Germany's beloved octopus, Paul, died late 2010, but fear not my Teutonic-critter-loving friends! Behold, Heidi, the cross-eyed opossum.
Just when you thought Kanye West couldn't get any...well, anymore anything, he starts wearing a watch with his own face on it. Stay classy, Kanye. Stay classy. (HT to MonkeySee)
This, from the comic book to movie deal front: the Ant-Man cometh. This is the face of recycled pop-culture, people. Because, nothing, I mean nothing, screams "I'm relevant!" more than a man who can...you know, I'm not even sure what Ant-Man can do....
In the world of literature, the Monitor offers this list of five books that it suspects critics will be lavishing their attention on this year. (Note: none are by Jonathan Franzen.)
Meanwhile, I'm sure that even protozoa have heard that Verizon finally sealed the deal with Apple to break up AT&T's stranglehold on the iPhone. Still, there's at least one person who won't be converting because of her "graceless monkey fingers."
Click here to see a dozen excellent renderings of "Chicktopus." (This is NPR's chicktopus, not to be confused with the Chowder version.)
Finally, Sky Net Watch has been elevated to level beige (there are 99 levels for anyone keeping count) following the recent news of the rebuilding of the Philip K. Dick robot head. It is SUPER CREEPY.
And, despite Electric Power Research Institute's promise that their "Transmission Inspection" robot will "not look like a person," it has an HD optical camera, lidar (that's radar with light), and can function autonomously. Whatever happens, let's not allow the PKD head and TI 'bot hook up. Deal?
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Hump Day, Schmump Day
We're back, and to begin Robert Krulwich (of whom I've spoken before) wondered about the recent "spate" of animal deaths. It has been reported already that such patterns are not entirely unusual and Krulwich offers an excellent link to an infographic on informationisbeautiful.net, which displays the media-driven fears around the world. Cool stuff.
Anywho, on to more geekery:
Alan Sepinwall offers this bit of review from Press Tour about Fox's new dino-show Terra Nova.
Kottke offered up this piece about the ubiquitous sci-fi hallway. Think about it: Alien, hallway; Event Horizon, creepy-ass hallway with spinning lights; Star Trek: tiny hallways they call Jeffries Tubes. But, let's face it, if you're on a spaceship, there are bound to be hallways, am I right? Might as well talk about the omni-present hallway scenes in submarine movies.
Apparently, the entire world's (current) population could fit into the state of Texas. Great. Just one more feather for their ten-gallon hat of state pride.
In comic news: Marvel has announced that Cap' (Captain America, that is) will be taking on the very real and very disturbing trend of soldier suicides. Those comics, they'll surprise you.
And Image released today the first issue of Infinite Vacation, which is getting some good press. Image, as you may know, is the publisher of the immensely popular The Walking Dead. While Nick Spencer the series' writer also pens the on-the-way-to-becoming-immensely-popular Morning Glories, which has not yet released its first collected trade.
A quick side-note to the above: below the Infinite Vacation announcement on Image's page, you'll notice that The Walking Dead is in its second week of "Weeklies," which is the weekly release of every single issue of TWD. So, if you really don't want to buy the trades, hardcovers, or new mega-collection, you can do this instead. I'm just sayin'. It's an option.
Anywho, on to more geekery:
Alan Sepinwall offers this bit of review from Press Tour about Fox's new dino-show Terra Nova.
Kottke offered up this piece about the ubiquitous sci-fi hallway. Think about it: Alien, hallway; Event Horizon, creepy-ass hallway with spinning lights; Star Trek: tiny hallways they call Jeffries Tubes. But, let's face it, if you're on a spaceship, there are bound to be hallways, am I right? Might as well talk about the omni-present hallway scenes in submarine movies.
Apparently, the entire world's (current) population could fit into the state of Texas. Great. Just one more feather for their ten-gallon hat of state pride.
In comic news: Marvel has announced that Cap' (Captain America, that is) will be taking on the very real and very disturbing trend of soldier suicides. Those comics, they'll surprise you.
And Image released today the first issue of Infinite Vacation, which is getting some good press. Image, as you may know, is the publisher of the immensely popular The Walking Dead. While Nick Spencer the series' writer also pens the on-the-way-to-becoming-immensely-popular Morning Glories, which has not yet released its first collected trade.
