Technorama

Show #145: Natural Geek Enhancement

1. Moon trees
2. What might happen to Blockbuster video
3. Is Windows cursed?

Show notes #145

Podcast: Download

Photo Gallery: New Glowing Mushrooms Found in Brazil via Digg

A species of bioluminescent fungi looks unassuming as it pokes its capped head above the mossy wood from which it grows in the tropical forests of Brazil. But at night a chemical reaction causes the fungus to emit an eerie green glow sometimes called foxfire.

Remote control Robotic Insectoid via Digg

Rube Goldberg Machine from Office Equipment via Digg

Some time killing ideas for your next all-nighter at the office.

Massive 60 Acre Spider web covers entire field (pics) via Digg

For reasons that area scientists don’t really understand, millions and millions of tiny black spiders called Halorates ksenius – they have no common name – became trapped in Russell Jervis’ clover field and started spinning webs.

Photo Gallery: ”Bizarre Beasts” Were Real (Believe It or Not) via Digg

I’d swear that these were photoshopped, but it is on the National Geographic website.

830! How a Massachusetts carpenter got the highest Scrabble score ever. via Reddit

The two men set three records for sanctioned Scrabble in North America: the most points in a game by one player (830), the most total points in a game (1,320), and the most points on a single turn (365, for Cresta’s play of QUIXOTRY).

How much is a perfectly normal 2003 penny worth? $15,119.99 more than you would have guessed via Fark

Guess its mint condition makes it more valuable than Google stock, relatively speaking. There must be quite a bubble in the numismatic world.

10 dirtiest jobs in science via Digg

Dysentery Stool Sample Analyzer, Orangutan-Pee Collector or a Carcass Cleaner, are any of these jobs worth it?

Marv

CLOCK!!! via Digg

Pretty cool clock for watching the day scroll by.

Kinetic Art Movement Device (In other words, it’s not just dominoes) via Digg

A must see video for those Rube Goldberg fans out there.

Mountain looks like an Indian listening to an iPod via Boing Boing

Didn’t this guy appear on some kind of coin? A nickel or something?

Build a Car Out of Food? Can Do! via CADalyst blog

Architectural sculptures made from cans of food.

Marv

Photos: Space Invader Skateboard Deck Design made from Rubik’s Cube Tiles via Digg

Dog pee caused mass blackout via Digg

And the dog survived too. Let this be a lesson to never pee on an electric pole. And remember, this is exact reason why the Darwin Awards were created.

Forget paintball guns I want a Paintball Tank (w/ Pic) via Digg

The first attempt blasted a ball into orbit. Jez lost sight of it after a mile-and-a-half when it passed the church spire. It also sent a small potato through the sound barrier. Over time, he calmed it to a legal and relatively modest 200mph. Jez then designed a 40mm, 8ft steel barrel to slot into the turret and the company now has five. “Obviously, these aren’t proper guns with rifled barrels or they’d be illegal,” says Stuart, 38. “But a ping-pong ball full of liquid doing 300ft per second is lethal. That’s why we operate with sealed hatches.”

Invention: Microwave-oven gun via Digg

Microwave magnetrons come with a tube-shaped component that controls the output signal. The idea is to arrange a dozen or so side by side and have a small metal plate in front that reflects some of the energy from each tube back into the mouth of adjacent ones…

…Three hundred consumer devices, rated at 1 kilowatt each, could combine to generate megawatt pulses from the back of a mobile generator.

The only puzzle is why the US government Patent Office has published an application that might explain to anyone, including terrorists, how to build such a weapon.

Vox Populi: Best practices for file naming via 43folders.com

In a nutshell, multiple fields in the filename (separated by underscore) starting from broad and getting more specific as you move from left to right. Add a numeric iteration number as the last field on the right.

Marv

Show #144: Baltar!!!!

1. Listener questions
2. Listener complaints
3. are cloaking devices a reality?
4. and we want to know your favorite Star Trek movies

Show notes #144

Podcast: Download

Star Wars mashup photoshopping contest via Boing Boing

Photo mashups of celebrities who never appeared in the Star Wars franchise. And best of all, 100% Jar-Jar free.

Star Wars Graffiti on Flickr via Digg

Pound Coin Domino Effect via Fark

Seems like another contender for the “I have more time to waste than anyone else in the world” award, but it looks like somebody got paid to put this together.

HOWTO: Make a Cylon Jack-o-Lantern via Digg

Ok, so you grab a Toaster, then gut pumpkin. Now all you need to do is solder the…

LEGO flamethrower via Digg

This homemade LEGO flamethrower is completely built with LEGO toy building bricks. Only thing not LEGO is a piece of string and a refill bottle of butane gas which is commonly used in butane lighters and can be bought in almost any supermarket or grocery store

Marv

Lords of the Logistic via Reddit

A full page of “before accident” pictures.

Stargate: LEGO via Digg

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Ten Best Ideas via Digg

You know, somehow I thought the parachute would have been in the list or portrait of a lady or something.

Mythbusters Blooper Reel via Digg

Just saw Adam’s naked butt. You’ve been warned.

Retro DS Lite case via Boing Boing

Marv

Geeky Warning Signs via del.icio.us

Print one of these handy warning signs in case you need to alert the public of your Non-standard Spacetime or Cognitive Hazard areas or if you just happen to have some Anti-matter laying about.

Cursors that Kill T-shirt via Boing Boing

Ouch..Stop clicking me!

Marv

FDA Set To Approve Products from Cloned Cows via /.

I’m still waiting to see a clone implanted in a cow just so that it can eat its way out.

‘DNA computer’ is unbeatable at tic-tac-toe via Boing Boing

I don’t know about “unbeatable”, it is tic-tac-toe afterall. I guess if it can play to a draw in every game…

Zero’s Rogue Pirate Ninja FAQ via Shoutwire

Rogue Pirate Ninjas do not ask questions. We already know the answer. It is kill. It is always kill.

Rogue Pirate Ninjas do not breathe. It makes too much noise.

Chuck Norris once met a Rogue Pirate Ninja. He wet himself. Twice.

The 101 most influential people who never lived via Digg

Another 101, this time fictional characters who’ve influenced the world. So why do Kirk and Spock get clumped together at #50? It’s not like they’re Jeckyll & Hide (#10). And #1 is the Marbolo Man??

Marv