describe their software

SCIgen is a program that generates random Computer Science research papers, including graphs, figures, and citations. It uses a hand-written context-free grammar to form all elements of the papers. Our aim here is to maximize amusement, rather than coherence.
You can even generate your OWN research paper on that website like this one below. 

FAKE RESEARCH PAPER - Autogenerated Techno Babble

What is super funny is that they have successfully entered these papers into conferences before...

Now all we need is a fake Business Paper Generator..... with words like synergy, competitive advantage, rents and resources, michael porter, and return on marketing investment... LOL

Epic Beard Guy Interview - AKA OLD ZANGIEF

Real Life Lightning Gun = Raiden Wins

 

So I saw this crazy article in Wired about how the military is developing Lightning Guns....  Pretty sweet if you ask me, they basically use a high energy short pulse laser to ionize a electrically conductive pathway to the target, then own it with voltage, kind of like an no-wires stun gun =)  Don't Taze Me Bro.

Big Ass Bat

So I saw this hilariously scary photo of a big ass bat that has a giant wingspan of up to 5.5 feet..... check out the bat here.  Apparently these things actually still fly around, I can see where the whole Dracula thing could have come up. As a bonus I included check out this Big Ass Bat Eating Centipede video below.  If you watch the centipede video, you can see it totally snatch a bat out of the sky, and eat it...

Epic Beard Man

Good Commentary

LOL - LARP (Live Avatar Role Playing)

Usher + Goat - EPIC WIN

Ok so my friend kyle showed this epic link to me.... just watch it.....

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=iTRS6FJkJFU&start1=3&video2=VgAXZHMi_ws&start2=0&authorName=Ann+O%27Nymous

 

 

The social status of the engineering profession

So I found this paper on the crisis of the low status of the engineering profession (circa 1920-1930 in Canada).

What is interesting here is the approach they used, as you can see.. this is similar to the NASA video below....
missing the key idea that most people in the profession  have self selected themselves out for wanting status..... IMHO if they were interested in status they would have gone into Medicine or Law....   If they did intend to fix it, it seems the missed the basic idea of Marketing..... as in.... movies like IRON MAN make engineering look cool... in the same way Ally McBeal makes law look cool.... the problem I guess is that engineers and scientists prefer accuracy to end effect.  The interesting thing is that salary is a strong indicator of status and until Engineering keeps pace with Law/Medicine/Investment banking... I don't think it will easily receive a status boost.

Here is a wierd example of the logic they are using.

If the engineering community was serious in its desire to be afforded higher status, they continued, the neglect of cultural and communications courses in university curricula needed to be rectified.

This is also a clever attempt at rationalizing a Governing body for engineering in the same way they have one for Medicine and Law.

This has some logic to it, but the conclusion I think missed the  mark.
Canadian engineers were traditionally proud of their technical knowledge, and saw this knowledge (such as the ability to harness water resources for hydro-electricity or to build ventilated railway tunnels in the Rocky Mountains) as a defining aspect of their profession.63 This technical expertise differentiated engineering from the trades and provided a common link between the various fields of engineering (that is, fields such as civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering). Stating that communications skills were "as essential to the engineer as... to the lawyer or minister," Keith's committee suggested that technical proficiency alone would not bring engineers the public respect they desired, but that the profession needed to expand its aptitude beyond the technical realm.64 In the following years, the EIC would take hold of this view and endorse it as vital to raising the status of engineers.

It may have been more effective to hire a PR/Advertising firm to figure this problem out... than a bunch of engineers....

This one is super lolz...

The view enunciated by the EIC executive had three components: that engineers lacked cultural knowledge and communication ability, that rectifying these inadequacies would raise the prestige of the profession in the public eye, and that the key solution was the introduction of "paper writing and critical discussions" into engineering curricula.

NASA Cute Girl Approach Project

NASA Scientists Plan To Approach Girl By 2018 

LOL..... I saw this linked off a forum and had to share... this is the opposite of Skittles.

John Mayer invents new MEME - Sexual Napalm

I was in the break room at work and I heard this hilarious phrase uttered on the TV.

Something to the effect of "Jessica Simpson being Sexual Napalm in bed".  This is particularly funny because the newscaster busted out an homage to Apocalypse now by saying... "Yes I too like the smell of Sexual Napalm in the morning. 

Here is the link to the actual article if you are already confused...

