Sunday, June 3, 2012

Paws & Claws ~ June 3, 2012 ~ Ready for the Saturn transit?














To every man is given the keys to heaven.
The same key opens the gates of hell.
~ Buddhist proverb


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2012 June 3
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.


A Picturesque Venus Transit
Image Credit & Copyright: David Cortner

Explanation: The rare transit of Venus across the face of the Sun in 2004 was one of the better-photographed events in sky history. Both scientific and artistic images flooded in from the areas that could see the transit: Europe and much of Asia, Africa, and North America. Scientifically, solar photographers confirmed that the black drop effect is really better related to the viewing clarity of the camera or telescope than the atmosphere of Venus. Artistically, images might be divided into several categories. One type captures the transit in front of a highly detailed Sun. Another category captures a double coincidence such as both Venus and an airplane simultaneously silhouetted, or Venus and the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. A third image type involves a fortuitous arrangement of interesting looking clouds, as shown by example in the above image taken from North Carolina, USA. Sky enthusiasts worldwide are abuzz about the coming transit of Venus on Tuesday. It is perhaps interesting to wonder whether any person will live to see -- and remember seeing -- both Tuesday's Venus transit and the next one in 2117.
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2012 May
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.



Sentinels of the Arctic
Image Credit & Copyright: Niccolò Bonfadini

Explanation: Who guards the north? Judging from the above photograph, possibly giant trees covered in snow and ice. The picture was taken last winter in Finnish Lapland where weather can include sub-freezing temperatures and driving snow. Surreal landscapes sometimes result, where common trees become cloaked in white and so appear, to some, as watchful aliens. Far in the distance, behind this uncommon Earthly vista, is a more common sight -- a Belt of Venus that divided a darkened from sunlit sky as the Sun rose behind the photographer. Of course, in the spring, the trees have thawed and Lapland looks much different.
2012 May
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.


Contemplating the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Steven Gilbert

Explanation: Have you contemplated your home star recently? Pictured above, a Sun partially eclipsed on the top left by the Moon is also seen eclipsed by earthlings contemplating the eclipse below. The above menagerie of silhouettes was taken from the Glenn Canyon National Recreational Area near Page, Arizona, USA, where park rangers and astronomers expounded on the unusual event to interested gatherers. Also faintly visible on the Sun's disk, just to the lower right of the dark Moon's disk, is a group of sunspots. Although exciting, some consider this event a warm-up act for next week's chance to comtemplate the Sun -- a much more rare partial eclipse by the planet Venus.
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Medical examination..........
While examining his lady patient, the doctor tells her: "Your heart, lungs, pulse & BP are fine. Now let me see that little thing which gets you ladies into all kinds of trouble."
The lady started taking off her clothes.....
Doctor, stopping her: "No! No! Please put on your clothes. Just show me your tongue."
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Manhattanhenge
Sunset on the Manhattan Grid
by Neil deGrasse Tyson, © 2001-2012
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The Rochester falcon-cams
High above the streets of Rochester, NY, atop the Times Square building, is a nest box occupied by two Peregrine Falcons, Beauty and Dot.ca. Five cameras give you an up close and personal view into the fascinating world of these falcons as they raise their young and prepare them for life on their own.
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Pic of the Day - Donkey with dreadlocks
wp.me
Zoe Pollock, 10, gives "Jalouise" the donkey her first trim. A pack of hairy donkeys have had their dreadlocks cut for the first time in 17 years to help them keep cool in the hot weather. The rare French breed, called Baudet du Poitou, are not meant to be groomed, so their coat is left to grow into long dreadlocks.
Too Cool, Ed ~ TY
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The SCAR Project - Images
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Reddit asks the question. Here are a few of the answers:
  • I think that Gatorade tastes better when drank from the squeeze bottle.
  • String cheese tastes best when it’s stringed-apart. Biting into the stick is not nearly as good.
  • A sandwich will always taste better if someone else makes it even if it is identical to the one you made.
  • Crawling up the stairs on all fours is faster than running
  • Pizza can last forever unrefrigerated as long as it’s in the box.
  • Coke tastes better from a glass bottle.
  • A&W Root Beer is a prime example of pop that can taste vastly different depending on the source. It’s good no matter what, but coming from the fountain at the actual A&W restaurant takes it to a entirely new level of delicious.
  • Dr Pepper tastes way better from a can than it does from a fountain.
  • Grated cheese is far superior to cubed or sliced
  • If I tilt my controller and myself, I will have a better chance of winning the game
  • Broken candy canes/cookies/etc taste worse than whole ones.
  • My 5 minute walk to and from the train station is enough to burn all the calories from the junk i eat all day.
  • Sandwiches taste better when they’re cut diagonally.
  • Everything tastes better when I’m drunk.
  • Five Second Rule.
  • A folded lays potato chip is better than a regular one.
  • Both Feet under blanket, lava. both feet no blanket, frostbite. One foot covered, one foot uncovered, perfect balance..
  • Milk tastes horrible when you drink it through a straw.
What most likely scientifically inaccurate belief would you defend to your grave?
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A man who lost a bet stripped naked and darted onto the filed at Busch Stadium on Thursday night at the top of the 7th inning during the Cardinals and Phillies game. He cavorted around for a while before he was caught by security. The man “appeared to be drinking”. He was arrested and charged with being a spectator running on the playing field and, because he stripped, lewd and lascivious behavior.
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Starfish belong to a beach vacation like sandcastles and sunburn. They're not fish, of course, but rather close cousins of sand dollars and sea urchins. Just the sight of these stellar sea creatures is enough to excite even the most jaded of beachgoers. Plus, with their knack of showing up in the most romantic spots, they seem to be the perfect gauge for which beaches are the most scenic. Here are some stunning pictures of starfish sunbathing.
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"Kiss me," said the young lady urgently. "Please kiss me."
But the young man turned his head away, saying, "Of course not. How can I? I'm your own brother-in-law. Hell, we shouldn't
even be lying here making love."
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Three guys go into a bar, one in a wheelchair, one is blind and the other appears normal. A couple of minutes later, God walks in to get a beer. He sees the guys and decides to have compassion on them.
He touches the blind guy on the forehead, and his sight is restored. He touches the man in the wheelchair and the guy jumps up and walks away.
He walks to the last guy and the guy yells, 'Whoa, God! I'm on workman's comp!'
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Award-winning author and graphic novelist Neil Gaiman recently delivered an inspirational keynote commencement speech to the 2012 graduating class at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gaiman, who confessed that he never graduated from “an establishment of higher education” was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (HDFA) by The University of the Arts.
Here is an excerpt from his beautiful speech from the official transcript:
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The problems of failure are hard.
The problems of success can be harder, because nobody warns you about them.
The first problem of any kind of even limited success is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you. It’s Imposter Syndrome, something my wife Amanda christened the Fraud Police.
In my case, I was convinced that there would be a knock on the door, and a man with a clipboard (I don’t know why he carried a clipboard, in my head, but he did) would be there, to tell me it was all over, and they had caught up with me, and now I would have to go and get a real job, one that didn’t consist of making things up and writing them down, and reading books I wanted to read. And then I would go away quietly and get the kind of job where you don’t have to make things up any more.
The problems of success. They’re real, and with luck you’ll experience them. The point where you stop saying yes to everything, because now the bottles you threw in the ocean are all coming back, and have to learn to say no.
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Recently on BBC One’s Graham Norton Show, natural history filmmaker Sir David Attenborough provided a live voice-over narration to the viral video that shows a tortoise mounting a Croc shoe.
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http://www.dorkly.com/video/39265/pac-we...
Grab a slice of dot-flavored wedding cake.
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Spider-Man Pop-Tarts are Sprinkled with Blue Sugar Spiders
Spider-Man Pop-Tarts
PRguitarman spotted this display of promotional Spider-Man Pop-Tarts on the shelves of his local store. These limited edition “Yum-Azing Vanilla” flavored toaster pastries from Kellogg’s are a tie-in for the upcoming movie, The Amazing Spider-Man, which opens in theatres on July 3, 2012. They are sprinkled with blue sugar spiders and available to purchase online at Pop-Tarts World.
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So-called sexual minorities, that is transgender persons, have been doing a lot of fighting for recognition in the last few years. They want to be able to marry, to go to school functions like proms together and the right to use whatever bathrooms they wish. And if they can gain a few privileges for themselves, more power to them.
But in this case, one "sexual minority" has gone a little too far in drawing attention to his (for lack of a better pronoun) cause.
Mao Sugiyama, a 22-year-old Japanese artist, had his penis and testicles surgically removed in order to live as an "asexual", that is without gender. But then he decided, in order to raise awareness about sexual minorities and to raise funds to help pay for the surgery, that he was going to cook his own genitals and served them to five paying diners in Tokyo.
Diners paid 20,000 yen for the plate with a portion of genitals. The meal was prepared under the supervision of a certified cook and diners were required to sign a waiver indemnifying Sugiyama and event organizers.
Steps were taken so the act met all relevant laws, including a ban on organ sales, processing of medical waste and even food sanitation requirements.
The genitals were braised and served with mushrooms and a parsley garnish.
Sugiyama said he received questions from some women and men asking 'Will there be a next time? Please host it again.' Apparently, the meal did not leave a bad taste in the diners' mouths.
But there is only one set of male organ," he tweeted. "I have no plan for the next time."
READER COMMENTS
I've read your column since the mid 90's. The story about the guy removing, cooking, and serving his genitals falls on the far other side of Bizarre News boundaries. You need to open a new department; Really F**ked Up People in the News. And to top off the story is that there is a waiting line for the next event. I'm really concerned what kind of world we're leaving the grandkids.
[Well, that was Japan. They don't exactly play by the same rules as the rest of the world.]

So that Japanese artist had his penis AND testicles removed to become asexual. Now he'll no longer be able to pee standing up. As for his having his genitalia cooked and served as food, how big were his equipment that 5 people could get a meal out of it? My guess a lot of sides (rice, etc.) were served with it.
[I think peeing sitting down is probably the last thing he's worried about. And I don't think the 'diners' were there for the portion size. This event wasn't held at a Golden Corral.]

