Allen's Photos

Time Paradox caught on camera!

2008-11-04T23:27:00.000-08:00

Twenty-One Condom Ads You Never Saw Coming

2008-11-04T00:33:00.001-08:00

Anyone in the advertising industry will tell you that it’s more fun to create ads for some products as opposed to others. Dusting polish and toilet cleaners, for example, aren’t exactly clients that most creative types are jumping up and down to work with. Condoms, on the other hand, are. But because there’s so much potential to make easy, tasteless jokes, condom advertising requires a more delicate touch; great ads should make us think a little bit harder before rewarding us with the punch line. These twenty-one ads from around the world do just that—some in more subtle ways than others.

by: http://www.divinecaroline.com

Creative Photo Manipulations by LSD s.r.l.

2008-11-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

Today’s inspiration comes from LSD s.r.l., a great Italian photography and image manipulation studio.

The quality of the images they produce is exceptional and everyone in the design community should be familiar with their work.

photo by: http://www.toxel.com

The Incredible Jesuc Car: I'm Afraid Of Americans.

2008-11-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

log and review the bigger picture

Barack Obama, Man of Action!

2008-11-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

Sen. Barack Obama walks with daughter Sasha in Hyde Park to a Halloween party Friday evening.

photo by:http://www.chicagotribune.com

The 15 Worst Porno Ideas Possible

2008-11-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

We decided to challenge our readers to attempt the impossible: Come up with an idea for a porno so bad that even they wouldn't watch it.

Since we understand that this is no small task, we decided to pay the winner twice as much this week (of course, it didn't hurt that we were paying with Kevin Smith's money). As always, the winner is below, but first the runners up.

#15.

#14.

#13.
#12.
#11.

#10.
#9.
#8.
#7.
#6.
#5.
#4.
#3.
#2.

And the winner is...

Saddam Hussein’s body was stabbed in the back, says guard

2008-11-01T01:56:00.000-07:00

The body of Saddam Hussein was stabbed six times after he was executed, according to the head guard at the former president’s tomb north of Baghdad, who was one of the people that helped bury the corpse.

The claim is categorically denied by the head of Saddam’s tribe. The Iraqi Government similarly denies any mutilation took place after the dictator was hanged on December 30, 2006, for crimes against humanity.

Talal Misrab, 45, is the chief guard at Saddam’s tomb, housed in a large hall in al-Awja, a small village north of Baghdad, where the fallen dictator spent much of his childhood.

In an interview with The Times, he claimed: “There were six stab wounds on his body.” Mr Misrab alleged that four of the wounds were on the former president’s front and two on his back. He also said there was an injury to his face.

The guard alleged that 300 other people witnessed the injuries when the body was buried in the early hours of the morning, the day after Saddam was killed.

Another tribesman said he had been told by Sheikh Ali al-Neda, the former head of Saddam’s tribe, who has since also died, that the body had stab wounds.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s security advisor, denied the allegation.

“I oversaw the whole process from A-Z and Saddam Hussein’s body was not, not stabbed or mutilated and he was not humiliated before execution,” he said.

Sheikh Hasan al-Neda, who is now leader of Saddam’s tribe, also dismissed the suggestion that anyone had interfered with the corpse.

“I swear by God his body was totally intact except for a bruise on his cheek,” Mr al-Neda said. “When we received the body in Baghdad, we were told that they [the Iraqi authorities] washed and wrapped it according to Islamic traditions, but we still washed him again here in Tikrit.”

He continued: “My son Ahmed was there and he told a Saudi newspaper that the body was not mutilated in any way.”

The circumstances of Saddam’s death are not in dispute, however. His execution triggered international outrage after leaked video footage revealed that he was taunted by guards who chanted Shia Muslim slogans as the noose was placed around his neck on the gallows.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, told The Times last month that he regretted the way in which the sentence was carried out. He added: “Those who chanted were punished. There was no major violation apart from the chanting.”

