tech@vedella

A Slashdot user posed a question: how to conclusively destroy 15-some hard-drives without spending big bucks on a degausser or wasting a lot of time waiting for DBAN to run. I like this response from Plover (who also recommends protective gear): If you're looking for fast production-line destruction, take a three pound hammer and punch. [...]

Dozens of current and former Boeing workers were arrested today in a federal drug bust. The workers are accused of illegally dealing prescription drugs (including Actiq, Oxycontin, and Xanax) at a plant that makes aircraft used in America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The DEA press release is here, and FBI press release is here. [...]

Stephany Aulenback tried out a recipe for "Chemical Apple Pie," a beloved science experiment that uses cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate) to trick the human tongue into tasting apples, though no apples are, in fact, used in the pie. The pie tasted pretty good, and Aulenback unearthed a lot of interesting history of the dish: [...]

Here's Todd Coleman, exec food editor for Saveur, explaining a 10-second percussive method for separating garlic peels from the cloves. Handy! (Thanks, Fipi Lele)

A large handwritten poster (purportedly) from a laid-off employee of the defunct bookselling chain Borders entitled "Things we never told you: Ode to a bookstore death," reveals several key truths of bookselling (and some cranky griping): Things we never told you: Ode to a bookstore death • We hate when a book becomes popular simply [...]

[Video Link] This Mike Wallace interview is a beautiful performance by Dali. From Open Culture: In 1958, [Mike] Wallace tried to demystify “the enigma that is Salvador Dali,” and it didn’t go terribly well. It turns out that surrealist painters give surreal answers to conventional interview questions too. Pretty quickly, Wallace capitulates and says, “I must [...]

The TSA and airport police in Indianapolis saved the world from total annihilation this week by seizing a breast cancer patient’s medical marijuana. Indiana police seize California woman's medical marijuana (Via The Agitator)

Being Elmo is a documentary on the live of Kevin Clash, who was raised on Sesame Street and dreamed of being a Muppeteer with Jim Henson. He went straight from high school to New York to throw himself at the Henson studios, came up with Elmo, and the character became his life. The film has [...]

Nicholas Rougeux made this fabulous Menger sponge fractal out of mini Post-its, which he swears by for erecting fractals: Each Post-It was torn into 16 equal squares, then folded into units and assembled into the sponge. Post-its offer surprisingly structural durability and are easy to get in large quantities making them ideal for assembling structures [...]

The Ig Nobel Awards honor scientific research that is simultaneously silly-sounding and thought provoking. This years' awards ceremony, in Boston, is sold out. But you can watch the whole thing here, starting right ... about ... now (7:30 Eastern). If you miss the show, never fear. The YouTube video embedded here will automatically switch from [...]

A broken-hearted person in Heather's neighbourhood is building a boat. He wants your help, your garage, and your company.

Doc Pop shares the news that our mutual friend Amit Gupta (founder of the terrific online photography shop Photojojo, and lots of other cool photography-related projects) has been diagnosed with leukemia. "There's a big push on the blogosphere to keep Amit's hospital room filled with postcards and we wanted to help out," Doc writes, "So [...]

The group of merry populist pranksters The Yes Men have a Kickstarter going to raise funds for Occupy Wall Street Journal, "a four-page broadsheet about the 99% represented at Liberty Plaza." (NYO)

Science Now reports on a project from David Walt (Tufts) and George Whitesides (Harvard) to come up with a steganographic text-encoding scheme that uses bacteria to encode messages and selective antibiotics to reveal them. It was conceived of in response to a DARPA challenge to devise non-electrical text-encoding, but its applications include adding text-based information [...]

Nice one, MyGayDads! (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Old meets new in Chennai: "The sari with a pocket – pre-stitched and embroidered, appearing just below the waist on the left – that can carry a mobile phone or even the stray iPod or lipstick." (NYT)

"Amazon will capture and control every Web transaction performed by Fire users. Every page they see, every link they follow, every click they make, every ad they see is going to be intermediated by one of the largest server farms on the planet. People who cringe at the data-mining implications of the Facebook Timeline ought [...]

"A Terry Richardson photo of Jay-Z and Thom Yorke dressed in tuxedos eating Swedish fish while wearing Hulk hands"—one of an infinite number of images that would be awesome, if they existed. (via @nopattern)

"I am gravely serious when I write this - if I catch someone not replacing the milk, or at least, in the case where the downstairs store has close [sic] already, not sending an email to the office so the first person that arrives (usually Christa or me) can pick one up upon arrival - [...]

Derp. "A Japanese airline says one of its jets nose-dived and rolled almost upside down earlier this month because the co-pilot hit the wrong controls while trying to open the cockpit door so the captain could return from a restroom break." (via @nickbilton)