George R. R. Martin Reveals What the Real ‘Game of Thrones’ Iron Throne Actually Looks Like

By Kimber Streams on July 10, 2013

In a recent blog post, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin describes what the “real” Iron Throne — the one he imagines when he’s writing the books, not the one from HBO’s Game of Thrones — looks like. He points readers to this illustration by Marc Simonetti, which depicts the Iron Throne more as the author intended.

This Iron Throne is massive. Ugly. Assymetric. It’s a throne made by blacksmiths hammering together half-melted, broken, twisted swords, wrenched from the hands of dead men or yielded up by defeated foes… a symbol of conquest… it has the steps I describe, and the height. From on top, the king dominates the throne room. And there are thousands of swords in it, not just a few.
This Iron Throne is scary. And not at all a comfortable seat, just as Aegon intended.

In the blog post, Martin goes on to highlight the differences between the show’s Iron Throne and the novel version of his own creation:

The HBO throne has become iconic. And well it might. It’s a terrific design, and it has served the show very well. There are replicas and paperweights of it in three different sizes. Everyone knows it. I love it. I have all those replicas right here, sitting on my shelves.
And yet, and yet… it’s still not right. It’s not the Iron Throne I see when I’m working on THE WINDS OF WINTER. It’s not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see. The way the throne is described in the books… HUGE, hulking, black and twisted, with the steep iron stairs in front, the high seat from which the king looks DOWN on everyone in the court… my throne is a hunched beast looming over the throne room, ugly and assymetric…
The HBO throne is none of those things. It’s big, yes, but not nearly as big as the one described in the novels. And for good reason. We have a huge throne room set in Belfast, but not nearly huge enough to hold the Iron Throne as I painted it. For that we’d need something much bigger, more like the interior of St. Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, and no set has that much room. The Book Version of the Iron Throne would not even fit through the doors of the Paint Hall.

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An Amazing Waterspout Vortex Pops Up Over Tampa Bay

 

Jeremy Kappell, a meteorologist for WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky, has shared a photo of an incredible waterspout that occurred recently over Florida’s Old Tampa Bay (Oldsmar). A waterspout is a weather phenomenon that happens when a combo of air and mist form a potentially dangerous vortex. This particular one actually came ashore which is unusual as they usually stay over water. No one was injured but it did cause a lot of property damage. ABC Action News has posted a video of the waterspout in action, along with viewer’s photos.

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The Science of Fire Breathing

By EDW Lynch on July 9, 2013

Fire eater and scientist Dr. Tim Cockerill explains the science of fire breathing in this video by The Royal Institution of Great Britain. The video includes some impressive first-person footage of the classic fire eater’s trick, the Human Volcano (aka fire breathing).

Fearsome Chrome T-Rex Sculpture on the Banks of the Seine in Paris

By EDW Lynch on July 8, 2013

photo by Anthony Gelot

A fearsome chromed skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex was recently installed on the banks of the Seine in Paris. Created by artist Philippe Pasqua, the aluminum and chrome sculpture is nearly 23 feet long and consists of 350 bones.

photo

Reconnected’ Sculptures Turn Felled Trees Into Outdoor Art

Artist Philippe Handford turned trees that had been illegally cut down in a forest in Northwest England into a pair of beautiful sculpture installations for the 2012 Pendle Sculpture Trail. In the sculpture “Reconnected 1,” Handford connected a tree back to its stump with a spine-like armature of cross-sectioned logs. In “Reconnected 2,” Handford connected a cluster of four tree stumps with two cross-sectioned log arches. The Pendle Sculpture Trail marked the 400th anniversary of the trials and executions of the Pendle witches.

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Kirk fu

In October 2012, artist Rabittooth created “An Introduction to Kirk-Fu,” a funny chart visualizing the “extraordinary fighting style” created and used by Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series. Prints are available to purchase online at Society6.

