September 25, 2008
Oh sh*t.
And then there were ten
Planning and working toward ultimate goals that appear unattainable or even unrealistic does not militate against a finding that this was a terrorist group [more inside]
handpainted signs from Nepal
Beware of Dog. Nepali artists paint signs on metal. Before and After. The story behind Danger Dogs. Click on the names of the different artists at the top of the page for various styles. [more inside]
And then there were...?
Let's Eat!
Will Allen, the founder of Growing Power, an urban farm in Milwaukee, has won a MacArthur Genius grant. Growing Power uses aquaculture, vermiculture, and sustainable agriculture to raise food in an urban environment. Chefs of the region have taken notice, but that's not Growing Power's main purpose. Congratulations to only the second farmer to win a Genius Grant. [more inside]
"It was the parents not wanting to continue the journey with their kids," Landry said...
Safe Haven laws have been around for almost a decade. Not wanting to be left out, Nebraska passed their own this past year, with some possible unintended consequences.
Aleksander Wolszczan
In 1992, Aleksander Wolszczan discovered the first planets outside our solar system. Now, the Penn State professor been accused of spying for SB, the Polish Secret Police. He calls it a "smear campaign."
Terrorist fist bump!
Mock the Vote: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert interviewed.
Circus Slang for Gauchos.
Every trade has a history, a culture and secrets, all most vividly expressed in the special terms used by its workers. The circus is, of course, no different as this handy dictionary of circus slang shows. It contains entries for both American and European circuses, and has a handy list of vaudeville slang words as well. These unique words used on the carnival lot around the world demonstrate a language that defines a world of wonders, and now you can use them to impress your friends and insult your enemies!
Dark Flow
Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space. "As if the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy weren't vexing enough, another baffling cosmic puzzle has been discovered. Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon 'dark flow.' The stuff that's pulling this matter must be outside the observable universe, researchers conclude." [more inside]
Get ready to burn through a lot of ink!
"A Solitaire Civization game that's compact enough to play on a plane ... Using only a pad of paper, a pencil, and a specialized deck of cards, lead your civilization through the ages to become ... civilized." A free "print-and-play" board game. [more inside]
Some of the biggest questions/That's ever been asked/Do you know where life is going/Can you tell where it starts?
Assignment details: Discuss the following: We know that life exists on Earth, and has taken billions of years to evolve into the things we see today. But has this happened anywhere other than Earth? Well, to help sort out this headscratcher of a question, NASA has commissioned MC Oort Kuiper, aka Jonathan Chase, a grad student at the University of Glamorgan, to write a rap about it. "Astrobiology" appears in the European edition of Astrobiology Magazine.
Politcal Sketch
"As he walks past I am struck by the way, from his default gloomy expression, he constantly flashes his rictus grin at people, like a doomed and slightly out of control belisha beacon" - The Guardian's cartoonist Steve Bell on drawing Gordon 'Gordy' Brown (video). He's in the process of producing a number of sketchbooks covering the conference season - Liberal Democrat, Labour 1, Labour 2. And he covered this year's Democrat and Republican conventions and also visited 'Manifest Hope' (video), an art exhibition based around images of Barack Obama. Previously.
When Books Could change Your Life
When Books Could Change Your Life: an excellent essay on Children's literature by Tim Kreider, (previously), on the importance of reading as cultural socialization.
Plurality of Words
Anathem,
Neal
Stephenson's new book, is stupendous, possibly his best.
But his
acknowledgments page
(summarized in the print version and as expansive as ever on the
Internet
Reticulum) might be even more interesting, and poignant,
especially
as an introduction to the niftiest piece of metaphysics in
the book: the quantum
effects
(PDFs) of
consciousness among
many worlds. [more inside]
Genius
Walter Kitundu is one of this year's MacArthur Fellows, a musician and artist who invents and builds new instruments from turntables, strings and the interactions of the elements. His recent invention, the Ocean Edge Device, uses the flow of the rushing tides to provide energy for on-board accordion and turntable instrumentation.
... but then I was like, 'there's no sharks here'
When most people think of the Great Lakes, surfing is the last thing that comes to mind. Unsalted seeks to expose the unique world of Great Lake surfers. [more inside]
Star Stories and the Nobel Prize
Star Stories explains the life and death of stars using a multimedia
approach that incorporates images, animation, video and text. From the official website of the Nobel Foundation. Don't miss out on the other cool games . [more inside]
Sug as in sugar, rue as in rue the fucking day
S**tstorm
China banks told to halt lending to US banks. Unemployment figures climb to a 7-year high. New home sales fall to 17-year low. Ruh-roh. [more inside]
Ten bucks of Sharpie to a whole! new! room!
Think it costs a fortune to redecorate your basement? Not anymore -- you can do it for ten bucks worth of permanent marker.
Visual Migraine simulator
Finally I can show you what I see in my head when I have a Visual Migraine. I get these a couple times a year, but only recently found this site with the amazingly-accurate flash animation.
A Break From The Insanity
Here's an article and slideshow to help escape the worries of the world. A great article and slideshow about the Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu (Southeastern India). (NYTimes)
Astral Decades
“In the condition I was in, it assumed at the time the quality of a beacon, a light on the far shores of the murk; what's more, it was proof that there was something left to express artistically besides nihilism and destruction.” Lester Bangs on the topic of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks which began recording exactly 40 years ago today in Century Sound Studios NYC. [more inside]
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