Top Down - Miata MX-5 Blog

2008-04-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Back on the air, on a limited way, on Twitter

2005-06-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Top Down is going on hiatus and/or will have very sporadic updates. Our twins were born today!

2005-06-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

How Google ranks a web page, with the information coming from their patent application. Great news for people trying to increase the popularilty of their web sites.

Neat collection of casino floor carpeting.

The Japanese battle for the world's thinnest pen tip.

Steve Jobs very personal commencement speech given to Stanford University grads.

Very funny Paris Hilton commercial paraody.

2005-06-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

Mazda's www.bethecar.com site is getting updated tonight. Another NC Miata web site. And a New Zealand web site that lets you choose an NC color.

Get your own squirrel liquor decanter.

The science of golf balls.

2005-06-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

One enthusiast's idea of a green NC Miata.

Bye bye VHS. Walmart is joining other large stores in dropping prerecorded VHS tapes from its stores, making room for DVD, starting at the end of 2006.

Make your Hummer owning neighbor cry like a little girl and own your very own 727 limousine.

The Repliee Q1 Android robot - one more step to our future robotic overlord. Doesn't put up a fight yet against a pushy Japanese man (video).

Cool autocross video.

2005-06-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

For next Easter, why not surprise the kids by planting Egg Babies.

The top 10 ways to steal a car, and the methods to prevent them.

It was only a matter of time when somebody made a music video out of crash tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

One way Star Wars nerds end their marriage.

2005-06-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is not the Flyin' Miata entry to Car and Driver's Superfour Challenge.

Another reason cats are evil...two kittens pee on a fax machine, causing a fire that extensively damaged their owner's home. On another note, cat owner's get the last laught by putting stuff on cats.

Build your own Ultimate Water Gun.

Especially for off-road posers: spray-on-mud.

30 things you didn't know you could do on the Internet.

2005-06-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Flyin Miata's entry into Car and Driver's Superfour car tuner challenge.

If you were Donald Trump's wife, you'd be getting a Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren as a gift, with a nice red bow tie on top.

Darth Vader on the Wheel of Fortune.

2005-06-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

Talk about a flyin' miata...a Miata crashes into a Titan 1 rocket.

A race car loses a wheel and ...

The Operating System Sucks-Rules-o-Meter.

Black holes in Goole Maps.

The Coast Guard intercepted 13 cubans trying to get to the US in a floating taxicab..

It's raining men in New York...body pieces from an airline stowaway landed on a woman's roof.

A horrifying eyewitness account of the unbeliebably freakish and tragic Shelly Howard drag racing accident.

Mexican bullfighting dwarves are words you never thought would be put together, but it flows pretty well.

2005-06-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Reading glasses or bifocals may become a thing of the past as doctors develop a new, surgically imlpanted lens that can allow patients to see near distance objects.

Yowza...an LS2 V8 engine, used in the Corvette transplanted into a Solstice.

Bait car videos.

What does a turkey or a police car sound like around the world from a child's point of view? Audio clips of onomatopoeia from around the world.

Oomph...A National Geographic conical probe with 7 video cameras gives a view of what it's like to get run over by a tornado.

How to flink an aluminum plate from 0 to 76,000 mph in under a second.

2005-06-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

Apple preparing to switch to Intel processors? ...Update: yes, it's true. And here's a developer's note from Apple outlining the guidelines for Universal Binary Programming on these new machines.

Interesting things that the Florida Power & Light dig up on the job.

With the year only half over, PC World lists the 100 best products of 2005.

RatDVD - another thing to worry about in the eyes of movie studios.

2005-06-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Tom and Ray of NPR's Car Talk radio show think that the Miata is scary on the highway.

Celebrate National Doughnut Day with a free one from Krispy Kreme.

Dress up Steve Jobs.

The $4.15 million nickel.

Download every single note that Beethoven composed, courtesy of the BBC Philharmonic.

2005-06-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

A bit icy in hell today...Microsoft's next version of Office will save documents in a non-proprietary XML format.

When embroidery and unabashed Star Wars geekiness collide.

Refrigerator magnet free for all.

Simulating the universe..."It is probably the biggest thing ever in computational physics. For the first time we have a replica universe which looks just like the real one."

Neat...the VW "multivan", a van with a cool paint job.

A wooden Ferrari F50 boat.

2005-06-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

Some engine noise videos of the NC Miata.

A very nice picture of the under side of an NA Miata.

Nice...a fairly comprehensive guide to the concepts involved in writing a web page by hand.

Some video staffers at WTNH TV poking fun at their own weather doppler system.

What to do with two large boxes of unused 8cm PC case fan.

2005-05-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

Protect your precious Ben and Jerry's ice cream with this Pint Lock.

Toyota to sell robot help by 2010.

2005-05-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

Scary puppets synging hymns of love for children: The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show. Starring frightneting alien puppets, and Chip, the Black Boy.

2005-05-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Memorial Day...secrets to grilling a good hamburger.

School children write funny puns for Darth Tater. "Luke, I am your farmer."

How to own a Ferrari, the inexpensive way

Congratulations Rhode Island - your drivers are the dumbest in the nation. A shout out to Oregon, the state with the smartest drivers.

Neat story of the creation of the original THX "deep note" sound.

2005-05-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

Honda's engines and transmissions ranked first among those of six automakers included in an internal GM analysis of the latest J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study data.

Now's your chance to own a Chevy Blazer Mercedes Benz 4 wheel drive vehicle.

Flyin' Miata shows what a twin-screw supercharger would look like if you had x-ray vision.

2005-05-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

Das Keyboard - a keyboard with no inscriptions on the keys - for uber Geeks. Makes you type faster because your brain can no longer look at the keys when typing.

