Here Be Treasures

Your Advertisement-Filled Future

Martin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:22:47 +0000

Cool little 3 minute film from Keiichi Matsuda that shows how poor our future might be with an advertising-based augmented reality.

World’s Worst Lyrics and Songs

Martin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:40:57 +0000

Truly incredible documentary featuring some of the strangest people you’ve ever seen.

Living in the Past

Martin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:37:49 +0000

How Richard Stallman watches movies.

Would A Company Make A Better Politician?

Martin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:50:28 +0000

The Economist reports that it’s now possible in America, land of opportunities, to elect a company to a political office.

Genghis Khan

Martin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:34:27 +0000

Genghis Khan gets a worthy statue…

Solar System Music Box

Martin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:17:20 +0000

The music of the spheres?

[via Information Is Beautiful]

The Psychopath’s Guide to Child Rearing

Martin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:00:37 +0000

A 12-Step Program To Manage Your Annoying Little Brats

New Calendar Time

Martin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:27:55 +0000

For the Gregorians amongst us, it’s coming up to the New Year, and every New Year needs a new calendar. So here are a couple of ideas for you.

If you‘re really cheap like arts and crafts you can make your own calendar. Not one of those stuffy ‘photo-pasted-over-month’ thingies. No! I give you the ‘dodecahedral calendar‘. You choose the year (2010, obviously), the language (Albanian to Welsh), day to start the week, and the format.

Perhaps you like the standard calendar format of picture and month. Then you can make your own calendar at Glennz Desktop Calendar, where you can choose the start month and then select which images you want from a set of cool illustrations.

Becoming Greenland

Martin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:08:36 +0000

Johann Hari writes a very saddening piece in MoreIntelligentLife.com about the effect global warming is having on the Inuits in Greenland. Did you know that the North Pole could be open ocean as early as 2015?

Honour

Martin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:59:10 +0000

The US Administration, led by the man recently given the Nobel Peace Prize, engages in extra-territorial assassinations using their remotely-operated drone planes. This much is common knowledge. But just how many have been killed in Obama’s first 9 months of administration? And what percentage of them are innocent bystanders? Does anyone care?

A report in the New Yorker reveals some uncomfortable truths. Some choice quotes:

John Radsan, a former lawyer in the C.I.A.’s office of general counsel, who is now a professor at William Mitchell College of Law, in St. Paul, Minnesota, says … “If it’s Osama bin Laden in a house with a four-year-old, most people will say go ahead,” …

I don’t know anyone who thinks like that.

… the recent campaign to kill Baitullah Mehsud offers a sobering case study of the hazards of robotic warfare. It appears to have taken sixteen missile strikes, and fourteen months, before the C.I.A. succeeded in killing him. During this hunt, between two hundred and seven and three hundred and twenty-one additional people were killed, depending on which news accounts you rely upon. It’s all but impossible to get a complete picture of whom the C.I.A. killed during this campaign, which took place largely in Waziristan.

Is it okay to target a funeral?

… and then killed dozens more people—possibly as many as eighty-six—during funeral prayers for the earlier casualties. An account in the Pakistani publication The News described ten of the dead as children.

Coffee Bean to Carbon Atom

Martin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:12:35 +0000

A brilliant zoom scale from the University of Utah showing just how small the human cell and its enemies are…

Insects Are Food

Martin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:06:44 +0000

This borders on nightmare territory for me. Entomophagy. Might as well put me in a restaurant where the waiters are clowns and my hair and teeth are falling out.

The Ogori Café

Martin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:25:54 +0000

Cabel finds an amazing concept cafe in Japan. The Ogori Café. I’d love to see every café do this once a year.

Sand Art

Martin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:16:28 +0000

Environmental Graffiti have a small piece on Peter Donnelly, an artist who uses the beach as his canvas.

A Picture Made From The Scales of Butterfly Wings

Martin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:29:22 +0000

This weeks Economist has this article about the Museum of Jurassic Technology. They’ve republished one of the more incredible exhibits: a picture made from the scales of butterfly wings.

Coolest T-Shirt Ever?

Martin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:39:28 +0000

Michael Jackson may be dead and buried (finally) but there are still four brothers left to carry on the legacy of the Jackson 5. Or rather, the Jackson 4.
(via dooce)

Birds on a Wire

Martin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Via Ze Frank, a composer sets a photo of birds on electric wires to music, literally.

