www.idiotechnica.com Dylan's topics

Honey, I'm home!

29 Jan 2013 03:29:25 GMT

Toronto sucks!

Windows 8

16 Jan 2013 23:55:36 GMT

Fucking awful.

idiotechnica.com 2012 year in review!

31 Dec 2012 21:45:32 GMT

http://www.idiotechnica.com/forum_threads.php?threads_offset=0;

and

http://www.idiotechnica.com/forum_threads.php?threads_offset=50;

Happy XMas from www.idiotechnica.com!

25 Dec 2012 16:59:45 GMT

The World's Friendliest Website!

TSOL or SNFU

01 Dec 2012 17:32:33 GMT

Your decision.

I built a pull up bar but it won't fit in my thin doorway.

20 Nov 2012 04:16:52 GMT

What do I do?

Is the secret forum down?

12 Nov 2012 00:37:29 GMT

I can't access it.

www.idiotechnica.com

05 Oct 2012 17:20:02 GMT

The world's friendliest website!

I would move instantly.

04 Jun 2012 02:19:09 GMT

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/120602/sadiya-indian-town-overrun-poisonous-spiders-2-kille

Sadiya, Indian town, overrun by poisonous spiders: 2 killed

The Indian town of Sadiya has been swarmed by deadly spiders that have killed two people,The Times of India reported.

http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2012/05/25/friday-weird-science-dont-you-judge-me-unless-i-just-farted/

Long story short: An experiment asked people to judge moral situations. e.g. How wrong is it to have sex with your cousin? How moral is it to drive to work when it is a short walk?

It turns out that the presence of foul smells and messy decor actually caused people to be more damning of these hypotheticals.

I guess the lesson is that if you find yourself in court, try not to let one slip, or it could be your last fart as a free man.

Finally... Bionic Elephants!

12 May 2012 00:28:56 GMT

http://blogs.plos.org/wonderland/2012/05/09/the-worlds-first-bionic-elephants/

Moonbase Alpha offers a realistic simulation of life on a natural sattelite

11 May 2012 15:33:11 GMT

Hv6RbEOlqRo

Octopus vs Seagull

03 May 2012 18:17:05 GMT

Octopus.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/05/03/octopus-seagull-fight-eating-photos.html

I'm going to be 30.

19 Apr 2012 17:25:13 GMT

I spent my 20's on the internet. I think do like spazdaq and spend my 30's in the sun.

Smack a baby, Hit a Hammer, Science.

15 Mar 2012 17:19:18 GMT

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/03/14/would-people-rather-smack-a-baby-or-watch-a-baby-get-smacked-with-pictures/
_

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21910540

When you work at Harvard you get to smack babies on a table. That's the crux of this study.

This figure is too good to pass up posting though:

A Better Way to Program? A spazdaq thread.

15 Mar 2012 17:09:07 GMT

Bret Victor gives a talk about the the lack of immediate feedback available to programmers.

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/112-theory/3900-a-better-way-to-program.html

Alex Armstrong states in his article: "' This video will change the way you think about programming. The argument is clear and impressive - it suggest that we really are building programs with one hand tied behind our backs. After you have watched the video you will want the tools demonstrated."

Do you agree?

Solar Flares interpreted by artists

15 Mar 2012 17:01:04 GMT

Speaking of Robert Krulwich (see: other thread), here's a great piece he wrote about a bunch of artists who took liberties with scientists' conversations on solar flares in order to make some neato movie that gets the science wrong in favour of making it look awesome.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/03/14/148605162/raging-sunstorms-in-our-minds

The official idiotechnica meetup is a month away!

15 Mar 2012 16:49:50 GMT

New York City!!!! The city that never logs off.

Speaking of NYC, here's a TED talk by Jason Munshi-South giving a brief overview of wild animal evolution within the city. By examining the DNA of say, a wild white foot mouse, you can actually determine what part of the city the mouse was found. I wonder if they can do the same thing with hot dogs?

ckGB5lHyzME

How long have those creepy videos been on the home page?

13 Mar 2012 04:18:58 GMT

I just noticed them. WEIRD.

Post here

09 Mar 2012 16:47:56 GMT

And I'll tell you what I think about you.

The Pros and Cons of cofffee. Less cons than you would think.

01 Mar 2012 23:43:28 GMT

I'm terrified of coffee and I don't drink it. But apparently the literature so far hasn't revealed anything terrible about coffee's effects. I'm still frightened though.

http://www.helpingyoucare.com/18129/harvard-health-discusses-the-pros-and-cons-of-drinking-coffee

In a new article entitled “What is it about coffee?” the editors of Harvard Health Publications, discuss some of the known benefits and drawbacks of drinking coff

Caffeine disrupts sleep for morning people but not night owls?

01 Mar 2012 23:40:44 GMT

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=caffeine-disrupts-sleep-f

From scientific american:

Caffeine will get you going during the day but could leave you http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/man-poses-dennys-manager-cooks-burger-225217404--abc-news.html

By Alyssa Newcomb | http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/pictures-that-perfectly-capture-the-90s

No Gallaghers = fail.

Beer plus Sleep deprivation equals genius

13 Feb 2012 17:41:51 GMT

Another great post by Jonah Lehrer; "Why being sleepy and drunk are great for creativity"

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/why-being-sleepy-and-drunk-are-great-for-creativity/

Featuring some fun brain teasers!

Your task is to move a single line so that the false arithmetic statement below becomes true.

&a

"I just asked him his name"

08 Feb 2012 05:58:49 GMT

" Let me make something clear to you. He doesn't have a name. He has a program. He's product."

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/neuroscience-war/

"A working group led by the Royal Society has warned the scientific c

Idiotechnica registration is at capacity!!

05 Feb 2012 00:30:10 GMT

That means, if you got in, congrats. You are part of an exclusive club.

If you want in, you have to ask Mike himself. But good luck getting ahold of him. I have been trying to ask him for advice about my bunions for like 4 months but he never responds : (

The Spielberg Face

03 Feb 2012 18:40:51 GMT

VS5W4RxGv4s

Reconstructing speech from the cortex.

02 Feb 2012 09:23:26 GMT

Holy moley!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/neurophilosophy/2012/jan/31/eavesdropping-brains-speech-mechanisms

Verizon Math

26 Jan 2012 19:46:13 GMT

This is awesome.

<img src="http://xkcd.com/verizon/verizon.jpg">

Which was spawned from this audio clip.

27 minutes of frustration. It's worth listening at least 11 minutes in.

All from the Verizon Math blog.

There are so many things I want to post about now that idiotechnica is back

17 Jan 2012 00:09:59 GMT

What do you guys think about muffins?

Where's our messiah now?

13 Jan 2012 12:36:03 GMT

[emocry]

Man Attempts to buy Microwave at WalMart with One Million Dollar BIll

01 Jan 2012 22:41:42 GMT

A man in North Carolina was arrested after he insisted that his 1M dollar bill was legit. The man was attempting to buy $476 worth of items at a Wal-Mart. I would love to see a picture of the bill in question.

How to degrease a pizza

29 Dec 2011 22:40:37 GMT

sKilm79bNAU

Hack the Planet.

27 Dec 2011 03:56:04 GMT

Looks like I have been hacked! Luckily I live a fairly boring life and have no money. My apologies to whoever went through the trouble.

I have a bad feeling about this

20 Dec 2011 04:49:14 GMT

Its so hot in here

18 Dec 2011 07:32:19 GMT

"It's crazy"

vUz9xCTOPRw

Happy idiotechnica.com

15 Dec 2011 07:04:26 GMT

Praise the Sun!

13 Dec 2011 17:17:44 GMT

Dark Souls = second best game this gen.

I need this hoodie:

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/22AMj.jpg">

Praise the Sun!

<img src="http://www.edtechswami.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/dark-souls-you-died-150x150.jpg">

Peppersprayingcop. Photoshop justice

29 Nov 2011 19:14:22 GMT

http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com

This is when I love the internet.

Bugs thread.

26 Nov 2011 21:53:00 GMT

The "remove content" button doesn't work. Heh.

Apparently there is a new muppet movie.

23 Nov 2011 13:43:14 GMT

My lifestyle no longer supports going to the movies, so spazdaq I'm leaving the review up to you.

Bry Webb - Asa

19 Nov 2011 18:44:31 GMT

Song of the year?

rfmTSntving

To Troll a Predator

17 Nov 2011 16:59:02 GMT

Brilliant

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/teens-dressed-superheroes-surprise-online-predators-150153403.html

Here we go again. Steam hacked.

14 Nov 2011 09:18:00 GMT

10 November 2011

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewarts-epic-take-down-of-rick-perrys-gop-debate-gaffe/

By now everyone has had their chance to ridicule Rick Perry for his brain fart during the Republican Debates.

Being a nerd though, I would really like to hear someone like Jonah Lehrer/ chime in on this career catastrophe. Specifically, could Perry have saved himself by simply rambling out random ideas in hopes that something jogs his memory?

Years ago I heard an interview with a scientist (Fittingly, I can`t remember the name) who had a theory about `tip of the tongue` moments. He explained that trying to force ourselves to remember something in these tip of the tongue circumstances u

My apologies

09 Nov 2011 22:19:01 GMT

It seems my old, old, oollld yahoo.ca account has been sending spam to all my old, old contacts.

This raises the question, why does Yahoo even exist? Who uses it? Who owns it? Why doesn't it just go away?

Modern Warfare 3 Launch Event in Toronto

08 Nov 2011 23:09:59 GMT

There was a huge event for this games release last night in Toronto at Dundas Square. I was walking by after seeing Noel Gallagher at Massey Hall.

To the lineup of dudes waiting to purchase the game at midnight, as I asked ``is this the lineup to get a girlfriend?`` which to my surprise was answered with boos. I thought it was pretty funny.

Quite the fall.

04 Nov 2011 19:44:46 GMT

Feel-good news story of the year.

04 Nov 2011 03:24:06 GMT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/11/02/tumour-testicle-face.html

Doctors see 'screaming man' in testicle scan

<img src="http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/topstories/2011/11/02/li-tumour-face-01546901.jpg"

"I ate all your candy"

03 Nov 2011 23:47:41 GMT

Jimmy Kimmel asked parents to tell their kids they ate all their halloween candy. Brilliant.

YQpbzQ6gzs

My plant costume is awesome.

02 Nov 2011 19:58:59 GMT

Re-post from my Google+

19 Oct 2011 22:02:23 GMT

Eight years ago I took a summer job working in a truck yard, setting up bleachers and picking up garbage in the various Ottawa parks. My co-worker was a freshly immigrated Algerian man with a new baby at home. His name was Droneen and despite his anxious demeanor and quirky personality, I enjoyed working with him as he always kept positive, even when we were emptying garbage bins full of pet droppings into our stinky pickup truck. Droneen always swore to me that one day he would accomplish his dream of driving a city bus in Ottawa. And though he wasn't the most skilled truck driver, I supported him in his personal endeavor.

