Maritess, She Cleans the Hall of Justice

Happy New Year PoT!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year from the FAKA! family ;)

food for thought...

Hey Everybody! Merry Happy ChristHanukKwanzaaSolsticeMas! Or uhm...just have a nice day!
Anyways just finished reading this and wanted to share. Kinda relatively long reading tho...

Actually someone may have posted this earlier. If so my apologies.

AH! aaand Apologies to Satoshi! I stole it off his FB page. Still, very interesting and wanted to pass it on here.

Important Artistic Modern Dance Work (NSFW)

Please don't do this, no matter how much you love your Star Wars toys.

I'm trying to find something amusing to say about the guy who killed his wife because, among other things, she destroyed his Star Wars collection of toys after an argument. But it's very difficult. She's dead, leaving behind a grieving family; he's a fucked up asshole going to prison; and there's a bunch of choice Star Wars toys that got mangled. Not a feel-good story.

Nyaaa Nyaaa Braaaaa

Kinda Rad. Kinda spooky.

New CubeStormer II solves Rubik’s Cube in 5.3 seconds

Occupy Lego Land

I suppose this was inevitable.

Anyone out there been to an Occupy-related protest? Is there one going on in Hawaii?

Quantum Trapping

Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses

Now with their own blog.

Varnsen!

This stuff again!

hee hee

The Aquabats Super Show (via @brandon_bird)

Intriguing. Via @Brandon_Bird

"Moke Action"

Moke Action from ʻĀina Paikai on Vimeo.

I promised Mr. Pony several weeks ago that I would post this. Sorry for the delay.

I am shameless! Come see my junk!

More pics Here!

Riverdale

This is not a Pepsi commercial

I thought this was a pretty cool idea... If it were my house I'd probably bitch about the glare but I don't think these people will have that problem =/

www.isanglitrongliwanag.org

Stuff

And

Ad Competion: Banning All Religion

In the Australian TV show "The Pitch", ad agencies "compete to sell the unsellable." In this clip, two spots make the case for banning all religion.

via @brainpicker

Happy Birthday Freddie!

I thought this was pretty awesome... +1 lightning eating

Prospect Park Dusk, Prospect Park Dawn

A short comic about Park Slope moms (and parenting in general) by Mike Dawson.

Mike's new book, Troop 142, hits stores in mid-September, with early copies available at the release party this Friday at Bergen Street Comics in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

if male superheroes posed like wonderwoman

cool post on coelasquid the other day about the newest David Finch justice league cover featuring wonder woman posing rather provocatively. coelasquid, aka Kelly Turnbull, drew up an artist's rendering of male superheroes in the same pose.

more male superheroes wonder woman-ized at BleedingCool.

p.s. why no feet? was this actually drawn by rob liefeld?

Riots in London

A 140-year-old furniture store burning.

Youths are rioting near me right now: Hackney, Tottenham, Clapham Junction, Ealing, Brixton, Lewisham, and basically every high street in London.

People are talking about it in Lavender Hill.

All the reporters on the BBC sound like they're running for their lives-- they keep explaining how impossible it is to get pictures of anything because the kids just keep popping up everywhere.


Right now the Debenham's I ride my bike past every day is on fire.

Lots of faraway sirens but it's way quieter than usual-- I think all the youth from my neighborhood are out rioting instead of shouting at each other, which is what they usually do.

Jesus!

Mike Huckabee's 9/11 DVD Kit comes with Binoculars.

Presumably, so you can pretend to watch the towers fall, then look back on a the proudest decade in Amuurrrica's history.



Slate Story here. Via scoop.

BLAZIN HAZEN THE ORIGINAL FULL LENGTH

The Price is Right Mountain Climber Song

From the Codex of Ancient Knowledge

LEGO Brick Made of Ground Turkey

I made this.

The Plot Device

Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo.

Great short film via io9.

