i posted a map of the burning man 2006 camp layout online & it’s now available. i re-drew the existing map (created by rod garrett) to help out with getting the lovely tea temple back on the playa this year. i added the street names as well as a compass. the map is also posted on the giantmonster burning man map archive. there are two formats availabe: PDF and JPG. feel free to download and use a you wish. interesting but useless fact: at burningman 2001, black rock city had eight concentric streets, nine in 2002, ten in 2003, eleven in 2004, nine in 2005, and again nine in 2006.
Monthly Archive for July, 2006
man, i would love to get arrested for something like this: zombie dancers spend their weekend in lockup. also reported as zombies arrested in downtown minneapolis. but were these six (pretend) undead folks arrested for being zombies? no, they were not. they were actually arrested for suspicion of having “simulated weapons of mass destruction.” no actual charges were filed, but that maybe because they were made up charges. that’s incredible. yay! we’re safer! however minneapolis police were on high alert in reaction to a bulletin about men in other states who wear clown makeup while attacking and robbing people. so it sort of makes sense to lock up the zombies too. i’d hate to be in minneapolis on halloween. thanks for the link jamie!
very cool company that recycles car tires and turns them into highly functional & modular sidewalks. rubbersidewalks is bringing a rubber sidewalk to a city near you. the rubber sidewalk sections are modular & install much like pavers. unlike concrete sections, these sections for sidewalk area to be lifted up for tree root repair and then re-installed. so simple. and it keeps tires out of landfill.
see, it’s a merry-go-round. it’s goes around and around. kind of fun, huh? then someone said ‘wouldn’t it be neat if …?’ and right there is the premise for comedy in this real-live youtube vid titled crawley kids in a tilgate park Tilgate Park Roundabout Girls. i also can’t help but be reminded of the very first happy tree friends episode ‘spin fun knowin’ ya‘ when i watch it. both vids are funny and both vids feature a stellar performance from a merry-go-round. see - it’s a merry-go-round, what could go wrong? special!
it’s friday & maybe you’ve got some time to kill at work. or maybe you don’t, but would rather do something creative and explorative. look no further than the genius interactive worlds over at vectorpark. sooo good and lovely. there’s park, levers, and thomas to play around in (i’m still working on park). enjoy!
sent in from brad, a link titled “dogs floating in space.” it could have meant anything really. but this time it actually meant ‘dogs floating in space’. or more specifically, a new video titled ‘birds’ from the lovely creatives at pleix. the birds video is funny to watch. something about the slo-motion over building electro rock equates with sexy doggie models in 1980’s nagel print setting (now with lasers!). reminds me a bit of the brilliant the aphex twin video ‘windowlicker‘ (windowlicker link NSFW, but soo worth it). oh, & check out the other films at pleix. many good things in there.
i am thankful in between sweating and seeking air conditioned rooms for the gift of laughter. this time it’s provided by the dialy show via onegoodmove.org. if you enjoy the sweet sweet nectar of baby embryos as much as i do, then please watch jon stewart deliver the goods with this great daily show clip of the war on terror-ble diseases.
here’s something you already know: it’s fucking hot right now. yes it is. all the ice cream tubs i buy turn into soup containers in under 5 minutes. wherever you are, you are sweating. last week, NYC was hot hot hot & i felt like i was being poached in my own sweat (kind of liked it though). now, back in the bay area, it was 108 in the shade the other day. man, i’m being baked and cured by the ever-loving ‘dry heat.’ blogging naked is the only solution …
if you are looking to get your paws on a sumptuous yet-skin rug, then please look no further than to the art of debra swann. crazy creepy exoskeletons and invented animal skins. thanks for the link, bko! (also on we make money not art)
more on the things are getting teenier front: a rice granule sized wireless memory chip from hewlett packard. HP researchers have developed a memory chip with wireless networking capabilities that is roughly the same size as a grain of rice. that’s tiny! prototypes of the super hella tiny chip developed by HP contain 256 kilobits to 4 megabits of memory and can transfer data wirelessly at speeds up to 10Mbps. and get this, the lil’ memory chips do not require a battery. they get power using a technique called inductive coupling, which allows power to be transferred from one component to another through a shared electromagnetic field.
this is great! the classic arcade video game space invaders like you never seen it before. it’s space invaders performed live in a theater by the not-so-noisy group. great!!! same space invader sounds too. very fun to watch. check out the website for more info (website is in french).