A quick side-note to the above: below the Infinite Vacation announcement on Image's page, you'll notice that The Walking Dead is in its second week of "Weeklies," which is the weekly release of every single issue of TWD. So, if you really don't want to buy the trades, hardcovers, or new mega-collection, you can do this instead. I'm just sayin'. It's an option.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The return of Sky Net Watch
Let's start the week off right, shall we?
First, this is an awesome (and short) video demonstrating the power of infographics. And, to top that off, here's a link to find even more of that kind of stuff. (HT to Roger Deetz for the latter link.)
Remember when adults would tell you that video games would rot your brain (this was after they abandoned the pretense that TV would do that)? Sure, it might, but playing video games could also earn you a cool million bucks.
So you probably heard that a person named Oprah has launched her own (heh) TV network, called OWN. And she had a lot to say about it, and by a lot I mean a fifteen minute monologue about herself.
WIRED offers these thoughts on the nature of being a geek, and how basically everyone is a geek now, and how that poses some problems for genuine creativity.
Finally, big news day for Sky Net Watch: First, Alex Trebek (who everyone believes may actually be a robot) will host Jeopardy as an actual robot (really a "machine"), named Watson, faces off against the two best-ever Jeopardy contestants.
And, second, I give you the "thought-controlled exo-skeleton." "Controlled by thoughts," you say? Well then, let's not have Watson and this exo-skeleton meet, I say.
First, this is an awesome (and short) video demonstrating the power of infographics. And, to top that off, here's a link to find even more of that kind of stuff. (HT to Roger Deetz for the latter link.)
Remember when adults would tell you that video games would rot your brain (this was after they abandoned the pretense that TV would do that)? Sure, it might, but playing video games could also earn you a cool million bucks.
So you probably heard that a person named Oprah has launched her own (heh) TV network, called OWN. And she had a lot to say about it, and by a lot I mean a fifteen minute monologue about herself.
WIRED offers these thoughts on the nature of being a geek, and how basically everyone is a geek now, and how that poses some problems for genuine creativity.
Finally, big news day for Sky Net Watch: First, Alex Trebek (who everyone believes may actually be a robot) will host Jeopardy as an actual robot (really a "machine"), named Watson, faces off against the two best-ever Jeopardy contestants.
And, second, I give you the "thought-controlled exo-skeleton." "Controlled by thoughts," you say? Well then, let's not have Watson and this exo-skeleton meet, I say.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Tea-time Edition
If you didn't get to see the solar eclipse the other day (and let's be honest, who did, right?) then you may be interested in this very special picture of it.
And in more astrological news, Star Wars is coming to Blu Ray. 'Nuff said.
This one's for all my Horned Frog friends out there. It appears that in Ohio billboards have been put up congratulating TCU on its Rose Bowl on New Years Day. Why Ohio? Just ask Ohio State's Athletic Director.
In the gadgets-I-would-actually-buy department, a crafty inventor has finally released a motion-powered gadget charger. Meta-gadgets...nice.
By far one of the most original games of last year, returns this month with a sequel: LittleBigPlanet 2. The user-created content looks fantastic, and here's a little video of some of the best.
Since I'm being completely self-indulgent, I'll finish with this link to my favorite band of the last several years, The Decemberists, whose new album, The King is Dead, will be released on January 18th. Until then, listen as many times as you want for free at NPR.org, who btw have a die-hard and brilliant duo picking through music 24-7. I'm talking new songs and albums everyday, people, so get on board.
And in more astrological news, Star Wars is coming to Blu Ray. 'Nuff said.
This one's for all my Horned Frog friends out there. It appears that in Ohio billboards have been put up congratulating TCU on its Rose Bowl on New Years Day. Why Ohio? Just ask Ohio State's Athletic Director.
In the gadgets-I-would-actually-buy department, a crafty inventor has finally released a motion-powered gadget charger. Meta-gadgets...nice.
By far one of the most original games of last year, returns this month with a sequel: LittleBigPlanet 2. The user-created content looks fantastic, and here's a little video of some of the best.
Since I'm being completely self-indulgent, I'll finish with this link to my favorite band of the last several years, The Decemberists, whose new album, The King is Dead, will be released on January 18th. Until then, listen as many times as you want for free at NPR.org, who btw have a die-hard and brilliant duo picking through music 24-7. I'm talking new songs and albums everyday, people, so get on board.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Because...well, just because
We start today with some really excellent diversionary material: web comics. Alt Text has kindly provided a list of some of the best ones around right now.
