Link roundup

1. "A former Ford engineer charged with stealing trade secrets worth $50 million has pleaded guilty, and was apparently caught with the evidence on his laptop when he was arrested in Chicago in 2009. The man worked for Ford for 10 years before quitting the company to accept a position at a Ford competitor -- Beijing Automotive."

2. "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched a new version of HTTPS Everywhere, a security tool that offers enhanced protection for Firefox browser users against 'Firesheep' and other exploits of webpage security flaws." Via.

3. Interview with Jordan Schwartz, who landed a Lego internship right out of high school.

*Buy Lego minifigs at eBay.

Link roundup

1. You should probably be very suspicious of the Kinect and what footage it's recording and broadcasting to Microsoft.

2. Hello Kitty finds herself delicious in these paintings by Kristin Tercek.

3. "In a possible symptom of environmental decline, Alaska’s birds have experienced a sudden and inexplicable rash of beak deformities." Via.

*Buy Hello Kitty toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Cigar Guy has been found and was wearing a costume in the Tiger Woods photograph (a costume that made no sense at all). Via these sites.

2. Super Mario's ready to meet Charon.

3. "A US State Department clerk has been indicted for using her government computer to gather personal information on more than a hundred celebrities and their families." Relatedly, "Pennsylvania Director of Homeland Security James F. Powers resigned in response to the public outcry over the news that his agency had not only been monitoring the activities of law-abiding citizens who oppose natural gas drilling in the state, but passing the information it gathered on to the companies involved in the drilling."

4. "BASKETBALL'S world governing body is considering sexing up the women's game by introducing more revealing uniforms to cash in on the players' athletic bodies."

*Buy Nintendo toys at eBay.

Dystopian art by Laurie Lipton

A few of the less disturbing drawings from Laurie Lipton's "Machine Punk" show, opening November 5 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. She writes:

This show was inspired by the Steampunk movement that is sweeping Britain. Instead of steam, however, my devices are mostly run by electricity and madness. I was vacuuming one day and noticed the amount of plugs and cables on the floor... a veritable wasp's nest of wires and sockets connecting a hoard of gadgets and doo-dads intertwining around the house and my life. I was trapped like a fly in an electrical web. What had happened? Were these things making my life easier or more complex? I began with The Steam Punk Pocket Watch, an absurd idea of a time piece too huge & complex for anyone's pocket, and went whirling on from there. These machines are designed to hinder, control and/or give the illusion of technology. I had a tremendous amount of fun creating the images and think that this show will touch anyone who has ever become entwined, up to the eyebrows, in the Technological Age.

The Fates



Surveillance



Recycling



Perambulator



Motoring



The Illusion-of-Control Tower




Communication

*Buy vintage phones at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Fark:

What do the United Nations, Halliburton, Church of Scientology, Lucasfilm, and Sega all have in common? They all downloaded the infamous facebook profile torrent.

Here's more companies that downloaded it.

2. "On Wednesday, both Boston papers carried front-page stories about Sports Business Journal's report that NESN's Red Sox ratings had plummeted 36 percent. (The Boston Globe also reported that WEEI's ratings were down 16.5 percent, and that male listeners between the ages of 25 and 54 had dwindled by 28 percent.)" Via.

3. The Portland DA will not file charges against Al Gore for what sounds like very good reasons.

*Buy Al Gore toys at eBay.

Energy Drink Packaging (link roundup)

Great design for an energy drink can by Devon Drumm. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Conan O'Brien decided to follow a supposedly random person on Friday:

I've decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change.

2. Read these allegations about Mark Zuckerberg if you trust Facebook with information you want to keep private.

3. For my favorite reader: a Maltese.

*Previously: Steven Seagal's energy drink.

*Buy Maltese calendars at Amazon.

Obama as Big Brother (link roundup)

Another clever headline/image juxtaposition by Drudge. Regardless of what you think of his politics, Drudge is simply incredible at finding the right image and headline.

And a few more links:

1. Good news for anyone in Seattle: "Something in the Sea continues in Seattle on September 4."

2. Ted Kennedy enjoyed jokes about Chappaquiddick?

3. Oh how times change - - the early 90's Spider-Man cartoon featured the "Insidious Six" because the "Sinister Six" sounded too scary. "[T]he outrage over the violence on shows like Power Rangers made the networks skittish."

(Meanwhile, we don't have toy guns at my house. But the other day, my two-year-old bit a cracker into the shape of a gun and proceeded to "shoot" his brother.)

*Previously: Photos from the Bioshock 2 beach event.

*Buy Big Brother Is Watching collectibles at eBay.

Darth Vader, after a trip to the dentist (link roundup)

Video of Darth Vader, after some oral surgery (and drugs) at the dentist. Probably funny even if you haven't seen the inspiring video David after the dentist.

And a few more links:

1. Video of Gwyneth Paltrow telling Oprah she doesn't watch what she eat.

2. How to protect your privacy on Facebook. Via.

3. Disturbingly large army of tiny snowmen.

4. A judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by three women whose photos appeared in the book "Hot Chicks with Douchebags," concluding the images were permissibly "used for humorous social commentary." Possibly one of the best sentences in an opinion ever:

how can a person reasonably believe that in 1981 archaeologist Renee Emile Bellaqua uncovered in a cave in Gali Israel a highly controversial Third Century religious scroll suggesting that the "douchey/hotty" coupling was a troublesome facet in early social religious structures?

Link. Via.

*Previously: Snowman preservation suit.

*Buy "Hot Chicks with Douchebags" at Amazon.

Murderous CCTV camera

Murderous CCTV camera via these sites.

*Previously: Part Victorian robot, part CCTV camera and part Cyclops.

*Buy "Public Street CCTV" at Amazon.

Prisoners use containers of mackerel as money, and other headlines of the day

1. Since cigarettes are banned, prisoners use containers of mackerel as money. Link.


2. Store security guards have sex in their office, are fired after being secretly videotaped by boss, and are now suing for invasion of privacy. Link.


3. Chris Matthews interviews daughter on tv, doesn't mention it's his daughter. Link.


4. Robber hires unsuspecting decoys via Craigslist. Link.

*See previous news headlines here.

*Buy Sandow Birk's paintings of California prisons at Amazon.

How to set up an anonymous blog

Tips at Metafilter.

Olympic tickets to be embedded with bearer's personal information

"In a move unprecedented for the Olympics, tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are embedded with a microchip containing the bearer's photograph, passport details, addresses, e-mail and telephone numbers." Link. Via.

Funny photo of a surveillance camera

Link. Via.

Progressive insurance provides a tool for stalkers

Per Reddit:

Did you know you can find out what car anybody owns by simply going to Progressive.com, then in the 'get a quote' section enter the zip code of your target, then click 'get a quote' , then on the next page enter the name and address of your target. after submitting the form, you will be presented with a list of cars that person owns. The records are pulled from the DMV. WTF??

It's true. I just tried it.