that’s a lot of space on one DVD. how much? it’s a bit hard to grasp. but 50 terabytes is the same as 51,200 gigabytes, or rather equivalent to 10,893 DVDs (@ 4.7 gigabytes each). completely amazing. these super high capacity DVDs it seems are closer to reality. Professor V. Renugopalakrishnan of the harvard medical school developed a disc with a layer of genetically altered proteins called bacteriorhodopsin that makes the mega-storage 50 terabyte DVDs possible. the proteins are only nano meters across so a lot can fit on the surface of a DVD disc. when light shines on bacteriorhodopsin, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules - each with a unique shape and colour before returning to its original form or ‘ground state’. this is the basis for the binary code for such storage, with the molecular conversion of intermediate molecules being the one and the ‘ground state’ being the zero. Prof Renugopalakrishnan and his colleagues genetically modified the DNA that produces bacteriorhodopsin protein to produce an intermediate state that lasts for more than several years. the finding were presented at the 2006 International Conference On Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. there is more to read about it from articles on engaget and also digital video guru.
i meant to post this last night but forgot! wanted to wish my friend & pal adam a very happy birthday. seems like only yesterday we were tossing pennies down ira keeler’s ever-present & always visible butt crack at the ILM modelshop. now i get to see you on that mythbusting show being pushed down the beach by tory on a weird air sled. seems the penny tossing has paid off! good times! happy birthday you big lug!
something for the ladies browsing giantmonster … big balls. yes, big balls. do you wanna see those testicals without spectacles? then you’re not alone. our sacks really do hang down so low that they put on a little show! from goodie bag TV (great site for rad original videos & shorts).
my friend goose sent me a link to rad pilot episode on the sci-fi channel called the amazing screw on head (direct link to video viewer/player here). it’s really really good. based on the comic book by mike mignola, who also did the art direction. developed & written by brian fuller. main characters are voiced by paul giamatti (screw on head, the hero), david hyde-pierce (rad & bratty villain), and molly shannon (ex-girlfriend, vampire). the look, story setting, and character styles are superb and the dialogue and story is well written and funny too. please check it out. i love the line ‘you make me feel alive and full bodied!’ and ‘i’m going smoke you … any last words before i spark it?’ so good.
i keep watching this clip from the daily show segment called snakes on a plame and laughing. so good. novak is such a pet reporter for the white house, but combined with the rove and the cheney, it’s deadly. just watch. thanks crooks and liars for the post! & thank you jon stewart and crew for the laughs.
interesting post on treehugger around the hype & subject of who killed the electric car. the article covers a recent post to a usenet group detailing problems with the electric car, indicating it’s death was maybe a mercy killing. the usenet poster allegedly worked for GM while the EV1 was in production and lists the numerous customer complaints and problems with the electric car. some of the issues …
The range of 130 miles is bogus. None of them ever achieved that under normal driving conditions. Running the air conditioning or heater could halve that range. Even running the headlights reduced it by 10%.
Lessees were complaining that their electric bills had increased to the point that they’d rather be using gasoline.
Home electrical systems simply couldn’t handle the necessary current draw for “fast” charging.
ouch. seems to take issue with a lot of the points brought up in the movie Who Killed The Electric Car? still, technology moves forward. taking into account the ability to set up a home solar charging station, better NiMH battery systems and options available, and the cost of gas, i’d very much prefer that ride over my gas car any day. one month after GM bought the Hummer from AM General, they discontinued building the EV1s. i just can’t respect that.
thought you’d like this treasure trove of vintage nudes and naked art model photographs. thirteen categories, no less: Daguerreotypes, Academy figures, Saucy scenes, Obscene photography, Erotic Postcards, Peepshows, The Ethnological nude, Pictorialism, Arcadian works, The nude in nature, Open-air nudes, New trends, and Glamour shots and pin-up girls. lots of old black & white & sepia tone shots of art models and studies in various scenes, poses, and settings. nude photography for both art sake and for pure nakedness. good times.
