hippoblog

Eardrums destroyed, children resort to inductive sound

Is this real? Looks like an Onion graphic. Reported in the WSJ, though...

we make money not art: Hasbro's "Tooth Tunes"

"When pressed to the teeth, the toothbrush renders a recorded riff from a pop star that lasts two minutes -- precisely the amount of time dentists say children should spend brushing their teeth.

How does it work? "The two-minute recording is stored on a microchip no bigger than a dot atop the letter i. Push a button on the toothbrush, and a minicomputer starts playing the song. Sound waves are transported through the transducer to the front teeth, traveling from there to the jawbone and then to the inner ear.

Hasbro is in talks with several recording artists about getting rights to their recordings. Many artists would probably consider a gig in a toothbrush beneath their talents. But others might welcome the daily exposure in their young fans' lives."

* Ray, 2/26/2005 11:43:54 AM
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Somerville Glory:"What a big day"

Y'know that guy who made that Gates parody for his car?

Tiny takeoff on Christo proves gateway to glory

In the office of Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone yesterday afternoon in Somerville, Hargadon greeted about two dozen admirers, who munched on orange foodstuffs, including Cheetos, cheddar cheese, and cantaloupe.

The mayor made Feb. 24, 2005, Hargo Day in the city of Somerville, presenting Hargadon with an official declaration.

''Hargo Day was established to recognize the importance of thrift, ingenuity, and artistic parity," Curtatone read from the declaration. ''Hargo Day was established to also recognize the human capacity for appreciation, wonder, and awe that can be achieved when small plastic things are arranged in a certain order near and around a cat."

The mayor also praised Hargadon's all-Somerville approach: He purchased his materials at a Somerville Home Depot store, used Somerville labor (his own and his wife's) and displayed the work on Somerville-tax-paying property (his house).

''What a big day for the city of Somerville," the mayor effused, shaking Hargadon's hand vigorously amid orange balloons.

* Ray, 2/25/2005 01:57:00 PM
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Completely Utterly Bitchin Nostalgia

Micronauts are coming back this year in a series called Evolution.

"I've been a HUGE Micronauts fans all my life. I mean, I have all the toys that came out as well as all the issues of the comic book-I've even got an Acroyear tattoo!" said Jerry Macaluso, President of SOTA Toys, "I felt that now was the time to bring Micronauts into the world in a way that's never been done before. This has truly been my dream project!"

For Micronauts-Evolution, SOTA Toys has taken the classic characters of the 70's and completely updated their look and design for 21st Century.

"With Micronauts-Evolution, I'm basically making what I'm calling the Ferrari of Action Figures," Jerry Macaluso continued. "The Micronauts will have incredible articulation, much more than even our Street Fighter figures. So they're fully poseable and yet they're sculpted as detailed as any thing out there. These don't look like an action figure as much as they look like an action figure statue. Yet at the same time what we've done is gone back to the original Microman and the idea of just crazy interchangeable accessories. Some of these accessories are bigger than the figure!"

* Ray, 2/25/2005 01:38:21 PM
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The Future, as of today

Two stories from Wired today:

No Encryption for E-Passports

Dummies. (Renew your non-RFID passport now to put off identity-theft insecurity for ten years.)

Solar Tower of Power Finds Home

Forget wind farms, I want a Solar Tower. TWICE the height of the CN Tower and as powerful as a small nuclear reactor.

* Ray, 2/24/2005 08:16:04 PM
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Stabby

core77.com's design blog: Ouch

If you continued this premise, you could populate your kitchen with "death by..." accoutrements. Death by Paper Towels. Death by Sugar. That would be funny for about a day, I guess.

* Ray, 2/24/2005 01:51:00 PM
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Pixel Post-It's

UCSC Engineering Building Gets an 8bit Upgrade

I love pixels.

via BoingBoing

* Ray, 2/24/2005 12:20:00 AM
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Sagrada Familia en Hielo

The Alaskan Alpine Club and their 132' Ice Wall.

This...

...made with these...

* Ray, 2/23/2005 06:40:39 PM
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le book

le cool has released an ultra-insider guidebook to Barcelona that's getting rave reviews. It's so hip I wonder if it's more of a 2004 yearbook than a useful guide. It's an up-to-date vs. printed-paper paradox Gridskipper's trying to solve, I guess.

* Ray, 2/23/2005 02:45:59 PM
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My feet have lost all feeling

Apparently Federer and Agassi are going to play on this heliport in Dubai (more pics available, although it's not clear if they've been photoshopped or not).

Poor ball-boys.

* Ray, 2/23/2005 02:39:24 PM
(1) comments

Guh.

For old time's sake, here's a parkour clipreel, featuring crazy men jumping off buildings and so on. Remember Nike Presto's Le Poulet en Colere?

* Ray, 2/23/2005 02:37:27 PM
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Must... resist... collecting

From k10k, Magic Pony : A Shop for Creative Animals. You can get the otherwise sold-out Tokyo Plastic doll here and Gloomy Bear and a bunch of other strange things. It's awfully tempting to start collecting these dolls and figures. I should wait until I move out to the country, though. Need closet and shelf space.

* Ray, 2/23/2005 02:33:12 PM
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Not so bad

I went to see the Gates again, this time in the snow. Treacherous footing in some places, but altogether nice against the white background.

Full 2.2MB jpeg

* Ray, 2/22/2005 11:08:00 PM
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I am not creative, dammit.

In the news: Electronic Arts hit with fresh class action suit over unpaid overtime

The Californian law, instituted in 2000, says that programmers who make more than $41 an hour and are working in creative or intellectual roles on advanced technology projects - a definition which Hasty's lawyers challenge in the case of EA employees.

Their case argues that EA's engineers 'do not perform work that is original or creative,' that they do not have management responsibilities and are seldom allowed to use their own judgement...

If game programmers can set the precedent, then what will it mean for CAD monkeys in architecture offices across the country?

* Ray, 2/22/2005 02:27:27 PM
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FUN! DANGER!

Dave alerted me to SAFETY SIGN BUILDER today, a site that, well, builds safety signs. Big, bold, and in PDF. Use bugmenot to skip the registration process. I wish you could use "FUN!" instead of "DANGER!" though... I've been wanting to make FUN! signs for a while now. "FUN! Falling Rocks" "FUN! Slippery When Wet" "FUN! Road Ends".

* Ray, 2/22/2005 02:23:02 PM
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Free, not bad

Freshly minted Fontleech points to free font sites that don't suck.

* Ray, 2/22/2005 02:18:38 PM
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