Lewis, what is up with the cannibal stories lately? Last week was the guy who cooked and served his own penis and this week is the naked guy in Miami who tried to eat some homeless guy's face off.
[Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that how pretty much every single zombie movie starts?]
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Watching documentaries is always a fun and educational way of passing your time. But for a documentary film to be interesting, it must be relevant to your topic of interest. Thanks to a website called Watch Documentary, you can now browse countless documentaries online according to their topic. Watch Documentary is a free to use website that includes links to documentaries, sorted categorically, and hosted at various places online such as YouTube. You will find all sorts of topics ranging from globalization to mystery. Simply click on a topic that you are interested in to get started.
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A wonderfully geeky take on the whole I (heart) t-shirts hey?
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I learned all of this just from listening to Elvis’ songs.
TRAVEL1. The typical train is 16 coaches long.
2. All food in Germany consists of hasenpfeffer and black pumpernickel.
3. The Heartbreak Hotel is located at the end of Lonely Street and its desk clerk dresses in black.
4. Hula dancers are best judged by their ability to really move that grass around.
5. A harem in the Middle East contains 20 women.
6. So efficient is the US postal service that it will return an unwanted letter within 24 hours of its initial posting.
7. There are few sounds that make you feel more lonely than that of the midnight train.
8. If hitchhiking, it’s hard to choose a better destination than Memphis Tennessee.
RELATIONSHIPS
1. When inviting a young woman to dance, you may increase your chances by noting that chicken is being served in the barn.
2. If rejected by the older sister in a family, by all means have a crack at her little sister, who may have matured more than you at first noticed.
3. Women named Marie are naturally duplicitous.
4. It’s OK to date your cousin, providing she’s a distant cousin “but not too distant with you”.
5. Girls named Daisy tend to drive you crazy.
6. If caught without a partner during a dance at a federal penitentiary, why not try dancing with a wooden chair?
7. Conversation with a girlfriend can become tiresome if she fails to break up the conversation every now and then with a little action.
8. A .44-calibre pistol is an excellent firearm choice for a woman whose partner was doin’ her wrong.
PERSONAL GROOMING
1. If wearing suede shoes, particularly of a light hue, one should make their protection one’s No. 1 priority, even above that of preventing arson attacks on one’s own home.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
1. There are few looks in life more intense than that of a one-eyed cat peeping in a seafood store.
2. A passionate kiss can be measured by the fact that even a team of wild horses would be unable to drag apart the two participants.
3. The embrace of a grizzly bear provides a useful point of comparison when considering the pressure necessary to demonstrate real passion during an affair.
4. A good hound dog should be able to catch a rabbit.
GEOGRAPHY
1. People are more likely to be alone during a blue moon than during any other lunar event.
2. In the state of Kentucky, precipitation usually occurs when a man is hitchhiking from town to town, having been abandoned by his baby.
MEDICAL
1. The lips of attractive women tend to taste like breakfast spread, in particular honey.
2. A temperature of 109 is quite common during the early stages of an affair.
3. The experience of love, especially early in life, can have serious medical consequences including sensations of itching, hand tremors, leg spasms, heart palpitations and language difficulties.
HISTORY
1. American soldiers were unable to approach young women in Germany in the period after the war, as local women wore signs in German saying, “Keepen Sie Off The Grass.”
PHILOSOPHY
1. Children born in disadvantaged areas such as ghettos should receive special assistance as this reduces the likelihood of them turning to a life of crime, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of disadvantage.
2. A rabbit’s foot, while widely considered a creator of good luck, makes only a moderate contribution to one’s happiness compared to the impact of finding a good life partner.
3. If you suspect someone is evil check their middle name because it may well be “Misery”.
Now, show me one passage in Plato, Sartre or Confucius that can match all of that for depth, width and wisdom. I’ve lived my life by it, how about you?
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SMITHSONIAN
From cradle to grave, no matter how much fingers grow, everyone's fingerprints are unique and unchanging
Two doctors in Boston may have found a way to identify which homeless people are most in need of urgent medical care
Venus' next transit of the sun isn't until 2117—so read what to watch for, and make sure to look to the skies on June 5th
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Photo Gallery: Animal Fathers
Celebrate Father's Day with this collection of animals that are known to be hands-on and sometimes even overprotective animal fathers.
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Animal Conservation
Find out what National Geographic Society is doing to save animals all over the world, and learn what you can do to help.
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What ink for the blind has to do with marine telegraphy and electrical pianos.
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S.I.N.G.L.E.
Single
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“Those who do not know the torment of the unknown cannot have the joy of discovery.”
Beveridge cites philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey‘s seminal 1933 book, How We Think, outlining Dewey’s model for conscious thinking: First we become aware of the difficulty or problem, which provides the stimulus; then, a suggested solution pops into the conscious mind; finally, a reason evaluates the idea to reject or accept it — if the idea is rejected, the mind goes back to the previous step and repeats.
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Dynamic animated anatomy of going viral.
Researchers estimate that if everybody washed their hands regularly, a million deaths could be prevented every year.
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Explanation of How Color Vision Works circa 1938
Vintage black-and-white film explains the wonders of color vision.
The irony, of course, is that on the timeline of film innovation, color didn’t permeate Hollywood until the 1950s — mainstream film technology in 1938 was confined to black-and-white, so all the live footage is devoid of color, complemented instead by hand-drawn color animation.
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Mapping 450 years of mankind’s curiosity about the living world and the relationships between organisms.

Ernst Haeckel’s famous 'great oak,' a family tree of animals, from the first edition of his 1874 Anthropogenie oder Entwickelungsgeschichte des menschen (The evolution of man).
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"Seek Unity and you will find neither Unity nor Truth. Seek the light of truth, and you will find Unity and Truth..."
--C.S.Lewis
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GROSS
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As Columbus approached the New World he was sailing west, but the captain of the Pinta spotted birds flying southwest and convinced him to follow them. He arrived in the Bahamas.
Had he continued west he would have landed on the continent, probably in Florida, establishing a destiny for North America that was Spanish and Catholic rather than English and Protestant.
“Never had the flight of birds more important consequences,” wrote Alexander von Humboldt. “It may be said to have determined the first settlements on the new continent, and its distribution between the Latin and Germanic races.”
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This is an old video (2008) which I'll post as a "test of your equanimity." It consists of four minutes of interviews with two girls who swiped money from a Girl Scout selling cookies. The discussion thread at Reddit has links to reports of subsequent illegal behavior and violation of probation, and postulates that the glaring lack of remorse is indicative of a sociopathic personality.
The "equanimity test" is to see how many minutes of the video you can watch before having an urge to punch the girl in the face. Even bleeding-heart liberals will have difficulty passing the test.
Quotable quotes:
"I was really pissed because I should have been able to keep that money..."
"I feel bad it was a 9-year-old girl, but it was $150 in that envelope and I wanted that money. And it was mine..."
"It's not HER money..."
"Why did you do it? " "I mean, who doesn't like money..."
"I know it's a crime, but it's an easy crime..."
There are probably more, but I can't even keep watching.
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Flerovium and Livermorium: New Elements in the Periodic Table
Let's welcome two new elements to the Periodic Table: Flerovium and Livermorium!The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially approved names for the elements – which sit at slot 114 and 116, respectively — on May 31. They have until now gone by the temporary monikers ununquadium and ununhexium. [...] In addition to providing new trivia for fifth-graders to memorize, the names honor the labs of their creation. Flerovium was chosen for Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Russia, a facility where many superheavy elements have been produced. The lab is named after physicist Georgiy N. Flerov, who discovered the spontaneous fission of uranium, which led to the USSR’s development of an atomic bomb. Livermorium honors Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which has been involved in the discovery of heavy elements 113 through 118. Another element, Lawrencium at 103, is already named after the lab’s founder, Ernest O. Lawrence. Link
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Shining Light Into Ears Can Stimulate The Brain
Here's something I bet you didn't know: you can stimulate brain activity by shining light ... into your ears! Bright light stimulation was found to increase activity in brain areas related to processing of visual sensory information and tactile stimuli. The findings are the first ever published scientific article about functional modulation of the brain with bright light delivered to the brain through the ears. [...] "The research results confirm that it is possible to influence brain functions with bright light delivered directly to the brain through the ear," says researcher TuomoStarck from the Oulu University Hospital. "The group that received bright light demonstrated in the analysis significant increase in neural network activity especially in brain areas connected with visual perception." "There is earlier proof of the existence of photosensitive proteins, such as opsins, in the brain. This study confirms light-responsiveness of the brain itself, and that bright light given through the ear canal is a very viable method for influencing mood," says Professor and Leading Senior Physician Timo Takala from Oulu Deaconess Institute. Link - via Now What's Trending
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Norway to Hire “Friends” for Mass Murderer
Ah, Norway. It has luxury prison for common criminals, island getaway for hardened ones, and now, it is looking to hire friends for a mass murderer. That's right: the Norwegian prison where Anders Behring Breivik, who massacred 77 people - mostly children - last year, is being held, is trying to hire friends for him. To avoid keeping the confessed killer in total isolation, the high security prison, northwest of Oslo, could let him play sports with the guards and hire someone to play chess with him, among other things, [prison director Knut Bjarkeid] added. "We are planning a professional community around him, with employees and hired personnel," he told the paper. Norwegian law forbids keeping prisoners in total isolation for long periods of time because it is considered an unduly cruel punishment. Link
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How Wild West Really Looked - [spectacular]
Birds Have Juvenile Dinosaur Skulls. (Dinosaurs displeased, would like them back)
After everything almost died, the Earth took 10 million years to recover.
“He… slides both arm & probe deep into the rectum of a 500-kg rhino… The rhino lets out a doleful moan.” Must-read piece by Henry Nicholls on some last-ditch attempts to save the Sumatran rhino.
Alexis Madrigal explains the mechanics and meaning of that ol’ dial-up modem sound
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I just have something in my eye after looking at 40 of the most powerful photographs ever taken.

Parrondo’s Paradox, or, how to win two games you’re guaranteed to lose.
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Do You Like Solving Geeky Mysteries?PopSci needs your help with one that spans back 14 decades.
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Collapsing Cooling Towers
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Tsunami-ravaged motorcycle to be preserved at Harley museum in Milwaukee
Tsunami bike
A 29-year-old Japanese man’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle was swept from Japan by last year’s tsunami. It was discovered on a beach in Haida Gwaii, Canada.
A Harley-Davidson motorcycle from Japan that washed ashore in Haida Gwaii after a devastating tsunami a year ago will be preserved in the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The plans were announced Friday morning, after the Japanese owner decided to preserve the motorcycle as a memorial to lives lost in the tsunami rather than taking the bike back.
Masset resident Peter Mark found the 2004 FXSTB Softail Night Train on Graham Island on April 18 after it drifted 7,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean in a Stryofoam-lined storage container.
Harley-Davidson offered to ship the bike back to its owner, 29-year-old Ikuo Yokoyama, and restore it to running condition. Yokoyama — who is still trying to rebuild his life after losing three family members and his home in Yamamoto, in Miyagi Prefecture — said he’d rather see the bike displayed in the museum, in honour of those killed, injured and displaced by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Miyagi Prefecture, on the east coast, was one of the areas hardest hit by the massive tidal wave.
“It is truly amazing that my Harley-Davidson motorcycle was recovered in Canada after drifting for more than a year,” Yokoyama said in a statement released by Harley-Davidson Friday morning. “I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to Peter Mark, the finder of my motorcycle.”
In the statement, Yokoyama said he has discussed with many people what to do with the bike.
“I would be delighted if it could be preserved in its current condition and exhibited to the many visitors to the Harley-Davidson Museum as a memorial to a tragedy that claimed thousands of lives,” Yokoyama said.
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Bizarre News

A Florida man was arrested this week after three women told police he pulled a gun on them so he could cut into a McDonald's drive-through line.
The women said their car was side by side James Lee Cruz's vehicle at the fast-food restaurant in West Palm Beach, when he took out a gun and pointed it at them. In fear, the women backed up and allowed Cruz to pass them.
The women then took down Cruz's license plate and called police as they followed him home. Cruz faces three counts of aggravated assault. Apparently Big Macs are much more irresistible now that McDonald's isn't using 'pink slime' anymore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Officer allegedly broke in to do laundry
RANKIN, Pa. - Police in Pennsylvania said an officer was charged with trespassing and criminal mischief for allegedly breaking into a neighbor's home to do laundry. Investigators said Rankin police Officer Jason Rocco was arrested after the owner of the home, who had not lived in the house for several months, told police he noticed the electric bill was unusually high and he visited the residence to discover the dryer running with clothes inside, WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh, reported Monday. Rocco was questioned by officers and he told them the back door to the home had already been broken and he entered the house because he "just had to do some laundry."
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Last week, naturalists from the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Division of Wildlife went on the dangerous mission of banding some peregrine falcon chicks in the clock tower at The University of Toledo. Why so dangerous? One of the chicks' parents was seriously displeased with the whole thing.
Here's some GoPro cam footage:
http://youtu.be/dui1lOeKbb4
This is something they've been doing every year since 2007, when a nesting platform was installed on the top of the tower.
Here are some more pictures.
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Healthy Living from Health.com http://health.chtah.net/a/tBPxilMBFYNexB8jO8zCFNC1E6S/top2

HOW TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL BAREhttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBPxilMBFYNexB8jO8zCFNC1E6S/top22
It's show-more-skin time, but don't panic! Find out how to get the perfect (rash-free) bikini line, sculpt your arms with self tanner, and rock some sexy beach-hair. Simple, and only a little sneaky!

