This is almost as good as my paying with pennies.

A few years ago I saw an exhibit of the old VisaCash cards and wondered if/when gift cards would become collector's items. I wondered if retailers like Target, who have creative cards, would allow you to have them for free and if not what the minimum stored value would be.

Kid Buys 103 $.01 Gift Cards From Best Buy - Consumerist

Via BoingBoing:

Back in 1969, some pranksters at NASA inserted scanned images of three Playboy centerfolds (on fireproof plastic paper!) into the little checklists the Apollo 12 astronauts took into space.

[Apollo 12 crew member Pete] Conrad got Miss September 1967 Angela Dorian ("Seen any interesting hills and valleys?") and Miss October 1967 Reagan Wilson ("Preferred tether partner"). [Al] Bean got Miss December 1969 Cynthia Myers ("Don't forget — Describe the protuberances") and Miss January 1969 Leslie Bianchini ("Survey — her activity").

Conrad told us in 1994: "I had no idea they were with us. It wasn't until we actually got out on the lunar surface and were well into our first moon walk that I found them." Bean recalled: "It was about two and a half hours into the extravehicular activity. I flipped the page over and there she was. I hopped over to where Pete was and showed him mine, and he showed me his."

I don't know which is more interesting... the fact that they did this or the fact that copies of it are on NASA's web site. Do you think the porn blocking software will now block NASA.gov because there is porn there? And what will the bible-thumpers say?

Boing Boing: Playboy Playmates pranked into Apollo 12 mission checklists

Today is Stephen Hawking's birthday. He is 65. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he told them that one of the things he plans on doing this year is taking a ride on the Vomit Comet (the zero-G airplane), and then, in 2009, to go into space via Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. Sir Richard Branson is picking up the tab for his ride.

Stephen Hawking, Astronaut? :: Street Tech

I came across this neat photo of a grungy New York building getting pressure washed. I always thought the buildings were _supposed_ to look bad.

Pressure Washing New York City Buildings