Chimpomatic

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The Great Time Machine Race

It's on... (Or will be.) (Or has been.) Take your pick between the Verdrehung Fan(TM) and the Space-Time Twisting By Light project. 

Marshall Barnes, R&D Eng, is working on the Verdrehung Fan(TM) which involves effecting time with specially synthesized electromagnetic fields. Meanwhile, the plan from Ronald L. Mallett, PhD utilises a rotating ring laser generating a gravitational field that then twists space and time.

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21st Feb 2013 - Add Comment - Tweet

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A Day at the Airport

Bit slow off the mark posting this one ....here's a video of every plane that landed at Sand Diego airport in a single day.

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9th Dec 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

City Maps Remix

Armelle Caron's city maps, reordering the components (via @DougCoupland). From top to bottom: Berlin, Istanbul, New York, Paris

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8th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Herb Lester Does NYC & Copenhagen

Two new city guide maps from @Herb_Lester: The William Brown Project Around Town: New York City and Copenhagen: The Good Life. Great if you fancy looking at something other than your phone when you're on holiday

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19th Sep 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Going Underground: 9 Secret Subway Stations

all aboard Flavourwire's rundown of secret railway stops around the world...

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2nd Aug 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Undercity

Amazing film from Andrew Wonder exploring some of New York City's hidden architectural gems. More at Undercity. Thanks to Dr Chimp for digging this up

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12th Jul 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Ahoy There SeaOrbiter

looking forward to some Jacques Cousteau/Steve Zissou/SeaLab 2021 style adventures coming from the SeaOrbiter marine research submarine/skyscraper once they've built it

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5th Jul 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Austin On The Hoof

Heading to SXSW this year? This new map from @herb_lester will point you in the direction of the best "Tex-Mex restaurants and German beer halls, honky-tonks and cemeteries, record shops and natural springs. And then there’s barbecue too."

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24th Feb 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Abandoned Futurist Pod Village In Taiwan

love these shots of abandoned futurist resorts in Taiwan (via @voicesofanglia)

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1st Feb 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet

Seat Me Right!

Even been caught short and wondered where the nearest toilet is? Seat Me Right will tell you. Surely these guys need an app.

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8th Aug 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Photos of North Korea

Great set of photos up at The Independent documenting life in the DPRK.

Via Gawker

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5th Aug 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Dude Ranch

Want to live like The Dude? Marty's entire 6 house complex in Venice is up for sale, inlucding The Dude's 1 bedroom bungalow. Rug not included.

The 6 x 1 bedroom house complex runs up an estimated asking price of $2,295,000. Anyone want to chip in?

If we're lucky they might throw in some of these replica Dude sweaters.

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29th Jul 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Promo Promo: Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus are as angry as ever, and would like to show you the real New Jersey.

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12th Jul 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Keep Watching The Skies

as any of you who've flown Chimp Air know, we're always watching the skies, but it looks like @stefmara has won that game: she tweeted these pics of the shuttle from her iPhone 

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18th May 2011 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

There's An App For That: Yurekuru

BC and I are in the field over in Tokyo this week ....and have been rocked by the frequent aftershocks from last months big quake (a magnitude 7.1 and a 7.4 being the biggest). A frequent sound prior to the tremor is the ding ding of the Yurekuru App, which gives locals a quick heads-up. You can even set a minimum intensity over which you want warning, as most people here don't get out of bed for less than a 7.

Japan doesn't use the same magnitude system as the West, preferring the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale which records quakes in actual relative intensity - rating the quake bigger the closer you are to the epicentre. The ratings are also accompanied by a written description, ranging from "Hanging objects such as lamps swing slightly" through "Hanging objects swing violently. Most unstable ornaments fall. Occasionally, dishes in a cupboard and books on a bookshelf fall and furniture moves" to "Most furniture moves to a large extent and some jumps up".

Update: The USGS has data streams accessible by the "Quakes" app - in English.

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12th Apr 2011 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Simulated Return From Mars

We reported on the simulated mission to Mars in April 2009 - and now after a two week simulated holiday on the red planet, our trusty simulated astronauts are heading back, for a simulated landing in November 2011.

Via Engadget (including simulation joke)

P.S. Don't miss their write up on the 100 Year Starship initiative to send ageing astronauts on a one-way mission to Mars by 2030.

