Stop the world Mummy, I want to get off...

WANT!

2009-11-11T17:53:00.002+11:00

Kaneda's bike!

Sure, it's only a 1:6 scale replica, but still... WANT!

via Gizmodo

Governor needs coffee

2009-11-11T15:06:00.001+11:00

Nothing brightens up your day like a disturbing animated gif!

Geeky laws

2009-11-11T11:53:00.001+11:00

Matt Blum has some pretty good updated geek rules.

My favourite is number ten: The Unified Geek Theory: At present, the President of the United States, the wealthiest person in the United States, and the most trusted newscaster in the United States are all geeks. At the same time, movies based on comic book characters are routinely taking in hundreds of millions of dollars. The only reasonable conclusion is: We’ve won!

Full list - Wired

Dance Russian! Dance!

2009-11-10T17:27:00.001+11:00

Domo takes over 7-11

2009-11-10T14:58:00.004+11:00

OMG! EPIC WANT!

Domo, the Japanese stop-action character and meme celebrity, is appearing this fall in an elaborate 7-Eleven (USA) storewide promotion, and his toothy brown face is plastered on everything imaginable.

Tons of signage all over, collectible Slurpee cups (and Domo's own custom flavor, Fuji Frost), character straws, coffee cups, and some truly inventive and funny packaging design.

There's even a Domo mini-site including webisodes featuring Domo's quest for a Slurpee and how he gets a brain freeze in the process.

There's Domo schwag like hats, t-shirts, and books. Evan Brody, the marketing manager for Slurpee, told Brandweek that 7-Eleven's consumers "love crazy Japanese shit."

Considering the fact that I worked at a 7-11 for five years when I was a teenager, I am PISSED that I miss out on the chance to get my hands on this stuff for free (I had my free pick of merchandise, freebies etc - from shotglasses, to test cigars, to giant signage of cartoon characters).

Who knows, maybe it won't even reach 7-11s in Australia... we can only hope.

via EatMeDaily

40,000 pills of pure paranoia

2009-11-09T16:34:00.003+11:00

Doctors from London University have revealed details of what they believe is the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. Consultants from the addiction centre at St George’s Medical School, London, have published a case report of a British man estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, over nine years. The heaviest previous lifetime intake on record is 2,000 pills.

Though the man, who is now 37, stopped taking the drug seven years ago, he still suffers from severe physical and mental health side-effects, including extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression. He also suffers from painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw which often prevents him from opening his mouth. The doctors believe many of these symptoms may be permanent.

The man, known as Mr A in the report in the scientific journal Psychosomatics, started using ecstasy at 21. For the first two years his use was an average of five pills per weekend. Gradually this escalated until he was taking around three and a half pills a day. At the peak, the man was taking an estimated 25 pills every day for four years. After several severe collapses at parties, Mr A decided to stop taking ecstasy. For several months, he still felt he was under the influence of the drug, despite being bedridden.

via Dangerous Minds

Maru - rockin out

2009-11-09T10:04:00.002+11:00

Awesome. Maru - the Japanese cat who likes to jump in and out of things - gets his own music video best-of.

Labelling of GM ingredients in food

2009-11-09T09:44:00.000+11:00

There is a Food Labelling Review taking place in Australia at the moment and it's looking at GM food labelling. Many people want to be able to choose whether to buy it or not (for various reasons), and at what price. We have some GM labelling, but most GM ingredients slip through loopholes. Currently although up to 70% of processed food contains GM ingredients almost none legally require labelling.

You only have until 20th November to ask the Food Labelling Review Panel to LABEL ALL GM FOOD.

First published on GreensBlog

Flux Capacitor Day

2009-11-08T20:19:00.003+11:00

Great Scott! I missed Flux Capacitor Day - November 5th.

To quote Wired directly:

Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown is known for being a member (unverified) of the Manhattan Project, a physics professor at Hill Valley University, and a talented entrepreneur and handyman. But it’s his contribution to the field of temporal physics for which he is best remembered.

According to archival footage, Brown was standing on his toilet seat on the evening of Nov. 5, 1955, attempting to hang a clock in his bathroom, when he slipped and slammed his head on the side of the sink. Upon regaining consciousness Brown reported having “a revelation, a picture, a picture in my head.” A picture which he crudely scrawled down on a piece of paper and subsequently spent 30 years of his life and family fortune to build.

That picture, of course, was the flux capacitor. And as every high school physics student knows, it’s the device that makes time travel possible.

The main hurdle Brown faced with the flux capacitor was delivering enough power to make it function. The capacitor required a staggering 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to generate a time-displacement field. Brown first surmised that meeting the capacitor’s power needs could be accomplished in two ways: either by channeling a nuclear reaction or harnessing a bolt of lightning. Lightning as it turned out, was pretty much out of the question, because it’s impossible to determine when and where a bolt will strike.

