How to Seperate Silly Putty

Apparantly, if you're having a hard time seperating your 250 pound ball of silly putty, the best way to break it into chunks is to hit it with a hammer, or drop it from the roof of a building.

SillyPutty

Mail Order Manufacture

OK, this is neat: draw a part, send the drawing, get a real part back in the mail. I'm sitting here trying to find a way to justify spending money on this just because . . . hmmmm . . .

manufacture

Making Mead

One of my many past-times is making beer, wine, & mead. Just thought I'd point out to anybody that there's a mead-maker's e-group just for Calgary, and they have access to an apiary. Cheaper and better quality honey than going to the Hutterites at the Crossroads market. I am so looking forward to a honey run. So if you're interested in brewing, as a beginner or an experienced zymurgist, come on down!

Mead

Stop Motion Animation Clips

If you liked "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "The Corpse Bride", you're going to love this - a gallery of stop motion animation clips, mostly from little know European masters. Enjoy!

StopMotion

Technorati - Google for Blogs

A site that tracks how many other blogs link to a blog. Eminently useful (for wasting time! :-)

Technorati

Fixing Your Parent's Computer

For those of us who are blessed with being the family computer consultant, here is a basic checklist of routine maintenance on the 'rents computer. The good stuff is in the comments, where suggestions & alternatives are mentioned.

ComputerMaintenance

GPS & GoogleEarth Hack

This guy found a neat way to combining GPS & GoogleEarth, so that you can fly over tracks. These tracks could be ones you recorded while out & about, or even when planning a trip. As he says, it's a neat way to plan a trip & ensure you don't miss anything neat.

GoogleEarth GPS

The Passion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Let we forget the reason for the seperation between church and state . . . may you be touched by his noodly appendage this holiday season.

FlyingSpaghettiMonster

GMail Hack - Sorting Incoming Mail

If you have a gmail account, this is a neat hack: add '+label' to the first part of your address, and then filter your incoming mail on that label. For example: I often mail myself interesting links that I want to put up on my blog. My e-mail address is 'zeno63@gmail.com'. If I want to filter & file that e-mail for later, I can mail it to myself at 'zeno63+blog@gmail.com'. More details here if you want to know how to do this. If you want a gmail account for yourself, just let me know and I'll send you one.

Gmail

Burning Man

I'm am so going to Burning Man one day. If I can figure out how to get there on my motorcycle, even better.

BurningMan

Vanity Cards

Have you ever recorded a TV show, and then very carefully watched the credits hoping to find crumbs of wisdom dropping a sit-com show's producer/writer's table that you can freeze-frame and read? No, neither have I. But then you can find anything on the internet.

VanityCard ChuckLorre Dharma&Greg TwoAndAHalfMen

Free Tattoo Magazine

Ever seen those tattoo magazine on the rack with a plastic wrapper on them? This one takes the wrapper off, puts it on-line, and sets up the galleries with thumb-nails. Woohoo!

Tattoo

Used Motorcule Buying Guide

I always get screwed buying transportation. It doesn't matter how hard I try, how much research I do, or how much time I take. I once bought a station wagon that had the transmission welded together. My wife drives a Windstar, because that year the Lemon Guide gave it a four star rating - the next year it was "not recommended" because they figured out it has a biodegradable transmission. (We're on its third transmission now. At least I was able to get the dealer to mostly pay for the first two.) The last vehicle I purchased had a crack in the gas tank, and when I had it replaced, Canadian Tire put the wrong size in so now my gas gauge never reads more than three quarters full. Their solution? For another $500, we'll replace the pump & gauge. No thanks. I would have prefered you did a proper vehicle inspection in the first place, like you were paid to do. Bastards, but I'm not bitter.

If I don't get screwed by a seller, I'll screw myself. Changing the oil on my motorcycle last year, I left off a small but critical o-ring from inside the oil pan (I found it at the bottom of the used oil a month later when I went to clean up the garage), which necessitated an expensive cam-shaft replacement. Doh! Lessons learned: the Clyson Guide isn't alway right, and dispose of your oil immediately after changing it so as to discover any leftover parts.