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3rd Mar 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Babelfish in your pocket

Google's Babelfish gizmo now comes in app format for iPhone - allowing you to stick a mic in the face of some innocent Japanese person and translate what they are saying to you. Or vice versa.

Android version here.

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10th Feb 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Spy Cruise!

no, it's not an 80s comedy starring Dan Aykroyd... but a real 7 day cruise for spies

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14th Jan 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

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The Babelfish is here...

...but only in Spanish for now. Amazing video of an augmented reality app that converts written text between English and Spanish. In reality it's apparently not quite as slick as the video, but not far off.

Via Engadget

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21st Dec 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Plane Graveyard

Ever wondered where that airplane graveyard that looks so good in films and on TV is? It's here.

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18th Nov 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Arrrr! Real-life pirate-fighter

great story about Max Hardberger who takes back ships stolen by pirates. videos on his own website here

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15th Nov 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Re-Branded

Lovely video up from creative agency Johnson Banks to document their re-branding of Virgin Atlantic;s fleet. Doesn't look like the cleanest place to work, but the results are certainly shiny.

Via Brand New

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11th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

8-Bit London

8-Bit map of London 

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21st Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Matador at 21 = GBV Reunion

Matador Records are celebrating their 21st birthday in style - with a 3 day blow out at The Palms in Las Vegas. Highlights include a Guided By Voices reunion ("The classic '93-'96 line up"), Superchunk, Spoon, Chavez and Kurt Vile.

I'll be honeymooning in LA at the time, so will see if I can trick Mrs CSF into attending.

Update: The tour is expanded, and GBV will be playing in LA. Too tempting.

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30th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Trainspotting

Check out this amazing real-time map of London tube trains. It takes a while to load, however, when it does the inner geek does a little dance.

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21st Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

London (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger)

cool stop motion take on London from David Hubert via @thecoldvein

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21st May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Big Picture: Vietnam 35 Years Later

A typically outstanding collection of pictures up at The Big Picture, documenting the 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

This one caught my eye. Look how neat those protest signs are!

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10th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Airspace Rebooted

Nice little video up at Vimeo tracking the re-start of air travel across Europe - following the monster airport shut down caused by Iceland's Volcano.

#Locochimpo
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29th Apr 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Is Time Travel Possible?

the science of going back to the future - I like the sound of the "cosmic microwave background"

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26th Apr 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

World Tour of Japan 2010

It's long overdue, but I've slung up a load of photos from me and BC's recent Japan tour - mostly inane photos of Japanese stickmen, but also a few other bits and some snow videos. Enjoy.

#CSF
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12th Apr 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Not-so-secret menu

In-n-out Burger's previously 'secret' menu is now official. Though you still need to know it from memory if you expect to get your burger "Animal Style".

Also confirmed - there is no such thing as "Monkey Style".... in a burger at least.

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2nd Apr 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Ohayou Goizamasu!

8.58am in London, 5.58pm in Tokyo - where me, BC and HHG are on a mission. Fashion, then snowboarding - but not in order of priority.

Barrage of photos to follow for sure, but for now start the day Japanese style.

Arigato goizimasu!

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18th Mar 2010 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

NYC and Vegas from above

Nothing makes for a lazy blog post quite like a new set of photos from The Big Picture. Here's New York City AND Las Vegas from above.

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8th Mar 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Monster Waves

It might not be Bodhi's dream of the 40 year storm, but 40ft waves are pounding Hawaii following some extreme weather - and the surfers are out.

The BBC have video.

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9th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Darth Cathedral

Cathedral in Washington with a Darth Vader Gargoyle

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4th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham

Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham. I'll be looking at New Cross later.

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23rd Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

NYC Surveillance Data

Tons of surveillance up from me and Marmot's recent NYC op. Highlights include the tailing jumbo (above), plus numerous dead (landmark) record shops.

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5th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Halloween Outfits

Some great costumes knocking around this Halloween (check out Twitter for my Invisible Man effort).

An iPod silhouette was a highlight (sorry, no picture) and CJ has pointed out this excellent Big Head.

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4th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

The 4 Hour Work Week

I'm aiming for a new zen-like existence after reading Tim Ferris' excellent book The 4 Hour Work Week. In fact, I've been living such an existence for many months now, meaning I didn't get round to writing this up.

