September 19, 2007
The dream is over
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain. I'll say it again: God is a concept by which we measure our pain" - A production reel by animation house Amoeba Proteus. Another of their productions: The site for The Fountain. Song by Lennon. (Via)
Jose Mourinho leaves Chelsea
Jose Mourinho, spectacular, talented, egotistical, handsome and immensely controversial manager of Chelsea FC has left "by mutual consent".
language endangerment
every two weeks a language becomes extinct. there are ~7,000 human languages on earth, but that number is estimated to halve by the end of the century. swarthmore hosts extensive information about endangered languages, and the mission of the living tongues organization is to preserve and revitalize such languages.
Can Do But Why Bother?
Lazy-Ass Nation. "Somewhere along the way, we fell in love with the dream of the effort-free existence."
Face-changing Robot
The Waseda-Docomo face robot No. 2 is a 3D robotic model of a human face with 56 degrees of freedom. It can mimic any human face with an average accuracy of 3.5mm. Watching it in action is kind of creepy. [via Make]
Music and Amnesia
The Abyss. Oliver Sacks writes about Clive Wearing (recently discussed here). [Via MindHacks.] [more inside]
OpEd Writer Receives Opinions: Film At Eleven.
Recently an opinion writer for The Age, Catherine Deveny unleashed a firestorm of sorts when she wrote an article entitled 'Why Do Some Wives Still Change Their Names?'. The reaction to her article (from both men and women) was strong; so much so that in a recent follow up article entitled 'I Don't Give A Stuff What You Do. I'm Paid To Write What I Think' , she jokingly wrote that it had had the effect of reducing her readership to three. But when an article penned by a professional comedian employs such pointed rhetoric along the lines of "Insecure or conservative or stupid women are bowing to the wishes of their husbands", can she truly claim surprise at the level of vitriol her article generated or is this simply a case of an opinion writer trying to get opinions?
Of course, the frames are probably made from Chinese toothpaste...
A selection of eyeglasses for $8. (That's including your lens prescription.) Or if that's not to your liking, there's $39.
Metaplace
Metaplace
"We modelled this on the web," said Mr Koster, "You can think about each world being a webpage and every object within in it is a link."
Raph Koster has unveiled Metaplace, an easy to use virtual world creator. The BBC reports: article, video of Raph demoing the app [youtube].
"We modelled this on the web," said Mr Koster, "You can think about each world being a webpage and every object within in it is a link."
Raph Koster has unveiled Metaplace, an easy to use virtual world creator. The BBC reports: article, video of Raph demoing the app [youtube].
Copernicus, shmopernicus.
The Flat Earth Society considers the notion of a round earth to be a conspiracy. Flat earthers turn to the Bible to support their claims. A map of the flat earth (oddly similar to the UN logo), where
You know who else thought the earth was round?
N is the central open sea, I, the circular wall or barrier of ice, L, the masses of land tending southwards, W, the "waters of the great deep," surrounding the land, S, the southern boundary of ice, and D, the outer gloom and darkness, in which the material world is lost to human perception.A 3D view of the Zetetic universe.
You know who else thought the earth was round?
It's like that 'Weights & Measures' page in your day planner. For digital media files.
Students shouldn't carry guns, teachers should.
In a lawsuit filed in Oregon, a local teacher with a permit to carry concealed is demanding the right to take her gun to school. The anonymous plaintiff's personal reasons claim a fear for her life from an abusive ex who works at the same school, however, as the argument takes a life of it's own, we can see echoes of Columbine(wikipedia link) and Virginia Tech. [more inside]
That'll learn him!
This just isn't a good week for police. Video included. On the bright side (however dim), no taser was involved this time.
"What Makes Us Healthy", or "Was Woody Right"
"Sleeper":
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Has anything changed?
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Has anything changed?
Taxation without Representation
lolsecretz--memes collide
lolsecretz --The meeting of two of the internet's most famous memes– the touching postsecret and the sublimely stupid LOLcats
The Garfield Variations
The Garfield Variations [nsfw]
That's a rather lot of money
Forward Thinking Motherfuckers
The Velvet Underground you never got to hear. Born from the same experimental influences and art-pop sensibilities as VU, but based in 60s counter-cultural Sweden, and rife with name changes galore, Pärson Sound aka International Harvester aka Harvester aka Träd, Gräs och Stenar (Trees, Grass and Stones) brought the heavy, heavy drone sound as far back as 1967 and are still active today. [more inside]
Bat-Man Logo Study
Logo Study: Batman. "A lengthy look at the logos of Batman from his creation to the present." Part two, three, four, and five. [via]
Dissociative? Borderline? Sociopathic? Nah, just MA-A-A-AD!
He's the spiritual grandparent of both Cal Worthington (very recently) and Crazy Eddie (previously). He's Earl "MadMan" Muntz, more than a successful car salesman, he was a carmaker, a television pioneer (who coined the abreviation "TeeVee"), car stereo pioneer (for the pre-8-track 4-track tape ), a Verb in Electronic Engineering Lingo, hero of Free Enterprise Land and ad icon in Napolean hat and red longjohns. [more inside]
Depicting Europe as a neo-liberal economist's wet dream and unthinking lackey of the United States.
