The Way of the Spoon

Anonymous says:
   "Hi- I'm annonymous and I still havn't gotten the answer to the question: "Why is it cool?" If you'd never use it for torture or killing, what's so "cool" about it? What appeals to you and why?"
   Well, Anonymous, I suppose the answer to that is as easily understandable to females as the reason women love shoes is to males.
   Thus, because while you are here, the world revolves around me { :-) }, they are "cool" because I said so. I can't give you a better answer than that.
   Jules

9 designers from 9 cities were challenges to make a chair that could hold a 90kg person... and it had to fit in a small FedEx box. Awesome. You can check out the pictures or, even better, the video. Excellent. photoshop contests.
Check out the challenge page (via Gizmodo)

# posted by Julian : 6:31 PM  1 comments

Dear Anonymous,
   I am interested in your response to my blog posts (one on "Now That's What I Call a Gun" here and one on "Cool Looking Weapons Siezed" here) . Allow me to remind you that this, being a blog, only represents the views of the people posting to it, and in no way, shape, or form intends to insult or offend anyone. That may have slipped your mind.
   Also, I assume that you are not someone who knows me personally very well, and passes judgment rather quickly, assuming that "guys ... think that weapons ... [a]r[e] cool." Allow me to assure you that I do not represent all guys. Also, let me encourage you to use proper capitalization and rise to the challenge of typing the "a" and "e" in the word "are" when posting comments to my blog (more information here...). So, back on topic, if you were to know me, or even read my posts slightly more carefully, you may see things such as "...I am not really for killing people and things unnecessarily,..." which may clue you in to the fact that I do not in any way support torture and killing (with slight exceptions to killing). I encourage you to reply, as I always enjoy a hearty conversation.
   And now, more directly targeted at your comments on my posts, I do find guns interesting and have even done some target shooting, but would never kill a living being unless I were to have no choice. As for the knife, it does not seem to me that it would be an effective weapon for torture and/or killing as it is too large and unwieldy. This does not mean that I think that torture and/or killing with any other weapon is acceptable, especially torture. In fact, I prefer to look past the more gruesome aspects of this knife and am more interested in its interesting design and shape.
   Now, this is all hopefully straightened up. I am glad that I have readers with enough interest and motivation to respond to my entries, BUT, if you do not wish to continue reading this blog, I encourage you by all means to remove the tape holding your eyelids open and move on. The internet is a big place and there are many sites, some better and some worse, in my opinion.
      Sincerely,
         Jules

My physics teacher's son is in a rock band, which I just heard today. He brought a cd in, which the class enjoyed. The band is called Jimbo Norman. Here is Superstition, a song of theirs from the site of Tim Walsh, their drummer. They have a bunch of cool covers, as well as a pretty cool looking site. Enjoy!
--Update--
I realized I forgot to mention that the song I linked to is a cover of a song originally by Eric Clapton.

Rarely does anyone come out with a killer product as good as this. The site says:

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"The patented formula in WiFi Speed Spray is the result of years of scientific research and testing. Simply spray the area around your computer. Usually five or six sprays is all it takes. As your computer sends data, each bit also carries hundreds of invisible WiFi Speed Spray? "scrubbing" molecules. It works at the speed of light. and even penetrates lead walls (not even Superman can do that!). Within .0025 seconds, the entire path between you and the receiver is cleaned, scrubbed, polished, and sanitized. You'll notice the improvement immediately as your productivity soars!"

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"Approved by the FCC, and 802.11b compliant! Compatible with Windows and most versions of Linux."

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Brilliant! Too bad it's not a real product...
Check it out! (From the venerable J-Walk, via Gizmodo)

I looked at some interesting artwork from one of my Geek Idols, pt (Phillip Torrone), the king of lowercase. Here's a shot from his fish photographs.

Wow... believe it or not, this is an actual product...
When you set your cell phone's ringer to silent and place it next to the Tele-Egg, the egg's legs will wiggle to alert you of incoming calls. It also has a built in clock. I don't know how it works. I would imagine it uses Bluetooth, but it is compatible with "all mobile phones," so there must be something else to it. For 9 quid, it's not at an insanely high price either.
Check it out...

A shipment of weapons including the above knife bound for Australia was confiscated. With it were a bunch of other cool looking knives, but I have to admit, this four-bladed beast is a bit silly and not quite the killing tool the customs officers made it out to be, but seems to be more of a display item. Bummer...
Check out the story...

Good Stuff...

Filter was a modern art exhibit by Bill Barminsky showing corporate control. "The filter is the act of self-censorship by the media that eliminates any message detrimental to commercial interests." - Bill. The reference accompanies an interesting, small article here.

Here's a site I came across a while ago and totally forgot: Googlism. Now you can finally find the opinion of the world and harness it to easily find out more about, well, your sock, for instance...

With all the do-it-all pda-phones coming out lately, it was only a matter of time till someone came up with this. The NeoFone system includes a personal bluetooth gateway to the internet (cell phone) and other peripherals such as the email/instant-messenger and camera shown below. The system allows you to buy and carry whatever you need instead of everything in one big package.
Check out the review... (Via Gizmodo)

I am curious to find out how many readers I have. Please post a comment if you read this (you don't even need to post your name).

Some guy made a Rubic's cube solver out of Lego Mindstorms and a Lego webcam thing.
Check it out...
Now that's what I call determination!
(Via Joi Ito)

The XM-8 by German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch is poised to replace the standard, age-old M-16 (in service for 40 years!). Nice looking, no? It's got lots of tasty options, like interchangeable barrels, skins, and attachments like a grenade launcher and a shotgun. While I am not really for killing people and things unnecessarily, I do like guns.
Check out the article...
(Via BoingBoing via Defense Tech)

The Pak-Lite, getting blogged on many tech blogs, is a tiny led light that snaps onto a 9-volt battery. It comes in many colors, including infra-red and ultra-violet.
Check it out... (http://9voltlight.com/)

I'm a sucker for LED's. In fact, if they weren't so darned expensive and I weren't so darned broke, I would be collecting them. Even this sucker costs more than its worth. If you just want to buy LEDs and LED arrays and stuff, take a peek at this place (http://www.led.net/).

LEDs > *.