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November 28, 2005

An early morning drive through Paris

Sounds romantic, doesn't it? A leisurely trip along the mostly deserted boulevards of Paris, enjoying that incredible morning light and the beauty of the city before it fills up with all of the traffic and craziness of the day ahead? Well, maybe not all of the craziness...

Check out this amazing film, shot with a camera attached to the front bumper of a Ferrari driven by someone very, very skilled (if not very wise, socially responsible, or concerned with self preservation). The French text at the beginning makes the claim that the movie was created without cutting or speeding up the film.

(From Lynn Cherny, who got it from Steve Crandall, who got it from "Jeff".)

Update: This film is actually pretty well known among a certain subculture. It was apparently made in the late 1970s (some say 1976, others 1977, still others 1978) with a gyro-mounted camera on the bumper, fairly new technology at the time. The web is, as usual, full of wonderful bits of information about the film, as well as cute hacks related to it. My favorite two so far are this detailed speed analysis, showing a top speed during the film of a staggering 136.7 mph, and this lash-up with Google Maps showing the precise route taken. You can even buy the film on DVD.

November 11, 2005

Careful what you search for: it might find you

Robert Petrick is on trial in North Carolina, charged with murdering his wife and dumping her body in nearby Falls Lake. Prosecutors recently entered into evidence information about Google searches performed by Petrick days before he reported his wife missing. The searches included the keywords "neck", "snap", "break", and "hold". Other searches concerned lake levels, water currents, and boat ramp locations around the lake.

Oops.

(From WRAL.com, via the News.com Google blog.)

November 07, 2005

Hitler defeated!

I just about died this afternoon when Hans showed this to me:


rps-hitler.jpg

And while we're on the subject, I assume you're familiar with the World Rock Paper Scissors Society? Truly inspired.

Why sumo is better than karate

From an entry on Kaja Foglio's blog, Diary of a Cartoon Girl, comes this tiny gem of a movie:




Anybody want to tell me what the Chinese subtitles say?

Pay Attention in Class!

Last December, 10-year-old English schoolgirl Tilly Smith was vacationing in Phuket, Thailand with her parents. While walking on the beach with her mother one day, she noticed some bubbling at the edge of the water and that the waves were coming in without going out again. She immediately recognized these signs from the lessons in her geography class at school just weeks earlier: a tsunami was on its way!

It took a bit of work to convince her parents, but then Tilly's warning was spread to over 100 people on the beach that day, all of whose lives were spared thanks to her impressive perspicacity and pluck. Very cool.

(Link: AP wire story by way of Cecilia's Blog.)