IMPROVE YOUR MOOD WITH EXERCISEhttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBPxilMBFYNexB8jO8zCFNC1E6S/top23
For some people, it's as good as an antidepressant

BUILD A BETTER BURGERhttp://health.chtah.net/a/tBPxilMBFYNexB8jO8zCFNC1E6S/top24
Fire up your thrill for the grill with these healthy recipes
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Forth Bridge nominated for UNESCO world heritage status

The Forth Bridge has come a step closer to being designated as a world heritage site…The Forth Bridges Forum will now prepare a bid for consideration in 2014, with a decision expected the following year.
Once the bids are submitted, they will undergo what has been termed ”a demanding 18 month process of scrutiny and evaluation” by Unesco and its advisory body, the International Council on Monuments and Sites.
Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “The Forth Bridge is a Scottish icon that is recognised the world over.
“We are extremely excited that we have the opportunity to make the case for the bridge being inscribed as Scotland’s sixth World Heritage Site…”
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said the bridge was “a huge feat of Scottish engineering skill”.
He added: “It was nominated for Unesco World Heritage Status by the UK Government last year, and the fact it has topped the list and can now take its bid forward is good news for Scotland…”
David Simpson, route managing director for Network Rail Scotland, said: “The Forth Bridge is one of the most recognisable bridges anywhere in the world and certainly the most cherished Scottish structure of the Victorian era.
“The bridge has become a source of pride and a symbol of Scotland’s resilience and ingenuity, but we must never lose sight of the fact that it is first and foremost a working structure which still carries over 200 trains a day.
The bridge is a beautiful work of engineering. As it was the first day it opened for service in the Victorian era – as it is, today. A true world heritage site.
Thanks, Ed
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NOVA scienceNOW | Manhattanhenge | PBS
Manhattanhenge
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The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist.
For man it is to know that and to wonder at it.
~ Jacques Yves Cousteau
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Every month has its own precious birthstone, and people born during that month are advised to wear it and eat a small handful of it on their birthdays. Here's a list of the birthstones by month:
• January: Garnet
• February: Amethyst
• March: Mercury
• April: Sunflower seeds mixed with Elmer's glue
• May: Moon rock
• June: Baby's tooth
• July: Hunk of the Berlin Wall
• August: No birthstone, to punish the naturally evil people born during August
• September: Phlogiston
• Bichat: Necco wafer
• November: Wad of wet $100 bills
• December: The fingernail of a loved one
The phlogiston theory (from the Ancient Greek φλογιστόν phlogistón "burning up", from φλόξ phlóx "flame"), first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an obsolete scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called "phlogiston", which was contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The theory was an attempt to explain processes of burning such as combustion and the rusting of metals, which are now collectively known as oxidation.
phlogiston theory postulates that in all flammable materials there is present phlogiston, a substance without color, odor, taste, or weight that is given off in burning. “Phlogisticated” substances are those that contain phlogiston and, on being burned, are “dephlogisticated.” The ash of the burned material is held to be the true material. The theory received strong and wide support throughout a large part of the 18th cent. until it was refuted by the work of A. L. Lavoisier, who revealed the true nature of combustion. Joseph Priestley, however, defended the theory throughout his lifetime. Henry Cavendish remained doubtful, but most other chemists of the period, including C. L. Berthollet, rejected it.
They used an archane word & an obsolete theory for us Virgos, knowing we would look it up.
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Neil DeGrasse Tyson Describes iPhone
How would a world renowned astro physicist describe the beauty of the iPhone? This is how... On The Verge interview with Josh Topolsky.
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A man walked into the office of an eminent psychiatrist and sat down to explain his problem.
“Doctor, doctor! I’ve got this problem,” the man said. “I keep hallucinating that I’m a dog. It’s crazy. I don’t know what to do!”
“A common canine complex,” said the doctor soothingly. “Relax. Come here and lie down on the couch.”
“Oh no, Doctor,” the man said nervously, “I’m not allowed up on the furniture.”
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“Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something.” — Anton Chekhov
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Thanks, Ed ~ I looked up the details ~ very cool
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Once upon a time, long, long ago there were two unique lions in the jungles of Africa. Both, it seems, had human-like qualities that made them claim territory, daring the other to cross over the line. Strange as it seems, the boundary between their turf was a well traveled trail through the jungle.
All day every day, both lions lay in the brush staring across the trail at their compatriot, daring him to cross into their territory.
The local natives knew of this animal feud, but all this was unbeknown to African Jack, a well-known and must publicized guide who did not speak Lionese and was unfamiliar with the territory.
While he was leading a safari through the jungle, walking all day and cutting vines with their machetes, all this constant hacking brush had them worn to a frazzle. After seeing two or three of his safari drop from exhaustion, African Jack decided to stop on the trail between these two lions and camp for the night.
After sitting up camp, eating, and getting his safari settled African Jack sat on a stump and began reading. While he was busily engaged in the printed page, the two lions, simultaneously, pounced on African Jack and ate him on the spot.
When the 6 o’clock news heard of the tragedy, they reported, “African Jack killed this evening. The motive is unclear, but it is reported he was reading between the lions.”
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Children’s Books You Don’t Wanna Read To Your Kids

Heinrich Hoffman’s 1845 Struwwelpeter might be classic German children’s book, but it’s not the kind of book you’d want to get anywhere near your own lovely little ones. That’s because it’s filled with horrific nightmares and gory tales of terror. In the tale above for example,
“The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb” informs tots that A.) a vengeful tailor will lop off your appendages with hedge trimmers; and B.) your parents will shrug nonchalantly when it happens.
Read the rest of the scary stories at the link.
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Words to avoid online to stay off the government's watch list
http://eideard.com/2012/05/30/words-to-avoid-online-to-stay-off-the-governments-watch-list/
The US Department of Homeland Security has released a list of the keywords and phrases the agency monitors online to find potential threats. Obviously posting "Al Queda" and "dirty bomb" online will get the government to start looking at you real closely, but "pork" and other oddly normal words are also on the list....In response to a freedom of information request, the department posted its Analyst's Desktop Binder (a manual for the agency's security analysts) containing this hotlist. The keywords cover domestic security, HAZMAT and nuclear, health concern, infrastructure security and other threats. According to the Daily Mail, the says it only uses this keyword list to look for genuine security threats, not signs of general dissent. Nobody wants Big Brother looking over her shoulder—and you shouldn't have to feel like you need to censor yourself in this way — but if you're particularly paranoid about the government spying on you, you might reconsider using too many of these keywords together when you post something online. Here’s the full list..Pages 20-23 of the manual.
Thanks Ed, Next time I email you, I will be sure to use a page or so of them *evil grin*
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Senior Moments... Brain Farts!
This would be hilarious if it weren't so true!http://www.rtbot.net/play.php?id=Xv1tMioGgXI
Thanks, Cindy ~
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Blondes dumb?!?!?
After many hours of extremely acrobatic and exhausting sex with a blonde he had just picked up, a man goes into the kitchen for some food to replenish his just spent energy. He pours himself a glass of milk and right before drinking it, he realizes his manhood is still pretty hot, so he sticks it in the glass to cool it off. Just then the blonde walks in and says, "Oh, I always wondered how you refilled those."
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A man, called to testify at the IRS, asked his accountant for advice on what to wear. "Wear your shabbiest clothing. Let him think you are a pauper." Then he asked his lawyer the same question, but got the opposite advice. "Do not let them intimidate you. Wear your most elegant suit and tie."
Confused, the man went to his rabbi, told him of the conflicting advice, and requested some resolution of the dilemma. "Let me tell you a story," replied the rabbi. "A woman, about to be married, asked her mother what to wear on her wedding night. 'Wear a heavy, long, flannel nightgown that goes right up to your neck.' But when she asked her best friend, she got conflicting advice. 'Wear your most sexy negligee, with a V-neck right down to your navel.
The man protested: "What does all this have to do with my problem with the IRS?"
"No matter what you wear, you are going to get screwed."
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Little Johnny had become a real nuisance while his father tried to concentrate on his Saturday afternoon poker game with
friends and relatives. His father tried every way possible to get Johnny to occupy himself...television, ice cream, homework,
video games...but the youngster insisted on running back and forth behind the players and calling out the cards they held.
The other players became so annoyed that they threatened to quit the game and all go home. At this point, the boy's uncle
stood up, took Johnny by the hand, and led him out of the room. The uncle soon returned back to the poker table without
Johnny, and without comment the game resumed.
For the rest of the afternoon, little Johnny was nowhere to be seen and the card players continued without any further
interruptions. After the poker game ended, the father asked Johnny's uncle, "What in the world did you say to Johnny? I haven't heard a peep from him all day!"
"Not much," the boy's uncle replied. "I just showed him how to masturbate."
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"If you'd been where I'd been... if you'd seen the things I'd seen!... you... you'd be me... Or someone following me around..."
-- Alan Parker, Urban Warrior
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If life is a test to go to heavean shouldn't preachers and anyone who listens to them go straight to hell for cheating? --Alex Hull
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"What is the difference between apathy and ignorance?
I don't know and I don't care." -- World Entertainment War
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Who Knew Leopards Were Such Goof Balls?
http://youtu.be/JkHmr_apPec
Is it just me or is Cheetaroh a confusing name for a critter that is a leopard, not a cheetah? Maybe he’s silly because he’s going through an identity crisis.
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Now That’s One Good Looking Steampunk Bike
I’m not sure if you’re supposed to call this a bicycle or a tricycle, since it has two wheels in the back; regardless, it is one beautiful piece of vehicular art.
Created by Roger Wood of Klockwerks, it was made for a show involving kinetic sculptures, and it’s safe to say that his Steampunk bike was the most eye-catching piece in the room.
This is what Pee Wee’s bike would look like if they made a Steampunk version of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and I wouldn’t blame Francis at all for trying to swipe this sucker!
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"Eugene Polly, the guy who invented the TV remote control, passed away. He will be buried between two couch cushions." -Dave Letterman
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"Here's an election update. Today Mitt Romney met with a group of wealthy Latino business owners. Or as Romney calls them, 'the Juan percent.'" -Jimmy Fallon
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"I admit that I get angry in traffic when driving to work. But it's pointless. It's much better to bottle up that anger and then unleash it when you get to work." -Craig Ferguson~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






One snowy evening my brother, a regional police officer, stopped a car at a roadside check for drunk drivers. "Good evening, ma'am," he greeted the lady. "How are you this evening?"
"Fine, thank you," she replied.
My brother continued, "Anything to drink this evening?"
Surprised, the lady answered, "Uh...no, thank you."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Some people bend over backward not to insult others. A while ago, I overheard my sister, a travel agent, confirm her client's flight this way: "Your confirmation code is F as in Foxtrot, R as in Romeo, and I as in, uuuh, Native American."
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jellyfish
Mental health break: Breathtaking slow-motion footage of jellyfish by Anthony Yerba. (ᔥ Doobybrain)
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoooooosh.
So alien, yet so calming. One of the extreme oddities of nature’s forms, no?
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Today, the best news story of the entire day was surely this unlikely report of a "sharp-dressed pig running loose on a highway" outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Police chased the little porker, believed to be a juvenile, but "failed to catch it before it scurried off into the woods."
Police say the pig appeared to be a baby and confirmed it was wearing a scarf. Police dont know why that is or who may own the animal.
Full story at Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, WTAE Pittsburgh, and Associated Press.
Sharp-dressed pig@Sharpdressedpig