When I go to upgrade my bike, I'll be taking this guide along.

p.s. I tried to find the "crappy tire" website, but it seems that rather than dealing with their obvious customer service & quality issues, yet another corporation has decided it's more cost effective to silence critics using lawyers. Bastards, but I'm not bitter.

CrappyTire Motorcycle UsedMotorcycles LemonGuide UsedCars

Bendable Phone

This is neat if you're a gadget freak like me. NEC's "near-future ubiquitous networking devices" as visualized by their designers. The one that caught my eye was the soft-shell cell phone that you can wrap around your arm, attach to the handle of your luggage, or stand up on the table as show. The other neat one was a key-less keyboard. Check it out.

Phone NewTechnology

Gotta Go - Just Crashed my Car

I've always had a thing for good advertising. You know, going to the local independant theatre to see the anual "Best Ads" reel. This site should keep me happy in between years. It got my attention for this gadget. It gives you excuses to get off the phone, including the rather convincing sounds of a car crash - recommended for bill collectors.

Gadgests BillCollectors Phone

Animated Springs

If you're bored, this will help you waste a half an hour.

TimeWaster Spring

Internet Sacred Text Archive

Also stumbled up the Internet Sacred Text Archive last week. A comprehensive listing of world spiritual thoughts from African to Zoroastrianism.

Religion SacredText

Tradgirl - rec.climbing's Home on the Web

Tripped across this usenet group the other day, and found that their website is a great resource for climbing beta. Good for novices and otherwise.

RockClimbing

Wikipedia vs Britannica: Not that much difference

Given how long Brittanica has been around, and given that anybody can edit Wikipedia, you're expect there to be a bigger difference in their respective accuracies. In a recent blind side-by-side review of 42 science articles, the difference in accuracy was not particularly great: the average science entry in Wikipedia contained around four inaccuracies; Britannica, about three. In fact, Wikipedia had more articles than Britannica that were completely defect free. On a per word basis, Wikipedia outperforms Britannica by 3/5. The detailed comparison can be found in table on this page.

Wikipedia

Full Moon at its Zenith

Last night, the full Moon will be just about at the most northerly declination it can ever attain. It was cool to crane my neck to it so high in the sky. Moreover, "The Moon will rise and set near its extreme northeast and northwest azimuths (unusually far northeast and northwest on the horizon). Look for this at sunset and sunrise...." More details here.

Moon

Jailhouse Tech

Prisoners get bored. Prisoners get creative. Apply imagination to more than escaping, violence, or getting high. Drawing of various prisoner inventions, including a tattooing machine, a "water" cigarette lighter, a coffee pot cigarette lighter, an electric cigarette lighter, and a battery cigarette lighter. I think they smoke a lot in prison. Did I mention they get bored?

Jail PrimitiveTechnology

New Musical Instrument

This is so freaking neat - and it's not just a musical instrument. James Patten also used his "sense table" to model & simulate supply chain management. First thing I thought was it would make a great tool for modelling communications networks, the kind that I work with. What else would you use it with? Anyway, I want one in the garage. Boom-boom-chicka-boom!

Music NewTechnology

Fake Climbing Fall?

This link has been making the rounds at the office (we seem to have a cluster of rock-climber & skiers in our company), accompanied by a spirited debate about whether it's real or staged. What do you think?

RockClimbing

Papercraft Motorcycles

This Yamaha sponsored site provides papercraft motorcycle, endangered Japanese animals, endangered world animals, and seasonal projects. If you follow the Papercraft King link, you'll find examples of papercraft choppers complete with spokes. Can anybody spell OCD?

Addendum: The wolves are for my soulmate, since she loves them so much. They come from the Canon papercraft site.

Papercraft TimeWasters

Pictures of Walls With Stuff Written on Them

When I was doing the 'backpacking student through Europe' thing I came across grafitti on the Berlin Wall which read "East German high jump training area".

Yeah. I guess you had to be there. Anywho, here are pictures of walls with stuff written on them.

