A blog by Rob Cruickshank.

 
Let's just put the Hello Kitty contacts into the human-faced-carp's eyes and get it over with.
(via neatorama, boingboing)

Labels: animals, youtube

posted 8:36 PM

 
Futuristic Cereal Name Generator.
It's hit and miss, but coughs up a real gem now and then. I, for one, would eat a bowl of technolicious silver buckypuffs.
(via The Breakfast Bowl)
posted 8:27 PM

 
Incredible Planetarium Projectors.
(via kottke.org)
posted 5:27 PM

 
Cats in Wartime.
(via MeFi)
posted 1:36 PM

 
An orphaned coyote growing up in Wyoming: The Daily Coyote.
(Thanks, Jon!)

Labels: animals

posted 5:36 PM

 
The Board of Public Works In Gaffney, S.C. built an elevated water storage tank in the shape of a peach in 1981. They didn't have to call it The Peachoid. But they did.
posted 9:17 PM

 
This blog is now 5 years old. Blog years are more like hamster years than dog years, so that's really, really old. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading the thing, and sending me weird stuff.
posted 10:56 AM

 
Chocolate rabbits+heat+music=art
(via b3ta)
posted 1:55 PM

 
Young Chemist=plague. Brilliant. I shudder to think what would have happened to me as a youngster if I'd been able to get my hands on some of the things that I wanted.
(Thanks, Dan!)
posted 10:56 AM

 
Stewart Brand writing about Spacewar for Rolling Stone in 1972. Photos by Annie Liebowitz. The guy with the long hair looks like he's playing a wii!

posted 5:02 PM

 
Goo with bling. I've got a tub of more down-to-earth Crazy Aaron putty, and it's great stuff.
posted 8:16 AM

 
The ko ni is a Vietnamese stringed instrument which uses the human mouth as a resonator.
(Thanks, Sarah!)

Labels: youtube

posted 8:11 PM

 
Bed Bug Dog.

Labels: animals youtube

posted 9:48 PM

 
A scratch and win lottery game was canceled because everyone was having trouble understanding the concept of negative numbers.
(via b3ta)
posted 4:10 PM

 
Images From the Tobacco Industry Campaign to Hide the Dangers of Smoking
(enable pop-ups in your browser to see larger images)
(via MeFi)
posted 11:10 AM

 
We were watching Goldfinger yesterday, and were puzzling over the scene in which Goldfinger's car gets loaded into a plane, from the front. Turns out the plane in question was the Aviation Traders Carvair.
Update: One of the two airworthy examples of this aircraft remaining crashed earlier this year.
You can watch a video of this plane in happier times here.

Labels: aviation

posted 11:50 AM

 
Herwig Weiser zgodlocator
(via VVORK)

Labels: art

posted 2:13 PM

 
In order to settle an argument about pneumatic tubes, I dragged out my set of Sears and Roebuck Stereo Cards. Googling to find a date for the cards, I learned that Edgar Rice Burroughs had worked in the steno department back then, and drew some fine cartoons.
Lots more stereocards here.
(Ignore the first paragraph in the "Viewing 3D on a computer monitor" section, however. It's wrong. The second method is correct.)
posted 7:37 PM

 
Frog defense.
(Thanks Jon!)

Labels: animals, youtube

posted 1:59 PM

 
A sound that looks like a chair rendered as a chair that looks like the sound that looks like the chair. (flash site, click on sound/chair)
(via MAKE: blog)
Related, gradients whose histograms look like the New York Skyline.

posted 1:51 PM

 
Little sodium party. BIG sodium party.
(Thanks, Michael!)
posted 10:16 AM

 
Realtime (almost) Wikipedia edits.
(Thanks, Jon)
posted 7:21 PM

 
The folks at Machine Project in LA are having an Op-art handball party.
posted 9:19 AM

 
I Love to Singa.
(via ovvlvverk)
posted 8:45 PM

 
Rotating Eye Skull clocks.
posted 1:16 PM

 
8 bit gourds.
posted 12:18 PM

 
Another great moment in Canadian television: Iggy Pop and Peter Gzowski.
posted 11:22 AM