I'm running from the police. The irony is not lost on me.
30 May 12
Sharp-dressed pig@Sharpdressedpig
Just hoofin' it down the highway. Like you wouldn't want to get the hell out of Pittsburgh.
30 May 12
(via Theremina)
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Poisonous vs. Venomous
The key difference is in the biting. Venomous animals internally create a toxin and then inject it into prey or foes. Poisonous animals usually secrete their toxins on the outside.
So here's a rule of thumb: If you are dying because an animal has bitten you, chances are, it was a venomous animal. If you're dying because you touched an animal or (foolishly) put it in your mouth, that's poisonous.
And then, of course, there's the slow loris:
Because the loris manufactures toxin from specialized glands on its elbows, then transfers that liquid to small, curved teeth for injection, the loris is venomous. Alternately, mother lorises cover their offspring’s fur in the same potion, rendering them poisonous.
Read more about various poisonous and venomous animals at Jason Bittel's blog, Bittel Me This.
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Suxamethonium chloride is a common hospital anesthetic that has, off and on, moonlighted as murder weapon.
Used to paralyze patients so that doctors can more easily put insert a breathing tube, the drug can kill very easily if the person who gets a dose of it doesn't have access to things like respirators, or a medical team. And when somebody is killed by "sux", the death can look conveniently like a simple heart attack. More importantly, writes professional chemist and anonymous science blogger Dr. Rubidium, for many years, there was no way to test for sux in a dead person's bloodstream.
Her post is part of a bigger series, though. If you dig weird, toxic chemicals, you should check out the "My Favorite Toxic Chemical" blog carnival—a collection of horrifying and wondrous posts about poisons.
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André Kuipers, a Dutch physician and astronaut with the European Space Agency, was on board the ISS when the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed. He took this photograph, and wrote,
Inside of the Dragon module. Beautiful. Spacious, Modern. Blue LEDs. Feels a bit like a sci-fi filmset. Of course it is from Los Angeles.
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Grown-upville: Neighborhoods for the new majority
Childless households are the new American majority. Their tastes are shaping adult-friendly enclaves.
10 great neighborhoods for childless adults,
#8 The Alberta Arts District, Portland, Ore.
  • Median home value: $185,300
  • Population 2010: 9,042
  • Growth 2000 to 2010: 0.6%
  • Household income: $39,993
  • Households with children: 21.2%
  • Walk Score: 78
You may have heard of Portland's Pearl District, once a grubby, bohemian art district and now the city's expensive, cultured and upscale place to be. The Pearl has a reputation as a playground for adults with few amenities for children. We're more interested, though, in another Portland neighborhood, the up-and-coming Alberta Arts District. It runs along Alberta Street, straddling three (Vernon, Concordia and King) of Portland's 95 neighborhoods.
This historically black community "has got a grungy, indie kind of vibe. It's definitely on its way up," says Sperling, who lives in Portland. While it's still low-rent, funky, arty, lively and low-key, rents and property values are starting to rise with the influx of newcomers. The Pearl is mostly condos and lofts, while Alberta is home to older single-family homes populated largely by 20- and 30-somethings. The price for this early-stage gentrification is that many earlier residents are being pushed out, Sperling says.
As Alberta grows in hipness, property values have risen. New owners are rehabbing older homes. Restaurants, cafes and shops are springing up.
Working artists set the tone. Their work hangs on the walls of the cafes and shops lining Alberta Street. On the last Thursday of each month, doors are opened in the evening and street performers, musicians and food vendors line Alberta Street, creating a festival atmosphere. PortlandNeighborhood.com's interactive map links to many Alberta Street attractions.
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Los Angeles MC and beatmaker Jonwayne chopped and screwed the soundtracks to Disney classics for his new free EP aptly titled "Jonwayne Fucks Disney." He made the whole shebang using a Roland SP-404 portable sampler, Zoom H2 portable recorder, and an iPad to grab the samples from YouTube.
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A German woman, annoyed by telemarketers who called her frequently, blew a whistle into the phone to discourage further calls. The telemarketer who received the blast claims to have suffered hearing problems, and now the whistle blower has a criminal record and an €800 fine to pay.
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Click here to play episode. Apps for Kids is Boing Boing's podcast about cool smartphone apps for kids and parents. My co-host is my 9-year-old daughter, Jane Frauenfelder.
In this week's episode Jane's older sister Sarina tells us about Geared, a puzzle game where you have to connect gears together. It's free in the iTunes Store, and as an Android app.
We also talk about other games, including Gears, Anticlon, and PrestoBingo Shapes.
Don't forget to be part of our "Listener Email" segment. If you would like to have us read your favorite game or gadget recommendation on the air, or if you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show, email us at appsforkids@boingboing.net. Include your age, and the city, state, and country you live in.
If you're an app developer and would like to have Jane and me try one of your apps for possible review, email a redeem code to appsforkids@boingboing.net.
To get a weekly email to notify you when a new episode of Apps for Kids is up, sign up here.
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Jon Bon Jovi Duet with R2-D2
In a galaxy far, far away (actually it's just 1980, but it feels that way), there was a duet sung by R2-D2 and a certain singer named John Bongiovi. It was John's first professional recording ever.
John Bongiovi? If that sounds suspiciously familiar, it's because he later became famous as Jon Bon Jovi.
Listen at Jon Bon Jovi singing the lead vocal on the song "R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas" over at Fanboy: Link
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Lighting of the Sails
An art performance from the German collective URBANSCREEN lights up the Sydney Opera House with a transforming projection. It’s part of a music festival called Vivid LIVE. The most dramatic part comes at the end. -via Metafilter
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Giraffe Weevil of Madagascar

Photo: Axel Strauß/wikipedia
It looks so unreal but rest assured that the Giraffe Weevil of Madagascar is real. You can probably guess how it got the name - but what you may not know is that it uses that neck for fighting (actually, much like real giraffes do).
Ark in Space has more fantastic photos: Link
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Japan’s hidden tropical island: Aogashima
Tofugu has a short article on this unusual and beautiful Japanese island: Aogashima.
Aogashima (“blue island”) is a tropical, volcanic island in the Phillipine Sea. Despite being over 200 miles away from the country’s capital, Aogashima is governed by Tokyo. In fact, a whole stretch of tropical and sometimes uninhabited islands called the Izu Islands are technically part of Tokyo. Volcanic islands? Not typically what comes to mind when you think of Tokyo.
As you might imagine, Aogashima isn’t the most crowded place in the world. As of this year, only about 200 people live on Aogashima. The island only has one post office and one school. There are two ways on and off the island: by helicopter or by boat. There’s only one, small harbor where the boats go in an out of, and it seems to be a little unreliable. Because Aogashima is so remote and isolated, it can sometimes be hard to get a boat to or from the island safely. A fellow named Izuyan has been traveling to isolated islands of Japan and taking excellent photos. Here's his Flickr set for Aogashima.
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A couple felt that their intimate life wasn't what it used to be, so they went to see a sex therapist.
After listening to their complaints, the therapist suggested they try a new position.
"For example," the therapist said, "you might try the wheel-barrow. Lift her legs, penetrate, and off you go."
When they got home, the eager husband was all for trying this new idea right away.
"Well, all right," the hesitant blonde wife said, "but only on two conditions. First, if it hurts, you have to stop right away."
"OK, honey," the husband said. "What's the second condition?"
"You have to promise we won't go past my mother's house!"


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"In Salt Lake City, Utah, two female junior high school teachers were arrested after they had sex with the same 13-year-old student. I don't know what the big deal is ~ in Utah, that's home-schooling." -Jimmy Fallon
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"I Was Looking Forward to a Quiet Old Age"
Instead, Etta Shiber, a widow and former Manhattan housewife, helped smuggle stranded Allied soldiers out of Nazi-occupied in Paris
Read More >>
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3-D Scanning: Bringing History Back to Life
Specialists are using new technology to unravel a mystery in the Smithsonian collections
Watch Now >>
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Why do men die first?

This is a question that has gone unanswered for centuries, but, now we know...

If you put a woman on a pedestal and try to protect her from the rat race... you're a male chauvinist.
If you stay home and do the housework... you're a pansy.

If you work too hard... there's never any time for her.
If you don't work enough... you're a good-for-nothing bum.

If she has a boring repetitive job with low pay... this is exploitation.
If you have a boring repetitive job with low pay... you should get off your lazy behind and find something better.

If you get a promotion ahead of her... that is favoritism.
If she gets a job ahead of you... it's equal opportunity.

If you mention how nice she looks... it's sexual harassment.
If you keep quiet... it's male indifference.

If you cry ... you're a wimp.
If you don't... you're insensitive.

If you appreciate the female form and frilly underwear...you're a pervert.
If you don't... you're gay.

If you like a woman to shave her legs and keep in shape...you're sexist.
If you don't ... you're unromantic.

If you try to keep yourself in shape... you're vain.
If you don't... you're a slob.

If she has a headache... she's tired.
If you have a headache... you don't love her anymore.

If you want it too often... you're oversexed.
If you don't... there must be someone else.

Bottom Line... Men die first because they want to.
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The Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo recently welcomed two baby lemurs, a Conquerel's Sifaka and a Collared Lemur.
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Music. We know it comes from everywhere.
The Guitar Pee by Billboard Brasil is a custom made guitar-shaped urinal that is specially rigged to allow men to make music with their stream of urine. The urinal is currently is “touring bars” in São Paulo, Brasil. Be sure to watch the video, as they have set up a camera to show men rocking out with, well you know. And if that wasn’t enough, they have a mobile app that “streams” “MPee3s” captured at the time of flushing.
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Oscypek is a smoked cheese made of salted sheep’s milk, made exclusively in the Tatra Mountains region of Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The first mention of cheese production in the Tatra Mountains dates back to the 15th century - in a document from 1416. The flavor of the cheese depends very much on herbs, grass (eaten by the sheep) and the time of year the cheese is made. Some people claim that it tastes best in the spring, because the milk is full of fat. Everything is made by hand by The Gorale (literally, highlanders), a group of indigenous people found along the southern Poland region of Podhale, in the Tatra Mountains.
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Kymera Magic Wand Remote Control
It's a motion-sensitive, buttonless universal remote control, shaped like a wizard’s wand. With just a flick of the wrist, you can control almost any TV, DVD, set-top box, hi-fi, or pretty much any equipment that uses a regular infra-red remote control. It can perform up to 13 functions, by doing 13 magical gestures.
Best used probably while wearing this
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Efforts to reflect away the sun's rays might also make the sky whiter, one of many reasons some distrust such geoengineering schemes
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On Memorial Day Monday, at around 10:30pm, Chicago's Shedd Aquarium welcomed a new-born Pacific White-sided Dolphin calf to its Oceanarium. Shortly after the birth, the calf swam to the surface, took its first breath, and began to swim and bond with its mother. The gender of the calf has yet to be determined. Animal care staff estimate the calf to be approximately 3-feet in length and weigh approximately 25-pounds. While mother and calf appear to be doing well, this is a critical time for both, and aquarists will monitor them around the clock for several months.
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Waveform Necklace
Waveform
The Waveform Necklace by Berlin-based designer David Bizer is a cool custom necklace that is created using an audio recording of a voice. The necklaces can be ordered from Bizer in acrylic, wood or silver and are strung on leather, PVC or elastic . Bizer has also recently provided a detailed tutorial on Instructables to make the necklace at home.

