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#observationdeck
General conversation for readers of io9. Talk amongst yourselves!
San Francisco, 9:12 PM
Sun Dec 27
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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05:33 PM
How to permanently capture a lightning bolt into an acrylic sculpture. Make sure to watch the videos to see the process while it's happening and also check out some of the other pages, which have lots of extremely interesting information.
[www.CapturedLightning.com]
#tips #madscience #lightning #observationdeck
05:53 PM
#tips
06:13 PM
[www.CapturedLightning.com]
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06:25 PM
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12/25/09
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12/26/09
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12/26/09
Cash.
A chance to brew some beer at home.
A boat ride onto the sunny Pacific, and I got to drive the boat.
Chinese food for dinner.
Lots of alcohol.
& 1 pre-order for Mass Effect 2. Woo!
#observationdeck
12/26/09
Unseen Academicals
Snowshoes
A bread maker
Stargate Atlantis on DVD
These: [www.entertainmentearth.com]
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12/26/09
I love holidays.
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02:22 AM
I tried to watch season 1 of 24 with my lady, and I couldn't get past the first few eps. It's funny how much things have changed in television in the relatively short time between then and now, but the plodding pace was really off-putting. Besides that, most of the deaths that happened in those eps I watched seemed more like a cheap WTF-just-happened plot trick then legitimate event, and that is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Criminal Minds is next on my viewing slate, as the first few discs of season 1 should be arriving in their red envelopes tomorrow.
Oh, and I got a sweet Nikon D5000 with standard and zoom lenses. Been chasing the cat around the house like a kitty paparazzi all day, while exploring the wonderful world of focal lengths and F Stops.
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04:14 PM
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12/25/09
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12/24/09
12/24/09
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12/24/09
12/24/09
Cheers!
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12/24/09
I raise a toast to all of you. :)
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12/24/09
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12/24/09
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Cheerful Kwanzaa, Fabulous Festivius, Super Solstice, etc.
And a nice new year too.
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12/24/09
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12/23/09
Sifting through the pink comments is somewhat unnerving.
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
I also found it kind of hilarious that a lot of people commented under the assumption that the author was a guy.
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12/23/09
After wading through most of it I just couldn’t approve any of it after awhile. Got too bad. :(
I got that also, kinda laughed at that assumption being made.
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/24/09
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12/23/09
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12/22/09
He is super rad.
I hang out with Olympians and drink with extreme celebrities all day. I've met Tony Hawk, the Governator, Dave Chappele, Marlowe from the Wire, The main guy from the 4400, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alicia Silverstone, James Hetfield.... tons of famous people in my line of work, and only today have I been starstruck.
I say again, Patrick Stewart is awesome.
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/22/09
I just finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaimen. I know there's a TV series/miniseries-ish thing that goes alone with it. My question is: is it any good? I really enjoyed the book, is it worth trying to track down a copy of it to watch?
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12/22/09
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12/22/09
I think "good" is a relative term. It's fairly true to the tone of the story, but the effects are bloody awful. I actually enjoyed it more on my recorded-off-the-TV overly dark static-riddled VHS tapes than I did on the quite clear official DVD release I eventually bought, simply because not being able to see everything meant I couldn't see how bad the production values were. .
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/24/09
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12/22/09
But...
The 3d was annoying and not all that great, with the exception of one great scene, when the big bad colonel looks at his HUD mirror and sees the native girl coming at him. That really looked 3d-good.
And, for the love of the universe, it was the most expensive movie ticket I have ever paid in my entire life: 140 danish kroner, ie, 28 US dollars.
And because I saw it here in Denmark, the movie was subtitled, including the native talk. Since I don't speak danish, nor the native tongue of the movie, I had to guess what they were saying. At least it wasn't dubbed.
The story itself is a blatant mixture of Ferngully and Dances with Wolves, so it's totally derivative. Thumbs way down for that.
Also, as great and lavish as the visual effects were, the movie just didn't seem real enough for me.
Would I want to see it again? Certainly, but in 2d and without having to pay 28 dollars.