Supercut of Johnny Depp Making Weird Faces in Movies

For Screen Junkies, Toronto-based film enthusiast Louis Plamondon (aka “The Sleepy Skunk“) conceived and edited this supercut video of actor Johnny Depp making weird faces in movies.

Vessel, A Carbon Fiber Bathtub Shaped Like a Hammock

 

Vessel is a limited edition carbon fiber bathtub with a swoopy design based on a hammock. Designed by Splinter Works in the U.K., the nine-foot-long bathtub is suspended above the floor by wall brackets. It is available in a variety of colors including classic carbon fiber black, pink, and silver. Your bath is ready, Mr. Bond.

The BoxTrolls, Upcoming Animated Feature Film by the Makers of ‘Coraline’ and ‘ParaNorman’

Portland, Oregon-based Laika, the animation studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman, have announced their third animated feature film titled The BoxTrolls. The film opens in theaters on September 26, 2014 and its trailer is available to view at iTunes Movie Trailers. It will be directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable.

Incredible Photos of the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico

The jaw-dropping photo series “Tultepec” by Thomas Prior documents the fireworks-fueled chaos of the 2013 National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico. The nine-day festival celebrates the main industry of Tultepec—handmade fireworks—through firework competitions, a parade of pyrotechnic bulls, and apparently, loads of fireworks in the streets.

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_____ as _____, Food Idioms Visualized in Lettering Made out of Food

“Warm as toast”

In her photo series “_____ as _____,” designer Christine Kawasaki-Chan visualizes food idioms like “cool as a cucumber” using lettering made out of actual food items. Check out her Dribbble page for more of her photography.

“Cool as a cucumber”

“Easy as pie”

“Keen as mustard

Paula Deen admits to using the n-word, but only for "bad" black people

I grew up in the South, and I know all about "not racist" white people who use that racist slur against black people, but "only the bad ones." Guess what. Those white people are racists. Some pretty great Twitter jokes coming out of this one, though. And American shitrag National Enquirer says they have video. Here's the court transcript. And HuffPo picked out the awful bits and served them up on top of an SEO-optimized plate of warm grits and butter. Enjoy, y'all!

Actor James Gandolfini of Sopranos fame dies suddenly, in Italy

Actor James Gandolfini, 51, has died of what early reports say was a massive heart attack.
He was in Italy at the time.
HBO

How to Make Toy Animal Corn on the Cob Holders

Using cheap plastic animal toys, Instructables’ play editor and community manager Mike Warren created super cute corn on the cob holders. He even cleverly designed the holders to reconnect when not poking corn (tutorial).

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Hairy Stockings For Young Chinese Girls To Fend Off Perverts

ChinaSMACK is reporting that a user on China’s microblogging site Sina Weibo has invented “hairy stockings” as a way for young girls to fend off perverts. It’s hard to tell if these are real or imagined but given that some people in China have been putting dogs in pantyhose, these might just be the former.

Blunders of Genius: interesting errors by Darwin, Pauling, and Einstein

Charles Darwin, Linus Pauling, and Albert Einstein made great contributions to science. They also made large blunders. In this original essay Mario Livio, astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, and author of the new book Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe,

Game of Thrones Character Art Prints by Adam Spizak

“Fire and Blood” (Daenerys Targaryen)

London-based illustrator Adam Spizak created three fierce art prints that depict characters (Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow) from the hit HBO television series, Game of Thrones. Prints are available to purchase online from Funkrush. Previously we wrote about Adam’s collection of television show character art prints.

“Hear me Roar” (Tyrion Lannister)

“Winter is coming” (Jon Snow)

Verizon: Oh yeah, we can definitely hear you now.

Photo: Verizon Can Hear You Now, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 60976844@N00's photostream, shared in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool.

Incredible Origami Animal Sculptures by Cuong Nguyen

Vietnamese artist Cuong Nguyen creates beautiful origami animal sculptures out of single sheets of paper. Nguyen’s style varies between exacting detail and minimalism, and he has crafted his favorite subjects—gorillas and scorpions–in many different styles over the years. For more on Nguyen’s work, see his interview with All Things Paper.