Here are my favorite quotes from the article:

The singer admitted their relationship was sexually charged, describing Simpson as 'a drug'.
He explained: 'And drugs aren't good for you if you do lots of them... Yeah, that girl is like crack cocaine to me.
'Sexually it was crazy. That's all I'll say. It was like napalm, sexual napalm. Did you ever say, "I want to quit my life and just f**king snort you?"'

Then followed up with this gem (regarding his previous relationship with Jennifer Aniston)

Suggesting the nine-year age gap between the couple may have been a problem, he elaborated: 'In some ways I wish I could be with her. But I can’t change the fact that I need to be 32...
'But 32 just comes roaring out of me at points when I don’t see it coming. I want to dance. I want to get on an airplane and be like a ninja. I want to be an explorer. I want to be like The Bourne Identity. I don’t want to pet dogs in the kitchen.'

 

One Word... Arbitrage

Norwegians in Scuba Gear vs. Google Street View

 

So I saw this hilarious link on boingboing.net. Apparently these dudes dressed in Scuba gear started chasing the Google Street Car with pitch forks.... lol 

Help my buddy Audrey in her Quest

So my friend Audrey is pretty awesome. Apparently awesome enough that Chevy sponsored her and her 3 friends to go on an 'Amazing Race Style' roadtrip to the South by South West Film Festival.
They are going to crowd source challenges via twitter. For those of you who don't know what that means, you basically send a message via twitter with your suggestion.  Example suggestions could be things like, I want to see you guys 'Ghost Ride the Whip' while dressed in Victorian Era clothing (with the car Chevy provided) or perhaps I would like to see you guys jump the car off a ramp dukes of hazard style into a herd of cows.... they need 45 challenges of various nature.  Check out the website here and help my friend out with some sweet suggestions.

Male/Female University Ratios: A Lesson in Scarcity and Cournot Competition

So my friend sent me this hilarious article about the imbalance of men and women on modern college campuses, as well as the effect this has had on traditional dating dynamics....

North Carolina, with a student body that is nearly 60 percent female, is just one of many large universities that at times feel eerily like women’s colleges. Women have represented about 57 percent of enrollments at American colleges since at least 2000, according to a recent report by the American Council on Education. Researchers there cite several reasons: women tend to have higher grades; men tend to drop out in disproportionate numbers; and female enrollment skews higher among older students, low-income students, and black and Hispanic students.

then this part is comedy gold, but at least she's honest

Jayne Dallas, a senior studying advertising who was seated across the table, grumbled that the population of male undergraduates was even smaller when you looked at it as a dating pool. “Out of that 40 percent, there are maybe 20 percent that we would consider, and out of those 20, 10 have girlfriends, so all the girls are fighting over that other 10 percent,” she said.

Check out the full article in all it's hilariousness... 

Economics 101, the dynamics of supply/demand and what MBAs and Economists call Cournot Competition..... LOL

from Wikipedia: Cournot competition is an economic model used to describe an industry structure in which companies compete on the amount of output they will produce, which they decide on independently of each other and at the same time

 Just swap the word output into another familiar form... LOL

Black Dynamite Rocks!

 

Ok so I saw Black Dynamite tonight and I must say it totally kicked ass. If you are a fan of 70's blaxploitation and 70's kung fu this movie is for you.  Take Dolemite, Shaft, The Mack, The Black Dragon, Enter the Dragon, and Return of the Dragon, put them all together, and you get BLACK DYNAMITE.  BAM!!!!

Check out the black dynamite website here.

Guitars Guitars Guitars

 

 

DIY RING FLASH (GOOD)

ok so I wanted a ring flash but I didn't want to pay $200.  So after seeing the ORBIS Ring flash here, and hearing good things about it, I decided to do the obvious thing. Copy it in cardboard, paper, tin foil and duct tape. 

This is what the $199 Orbis Ring Flash looks like.

Here is it step by step.

Step 1: Build the basic shape of the orbis ring w/ attachment in cardboard and tin foil.

Step 2: Cover the open end with paper.

 

Step 3: Attach it to the tripod/camera.

 

Step 4: Fire the sucker.

 

 

DIY Beauty Dish (FAIL) with Light Painting (OK)

So I decided to try to make a beauty dish using a lamp covering and a bowl. It looks ok, but it doesn't quite work that well. It's not adjustable so I get this epic dark spot dead center of the illumination pattern.  On the bright side I messed around a bit with light painting and got the following. It kind of looks like some Paranormal Activity type stuff.

