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unblog - the underground blog
Welcome to the underground blog© (http://spreadhead.virtualave.net/unblog.html). Here lies our rambling registry of random rummages, recently rescued readings, and restlessly renegade ruminations: as sifted, sorted, and saved by spread...


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10 Bizarre Ways to Die
There are a lot of ways to die. Some are just more interesting than others. For example, death by deodorant, or death by. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Shoes & Nazi Bazookas
During World War II, industries big and small all over Germany became part of Hitler's massive war machine. The change even affected the predecessor of footwear legends Adidas and Puma, which -- oddly enough -- manufactured Germany's version of the bazooka. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Save The Planet, Paint Your Roof White
According to a new study by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory scientists, there's an astonishingly low-tech solution that may help to cool the planet and reverse global warming. Paint your roof white. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Tumbarumba
Tumbarumba is a frolic of intrusions---a conceptual artwork in the form of a Firefox extension. Tumbarumba hides stories---twelve new stories by outstanding authors---where you least expect to find them, turning your everyday web browsing into a strange journey. You can read more about how it works or just discover it for yourself by downloading it now and then browsing! Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


How to Procrastinate Like Leonardo da Vinci
On his deathbed, they say, Leonardo da Vinci regretted that he had left so much unfinished. Leonardo had so many ideas; he was so ahead of his time. His notebooks were crammed with inventions: new kinds of clocks, a double-hulled ship, flying machines, military tanks... But Leonardo rarely completed any of the great projects that he sketched in his notebooks. His groundbreaking research in human anatomy resulted in no publication---at least not in his lifetime. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


? = Beauty: Unlocking The Secret of Beautiful Design
MFA exhibit showcases a collector who says he has unlocked a secret of design - using math. The thing about beautiful design is that you don't need an expert to explain it. On the other hand, if you do have an expert, say, a mathematician, at hand. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Drunken Nation: Russia's Depopulation Bomb
A specter is haunting Russia today. It is not the specter of Communism---that ghost has been chained in the attic of the past---but rather of depopulation---a relentless, unremitting, and perhaps unstoppable depopulation. The mass deaths associated with the Communist era may be history, but another sort of mass death may have only just begun, as Russians practice what amounts to an ethnic self-cleansing. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Why Biofuels are the Rainforest's Worst Enemy
Forget petroleum. The next planet-destroying fuel is already here. Biofuels are the worst enemy of the world's rainforests and of the people who depend on them. Heather Rogers explains. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Dead Pixel in Google Earth
This project by Dutch artist Helmut Smits is a physical landscaping alteration that burns an 82 cm x 82 cm size square in a field of grass, which measures the equivalent of one pixel of data at an altitude of 1 km when seen with Google Earth. "This 'missing pixel' is an interesting way of placing emphasis on the seemingly immaterial nature of digitized information, such as the satellite photography used to populate the data sphere of Google Earth." Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Born Believers: How Your Brain Creates God
Religious ideas are common to all cultures: like language and music, they seem to be part of what it is to be human. So, is religion innate? Would children raised in isolation spontaneously create their own religious beliefs? Paul Bloom says yes. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


StroboDJ: Animated VJing
StroboDJ is an animation sequencing tool for vjing created by Gijs Gieskes, an esteemed VJ and performer. It's a sequencer for vjing that uses the working principle of the stroboscope: looking at a spinning wheel. This machine can be used to play animations with gameboy music. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


The Evolutionary Role of Cooking
You are what you eat, or so the saying goes. But Richard Wrangham, of Harvard University, believes that this is true in a more profound sense than the one implied by the old proverb. It is not just you who are what you eat, but the entire human species. And with Homo sapiens, what makes the species unique in Dr Wrangham's opinion is that its food is so often cooked. Cooking: forms of preparing food are humanity's "killer app"---the evolutionary change that underpins all of the others. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Electric Sheep
Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver created by Scott Draves. It's run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


How Earthbag Homes Work
Earthbag homes are exactly what they sound like -- bags filled with earthen materials stacked to make a house. They often look like big beehives when they're completed, but it's possible for them to take other forms as well. Here for more of
1:32 AM 4/30/09 | UNBLOG


Sex and the semicolon
The punctuation mark that makes men tremble. Kurt Vonnegut called the marks "transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing." Hemingway and Chandler and Stephen King, said McIntyre, "wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with a semi-colon (though Truman Capote might). Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


