Adam Savage: my Blade Runner gun
I made my first Blade Runner pistol when I was 18, while living in Hell's Kitchen, NYC. I stared at the VHS version on pause and made sketches. Put it together from toys and model kit parts. It's lovely and terrible: (Years later the internet would teach me that the six dollar plastic gun I bought on Canal street in NYC and cannibalized for the grip was created by Edison Giacattoli, a legendary...
Glenn Beck advertiser sells "survival seeds" for apocalyptic agriculture
The Survival Seed Bank is advertising on Glenn Beck's television show. They offer "survival seeds" for growing your own "crisis garden" amid "emerging totalitarianism." As Media Matters points out, the brand identity meshes well with the host's apocalyptic visions of the future. "More valuable than silver or gold in a real meltdown," the website reads. They may quote WorldNetDaily as a news sou...
Sex.com for sale
Sex.com will be sold at auction next week. Current owner Escom LLC reportedly paid $14 million for it a few years ago, but since defaulted on loans. According to CNN, "The auction is set for March 18 in New York, and bidders are required to appear with a certified check for $1 million to participate."...
Chilean earthquake so strong, it moved an entire city 10 feet
Researchers say the magnitude-8.8 earthquake that hit Chile was so strong, it moved the city of Concepcion 10 feet (or more!) to the west. The Chilean capital, Santiago, was bumped about 11 inches to the west-southwest. (via kristielustout)...
Future of Interrogation
Not only are torture techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and forced stress positions evil, they don't work very well for interrogation. Jacques Vallee talked about that on BB last year in his provocative essay, "Waterboarding's curious corollaries." This week's New Scientist also considers the efficacy of torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" (CIDT). On the heels of ...
Study says US doctors in hospitals only wash their hands about 30% of the time
An upsetting stat tucked away in a NYT piece today: Doctors in American hospitals wash their hands only 30-40% of the time, according to national estimates. (via consumersunion)...
Wired Reread: AT&T's "strap-on telephone"
Image (large size): One of many vintage ads from old issues of Wired Magazine at wiredreread.com, a site created by Theis Søndergaard. This one for an AT&T "strap-on telephone" appeared in 1995. Be sure to use your fancy new 28.8 modem when you call up that website on the internet....
Wired Reread: AT&T Wristphone
Image (large size): One of many vintage ads from old issues of Wired Magazine at wiredreread.com, a site created by Theis Søndergaard. Be sure to use your fancy new 28.8 modem when you call it up on the internet....
Kids in Haiti refugee camps making kites
Lawrence Downes of The New York Times says: "I was just in Haiti reporting on things there and found amazing makers: boys who make kites. Even in refugee camps, where there's only tiniest scraps of stuff: plastic, sticks, thread." The kites are beautiful: some have layers of black and clear plastic forming diamonds and stars. Some have decorative edges, the plastic razor-sliced into piñata fri...
Totally righteous "Cove" dudes reported to have caught LA sushi joint selling illegal whale meat
Santa Monica sushi restaurant The Hump is reported to have been caught selling illegal whale meat to its customers. Who went after them with hidden cameras? The guys behind the dolphin slaughter documentary The Cove. Image above: Ric O'Barry, right after The Cove won an oscar, during the Academy Awards. BB pal Ehrich Blackhound emailed in the image and says, "I love it when winners hijack the b...
Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: The Metzger interview
Richard Metzger writes: "It was the blog post heard 'round the world. When Charles Johnson wrote "Why I Parted Ways With The Right" in the space of a few minutes and posted it on his popular Little Green Footballs blog, he had no idea the firestorm it would set off. Nasty denunciations, death threats and a New York Times magazine feature article later, Charles Johnson joined me for a lively dis...
Lindsay Lohan is absolutely not a milkaholic
Lindsay Lohan would like you to know that she is not a milkaholic. To that end, she is reported to be suing e*trade for $100 million over a baby that appears in one of its TV ads. (via @tokyomango)...
Fake electronic gear props
Rob B and I were discussing the inherent oddness of those faux stereos, TVs, and computers used in furniture store displays. Cut to a good half-hour of browsing the site of Props By IDM (International Dummy Machines?). Not only does Props by IDM offer the latest in fake component stereos, laptops, and flatscreens, but they also sell huge plastic washer and dryer sets, simulated iPod with speake...
Knife-brandishing yob in a hoodie openly menaces public just steps from Parliament
Knife-brandishing yob in a hoodie openly menaces public just steps from Parliament
Horned centenarian
Zhang Ruifang, 101, of Henan province in China, appears to have a horn growing on the left side of her forehead. Another is reportedly sprouting on the right side, according to the Daily Mail. I know, I know, the Daily Mail... but look at that horn. Just look at it. From the Daily Mail: Although, it is unknown what the protrusion is on Mrs Zhang's head, it resembles a cutaneous horn. This is a ...