Nuclear Power, Folks

I've been meaning to post this for months but I keep forgetting to. It's a series of blog posts by an environmentalist who is not exactly supporting nuclear power, but has changed his position from knee-jerk anti, to cautious acceptance. Even in the face of the Fukushima nuclear disaster following the Japanese tsunami, George Monbiot pits nuclear against one of the only realistic alternatives, coal; and finds coal to be quite a bit crappier:

Coal, the most carbon-dense of fossil fuels, is the primary driver of human-caused climate change. If its combustion is not curtailed, it could kill millions of times more people than nuclear power plants have done so far. Yes, I really do mean millions. The Chernobyl meltdown was hideous and traumatic. The official death toll so far appears to be 43 – 28 workers in the initial few months then a further 15 civilians by 2005. Totally unacceptable, of course; but a tiny fraction of the deaths for which climate change is likely to be responsible, through its damage to the food supply, its contribution to the spread of infectious diseases and its degradation of the quality of life for many of the world's poorest people.

Monbiot still feels that low-carbon, alternative solutions would be superior to both coal and nuclear, but the question is, how much time do we have to develop these solutions? According to Fugu's dad (a geologist of some prominence), not much time at all.

Nuclear Power scares a lot of people, but you have to wonder: If the Earth can throw an 8.9 earthquake and a tsunami at an aging nuclear power plant, and this is all that happens; then maybe our stupid fears are little misplaced, especially given the dangers of extracting and using fossil fuels.

Here's the post.

Anyone in the Market for a Two-Handed Great Sword?

WARNING: Some scenes of butchery may be too intense for squeamish viewers. This video is frickin' long, but you can always jump to the final pitch at the end if the scenes of things being cut in half over and over and over get too overwhelmingly awesome for you.

via Jon Matza

James does another crazy thing

My friend James Bowthorpe cycled for 24 hours on a stationary bike in the window of a cafe on Old Street on Wednesday and Thursday. He went more than 400 miles without getting anywhere!

It's part of his fundraising for the Parkinson's clinic where he volunteers.

James in the morning, about half way through.

James in the evening, about a half an hour from the end.

It looked exhausting. He's doing the Race Across America a year from now, when he'll have to do the same thing ten times in a row with an hour of sleep between each one. That sounds horrible!

eHarmony Video Bio

Karakuri

Karakuri from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.

Via Mary Mitsuda

the story of stuff

Star Wars vs. Lego Awesomeness

I wish I could live in a world where everything was made out of Lego.

Be sure to click on this guy's Flickr gallery of the Sandcrawler from the link.

Finally, the truth!

Via io9

Oh no, it's not just the US...

snatchin yo people up continued

Thought you guys would like this. Sorry I've been such a deadbeat and this isn't even made of legos.

encouraging imagination and curiosity in kids

For you parents and educators on the blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY/HAPPY EUROVISION RUBY TENNECO!!!!!

Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Dead, Vader Says

I absolutely love this.

John Nolan Animatronics

Faka! Dude, I would totally pay you to make me a pair of those giant hands @4:25. You know. To have around just in case.

If you're in the area....

Here's something you can do this Thursday.

The Pokémon Musical

I apologize in advance for sharing my love of fake musicals with you. Via Topless Robot.

Let's End Unboxing videos. Do we really have to?

My nephew posted this on the facebook as a ha-ha towards what I can only assume is an avalanche of "unboxing" videos. I don't know that I've seen any of these videos personally. I did watch Stephen Fry unpackage an iPad once, so I guess that counts. I guess the thing that startled me the most and made me want to post this is...

I was kind of turned on by the very thing this video wants to stop. Packaging porn kind of excites me, and I'm considering searching the interwebs for more of it now. I guess I really do take note of the way things are packaged, and there are some package constructions/organizations that really do excite me when I take them apart. I should probably tell you now that I do NOT enjoy the way Lego is packaged. I've never really liked it. I don't have a better alternative to their packaging techniques, it just doesn't turn me on the way say...Apple packages their products. MMmm, new iPod. let's think back. mmm yeah. Transformer from Japan. Mmmmm yeahhhhh ahhh the foam encasement. Mmmmm.

Am I alone in this fetish? I mean here on the blog. I'm sure there are many packaging fetishists out there, just curious if anyone here is.

