Most people don't believe urine cures athlete's foot. A few people do, although those few people include Madonna (which I think ends up working better for the non-pee side). But no one has ever espoused the theory, that I know of, that urine somehow helps soften and/or shine up dry and scaly foot flesh... until now. Because now the Japanese have created the FootPee! Pack. Basically, these are two foot-bags that you can pee into, and then stick your feet into. So they soak in pee. Your pee. Which might help them in some way. Also, some kind of lotion is involved, but frankly, I'm horrified enough that I don't need to know any more. "Easy & Surprise" indeed. (Via Tokyo Times)
Fuck Mr. Coffee. Fuck him right in his boxy, non-mobile ass. Oh, that's right -- he's not even an anthropomorph, so he has no ass to kick! I guess that's just another way this semi-adorable yet genuinely creepy robo-maid is better than Mr. Coffee, because in addition to grabbing filter, grinding the beans, scooping the coffee, adding the water and pouring a cup of joew, she also has a tiny robot ass. So there.
Before you all go screaming "Skynet," this is a robot made by an enthusiast who calls himself Clockwork, so it's not for general consumption. Plus, if you watch the entire video, you'll see that the robot needs to be placed pretty exactly to perform most of her tasks as well as have hot water handed to her, so it's not like someone just hit the "Make me a cup of coffee" button and she did her thing. Still, it's crazy and unsettling and Japanese, and that's all I need to know. Thanks to the beguiling Melody V for the tip. (Via GeekAlerts)
Most of you folks probably know it better as conveyor belt sushi -- those restaurant which put the sushi on little plates, and then put the little plates on a conveyor belt which travels around the restaurant, allowing patrons to simply pick what they want. They're awesome, and there are a few in America, which is nice.
But we do not have this restaurant, which is fucking amazing even if you don't like raw fish (for the record I enjoy raw fish and friend fish, and almost nothing in-between, which I think marks a serious character deficiency). First of all, sensors on the plate keep track of how long each plate has been on the belt, and automatically disposes of them when they've lost their freshness. Second, you can also order specific sushi straight from the computer at your booth. Last and certainly not least, you dispose of your plates at a slot right at the table -- which automatically tallies your bill -- but the extra cool part is that for every five plates you put in, you get to play the slot machine/capsule toy thingie at the table and have the chance to win prizes!
Now I desperately want sushi for lunch, but the only seafood place even close is a Long John Silver's.
Japan won't be taking over America anytime soon -- not if Carlos Owens has anything to say about it. The Alaskan is building his own giant mecha in his home in Wasilla, probably not in response to Japan's recent unveiling of their massive Gundam in Odaiba, since he started it in 2004. But when that Gundam lands in San Francisco with beam sabers in hand, Owens' robot might be all we've got standing between us and eating ramen every night for dinner. Which is why it's kind of a shame that Owens' mech is only 18-feet tall, since the Gundam is 60-feet tall. On the other hand, Owens' mecha can actually move its arms and bend its knees thanks to an intricate series of cables and hydralic cylinders, while the Gundam can only move it head a little (FOR NOW). God speed, Mr. Owens. And if you're looking for a name for your mecha, might I suggest Maxter? I also think a big footbal helmet would be a nice look... Thanks to the glorious Glorious Cheese for the tip; see more pics here.
You're looking at a Dungeons & Dragons dungeon map, created by Photoshop and projected onto a flat surface by a laptop. If you check out the detailed description over at Pen, Paper & Pixel, you'll discover that the program can be used to reveal only what the players can see (very useful when they're in the dark holding torches) and can even reveal traps... after they've been sprung on your hapless adventurers. It's damn impressive, if you ask me. Thanks to Yahaboobay for the tip. (Via Engadget)
Digital RPG dice -- i.e., two LED displays that can be set to any die scale, and then "rolled" (thanks to an accelerometer) to produce a random result. Obviously, this bad boy would surely have made this list, had we known about it earlier. Thanks to Wolfe for the tip. (Via Gizmodo)
This video is old, but it's new to me, and it's so tremendously awesome that I'm giving it a free pass anyways. The science required to program one Tesla coil to play the Super Mario Bros. theme song is insane, but programming another Tesla coil to play the bass line and be synced up perfectly the entire time? That's the shit that's indistinguishable from magic, people. Thanks to Rick Duncan for the tip.
Watch. Learn. Cower in fear that these penguins don't just swim, they fly. And then someone needs to get to work on making some robotic fish as soon as humanly fucking possible, or we're all dead men. (Via Geekologie)
Yes, someone made a robot specifically to grope human breasts. As if there weren't enough volunteers for the job. But it turns out scientists were hoping to discover breast cancer earlier, and not just more efficiently cop a feel. From Duke Engineering News:
For their experiments, the [Dule bio-]engineers started with a rudimentary tabletop robot whose "eyes" used a novel 3-D ultrasound technology developed at Duke. An artificial intelligence program served as the robot's "brain" by taking the real-time 3-D information, processing it, and giving the robot specific commands to perform. Since the researchers achieved positive results using a rudimentary robot and a basic artificial intelligence program, they are encouraged that simple and reasonably safe procedures will become routine in the near future as robot and artificial intelligence technology improves.
"The technology behind robotic surgery has grown dramatically, as evidenced by the Da Vinci robot system, which is widely used in U.S. hospitals," [director Stephen] Smith said. "The same is true of artificial intelligence, which was unknown 20 years ago, and is now the standard in screening pathology samples.