Fold Loud
Playing Fold Loud involves folding origami shapes to create soothing harmonic vocal sounds. Each fold is assigned to a different human vocal sound so that combinations of folds create harmonies. Fold Loud is a (de)constructing musical play interface that uses origami paper-folding techniques and ritualistic Taoist principles to give users a sense of slow, soothing relaxation. Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


The Mini-Cow
Just right for the garden. Miniature cattle farming is catching on with families trying to stay ahead of rising food prices. Is it the solution to rising food prices? No taller than a German shepherd, it gives 16 pints of milk a day. Plus, it mows the lawn... Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


Graphite Sequencer
Caleb Coppock's "Graphite Sequencer" is an analog drum machine of sorts that works through simple electrical conductance. Two wires scrape along the surface of a spinning paper disk with graphite shapes scrawled across them (graphite is a conductive material) so that when they pass over the shapes, they generate tones. Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


The Henry Ford of Literature
He was the "Henry Ford of Literature," a "Voltaire from Kansas," and "the Barnum of Books." The greatest American publishing genius you never heard of... Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


Sleep on It: How Snoozing Makes You Smarter
During slumber, our brain engages in data analysis, from strengthening memories to solving problems. The brain can get a lot done, and leave you a little smarter, when it leeps... Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


AlphaVille
In the Motion-Extraction-Reanimation Series, raw material is taken from various commercial movies and reprocessed. The motion that occurs within the film is isolated, then reprocessed and animated. This series has a dual function: it researches Time and the associated problem of Motion and Rest, and also reveals something about movies as cultural artifacts. The durational quality of the cinematic experience is seen in a different light. Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


Provocateur: The Peter Saul Manifesto
Peter Saul, who turns 74 on Saturday, is a classic artist's artist, one of our few important practicing history painters and a serial offender in violations of good taste. His career, while long, steady and admired, has never exceeded cult status. It's an example of can't-see-the-tree-for-the-forest visibility. Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


How to Get the Biggest Bang for 10 Billion Bucks
If you had a spare $10 billion over the next four years, how would you spend it to achieve the most for humanity? This is a small amount compared to rich-government budgets. But if we could set aside an extra $10 billion, we could achieve an awful lot. Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


Lord of the Memes
What kind of pseud are you? Once upon a time, you smoked Gauloises and brooded over Ezra Pound. Then it was rap and Gregorian chants. Now it's Facebook, or Kindle, or... Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


Mirrors Don't Lie. Mislead? Oh, Yes
How many of us are aware that when we look into a mirror we see an image on the mirror surface that is exactly half life size? For the bubbleheaded young Narcissus of myth, the mirror spun a fatal fantasy, and the beautiful boy chose to die by the side of a reflecting pond rather than leave his "beloved" behind. Here for more of
2:11 AM 9/10/08 | UNBLOG


The Torture Playlist
Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, "prolong capture shock," disorient detainees during interrogations-- and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose. Plus: How Metallica reacted when they found out how their music was being used... Here for
2:01 AM 8/8/08 | UNBLOG


The 5 Greatest Things Ever Accomplished While High
Any dreadlocked white guys finding this article after Googling "Drugs Rule" should know that we've given this list about drugs a rule. To make the cut, an accomplishment has to be considered great by people who could pass a field sobriety test. So no Grateful Dead music. Here for
2:01 AM 8/8/08 | UNBLOG


Toilet Iconography
There are, apparently, a lot of ways to direct people to the appropriate bathroom. Although if you can't figure it out by now, you should probably just be wearing a diaper. Here for
11:42 AM 7/13/08 | UNBLOG


Barcodes as Art?
Barcodes as an artform? Check out the latest designs from Japan, and even a barcode building in Russia. How about barcode lighting from Hampstead... Here for
11:42 AM 7/13/08 | UNBLOG


Skip the Shampoo? Dirty Human Hair Neutralizes Ozone
Don't be too quick to judge the next time someone you know skips a shower--he or she may actually be clearing the air. Here for
11:42 AM 7/13/08 | UNBLOG


Can you Origami? Follow one Master's folds
Robert J. Lang, an origami maverick whose work has appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, says his designs are inspired by the natural world. Lang quit his job as an engineer in 2001 to focus solely on origami---a discipline that is no less complicated. Here for
11:42 AM 7/13/08 | UNBLOG


Boobs for Barrack
A website of user-submitted photos of women who draw messages in support of Barack Obama on their boobs. Even if Obama doesn't win the election, he can at least look back on the past year and think to himself, "It's been a really good campaign..." Here for
11:42 AM 7/13/08 | UNBLOG


