May 21, 2007
UFO spotted twice over California, or, Viral marketing campaign launched successfully
UFO-filter: Odd spine-y and asymmetrical craft spotted over Lake Tahoe, then two days later over Capitola, California.
Uncle Chuck had his eye removed
Uncle Chuck had his eye removed (graphic)
The Dodo may soon have some august company
Dean and Britta
Former members of Luna, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, make lovely videos together. Dean also fronted Galaxie 500 and Britta was the singing voice of 80's cartoon character, Jem.
Are We Really Real?
Are You Living In A Computer Simulation? The Simulation Argument is a regularly-updated site, organized by Nick Bostrom, examining the hypothesis that we are currently living in an "ancestor simulation" run by a future "post-human" society.
When monopolies collide.
The RIAA wants the radio performance royalties exemption repealed. For decades, radio stations have gotten a free pass for spins of records due to the fact such play sells records. While decreasing in importance, and taking note of the myriad payola scandals in the past, terrestrial radio is still the single largest factor in promotions for the record industry and one of the few remaining things in the industry that still seems to work.
Supreme Court Alters 12(b)(6) Standards
The Supreme Court issued its opinion Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly [pdf] today. Although superficially an antitrust case, the Court examined the standard of review under 12(b)(6) and concluded that the old "no set of facts" standard should be officially retired.
An innovative design for an office building - No screwing around
Helix — a 1D skyscraper with a single corridor. The principle is a cylindrical building with a helical shape for the floor. The slope of the floor is 1.5% (it rises by 1.5 cm every meter), thus hardly noticeable. The height of each ’storey’ is 3 meters, so that when you walk 200 meters along the corridor, you have walked a full circle, but you end up one ’storey’ above or below your starting point.
Chinese crime stories, staged, and photographed.
I CAN HAZ LOLCAT
War on Terror Update
The US pays Pakistan $1 billion a year to fight al Qaeda, but Pakistan doesn't do much fighting. Iraq is a "a big moneymaker" for al Qaeda, and al Qaeda's leadership may be stronger than ever.
[more War on Terror inside]
[more War on Terror inside]
International Prison Writing
The current edition of Words Without Borders features a striking array of current and historical writing by prisoners held in such countries as Albania, Syria, Finland, Spain, and Argentina. previously on mefi
vote for your favorites
Finalists in the 4th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest.
Mark Helprin on copyright
A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyright? (NYT) In this op-ed, novelist Mark Helprin argues that copyrights should be extended indefinitely. On his blog, Lawrence Lessig suggests using a wiki page to craft a collective rebuttal. More discussion here and here.
Proving the old adage about opinions
"Not everybody's a critic." Richard Schickel bitchslaps the blogosphere (in response to this) and not for the first time. The blogosphere slaps back. (via)
veganimae
Death by Veganism. "I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.
Indigenous cuisines offer clues about what humans, naturally omnivorous, need to survive, reproduce and grow: traditional vegetarian diets, as in India, invariably include dairy and eggs for complete protein, essential fats and vitamins. There are no vegan societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the long run."
Indigenous cuisines offer clues about what humans, naturally omnivorous, need to survive, reproduce and grow: traditional vegetarian diets, as in India, invariably include dairy and eggs for complete protein, essential fats and vitamins. There are no vegan societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the long run."
Evil Crabs?
Joe Is Japanese So far all there is are some Myspace profiles and a nifty teaser but I'll be darned if this doesn't look five shades of awesome. Desperate for more information? DeviantArt account of one of the animators.
Rock Songs on Alternate Instruments
Van Halen's Eruption on Violin | Elton John's Rocket Man on Banjo | Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody for solo classical guitar | Foggy Mountain Breakdown arranged for electric slap bass | Toto's Africa for Acoustic Guitar | The Postal Service's Such Great Heights for Voice
Physics images
Sharpest manmade object This site via has a huge collection of wonderful images, some CG, some actual. Black hole merger. Solid state microrefrigerator. Helium nanodroplets used to chill Nitrogen Oxide. Playing a nanoguitar.
U.S. Civil war simplified
The U.S. Civil War in four minutes. Simple yet enlightening animation showing the shifting battle lines of the war. (This is a one-link YouTube post. Thank you.)
Cho!
It's possibly the most popular (est. 300M participants) individual sport in the world. The 2007 World Championships starts today in Zagreb.
(Sports nerds- there's also a scientific conference affiliated with the tournament.) Ma Lin and Wang Liqin and Wang Hao of China are ranked #1 #2 and #4, but #3 Timo Boll of Germany beat all three in a row to win the 2005 World Cup.
How do you get to be as good as Timo? Start young, work on fundamentals, and persevere.
jeesus, you're worse than eliza.
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