A helpful diagram on how to turn your hamster into a fighting machime.

Inside the Xbox 360: Procedural synthesis and dynamic worlds.

This Bud and this email is for you. Budweiser offers free email service.

Bad news: driving drunk. Worse news: driving drunk, and your drunk friend who was sticking his head out the window, gets decapitated. Even worse news: driving 10 miles back home, not aware your drunk friend has no head.

2005-05-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Someone stumbld on a commercial or movie shoot involving 4 NC Miatas in downtown Vancouver, BC: pictures here, here, here, and here.

Neat...a human powered hydrofoil or a vehicle out of the latest Star Wars movie.

How to complain effectively.

When you're playing make beleive Jedis, fluorescent tubes filled with fuel does not make a good lightsaber.

Be afraid...a cybernetic parrot sausage. If you're handy you can make your own.

2005-05-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

Yum...Porsche revealed the first official images of their new sports car - the Cayman S, a coupe based on the Boxster series.

Bummer...a Volkswagen GTI catches on fire - a video taken by the passenger catches the whole thing.

The Japanese word for GM? Maybe "Mitsubishi" - Mitsubishi losses widened to $4.4 billion and sales tumbled 16 percent for the latest fiscal year.

Sightings of flying pigs? Apple Computer Inc. has been in talks that could lead to a decision soon to use Intel Corp. chips in its Macintosh computer line, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The report, citing two industry executives with knowledge of recent discussions between the companies, said Apple will agree to use Intel chips. Or is this another attempt to influence IBM who makes the current Macintosh processors?

Neat...GPS Visualizer is a free on-line utility that creates JPEG maps and profiles from GPS waypoints and track logs.

Why surfing on your pickup truck down a residential street is not a good idea.

2005-05-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

Shucks, looks like space billboards will not be in our future.

Another Iraqi prison abuse victim: Saddam shown in his underwear. The horror.

Microsoft has updated it's PowerToys for Windows XP.

2005-05-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

Neat...a repository of free PDF e-books.

To mark the premiere of Star Wars III today, a hilarious Star Wars photo shop contest. Or, how about the Star Wars Last Supper scene.

Chrysler is abandoning it's 7 year, 70,000 mile power train warranty, and reverting back to a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty.

Neat...Californians now have our own 24 hour earthquake forecast map.

Very cool...a cheap gas finder via a Google Maps interface.

2005-05-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Rods from God: hurling cylinders of tungsten, titanium or uranium from the edge of space to destroy targets on the ground, striking at speeds of about 7,200 miles an hour with the force of a small nuclear weapon. The Air Force seeks Bush's approval to weaponize space. Star Wars - here we come.

How to create a fake fingerprint.

"It swelled up...it ain't nothing you can do." an appropriate ending to a dry ice bomb video.

2005-05-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

Mazda began official production today of the NC Miata at their Ujima No. plant, in Hiroshima, Japan.

Video of storm chasers getting hit with softball sized hail.

Good golly miss molly...the Playstation 3 was introduced at the E3 conference yesterday afternoon. Coverage and videos at Gamespot.

Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith coming this week...read the script before watching the movie, and get all the trivia and background info you can shake a light saber at.

Darth Vader...meet Darth Vader Dog.

2005-05-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

A California company has developed super-oxygenated water that wipes out single-celled organisms, and which appears to speed healing of burns, wounds and diabetic ulcers. The solution looks, smells and tastes like water, but carries an ion imbalance that makes short work of bacteria, viruses and even hard-to-kill spores.

Toyota Prius blue screen of death? A software problem is causing some Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid cars to stall or shut down while driving at highway speeds, according to a published report.

This is not your father's bcycle: Cadillac Bicycles.

2005-05-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

Lesson #1: Don't put your iPod in a washing machine. Lesson #2: Don't repair iPod after it's been in the washing machine. Rip. Mix Burn Boom.

Cross that off the biology class agenda next year: a dissection of a live dog in a Utah biology class has outraged students and parents.

Is your child lonely? Don't fret...rent some friends! Get some girls from RentMyDaughter.com or boys from RentMySon.com.

Neat...the UltraTech PC Knowledge database.

Yowza...little girl frozen in time. Brooke Greenberg, a 12 year old Baltimore girl who looks and acts like an average 6 month old baby, weighs 3 pounds and is 27 inches long. Her syndrome remains undiagnosed and unnamed, and as far as doctors can tell, she is the only one in the world who has it.

2005-05-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

A European brochure for the NC Miata is now available.

Neat...NASA is developing a subvocal speech system that could enable you to make a phone call while keeping your lips sealed.

Jesus Dress Up.

2005-05-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Serious Wheels reposts high resolution pictures of the LE NC Miata and the concept NC Spec Miata.

Where was this when I was in high school? Free downloadable graph / grid paper in PDF form.

A literal eye-popping stunt.

Red or Blue or in between? Take the Pew Research Center's typology survey to find out.

Virtual drums.

Another group of words I thought I'd never see put together: a Hassidic Jewish reggae singer: Matisyahu.

2005-05-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

Nice photos of Spec Miata racing at VIR.

Is the Force strong in this one? CBC reports that early reviews of the upcoming Star Wars film indicates it's not going to suck like #4 and #5, and that it might actually be good.

A driver of a small Smart vehicle was pushed two miles down a busy German autobahn - because the driver of a large truck did not realise that he had rear-ended the tiny city car, and that the two-seater had become attached to his front radiator grille.

2005-05-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

This is not the sand castles I made when I was young: pics and more pics.

Learn the ways of the Farm: Store Wars.

2005-05-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Road & Ster magazine has pictures of the NC Miata engine: here, here, and here.