 
A great moment in Canadian television: Eyes on Ookpik.
(via a comment by Mr Nobody in Sally McKay and LM)
posted 11:06 AM

 
Nuclear Rifle (youtube and people who can't say "nuclear" warnings in effect)
(Thanks, Michael)
posted 3:09 PM

 
Cacklefest. Cacklefest. Cacklefest. Cacklefest.
What a great word.
posted 8:02 PM

 
Library Arcade. All the fun of finding things in the library in video game form.
(via MeFi)
posted 12:01 PM

 
I've been saying for years that a dog rental service would be a hit. Everyone likes to walk dogs, but they're such a pain in the ass to look after. Why can't you just sign one out for an hour or so?
(Thanks, Brad!)
posted 9:34 AM

 
I'm eating a nice, juicy 4152 right now. That's what the sticker says, anyway.
posted 10:26 AM

 
Kite patents blog.
posted 10:00 AM

 
Yesterday I attended a blessing ceremony for the marriage of two friends at a Buddhist temple. At one point, a friendly cat wandered through the space, and it made me think of the jumping cats in Myanmar. I hope they're ok.
posted 12:03 PM

 
Way funnier than it has any right to be. An instant classic of the genre.
(NSFW language, Nazi, and youtube warnings all in effect)
(via MeFi)
posted 1:02 PM

 
"These are digital photographs of road-kill taxidermy dioramas, made by Sam Sanfillippo, a retired funeral director from Middleton Wisconsin, who arranged these animals to brighten peoples' moods at funerals."
(Thanks Ron!)
posted 1:13 PM

 
Quicker'n A Wink, a 1940 Pete Smith film about Harold Edgerton. (youtube)
posted 11:50 AM

 
Steve, don't eat it!
I've had this,this, and this.
One of them was actually quite good.
(thanks, Kat!
posted 8:30 AM

 
"There's only three things I'm afraid of..."
(via MeFi)
posted 5:54 PM

 
Thanks to Dafydd, you no longer have to do the Dramatic Prairie Dog music in your head anymore.
posted 12:44 PM

 
www.hugecrab.com. Exactly what you'd expect.
(thanks, Michael!)
posted 12:02 PM

 
I would buy a car from this man.
(Via MeFi, and I will repeat the original poster's warning that it contains music that cannot be un-listened to. Also, you will have to watch it twice, the second time after learning that many people who grew up with these ads mis-heard "go see cal" as "pussy cow")
posted 11:33 AM

 
i/o media played this year's Electric Eclectics festival in Meaford Ont.
Here's our set, in 3 parts:
one, two, three.
(Thanks, Kristin!)
posted 11:04 AM

 
The statue of Wiarton Willie reminded me of Dramatic Prairie Dog, so I was inspired to do this. You'll have to do the music in your head, sorry.
posted 1:44 PM

 
I'm back from Minnesota.
One of the cooler things we saw was this crop art Katamari.
For more cool things, check my Flickr stream.
posted 12:08 PM

 
How to Prospect for Uranium.
(Thanks, MK!)
posted 11:52 AM

 
More lifting body pr0n: Grant sends this, which contains a clip of this in action. Looks to me like the Horton is behaving as an ekranoplan there, I must see if there's footage of it flying a bit higher.

Labels: aviation

posted 6:07 PM

 
"It's mower interesting!"
(via Plep)
posted 10:33 AM

 
Hey, anime-crazed kids- This is what your mom and dad were watching when they were younger than you are now.
posted 10:33 PM

 
New rule: All videos of experimental lifting bodies must have cool soundtracks.

Labels: aviation, youtube

posted 8:31 PM

 
Guy dressed as a werewolf flying a stunt kite.

Labels: youtube

posted 6:41 PM

 
Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions.
(via MeFi)

Labels: animation

posted 1:32 PM

 
Tomorrow is Home Movie Day.
posted 11:55 AM

 
Normally I detest attempts to translate cartoons into the "real world". I'll make an exception for these working replicas of the Wacky Races cars,however. They even sound good! Some clearer pictures here.
Compare with the originals here.

