Archive for April, 2008
Thus spake Evil Overload
April 28, 2008 at 11:06 am
I think it is for exactly this sort of thing that we created the Smart Art category (if by “think” I mean “blindly speculate” and by “we” I mean “Ennui”):
dawdlr is a global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: what are you doing, you know, more generally?
Great idea! Be sure to drop them a postcard, nextime you’re engaged in something general.
Link
Categories: Smart Art
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 10:48 am
Thus spake Evil Overload
April 25, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Operation of the 54.4 kg (120 lb) machine is simple, in fact it’s so simple there are no controls except for an on-off switch. To go forward you simply push your body weight forward to tilt the machine. To back up, just lean back on the seat to tilt it backwards and back it goes. The farther you lean, the faster it accelerates. The gyro tells the ECU how much to accelerate and that in turn delivers the proper amount of current to the electric motors, one for each wheel.
‘Fraid not, folks. Although, in its defense, it does look a bit like The Cheat.
Link
Categories: Technology Porn
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 23, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Not that meddling in the affairs of other nations is anything new, especially speaking as an American, but it is interesting how much more press Chinese maneuvers are getting now that, as the rising global superstar, they are in the spotlight. So: what are they doing in Zimbabwe?
Chinese troops have been seen on the streets of Zimbabwe’s third largest city, Mutare, according to local witnesses. They were seen patrolling with Zimbabwean soldiers before and during Tuesday’s ill-fated general strike called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).Earlier, 10 Chinese soldiers armed with pistols checked in at the city’s Holiday Inn along with 70 Zimbabwean troops.
One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: “We’ve never seen Chinese soldiers in full regalia on our streets before. The entire delegation took 80 rooms from the hotel, 10 for the Chinese and 70 for Zimbabwean soldiers.”
This should be a veeeery interesting century. Hell, the remainder of this decade should be plenty entertaining. Link
Categories: Chaos Purge, Global Death Wish, arses
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 1:48 pm
Thus spake Evil Overload
at 8:50 am
Check out the latest in a long line of flash games you just can’t stop playing! In this one, you draw shapes in an old-school mspaint-style interface, and you use the shapes which acquire gravity and momentum, and use them to collect flags. Screw you, Productivity! Link
Categories: Smart Art, Happy Happy Joy Joy
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 5:56 am
“In Japan, the task of extracting their dead has become a bit more advanced.
Meet Robokiyu the Rescue Robot, whose job it is to come in and extract the dead from any situation.
Owned by the Tokyo Fire Department and controlled by remote control Robokiyu uses two movable arms to drag a person’s body up the slide located in the front of the machine.
Don’t worry if you happen to be presumed dead and picked up by Robokiyu, he has fresh oxygen pumping through him at all times for your convenience.”
Public utility my ass. That thing wants to kill us. Link
(purloined from Grinding.be)
Categories: Evil Space Monkeys, Technology Porn
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 22, 2008 at 7:06 am
A CATHOLIC priest who floated away under hundreds of helium balloons in a bid to raise money for his parish is missing off Brazil.
See video here of him taking off here.
Only pieces of the party balloons have been found by searchers looking for Reverend Adelir Antonio de Carli off the coast of Santa Catarina state, the Associated Press reported.
Mr de Carli, 41, lifted off from the port city of Paranagua yesterday afternoon wearing a helmet, thermal suit and a parachute.
Link
(via Arbroath)
Categories: Smart Art, Wot's All This Then?
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 5:57 am
It’s been a while since I blogged a killer asteroid, but I think this one has the highest probability thus far:
“A German schoolboy, Nico Marquardt, has revised NASA’s figures for the chances that the Apophis asteroid will hit earth. Apparently if the asteroid hits a satellite in 2029, its path could be diverted enough to cause it to collide with Earth on the next orbit, in 2036. NASA had calculated the chances as 1 in 45,000 but the 13-year-old, in his science project, made it 1 in 450. NASA agreed.”
Nice going, Small German Kid. You couldn’t just build a baking soda volcano like everybody else, could you? Just had to go and destroy the Earth. Link
Update: NASA’s expert on near-earth-objects is now saying otherwise:
“We have not corresponded with this young man and this story is absurd, a hoax or both. During its 2029 Earth close approach, Apophis will approach the Earth to about 38,900 km, well inside the geosynchronous distance at 42,240 km. However, the asteroid will cross the equatorial belt at a distance of 51,000 km - well outside the geosynchronous distance. Since the uncertainty on Apophis’ position during the Earth close approach is about 1500 km, Apophis cannot approach an Earth satellite. Apophis will not cross the moon’s orbital plane at the Moon’s orbital distance so it cannot approach the moon either.”
I guess we’ll see, come 2036. Place yer bets, folks!
(via /.)
Categories: Chaos Purge, Global Death Wish
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 5:44 am
“The divorce of poetry and music was first reflected by the printed page.”
– Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, notorious thought-provoker
Huh. He says “reflected”, but I wonder to what extent it was caused by the printed page?
(from the @marshallmcluhan twitterstream)
Categories: Smart Art
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 18, 2008 at 7:50 am
Based on exhastive research (which for my attention span means ten minutes of dedicated googling), the French phrase “Zut Alors!” can be alternatively translated as “Damn!”, “Shoot!”, “Blimey!”, “Dang!”, or for some reason, “Holy Mackerel!”. “Alors” seems to literally mean “then”, and is added for emphasis, as in the similar case of “Merde Alors!”.
But what does “Zut” mean? I can’t find that anywhere, other than its arbitrary value as a mild curse word. Is it a nonsense word used by custom, or does it have some really cool etimology? Can I even spell etimology? These are the things that haunt my dreams and disrupt my toilet-time. Any Francophiles, or actual French people, feel free to chime in on this one.