Tonight, 8 years later, I got on the bus at the General Hospital only to see a smiling Droneen proudly in the driver's seat - a full time Ottawa Transpo Bus Driver. He didn'

Mike is single handedly re-invigourating idiotechnica

17 Oct 2011 21:17:41 GMT

Is he the new jesus?

http://visualtherapy.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/maher-diab-new-jesus.png

Survival of the Spambots

14 Oct 2011 01:37:05 GMT

I received this message today:

(9:35:11 PM) Meagan: hey its me Madison Trujillo i saw your pic ON MYSPACE your cute lets chat here http://www.onlycamchatfun.com/madison-free-horny-live-chat im feeling so horny today see you soon!

Which got me thinking. What is the average life of a spambot, and will they still be asking us for our ICQ id's in the year 3014?

I almost signed up for this:

27 Sep 2011 15:27:35 GMT

http://ottawa.leagueofrock.com/

The only reason I didn't was due to:

- I don't really have $1000 to blow
- This seems like it is better suited to a mid-life crisis.

If I weren't a student though I'd be all up in it.

I got one of those HP Touchpad things

24 Sep 2011 18:00:39 GMT

From my dad as a present (he got it for 99 bucks). So far the best use I have found for it is as a database of guitar chords for songs I haven't memorized. Anyone else get one of these on the cheap?

Also, I'm going to be a rock star soon.

So google+ lets you "+1" things

12 Jul 2011 18:24:45 GMT

That's so played. You can't -even- buy a chicken for a quick "+5".

I love web comments.

09 Jul 2011 20:08:24 GMT

You can comment on everything nowadays! The web is one big message board. I can only assume idiotechnica.com paved the way to this new paradigm of reverse-Orwellian user feedback.

Here's one from The Pirate Bay:

"This comment is essentially for those who have lives outside of learning uber-nerd computer jargon and ridiculous cracking/installing techniques. There's nothing wrong with not knowing this stuff and asking for help - and I suspect that part of the reason tpb users get so upset when someone asks for help is because they have a bad case of adolescent egocentrism and assume that because they know this stuff, that everyone else should to (as if all our lives were identical). The truth is, there are more important things in life an

I removed the idiotechnica link from my twitter profile.

05 Jul 2011 23:32:50 GMT

As a form of protest.

Obese hurdler spends 8 hours / day praying, realizes he's a douche.

01 Jul 2011 16:41:00 GMT

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2011/06/30/obese-hurdler-finds-faith-in-god-no-substitute-for-training-and-talent/

Team Fortress 2 is Free To Play Forever

24 Jun 2011 01:49:32 GMT

Now you have no excuse!

TF2: The UberUpdate

21 Jun 2011 20:08:45 GMT

Awesome!

http://www.teamfortress.com/uberupdate/

From www.teamfortress.com:

"Welcome to Day One of the Über Update--the biggest, most ambitious update in the history of Team Fortress 2.

.bat file help!

14 Jun 2011 15:01:40 GMT

Does anyone code bat files here?

I'm trying to make a simple .bat file that will call a program for every file in a given directory, but I'm not sure how to do this.

From googling, I found an example of printing a bunch of files; the code they used is:

for %%x in (*.txt *.bat) do start /w /m notepad.exe /p "%%x" 


I'm not sure what the "%%x" parameter refers to though.  Help!

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

28 May 2011 14:31:16 GMT

He will be missed.

XEvI8NbGUL8

Everest College

10 May 2011 00:04:07 GMT

NSFW

yJl0XuDKSjc

Today I turn 29 years of age.

23 Apr 2011 12:29:46 GMT

But more importantly, today marks the 29th anniversary of the Conch Republic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic

Ultron

14 Apr 2011 18:19:59 GMT

Check your PMs. There was a small hiccup with our devious plan.

One of those 'most awesome things ever'

13 Apr 2011 03:07:42 GMT

http://www.explodingrabbit.com/media/flash/SmbcPreloader.swf

Let's say Radiohead broke up today.

11 Apr 2011 13:06:53 GMT

Which British band would you say was the better group: Radiohead or Oasis?

Finally got a camera.

11 Apr 2011 03:29:29 GMT

After my last one broke. Idiotechnica, prepare to be sexed up.

Oh my god, I'm banned again.

11 Apr 2011 00:47:28 GMT

Spazdaq, you got your wish. [emocry]

Somebody blue idiotechnica.

08 Apr 2011 21:25:10 GMT

I lol'd.

07 Apr 2011 19:33:42 GMT

7.4 eathquake off the coast of japan.

07 Apr 2011 15:34:19 GMT

Can these people not catch a break? There is currently a tsunami alert in effect.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13005110

Yawning: Contagious to a Friendly Ape

07 Apr 2011 13:59:53 GMT

Scienceblogs reports on a study of yawning in chimpanzees carried out by scientists at Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University. The scientists showed chimps videos of other chimpanzees yawning and recorded the frequency at which the test chimp yawned back. Interestingly, they found that the chimps tended to yawn significantly more often when the video displayed a chimp from their own social group, suggesting that the contagious nature of yawning has a strong empathetic element. I can only assume that yawning rates would have skyrocketed had they shown the chimps videos of Ben Stein, though such a cruel act would never have passed ethics.

Crazy japanese wooden mechanical music thing.

07 Apr 2011 02:11:01 GMT

Wat is this I don't even.

C_CDLBTJD4M

Grawwwwr! New Species of Dinosaur Discovered in China

04 Apr 2011 06:54:03 GMT

The fossils of a new T-rex like dinosaur has been unearthed in the Shandong qarry in Zhucheng city, China. It has been named "Zhuchengtyrannus" meaning "Tyrant from Zhucheng" (why not Z-rex?). Needless to say, this dinosaur was most likely pretty badass in all regards. It lived between 65 and 99 million years ago and was measured to be about 11m long and 4m tall, weighing in at close to six tonnes. What effect will this new found dinosaur species have on the upcoming Canadian election? Only time will tell.

spazdaq

03 Apr 2011 01:29:03 GMT

If you get this on saturday night, chime in to this thread or message me on aim or msn.

Paraplegic Lesbian Inuit Women in Labrador

02 Apr 2011 22:05:14 GMT

Hooray! It's time for another Canadian election!

Here's a rant by Rick Mercer urging the youth to vote.

MhgYhcTl95w

NOFX Candian Summer Tour

01 Apr 2011 05:21:32 GMT

NOFX are touring Canada this summer! Now, to decide if I want to retroactively destroy my nostalgia.

<img src="http://www.nofxofficialwebsite.com/nofx_canada_2011_landscape.jpg">

Overnight Therapy? The Role of Sleep in Emotional Brain Processing.

01 Apr 2011 05:15:45 GMT

I have been extremely sleep deprived lately, so I figured I'd share this paper with you:

<a href="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sanl/reprints/WalkerVanDerHelm_PsychBull_2009.pdf">Overnight Therapy? The Role of Sleep in Emotional Brain Processing.</a> which gives a good overview of the role of sleep in emotional processing and mood disorders.

One of the most intruiging findings in clinical research has been the phenomenon that sleep deprivation is an extremely effective treatment for depression. Take a severely depressed patient and deprive them of sleep for a few nights, and suddenly they are laughing, making jokes, etc. Why? Nobody knows for sure, but it does suggest that the mechanisms for depression are reinforced nightly. Although I would personally suggest that sleep deprivation might lead to an inability for tha

Is Serotonin the Key to Sexual Preference?

28 Mar 2011 13:38:41 GMT

SciCurious wrote a great critique of the Nature paper "Molecular regulation of sexual preference revealed by genetic studies of 5-HT in the brains of male mice" for Scientific American. She critiques the claims by the original authors that serotonin regulates preference for mounting males or females in a mouse model. It seems the data are somewhat confounded by the fact that mice tend to be hypersexual to start, and thus a lack of serotonin might just be sending their sexual behavior into overdrive.

I'm going to start banning users

27 Mar 2011 03:25:53 GMT

for not posting here.

Shabazz Palaces "Black Up" coming May31st

17 Mar 2011 19:30:04 GMT

Shabazz Palaces are amazing I'm already totally stoked for the new record. Check out a song over at Pitchfork.

http://pitchfork.com/news/41799-shabazz-palaces-announce-new-album/

Something about the way these records are produced just floors me. From the new song, it seems like they kept with the lowfi slow-groove-ish direction from Shabazz Palaces II that made it one of my favourite records of 2009.

I'm going to Ireland!

15 Mar 2011 00:53:12 GMT

Woo hoo! Anyone ever been? Reccomendations?

I can't stop laughing at the photos page

10 Mar 2011 01:05:45 GMT

What... exactly does this mean?

Greatest bedroom ever?

06 Mar 2011 19:42:04 GMT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363023/Thats-boy-short-mates-Designer-creates-ultimate-pirate-bedroom-lucky-year-old.html

and the best part...

NASA finds evidence of alien life?

06 Mar 2011 06:08:53 GMT

Those crazy nerds at NASA are at it again. A statement by Dr. Richard B. Hoover reveals he may have found fossilized bacteria in an extra terrestrial meteorite. Unfortunately my limited googling of this story seems to point to FOX news as a source, so I think I'll wait to see what the peer review process makes of the claim. According to the Yahoo! article, Dr. Rudy Schild has stated that over 5000 scientists have been invited to review the paper.

Multitask

03 Mar 2011 22:15:37 GMT

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/multitask

Somebody please explain this graphic to me.

02 Mar 2011 04:49:30 GMT

"Is it me or is my hand like burning?"

23 Feb 2011 01:51:22 GMT

ezWHPJPfo54

The thread of things that wouldn't exist without youtube.

21 Feb 2011 16:58:47 GMT

26FnZrmiSgU

Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology.

09 Feb 2011 04:42:53 GMT

Incredibly well written The New Yorker article by Lawrence Wright about Paul Haggis, a former scientologist who worked his way up to the top ranks, but resigned after disagreeing with their views on gay marriage. 26 pages of must read.

Economist artile on how Twitter enables meeting strangers

09 Feb 2011 02:57:35 GMT

Breaks my heart a bit that there is no mention of idiotechnica :*(

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/02/social_networking

"How'd it get there?"

04 Feb 2011 00:06:26 GMT

UyHzhtARf8M

Unusual usage spike Congrats ManicNicki

30 Jan 2011 16:17:41 GMT

I thought it was weird that 254 people visited the site from reddit last Wednesday.

It turns out Nicki posted a link to idiotechnica in a thread called "Im bored what is the most obscure or secret website you can think of?" haha, nice job!

p.s. does anyone use reddit? I have tried but it looks so chaotic to me..

Photoshop Contest

26 Jan 2011 07:30:12 GMT

<img src="http://www.idiotechnica.com/data/users/2011/01/26/168/user_albums/129/Oct07_h5sv3v.jpg">

The most creative place you can put Seabyfied's head wins.

Record of the Year 2010. Sage Francis. Life.

22 Jan 2011 22:09:32 GMT

Ten years ago I was twenty-two. Twenty years ago I was twelve. Thirty years ago I was two. But when I came out my momma I was zero. “Strange” is a word that has both followed and described Sage Francis throughout his career. Interestingly, his most recent album is probably best experienced as I did - without any prior knowledge of his back catalogue. Li(f)e isolates itself lyrically and sonically from Francis’ prior work. Going in expecting either hip hop norms or indie rock standards, there's good reason to argue that the record misses the mark. Far from commercial, Francis’ very American™ and very White® voice will never be commissioned to sell us Apple products – even in the impossible alternate universe wherein he would actually allow it. He falls timbrally somewhere between George Costanza and Penn Jillette. Looking back, it was

Hey! I'm looking to buy some old textbooks.

