2006 March Archive at giantmonster!

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Monthly Archive for March, 2006

the perfect penis

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on March 30, 2006

in general, oddities and video clips

. 6 Comments

ummmm … whuu? this is crazy. and absolutely NSFW (meaning not safe for work, or anywhere really). so you are warned. this is not for the shy. it’s a video clip titled the perfect penis. and that’s all i’m going to say about it. but i do like the fella’s closing statement in the video:

i’m getting people to think. i’m challenging their ideas of what a penis should look like.

i’m definitely challenged. yikes. double & triple yikes. i guess it makes a good ice breaker & conversation starter. via metafilter & now on flurl.

prion anomaly

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on March 28, 2006

in general, health and science/technology

. 0 Comments

there’s a great read on the site seedmagazine about prions called the prion anomoly. i started to learn about prions a wee bit while reading about mad cow disease. this article goes even further in talking about how prions control stem cell growth and how prions may pass on genetic traits - challenging the theory that genes are soley responsible for inheritance. and be sure to click the link to the related article on prions called the bipolar protien. it goes into how prion-based disease spreads and how prions work to ’signal’ other cells.

silent dreams art show

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on March 24, 2006

in art and general

. 1 Comment

i snapped some pics from the silent dreams art show last saturday night and posted a photoset up on flickr. lovely and beautiful artwork by the lovely and beautiful artists larissa martin and claudine gosset. please check it out when you get chance.

VLC media player

Published

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on March 24, 2006

in general, science/technology and software

. 0 Comments

wanna play .avi files on your mac? DIVX & XVID encoded .avi files? look no further than the robust little cross platform VLC media player. it’s brilliant and plays a ton of audio & video formats. available for mac osx, windows, and many flavors of linux. and it’s free! i dig it. thank you rafael for the tip.

catch leprechaun fever

Published

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on March 24, 2006

in general, oddities and video clips

. 3 Comments

this is not a sequel to the sequel leprechaun 5: in the hood, or even a sequel to leprechaun 6: back 2 tha hood (a sequel to the sequel’s sequel). no. but it is a real newscast of a neighborhood caught up in leprechaun fever. no really. folks in mobile alabama are bananas over a leprechaun sighting. i particularly like the smarmy newscasters that i find i want to smash and throw eggs at while they introduce the clip. then there’s the police sketch of the leprechaun. nice! and then the fella with the magic charms and leprechaun flute that’s going to get down to the bottom of this. word! he should get a clue from 7 year old hannah. man, with all that is going on in the world, how can this be news? happy post st. patty’s day! thanks ethos!

comments on

Published

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on March 24, 2006

. 1 Comment

upgraded to wordpress 2.0.2 and finally activated comments with the spam-killing addition of spam karma 2. hopefully that’ll do it.

winnebago man

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on March 24, 2006

in comedy, general and video clips

. 4 Comments

winnebago man is here! it’s friday. time for some anger management and lessons in swearing tirades via the timeless winnebago man. yes! a very angry jack rebney is winnebago man. he’s just trying to make a promotional RV video, giving it all he’s got. and he hates flies too! these outtakes were put together by the film crew he hired to make the video. there are many other video edits of this clip online too. but this one runs longest. and thank you brit for your help with the file!

paper thin solar panel research

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on March 24, 2006

in environment, general and science/technology

. 0 Comments

from march 13th, great article on SFGate about a UC berkeley grad student doing research on developing paper-thin solar panels. working with chemicals to arrange inorganic crystals a thousandth of a human hair in width into structures that could possibly conduct electricity. worth a read.

heat vision and jack

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on March 24, 2006

in comedy, general and video clips

. 1 Comment

what’s that? you want a bad but very very rad and cheesy funny sci-fi good/dumb buddy flick crime-solving adventure sitcom? also featuring jack black and owen wilson (who plays a talking motorcycle)? you must be talking about heat vision and jack! with a funny introduction by ben stiller too. learn more about the magic that is heat vision and jack via the unofficial fansite. the whole clip is 30 minutes long. takes a while to load. but trust me - it’s worth it. knowledge is power - for real.

how to download you tube videos

Published

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on March 24, 2006

in general and video clips

. 17 Comments

gonna post some links on how to download youtube videos (as well as google videos & such) ’cause i’m gonna be posting & linking to some youtube videos.

from the lifehack site: download youtube videos with firefox greasemonkey script. requires installation of greasemonkey scripts for firefox. but installs a neat ‘download video’ button/link on video pages when complete.

and from javimoya: youtube video downloader. copy video URL, paste URL into the form on the javimoya site, and a ‘download video’ link appears. nice! you’ll need flash video player or mplayer to watch the vids from your hard drive. there you go. helping helps!

also, there’s now keep vid (and the very nice keep vid lite). it uses the same style video downloader as javimoya, but includes a drag & drop bookmarklet feature.