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"New research shows that eating organic foods can make people more arrogant and judgmental. In fact, eating just one handful of organic bean sprouts has the same effect as driving 1,000 miles in a Prius." -Jay Leno
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"A new study shows current members of Congress speak at a 10th grade level. When reached for comment, Congressman Eric Cantor said, 'Nuh-uh!'" -Conan O'Brien
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How the Chicken Conquered the World
The epic begins 10,000 years ago in an Asian jungle and ends today in kitchens all over the world Read more about the mighty little bird that powers modern civilization >>
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Iceberg Flips Over
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Eating Squirming Octopus Tentacles

Eating lunch? Then perfect timing! Juergen of Busan
for 91 Days blog has a video clip for your viewing pleasure: squirming
octopus tentacles on a plate. Apparently, it’s a delicacy
in Korea. Why, you’re welcome!
Yum or Eew? Link
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Uncommon talent illustrates the commonplace
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=0f0frB1hDQI
Rio Rancho High School (Rio Rancho, NM) earned serious bragging rights after claiming top prize...at the Vans Custom Culture Art & Design Showcase at the Long Beach Museum of Art.
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A co-worker returned after lunch carrying a dress from the cleaners. "Pretty," said one of the guys. "Big date tonight?"
"I picked it up for a friend," she replied, adding, "Do you really think I could fit in a tiny thing like this?"
Jerry smiled and said, "Do you really think I've lived this long by answering questions like that?"
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English professors love to catch the errors students make in their term papers, and they love nothing better than to catch mixed metaphors. The "friends and survivors" of Calvin College English department collected this list of mixed metaphors and posted them on their web site:
"He swept the rug under the carpet."
"She's burning the midnight oil at both ends."
"It was so cold last night I had to throw another blanket on the fire."
"It's time to step up to the plate and cut the mustard."
"She's robbing Peter to pay the piper."
"He's up a tree without a paddle."
"Beware my friend...you are skating on hot water."
"Keep your ear to the grindstone."
"Sometimes you've gotta stick your neck out on a limb."
"Some people sail through life on a bed of roses like a knife slicing through butter."
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There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. --William James

We do not know what is really good or bad fortune.--Rousseau

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them. --Montesquieu

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.--William James

How small, of all that human hearts endure, that part which laws or kings can cause or cure.--Samuel Johnson

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil. ~ Cicero
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A Cute And Clumsy Baby Elephant Playing With A Soccer Ball
Well, I think the title says it all on this one folks! This cute, clumsy baby elephant kicks the ball around for a bit, falling down here and there and amusing every human in attendance. And now that the video has been shared on the interwebs it can amuse people across the globe with it’s clumsy critter antics. Yay! Why are baby elephants so darn cute regardless of what they’re doing? Because they’re baby animals, that’s why! –via Best Week Ever
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The Algorithm for the Perfect Bra
Aarthi Ramamurthy and Michelle Lam left Microsoft to start their own company — one that would use computers to generate the perfect bra for every woman. They started by getting rid of the measuring tape:
“We went to bra fitting after bra fitting and spoke to experts, and the best ones didn’t use measuring tape,” Lam said. “They had these unwritten rules where they could look at a woman’s body and say, we think this would be best. We were able to take these rules and distill them into code.” [...] The algorithm then produces a page of custom recommendations and allows shoppers to choose three bras to test, while the True & Co. experts choose two “mystery” bras based on the customer’s answers to the quiz. These five bras are shipped for free so women can try them on at home and decide what works. Everything on the site is priced at $45, including high-end brands like Calvin Klein and Natori. Link -via Gizmodo
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Insane Athletes Working Out off the Side of a Crane
Nothing provides motivation to finish that last pull-up quite like hanging off the end of a construction crane far above the ground. Watch these Russian daredevils tempt fate, strength and strong winds as they get a terrifying but probably effective workout. -via Geekologie
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TimeScapes: Rapture
Tom Lowe, the creator of TimeScapes that Miss C featured on Neatorama, told us of his newest trailer for the movie, called TimeScapes: Rapture.
Take a look over at Vimeo, where you can see it in its full-width glory! Link
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Random Facts:
A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and can sequester 1 ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches 40 years old.
One large tree can lift up to 100 gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air in a day.
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Two cows standing in a field. One turns to the other and says, "Moo."
The other one says, "Damn, I was just about to say that!"
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Geometric Tape Floor by Jim Lambie
The trippy floor above was made by Glasgow-based artist Jim Lambie, who applied strips of vinyl tape by hand over a period of several weeks.
Check out the gallery over at Walyou: Link
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Q and A Quickies --*

Q: Where do sheep go for haircuts?
A: The "baa-baa" shop.

Q: What do you call a penguin in the Sahara Desert?
A: Lost.
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The Federal Aviation Administration today cleared SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic's six-passenger commercial space vehicle, to begin rocket-powered suborbital test flights.
More on the experimental launch permit from Virgin Galactic:



Read the rest
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A blind Sumatran orangutan named Leuser was poached, sold as a gift, rescueed by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, and returned to the wild. Then, villagers seeking entertainment shot him 62 times. He has been rescued again, and his story is told in photos here. — Xeni
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pernoctation
n. the act of staying up all night
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NewImageLloyd Kahn, author of Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter, posted this photo of a 120-square-foot house built on a trailer chassis. The house will feature a full kitchen, composting toilet, outdoor shower, sleeping loft custom built in furniture and a fireplace. The siding is reclaimed redwood fensing and flooring is maple re-purposed from an old roller skating rink in Petaluma.
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Above is an excerpt from Jim Henson's 1965 experimental short Time Piece, nominated for an Academy Award. It was unique because, for one thing, it doesn't feature any puppetry! The surreal film stars Henson and includes cameos from Henson Associates employees like Frank Oz (Yoda, etc!), Jerry Suhl, Don Sahlin, and Diana Birkenfield. More info at the Muppet Wiki. Watch the whole thing at MySpace here.
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Andy Baio and Andy McMillan have announced XOXO, a SXSW-like "disruptive creativity" conference in Portland. They're pre-selling the tickets on Kickstarter, and if they don't sell enough, they're not going to do it. They've made and shot through their targets already -- don't worry!
We'd confirmed most of the entire lineup by Monday, including the founders and CEOs of Etsy, Kickstarter, Metafilter, 4chan, Canvas, Simple, VHX.tv and The Atavist, and the creators of World of Goo, MakerBot, Indie Game: The Movie, Star Wars Uncut, Diesel Sweeties and Black Apple. And Julia Nunes! (This is as close to WaxyCon as you're ever going to get.)
Andy and I debated back and forth about whether the project was ready to announce, and both of us were nervous. It's a unique project for Kickstarter, and we didn't know if we'd provided enough detail to convince people that we're working on something really exciting. We'd run all the numbers, and to do everything we wanted without cutting corners or selling out, the tickets would cost around $400. Was that price too high? What if only business and marketing types sign up? Is the festival too long, too short, too far to travel?
So many doubts, so many fears. We were betting it all — pre-selling every single ticket with a $125,000 goal. And we were serious: if it came up short, we'd walk away. Months of planning would be wasted, but at least we wouldn't have lost our shirts.
Introducing XOXO (Waxy)
673 Backers
$171,779 pledged of $125,000 goal
15 days to go
Update: 50 hours after launching, we're sold out of conference tickets! Thank you! If you missed it, you can still grab the DIY Kit to experience some of XOXO at home. Or come out to the market, which will be open to the public on September 15-16.
YALE UNION (YU) is a center for contemporary art in Southeast Portland, Oregon @ 800 SE 10th Avenue
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June 19th finds us at The Jack London Bar, at 7:30pm, where we will talk about many of the peculiarities of this unusual case. We will be joined by several biologists who have looked into these incidents as well, and can provide us with a zoological perspective. Oh, and we’ll have cake! June ALSO happens to be the 1st Anniversary of Kick Ass Oregon History at The Jack London Bar. [Anniversary might be too legitimate of a term. What do you call a first year milestone with your dirty little secret?] We definitely need to mark the passing of one year since the Telling of the Tale of The Hanging Danford Balch, our first show at The JLB.
Very Typically weird Portland ~ I am signed up for it.
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Papercraft War Machine Statue



It seems like paper sculptures are getting bigger, better and more complicated every day.
Take this 1:6 scale War Machine sculpture for example, built complete with LED chest light and fiber optic lights in the eyes and palms.
This little guy is so meticulously detailed, and perfectly painted, that you probably can’t even tell that it’s made of paper unless you look at it up close.
Check out the step-by-step photos of how the template for the War Machine papercraft sculpture was created at the link below, it might inspire you to create your own heroic works of paper art.
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Space Camping
In May 2012, mankind marked yet another milestone in space exploration. No, I'm not talking about the launch of the SpaceX Dragon - cool as that was - I'm talking about space camping. That's right: Tent-maker Vango launched its camping tent (with cute plush "vangonauts" inside) into space. Geeks Are Sexy has the clip: Link [Embedded YouTube]
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Researchers from Yale University recently discovered a mushroom in the jungles of Ecuador that is most magical indeed, for this little fungus dines on polyurethane, a very common type of plastic.
Here’s more on this amazing fungus:
The fungi, called “Pestalotiopsis microspore”, is able to survive on eating plastic alone—while without the need for air or light. Students Jonathan Russell and Pria Anand have written in the journal ‘Applied and Environmental Microbiology’, that the enzyme the fungus uses to decompose plastic has been isolated. Scientists hope to use the extracted chemical to solve the plastic trash and help bioremediation projects. Now that’s a creative way to help solve our global waste problem, unless it turns into an ever bigger problem when the fungus develops a taste for human flesh! Link
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24 Survival Tips For Living Alone
Yes, it’s much easier to open a stubborn jar when you put rubber bands around the jar and lid to get a better grip. My aunt, who lives alone, once sent me a gadget to open jars with. I appreciated the gift, but as I had recently found myself single at the time, it depressed me to think that there’s an entire line of products for people who don’t have spouses or even roommates. But once you get over the connotations of reading a list that implies you are lonely and “Forever Alone,” these are some pretty useful tips. In fact, you don’t even have to live alone to find them quite handy! Link
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A New Gallup Poll On Americans’ Belief in Evolution Is Out Today …
… and it’s full of rather sad figures. A full 46% of those surveyed believe that God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years. The number has essentially remained unchanged for the past 30 years (44% in 1982).
You can check the Gallup report for the detailed results, but a few things jumped out at me:
  • Among people who never attend church, a full 25% still subscribe to creationist views.
  • There’s only a 17% difference (58% vs. 41%) between Republicans and Democrats
  • Almost four out of five Americans believe God had a hand in creating humans in some way
Now, I’m not bothered by the existence or acceptance of religion, when used for good. Nor do I believe that accepting evolution means that you must deny all other religious beliefs. Sure, the more one learns about science and the universe the more one will experience the pangs of cognitive dissonance and questioned faith. But those feelings and questions are part of the human journey. They carve the unique facets of your identity that make you truly you.
What bothers me is that evolution is at the core of so much of science, and to dismiss its truth is akin to a mathematician dismissing that 1 is half of 2 or a chemist refusing to acknowledge the existence of electrons. You simply can not fully immerse your brain in the workings of our living world without evolution. Medicine, biology, nature … any of it.
And in thirty years of bloody knuckled work to bring science into people’s lives, it feels like we still haven’t gotten anywhere.
(via Gallup)
The most telling chart...
The most telling chart from the last post.


