A blog by Rob Cruickshank.

 
Special Guest!
I'll be away for a while, and, to keep things interesting, I've handed the keys to the car to Von Bark. He loaned me an apple II clone back in '84, he's trained in Telidon, and he likes kittens. So he's fully qualified.
posted 12:28 PM

 
Laibach Kittens! Woo!
posted 8:58 PM

 
Better to get them that puppy or kitten after all.
posted 7:25 PM

 
The other night I went here, and saw this. I feel happy if I can find the green extension cord to light up the minilights in the scraggly little bush in my front yard. The Lindsay brothers have it a little more together...they scare me. Make sure you see this stuff in action.
posted 5:21 PM

 
I actually had a nightmare after reading about this. Now you can too!

posted 10:02 PM

 
When I heard that there was going to be a live action Thunderbirds movie, I cringed a bit, thinking for sure they'd screw it up. Today, I saw the trailer, and it really looks like they didn't screw it up. Please, please, let the movie be even half as cool as those shots of Thunderbird 2!
Note to younger readers: Please do educate yourself on this topic. Forget all your Transformers and Voltrons and whatever the hell you watched growing up. My generation had the coolest show ever.
posted 9:19 PM

 
Stalinist Macarena meets Teletubbies.
(via excitement machine)
posted 3:12 PM

 
It seems I'm the last to find out about Hatt-baby.
Uh, thanks MK.
posted 11:17 PM

 
Get a fresh bulb for the colour wheel, and a can of pine-scented air freshener and go to: Aluminumchristmastrees.net .
posted 11:03 PM

 
Please, think of the kittens.
(via b3ta, as was the previous post, now that I think of it.)
posted 5:26 PM

 
Here's an on-line game that is not unlike the Johnny Astro of yesterday's post.
posted 12:03 PM

 
Finally, I think I've found a picture of a toy that I've had a vague half-memory of since I was little. I never had one, I just remember playing with it, but could never recall more than a few fragments, like a fan, a balloon, and a target-like thing. I remember it being black and yellow, though. I realize no one but me cares about this, but at least it's a cool toy.
Update: Here's a better site. This is definitely the thing I remember.
This has been bugging me for 30 years. Now can I can relax.

posted 8:59 PM

 
Bob the Builder is not a Yakuza.
posted 7:07 PM

 
An interview with the Brothers Quay.
(via gmt+9)
posted 9:43 PM

 
"Translucent fluffy jelly." Now U can make an aspic of yerself...
(via boingboing)
posted 6:46 PM

 
Things to make and do. (Some of which may be dangerous)
This man shares my tastes for some of the finer things in life.
posted 10:01 PM

 
Seems like ya just can't have any fun anymore.
(via /.)
posted 8:55 AM

 
Doctor, my chicken is a little horse.
posted 11:20 PM

 
The mittens were only the beginning! Yikes.
(via coudal partners)
posted 11:06 PM

 
I think that looking at too many Virgil Partch cartoons at an early age permanently affected my ability to draw hands.
posted 9:26 PM

 
LED watches are cool again. I have a new one. Now I want some old ones. When I had one as a kid, I actually got a sore on my finger from pushing the button too much. A highlight of junior high shop class, circa 1977, was putting a buffing wheel on the bench grinder and taking all the scratches out of the faceplates. (at least for those of us who weren't making bongs, or sniffing Varsol)
posted 8:23 PM

 
Czech puppets
(Via gmtPlus9)
posted 10:30 PM

 
This Hobo Jungle is a Snap-Fit O Scale Plastic Assembly Kit from Bachmann's Plasticville, USA. Easy Assembly for Ages 8 and Older.
posted 7:39 PM

 
"Well folks, I’ve been asked to tell a little about HOBOS to a group
of people who have no real Idea, so I’m sending what I decided to
write up to see what you’re Ideas on this are!"

posted 7:21 PM

 
Show and Tell Music. I think I have to go to Goodwill right now.
(Thanks Chris!)
posted 11:15 PM

 
Leisuretown is gone!
One last little taste here, for who knows how long.
Anyone who has a copy of QA Confidential saved will be my friend for life.
posted 6:04 PM

 
Skateboarding is not a crime. In Oregon. Meanwhile, here in Toronto, our dumb-ass politicians are still fighting bike lanes.
posted 2:05 PM

 
Toy rayguns. Lots of em. Shame about the tiny pictures.
posted 9:30 PM

 
There seem to be a couple punch cards missing in the HTML on this one, but no big deal. Lookit some Early Computers!
posted 9:13 PM

 
If you were framing these, would you use acid-free matte board?
(via coudal partners)
posted 7:27 PM

 
"The next day when we woke up we both felt very wierd, i dont think that ive came down all the way, although i do. But i dont think i'll ever totally come back to reality."

Just say no to Vicks44 and paint, kids...
(thanks, GVB!)


posted 7:19 PM

 
Today is the day that Joey Ramone Place is being dedicated! Hey! Ho!
posted 10:46 AM

 
Today is the first anniversary of Endless Parade of Excellence! A whole year of trivial crap, and I don't think I ever posted anything twice! Thanks to you, the readers-your comments and praise (and weird-ass links, of course) keep it going.
posted 10:41 AM

 
It says right on the Q-tip box that you can use them for art.
posted 11:08 AM

 
Radioactive stuff, razor blades,and lightning! This looks like a fun experiment. Oh, and by the way, you have to climb up on your roof. In a lightning storm. Please be careful.
posted 5:21 PM

 
Electroplated lizards, the "Sweat of the Devil", pierced rabbits, the "Tiger of Chemistry",and more!
Don't come crying to me if you actually try any of this stuff.
posted 11:05 AM