11 Jan 2011 04:33:01 GMT

Anybody have some for sale?

Photoshop Help .....Gibby I'm looking at you

10 Jan 2011 22:14:37 GMT

I need somebody to take this shitty picture:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/windseal/wtfjan2011005.jpg?t=1294697498

and make the following changes:

1) Change the mirrored "Hurley" to a mirrored "idiotechnica"
2) On the blank wall, put in spraypaint (or a suitable text) "The world's friendliest website"
3) Remove chapped winter lips
4) Do whatever you can about the fucked up hue/saturation
5) if you can, sneak an idiotechnica looking scheme onto the background monitor.

Make me proud, people!

Why Ted Williams Makes Me Uneasy

09 Jan 2011 00:51:03 GMT

Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden radio voice, has captured the hearts of America. *cue sappy music* So why does this whole ordeal make me a bit queasy? First, let's recap what we know: - Young Ted likes radio. - Ted tries to get work in radio. - After moderate success, Ted dedicates his life to drugs and alcohol. - Somewhere along the way, Ted has [u]nine[/u] kids. - Ted becomes homeless, finds god, gets clean(?) and begs for money on the street. - Video of Ted by local reporter goes viral, Ted finds himself buried under a plethora of golden job offers and media attention. A rags to riches story? Maybe. But something still smells funny to me. Sure, the original video does tend to tug at the ol' heart strings; after all, who doesn't want to see Ted get his life back on track? But I can't help but raise my brow at the universal out

I watched the entire thing.

03 Jan 2011 23:17:48 GMT

37NAdG5T-KA

BEES!!!

21 Dec 2010 20:53:29 GMT

http://gapersblock.com/merge/Oprahs-Bees.gif

The Socially Responsible Network

20 Dec 2010 03:01:21 GMT

In this new york times online article, Katya Andresen of Network for Good is quoted saying "2010 has really been the year of the social network for social good". The peice gives an overview of a variety of 'social networking' like sites whose aim is social support and fundraising. I thought it was interesting since one of the original ideas for idiotechnica was a networking site that reminded you that your activity on the site was indirectly funding some charity.

This is awesome. Math + Snakes

17 Dec 2010 06:25:12 GMT

heKK95DAKms

Waiting on a baby....

14 Dec 2010 03:05:04 GMT

Not mine of course, but my sister's. This baby is not even born and already it's up way past its bedtime. Sheesh!

First Person Tetris

13 Dec 2010 06:06:57 GMT

http://firstpersontetris.com/

NSFW: Angry Quick-Tempered Black Man Prank Called By Own Voice

04 Dec 2010 23:19:30 GMT

http://worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhRov4N3T3XqmU7EMY

Haaaahahahahaha. High brow humour.

Stephen Duckett should host Saturday Night Live!

25 Nov 2010 01:06:01 GMT

tTFVAeWJzlw Stephen Duckett wants to host Saturday Night Live! Join the facebook group and support him.

Pencil Art.

17 Nov 2010 18:17:58 GMT

http://www.bestdesigntuts.com/pencil-sculpture-by-dalton-ghetti/

Dalton Ghetti loves pencils. Perhaps a bit too much. Some neat pieces of pencil art.

A Case for Cooking

17 Nov 2010 16:36:20 GMT

In the closing paragraph to his latest "The Frontal Cortex" entry, Jonah Lehrer writes:: "Maybe this is why Americans need ever larger portion sizes: Because we didn’t make the milkshake ourselves, because that dinner only required a few minutes of work, we need to consume more calories to get the same baseline of satisfaction. The solution to this problem, of course, is simple: We need to take time to make dinner. Instead of buying frozen french fries, make a risotto. The 30 minutes of stirring will make the end result much more delicious." A very interesting perspective on the effect that technology has on our diets. It isn't necessarily that we have access to much more junk food than ever before, it's that we spend far less time working for our meals than we used to; and thus we feel the need to eat more. Could this same perspective carry over to drug addiction? Could a junky who finds himself with a higher-than-normal yield of his substance of choice be more prone to o

20 Questions With Santiago

16 Nov 2010 16:48:28 GMT

I think you owe it to us Santi! Spill the beans, in a "behind the music" fashion. Everyone post your santiago related questions.

- Has nobody ever actually met you?
- Where do you actually live?
- Was this all a social experiment to experience life as a mexican?
- Can you do the robot?
- Did your "friend" know that you were impersonating him?
- Were you also vhp?
- Were you also cryssie?
- Why is shabazz palaces the best hip hop ever?
- Are your parents religious or something?
- Please share any worthy bbq recipes.

Perverted Bubbles?

14 Nov 2010 20:15:28 GMT

ludEngkwMu8

Mini-Big-Bang from Large Hadron Collider achieved

09 Nov 2010 03:22:46 GMT

The world's most beloved particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, has achieved what scientists are describing as a "mini Big Bang". 20 years of work (and, previous to that, hundreds of years of work) has allowed scientists to recreate conditions similar to the dawn of the galaxy universe. I'm kind of tired, so I won't go into the details of exactly how they managed to accelerate lead ions to unthinkable speeds and smash them together, but the BBC article provides a nice video interview with Dr. David Evans, one of the lead researchers on the experiment, who sums up the process nicely. Check it out!

Online Photo Editor

08 Nov 2010 03:06:11 GMT

Pretty nifty at first glance.

http://www.pixlr.com/editor/

Young Asian Man Boards Air Canada Flight Disguised As Eldery White Man

06 Nov 2010 01:26:37 GMT

From the article: Air Canada security alerted the Canada Border Services Agency during the 12-hour flight about a passenger who "was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young-looking hands," the agency's statement said. "During the flight, the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian male that appeared to be in his early 20s." I hope this guy doesn't turn out to be an international terrorist because right now I see him as kind of a hero.

Post your halloween costumes.

04 Nov 2010 05:00:55 GMT

Last year I was a hotdog.

This year I was a zombie hotdog.

You can run and tell that, Home Boy!

Rick Mercer's

04 Nov 2010 04:17:11 GMT

Rick Mercer, Canada's premier comedy news anchor, has re-released a 2007 video for the current "It Gets Better" campaign aimed at gay or minority youths at risk of bullying and/or suicide. The video is in the style of Mercer's long running 'walking rant' shorts, first made famous on Royal Canadian Air Farce This Hour Has 22 Minutes and now (I think) a regular part of the Mercer Report. (For any non-Canadians who are still confused, Rick Mercer is kind of like our Stephen Colbert, but more like-able and without the trying-too-hard.) I had never seen the original airing, so I quite enjoyed seeing it this time around. t1Y7qpiu2RQ&feature

Adding Context to Historical Paintings.

02 Nov 2010 21:39:44 GMT

http://www.laboiteverte.fr/lavant-et-lapres-de-peintures-connues-expliques/

Par exemple:

Twitter me this.

02 Nov 2010 05:05:32 GMT

Although I am an outspoken hater of Facebook, I think Twitter is awesome. Give me your Twitter feeds!

I am @Dylonius.

P.S. there is also an @idiotechnica twitter feed but I have no access to it and it hasn't been active for a while.

New York Times 50 Most Chellenging Words

02 Nov 2010 03:57:59 GMT

http://www.currentlyobsessed.com/2010/06/15/new-york-times-50-most-challenging-words-defined-and-used/

Derived from a list of words that new york times online readers' most frequently look up using a tool on their website.

I am happy to see "Feckless" has made the list.

Everybody Makes Mistakes

02 Nov 2010 03:40:52 GMT

See if you can count them:

KlQY1eKYQ70

I'm beginning to face the fact that idiotechnica is obsolete.

02 Nov 2010 01:54:26 GMT

With the advent of <a href="http://superior-web-solutions.com/Broadband/Home/Home.html">this amazing website (link)</a> we no longer have any need for other websites. The future of the internet is here!

BPA spells death for human sperm.

29 Oct 2010 17:09:11 GMT

Scientific American reports on a study by De-Kun Li at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland California. Li's group found a strong relationship between BPA exposure and reduced sperm counts in Chinese factory workers who deal with BPA or BPA containing products on a daily basis. Interestingly, even the control group (factory workers who did not make BPA) had decreased sperm levels that correlated with their exposure to BPA through other means (such as food containers). The BPA levels in these workers were slightly lower than what is found in a typical American man. BPA is an organic compound used to make common polycarbonate plastic containers. Canada recently classified BPA as a toxic substance.

Tan Lines.

22 Oct 2010 03:26:56 GMT

http://www.lukesurl.com/comics/2010-10-11-sunbather.png

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're Gassed.

22 Oct 2010 03:03:20 GMT

The New York Times reports on two chicken producers about to switch to a "more humane" method of killing chickens. The same tried and true method of hanging chickens upside down and slitting their throat applies, but now the chickens will be gassed to unconsciousness first. My favourite quote from the article comes from Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University: "“Birds don’t like being hung upside down,” ...“They get really stressed out by that.” "

Virginia

21 Oct 2010 02:27:40 GMT

Has anyone ever done a study investigating the relationship between religiousness (religiosity?) and obesity? I'm curious if highly religious people are also highly obese.

Dead Sea Scrolling: Google to release ancient texts online.

20 Oct 2010 00:11:17 GMT

Google, in partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority, have made public their plans to release the famed Dead Sea Scrolls online and accessible to all. Great in theory, but I'm a busy man. I'll wait for the podcast version.

Dam Goats.

18 Oct 2010 02:55:49 GMT

Cobra Skulls - American Rubicon

18 Oct 2010 02:25:04 GMT

If you liked punk bands in the 90's but hate them now, I highly suggest giving the Cobra Skulls 2009 album American Rubicon a shot. A pure, enjoyable punk experience from a 3-peice from Nevada, American Rubicon does not "reinvent the " or "put a modern spin on" or "pay homage to" anything at all. Instead, they have simply produced a great record that sounds like punk sounded just prior to when it started to suck.

Here is one of the best tracks from the album:

http://www.myspace.com/cobraskulls/music/songs/rebel-fate-62307643

Pit Bulls - good or bad doggys?

12 Oct 2010 00:06:44 GMT

Do you think the Pit Bull breed should be wiped out or are the infrequent Pit Bull related injuries purely a result of poor training?

Bansky Does Simpson's Intro

11 Oct 2010 04:52:28 GMT

DX1iplQQJTo World renowned street artist Bansky was invited to storyboard the intro for tonight's "The Simposons" episode. Check it out.

site suggestions thread - Canadian Thanksgiving edition

10 Oct 2010 18:28:32 GMT

(brackets in thread titles please)

(Happy Canadian Thanksgiving)

pdf format ..the band.

10 Oct 2010 18:27:37 GMT

From Toronto Ontario, .pdf format is another one of those "chiptunes bands". The difference being .pdf format (who is just one guy apparently, can't find is name on the net) seems to use the 8-bit sound within some pretty well constructed progressions.

