The Old New Thing

French schoolchildren invited to draw their impressions of the United States

June 1, 2004 Jun 1, 2004 06/1/04

Raymond Chen

They choose fast food, fat people, and Bush in a tank. In January, a cartoon festival was held in the town of Carquefou, just outside of Nantes in the northwest corner of France. Students of all ages competed in a contest to illustrate their vision of the United States. They drew obese Americans devouring Coca-Cola and McDonald's ...

Chewing gum legalized in Singapore

May 31, 2004 May 31, 2004 05/31/04

Raymond Chen

After twelve years, Singapore has relaxed its ban on chewing gum. But not so fast. Before Singaporeans think about unwrapping a pack of Wrigley's Orbit gum that's just started selling here -- and only in pharmacies -- they must submit their names and ID card numbers. If they don't, pharmacists who sell them gum could be jailed up ...

Kipping

May 28, 2004 May 28, 2004 05/28/04

Raymond Chen

Apparently that's the term for knitting in public. The New York Times covered the online knitting community. I wasn't aware of the Yahoo knitlist group; I may have to go check it out. (The NYT article also mentions the yarn Fizz, which I have used, but I much prefer Splash, a totally knock-your-socks-off novelty yarn. ...

Meet Anton Chekhov

May 27, 2004 May 27, 2004 05/27/04

Raymond Chen

(Not to be confused with Star Trek's Pavel Chekov, who spells his name with a plain "k" instead of a "kh". Of course, since this is all transliteration from Cyrillic, of which there are multiple systems, arguing about spelling is rather dubious anyway.) The guerilla performance group Improv Everywhere stages events in public ...

Art too bad to be ignored

May 26, 2004 May 26, 2004 05/26/04

Raymond Chen

The Museum of Bad Art: Art Too Bad To Be Ignored. The Athlete Crayon and pencil on canvas by Unknown 30"x40" Acquired from trash in Boston by Scott Wilson A startling work, and one of the largest crayon on canvas pieces that most people can ever hope to see. The bulging leg muscles, the black shoes, the white socks, the pink...

The F*deral Bur*au of Inv*stigations

May 25, 2004 May 25, 2004 05/25/04

Raymond Chen

According to the Chicago Division, Use of the NAME, INITIALS, or SEAL of the F*I is restricted by law and may be used only with written permission of the F*I. Asterisks inserted to avoid being arrested by the F*I for using their name and initials without written permission. (I hope they don't go after me for using their ...

Callback, the safety newsletter for the aviation community

May 24, 2004 May 24, 2004 05/24/04

Raymond Chen

Yes the "S" in NASA stands for "Space", but don't forget that the "A" stands for "Aeronautics". One of the programs that I (amateur aviation wannabe) find fascinating is the Aviation Safety Reporting System, where pilots can submit anonymous reports of "stupid things I have done" in order to teach other pilots "Don't do what I did...

You can do anything at zombo.com, anything at all

May 21, 2004 May 21, 2004 05/21/04

Raymond Chen

Zombo has been around for many years, and yet I still find it hilarious (requires Flash). I just went back to check, and alas the introduction actually ends. But fortunately, they made it even cooler by having a text-only version. (Still requires sound...

Coffee machine or assault weapon?

May 20, 2004 May 20, 2004 05/20/04

Raymond Chen

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Letterboxing: Geocaching without the GPS

May 19, 2004 May 19, 2004 05/19/04

Raymond Chen

Geocaching is sort of like global hide-and-seek (with hints) for technology geeks. I stumbled upon a non-GPS version of this diversion, known as Letterboxing (not to be confused with letterboxed movies, another subject entirely). By the way, if geocaching isn't enough "fun with a GPS" for you, you can try The Degree Confluence ...