 
More fun than cracking open a smoke detector or licking a radium clock, it's the Health Physics Instrumentation Museum!
posted 5:20 PM

 
People keep asking me about analog computers. Here's an
Analog Computer Museum with some very cool stuff. Don't miss the Librascope! Is that pile of linkages a "before" or an "after" shot?
posted 11:28 AM

 
Holy rocket pr0n batman! A megadose of space art in children's books!
When I was in elementary school, I checked this out a couple hundred times. They should have just given it to me.
(via coudal partners)
posted 12:03 PM

 
Even if I can't get my hands on some potassium dichromate, I plan to walk around saying "Mercury Beating Heart" all day. You wouldn't be needing that thermostat now, would you? Thanks.
posted 11:18 AM

 
Roger. Can you turn your wobulator
on now and leave it on?
Roger. It has been on, and I haven't touched it.
Roger. Understand.
Do you want it off?
posted 12:55 PM

 
Derrida, pom-poms and off-sales: what else but Meta-Parade at the Grey Cup
posted 1:56 PM

 
This sort of thing is why we need the internet.
posted 1:22 PM

 
"After the students attach a black plastic crucifix, they pray that the rosaries will never have to be used in or near combat."

Much safer than these, which could betray your position to the enemy.

Update: Why should the Christians have all the fun with glow-in-the-dark stuff?
posted 4:45 PM

 
I can understand VW, but c'mon-lexus? You take that, you deserve a bad trip.
Lots of nicer looking pills...
(via memepool)
posted 10:14 PM

 
HORRIBLE LOVECRAFT/WOODRING MUTANT LEMON
Yikes. Don't say you weren't warned.
(via boingboing)
posted 9:32 PM

 
Synchroballistic photos of skateboarders. Finally, a use for the kickflip!
(via thingsmagazine)
Synchrohuh?
posted 6:23 PM

 
When I was a little kid, the wattmeter on the back of our house was a mystical object, second only perhaps, to our grandmother's cuckoo clock. Pretty soon these things are going to be all digital, if they aren't already. Nerdy kids will have to obsess about something else, I guess.
(via coudal partners)
posted 10:56 AM

 
Oh man, I think Thomas Ray is my new favorite author:


once apon a time there was

a girl on a island.

she wose stock. there was water al around.

then sodnly a canoe came to save the girl.

in the newspapir it sed

girl stock on isalnd.


posted 10:01 PM

 
"Far away in a foggy place called Dangor livved a squrell. And it's that squirell that is going to tell us the story of the gras in Dangorgor. "

posted 9:48 PM

 
This is very cool. I love the aesthetics of the vinyl sampling and sequencing station.
Everything should look like that.
posted 4:28 PM

 
I promised a bunch of you that I'd tell you where to get your own Mexican Wrestling Mask.

posted 10:08 PM

 
skeletons are cool, any way you slice em.
(via /.)
posted 3:46 PM

 
"Today we will seize back this ritual. Today is the day we throw away those safe, cute carving tools. Today. We will buy a big, ugly, pumpkin so large one man cannot lift or move it. Today. We will carve that sumbitch into something ugly and plop it on the front porch. October 31st we will light it brightly enough to give visiting children suntans."

Couldn't have said it better myself. Me, I'm into speed carving. This year, I took 15 minutes for the whole job. (and that includes carving 3 eyes) And stencils? Don't get me started. If you can't draw a frowny face by now, perhaps you should go back to grade 3 art class, and try to pay attention this time, OK?
posted 10:23 AM

 
Way back in the 80s, I gave my friend a reel-to-reel tape (!) with a bunch of stuff on it, including Frankie Teardrop by Suicide. If you know the song, (it's about a guy who kills his whole family) you might understand why she got more than a little bit freaked out by it. (She was listening on headphones, which made it worse.)
If you have a guinea pig named Frankie Teardrop, I suggest getting him his own cage. Just to be on the safe side.
(thanks GVB!)
posted 6:46 PM

 
Hidden pictures in chips! No, not like this.
(thanks Slobo!)
posted 3:44 PM

 
The Tulse Luper Suitcases. You probably want a fast connection and some patience.
posted 2:54 PM

 
listening to:
Resonance FM
posted 12:33 PM

 
Are those drugs?
posted 3:23 PM

 
6 more legs than a turkey.
(via bifurcated rivets)
posted 2:51 PM

 
One of those things that probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
posted 5:24 PM

 
Start with a plastic skull. Wash it well, and make sure that it's clean enough to eat off of. Because that's what you're going to do!

posted 10:37 AM

 
Tufty: helpful traffic safety squirrel, or enslaver of mankind?
Why whould they pick a squirrel as a traffic safety mascot? We had an elephant*. There's a lot of train safety stuff on Elmer's site, so maybe Elmer is just a scaled up version of the squirrels on my street.

*memo to the web monkeys who did the Elmer site: those bubbles he's blowing out of his nose kinda read as big globs of elephant snot. Please rethink that one.
posted 7:16 PM

 
"A bigheaded Aptosaurus statue is entered via a staircase. Inside the belly, surrounded by red and white dino guts decoration, you'll find a heart-shaped Jesus."
I think I have to check this place out...


posted 4:31 PM

 
Cream snowflake experiment!
posted 4:18 PM

 
Tickle ME, Elmo. Sorry about your head.
(via boingboing)
posted 2:32 PM

 
Not keen on this? Then make ur own one of these!
(via /.)
posted 10:55 AM

 
"Looking back it is quite disturbing to think I derived so much pleasure from sitting back watching kids beaten up purely because I had asked for it to be done. Mind, this is probably the only real power I ever had, and I doubt whether I will experience it's like again."

