tech@vedella

[video link] My IFTF colleague Kim Lawrence pointed me to this rather excellent c.1960s animated commercial for Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires.

Bergenco recreated MC Escher's 1951 House of Stairs Relativity using Minecraft, saying it took: "5 or 6 hours over 2 days. The sandstone room took the longest." Relativity- by M. C. Escher (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Glyn from Open Rights Group sez, "The UK government is asking for you feedback on patent filings. Some applications have under 10 days remaining on the website and need your comments. So if you know of any prior art on … Continue reading →

El Paso Times: "Two former law enforcement officers allege that they cannot get anyone to investigate allegations that the Mexican drug cartels have corrupted U.S. law officers and politicians in the El Paso border region."

The Occupy Wall Street protests are in their fourth day today, and NYPD is arresting people more aggressively now.

New York Observer reports that a book about Anonymous is in the works. "The working title is Tales From Inside The Accidental Cyberwar. The not-so-anonymous Gregg Housh and Barrett Brown will be writing it."

Spencer Ackerman at Wired.com's Danger Room has a major followup today on their recent scoop about an FBI training workshop that characterized Muslims as inherently more prone to violence and terrorism than people of other faiths. Danger Room's original post … Continue reading →

Christopher Soghoian and Jake Appelbaum FOIA'd emails from BART related to the recent/ongoing Anonymous protests.

Last February, i.materialise reported that they'd declined an offer to 3D print a new fascia for an ATM, because they suspected it was part of an ATM skimmer (a device used to capture peoples' ATM PINs and card numbers). The … Continue reading →

From the Department of Terrible Ideas: The Washington Post has a must-read story up reporting on research that promises to someday make military drones fully automated. Yes, that's right, drones that kill based on software such as facial recognition, rather … Continue reading →

Joris Peels sez, "The Origo aims to be an affordable, easy to use 3D printer for ten year olds. It will be more robust than current 3D printers and work straight out of the box. By reapplying existing technology in … Continue reading →

The good news: The New York Times called shenanigans on a quote in the same story the quote appeared in, saying "This is false." The less-exciting news: It happened in a story about competing pizza restaurants. But still, as Jay … Continue reading →

Confused about what we do and don't know about the relationship between humans and Neanderthals? This video by Lynn Fellman will get you up-to-date on the basics—including some of the questions that haven't been answered yet. It doesn't cover everything, … Continue reading →

Mark Thompson of Discovery writes about a group of amateur astronomers who are embarking on an "epic quest to track down the 42-year-old lunar module that's adrift in the solar system." They think it is orbiting the sun. The search … Continue reading →

I got some amusing spam today from Philip of England's Accounting and Auditing Manager bank of England, and felt it deserved a quick dramatic reading. "Dear friend, I know that this message will come to you as a surprise. I … Continue reading →

The Deglon Meeting Knife, designed by Mia Schmallenbach, is a set of sculptural, nested knives (priced, alas, as sculptures, at $600 for the set). The proportions of the four nested knives -- paring knife, carving knife, chef’s knife and filleting … Continue reading →

Nicole sez, "The American Folk Art Museum, one of the best museums in NYC, is on the verge of deaccessioning its amazing collection and shutting it doors forever. If you haven't been, the folk art museum introduced Henry Darger (he … Continue reading →

Austin Brown of The Long Now Foundation says: In appreciation of the many fine and astounding mechanical wonders located along San Francisco's North Short, Long Now invites Bay Area locals to temporarily re-take the neighborhood from the tourists for the … Continue reading →

If you are a fan of hardboiled fiction, you probably know about Hard Case Crime, a pulp-noir book imprint founded by the founder Juno Online Services, Charles Ardai. Recently, Titan books has become the publisher, and their slate of upcoming … Continue reading →

[Video Link] "These are the Born Losers. The sickest sicko gang that ever terrorized a town, while the law stood helpless." It stars Tom "Billy Jack" Laughlin. Wikipedia has a good article about the movie: Born Losers is a 1967 … Continue reading →