… now with grass! check out this grass lined wheel design project (also via spacing) done by four architecture students of the dalhousie school of architecture in halifax, nova scotia. the project wanted to comment on access to green spaces in an urban environment and the north american obsession with manicured lawns. to me this is a great take on our over emphasis on efficiency as applied to being outdoors (sort of like those popular indoor wave surf parks - experience the outdoors with all the safety of being indoors & none of the hassle of actually going outdoors). very cool. via treehugger.
my friend derek introduced me to the very funny and addictive cartoon The Venture Brothers on adult swim. i am hooked. a bit of a parody of the johnny quest cartoon, venture brothers seems to get better and better as i watch it. as a card carrying member of the nerd, gomer, & geek community (with an emphasis on the sci-fi) i doubt any one fellow nerd could resist the strong comedic gravitational pull that the venture brothers provides. a sample of such pull can be found in the venture brothers season 2 opener. so dumb, yet soo good. and i tip my hat at the duran duran ‘hungry like the wolf’ video reference. very nice.
good read on counterpunch titled: The Veep’s Curious Investment Portfolio: Is Cheney Betting On Economic Collapse? it gets the most of it’s data from a kiplinger’s article titled Are Dick Cheney’s money managers betting on bad news? (see also the kiplingers article on msn with more details on the investments). analysis of the investments show that Cheney is counting on a steadily weakening dollar and interest rates to rise within the US. point being it that it’s going to get much harder to make financial ends meet. of course, Cheney’s economic planners could be making those investments to not make any money (just for funsies!), which means all will be easy. but somehow i doubt that’s the case. good to see the existing wealthy folks who benefit a great deal from the bush administration tax cuts, or rather ‘tax relief‘ as it’s been branded, take their money and re-invest it back in the US economy (note: this last sentence was unfiltered sarcasm).
nice scratch track video of james earl jones doing the first pass of dialogue for darth vader. the vader sessions. or maybe this is the the real dialogue, as it was meant to be seen & heard? hmmm. funny video created by the kids at akjak & link sent in from the derekmonster. please watch the vid below & enjoy! remember, daddy is the breadwinner.
it’s friday & we’re totally peaking! actually, just wrapping up the semi-unofficial week of the brain with this is your brain on ecstasy. it’s a highly informative slideshow (created by emanuel sferios & brought to you by the rad folks at dancesafe) outlining what takes place on a chemical level in your brain when you drop one of those special little MDMA pills or capsules. good stuff (the slideshow too).
a great brain story in the news yesterday finds us here at giantmonster compelled to put down our fireworks and celebrate with the week of the brain! yes - the brain! read the story of terry wallis & his amazing brain. in 1984 and at the age of 19, terry was in an auto accident and ended up in a coma with massive brain injuries. he stayed that way for 19 more years (!) until in 2003 when terry started to speak, then move, and then communicate. turns out terry’s brain rewired itself, building new axon connections that grew across around the back of the brain, forming structures that do not exist in normal brains. amazing and fascinating! more stories on terry wallis found here and here. there’s also a great post (via metafilter) by jake young of scienceblogs.com that covers details & differences on terry wallis’s brain condition. celebrate brain week! got any brain stories?
the future is here! the future is here! granted, there’s still no fancy jetpacks to use for daily travel. but how about bionic technology that enables artificial limbs to be directly attached to human skeleton? researchers and scientists at the Centre for Biomedical Engineering (UCL) in collaboration with Stanmore Implants Worldwide have developed a technique called Intraosseous Transcutaneous Amputation Prosthesis (ITAP). The process involves securing a titanium rod directly into the bone and it allows the prosthesis to breach the skin without risk of infection. very exciting! in celebration, we yet again offer up the opening theme and closing theme to the six million dollar man tv series.
The Six Million Dollar Man - Main Titles.mp3
The Six Million Dollar Man - End Credits Theme.mp3
sometimes you read quotes from people and are inspired - moved even. well, no such quote is going to come from the highly uninformed ted stevens, republican senator from alaska. you may recall senator ted stevens (R-Alaska), who as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, directed millions of dollars to the state of alaska for important projects like the gravina island bridge, known as the embarrassing bridge to nowhere. this was during a national crisis too. good thing a clear thinking & rational man like senator ted stevens also had an important say on the recent net neutrality legislation. in a colluded and completely uninformed speech by senator ted stevens, the giant old fart senator ted stevens got everything completely wrong about the important net neutrality bill - and the internet for that matter. unbelieveable. here’s a sample of the magic (quoting senator ted stevens):
Ten of them (movies) streaming across that internet - and what happens to your own personal internet?
I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?
Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.
what? are you serious? mr. stevens - is your internet email actually a little note strapped to tiny little mouse scurrying through a tangled maze of wires and cats (cats = streaming movies) in an effort to reach you? i don’t know why you would give a speech like that. maybe if you say it outloud you’ll have a better time believing it. RIP real net neutrality. here’s what did pass - the COPE act, with the important markey amendment to the COPE act failing. the major telecommunication companies must be thankful that their interests are cared for by folks like senator ted stevens. but with all that said, there is still hope for net neutrality with the internet freedom and non-discrimination act.