The Jump House

Jump Box 02: October 2009

2009-11-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

SHRAPNEL (Radical Comics)

2009-07-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

Trailer for the comic book and graphic novel SHRAPNEL debut COMICON 2008.

Venus. The last free colony in the system is about to fall. Unbeknownst to the attacking Marine Force or even the Venusian colonists themselves, one of the most infamous heroines of the war is hiding in exile on their planet, hoping to forget her past as a Marine Officer.

Now, she must organize a revolt against the very Marines she once fought alongside and lead the colonies to independence and freedom.

SHRAPNEL is the first book of an epic solar war trilogy set on Venus, the Jovian moons, Mars and finally Earth itself.

Published by Radical Comics, Barry Levine President. Created by Nick Sagan and Mark Long. Written by Zachary Sherman. Produced by Imaginary Friends Studios. Modeling by Exigent3D, Paul Steed CEO. Trailer by Zombie Studios. Soundtrack by Alex Guilbert.

The mech designs are based on Syd Mead's concept art:

(via Boing Boing)

Jump Box: July 2009

2009-07-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

- Metropolis (1927) Poster (via hugo-strikes-back)

- 56 Leonard Street by Herzog and de Meuron

- MOTOrepublic Beta - Electric Motorcycle

- Fly to space in a rocket ship, er, make that a rocket...

- Gary McKinnon, the British hacker accused of accessing U.S. military networks illegally, is fighting extradition to the United States from the UK.

Tenacious Little Robot

2009-03-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

(via DEATH BY VIDEO)

Andy Rooney Hates Bill Gates

2009-03-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

Posted by Johnny Deformed

60 minutes editorial of Bill Gates (via DEATH BY VIDEO)

Assassination markets

2008-11-17T23:16:00.000-08:00

Assassination market
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_market

An assassination market is a prediction market or dead pool where any party can place a bet (using anonymous electronic money, and pseudonymous remailers) on the date of death of a given individual, and collect a payoff if they "guess" the date accurately. This would incentivise assassination of individuals because the assassin, knowing when the action would take place, could profit by making an accurate bet on the time of the subject's death. Because the payoff is for knowing the date rather than performing the action of the assassin, it is substantially more difficult to assign criminal liability for the assassination.

Origin of the concept
An early use of the term can be found in the Cyphernomicon by Timothy C. May, published around October 1994. Jim Bell's later article Assassination Politics described the concept in detail, concluding that as well as being an "unholy mix of encryption, anonymity, and digital cash", the concept could also be used to help minimize violent crime. Timothy C. May, Carl Johnson and Matthew Taylor later developed the protocols to implement the concept online to the point that the IRS, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service investigated their motives for doing so. Jim Bell is currently imprisoned by the federal government of the United States. The US Secret Service circulated copies of 'Assassination Politics' and the relevant Wired articles in 2002. ( Source FOI act copies of documents) During investigations authorities pretended to be sympathizers in emails, posed as ISP representatives and sought Soviet style psychiatric repression in at least one case.

Theoretical objections
It has been argued that the feasibility of an assassination market precludes the development of any form of anonymous electronic money. Nation-states are capable either of arresting and prosecuting those underwriting such hypothetical payment systems as accessories to these crimes, or where the underwriters' assets are offshore, of attacking underwriters or underwriting assets using military options. This follows from the fact that anonymous digital cash requires publicly known underwriters, e.g. banks participating in guaranteeing and forwarding payments made using a hypothetical digital cash. Potential underwriters are very unlikely to be interested in participating under these circumstances. Therefore digital cash systems offering the required degree of anonymity are equally unlikely to arise in practice because the existence of an open assassination market conflicts with a primary purpose of the nation-state, i.e. to provide military security to its government.

Application and implications
These issues arguably left the realm of the theoretical when U.S. stock markets based in Manhattan took a trillion-dollar hit in September, 2001. A serious investigation was launched in Autumn 2001 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to determine whether large blocks of short-sold airline stock could be traced back to Al Qaeda, the group responsible for the terrorist acts carried out on the 11th of September; the investigation eventually announced that the short-selling was part of a legitimate hedging strategy and unconnected to Al Qaeda or other extremist groups, but did not disclose the identities of the beneficiaries.

The extensive cooperation of militant Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups, and suggestions that they were in fact trading targets and objectives in different nations, gave rise to the idea that a covert assassination swap market may well already be in global operation. A group would perform an action in one place and a seemingly unrelated group in another place would profit from the act.

Fictional precursors
The concept of assassination politics is anticipated in Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1964 work, The Visit, in which the appearance of a wealthy benefactress in an economically stagnant small town prompts its poor citizens to purchase new luxuries on credit, all of a sinister yellow color. The woman has promised to give a huge donation to the town on the condition that a certain shopkeeper dies. More and more yellow items appear, signalling to everyone--including the target--that the townspeople are willing to enrich themselves on the promise of his death. Patricia Highsmith's novel Strangers on a Train explored the possibility of bartering murders with a stranger, but complications arose because the strangers met face-to-face, which need not occur in an assassination market.

Source: Wikipedia

Atari Teenage Riot - Too Dead For Me

2008-11-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

Atari Teenage Riot - Too Dead For Me

Source: DEATH BY VIDEO

[Video] Indian space countdown begins

2008-11-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

[Video] Indian space countdown begins
India has begun the countdown for its first unmanned mission to the moon.

[Video] Tourist and crew dock at ISS

2008-11-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

[Video] Tourist and crew dock at ISS
A space tourist from the US has followed in the footsteps of his astronaut father by reaching the international space station.

