Brain Food

Stuff that sparks ideas or imagination for me.

Mini-Derby Cars

Mini Derby Race Car
My dad made me three of these kick-ass cool cars when I was in elementary school, as part of the YMCA Indian Princesses Mini Derby race. They’re carved out of a block of wood and then painted. The idea was to race them down a track, and prizes would be awarded for the winners, and for best design. Of course we always won the second, and usually the first prize, too, because my dad would insert lead weights into the wood block at the center of the car. Other kids had generic blocks of wood on wheels, while I had these awesome real-looking cars. I need to take photos of the other two; one of them is a cool hot wheels crazy car, and the other is an early Indy race car.
Boing Boing recently had a post about some folks who put a webcam on their mini derby car. I’m sure if we had such a thing back when I was a kid, my Dad would have done it. And I still think my cars are cooler, btw.

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Iraqi Invasion: A Text Misadventure

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Defective Yeti writes a hilarious text adventure game similar to the classic Zork, only you’re George Bush. Naturally, you’re pretty stupid.

Iraqi Invasion: A Text Misadventure
Revision 88 / Serial number 54892
Oval Office
You are standing inside a White House, having just been elected to the presidency of the United States. You knew Scalia would pull through for you.
There is a large desk here, along with a few chairs and couches. The presidential seal is in the middle of the room and there is a full-length mirror upon the wall.
What do you want to do now?
> INVADE IRAQ
You are not able to do that, yet.
> LOOK MIRROR
Self-reflection is not your strong suit.
> PET SEAL
It’s not that kind of seal.
> EXAMINE CHAIRS
They are two several chairs arranged around the center of the room, along with two couches. Under one couch you find Clinton’s shoes.
> FILL SHOES
You are unable to fill Clinton’s shoes.

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The Edge Annual Question — 2006

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WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?
The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

This year, the third culture thinkers in the Edge community have written 117 original essays (a document of 72,500 words) in response to the 2006 Edge Question — “What is your dangerous idea?”. Here you will find indications of a new natural philosophy, founded on the realization of the import of complexity, of evolution. Very complex systems — whether organisms, brains, the biosphere, or the universe itself — were not constructed by design; all have evolved. There is a new set of metaphors to describe ourselves, our minds, the universe, and all of the things we know in it.

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Gourmet Amigurumi

I’ve mentioned before Gourmet Amigurumi, the business run by Beth Doherty that makes great crochet animal dolls. I had Beth make this figure skating monkey for Christmas for Stephanie… along with a monkey for me, too.

If you look at Beth’s Flickr photos of her work, she’s got some really amazing dolls. She just recently created a really cute Chihuahua and an adorable penguin. Some of my favorites, though, are Angus the Monster, the Punk Bunny Rabbit, and the Hep Cat.

What’s really cool is how quickly she gets them done. She whipped up the monkey really quickly, and she hadn’t ever done ice skates before, so she had to figure them out. Even so, it was just a few weeks between the time I ordered and she got them to me. She seems to be getting a lot of business lately, so it might take a bit longer.

You can contact her through Flickr, or you can buy things from her shop.
Along the same lines, Jessica Hutch makes knitted dolls, including Robots.

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Weird text at the bottom of a spam email

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A spam message I received this morning had this text at the bottom. I wonder where it came from? I’m guessing from the stuff I’ve seen in the past that they grab text from a website somewhere and insert it into their spam.

Exactly! roared Sykes. And do you believe Johnny St. Jay would willingly destroy his own property, his own business? Stranger things have happened in the outside criminal world, Sir Henry, said Cyril Sylvester Pritchard knowingly. In my official capacity Ive heard many, many stories. The incidents my nephew described are called diversionary tactics employed to create the illusion that the scoundrels are victims. It was all thoroughly explained to me. Oh, it was, was it? cried the former brigadier of the British army. Well, let me explain something else, shall I? Youve been duped by an international terrorist wanted the world over! Do you know the universal penalty for aiding and abetting such a killer? Ill make it plain, in case its escaped your attention-in your official capacity, of course.

Mystery solved, thanks to Google. It appears to be a snippet of text from the Robert Ludlum book The Bourne Ultimatum.

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Goth Embroidery (and pirates, and monkeys!)

Sublime Stitching‘s site says, “This ain’t you gramma’s embroidery!” And they’re quite right. With patterns for everything from tikis, sushi bars, goth patterns, mexican wrestlers, pirates and monkeys, they make a really boring craft into something fun and hip. Well, okay, about as hip as embroidery can get, anyway.

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