"Based on the results we've seen in our laboratory, I am confident that within five to ten years, robots will be performing routine breast biopsies," Smith said.
As Topless Robot, I'm not sure how I should feel about this technology. Impressed? Outraged? Jealous? Aroused? Maybe all of the above? Thanks to Dukie1993 for the tip.
I'm cheating unbelievably with today's installment of STJT, because the Toto Washlet is in fact available in America. Right now. You can go buy one. But you haven't and you won't, and that's why I'm pointing it out (and also because my buddy God Len of Japanator recently ranted on the same subject, and I totally agree with him, so now you have to hear my rant).
The Toto Washlet is basically a Japanese toilet. But it is also the next evolution of hygeniene, something virtually everyone in Japan enjoys, but for no reason at all, everyone in America thinks is insane. See, the Toto Washlet --and I'm dead serious here -- cleans you after you poop, thanks to a combination water sprayer and drier. It is painless, leaves no mess, and cleans you infinitely better than rubbing barely absorbant paper on your asshole.
Yeah, I know it sounds weird. But you don't wash your wands by rubbing a dry paper towel over them. You use soap and water. If you had shit on your hands, you'd use several million gallons of water to clean them. Yet your asshole gets no such treatment. Even if you're too freaked out my the idea of hands-free ass-cleaning, the Toto Washlet also has: a heated seat, a slow-dropping lid (it never clangs shut), a light inside so you can pee without turning the light on in the middle of the night, and an automatic air purifier which lessens both smells and sounds.
I've been to Japan several time in my nerd career, and my ass was never so clean as when I was in Tokyo. Admittedly, there was one instance where all the buttons were in Japanese and I couldn't figure out the stop button and got anally powerwashed for about 10 minutes straight. But that hasn't happened since. Well... not by accident.
Dr. Hideto Tomabechi has been studying sounds and their ability to mentally and emotionally change a person. He was hired by the Japanese police force to de-program members of the Aum Shunrikyo cult using his techniques after the 1995 sarin gas attacks. Now, he believes that sounds can physically change people, and has devised a test to see if his theory is true: Rock Melon. A cellphone ring tone, which, if a woman listens to it regularly...
...MAKES THEIR BREASTS BIGGER.
Of course. I'm not really sure if the good doctor has any other ideas for his theory, or if this is the whole plan -- it's pretty plausible he just wants to make the chests of his countrywomen bigger, which I think would get him crowned emperor by his fellow countrymen. Now, the video actually shows a trial subject getting tested; it's safe for work, but I don't want to spoil the incredible outcome. (Via Danny Choo)
Science fiction was born as the literature of ideas, but by the time it made it to TV and the movies, it had developed its own cliché ridden set of plot devices and crutches. Each era has its favorite cheap sci-fi and horror deus ex machine. Most of them seem plausible enough at first, but the more they are used - and the more the reality behind them becomes familiar in everyday life - the less believable they become. Unfortunately, it takes the geniuses behind our entertainment a little while to catch up. Therefore we've provided this overview of the most popular and overused science fiction memes, complete with some advice to writers, directors and producers about how to proceed with each.
For those of a certain age, the phrase "the year 2000" still sounds futuristic even though it was nine whole years ago (as usual, Conan O'Brien knows what he's talking about). But now that we've lived through almost an entire decade of the "Oughts," one can't help but wonder, "Where the fuck is the future?!" Certain technological developments should have occurred by this point in history and we are still waiting. Cars are still miserably earthbound. Fashion has not been whittled down to the one-piece jumpsuit. And rednecks and drifters still seem to be the only ones who are able to make extraterrestrial contact. Even though we live in an era of unprecedented gadget geekery, from iPods and iPhones to Xboxes and Fleshlights, today's so-called cutting edge devices don't come close to the promised innovations of science fiction's recent past. The "not too distant future" is now and these are the 7 inventions we should have had already.
Geeks of Doom picked up one of the (many) announcements I missed at NYCC, which is that Marvel will be doing motion comics on iTunes. This isn't particularly Earth-shaking, since DC's done pretty well with its Watchmen motion comics, but it got me thinking: isn't this how we'll all be reading comics in 20 years anyway?
Now, I'm not saying they'll all be motion comics with voice actors and stuff, nor old classics all tarted up. I just mean that given how tough print is for every kind of serialized product -- newspapers, magazines, whatever -- can comics really be that far behind? Does it make more sense for Marvel and DC and to just throw their comics up online each week, charge a couple of bucks for 'em, hopefully keep the advertisements, and save on all those printing costs?
Now, I have zero information on the state of the comic industry, so I really don't know how profitable the single issues are (I would guess they break even, with the real money being in trades). But my question to you is, would you buy comics if you they were only available online? If the only way to stay current with Spidey or Batman was to pay $2 to iTunes every few weeks, would you do it? Would you be happy about it? Would you quit? Would you follow the characters anywhere? Would you just wait for the trades? Do you even like reading comics online? One inquiring mind wants to know.
Science has brought us plenty of great things - cell phones, vaccines, easy cheese - but at it most extreme edges things get a little crazy - mad, even. And when science goes mad, bad things happen. While garden variety scientists are busy researching things like disease cures and new synthetic fabrics, their mad brethren are breaking the rules, chasing impossible dreams like making a better monster or even just pursuing noble goals through incredibly flaky means. The results of these mad science endeavors are pretty much always bad, but these are the worst disasters in mad science - the biggest, most dangerous and outright embarrassing results of the pursuit of knowledge, power and human-snake hybrids.