Turn Around Bright Eyes

Martin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:57:05 +0000

Who would have thunk that the humble flow chart could be crafted to reflect the lyrics of perhaps the most iconic 80s song?

Every now and then I fall apart…

Wood That Be A Real Moon Rock Then?

Martin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:38:08 +0000

With the discovery by a Netherlands museum that a moon rock presented to them by the Apollo trio is nothing more than petrified wood, expect conspiracy theorists to start beating their cover-up pots and pans again.
It will be interesting to see if other museums around the world test their moon rocks.

Some Nude Music Videos

Martin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:40:47 +0000

… because.
Make the Girl Dance:

Toe Jam:

Matt and Kim:

Cambridge University Photo Competition

Martin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:07:03 +0000

The Engineering Department at Cambridge University have a photography competition every year for students and staff. They take some amazing photos.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Martin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:35:19 +0000

Pax Bank, a staunchly Catholic bank, blushes today over revelations that it bought over €1m of shares in tobacco and arms companies, and a pharmacutical company which manufacturers the dreaded and forbidden Pill.

In gambling circles, this is known as hedging your bets.

What Does Your Health Insurer Want For You?

Martin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:24:12 +0000

How strange would it be to learn that health insurance companies are large stockholders in tobacco companies?

The RFID Chip In Your Passport Is A Security Risk Foisted On You By Your Government

Martin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:41:03 +0000

RFID tags are tiny chips that can be embedded in a range of items and are activated by an electro-magnetic field which prompts the tag to divulge its information. Quite successfully used to manage retailers’ stock levels, the governments of the western world thought it would be a great idea to use these devices in passports.

The Economist features a report by one of its correspondents who has investigated how the claimed benefits of RFID chips in passports stack up against the reality.

Slightly open passports could leave holders vulnerable to physical attack. Each country encrypts data in a characteristic way that terrorists could use to identify the nationality of the person carrying the chipped passport. To demonstrate the point, a firm called Flexilis used a partially opened American e-passport tucked in the pocket of a dummy to trigger an explosion as it passed a dustbin containing a small charge.

These days, it seems that whenever a government decides to implement a large and new technologically based system, they fail miserably. What’s worse is that the shortcomings of RFID tags in passports were publicised years before their incorporation.

C’etait Un Rendez-Vous

Martin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:54:17 +0000

It’s 1976. A madman races through the streets of Paris to a rendez-vous.

This is the best thing I’ve seen all week.

(via kottke)

Michael Jackson Now Appearing Somewhere Near You

Martin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:43:27 +0000

Yeah I know, you miss the king of pop, but, like the Christian messiah, he may be manifesting in everyday objects around the world right now! This family have noticed Michael Jackson’s image in a tree stump, and goodness knows when this post-mortem iconography will end, but expect first reports to come from the US, home of the free and the brave and the impressionable. Of course, this could be a spectral ploy by Michael to prevent his family from making even more money from his life.
Nothing is as profitable as death.

Taking Liberties

Martin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:37:13 +0000

Charles Nevin, writing for more intelligent life takes a long long long look at the surveillance society that the UK has become. I recommend everyone take half-an-hour out of their life and read it.

The Sony Walkman Is 30

Martin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:59:23 +0000

13-year-old Scott Campbell reviews a 30-year-old Sony Walkman. Find out how it compares to the iPod?

Sketch Your Own Criminal

Martin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:18:19 +0000

If you’ve recently been mugged by some hooded youths, now thanks to the power of the FlashFace you can create your own sketch of the thug that offended your dignity. I’ve put together a sketch of the French Philosophy student that stepped on my toes at a party recently.

Are You Talking To The Right Ear?

Martin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:52:26 +0000

For years I’ve been a little obsessed with the mono nature of phone calls. Hearing someone talk in just one ear is a completely different experience than talking via speakerphone or through headphones. I’ve always felt that using a single ear means that the information is processed initially by that side, and this means that you’re either talking to someone’s creative or logical side. I guess you could say that the feeling you have that they are only half-listening to you is true.

This BBC report expands on the nature of right ear vs left ear conversations.