If you are a nerd or you are Fran you will enjoy checking him out:

a few songs:

http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/Pdf-Format/SYSTEM-OVERRIDE-EROROOEROO

http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/Pdf-Format/Inexpensive-Sauropods

http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/Pdf-Format/Waiting-for-M1D1-interface

Insane Clown Posse have God's Back.

10 Oct 2010 01:45:48 GMT

In the unlikely event that you have not already read this Guardian interview by Jon Ronson with Insane Clown Posse, you owe it to yourself. Some quotes: "Magnetic force, man. What else is similar to that on this Earth? Nothing! Magnetic force is fascinating to us. It's right there, in your fucking face. You can feel them pulling. You can't see it. You can't smell it. You can't touch it. But there's a fucking force there. That's cool!" "A giraffe is a fucking miracle. It has a dinosaur-like neck. It's yellow. Yeah, technically an elephant is not a miracle. Technically. They've been here for hundreds of years…" "science is… we don't really… that's like…" He pauses. Then he waves his hands as if to say, "OK, an analogy": "If you're trying to fuck a girl, but her mom's home, fuck her mom! You understand? You want to fuck the girl, but her mom's home? Fuck the mom. See?" "Like Stonehenge and Easter Island," says Shaggy. "Nobody knows how that shit got there." ..a

Autistic Effort: An interview with the first autistic U.S. Presidential Appointee

08 Oct 2010 03:46:48 GMT

Steve Silberman of Wired interviews Ari Ne’eman, an autistic man who was nominated by Obama to the National Council on Disability. The interview is full of words I never knew existed, such as "Autreat", "neurodiversity" and "neurotypical". Interesting!

Germs of Perfection - a tribute to Bad Religion

08 Oct 2010 03:34:33 GMT

Spin and Myspace (of all places) have released a tribute album full of well known bands covering classic Bad Religion tracks. They will be posting one song per day until October 19th when the full album will be available. So for the tracks are: Cheap Girls - Recipe for Hate The Weakerthans - Sanity William Elliott Whitmore - Don't Pray on Me Ted Leo - Against the Grain Riverboat Gamblers - Heaven is Falling New Politics - Generator Cobra Skulls (featuring Fat Mike) - Give You Nothing Frank Turner - My Poor Friend Me Polar Bear Club - Better Off Dead Tegan and Sara - Suffer

Portland, Oregon.

04 Oct 2010 05:51:16 GMT

I fell in the love with this city. I could have done without the roaming gaggles of twenty-somethings too lazy to bathe or work (sorry Nicole), but the sane people were incredibly nice. Would definitely consider living there if it weren't part of the evil empire.

Hopworks lager is my new favourite beer in the world.

Sick but Busy.

27 Sep 2010 02:55:50 GMT

I'm sick but I have a ton of work to do!

What are you secrets for when you are sick but need to get down to business? I find chocolate and orange juice helps. Currently snacking on president's choice milk chocolate peanut butter melts.

Bill Maher on Ben Stein: "a useless shmuck who contributes absolutely nothing to society" - and a ra

25 Sep 2010 18:47:19 GMT

Nice article written by Bill Maher (of that mundane talk show, whatever it's called) sounding off on the plight of rich people following a 3.5 percent tax hike. The article contains some killer quotes: "..I've done some math that indicates that, considering the hole this country is in, if you are earning more than a million dollars a year and are complaining about a 3.6% tax increase, then you are by definition a greedy asshole." "You know Ben Stein, the guy who got rich because when he talks it sounds so boring it's actually funny." "What is e-Bay but a big cyber lawn sale that you can visit without putting your clothes on?" "Truth is, there are only two things that the United States is not running out of: Rich people and bullshit." And many more in the article.

The Quest to Develop a Consciousness-o-Meter.

24 Sep 2010 16:00:16 GMT

Great New York Times article written by Carl Zimmer about the work of Dr. Giulio Tononi from the University of Wisconsin. Tononi wants to develop a way to objectively measure levels of human consciousness, largely based on Claude Shannon's information theory. There is much discussion on the brain, sleep, models of neural networks, and an acceptance that the human brain is likely much more complicated than a photodiode, for better or for worse. Enjoy.

Only Known Recording of 1960's World Series Game 7 Found in Bing Crosby's Wine Cellar.

24 Sep 2010 03:15:50 GMT

For some reason I love this story. The short version: Bing Crosby, partial owner of the 1960's era Pittsburgh Pirates, gets so nervous about Game 7 of the Pirate's World Series against the Yankees that he decides to fly to Paris with his wife in order to avoid jinxing everybody. Before he leaves, he hires a company to record the game via kinesecope (i.e. one of these: http://www.tvhistory.tv/KinescopeMachine.JPG) while he listens in France on short wave radio. It turns out, the Pirate's 2nd baseman Bill Mazeroski hits a game-ending home run to beat the Yankees 10-9; a game that will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time. No recordings of the momentous game had ever been seen until now.

Happy Holidays Idiotechnica.com!

23 Sep 2010 22:41:30 GMT

Howdy folks! I must say, it is never too early to start celebrating the holidays! Please enjoy this wonderful video designed to put you in the holiday spirit! Only a few more months until christmas, and I for one can hardly wait!

Your friend,

Dylan.

aodDaAFC1bA

The World's Fastest Clapper.

22 Sep 2010 23:39:41 GMT

I don't really like this at all, but I have the strangest urge to share the clap with you:

uFWOAh1PK9E

The Creative Process.

19 Sep 2010 18:26:30 GMT

http://www.viruscomix.com/page523.html

Kool-Aid Katastrophe

18 Sep 2010 15:30:10 GMT

http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/coolaids.jpg

Historical Facebook

18 Sep 2010 14:46:20 GMT

Moderate to funny!

<img src="http://freespace.virgin.net/markr.rowe/fb-history/fB-History.jpg">

The Great War

18 Sep 2010 02:08:51 GMT

<img src="http://www.keiththompsonart.com/images/full/grandmap.jpg">

Thought this was neat. Taken from the book "Leviathan", an alternate-history World War I book by Scott Westerfeld. Illustration by Keith Thompson.

Klingon Opera On Tour, Brown Play-Doh Sales Skyrocket.

17 Sep 2010 02:20:49 GMT

Just kidding about the Play-Doh. Apparently a 90 minute opera is currently on tour in Europe; exclusively performed by Klingons, and in their "native language". Regardless of how the performance goes over, I think we can all rest assured that absolutely nobody involved will be getting layed.

Gray Pride: fMRI study shows Gray Matter Linked to Introspective Ability

17 Sep 2010 02:08:32 GMT

A study by Steven Fleming's lab at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London has found that subjects with a higher volume of gray matter in the right anterior prefrontal cortex were more accurate at assessing their own accuracy in a cognitive task. Sorry Spazdaq, gray hair doesn't count.

Notice.

15 Sep 2010 04:53:52 GMT

Advertising this website.

11 Sep 2010 07:19:47 GMT

Do you advertise this website regularly? You should! How you do it is up to you.

Personally, I like to accost random people on the street while drunk.

I hear that's how scientology got started.

Do your part.

Give Me Back Web 1.0.

07 Sep 2010 05:58:25 GMT

Secretly, the internet of today terrifies me. Much like James Whitmore's character Brooks Hatlen in the Shawshank Redemption, I find myself able to navigate yet unable to understand the ever accelerating madness being pumped into my browser window at approximately 1.5 Mbps. Years ago however, the screen scene was much different. When I first logged on as a spunky teen, the internet had already outgrown its infancy. Due to barriers-to-entry, the bulk of net users before my time were also programmers, and as such the web was mostly aimed at discussing itself. Well, that and nethack, of course. But things changed. In the mid 1990's, around the time a giant Windows 95 banner could be seen hanging from Toronto's CN Tower, and the Empire State Building was pimping Microsoft colours, a new generation of nerds began to rise. For the first time in history, a

Aim is the worst thing ever.

04 Sep 2010 16:39:37 GMT

My archaic version of aim that I have been refusing to upgrade has finally stopped working. Does anyone use a nice light IM client that connects to AIM?

A Jellyfish as Long as a Blue Whale: The Lion's Mane.

02 Sep 2010 01:17:29 GMT

NewScientist does a weekly column "highlighting extraordinary animals" in the form of a blog called Zoologger. This week they examine the Lion's Mane Jellyfish, which if you include the tentacles, can stretch to over 30 meters long! (That's roughly the same size as a blue whale.) A pretty neat creature indeed.

Star Wars Complete Movie Sitched Together From Fan Made Videos

01 Sep 2010 23:18:30 GMT

I'm usually the first to shrug off Star Wars related nerdaphernalia as lame and/or overdone, but this one struck me as pretty funny. Don't bother watching the intro (starts with a twitter post), but definitely check out the clip offered up on the site. It seems nerds around the world were pretty hard at work on this.

Man Steals Bus in Jersey, Drives to New York. His 27th such arrest.

01 Sep 2010 00:59:22 GMT

Darius McCollum has been arrested for stealing a bus in New Jersey and driving it to JFK international airport. The story gets better though, apparently Darius started his love affair with transit crime at the tender age of 15, when he commandeered a subway train and drove it to the World Trade Center. Since then, he has accumulated 26 more arrested, most of which involve impersonating transit officials. It is believed that McCollum may suffer from autism or Asperger's syndrome. Choice cuts from the article: "Elizabeth McCollum said she moved to North Carolina 20 years ago with her only son, who would pick up and leave for New York because he missed the trains. ....His mother said that by the time he was 8 he had memorized the city subway system, by far the biggest in the country, and could direct a person to any point on it without consulting a map or guide." Criminal acts, mental disorders, and public safety aside, I do applaud this guy for following his dr

The Arcade Fire's New Music Video is About You.

31 Aug 2010 00:42:09 GMT

The Arcade Fire's video for "We Used To Wait" is an interactive web browser based experiment. Even though in ten years I"m sure this will seem as impressive as a dancing baby does today, I think it's a really cool experience to have right now. It was built in HTML5 and is best viewed with spazdaq's favourite browser; Chrome.

Kanye ft Jay-Z Rock Ross Bon Iver and Nicki Minaj: Monster

31 Aug 2010 00:30:52 GMT

http://nahright.com/news/2010/08/27/kanye-west-feat-jay-z-rick-ross-bon-iver-nicki-minaj-monster/

Will indubidubly be the on the soundtrack for this fall.

The Future is Here. The Future is Deep Fried Beer.

30 Aug 2010 19:47:18 GMT

Mark Zable has entered his version of deep fried beer in a state fair in Texas. His quote: “It tastes like you took a bite of hot pretzel dough and then took a drink of beer.” Good enough for me.

In this thread, post your goals for September.

30 Aug 2010 00:28:32 GMT

Inspired by the strange yet dedicated Neville Medhora, I have decided to try harder at setting concrete goals each month. It will be fun!

My goals for September:

- work out 5 days / week.

- learn & memorize 3 violin scales by end of September.

- 5 nights of the week I should get at least 6 hours of sleep.

- Bring a lunch to work at least 4 days per week.

- Caffeine intake limited to 2 days per week.

