Pics: The Space Shuttle Enterprise Arrives at JFK

A friend of a friend of a friend (sounds like a fish story, doesn't it?) works at JFK and took some pictures of the Space Shuttle Enterprise this past Friday as it came in, as well as some shots on the tarmac.

Enjoy!

You know what you can do with your tweets? (NSFW)

One of the authors of this blog (i.e. not the one typing this right now) just said, "Social media is a toilet". And nothing illustrates this better, perhaps, than the creation of Shitter, which takes a Twitter feed of your choosing, prints out the tweets onto four rolls of toilet paper, and then mails it to you.

The tagline for Shitter is "Social media has never been so disposable". Enough said, I think.


Original source: Laughing Squid.

Cutest Queen Cover EVAR

The CHIVE calls this a "parenting win". I'm inclined to agree... a dad and his three kids singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in their car. Awesome.

Seattle Zombie Price-Break!

Attending the True Independent Film Festival in Seattle?

Are you a zombie?

Then get your tickets here for "A Little Bit Zombie",  put on your best brain covered outfit and have a great time! (In other words, dress as a zombie and get your tickets for 4 bucks.) Regular humans pay $8.00.

Boinghenge!

Artist Jeremy Deller has created a full-scale inflatable version of Stonehenge, which is presently on display at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art. Named Sacrilege, the inflatable installation is free for young and old alike to bounce around upon to their heart's content.

The piece is on display until May 7, after which it will go on tour through Britain, arriving in London in time for the Olympics. Just keep the javelins away from the thing, please!

Source: io9 - Thanks to @Red_Headed_Nerd for tweeting about this!

Set brain to stunned!

Thanks to the nice folks over at BoingBoing (one of my regular daily stops on the Interwebs), I saw this delightful creation: a working Star Trek phaser...

I think no more needs to be said, here... aside from I WANTS ONE.

War. War Never Changes.

I love the Fallout series, and courtesy of The CHIVE, here is your perfect desktop background!

Open your Vault Dweller's Survival Guide to page 1, please.

Can't you just feel yourself in the Vault right now, in your classroom ready to take the G.O.A.T.?  For the desktop appropriate size, and more excellent wallpapers, hit THIS.

One heck of an imagination!

This picture, found at The CHIVE, illustrates just how... imaginative some kids can be. For the love of all that is awesome, do not stifle this kind of imagination!

Source: The CHIVE

The book mules of Venezuela

Being able to read is a wonderful thing, but it's also something that many people take for granted, particularly when access to reading materials is so easy. Sure, there are mobile libraries for more rural areas, but what if you live somewhere that vehicles can't reach - like the foothills of the Andes in Venezuela?


Well, The University of Momboy is helping people in such remote communities with PROYECTO BIBLIOMULAS: using mules as bookmobiles. The hardy, stoic animals are able to navigate the treacherous terrain, and bring books to those people who had to do without. The project is proving to be a huge success, and both children and adults are feeling the benefit. In fact, Proyecto Bibliomulas is expanding, not only in terms of reach, but also in the types of services provided. The mules are being equipped with laptops and projectors, and there are plans to install wireless modems nearby, so the villagers will have Internet access.

One of the bibliomulas of the Andes, Venezuela.

It's reassuring to know that there are people who go the extra mile - and several hundred feet up - to reach out to those in need.


Sources: Boing Boing, BBC

Doctor Who's Sonic Screwdriver: Now a thing

Anyone who's a fan of the classic 1960s-2000s British sci-fi Doctor Who will know of the sonic screwdriver, a wondrous device capable of being anything from a lockpick to a Whovian equivalent of Star Trek's tricorder. It has served the Doctor (and presumably the other Gallifryeans - when they were still around) very well over his many incarnations.

And, of course, there have been countless fan-built - and commercially-built - replicas. But now, intrepid scientists* at Dundee University in the UK have created an ultrasound device - which, in the press release, they have actually called a sonic screwdriver - that uses a helical beam of ultrasound to turn objects.

Having a quick nose through the press release, I notice that the beam is made of up several helixes. If you've played Portal 2, the ultrasound beam would look probably look a bit like an Aperture Science Excursion Funnel - if you could see it.

The Aperture Science Excursion Funnel - what the sonic screwdriver beam might look like, if you could actually see the thing. (Picture credit: The Half-Life Wiki.)

But the boffins at Dundee Uni aren't doing it because they're fans of the show - this bad boy is a proof of concept which, the scientists say, could be applied to non-invasive ultrasound surgery, amongst other things.

I just hope the BBC doesn't sue for the use of the name. And... anyone building a TARDIS?


Story source: The Mary Sue, who got it from The Beat, who got it from the BBC. Now all we need is for another website to reference Sense Deprived as a source, and we're good to go!


---


* I have to admit that I've never heard of scientists who aren't intrepid, although given infinite diversity in infinite combinations, they must exist...

Someone doesn't GET steampunk...

One thing that really turns our crank (pun intended) here at Sense Deprivation is steampunk, and one of our favourite all-things-steampunk sites is the excellent Xerposa. Today, they tweeted about an article by Ricky Lee concerning Turn Me On, by David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj - although, oddly, the actual post is dated March 1. Anyway, Mr Lee does a highly impressive job of illustrating that, although the video for the song involves a lot of steampunk, whoever came up with the video's concept just doesn't get the culture. But rather than re-write Ricky's article here (and that rather defeats the object of this blog), I'll direct you instead to the article itself, as well as provide you with the video so you can see the thing before you read the biting critique.

