Who would think to strap a MIDI controller to a skateboard? Apparently new media artist Simon Morris did with his project Musique Concrete which aims to “explore sound and the urban landscape through the movements on a skateboard.”

This is how it works according to the site:

Mounted underneath the skateboard is an interface which transmits data wirelessly to a laptop computer. Physical actions are detected using three sensors connected to the interface. Acceleration, turns and vibration are monitored by a photoresistor, a flex sensor and piezo sensor respectively. Using the MIDI protocol, a software program enables the skateboarder to control and modify real-time sounds directly from the skateboard.

There are a couple of videos showing the set-up in action but the results aren’t really music, more like a cross between a machine gun and a jack-hammer. It is still a cool idea nonetheless.

When I was in elementary and middle school I would walk to and from school. And everyday I would pass this unusual, dome-shaped house hidden away in a drove a trees. Apparently it is up for sale.

Besides the odd shape, all of the windows are triangular making it a nightmare for buying curtains and blinds. The ceiling also appears to have fuzzy carpeting on it.

If I owned it I would paint it orange like a pumpkin with a green chimney for a stalk. But considering how small it seems, the asking price is $475,000 ($45,000 less than the original asking price.) You can see all the details on the Redfin listing or the slideshow.

Today the supreme court overruled the 1976 Washington DC gun ban in a 5-4 vote. But other than the fact that a bullet proof vest might be a good investment for my daily commute, this isn’t the interesting part of the story. The best part of todays decision was the odd protest sign that made the homepage of two major online news sites.

Check out this screengrab of the CNN homepage today.

and then this capture of the U.S.News & World Report homepage a few minutes later.

I can’t decide what is more stupid: the statement “If Guns Kill People… Do Pens Misspell Words?” or the guys face in the first picture.

The Rock-afire Explosion was specifically manufactured and created for Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants from 1980 to 1991. Now Chris Thrash will program the band of animals to perform to any modern song for a mere $100. Check out the list of songs that are currently being bid on and throw a couple of dollars their way. Below is Ushers “Love In This Club” as performed by The Rock-afire Explosion

(via Ryan Dudek via blog.suchmann.com)

That’s right, I use a Zune with my MacBook Pro and it works just fine.

Everyone on the net is buzzing about Spore, the latest simulation game from The Sims creator Will Wright. The idea behind Spore is you create your own free-form creature and guide it from a simple-cell organism to an interstellar exploratory civilization.

The game is being praised for its social features built right in to the game like profile pages for your creatures, YouTube integration, and the ability to interact with other players characters in your game. The full game will be released in September but the Spore Creature Creator was released yesterday.

There’s not much to do in the creature creator except for, well, creating creatures. It’s similiar to (and just as addictive as) the Mii Creator found on the Nintendo Wii. After opening it up and getting my orientation with the program I started working on my first creature: Snardr.

Aww isn’t it cute. But some people have gotten a bit naughty making phallic creatures, for example. A quick search on YouTube brings up more than 350 Spore Penis Creatures The Spore Penis Monster is my favorite. I guess it is to be expected.

What does one of your Spore creatures look like?

I was browsing through the pages of Freshome.com when I saw these hideous monstrosities of furniture.

and the fugliest chair to rule all fugly chairs…

Who in the world bought these things?

(via Freshome.com 1 & 2)

The human-powered search engine, Mahalo, sent me a goodie bag with a beach towel, a tote bag, and a hat. Clearly hats are not my thing.

If you are part of a company giving out free swag get in touch.

My roommate, Jaime, had to make a website about poetry for one of her classes. Her idea was to present the poems of several 19th century American poets along with a recording of a reading. Guess who got to lend his voice to the poetry reading? That’s right, it was me!

I was happy to help out with voice over work and recording. I borrowed a R0DE Podcaster Microphone from work and recorded everything into Garageband on a MacBook. I recited poems from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman.

In fact in the 8th grade one of my assignments was to memorize and recite in front of the class Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” Even after all of these years the words flew off my tongue with ease.

Jaime’s site is pretty interesting and well designed for a first time website maker. Take a look around and take a listen to the other poems.

This is one of those “in the right place at the right time” kind of photos.

From the photo caption on Flickr:

Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico(Monday June-2-2008) Seven competitors from yesterday cyclist race were severely injured after being hit by a drunk driver, one of them died and other three were hospitalized. The drunk driver was arrested after the rest of the participants tried to lynch him.

30 year old Alejandro Alvarez, from Brownsville,Texas, was pronounced dead on the scene, while Alejandro Salvador Tamez, 18, Juan Machaita, 38, and Guadalupe Martinez,, 16, were severely injured.

Cyclists were participating in a race from Matamoros to Bagdad Beach, when drunk driver Jesse Campos, a Brownsville, Texas resident, in his Ford Grand Marquis, license 659-FKF from Texas, impacted seven cyclists, even as they were being escorted by Local Transit Officials.

Source: The Daily Telegraph
Picture: Jose Fidelino Vera Hernandez