Simple device allows one's cat to accept licensing agreements

Constructing a "cardboard platform" to allow your cat to accept online EULA agreements may be ethically questionable, but so are the agreements themselves. (Lacking a cat, one helpful method I've found is to send an e-mail to the corporation indicating that, by reading the message within, they have agreed to absolve you of all commitments, obligations or restrictions in their EULA.)

Still, I like Anne Loucks' solution better. As her cat is not a "legal entity" (the phrase combined with the image of the cat is almost too much), he cannot legally agree to license agreements and thus the agreement is skipped without any harmful agreement to odd, arbitrary terms taking place. Sounds [horrible cat-related pun]!

The Agreeable Cat by Anne Loucks

Some of the most disturbing animals on Earth

Atom.com has a great collection of some of the most disturbing animal on Earth. These animal aren't just scary-looking, but psychologically disturbing. My dad often quotes the Jethro Tull line "He who made kittens put snakes in the grass." Sometimes I think it's more like "He who made kittens also made the vampire squid", seen above. The story says that this thing has predators - I'd hate to meet them in a dark underwater alley.

This is a link to Part 3 - if the others are as compellingly terrifying we might have a series on our hands.

EDIT: Oh, and be warned. We're talking eyeball worms and giant spiders here. And oh no oh no the squeamish might not want to check out Parts 1 and 2. There are animals in there that are actually evil.

Related links:

Heteropoda Maxima: The Spider From Hell (You'll see the same image in the article)

Babies and square feet

Even when I'm not reading much on the internet, I read BoingBoing, the aptly self-proclaimed "online directory of wonderful things." So I hope it doesn't put anybody off that I occasionally become a BoingBoing regurgitator. Three things caught my eye of late - an adorably chaotic time-lapse video of a nine-month-old baby playing (really just rolling around everywhere and knocking things aside), a literalist-minded to-scale chart of space available per citizen in various countries, and a robot that can put itself back together after being kicked to pieces. I shall now dump these things below for your theoretical enjoyment:

"Khaaaaaaaaaan!"

Well, I think this image speaks for itself. This immediately stuck out to me because I did the exact same experiment about six months ago and neglected to post about it. Too bad - I could have jumped the gun on these guys.

How Many AAAAs in Khaaaaaaaan? (flickr user Negatendo via BoingBoing)

Related links:

See Spock Run (Children's Primer Idea)
The First Two Pages of the Book

Jayisgames.com's casual games of the year

Jayisgames has started sucking a little lately, but their yearly list of the best online casual games is as good as ever. Here are a few of my absolute favorites:

Boxhead - The Zombie Wars (pictured above) - Sean Cooper's Boxhead games (particularly the "arena"-style ones) keep getting better, and The Zombie Wars is pretty much the sequel we all hoped for. The game's ability to pit you against dozens of encroaching foes (with less slowdown than you'd expect) makes this one of the most complete experiences this side of Flash. Turret guns and artillery round out the arsenal here, though the addition of teleporting and digging enemies makes building a base much more difficult this time around. Still, most of you will be here for the action and tension, areas where the game absolulutely delivers.

Bubble Tanks 2 - It's rare for a game to feature a real sense of exploration, so exploring the myriad spheres of Bubble Tanks 2 packs just enough childlike wonder to keep you playing. Ostensibly an action/shooter game, the real enjoyment of Bubble Tanks 2 comes from upgrading your ship and finding the really wacked-out enemies you'll fight the farther out you go. Like a more colorful, less contemplative flOw, this is a game of evolution and discovery.

Ginormo Sword - I can't honestly claim that I "liked" this game, but I spent way too long playing it. Is that the same thing? Crappy battle mechanics and design, addictive leveling scheme.

The Powder Game - It's still fantastic. Play with it, have some fun. Blow something up.

Good Things Should Never End (Orange Unlimited) - An endless digital playground. Collaborative content, webtoys and more strewn across an endless rainbow landscape. Therapeutic.

