City Lights

Would you take me there last one more time
Tonight - under light
Would you be my friend for a while
Would you please pretend that you don't lie
Would you keep me warm if the sun won't shine
Tonight - under the city light
Would you be my guide if I am shy
Would you do me things that I don't mind
Would you give me ride that I can fly
Tonight - under light
Would you treat me right if I am kind
Would you like me more if I can smile
Would you set on tears if I start to cry
Would you take me there last one more time
Tonight - under light
Would you keep me warm if the sun won't shine
Tonight - under the city light

Summertime Cowboy

1. Focus your eyes just slightly above the camera lens, move your face forward a bit, and tip down your chin.
2. Put your tongue behind your teeth and smile, which will relax your face.
3. Keep your arms by your side—but not glued there. To look natural, they should be a little away from your body.

© 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation

4. Test-drive clothing against a white wall, with an indirect, natural light source (under a tree, indoors near a window)—it will show whether blue really is your best color.

5. As a rule, avoid patterns.

6. Photos exaggerate everything, so go easy on the makeup. For women under 30, a little mascara and lip gloss; over 30, add a touch of concealer.

7. Practice the classic model pose: Turn your body three quarters of the way toward the camera, with one foot in front of the other and one shoulder closer to the photographer. When you face forward, your body tends to look wider.

8. For standing photos, belly in, buttocks tight, shoulders back, spine straight.

9. Study photogenic people as well as photos in which you think you looked best. Look at your best angle. You’ll probably see that you were laughing or having a good time. Capturing someone when they’re relaxed or most animated usually makes for the best results.
10. To feel at ease, try closing your eyes, then opening them slowly just before the photo is taken.

4gb ddr-800320gb 7200rpm

DeviantArt user Liz Lukens posted this papercraft cubic Billy Mays template so you can fold him up and bring him everywhere. Highly visible arm hair is thoughtfully included. [DeviantArt]

We always feature amazing architecture here in Gizmodo. Sometimes truly spectacular. Sometimes intriguing. Sometimes minimalist and perfect. Sometimes simply beautiful. This hotel from China doesn't fall into any of these categories.

It's the Tianzi Hotel, in the Chinese provice of Hebei. Apparently, the 10-story building holds the world record for the "biggest image building". Hopefully, nobody will try to beat that one. [Killer DIrectory]

BEIJING (Reuters) – What do Johnny Depp, Garfield, Paris Hilton and roast pork have in common? In China, the answer is that a new government-mandated Internet filter rates some pictures of all four of them as bad for your moral health.

Beijing has ordered all personal computers sold in China from July 1 to be preinstalled with the Green Dam software, which it says is designed to block pornographic and violent images, and which critics fear will be used to extend censorship.

But a trial of the programme, which is available online for free download (http://www.skycn.com/soft/46657.html), suggested

its filters may be of limited use to worried parents.

When the software is installed, and an image scanner activated, it blocks even harmless images of a film poster for cartoon cat Garfield, dishes of flesh-colour cooked pork and on one search engine a close-up of film star Johnny Depp's face.

With the image filter off, even though searches with words like "nude" are blocked, a hunt for adult websites throws up links to soft and hardcore pornography sites including one with a video of full penetrative sex playing on its front page.

Green Dam has not detailed how it scans images for obscene content, but computer experts have said it likely uses colour and form recognition to zoom in on potential expanses of naked flesh.

Programme settings allow users to chose how tightly they want images scanned. When too much skin is detected, Green Dam closes all Internet browsers with no warning, sometimes flashing up a notice that the viewer is looking at "harmful" content.

But the interpretation of obscene is apparently generous enough to include the orange hue of Garfield's fur and, on the highest security settings, prevent viewers clicking through to any illustrated story on one English language news website.

A programme to scan written content appears less sensitive, with a string of explicit words typed into a word document triggering no response, although some users have complained in online forums of shut-downs similar to those of Web browsers.

SEX OR POLITICS?

The software also allows users to choose what they want to filter for, and besides adult websites and violence, categories include "gay" and "illegal activities."

Gay and health activists fear the blanket ban on "gay content," in a country where homosexuality is not criminalised, could damage projects including sexual health and AIDS education.

And government critics worry the "illegal activities" section will cover political and social activities Beijing objects to, tightening access to non-approved information, already filtered by censors and a firewall.

Another setting allows Green Dam to take regular snapshots of a user's screen and store them for up to two weeks -- ostensibly so parents can monitor computer use by minors.