The Law of the Playground is full of good stuff. When I was in grade 4 or so there was a brief fad which involved hyperventilating, then having someone squeeze your chest really hard until you almost passed out. Amazingly, no one died. This was actually considered fun, until the teachers made everyone stop.
(thanks to GVB, who I seem to recall made a good video in art school of kids beating the shit out of eachother in a playground, or maybe that was someone else.)

posted 8:28 PM

 
Bee beards. They're not just a guy thing anymore.
"When the bees are on you it feels like little suction cups are stuck to you"
posted 2:26 PM

 
Totally mind-blowing carbon dust beetle illustrations.
(via coudal partners)
posted 2:06 PM

 
CDs? Lightbulbs? Soap? More soap? Peeps?
Yawn.
Ok, now you have my attention. And if anyone asks, the answer is: "Nothing...just fish..."
(thanks, Kat!)
posted 2:16 PM

 
"The idea behind the 'bee-vacuum' is exceptionally simple in design and you'll have much more fun in retrieving swarms or hives." - Matthew Westall
posted 1:32 PM

 
Cow-sized guinea pig! Somehow, it shrinks from being buffalo-sized in the headline to cow-sized in the body of the article, but so what? It was still a big-ass guinea pig.
(via boingboing)
posted 9:49 AM

 
Hey kids, try this at home. Make sure you get mom or dad to help you, though, and don't go making a mess.

posted 8:31 AM

 
If this was a sourdough blog, I would tell you all about my new garage-sale waffle iron, and how I'm perfecting the sourdough waffle.
posted 11:01 PM

 
15 Dangerous Toys that the World Needs Back.
Make that 16.
posted 11:00 AM

 
Speaking of things being knocked over....
(via memepool)
posted 3:41 PM

 
Sucks to be the "friend" who knocked this one over....
posted 1:29 PM

 
How would a baboon smell without its nose? You know they wanted to work that one into the story, but animal cruelty isn't funny...
(caution- gross and depressing story)
Uh, thanks, I think, Ted.
posted 9:35 PM

 
Ominous Valve Works.
posted 9:09 PM

 
Dr. Lilly on the Special K diet.
posted 11:01 PM

 
*Please note that if we are unable to find the Polar opening, we will be returning via the New Siberian Islands to visit skeleton remains of exotic animals thought to originate from Inner Earth.

(via bifurcated rivets)


posted 3:40 PM

 
"Why use artificial when you can have the real thing & save money too?"
(I like to look at the animated 3d view while streaming techno- try it!)

posted 10:04 PM

 
Now that I've sorted out some problems with my router that were making FTP a pain, there should be a Picture of the Day a little more often.
If it doesn't change often enough, feel free to nag.
posted 9:39 PM

 
Got a baby robin? Need bad advice?
posted 6:30 PM

 
Your wife: worth her weight in beer.
posted 6:15 PM

 
Here's a web cam of a nixie word generator- it refreshes every 5 minutes. BTW, I just got some email from these people selling those big alphanumeric tubes.
posted 10:25 PM

 
Frogs, diskettes, liquor, pantyhose, dried squid, live shrimp, plastic models of submarines (made on the spot).
These are Things That Have Been Sold In Vending Machines.
posted 7:30 PM

 
Want a word added to the OED? This may not be the best way to go about it.
(Thanks, Ted!)
posted 2:35 PM

 
Australia's "Bat Mums"

posted 6:15 PM

 
As a service to our readers in Montreal, here is pretty much everything currently known about poutine.
posted 1:21 PM

 
It's been a while since I've done a "weird-ass stuff from the bottom of the sea" post. Here's the latest- a fiber-optic sponge! I wonder if they can splice some of its DNA into a polar bear?
posted 9:18 AM

 
So if old pachinko machines need funerals, am I gonna get haunted by mine? Should I offer it some incense or something? I'd offer it a few more thanks if I didn't have to un-jam all the balls every time I play with it.
posted 3:22 PM

 
Yay! Someone's made a hipster bingo card that randomizes when you reload the page. it's about about time.
posted 8:52 AM

 
I'm not old enough to remember the CK722 transistor, but a lot of people seem to really love it.
posted 10:20 PM

 
One immature stick insect (extatasoma) included only. Does not come with habitat or food. Available year round. Not to be released to nature.
posted 9:54 PM

 
Eastern European graphics and lurid safety propaganda are two of my favorite things. So I think these are most excellent.
(via coudal partners)
posted 9:02 PM

 
Continuing the theme of "cool glass things that are usually small, but can be big" (see yesterday), Japanese Monster Nixie Clock!
posted 10:56 AM

 
Yes! Drinking birds can be scaled up! I want one!
posted 4:02 PM

 
What's with Boards of Canada, cults, and backwards-recorded references to the devil?
Not to mention Leslie Neilsen.


posted 1:11 PM

 
Museum of Early Video Editing Equipment and Techniques. I've seen a lot of this stuff in use. And I remember when a bottle of pop cost a dime.
posted 1:30 PM

 
I recently had an interesting conversation with an O.R. nurse about operating room music. Apparently, while you're unconscious, your doctors are having big fights about what tunes to crank. Of course, if the patient is Jack White, at least they know it's gonna be The White Stripes...
(caution: slightly gruesome.)
posted 1:16 PM

 
Taking digital snapshots? Please keep the default filenames, so we can check 'em out with the Random Personal Picture Finder.
(via thingsmagazine)
posted 10:57 AM

 
Von Bark on Psychogeography.
And some other people too!
posted 9:22 PM

 
What if Endless Parade of Excellence was actually Mr. T's blog?
(thanks, MK!)
posted 9:15 PM