Three platformers with great action: A Sea Gull Company for its unique level design and pseudo-multiplayer mechanics, Meat Boy for its smooth control and great design, and Buggle Stars for keeping things fast and exciting (aside from the horrible bonus levels).

Cursor*10 - A mindblowing recursive game with a hidden component. This one's worth figuring out, as is the unrelated creative puzzler Applicate.

Fantastic Contraption - Far better than Incredibots in my book for its simple design, emphasis on community and satisfying puzzles. You won't believe some of the stuff you can create with this.

The Codex of Alchemical Engineering - This one's a little heady - a simple step-based puzzler wrapped up in pseudoscientific prose. Very casual programming with a satisfying feel.

Totem Destroyer - Probably the most visceral game on here. Like Arcade Jenga with a pagan twist.

Loops of Zen - A satisfying clickfest for visually-oriented people.

Alan Probe: Amateur Surgeon - This surgery simulator might not be everybody's bag - it's unintuitive and fairly juvenile - but I enjoyed it despite the occasional bug.

I'm a sucker for a good tower defense game, and I've already talked about them at length so suffice it to say the following earn my highest recommendation:

Bloons Tower Defense 3
Flash Element Tower Defense 2

Enjoy! These oughta keep you busy - maybe too busy.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2008 (Jayisgames.com)

How to hallucinate without chemicals (Boston.com)

Boston.com has constructed a pleasing display of ways to learn about your brain through experiencing immaterial constructions (read: hallucinate) without the aid of chemicals, legal or illegal. It's all very simple - very surreal ways of messing with the way your brain constructs reality.

The pictured one is my favorite, if only because the waking dream of the mad individual on the table looks like a They Might Be Giants record cover.

How to hallucinate with ping-pong balls and a radio (Boston.com via BoingBoing)

The escapades of "real-life superheroes"

These guys obviously didn't take the hint from The Dark Knight that non-celebrity vigilantes just get in the way. Calling themselves "real-life superheroes" or "reals," they patrol the streets to various levels of success fighting crime and looking like a bitchin' Devo luchadore, if this photo from Rolling Stone is at all reliable. Armed legally with their fists, a "pepper spray cannon" or stun gun (so they don't break any laws), these people are "superheroes" in the same sense that friendly biker gangs are - they patrol when they can, trying to help people and break up small scuffles and minor evildoing along the way. The big stuff still goes to the police, though it's arguable that a visible "superhero" presence in a community could have an effect on crime; even for cowardly, superstitious evildoers, the image of the renegade superhero is pretty well imprinted upon our minds.

Rolling Stone elaborates on their rationale:

Although Master Legend was one of the first to call himself a Real Life Superhero, in recent years a growing network of similarly homespun caped crusaders has emerged across the country. Some were inspired by 9/11. If malevolent individuals can threaten the world, the argument goes, why can't other individuals step up to save it? "What is Osama bin Laden if not a supervillain, off in his cave, scheming to destroy us?" asks Green Scorpion, a masked avenger in Arizona.

It's beyond stupid to point out that these people don't have superpowers, intelligent cars or subterranean secret lairs, but civil liberties groups should appreciate the effect they have on society and our good men and women in law enforcement by testing the limits of a citizen's ability to enforce the law on their own. If they cooperate with the police as normal citizens and don't break any weapons laws, it's fair to say they'll have a discouraging effect on street crime. And they get to wear cool costumes while they're at it.

But these guys run into problems not faced by superfolk with more interesting origin stories:

Artemis of San Diego reported on his blog that he had heard a woman screaming outside his home but by the time he had dressed up in his costume the police were already there. Kevlex, 47, who runs the Superhero Registry, says he patrols more in winter than summer in Arizona, when his Kevlar and Spandex kit itches. But the deadliest kryptonite against a superhero is boredom.

“I was out every night, 8pm until 2am, hanging about all the bad corners and nothing happened, nada, zip,” recalled Mr Invisible. “It was raining: even the drug dealers were at home. And often cops are just too good at their jobs."

