Seven years, my friends. Seven years of hopping in the car late at night, driving up I-5 to Vancouver, Washington, running The Gauntlet™ (45.1 MB), and visiting Blackjack Fireworks to check out the colorful, poetic, lost-in-translation, Corel-driven beauty of the latest fireworks packaging.

To catch up, please enjoy 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Here’s to more good stuff, because I’m…

This year, we’ve got…

Confusion

Spectacular Clip-Art

Eric Clapton’s Dream Realized

Literal Nightmares

A Revealing Answer (iStock Photo) (it’s “iStock Photo”)

Copyright Infringement I’m Sure, But I’m Not Sure What From

Copyright Infringement I Do Recognize

I Don’t Doubt This For A Minute

This, On The Other Hand, I Doubt Very Much

Military Surplus

For When You Want Only the Not-Quite Best

David Lynch’s Dream Realized

Irony

Monkeys

The Sword from Hell (Which

is Totally Awesome and Will Cause So Much Injury)

And Is Actually Awesome And So Dangerous)

And, Finally,

Resigned Exasperation

Last but not least, I leave you with the most incredible marketing claim ever made (I’m going to use this someday):

See you next year!

This bloody cleaver clutch is perfect accessory for your murderous Halloween Costume, and you won’t need an extra bag for your wallet and phone! via Who Killed Bambi?

When former Xbox chief Don Mattrick announced that he was leaving Microsoft on Monday, talk naturally turned to who would replace him, especially since the company is preparing to launch its new Xbox One console in just a few months. Geek notes that for the time being, Microsoft's Xbox division will be run by none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who told employees in an email on Monday that "Don’s directs will report to me and will continue to drive the day-to-day business as a team, particularly focused on shipping Xbox One this holiday." It's unclear if Ballmer's takeover of the Xbox division is a temporary measure or whether he sees himself as the best man for the job long-term.

Just in time for the Fourth of July, Jeremiah Warren created an incredible relatively low-budget “bullet time” rig— with a 240 fps GoPro camera mounted to a ceiling fan —to photograph fireworks. He posted a full writeup showing how to build it on his web site.

The clever hack about using the GoPro on the ceiling fan is thanks to Mark Rober, who showed how to do it back in May, mostly with smaller-scale subjects.  But Jeremiah has taken the idea and run with it, adapting it for larger-scale photography.

And as you can see, the results are simply fantastic.You can find more videos and the full how-to on Jeremiah’s site.

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution picks up on a Reddit thread that asks "What's the most intellectual joke you know?" I've always been fond of this one:

Q: What does the "B" in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?
A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot.

And this one:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Phillip Glass

Two of the current favorites in the Reddit thread are:

Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream." The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, Monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?"

And:

It's hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.

Tags: lists

(Supermarket | Germany)

Supermarket | Germany

(I am checking out a young couple’s weekly groceries. I overhear their exchange.)

Girl #1: *puts massive pack of batteries onto the conveyor belt*

Girl #2: “Wait, that’s really expensive! What do we even need batteries for?”

Girl #1: *glances nervously at me* “They’re for the TV remote.”

Girl #2: “Oh, I didn’t realise the batteries in the remote had run out. Do we need that many though? I mean what else do we have that even uses batter— Oh…”