 
Very cool Boombox Museum.
(via thingsmagazine)
posted 4:18 PM

 
One million volts of fun. From the always excellent Mike's Electric Stuff.
(thanks, dan!)
posted 8:53 AM

 
Transform pig parts into faux cephalopods with Octodog. Yum.
posted 4:19 PM

 
Japanese Galley of Psychiatric Art. Supa Creepy!
(via boingboing)
posted 2:09 PM

 
The town of Vamhus is famous for hair art. Sarah went there, and came back with a choker made of hair. It's actually pretty cool, not at all creepy, not like Leila's Hair Museum.
posted 11:07 AM

 
4 exhibits is hardly a circus, but ya gotta love the front page of the Circus Of Disemboweled Plush Toys
(via coudal partners)
posted 2:00 PM

 
Cheerios, donuts, and Froot Loops are now fair game.
(via memepool)
posted 3:53 PM

 
Kitty cat went up the pole? No problem. Repeat after me: Hand! Charlie! Stroke!
(thanks, Rich!)
posted 1:54 PM

 
More weird-ass stuff from the bottom of the ocean. Cookie-cutter sharks? Ewwww...
posted 4:05 PM

 
Now you can make some interesting jams at home.
(via Coudal Partners)

posted 3:53 PM

 
The information in this booklet is provided for educational purposes only.
And don't be calling it the MIT Guide.

posted 8:12 PM

 
Live Deformed Frog Cam! From the state that gave you Bob Dylan, Husker Du, and Prince.
posted 11:30 PM

 
Everone needs a hobby. How 'bout collecting vintage broadcast equipment? That seems like it would be fun. And lions. Everyone likes lions.
You might have to move to a bigger place, though.
posted 2:44 PM

 
"The Meta-Parade is a serial performance project that investigates the forms and components of parades and public spectacles"

And a posting in Endless Parade of Excellence makes it a meta-meta parade.
How much helium is left, Michelle?


posted 9:14 PM

 
Recent MRI subject Dan sends some good links about how MRI works. This one has more information, ( I like the artifacts page) but this one has a picture of a fully loaded pallet truck that got sucked into the magnet.

"The machine makes a tremendous amount of noise during a scan. The noise sounds like a continual, rapid hammering. "
(Not to be confused with the hammering sound of a pallet truck hitting your skull at 300 miles an hour. )
posted 2:37 PM

 
Very cool kinetic sculptures made of wood.
posted 10:24 PM

 
Their almost human faces
and
unusually expressive eyes speak about something,
that I can't understand.
Feeling of a near solution is delightful and poignant,
but mental efforts does not pass without a trace. I wake up
with a feeling of sudden loss and disillusionment.
Surrealistic cats…
Who are they and what are they for?

Moscow Cat Museum

posted 6:07 PM

 
Neon Glow lamp gallery.
Somebody please keep me away from ebay until my short term memory fades.
Did I post this one a long time ago? I can't remember, and the archives are broken. Whatever. Look at it again.

posted 11:05 PM

 
I'm still working on kicking that cockatoo's ass, and now this comes along. I have no more free time. Notice the .it domain- it's actually from Italy! Perky cartoon gals, tentacles on wheels, cute sea creatures, and thrilling racing action. What more could you want?
posted 2:32 PM

 
Sorry it's been a bit thin lately- aside from my being busy, Blogger went and did a major upgrade, so of course, nothing worked.
Seems to be back to normal now except for the archives. Stay tuned.
posted 2:12 PM

 
Floaty pen of the anatomy.
posted 4:34 PM

 
CBC, lagging months behind Endless Parade of Excellence, does a story on the horrors of guarana! Better watch what your kids are drinking- if they get a little bit of caffeine into them, it could lead to "so-called extreme sports", and maybe death! I'm intrigued by how little caffeine they found in KMX. Why did it make us feel so weird in our clinical trials? And how come the guarana expert looks like Tom Green?
posted 10:17 PM

 
Both Sharpeworld and Coudal Partners are cool even when they're down. But it means I have to find my own links. How 'bout those Bigfoot Rangers, eh?
posted 8:31 PM

 
It's a nice hot day! Why not have a Free Watermelon Night?
posted 6:40 PM

 
Genetically modified pets are ready to ship! Bet the makers wish they'd registered genetipet.com.
(via /. )
posted 8:03 PM

 
Recently read: The Road of Excess by Marcus Boon. Learned things I did not know about nitrous and Ketamine. Highly recommended.
Listening to: WFMU and Soma FM.
Eating: zaru soba. A Japanese grocery opened just down the street! Gambatte, Wakami Foods! I hope they can get some Coffee Boss!

posted 9:22 PM

 
Hyper-specific list of garbage disposal fees for various items in Ashiya, Japan. (It's a PDF file.)

Here's what 600 Yen will let you chuck:
Oven (microwave/gas), sewing machine (other than tabletop-type), fan heater (gas/kerosene), oil heater, air conditioner,
electric carpet, stereo/karaoke machine, bookshelf, lounge chair (for one person), desk, carpet, flower/plant stand, bed
mattress, crib, bicycle, wheelchair, swing for children, surfboard.
posted 11:37 PM

 
Got 2 Gs? You could have 1/13th of Lobster Island! Not quite as cool as Monster Island but still, pretty cool.
posted 10:55 PM

 
Yay! Fantagraphics Books is gonna make it! I hope they publish that new Quimby the Mouse book soon, so I can get good and bummed. You bought some comics, right? No? Go do it now.
posted 9:57 PM

 
Anatomy of the floaty pen.
posted 4:46 PM

 
Totally weird-ass kustom trucks from Japan. Mind blowing. I remember seeing some of these in the movie Black Rain, but after going to Japan 3 times and never seeing one, I sadly concluded that they were some Hollywood prop guy's japanophilic fantasy. I guess I was wrong.
(via BoingBoing)
posted 4:57 PM

 
Ok, I think we have a winner in the "weirdest gibberish phrase in a spam header" contest. Today, in with all the "robc it will work for you" and "try it you will like it kjhdsfkdfui" was "Much like a tender belly dance the tail is extremely bony". Almost makes me want to buy their damn growth hormone.
No, there's no link. If you want to google bony tails and belly dances, you're on your own, kids.
posted 10:28 AM

 
File under "one stop shopping".
(link has no pictures.)