LEGO Star Wars Organ

This is possibly one of the most amazing LEGO creations I've ever seen - and I've seen a few. As part of a German promotion for the 3D version of The Phantom Menace, a couple of professional LEGO builders (Builders of Sound) created a huge rotating drum featuring scenes from the movie. Oh, and that drum also happens to be linked to levers which play the Star Wars theme on an organ!

Of course, you can't get an idea of how it all works without a video, so here you go:

Thanks to Nerd Approved for bringing this to everyone's attention!

Fun-running + zombies = awesome

OK, so I'm not what you'd call a fit person, but this is an idea I could totally get behind... In the Philippines, organisers of a 5km race in the Laguna Province decided to spice things up by turning the race into a zombie-apocalypse chase!

I don't think the zombies in the chase were chained up, though. (Picture source: Reuters/Nacho  Doce)

You can find out more about the crazy race over at the original Reuters article.

All I Want Is Some SPACE, Man...

I don't know about you, but growing up, I thought when I hit this age (and I'm not telling, don't you know you shouldn't ask a lady her age?) that I would be living in a colony on the moon. Since the moon colony obviously hasn't happened, here are three places to help you (and me) get our space fixes.

1.   Kerbal Space Program: A game/space program simulator that allows you to assemble your own ships, attempt missions, and fly to the Mun (yes, MUN) and back. A work in progress, but cheap at 15 bucks.

Of course, watching the failures is also great fun.

2.   Orbiter Space Flight Simulator: Realistic and TOUGH, fly the space shuttle and rendezvous with the space station, perform Apollo and other historic missions, build your own craft. HOURS of fun here...and free!

3.   The Stardome: Courtesy of astronomy.com, the Stardome lets you explore the night sky that you can see from your actual location. This one is also at the bargain price of...well, FREE. Make sure you have the latest and greatest version of Java installed in order to use the Stardome.

ClydeFrog's Deviant Art

If you like the fractal we're using as a background, Twitter avatar, G+ profile and Facebook page, make sure and check here for more!

"Tunnels of Birds", ClydeFrog, 2006

ClydeFrog is my go-to person for fractals-his artwork graces my desktop and screensaver, and his newest pieces are done in Mandelbulb, which I'm going to be trying out myself as soon as my desktop is assembled.

"Heart of the Mothership", ClydeFrog, 2012

Thanks to ClydeFrog for allowing us the use of his lovely artwork!

Ain't that the truth...

(Source: https://plus.google.com/100801061924982065053/posts/K7Dts5zuuoD)

Welcome to Sense Deprivation!

Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome to Sense Deprivation - the place where the Internet's best, weirdest, grossest and cutest all rubs elbows, bang heads and touch each other in places where one shouldn't be touched. If we find it interesting - and our interests are pretty damn eclectic - there's a good chance that it'll end up being listed here, for your entertainment (and, of course, ours).

Who's this "we" of which you speak?

The "we" in question are:

• Kristal Crow, a lifetime nerd, gamer and self-styled Evil Genius who’s into science (especially Mad Science), steampunk, animals, music of almost every genre, and battle-yodelling. Kristal also writes a blog at The Crow and the Pitcher, and recently became addicted to Nutella.
• Mark Cooper, who for some reason feels the need to point out that he’s British. Mark likes many of the same things that Kristal does, as well as dice collecting, cookery, and abortive attempts at writing long-form fiction (the latter drives Kristal nuts). In addition to being a blogger (The Minecraft Scribe and The Digital Quill), his most nefarious act to date was introducing Kristal to the seductive lure of Nutella.

Oh. We both hate spiders.

How did Sense Deprivation come about?

We both have a passion for the Internet, and the weird and wonderful things which abound in its billions of web pages. Hardly a day goes by without one of us finding something which tickles our fancy, and we just have to pass it on to the other one. Kristal, however, was getting a little sick and tired of Mark ninja-tweeting stuff she’d found. But rather than take the obvious route of electrifying Mark’s chair and controlling the shocks through the Internet, we made a less painful compromise: a shared account whereby either one of us could post the stuff we found. Kristal’s keeping chair-electrification as a backup idea, though.

As for the name... Well, we often chat about this, that and the other, and one night, we were talking about Richard Feynman and his experiences with sensory deprivation. From there, we got to riffing, and ended up with the name Sense Deprivation (although Mark keeps typing it as Derpivation). {Most people that know us think we've been deprived of all sense in the first place. -K} Pick up the inspiration, physicist Richard Feynman's book “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” here.

How can you get hold of us?

If you have a problem, and no one else will help, maybe you can hire -- no, wait, that’s not it. You can find Sense Deprivation at the usual social-media hangouts:

Twitter: @SenseDeprived (“SenseDeprivation” is one character too long!)
Blogger: http://sensedeprivation.blogspot.com
Google+: Sense Deprivation
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sense-Deprivation/391759657511125
Email: You can also reach us via our GMail.com email address - just stick “sensedeprivation” before the @ sign, and you’re good to go :)