The Samurai's Blog

Minty Boost

2006-12-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

Just finished my minty boost. More info at http://la dyada.net/make/mintyboost/

No, Thank you!

2006-12-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

I was looking for the proper way to say "no" in japanese, as in "no fish" or "no dice," and came upon this entry in the FreeDict.com. No Sankyu! (use this site and search for "no")

BE the asteroid!

2006-12-02T00:58:00.000-08:00

Finally, you get to be the poor asteroid trying to blow up the rocket ships!
Asteroid's Revenge

Sexual Consent Forms... with Lawyers!

2006-12-02T00:43:00.000-08:00

Hilarious dramatization of a "little formality."

(via BoingBoing)

Fuck you, Time Warner

2006-11-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

So Time Warner has proceeded to take over a monopoly (southern california cable) and managed to make it worse. My net connection goes off every 20 minutes during high traffic times, and my speeds suck. Fuckin' TW. Here's the stupid fucking email I got from their "tech support" dumbasses. My question/comment is at the bottom. Notice how I ask for a "no-nonsense answer," and then look at what I got... a nonsensical answer. Surprise, surprise....

G.W. Bush legalizes martial law?

2006-10-29T23:12:00.000-08:00

I don't tend to get involved with political issues (particularly because mine wildly differ with most of my peers'), but this struck me oddly. A post on BoingBoing described how Bush declared a sort of martial law legal. (Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect [usually after a formal declaration] when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of justice [Wikipedia].)
For example: Under martial law, one can be arrested, sentenced, and jailed by a police officer. This has HUGE (or, dare I say it, HUEG) implications for protestors, or those who are generally politically motivated.

Visit the BoingBoing post for a synopsis of this Toward Freedom article.
Also, visit this Slashdot article for more technical info.

Giuliani better step the fuck up, or I am voting democrat.
But... Hillary?

The way chopsticks should be

2006-10-21T00:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a cool swiss site (or is it german?) that shows alternative uses for common household items.

Houston rock venue & bar nears riot

2006-10-16T23:35:00.000-07:00

A music venue and bar called "Walter's" was hosting three bands this past Friday night when Houston Police Dept Officer G.M. Rodriguez came in and began an angry quarrel -- and eventually a fight -- with band members over a sound complaint (at a rock venue? are you serious?). Of course this isn't the whole story. Check out the links below:

Articles (the first one summarizes the event well):
One. Two. Three (personal account).
Videos (YouTube):
One. Two.

This is utter bullshit. Make sure you send this to everyone you know to make them aware of the horrible powertrip some policemen have.

McDonalds will infect you with a virus

2006-10-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

... and this time its not from the food. McDonalds Japan has awarded 10,000 people with flash MP3 players (from a recent promotional contest) that came loaded with 10 free MP3s and QQWare, a malware virus that collects information about you on your computer (usernames, passwords, etc) and sends them off to a random hacker. (via BoingBoing) Link.

2006-10-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

Watch out for that SARS! These are awesome, I think I found my Halloween costume... (from BoingBoing)

No more internet gambling in the U.S.?

2006-10-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

The U.S. House of Representatives passed HR4411: Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act (a.k.a. Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [?]).
This whole thing really confuses me. Why would the U.S. Gov't need to pass an act banning something if it was already unlawful?

Links:
CNET News article
GovTrack full act text

Ghetto blasters for sale!

2006-09-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

Now this is exciting. I've been looking for somewhere to buy a ghetto blaster. Too bad it's all in Japanese.

Olympia to Seattle in 2 Minutes...

2006-09-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

...on a Super8 camera, in stop-motion, from 1988! How cool is that?

4-Year Old Drummer Prodigy

2006-09-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Igor Falecki: Child drummer, 4 years old .
This kid is amazing... I didn't think that motor skills that developed were possible at 4 years old...

(from BoingBoing.net)

Major nicotine increase

2006-09-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Shocking... but not really. This article describes the increase of nicotine (by an average of 10%, and as much as 36%) in youth and minority-targeted cigarettes over the past 8 years.

Dirty Ronny

2006-09-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

Comical site where you can put any text you want (on four lines) of McDonald's towering display board. Oh, Ronny.

I love Banksy. I hate Paris.

2006-09-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Just go read the BoingBoing post. It's got everything you need to know without me typing it all over again.

And also make sure you check out Banksy's website. He's one of my favorite street artists... evar.

Chanel chainsaw (and more)

2006-09-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, I want one of these so bad, just because its a mashup of my two favorite things: high fashion and violence (haha... right).

from BoingBoing.

From the site: New York born artist Tom Sachs is something of a troublemaker on the art scene. Focused on critiquing fashion and street cultures, he manipulates our ideas of consumption, branding, commercial imagery and objects of money and power. Tom Sachs addresses the mania around fashion, attempting to change viewer’s perceptions of precious items and revered brands. His pieces have a very "do-it-yourself" quality, made from mundane materials: foam core, Sharpie markers, duct tape and hot glue.

Bacteria-powered motor!

2006-09-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

Crawling bacteria provide the power to turn this micromotor. Scientists at the University of Tokyo and the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan built the device with processes similar to those used to fabricate integrated circuits. The "bacterial-propulsion units," a strain of Mycoplasma mobile, crawl clockwise in a groove underneath the motor's rotor, tugging the motor in a circle. It circles at twice the speed of a watch's second hand and doesn't generate much torque, but the researchers report that adding more bacteria would greatly improve the results. (from BoingBoing)

Disabling Instant Search on Outlook2007 Beta2

2006-09-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

(from SlipStick)

Does Outlook's Instant Search and Windows Desktop Search 3.0 work on Windows XP with 64bit machines?