Issue #1 of Scientific American available online

28 Aug 2010 05:59:21 GMT

Scientific American is celebrating 165 years in print! To celebrate, they have made their very first issue available as a pdf. They have also recreated their cover story entitled "Improved Rail-Road Cars". From the article: "Some of the most elegant cars of this class, and which are of a capacity to accommodate from sixty to eighty passengers, and run with a steadiness hardly equalled by a steamboat in still water, are manufactured by Davenport & Bridges, at their establishment in Cambridgeport, Mass." Awesome.

Neville's Financial Blog

26 Aug 2010 15:57:13 GMT

I'm still not quite sure what to make of this blog, as it seems frighteningly sincere. All I know is many of the posts had me chuckling pretty consistently.

For starters, try reading <a href="http://www.nevblog.com/bottled-water-experiment/">Bottled Water Experiment</a>.

There are 1000 anonymous users right now. I feel I should post something good.

26 Aug 2010 01:53:39 GMT

http://www.idiotechnica.com/data/users/2009/01/04/1/user_albums/1/Img_0731_86wjv4.jpg

Cannot stop laughing: 100 ways to love a cat.

23 Aug 2010 02:05:16 GMT

87p53rAD7Sk&hd=1

Yes, this is 35 minutes long.

Speaking of Music, Cee-Lo Green's new song is amazing.

21 Aug 2010 19:19:37 GMT

CAV0XrbEwNc

Vote for me on the David Suzuki Playlist For the Planet contest!

21 Aug 2010 19:06:25 GMT

Simply go to http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/planet/Vote.aspx , click on "Ontario", and select my song "A Marine Biologist Reflects on the Attack of the Irate Jellyfish".

It's in the "N"s for the band name "The Nic of Time".

If you don't already have a CBC radio 3 log in, it is worth creating anyway. Lots of good features on the site!

Much appreciated!

Sage Francis unplugged live on BBC Radio

17 Aug 2010 22:46:12 GMT

http://soundcloud.com/strangefamousrecords/sage-francis-unplugged-live-on-bbc-radio-the-baby-stays-hell-of-a-year-best-of-times

He does The Baby Stays, Hell of a Year, and The Best of Times.

Wahjah for Tuesday August 17th. Boomer the Dog.

17 Aug 2010 19:46:36 GMT

aiffTsdullc

Diagnoses?

Radiolab on Weeds tonight.

16 Aug 2010 23:33:41 GMT

Apparently NPR's awesome science podcast, Radiolab, will be audible somewhere in the Weeds episode set to air tonight. I don't have cable (or a TV) so I will miss it, but cool beans for anyone who catches it.

Feeding The Planet: UK Chief Scientist on Food Production and Requirements

16 Aug 2010 01:09:23 GMT

A set of 21 papers addressing global food requirements and what needs to be done in terms of food production technology were published today by the Royal Society. This article gives an overview of many of the findings, as well as UK Chief Government Scientist John Beddington's outlook on a hungry future. One study suggests one of my personal favorite solutions to world hunger: growing artificial meat in a giant vat. Why not? I'd happily chow down on a faux piggy if it meant more efficient food production, less reliance on fossil fuels and a perfected crunch in my BLT.

Hans Rosling explains global population growth with Lego

14 Aug 2010 21:17:04 GMT

P8gHT3Xgz9A

BTW, you might still want to get tested.

14 Aug 2010 17:48:54 GMT

http://jerksinyourarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/to-the-guy-in-my-closet-you-dont-have-aids-m4w-20090909-wm.jpg

Words.

13 Aug 2010 20:11:12 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0HfwkArpvU&feature=player_embedded

Barkley Pollock for Somerset Ward 14: The Bio

13 Aug 2010 17:47:18 GMT

The following was actually slipped into my apartment through the crack in my door. It was printed on a white piece of half-sized printer paper.

Give Me a Chance and Your Ideas! The Issues

* 1 percent property tax increase each year for 4 years.
* LRT It needs to get done to stop wasting time and money.
* Lansdowne: I'll make sure the CFL comes back to Ottawa.

*Let's create jobs and help small and medium businesses
-let's fight new fees for services, give business what they need like more parking for Chinatown, a sexier bank street for th gay and straight community and I'll boost tourism!
*Real Housing First Strategies bur more importantly let's maintain existing affordable or social housing its cheaper and the right thing to do.
*New Parades: I prop

The American Dream: Flight Attendant tells pasengers to "F-off" over PA, steals two beers, and slide

10 Aug 2010 01:35:48 GMT

A flight attendant from jetBlue, irate at a passenger who refused to apologize for accidentally hitting him in the head with his luggage, has lived the American Dream. From the metropolis article: "Slater demanded an apology from the passenger, the official said, but the passenger refused. The two argued before the passenger told Slater to “f— off”, the official said. The official said that Slater then got on the plane’s PA system and directed that same obscenity at all the passengers and added that he especially meant it for the man who refused to apologize. Slater is alleged to have then activated the plane’s inflatable emergency slide, grabbed two beers from the galley, then slid down the chute, the official said." These are the stories that keep me going each and every day.

The Social Network

09 Aug 2010 23:51:47 GMT

So they actually made a movie about the nerds who produced Facebook. The geniuses behind goatse remain unappreciated.

Idiotechnica.com movie in the works?

Bedbugs: grossly unbiased.

08 Aug 2010 04:25:15 GMT

New York Times article by May Berenbaum on the resurgence of bedbugs in North America. Berenbaum searches for something positive to say about the little bastards and ends up stretching amusingly far.

What does a creepy robot mouth look like?

07 Aug 2010 19:28:51 GMT

dD_NdnYrDzY

How To Be Alone

07 Aug 2010 19:21:39 GMT

Kind of girly and very French Canadian but Nicole will enjoy it:

k7X7sZzSXYs

What do the World Championships of Remote Controlled Racing look like?

07 Aug 2010 19:16:47 GMT

VaXLtPGrTGQ

Awesome: Sorry / Thanks road rage sign.

06 Aug 2010 00:00:33 GMT

This guy has constructed a sign to let other drivers know when he is saying "sorry" and "thanks"

http://theimaginaryzebra.blogspot.com/2009/11/sorry-thanks-road-rage-reduction.html

http://www.theimaginaryzebra.com/images/blog/110209_23.jpg http://www.theimaginaryzebra.com/images/blog/110209_24.jpg

One Man and One Woflman

05 Aug 2010 00:15:09 GMT

From the onion:

Typo In Proposition 8 Defines Marriage As Between 'One Man And One Wolfman'

SACRAMENTO, CA—Activists on both sides of the gay marriage debate were shocked this November, when a typographical error in California's Proposition 8 changed the state constitution to restrict marriage to a union between "one man and one wolfman," instantly nullifying every marriage except those comprised of an adult male and his lycanthrope partner. "The people of California made their voices heard today, and reaffirmed our age-old belief that the only union sanctioned in God's eyes is the union between a man and another man possessed by an ungodly lupine curse," state Sen. Tim McClintock said at a hastily organized rally celebrating passage of the new law. But opponents, including Bakersfield res

Vaccine Refusal Reunites us with Whooping Cough

27 Jul 2010 15:44:41 GMT

Maryn McKenna returned from India with an unpleasant surprise - whooping cough. Here she blogs about how the protective effects of childhood vaccines decay over years, as well as some unsettling info about how whooping cough has recently seen a resurgence. The cause? Apparently nothing but our own refusal to self-vaccinate. From her blog post: "The worst news in this upsetting trend is this: We're doing it to ourselves. As far as anyone can tell, the rise in pertussis is not due to any change in the organism, or to any mysterious error among the manufacturers who make pertussis vaccines. It's due to vaccine refusal, to parents turning away from vaccines because they think the vaccines are more harmful than the diseases they prevent — or, more selfishly, because they think the wall of immunity created by other vaccinated children will protect their unimmunized ones."

Let's gussy up the place.

25 Jul 2010 18:18:24 GMT

Chemical Party

21 Jul 2010 23:56:58 GMT

wBCmt_pJTRA

Donkey? Donkey? A flying donkey.

21 Jul 2010 23:52:51 GMT

hEep5BrexT0

Precedent to be set: Amount of jailtime accumulated by sending a donkey parasailing over the sea.

Words Cannot Describe...

20 Jul 2010 05:20:18 GMT

Except for maybe "Haaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa.."

PZcgUEkBIX0

Anonymous Comments.

20 Jul 2010 05:17:54 GMT

Let's give it a try!

BP Attempting to Buy Out Scientists?

20 Jul 2010 01:01:15 GMT

According to an Alabama Local News article, BP has been allegedly in talks with various scientists surrounding the Gulf, offering them extremely lucrative salaries for their help in defending the corporation during the impending Natural Resources Damage Assessment lawsuit to be issued by the U.S. government. The catch? The contract involves some very strict terms including the stipulation that the hired scientist would not be allowed to publish their data for at least the next 3 years. Is BP trying to silence potential accusatory scientific evidence by paying off the researchers in the field?

The High Cost of Spelling Bee Championship

19 Jul 2010 23:36:55 GMT

gRZNQ06kWyc

The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense

19 Jul 2010 22:32:08 GMT

Just ...wow. Singapore Sands Skypark.

16 Jul 2010 20:23:10 GMT

I get a bit uneasy just looking at these:
<img src="http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/erica/marina/marina04.jpg">

<img src="http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/erica/marina/marina03.jpg">

<img src="http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/erica/marina/marina07.jpg">

http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/erica/marina/marina07.jpg http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/erica/marina/marina05.jpg http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/erica/marina/marina09.jpg

You're it, sir! Why Gorillas Play Tag

14 Jul 2010 22:03:49 GMT

A group of scientists led by Marina Davila Ross of the University of Portsmouth in Hampshire, U.K. studied videos of gorillas in various zoos and reserves in order to achieve a better understanding of certain social behaviours in a natural setting. The group noticed that during routine games of 'tag', the gorillas low on the social hierarchy tended to initiate the game more often, leading the team to believe they use it as a form of 'ego boost'. I can remember trying to tackle my dad and older cousins as a puny kid, perhaps due to the same underlying behavioural mechanisms. The gorilla report will be published in Biology Letters online.

Will I? vs. I will! - Jonah Lehrer on Intrinsic Motivation

12 Jul 2010 18:46:13 GMT

Great article by science writer Jonah Lehrer on intrinsic motivation; which gives insight on how our way of thinking about our own reasons for accomplishing a task can dramatically change our motivation and likelyhood that we will actually succeed.

Chickens, Sex Chromosomes, and Parallel Evolution

11 Jul 2010 17:46:42 GMT

Yet another breakthrough in chicken genetic research has revealed that the mammalian X chromosome and it's chicken counterpart, the Z chromosome, have some very similar characteristics despite having evolved independently. As we know, female mammals have two X chromosomes whereas males have one X and one Y. Chicken females on the other hand, have a Z and a W chromosome where males have a set of Z's. All this is relevant because the X and Z chromosome was previously thought to be an unchanging genetic 'fossil' where the Y or W chromosome was the more recent evolutionary novelty. However, the results from this study published in Nature seems to indicate that the evolutionary force surrounding sperm production in both species resulted in the independent evolution of similarly functioning sex chromosomes, which both differ from that of our common evolutionary ancestors.

"Living With The Dead"

11 Jul 2010 16:52:55 GMT

Photos by James Chance of a community who live within the cemetery walls in the Philippine capital of Manila.

