Watching the retarded grunting locally that passes for behaviour in society and the government, you could easily forget that there is a larger picture to human endeavour that isn’t bogged down in ethnic differences, or in the stupid, regressive dredging up of old history of which few of us were even part.
Out in the real world, things are getting odd and interesting on multiple fronts. So here’s a selection of items from the cutting edge in a variety of genres.
To remind you of how far we’ve come, consider this great and very funny Catholic comic book from 1961, detailing the belief systems of probably a large chunk of your very own government. Yes, folks, go read the Authentic History Centre’s This Godless Communism! For more comics — this time from the other perspective — try Children’s Books of the Early Soviet Era.
Now let’s jump forward. Data can now be stored on human fingernails as well as skin. Read how Japanese researchers have managed to store data via laser: Human Data Storage on Fingernails.
It’s odd: locally, 600 people a day die from a killer disease about which this government seems happy to waste months and years arguing. Elsewhere on the planet, things have advanced to Remote-Controlled Robot Breast Checkers.
Here we have whiney artists doing social edutainment pretending to be “art”; elsewhere, artists and performance groups are doing much more relevant and fun things, like helping people Experience Being Buried Alive (for 15 minutes).
(And to get you out of the idea that anything is meaningful, important or to be taken seriously, develop your own creativity and silliness, and take some Virtual Banjo Lessons!)
Although this might be frightening to those of you firmly wedged into consumerism and mindlessly repeating whatever the media tells you is “true”, go learn a few new words and concepts at this essay by William Gibson on the “remix culture” of this age. Read God’s Little Toys.
To show you that daubing paint on to surfaces in order to change their colouring has just become slightly outdated, consider the potential in a “paint roller” that prints pixels on to whatever real-world surfaces are required. Go get your mind bent at The Pixel Roller.
If only local stores would stock these, it could make those re-enactments of the shower scene from Psycho a lot more interesting: go stare in awe at these über-cool Electronic Light Showers.
A quick London bomb link. Some Americans decided to make a “gosh we feel for you” type of website, on behalf of the British nation. However, they hadn’t reckoned on the Brits’ own cynicism, sarcasm and willingness to take the piss — especially when they’ve just come in from the pub. First, here’s how it started off, all deeply sorrowful, well-behaved and touchy-feely, at London Hurts. And here’s how it looks currently, which is rather different.
It’s a scary rumour that KFC regularly has to deny angrily — namely that their product doesn’t come from “real” chickens at all, but is grown in a big vat of mutant monster-chicken cells. That’s always been the rumour — and the gristle behind various creepy sci-fi stories. Now it is close to become fact. “Cruelty-free” meat is on the horizon — as is the decidedly creepy concept of Edible Meat Can Be Grown in Vats for Industrial Use.
Hong Kong has its own problems. Look at this “no fishing” sign, carefully detailing that locals shouldn’t use vacuum cleaners, bombs, drugs or electricity when fishing. Click on the small image for a larger view at Destructive Fishing.
The next step is eliminating the need for disks of music or audio in your car. Cost? £149 (about R1 780). Have a look at this cute and wonderfully practical gadget allowing you to simply dump data from your PC on to a memory stick and play it on your car radio: USB Car Radio.
I’m not a fan of alcohol, but I’m told many people are. So here’s the next big step forward in getting not only a legal buzz on, but staying awake as well. Read the BBC article on Caffeine Beer Sparks Binge Fears.
Meet the next generation of surveillance cameras, already in operation in the formerly free nation of the United States. Cameras that, if they “hear” a gunshot, will turn, focus on the source of the shot and auto-dial the police. Orwell would be horrified: Electronic Ears and How It Works.
Not that I believe in the theory of evolution — at least in terms of it explaining how we humans as a species happen to be here — but things are heating up in the formerly free US, where fundamentalist Christians have their own ideas about our origins and want this fairy story taught in schools. Go look at these cute stickers from pro-Darwinism supporters, designed to spread the word against the onslaught of the fairy-tale believers: Charles Darwin Has a Posse.
You’ve heard from local companies about this or that Wi-Fi hot spot where you can get online (assuming, of course, you have the expensive laptop and network card gear). In case you thought this was very clever and expensive, all the gear required to create a hot spot can fit into a backpack — and be solar-powered, if you want to be hippie about it. Have a look at How to Make a Homemade Solar-Powered Instant Wi-Fi Hot Spot. And read more on the creator’s own blog at Wi-Fi Toys.
To remind you that we folks in the media, despite all pretensions to the contrary, tend to be just as dorklike, disgusting and fart-filled as you, watch the brief but glorious moment known subtly as News Anchor Farts on Camera.
Here’s a glimpse of the conceptual cutting edge that can be achieved online by an anarchist with a digital camera. (Be warned that some of the photographs — even though censored — are still fairly adult.) The set-up: someone decided to go to their local “lovers’ lane” make-out spot and catch and photograph horrified couples in their cars. It’s evil as hell, but some of the expressions on the faces are … priceless: Busted Couples.
And now for something completely different, just to show you that reality and society are far more complex and silly than you’re used to here in South Africa (where it’s still 1955). Role-playing gamers are meeting in a park in Canada every Sunday morning to mess around and fight mock battles with fake swords. Another group of geeks decided online that it would be rather cool to dress up as zombies and march out of the woods nearby and attack them.
Read their advance online discussions as the “zombie attack” plan was raised and debated: A Zombie Attack Plan on the Nerds. And on Sunday morning, chaos and hilarity descended as the medieval geeks met the hordes of shuffling, pale-faced zombies. Look at the pictures at
Hipster Zombies Meet Knights of the Nerd Table! and more pix.
Video frenzy. Firstly, for those of you hunting video clips via Google, you’ll have noticed a large number of the clips found tend not to be playable. Here’s a search engine that provides Playable Google Video Search Returns.
Remember the urban myth that if you pass electricity through a sausage, the thing will cook? Curious to know if this is true? Watch the video detailing an experiment known as The Electric Sausage.
Finally, instead of an animal pic to make you go “awwwww”, here’s a picture of a dog that will make you go “aaaaaagh!” — stare at Probably the Ugliest and Scariest Dog in the World.
Until the next time, if mutant, vat-grown chicken-flesh doesn’t get me.
Quick picks