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A reporteress on the St. Paul Globe speaks of a lady ‘who is a well-known real estate speculatress.’ The Pittsburg Press alludes to ‘the Presidentress of the Board of Lady Managers of the World’s Fair,’ and the Indianapolis Journal tells of the elopement of a ‘dime museum freakess.’
– Des Moines Leader, quoted in New York Times, Feb. 13, 1891
Letter to the Times from the director of the Royal School for the Blind, Dec. 23, 1986:
Sir,
Radio 4 this morning (December 15) introduced the verb ‘anonymise’. May I therefore letterise you that such verbising terribilises the English language and should not be radioised by the BBC.
Yours sincerely,
Bernard Coote
“I would never use a long word where a short one would answer the purpose,” wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes. “I know there are professors in this country who ‘ligate’ arteries. Other surgeons only tie them, and it stops the bleeding just as well.”
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http://www.scorage.ru/view.aspx?id=A1B37B90DAE457FC147E86A7C7F88120
Ignaz Moscheles’ piano piece “The Way of the World” is invertible — the music reads the same upside down.
Here’s pianist Felix Noel playing it both ways, and here’s a printable score (PDF) if you’d like to try it yourself.
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Bastoy Prison: Private Island Paradise for Norway’s Most Hardened Criminals
Norway's luxurious Halden prison is for common two-bit lawbreakers. Hardened criminals have their own place - actually their own private island that they run themselves:
Located about an hour away from Oslo, Bastoy Prison, if you can even call this place a prison, is located on a scenic island accessible by ferry. The unique philosophy governing this place can be observed from the moment you set foot on the boat, which is manned almost exclusively by inmates. Instead of just trying to make a run for it as soon as they reach the mainland, these hardened criminals greet visitors and help dock the boat. But once you get to the island and see the kind of freedom and resort-like leisure prisoners enjoy at Bastoy, it becomes clear why they wouldn’t want to go anywhere.
This holiday version of Alcatraz has plenty of beaches where inmates actually sunbathe during the warm summer months, plenty of great fishing spots, tennis courts and even a nice relaxing sauna. Instead of tiny cells, the around 115 prisoners on Bastoy Island live in cozy wooden cottages painted in warm colors, and carry the keys to their own quarters so they can come and go as they please. But you know what they don’t have at Bastoy Prison? Armed guards and fences preventing anyone from escaping. And just so we’re clear, the men here have been convicted of serious crimes, ranging from drug trafficking to rape and murder. Still, they enjoy the kind of lifestyle that is just unthinkable anywhere else, and that most people would actually pay for as a vacation.
Oddity Central has more on this gangster's paradise: Link
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Otter Swimming Lessons
A mother otter teaches her pups to swim, in this video from the Columbus Zoo. I thought it came naturally! -via Metafilter
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5 Signs Humans Are Still Evolving
Homo sapiens is not a finished product. In fact, there is evidence that modern humans are evolving faster than ever before, as mutations and natural selection continue to change us. How so? For one thing, we drink milk.
Historically, the gene that regulated a human’s ability to digest lactose shut down as they were weaned off of their mother’s breast milk. But when we began domesticating cows, sheep and goats, being able to drink milk became a nutritionally advantageous quality, and people with the genetic mutation that allowed them to digest lactose were better able to propagate their genes. A 2006 study suggests this tolerance for lactose was still developing as early as 3,000 years ago in East Africa. That genetic mutation for digesting milk is now carried by more than 95 percent of Northern European descendants. Read about the other changes in humans over time at mental_floss. Link
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A Brand is not a product or a promise or a feeling. It's the sum of all the experiences you have with a company.
--Amir Kassaei
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If you are not a brand, you are a commodity." --Philip Kotler
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A product can be quickly outdated, but a successful brand is timeless." --Stephen King

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"Today, members of the Secret Service told the Senate that there is an unwritten rule amongst agents that what happens on the road stays on the road. Not to be confused with that WRITTEN rule that they shouldn't have sex with prostitutes." -Jimmy Fallon
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Water Flea Waltz
Ain’t science wonderful? Here is a video of the microscopic water flea performing a little musical ditty. -via Improbable Research, where you’ll find an additional video of a water flea playing with a toy.
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theamericankid: Where do astronauts hang out? Well played.
Where do astronauts hang out?
Well played.
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Ten Superior Psychopaths
Superior psychopaths? The only place psychopaths could be described that way would be in fiction. And so it is, since the only way we can enjoy a psychopath is when we know they can do no real harm. Pajiba has a list of those TV characters that fascinate us because there are no limits to what they might do. Which is your favorite? Link
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Don Pettit has been producing regular science education videos while stationed on the International Space Station as part of his Science Off The Sphere series. They are fantastic! I think science lessons would be much more fun if we got to do them all in microgravity.
In the video above, he demonstrates wave oscillations on water droplets using a laptop speaker. More great videos can be found here, including antibubbles and dancing droplets.
(via MetaFilter)
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A truly fun animated look at how viruses mutate, jump species, cause pandemics, and what simple things we can all do to help prevent them. Check out more contagion-readiness tips at TakePart.
I’ve researched this myself (meaning “seen some movies”), and I think that as long as we keep Gwyneth Paltrow away from Chinese casinos, we should be fine.
In all seriousness, so-called “animal reservoirs” are a huge danger. That is where virus (or bacteria) populations are passed animal-to-animal for a long time, mutating slowly and building up a huge number of variants before jumping to humans, where they can wreak havoc. Our factory farms might just be pandemic incubators.
Previously: Let Robert Krulwich tell you the story of how a virus invades your body, along with a fantastic animation. This would normally be scary, but it’s Krulwich, so it’s almost fun.
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Fancy a Journey Into Cryptography?
OR “Cipher? I Barely KNOW Her!”
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the past, present or future of cryptography, Khan Academy has a complete video series on the world of codes hosted by Brit Cruise. Encryption has won wars and made our wired world possible.
How can simple number theory give us the world’s most complicated lock and key?
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Univers Revolved
Letters are an inherently two-dimensional affair. They can convey deep meaning, but are confined to the flat surface of the page. Ji Lee, a designer now with Facebook, was playing around with some 3-D software and noticed that he could rotate litters around their central axis. All of a sudden, they became toy-like shapes.
He was able to use the letter as a physical object, to break away from the linear and build visual representations made from the actual letters of the word.
For starters, can you figure out the words in the lower left? If you feel like that’s too easy, Lee created the world in the bottom right for you to explore (Hint: Try to find “ROCKET”).
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A walking human gets about 75 MPG (miles of travel per gallon of food energy). A biking human? Even better, at 290 MPG.
But when you factor in all the fossil fuels that go into making that food, we only get 18 MPG walking and 70 MPG on a bike. Check out the full rundown of the energetic calculations at Do The Math.
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http://vimeo.com/40271657 (one of the finalists)
What is a flame?
A couple months back we talked about a really cool science communication contest called The Flame Challenge. Alan Alda (yes, the actor) was always frustrated that his teacher never gave him a good answer for “what is a flame?”Science communicators everywhere submitted their videos, stories and illustrations to try and explain a flame in simple, fun terms. I And the best part? The submissions were judged by 11-year-olds. On Saturday, at the World Science Festival in NYC, Mr. Alda will present the winner. Be sure to check out all the finalists. Light a fire of curiosity for someone today and share the story of a flame! (via Center for Communicating Science and World Science Festival)
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Each one of us is a mixture of good qualities and some perhaps not so good qualities. In considering our fellow man, we should remember his good qualities and realize that his faults only prove that he is, after all, a human being. We should refrain from making harsh judgment of a person just because he happens to be a dirty, rotten, no-good son-of-a-bitch.
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"A new survey just came out and it finds that sex is better when you're on vacation. Yeah, at least that's what my wife emailed me from the Bahamas." -Conan O'Brien

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Diane Tran, an honor student in Texas, was thrown in jail by a Judge Moriarty (!) after she missed too many classes at her high school.



Tran said she works both full-time and part-time jobs, in addition to taking advanced and college level courses. But the judge said Tran's case was bigger than the individual situation of one student. "If you let one run loose, what are you gonna' do with the rest of 'em?," said Judge Lanny Moriarty. "Let them go too? A little stay in the jail for one night is not a death sentence."
But Tran's classmates said she had a lot more to juggle than the average teen. "She goes from job to job from school. She stays up until 7 a.m. in the morning doing her homework," said Devin Hill, a classmate and co-worker.
On top of that, Tran said her parents spilt up and moved away, leaving her to support her younger sister. The judge admitted that he wanted to make an example of the teen. Tran had to spend 24 hours in jail and had to pay a $100 fine. Text from CBSAtlanta.com staff; photo via TNT Magazine, where it is noted that "under Texan law any student skipping classes for more than 10 days in a six month period faces jail time and a fine," but...
News of Diane’s plight has spread online, with a petition at change.org and a helpdianetran.com.
Thew Judge has since reversed the decision.
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Reasons To Like Beer by 7-Year-Olds

A handful of 7 year old children were asked, 'what they thought of beer.' Some interesting responses, but the last one is especially touching.

7-year-old Tim- 'I think beer must be good. My dad says the more beer he drinks the prettier my mom gets.'

7-year-old Melanie - 'Beer makes my dad sleepy and we get to watch what we want on television when he is asleep, so beer is nice.

7-year-old Grady - 'My Mom and Dad both like beer. My Mom gets funny when she drinks it and takes her top off at parties, but Dad doesn't think this is very funny.'

7-year-old Toby - 'My Mom and Dad talk funny when they drink beer and The more they drink the more they give kisses to each other, which is a good thing.'

7-year-old Sarah - 'My Dad gets funny on beer. He is funny. He also wets his pants sometimes, so he shouldn't have too much.

7-year-old Lilly - 'My Dad loves beer. The more he drinks, the better he dances. One time he danced right into the pool.'

7-year-old Ethan - 'I don't like beer very much. Every time Dad drinks it, he burns the sausages on the barbecue and they taste disgusting.'

7-year-old Shirley - 'I give Dad's beer to the dog and he goes to sleep.'

7-year-old Jack - 'My Mom drinks beer and she says silly things and picks on my father. Whenever she drinks beer she yells at Dad and tells him to go bury his bone down the street again, but that doesn't make any sense.'

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RANDOM TIDBITS




Memorial Day was a response to the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War, in which some 620,000 soldiers on both sides died. The loss of life and its effect on communities throughout the North and South led to spontaneous commemorations of the dead.

On May 5, 1868, Union hero Maj. Gen. John A. Logan issued General Orders No. 11, which set aside May 30, 1868, "for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion...."

From the practice of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, the holiday was long known as Decoration Day. The name Memorial Day goes back to 1882, but the older name didn't disappear until after World War II. Federal law declared "Memorial Day" the official name in 1967.

New York was the first state to designate Memorial Day a legal holiday, in 1873. Most Northern states had followed suit by the 1890s. The states of the former Confederacy were unenthusiastic about a holiday memorializing those who, in Gen. Logan's words, "united to suppress the late rebellion." The South didn't adopt the May 30 Memorial Day until after World War I, by which time its purpose had been broadened to include those who died in all the country's wars.

On May 30, 1868, President Ulysses S. Grant presided over the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Some 5,000 people attended on a spring day which, The New York Times reported, was "somewhat too warm for comfort." The principal speaker was James A. Garfield, a Civil War general, Republican congressman from Ohio and future president.

General Orders No. 11 stated that "in this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed," but over time several customs and symbols became associated with the holiday. It is customary on Memorial Day to fly the flag at half staff until noon, and then raise it to the top of the staff until sunset.