Hah!

The First Zombie-Proof House

Not too shabby... Still needs a flame thrower mount or two... and maybe a siege tank in case the zombies bring some zergling friends along... because everyone knows that zombies are known for making alliances with the swarm. =/

Best dog impersonation of a Wookiee EVER.

I'm trembling with envy, my own dogs seem so inadequate now.

ATLAS and P-Body

ATLAS and P-Body
Originally uploaded by Legohaulic

Just in time for the release, yes? Can't wait to hear all the new quotes Fugu will be quoting for months to come.

DIY X-men costumes on a budget

You might want to hide the steak knives before the kids get any more bright ideas.

Portal 2 Comic, Part One

The Portal 2 comic is live.

Also, here's an interview with Michael Avon Oeming, who is working with Valve to create the book, which I think looks pretty good, telling an interesting story without spelling too much out.

via @Allison_House

Storm: The Animated Movie

Via Boing Boing, via @donttrythis.

The Most Disturbing Personality Test Ever

60 Completely Unusable Stock Photos (via @Dzhena)

For anyone who missed it.

via @Dzhena

TED talk Mrs. Panic thought particularly interesting.

LINKY

Dot dot dot...

How to Properly Credit an Image in a Blog Post

It's something we hardly ever do. I usually just post a screenshot from the site I'm linking to. Other times, we upload other images, or even credit them with links. On very good days we make our own images (which is awesome). Odori doesn't use images in her posts for legal reasons, because she's Lawful Good. I've never asked anyone for permission to use an image. It's never really bothered me that we don't properly attribute images used here, because this blong is a communication tool used among friends.

HERE, THOUGH; is a flowchart showing how to properly credit images in blong posts. Just for the sake of your knowledge, awareness and enrichment. (TL;DR: Ask & get permission.) I'm not saying we should start doing this; I'm just presenting the information. BECAUSE OUR TRAFFIC IS HIGHER THAN IT'S EVER BEEN, GUYS

Analytics image via Google Analytics, who gave no express permission for the image's use in this post. Main image by me. You're welcome, universe. Link via @janetalkstech

Why the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant can cause cancer (but don't freak out), and cell phones can't

Hi, guys! Stemming from a comment years ago I thought it might be fun to revisit all this as a post!

So here's why a meltdown at a nuclear power plant can cause cancer, whereas cell phones cannot.

I'm going to use that XKCD diagram as a reference, because it's awesome.

A note about cancer: Cancer is caused by broken, mutated, out-of-control DNA in your cells. The diameter of your DNA and the size of the chemical bonds that hold it all together are about this big:

from 0.0000000001 to 0.000000000001 meters (10 e-9 to 10 e-12). This is small.


For cell phones:
Look at where the "cell phone cancer rays" are: right in between radio waves and microwaves, with these long wavelengths of about 1 meter, or near the hight of people. This, though, does not mean cell phones cause cancer in people. It just means that they have relatively low energy: long wavelengths mean low frequency (think about your normal, slow, non-tsunami ocean wave). Since the energy of a wave is proportionate to its frequency, low frequency means low energy. [note: this analogy can be problematic because ocean waves don't care about the whole quantum versus wave nature of photons, which is actually important here (see below), but anyway...]

The converse is also true: short wavelengths mean higher frequency, and higher energy. For example: lithotripsy is a way to treat kidney stones by using ultrasound, with wavelengths in the millimeter range (therefore with a relatively high frequency and high energy). Kidney stones are conveniently around millimeters in size as well. This means that slamming them with microwaves makes the stones resonate, all the sound energy is transferred into kinetic energy in the stones and they shatter. You then drink a lot of water, take a lot of vicodin, and pee out all the little bits.

It would be ridiculous, however, to think you could shatter kidney stones by going surfing. This is because the size of ocean swells are huge compared to the size of kidney stones--You'd sooner drown from paroxysms of pain as the stones pass through your urethra since you should have been in the hospital. This is similar to believing that using a cell phone can cause cancer: the wavelengths are simply too large to affect DNA and chemical bonds. Microwaves (the size of people), simply cannot cause cancer, but higher energy waves can.