"On October 3, 1997 I had my tongue split deepened while I was already in to have my wisdom teeth removed. My initial splitting had healed quite well but there had been some re-growth and since the first procedure was an experiment, and had been a success, I now wanted to split my tongue as much as possible. Since Dr. Busino would be performing my wisdom teeth extraction and I would already be anaesthetized, it would be the perfect time to split my tongue back further."

Update:
I just found another tongue-splitting diary that's a masterpiece of drug-and-pain-addled ineptitude.
:
"Saturday: Day 2
Ouch. Anbesol doesn't really help. The only part of my tongue that actually hurts is where the knots are. Otherwise shit would be going great. Burns when I smoke. My mother doesn't approve. But there isn't a lot I can do about that at this time. My tongue is too swollen to cut the bindings, so I guess I can't back out now. SORRY MOM...... but not really. I can't think of anything else to say. Not a lot is happening. I'm done.

Ok so I just cut off one of my bindings. It feels a lot better now. I think I had a chunk of tongue tied into the knot. That's it."




posted 8:33 PM

 
You've probably read this elsewhere, but it won't hurt to hear it again. Fantagraphics Books is in big trouble, and needs you to go buy some comics right now. You know you want them, so what are you waiting for? I just bought a copy of Mark Beyer's Amy and Jordan. Not that I'm depressed or anything.
posted 7:56 PM

 
Maybe you want a nice, warm, fuzzy pet. Or maybe you just want the warmth without the fuzziness.
(thanks, I think, Kat!)
posted 1:34 PM

 
Today is the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest.
Here's what it looks like from the top.

posted 1:04 PM

 
You should check out Smash and Teeny and John Butcher doing a set on the BBC3 show Mixing It. It's only up for a few more days, so hurry!
posted 11:14 AM

 
Here's a useful skill.
posted 9:37 AM

 
Stuffed Squirrel with lake applet.
posted 10:46 PM

 
What if Wile E. Coyote was 100 feet tall? Ever wonder that? Didn't think so.
posted 10:33 PM

 
"It seems like a lot of people think I'm weird since skinning animals isn't a very common hobby among girls! But what's wrong with that? This world could use more girls who are not afraid to do something like this! I've heard some girls say that they would like to do taxidermy, but just can't stomach the skinning. I'm simply not affected by that!"



posted 10:11 PM

 
You need to dress a cat. And you will say to a cat together with a family. "It has changed just for a moment". [ "it being very dear" or ] You will pass pleasant one time.
(via BoingBoing)

posted 8:53 AM

 
Ant farm case mod!
(via /.)
posted 8:29 AM

 
I thought fluidics was dead. It's not, thanks to teeny tiny stuff. It's even kosher. Who knew?
posted 8:31 PM

 
A new so-called picture of the day is up.
posted 9:49 PM

 
I'm thinking it may be time to get a pool deck, so I went to the Skull site to do some window shopping. Among the many other cool things there is this story, which reads like it's been run back and forth through babelfish. And I mean that in a good way.
posted 6:14 PM

 
Refreshing Park Ichikawa has a spa and a beetle dome. Why don't we have refreshing parks like that here?
posted 11:04 PM

 
If I had a dog, I'd dress it up like a beetle. No wait, an eggplant. Or maybe something else.
(via memepool)
posted 10:27 PM

 
I saw an opossum in the parking lot at work today! If I wanted to join a national opossum group, I could pick the National Oppossum Society, or the Opossum Society of the United States. Both groups were founded by the same person...now dead. Maye I should join both. I don't want to cause trouble. And I should join the International Fainting Goat Society, too, if only for the logo. Do they have T-shirts or ball caps? This page has a wicked QuickTime of a fainting goat in action.

Update: Opossom got rescued, is headed back to the country.

posted 8:50 PM

 
" As far as I can tell, the way they taught me to program in college was all wrong. You should figure out programs as you're writing them, just as writers and painters and architects do.
Realizing this has real implications for software design. It means that a programming language should, above all, be malleable. A programming language is for thinking of programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of. It should be a pencil, not a pen. Static typing would be a fine idea if people actually did write programs the way they taught me to in college. But that's not how any of the hackers I know write programs. We need a language that lets us scribble and smudge and smear, not a language where you have to sit with a teacup of types balanced on your knee and make polite conversation with a strict old aunt of a compiler."

From Hackers and Painters , by Paul Graham
(thanks Dan!)



posted 10:14 AM

 
"The body (10) is rockably supported on a pair of laterally extending trunnions..."
From the Drinking Bird Patent. Some more drinking bird stuff is to be found here.
posted 3:57 PM

 
If you like this and this and this, you should probably come see this.
posted 11:15 AM

 
Hey, the picture of the day finally changed.
posted 10:48 PM

 
Here's what gnomes look like before they get sent on world tours. I heard a piece once on CBC about West German gnome producers infuriated that East German companies were ripping off their designs, and selling them to the steady stream of West Germans crossing the border in search of inexpensive East German prostitutes. I think the prostitutes were actually selling the gnomes in some kinda vertical (and horizontal, I suppose) integration type thing.
(thanks M.K.!)
posted 10:44 PM

 
Way to go ohio.
posted 1:38 PM

 
They're several generations down from the ones that were launched on the shuttle. That means NASA opened a whole new can of worms.
(via /. )
posted 10:29 AM

 
GOD'S SIMPLE LAW OF PHYSICS:
God is the only one that could do something to water so we could have a perfect natural solution for cleaning our clothes without using soaps and detergents and no need for static and fabric softener.

