you’re supposed to be wearing green when you read this. it’s saint patrick’s day today, so have a happy one.
Archive for the 'general' Category
i liked reading this: Around 300 women rural residents in Brazil burst into a property owned by the US company Monsanto and destroyed a plant nursery and crops containing genetically modified corn. the women were from the group via campesina and were protesting brazil allowing monsanto and bayer to move ahead with developing genetically modified crops (GMC). brazil legalized genetically modified crops in 2005. last month french officials banned one of the approved monsanto GMCs to be grown in brazil, MON810, after doubts over the GMC’s safety. go ladies! monsanto is evil.
great chart via good magazine that displays which of the USA’s largest food producers & corporations are behind your favorite organic foods. always good to know where your dollars go. i didn’t know coca cola owned odwalla. or that pepsi owned naked juice.
great time lapse video footage of fog covering san francisco. the video was shot in HD on february 8th, 2008 and filmed from across the bay in sausilito. warning: gratuitous amounts of fog - this could be classified as fog porn. for a bit less fog, hd-sf.com has this really great night-to-day-to-night time lapse footage of san francisco for your viewing pleasure.
home for sale! want to own a beautifully restored historic victorian home? i believe you do. this lovely house at 395 west main avenue in morgan hill california is for sale (first time in 31 years). this home sits on a large corner lot and is just amazing! great neighborhood that’s walking distance to the library, historic downtown & shops, good schools, and parks. the spacious yard includes a white picket fence, a well maintained lawn & plants, over 13 rose bushes, large organic garden area, multiple fruit trees, and large, mature trees as well. the historic home was built in 1906 and was home to the first mayor of morgan hill. 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, updated modern wiring and copper plumbing, hardwood floors throughout, leaded glass windows, incredible kitchen and family room area, dining room, living room, outside patio & deck, bar, partial basement, and more. the home is listed with realtor marge fiorenza of keller williams realty. please call 831-644-9809 if interested. and much much love to everyone who helped on this massive project, especially in the last 2 years!
the mighty syd gris and crew at opel productions are hosting the time is now - the opel 6 year anniversary party! it’s happening saturday, march 22nd. “If you were living the life you wanted to lead, how would it be different? If you were the YOU you wanted to be, what would change? What are you waiting for? The Time is Now.” very nice. & if those words don’t seem incredibly apropos, then perhaps the music lineup will work for you: meat katie & lee coombs to host along with other great djs. but wait, there’s a fashion show too! oy! and it’s at temple in SF!? double oy!
oy! fresh on the heels of my skydiving post, please check out this amazing clip of extreme base jumping in wingsuits. beautiful!!!! what are wingsuits you ask? think giant flying squirrels. closest thing to flying. great audio on the video too.
a new art show opening titled solo flight featuring the art work of mike davis will be held at the lovely white walls gallery in san francisco this saturday night (3/15/2008). the show runs through to april 14, 2008. peep the white walls website for a preview of the show and more information.
if you are interested in turning your world around (who isn’t, really?) then giantmonster highly recommends jumping out of a plane with the great people at bay area skydiving. bay area skydiving is located in byron, california - just a quick drive from san francisco/oakland. very professional and very courteous and very fun crew (thanks vic and connie!). this was my first time skydiving and what a blast!!!!!!! a truly fantastic experience! a bit like being reborn & having the words ‘totally winning’ tattooed on your soul at the same time. such a rush and thrill in facing your fears. seriously, what are you waiting for? choose a skydiving package and book a jump today! do it!
it’s very nice to see something low tech and simple executed with great style. from late show with david letterman comes this clip of austrailian artist/unusualist raymond crowe performing his art of hand shadow puppetry. very amazing - right down to louis armstrong’s eye! see more of this unusualist at raymond crowe dot com.