2005-05-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

Contact in spec Miata racing sometimes results in a nice long jump.

A red tomato and a red Miata.

Awesome...get a nice 1940s era handset for your tiny cell phone. Very chic.

Cool - make a bendable building with bendable concrete.

Very cool...Zenph studios has a computerized robotic system which can analyze recordings of long dead piano masters, and replay their exact performance on a real piano.

Woohoo...the DC Circuit of the US Court of Appeals have struck down the Broadcast Flag, which the FCC wanted to impose to regulate what people do with TV shows after they've received them.

Another nify USB memory stick mod: the Barbie USB memory drive.

2005-05-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Phoenix Suns bench warmer & blogger, Paul Shirley, is back for the playoffs.

The number of the beast has been devalued by 7.5%. The old bad number, 666 is now 616. Satanists, update your forehead markings.

In the dual-core microprocessor wars, AMD is easily winning over Intel.

2005-05-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Enter mx-5.com's contest to attend the Global Press Launch of the NC Miata in Hawaii.

The best of the web: the winners of the 9th annual Webby awards.

The punchline to the world's funniest joke? "OK, now what?"

*Very* cool: the cylinder head of the future? The Coates Spherical Rotary Valve Cylinderhead (CSRV) cylinder head.

Are those cars in the other lane really going faster?

2005-05-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Miata driver hits amored truck, killing truck's driver.

Spec Miata racing at Laguna Seca.

Fascinating....Hitler's 93 year old nurse, present at the Berlin bunker when the Third Reich crumbled, speaks out about what happened in those final moments.

Mike points to a neat page describing how to read a vacuum gauge to diagnose engine problems.

2005-05-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Mark has photos of the Hot Streak NC Miata tour stop in Irvine, CA (Mazda North America HQ).

An NC Miata engine reving.

All that you wanted to know about the USB standard.

Strange Japanese custom vehicles picture gallery with an annoying drifting video thrown in.

John Williams very cool "music video" featuring clips from the upcoming Episode III Star Wars.

Treat your minor cuts, scrapes and scratches with the incredible healing power of a fake bacon band aids.

2005-04-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

Ward's Auto has an article on Mazda and the Miata name.

A retro-look Miata: front & back.

A very in-depth review of Apple's new Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", courtesy of Ars Technica. One of the best written in-depth review of any software I've ever read.

Rock, paper, scissors game for serious ($20 Million) bucks.

A very good Business Week article on the train wreck known as GM.

Orff's Carmina Burana, Metallica, and helicopters with automatic weapons. Cool video.

George Bush sings in the Imagine / Walk on the Wild Side remix.

2005-04-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

Vince the dog puts all men to shame when he pees.

When Internet surfing turns deadly: A teenager, angry that his mother wouldn’t allow him to set up an AOL account, stabbed and beat her to death.

2005-04-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

What does a 99 Miata engine look like when it's used synthetic motor oil and when it's used regular "dino" oil: Find the pictures here.

Technology to the rescue: POOP-FREEZE™ is a specially formulated aerosol freeze spray that, upon contact, forms a frosty film on dog poop to harden the surface for easy pick-up.

Where Bob's Big Boys go to die.

Buy your very own, life sized, genuine Star Wars X-Wing fighter.

Ouch...is this the real iPod killer? The Nokia N91 cellphone with a built in 4Gb hard disk that plays MP3, AAC, WMA and M4A formats and a built-in FM radio. The phone mounts as a USB mass storage device and songs dropped into it in a non-proprietary format. It has Bluetooth, WiFi, a 2 megapixel format camera that shoots stills *and* video.

Dirty Harry wannabees rejoice: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed a new anti-crime law on Tuesday that allows people to kill in self-defense without first trying to flee.

2005-04-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

The NA, NC and NB Miatas side by side.

Very cool...how to hammer, drill, sand and dremel a US quarter into a ring.

How not to park your RX-8.

2005-04-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

Cool...Flyin' Miata has passed the necessary tests for their 1994-03 U1 and U2 supercharger kits in order to be granted CARB approval.

A bug's view - nice macro photos.

Lights out for regular TV is December 31, 2006. Will Congress and the FCC follow through and usher the world devoid of analog TV.

Attention military and pet lovers: get your Pets in Uniform picture today.

A 20-year-old Scottish woman is suing a hospital where she had an abortion in 2001 after one of her twins survived the operation. Ooops...that'll be one difficult mom-to-daughter talk when the subject of "bow was I born" comes up.

What do you get when you cross directory Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Sin City) with Mary Poppins? Rampage!

Neat...customized M&Ms!

2005-04-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous looking race suspension control arms for the Miata, from Yaw Power Products.

Hmmm...cholesterol city: milk chocolate dipped pork rinds.

Very cool: Seattle scientist induces hibernation in mice. Hellow long distance space travel. Hello Rip Van Winkle.

A funny Today Show interview of the Popesquatting man, Rogers Cadenhead, who registered the domain www.benedictxvi.com.

2005-04-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Tom De Lay meltdown watch: n a recent radio interview about judicial activism, congressional firebrand Tom DeLay went out of his way to attack US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy - for his use of the Internet.

A lawyer who can screw you two ways: criminal defense attorney Ronald S. Miller spends days in front of a judge and nights in front of a camera as Don Hollywood -- porn star.

"I punched Sadaam in the mouth" - the story of Samir, the St. Louis auto mechanic who pulled Saddam Hussein from his spider hole.

2005-04-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

The StompBox: a mobile 3G/WiFi router that's provides a wireless wide area network. Very cool.

The Mini goes more maxi with a streched wheelbase for 2007.

Lesson for the day: before stealing someone else's cell phone, make sure to turn it off before hiding it into one of your orifices, lest you get caught.