UPDATE:
apparently when using these youtube/google video download scripts, you’ll need to change the extension of the downloaded file from ‘.php‘ to ‘.flv‘ (flash video player). pretty simple though.

UPDATE, part deux:
javimoya strikes yet again with an easy to use add-on/plugin for firefox called video downloader. simply put, the Video Downloader add-on adds a small icon on the status bar at the bottom of your firefox window, and a toolbar button. click on that icon and you’ll download the video you are watching. neat!

you can also grab the VideoDownloader plug-in for firefox on the mozilla firefox add-on site. the install is incredibly easy and the plug-in works great.

and for the greasemonkey script fans, be sure to check out josh kinberg’s blog for highly helpful updates to google video download scripts and such.

UPDATE # 3:
6/2007 - FLASH VIDEO PLAYERS
you’ve got your .flv file downloaded, now you want to play them. here are some free flash video file players for both mac and pc …

for mac there is the SWF & FLV Player 3.0 from Eltima Software. this is the .flv player i use and it works great. it’s also freeware -Â as in free, no $. also available on the apple website.

for PC there is FLV Player by Martijn de Visser. Thanks Martin! FLV player is also available as a free download at download.com.

there is also the Wimpy Standalone FLV Player, whihc has versions for both mac and pc.

—–

in short, giantmonster recommends using the VideoDownloader plug-in for firefox to download the files and then one of the .flv players listed above. enjoy!

pissing with pride

Published

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on March 23, 2006

in general, oddities and random images

. 0 Comments

men’s bathroom redesign from a company called edge designs. never mind those fancy funnel-shaped urinals - it’s all about the wall mural. the pic above was sent in from keith. & also spotted on blog blog woof woof. trouble with this bathroom mural for me would be deciding just who to pee in front of.

been ill

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on March 23, 2006

. 0 Comments

no posts of late. sorry about that. came down with a cold over the weekend and have been riding it out. almost through an entire box of Emergen-C. so there you go.

subdermal body mods

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on March 17, 2006

in general and oddities

. 0 Comments

ouchies! from wired, witness the next level of fashion and/or shocking your parents and/or needing to differentitate yourself from your social/fashion clique: extreme body modification via subdermal implants. interesting. oh-my-god, tattoos are sooo mainstream. there had to be a next level to counter-culture. but i also know folks who say such mods make them feel more spiritual and grounded in their body. sure, yes. that would explain the brass knuckles. or maybe they just want to look like this. whatever makes you happy. seems no different than plastic surgery to me. only a bit more lumpy. here’s a link to wired’s photo gallery of the lumpy subdermal alterations. owie! ouch-ouch!

yes, it’s snakes on a plane

Published

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on March 17, 2006

in comedy, general, it's friday!, nerds & geeks and video clips

. 3 Comments

it’s friday. march 17th. also saint patrick’s day. legend has it that saint patty led the snakes out of ireland. how fitting, ’cause there a whole lotta snakes going on today. yes, i’m talking about the much-circulated preview for the best/worst movie to possibly come out - ever. i’m talking about the snakes on a plane trailer!! everyone’s got a case of snakes on a plane fever. there’s t-shirts too! i first heard about this gem via defamer. question: after playing mace windu, where can you go? answer: on a mother-fuckin’ airplane - with some mother-fuckin’ snakes! and yes, i’m planning on camping out for this one. enjoy.

double helix nebula

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on March 16, 2006

in general and science/technology

. 0 Comments

astronomers have reported an unprecedented elongated double helix nebula near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. the double helix image was captured by the infared spitzer space telescope. The double helix ‘twist’ shape has formed due to magnetic forces at the center of the galaxy.

