Posts Tagged ‘wtf’

There’s now a Bitcoin ATM at the Metreon, because of course there is

May 9th, 2018

Bitcoin exchange machine
 

Recently a tipster informed me a Bitcoin ATM had appeared at the Metreon. Needless to say I had to check this out.

If you’re looking for the machine it’s near Cafe-X, the robot espresso machine, as well as a vending machine that somehow makes “gourmet” ramen. So in theory you could trade in your Bitcoin and use it to have a meal and coffee prepared entirely by robots!

Well okay, the above scenario isn’t entirely true since the Bitcoin ATM only converts Bitcoin to and from cash, which isn’t accepted by Cafe-X.

I thought I’d give the machine a spin but was immediately turned off by it. To identify yourself you need to insert a state ID or driver’s license, so this isn’t anonymous at all. What’s the point of buying a stolen yacht on the dark web if the transaction can be easily traced back to me?

But when I got home and looked at the ATM company’s website I found a second reason not to use it: transaction fees. To quote from the very last item on their help page:

We charge a 10% service fee for both buying and selling Bitcoin at our Kiosks.

In comparison online Bitcoin trading platforms only charge around 2%, so that’s a steep markup. Think about it: depositing $200 means you’re losing $20 — almost enough for a movie ticket in the Metreon’s IMAX theater.

Top 5 strangest things in Little Delhi’s Twitter feed

April 5th, 2015


Photo from littledelhisf.com

 
One of my favorite Indian restaurants in San Francisco is Little Delhi in the Tenderloin. Great food, reasonable prices, and they offer takeout and delivery. Can’t recommend them enough!

But you’d never know how great Little Delhi’s food is judging by their completely off the rails Twitter feed. Here’s the top 5 strangest things they’ve posted on Twitter so far.
 

5. The word “Restaurant.”

Their first Tweet back in 2010 is simply the word “Restaurant.” Not a bad start — after all Little Delhi is a restaurant. Maybe a tweet isn’t the right place for this information but at least it’s true and relevant.

 
4. Netflix’s login URL

If you visit the URL in this tweet you’ll be taken to a page where you can log in to your Netflix account. While Netflix might be useful for takeout customers who are looking for a TV show to binge on while eating, most customers probably have this information already. If not, Netflix is a quick Google search away.

 
3. Some lady reviewing a Play-Doh set on YouTube

Little Delhi is so excited about this woman’s toy review on YouTube that their tweet includes not one but two hearts! Hopefully no Play-Doh extruders are being used in food preparation, although personally I don’t really care as long as they clean the Play-Doh out first.

 
2. An iOS app that turns photos into caricatures

This tweet links you to an iOS app that turns photos into caricatures. I can’t even think of something snarky to say about how this could possibly be related to Little Delhi, that’s how strange this one is. Also, the app has terrible reviews.

 
1. Whatever the fuck this thing is

Finally, their #1 strangest tweet links to a surreal and somewhat disturbing video. The video’s creator took a certain European stop motion cartoon and edited it with new sounds and visual effects. And while I’m no World War 2 expert, I’m pretty sure that one guy’s voice is a recording of Adolph Hitler. Not normally the kind of thing one would associate with traditional North Indian cuisine.

 
So there you have it: this has got to be the strangest Twitter feed of any restaurant in the city. If you want to see more feel free to head over to their Twitter feed yourself. But you’d might as well call in an order for curry and naan while you’re at it.

Handwritten song lyrics taped to pole

April 11th, 2014

Hope There's Someone lyrics

I’m not entirely certain what compels someone to write out the lyrics to the 2005 hit Hope There’s Someone by Antony and the Johnsons, then tape the page to a pole in a BART station. Perhaps they were inspired by the recent Avicii version?

In all likelihood we’ll never know. It will remain as one of the unsolved mysteries of our time, just like that wooden box.