Two Hundred and nine spikes are on the Miracle II BalI. They are specially designed to gently scrub and massage your clothes with loving care as the Ball bobs around in your washing machine.


posted 9:54 PM

 
Safety Sign Builder! Way too much fun.
(via Coudal Partners)
posted 4:58 PM

 
Ha ha! madonna.com got 0wn3d! Nice work!
posted 8:52 AM

 
Tragedies of Scale. Really, it's OK for grownups to play with little plastic animals and stuff.
(via Excitement Machine)
posted 10:52 AM

 
Amusing interpretations of anti-terrorist pictograms. The real thing is almost as funny.
posted 10:05 AM

 
My friend Michelle and I picked up a couple of water yo-yos in Chinatown last week (mine is shaped like an octopus!) I was having all kinds of fun with it, until today, when I read a thing in Now magazine about "plague bags" for kids at Passover. Guess what toy symbolizes "plague of boils?" EEEEWWWW!
(Meanwhile, this is the best the Christians can come up with in the "religious uses of water yo-yo" department.)
posted 10:10 PM

 
How 'bout a big network quake party?
posted 1:55 PM

 
Snirkles: by the maker of Stark. That's my new mantra...or maybe Chocolate Sponge. Check out all this old candy.
(Via Coudal Partners)

posted 1:54 PM

 
Today, I finally got my hands on some Peeps. Fortunately, we have a microwave at work. Believe the hype.
(Thanks for all the peeps, Dan!)
posted 5:41 PM

 
Flash mind reader!
Simple trick, brilliant presentation.
posted 11:12 AM

 
so unplug the jukebox
and do us all a favour
that music's lost its taste
so try another flavour -
"antmusic"


posted 3:47 PM

 
A vast compendium of snack food knowledge can be found at taquitos.net. Free up a whole day if you can, but if you're pressed for time, at least check out the Worst Chips Ever.
posted 10:54 AM

 
500 bucks (US) for skateboard trucks! That's even more than a BMW Streetcarver! Fortunately, my Scotish genes override my gear lust, most of the time.
posted 7:18 PM

 
It's -10 and you forgot the cats outside? No worries. (I just set an egg timer, and save 10 grand...)

"....storage of larger animals would cost approx. the same as human storage, assuming that one can actually fit the animal into the cryostat/dewar, of course. In other words, whole-body elephant suspensions are out of the question, though just about any animal's head or brain would presumably be ok, and its storage should even be available at the lower price since few pets' heads, and even fewer brains, will significantly exceed "cat size". "


posted 10:47 AM

 
Old British ads for electronic components and instruments. Part of the mind-blowingly kewl Mikes Electric Stuff site.
posted 10:30 PM

 
It's not snow, it's graupel! We had a lot of it last night. Someone at the University of Washington Dept of Atmospheric Sciences named their ferret "Graupel" in honour of this groovy form of precipitation.
posted 9:30 AM

 
"... in addition to creating a craving among Canadians for its crispy, orange snack, W.T. Hawkins has created a family tradition that extends beyond bloodlines. It is a family that has strong ties to the community and one that encourages giving where one can."

History of the Cheezie.
posted 3:25 PM

 
BBC news always seems to be right on top of giant or weird-ass squid stories.
(via BoingBoing)
posted 1:27 PM

 
Anti-SARS cuteness attack!
(via BoingBoing)
posted 1:16 PM

 
"These pictures were taken with an 80KV dental x-ray machine on Polaroid 600 color film. The neat discovery is not that you can buy x-ray machines off eBay. The neat discovery is that you can use Polaroid film to image x-rays!"


posted 11:51 AM

 
While a co-worker and I were trying to prove the existence of the whole canned chicken, we found the potted meat museum. My day is shot. When there's a link to "browse by meat" you know you've struck gold.
posted 3:12 PM

 
Nate can call in a potato artillery strike from anywhere on the farm. Be afraid.
posted 4:35 PM

 
Ok the template is fixed now. For a while it was ugly and orange. Some big melt-down of the template server occurred at Blogger just as I was editing the template. People's templates were getting all swapped around. I'm glad that's over.
posted 3:39 PM

 
something really stupid is happening with the templates. I don't need this now.
posted 11:02 PM

 
The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed a new link off to the left: picture of the day. I just bought a book of stuff by the Royal Art Lodge, and though I haven't seen the show at the Power plant yet, I will, soon. It reminded me that one of the reasons i started a blog was to post pictures from my sketchbooks, and etch-a-sketches and junk like that. I doubt that the daily picture will actually be daily, but it's something to strive for, and if those people from winnipeg can get all famous drawing cats with root beer (and why the hell didn't I think of that? ) well, maybe someone will at least look at my sad little etchasketch owl or something.
posted 10:51 PM

 
My sister just updated her website! Go look at it! Now! Lookit all those fish! They just get better and better. The ratfish on the front page is sure freaky- it looks like a piglet. She kept it in a bucket.
posted 8:14 PM

 
Pictoplasma has characters! Lots of em! Thousands, even! Bunnies, cats, crabs, you name it.
posted 12:03 PM

 
Currently listening to Cliqhop on SomaFM
posted 8:04 PM

 
Some lovely pictures of modern ruins in Japan.
"Even if you have an accident
in the ruins
currently introduced by this hompage
please understand
That I take no responsibility"

