the coolest photos you'll see today

Check out these cool photos of the aurora borealis over Russia. Finding cool stuff like this is one of the reasons I love the internet.

we can rebuild him...

English doctors have successfully implanted a bionic eye in a few of their patients.

I find this really cool...but the closest I've gotten to being a cyborg is when I got my first cavity filled.

come play with me

Those of you who know me know my love of Douglas Adams. I don't write much about him either here or at my other blog because there's not much news about him...because he's...well...dead.

Amongst Mr. Adams' works, though, was a video game adaptation of his novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Never played it...didn't have a computer back then...but I have heard good things about it.

Anyway, I just found a very cool article about the struggle to make a sequel video game. It's required reading for anyone interested in Adams or the early days of the video game industry.

video and race

As a country, we don't normally think all that much about race. However, it still has large effects in real life for many people, including black video game designers.

when bad things happen to bad companies

Don't you love it when bad news happens to your enemies? Well, WalMart's old security tapes have been released to the public by the company who used to run their surveillance. What's not included in this article, however, is that some released segments have their managers bragging about their anti-union activities.

If I can cause just one person to quit shopping at this evil store, I've done my job.

I keep telling them, it's always evil!

An article about a truly horrible pheonomenon, the world becoming more like Disney. A quote:

Critics charge that Disney's parks are nothing more than simulacra of reality, carefully constructed capitalist fantasylands that shut out unpleasant realities. (In other words, they're a lot like Wall Street before the subprime mess hit the fan.) But Disney World, an immensely successful enterprise, clearly has a lot to teach about the realities of business.

I've said it before: damn your frozen body, Walt.

to the front of the line...

Kevin Kelly is indeed the man. Here's a cool article on "Turing'd" individuals as early adopters of high technology. If you don't know what it means to be Turing'd, then trust me, you don't want it to happen to you.

does it last longer?

PhotoshopDisasters is a blog dedicated to when people retouch photos digitally and screw up. It's a good reminder that everything you see is altered in some way. Photos are now no longer reality.

Strange world, eh?

up, up, and away

Not sure if this is cool, superfluous, redundant, or what, but someone from the New Yorker actually wrote an article about superhero costumes in real life. Sorry, guy, but didn't Alan Moore already cover this in Watchmen?

ribbit

You think you have problems? This frog -- recently discovered -- has no lungs and breathes through its skin. In spite of this, he looks sort of cute.

not safe for thinking

I tend not to share "not safe for work" stuff on this blog...I'd rather keep it for myself...but here's some passages from the entries in the Best Bad Sex Awards 2007. They're not safe, but that's more due to their general stupidity rather than any steaminess.

walking sideways

The Deadliest Catch, one of the few reality shows I watch, is coming on soon. In celebration, The New York Times did a very cool profile of the fishermen and camera crews.

be prepared

I love Wired for many reasons, but one of the best is the helpful, practical articles they have. Take this one, for instance: "How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse." Hey, who knows? If McCain wins the election, this will be "need to know" info.

even bad guys have rules

A while back, BBC unearthed the ten commandments of the mafia. It's pretty cool, and with minimal effort, we could adapt these to academics...or pizza making.

have you played atari today?

Ever wonder what it was like to work in the biggest of the home video game companies? Then read Donkey Kong and Me, written by a former Atari programmer.

so bright...where are those sunglasses?

The most fun thing about futurism is how off the projections can be. Witness this Mechanix Illustrated article from 1968 called "What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?."

We're pretty jaded about the tremendous impact of the technology we do have. Right now, I'm sitting on the couch, typing this in, having it beamed to my router and then sent out to the world. Pretty amazing.

Required reading: Warren Ellis's Doktor Sleepless.

the power of Christ compells you

There has apparently been a revitalization of the ritual of exorcism. No word yet on if the subject's head really does spin in circles.

but can I ever sell a pizza game?

In a wonderful reversal of expectations, James Silva, a former dishwasher, has designed a video game on his old job.

How could you make, I wonder, a video game about my time painting lines on parking lots?