Perplexing wood box installed on utility pole

April 1st, 2014

Wood box thing

Sometimes in life there’s questions that don’t seem to have concrete answers, like who shot JFK or the career of Shia LaBeouf. Today another such question popped into existence in the form of a perplexing wood box installed on a utility pole at 16th and Guerrero. It’s the kind of thing one wouldn’t notice easily, like a slightly misplaced item you only catch out of the corner of your eye.

Some of the questions I’ve been able to come up with:

  • Who made this?
  • Why?
  • Is it art?
  • Why wood?
  • What does the pattern mean?
  • Why on this pole, of all places?
  • WTF?

If any answers are provided I’ll post updates. Until then, I’ll be scratching my head.

Free bed frame, nightmares

March 19th, 2014

image

Need a bed frame? Want to have terrifying nightmares? This sidewalk bargain is perfect for you!

Collect it now, it’s near 16th and Dolores.

Recruiting via sidewalk sandwich board

January 15th, 2014

Seriously?

(Spotted on 2nd Street)

 

Are sandwich boards a good way to hire software engineers and high-level managers? Now to be fair, Craigslist isn’t the perfect way to hire people. But this feels a little informal.

Still, it’s fancier than a vinyl banner or a piece of cardboard stapled to a telephone pole. So there’s that.

Typical corner in San Francisco

May 25th, 2013

Fire hydrant, bicycle wheel, red vines

A bicycle wheel leaned up against a fire hydrant with a partially used pack of Red Vines on top. Pretty much says it all about San Francisco, doesn’t it?

12.5 ounce Coke

October 18th, 2012

12.5 oz?

Ever had a 12 oz can of Coca-Cola and thought, “Gee, that was refreshing, but I could have used an extra 1/2 oz”?

If you said yes, they’ve got the product for you: a 12.5 oz bottle of Coke.

The same gas station with this sign also advertised a 16 oz bottle of Pepsi. Presumably that’s for people who need an extra four ounces, but don’t want to spring a standard 20 oz bottle.

A look behind Obama’s Mars teleportation scandal

August 16th, 2012

Thanks to whistleblower Andrew D. Basiago, many news outlets picked up the story of Barack Obama’s early 1980’s jump gate to Mars teleportation scandal in late 2011.

The story of Jumpgategate apparently comes from Basiago’s frequent calls to the Coast to Coast AM radio show, which is of course where someone who wants to be taken seriously would call. He has sent Coast to Coast AM his time travel photo. For some reason there’s only one photo. Oh well.

Thanks to the internets, you don’t need an AM radio for one particularly amazing story — Basiago explains his childhood experience with “jump gates” on YouTube:

A few months later, the White House denied these claims to Wired’s Danger Room reporter Spencer Ackerman.

What could Obama possibly be hiding! And um, why are you only telling us about this now, Mr. Basiago? Why didn’t you mention any of this when you wrote about life on Mars in 2008? Kind of a glaring admission, in retrospect.

But Andrew Basiago has had some previous after-the-fact predictions that were remarkably equally belated; take, for example, this report of the Sept 11th attacks on the United States in 2001 that he predicted nearly a decade after they occurred. (Update: Link changed to Archive.org’s backup copy because the original link no longer loads the article.)

But it doesn’t end there, oh no. The same fellow has a range of stories that involve him and/or his father participating in unusual DARPA programs.

Here’s Basiago explaining his childhood teleportation experiences. (Update: this video has been made private.)

Andrew Basiago on visiting alternate timelines:

And here’s a video of Basiago lecturing for an hour about time travel, teleportation, unlimited energy, 3D holograms, etc. etc. (Update: this video has also been made private.)

Green Day sells out

July 23rd, 2012

Green Day banana chips

Remember when Green Day’s pop-friendly rock took over the airwaves in the mid 90’s? Well, times have changed. Billie, Mike, and Tre must have fallen on bad luck, as they’re now licensing their band’s name out for banana chips.

If you want to be an American Idiot and try these yourself, they’re sold at Walgreens.