We see two intertwining strands wrapped around each other as in a DNA molecule,” said Mark Morris, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy, and lead author. “Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm. Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas â€” space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order.

more on the double helix nebula can be read at space.com and also in the march journal issue of nature.

the robots are coming

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on March 15, 2006

in general, science/technology and video clips

. 1 Comment

no, wait - the robots are here. soon to be everywhere. no, wait - they are everywhere. from the monkey using brain signals to control a robotic arm to crazy robot exoskeletons (some big and some bigger). robots are on the rise. it’s crazy all the robot news and videos circulating these days. like the ’soft and cuddly’ RI-MAN robot cradling a human in it’s arms? or that freakish robot pack mule a.k.a. big dog? whenever i see these video clips, i have this hunch i’m seeing future military equipment in early developement. scary. like when i see this cute ‘the power of dreams’ ad for Honda’s Asimo robot running & playing with kids, i picture Asimo with m16s strapped to his arms and the kids are screaming and hiding for their lives instead of laughing and playing. but hey - that’s just me. and why does asimo move like a human that has to go to the bathroom really really bad? odd. for video clips, there’s a robot fish, that robot pack mule, dancing robots, robot ballet, robots that transform into little cars, robots that play the flute, robots that conduct a symphony, ‘life like’ human robots (some that look like nagel prints), and humans that move amazingly like robots. robots robots robots. in fact, i can hear one climbing up the side of my house right now. yikes. gotta go!

ship breaking & ship graveyards

Published

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on March 15, 2006

in environment and general

. 3 Comments

check out this amazing and disturbing photo essay by brendan corr called End of the Line. it deals with the dangerous and hazardous work of ship breaking, the piece by piece dismanteling of those gigantic cargo ships, naval vessels, and cruise liners. now almost all of this highly toxic and hazardous work takes place asian countries, mostly in India, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, and Pakistan. workers are often exposed to high levels of asbestos, heavy metals, and other contaminants. greenpeace has been involved in effective activism and campaigns to stop western nations from exporting ‘end of life’ toxic ships to poorer countries. greenpeace has even spotlighted 50 toxic ships, including the Pacific Princess - a.k.a. the love boat, in their campaign.

porn euros!

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on March 14, 2006

in general and oddities

. 0 Comments

unintentional counterfit money - now with porn! seems these highly fake euros (that are cleverly titled eros ’cause they feature naked men and naked women on them ) have managed to be passed off as real currency. what was originally sold as a gimmick in Germany are being successfully passed off as real cash. even though there are no euro notes in denominations of 600, people have fallen for it. behold, the power of porn!

bird flu & planet of the apes

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on March 14, 2006

in general, health and science/technology

. 0 Comments

Planet of the Apes Bird Flu Theory so the recent developements with ye old timey avain bird flu - where the H5N1 deadly disease strain has been passed to a cat and now a weasel (technically a stone martin) - have been reminding me about the story premise for the movie Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. yes. in the movie, a terrible disease has killed off the world’s cats and dogs, leaving humans with no animals to keep as pets, except monkeys and apes. in reality, birds and now cats and ferrets/weasels are all capable of carrying the deadly bird flu strain. so what i’m saying is the basic setup for eventual ape domination is beginning now. just thought i’d mention it here first. this sci-fi moment has been brought to you by nothing-to-blog-about.biz.

ROM, the space night

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on March 13, 2006

in general, oddities and video clips

. 0 Comments

this think sent in a while back (with enthusiasm!) from an unnamed source. but i let it ferment a while before posting it. i think it’s ready now. i’m talking about ROM the Space Knight! i might have even asked santa for one of these well packaged toys back in the day. ROM was low on my list though, well after a big trak and possibly a third stretch monster action figure (the others broke & leaked red-goo). for ROM the space knight, there was a ROM marvel comic book to help kids catch ROM fever. and a cheesey ROM promotional video (wmv format) to add momentum to the never-quite-caught-on ROM phenomenon. from the promo video voice-over:

Far, far away, in another galaxy, the knights of the Solstar Order, defenders of justice and truth, have been ambushed by the evil magicians, the Dire Wraiths. The Solstar Order has prevailed and are now seeking out their scattered enemies. One of these knights has followed the trail of the Dire Wraiths all the way to Earth. This one the Dire Wraiths fear more than all others. This one has hounded them and kept them underground for centuries. This one alone could wipe them off the face of creation …

good stuff. please sign me up for no less then 5 ROMs. now. read & see more of the ROM-ness via Bug Eyed Monster.

a very profound letter

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on March 11, 2006

. 0 Comments

i found this link via metafilter. very profound. it’s a letter titled Letter to Alex and Chris, Twelve Years in the Future. it’s written by a mother to her two sons and what she hopes and expects of them as men growing up in this world. heavy, deep, insightful, and beautiful. the honest root of it:

It is your responsibility, as a man, to protect those who can not protect themselves. If you fail at this, you have failed as a human being. … the job of human beings is to safeguard those who are smaller and do not have the rights and privileges that you yourself have.

but that just barely touches on the truth of what the letter covers. so please read it. you will learn something.

i love you

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on March 11, 2006

. 0 Comments

this is how i’m feeling right now. yes. i justed wanted to let everyone out there know my true feelings. that’s all. and here they are: i love you. i love you all. there, i said it. and you are beautiful too. yes. all of you. i speak the truth. you know this. but first and foremost, i love you. i mean it.

best paper airplane ever

Published

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on March 10, 2006

in general and it's friday!

. 0 Comments

it’s friday. you may have one or two or four hours to kill today. so it’s high time you had a paper airplane flying contest and/or battle at your work. they always turn into battles. so here is a link to detailed online instructions for building the best paper airplane in the world. there’s even printer friendly instructions, that way you can decorate it too. neat! it seems elaborate, but you want the best, right? please enjoy and go bananas.

bacon alarm clock

Published

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on March 10, 2006

in art, general and oddities

. 0 Comments

tough time getting out of bed in the morning? well, now you can wake to the aromatic smell of bacon cooking in the morning! no really. check out this homemade Wake n’ Bacon alarm clock! as the alarm goes off, the bacon gets cooked by two heat lamps in this fancy piggy-shaped alarm clock.

the 157 mpg diesel car

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on March 9, 2006

in environment, general and science/technology

. 0 Comments

wow. from treehugger, a great post on a stylish little diesel powered car that get 157 miles per gallon. hello! the car is called the Loremo AG. it weighs less than a thousand pounds, seats 4, diesel fuel powered (no hybrid technology), aerodynamic, has a modest 2-cylinder, 20 hp turbo engine, a top speed of 100 mph, and does 0-60 mph in ten seconds. no, it’s not a sports car. but who the fuck cares? did i mention it gets 157 miles per gallon? oh, and is anticipated to cost around $13,000? i’m sold. it hits the european market (wah!) in 2009. so cool!

art of basco

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on March 8, 2006

in art and general

. 0 Comments

there’s a great lil’ art show at fifty24 in SF featuring the work of chilean artist basco (also known as Vasko). fecal face has some great pics of the opening. last weekend i snapped a load of photos too and posted a basco artwork set on flickr for your eyeballs. enjoy!

great flickr art post

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on March 8, 2006

in art and general

. 0 Comments

many thanks to flickr member A.J. Franklin for his awesome post and flickr set titled Free Art From The World. i love it! simply put, it’s a photo set of 181 images with great artistic value and no copyright problems. lots to see there. flowers, fish, fruit, birds, skeletons, astrology signs, … etc, etc. check it out when you can.

behold the ‘Yeti Crab’

Published

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on March 8, 2006

in environment, general, oddities and science/technology

. 2 Comments

giantmonster does love all things yeti. so when we heard reports that a lobster with white furry arms had been discovered, we knew two things: 1) aliens have been breeding sasquatches with other earth species (you knew that though). and 2) someone somewhere would get around to calling this new found hairy crustacean a type of yeti (if not, at least half-italian). behold - the yeti crab! found south of easter island near an underwater thermal vent. bbc news has the biggest photo i’ve seen so far.

music for robots SXSW mp3s

Published

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on March 6, 2006

in art, general and music

. 0 Comments

if loving a website for posting a lot of great music is wrong, then i don’t want to be right. the half-human/half-cray computers at music for robots have undertaken the daunting task of organizing and posting mp3s of their favorite 79 bands from SXSW last year. wow - thank you! this best of listing came from the 2 gargantuan torrent files of 942 mp3s posted by the SXSW folks consisting of most of the bands from the 2005 festival. again, wow - thank you! ps - SXSW stands for South by South West - the music, film and interactive conferences and festivals.

ooo000ooo dot com

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on March 3, 2006

in art and general

. 0 Comments

take some time out of your day to visit ooo000ooo.com, the art work of brian morris. the site is in flash, so sadly images can’t be bookmarked. so screengrabbed & hosted here are a few pieces that i like with a capital L: oooOOOooo bookends, oooOOOooo skull shield, oooOOOooo hummels, and oooOOOooo spike & annabelle. also, mr. morris also has a user gallery up at the ever-great fecal face dot com too.