People who are overweight but not obese have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight, federal researchers are reporting today.

The original "Oops I Did it Again" singer - Louis Armstrong. The original song, 60 years before the Britney Spears interpretation.

A Berkeley biology professor gives a very grim warning to the student who stole his laptop. Yikes! Jump to 48:50 of this Real Player video of his lecture to watch the scariest threat from a teacher I've ever seen. Transcript of his warning here.

2005-04-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

The NC Miata tour stops in Dallas.

MazdaSport magazine has an online article on the NC Miata.

Google and voyeur heaven: finding interesting video, sound and image files in unprotected directories.

SWAT monkey: police in Mesa, Arizona are looking for a monkey to wear a Kevlar vest, video camera and two-way radio and join the SWAT team. They say it could unlock doors, search buildings and find suicide victims on command.

Free Ice Cream Day at Ben and Jerry's stores.

Maggots and leeches - your friends if you have a very bad infection.

2005-04-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

Video from Motor Trend covering the NC Miata intro at the Geneva Auto Show, a whileback.

A hot-side M62 supercharger on a Miata goes boom. Pictures also available. Discussion at BRP's forum.

These aren't the sand castles I made when I was a kid.

Hacking Rambos: the US military elite hacker crew.

Very neat page showing off motion induced blindness.

2005-04-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Do a Google search for "Solstice" and you'll get this sponsored link from Mazda pointing to the new NC Miata and a free poster offer.

IT administrators are unenthused about Microsoft's Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP. According to AssetMetrix, fewer than 24% of over 136,000 Windows XP PCs in 251 North American corporations surveyed had SP2 installed.

Woman beats off burglar with gnome. In London, a grandmother stopped an intruder from entering her home by lobbing a heavy garden gnome at him, police said Friday.

Kyle Rocks! A 9-year old with remarkable RC helicopter skills.

Caesarean kidnappings brings a new meaning to child abductions.

Chicken teasers rejoice! Singapore takes the lead in enabling internet users to remotely stroke their pet chickens.

Thank you Parents Television Council for archiving all those gratuitously sexual and violent television content that we somehow missed watching the first time it was aired.

2005-04-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

A 360 degree walkaround video of the NC Miata at the Washington DC tour stop.

Cat drummer!

The Error Message collection.

2005-04-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Full specifications for the NC Miata. Includes specs, equipment and features, package options, color combinations, and dealer accessories.

Ooops. The 1957 pandemic flu strain which killed between 1 and 4 million people has been accidentally mailed out to 5000 labs of scientists by a vendor that bundled it as part of a routine test kit. Scientists were scrambling to destroy the deadly vials.

The cure to GM's financial decline: slap a GM logo on every brand it sells. The new badges will land on every 2006 model sold in North America across GM's eight brands -- Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac.

2005-04-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the NC Miata tour stopping at Raymond James Stadium attended by the East Side Miatas of Tampa Bay & Sunriders Miata club members.

Specifications for the NC Miata: Here and here. Using this, the NC Miata performance can be estimated.

The credit-card like key for the new NC Miata. A rotary switch (always in place on the dash), enabled by the proximity of the credit card key, is how the NC's ignition is activated.

The suspension of the Limited Edition NC Miata showing Bilstein shocks.

Photos of the NC Miata tour stop in Atlanta.

The state of Idaho has a Bill praising the creation of the movie, Napoleon Dynamite.

1,536 LED powered, internet enabled, disco dance floor.

Bad news - a strange man is living in your closte. Worse news - your wife is hiding this little tidbit of information from you, and hidden-closet-man kills you when you discover him.

Not quiet the result that was expected: a report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than they are now. Under Saddam, about 4% of children under five were going hungry, whereas by the end of last year almost 8% were suffering.

2005-04-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Mini-Miata

Robot camel jockeys will compete next year in the United Arab Emirates.

Bad Spam subject line come to life in Russia: Grow a bigger penis on your forearm.

Bummer for you drivers in Montana. Your right to drink while driving is being threatened. Who knew you even had that right.

2005-04-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

Scientists create remote controlled flies, with or without heads, by firing a laser to stimulate individual brain cells.

2005-04-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

More pictures of the Special Edition NC Miata encased in a glass box on top of a fire truck, touring the US.

2005-04-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just like in the cartoons - digging to China: scientist said this week they had drilled into the lower section of Earth's crust for the first time and were poised to break through to the mantle in coming years.

Confessions of an Ebay opium addict: Looking for drugs on the cheap, a writer found poppy pods available on the internet. He also found himself hooked.

2005-04-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Automobile Magazine reviews the NC Miata.

Dealer information for ordering the NC Miata was released this morning. It shows 3 different models available.

Ken Lyons has 9 pages of pictures and videos of the Washington DC stop of the Firetruck Tour of the NC Miata.

The emotional final scene from Seven, performed by stuffed animals.

Popapalooza 2005: Papal election meets NCAA March madness.

An explainer as to why the Pope hasn't exploded yet and why being a saint means not being embalmed.

Come on everybody...let's do the Schiavo!

For those traveling abroad: 112 ways to say "Oh my god! There's an axe in my head" in different foreign languages. Tagalog: "Ay Dios ko! May palakol sa ulo ko!"

Use a $2 bill at Best Buy in Baltimore - go to jail.

2005-04-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

Not so good news for male cell phone users: preliminary study at the University of Newcastle has identified that radio waves of a similar frequency to those associated with mobile phones can damage sperm DNA in mice.

Great news in the war against terrorism: Is the US now in the busniess of state sponsored kidnappings: An Iraqi suspect says US soldiers took his mother and sister as hostage to force him to turn himself in.

