Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Tag cloud for Twitter

Experimenting with a tag cloud visualization for my Twitter feed:

Resized a bit to fit this display.  Fuller image at my Flickr feed.

(via Louise's Academic Innovation)

Hacking epileptics

A group hacked an epilepsy web site, redirecting users to pages which flashed intense lights.  Wired calls this the first hack with offline targets.
We should also expect more stories along these lines.  Snopes, for instance, will probably carry an article about a forwarded warning: avoid these sites if you have epilepsy!

Apocalypse weapon lawsuit begins

This mad science experiment will destroy the Earth!  Such is the charge being leveled at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).  A critic charges that using the LHC might create strangelets, monopoles, or, best of all, a small  black hole. 

Part of the fun in following such a story is noting how many times reporters can use the word "doomsday."  As in headlines like this:

Doomsday fears spark lawsuit

XKCD offers its take, leavening pulp with comedy:

Voice trapped in the oldest recording

The voice trembles out in a ghostly, barely comprehensible quaver.  Gizmodo sees this for the creepy old media instance it is.

Vast whirlpool grows off Sydney

A huge oceanic whirlpool continues to churn off the Australian coast.  Not far from Sydney, the "eddy" is about 150 kilometers across.  Which is a terrifying thought, making us consider the awful destructive power of the seas.

It's also very cold, pulling up water from half a klick down in the Pacific.  More fearsome possibilities here, especially in contrast with sunny beaches, not to mention the psychological power of hidden things pulled up from the deeps.

BLDGBLOG catches the Poe-Gothic elements of this hydrological monster, then reaches out for science fiction fears:

could that "something unusual" be repeated elsewhere? And though I mean naturally, perhaps it could even be done artificially: a vast stirring operation at sea, brought to you by Boeing...

Jesus doll moves into the uncanny valley

This description of a Jesus toy's workings suggests the nearly-humanness of the uncanny valley.  Or just the simulation of torture:

The doll is provided with electrically conductive nails which when inserted through apertures in the hands of the doll, mount the doll to a provided cross and close an electrical circuit which illuminates the cross.

This being a Jesus doll, and hence connected to a huge amount of devotion, reminds me of some of the offended or hostile responses to our last reborn doll discussion.  It's hard for those who love uncanny objects to see the fear others attach to the same beloved items.

(via PZ Myers)

Evil circus scheme tripped up

Gothic villains are alive and well in Italy.  At least one is engaged in forcing young women to swim with piranhas, "for the amusement of guests."  Pulp fiction lives.  Listen to the full James Bond, er, Reuters intro lede:

Police rescued two teenage Bulgarian sisters from a circus in southern Italy which forced one of them to swim with flesh-eating piranhas for the amusement of guests, police said.

It gets better in the next:

While the 19-year-old sister swam in a transparent tank, the younger, 16-year-old was forced into a container where the circus staff tossed snakes at her. She was injured by one of the snakes, police said.

Very short article.  A marvel of Gothic writing.

Yet imagine a horror circus - without clowns!

Ads replaced, hacked by Skullphone

Some Los Angeles digital billboards were hacked by a local artist, their content replaced by Skullphone's blazing sigils:

Some of these were ClearChannel boards.  Is this culture jamming?  Or, since the replaced content was self-promotion, is it egohacking?

(via Techmeme)

It's a lifestyle choice. It's perfectly natural.

Science/culture satire for the day: gay scientists are isolating the Christianity gene.

Infernal pits gapes wide in central Asia

The Hellmouth opens in Kazakhstan, as spotted by English Russia:

It's a subterranean pit, well fed with natural gas, and apparently ignited years ago by Soviet engineers.

Some fine videos appear YouTube, like this one, situating the Tartarus on the plain:

Was that initial pile of stones a cairn, long ago, or a warning pillar?

This clip pans across the entire hole, very impressively:

It's very dramatic at night, too, as you might imagine.