Daily Links: May 30, 2011

The Doctor Who theme, Adam Savage of Mythbusters, and tesla coils! (SLYT) ... just a part of this weekend's S.F. Bay Area Maker Faire.

Ever wonder what it'd be like to be carried around in a lion's mouth? Now through the wonders of technology (and a camera stealing big cat) you can experience it for yourself!

Hobbyists unite! How one Google Books user built a vintage automobile

Microsoft Mathematics is a free Computer Algebra System (CAS) available from Microsoft. A CAS is a program that can solve purely symbolic mathematical equations. For example, the program can tell you that the derivative of 6x^2 + 12x is 12x + 12. The program has functions for calculus, statistics, linear algebra, and graphing. One interesting feature of the program is that in some cases it can show and describe the intermediate steps involved in solving an equation. Here’s a 16 page tutorial (in MS Word docx format) showing how to use the program. The program can be downloaded from the Microsoft download page. Thirty-two and sixty-four bit versions are available. The program only works on XP/Vista/Windows 7.

Peter Thiel, co-founded PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, is granting $100,000 fellowships to not go to college, at least for a while. "We decided about 5 or 6 months ago to start up a program to try to identify 20 talented entrepreneurs, and give them a two year stipend to drop out of school, and to pursue their life's passions and see where that would go." The 20 Under 20 became 24 young people, the first group that the Thiel Foundation might save from the higher education bubble. 

The Secret Life of Storage Units in Honolulu: They may look like static warehouses on the outside but inside, Honolulu's self-storage units are bustling with hidden lives.

Daily Links: May 19, 2011

Porsche Build’s World’s Coolest Steering Wheel

Are you ready for the Zombie Apocalypse? The CDC has tips on being prepared for the onslaught.

"A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber- if you can find one- is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we'll all be in need of both." Mike Rowe addresses the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the rapid decline in the trade labor force.

Video Distraction: Mariachi Band

The Mariachi Cabos mariachi band performs “Another Brick in the Wall” in South Carolina

Quick Pic: Badass Gandalf

ZZ-Gandalf

THE HOBBIT is being filmed in 3D. Even wizards have to wear the glasses. Snapped by Peter Jackson in Wellington, 2011.

Daily Links: May 13, 2011

10 Cool Sites that Monitor Space

10 Enduring Myths About the U.S. Space Program


33 Things To Make Your Office Fun and Inspiring Again

Convert text to Morse code and visa versa

Enter your location and destination into the Google Earth Driving Simulator, and take a virtual trip to anywhere!

"A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber- if you can find one- is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we'll all be in need of both." Mike Rowe addresses the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the rapid decline in the trade labor force.  


Why a mobile phone ring may make bees buzz off: Insects infuriated by handset signals Signals from mobile phones could be partly to blame for the mysterious deaths of honeybees, new research shows. In the first experiment of its kind, a bee expert placed a mobile phone underneath a hive and then carefully monitored the reaction of the workers. Download the full report here: Mobile phone-induced honeybee worker piping.

Daily Links: May 12, 2011

“Walking Dead” Zombie Gnome by special effects artist Dougfx

A plague is loose and is set to destroy life on earth as we know it! Since Garden Gnomes are a protector of "life" they are the first to fall ill to this new pandemic. They have become the undead in your flourishing garden of life. They are ZOMBIE GNOMES!

5 Unexpected Downsides of High Intelligence

10 Fun Phone Facts from Telephone History

Guide to managing your ebooks with Calibre

Ministry of Stories & Hoxton Street Monster Supplies

Painting the Town: 13 Unbelievable Urban Mural Projects

The Six Stages of Movie Geek Evolution. It’s a long journey from watching cartoons as a kid to honestly enjoying films for what they are -and some stages in between can be difficult.

Visualizing the spread of Bin Laden's death on Twitter (Keith Urbahn's original tweet had 300 replies/retweets in the first three minutes)

What Are You Doing After Graduation? If you’re not sure, this flowchart can guide you.