So you want to elect a Pope. Even better is this series of 2 half-hour lectures presented by Professor Thomas F. X. Noble: “How to Elect a Pope” and “Papal Elections: Then and Now.”

Nazi trees: Dating back to WWII or earlier, followers of Adolf Hitler planted certain trees that would create Nazi designs in the fall when they changed color.

Very cool: MIDI scans of player piano rolls.

The pictures of the AP photographers in Iraq have won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

Syndicates hijack an entire building, charge protection money and reap millions.

2005-04-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Very cool. Google Maps is now doing satellite imagery. For example: the White House.

A nice QTVR panorma shot of St. Peters Square in Rome.

Neat LED belt buckle. Now you can get a scrolling "BAD MOFO" message on your waist.

Pimp my own ride, ghetto style. Answers the question: what if Home Simpson upgraded the audio system in his car.

The 46 best ever freeware utilities.

2005-04-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

Very nice, high resolution, photos of the NC Miata over at mx-5.com.

Riding along with a real Verizon Wireless "Can you hear me now?" test man.

A small miracle: Colorado is serious about its no-dawdling law in left lanes. Drivers who insist on staying in the passing lane are risking tickets as the State Patrol has begun enforcing a law requiring motorists to use the left lane for passing only.

Don't start your car with a hammer, especially while underneath it.

2005-04-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

Nice pictures of the NC Spec Miata at the NY Auto Show: here and here.

Bid on an NC Miata brochure from SOMEONE WHO'S CAP-LOCK KEY IS STUCK.

White smoke for a black Pope? With John Paul on his deathbed, some consider Cardinal Francis Arinze as a candidate for the next Pope.

Google's Gmail service turns 1 year old today and everyone gets a birthday gift of an additional 1 Gbyte of space for a total of 2 Gb.

Solar Death Ray - meet mashmallow peeps.

Take a memory and brain speed test.

2005-03-31T07:16:00.000-08:00

An NC Miata brochure. Great if you can read ~~Swedish~~ German.

Fancy car alarm immobilizers requiring finger print ID, just leads to cut-off fingers: "The attackers forced Mr Kumaran to put his finger on the security panel to start the vehicle, bundled him into the back seat and drove off. But having stripped the car, the thieves became frustrated when they wanted to restart it. They found they again could not bypass the immobiliser, which needs the owner's fingerprint to disarm it." I guess that's a little better than what could have happened if a retinal scan qas required to start your car. They stripped Mr Kumaran naked and left him by the side of the road - but not before cutting off the end of his index finger with a machete.

Phila Lawyer is a very well written, blog by a (fictional ?) Philadelphia lawyer. It's so well written, it reads like a Bret Easton Ellis or Chuck Palahniuk meets John Grisham.

Wow...potential mother of the year awared goes to Debbie COleman, who gave birth in her vanat a gas statino, then drove with the baby under her arm to a hospital where she was stopped by police: Police Sgt. Chris Selby said when Coleman opened the door, he could see the baby still had part of the placenta on its head, "and I'd seen both my kids born, but I said, 'What the hell?' "

Jon posts: Ferrari Modena + Burnout Competition - Driver Ability = $$$

Going where no web server should go. (video)

No, you can't drive a "pubic" VW in Los Angeles.

2005-03-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

A cool interface to the Flickr photo database, lets you search for pictures with a specific tag. Search for "miata" for example, and up pops up dozens of Miata photos.

What's the first thing you do when you buy one of those new Sony Playstation Portable videgame machiens? Take it apart and see what's inside.

Very unsettling toy doll creations.

2005-03-29T08:22:00.000-08:00

Linda Day has some nice pictures of the NC Miata at the NY Auto Show.

Guns aren't dangerous - cats with guns on the other hand...

How to make a buck off your vegetative-state, brain-dead, dying daughter. The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

A new living will format, inspired by the political circus surrounding the Schiavo case.

The Condiment Packet Gallery. All it needs is a flash interface that shows an animation of the contents being squirted out when you click on a packet.

2005-03-28T07:13:00.000-08:00

Pictures of the NC Miata at the NY Auto Show.

A NY Times video puff piece on the NC Miata.

For that chain saw massacre kitchen look: an Apron of Flesh.

2005-03-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

Miata-in-a-box on top of a firetruck at thew NY Auto Show.

Nissan has filed a lawsuit against Audi for the use of the letter "Q".

I am a Japanese school teacher. Amusing stories from the everyday life of an American in Japan.

Social Explorer is an interactive map that lets you explore census data.

2005-03-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

More pictures of the Limited Edition NC Miata: here, rear, front, gauges, interior.

Mazda has an updated MX-5 web site which includes a new "movie trailer" for the NC Miata.

Cool pictures of "transparent" screen laptops - actually screens which have desktop pictures of the image behind the screen.

Thieves dismantle and steal a three bedroom brick house, bit by bit, over three mnths, and sell the pieces for drug money.

What do with your dead pet? Burial or make it into a pillow? Choices, choices.

Acetone as a gasoline additive to increase fule efficiency? Quackery or a giant secret being kept from us by the big, bad, oil companies?

Bacon, bacon, bacon....the ultimate bacon sandwich.

2005-03-23T10:36:00.000-08:00

Power of the new NC Miata confirmed in a PR release: The heart of the 2006 MX-5 is a highly-responsive MZR-series 2.0-liter, 170-horsepower (at 6700 rpm) powerplant, newly developed from the unit used in both MAZDA3 and MAZDA6. This is a light and compact engine, featuring chain-driven double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, variable intake valve timing, electronically controlled port fuel injection and coil-on-plug ignition. The block, head and oil pan are cast aluminum, while cast iron liners provide a durable bore surface.Revving smoothly to its 7000 rpm redline, the 2.0-liter powerplant delivers 140 lb-ft of torque at 5000 rpm for driving exhilaration throughout the rev range. More importantly, the torque curve is wide and flat, making this the most responsive MX-5 Miata yet. A complete redesign of the intake and exhaust tracts resulted in a 57-percent reduction in intake restriction and 40-percent reduction of exhaust pressure.