Graffiti

Christmas Music from San Francisco

I have little tolerance for Christmas music. "Bah, humbug!" says you. "Bite me.", says I. Christmas music has become so routine, predictable, and repetitious as to sail right past boring with a wave to annoying along the way, and makes good wind (pun intended) towards creating postal workers. This station mixes things up with songs like Dr. Demento's "Christmas Dragnet" and Satan's "Christmas Time in Hell". A nice escape from the usual elevator drivel. Plus it makes me laugh.

ChristmasMusic SanFrancisco

Everest Panorama

I do a little rock-climbing and hiking in the mountains. I like the view, the feeling of being able to see forever. But I've never wanted to climb Everest. The risk/reward ratio just doesn't make it worth it for me. There are lots of great mountains to climb here in Alberta. This view, though, is pretty nice - a 360 degree panorama from the top of Mount Everest.

MountEverest RockClimbing

Amazing Japanese Style Case Mod

I've cobbled together a couple of computers in my time. I even helped my son trick out a gaming machine for a school project. He in turn repainted and put a window in his little sister's computer as a Christmas present. What does this have to do with the half-finished Japanese garden project I've got going on in my back-yard? Not much. This guy is so far out of my league . . . you definately have to check out the slide show if you have any interest in architecture, Japanese furniture making, or beautiful art that also happens to be a kick-ass gaming machine.

JapaneseArchitecture JapaneseFurniture CaseMod

Singing Meat

"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, . . . "

This story had me ROFLMAO.

ScienceFiction Humour

Hitchhikers Guide Text Game On-line

I remember playing this game off a 5.25" floppy in University. (Yes, in case you were wondering, I also remember punch cards. Don't know what a punch card is? Punk.)

Anyway, this was the ne-plus-ultra of text based games in its time, and now BBC has got it on-line for you to play and enjoy. Hint: the bulldozer won't really run you over.

Here's something that bugs me: how come BBC and NPR have got their on-line act together, and CBC can't organize a drunk in brewery? I'm thinking specifically podcasting here, but there are other examples.

H2G2 TextGame BBC PunchCard Podcasting

Knitting Patterns from JPEGs

I taught myself to knit when I still lived in Regina, because I was disgusted with how much time I spent in front of the TV. So, in line with my philosophy of "why have a cake if you can't eat it too?", I decided to find something of redeeming value that I *could* do in front of the boob-tube. This site allows you to upload a GIF, JPEG, or PNG file and get it back with an overlayed grid in PDF format that'll let you knit that pic.

Knitting KnittingPatterns

Atlatl - Not-So-Primitive Weapon

I always thought these things were so neat. A precurser to the bow & arrow that made Cortez & his musketeers wet their pants. The reportedly penetrated armour at 100 yards, could be fitted with "silencers" that also boosted their power, and are just another example of how so-called primitive technology is not as primitive as it seems at first blush. I guess I'm just an historical gizmo geek.

Atlatl PrimitiveTechnology Cortez Cortez Archery

Discover Your Faith

Use this site to discover your faith. My results, interesting if you know that I used to teach Sunday school in a Christian Science church:
1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (98%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (96%)
4. New Age (91%)
5. Mahayana Buddhism (88%)
6. Theravada Buddhism (75%)
7. Reform Judaism (75%)
8. Bahá'í Faith (74%)
9. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (73%)
10. Secular Humanism (72%)

Religion

Homemade Backpacking Stove

This super light-weight, pressurized, alchohol burning stove can be made at home. Again, there's beer involved.

In comparitive tests, the Cat Stove faired the better at boiling water faster. Or you can check out all the possibilites at zenstove.net

Backpaking BackpackingStove Gadgets DIY

Teaching Go

I was playing "Go" with my ten-year-old the other day. We hadn't played in a while, and I assumed that she had remembered everything from before. Bad me. This site shows a simple method of teaching "Go" for all ages.