Labels: vehicles, youtube

posted 10:40 AM

 
Jessica the Hippo.
(via the Woodring Monitor)

Labels: animals, youtube

posted 5:38 PM

 
Uncanny Valley alert! This dog gives me the jibblies . It was created with Sony's Motion Portrait. Please, Sony, go back to making nice things.
More on Motion portrait at Pink Tentacle.
posted 9:21 PM

 
You should go to Meaford Ontario, and see the Electric Eclectics festival this weekend.
My group, iomedia will be playing sunday night.
posted 8:02 PM

 
"I hope that you can see that this is a jellied salad. Do you see it glisten? Do you require a close-up to understand that these beans and mushrooms and pimiento strips are one solid, glistening mass?"
Weight watchers recipe cards from 1974.
(Thanks, Michael!)
posted 11:53 AM

 
Rural Civil Defense public service announcements. With puppets. It's funny how bags of fertilizer have gone from being part of the solution to part of the problem.
(Thanks, Ron!)
posted 12:19 PM

 
A large collection of kite plans.
posted 10:02 AM

 
Marché of the penguins.
(Thanks, Grant!)
( i just realized that the accent aigu on the "e" in marche was not showing up in the my browser, ruining my excellent pun.)
posted 11:40 AM

 
Amos Latteier is building a kite.
posted 1:51 PM

 
Banana slug sex. Not as gross as you'd think. Way, way, grosser than that.
(Via neatorama)
posted 12:42 PM

 
Face Like A Frog, a cartoon by Sally Cruikshank (no relation).
(via MeFi)
posted 4:57 PM

 
Stupid trend alert:
"Electric Monarchs and Painted lady butterflies used in conjunction with a live butterfly release will make your event one of the most unforgettable celebrations! Your guests will want to take one of the electronic butterflies home since they make such nice decorations and it will help them to remember your special day."
posted 11:26 AM

 
The Gayla bat kite was one of the best things ever. I can't even begin to imagine how many we went through. This is the package I remember. Why do all kites now always have to be rainbow coloured? All I want is a black kite with scary eyes. Is that too much to ask?
posted 1:48 PM

 
Fish with tattoos. I'd like to see a carp with a fat white guy tattooed on its back.
Also, check out this fish piercing.
(First link via neat-o-rama)
posted 10:42 AM

 
For all your container ship accident needs.
(via MeFi)
posted 8:27 PM

 
Your word of the day: "ekranoplan"
Video here.
posted 9:29 AM

 
Cutest WASTFTBOTS ever!
(Thanks, Jon, Kat!)

Labels: WASFTBOTS, youtube

posted 8:54 AM

 
I'm not usually a fan of anti-Microsoft "humour", but this is brilliant:
One day your computer will be a big-ass table.
(via kottke.org)
posted 10:35 AM

 
It's been ages since I've made a Weird-Ass Stuff From The Bottom Of the Sea post. Sorry about that.
Here y'go.
(via Neat-o-rama)

Labels: WASFTBOTS

posted 1:01 PM

 
I can personally attest that this pink seal stungun hurts like @#$! (No, I wasn't caught groping anyone on the Tokyo subway, I bought it for my sister, and had to test it)
(Thanks Michael!)
posted 11:57 AM

 
Rejected WiiPlay games.
(Via kottke.org)
posted 10:38 AM

 
Squirrel Melts. It's awesome when mom helps you shoot a squirrel, then whips up a batch of squirrel melts while you play video games.
(Warning- contains actual scenes of squirrel hunting and preparation.)
(Thanks, Grant!)
posted 12:31 PM

 
Curta on youtube.
posted 12:17 PM

 
Machine Project in L.A. is running a LolCode workshop.
posted 3:31 PM

 
Hummingbirdmoth.com
posted 9:19 PM

 
A couple of posts ago, I suggested that no quartz watch need cost more than 50 bucks. (Unless it's an LED model, of course). There are not too many things I see eye-to-eye with President Bush on, but apparently, that's one of them, lucky for him.
(via MeFi, Kottke.org)
posted 4:51 PM