Pictures of a "race-prepped" NC Miata at Laguna Seca: picture 1, picture 2, picture 3. Interior shot. Center console. Shot with a driver standing next to the car. A big gallery of pictures. A gallery of shots of the building of the car.

More pictures and information on the LE edition NC Miata.

Mazdaspeed Motorsports has an article on the NC Spec Miata.

The NC Miata is the front cover story of Autoweek magazine.

Your body is the next broadband personal data network linking your mobile phone or MP3 player to a cordless headset, your digital camera to a PC or printer, and all the gadgets you carry around to each other.

2005-03-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

Michael Schiavo to President Bush about his brain-dead wife: "Come down, President Bush. Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer. Ask her to lift her arm to shake your hand. She won't do it."

Cool...make your own Solar Death Ray.

Serious athletic geekiness: the world's first computerized shoe: the Adidas 1.

2005-03-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

If you're having problems with your cordless phone at work, how about a Samsung 30-mile cordless phone.

Computers and kids: a study finds that the less students use computers at school and at home, the better they do in international tests of literacy and maths.

A hilarious mashup video of old NES video games.

Now you'll know the secret of bananas (video).

2005-03-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

The three-rotor rotary engine is back: Mazda will return to professional sports car racing as an engine supplier in the LMP-2 class of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The company will provide engineering and technical assistance to BK Motorsports, overseeing the development and deployment of a RENESIS-based three-rotor rotary racing engine.

A behind-the-scenes look at Pixar's animation offices.

Hire-an-Elvis: Find an Elvis close to where you live for that special occasion.

A lesson from the past: Galveston County, Texas shows that Social Security reform, if done right, can work.

A handpicked collection of the best investing and personal finance web sites.

I Like Your Colors! Enter a web page and it returns the color codes of all the colors on that page. Neat.

Ernest Cline's rant, Dance, Monkeys, Dance! done in flash.

2005-03-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

A large picture version of the Limited Edition of the NC Miata that will be shown at the NY Auto Show.

New Scientist magazines examines 13 things that do not make semse.

Jesus Christ, the candle. A South Dakotan couple makes and markets candles they say smell like Jesus.

Yummy looking dim-sum flash drives.

2005-03-16T07:24:00.000-08:00

Cool...a Honda S2000 engine mounted in a Miata. More pictures in this directory.

Mustang GT vs. Mazdaspeed Miata vs. Acura RSX vs. Subaru WRX article in Sports Car International.

Neat..how to build a Bluetooth sniper rifle.

2005-03-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

Limited edition NC Miata to be introduced at the New York Auto Show.

Funny TV commercial: an elephant, an NB Miata, and McDonalds.

The 302 Exploit Google Page hijack problem: How somebody elses page can appear instead of your page in the search engines.

Party time...get your free heroin in Vancouver, BC.

So some people got upset with the videogame Gran Theft Auto, which they thought would lead kids to a life of crime. Maybe they'll focus their attention on the CBS show, CSI. A teen in Florida says he studied CSI to gather tips for committing more than 100 burglaries.

2005-03-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

CanadianDriver has a preview article on the NC Miata.

Neat...someone has put up 2.4Gb of BitTorrent videos of CeBIT 2005 coverage using a headmoutned color camera connected to a MPEG-4 harddrive recorder.

Martian squeegee men or dust-devils cleaning off the solar arrays of the Mars Spirit Rover.

Hilarious Star Wars Episode III trailer!

Get ready to be inundated by spam to your phone, via VOIP, from cheap PCs, dialed by overseas workers.

2005-03-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Mazda will be taking the new NC Miata and touring it at different cities in the US.

Very nice...an Apple Mac Mini install inside a Volkswagen GTi.

The Hot Import Nights auto show rolled into Los Angeles last week. Tons of photos available.

Popular Hot Rodding looks inside Chevy's new LS7 V-8 engine.

Silver leads the Top 10 car colors.

The most hilarious Star Wars Episode III spoilers.

Baby Got Book!

2005-03-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

5 years after it's record high of 5048...10 reasons why Nasdaq won't recover soon.

The Palm Beach Post hosts video clips from Ramadi Madness...a home made video made by US army soldiers in Iraq showing them kicking a gravely wounded prisoner in the face and making the arm of a corpse appear to wave.

Bravo Garry Kasparov! The world's strongest chess player has retired from professional competition.

2005-03-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Very cool...the UltraCane: a cane for the blind that uses bat-like sonar to give the user a sense of his surrounding.

"Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure." (I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear) and other handy Latin phrases.

Inside Club 33: Disneyland's ultra-exclusive private club.

Neat...how to make ice cream in 30 seconds using liquid nitrogen.

2005-03-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

MSN Autos has an article on the NC Miata. Features a video with Joseph Bakak, Senior Managing Executive Officer, R&D of Mazda.

"Home video" of the complete unveiling of the NC Miata at the Geneva auto show (WMV format) hosted by the folks at the Italian MX-5 club: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Get your own artificial island in Dubai. Al Nakheel Properties is creating 250 to 300 small private artificial islands that are shaped like the continents of the world.

Droolworthy goodness for driving video games...Force Dynamic's personal driving simulator, and the FCS Racing Simulation from Holland.

A new bill introduced in Minnesota declares that a person's birthdate starts at 8am, not midnight. Very useful for prevennting 21 year olds from drinking at midnight on their 21st birthday.