Categories: Wot's All This Then?
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 16, 2008 at 7:51 am
Thus spake Evil Overload
April 15, 2008 at 6:20 am
ZOMG! Diverting food crop production in to fuel production turned out to be Bad! They had to subsidize the hell out of it to make it even remotely economically viable, and now it’s adding to a global food crisis. And, ladies and gentlemen, if you think oil scarcity causes wars, wait until you see what food scarcity does. Time to write your congressbeings on both sides of the aisle and tell them that, while it is good to work toward reducing foreign oil dependence, biofuels are Not The Way. Link
Categories: Chaos Purge, Global Death Wish, arses
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 14, 2008 at 10:53 am
 For a generation raised on cardboard box forts, what could be more awesome than modular load-bearing self-assembled cardboard architectural units? These suckers (single unit pictured left), like big cardboard pixels, snap together to make furniture, partitions, shrines, gazebos, sweatlodges, arsenals, or whatever your imagination can concieve of. Perfect for the urban loft-dweller unwilling to commit to a floorplan, or to any former lego enthusiast who always wanted to take their snap-together legerdemain to the next level. Link
(via TechCrunch)
Categories: Smart Art, Technology Porn
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 10:32 am
Thus spake Evil Overload
April 11, 2008 at 11:00 am
Thus spake Evil Overload
at 8:31 am
Pay attention, Florida. These are quick and easy to put up, and will probably weather the hurricanes better than the standard split-level ranch monstrosities you keep having to rebuild there on the coast.
Link
(from Grinding.be, where technology porn is elevated to the realm of Art)
Categories: Technology Porn
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 7:37 am
Amid grain shortages worldwide due to economic manuverings and the global biofuel apocalypse, it has now become more profitable to grow wheat than poppies. That’s right. Mathmatically, the demand for wheat is overtaking the demand for HEROIN. There’s a solution that the DEA never thought of.
Link
(straight from Futurismic to you!)
Categories: Chaos Purge, Wot's All This Then?
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 10, 2008 at 8:44 am
It’s hard to argue with success. Any organization that can remain in operation for so many decades and continue to turn a profit, while dodging law enforcement and getting literally gunned down by the competition, definitely warrants observation:
They’re violent, they’re ruthless, they have caused misery to many, but you can’t fault their business sense: mafia bosses know how to make a profit. Its practices may be largely illegal, but Cosa Nostra is not as retrograde, or conservative, as it has often been portrayed. Its raison d’etre is profit. Like any business, it is pragmatic and constantly changing to exploit new opportunities.Big business has learned how to sell itself to the public, with television shows such as The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den granting us a view of harsh but compellingly competitive environments. Businessmen such as Sir Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones have become unlikely media personalities. But the mafia has been using these methods for years.
In brief:
Rule 1: Submersion
Rule 2: Mediation
Rule 3: Consensus
Rule 4: Keep God on your side
Rule 5: Be politically flexible
Rule 6: Reinvention
Rule 7: Modesty
To the details already!
Categories: Wot's All This Then?
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 8:31 am
Nice! The lost intersection of art and technology. It looks like it should broadcast locator beacons in subspace or something, or maybe project miniature holograms within itself, or magnetically suspend a quantum singularity. I want one of these when someone starts selling them. Link
(via Boingboing, despite many vows to the contrary)
Categories: Smart Art, Technology Porn
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 9, 2008 at 7:25 am
Apparently this is replacing groin-shots as the topic-of-choice for youtube postings:
Girls fighting girls is becoming a troubling trend on YouTube, experts said.
A search for “girl fight in Florida” in YouTube uncovered a series of violent fights in Brevard, Volusia and Orange counties.
Experts classify the beatings as cyber-bullying, saying the girls can continue to torment their victims long after their bruises heal by posting the beatings online for the world to see.
Sugar and spice indeed. Link
Categories: Chaos Purge, Wot's All This Then?, Evil Space Monkeys
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 3, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Thus spake Evil Overload
at 12:41 pm
…we salute you! and beg your indulgence. I just marked as spam 1,108 new comments lovingly handcrafted by ad-bots since Monday. The only way to sort that many comments and not headdesk myself into a coma is to let my eyes go all floaty, trust my instincts, and hope for the best, so odds are good I sent at least a few legitimate comments to be with Jesus. Never fear; I’ll be installing more spam-blockage shortly, so if your comment didn’t make it, do resubmit. We value your feedback as only a group of incurable intellectual show-offs can.
Sincerely,
The Mgt.
Categories: Thank You Internet!, arses
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 6:23 am
 In the process of posting this, I realized that the lyrics to the Mickey Mouse Club opening song are the ideal anthem for a socialist regime. Eerie.
(Thanks, The Wife!)
Categories: arses
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Thus spake Evil Overload
April 1, 2008 at 7:12 am
Every 11 years or so, the sun gets a little pissy. It breaks out in a rash of planet-sized sunspots that spew superhot gas, hurling clouds of electrons, protons, and heavier ions toward Earth at nearly the speed of light. These solar windstorms have been known to knock out power grids and TV broadcasts, and our growing reliance on space-based technology makes us more vulnerable than ever to their effects. On January 3, scientists discovered a reverse-polarity sunspot, signaling the start of a new cycle — and some are predicting that at its peak (in about four years) things are gonna get nasty. Here’s a forecast for 2012.
Cool! We get social chaos among the gadget-dependent AND auroras here in the Southeast! What’s not to like? Link!
(gleefully misappropriated from Monochrom)
Categories: Chaos Purge, Yay Science!
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