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/2010/06/5098

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Living_With_The_Dead_02.jpg

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Living_With_The_Dead_01.jpg

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Living_With_The_Dead_05.jpg

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Living_With_The_Dead_08.jpg

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Living_With_The_Dead_061.jpg

http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Living_With_The_Dead_10.jpg

A Musical Transcription: New London Choir to Sing their Own Genetic Code

11 Jul 2010 16:48:14 GMT

The New London Chamber Choir are to perform a piece "Allele" on July 13th in which the members of the choir will each sing their own genetic code. The piece is the result of a collaboration between scientist Andrew Morley and composer Michael Zev Gordon. The inspiration came from a yet-to-be-published experiment designed by Morley wherein the choir members had their DNA sequenced to see if great singers can be distinguished from other members of society on a genetic level. The genetic codes were then translated into sheet music and make up the basis of the choir piece.

Double Rainbow.

04 Jul 2010 16:17:47 GMT

OQSNhk5ICTI

Here Comes The Sun: Obama Administration Hands 2 Billion To Solar Power

03 Jul 2010 20:36:11 GMT

The Obama administration announced that they will be directing 2 billion dollars towards solar power. Specifically, the two companies in on the solarly cut of the 862 billion dollar stimulus package are Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar Manufacturing.

Tour de Farce? Floyd Landis on Cycling, Doping, and Lance Armstrong.

03 Jul 2010 17:09:56 GMT

The Wall Street Journal tells the story of Floyd Landis, who rode with Lance Armstrong for the US Postal cycling team during the height of their success at the Tour de France. Landis was later suspended from the sport for 2 years for using performance enhancing drugs. Here, a more systematic doping process is described, which implicates Armstrong as well as the entire US Postal cycling team, and casts a pretty dark shadow over the success the team accumulated over the years.

Communists Now Least Threatening Group in U.S.

02 Jul 2010 14:59:18 GMT

From The Onion's News In Brief - WASHINGTON, DC–According to a report released Tuesday by the Pentagon, Communists rank last on a list of 238 threats to national security. "Communists may now safely be ignored," Secretary of Defense William Cohen said. "The Red Menace has been surpassed by militia groups, religious extremists, ecoterrorists, cybercriminals, Hollywood producers, and angry drivers." Other groups deemed more threatening than Communists include rap-metal bands (#96), escaped zoo animals (#202), and Belgians.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/communists-now-least-threatening-group-in-us,3191/

July 1st Canada day.

01 Jul 2010 15:56:36 GMT

In honour of Canada Day, please post your most memorable Canadian songs.

I will start.

ZGoWtY_h4xo

In other exciting news, I just realized I forgot to pay rent this month! We stand on guard for free.

On the G20, Dumb Police Tactics, Ineffective Protest, and Why Humanity Continues to Depress Me.

29 Jun 2010 22:48:00 GMT

I was mulling about in my head on what to write concerning the gong-show that was the G20 summit in Toronto this past weekend, but then my attention was drawn to this excellent Torontoist article by Christopher Bird who sums up most of my thoughts fairly nicely. Bird comments on thug tactics, police brutality, what should have been, and closes with some warm words for a fake lake.

President's Choice Seven Grain Original Snack Crackers - A Review

29 Jun 2010 05:35:10 GMT

http://www.catcancook.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/DSC05502-300x225.jpg

Tonight was my first venture into the exciting realm of President's Choice brand seven grain "original" snack crackers (seen above on right, cropped), a new product fresh on the recently revived cracker market, currently for sale in Ontario Canada.

The most immediate characteristic you will notice about these generally affordable enriched wheat flour products is that they do absolutely nothing. Putting these crackers on a plate or desk will result in a complete and utter lack of activity, with equal results after exposing them to direct UV radiation, frigid tempuratres, or Latin Dance. They are however extremely stackable, and can be constructed into a towering pillar approximately 18 crackers in height (provided a well constructed base) with little to no wobblage. The crackers do float but will eventua

Gil Scott Heron at the Ottawa Jazz Festival.

29 Jun 2010 04:05:49 GMT

He was late but a pleasure.

Gv1CtJhLAK8

The Luckiest People On Earth.

29 Jun 2010 01:02:10 GMT

And here is another one of those Youtube montages:

qKcFPnS9r8Y

Countless More Reasons Why Airplane Food Should Bug You

28 Jun 2010 23:50:45 GMT

USA Today reports on the results of a United States Food and Drug Administration investigation. Here are some highlights: - live roaches and dead roach carcasses "too numerous to count" - ants, flies and debris, and employees handling food with bare hands - tested positive for Listeria - contaminating foods in a number of ways - mouse, rodent nesting materials and rodent feces Getting hungry yet? Check out the article for a full course meal of disgust.

Missy The Cat

28 Jun 2010 00:13:11 GMT

http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html

I highly doubt this is real but very funny nonetheless.

A Personal Look at Deployment To Afghanistan

27 Jun 2010 17:55:39 GMT

New York Times writer James Dao has published the first in a series of articles that will chronicle the First Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment from Fort Drum, NY as they carry out a one year mission in Kunduz Province Afghanistan. This entry focuses heavily on each individual soldier, their attitudes towards the challenges they face, and the impact on their families at home. Very much a worthwhile read for anyone, regardless of nationality or political leanings.

LHC Scientists Bored of Particle Physics, Turn LHC Into Giant Instrument

27 Jun 2010 15:39:44 GMT

Ladies and gentlemen I present the sounds of the Large Hadron Collider. Here is the Reuters article with an explanation on how it came about.

Nobody knows you better than an fMRI.

27 Jun 2010 15:24:10 GMT

A group of scientists at the University of California Los Angeles used fMRI scans on healthy participants while they were receiving information about the benefits of sunscreen. The participants were then asked if they would use sunscreen over the following week. The team found that the fMRI data could predict sunscreen use for about three quarters of the participants, which turned out to be a better predictor then the participants own estimates (about half of the subjects correctly predicted they would use sunscreen.) Just more evidence supporting the theory that we humans kind of suck at knowing what we think.

Canada to Phase Out Old Coal Plants

26 Jun 2010 17:06:15 GMT

A Scientific American article describes Canada's initiatives to phase out old coal plants in order to expedite a move towards natural gas fired plants. The new standards shed a positive light on a Canadian Conservative government that is regularly criticized by environmental groups for not doing enough towards sustainability and green living. From the article: "Still the measures, expected to reduce emissions by 15 megatonnes -- the equivalent of taking 3.2 million vehicles off the road -- received some support from the green sector."

The Grilled Cheese Academy.

26 Jun 2010 15:08:45 GMT

A fancy database on various styles of grilled cheese sandwiches. Do not click on an empty stomach.

http://grilledcheeseacademy.com/

Extinct!

26 Jun 2010 15:04:44 GMT

Strangely addictive flash game where you try and direct a plant to proliferate it's seeds and survive to the next generation.

http://www.darwin.rcuk.ac.uk/581/all/1/Grow_your_own_plant.aspx

Thank god for idiotechnica!

24 Jun 2010 12:58:06 GMT

I little piece of me almost died yesterday.

Dolphins on a Health Kick

23 Jun 2010 14:43:26 GMT

It seems we humans are not the only species concerned about our diet. Scientists studied the fish consumption of short-beaked common dolphins in the Atlantic, and discovered that they actively seek out the highest energy species of prey, down to the highest kilo-Joule per gram. This comes in contrast to what we know about larger cold blooded species of aquatic predators; who prey primarily on whatever prey is most abundant in their surrounding environment.

Super Mario Bros. on a violin.

20 Jun 2010 19:13:49 GMT

This guy is my hero.

vjcFQquHipE

BP Chair Attends Yacht Race, Deserves a Holiday I Guess?

19 Jun 2010 22:21:54 GMT

BP Chair Tony Hayward attended a yacht race on the weekend despite the ongoing oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't claim to know the intricacies of this guy's schedule, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest this might not be the best time to be taking vacation.

Humans vs. Grapes

17 Jun 2010 01:41:56 GMT

An image I took from Carl Zimmer's blog (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2010/06/15/the-genome-at-ten-two-pictures/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Loom+%28The+Loom%29&utm_content=Twitter) demonstrating the number of genes in various species.

As you can see, we are good, but we are not grape.

Justice is served.

16 Jun 2010 22:32:44 GMT

Vancouver demolition crew phones it in.

11 Jun 2010 21:41:32 GMT

A Vancouver demolition crew has caught some heat after videos of some shakey work appeared on youtube. The videos have made it onto the CBC website and are sure to result in many phone calls and firings.

First collapse: KKIZk4qAqKU

Second collapse: GvWRKojULbo

Second collapse - alternate angle: 20kfYOoSu0c

Guatemala city pics of giant sinkhole.

01 Jun 2010 04:16:26 GMT

http://gizmodo.com/5551916/the-gates-of-hell-just-opened-in-guatemala

Craziness.

The comments are also worth a read.

Baby reacts to first activation of cochlear implant.

29 May 2010 20:10:36 GMT

Look at his face light up upon hearing his mom's voice for the very first time. Truly heartwarming.

ZDD7Ohs5tAk

Sorry to inform you, Spazdaq.

28 May 2010 02:16:41 GMT

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37386129/ns/today-entertainment/

http://fingerfood.typepad.com/.a/6a012875949499970c01287594def8970c-pi

Gary Coleman in Critical Condition.

Snails on Meth and Learning to Forget.

28 May 2010 01:57:55 GMT

Interesting study wherein scientists gave snails a hit of methamphetamine before a learning task. The meth snails retained memories far longer than controls, providing evidence that drug-induced brains retain learned associations longer than healthy controls. From the article: ""Now we want to look in that brain cell and find what has changed. It's a big task but some recent studies in our lab point to changes at the level of the cell's DNA that are caused by the drug." The Take-Home Message: Kids, put down the pipe lest you scramble your DNA.

Deer vs. Fat Guy

18 May 2010 20:24:25 GMT

YMSEXzSmSE8

Nearly a perfect run, butt...

14 May 2010 20:06:45 GMT

I lost it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MleuPXWotcI

Cool street art.

13 May 2010 03:45:14 GMT

http://www.woostercollective.com/2010/05/a_low_fi_lenticular_on_the_streets_of_be.html

http://www.woostercollective.com/berlinnn1-thumb.jpg

http://www.woostercollective.com/berlinnn2-thumb.jpg

http://www.woostercollective.com/berlinnnn3-thumb.jpg

Best Visual Illusion for 2010

11 May 2010 16:11:13 GMT

The Vision Sciences Society's 6th annual visual illusion contest has declared a winner:

hAXm0dIuyug

Watch Out For Jupiter on Mother's Day

09 May 2010 00:08:54 GMT

Jupiter will be visible in the sky on May 09, 2010 at about 5:30 EST. It will be separated by about 5 degrees of arc, which should look about the same as the photo by Ben Cooper on the left. The planet in Ben's photo is actually Venus, which incidentally, will appear near the sky's brightest star, Sirius, the following evening.

For the Animal Lovers

07 May 2010 01:16:12 GMT

V-UiavzLoBs

Parrots, the Universe and Everything.

02 May 2010 16:20:06 GMT

_ZG8HBuDjgc

Talk by Douglas Adams at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Well worth the hour and a half of your time.