But it could also potentially leave security officials a track of computer use by a suspected dissident, or be a gift to fraudsters hunting online bank details and private information.

Researchers in the U.S. have already said they are concerned Green Dam leaves users vulnerable to malicious sites that might steal personal data or install code on the personal computer.

Western governments and trade groups have also asked China to reconsider, based on concerns ranging from cyber-security and performance of the software to Internet freedoms.

"People say the software is not very stable and has many technological problems," said Joerg Wuttke, the president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, which has dubbed the introduction of Green Dam "hasty."

China's foreign ministry on Tuesday declined to respond to criticisms of the software.

(Additional reporting by Maxim Duncan, Kirby Chien and Alan Wheatley; Editing by Jerry Norton)

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/401331-robmix-tell-us-about-mj.html

Tokyobling’s Blog

A Paper Craft Castle On the Ocean

Posted in Uncategorized by tokyobling on July 1, 2009

I had the immense opportunity to see this wonderful paper craft art installation by a genius of the name of Wataru Itou (伊藤航), a young student of a major art university here in Tokyo. The installation is hand made over four years of hard work, complete with electrical lights and a moving train, all made of paper! Clearly, this man must have created one of the most stunning examples of Paper Craft in the world? At the exhibition you will also have the chance to see a video showing Mr. Itou at work in his studio, cutting and folding piece by piece. The exhibition is called Umi no Ue no Oshiro (A Castle On the Ocean ), 海の上のお城. It is exhibited at Umihotaru, a place which in itself is a major attraction: a service area in the middle of the ocean, right between Tokyo City and Chiba Prefecture. If you haven’t checked it out yet, use Google Earth for a close up of what is probably the weirdest parking lot in the world. Well, it’s more than a parking lot actually, but I am saving a more detailed description along with photos for another post. For now, enjoy this wonderful work of art!

The Enigma Battleship Drinking Game—a classic Battleship game that makes you drink a shot of your favorite alcohol every time you take a hit—is the last thing I need now, while I'm back visiting friends in Madrid.

And still, I want it so badly. It was designed by the genius of Mauricio (Tony) Harion, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. A place that I hope to visit soon, just to play it this game with this man, who I'm sure will be a future Nobel Prize. Hasbro, come on, get your act together and license this ASAP. And with ASAP I mean right now. [Coroflot]

When our broadcasts leave Earth, they slowly travel into space. There is, however, a sizable delay between what we watch and what distant aliens watch. This convenient chart shows us what TV various stars are receiving today. [AbstruseGoose via TDW]

Dilemma: You want to look sexy but not too sexy—and certainly not all the time. You're busy and have errands to run, and you can't have post office employees rubbing up in your junk like pups in heat.

So do what we do: Don't workout. Eat terribly. And only copulate with partners who promise to either ignore Cheetos-induced stretch marks or allow you to wear your RIPT FUSION t-shirt in a jacuzzi.

What's a RIPT FUSION shirt? Well it's "a classic men's undershirt injected with steroids," of course. For just $58, it'll add pecs and abs all while sucking in the flabby parts. But even more critical to society, it'll put geeks on the same playing field as jocks, the lazy on the same playing field as the obnoxiously active.

Even if the Ript Fusion is too gimmicky to make you look good, it could eventually make muscles look bad. And in the long run, that's really just as beneficial. [RIPT via Super Punch]

This solar lamp from IDEA is inspired by Sputnik, requires 2-5 hours of sunlight for 8 hours of operation and costs a mere $16. [IDEA via Engadget]

Do you know what the hell is the Schwarzschild radius? I didn't have a clue, but now I know that if you compress Earth to an 8mm radius ball, you will get a black hole. My fascination didn't stop there.

I've spent all morning mesmerized by these videos—created by a bunch of extremely smart people at the University of Nottingham—which explain the most common symbols in physics and astronomy so any moron like me can understand them. And if you like physics and astronomy, you should probably do exactly the same. [Sixty Symbols]

RunPee, that great website that tells you precisely the best time to run and pee during a movie so you don't miss anything good, has taken the next step and released an iPhone app for quick reference.

The RunPee app features a countdown that lists all of the most opportune times to dash away, and like the site, it'll tell you what happened during your pee break. We're a little bit iffy on people constantly whipping out their iPhones to check anything during a movie, but hopefully this won't lead to any extra film-watching rudeness. The app is available now (link will open iTunes) for $1. [Mashable via Lifehacker]