For the Fukushima power plant:
Some of the fissile material leaking from the Fukushima power plant that people are freaking out about are caesium-137 and iodine-131. Both emit radiation in the gamma-ray range, which has a super short wavelength: about 0.000000000001, or 10e-12 meters.

This kind of radiation has super high energy. Gamma rays are smaller than DNA and the chemical bonds that hold them together, but it turns out that light with wavelengths less than 10e-9 meters (or UV light) have enough energy to be ionizing, and this is why they're so dangerous: ionizing energy can strip electrons off of atoms, which in turn can break the bonds holding your DNA together, which can cause mutations, and ultimately cancer. Ionizing radiation can of course break other bonds, too, which is why high doses kill cells in general, destroy tissue, cause radiation burns, internal bleeding, and make you feel dead. Similar stuff happens with UVB light when you don't wear sunscreen, if you get too many CT scans, hang around the Hulk, etc. [And an important bit here of course is high doses. That dispersing fart video really does a good job putting it in perspective]

So here's a recap! The following is true:

Cannot cause cancer: long wavelengths, non-ionizing radiation, visible light, radio waves, power lines or telephone lines, cell phones, microwave ovens, WiFi, CRT screens, rainbows, a slinky

wavelengths: greater than 10000000 meters to ~ 0.00000001 meters

Can cause cancer: short wavelengths, ionizing radiation, too many X-rays or CT scans, gamma rays, UV-B rays and sunbathing, Sinister Google Projects, the hulk, Iodine 131
wavelengths: ~ 0.000000001 to less than 0.000000000001 meters

DNA, chemical bonds, and electrons: around 0.000000001 to 0.000000000001 meters

Final thoughts:
Regarding amplitude:
for electromagnetic waves the amplitude is analogous to the number of photons being emitted. The quantum energy of each photon is fixed, however, and is specific to its wavelength/frequency. The amplitude (or number of photons) therefore does not change the frequency/wavelength of the wave, so using a thousand cell phones at once still cannot cause cancer, but it will make you look dumb. ALSO, for the number of photons to really change the intensity of light they ought to be coherent for all their wavelengths to add up right and not be all noisy, therefore: LASERS! Also, this is why tidal waves would appear to have so much energy: all of the amplitude is in a single, coherent, giant tsunami-laser.

Regarding microwave ovens:
The microwaves used in microwave ovens are a lot smaller than those in cellphones: instead of a wavelength of a meter they're around a few millimeters. This gets a bit more complicated as these microwaves heat food due to the polar nature of water and not so much because of the wavelengths of microwaves interacting with things of similar size. BUT! Those little holes in the front of microwaves? Those are there because the 2.5 GHz microwaves used in the ovens have a wavelength just a little bit bigger than the holes, so they can't get through and out to boil your brain! I love that shit. 

BUT! Even without those holes, the microwaves still wouldn't cause cancer in your brain. They would just boil the water in your brain. That's all. But they don't. Because they're completely blocked. So use a microwave. It's fine.

Regarding the Fukushima scare:

Iodine masks are like holographic bracelets and prayer. Use them excessively or not at all. Iodine pills are useful if you live next to a melting nuclear reactor, they are unnecessary if you are not. Americans are still mostly jerks about things. I have yet to see a story about the Fukushima 50 which doesn't also list the A-list actors who should play them in the Hollywood movie they've already started production on.

Update! XKCD made this amazing graph of radiation exposure. Seriously puts things into perspective:

Update! XKCD likes his stuff under a Creative Commons license, so, free and legal to use for non-commercial purposes!

Radiation as poop and farts

Ken Tanaka Loves You

I searched through our history and I don't think anybody posted anything about Ken yet. If you have, I apologize in advance. I rediscovered Ken when I went searching for a vintage KHON2 end credits shaka montage in response to one of the previous comments on the KGMB theme. BTW - I couldn't find a video of the shaka montage.

The premise is that Ken was a caucasian raised by Japanese parents and is now in search of his birth parents in the US. This series has been on the net for at least 2 years now. I find the videos charming and sweet.