2005-03-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

BusinessWeek online has a small articleon the NC Miata.

A few more pictures of the NC Miata at the Geneva Auto Show last week.

A very cool picture of the Mazda RX-8 rear suspensio, supposedly very similar to what the NC Miata has used.

Neat...essential fonts for designers: 300 free True Type fonts.

From the market-segment-I-didn't-know-existed category: an Israeli company is marketing a kosher phone, that carries a stamp of rabbinical approval.

2005-03-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

Video of raising the top of an NC Miata.

2005-03-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

Dave from the MX-5 Club in Australia posts more pictures of the NC Miata at the Melbourne introduction.

Mazda has a Motor Show web page, with a link to a cool Quicktime VR picture of the NC Miata stand at the Geneva Auto Show.

Nemo an inspiration to the NC Miata?

Wow...a Nokia cellphone wired to trigger a bomb in Iraq, but luckily, did not trigger teh bomb: "01 Call Missed".

2005-03-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Miata name is offically gone un the US. "In the States, we will call it the MX-5," Stephen Odell, Mazda's senior managing executive officer, confirmed in an interview with Inside Line.

Video of the NC Miata top being raised.

360 degree view of the NC Miata with color variations, both interior and exterior.

A picture of a hard-top equpped NC Miata.

Buy your own, very high quality, full sized monster for your haunted house.

Useful Home Depot hardware supply items for the kitchen: 13 trade secrets from food pros.

How Republicans are manipulating us by framing political arguments: Frank Luntz Republican Playbook

2005-03-02T08:36:00.000-08:00

Celebrate Yahoo's 10th birthday today with free ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

So you want a personalized NFL jersey - here's the 1,121 naughty words you can't use.

The first use of the smiley on the Internet :-)

2005-03-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

Mazda USA updates its web site to include the NC MX-5 Miata.

The red NC Miata at the Geneva Auto Show.

More photos of the Mazda NC Miata display at the Geneva Auto Show.

More NC Miata pictures and videos from an Italian MX-5 web site.

Pictures of the NC Miata launch in Melbourne, Australia.

Neat...the most useful websites for reporters.

2005-02-28T07:55:00.000-08:00

Very nice exterior and interior video of the NC Miata couresy of AutoGallery.net.

Mazda's NC Miata web site is available.

Mazda Japan issues a press release on the new NC Miata.

First pictures of the NC Miata taken from Geneva: here and here.

Ford' gambled on a cheaper, semisolid casting method of the control arms for their GT40 super car, but the gamble didn't pay off, as cracks were found and the control arms are being recalled and replaced with more expensive forged parts.

The head of a 6 foot long python is something you don't want to see coming out of your toilet bowl.

2005-02-26T17:56:00.000-08:00

Romance novel cover art with redone titles - hilarious!

How to mail a fresh brain. For all those fresh brains you've been wanting to share with friends and family.

2005-02-25T07:29:00.000-08:00

Autoblog is reporting that the name "Miata' will not be used to market the MX-5 in the US.

Interesting graph of US Miata monthly sales

Micro-niche, long-tail publishing or How to sell your book, CD or DVD on Amazon.

Oooh...the first multimedia bed of the future. All it needs is a refrigerator and microwave oven and you'll never get out of bed.

Saturn Sky features, gallery and specs are here.

Get drunk without drinking. AWOL (Alcohol Without Liquid) has released a home version of an alcohol intake machine.

2005-02-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

MME (Mazda Motor Europe) will produca a live video stream from the launch in Geneva on Monday, Feb. 28th, 5.30 pm GMT. To participate, read the instructions on this miataforum post.

Macleans.ca has a preview story of the NC Miata.

Sometimes it pays to read those boring, software license agreements.

This Place Sucks...The Super Friends act out Office Space (the movie). Hilarious!

And I thought that bananas weer already self-contained food items. Go another step and protect it with a BananaBunker enclosure.

Meet the Collector. Yikes.

2005-02-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

Mazda has supplied AutoWeek magazine with information regarding the NC Miata. (Word document).

More NC Miata pictures from Auto Motor & Sport.

Yowza! A 1996 turbo Miata, with 472 rear wheel horsepower, for sale at $17,500.

How Paris Hilton's Sidekick was hacked: duh...a weak password

Dogs with frickin' cameras on their heads...though not quite as cool as sharks with frickin' lasers.

2005-02-22T07:26:00.000-08:00

Autoweek magazine's web site has a slew of official NC Miata pictures. Accompanying article here

Interactive augmented trashcans. Cool...a trashcan that displays its contents on a visual display on the ground in front of it.

According to State Farm, the car most stolen often is the Toyota Camry. Find out which cars in your state are stolen the most on their web site

Yay... U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said that the FCC regulators had overstepped their authority by imposing the Broadcast Flag in HD signals designed to limit the copying of HDTV programs.

Neat...a Russian scientist has invented a drunk pill: it contains grapevine extracts intended to slow down the oxidation of alcohol and keep the user drunk

2005-02-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

Auto Bild has higher quality pictuers of the NC Miata photos first seen yesterday in the April edition of Motor Trend magazine: here, here, here, and here. Auto Bild article here. Andreas translates the German article.

Cool...a Mac mini mounted to the back of a 42" plasma screen.

Make your own deep dish cylindrical parabolic antenna for your WiFi antenna. Neat.

A great idea - print your own medical id alert card.

A Ukranian inventor has come up with a musical condom. Fortunately, "there is no danger of being electrocuted." Whew.

2005-02-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Could this be the NC Miata? Pictures here and here. Thanks to elbee who found it published in the April 2005 issue of Motor Trend magazine, that he saw on the newstands today. Added to the NC spy shots gallery.

