Here’s the post by post breakdown of the Beginners Guide to Taking Over the World series. No doubt you didn’t really enjoy it first time round because it was very long winded. If you did enjoy it you’ll be glad to know that I’ll be regurgitating another piece of creative writing from uni in digest form starting later this week – the Self Help Guide to Writing Self Help Books.
Zapper mystery zapped
I’ve always wondered how the Nintendo Zapper worked. I was a big fan of Duck Hunt as a child.
We are living in the era of the wii – remotes with in built motion sensors with signals picked up by special peripherals near the TV. But in 1984 (the actual year – not the Orwellian future) these were the things dreams were made of – the 1984 type of dreams (the Orwellian future – not the actual year). 1984 was the year Duck Hunt was released.
Anyway, the Zapper apparently worked like this:
When you shot at one of the ducks in Duck Hunt, the screen would flash for a split second, and the duck would either plummet to Earth like a fallen angel, or continue flying around, oblivious to your vain attempts to destroy it. I always just assumed that the flash was for dramatic effect, but it turns out that it was the key to the Nintendo Zapper’s closely guarded secrets.
Instead of emitting an infrared blast every time the trigger is pulled, the Zapper housed a small sensor that could pick up the flashing screen. If you watched closely you would see that, every time the screen flashed, the duck(s) would be surrounded by a box that was a different color than the background. If the Zapper was pointed at one of the ducks when the trigger was pulled, it would register that the color was different, and thus score a hit. All of this would take place so quickly that, unless you knew what to look for, you would never notice.
Card carrying professionals
Business cards are one of the unsung heroes of the economy – for networking to bear fruit the people you meet have to keep and remember your business card – so it’s worth making them memorable. Here are 10 Business of my favourite business card designs from around the web. TrendHunter has a list of 26 but their design is clunky and requires a lot of clicking around. Others come from this Toxel collection.
- Pop Up Business Cards
These will make you stand out from the pack. Literally. They’re from a graphic design studio.
- Cardapult – a business card that converts into a catapult – from a mechanical engineer. There’s a video of it in action here. And instructions for how to make your own here.
- Minifig yourself – I’ve posted this one before – but it’s worthy of a rerun – if you work for Lego you get your own lego figurine business cards, they even customise them to look like you.
- The lock pick kit – perfect for locksmiths – produced for a “hacker” – this little card contains a working lock pick set.
- Google Me card – I’ve featured this one before too – from Ji Lee – it’s for the techno savvy entrepreneur who religiously maintains their web reputation – you would have to check pretty regularly that you haven’t been superseded by a triathlete, singer, criminal or football player.
- The auto dialing business card – Tom Ward created a business card that uses electronic signals to cause your phone to dial his number. Sound clever? Want to find out how he did it? Here you go (or as a PDF).
- Money – A significantly devalued currency opens up the possibility of using money to make money – a Zimbabwean hunter did just that – using bank notes as business cards. Talk about a silver lining. But there’s a cloud too – he had to pay a fine or serve a jail term for defacing currency.
- Smashed plates – if you run a traditional Greek restaurant and want to put your smashed plates to good use – try this:
- Or if you’re a debt collector with a penchant for breaking limbs… you could try this:
- Encourage a growing business – this designer wanted to leave an impression so went out on a limb to produce this growth model:
Twistered towel
Admit it – you’ve always wanted to play twister at the beach. Sand is the perfect surface for contortion induced falls.
Now you can engage in your favourite floor game with these functional game mats that double as a comfy towel.
They’re not so good for 3D twister – because beaches don’t have walls. For those not in the know – 3D Twister involves 3 mats in the corner of a room with two fixed to the walls. It’s a whole new dimension of Twister fun.
Biscuitsicles
That heading is not a typo. It is a reference to possibly the newest, greatest, craze about to be launched on the culinary world – biscuits on a stick. Made possible by this great little invention.
Busy beaver
I didn’t do much posting over the weekend. I was busy. As busy as a beaver. But not as busy “posting” as this guy. Who takes the beaver thing a bit literally for my liking. Found here.
Posts you might have missed
Too many posts to handle? Here’s a quick list of the posts you might have missed this week:
- 10 stupid USB Devices
Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 in OdditiesYou can put a USB connection on just about anything – even an amputated finger – and there are so many USB devices around that the “universal” is becoming a literal description rather than an indication of ubiquity. Here’s ten USB devices that should never have been made. Let alone sold.And where to buy them. Dance Dance Devolution Air conditioned neck tie The ChatterBot – this one needs describing.WowWee™ Chatterbots are fantastically fun animated computer accessories to have on your desktop.
- Dead set legend?
Posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 in ChurchI mentioned the ABC radio’s unique take on the stats released by the Centre for Public Christianity yesterday. Dan has helpfully shared a link to the ABC Radio transcript of the story I was listening to on the world today.The reaction to the statistics has been somewhat amusing. On the one hand 55% of the “non born again” community don’t believe in the resurrection. Which should be comforting to atheists, Muslims and the liberal church.The Uniting Church in New South Wales was one of the first organisations to put its own spin on the findings – claiming most of the 45% of (non “born again”) people who believe in the resurrection only believe it in a metaphorical sense.
- Feeding the masses
Posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 in LifeWow. Today I have 43 feed subscribers. This number fluctuates pretty dramatically. If you’re not a subscriber then maybe you should be if you don’t have a feed reader – try Google Reader on for size. If you are a feed reader then maybe you should stop by the actual page sometime to see what’s happening in the comments. Anyway, these are largely irrelevant observations tangential to the main purpose of this particular post. I’m trying out FriendFeed today – it’s a social networking aggregator/platform/rival to Facebook or Twitter.