(Rolling Stone and TimesOnline through BoingBoing - you may also enjoy this article on the Black Monday Society, a similar Utah group)

Self-adjustable glasses make optical care accessible to impoverished areas of the world

Gotta love the do-it-yourself humanitarian nature of these lenses, whose strength can be adjusted by the user as needed. I don't think this sort of things would fly in the first world, where we've grown accustomed to trusting the experts for our prescriptions, but they seem destined for areas like sub-Sarahan Africa, in which the article states there is a mere one optometrist per million people.

And look at those hinges - much better than the dainty, brittle hinges we've got over here, eh?

Behold the Puppycam

At the present moment, over five thousand people are watching puppies on a webcam. These puppies are getting older and no longer tiny adorable bundles of puppyfat and enthusiasm, but they're still plenty cute.

I foresee a future wherein nearly all of man's puppy-related enjoyment comes from two animals, left in their little Truman Show world and observed for the blood pressure benefits of humanity. When the Puppy Cam HD comes around we'll know we've truly arrived.

Fully Interactive Panoramic Video

My friend Jeff sent this to me. I like it. (Hint: Click and drag.)



The company's website has more. I like the scuba diving one. This definitely has some potential.

Dramatic Readings of Online Inanity

I just discovered this yesterday, and I must have watched it thirty times since then. This sort of thing would be easy to overdose on (though I still haven't gotten sick of Rick Astley, bless my heart):

How is Babby Formed?

(found via Randall Munroe, animation by some bloke named Shmorky)

Stress Relief Breathing Exercises

I highly recommend the following "Karate meditation" breathing exercise for reduction of stress and anxiety. It's only takes a few minutes and it's quite effective (at least more effective than your usual frantic dwelling on things).

How To Reduce Stress Quickly With Karate Breathing Meditation (Elizabeth Scott for About.com)

Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of the Pixies

Rockabye Baby is a record series consisting of affectionate "lullaby renditions" of various important bands and musicians. Naturally, their take on The Pixies caught my eye. It's just a sample, but I can't stop listening to their rendition of "Wave of Mutilation." It's so darn peaceful.

EDIT: Holy horoscope - they did a Bjork record.

The Sarah Palin Stupid Baby Name Generator

The stupid names of Sarah Palin's children have garnered more media attention than the $25 million deficit she incurred for a town of 5,000 people. They'd certainly be more interesting, if she wasn't a heart attack away from the presidency.

At any rate, the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator gives you a peek at the inane identity you may have been given as one of the Palin clan. The results are pure retard poetry. See how much more interesting life would be if Palin was in charge of worldwide baby-naming:

Archibald Clumpy: Commando Coalfire Palin
Richard Nixon: Strike Chipper Palin
Barack Obama: Tarp Lazer Palin

And my favorite:

Fiscal Mismanagement: Bash Budweiser Palin

Printcrime: "Copy this story"

One of the neatest technological innovations of the last few years has been the advent of 3-dimensional printers, machines that can do exactly what the name implies. It's an amazing technology and it's going to be more and more important in the coming years.

And just leave it to Cory Doctorow (copyfight hero, writer, superhero) to write some great dystopian fiction on the possible future ramifications of the technology. This story's a couple of years old, but it's just as relevant now as it deals with topics currently affecting (and afflicting) our lives: expanding, militant copyright law and the (oh noes!) encroaching police state:

The coppers smashed my father’s printer when I was eight. I remember the hot, cling-film-in-a-microwave smell of it, and Da’s look of ferocious concentration as he filled it with fresh goop, and the warm, fresh-baked feel of the objects that came out of it.

The coppers came through the door with truncheons swinging, one of them reciting the terms of the warrant through a bullhorn. One of Da’s customers had shopped him. The ipolice paid in high-grade pharmaceuticals — performance enhancers, memory supplements, metabolic boosters. The kind of things that cost a fortune over the counter; the kind of things you could print at home, if you didn’t mind the risk of having your kitchen filled with a sudden crush of big, beefy bodies, hard truncheons whistling through the air, smashing anyone and anything that got in the way.

Read the Full Story!