Video Distraction: New iPhone Ads

Daily Links: May 9, 2011

10 Fun Phone Facts from Telephone History

33 Things To Make Your Office Fun and Inspiring Again

FBI Vehicle Tracking Device:

• Battle Brews Over FBI’s Warrantless GPS Tracking. 
• How to Check Your Car for a GPS Tracker.  
• FBI Vehicle-Tracking Device: The Teardown.  
• Video: The Dissection of an FBI Bumper-Beeper.

Inspired by Andrew Sullivan's recent post on views outside airplane windows, BuzzFeed compiled a collection of "100 incredible airplane window views" from Flickr.

Kill Osama First-Person Shooter programmers at Kuma Games have been working long hours to crank out this timely, yet controversial game. "The virtual bin Laden, created over a rush of all-nighters by a team of game developers who specialize in turning current world events and military battles into playable video games, had somehow disappeared from the faithful recreation of his Pakistan compound." But the Kansas City Star asks, is this "cathartic, educational or just ghoulish?"

National Geographic names its choices for The Top 10 Underground Walks

What better way to show your mom you love her on Mother's Day than to send her as many spammy email forwards as she sent you all year? Momspam.net This is why the Internet was invented.

Your First Name Implies Your Age

Daily Links: May 6, 2011

I Can't Stop Seeing It!

Via: Reddit

100interviews: NYC writer and comedienne "No Fun" Gaby Dunn made a list of 100 types of people she knew existed but had never met. A transgendered person, someone who had been to prison, someone who had saved a life, a one-hit wonder, a psychic, someone from a third world country. She wanted to find out about all the stories she was missing out on, so she is interviewing every one of them.

Man's Best Friend Gets a High-Tech Home

Marbleo.us is a sandbox game where you can build your own marble run. More information.

Project Neon is an attempt to document the neon signs of New York City.

A video of Jell-O cubes bouncing, shot at 6200 frames per second for the truly bored.

Infographic: Facebook Obsession

The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.

This quick little motion graphic video shows us all just how into 'teh facebooks' we actually are. Made by Alex Trimpe for a class project.

Music: Sounds from Windows XP and 98!

Someone has waaay too much time on their hands, but hey, that's what this site is all about!

Quick Pic: How to Get Out of Babysitting

The expression on that kid's face is priceless.

Via: Reddit

Quick Pic: Still Lost

Via: Bits and Pieces

Video Distraction: Baby Raccoon

Our baby raccoon, Tyrone Biggums, playing in the bathtub. Tyrone has his own Myspace page. He also has a fan page on Facebook under "Tyrone the Raccoon"

Daily Links: May 3, 2011

Nerd Porn
Via: i am bored

10 cool sites that monitor space

14 Serial Killers Who Were Never Captured, In Order Of How Frightening Their Media-Created Names Are

The 50 Worst Fails In Tech History

Richard Conger, the King of Pinball Machines, Shares his Collection

The Tactical Pants Blog helps you find the right pants for your iPad. [Via]

Video: Spider vs Ant

Looks like this spider has been watching some Hoth battle scenes. There is NO WAY he learned these skills just by hanging out in nature alone. Unfortunately, he should of learned how to defeat the rancor monster instead.

Daily Links: May 2, 2011

The First Zombie-Proof House

Via: All That Is Interesting

Bored of the same old static internet? Try The Revolving Internet!

The Economics of Death Star Planet Destruction.

Realm of the Mad God is a top-down co-op dungeon crawler with 8-bit graphics.

To the aficianado, a clicky keyboard is the only keyboard. For PC users, nothing is better than an IBM Model M. For Apple lovers, it never got better than the Apple Extended Keyboard II.

Why it’s good to be a high school loser. Not only does it get better, but freaks, geeks, and bully-bait turn out to be the folks who run the world.

Video Distraction: Electron Flash Mob

Created for the online science museum emergentuniverse.org, this dance flash mob illustrates the behavior of electrons in a superconductor. Superconductors are materials which, at very low temperatures, can conduct electric currents without any resistance. That means that the current can flow forever with no energy loss.

Via: Emergent Universe