 
Finkosel!
(Thanks, Kat!)
posted 6:32 PM

 
A large percentage of the quarters that I managed to get my hands on in the early 70s went here.
(note to younger readers: that's not a video game. It's mechanical.)
Update: The rest of that site is completely amazing. Free up an hour or two.
posted 6:15 PM

 
Nice collection of vintage watch ads on the sidebar of this site.(It'd be nice if they were bigger, though) While it's true that they don't make them like that anymore, (watches or ads) at least, with a little looking around, you can find nice old watches for way cheaper than the quartz crap that most people have on their wrists. No quartz watch should cost more than 50 bucks, unless you are an actual scuba diver or pilot.
posted 5:32 PM

 
Animals with their heads caught in things.
Our dog once got stuck in the fence, but I didn't think to take a picture before the neighbour came over with a hammer, and freed her.
(via Neat-o-rama)
posted 4:22 PM

 
"Note: pure nepetalactone will not enable you to create a cat army."

Darn.

(via MAKE: blog)
posted 9:44 AM

 
Frank Chickens' Blue Canary. (youtube)
posted 5:43 PM

 
How to feed 100 dogs at once.

Labels: animals youtube

posted 1:11 PM

 
A photographic catalog from 1913. Check out the page of light souces, including a Nernst lamp!
posted 3:31 PM

 
The Nernst Lamp. And the wikipedia article. A bit like an electric version of the Welsbach Mantle, familiar from the Coleman Lantern.
posted 2:08 PM

 
Douglas W. Jones Collection of punched cards. I can remember when utility bills used to come with these, and you had to send them back with your cheque. When did that stop?
(via Things Magazine)
posted 4:43 PM

 
Best Visual Illusions of the Year
(Thanks, Scott!)
Things have been a liittle slow around here, sorry. Don't adjust your sets, I'm still alive.
posted 8:59 PM

 
Grab your 3D glasses and stare at the sun.
(Thanks, kat!)
posted 11:48 AM

 
Wasp Sucking machine. This one gets filed under "ok, now what?" It's remarkably similar to the Bee Vac I posted a while ago, but I must admit the plexiglass window for "showing off your catch" cranks up the awesomeness index. While we're on the subject, check out the History of Apiculture in Warfare.
(Thanks, Ted!
posted 9:27 PM

 
Stereoscopic Images of Lighter Than Air Flight.
Instructions for viewing are here, although I personally find freeviewing to be very difficult, so I'd add the suggestion that you could save the images, swap the left and right images, and view them crosseyed, or use a program such as Stereo Photo Maker to generate anaglyph images for red/cyan 3d glasses. The best way, though, is to use a viewer, even an inexpensive plastic one.
(via Things Magazine)
posted 1:24 PM

 
The St. Marys Challenger is a 100-year-old steam powered cement freighter operating on Lake Michigan.
Found via this set of photos on Flickr including shots of the Skinner Unaflow engine.
posted 10:12 PM

 
Steam powered TV.
(Via MAKE: pool on Flickr)
posted 10:04 AM

 
Jet powered train.
(via English Russia)
posted 11:05 AM

 
A cat that takes the bus to a fish-and-chip shop.
(Via Neatorama)
posted 10:39 AM

 
Crabfu does it again- Steam powered beetle.
posted 1:17 PM

 
This is the best idea I've seen in a long, long time.
(Via MeFi)
posted 9:39 AM

 

Sheep Problem, my latest installation, is now at Fly Gallery, 1172 Queen St. W. Toronto.
posted 9:38 PM

 
if you enjoyed the planes from the last post, I bet you'll like these cars.
(via English Russia)
posted 9:52 PM

 
Gidroaviasalon 2006
(Thanks Scott!
posted 6:38 PM

 

Watch this space for more details of my upcoming work at Fly Gallery, 1172 Queen Street West, Toronto, during the month of April.
All I'm saying for now is that there are some sheep involved.
posted 11:39 AM

 
I Was Robbed By Two Men. ESL meets 20 Minute Workout meets The Flying Lizards.
(Domo arigato, GF!)