The Moral Life of Cubicles
The Utopian Origins of Dilbert's Workspace. Few arenas can match the business office for its combination of humdrummery and world-shaping influence. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


The Real Snail Mail: Web Mail Service Using Live Snails
"The 'Real Snail Mail' project by Paul Smith and Vicky Isley (of the art sna design team, Boredom Research in the UK) is an attempt to create a metaphoric truth of what is commonly called "snail mail" by imparting the act of carrying a digital message onto the back of an actual snail. By attaching a small antenna and electronic circuit to their shells, the snails can be assigned messages that they can then transport to the receiver." Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


Postcards from Nowhere
We get the art we deserve, and today what we deserve is the splashy, pretentious, dumbed down trophy art that dominates the art world... Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?
An atheist church? "The last thing atheists want to see is their rational set of ideas yoked up with the trappings of a religion," says Daniel Dennett... Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


New Zealand's Band of Robots
New Zealand band The Trons is made up of four robots who play guitars, drums and keyboard to convincing effect. They sound like a perfectly quantized version of The Velvet Underground. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


The Top Ten Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems
The final dispatch from the 2008 Copenhagen Consensus Conference. Supplying the micronutrients vitamin A and zinc to 80 percent of the 140 million children who lack them in developing countries is ranked as the highest priority by the expert panel at the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Conference. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


The One World - One Flag
Adbusters invite you to create a flag-- free from language and well-worn cliches-- that embodies the idea of global citizenship. A symbol that triggers pride and cohesion, whether worn on a backpack, displayed on a door, or flown on a flagpole. A symbol for anyone to declare membership in a growing and vital human cooperative. We invite you to prove that design has a real role to play in the fate of our world. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


Heart strings
The Heart Chamber Orchestra - HCO - is an audiovisual performance. The orchestra consists of 12 classical musicians and the artist duo TerminalBeach. Using their heartbeats, the musicians control a computer composition and visualization environment. The musical score is generated in real time by the heartbeats of the musicians. They read and play this score from a computer screen placed in front of them. HCO forms a structure where music literally "comes from the heart". Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


The 11 1/2 Biggest Ideas of the Year
Creating the 2008 Ideas Issue prompted The Atlantic's editors to start debating which idea--good and bad-- most informed the national conversation over the past twelve months. Herewith the result: a thumbnail intellectual history of the year. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


The Silent Art of Secrecy
Murano-based artist Daniela Schonbachler's multi-strata technique enables the viewer to discover a deeper, more dimensional visual and emotional universe, where she searches for the right moment – poised in between tension and tranquility. In her newer works, the approach is more minimalistic. Where there is no paint is suddenly equally as interesting as the painted surface. Her way of working includes constantly twisting and turning the canvas to defy gravity, and to find her own centre. On view: 2008-06-17 until 2008-09-13, Riflemaker, London, United Kingdom. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


How to Talk Dirty and Influence People
David Buckingham, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People opens on March 15 and runs through May 3, 2008 at MMGalleries, San Francisco, CA USA United States of America. Buckingham's inspiration -- graffiti, snippets of dialogue overheard in office hallways, advertising, guns and their effect on the American psyche, the culture of celebrity (and celebrity guns), cartoons, movies -- have all sunk into his consciousness over the years and they are starting to make their way back out. Here for more of Buckingham's
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


First Atomic Bomb Diagram
Censored early drawing of an atomic weapon based on the famous U.S Los Alamos "Fat Man" device which was dropped on Nagasaki and detonated in the Trinity test. The diagram is from a report completed by William G. Penney on 1 July 1947. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


Hidden Histories
Hidden Histories makes accessible some of the highs and lows of Southampton's 20th Century history, the glory of great ships and journeys as well as the disasters and long forgotten tales. Street Radio is a totally new way of experiencing the city. The system utilises wireless communication technologies such as WIFI and Bluetooth in combination with FM radio to create captive "puddles" where particular stories and themes can be heard. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


Shockwave Traffic Jam Recreated
Traffic that grinds to a halt and then restarts for no apparent reason is one of the biggest causes of frustration for drivers. Now a team of Japanese researchers has recreated the phenomenon on a test-track for the first time. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG


Mathematical Art
Art created through mathematics. The Science News article covers selections from a recent exhibit, where over 40 artists gathered to show their work and the math behind it. This year's exhibition is dedicated to Magnus Wenninger, a pioneer in the mathematical art community, whose models of polyhedra have inspired a new generation of mathematical artists. Here for more of
11:32 AM 6/23/08 | UNBLOG








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