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Ranch Dressing Soda Tasted and Reviewed on ‘Don’t Put That In Your Mouth’

“If you were to take like a Dorito and wring it out and just get all the Dorito juice…”

In episode 7 of the web series Don’t Put That In Your Mouth, host Mark Cersosimo tastes and reviews Ranch Dressing Soda with Meghan Oretsky.

It would be mostly awesome if the Sun went out right now*

Today's XKCD What If? explores many of the benefits that would accrue to the human race if the Sun were suddenly extinguished.

Reduced risk of solar flares: In 1859, a massive solar flare and geomagnetic storm hit the Earth.[1] Magnetic storms induce electric currents in wires. Unfortunately for us, by 1859 we had wrapped the Earth in telegraph wires. The storm caused powerful currents in those wires, knocking out communications and in some cases causing telegraph equipment to catch fire.[2] Since 1859, we've wrapped the Earth in a lot more wires. If the 1859 storm hit us today, the Department of Homeland Security estimates the economic damage to the US alone would be several trillion dollars[3]—more than every hurricane which has ever hit the US combined.[4] If the Sun went out, this threat would be eliminated. Improved satellite service: When a communications satellite passes in front of the Sun, the Sun can drown out the satellite's radio signal, causing an interruption in service.[5] Deactivating the Sun would solve this problem. Better astronomy: Without the Sun, ground-based observatories would be able to operate around the clock. The cooler air would create less atmospheric noise, which would reduce the load on adaptive optics systems and allow for sharper images. Stable dust: Without sunlight, there would be no Poynting–Robertson drag, which means we would finally be able to place dust into a stable orbit around the Sun without the orbits decaying. I’m not sure whether anyone wants to do that, but you never know. Reduced infrastructure costs: The Department of Transportation estimates that it would cost $20 billion per year over the next 20 years to repair and maintain all US bridges.[6] Most US bridges are over water; without the Sun, we could save money by simply driving on a strip of asphalt laid across the ice.

Kickstarting a Bluetooth-controlled cyborg cockroach

Alan sez, "Who wouldn't want their very own cyborg roach? And who wouldn't want to be able to control that cyborg from their mobile? Fund this Kickstarter and maybe you can. The robo-roach - manufactured in a hackerspace, like you do - is intended to serve as a high school science experiment. However, if you think that's what most people are going to use it for then you have not met nearly as many fratboys and office pranksters as I have

Don’t Mess With a Chipmunk’s Nuts

To promote their show North America, Discovery Channel has made “Don’t Mess With a Chipmunk’s Nuts,” a video clip from episode 3 of the series that tells the serious business of nut collecting for chipmunks.

hey, it's summer 2

Han Solo in Carbonite Pop-Tarts

Last October, IGN's Brian Altano announced a bold design fiction: an imaginary line of "Han Solo in Carbonite" Pop-Tarts. Several months have gone by and this is still not a thing. The world is broken