That goes for me too.
(via GMT +9)
posted 8:00 PM

 
Ernst Haeckel:
Kunstformen der Natur is all in German and has cool jellyfish and trilobites, and weird polyp type things. Some of these would make nice tattoos.
(via coudal partners)

posted 4:28 PM

 
Scary Clothes from the 1971 Sears catalogue. My sister still complains about some of the stuff she had to wear, but from the looks of this, she got off easy. As far as I know, she never had a pair of these, for instance.
(via memepool)
posted 9:27 PM

 
It ain't a party without flyers. (warning: really s...l...o...w, probably 'cause everyone's downloading them for photoshop fun)
posted 10:54 AM

 
Why the heck would anyone buy dubbing for tying flies? All you need is dryer lint and a dead rat.
posted 11:51 AM

 
Here are some very nice pictures of ants- make sure you check out the nest pictures. Also check out how they used lights from a gameboy to make a macro illumination setup for the Nikon 990.
posted 4:01 PM

 
Skull Skates have an amazing on-line skateboard museum. Lots of cool boards, and the descriptions are informative and well-written, except that they spell "pultruded" as "poltruded". Now I know what"pultruded" means, and I still have my old pultruded board.
posted 10:58 AM

 
My sister had a set of Johnny and Jane West action figures when we were kids. Of the few people who actually remember these, almost no one believes me when I tell them that, at the end of their runs, these toys were marketed in psychedelic colours. It seemed weird at the time and seems weirder now. Check out the lime-green "mod" Geronimo. WTF was THAT about?
posted 7:41 PM

 
Years ago I put my ear to a post that was full of carpenter ants. I will never forget that sound. Nor the time I put a stethoscope to a mexican jumping bean. You can hear all the scrabbling and chewing you can stand at bug bytes and nothing will crawl into your ear.
(via memepool .)
posted 7:01 PM

 
I actually heard someone say "productize" with a straight face today. Had he suggested we "drill down" into anything, I would have had to kill him on the spot.
Fortunately, there's a dictionary to translate crap like this into english.
posted 4:56 PM

 
Grafitti? Yawn. That multiple camera "Matrix" effect? It was cool for the first hundred car commercials. Put 'em together though, and damn, it's kinda neat. Maybe kids will start shoplifting flashlights instead of Magic Markers.
(via Sharpeworld)
posted 11:51 AM

 
Crab vs Pipe. 2700 psi outside, 0 psi inside. 3 mm slit. Hey crab! Look out! Oh noooooo....
(via boingboing)
posted 12:15 PM

 
Make some hearts! Do it before the site gets swamped like it does every valentine's day. It's too bad they can't actually stamp out real hearts and send them to you. I'm slowly cranking out the PIC16F84 instruction set in candy heart form. Yeah, I know...
Anyone who buys me a can of these gets to be my valentine for a whole year...
posted 10:59 AM

 
Kewl tape recorders.Plus ugly cutesy clip art.
(via sharpeworld)
posted 4:06 PM

 
"We're just Renaissance Men who like to bug people"
The Coyle and Sharpe website is up! Yay! My vinyl copy of The Absurd Imposters is one of my favorite possesions; it's so cool that Jennifer Sharpe is making all this stuff available on the net.
posted 11:13 AM

 
There haven't been any posts for a few days, sorry. Today is the last Friday of the month, and you know what that means. You're not a wimp, are you?
posted 8:47 AM

 
What if you did a critical mass type ride but with longboards? And bad music?
(6 meg quicktime, download it, don't stream it.)
posted 6:09 PM

 
Yet another energy drink..this time it's E-Plus which looks a lot like red bull, except with an eagle. It's made by NR Instant Produce , and, even though they don't have it on their website, if it's anything like their other drinks, it's probably hygenically sterilized. We liked it, except that it tastes like Dimetapp. It's not as thick as Red Bull, and there's no gross aftertaste. I poured some into my Fresca and it was ok. I feel sort of hyper now, but in a good way.
posted 4:23 PM

 
Marvin Glass shaped your personality more than your parents did. Your parents only existed to buy you stuff that he designed.
posted 11:35 AM

 
This might look good on a ferret or boa constrictor, too.
posted 11:09 AM

 
Now you can generate instant postmodern essays.
Or, you can deconstruct the scary mess of of self-reference and simulacra in this news story.
(thanks, GF!)
posted 4:14 PM

 
Yesterday's drink was XTC. I'd like to put a link to the maker , but their site is down. What's an energy drink without a flash-encrusted website? Preferably one with naked people or extreme sports. How lame. The drink itself is lame. We poured it out, and decided it looked like pee. It wasn't fluorescent under ultraviolet. That would have been cool. The taste was really unremarkable, and fizzy, like fizzy candy. The aftertaste was yucky. I guess there's cafeine in it, but it just made me sort of irritable. Test Subject "B" didn't feel anything, and felt ripped off. Now that we've tried everything in the corner store, it's time to go to Chinatown. I hope we don't wreck our livers or spleens or anything.
posted 11:24 AM

 
Another workday, another energy drink. Today we are drinking Battery . We like it. It tastes kind of sour. Like white grape juice with SweeTarts and Red Bull. There's a weird aftertaste that we can't place. I'm not jumpy or fidgety at all. Good things: its got Guarana AND coffee in it. It's from Finland. The can looks like a battery. Someone saw me drinking it in the newsroom and asked if I was a hacker. The website has this really freaky voice message thing that's supposed to be a cuckoo, but looks like a CG version of Rodan. In bondage gear. It talks. Sort of. Also there's lot of "extreme" sports news on the page. Most of the events they cover seem to be sponsored by Red bull or Mountain Dew, not Battery. Points for being objective. I'm not sure how I feel about wakeboarding in an underground lake but at least it ain't golf.
posted 5:50 PM