Labels: japan youtube

posted 12:27 PM

 
Pong Picture Page.
(via Things Magazine)

Labels: pong

posted 12:41 PM

 
Stereo Hoonage Causes Poppage.
posted 1:37 PM

 
Rimroller. If you're Canadian, you know what this is for.
(Thanks Kat!
posted 2:03 PM

 
Cute Trilobite Cookies
(via Neatorama)

Labels: cuteness, food, science

posted 5:15 PM

 
Household Hints from The Northern Cookbook.
(Thanks, Michael!)

Labels: food

posted 10:06 AM

 
"As a collector of vintage and modern atomic clocks, I discovered it was possible, using gear found at home, to convert our family minivan into a mobile high-precision time laboratory, complete with batteries, power converters, time interval counters, three children, and three cesium clocks"
(via kottke.org)
posted 3:51 PM

 
I was planning to post something about Project Mohole, mostly because I started babbling about it after eating too much cereal and staring at a lava lamp, but today, it turns out that the whole thing was unnecessary, because they just found a gaping hole in the the earth's crust! And yes, that headline should read "Welsh Scientists in Journey to Earth's Mantle." Of course, I prefer to think of the Earth as being composed of Crust and Filling.
(Welsh scientist story via mefi)

Labels: science

posted 11:23 AM

 
Spirit Duplicator on Wikipedia. I had always thought that the "Ditto Machine"* was the same as a mimeograph, but, in fact they are distinct processes. The Ditto machine smells better, for one thing.
(Younger readers can go back to text messaging and playing Wii, or whatever the hell it is you do, and excuse the interruption)
*actually, I had totally forgotten the name "Ditto Machine" until I started looking this stuff up, but the smell is burned into my brain. The whole thing started with me wishing that fortune cookie fortunes were still made on mimeographs,rather than offset printed.

Labels: retrotech

posted 4:09 PM

 
Antique Copying Machines at
Early Office Museum.
My mom worked in an office that had one of these, and my sister and I burned through a fair bit of the special paper for it when she wasn't looking.

Labels: retrotech

posted 3:31 PM

 
Saturn is awesome.

Labels: science

posted 1:57 PM

 
Two weird rabbit videos on youtube:
1,2
(#1 via boingboing, thanks michael for #2)

Labels: animals youtube

posted 1:44 PM

 
Weird new sea creatures from Antarctica.
(via coudal partners)

Labels: WASFTBOTS

posted 11:10 AM

 
Stock ticker history, with a slightly annoying interface, but nice pictures. This company apparently sells very coolreproduction stock tickers.

Labels: retrotech

posted 1:01 PM

 
One of the many things that would be outlawed when incandescent lights are banned (see below) is the Balafire bulb. And all of these. Do not miss that page's links page, if you like bulbs. And I've posted this before, but do not miss this.
posted 11:22 AM

 
The hoarding starts now.
posted 2:50 PM

 
100 years of Paper Tape and Teleprinters.

Labels: retrotech

posted 1:36 PM

 
Cheese Cam. I think one of those little blue spots is getting bigger.
(Thanks, Rob!

Labels: webcams cheese funny

posted 9:15 AM

 
A big squid with high-beams.

Labels: WASFTBOTS

posted 8:43 AM

 
Nora, the Piano Playing Cat!
(Thanks, Veronica!)

Labels: cats, cuteness, youtube

posted 2:07 PM

 
A Hello Kitty made of real snow from Hokkaido delivered to your door for 4800 Yen!!! (about 50 bucks)

(Thanks, Ron!)
posted 11:21 PM

 
Surfing mice! They look like rats to me, but whatever, they surf better than I do.
(via MeFi)
posted 1:03 PM

 
Supernova Via Lite Brite (Youtube)
From Slacker Astronomy. "Because if you aren't going to care about something, may as well not care about astronomy."
posted 3:27 PM

 
Cool video of a Maywa Denki performance.
(Thanks Ken!)
posted 1:33 PM

 
If you grew up watching MuchMusic in the early 90s, you may remember a graphic of an analog clock that came on in the mornings, and automatically switched to show the time zones across Canada. I made that. It wasn't some fancy modern character generator, either-you couldn't buy something like that off the shelf at the time. I wrote it in Pascal. We had a similar clock on Citytv, which was an actual mechanical clock, in a box, with a camera fixed on it, which was keyed into the video. So you can imagine my delight at finding this.
(via MeFi)
posted 10:49 AM

