tech@vedella

Remember Anthony Bologna, the New York police officer seen on videos pepper-spraying female Occupy Wall Street demonstrators at close range? An internal NYPD review finds that he violated departmental standards on the of pepper spray. His punishment: he will lose 10 vacation days. (via Warren Ellis)

Construction material and indoor plumbing are common targets for scrap metal thieves who re-sell copper and steel for quick cash. But a group of scrappers in PA dared to think big: they're blamed for stealing an entire 50-foot steel bridge. More at WFMJ news. (via Ethan Zuckerman)

This photo was taken last March 19 in Cordoba, Spain. Photographer Paco Bellido captured a particularly special full moon—it appeared larger than any full moon had in 20 years. NASA explains: Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 [...]

Some Russian scientists want to build a space colony inside a network of caves on the Moon. No, really. It's hard to tell, from the Reuters story, how much support this plan actually has from the people who hold the purse strings.

What happens when the founder of Improv Everywhere marries his girlfriend, another Improv Everywhere provocateur? See above. Congrats, Charlie Todd and Cody Lindquist! "Pro Wrestler Wedding"

Marine biologist Roger Hanlon is king of the color-changing cephalopods. I've talked about him here before. In this video, narrated by NPR's Robert Krulwich, Hanlon demonstrates how much fun his job really is. Via Robert Krulwich's blog, which has more background on the camouflage gymnastics that cephalopods are capable of. Video Link Presented By: Visualize the Future of the Anywhere Office   Has your company seen an increase in workplace mobility? Does the cloud really matter for your business? Make sure you’re in the know with Cisco and be prepared for what’s in store. Read, learn, share and discuss the future of the network. http://network.cisco.com/ Ads by Pheedo

The science of adorable kitties is actually really fascinating, and more than a bit weird, says Marc Abrams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and the man behind the Ig Nobel prizes. In an article at The Guardian, he writes about some great moments in cat physics research. In 1969, TR Kane and MP [...]

How do you define "aerosol", or "manipulation"? What about "organic", "mutant" and "confidence"? The truth is that scientists often say words that do not mean what the general public thinks they mean. And that's a problem. If you're not speaking the same language, miscommunication is inevitable. There's a new paper up in Physics Today, which [...]

TorrentFreak looks at the sleazy mass lawsuits brought against alleged BitTorrent users by pornographers and compiles a list of the criteria that lawyers use for deciding who to let off the hook. Your best strategy for avoiding one of these suits is to be a politician, a cop, a soldier or a corpse Besides undercover [...]

[Video Link] In this episode of Gweek, I interviewed Chris Metzler, the co-director and co-producer of the new documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone. Chris co-directed another terrific documentary a few years ago called Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea, and I interviewed Chris about it here for Boing Boing's Get Illuminated podcast. [...]

The CardSharp 2 from Iain Sinclair is a folding utility knife that turns into a credit-card object when it's not in use, suitable for storing in your wallet. It's a clever little design, unlike a lot of credit-card tools that leave you with a rectangle of plastic in one hand and a tool in the [...]

The BBC reports that record numbers of Britons are legally changing their name by deed-poll, and speculates on the factors that account for this (escaping your past, reverting to maiden names after divorce, merging names for marriage), but they miss the big one: the fact that you can't just change what you call yourself anymore. [...]

The following Steve Jobs quotes are reprinted with permission from the new book I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words, edited by George Beahm, Agate B2. Broad-Based Education Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country... I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do [...]

Lemony Snicket has contributed 13 sharp-eyed and well-worded observations to the Occupy Writers project -- I think anyone standing in a glass tower watching the demonstrators down in Liberty Park would do well to read all 13. 1. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you [...]

Last weekend at New York Comic-Con, I had the pleasure of meeting Glen from Kinekt, who made the geared fidget rings we featured back in 2010 (one of my favorite gadgets of all time!). Glen's been doing lots of clever stuff lately, including a series of laser-cut papercraft gizmos you can buy from his Etsy [...]

We've featured the works of Aaron Ristau, a talented mechanical sculptor, before; his latest whimsical mechanical found-object mice are sweet and odd and lovely.

A Stockholm metro station has been redecorated with pixel-art inspired by classic games. They're lovely -- what a nice way to start your daily commute. (via Neatorama)

According to Harry Belafonte's publicist, the 84-year-old was not dozing off while waiting for his TV interview. Rather, "His earpiece wasn't working, so he decided to take the the time to meditate before the rest of his Day-O." "Harry Belafonte meditating, not sleeping, during morning interview, says rep" (EW)

Here's a magical demonstration of superconductivity from Tel-Aviv University. Of course, superconductors are key to the future vision for high-speed maglev trains. (Thanks, Ariel Waldman!)

Time to revise the Luxury Tax space in Monopoly. Resolution-independent PDF here