DHS: Scour Blogs to Stop Bombs

2008-10-31T07:44:00.000-07:00

Could blogs be the key to building better bombs? The Department of Homeland Security is worried they just might. So DHS is looking for teams of geeks and social scientists to "gather data on a near real-time basis from blogs and message boards... in order to better counter the use of IEDs," or improvised explosive devices.

"As the use of the internet by terrorists has increased, blogging and message boards have played a substantial role in allowing communication among those who would do the United States harm," the agency adds, in a solicitation for contractors. That's why "it is necessary to identify speech acts in near to real-time which proceed the decision by terrorists to use an IED."

Military, security, and intelligence circles have grown increasingly worried about how would-be terrorists might use emerging tools. Everything from Twitter to World of Warcraft has earned a suspicious eye.

In contrast, the threat raised by DHS' "Counter-Improved Explosive Devices Blogging" project is relatively old. Jihadist groups have been using online forums and, yes, blogging software for years. Dozens of federal agencies and independent firms keep tabs on these sites, for potentially hazardous chatter. Which makes you wonder why is DHS is suddenly looking to get into the blog-spotting game, too.

The Department is promising to meet with potential contractors to explain "the types of information that needs to be collected from blogs and message boards (amount of discussion about IED technology, depth of discussion about IEDs, support for use of IEDs, etc.)."

From there, it'll be up to wannabe online monitors to build a plan for "developing objective, systematic data collection and retrieval techniques to gather data on a near real-time basis from blogs and message boards."

Data will be collected at multiple, pre-determined times to evaluate the transmission of information over time, and should include metrics for determining the impact factor and usage patterns of the blogs and message boards. 3) identifying blogs and message boards utilized or favored by groups that engage in violent or terrorist activity to include in the study. Blogs and message boards must be representative of various characteristics of the larger populations of interest. and 4) collecting quantitative and qualitative data from the bloggers to evaluate such issues relating to knowledge of the preparation and execution of violent activities, including IED attacks.

Barack Obama lays plans to deaden expectation after election victory

2008-10-31T01:24:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama has already started playing down expectations in his speeches

Barack Obama’s senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week’s election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harbouring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.

The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of “hope” and “change” are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy.

One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, “so there’s not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair”.

The aide said that Mr Obama himself was the first to realise that expectations risked being inflated.

In an interview with a Colorado radio station, Mr Obama appeared to be engaged already in expectation lowering. Asked about his goals for the first hundred days, he said he would need more time to tackle such big and costly issues as health care reform, global warming and Iraq. “The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference,” he said. He has also been reminding crowds in recent days how “hard” it will be to achieve his goals, and that it will take time.

“I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now,” Mr Obama told a rally in Sarasota, Florida, yesterday, citing “the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq”. Mr Obama’s transition team is headed by John Podesta, a Washington veteran and a former chief-of-staff to Bill Clinton. He has spent months overseeing a virtual Democratic government-in-exile to plan a smooth transition should Mr Obama emerge victorious next week. The plans are so far advanced that an Obama Cabinet has been largely decided upon, with the expectation that most of his senior appointments could be announced shortly after election day.

Yet Mr Obama and his aides are under no illusions about the size of the challenges the Democrat will inherit if he enters the Oval Office. Tom Daschle, the party’s former leader in the US Senate and a strong contender for the post of White House chief-of-staff in an Obama administration, said last month that the winner next week would have only a 50 per cent chance of winning a second term in 2012.

Not only will the next president take office with the country sliding into a potentially long recession — and mired in debt — but the challenges abroad are immense. There is an unfinished war in Iraq, a worsening situation in Afghanistan and an unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan to contend with. Iran appears intent on acquiring the bomb and there remains the ever-present threat from al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists.

If he wins, Mr Obama will inherit a Democratic-controlled Congress, and might even have the benefit of a 60-seat filibuster-proof “supermajority” in the Senate. Such a scenario would allow him to push through legislation largely unfettered by Republican opposition. Yet it also means that should the country still be mired in recession in three years’ time, voters — who have short memories — will probably blame him and the Democrats on Capitol Hill. Those stakes have led Mr Obama to conclude that while expectations need to be tempered, big things need to be achieved very early in his first term, when he will still have the political capital to achieve some of his most ambitious legislative goals.

