Fun Flash: Bureau of Steam Engineering
March 28th, 2009
Archive for March, 2009
Via Metafilter, a game named Bureau of Steam Engineering where you must build steam powered robots in order to defend the Union in an alternate Civil War.
It reminds me of the old Incredible Machine games, except a bit more focused.
Fun story in Boston.com today about the MBTA’s new bus driving simulator:
The most notable obstacles from the driver’s seat of this rumbling MBTA bus are the taxicabs – so many of them, each more frenetic than the one before, all steered by fearless drivers darting across lanes with nary a worry in the world.
Then there’s the weather, clear as gin one moment, blowing snow as thick as bisque the next. There are fuzzy landmarks – is that the Hancock Tower in the distance? Then come the rotaries, fiendish little enemies of common sense that can make even the most hardbitten T drivers weak in the knees.
This is not the view from a real bus ride. It’s not even the view from a real bus – but rather, from the seat of a new $1.3 million bus simulator MBTA officials are just beginning to use to train new drivers and retrain old ones.
But Boston is not Phoenix, with its dry, straight boulevards and relentlessly sunny skies. It isn’t even New York, with its wide avenues and generally obedient pedestrians. So in this custom-crafted simulator, there are Northeasters, obnoxious jaywalkers, overhead lines for electric buses, and the Preble Circle rotary in South Boston, complete with a view of Whitey Bulger’s former liquor store.
And then there’s the narrow Silver Line tunnel heading to Logan International Airport.
There’s even a video of a reporter trying to drive the SimBus, badly. As one would expect, it is harder than it looks, but this guy makes Sandra Bullock looks like a Bus Rodeo hall-of-famer!
Ps. Bonus fact: Speed won 2 Oscars! Sure, they’re in sound categories but still! Oscars!
I’m pretty sure that i’m late to this as I’m not to Baseball-Jersey-level fandom, but Batting Stance Guy doing the 2008 playoff Red Sox is pretty hilarious!
In order of stance copying:
Jacoby Ellsbury
Dustin Pedroia
David Ortiz
JD Drew
Jason Bay
Jed Lowrie
Jason Varitek
Mike Lowell
Sean Casey
Mark Kotsay
Kevin Youkilis
CoCo Crisp
Tarantino wasted so much of my time!
These guys were able to tell the story in 1 minute, so much easier!
This bird dances to Ray Charles’ Shake Your Tailfeather! And he’s pretty good! Youtube link
Via Good
The Hamburg State Orchestra conducted a unique performance on Monday. The musicians left their usual stage and were dispersed in 50 locations around the city—from the town hall to the tennis stadium to the docks. The conductor was perched on the tower of St. Michael’s Church, where she had a view of her performers, arranged as they would be on stage, only much further apart. The musicians themselves were connected by a live video feed. This being Hamburg, they played Brahms. Watch this teaser video; it’s incredible.
On a cool spring eve March 15th, 2009 a bat, crippled and wistful, clung to the Space Shuttle Discovery as it was thrust toward the great beyond. Goodbye and godspeed, my magnificent Spacebat.
At some point during the countdown, Spacebat—a Free-Tailed Chiroptera—was spotted latched to the foam of the external fuel tank, occasionally moving around but never letting go. Wildlife experts deduced that he had injured his wing and shoulder, leaving him with little chance of survival. He remained on the tank until launch. NASA's cold report?
The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery’s climb into orbit.
True! But here’s how it should have read:
Bereft of his ability to fly and with nowhere to go, a courageous bat climbed aboard our Discovery with stars in his weak little eyes. The launch commenced, and Spacebat trembled as his little mammalian body was gently pushed skyward. For the last time, he felt the primal joy of flight; for the first, the indescribable feeling of ascending toward his dream—a place far away from piercing screeches and crowded caves, stretching forever into fathomless blackness.
Whether he was consumed in the exhaust flames or frozen solid in the stratosphere is of no concern to us. We know that Spacebat died, but his dream will live on in all of us.
There you go, NASA. Spacebat’s majestic final moment is pictured below. [NASA via Fark] 
I managed to catch “You’re Welcome America – A Final Night with George W. Bush”, Will Ferrell’s Broadway show after it aired on HBO this past weekend and it was pretty good.
Ferrell’s impression is still one of the best and the show was really nicely done, so if you’re thinking of looking it up, do so.
A photo series of gulls that have found themselves a food source in this German boardwalk.
If Frank Miller decided to draw Peanuts, it might look a little like this!