American Living (in a meth lab)

30 Apr 2010 01:26:50 GMT

Are you living in a new home? Have you developed severe sinus problems? Has your newborn baby stopped breathing? Stopped growing? Do you feel unclean? Are there sketched out hobos constantly hanging out on your front lawn? Congratulations! You just might be one of many Americans lucky enough to be living in a former Meth Lab; much like the family described in this article. A truly horrifying story. It will meth you up.

Watch it twice.

28 Apr 2010 19:58:33 GMT

mbpy0DWp1Co

10 Year Old Girl Survives Sting From World's Deadliest Jellyfish

28 Apr 2010 03:25:27 GMT

A 10 year old Australian girl has survived a sting from a box jellyfish - the world's most poisonous type. As the article explains, the box jellyfish can grow up to 30cm wide with tentacles that stretch up to 2 meters long. 10 year old Rachael Shardlow came into contact with the tentacles of the venomous creature while swimming in an estuary in Queensland, Australia. A quote from venom biologist Dr. Jamie Seymore; "When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, 'you know to be honest, this kid should not be alive'. Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's in a morgue." Follow the article for a shocking picture of the resulting wounds.

Awk...ward. Girl preaching religion at grad ceremony.

27 Apr 2010 03:22:33 GMT

hqLvV21tsdw

According to the youtube description, this was at a public secular university.

April 24, 1985. The new Coke!

24 Apr 2010 20:05:47 GMT

Archived CBC video of the "New Coke" product launch from 25 years ago. It seems that everyone was aware of the failure of the product right from the get go. An interesting flashback nonetheless.

Shad. Yaa I get it

24 Apr 2010 19:02:42 GMT

Great song.

1Moge_dQPeU

I hate Iceland!

19 Apr 2010 22:55:24 GMT

ld5AH72eNRo

Awesome photos from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, Iceland

19 Apr 2010 18:39:50 GMT

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html

A few samples:

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/eyja_04_19/e01_23056097.jpg

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/eyja_04_19/e15_23053791.jpg

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/eyja_04_19/e33_00009647.jpg

http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/eyja_04_19/e25_23048757.jpg

Does anyone know how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull?

Existential Muppeteering

16 Apr 2010 01:47:00 GMT

A few snippets from the original Muppets movie featuring some improv by Jim Henson and Frank Oz while doing routine camera tests. I couldn't keep it together during the parts where you can hear the puppeteers begin to burst into laughter.

TcMP90xT0sQ

Finally: Pornography for the Blind

16 Apr 2010 00:55:49 GMT

They never thought they'd see the day. Canadian Lisa Murphy has authored a book of pornographic images for the blind, using raised images to stimulate the imagination (among other things) of the seeing impaired. A few examples: A naked woman in a disco pose, a woman with perfect breasts, and, of course, a male "love robot". If anyone wants to take a guess at what the braille says below the image, I'd be happy to hear it.

The NHL playoffs.

14 Apr 2010 23:22:21 GMT

I have been really burnt on hockey lately but I figured the playoffs deserve a thread.

My beloved Senators are obviously my fan fav, but after they get knocked out I am rooting for Chicago all the way. Go Hawks!

For those of you in the SUSA, here's a little background: Hockey is a game played on ice by Canadian athletes for american dollars and the chance to appear in Ford commercials.

Heavy Armour Turtles vs 50 Foot Long Snake

07 Apr 2010 02:03:04 GMT

Quick Wired article on two 60 million year old nemeses, Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki was an ancient shelled turtle with a shell 1.5 inches thick and 3 feet across. Titanoboa cerrejonensis was a snake estimated to be about 40-50 feet long. Both species were discovered in the Cerrejón coal mine in North Colombia.

FOX news, partisan tactics, and more political untruths.

07 Apr 2010 01:43:49 GMT

Neat little msnbc clip to make you riled up and angry.

o9KjQUSZXqE

New Asteroids Hich Score 41338740 after 57 hours.

06 Apr 2010 06:06:53 GMT

The Asteroids game high score has recently been broken by John McAllister of Washington state. He acheived a score of 41338740 after 57 hours of play. The above links to a Kotaku article as the play was still ongoing. The previous high score was set in 1982.

Magnetically Manipulating Morality

31 Mar 2010 04:29:10 GMT

Very interesting study done by researchers at MIT wherein they used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to inhibit the right temporoparietal junction (RTPG) in the brain. In lamens terms, they used magnetic pulses to disrupt a part of the brain thought to be associated with moral perception. They showed the subjects a scenario in which a girl tries to poison her friend by pouring what she believes to be poison in her coffee. The poison turns out to be sugar and the friend lives. The subjects that had disrupted activity in their RTPJ's were more likely to deem this course of action as morally acceptable.

U.S. District Court Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent

31 Mar 2010 03:50:13 GMT

In what could be a landmark decision, a U.S. district court judge has struck down patents on two genes; BRCA1 & BRCA2 which are linked to cancer in humans. The decision could have an impact on the approximately 20% of human genes already patented, and could have a major effect on future genetic research. It could also fundamentally change the ways in which biotech companies do business.

Toads Predict Earthquake.

31 Mar 2010 03:37:58 GMT

Article from Nature.com describing observations made by Rachel Grant of the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. While studying toad reproduction, she noticed the animals ominously disappeared from their usual breeding grounds, abandoning their usual spawning ritual 5 days prior to an earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy in April 2009. From the article: "The team suspect the strange toad behaviour was triggered by pre-seismic perturbations in the ionosphere, which were detected by very low frequency radio sounding." Personally, if I knew an earthquake was on it's way, I think I'd rather stay in the breeding grounds and live my last today days to their fullest.

The greatest instructional video ever created.

30 Mar 2010 00:31:08 GMT

V282VpS4QtQ

Ann Coulter's Ottawa University Speech Cancelled Due To Angry Students

25 Mar 2010 20:07:12 GMT

Everyone's favourite right-wing ...something, Ann Coulter was unable to deliver a talk at the University of Ottawa due to an unruly protest from a group of students and onlookers outside the venue. She kicked off her three-city Canadian tour in London Ontario, where she apparently told a muslim student to "take a camel" or "magic carpet". The article linked above half-focuses on a Canadian lawyer who promoted Coulter's tour, and the transparent farce that is Coulter's "opinions". The author also touches on free speech, and whether or not we should really even care.

Nintendo announces 3DS as successor to DS.

23 Mar 2010 14:55:17 GMT

Nintendo has announced the successor to their gargantuanly popular handheld DS system with the tentatively titled 3DS. Apparently the specs will be about as powerful as the Gamecube and will feature 3D without the need for glasses. Still no Wii HD in sight though.

How Teens Choose Music.

22 Mar 2010 19:33:37 GMT

Neat Scientific American article on a study that investigated the networks active during teenagers' perception of popular music. They took a group of teens and presented them with a number of samples of music from Myspace which they rated based on personal preference. They were then presented with the same samples again, this time also being exposed to the total number of listens the song had generated on Myspace. The scans showed that the initial evaluation of the songs activated "the head of the caudate nucleus", whereas the teens who changed their mind after seeing that a song was popular tended to activate the "bilateral insula, the anterior cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor cortex and frontal poles" which are associated with anxiety and pain.

Japan Defeats Canada in 2010 Paralympic Sledge Hockey

19 Mar 2010 16:19:08 GMT

Japan will be advancing to the gold medal finals in the 2010 paralympic sledge hockey championship. Japan stunned the Canadian team with a 3-1 victory. Most of the credit seems to be going to the Japanese golatender Mitsuru Nagase who made 19 saves during the game.

Gay Sharks Rights Violated by Florida Divers.

09 Mar 2010 05:30:51 GMT

In another disgusting display of sexual profiling, a flamboyantly dressed Nurse Shark was assaulted last week by a couple of oppressive scuba-divers in Jupiter, Florida. The divers identified the free-swimming creature by its neon-pink dress collar, and proceeded to jump the shark in an inhumane frenzy of shallow water judgment. This single despicable act may have set gay shark rights back 100 years; not to mention a devastating blow to the already damaged public image of Nurse Sharks worldwide. I can only hope we will one day accept Ginglyhomostoma cirratum as noble, respectable creatures.

I am so excited. -electric violin related anticipation inside!-

08 Mar 2010 22:56:33 GMT

I have just recently ordered this:

EV-205

5-string Electric Violin

Can't wait!

I could watch these all day.

07 Mar 2010 15:20:29 GMT

Truly one of the greatest TV personalities of all time.

hf-HBMq9ggg

An honest scam artist.

05 Mar 2010 05:44:52 GMT

Team Fortress 2 - The Engineer upgrade that wasn't.

05 Mar 2010 05:33:17 GMT

Cool article by Brandon Reinhart of Valve discussing the upcoming engineer update for Team Fortress 2. He goes into detail about a new item - The Repair Node - that was fully developed but ultimately canned due to it's impact on the overall game. If you are into this kind of thing, this article gives some really cool insight on the game design behind Team Fortress 2 and how they come up with their weapon and map designs. From the article: "This is usually how we approach our game design: Identify a problem, then discuss the ways it could be solved. Our experience told us that even when the Engineer didn't feel immediate pressure, he still couldn't range out away from his base. If a Spy, Soldier, or Demoman found the base unguarded, it didn't take long to blow up. The further away an Engineer was, the fewer buildings he would be able to save from sapping. We also felt that the Engineer invested a lot of up-front work to establish bases that were very easily destroyed. Thus

Canada vs. USA in Olympic hockey.

28 Feb 2010 19:55:00 GMT

Are people freaking out in the US as well or is it just up in Canada? I get the feeling our nationwide gung-ho-edness isn't quite mirrored by our winterless southern neighbours.

Tilikum the Killer Whale: Murderous Beast or Playful Dummy?

26 Feb 2010 04:40:36 GMT

It is still unclear what motivated Tilikum the Killer Whale to grab and thrash trainer Dawn Brancheau like a chew toy, but my personal guess is it had something to do with the fact that the animal is a twelve hundred pound sea predator. Scientific American doesn't have any more insight than I do, but they did interview Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, who offers some insight on the behavior of Killer Whales in general. Whether or not Tilikum was being aggressive or playful at the time of Brancheau's death is impossible to know, but I suppose the lesson here is it doesn't really matter.

Koala Fight

26 Feb 2010 04:24:53 GMT

Turn your speakers wayyyyyyy up and you just might be able to hear the subtle noises of angry koalas.

x8oLu7znwQ0

Steam gets a face lift

24 Feb 2010 04:36:18 GMT

Leaping even further beyond all competition, Valve has launched the open beta for the new Steam UI update. Anyone with steam can click here and opt-in to the beta. After monkeying around for a few minutes, it seems that most of the new UI is still missing, however it gives a good idea of what the new Steam will be. It looks like Valve is finally integrating all the bits and bites that has been added to Steam over the years, so now friends and achievements info is more readily available right from the games library. The download tool looks to be a bit handier as well. With all the goods being offered up for the affordable price of $0, I wonder why anyone would willingly pay for Xbox Live?

whathappenedinmybirthyear.com

19 Feb 2010 02:50:53 GMT

http://whathappenedinmybirthyear.com/

Worth doing!