Brown decided to go for the nuclear option. He hypothesized that within 30 years, material like plutonium would be easily obtainable — probably available in corner drugstores. It turned out he was dead wrong.

By 1985 Brown had squandered his family fortune and allegedly committed several acts of insurance fraud to finance his time machine. Built from a Delorean DMC-12 (whose stainless steel body had a direct and influential effect on flux dispersal), it was fitted with a working flux capacitor that was powered by a nuclear reactor. Desperate for fuel, Brown duped a group of Libyan terrorists into providing him with weapons-grade plutonium.

At 1:21 a.m Oct. 25, 1985, Brown (with the help of his protege, Martin McFly) was able to successfully — and safely — send his dog forward and then McFly back in time. After a series of setbacks resulting from the first temporal displacement, Brown and McFly would travel to the years 1955, 2015 and 1885.

Unfortunately, because of a railroad accident near Hill Valley’s Eastwood Ravine a day later, Brown’s DeLorean along with its flux capacitor was destroyed. Despite repeated requests from the media and scientific communities, Brown has declined interviews and refuses to share or replicate the flux capacitor’s technology.

The incidents leading up to the time machine demise also served as the basis for the award-winning documentary, Back to the Future.

The governing principles of hipsterism

2009-11-08T00:13:00.003+11:00

Thou shalt only wear glasses with a diameter of 10cms, and sourced from a previous decade
Thou shalt only wear jeans that cut off circulation
Thou shalt be incredibly clear about which giant corporations you hate, and which you slavishly worship
Thou shalt only listen to music so 'independent' it has never been heard before or will be heard again
Thou shalt only shave thy face/legs with a number two hair clippers - no more, no less
Thou shalt wear flannel at all times, except when in southern states of the USA
Thou shalt always refer to film directors as 'auteurs'
Thou shalt only wear Dunlop volleys or Converse hi-tops (brand new, but with customised designs hand-drawn in sharpie by a fellow hipster who is 'about to break through in tattoo art')
Thou shalt know where to find a warehouse party at all times of day or night
Thou shalt wear vintage Raybans at all times - no exceptions
Thy hair shall require large amounts of hair product to maintain pomp, and under no circumstances be of even length on either side of the head
Thou shalt not smile. EVER
Thou shalt only smoke Parliaments or cigarillos
Thou shalt maintain a large yet thinned moustache, reminiscent of an Asian teenager
Thou shalt only engage in activities reminiscent of childhood play (water balloon fights, egg and spoon races, drawing with crayons)
Thou shalt worship at an altar made from multiple copies of Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Brave New World and Strunk and White's Elements of Style
Thou shalt have at least one fat, single, bearded friend
Thou shalt choose from one of the following diets: vegetarian, vegan, freegan or fruititarian. All require regular dumpster-diving
Thou shalt only wear ties thinner than one finger, several cravats at once or a keffiyeh
Thy transport shall be a single-geared bike, a large-wheeled trike or public transport (this last option can only be utilised late at night, and as a last resort)
Thou shalt operate thy own blog, but refer to it as an 'independent publishing venture'
Thou shalt only operate out-of-date technology (polaroid cameras, large 80s DJ-style headphones, VHS video cameras) with the exception of the latest Blackberry or iPhone

Above all else, remember the overarching principle: it's cool only if it's ironic, and it's no longer ironic when it's cool.

Special moustaches

2009-11-07T10:52:00.001+11:00

Check out this gallery in the Times of moustaches.

Like this guy: Fred Macpherson, 22, musician/broadcaster

"I thought a moustache would make me a gent. I was wrong. I went for an Oswald Mosley look, but it went out of control and I feel a little like a sleazy children’s entertainer. People think I am mad or a sex offender."

And yet you seem to have kept it. Yes, I often keep an element of myself even after I acknowledge it makes me look like a sex offender...

via Look at this fucking hipster

Where the dirty hipsters are

2009-11-07T10:42:00.001+11:00

This looks way better than the original. I mean... Spike Jonze is so yesterday.

via YesButNoButYes

Be a prick and be better for it.

2009-11-07T09:52:00.003+11:00

Yeah! Suck it up you happy freaks! I'm bitter and grumpy, and because of it, I'm better than you!

An Australian psychology expert who has been studying emotions has found being grumpy makes us think more clearly. In contrast to those who operate on a happy basis, miserable people are better at decision-making and less gullible, his experiments showed. While cheerfulness fosters creativity, gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking

Professor Joe Forgas from the University of New South Wales says a grumpy person can cope with more demanding situations than a happy one because of the way the brain "promotes information processing strategies".

"Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, co-operation and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world."

The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style".

And it doesn't stop there - all you happy freaks in Perth, Brisbane or Darwin have been shot down again - Melbourne is making me smarter every dreary day. His earlier work shows the weather has a similar impact on us - wet, dreary days sharpened memory, while bright sunny spells make people forgetful.

via BBC

Bird bread shuts down LHC

2009-11-06T22:08:00.003+11:00

Welcome to the latest news on the black hole of death that will kill us all. No, it's not future versions of the scientists interfering with the project. Well, not this time anyway - now it's a bird that dropped a piece of bread on a section of the accelerator, causing a complete shut down of the whole operation.