 
Today was learn-to-snowboard day. There was one other old guy in the sketchy little one-hour class, and we both survived. I've found the snowboard page at CERN to be useful for beginners. I can remember when most of the web pages in existence were at CERN, and I used to look at them with Lynx. I guess I really am old.
posted 9:05 PM

 
Time to test out some energy drinks, since the store across the street is out of guru . Last week, I tried some Thai Red Bull. It's the consistency of HC110 or Nyquil- it was too gross and sticky to drink straight, I mixed it with water. I think it would be good in Fresca. It made me alert but a bit edgy. I think its the sugar. Big advantage is the cost, (99 cents in Chinatown) and the cool bottle. You could dilute it, just like HC110, and make a working solution. Next up, KMX Orange. Remember when you used to make swampwater as a kid, by mixing pops? Guess what this tastes like. Strong orange pop tast with some citrus, like Ting. My fellow guinea pig and I noticed a distinct cream soda aftertaste, too. It snapped me right out of my 3 o'clock torpor, but the sugar made me kinda twitchy. Test subject "B" was bright-eyed and animated for a short time, then she ran up a flight of stairs, got a headache, and had to sit down for a while. As she sez, "watch out for the drop"..
Now the Bomba is kicking in. My scalp feels like it's contracting. I haven't checked on test subject "B" in a while, I hope she's ok. She nailed the flavor as being like melted blue Freezie. With a twist. It tastes blue, like the KMX tastes red. So far so good- it's blue, made in Austria, shaped like a hand grenade (!), which uncorks with a pull ring, leaving you with a jagged piece of metal in your hand. (or your mouth, if you do it John Wayne style). And the website has pictures of naked people.
posted 4:05 PM

 
Darn. Why'd we get rid of the old Saab? We could have made it into a sauna!
(pictures load slowly 'cause it's via /.)
posted 8:48 AM

 
Nice page of circuit-bent Speak 'n' Spells. I think a trip to Goodwill is in order...
(via /.)

posted 11:39 AM

 
OK, this has to be a hoax, and if it's not, I hope they have some kick-ass materials science folk on board, 'cause the thermal expansion in that glass is going to be a bear: it's going to take a lot of joules to get that goo in motion, and if they heat it from the base, the temperature gradient in the glass is going to be, uh, interesting...
On the off chance that they do build it and it doesn't crack wide open and scald everyone to death, someone better remind the corner stores in town to stock up on papers. Hope they like hippies.
posted 11:27 AM

 
Stuck for a title and artwork for your next CD? Try Fatal Facts. Sure, these are horrible industrial accidents, and someone lost their dad, but just look at Struck by/ Caught Between . I just can't decide whether that's a punk CD or minimal techno....hmmm.. Fall From Different Level sound like Joy Division...
via excitement machine)
posted 11:18 AM

 
Dog and longboard. Poetry in motion. Are you ok?
(~5M quicktime)
posted 10:43 PM

 
How Much is Inside?
posted 1:34 PM

 
Set aside an hour or so, and check out these painted roadside signs.
(Via Coudal Partners)
posted 11:14 AM

 
Billy Van is dead. So is Oolong the rabbit. He was the rabbit who could balance things on his head. Fair warning: don't look at the photos of Oolong's last day unless you feel like having a good cry.
posted 1:00 PM

 
Hey kids- why don't you make a little shroud for your My Little Pony so just the creepy giant eye pokes out? There, that looks excellent.
posted 9:38 PM

 
Russian/Soviet tube factories and their logos is exactly what it says it is.
(Via Coudal Partners)
posted 9:29 PM

 
What's the matter? You got ants in your pants?
posted 4:57 PM

 
William Gibson has a blog now.
posted 1:58 PM

 
"Paan was invented by Scholars of Aruvedas with the help of Dhanvantari thousands of years ago after taking experiment on rats." It gives me a weird pain in the chest, and there's all that crud that you have to spit out. But you should try it. It's got all kinds of good stuff in it. And lots of bad stuff too.
posted 10:44 PM

 
They have blogs in Minnesota? You betcha.
posted 9:42 PM

 
Currently reading:
Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis. It's the Caught Inside of Scrabble. Also reading every dictionary in the house, including the Scrabble dictionary. And playing a Scrabble clone on my Handspring. And I still suck.
posted 6:39 PM

 
"unfortunately, no-one can be told
what the Domain of the Wiggy Woo is"


posted 5:03 PM

 
Like most lists of toy recalls, the SafeChild.net database is a seemingly endless litany of "....blahblahblah detaches blahblahblah choking hazard". Yawn. But dig a bit and you find some gems like kittens filled with contaminated water. (via BoingBoing)
posted 1:37 PM

 
Even better than my squid transcript is this overheard cat mishap.

(via the recently overhauled wemadeoutinatreeandthisoldguysatandwatchedus.com)
posted 10:18 AM

 
Partial transcript of chat session in which I created a room in ivist called "plastic animals", described quite accurately as "chat with plastic animals":
(squid can be clearly seen in the cam to be a plastic squid, not a "girl")

quique: hi

squid: i am a squid

quique: are you girl

squid: squid

quique: yes

quique: are you girl

squid: i am squid

quique: allow me to see your body

squid: there it is

squid: you bore me

Clearly, this person had never seen PJ Katie's Farm.
posted 11:32 PM

 
Sad news- I just picked up Climbing Magazine, and learned that one of my heros, Göran Kropp is dead. He's the guy who bicycled to Everest and climbed it solo, without oxygen. Here's his and his wife's home page. Here's a news story from Mountainzone.com.

posted 9:55 PM