performed in the main concourse at grand central station in new york city, the skit frozen at grand central by improv everywhere has been so successful and inspiring that the performance is now spawning copies around the world. there is the great trafalgar square freeze in london, freeze on grafton street in dublin, ireland, and the san francisco freeze to name just three. but there are many many more freeze events listed on the improve everywhere website & definitely worth checking out. video of the original grand central freeze plus a few more are posted below. so great! & speaking of freeeeze …
Frozen at Grand Central - january 31st, 2008
The Great Trafalgar Square Freeze - february 16th, 2008
SF Freeze - february 23rd, 2008
as if it needs mentioning, the drug methamphetamine is absolutely horrible. to drive that point home further, jezebel is hosting a short clip from the A&E show Intervention of Cristy, the 24 year girl who has been a meth user & addict for 10 years. it is very very sad and disturbing. longer video clips of this episode are available on youtube. if that isn’t enough, there’s an informative page via pbs frontline on how meth destroys the body. this is the worst drug. just awful. seeing what meth use does to people is the best deterrent. please avoid at all costs.
the art gallery anno domini located in san jose, ca is currently presenting ‘victims’ by barron storey. the solo show features new illustrations, sculpture, and installation pieces by barron storey that depict the damaged and the wounded. you can also see extensive images of the ‘victims’ art show via the flickr photo art show sets of astrogirl and atomicmonk. barron storey’s ‘victims’ art show runs at anno domini from february 1st through march 15th 2008. definitely worth a visit.
it’s friday, and is that bike you’ve parked on the street secure? not sure? if you have any doubts, then you need the hot new cheek lock invented in the giantmonster labs. yes! all security systems pale in comparison to this awesome new bike lock. never wonder or worry about where you’ve parked your bike again. totally! order one today.
sort of like the obey giant obama hope poster but with a bit more style & punch, numlok has created some rad hilary nope posters which are viewable & printable from his flickr account. good stuff numlok!
tomorrow night, february 20th - 2008, a total lunar eclipse is occurring which will be very visible in north america (as well as south america). the moon will appear to change color & turn orange to blood red. for those in california/Pacific Standard Time zone, the partial lunar eclipse begins at 5:43pm, then moves into total eclipse at 7:01pm and out of total eclipse at 7:51pm, then out of partial eclipse at 9:09pm. that gives you about a 3 hour window to see some sort of lunar eclipse happening. so be sure to watch it! awesome lunar eclipse photo via mr.eclipse.com.
the nerdy yet very mighty wondercon approacheth the san francisco moscone center this weekend! plus the even mightier folks at maverix studios are having a wondercon party & showing off their many talents. awe-shume! i know folks like rhode and jamie will be exhibiting their hot stuff (& their comics & drawings too) at wondercon. are you going? are you exhibiting? feel free to post your booth info all up in the comments. see you there!
sent in from jonathan, here’s a link via ticketbooth to view all the Oscar nominated animated shorts online. listed below are embedded video links to the five nominated animated shorts. the oscars are broadcast this sunday Feb 24th, 2008. thanks jonathan for the link!
Peter & the Wolf - part 1 (part 2) (part 3)
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
I Met the Walrus (trailer only) (website)
incredible! myaspartameexperiment.com is a very detailed website of an extensive experiment conducted by a private citizen on the effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame (nutrasweet). in short: stop using anything with nutrasweet/aspartame today! the experiment was conducted by victoria inness-brown, MA. inness-brown put a group of rats on a steady diet containing nutrasweet for 2 years and 8 months. the aspartame received daily by her rats was equivalent to two-thirds the aspartame contained in a 8 ounce can of diet soda (meaning it was less than the human equivalent of the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for aspartame as set by the FDA). the results are startling -the rats fed nutrasweet developed tumors, eye diseases, bone disorders, and eventually died. quoting the website for the basis of the experiment:
“I did my aspartame experiment because my family was addicted to diet soda. After researching the effects of aspartame, I strongly believed the artificial sweetener might one day lead to their illness and even early death.”