This is the first video where Ken explains his mission.



Here is a video of Ken in Hawaii learning pidgin.



This is Ken's 2009 YouTube award winning video about dreaming about being a robot.



Here is video of Ken's "How to speak fluent Japanese by speaking English" describing Weiner Morning.



He has a blog on blogspot and his own channel on YouTube.

I hope you enjoy them as I do. Ken Tanaka and Ai-BU9 love you.

(Yes, he's an actor - David Ury -and had been on Japanese TV as the "crazy Japanese speaking gaijin", but I still find the stuff charming. Here's a video he posted as himself with his performance reels.)

Waves of Nostalgia

Too bad they didn't have the budget for the giant robots

At the risk of sounding really old, I was trying to spot the Battle Fever team. Should also be impressive to anyone who was young enough to watch the Power Rangers.

Via io9

Thundercats Animated Reboot Trailer

Snarf is still there.

Peeing in a Room that is not a Bathroom

Really enjoying peeing into this bottle, friends. It's just some test I need to take for insurance purposes. My doctor said it was unnecessary, but graciously ordered it anyway. The test looks at my pee over 24 hours, checking for proteins and heavy metals and mutagenic compounds and nanites and stuff.

So I'm carrying this around with me and collecting a day's worth of urine. My favorite part of this is that I don't have to pee in the bathroom. I can do it in any room of the house. Which I have. It is an awesome feeling, peeing in a room that is not a bathroom. I highly recommend it, even if you don't need to do this test. Try it! Use a bottle, or a funnel and a bottle, or something. Use your imagination! (Or just go for it.) It's worth it, for the sensation of peeing in a room that is not a bathroom.

Goodnight Dune

Read it all. By Julia Yu. Hard copy edition forthcoming, pending resolution of certain probable legal issues. Love that the illustrator uses the prop and costume design from the David Lynch movie, which I think several us have agreed is one of the few movies you HAVE TO WATCH when you flip past.

Via.

i think these speak for themselves

It's the Virgin Mary in a tree!!

Hey guys.
Hawaii has divine sightings of the Virgin Mary, too.

Lego Settlers of Catan Board WIP

Lego Settlers of Catan Board WIP
Originally uploaded by suparMacho
For those that love this sort of thing. You know who you are.

(By the way, this is done using The Lego Corporation's in house 3D software.  Pretty awethome.)

Girardi's Frozen Yogurt.

There's a certain lyrical beauty in this as it builds.  At first I thought I would find it totally unfunny, then something happened.

for your uhm...not sure...

For those that remember Star Blazers, not sure if I'm entertained or just traumatized.

Valentine's Day with Carvel

Thanks for the link, Lungclops.

Jim Henson Builds Simple Puppets (via @parenthacks; via @craft)

Watch this wonderful, wonderful man make puppets out of stuff you have lying around the house (and artificial fur). Pretty sure that's Frank Oz under the table.

(via @parenthacks; via @craft)

Steotch

Women Laughing Alone with Salad

Please enjoy this gallery of women laughing alone with salad, posted by The Hairpin.

The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger, Narration by Randall (via @annietown)

THERE ARE MORE

Whiskey tasting 101

i found this instructive. maybe you will too.

Enthiran music

FAKA - it being a bollywood movie - you forgot to include the random dance numbers.

there. rectified? terrified?

Space Battleship Yamato 2010 movie trailer

i'd watch it, but it still seems overly melodramatic.

wonder what a BSG-type reboot could have been like.

At least there are no ice skates...

via io9.

Death Star over San Francisco...

Not sure if anyone else has seen this yet, but I thought it was pretty neat. Stole it from Brian's facebook page.

What is Internet?

via Mrs. Pony; via the Huffington Post.

Three Story Victorian with Tree

Three Story Victorian with Tree
Originally uploaded by !snap!
UPGRADE COMPLETE!

Robot = Pure Awesomeness

Time for a Nuka Break!

I don't know if there are any other Fallout fans on PoT, but I thought this video was great. Enjoy some nuka-goodness, smoothskins.