The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic failsafes would have shut down the machine.

via Popular Science

Supreme Master TV

2009-11-04T18:00:00.003+11:00

There's a bloody great big banner of this cult at Canberra airport, and it's terrified me every time I land here.

Supreme Master TV is out to make me believe in climate change, and that veganism can save all our souls. But I've never actually seen their television broadcasts.

Until now.

Ok... so aside from the thousands of different language subtitles, the praise for the benevolent President of Uganda and the weird newsreaders... no, it's still way creepy.

Duuuuuude...

2009-11-04T16:14:00.000+11:00

This hurts my brain, but I can't stop watching.

Soda Pop Stop

2009-11-04T14:13:00.002+11:00

John Neese, owner of Soda Pop Stop store in LA talks about his store, standing up to Pepsi-Cola and his passion for small-scale creators of soft drink.

He's so cute - I love this guy! I also want to go to his store and become very sick by trying every single one of his sodas.

via BoingBoing

We're gonna die as hard as we can

2009-11-03T23:18:00.003+11:00

Finding this just made me remember about another awesome song about a movie.

I found this on the special features of the Die Hard 4 DVD (I know, I was bored).

Seriously - watch it. It's awesome. And after listening to this, you don't have to watch any Die Hard movie again.

Halloween

2009-11-03T22:52:00.003+11:00

Really, the only reason I'd like to be in America during Halloween would be to see this sight - some truly awesome Where The Wild Things Are costumes on the subway.

On the other hand, this has to be my favourite costume so far:

via Buzzfeed

BTTF in rap form

2009-11-03T19:08:00.002+11:00

YES! Finally! I knew if I just held out and waited, someone, somewhere would do a Back to the Future rap!

"I wake up in a room - am I going insane?
A hot slut says 'Hi, my name is Lorraine."

Yip Yip Y'all

2009-10-30T13:32:00.001+11:00

I wish more rap concerts were like this.

WANT!

2009-10-29T18:43:00.001+11:00

One awesome thing about expecting a child is the ability to buy silly things that you'd otherwise have to stop and think about.

Case in point - WANT!

Go Home on Time Day

2009-10-29T15:16:00.001+11:00

We can all find it tricky to leave the office or finish work on time. That's why this November 25th is national Go Home on Time Day. It's your opportunity to postpone all those "one last thing" tasks, emails and late meetings, and leave work on time for a change. What you do next is up to you!

The latest research from The Australia Institute finds that Australians work more than 2 billion hours of unpaid overtime every year! Around half of all employees work more hours than they are paid for. On average, a typical employee works 49 minutes of unpaid overtime per day. For full-time workers, the average daily amount of unpaid work takes more than one hour.

Overwork can have negative consequences for your physical and mental health, your relationships with loved ones and your sense of what is important in life.

Go Home On Time Day is an initiative of The Australia Institute, the country's most influential progressive think tank. Based in Canberra, it conducts research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues in order to inform public debate and bring greater accountability to the democratic process.

To show your support and get your personalised leave pass and reminder, visit the Go Home on Time Day website.

First published on GreensBlog

Baby Einstein founded on 'mothers instinct' not research

2009-10-29T09:42:00.004+11:00

I've never really trusted the idea of Baby Einstein (those baby learning products that purport to increase your child's intelligence), so reading this post on BoingBoing just seems to affirm that stance:

As a young entrepreneur years ago, I found this interview with Julie Aigner-Clark (founder of Baby Einstein, who sold her $20 million enterprise to Disney in 2001) to be pretty inspiring, but it's turned funny in light of last week's news about the big Baby Einstein refund -- what The New York Times says is "a tacit admission that [Baby Einstein products] did not increase infant intellect." No kidding. Here's a bit of that old Aigner-Clark interview:

"I didn't have a video background, but my husband and I borrowed video equipment and started to shoot scenes on a tabletop in my basement. I put a puppet on my hand and plopped my cat down in front of the camera. My husband and I used our home computer to edit our first video... Everything I did in the first videos was based on my experience as a mom. I didn't do any research. I knew my baby. I knew what she liked to look at. I assumed that what my baby liked to look at, most other babies would, too."

It's pretty clear that Baby Einstein was not rooted in cognitive research as they had boldly claimed and many parents believed. Worse yet, scientists at the University of Washington concluded that these videos actually hindered language development in infants. Lucky for me, I came across the interview before I my daughter was born so every time a friend offered us hand-me-down Baby Einstein products, I would immediately picture this woman wagging puppets in front of a Handycam in her basement and would politely decline.

Lord of the Fries

2009-10-29T09:20:00.001+11:00

My first (hopefully of many) submissions to Tanks A Lot: Lord of the Fries.