And just to cap that off, yesterday, I was happy to discover Dr. McNinja. Oh yeah, he's a doctor and a ninja all right.
Today, I'm privileged with the rare opportunity of transitioning from ninja web-comics to paleontology via this radical headline: "Prehistoric ninja bird evolved nunchuck-like wings." Hell yeah it did.
In other news, here's a wonderful video featuring Josh Groban singing Kanye West's tweets, which is only slightly less hilarious than kanyejordan. Maybe. HT to Kottke.
And just to cap that off, yesterday, I was happy to discover Dr. McNinja. Oh yeah, he's a doctor and a ninja all right.
Today, I'm privileged with the rare opportunity of transitioning from ninja web-comics to paleontology via this radical headline: "Prehistoric ninja bird evolved nunchuck-like wings." Hell yeah it did.
In other news, here's a wonderful video featuring Josh Groban singing Kanye West's tweets, which is only slightly less hilarious than kanyejordan. Maybe. HT to Kottke.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
You may have already read this...in the future.
On his blog Robert Krulwich (one of my all-time favorite science reporters) breaks down a series of studies performed by renowned psychologist Daryl Bem. The studies purport to demonstrate the existence of Extra-Sensory Perception, and/or the fluidity of time. The results, if reproducible, could be truly staggering.
In other news, this is an awesome picture.
This is actually a cow, not a panda.
And if you love Pixar, this is an awesome compilation reel, which has been rapidly making its way about the interwebs.
In other news, this is an awesome picture.
This is actually a cow, not a panda.
And if you love Pixar, this is an awesome compilation reel, which has been rapidly making its way about the interwebs.
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Year's Resolution Edition
Happy holidays, and happy new year!
It was a wonderful and tiring week and a half. Many pictures, beers, and meals later, and I'm still not ready for work, so let's get to it....
Here's a look at WOW (that's World of Warcraft for the uninitiated) hooked up to the XBox Kinnect motion-capture module. Now you can actually burn half a dozen calories during your eight hour dungeon crawl. Workout resolution, check.
Readers of the Millennium series (you know, Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who... books) may be interested in this comparison of the series' heroine Lisbeth Salander to red-headed literary diva Pippi Longstocking. Think it's a stretch? The Monitor begs to differ.
Personally, I've always been fascinated by the idea of hacking computers, so maybe it's just me, but news that a group of hackers purports to have discovered the PS3's "root key" fascinates me.
Everyone's favorite social networking site has a newly estimated value of $50 billion. That's a lot of "likes" people.
Those who know me well, know that I am a word nerd and proud of it, so it is unsurprising indeed that I absolutely love this map of American English Dialects (HT to Kottke).
And, finally, it's the first Monday of 2011 (pronounced twenty-eleven, apparently), so it's time to dig through your old stuff to make room for the new stuff, and your computer's desktop and hard drive are no exception. Lifehacker offers these (basic, but somewhat helpful) tips for organizing your digital life.
It was a wonderful and tiring week and a half. Many pictures, beers, and meals later, and I'm still not ready for work, so let's get to it....
Here's a look at WOW (that's World of Warcraft for the uninitiated) hooked up to the XBox Kinnect motion-capture module. Now you can actually burn half a dozen calories during your eight hour dungeon crawl. Workout resolution, check.
Readers of the Millennium series (you know, Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who... books) may be interested in this comparison of the series' heroine Lisbeth Salander to red-headed literary diva Pippi Longstocking. Think it's a stretch? The Monitor begs to differ.
Personally, I've always been fascinated by the idea of hacking computers, so maybe it's just me, but news that a group of hackers purports to have discovered the PS3's "root key" fascinates me.
Everyone's favorite social networking site has a newly estimated value of $50 billion. That's a lot of "likes" people.
Those who know me well, know that I am a word nerd and proud of it, so it is unsurprising indeed that I absolutely love this map of American English Dialects (HT to Kottke).
And, finally, it's the first Monday of 2011 (pronounced twenty-eleven, apparently), so it's time to dig through your old stuff to make room for the new stuff, and your computer's desktop and hard drive are no exception. Lifehacker offers these (basic, but somewhat helpful) tips for organizing your digital life.
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