Boing Boing Thursday

This isn't (likely) going to be a weekly feature or anything. It's just something that I thought I would mess around with. Basically, I'm going to offer an observation or three about recent posts at boingboing.net since they are good at digging up the "news" and I'm not. Also I'm going to base my comments entirely on what they've presented without following any links because it's Thursday and I don't want to. I'll also provide quotes as well as links so you don't have to follow them either. If I'm not going to link hop, I'm not going to make you do it either. Unless you want to.

Starting with this: Corn plastic may not be as green as you might think

Quote: Wal-Mart’s (VP of private brands and product development Matt) Kistler says the company isn’t about to take back used PLA for composting. “We’re not in the business of collecting garbage,” he says. “How do we get states and municipalities to set up composting systems? That is the million-dollar question. It’s not our role to tell government what to do. There is money to be made in the recycling business. As we develop packaging that can be recycled and composted, the industry will be developed.”

That Wal-Mart. I love the Veeps reaction: “We’re not in the business of collecting garbage,” I can almost picture a sneer crossing his face at the mere thought of it. "GARBAGE?! FUCK YOU! We're WAL-MART, nut-tapper!"

Then he goes on to say "There is money to be made in the recycling business." Wow! Wal-Mart turning down an opportunity to make money? Can it be true? It's almost like he's borrowing a move from Tom Sawyer: "Garbage recycling can sure be profitable. Why I reckon a man with gumption and foresight could really rake in the dough. Heck, if we weren't tied up selling all of these products we'd be all over it! Oh well. SOMEONE'S sure going to make a fortune."

-

Next: Soy sauce made from human hair

Quote: The 'secret ingrediant' is amino acid syryp, a concoction consisting of 'human hair ... gathered from salon, barbershop and hospitals around the country' which is then filtered to remove unhygenic matarials such as '... condom, used hospital cottons, used menstrual cycle pad, used syringe ...'

Gah. GAH! So there you go kids. The next time you are in China, sitting down to nosh on some noodly nummies, give the sauce some thought.

-

Next: Trove of Bob Ross videos on YouTube

Quote: Sweet Fancy Moses, what a 'fro. It's something to which all great artists should aspire, I think.

Nothing bad to say about this. I never watched his show much but I do respect his work and style. While I don't think I could ever get a 'fro like Bob had, my hair does some amazing things when I leave it alone for awhile. I know that Heather and Derek's dad is getting into painting now and I think he might find the YouTube videos interesting.

-

Next: Dabbler - rate/recco/discuss videos, no matter where they're hosted

Quote: Dabble, a site that makes it possible to search, recommend, rate, discuss and be sociable about video hosted anywhere on the the net, has come out of private beta and launched for public use.

This sounds quite awesome to me although I can imagine that it's going to give members of the MPAA strokes. Unless they use it themselves to find new people to sue.

-

Next: Bandwidth of the eye

Quote: The researchers at the University of Pennsylvania came to that number by measuring spikes of electrical impulses from a (disembodied) guinea pig retina "looking" at movies of biological motion, like a salamander swimming.

And the opening credits of "Baywatch". Meanwhile, somewhere there's a one-eyed guinea pig bumping into stuff that has NO idea what he's missing.

-

Next: Better illegal foods

Quote: ... men 70-80 years old, on death’s doorstep anyway, would cease to eat food, instead partaking solely of honey. Pretty soon, they would be mellified, that is, “he excretes honey (the urine and feces are entirely honey).” Soon he dies and is placed in a honey-filled coffin which is then sealed for 100 years. At the end of the 100 years, the goop is eaten up.

Needs soy sauce.

-

Next: Tampon gun

Quote: Inspired by marshmallow shooters, this air-powered tampon gun turns your feminine hygiene products into high-flying projectiles.

I believe that we have now come full circle since, I'm reasonably sure, the first tampons were marshmallows.

Continued: The tampon shooter has a range of 10 to 20 feet depending on your ammo and lung capacity.

That's all well and good, but what about accuracy at those distances? And lung capacity? I don't know. This is sounding way more complicated than just letting her handle it herself.

Continued: The matching bandolier lets you carry a full “clip” (i.e., box) of 20 tampons...

I will give real, folding cash money to the tune of at least two American dollars for a photo of Derek wearing crossing tampon bandoliers and chomping on a cigar. I'll toss in an extra buck if it's taken in a little Cuban village.

-

Next: Boston installs solar compacting public trash-cans

Quote: They need emptying only once or twice a day, not the 15 or more sanitation worker visits required by some downtown trash cans. They don't spill. They smell less. And, they hold some 150 gallons of trash, about five times more than a standard city receptacle.

Any bets on when they'll first be used to dispose of a body?

-

Last: Monopoly replaces play-money with fake credit-cards

Quote: Players will instead use a Visa mock debit card to keep track of how much they win or lose. It is inserted into an electronic machine where the banker taps in cardholders' earnings and payments. Parker said replacing of cash with plastic showed the game was moving with the times.

Some of my fondest childhood Monopoly memories were of skimming money from the bank. I even remember us changing one of the cards to read "Rob the Bank! Quickly grab as much cash as you can and run for the front door! If you make it without being tackled you keep it! If not, go to jail!" Where's the fun in a card reader?

-

Well, wasn't that something? Have a great weekend all!