BBC: Oyster card hack details revealed

2008-10-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

Details of how to hack one of the world’s most popular smartcards have been published online. The research by Professor Bart Jacobs and colleagues at Radboud University in Holland reveals a weakness in the widely used Mifare Classic RFID chip. This is used in building entry systems and is embedded in the Oyster card used on London’s transport network. (via BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Oyster card hack details revealed)

Source: Jump Box 02

[Video] Man in double transplant success

2008-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

[Video] Man in double transplant success
A German farmer who received a double arm transplant has showed off his two new limbs for the first time.

[Video] Website Decodes Customers' DNA

2008-08-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

[Video] Website Decodes Customers' DNA
Ever wonder if you're pre-disposed to a certain illness? A new Web-based company offers the chance for curious customers to decode their DNA at a bargain-basement price. John Blackstone reports.

Japan robot takes baby steps

2008-08-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

Japan robot takes baby steps
July 20, 2007

The latest brainchild robot is toddling CB2, whose baby steps walk a new mile for artificial intelligence. CB2, Japan's latest robot, is making baby steps towards giving inner child new meaning, as researchers try to help young cyborgs develop.FEATURED SPEAKERS:Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, Head of Intelligent Robotics, Osaka University Minoru Asada, Research Director, Japan Science and Technology Agency

[Video] High fashion meets tech with bulletproof clothes

2008-08-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

[Video] High fashion meets tech with bulletproof clothes
Fashion-conscious shoppers can now feel protected without sacrificing either safety or style, thanks a range of designer clothing with built in bulletproof protection. (Aug. 20)

Robots inspired by animals

2008-07-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Robots inspired by animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq8Yw19bn7Q

[Video] Cosmonauts repair Soyuz explosive

2008-07-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

Russian cosmonauts have repaired an explosive bolt on the Soyuz spacecraft in open space.

Interchange - A Photo Set by Ken OHYAMA

2008-05-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

kumiyama03 by Ken OHYAMA

I found this Flickr Set via Boing Boing and the Jump House Tumblog. It's all photographs of Japanese freeway interchanges. Most of the photos are at nighttime and the long exposures create all sorts of surreal colors and lighting.

Gallery of shipping container data centers (via Billy Barehands)

2008-05-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Gallery of shipping container data centers (via Billy Barehands)

[Video] Military Robots Ready for Combat Challenge

2008-05-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

[Video] Military Robots Ready for Combat Challenge
Designers are showing off the latest in military hardware in London. And at first glance, you could mistake this convention for a toy show. But these remote-controlled vehicles are anything but toys. (May 2)

[Video] Web 2.0 Conference Explores Future of Web

2008-05-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

[Video] Web 2.0 Conference Explores Future of Web
This week marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of the World Wide Web. Industry insiders at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco discuss what Internet users can expect over the next 15 years. (April 30)

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote

2008-05-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

Akira (Special Edition) Directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo

2008-05-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

Akira (Special Edition)
Directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Amazon.com Product Description
In 1988, the landmark Anime film AKIRA, by director Katsuhiro Otomo, defined the cutting edge of Anime around the world. By today's standards, Akira remains the pinnacle of cel animation and retains the explosive impact of its highly detailed animation and its intensely violent saga of power and corruption. Neo-Tokyo has risen from the ashes of World War III to become a dark and dangerous megalopolis infested with gangs and terrorists. The government seethes with corruption and only maintains a token control over the powerful military that prevents total chaos and hides the secrets of the past. Childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda plunge into Neo-Tokyo's darkest secret when their motorcycle gang encounters a military operation to retrieve an escaped experimental subject. Tetsuo, captured by the military, is subjected to experiments that make him a powerful psychic, but, unfortunately for Neo-Tokyo, Tetsuo's powers rage out of control and he lashes out at the world that has oppressed him! Nothing can stop the destructive forces that Tetsuo wields except possibly the last boy to destroy Tokyo. Insert: 1) Black BRC response card (regular version).

2) Todd McFarlane Toy Insert (limited to 300,000 total inserts) * Anime masterpiece first time ever on DVD for North American release! * Created and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. Special Features: * Digitally re-mastered including High Definition film transfer, High Definition restoration. * THX Certified * New English dialogue, new 5.1 mix (on the English audio only), scene access and more. * Disc 2 contains supplementary materials including "Akira" Production Report, "Sound Clip," director's interview, trailers, production materials, Restoration of "Akria", and "Akria" glossary. * Widescreen format (1:78) and enhanced for widescreen TV's (anamorphic). Akria The Special Edition (DVD9, 2 discs)

Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 2008)

2008-04-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

[Video] Data losses 'unacceptable'

2008-04-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

[Video] Data losses 'unacceptable'
The Information Commissioner says he has been told of 94 data security breaches since last November.

Tokyo Flash Men's "Barcode SS" Watch

2008-04-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

A couple members of the AM team are sporting Tokyo Flash watches. I highly recommend buying them when they're on sale though. I paid around 79 bucks for my Mugen Futara. This Tokyo Flash Barcode watch is sweet though. Me personally, I'll stick with black. But that shouldn't stop any other nerds from looking smashing in this watch. Some watches are for yuppie scum, these watches are for power nerds. And as I'm writing this, it's on sale for 56% off.

Tokyo Flash Men's "Barcode SS" Watch

Amazon.com Product Description:
If you're looking for an LED watch that is like no other, then grab the science-fiction inspired Barcode SS from the jaw-dropping designer, Tokyo Flash. The colors on this watch are big and bright, and super easy to see. The light-up function starts at 6 PM and goes up to 1 AM every minute; it is also activated when the time button is pressed between 1 AM to 6 PM. It might sound like a tricky way to tell time, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be the envy of all your friends. The Barcode SS measures 2.8 centimeters across, 5.7 centimeters long, and 1.3 centimeters thick, and features a band made of solid stainless steel straps (maximum wrist size 21.5 cm) with a push-button, fold-over clasp.