Laptop bag made from cement bag
Etsy seller TheWren sells messenger bags made out of South African cement sacks (which, I imagine, are durable by definition). Very nice, old school art. I had to give up messenger bags to spare my back (the lopsided burden was killing me), but I still have a soft spot for them, and live vicariously through others on this score. PPC Cement Laptop Bag - OPC (via Wired) Previously:Leather laptop ...
Future of Interrogration
Not only are torture techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and forced stress positions evil, they don't work very well for interrogation. Jacques Vallee talked about that on BB last year in his provocative essay, "Waterboarding's curious corollaries." This week's New Scientist also considers the efficacy of torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" (CIDT). On the heels of ...
CNN visits dog and cat meat market in China
Warning: This may shock you if you love dogs and cats. In this highly disturbing video report, CNN's Emily Chang goes to a dog and cat meat market in Guanghzhou, China. There, dogs and cats are kept in cages and sold to restaurants and street vendors that specialize in things like cat stew and frozen dog leg. The Chinese government has taken the first steps in banning the consumption of dog and...
Stop robot poverty: i3 Detroit hackerspace fundraiser
Nick from i3 Detroit hackerspace sez, "We all know that robot poverty is a major problem but no one is taking any steps to help combat it...until now. Help i3 Detroit, Detroit's Hackerspace, move to our bigger 8,000 sq/ft location and fight the causes of Robot Poverty. Most robots don't have the basic alcohol they need to survive or the tanks of pneumatic fluid to pressurize appendages. It's ev...
Paris mapcut by Karen O'Leary
Karen O'Leary creates hand-cut city maps from paper. She just finished Paris, and it is shown above. More here, and her Flickr stream is here. Previously:Hand-cut paper street maps of world cities...
The color purple
Reseller's team has just installed a new mainframe for this client, and the senior systems tech is justly proud that the job is almost done. But he has one more point to make.
More Shark Tank...
View more Shark Tanks.
You might say that
IT site manager pilot fish at this big manufacturer gets a call from an engineer -- who's frantic because his plotter won't print some engineering drawings he needs pronto.
By 'support' we mean 'get all the complaints'
IT help desk is informed by purchasing managers that IT will be supporting a new expense-reporting process to "increase efficiency and drive costs down." Yes, it's as bad as it sounds.
Details, details
User calls the help desk to complain that her screenshots are not showing up in the documents she's creating, and nothing the support tech suggests seems to help at all -- until the tech asks one question.
A couple loose screws, all right
This user is working late at a medical clinic when her printer jams. But instead of calling technical support, she decides she can fix it herself -- though that turns out to be a challenge.
Because the customer is always...riiiiight
This hosting provider recently got a new customer for its managed e-mail service -- and apparently the customer really needs to be managed.
Now cut that out!
This specialty hardware company has a store about 60 miles from headquarters, with a PC that connects to the corporate mainframe across the Internet -- and one employee who's gullible and a bit dense.
But who's counting?
This IT pilot fish heads a group responsible for backing up a large pool of servers with a huge amount of data. Then they're asked to help another group with its backup problem -- and a problem it is.
How to save time
At an IT staff meeting, the software developers aren't happy -- they're catching flak because a slow network makes their apps run at glacial speed. But one tech knows why.
Mini hands make light work
This pilot fish is doing support work for a local school where the children are having trouble getting their computers to respond to the mice -- and nothing seems to help....
Now that wasn't so hard, was it?
This city's deputy treasurer leaves a message for support manager pilot fish: She's been trying for days to get an e-mail from someone at a major bank -- with no luck....
Sometimes it's better not to ask
It's the mid-1980s, and this fresh-out-of-university pilot fish happens to have some experience on a relatively rare type of mainframe. And he's very excited when he hears about an opening for and "on-site consultant" with knowledge of such systems.
Not quite back from vacation after all
Help desk pilot fish gets an urgent user request: "I set up a vacation rule, where a reply is automatically sent out when I receive something. Now that I'm back from vacation, I can't get it to stop."
Just one more thing to worry about
This pilot fish and his wife are planning a long overdue vacation to an all-inclusive resort -- one of those places where you don't have to worry about things like meals or tipping. Step 1: Log in.
Technically, trial and error IS a mechanism
New regulations require more physical and electronic security at this health insurance company, so the company hires a chief security officer to oversee the efforts -- and he's sure he knows what he's doing....
First thing first
Manufacturing engineers at this plant are incredibly talented. Trouble is, they believe their talent crosses all lines, including fixing any problem having to do with computers and networks.
That would explain it
IT pilot fish at a small hospital gets a tech-support call from the lab department. It seems they've had trouble faxing reports for a few days and finally decided to call fish for help.
Can we set up a meeting about that?
This insurance company is updating its claims-processing software, and it's a big deal for the entire 30-person IT department -- but the primary responsibility falls on the lead programmer.
Just like that other thing, only not
Account manager pilot fish at an IT service provider is pitching the company's virtual hosting service -- and he brings along a fresh technical consultant to handle the technical questions.
