If you live in an urban environment, chances are that you've seen this: It's a program started by the FBI to prevent terrorism and general thievery in peaceful and innocent communities all around America. I myself have seen a lot of these, and my previous apartment community was part of this 'program'.
For any of you not in the loop, last week marked our first ever WTFoto Challenge. The goal was to find the craziest, most absurd stock photo on the web we've never seen before. There were a lot of WTF images submitted to our community corkboard, and now it's time to announce the results of the stock image showdown. Who will win the the honor of Watermark of Weirdness? Drumroll please, imaginary band leader named Tim Drickles...
Scrabble Bingo of the Day: * CAGANER [n] A caganer is a small figurine of a person defecating in place, pants humorously around the character's ankles. It's a traditional Christmas decoration in Catalonia, Spain and in neighboring areas, where it's placed within the nativity scene.
Many companies were disappointed when Google+ rolled out and banned the creation of accounts specifically for businesses and brands. Fortunately, today, Google began rolling out Google+ pages, for them to start connecting with customers and followers. For an example of what a Google+ Page looks like, check out the one for the +The Muppets:
We've covered Glitch before, the oddball indie social MMO involving the minds behind Flickr, Katamari Damacy, and Game Neverending. Yesterday, the game officially left Beta and entered general release. Anyone can create an account and start playing for free, although there are freemium elements in the form of real money purchasable clothing items.
Oh, yeah. I was a skeptic, too. A few things are worth noting, though. 1) This stuff is cheap. You can get started on a project for very little money. Even advanced fabrication tools are reasonably priced.
We've all seen FOX News commentators get worked up about silly non-issues. It occurs more than we'd like, but what happened last week on popular morning show FOX and Friends was not only a misleading and pointless attack on video games, it was an unintelligible attack on a mediocre and forgotten game from 2007, along with a handful of recent indies that no FOX and Friends viewers, or any of their close family members, had ever heard of before this broadcast.
The used video game market represents a huge portion of retail game sales. It's the only avenue in which most people can afford to buy AAA games. But game publishers aren't exactly big fans of used game sales, since they only benefit from gamers buying new ones. GameStop and Best Buy are huge corporate interests, so EA and the rest of the big publishers out there have not been able to push them around on the issue of used game sales... so far.
Last month, mobile application consultant Jonathan Stark unleashed his Starbucks Card to the public as an "experiment in social sharing of physical goods using digital currency on mobile phones." Basically, he purchased a Starbucks Card and registered it via the Starbucks Mobile App for iPhone (there's an Android one, too) which allows caffeine addicts to pay for coffee and baked goods with their mobile device. He then took a screenshot of the barcode and let anyone on the web download it for...
The Australian government has a dysfunctional history with video games. Any regular Yahtzee Croshaw follower can attest to that. The Parliament has established a series of unfortuante regulations that make games both highly taxed and overregulated in price. Bringing any goods all the way to an island in the bottom of the world is expensive to begin with, and new games in Australia can tip the scales at $80 or more.
In the world of developers, a "sandbox game" is video game where players are free to "roam a virtual world and change any factor at will"; these types of games demand creativity on the player's part, with no linear/"correct" way to play.
The African Soft Fur Rat though new to the pet trade is a unique little rodent with unusual qualities. Not only is this little rat a great step up for people who feed reptiles it is virtually odorless and that is definately a plus for those who would like to have a pet rat or mouse they can keep inside the house and not spend a fortune in bedding or spend a lot of time cleaning to keep the rodent odor down.
Playing Super Mario Brothers for the NES is the first thing I can ever remember doing, at age 3 sitting on the carpet at my grandparents' house. It was a special game for an entire generation, including British youths Andrej and Adam Zamoyski. It inspired them to eventually become video game testers and designers themselves; Andrej at Lionhead Studios and Adam at Headstrong Games, and then Zynga Mobile UK (until recently called Wonderland Software, developers of Godfinger for the iPhone).
I've always wanted a gigantic saltwater aquarium, but maintaining a big, beautiful fish tank is not only time consuming—it's expensive. Also, it's a potential hazard if you have children, pets or any other uncontrollable elements around the house.
After stumbling across an interesting article by Hanne Blank—(apparent) hobbyist chef and widely known activist on the issues of weight, bisexuality, and sexuality—I've become even more fascinated by kitchen shortcuts. Former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold's recently released Modernist Cuisine also spurred a similar interest, particularly after reading a WSJ piece in which Myhrvold attests —by law of science, of course— that a ¼-inch-thick sheet of steel is more than adequate in place of an ex...
One of the creepiest musical instruments ever is undoubtedly the theremin, a device originating from the early 20s that emits eerie sounds with a just a wave of the hand. If you've seen the original movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, you know what I mean—freakishly creepy. Playing the theremin can be off-putting for some, since it's a relatively pricy gizmo, but a new geek gadget called the EaTheremin aims to make all of us professional, dinnertime theremists.
As someone who’s entering a time of life that involves weddings, reunions, and generally running into people I haven’t seen in awhile, I find myself being shocked by how much people have changed over the years. A lot of times, people will have dropped a bunch of weight, or have turned into a kind and articulate human being, or have obviously stopped doing so many drugs. It’s important, when complimenting people on positive life changes, to let them know how well you think they’re doing withou...
