Tokyo Underground

Cool site of the day. [Thanks, Dan].

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Thistle @ Sankt Annae Plads near my home

These guys are all over my summer house, but very rarely seen in the city.

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Executive Batting Practice Desktop Pitching Machine

Office stress have you down? Maybe some batting practice is just the thing you need to relieve the days built up tension. Simply turn on the mini pitching machine and you're ready to twack a few dingers. Comes complete with 12 soft plastic mini-baseballs (they're a little bigger than a golf ball) and a compact-able bat that folds up like a telescope for convenient storage. Requires 1 D-cell battery (not included). Makes the perfect gift for any baseball fan.

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USB Digital Microscope

This USB Digital Microscope allows you to capture some incredibly high quality images and video and display them on your PC using a simple USB connection. View specimens collected around the house, backyard, your desk, or the fridge. Look at the micro-printing on a dollar bill or examine the traces on your motherboard. This microscope provides you an easy way to zoom in on a wide variety of objects to satisfy your curiosity of the world around you. Ever wondered what lint looks like or the mold growing on your week-old bagels? Now you can find out.

iN STUDIO 5.0

"God Almighty"

"Dog Poop Girl"

"Dog Poop Girl" is the English-translated name, given by South Korean bloggers, for a woman who refused to clean up when her dog defecated on the floor of a subway car.

Another subway rider offered the woman a tissue, which she promptly used to clean the dog off. When other passengers suggested she clean up the mess, she ignored the requests and departed the subway at the next stop.

Unfortunately for the young woman, another commuter took a photograph of her and her dog, and posted it on a popular Korean website. Soon, Internet vigilantes began closely examining the picture for any clue as to the woman's identity, and within days, she had been identified and much of her personal information was exposed on the Internet in an attempt to punish her for the offense. The photo quickly became one of the most popular image searches on popular Korean web portals.

The story received mainstream attention when it was widely reported in South Korean media, and was discussed in Korean communities in the United States as well. The public humiliation led the woman to quit her university, according to reports[2]. The woman also received many death threats.

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From the collection of Wayne Chiang

Microsoft Unveils Video Platform

There are reports on developments with Microsoft's new online video platform which had been called Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E). Today (Monday) in Las Vegas at NAB, Microsoft is taking the wraps off the new platform which is called Microsoft Silverlight. It's all part of the new Microsoft Expression initiative. It won't go live for another two weeks, but there are demos around. Like the ubiquitous Adobe Flash video ecosystem, Silverlight will provide a range of authoring and encoding tools to create rich media, notably video. Like Flash, the new video will play on the browser (IE, Safari, Firefox) with the download of a 2MB application.

Next Big Thing: 3-D Printer for the Home

Fabbers At Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides an open source kit that lets you make your own simple fabber, and use it to print three dimensional objects. You can download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself. Fabbers (a.k.a 3D Printers or rapid prototyping machines) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefuly depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer. Slowly but surely, with the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques. A fabber can allow you explore new designs, email physical objects to other fabber owners, and most importantly - set your ideas free. Just like MP3s, iPods and the Internet have freed musical talent, we hope that blueprints and fabbers will democratize innovation.

Christiania Bikes

iPod Vacuum Tube Amplifiers

The New York Times has a roundup of vacuum tube amplifiers for the iPod in today's edition.

Sony Ericsson

Female blogger gets 10-year sentence for arson attacks

Entertaining headline, tragic circumstances, in this story from Japan.

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Jeepneys

Pauline Oliveros

Morton Subotnick

Andrea Parker "Here's One I Made Earlier!" [iTunes Link]

Andrea Parker (not to be confused with the American actress of the same name) is a British techno disc jockey and producer. She is originally from Yalding, Kent, but later moved to London. Originally playing cello, she soon started producing electronic music and DJing. She was part of the dance music group Inky Blacknuss which recorded for the Sabrettes label before starting to release records under her own name. As a producer, she is known for her warm and emotional sound, often created with vintage synthesizers like Fairlights or ARPs (Kiss my ARP is the title of her album on Mo' Wax). She has also used orchestral arrangements, similar to Rob Dougan, who produced her single "The Rocking Chair". She is also a relatively active remixer, with clients ranging from Ryuichi Sakamoto to Depeche Mode to The Orb, and compiled a DJ-Kicks album for Studio !K7. A CD compilation of her early singles, titled Here's One I Made Earlier (after a catchphrase from Blue Peter), is to be released on 2 April 2007.

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Efterklang "Under Giant Trees E.P." [iTunes Link]

New DVDs: Early Bergman

French Train Breaks Rail Speed Record

David Lynch on Product Placement [YouTube]

This is a clip out of an interview shot at the AFI Dallas Film Festival. Edited on location by Confidence Bay, mobile edit suite. www.confidencebay.com.
Videographer: Chris Johnson.

My Tidy City in The New York Times today