stop the planet, i want to get off

and you thought gumball machines were simple bastions of childhood delight? well you'd be WRONG

Three Dover officials say they've found a serious homeland security threat to chew on: gumballs.

They worry the colorful round treats could be poisoned by an enterprising terrorist who sees them as bait for unsuspecting targets -- young kids.

always good when politics dips into the heady waters of self-parody

[courtesy of we make money not art]

top gun is gay

i mean, hell, we've all thought it, but it's that much cooler and convincing when it's being explained by quentin tarantino

double dutch

alright, now i'm willing to admit that in the heat of the moment i may have rather brutally have written off the dutch. however, i'd like to perform one of my trademark backflips and declare that they are in fact ok. just ok. they're going to have to work for love from me.

Physics can be fun!

A while ago we used to play a game called Porrasturvat (literally "Stair Dismount"), where the aim was to throw a man off a flight of stairs whilst inflicting the maximum amount of pain possible. You would pick the appendage to aim for, the force you would apply to this appendage and the angle to which you would apply this force. Then, the fun would begin, as the points began to roll in depending on how much damage you inflicted on this lifeless body. Back and neck breaks always scored well.

Then the sequel to this game, Rekkaturvat ("Truck Dismount"), involved a similar premise except you could now decide where the gentleman would sit on a truck as you drove it into a wall.

Now to the point of the post, EA Sports has created a new game called "Skate" which utilises these very same "crash physics".



Now, this, would have to be the funniest crash I have ever seen.

"Yeah, I meant to do that"

how in fuck's name did she do that?

via videosift.com

...whoa. the best bit about this video is the bit where you realise you know how it's going to end...

(and yes, fairly NSFW)

[courtesy of within the cranium]

Stop! Grammar Time!

Here is an excellent page of quotes where Batman is lecturing Robin in the 1960's Batman TV Series.

Batman: "Better put 5 cents in the meter."
Robin: "No policeman’s going to give the Batmobile a ticket."
Batman: "This money goes to building better roads. We all must do our part."

Robin: "Holy molars! Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!"
Batman: "True. You owe your life to dental hygiene."

Robin: "You can’t get away from Batman that easy!"
Batman: "Easily."
Robin: "Easily."
Batman: "Good grammar is essential, Robin."
Robin: "Thank you."
Batman: "You’re welcome."

More here via [Neatorama]

music is awesome

musicmap and tuneglue. two versions of exactly the same service. hip huzzah!




musicmap is a stark white exercise in ever so pretty music networking minimalism. essentially you put in an artist, choose an album from the list and this becomes your starting point. click on the node and select expand and it generates a range of new suggestions. from somewhere. these suggestions then link back to any of the albums you've already opened up so you can get a nice visual sense of musical compatibility between different projects. it does seem to have a slightly limited database to draw upon though. i managed to move from minimal techno (the amazing gui boratto) to the white stripes in two expansions.





tuneglue is almost identical, although it is more artist (rather than album)-oriented, looks a little clunkier (it seems to think page space is a precious resource) and is integrated with the last.fm database, making it more exhaustive than musicmap. which helps. there is also an unnerving tendency for your webs to start trying to make their escape to the left of screen if left for a while. maybe they can sense the death metal boys hovering around the next expansion and want to get out while the getting is good. they shouldn't be so scared though. metal dudes aren't that scary. LOL.