Star Wars yourself

ok, this is pretty neat: put yourself into sped-up star wars.

I made this.

These guys may save us

Did you hear this NPR story about The Singularity Institute? The organization is trying to understand what may happen if computers get to be so smart they take over.

The story was broadcast on about two weeks ago - sorry I only now just got around to thinking about posting it. Ooops!



The entire piece is 7 minutes. A bit long, but it's fun to listen to. And includes this wonderful quote:

If you want to maximize your expected utility, you try to save the world and the future of intergalactic civilization instead of donating your money to the society for curing rare diseases and cute puppies.

(By the way, hi people of POT! Sorry I've been absent for a while!)

"Death to the Micronauts!"

"Death to the Micronauts!"
Originally uploaded by Shannon Ocean
Guys, hey guys. This is what pro Lego builders make. Shannon Ocean was already a super duper awesome Lego builder guy, but this is fucking pro.

Bane is in the new Batman Movie and I don't care (illustration by @lessthankyle)

To me, Bane is a stupid relic of the '90s, when comics were so dumb I stopped reading them altogether. He's a child of the pro-wrestling craze and the steroid craze, a footnote in Batman Whatever, and the star villain of the idiotic Broken Bat/Knightfall/Belt and Pouch Armor Batman arc. Given the more psychological direction Nolan's Batman movies seem to take, I'm not sure where this is going. I think Bane will probably growl and yell a lot. His psychological thing will be rage, and/or anger and/or yelling; I predict.

But hey, I'm sure it'll be great. Here's where I learned of this, which includes a picture of Anne Hathaway standing next to a fan. Tom Hardy is going to be playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. He was in Inception. Also, he played that Romulan clone of Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis.

To round this out, here is a clip from the New Batman Superman Adventures which features still-ridiculous-looking but not ridiculous-sounding (thanks at least in part to voice director Andrea Romano, who I probably am in love with) Bane.

Batman fan art by @lessthankyle, which directly inspired this Fugu-style post.

Star Wars Episode VII: A New Empire

My friend's son Samir has written the next episode of Star Wars. His writing style is very close in style and quality to George Lucas'. His drawings are also excellent.

Coming Soon: Episode VIII -- The Empire Attacks!

Alternative Health and Loved Ones

Hey, what do you guys do when someone you love gets suckered into an alternative health treatment, one that claims fabulous health gains and scientific validity, but lacks even the tiniest scrape of actual scientific backing (and in fact, makes up shit to sell the scam)? It's not like this person is substituting necessary medical treatment for snake oil, and it's otherwise harmless; but this particular alternate health scam/treatement is utter nonsense; complete balderdash; and total flumberdoodle. And say this person starts pushing this BS on you, and say it's your mom, and now there's this fucking machine in your parents' house and everyone's fawning over it and blaming every symptom, both good and bad on it, and you just want to be left alone, but you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or be a know-it-all jackass; and maybe you should have an opener mind?

I'm asking for a friend.

Mr. Plinkett Reviews Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

The whole thing is here. I have things to say, but to avoid spoiling the review, which is awesome, I'll say them in the comments.

Two Short Films by LEGO (via @laughingsquid)

Last year:


This year:


No idea how we missed these, as a group. I love stop motion that uses people. Also dream logic. Also things within things.

I see da bayewings!

I interrupt my hiatus to bring you this:




Charming and educational!

Mech Chicken with bbq sauce please...

Happy New Year to eveyone! Hope all is well with the PoT community =)

So here is my chicken walker... I call it the "Gallus Domesticus I". This is in reference to Panic's chicken walker contest mentioned here... I haven't seen any other chicken walker post today so I'm guessing I'm the only contestant?

Either way I had fun making it and busted my arse the last two days trying to figure out the best way to paint it. I'm pretty happy with how it came out... I posted a ton of photos on Flickr for those that are interested in this kind of thing... Of course my wife says that pictures don't quite capture it well enough and is best something seen in person ;)

Anyone know of any local galleries that would display this kind of thing? hehe