July 16, 2008
Penguins and more penguins.
Like penguins? Hey, who doesn't, right? So, head over to PenguinScience for all your penguin needs. Recommended: their "Webisode" documentary on Blondie, the rare "blonde" penguin, which also features footage of another thoroughly adorable genetic mutation: an all black penguin. [more inside]
Posts totally win
Saving the Regal Fritillary The Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) is one of the largest and most spectacular butterflies found in North America....About ten years ago, the Regal Fritillary could only be found in a single nature preserve in Indiana. This year, the Fort Indiantown Gap Training Center won the [Environmental A]ward for its efforts in preserving the Regal Fritillary Butterfly and its habitat, building nesting boxes and tracking migratory patterns of 12 bird species, restoring five acres of wetlands, and conducting prescribed burns to manage fuel loads and forests. [more inside]
But I pity the guy that looks like Carrot Top
Along the lines of celebrity/muppet vein, I give you Totally Looks Like: Famous People and Celebs that Totally Look Like Animals and Other Things.
Some are weak, but others are surprisingly close. Mefites will especially enjoy the Nick Nolte and Cthulu comparison.
Medieval church carvings, masturbation included
Tina Manthorpe's Flickr set of churces and church carvings has many lovely images of the kinds of things one isn't surprised to see in churches, trees of life, colorful roof bosses, misericords and many more such beauties. More shocking to modern sensibilities are the pictures in the set she calls exhibitionist church carvings, featuring such images as a protogoatse, Starbucksesque mermaids, autofellatio, free-hanging genitals and, uh... something involving thumb-sucking and snakes.
just a fun loving (and surprisingly buff) nerd!!!
Just a Fun Loving Nerd!!! "the names abilio people just call me bill , let me tell you about myself..."
Please Say Something........any answer will do
Please Say Something -- ten quick animated episodes starring Mouse and Cat. [description] | More animation by David O'Reilly, creator of the "award-winning destructive and massively overrated" RGB XYZ [previously on MeFi]. | [be warned: some animations NSFW for language; jarring sounds and flashing colors in places.]
Nothing to see here.
Now, here's something you don't see every day.
I found it unlikely, but perhaps he was a copycat suicide. [more inside]
Dalai Lama teaches the Lam Rim at Lehigh
Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, just gave a historic six-day teaching of Je Tsong-kha-pa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (the Lam Rim Chen Mo), a vitally important explanation of Buddhism written in 1402 and just recently translated into English by a team organized by Joshua Cutler of New Jersey's Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center.
The teaching, attended by about 5000 participants (my estimate), consisted of two two-hour sessions per day, except for a
public talkon Sunday afternoon, at which the Dalai Lama received an honorary doctorate from Lehigh and gave a speech. The speech is available as downloadable audio clips and for viewing online. It is possible that eventually the videos of the teachings themselves will be made available on DVD or for download at lamrim.com.
The Times They Are A Changin' because....
Now is the Winter of our Discontent
With its totemic population (pigmen and gente, riskloves and Old Maid Cards), and idiosyncratic lingo ("Q que aconteceu?") Russ Winter's blog could sometimes be mistaken for a work of speculative fiction, but in fact it's the most compulsive readable financial commentary out there... whether you agree with his massively bleak outlook or not.
Francium Goes to Hollywood
"Welcome to the "Periodic Table of Videos". Tables charting the chemical elements have been around since the 19th century - but this modern version will have a short video about each one."(YT subscription) (via kottke)
New Hi-Res Mars Pix
The European Space Agency's Mars Express Probe has sent back some beautiful new high-resolution images of the Echus Chasma. More images and information can be found here.
Nintendo's E3 Keynote Largey A Dissapointment, Says Internets.
This was not a triumph. I'm making a note here. Epic fail. It's hard to overstate my disappointment. Nintendo. They do what they must at E3 because they can.
For the good of all casual gamers except the ones who are hardcore. But there is no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of new games. And the science gets done, and you make some neat pheripheral add-ons for the people who own a Wii.
"You're obviously stuck in some drunk logic fugue state"
Next-Door Neighbor, from SMITH Magazine, takes a bunch of renowned artists and writers from the world of Indie Comics and asks them to tell stories about, well, memorable Next-Door Neighbor experiences. "The Next-Door Neighbor I Don't Know," by Harvey Pekar and Rick Veitch is worth a look, of course, but personal favorites for me include "Halloweens Ago," and "Hank & Barbara." And after reading, "Dream Train," be sure to check out the video link of the subject playing an old cowboy song.
That is what my youth was for
1 2 3 4: Feist visits Sesame Street, the latest artist to send up her work for an adoring audience of (what else?) furry happy monsters. [more inside]
Information Design + Politics = WIN! (Hopefully)
Sean Tevis Takes On Intelligent Designer with Some Intelligent Design of His Own... Sean Tevis is running for State Representative in Kansas, against an opponent he describes as a proponent of intelligent design. Short on name recognition (and campaign funds) he took it upon himself to use his skills as an information designer to connect to his "constituents" - could he be the first true candidate for a generation that grew up on the Internet? Very clever xkcd-style infographic deployed against the agents of doom... (I donated, couldn't help myself) via BoingBoing
Suspect Soldiers
Suspect Soldiers. "A Sacramento Bee investigation finds the military let in applicants with risky backgrounds -- with sometimes tragic results." Part 1: Troubled histories follow some troops to Iraq war. Part 2: Is there a link between postwar stress and crime? Part 3: Iraq doctor's shooter had long record. Part 4: Patriotic Texas city mirrors nation's recruiting troubles.