Go

Best of Web Comics

I used to collect comics as a kid, including Frank Miller and Cerebus. I gave it up when I had to start buying diapers instead. No, not for me you dingleberry. Eventually I had to sell my collection, including the Star Wars #1 in order to buy a Christmas Tree and something to put under it. No regrets. Web Comics Review provides me with an outlet for graphic novella without emptying my wallet.

Comics WebComics

Tattoos That Read Upside Down

I have a largish tattoo on my left shoulder. I thought this site was neat: the tattoos are designed either to read the same upside-down and rightside-up, or read differently if inverted. You know, Angel/Devil, Heaven/Hell, that sort of thing.

Tattoos

Brain Shaped Brain Bucket

This appeals to my twisted sense of humour, especially since I spent a summer job bicycling back and forth across Winnipeg. I got so tired of having to avoid being hit/run off the road by ignorant/malicious drivers, that I stencilled my blood type to the front of my helmut. I (ahem) stumbled upon some neat things the last few days, including this site which sells helmuts in various configurations including a brain bucket that looks like, well, a brain.

Helmut Bicycling

Best of the Blogs

I listen to the NPR news summary every day on my iPod, and it pointed me at this award site for the Weblog Awards site. I'm thinking this might be a good place to harvest some worthwhile blogs and podcasts to add to my collection...anybody out there have any other podcast suggestions?

Blogs

Dumber than a Wooden Chicken that is Paralyzed by Fear

Joss Weedon has restored my faith in the sci-fi movie genre with the TV series Firefly and subsequent movie Serenity. Its even inspired me to put "learn chinese curses" on my to do list. My favourite one, which I've been trying to work into my everyday vocabulary is "Holy mother of God and all her demented nephews!"

Firefly Serenity JossWeedon Chinese

9V Battery Powered Altoids Recharger

I came across a Altoids 9V USB charger earlier this week on Make, which I'm definately ordering. I need it for my iPod. Today I came across website called Instructables with instructions on making a marshmallow gun from PVC piping. My Scouts will never know what hit them. Hehehe.

Gadgets USB

Google Sound?

I admit I'm a Google fan. Some consider them the second horseman of the apocalypse (the first being MicroSoft). The difference is that while M$ takes my money in exchange for poor quality, insecure, unstable and buggy software - Google provides a useful service for free. I love GMail, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Reader, and Google Books. The only thing missing now is a Google Sound . . . or is it?

Google GMail GoogleEarth GoogleReader GoogleBooks

Beer, Evolution, and Commercials

This is a convergence that I didn't expect: I've always been interested in advertising, or at least clever advertising. I like beer. Reading Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene and understanding what evolution really is changed my life. Here are all three together.

Beer Evolution Advertising RichardDawkins

Playing God

When thinking you're a god is not enough, now you can play a god.

God Philosophy

Paper Cuts

Okay. I admit I'm easily distracted. But this is really unfair. Taking a paper craft you can download from the internet, and then building a neat puzzle out of it. How am I supposed to eat, sleep, and groom myself when there are so many shiney things out there? These fish are pretty neat too.

Papercraft

Bullets Through Apples at Home

This made me think of that "bullet through the apple" high-speed photograph, except now you can do it in the comfort of your own home. MAKE put together a list of do-it-yourself Christmas gifts for mostly under $100, including a $99 a high-speed flash photography kit. Too cool!

Oh, yeah -- don't actually try this at home.

Gadgets DIY

Tying Things Up

Go figure. I spent last weekend at camp with my Scout Troop building a monkey bridge, and then I find this: South African Scout Pioneering Resources. I especially like the way the Japanese square lashing and Filipino diagonal lashing doesn't need a clove hitch to get started. Then again, everybody in my troop now knows how to do a clove hitch, which isn't a bad thing. Now, if I could just find somebody that's actually built an hourglass tower and pick their brains on contruction details, that would be great. Do you build it on the ground, and then stand it up? If so, how do ensure it is square & true before you raise the tower? Do you build a crane before you build the tower in order to get it off the ground?

See the rest of weekend's pics here. There was a fire ban on all weekend, despite the snow Sunday morning.

Pioneering Scouts