The basic concept of the book deals with streamlining your work life to make you more efficient, giving you time to pursue recreational ambitions and further yourself. Luckily, it just about stays on the right side of being a self-growth, believe-in-yourself type load of spiritual mumbo-jumbo and focuses on practical applications, many of which are easily done, most notably checking your emails only once or twice a day, turning down troublesome work and sub-contracting many tasks - even to the point of hiring an assistant in India.

A major focus is the 80/20 principal, where 80% of a lot of things is unnecessary waffle, while 20% is the useful core. I imagine it's applicable on chimpomatic too, with 20% of our readers being loyal followers, while 80% are just here for the early word on Torchwood.

Once you're on top of your game, the fun begins - letting you blow 80% of your time on more fun pursuits, with Ferris having become a kick-boxing champion, a speed swimmer and even built up 34lbs of muscle in 4 weeks. Check out his excellent website for occasional tips on speaking a new language in 1 hour, sleeping better, travelling the world with 10lbs of luggage, speed reading, never forgetting anything, holidaying by twitter, getting a good table at top restaurants and more.

Ferris has become something of an internet personality in the wake of the book's success, making maximum use of the likes of Twitter and Facebook to rustle up followers and crowd-source content for his next book - and even knock out a possible TV show, where he learns a new skill per episode. All that stuff can actually get a bit annoying, and he sometimes seems so obsessed with efficiency that the writing can be a bit dry ("Post reading time: 15 minutes" etc.), and his collaborations with Digg founder Kevin Rose tend to make one of the two seem strangely closed-minded...

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17th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Airline Seat Review

With marmot and I heading off to NYC for a team tour in December, I stumbled across the handy V-Flyer website, rating every seat of the plane for access, TV viewing angles, lean-back-potential and more.

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9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

What Bus

Handy London Bus route planner at What Bus?

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27th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

In Flight Entertainment

Where would we be without the trusty in-flight movie? The Times archive have an article about the first in-flight movie in 1925 and even a reproduction of the original article.

The Lost World was the movie and a restored version funded by Hugh Hefner is available on YouTube.

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21st Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Attack of the Clones

South Korea has deployed cloned sniffer dogs at it's main border points. Woof.

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20th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Googlemaps Paris

The resort formally know as Euro Disney have let the Google cars in for a quick drive around - and now Disneyland Paris is mapped up.

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24th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

CHAD

A recent travel-op led to some discussion about the origins of the famous Chad and the results are interesting. Turns out that there are several intertwining stories going into the mix.

Chad
The 'Wot no...' tag line originates from the shortages experienced by rationed Britishers during World War II. Where 'Wot no eggs?' or 'Wot no tea bags' were literal complaints. Not too much detail on the nose-over-the-wall cartoon though.

Kilroy
The viral message of the Chad was most likely popularised by the American usage of cartoon alongside 'the Kilroy'. The tagline 'Kilroy was here' written in further and further flung fields, allegedly even written on the dust on the moon. The Kilroy plausibly originates back to World War II warship inspector James J. Kilroy, who would write 'Kilroy was here' once he had finished his inspection.

Speculation even takes the story even further, to the point where the omni-presence of the slogan - which appeared wherever US servicemen had been - led Hitler to believe Kilroy to be a super-spy.

Lose The Game
An interesting modern spin on the phenomenon comes in the form of Lose The Game. A game supposedly devised by a couple of chaps stranded at a train station over night. The aim of the game is simple - don't think about the game. By the way, you lose.

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18th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

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Google Maps v Northern Line

someone's cut-and-pasted the entire Northern Line above ground from Google Street Maps

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7th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

GIT NAMED

£75,000 to sit on your arse on a Desert Island anyone?

#marmot
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6th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

D.I.Y. Air Traffic Contol

Ever wanted to push tin from the comfort of your own home? Flygradar.nu might be the answer, cleverly using flight info and Google maps to simulate real scheduled flights.

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24th Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

If you thought Japan's current fleet of Bullet Trains were fast, check out their latest development. The latest Shinkansen innovation will use magnetic levitation to travel at around 310 kmph - which would get you from LA to San Francisco in 60 minutes.

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22nd Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Snow Centre

There's a new indoor snow slope opening in May - based at the much more chimp accessible Hemel Hempstead.

Ten snow cannons have already churned out 80 tonnes of snow, ready for the opening day on May 6th.

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20th Apr 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet