Category: Cool Stuff

Fed Gov’t to run tax money tracking site

If you’ve ever thought your tax money was just going to waste, our government has plans to open a web site that should show you how right or wrong you are.

The House on Wednesday passed by voice vote and sent to President Bush legislation to create a Web site that will give people ready access to information on the $300 billion in grants issued to some 30,000 organizations annually, and the roughly 1 million contracts exceeding a $25,000 threshold.

“It’s a great, bipartisan plan to make sure tax dollars are spent wisely,” said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Bush, in a statement, welcomed the bill, saying it showed the commitment of Congress ‘to giving the American people access to timely and accurate information about how their tax dollars are spent.’

And that’s a good thing. Of course, it will cost more to track all this money properly AND get the information on a web site. But this should make it easier for the average citizen who cares about government spending to have some idea of where it is going. On the other hand, the average citizen doesn’t pay attention to this stuff in the first place…

[tags]Government spending web site, Your tax dollars at work[/tags]

Hogwarts made from matchsticks

(via Neatorama)

This is just incredible. I’m always amazed at the work done by folks with the skill, determination, patience, and vision to do things like this. I’d get bored or frustrated way before you could identify any actual buildings. Someone, though, has the determination needed to reconstruct Hogwarts (based on what is seen in the Harry Potter movies) out of matchsticks.

matchstick-hogwarts01.jpgMatchstick Marvels will be taking you on an enchanted trip to J. K. Rowling’s world of Harry Potter this year. Acton will be displaying his matchstick version of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the Matchstick Marvels museum in Gladbrook, IA. The model is based on Hollywood’s version of Hogwarts seen in the Harry Potter blockbuster movies. When finished in December of this year, it will contain over a half-million matchsticks held together with 15 gallons of carpenter’s wood glue.

Check back at the site periodically for updates on the building. All construction is expected to be finished by December 2006.

[tags]Hogwarts rebuilt with matchsticks[/tags]

Gitmo inmate “art” in Disneyland

(via the whole damn web – Neatorama is one resource)

An artist out in California managed to sneak into Disneyland this past holiday one night and set up a Guantanamo Bay inmate inside the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride. The inflatable doll was dressed in prisoner orange with shackles on his arms and legs. I’m sure Disney executives didn’t find this funny, but I see the humor in it.

Families visiting Disneyland on their holiday this week saw a life-size Guantanamo bay inmate standing inside the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland in Anaheim California.

disney-guantanamo-bay-inmate-statue.jpg

The sculpture, consisting of an inflatable doll dressed in an orange jumpsuit with its hands and feet manacled remained in place for one and a half hours before Disneyland’s security staff shut down the ride and removed it amid fears over public safety.

[tags]Disneyland Guantanamo Bay prisoner art[/tags]

Flight Simulator X demo

flightsimxlogo.gifIn case you haven’t already heard, the demo for Microsoft’s newest incarnation of Flight Simulator, called Flight Simulator X, is now available for download.

Flight Simulator X Trial Version

The Flight Simulator X trial version includes two airports, three missions, and three different aircraft. All of the missions take place at St. Maarten in the Caribbean.

Missions:

Getting Started (Novice)
flightsimx-img13.jpgPlane: de Havilland Beaver DHC2
Details: Geared towards first time flyers, this step-by-step tutorial mission shows you how to get off the ground and up in the air so you can explore the ocean and island of St. Maarten. Of special note is the fact that the Beaver is a float plane so you won’t have any runways to worry about. You’ll be taking off and landing in the ocean.

Flour Power
Plane: AirCreation Trike Ultralight
Details: This mission has you behind the controls of an ultralight, a very easy to fly glider. The object of the mission is to drop sacks of flour attached to your ultralight onto various objects and targets scattered throughout the area surrounding St. Maarten. You’ll be scored on both speed and accuracy. Try not to drop any flour on spectators or dolphins, as you’ll be assessed a time penalty.

Caribbean Landing
Plane: Bombardier CRJ700
Details: The most challenging of the three included in the trial version, this mission will essentially be a take-off and landing of a Bombardier CRJ700 in a technically challenging airport. You’ll need to manage air traffic chatter and surrounding AI planes efficiently to succeed.

My flight abilities are nil.  Yet I still love flight simulators.  I have the past 3 versions, and will likely pick this one up, too.  I also have the last 3 versions of XPlane.  If you want to try your hand at flying, I can easily recommend either of these simulators, but be prepared to spend time really learning your stuff if you want to do anything that feels even remotely not “OMFG I suck at this” when using either sim.