Having promised “real” change, the pressure will be on him to deliver. In the Colorado interview, Mr Obama added: “The next president has got to come quickly out of the box.”

The early priorities being lined up if he takes power are a mixture of symbolism and substance. He plans to make a major address in a big Muslim country early in his first term. Having pledged on the campaign trail to close Guantanamo Bay, he is also determined to make early moves to rid America of the controversial prison. Yet what to do with the remaining inmates looms as an intractable problem, as many of their home governments refuse to allow them to return.

Mr Obama’s first legislative goals will be to follow through on his pledge to cut taxes for the middle class and raise them for the wealthiest Americans, and to push through a hugely expensive Bill to provide near-universal health insurance.

Careful, America...

2008-10-30T04:46:00.001-07:00

It was really just too obvious.

iPhone 3G vs iStone 40kBC

2008-10-30T04:43:00.001-07:00

Geek Culture

2008-10-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

20 marvels of modern engineering

2008-10-29T01:44:00.001-07:00

Technology is taking such rapid strides forward at such a blurring pace that what is considered a marvelous novelty turns into a mundane common object within no time. To classify and bunch a set of man-made marvels from a world that is being constantly altered is a pretty tough job. Finding them is easy enough in a world filled with man-made wonders but the relevance of such a compilation will be short-lived compared with a list from the ancient world. Yet we embark on a journey across the planet and beyond to try and find out the best the world has to offer—our own creations that leave us in awe. We limit ourselves to finding the biggest, tallest or the highest as otherwise we would probably never end the journey we began. It is a journey filled with variations and grand delights in a spectacular way. So, have a fun ride...

1. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider:

With an ability to change our understanding of the world around us and give us the reasons of our own existence, CERN’s LHC is for now the most spectacular and important technological marvel modern science has created. The particle accelerator is just a couple of days away from action, and the large construction 17 miles in circumference will surely make the coming two decades the most exciting for modern physicists. It’s truly amazing creation that could answer the questions about the creation and existence of this universe itself!

2. International Space Station (ISS):

It is one thing making wonders of engineering on earth and a whole different ballgame when you need to do it outside the planet in outer space. The International Space Station (ISS) is a research facility that is a joint project among the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Russia (RKA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and eleven European countries. When completed in 2010, it will be the largest and grandest human endeavor away from home, and to build such a massive structure in such dangerous conditions is one magnificent tribute to both human will and skill.

3. Three Gorges Dam:

Taking shape of the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world and that too by a long shot, the Three Gorges Dam in China is not just spectacular to watch but enormous in magnitude. Generating 22.5 GW of power it will supply energy amounting to 4% of China’s national needs. Creating a reservoir as large as Lake Superior, this dam will be good as a grand marvel of modern engineering by becoming the world’s largest concrete structure!

4. Petronas Twin Towers:

At 452 meters tall, the Petronas Twin Towers are magnificent and unique. While their familiarity seems at times to diminish their true aura, you only need to stand in front of the towers for one moment to realize the magnitude of the construction. For sheer intimidating height and the sophisticated look, they are a marvel of modern times.

5. Space Telescope Chandra:

Also known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, Chandra is an X-ray telescope orbiting the earth and sending back the most spectacular images of the cosmos that man has ever captured. The telescope moves in an orbit which makes it the furthest traveling earth-orbiting man-made object. The X-ray images offered by Chandra since its launch have redefined our notions of the cosmos and have given astronomy a whole new direction.

6. Palm Deira of Dubai:

Palm Deira is the latest of Dubai’s trilogy of man-made islands. This island will occupy all of 46.35 million square meters of land reclaimed from the Persian Gulf to make the Palm Deira the largest man-made island in the entire world. All set to be finished by the year 2013, the island will further alter the landscape of effervescent Dubai!