- Humility 2.0
Posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 in ChurchI sometimes wonder why some people I respect in real life, and who show all the hallmarks of humility have such arrogant online profiles or personal webpages. I won’t link to them – but as a general rule they’re as good as they say they are. It just seems a little arrogant to claim to be as good as you are – though I was accused recently of being a typical Australian with tall poppy tendencies – so maybe that’s it.
- Presumed innocent
Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 in CultureOur legal system is built on the presumption of innocence. Things would be pretty messy if we changed things around – we’d have to lock up everybody facing criminal charges – and then who would handle our baggage at the airport or stimulate the economy by buying motorbikes and parts… It’s a central principle of life in a liberal democracy. And yet it is thrown completely out the window in one social occasion – the transaction that takes place when a man buys flowers from any retailer.
- Protect and serve?
Posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 in CoffeeDiscussion is ongoing on yesterday’s post about protectionism and misguided “buy local” campaigns. I didn’t mention the “sustainability” side of that debate – which is probably valid. It doesn’t make sense for major grocery stores to ship produce from North Queensland to warehouses in Victoria then back to North Queensland for sale – at that point I will join the brotherhood of sustainability and cry foul (fowl if we’re talking about chickens…). I didn’t mention it because it’s not the problem I have with “buy local” campaigns – which is that they don’t do what they claim to do, namely “protect local jobs”.
- Protect us from ourselves
Posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 in PoliticsI got this email today, from a colleague.”Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock ( MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6am . While his coffeepot ( MADE IN CHINA ) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG ). He put on a dress shirt ( MADE IN SRI LANKA ), designer jeans ( MADE IN SINGAPORE ) and tennis shoes ( MADE IN KOREA ). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet ( MADE IN INDIA ) he sat down with his calculator ( MADE IN MEXICO ) to see how much he could spend today.
- Protectionism: A guest post
Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 in PoliticsI often preface my posts on economics by saying “I’m not an economist” – I also often have discussions with my friend Ben – who is an economist – and based on his uni results and work history, a good one, before posting things. Today, rather than rehashing his comments on protectionism and the economics involved I’ll just reproduce them verbatim. _______________________________________Okay, you have a bunch of people working in for an Australian company in Australia.
- Segway 2.0
Posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 in OdditiesWhat do you get when you cross a Segway with a smart car? A Puma apparently. The world has gone bonkers over this new announcement – and given my previous fixation with the gyroscopic transporter I couldn’t let this slide…Here it is in action. It’s like a golf buggy. Only crapper. If you’re reading this in the sidebar you may have to click the link through to the post for the video.
- Shirt of the Day: Camera phone
Posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 in OdditiesIt’s nice when online T-Shirt vendors like SnorgTees keep up with modern pop culture references – like Flight of the Conchords songs.Also cool, and also from SnorgTees is this ninja shirt.
Why not subscribe to the RSS feed so that you don’t miss a beat. Or a post
A bunch of links – April 12, 2009
- Yard Sale Treasure Map Plots Out Your Weekend Plundering [Sales]
- Top 10 Must-Have Firefox Extensions, 2009 Edition [Lifehacker Top 10]
Hallelujah – what Craig and I have been doing manually for years has now been beautifully automated. brbrAwesomeness.
Colbert v Biblical contradictions
Stephen Colbert is a most fantastic interviewer – if you want the interviewee to feel particularly awkward. On Thursday he took on Bert Ehrman – who is pushing a new book about contradictions in the bible…
Colbert, a practicing Catholic, rips him apart. A bit. It’s interesting viewing.
Commitment
John Safran had himself nailed to a cross yesterday. Apparently.
The man is nothing if not committed to his quest to understand religions of all colours (and creeds).
Father Bob – his radio offsider on JJJ – described it as an attempt to understand religion at a forensic level…
“For him, religion is the heart of the cosmos.
“If he did do it, it would have been for a forensic investigation of religious practices.”
An AFP report from Manila said the Australian, who was half-naked and wearing a long-haired wig with an improvised crown of thorns, joined Filipinos in a procession carrying a huge wooden cross to a crucifixion site.
He could be heard moaning loudly as the nails were driven into his palms and as his cross was hoisted up, allowing him to hang for about five minutes.
When he was taken down, he was rushed by men dressed as centurions to a medical tent for treatment. “
Get in the game
With these wall stickers priced at $74.99 you’ll be racing around the house picking up all the lose change as quickly as you can. Just don’t bash your head against bricks or lights in the process – and make sure flowers aren’t poisonous before ingesting.
Please take one
Celebrating ads in bus shelters is easy – but what about ads that people put up illegally on walls and legally on notice boards? The tear off ad is time honoured, and tried and true.
Here are two that I like.
From Flickr.
The Beginners Guide to Taking Over the World – Appendix
Appendix A – World Map
Appendix B – List of insignificant countries (or landmasses)
- Tasmania
- New Zealand
- Micronesia
- American Samoa
- Fiji
- Alaska
- Siberia
- Greenland
- Poland
- Victoria
- Timor
- Switzerland
- Texas
- Alabama
- Wales
- France
- Ecuador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Nauru
- Christmas Islands
- Norfolk Island
- Ireland
- Scotland
- England
- Norway
- Sweden
- Finland
- Democratic Republic of Congo