(Facts from CNN.com)
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"Stag farts" - a traditional sign of summer


In the United States, summer unofficially begins well before the solstice - typically after the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May (coinciding with the meteorological "summer" months of June, July, and August). That's a good-enough excuse to post about "Sumer Is Icumen In." Wikipedia provides an extensive review of the piece, including the Middle English text -
Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!...
- and the Modern English equivalent -
Summer has arrived,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!
The ewe bleats after the lamb
The cow lows after the calf.
The bullock stirs, the stag farts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo...
- and this clarification:
The translation of "bucke uerteþ" is uncertain. Some translate as "the buck-goat turns", but the current critical consensus is that the line is "the stag farts", a gesture of virility indicating the stag's potential for creating new life, echoing the rebirth of Nature from the barren period of winter.
A hat tip to Adrian for finding an mp3 of the round that you can listen to.
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QUOTE: "Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism?"~ Henry Ward Beecher.
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"A new report suggests that Christopher Columbus may have secretly been Jewish. What tipped historians off was Columbus' diary entry where he described his journey to America as 'a real schlep.'" -Conan O'Brien~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"If women have excessive belly fat and a muffin-top, it can be fatal. Especially if you mention it to her." -Jay Leno

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Mathematical Impressions: The Escher-esque illustrations of Anatolii Fomenko. More at the link below.
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"A lot of people say they use Facebook to reconnect with old friends. No thanks. If I'm not friends with you anymore, there's probably a reason. And that reason is I owe you money." -Craig Ferguson
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For a romantic touch, I washed our sheets with lavender-scented detergent. When my husband got into bed, he sniffed. "What's this?" he asked.
"Guess," I said coyly.
"I have no idea," he said. "It smells like the stuff you use to line the hamster's cage."
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In honor of Memorial Day, the teacher I worked with read the Constitution to her third-grade class. After reading "We the people," she paused to ask the children what they thought that meant.
One boy raised his hand and asked, "Is that like 'We da bomb?'"

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At :52 seconds, Hans Rosling gives the shortest TED talk ever.

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Sometimes it seems like cops, who are professionally trained to use firearms, have the worst safety record. I am sure everybody is familiar with the famous video of the cop who shoots himself in the middle of a gun safety course. If not you need to click the link here: Gun Safety the Wrong Way
Only slightly less embarrassing is this story from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. At least the officer here was not giving a lecture on gun safety when his firearm went off accidentally, unfortunately the person he shot was his wife...in the ass.
Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said Harrisburg police officer William Owens was showing off his gun at his home when the firearm accidentally discharged several times, striking Lakita Owens once in the buttocks.
Marsico said investigators are working to determine whether alcohol played a role in the incident, and charges could be filed if the shooting is determined to have been reckless.
Owens, who was suspended without pay, declined to comment on the investigation. He said his wife is recovering from her injury. It will also likely be the last time she will take it in the ass from her husband.

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Baby bird found with 2 heads, 3 beaks --*

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. - A Massachusetts woman said she investigated bird sounds in her yard and discovered a baby cardinal with two heads and three beaks. April Britt of Northampton said she and her husband followed the sounds of squawking birds in their back yard to a tree where they discovered the baby female cardinal with the unusual deformities.
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Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
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Frequently you will see discussion on organic meats and roduce, and how organic is not only better for you but also better for the environment. But what exactly is organic and why is it better?
The Organic Foods Production Act was finished in 2002. The act set a national standard for all organic food including organic meat and organic produce. Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.
Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.
Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.
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QUOTE: "You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand."

HINT: (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer.

ANSWER: Leonardo da Vinci.
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RANDOM TIDBITS

Johnny Gruelle, the man behind the Raggedy Ann doll, became a vocal antivaccination activist after his daughter Marcella died from what he claimed was a reaction to a smallpox vaccine she received. He even used the doll in posters promoting his stance.

The British version of G.I. Joe is called Action Man.

In 1976, Ideal Toys released a Joey Stivic doll, sold under the name "Archie Bunker's Grandson." It was the first anatomically correct male doll sold in the United States.

Mattel recalled their Cabbage Patch Snacktime Kids dolls in January 1997 after it was discovered that in addition to the supplied plastic food, the dolls also gobbled up the long hair of their "mommies" and didn't stop until they reached the scalp.

The first Ken dolls, introduced two years after Barbie hit the market, had a fuzzy, glued-on crew cut. Unfortunately, the hair rubbed off easily, and Ken's male-pattern baldness made Barbie look like she was dating her father.

In 1999, Mattel launched Rad Repeatin' Tarzan, a doll with a spring-loaded arm that waved up and down when Tarzan yodeled his trademark yell. However, when Tarzan was still encased in his restrictive box on toy store shelves, his arm moved up and down over his loincloth region only, and enough parental complaints eventually got hte doll recalled and revamped.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buzz Reset - Toy Story 3

Woody (Tom Hanks) and the rest of Andy's toys try to reset Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=17107

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Coming soon



The Medical Book
From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons

"Pickover contemplates realms beyond our known reality."
-- The New York Times
"Pickover inspires a new generation of da Vincis to build unknown flying machines and create new Mona Lisas."
-- Christian Science Monitor

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Zoonosis: When Cuddling Can Kill

Did you know that H1N1 reached Russia by whale? Or that you can get the flu from a bird and give it to a pig? Find out why viruses tend to jump from animals to us, and why they seem to always pick the cute ones. Viruses have numbers on their side, but not anything else. More »

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http://www.google.com/patents/US4781174
An ordinary cremation consumes valuable energy and consigns the body to flames, which has unpleasant connotations of hellfire and damnation. In 1983 Kenneth H. Gardner invented a greener, more uplifting alternative — the corpse is elevated through the roof and then cremated by concentrated solar energy.
A temperature of about 1,700° F. is required to provide incineration and a total of about 3,000,000 BTU’s is required to consume a corpse. Thus, at a supply rate of about 1,000,000 BTU/hour, cremation would take about three hours. A concave mirror-reflector bowl similar to the steam-producing Crosbyton hemisphere in Lubbock, Texas is considered a suitable collector. At 65 ft. diameter, a bowl of this type can produce approximately 1,000,000 BTU/Hr. under full sunshine conditions from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.
Gas burners are still available “for auxiliary use during inclement weather and/or when it is desired to expedite the cremation process.”

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"By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The politician was sitting at his campaign headquarters when the phone rang. He listened intently, and after a moment his face brightened. When he hung up, he immediately phoned his mother to tell her the good news. "Ma," he shouted, "the results are in. I won the election!"
"Honestly?"
The politician's smiled faded. "Aw hell, ma, why bring that up at a time like this?"
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Q and A Quickies --*

Q: What do you get when you cross a fish with two elephants?
A: Swimming trunks.

Q: Why were all the dairy cows mad at the farmer?
A: He had no consideration for the feelings of udders.

Q: What did the little porcupine say when it backed into the cactus?
A: Is that you mom?

Q: What happened when a dog sneaked into the flea circus?
A: He stole the whole show.

Q: What do you call donating your body to a medical school?
A: A Dead Give-away

Q: What did the caveman give his wife on Valentine's Day?
A: Ughs and kisses.
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Random Facts:

In its 2008 Death on the Job Report, the AFL-CIO ranked commercial fishing as the occupation with the highest fatality rate, with 150 deaths per 100,000 workers.

A report by the American Journal of Epidemiology states that long term job stress is worse for your heart than gaining 40 pounds or aging 30 years.
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Chinese Cruise Ship Hit A Bridge


Not quite the Titanic, but this oops probably means that someone's getting fired:

Captain Guo Lai, at the helm of the Pearl No 7 line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, eastern China, also reportedly failed to take account of the fact that the £28 million ship - 518ft long and 98ft wide - was sitting higher on the water because there were no passengers or cargo on board. Link

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An S A now I mean 2 write
2 U sweet K T J,
The girl without a ∥,
The belle of U T K.

I 1 der if U got that 1
I wrote 2 U B 4
I sailed in the R K D A,
And sent by L N Moore.

My M T head will scarce contain
A calm I D A bright,
But A T miles from you I must
M{ this chance 2 write.

And first, should N E N V U,
B E Z, mind it not.
Should N E friendship show, be true:
They should not be forgot.

From virt U nev R D V 8;
Her influence B 9
Alike induces 10 dern S,
Or 40 tude D vine.
And if you cannot cut a —
Or cause an !
I hope U’ll put a .
2 1 ?

R U for an X ation 2,
My cous N ? — heart and ☞
He off R’s in a ¶
A § 2 of land.

He says he loves you 2 X S,
U R virtuous and Y’s,
In X L N C U X L
All others in his I’s.

This S A, until U I C,
I pray U 2 X Q’s,
And do not burn in F E G
My young and wayward muse.

Now fare U well, dear K T J,
I trust that U R true–
When this U C, then you can say,
An S A I O U.

– Charles Carroll Bombaugh, Gleanings for the Curious From the Harvest-Fields of Literature, 1890

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Portland On The Web: CNN, Business Journal, Willamette Week & More

Grimm begins filming season 2, "Mommyporn" takes place in the Heathman Hotel, and we keep winning at bikes and sustainability in this week's Portland On the Web roundup.

OregonLive: 'Grimm' kicks off Season 2 production with visit from Gov. Kitzhaber

Willamette Week: What exactly happens in Portland's Heathman Hotel in 50 Shades of Grey?

Business Times: National nonprofit Bikes Belong launches project for protected bikeways

Sustainablog: Cities collaborate in new EcoDistrict Institute

Canada.com: Artlandia: A cultural getaway in Portland

CNN: City smackdown: Portland


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A teacher was having trouble teaching arithmetic to Little Johnny . So she said , "If you reached in your right pocket and found a nickel, and you reached in your left pocket and found another one, what would you have?"
"Somebody else's pants." said the Little Johnny.

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"Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep." -- Fran Lebowitz

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Used Band-Aids

Here’s a terrific treat the kids will love -to make fun of! But they’ll end up eating them as well, yelling “Ewww” the entire time. The recipe for Used Band-Aids is simply cinnamon graham crackers with some frosting for the pads, and maybe a bit of gross red jelly or jam in the middle. Link -via Buzzfeed
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Was heard on a public transportation vehicle while in Orlando. "When you exit this vehicle, please be sure to lower your head and watch your step.
If you fail to do so, please lower your voice and watch your language. Thank you."
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For twenty-four years I've been in love with the same woman.
If my wife ever finds out she'll kill me. -Henny Youngman
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Ode to a Mammogram
For years and years they told me, "Be careful of your breasts."
Don't ever squeeze or bruise them, and give them monthly tests.

So, I heeded all their warnings.....and protected them by law....
Guarded them very carefully, and always wore a bra.

After 10 years of careful care, the doctor found a lump.
He ordered up a mammogram to look inside that clump.

"Stand up very close," the nurse said, as she got my tit in line,
"And tell me when it hurts," she said. "Ah, yes....that's just fine."

She stepped upon a pedal....I could not believe my eyes,
A plastic plate was pressing down....My boob was in a vice....

My skin was stretched and stretched from way up by my chin,
And my poor tit was being squashed to Swedish pancake thing......

Excruciating pain I felt, within it's vice-like grip,
A prisoner in this vicious thing.....My poor defenseless tit......

"Take a deep breath" she said to me. Who does she think she's kidding?
My chest is smashed in her machine, I can't breathe and woozy I am getting!

"There, that was good" I heard her say, as the room was slowly swaying.
"Now let's get the other one."........"Lord have mercy," I was praying.

It squeezed me from the up and down, it squeezed me from both sides,
I'll bet she never has this done to HER tender little hide.

If I had no problem when I first came in, I surely have one now......
If there had been a cyst in there, it would have popped Ker-Pow!