7. Viaduc de Millau Bridge:

Stretching higher than the Eiffel Tower, the Viaduc de Millau Bridge is a marvel of art and architecture that caught the eye of even flamboyant French President Jacques Chirac. Stretching across southern France’s Tarn River Gorge, it is 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) long and soaring to 1,132 feet (343 meters) at its highest point, it is the tallest bridge in the world. Built by the firm that also built the Eiffel Tower, its spectacular presence bowls over one and all!

8. Bird’s Nest:

The Bird’s Nest in the heart of Beijing needs little introduction to anyone, and it is one structure that has now become synonymous with the Olympic Games. Apart from its grand, yet unique design, the stadium is the world’s largest steel structure. No other man-made structure used up as much steel as the Olympic Stadium, with its intricate yet hypnotic design. That surely sets it apart in terms of being a one of a kind venue in the sporting world.

9. Burj-Al-Arab Hotel:

By now almost everyone knows about the Burj-Al-Arab, and if you have not heard of it or seen its picture till now, then welcome back to earth. The hotel stands at a height of 321 meters and is the tallest operational hotel in the world. While the Rosa Tower is set to soon take away that crown, it still will not diminish the unique aura of the Burj, with its unique shape and its own artificial island. This is one hotel where you can live it up in a grand style!

10. Kingda Ka Roller Coaster:

At a height of 456 feet, the Kingda Ka Roller Coaster is the tallest fun ride in the world. Located in the Six Flags Theme Park in New Jersey, the ride will take you into a different world and even before you know it, you will be plunging back towards earth at a speed of 128 mph. This heart-stopping and mind-numbing ride is not just the tallest in the world but also the most exhilarating. This is a modern marvel that is just for fun and adrenaline, and that makes it our personal favorite!

11. Rungnado May Day Stadium:

Located in Pyongyang, North Korea, the May Day stadium is the largest in the world and has seen some pretty big crowds. The May Day stadium has 150,000 seats and a total floor space of more than 207,000 square meters. The inner stadium floor area covers 25,000 square meters, including 14,000 square meters of which its athletic field is artificially made and 8,300 square meters of lawn. Vertical axis of stadium is 450 meters and horizontal axis 350 meters. Those are just a few numbers from this humongous stage for sporting extravaganza!

12. Akashi Kaikyo Suspension Bridge:

The Akashi Kaikyo Suspension Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world and is a spectacular visual delight. It apparently took 2 million workers 10 years to construct the bridge, 181,000 tons of steel and 1.4 million cubic meters of concrete. The four-mile bridge links the island of Awaji and the mainland city of Kobe. This is probably one man-made marvel that even the Japanese are proud about and look at in awe!

13. Lake Mead:

Lake Mead is one of my own personal favorites not just because it is such a spectacular human creation among nature’s brilliant creations, but it also brings in the aura of the Hoover Dam into the list. When it was completed, the Hoover Dam was the largest concrete structure in the world, and also the largest power-producing entity. With time all that might have gone, but the artificial lake it creates among the gorgeous Grand Canyons—Lake Mead—is still the world’s largest man-made reservoir. Simply spectacular!

14. Project Genesis:

When finished in 2009, Royal Caribbean’s Project Genesis luxury cruise ship will be the largest cruise ship the world has ever known. This modern-day luxury-on-ocean will end up costing a cool $1.24 billion to make. It will measure 1,180 feet long and carry 5,400 passengers. When ready, the ship would have a central park, luxury hotels, restaurants, public spaces, picnic spots and bars. Yes, it is like a little city of its own!

15. Hangzhou Bay Bridge:

There is something about bridges that we just cannot get enough of. It is just the scientific knowledge and the engineering skill involved in building them that makes them stand out as technical pieces of art. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is the longest road bridge in the world and another Chinese marvel that made it to our list. The £840 million Bridge, measuring 36km, spans Hangzhou Bay to link China’s financial hub and the port city of Ningbo to the south. The fact that it is anchored in waters that are 60 meters deep in places and yet is so solid and spectacular makes it a feat of accomplishment indeed!