"In 1982, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects."

Life Lessons Learned for February 2010

17 Feb 2010 03:31:50 GMT

So far:

- Drunken e-mails, no matter how closely spell checked and re-drafted, are always a horrible idea.
- Family is always a welcome sight even in the worst of situations.
- A 2 for 1 pizza deal doesn't mean you should eat twice as much.

Isreal and Palestine, take notes.

12 Feb 2010 06:18:28 GMT

My song of the day.

07 Feb 2010 01:09:38 GMT

Hawksley Workman - We'll Make Time.

Enjoy!

(note: the title "song of the day" does not imply this will be a daily feature of idiotechnica.com)

Sperm corner: Secrets of sperm locomotion unveiled!

05 Feb 2010 21:46:13 GMT

Neat Scientific American article on the biochemistry of sperm movement. Get your flagella flippin' and read all about it. The article also mentions a link between marijuana use and infertility, stating that a stimulated endocannabinoid system likely leaves sperm burnt out in a matter of hours.

First Dog Arctic Exploration Thwarted By Human Intervention

03 Feb 2010 00:43:49 GMT

..just kidding. The dog was actually found floating on an ice floe in the Baltic Sea and was rescued bu a crew of Polish scientists. Apparently two women have already claimed to be the dog's owner and will be meeting the icy canine on Thursday February 4th. Picture rights to Ryszard Moroz/IMGW/Associated Press

China to lead world in scientific papers produced by 2020.

26 Jan 2010 19:59:40 GMT

According to some numbers crunched by Thomson Reuters, China will be the world's leader in production of scientific knowledge by 2020. The announcement came after Reuters compared 4 emerging scientific leaders; those being India, Brazil, Russia and China. China was found to be far ahead of the 3 other candidates, and is set to overtake the U.S.A. in 10 years. The 3 main reasons cited were, huge government investments at all levels of research (school & post-doc), an organised flow of knowledge from basic science to commercial applications (not really sure what they mean), and lastly China's increasing ability to head-hunt mid-career scientists that had previously left the country to persue research elsewhere. The Financial Times article mentions the quality of the Chinese research papers are still "mixed". As long as this doesn't mean outright scientific fraud, I say more power to them.

French to ban a Muslim religious tradition?

26 Jan 2010 14:00:56 GMT

CBC.ca reports on a French parliamentary panel that released a report recommending all women show their faces in public places including hospitals, schools, and public transit. Personally I'm a bit torn on the issue, if the recommendation was to combat some existing problem wherein crimes were being committed by veiled suspects then I would tend to agree. It isn't like society hasn't let go of religious based traditions in favour of public security and health (hi, bloodletting!) however upon reading the article, the motivation behind the veil-ban seems less cut and dry. From the article: "French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made face-veils a political issue, saying last summer that burkas imprison women and that they would not be tolerated in France." "The recommendations come after a committee of 32 legislators from four political parties convened six months ago to address the wearing of burkas or niqabs, which are often viewed in France as a gateway to extremism and

You are killing yourself right now.

20 Jan 2010 20:30:17 GMT

Another ganked from www.slashdot.org. The Economic Times reports on an Australian study that found that a group of people who watched TV for four hours per day had an 80% higher chance of dying from heart disease than a group who watched less than 2 hours of TV per day. The argument being long periods of immobility signiifantly decrease health regardless of how active you are for the rest of your day. The effects were shown even when the study controlled for overall activity and factors such as smoking. Not sure how this translates into computer/internet use but I would assume it works out to about the same. The challenge: How do nerds keep active while also staying interactive? How can a student or an employee decrease their immobility per day?

How To Draw A Muscle Elf

16 Jan 2010 18:22:10 GMT

I can't stop watching this guy. I have no idea if this is a joke or not.

ecGIO9MUkww

Mushroom Time-Lapse

13 Jan 2010 23:52:52 GMT

8s_fpRUqpuE

Fun with omegle

13 Jan 2010 23:37:02 GMT

www.omegle.com

The following is my unedited, uncut, and in-order first experience with omegle.com:

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Stranger: heyyy

You: Hello.

Stranger: from st a?

Critterding

13 Jan 2010 14:03:48 GMT

Found this on slashdot:

"Telepathic-critterdrug is a controversial fork of the open source artificial-life sim Critterding, a physics sandbox where blocky creatures evolve neural nets in a survival contest. What we've done is to give these animals an extra retina which is shared with the whole population. It's extended through time like a movie and they can write to it for communication or pleasure. Since this introduces the possibility of the creation of art, we decided to give them a selection of narcotics, stimulants and psychedelics. This is not in Critterding. The end result is a high-color cellular automaton running on a substrate that thinks and evolves, and may actu

Nerds Only: Valve releases results of December 2009 Hardware survey

08 Jan 2010 22:41:26 GMT

PC Gaming overlords Valve have released the results of their December 2009 hardware survey. The survey was completed voluntarily by users of Valve's own PC Game hub Steam. How do you stack up against other gaming nerds? Intel and Nvidia are still very much dominant in the cpu/gpu worlds. A bit of a surprise to see Windows XP 32-bit at the top of the OS chart with 44.77% of users. Vista 32-bit was a meager 20.71%, with the relatively brand new Windows 7 64-bit already at 15.61%. (Vista 64-bit reached 10%) Geek out to your hearts content.

Finally!

08 Jan 2010 13:26:53 GMT

I was wondering when this site would be finally worthy of spam. Congrats idiotechnica on reaching a milestone!

AT and T's 50 Things we know now that we didn't know this time last year

07 Jan 2010 03:30:33 GMT

AT&T apparently has an editorial section on their website. Here's an article I found particularly interesting: Things we know now that we didn't know this time last year. Here's a sample: 1. Domestic pigs can quickly learn how mirrors work and use them to find food. 2. Grumpy people think more clearly because negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking. 3. High cholesterol levels in midlife are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia later in life. 4. Analysis of Greenland ice samples shows Europe froze solid in less than 12 months 12,800 years ago, partly due to a slowdown of the Gulf Stream. Once triggered, the cold persisted for 1,300 years. 5. One mutated gene is the reason humans have language, and chimpanzees, our closest relative, do not. 6. Obesity in teenage girls

Burger, Fries, and a really shitty drink.

07 Jan 2010 02:33:15 GMT

From the article: "team of microbiologists from Hollins University found that 48% of sodas tested from the fast food fountains contain coliform bacteria, which is typically fecal in origin. And most bacteria found were antibiotic resistant, as icing on the cake." As if a fast-food run didn't already make you feel shitty. I shudder to think of what might be lurking in the candy bowl at the Denny's counter.

Every day the same dream.

05 Jan 2010 00:29:10 GMT

http://www.molleindustria.org/everydaythesamedream/everydaythesamedream.html

Takes about 15 minutes. Give it a try.

Kind of makes me want to play GTAIV

29 Dec 2009 06:05:11 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP54eA-oYJ4&feature=related

nwfw I guess.

What storm troopers do on their day off.

29 Dec 2009 05:51:23 GMT

Courtesy of stumble. If you are julio you have already done this.

http://wildammo.com/2009/08/09/what-stormtroopers-do-on-their-day-off/

Drug Resistant Tuberculosis diagnosed in U.S.A.

28 Dec 2009 20:38:43 GMT

The first case of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (known as XXDR TB) has arrived in the U.S.A. to the horror of doctors everywhere. Hopefully the nation's bloated military budget can fund some sort of patriot missile smart enough to take out any antibiotic resistant disease nature can throw at us, right? ....right? Maybe we should have been paying a bit more attention to this stuff..

3 more albums of 2009 you really should not have missed.

23 Dec 2009 02:41:57 GMT

Brand spanin' new bugs thread.

22 Dec 2009 04:32:42 GMT

When I edit a thread that has the quotation mark " in the title, the thread title will only show text up until the quotation mark in the edit screen. However, upon submiting the edited post, the full title reappears! Even if I don't re-enter the missing text.

How to play "The Blizzard of '77" on guitar.

22 Dec 2009 04:30:13 GMT

I wish more bands did this. This isn't exactly the most complicated of songs, but it's cool to be able to youtube a song and learn it right from the composer. Here, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf quickly demonstrates the chords to one of his best songs; The Blizzard of '77.

gHVpseg6tBM

Now go forth and impress an geeky indie rock girl!

Vancouver symphony turns down Olympics opening after being asked to pre-record music.

20 Dec 2009 20:00:14 GMT

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will not be playing the opening Olympics ceremony due to the fact they were asked to pre-record their music. The Olympic organizers claim is that this type of practice is standard for worldwide televised events, and that it is necessary in case of technical difficulties. It doesn't seem like there was any statement made explaining whether or not the pre-recorded music would be used exclusively or as a back-up. I personally support Bramwell Tovey (conductor) 's decision. How much of a shmuck would you have to be to "bow-sync" a cello in front of thousands of spectators? They would be better off hiring a group of actors.

Environmental impact of a programming language?

20 Dec 2009 18:49:00 GMT

Neat little article taken from Slashdot on the environmental impact of facebook's servers. According to the author (a blogger named koen) approximately 22,500 out of 30,000 servers could be shut down if facebook had used C++ instead of PHP as a programming language. Reading through the comments, it seems most people in the know are scoffing at the idea, suggesting that it's impossible to compare the efficiency of each language without knowing how facebook has implemented it, as well as some fundamental reasons why a compiler language shouldn't be used for a site like facebook in the first place. Is there any validity at all to the idea of certain programming languages being more environmentally friendly than others? And will this be cause for concern in the future when everything becomes web based?

Tree Kangaroos: Adorable and Boring.

19 Dec 2009 18:19:22 GMT

National Geographic researchers strapped their "critter cam" to Tree Kangaroos in Papa New Guinea to study their behaviour. I'm surprised they couldn't have found a camera that was a bit smaller... The marsupials in this video look like they are lugging around a digital camera from 1997.

6 hour Black Metal Symposium held in Brooklyn, NY.

16 Dec 2009 02:45:12 GMT

New York Times article on a 6 hour black metal symposium held in Brooklyn, NY. The article itself doesn't go into much detail, but the very fact that a symposium like this was held at all warms my metal heart.

Surrogate mother recalls twins a month after birth.

14 Dec 2009 23:57:35 GMT

The title sounds a bit onion-esque, but apparently this is true. A surrogate mother legally obtained custody of the twins she birthed after learning that the recipient mother was being treated for mental illness. The interesting part to me is the egg used in the in-vitro fertilization was not the surrogate mothers. (The sperm came from an anonymous male donor.) Raises the question: who really "owns" the baby in a situation like this?

Google Goggles

11 Dec 2009 18:18:35 GMT

http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/

Has anyone ever actually used this? Seems kind of nuts. Wondering how much image data is actually in their databse already.

Further evidence the internet is awesome.

11 Dec 2009 03:25:56 GMT

This cannot be described. 25 seconds is all you need. Audio required.

Best non-idiotechnica thread ever.

09 Dec 2009 00:15:18 GMT

http://askearth.com/go/view_request?request=121005 It's just something about the little animated character avatars.... Dark sense of humour required.

Record of the Year 2009. The Slew. 100 Percent.

08 Dec 2009 02:35:34 GMT