No, there is currently no 64-bit version of WDS 3.0 available for Beta 2 on Windows XP. Outlook will continue to prompt you to install it; to remove these prompts:

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab.
Click Advanced Options and clear the Show prompts to enable Windows Desktop Search checkbox.

(This problem has been plaguing me for weeks, and I finally figured out how to disable that stupid pop-up.)

Tigers and tigers and tigers, oh my!

2006-08-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

Ingenious use of a car, projector, and a couple of sensors hooked up to a computer... the wall tiger! (from Wooster Collective)

Write with water

2006-08-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

Write words with water. These french guys think of everything (from Wooster Collective)...

Video

Desert Eagle -- for ladies!

2006-08-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

Antonio Riello sez, "I want to mix, in an artistic way, traditional 'female stuff' like fashion with very traditional 'male stuff' like guns. It consists in a restyling of real military weapons into fashion items for ladies."

Can I get a "BOOYAKA"?

Nice beard, man!

2006-08-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

Some creepy smoke patterns from flares dispensed by a C-17 Transporter.

Super Ultra Violent Charlie Brown & Gang

2006-08-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

He's a clown, that Charlie Brown. Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown. (from BoingBoing)

Cardboard box speakers!

2006-08-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Got bored at work (t'was a slow day in the warehouse) , so I built these:

If you honestly can't figure out how I did this, let me know and I'll post some brief instructions!
(The speakers were from some old battery-amp'd travel speakers someone had thrown away.)

Exploding water?

2006-08-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

A recent post on BoingBoing.net posed an interesting question: Why would an airport official confiscate a supposed liquid explosive, and then dump it in a trashcan surrounded by tons of people?

One The Moon -- Cartoon!

2006-08-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

I just can't get enough of all the cartoons at Weebl's Stuff (my favorites being "Weebl and Bob" and "On The Moon"). Anyway, they just released Episode 8 of On The Moon, and its hilarious. #7 and #8 are by far my favorites of the... um... season? Anyway, check 'em out.

Being Jackson Pollock

2006-08-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

So this website has a great little flash animation where you can paint and stuff. So simple, but I can sit and play it for 20 minutes straight... and I'm still going back for more. (from Wooster Collective)

Incredible larvae colonies

2006-08-05T03:45:00.000-07:00

So according to a BoingBoing.net blog post, this set of pictures is of colonies of carpet caterpillars and the items they take over (trees, bicycles, etc.). The pictures are pretty amazing, as the photographer examining the colonies gets right up close to groups of these "maggot-like" larvae.

SUPER long-term experiments

2006-08-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

This page describes three experiments that have been running for a long-ass time. The three have been running since 1927, 1864, 1840, respectively and chronologically.

GET OFF YOUR PHONE!

2006-08-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

I can generally tolerate people using their phones while it is most inconvenient. But c'mon, when is enough, enough?

Be sure to check out all of this person's interesting pics of weird people.
There's some great photography to be seen.

Immigrants, Race, and Birth Control, oh my!

2006-08-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

When I read this the first time, all I could think was, "Animals... they are literally animals." I mean back in Mexico you gotta have a lot of kids to help work the fields and shit, but in South LA? C'mon.... This is the kind of shit I DON'T want to pay for in my taxes. A 10th child quadruplet with water on the brain? C'mon....

...And to the husband: PULL OUT!!! The article didn't hardly talk about him! C'mon!!!

From the Los Angeles Times

COLUMN ONE: 6 + 4 = 1 Tenuous Existence
An illegal immigrant couple with six children were already living in poverty. Then the quadruplets arrived. They're still in a daze.
By Sam Quinones
Times Staff Writer

July 28, 2006

With two teenage daughters at home and triplets still in diapers, Angela Magdaleno's family overflowed from a one-bedroom apartment in South Los Angeles that they strained to afford.

Diapers had to be changed 15 times a day, feedings held every three hours. One triplet, 3-year-old Alfredo Jr., needed special attention because he was born with liquid on his brain and partially paralyzed.

Even simple events like going to the store required complex orchestration.

And that was before the quadruplets arrived.

[Continue...]

Potato Bugs!

2006-07-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

Bored? This site about potato bugs (aka Jerusalem crickets) is absolutely ridiculous. Check out the FAQ. It's a good read if you are bored.

Dichotomy of Sound & Light

2006-07-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

I just read ScienceAddiction.com's "95 Theses of Geek Activism" (of which I found #29 to be the most intriguing) which inspired me to start blogging (again?). And in doing such, I remembered my buddy John Taggart's (photo)blog, which I haven't checked out in a while. His post for today, July 23rd (titled "ULANAS") is pretty cool. He took some pictures of a DJ spinning under only the light from a lamp.

A couple of parties that I have DJ'd have been under such lighting. The interesting part is (and you may not know this unless you have experienced it) that the speaker next to him ("monitor") is probably BLASTING sound into his right ear at over 90 dB. That's effin loud. That's enough to, if exposed to the eardrum long enough, do some hearing damage. I know that there is a discernable difference between the hearing in my left ear and my right (that is, my left sounds better than my right). This is because I cue with my right ear and listen with my left. While using my cell phone, I almost always have to use my left ear to listen because my right ear hears that much worse.

Anyway, in those pictures, I find the dichotomy between low light and high sound reminiscent of the whole "rave/massive" stereotype. I mean, why are clubs and other partyplaces very dimly lit? Is it a psychological thing?

Anyway... yeah. I hope to keep on bloggin'. It's good for my brainses.