Without Richard Channing Garfield the world would be a much grayer and less interesting place today, at least for all of us. He created Magic in college, playtested it throughout, accidentally found a publisher for it, and wound up the the most well-known and successful paper game designer in the world (sorry Guygax, make something new why don't ya?). He does not seek the limelight, has not had a snappy biography written about him (or his game, amazingly enough) and I thought we should pay a ...
Any time you broach the subjects of natural or holistic health, you run into that gray murky area where you have to watch what you write and make sure you are not making any claims that the FDA does not approve.
Check out this awesome Under the Sea themed party, hosted by Jessica of Party Box Designs: Theme: Under the Sea
Movies spoiled
Pioneered by Rufus Butler Seder in his popular children's picture book Gallop!, and ably demonstrated by WonderHowTo favorite brusspup in the video below, "scanimation" refers to a novel (but distinctly old-timey) technique for cramming multi-frame animations onto a single sheet of paper by a process of superimposition and selective interference. Interested in creating your own scanimations? It's easier than you'd think. In the following clip, Paul Overton of Dude Craft presents a complete ov...
You could read through Facebooks Privacy Guide, but I found it a little confusing and a lot of people have been asking me for specific settings. SO here are some screenshots of the privacy settings so you can find where everything is located really easily!
Word of mouth is that Zynga is preparing to harvest the world. Is this a horror movie? No, but FarmVille has already invaded millions of homes, and now it wishes to conquer our pockets. They're gearing up for a mobile platform, one that will reach millions more via the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android.
Laser gun + killing mosquitoes = lots of little boy fun, but what's it all about? Quite possibly the most entertaining, thrilling, and well, downright life-saving presentation at this year's TED conference was Intellectual Ventures' mosquito death ray.
Forget video games. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Get out a little anger while you're at it. Play Boxwars.
What better way to celebrate the crisp fall air than by shooting some lunch in the backyard? Just mother and son.
In Photoshop-speak, we call them faux-tographs. Michael Shermer presents this lesson in falsehoods as a children's craft project. Just tie up some kitchenware to an old fishing pole, flash the photo and ta-da! There's your err... evidence!
Learn how to make a string figure jacobs ladder with this string figure animation. The eskimos do it, pygmies in Africa do it, South Sea islanders do it, Native Americans do it, Europeans do it. In some cultures performing string figures are play for both children and adults, in others they are connected with religion, story telling or magic. String figures are made around the world; hundreds of patterns have been recorded.
The Redneck Roller Coaster is the invention of Dave Rock, a Canadian garbage picker and nudist. He has also fathered many children, two of whom he 'made for lezbians'.
Ok. Friday disclaimer. This one is fluff. Instructional fluff. Grown-men-behaving-like-children-fluff.
Well, why aren't you? They're all the rage in pop culture right now, what with The Avengers blowing away audiences and the finale to the Batman trilogy coming out soon. Not to mention that Marvel is remaking Spider-Man! The original is only like, what, less than ten years old? Jeez. Now, I know what you're saying, "But, Henry! Comics are for nerds! We're waaaay cooler than that!"
As discussed earlier, there are many ways to view the upcoming solar eclipse, whether it be with actual eclipse glasses, welder's lenses, eclipse-approved filters, or a solar telescope. If you can't get your hands on any of those, the safest way to view the solar eclipse this Sunday, whether it be annular or partial, is with a projection method.
Lying is awesome. From a very young age, children learn that flat out denying the truth gets you out of trouble and helps keep you calm in the face of horror. But what happens when you just have to know if someone, say, used your toothbrush? You could ask them to take an expensive and arduous polygraph test.
Each year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, Ashbourne becomes a war zone! The majority of the ablebodied men, women and children take to the streets to play what is probally the largets football game in the world! - The two teams number in the hundreds, and the palying field is 3 miles long, 2 miles wide and has the town of Ashbourne in the middle!
Snapshot: 12w08a brings us a few nice things a few things I'm not so sure about and a few things I just hope Mojang doesn't incorporate into the next official update.
It's that time of year again, filmmakers... time to make your new year's resolutions. And no, I don't mean quit smoking or stop drinking - smoke and drink all you want SO LONG AS YOU FINALLY GET THAT FILM FINISHED AND SUBMIT IT TO A FESTIVAL OR TEN. Rajo has signed up for a withoutabox.com account and scoured the internet for the latest film festival submission deadlines just so he can clue you in to which ones are coming up soon - whatta guy. And just for fun (a.k.a. future reference), here'...
Halloween is just a few days away, and since I've been churning out the creepy Bingo of the Days for everyone the past few weeks, it seems fitting to do a puzzle based on them.
Video games were blamed in the death of Chris Staniforth last May, but now things have gotten worse as video games take the blame for a more recent tragedy...
Last week, we discussed whether Google should require you to use your real name for Google+ profiles. Google is working on eliminating fake profiles, and in the process, they've booted some real people, including actor +William Shatner. If you find out that your Google+ account has been suspended, you can appeal the suspension and get your profile reinstated.