We Meta-Love XKCD

Like so many similarly-inclined folk, I found this XKCD strip pretty touching, in a nostalgic sort of way. It's a celebration of geek culture as something more than mere geekery, praise of giddy ambition and optimistic camaraderie. (I hesitate to mention that it's also a bit of a downer as my own attempt at a webcomic was far too introverted and scattershot to resonate with so many people*. XKCD has a way of constantly reminding me why it's king.)

Well, a group of happy geeks has gone ahead and made homage to the strip (which itself is an homage to this delightful Discovery Channel clip) by acting it out verbatim, and they've done a remarkable job:




* It's interesting that it's been more than three months since my last Forest For the Trees update, yet a goodly number of you folk continue to visit it daily. In response, I'll be continuing that little adventure in webcomicry this fall, hopefully for good.)

Some Nice Out-Of-Context From Boingboing

Because some things are better out of context. (Actually, the video's pretty great if you'd care to see it.)

One Of These Oughta Keep the Coons Outta the Basement. . .

There's something visceral and exciting about a ruthlessly-accurate robot gun, and not just for gamers. Building something out of spare parts that boasts a reaction time to rival the fastest, most caffeinated of humans is a real achievement, doubly so when you consider the home defense applications. (Note to the makers of the now one million-strong Terrorist Watch List - it's a joke!)

But if gamer blog Kotaku proves anything, it's that the thought of the thing doesn't hold a candle to watching the thing in action, particularly for gamers who have simulated this sort of thing before and wonder how it would translate to real life.

Pretty well, it turns out. Check out this video of a software-controller robotic paintball turret in motion and tell me it doesn't get your blood going:



Be sure to check out the diversion/decoy attempt at 2:15. Didn't work out too well. . .

Top 10 Weirdest Keyboards

This Swedish domain could use some better formatting, but I nevertheless found its list of 10 of the strangest keyboards of all time an interesting glimpse of the future. Designs vary from the retro and potentially dangerous to the eyes (above) to "ergonomic" designs which look even worse than the "wrist-friendly" designs that I've been subjected to in the past. And how about that roll-up soft plastic keyboard? Is that awesome or what?

Top 10 Weirdest Keyboard Ever (Fosfor)

MacGyver-esque

In a similarly-themed comic (read the alt-text), Randall Munroe of XKCD recommends this Wikipedia list of problems solved by MacGyver, that TV master of spur-of-the-moment gadgetry. A few of my favorites:

"While being pursued by a Soviet truck, he crushes it by making a large rock fall on it. To do this, MacGyver pours water on a crack on the rock, puts a wedge in it, and sprays the entire thing with a fire extinguisher. The compressed carbon dioxide cools the water enough to freeze it, causing it to expand. This almost entirely breaks the rock away from the mountain, and when the Soviets come by, Mac simply pushes the wedge to crush their car."

"In order to fake a hand print for electronic scanning, MacGyver spreads a thin layer of plaster dust over the scanner. Some of the dust sticks to the sweat left on the scanner by the previous user. He blows away the excess, covers the sensor plate with his jacket, and presses down lightly with his fingers."

"MacGyver creates a rocket-propelled flare out of bamboo, fertilizer, matches, a strip of cloth, a small tin can, a thin metal rod, a funnel, and a wooden spoon. The fertilizer has nitrates, which act as the explosive. He packs the fertilizer in the bottom of the bamboo, then the matches, then the tin can which is itself packed with the cloth with a strip hanging out. He ties the spoon onto the side of the rocket with the metal rod used as a guide within the bamboo tube. The funnel is attached to the top of the rocket, to contain the explosion. The strip of cloth serves as the fuse, and then matches as the igniter. MacGyver sets the entire apparatus in a fireplace, where he lights the fuse and lets the rocket take off."


Some heavy suspension of disbelief is required for a couple of these, which of course adds to the fun:

"MacGyver builds a hot air balloon from scratch to escape from a Soviet search party. The balloon is made of homemade super-glue, old clothes, a parachute, welding equipment, a refrigerator, condoms, and a metal box."