DIY SoftBox

 

After seeing this DIY striplight I decided to make some a DIY softbox. Using my skills of an artist I turn duct tape, tin foil, and paper into modifiers. =p I also took some test shots using the new GHETTO DIY Softbox.  I may have to get a keg and have a headshot party so I can do all my peeps headshots for our internal Company facebook.

Pants on the ground original and remixes

James Joyce's Ulysses in Web Comic Form

I saw this on metafilter.  Check out the webcomic called Ulysses Seen here.

Super Ghetto DIY Tin Foil and Duct Tape RING FLASH

 

So I was inspired by the DIY photography light modifier community online and decided to try to make my own ghetto ring flash (using the on camera flash as the flash source).

Here is what I ended up making.

with just tin foil, duct tape, and a kabob skewer.

The results were not super awesome, but still interesting for the on camera flash.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the Movie starring Natalie Portman

So no I'm not joking... they are making a MOVIE version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES starring Natalie Portman... check out the 411 on the upcoming movie here (Variety article).

It's funny because I always thought that the cover art for Zoey from Left 4 Dead (Zombie killing game) looked a lot like Natalie Portman. Here is the Gawker article.

From the Variety article:

Given Natalie Portman’s elegant demeanor, a turn in a period Jane Austen adaptation was inevitable.
Portman will star in and produce “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” a film that is based on the bestselling book written by Seth Grahame-Smith and Austen. Lionsgate will finance and distribute. Quirk Books published the tome.
Though Austen’s name is on the book, Grahame-Smith took the liberty of adding bloodthirsty flesh-eating zombies to the mix.
Portman will produce through her handsomecharlie shingle with Annette Savitch, plus Darko Films’ Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm.
Described as an expanded version of the Austen classic, the book tells the timeless story of a woman’s quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a deadly virus that turns the undead into vicious killers.
Portman will play feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, who is distracted from her quest to eradicate the zombie menace by the arrival of the arrogant Mr. Darcy. Darko just released “The Box,” “World’s Greatest Dad” and “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.”

Conan vs Leno - Chinese 3d Animated Version

My friend kyle sent me this. HAHA

OBAMA the Musical

My friend Darren found this and sent it to me...
LOL this is kind of hilarious/awesome.

I give you OBAMA: The musical, which is opening in Germany.

Wut Tang Vs The Beatles - Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers

I saw this on metafilter and just had to share.

check out the wu/beatles combo here.

Here is the line up.

1.	Wu Vs Beatles (Intro) 01:29		download
	2.	C.R.E.A.M. 03:20		download
	3.	Got Your Money 03:43		download
	4.	Forget Me Not 04:09		download
	5.	Back In The Game 04:48		download
	6.	Uh Huh 03:31		download
	7.	Criminology 03:11		download
	8.	Da Mystery Of Chessboxin' 02:01		download
	9.	Daytona 500 03:20		download
	10.	Labels 02:49		download
	11.	Smith Bros 01:38		download
	12.	R.E.C. Room 03:27		download
	13.	Wu Vs Beatles (skit) 01:14		download
	14.	Mighty Healthy 03:11		download
	15.	Clientele Kidd 02:51		download
	16.	Cutting It Up 03:09		download
	17.	Release Yo Self 02:56		download
	18.	City High 02:12		download
	19.	Run 02:36		download
	20.	Cross My Heart 02:07		download
	21.	Uzi (Pinky Ring) 04:36		download
	22.	Bizarre 01:31		download
	23.	Slang Editorial 02:05		download
	24.	Save Me Dear 03:03		download
	25.	The Movement 02:35		download
	26.	Wu Tang Cream Team Line Up 03:28		download
	27.	Wu Vs Beatles (Outro) 02:24

The Real Life Mr. Garrison (He even mentions Mr. Mackey AND the word Garrison several times)

I was watching this lecture on Kierkegaard (father of existentialism) and almost died when #1 I noticed that the lecturer Professor Rick Roderick soundes EXACTLY like Mr. Garrison from South Park.  Then I ROFL'd when I hear him mention his colleague Mr. Mackey....in video 2/5 below at time 0:49



And here at time 5:40 he keep saying Garrison LOL