I wanna be an Assyriologists when I grow up:
"The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) represents the efforts of
an international group of Assyriologists, museum curators and historians of
science to make available through the internet the form and content of
cuneiform tablets dating from the beginning of writing, ca. 3200 B.C., until
the end of the third millennium. Despite the 150 years since the
decipherment of cuneiform, and the 100 years since Sumerian documents of the
3rd millennium B.C. from southern Babylonia were first published, such basic
research tools as a reliable paleography charting the graphic development of
cuneiform, and a lexical and grammatical glossary of the approximately
120,000 texts inscribed during this period of early state formation, remain
unavailable even to specialists, not to mention scholars from other
disciplines to whom these earliest sources on social development represent
an extraordinary hidden treasure." Link
Discuss (via Slashdot by way of the American Dialect Society List)
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 10:44:06 AM | permalink
Deep Geekly Fun on TLC If you missed any of the Junkyard Wars episodes this season, they will be re-broadcast this Sunday starting at 8pm et/pt. The finals begin next Wednesday night at 9pm. If you haven't seen my interview with Cathy Rogers of Junkyard Wars on Street Tech, check it out. Also: if you missed last night's Robocritters episode of Science Frontiers, you should try to catch it in re-runs. It includes some very cool footage of BEAM bots, robo-snakes, the robo-tuna, and other bots built upon biological inspirations. Interviews with Mark Tilden, Kevin Warwick, the folks at I.S. Robotics, and many other usual suspects in this field. Link Discuss
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 10:23:10 AM | permalink
There seems to be a bunch of robot toys coming out for the holiday season. We've been testing some of them here at Street Tech Labs (tough gig). So far, we haven't been very impressed with what we've seen. Most are more toy than robot, and even as toys, they have very short play lives. Jaxx Pacific is releasing all sorts of toys based on the Battlebots show. Of these, we like the Battle Bashers, little plastic models of the bots that cost about six bucks and make wonderful monitor pets. Jaxx also makes a high-end line of metal model kits that are pretty cool and fun to assemble. Tiger Electronics has a surprisingly low-cost line ($25 ea) of remote controlled Battlebots that have interchangable parts. The toy we were most excited about, but are rather disappointed with after testing, is the B.I.O. Bugs line from Hasbro. These are based on Mark Tilden's innovative B.E.A.M. robotics designs and his analog-based "nervous net" technology. As a first-gen effort, the Bugs show some promise, but they are ultimately too limited and TOO FREAKIN' LOUD to be worth the $40 price tag. Look for full reviews of all these bots on Street Tech in a few weeks. Link Discuss
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 10:58:24 AM | permalink
Everything You Know is Wrong: Fans of Firesign Theater will want to keep their third eyes peeled for "Weirdly Cool," the comedy group's PBS special which will be broadcast sometime in late November/early December. Check their website for the showtimes in your area. Celebrating their 35th anniversary, the re-united troupe will be performing their greatest bits such as "How Can You Be In Two Places at Once When
You're Nowhere At All?," "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The
Pliers," and their fabulous stoner send-up of Raymond Chandler: "Nick Danger, Third Eye" ("I was sitting in my office reading the back of my door: 'regnaD kciN'") The boys will also be participating in PBS's fundraising efforts, so that should be interesting. Link Discuss
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 10:08:19 AM | permalink
Kids say the darndest things: Pop culture fridge magnet magnates Ata-Boy have a wonderfully inappropriate new line of double-take magnet designs based on the Dick and Jane characters of yesteryear. While you may remember "See Spot Run" and "Sally has a new bike!" from the old Dick and Jane Readers, today's kids have different things on their minds. "'Look, look,' said Sally. 'Look where I'm pierced'" says one magnet, as Sally begins to lift her jumper while Dick, Jane and Spot look on in wonderment. Another shows Jane handing Johnny a freshly-rolled spliff with the caption: "Johnny likes skinny girls, but he never turns down a fattie." There are plenty more mags with all sorts of drinking, drugging, pimping, piercing and other grown-up vices in the mouths of babes. The magnets are $1.85 each. Link Discuss
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 3:48:20 PM | permalink
If you haven't downloaded Robot Bastard! yet, you must. It's a very fun low-budget animated/live action short chalk full of Buck Rogers goodness: disturbingly phallic spaceships, blockheaded robots, legions of evil dudes, a babe in a school girl uniform -- oh and lots of gunfights in spaceship corridors. What's not to love? Link
Discuss Thanks to Winkler
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 11:34:27 AM | permalink
ATTENTION RIPPEROLOGISTS: After you watch From Hell, the new Hughes Bros. film based on the amazing Alan Moore comic, check out the Ripper Casebook for the best collection of evidence and speculation on the Whitechapel murders of 1888. Link Discuss Thanks to Bruce Dykes
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 10:37:47 AM | permalink
The Powerpuff Girls, those adorable Keane-eyed crimefighters we all love, may need to keep those bulging eyes fixed more closely on their own backyard. A DVD of episodes of the cartoon shipped with a copy of the Funlove Virus lurking within. The virus won't affect DVD decks, but may cause Windows PCs to crash more often (that's hard to imagine) if users install the apps for creating the Girls' screensavers, wallpaper, etc.
Link Discuss Thanks to Jordan
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 3:40:53 PM | permalink
There's the Hamster Dance page for the oil-on-velvet set, but what do deep geeks do for stultifyingly mindless Web entertainment? Watch the Prime Number Shitting Bear do its business, of course.
Link Discuss Thanks to Jordan Running
posted by Gareth Branwyn at 3:30:49 PM | permalink
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