 
There is a sudden spike in demand for certain items in our office.
(via Neatorama)
posted 9:16 PM

 
I can't type quickly or accurately, and I know some swear words that it's doesn't, but the Profane Game is still fun.
(via MeFi)
posted 1:50 PM

 
Sure kid. God made your kitten. But He also made made giant pale centipedes that scuttle in pitch dark stinking caves, snatch bats right out of the air, and devour them.(youtube, giant centipede, large bat, and seething swarms of creepy beetle warnings all in effect)
(Thanks George!)
posted 12:34 PM

 
Spoor of the Giant Haggis? That would be my guess.

Labels: WASFTBOTS

posted 10:17 AM

 
Retro Encabulator.
And the story behind it.
(Thanks, Michael, and Kat!)
posted 5:32 PM

 
"Be one of the first to watch and be amazed as 35 Southern women bring you the thrill of catching catfish weighing up to 44lbs. with their hands and wrestling them to the bank. This video of catfish grabblin' has more than 30 exciting scenes to keep you, your family and friends amused and entertained for years to come. Including a special scene where a deer comes down and licks the catfish as we pull him out of the water."

Really, what more could you possibly want?
(via memepool)
posted 3:10 PM

 
If you are in Toronto, I'll be playing with i/o media this friday, at InterAccess.
posted 1:02 PM

 
Destroy all Owls.
(via BoingBoing, which has extensive coverage of the purge of the old Woodsy)
posted 3:47 PM

 
The Mite. (youtube)
posted 8:58 PM

 
File under: sentences which read like spam headers, but aren't.
"Dieter was fishing with the new Vpop popups in white glugged in Carptrak amino dip".
(thanks, Kat!)
posted 1:21 PM

 
Onsuper8.org has a nice blog. Even a post on Toronto's own John Porter.
(via RetroThing)

Labels: film

posted 1:11 PM

 
Deathspace: because Myspace doen't end at death.
Via We Make Money Not Art. After the obligatory "d00d! your dead!!! LOL!!!" jokes, you should go read what she has to say about it.
posted 10:10 AM

 
"This site is a repository for the work of the American scientist Elmer R. Gates (1859-1923). Quite famous in his day, Gates was a virtuoso inventor. His better known inventions include the foam fire extinguisher, an improved electric iron, a climate-controlling air conditioner, and the educational toy “Box and Blocks.” He was productive in the fields of X-ray, alloy casting, electrically operated looms, and magnetic separation devices for mining. He devised instruments for developing muscular skill; he created indoor replications of weather systems; in the late 1800s he invented an electronic music synthesizer."
(Thanks,Sarah!
posted 6:26 PM

 
Time graphs: "An attempt to use photos as datapoints in graphs (which in turn tell you something about the photos)."
(via Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society)
posted 4:04 PM

 
Thanks, everyone who sent me this. Younger people may not realize just how spot-on this is, so I suggest they spend some time here.
posted 11:38 AM

 
What a shock to pick up the paper this moring and see that Helen Hill had been murdered. I didn't really know her, I'd only met her once or twice at screenings, but remembered her as a totally sweet and funny person. John Porter has some pictures here, and BoingBoing has a post here.
posted 10:31 AM

 
Someone bought this lovely time ball.
posted 12:50 PM

 
Best Polish insecticide commercial ever.
(via b3ta)
posted 8:08 PM

 
Pupshaw and The Thing. Photos of a Jim Woodring toy, and its travels. Bonus points for the inclusion of the Volkswagen Thing, and the Very Large Array. Found on Jim Woodring's site.

Labels: woodring art

posted 10:31 PM

 
Quintron and Miss Pussycat.(youtube)
Kind of kicking myself for missing their show here last year, but they weren't going to start until midnight, and it was in the middle of the week. I showed up at 10 and didn't feel like nursing a beer for two hours. Doesn't anyone have to work in the morning anymore?
(the puppet show starts about 7:15 in)

Labels: music puppets

posted 3:20 PM