WARNING: the website myaspartameexperiment.com contains disturbing images of rats with symptoms of severe diseases and and illness. you can review the setup for the nutrasweet experiment here. fyi: nutrasweet is another bad product made by monsanto (the makers of round-up, agent orange, rBST/rBGH).
wired has an amazing gallery of nanoscale images and scans. the incredible images of were captured using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). you can view a schematic of how a STM works and also watch this video of a scanning electron microscope filming a scanning tunneling microscope in action.
fellow nerds & geeks can now safely go where no such nerd has allegedly gone before with this very handy map of the star trek universe. the map is a scan from Star Trek Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek. yeah, totally. additional star trek inspiration available here. trek map via geekstir.
hey - foodies! if you love food (and drinks, yes, can’t forget drinks), or try to keep up with what good restaraunts and good food & foodie events are taking place in san francisco & bay area, follow foodie gossip, or all of the above, then you will really like tablehopper. you will. the culinary swashbuckler that is marcia gagliardi writes fantastic food reviews and food related articles. i highly recommend it. thanks marcia!
finally, a non-lethal weapon that is fun at parties too! introducing the LED Incapacitator, a flashlight-like device that emits a nauseating strobe light to the effect of making its targets throw up. that is correct: we have a barf gun! point this flashlight in the face of an attacker - or even a friendly work acquaintance or loved one - and the blinding light combined with the continuously changing colors and pulses of the LED capacitator will make them temporarily sick and vomit! great for parties, boring powerpopint presentations, and halloween. i’m ordering 4 right now!
on a trip from san francisco to new york back in october of 2007, i took the opportunity to fly the then new virgin america. the cabin interior is really great - very slick and very comfortable (as in roomy with great seats & well lit). each seat has a touch screen kiosk with a wired remote control/mini-keyboard in the back. with the kiosk system, you can watch videos, buy food, text/chat with other passengers, play video games, and all that. very convenient and very cool! shortly after take off, my kiosk froze up (very highly possibly due to my spazzing out on the typepad) and had to be re-booted. when the startup scripts where running, i got to see that virgin america uses linux to run their in flight kiosk system. i liked that too! with the kiosk now up & running, i cued up a big daddy kane video and ordered some drinks. thanks virgin!
meet the world’s largest wind turbine! it’s the enercon E-126 made by enercon. this beast is gigantic! The length of each rotor blade measures 413 feet (126 meters)! the first E-126 wind turbine was setup near emden, lower saxony, germany in november 0f 2007. though it’s rated to generate 6 Megawatts of power, it is expected to go much higher - up towards 7+ megawatts (20 million kilowatt hours per year). with those figures, enercon expects one e-126 wind turbine to generate enough power for 5,000 households of four in europe. awesome!
it’s super tuesday (isn’t every day super, though, really?) and that means you are supposed to vote. with that in mind, does your vote actually get counted? it has been 8 years since the 2000 election and electing officials to office still remains broken and rigged. please watch this very homemade but accurate video showcasing how simple it is to hack and change the results of optical scan vote machines. while the video focuses on recent new hampshire primary, these same optical scan machines are used throughout the country and are becoming the preferred system in california - even though they are still hackable! related links:
Open Source Voting Consortium
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Black Box Voting
do you sometimes attempt to feel slightly better about yourself by rejoicing in the embarrassment and/or failures of others? well, you are not alone. serving up slices of fail pie are these three photo blogs that will darken or brighten your day: the fail blog, shipment of fail, and doing it wrong. failing never felt so good.
artist maurizio savini creates some very amazing sculptures using pink chewing gum as his medium of choice. check out a few of the the fleshy looking creations below. link via dumptrumpet.
it’s friday and giantmonster would like to provide a clear example of how to ruin a billboard. it’s simple, as seen in these pics from the las vegas mccarran international airport baggage claim area. just place the words ‘carrot top’ and ‘fantasy’ right next to each other. you look up and read ‘carrot top fantasy’ and your mind will almost immediately shut down. carrot top and fantasy are words that should NEVER be used in the same sentence, much less follow each other in the same sentence. yet in vegas, such horrors exist. why? so scary. you are warned. please travel safe! previous carrot top horrors unleashed here.
from wpcandy comes a very handy wordpress help sheet and an equally handy yet more advanced wordpress help sheet. they also have a wordpress reference guide for developing your own wordpress blog theme. lots of other goodies on the wpcandy site. thanks wpcandy!