Should This Feat With No Feet Be Defeated?
Should Oscar Pistorius be allowed to run with prosthetic blades in the Olympics for South Africa? Current money says maybe.
"It was beautiful, kind of like abstract art"
In March 2007, the FermiLab Office of Public Affairs in Batavia, IL "received a curious message in code" via USPS. In May 2008, scientists posted a facsimile image of the letter to their blog in the hopes of soliciting cryptologists to decipher the letter. [more inside]
Urban farming, Architecture, and Art
P.F.1 (Public Farm One) is a project designed by WORK Architecture Company for MoMA and P.S.1's Young Architects Program. P.F.1’s intent is to "educate thousands of visitors on sustainable urban farming through the unique medium of contemporary architecture." An artist in Providence, RI developed a similar installation called Green Zone, "an organic vegetable, herb, and flower garden planted in the detritus of wartime consumption: used tires, shopping bags, shoes, and other repurposed containers" at local venue Firehouse 13.
"this is my violin,” he said, gesturing over his body. “I play the violin."
Look out, New York ladies, the Goot is loose! His experience on Dancing With the Stars "made him a better person"; after getting the hook as a hoofer, a disllusioned Steve Guttenberg abandons Hollywood for New York.
Airstreaming from Cape Town to Cairo
"Don’t stop. Keep right on going.... Go someplace you’ve heard about, where you can fish or hunt or collect rocks or just look up at the sky. Find out what’s at the end of some country road. Go see what’s over the next hill, and the one after that, and the one after that." In 1959 Airstream founder Wally Byam - taking his own advice to heart - led a convoy of 36 of his company's trailers - together with over 100 American adults, children and pets - on a journey from Cape town to Cairo. They stayed in remote villages, negotiated rough roads, saw upteen tribal dancers, met up with Haile Selassie and finally ended up at the pyramids of Cairo. Here is the original film account of the expedition (complete with its own theme song). Next year, on the 50th anniversary, there is a plan to do the trip again - this time there and back again. Wanna go?
The oldest joke in the book - really!
Humor goes back a long way. The oldest recorded joke in the world was told 4,600 years ago to Pharoh Snefru by the magician Djadjamankh: "How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish," and there's lots more ancient Egyptian humor (some quite dirty) as well. Humor really got rolling with the Greeks, however, and the Philogelos (Laughter Lover) a joke book from the 4th century. A representative joke: “An intellectual was on a sea voyage when a big storm blew up, causing his slaves to weep in terror. ‘Don’t cry,’ he consoled them, ‘I have freed you all in my will'." [more inside]
I really want to be Batman
Is Batman Possible? "There's a quote from Neal Adams, the great Batman illustrator, who said Batman would win, place or show in every event in the Olympics."
Jumping Through Hoops
Is Xinjiang Province The Islamic Jihad Battlefront in China? China detains 82 'terrorists' targeting Olympics and police have shot Uighurs dead. Meanwhile people from the Uighur minority call on the international community to boycott the Beijing Olympic games. What side of the Jihad is China on? Previously there was The Al Qaeda - China Tie. The oil and petrochemical sector account for 60% of Xinjiang's local economy.
You may fiddle, I may dance
Some lesser-known superheroes and their stories.
C is for Cookie that's good enough for me
David Leite, on his quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie, learned that letting the cookie dough rest for 36 hours before baking makes for one hell of a cookie. Chefs Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot didn't want to wait that long.
Escaping the Amish
"I hadn’t gotten beaten by my mom that day, and we hadn’t had any significant arguments over anything. I thought that if I died, I wanted to die without being mad at my mom. So I thought, I might as well take the opportunity to do so before I got back to the house—at which point who knows whether there would be another fight or a beating." Escaping the Amish.
Great Civilizations of Ancient Worlds
The ancient web is an online resource for students, teachers, and anyone interested in the cultures of the ancient world. With the Olympics fast approaching, here is an opportunity to learn more about the past 4500 years of Chinese civilization. Or how the Celtiberians would get drunk and eat raw meat before going to war. 24 ancient civilizations in all.
Just when you thought you had it all sussed out
Copyright, copywrong, copyleft, copyWHAT?! Peter Hirtle is no stranger to the questions surrounding copyright and the use of public domain materials. He has been thoroughl in researching and referencing other's work in this area. Peter's handy little chart could not have been more timely; it was really long overdue. But it really just gets overwhelming sometimes ... I blame it all on that d*m**d mouse! [more inside]
So, how do you spell it?
Freakonomics coauthor/blogger writes about a "spelling mistake" the Economist made in a recent issue.
He is corrected within 5 minutes.
The Economist responds to his "correction".
Blogging from the top of the world
Dispatches from Polar Scientists -- A compilation of blogs "in celebration of the International Polar Year (2007-08), [giving] you an up-close-and-personal look at research in extreme environments through the thoughts and experiences of the scientists working there. We’ll post their photos, videos, and blogs on this site."
The psychological impact of war
For the former U.S. marine Michael Elliott the psychological impact of war is the latest and most challenging battle.
Private Joseph Dwyer survived rocket-propelled grenades and shocking violence, made his way back to his family and friends, but couldn't escape the “demons” that followed him home.
Experts say up to 30% of returning soldiers will require psychiatric help: a number not seen since the end of the Vietnam War. Today 60% of war veterans suffering from PTSD don't receive any help at all.
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