16. Channel Tunnel:

The Channel Tunnel, more popularly known as the Eurotunnel, is the longest under-sea rail tunnel in the world in terms of length of the tunnel under the sea. Connecting England and France, it starts out at Kent in England and finishes at Coquelles near Calais in northern France. Creating a bridge over water is hard enough but to plow under the sea to create a rail tunnel! This is one ride that you will never forget.

17. Singapore Flyer:

These big giant wheels that go round and round giving you a spectacular view of the city are so cool, and the one in London is obviously pretty famous. But there is plenty of hard work and engineering skill behind the apparent simplicity. The Singapore Flyer is the world’s largest Ferris wheel and reaches 42 stories high, it comprises of a 150-metre high wheel built over a three-story terminal building, thus giving it a total height of 165 meters. It not only gives you a view of Singapore in totality but parts of Malaysia and Indonesia as well... Awesome!

18. Pan STARRS-1:

Built at Manoa’s Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu at the University of Hawaii, the largest digital camera has been installed on the Pan STARRS-1 telescope on Haleskala, Maui. This digital wonder along with the telescope will form one of the most powerful observatories on the planet and will monitor the cosmos constantly.

19. MareNostrum:

It is not often that science and religion get along well, and that makes the MareNostrum all the more special. MareNostrum is the most powerful supercomputer in Europe and while Europe does not cover the world, it is the only one where you will find a church. The supercomputer consists of 2560 JS21 blade computing nodes, each with 2 dual-core IBM 64-bit PowerPC 970MP processors running at 2.3 GHz for 10240 CPUs. All this in a chapel, and the ironic part: it is used for human genome research!

20. San Alfonso Del Mar:

After taking a trip across the planet in search of the mind-boggling modern technological wonders, it is better everyone takes a cool dip on our final spot, and that is exactly why we reserved this one final spot for San Alfonso Del Mar in Chile. This amazing resort in the beautiful South American country sports the world’s largest swimming pool, and when I say large, I mean it. The San Alfonso pool is 1km in length and contains an incredible 250,000 cubic meters of water. The technology used to create the crystal clear water that is transparent to a depth of 35 meters is the real technological aspect of this pool, and an exclusive secret for now. The pool, spread over 8 hectares, is surely good enough for all those who came along on this fabulous journey!

This doesn't happen.

2008-10-28T20:40:00.001-07:00

I saw it ten goddamn times when i didn't need it

2008-10-28T20:04:00.001-07:00

Only in New York!

2008-10-28T01:36:00.001-07:00

Cool sunglasses give you super vision

2008-10-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Reader Billy May sent us these concept sketches for the Nike Hindsight, specially design biking glasses with specifically tuned Fresnel lenses for keeping an eye on approaching taxis/cars/baby strollers.
Writes Billy:
Nike Hindsight is, put simply, like giving bicyclists a pair of bifocals for their peripheral vision. By using Fresnel lenses on the sides of eye wear, riders can detect motion in a field of view beyond the normal human limit of 180º. To get technical, high power, diverging Fresnel zones aligned vertically distort into view an extra 25º of view on either side. In doing this, vision is radically distorted in the periphery, but as the eye detects only motion in that area, little clarity is lost in the process.

A rider’s clear benefit is in the early warning of approaching vehicles, but a less obvious advantage is reducing the necessary head rotation to check completely behind oneself. Moreover, while the project was directed towards bicycling for the sake of simplicity, there’s a myriad of sports and activities where a greater field of view becomes an advantage, so feel free to speculate.

Remember: Concept means these are not real - yet - but I would totally wear these if they were. Even riding through the mean streets of Bay Ridge is a frightening proposition as grannies and the habitually stupid try to pass me all the time on my bike.

Every Road Leads You Somewhere

2008-10-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

Every Road Leads You Somewhere

financial crisis

2008-10-14T02:08:00.000-07:00

Candidate Supporters' Use of Gadgets as Symbols Reveal Power of Brands

2008-10-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

A thread on the snarky website Fark recently produced a series of illustrations that compare the presidential candidates to one another through their perceived symbolic equals, including some of our favorite gadgets.