Overall, I enjoyed watching it, but it was nowhere as ground-breaking, story-wise, as other Cameron movies.
#observationdeck #avatar #avatarreview
12/23/09
The story itself is a blatant mixture of FernGully and Dances with Wolves, so it's totally derivative.
This is what I expect. Would I be dissapointed? (I've explained it as Dw/W + FG + blue cat people in 3D in the future!)
Edit for spelling...
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12/21/09
Which one is yours?
1. Ancient Cranky Crazy-Hair Guy
2. Middle-Aged Man w/ Beatles Hair
3. Distinguished Old Guy, Poofy Hair, Crazy Car
4. Sarcastic Tall White-Guy Afro w/ Scarf (and Jelly Babies)
5. Sensitive Blonde Guy w/ Celery
6. Some Other Curly-Top Blond Guy
7. Short Creepy Curly-Top w/ Umbrella
8. I swear there's one here somehwere... oh, right. Lantern-Jaw.
9. Tall Skinny & Mental w/ Black Leather Jacket
10. Hyperactive w/ Suit & Sneakers
11. Emo Doctor
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#DoctorWho
12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
But my doctor, the doctor I've grown most attached to is 10. I wasn't a huge fan of the series at 7, so I didn't really get into it until the reboot. Eccleston is just 0.0000001 inches behind Tennant. though for me.
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12/23/09
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12/19/09
#observationdeck #dollhouse #dollhouserecaps #dollhouserecap
What Did You Think Of Avatar?
By now a lot of you have seen Avatar - so what did you think? Did it live up to the hype? Were the blue people sexy? Did you like the 3D? More »12/18/09
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12/18/09
[news.bbc.co.uk]
#tips #observationdeck #volcano #science #ocean
12/18/09
Watched Avatar with the husband tonight. It was very pretty. Not very original, but very pretty. I adore the CGI work, not so much delight in the plot.
The whole thing was ok, as a whole; James Cameron can seriously tell a story, even if that story has been told a thousand times by half a hundred sci-fi writers before him. So, if you're going - you're not going to see anything in the story that you haven't seen before, but you're definitely going to like the shiny.
Anyone else laugh themselves sick when they named the MacGuffin?
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#avatar
12/17/09
I know this is probably a tough year for us all, but I imagine it is tougher for many more out there. I found a ton of older (2004-2007 era) Star Wars figures (still in boxes) that I had in storage. I donated them all, plus some YA sci-fi books.
Firefighters for SoCal local drive here: [www.calfund.org]
National drive by the Marines here: [www.toysfortots.org]
$10 could make a world of difference do an under priveleged child. Think of it as galactic Secret Santa. (Plus I bet local theme parks are giving free entrance for an unwrapped present of ≥$10 donation, so you'd be doing yourself a favor too.)
-Ruthless
(I hope it is OK with the io9 overlords to post this on the observation deck. I'll not "push" it beyond this one comment.)
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#christmas
#chanukah
#charity
12/23/09
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12/23/09
I also donated a bunch of stuff to a local food bank that my work sponsored this season; I should have put that link in there too. I couldn't find a national directory to link to either.
Donating certainly brightened up my holiday season. :D
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12/23/09
The charity site that I tell people about is
[www.heifer.org]
People can donate in other peoples names as a gift and help out people get the basics.
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/23/09
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12/24/09
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12/17/09
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12/23/09
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12/13/09
[www.thinkgeek.com]
[www.underground-toys.com]
[www.bathsheba.com]
[warehouse23.sjgames.com]
[scientificsonline.com]
[www.MerlinsBox.com]
[www.pillagedvillage.com]
[www.got-steam.com]
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#tips
12/14/09
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12/14/09
[www.motorcowboy.com]
Custom boots from Airwolf to Vader.
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12/14/09
I now find myself being tempted by the Capt. Mal boots.
And they're "Made to Your Measurements"! I could get them in my size!
Want so bad . . .
*edit: . . . but so expensive . . .
#tips
12/14/09
I need to find a long lost rich Aunt or something.
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12/16/09
Yeah, it's sort of a wish list of places I wish I'd win the lottery for.
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12/16/09
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