http://www.istumbler.net/.
Previously featured _Killer Apps for Mac._
* "Adium":http://duenos.net/article/129/killer-apps-for-mac-adium - an alternative chat client
* "App Zapper":http://duenos.net/article/231/ - tracks down all the caches and libraries for deleted applications and deletes them
* "Darwiin Remote":http://duenos.net/article/193/KillerAppsforMacDarwiinRemote - an application that allows the use of the Wii-remote as an input
* "Disk Inventory X":http://duenos.net/article/163/KillerAppsforMacDiskInventoryX - visualizes the hard disk
* "img2icns":http://duenos.net/article/274/KillerAppsforMacimg2icns - A conversion tool for making any image into a .icns icon file
* "Mac Pilot":http://duenos.net/article/174/KillerAppsforMacMacPilot - an interface to control more options on the Mac
* "Sidenote":http://duenos.net/article/111/killer-apps-for-mac-sidenote - a VERY helpful note-taking program
* "SizzlingKeys":http://duenos.net/article/119/killer-apps-for-mac-sizzlingkeys - allows universal control of iTunes through simple hotkeys
* "Tangerine":http://duenos.net/article/150/KillerAppsforMacTangerine - analyzes and organizes the iTunes library by beat characteristics
* "TV Shows":http://duenos.net/article/232/ - automatically downloads torrent files of TV shows
* "UnRarX":http://duenos.net/article/234/KillerAppsforMacUnRarX - very good at decompressing .rar files
* "Vienna Reader":http://duenos.net/article/204/KillerAppsforMacViennaReader - an OS X-integrated RSS reader with an internal browser
* "VLC Player":http://duenos.net/article/228/ - the best media player in existence, it plays anything
The silver lining is sweaty
This is a fun story coming out of Iraq. According to “this NYT article”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/us/05race.html?ex=1341288000&en=1a84e3d445c85239&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss the Atlanta-based Peachtree road race didn’t just take place in Atlanta this year. Deployed soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait were permitted to enter the 10k footrace, laying out their own courses and keeping their own times. You know, it sounds like a lot of fuss for nothing but I bet this was fun. After all, I really like the idea of running 10 kilometers in a place where the temperature is 95 degrees farenheit at 6 in the morning.
Living room/batting cage
It brings a new meaning to the word practice when you put a batting cage in your house, but that’s what Reggie Willits did. Actually to tell the story truthfully he put the house in the batting cage because the first thing the Willits family built was the batting shed and then they moved into it to save money. There’s a lot more about the story with some good quotes in “this article”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/sports/01cage.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1183298806-e/JMCxAr8fSNP0h/xx8Qig from the New York Times and as usual, I picked up on the story from “Treehugger”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/cool_livework_s.php. I should start paying them…
Asshole caught stealing bike wheels
This video is great, but not for the reason you’d think. The tape itself is from a CCTV camera showing some dirty bastard stealing the wheels from a bike but then the owner of the bike, a musician who goes by “Shank Bone Mystic”:http://www.youtube.com/user/shankbone wrote a song about the ordeal. It’s classic YouTube and Shank Bone’s righteous anger really resonates if you’ve ever been the victim of wheel theft.
Surfboards from grass
Some time ago I posted about people who made their own surfboards, skis and snowboards. In those cases, the materials were still conventional if the methods were anything but. “This company”:http://www.greenlightsurfsupply.com/about.html, Greenlight Surfboard Supplies, offers surfboard-making supplies made from eco/sustainable materials. Corn, bamboo, and sugar cane (all grasses) provide the main building block for Greenlight board materials and so, on the off-chance that you took the last post about home-building to heart, they’re apparently a good source of materials.
Previously featured on Duenos:
* “Build your own skis”:http://duenos.net/article/217/Buildyourownskis (and snowboards, surfboards, etc…)
* “Surfing goes nuclear”:http://duenos.net/article/10/surfing-goes-nuclear
Via “Treehugger”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/diy_bamboo_and.php
LEGO Art
Nathan Sawaya, a former 33-year old attorney, is now a famous LEGO artist. His impressive works were detailed in this “CNN slideshow”:http://www.cnn.com/interactive/entertainment/0705/gallery.lego.art/frameset.exclude.html and is discussed in this “CNN article”:http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/05/31/lego.artist/index.html. From a “giant banana”:http://www.brickartist.com/banana.html to a “_Starry Night_ replica”:http://www.brickartist.com/starry_night.html, his LEGO sculptures and mosaics are nothing short of LEGO-licious. His “official site”:http://www.brickartist.com/ has a lot more to offer, specifically his “huge gallery”:http://www.brickartist.com/allgallery.html. And in case you were wondering, eight same-colored 2X4 LEGO bricks can be arranged in 8,274,075,616,387 configurations, at least that’s what “Wikipedia:LEGO”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEGO says.
Interested in other unique artistic mediums? Check out what’s happening with “gummy bears”:http://duenos.net/article/221/13lbGummyBear, “JELLO”:http://duenos.net/article/222/JelloSanFrancisco, and “chalk”:http://duenos.net/article/64/chalk-art-by-julian-beever.
Photo is “Lego Untamed”:http://flickr.com/photos/starycat/461380473/ from Flickr user “Starcat”:http://flickr.com/photos/starycat/
An aquatic canary
Coal miners used to carry canaries with them down into the mines as a sort of warning device of bad air quality. Because canaries are so much smaller than humans, they would die from breathing the toxic air way before the miners were in any danger. That served as inspiration for artist “Marei Wollesrsberger”:http://marei.co.uk/ whose “BioSafe Habitat”:http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/009608.php concept involves aquatic plants or fish serving the canaries sacrificial function. In reading about the project, I discovered a fascinating (and patented) species of fish called “GloFish”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GloFish. These modified zebrafish literally glow when exposed to water contaminants. They’re also the only genetically modified organism to be legally sold as a pet.
Pictures courtesy of “the artist”:http://marei.co.uk/biosafety/page4.html and “Wesley Tyler’s”:http://flickr.com/photos/wesleytyler/ “Flickr stream”:http://flickr.com/photos/wesleytyler/539704323/
CD hovercraft
I was reading a “Treehugger”:http://www.treehugger.com/ post about the “recyclability”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/ask_the_ecogeek.php (if that’s a word) of CDSs and found this cool compilation of “other uses”:http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/top-5-most-creative-uses-for-old-cds for CDs. It turns out that while they technically can be recycled, it’s a pretty intense process. BUT, if you have an old CD lying you must try this, turning your CD into a hovercraft:
Make A Mini Hovercraft – video powered by Metacafe
Evidence of super-penguin found
According to the Discovery Channel “website”:http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/06/25/giantpenguin_ani.html?category=animals&guid=20070625120000&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000, there has been new evidence found in Peru that 5 ft tall “super-penguins” lived there over 32 million years ago. These human-sized aquatic birds apparently had very large beaks and less paddle-like flippers than modern species of penguin. The above picture shows these newly discovered penguins next to today’s Emperor and Magellanic penguins.
Forget naked bike rides, go all the way!
“This article”:http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_headline=accused—of-having-sex-with-his-bike–&method=full&objectid=19347288&siteid=64736-name_page.html from the always reputable “Sunday Mail”:http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/ (check sarcasm sensors) is about a 51 year-old homeless man in Britain who has been legally accused of having sex with his bicycle. My first thought is how that ever became a crime in the first place, my second thoughts are how and why?
Previously featured on Duenos:
# “Nude Cycling in Paris (and around the World)”:http://duenos.net/article/282/NudecyclinginParisandaroundtheworld.