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I love these crazy guinea pig stories.

I first heard about him from that very 2006 slashdot story that this post references.

Pretty good effects.

A good criticism of the Stratos jump, from the point of view of failing to educate the audience about the context of the record.

Pretty epic. The flipping between nature and city is reminiscent of Baraka.

3D printed handles for flint tools. Silly, but nifty.

I refuse to believe Jony ever had hair. Pretty clear where the iMac from G5 on got its design cues, though.

Shorelines from 100 million years ago, combined with human agriculture, resulted in the strange set of "blue" counties in the middle of the "red" South.

Very Blade Runner in visual style, but given that they eschew makeup effects in favor of CG for cost, a neat neon look.

2005, 7 minutes, color. The story of a superheroine who has to save the world day after day -- when all she really wants to do is sleep with her boyfriend. Written and directed by Greg Pak Starring Sakura Sugihara and Brian Nishii Produced by Karin Chien Cinematography by Toshiro Yamaguchi Music by David Libby Special Effects by Robert Morris Production design by Shane P. Klein Costumes by Kitty Boots Edited by Stephanie Sterner and Greg Pak Premiered in 2005 on WNET's Reel New York shorts anthology series.

Really great essay exploring one view on how sci-fi as a genre has gotten lost. I don't think I agree with all his points, but I see what he's talking about. Also some good book recommendations.

You can understand the rumors of why Apple might buy Nokia's map business.

Cool effect achieved with props and makeup, not color correction.

Great short multi-issue allegorical comic showing the promise and threat of ever more pervasive personal technology. A bit heavy-handed at times, but a good way to teach people about privacy and copyright, I think.

The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City (Prologue) by John Scalzi

Those Buckeyes know how to implement emergent swarm behavior.

Good animated commentary on the violence through the ages in the Levant - a bit creepy, but I like the implication that death owns the place more than any other group.

I like the self-aware deconstruction before making the point.

They've outdone themselves this time, with the bizarre zeppelinesque song.

Great overview of how messed up our patent system has become. I don't know that we need complete banning, but since the pace of innovation is increasing, shorter durations makes a lot of sense to me. I also think we need better inspection of "obvious", as well, and you need to have a working prototype.

An expert on naval warfare explains what most science fiction gets wrong when emulating modern navies in space. He mentions as an example that FTL allows for the Picard Maneuver, without realizing it.

Over 100 million Americans are within 1 mile of a Starbucks.

An interesting attempt at an analysis of Looper, although I disagree with his rule on paradoxes.

“A barista spends 3 minutes making you a $6 latte, you tip her. A writer spends a year writing a book; and you complain that $4.99 is too high”. That …

An old but great argument in favor of educational television.

Yup.

Heheh. It works because of the name.

Maybe I need a gangnamstyle tag? This is a pretty good political parody, but it's not in Klingon.

Amusing trigram model of the debate last night.