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This Machine Really Doesn't Want to Be Used

Last year I pointed to some machines that turn themselves off -- these are called "Ultimate Machines," and generally take the form of a box with a switch. You flip the switch, the box activates and flips the switch back, turning itself off. That's all the machine does -- return it its steady state. But today, Jason Kottke (via David Gallagher) brings us what might be the Ultimate Ultimate Machine -- stick around to see what happens around the one-minute mark: More examples: This Machine Turns... READ ON

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Today in History: The Tomato Surprise

Today in 1893, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tomato was a vegetable, not a fruit. The relevant case (Nix v. Hedden) involved tariffs -- the US had an import tariff on vegetables, but not fruit. So when a tomato importer (the Nix family) claimed that the tomato is a fruit and thus not subject to the tariff, the case ended up in front of the Supreme Court. Last year, our own Ethan Trex wrote an excellent article on the tomato debate, including this nugget: ...the Supreme Court unanimously found... READ ON

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The Late Movies: Inventors

Last week I pointed to a profile of Steven Sasson, Inventor of the Digital Camera. But his short interview is just the latest in a string of inventor profiles by David Friedman. I've collected some more of Friedman's videos below -- for the most part these are impressively humble people who have created very useful things. And the videos are bite-sized, so you can take a peek without committing to more than a few minutes. Enjoy! Jerry Ford: Safe-T-Chair "I invented an automatic brake system... READ ON

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The Economics of Death Star Planet Destruction

At the blog Overthinking It, a delightful roundtable has assembled to overthink the economics of the Death Star, as seen in Star Wars. In case you don't recall, the Death Star was a weapon designed to destroy an entire planet -- which brings up some potential issues if that planet is a productive part of an empire (sorry, Empire). The initial question boils down to: Doesn’t the Empire take a huge economic loss from the lost productivity of an entire planet? They were presumably paying taxes and... READ ON

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Star Trek TNG - "White and Nerdy"

Today's delightful dumbness: a re-cut video of Star Trek: The Next Generation (primarily featuring Data) set to Weird Al's "White and Nerdy." Given the song's many references to Star Trek, computers, and general nerd stuff, it works beautifully. This is basically a "Best of Brent Spiner" reel. Enjoy, nerds (and Spiner Femmes). See also: Star Trek Character or Erectile Dysfunction Pill?; Battlestar Galactica vs. Star Trek; Star Trek: TNG Reedited; Cold War Military Operation or Star Trek... READ ON

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Science-ish Tricks for Parties

Want to impress your friends with science? Okay, not so much "science" as cleverly constructed bar bets relying mostly on physics, human perception, and some chemistry? Okay, then I've got a video for you! In this quick YouTube video, Richard Wiseman shows simple instructions for ten easy tricks. I tried several of these and mostly got them to work: the notable exception being the thing with not moving my ring finger when my middle finger was bent -- I was able to move my ring finger a bit, but... READ ON

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"The Curators": Who Runs Online Museums?

I've enjoyed The Museum of Online Museums for years -- it's full of amazing collections of odd things. I even linked to one of the collections back in 2007. Now a three-part documentary called "The Curators" visits three curators of these museums and tells their stories. They're great fun -- these are collections any of us (at least any of us with a lot of time on our hands) could create. Recommended for fans of: museums, found objects, weird web stuff, libraries, photographs, and documentaries.... READ ON

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Gmail Motion

OMG, you guys. Finally, Gmail Motion is here! Now you can use easy, real-world gestures to control Gmail. Want to send a message? Just pantomime licking a stamp and putting it on an envelope. Message sent! Want to Reply-All? Just point both thumbs behind you! You're sending some mail to a bunch of people!! Let the webcam (and your whole body) do the work -- not just your stupid fingers! This enhancement to Gmail is going to be huge. I'm already learning new gestures, just by waving my arms... READ ON

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3eanuts - Peanuts Comics Minus the Last Panel

3eanuts catalogs Peanuts cartoon strips, minus the fourth panel. It's similar in spirit to De-Garfed (in which Garfield's thoughts are removed from the Garfield strip) and other crazy Garfield variants. But in this one, it's about existential aloneness, despair, hopelessness -- pretty rough stuff for a comic strip. Here's what author Daniel Leonard says about it: Charles Schulz's Peanuts comics often conceal the existential despair of their world with a closing joke at the characters' expense. With... READ ON

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The Late Movies: Dumbness, Insanity, Celine Dion Screaming, and Billy Joel

Last week I pointed to the unbelievably wonderful Brother IntelliFax 2800 App Store. I wondered -- who made that video? Well, it's Mike Lacher, proprietor of the delightfully weird and sometimes NSFW Wonder-Tonic. Tonight, I round up the five videos Wonder-Tonic has posted on YouTube. They're really weird. Most of them are unwatchable. But at the same time, there's something wonderful about knowing that somebody took the time to make this stuff, and thousands of people have watched the videos -- or... READ ON