But a close look at the illustrations reveal that they are more than a just meaningless, amusing outgrowth of this crazy election. They suggest that people who demonstrate their enthusiasm toward the candidates in this way mirror the enthusiasm of gadget lovers, like Apple fanboys and their iPhone, in their personality traits, obsessions, and political leanings.

This isn't the first time that Internet culture has produced a buzz-worthy meme relating to this year's campaign. Earlier, rapper will.i.am created a popular YouTube video called Yes We Can, which played upon Sen. Barack Obama's theme of change. And everyone from Google CEO Eric Schmidt to online market intel company AdGooroo have declared that the internet (and its younger, tech-savvy partisan users) allowed the Illinois senator to bypass traditional media and claim the Democratic nomination. Recently, the Obama campaign released an iPhone app that helps followers recruit supporters.

UC Berkeley Public Policy professor Jack Glaser told Wired.com in an e-mail that people's feeling of powerlessness in the election process makes them resort "to all kinds of related (but inefficacious) activities." And it's especially true "when they pay close attention" like they are in this election, he said.

Most of the symbols depict Sen. Barack Obama as cutting edge, Sen. Joe Biden as wise, Sen. John McCain as old, and Gov. Sarah Palin as ditzy, and are created by people compelled to express their support.

Still, Glaser says, these are mostly funny "but not too deep."

Psychologist Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia thinks there's something more meaningful to this categorization-type of thinking. He suggests the "Obama equals something" illustrations that involve technology could indicate a trend that is tapping into the power of brands.

In an unpublished study by Project Implicit, a public research project where people explore their own biases and attitudes, Nosek reveals they've found that "liberals are more pro-Apple and conservatives more pro-Windows ... The same is true when the contrast is Open Source versus Microsoft."

For example, Apple's slogan "Think Different" is a decidedly unconventional and authority-challenging statement, according to Nosek. "Apple's brand emphasis on style, hip culture, creativity are all associations that liberals tend to find more attractive than conservatives, and this appeal appears to extend to implicit evaluations of the companies and brands." So it's not a huge stretch to say the same type of people would be equating Obama's barrier-busting candidacy to these same type of gadgets.

Then again, the apparent authority of Apple as a liberal mainstay doesn't always hold true. Famously conservative pundit and radio shock jock Rush Limbaugh is a huge Apple fan, as he noted earlier this year in one of his broadcasts.

All Project Implicit findings are made through the famed Implicit Association Test, which measures the "strength of automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory," and was famously profiled in the book Blink as a measure of racial attitudes.

But the makeup and general interest of the illustrations also suggest that they go beyond political associations, especially the ones featuring the iPhone and the browsers.

Sriram Natarajan, also with Project Implicit, says that if the creative interests of the people who posted these were measured, you'd find similar personality types.

For example, a Flickr user from New York named Andrea posted over 100 of the illustrations she liked best from the Fark site to her own photo page, in "a fit of boredom and amusement." A self-described "bleeding heart liberal," her favorite illustration is the one depicting Obama as the iPhone, Biden as a Blackberry, Palin as a toy phone, and McCain as a lost carrier pigeon.

Natarajan says Andrea's reason for posting these is likely due to her savvy understanding of tech culture, even more than just knowing how to upload Flickr pictures. She is likely a "creative individual" and "probably works in the tech industry and very much plugged into pop culture," he said. "It was probably intrinsically rewarding for her."   

Measuring these associations using the Implicit Association Test would be possible only if the people taking the test are familiar with the distinctions between the different gadgets, Natajaran said.

So just like many other internet memes that grow beyond their bounds, these images tell us more about the people creating them than about the content implicit in the original images. They also show that people’s election obsessions easily plug in to their already-established obsessions, observations, and inevitably, their wish fulfillment.

So when a gadget-happy tech insider sees Obama, they're likely to envision a multifaceted, high-tech device that will change their lives.

Let's just hope that if Obama wins, there are no 3G-type, cut-and-paste bumps in the road for his administration.