So, did someone really hack into Paris Hilton's Sidekick PDA revealing photos, notebook, and personal address?

Wow...this kaieidoscope flash animation is so hypnotizing. Keep the cursor in the middle of the square for a true kaliedoscope effect.

A great collection of animations of a variety of internal combustion engines. Very cool!

2005-02-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

The NC Miata will make its US debut at the New York Auto Show, Mar. 25 - Apr 3.

A Brenda Priddy like render of an NC Miata. Added to the NC Miata gallery
.
Robert McElww and his very lightweight 91 Miata, Red Beast.

The Gates meet The Crackers. And The Somerville Gates..

How to eat sushi

2005-02-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

Take a survey: When will the first non-camoflagued photo of the new Mazda Miata MX-5 appear on the web? Results to be posted on the NC spy photo gallery.

Pretty "posing" pictures of an NB Miata taken in Sony's Gran Turismo 4 video game.

A nice writeup on a '90 Miata tuner car.

How not to end a test drive at your local car dealer.

American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan will be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.

Very cool... the Face Transformer can change the age, race or sex of a facial image, or transform it to the style of a famous artist, or make an exagerated caricature.

Nice...monkey brain controlled robotic arms.

Show Koko, the signing gorilla, your boobs or you're fired.

Now that's what you call a last meal before you get executed: "For his last meal, Bagwell requested a beefsteak with A1 sauce, six pieces of fried chicken, barbecued ribs, two hamburgers, a pound of fried bacon, a dozen scrambled eggs, french fries, onion rings, salad with ranch dressing, peach cobbler, ice tea, milk and coffee."

very funny...Don Castellaneta and Harry Shearer doing Simpson's impressions on Conan O'Brian.

2005-02-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

Hello digital newspapers. Ntera introduced its NanoChromics Display (NCD): a crisp paper-like image, with no loss in contrast across the entire 180 degree viewing arc, that uses 10% of the power of traditional LCDs.

Amazing - a gallery of cars in Japan packed into incredibly small spaces.

Lots of GTech Pro selling on E-bay for about $33 (originally $150). A nice toy that can give you 0-60 times, horsepower, torque, 1/4 miles, with very minimal installation.

This history of the Universe, in 200 words or less.

Researchers have developed a new breed of powered, energy efficient, two-legged robots with a human gait. Still a long ways off from C3PO.

Microsoft explains computer speak to parental n00bz.

2005-02-16T07:21:00.000-08:00

Miata competition heats up - Solstics pricing announced. Straight from the horses mouth: "When Solstice goes on sale this summer, it will, officially, be priced at $19,995 — and that includes the $575 destination charge...That’s not for a stripped down model, either. That sub-$20,000 price gets you 177 horsepower mated to a five-speed manual transmission, 18-inch wheels, 4-wheel disc brakes, glass rear window, and a CD-player as standard equipment"

Franz von Holzhausen, Design Manager of the Solstice and Sky, is going to be tbe new Design Director overseeing the design and development of all vehicles for Mazda North American Operation.

The man in yellow is back...Lance Armstrong will race in this year's Tour de France and go for his 7th straight win.

Very cool...liquid microdot technology, aka Smart Water, is being used in London to mark personal property and reduce burglaries.

Hilarious...the House of Cosbys. "He spent 10 years and made a cloning machine. And now he's accomplished his wonderful dream"

2005-02-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

A cool Msatellite image of Central Park in New York, showing The Gates installation.

Mazda makes a claim to the world's longest advertisement, over 1000 ft. in length, for the Premazcy (aka Mazda5). Small picture in this article.

A new study based on more than three decades of U.S. data suggests that giving flu shots to the elderly has not saved any lives.

2005-02-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Flyin' Miata's tutorial on how to de-power a Miata power steering rack.

Google takes the search to printed material.

Isn't democracy wonderful? After we invaded Iraq, and over 1400 US soldiers have died, in the Iraqi election, the top two winning parties, which together won more than 70 percent of the vote, will probably lead to a government with a strong religious base -- and very close ties to the Islamic republic next door.

Gay or not enough females? A German zoo is not sure if a group of their male penguins are gay or not, so they're recruiting Swedish female penguins to entice them.

Hollywod celebrites can be pretty pissy when they can't get their Apple hardware, but others are quite nice.

Dead or alive? Add an Abe Vigode extension to the Firefox web browser that can tell you whether Abe Vigoda is dead or not.

Neat...a Game Boy Advance as a digital information display for a car.

Mazda's secret RX-8 project. Supercharged goodness.

Neat...upcoming guests on late night TV.

Very cool...Research in the US revealed that switching off a single gene can regrow important inner-ear cells in mice, suggesting that a similar approach might be useful for repairing hearing damage in people.

If only averting a North Korean nuclear missinle strike was as easy as typing accurately.

2005-02-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

Neat...gabage cans that spy on you: Residents of Croydon, south London, have been told that the microchips being inserted into their new garbage cans may well be adapted so that the city can judge whether they are producing too much garbage.

"When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think." An intervie with Daniel Tammet. an autistic savant, who can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds.

2005-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

The World Press Photos of the Year, 2004 have been announced. Very nice photographs.

Scientists have developed a spray that makes women hornier and hairier.

The real Lawrence Lessig comments on the Lawrence Lessig that appeared on West Wing this week.

Free floss.

London Undergroumd, The Song. Some people get mad at their mass transit system. Other people write songs about it. NSTPIFOTK (not safet to play in front of the kiddies).

A nice site with a bucketload full of financial calculators.

Funny commercial for the Opel Tigra Twin Top convertible sold over in Europe.

Very cool...how to extract DNA from anything living.