I realized I missed posting in April entirely(!), and I don’t like the look of the gap in the archive calendar, so I’m back-dating this entry.
And you need to check this out, a Flash-animated Scale of the Universe that is simply mind-boggling. From the smallest structures known (quantum foam, the Planck length) to the largest (the size of the observable universe), that you can zoom in and out on, and it’s all to scale (relative to the zoom level). The coolest thing I’ve seen online lately.
Just in time for Halloween!
Some of these links aren’t as shiny-new as they were when I started this post, but even so:
The CDC’s zombie apocalypse preparedness plan: Yes, the CDC is all over the possibility of a zombie apocalypse. For real.
If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine).
Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn move trailer: I knew Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were making a Tintin movie, but I didn’t realize just how OMGAWESOME it was going to be until I saw the trailer:
The Javascript PC emulator: pure amazing geekery. This is an x86 processor being emulated in Javascript inside a browser. And it’s running Linux. To be clear: what is essentially a full computer is running independently inside the browser. Which theoretically means you could run, well, anything inside of it.
I had to link to this video just because it’s so cool. (“Cool” in a geeky way.) Not because of the dancing part, but just the transforming effects are so good that if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was for real. If ever there’s a live action Transformers movie, I’d hope it’s this good.
Via Gadgetopia.
Via Slashdot tonight, this is totally amazing and cool: Grand Theftendo, a port of Grand Theft Auto III to the original Nintendo Entertainment System (an 8-bit machine!). (“Port” is a bit misleading; it’s all original, from the graphics to the dialogue to the code—it’s probably more of a tribute.) What’s more, the guy is writing the thing in assembly. Using an assembler and compiler he wrote himself to do the job.
Did I mention this is just a hobby that he works on in his spare time?
I stand in awe, and am half-seriously considering giving up this computer thing to become a potato farmer or something.
Via Boing Boing tonight comes a link to the PaperFormers, where you can print out the PDF files of cut-and-fold Transformer designs, and actually build working Transformers out of paper.
This takes me back; when I was young—probably around 12 or so—I used to create paper Transformers pretty much like these, though not nearly as elaborate. All I used was white paper, masking tape and small modelling sticks. Basically, I’d draw the design I’d want on the paper, usually in several pieces. Sometimes I’d color them. They were drawn to be foldable, with overlapping tabs for the tape and/or sticks to attach to. And they transformed, which of course was essential.
None survived to this day, of course. But they’re fun to do; maybe I’ll make some for the kids.
My favorite show on Food Network is Good Eats—it’s entertaining, informative, and quirky, all due to its host/creator, Alton Brown. So after reading the story on Alton Brown in this month’s Wired, I figured it was high time to blog some links.
So, in addition to his site, which I linked to above, it’s interesting to note that he has a blog.
Too cool: The Map of Springfield. You know, Springfield from The Simpsons. Amazing amount of effort going into this.
Via Slashdot.
Eric Rescorla speculates about casting for an A-Team movie (should someone in Hollywood ever get the urge to make one). Nice. But my first thought was, why not let the original actors play the roles? (They’d have to find somebody to take over Hannibal, of course.) Sure, it could be done, but that isn’t really how Hollywood works, sadly. It would have to fit the pattern of movies based on old TV shows: tweak the concept to bring it up to date, and cast current movie actors in the roles.
So, if an A-Team movie couldn’t be made with the original cast (I mean, could anyone other than Mr. T play B.A. Baracus? Really?), here’s my take on the Hollywood-ified concept and cast:
Plot: Four Desert Storm vets, framed for a crime they didn’t commit, help the innocent while on the run from the military. (Timing fits perfectly; in the mid-80s, they were Vietnam vets.) Of course, the opening voice-over (remaining true to the TV show, up to the point) goes:
In 1992 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the [current hot/popular city] underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.
Think along the lines of the aftermath of “Three Kings,” maybe.
And the cast, my take:
| Hannibal: | George Clooney (must have “Three Kings” on the brain… but also think “Ocean’s Eleven“) |
| B.A.: | Tough one. I’m thinking Chi McBride. |
| Face: | Hmm. How about Aaron Eckhart? |
| Murdock: | Ben Stiller (how could you not?) |
And of course, all the usual elements have to be there: the van, breaking Murdock out of the mental hospital, B.A. has to be tricked into flying (“Hey B.A., drink this glass of milk”), they have to be locked up in a tool shed or a machine shop or something so they can build some sort of weapon/vehicle/means of escape, and finally, of course, Hannibal has to be “on the jazz.”
:)
Here’s something to mull over. I was emailed this a few months ago, incorrectly attributed to a commencment speech Bill Gates gave at a high school graduation in California. The reality is, it’s from Charles J. Sykes (view snopes.com for the whole story and list). I think this is brilliant and well-said, and definitely needs to be said more often.
I’m paraphrasing a bit here.
Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School
Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it.
Rule No. 2: The real world won’t care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock.
Rule No. 3: You won’t make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a car phone either.
Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you feel about it.
Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.
Rule No. 6: It’s not your parents’ fault. If you screw up, you are responsible.
Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.
Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t. In some schools, they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don’t get summers off.
Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs.
Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them.
Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic.
Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven’t seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.
Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You’re welcome.