Depicting Europe, an essay in The London Review of Books by UCLA history professor Perry Anderson, criticizes the European Union as a neo-liberal economist's wet dream and unthinking lackey of the United States. [more inside]
A Great Display of Sportsmanship
On the same day that Sevilla's Antonio Puerta passed away in Spain, Clive Clarke, a defender on loan to Leicester City from Premiership side Sunderland, suffered a heart attack after collapsing in the dressing room during half-time of a League Cup match with Nottingham Forest, a series of events was set in motion that resulted in a truly great display of sportsmanship
The Case Against Adolescence
"Imagine what it would feel like—or think back to what it felt like—when your body and mind are telling you you're an adult while the adults around you keep insisting you're a child." An interview with psychologist Robert Epstein, who argues that American teens are far more intelligent, capable, and moral than we give them credit for. His new book, The Case Against Adolescence, suggests that infantilization of teens leads to psychological problems. See also Epstein's article "The Myth of the Teen Brain" [PDF] from Scientific American Mind.
Cheers | Prost | Gayola | Na zdraví | Skål | Slainte | etc.
Multicultural toasting as an accoutrement for Gunther Anderson's guide to making liqueurs at home [ Principles | Science | Materials | Example recipe | and more... ]
Talk like a Lanun!
Bored with Talk Like A Pirate Day? Investigate the real thing in the Straits of Malacca with National Geographic.
The Chance to Give Back as Much as You Get
You need organs, they need homes. "We are a domestic and international adoption agency where parents are free to adopt a child who is a perfect match (up to 18 yrs) for the transplant of one or more “non-essential” organs to be donated to one of the adopting parents or your own children. Your new son or daughter would give you their heart, if it was possible, but a lung, eye or three feet of intestine might be enough to prove that love." [more inside]
School Cheating Scandal Divides NH Town
For the town of Hanover, NH, home to Dartmouth College, one could expect academic integrity to be a cornerstone. But a high school cheating scandal has shaken the town's foundations and divided the community. On an evening this past June a group of students at Hanover High School [video] used stolen keys to break into a teacher's filing cabinet, walking away with multiple mathematics exams. Five days later, another group stole chemistry finals. As many as 60 students may have had a role in the thefts, either helping to plan them or receiving answers from the stolen exams. Police investigated and a local prosecutor has filed criminal charges against nine students. "Parents of the accused are furious and frantically trying to reduce charges to violations that carry no criminal penalties, penalties they say could harm their children's chances of attending college or securing employment....some residents [are] laying blame squarely on the nine accused students - dubbed "the Notorious Nine" - while others have questioned whether the intense competitiveness of 750-student Hanover High forced students into positions of having to cheat."
Suddenly Last Summer
A gay Republican news story that you probably didn't read about in the paper: In late August, Ralph Gonzalez--Republican strategist, former Georgia GOP executive director, and "political powerhouse"--was murdered (along with his roommate, David Abrami, another Republican political consultant) by Gonzalez' "friend" and former Marine Jason Robert Drake. Characterized as the result of a "lovers' quarrel," it's a bizarre crime story that should've made at least a ripple in the national news, given some other recent incidents. But it never did. [more inside]
Wooooooooo! Money!
If you feel like you're in a 20-man Battle Royale when it comes to your financial situation, maybe Ric Flair can help you out. Listen to the Nature Boy! Wooooooo!
Life is fun and I wish you were here
As it turns out, the Sex Pistols' "Belsen was a Gas" isn't the sort of thing that mobile phone companies want associated with their products.
Competing photo albums from Auschwitz
A Monumental Achievement
"The “Monuments Men” [wiki] were a group of ... men and women from thirteen nations who comprised the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section during World War II....Together they worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II. ...They tracked, located, and ultimately returned more than 5 million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent. "
whole lotta shreddin' goin' on
The Ventures: big in Japan
It's hard to think of any music that's any more fun than The Ventures, and here they are, live in Japan, 1965, at the top of their game. This footage is really good: Walk Don't Run. Wipe Out. Apache. House of the Rising Sun. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. Flight of the Bumblebee. The Cruel Sea . . . But WAIT! Opening for the Ventures on that steamy summer night was homegrown Ventures cover band The M-Ventures! Straight outta Tokyo! Check out their versions of The Pink Panther Theme, Surf Rider and Yellowjacket. And in case you were wondering if the Ventures' influence is still being felt in Japan, well, check out 9-year-old guitarist Chicchi's versions of The Cruel Sea, Penetration, Walk Don't Run and Pipeline.
Star Wars: The Musical
Star Wars: The Musical. Luke sings ("Uncle Owen I'm not like you. I can't just bury my dreams (in the sands of Tatooine)"). Vader sings ("Bring me the passengers - every child woman and man!"). C3PO sings ("I am a droid, so don't you mess with me.").
And Han sings a ballad that starts off like "The Impossible Dream," then mutates into the bastard intergalactic cousin "Do You Hear The People Sing?" as it might be performed by Neil Diamond, Richard Burton and Peter Lorre. [more inside]
Toxic Meteorite?
Meteorite landing confirmed in Peru. Some report illness.
Could it be the arrival of the anti-Christ Mabus? Here's what one Doubting Thomas has to say about the whole thing. Some have found it funny.
And mark well my words, mateys. Dead men tell no tales...
Ye come seeking adventure and salty old pirates, aye? Sure you've come to the proper place. But keep a weather eye open, mates - and hold on tight, with both hands, if you please! There be squalls ahead, and Davy Jones waiting for them what don't obey!
Too much Pirates of the Caribbean?
Is the world flat? The great minds of The View explore the age old question. As we've recently and painfully learned, the children of America need maps. [more inside]
Strange and Beautiful Musical Scores
Are you a fan of Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz? Then you will like this, (via here), as well as all of these! [more inside]
Happy Birthday :-)
Happy Birthday :-) 25 years ago, communications were changed forever. Story in Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette
Bizarre Experiments
They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, but my fellow Okies have given LSD to their elephants, all in the name of SCIENCE! — The Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time [more inside]
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