[tags]Flight Simulator X, Flight Sim news[/tags]

Smart speed monitor gives speed and license plate

(via Engadget)

smart_speed_check.jpg

Drive too fast in the UK and you might get a more personal notice of it than you are used to seeing. A new speed checking device is being tested that not only puts up your speed, but if you are going too fast also puts up your license plate number. I’m guessing this wouldn’t work as well for a lot of US states, since many don’t have front license plates. But if this catches on over-seas, expect mandatory front license plates and the import of this gadget to keep an eye on more motorists. And shortly after, be prepared for automated tickets based on this device.

Highways consultant firm Atkins came up with the idea in a bid to boost safety for road workers. A radar detects the speed of oncoming cars and flashes the words ‘slow down’ and the reg plate of vehicles exceeding 55mph. In a trial on the M42 in the Midlands, almost half of drivers breaking the limit slowed.

[tags]Speed monitor shows speed and license[/tags]

Cool retro Nintendo clock

(via Destructoid)

nintendo_clock.jpgWhen I first saw this on Destructoid, I thought about picking it up. Then I noticed the same problem the Destructoid poster noticed – no power plug. This clock only runs off batteries. While I suppose that would make it good for travellers who want a cool clock to wake them in the morning, I’d like to have something like this that I could just leave on my nightstand and have it wake me every morning. But I’m just cool like that, you know. 🙂

If you are interested, you can pick one up at ThinkGeek for ~$25.  It even includes what is being called a mini-game, but I find it hard to give it full credit as a game, even mini:

Playing the Mini-Game:
Push “select” until you see a series of zeros (this is your previous high-score in the game). Push the “start” button and the game will begin with a sound from Super Mario Bros. The object is to push the “A” and “B” buttons as rapidly as possible within 10 seconds. The two small numbers on the right represent the number of seconds remaining, while the large numbers on the left indicate the number of button pushes (your score). If you score above 160 then a secret alarm sound will be unlocked. After you play the game once, the clock will remember your previous high-score.

I don’t think the quarter comes with the clock, either (nor do batteries, for that matter).

[tags]Retro Nintendo clock, Travel clock for retro-heads[/tags]

Extreme Origami

Discover has this great article about really fine-tuned origami work. Your typical origami design usually has single digit number of folds, rarely getting close to two dozen. Folks like Robert Lang use special software (written by Lang) to help them analyze the ways to fo ld a single square of origami paper to come up with amazingly detailed origami sculptures. There are also folks like Satoshi Kamiya who create these masterpieces without the aid of software.

Here are examples of Lang’s work (a seven inch walking insect) and Kamiya’s work (a dragon).

origamia-walkingsticksmall.jpg origami-dragon1000b.jpg

[tags]Extreme origami[/tags]

Find business confidential documents online

(via boingboing)

This is handy. If you ever want to try to find out a bit about what companies are doing that they don’t want you to know, try searching for their confidential documents via Google. There’s no telling what will turn up.

[tags]Confidential documents online, Businesses post documents online that are not for public consumption[/tags]

Evil twins

What can you do to make a beautiful woman even better?  Make her evil.  This recent Worth1000 photochop contest has entrants do just that.  There are some non-female evil entries, but most of them are females made to appear more evil.  Here are a couple of my favorite, plus links to a few more I want to highlight.

evil-alba2.jpg (you knew someone would do this, and you knew I had to post it – I’m so in love with Jessica)

Continue reading “Evil twins”

Bomb or not?

(via boingboing)

I’m not sure who thought up this site, but I think it’s funny.  This is a Hot or Not style site designed for TSA screeners.  See if you can identify each item as a bomb or not on this great site. The only real problem is there are not enough pictures to go through yet – I found 2 repeats in the first 7 images I saw.

[tags]Bomb or not, Hot or not site for TSA screeners[/tags]

Lasers for saving the Navy some money

If there is a task which would be better suited for sharks with frikkin’ laser beams on their heads than this, I don’t know what it is. Using a grant from the National Science Foundation, Professor Daniel Bubb and his team have come up with a new method for coating polymers. With this new approach, the Navy should be able to reduce barnacle attachments, which will result in less drag on ships at sea, which will reduce fuel costs. It’s pretty much a win/win all around. Except, maybe for the barnacles. And keelhauling will be less effective, I suppose.

As gas prices continue to soar, the Navy will be eager to learn of research underway at Rutgers University–Camden. “Barnacles that attach to naval ships are a huge cost to the Navy. Imagine if you drove a car with a parachute attached; this extra drag force requires more gas,” says Daniel Bubb, an assistant professor of physics at Rutgers-Camden, who has developed a new method for coating polymers.

Just put those sharks beneath the water line and let them start coating all the ships we already have. And they can even use the lasers to zap the barnacles already attached to the ships.

[tags]Lasers, Frikkin’ sharks with frikkin’ lasers, New polymer coating process using lasers (sharks optional)[/tags]