hey it's summer no 1

All the Young Dudes: Why Glam Rock 

“All the Young Dudes,” glam rock’s rallying cry, turned 40 last year. David Bowie wrote it, but Mott the Hoople owned it: their version was, and will ever remain, glam’s anthem, a hymn of exuberant disenchantment that also happens to be one of rock’s all-time irresistible sing-alongs.
Bowie, glam, and “All the Young Dudes” are inseparable in the public mind, summoning memories of a subculture dismissed as apolitical escapism, a glitter bomb of fashion and attitude that briefly relieved the malaise of the '70s.
Now, cultural critic Mark Dery gives the movement its due in an 8,000-word exploration of glam as rebellion through style, published as a Kindle e-book (and Boing Boing's first published e-book): All the Young Dudes: Why Glam Matters. As polymorphously perverse as the subculture it explores, “All the Young Dudes: Why Glam Matters” is equal parts fan letter, visual-culture criticism, queer theory, and true confession.
In bravura style, Dery teases out lines of connection between glam, the socioeconomic backdrop of the '70s, Oscar Wilde as a late-Victorian Ziggy Stardust, the etymology and queer subtext of the slang term “dude,” the associative links between the '20s-style cover of the Mott album on which “Dudes” appeared and the coded homoeroticism of the '20s magazine illustrator J.C. Leyendecker (considered in the context of the 1970s fad for all things 1920s), and Dery’s own memories of growing up glam in '70s San Diego, where coming out as a Bowie fan -- even for straight kids -- was an invitation to bullying.
Glam emboldened kids in America and England to dream of a world beyond suburbia’s oppressive notions of normalcy, Dery argues, a world conjured up in pop songs full of Wildean irony and Aestheticism and jaw-dropping fashion statements to match. More important, glam drew inspiration from feminism and gay liberation to articulate a radical critique of mainstream manhood---a pomosexual vision of masculinity whose promise remains only partly fulfilled, even now.

How Does Superman Shave? The MythBusters Have a Few Theories

The trailers for the upcoming Man of Steel pose plenty of questions about Superman’s long-awaited return to the big screen: Did Pa Kent really just say that it might have been better if Clark had let those kids die? Are the Kryptonians invading in those giant machines? Does Lois get to call him Superman at all? But one question looms over all others: What is Superman doing with a beard in some scenes?
We know that he loses the beard before too long — we see him in the Superman costume clean-shaven, after all. But that presents yet another question: How does a man who is invulnerable actually shave? Wouldn’t his facial hair be as invulnerable as the rest of him? To answer that question, Gillette has turned to a team of experts for their analysis with a video series, launching today, called How Does He Shave?
Among the experts offering their theories will be Kevin Smith, Mayim Bialik (A real-life neuroscientist as well as regular on CBS’ The Big Bang Theory) and Bill Nye, self-proclaimed science guy. The series launches, however, with the MythBusters team of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who talked to Wired about analyzing the Man of Steel’s personal grooming routine.
“We ponder the impossible all the time, but on the show we only really deal with the probable/improbable, said Savage. “The mythology of superheroes and the physics involved are a whole ‘nother thing, and they’re a fun category to let your imagination run wild.”
Or, as it turns out, kind of wild. “Superman, while he is fictional, is pretty mainstream,” Hyneman pointed out, and Savage agreed: “We all instinctively understand the ground rules, and thus when we fly far from our current reality in ideating what might or might not be possible in this alternate universe in which Kal-El exists, we have a verbal shorthand with the public already in place. It makes it like a license to fly far from reality, while still hewing to much of what we already know — the way comic books do.”
As it turns out, comic books have already tried to answer the question of Superman’s shaving techniques, with a 1980s issue of Superman suggesting that heat vision and a mirror does the trick. “The heat vision and mirror is pretty much the first thing that everyone comes up with for Superman’s shaving,” Savage said. “That and Kryptonite shaving cream. Those were our first two as well.”
Although the theories that ended up in the video are somewhat out there, the theories that the duo discarded were even more outrageous. “I had thought that shaving with Occam’s razor would be clever,” Hyneman admitted, “but then that leads to all sorts of philosophical questions that would perhaps be perplexing to someone just interested in having a good shave.” According to Savage, that was far from Hyneman’s only unexpected solution. “Jamie was thinking that perhaps he might fly back in time to when he didn’t have a beard but that solution is fraught with paradoxical contradictions,” he explained. “Can’t have Superman fighting General Zod as a mid-pubescent teen who’s all powerful. That would be weird.”
As weird as the suggestions that did make the cut? Judge for yourself — Jamie and Adam’s video is below:

Theories from Nye, Smith and Bialik are already available at HowDoesHeShave.com, where you can also vote for your favorite theories so far, or even share your own. Considering everything that Superman does for us, helping him stay clean-shaven really seems like the least we could do, doesn’t it?