This machine was made by a MAN, of this I have no doubt.....
I'd like to get his balls in there.....for months he'd go WITHOUT!
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Written In DNA I mean that quite literally. Harvard nanosculptors have developed a technique to stack “bricks” of DNA (essentially small sequence blocks) into defined shapes. By altering which DNA tiles go into a mix, different complex forms can be assembled, including these letters, numbers and characters! Check out Ed Yong’s full post written in the genotypeface, and his full piece at Nature News. (via Not Exactly Rocket Science)
Written In DNA
I mean that quite literally. Harvard nanosculptors have developed a technique to stack “bricks” of DNA (essentially small sequence blocks) into defined shapes. By altering which DNA tiles go into a mix, different complex forms can be assembled, including these letters, numbers and characters!
Check out Ed Yong’s full post written in the genotypeface, and his full piece at Nature News.
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Ok, there’s nature films. And then there’s nature films. The ones that make you stop and murmur unintelligible syllables in lieu of words, that make you go grab someone out of the next room so you can show them, that within a few minutes can wordlessly capture the diversity, beauty, wonder and pure awesomeness of our planet.
That’s what Louie Schwartzberg’s films are. The one above is called “The Beauty of Pollination”, and I won’t even begin to guess how they got some of those shots. I made this face while watching it.
Behold the specialized forms of flower and pollinator! Head and mouth shapes line up perfectly with the contours of the bloom! Sure, not being mobile might make a plant’s reproductive life as exciting as ours, but natural selection has led to some amazing cross-species adaptations.
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If you have an open mind, there's no limit to the number of awesome celebrations you can find. Instead of just spinning a globe and putting your finger on a random place, though, here's a guide to help you find some of the best ones.
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So geeks, how big is a billion? The answer, which varies depending on where you live or how old you are, is not as simple as most people think! We discuss millions, billions, trillions and centillions is this film about the long and short scales. We also touch on quadrillions, sextillions, milliards, billiards and the Greek myriad.
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Cool Character Design Tutorial Video
This handy dandy little tutorial video comes to you courtesy of ex-WETA Workshop designer Tim Gibson, who is more than happy to share some tips and tricks on character designing with aspiring illustrators.
Tim will help you take your characters from Meh to Me Gusta! in this info packed five minute video, so get out your pencils and drawing pad (or your Wacom tablet) and whip your character sketches into shape!–via Drawn
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Tiny Houses on Tiny Islands
Tired of those pesky neighbors? Here’s the solution! The aptly-named Just Room Enough Island in Canada’s Saint Lawrence River has just enough room for a single small house. When the water is low, the owners can put their lawn furniture out on the porch and get some sun. It’s one of several similar houses featured on the Tiny House Blog.
Link -via Flavorwire | Photo: Omegatron
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Super Mario Bros. Level Built inside Aquarium
The fish show no interest, but that’s probably because they’re working through Diablo III right now. In a few weeks, they’ll take advantage of the wonderful if static gameplay that Cedrick Bearss made available to them. -via @itscolossal
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Holy crap, this is the most terrifying Garfield strip ever published
Even if you possess the absolute baseline of pop cultural literacy, you're probably aware of Garfield, that orange comic strip cat who's spent the past thirty-odd years terrorizing his man-child owner.
Garfield strips aren't heavy reading whatsoever — in fact, they make Marmaduke look like obscurantist performance art. This wasn't the case when cartoonist Jim Davis wrote "Primal Self," a shockingly creepy vignette for the 1984 book Garfield: His 9 Lives.
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Penguin 337 Captured
It's been a sweet few months of freedom for Penguin 337, who broke out from Tokyo Sea Life Park in a daring escape, but at the end, The Man always win. Alas, the intrepid penguin has been recaptured: Link
We were rooting for you, little guy!
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I Don’t Know What That Wet Stuff Is, But I Like It!
He seems like he can’t decide if it’s fun or scary -either way, barking seems like a good response.
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Puzzle maven David Singmaster presented this conundrum at the first Gathering for Gardner:
My daughter Jessica is 16 and very conscious of her age. Our neighbour Helen is just 8, and I teased Jessica by saying, ‘Seven years ago, you were 9 times as old as Helen; six years ago, you were 5 times her age; four years ago, you were 3 times her age; and now you are only twice her age. If you are not careful, soon you’ll be the same age!’
Jessica seemed a bit worried, and went off muttering. I saw her doing a lot of scribbling.
The next day, she said to me, ‘Dad, that’s just the limit! By the way, did you ever consider when I would be half as old as Helen?’ Now it was my turn to be worried, and I began muttering — ‘That can’t be, you’re always older than Helen.’
‘Don’t be so positive,’ said Jessica, as she stomped off to school.
Can you help me out?
He withheld the answer, but I think I see it.
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By now I'm sure many of you have seen that amazing eclipse photo by Michael Chow of The Arizona RepublicAPTOPIX_RING_OF_FIRE_ECLIPSE_25153021.jpg
I know I said I was done posting cool photos of the recent annular “ring of fire” eclipse, but this one just found its way to me and I can’t resist. Here’s the story behind the photo.
(photo by Michael Chow, Arizona Republic)
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Are we in the golden age of superhero porn? It sure seems like that. The Avengers continues to break box office records, and meanwhile a ton of superhero porn spoofs come out every month. There will probably be a dozen Justice League porn films before a real Justice League movie ever comes out.
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The Westermarck Effect minimizes the risk of incest

Some interesting observations and theory, summarized at Damn Interesting:
One of the most common taboos across human societies of the past and present has been incest. Virtually every known culture has considered it repulsive, especially when involving siblings or a parent and child. The leading behavioural theory that has been proposed to account for the ubiquity of this aversion is known as the Westermarck effect, after Finnish scholar Edvard Westermarck, who proposed it in his 1891 book The History of Human Marriage. The idea of the Westermarck effect is that young children will become sexually/romantically desensitised to anyone they live in close contact with over the course of the first few years of their lives...

Note that crucially, the connection does not have to be biological; according to the theory, it applies just as readily to children adopted at a young age as to those raised by their birth parents... However, when a child is separated from biological family at an early age, there is no chance for the Westermarck effect to take hold; reunions between biological relatives who were separated much earlier sometimes lead into unforeseen emotional territory. ...

The Westermarck effect is a hypothesis, but there is evidence to support it... A study by American cultural anthropologist Melford Spiro that examined 3,000 marriages within the kibbutz system found that only about 15 weddings involved pairs of people who were raised in the same group of children. Furthermore, none of these pairs had been raised with their partners before the age of six...

Another source of evidence for the Westermarck effect comes from what happens when it is noticeably absent. Genetically related individuals who are not raised together often fail to be sexually and romantically blind to each other....Genes ensure that the two have a lot in common, and the absence of the Westermarck effect sometimes makes them difficult for one another to resist. This is a converse theory known as genetic sexual attraction (GSA)....
More at the Damn Interesting, via Neatorama.
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Russian Super Rich Made Paper Airplanes Out of Money to a Brawling Crowd Below
Pavel Durov, the founder of Russian's social networking giant VKontakte (the so-called Russian Facebook), was bored last wekeend. So he decided to make paper airplanes and fly them out of his office which overlooked St. Petersburg.
That's not so unusual, except he made the paper airplanes out of money, and the crowds below began brawling for the banknotes:
Bored with his never-ending dolce vita, 27-year-old millionaire Pavel Durov and his vice president spent their weekend making paper planes out of 5,000-rouble notes (around $160) and sending them into the St. Petersburg crowd – right from the window of the social net’s central office. The colleagues reportedly took great joy watching the crowd’s reaction. Stunned at first, people quickly realized what was happening and got caught up in a big street brawl – fighting for the notes.
“People turned into dogs as they were literally attacking the notes,” one of the witnesses wrote. “They broke each other’s noses, climbed the traffic lights with their prey – just like monkeys. Shame on Durov!”
Meanwhile, those who triggered the fight were laughing and filming the events. All in all, the young men sent down about $2,000. Later Durov explained that all they wanted was to create “a festive atmosphere” in the city – that weekend, St. Petersburg was marking City Day. Link (Photo: Facebookru.com)
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Jim Foley Campaign Rap
Jim Foley is a candidates for appellate court judge in …oh, somewhere, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that he and his bow tie have the greatest campaign ad ever! -via Warming Glow
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Sex Madness (1938) is an exploitation film directed by Dwain Esper, along the lines of Reefer Madness, supposedly to warn teenagers and young adults of the dangers of venereal diseases, specifically syphilis. Wild parties, lesbianism, and premarital sex are some of the forms of 'madness' portrayed. The educational aspect of the film allowed it to portray a taboo subject which was otherwise forbidden by the Production Code of 1930, and its stricter version imposed by Hollywood studios in July 1934. This was released two years after "Reefer Madness," and has the same producer and style. Those interested can view the entire movie at this link [Warning: boring].
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26 Wild Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Fast Food
Did you know that due to a copyright issue, Burger King is called Hungry Jack’s in Australia? If you are Australian, yeah, you probably already knew that. But there are some things on this list that will be new to you, like the fact that McDonald’s is Brazil’s largest employer, or that you can buy a Bacon Potato Pie at McDonald’s in Japan. See the rest of these trivia tidbits at Buzzfeed. Link
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Supershark
Take a story of an overgrown predator, add a sexy retro soul soundtrack, and don’t forget the jiggling, bikini-clad beach babes! How could you improve that formula? I know -add a walking tank! Oh yeah, this was a real movie. -via Metafilter
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Vintage Photos From Atomic Bomb Testing Site
This is what ground zero looks like when you’re a testing mannequin in the 1950s. These rare photographs were taken by Loomis Dean at an atomic bomb test site in Nevada around 1955, an eerie documentation of the strangeness that went on during the Atomic Age.
Photo caption–”Scorched, male mannequin in suit of dark fabric indicates a human would be burned but alive.”
Check out the rest of these photos, and read all about Loomis’ documentation of the testing site, at the link to Life Magazine Online below, they’re kookier than Kookie Burns! Link
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Monkeys + Synthesizers = One Cool Ad
Leave a synthesizer unguarded around a bunch of monkeys, lemurs, marmosets, suricates, baboons and a sloth and you might be surprised by their musical talent. Then again, they might just trash their instruments instead of using them to make slick electronic music! This is actually just a fun, animal filled ad for the Volt Festival 2012, an electronic music festival taking place on June 9th in Sweden. Oh well, the critters in this commercial sure are cute! –via Best Week Ever
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Space Out On These Trippy GIFs
Do you have a day to spare, staring at your computer screen as GIFs threaten to suck your mind into a space warp? Then you’ll love this gallery of 50 tripped out GIFs which are guaranteed to blow your mind.
They might make you feel a bit uncomfortable in your own skin after a while, so keep reminding yoursel-f-they are only animated GIFs, your computer has not been taken over by a digital entity. Or has it?! (cue dramatic music)
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Mt rainier shadow
Click to enlarge
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This song is familiar to most people because it topped the charts for weeks in the early 90s. What is not generally recognized is that the subject of the song is the death of Clapton's four-year old son, Conor, who accidentally fell from a 53rd-story window in New York. That knowledge may allow you to listen to the piece with renewed appreciation...
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Rub Some Bacon On it
Bacon: a sure-fire cure for anything! This song from Rhett and Link will be stuck in your head for a while. If that happens, you know what to do -rub some bacon on it! -via The Daily What
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Fat or Fiction
Curious about calories? Serious about sugars? Flummoxed by Fat? The website Fat or Fiction, made by Anna Brooks, Christina Winkless, and David Paul Rosser answers all of your questions about the nutritional content (or lack thereof) of your favorite naughty snacks in a few gorgeous interactive infotography: Link - via Notcot
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Alexander Shtifanov from Ukraine has some serious bartending skills!!
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It's one of the most iconic photos in American business. A ragtag group of bearded weirdos assembled for a company portrait of Microsoft from 1978. It was taken just before the then-startup left Albuquerque for Seattle. We all know what happened with the two guys in the bottom left and bottom right corners - Bill Gates, and Paul Allen.
But what happened to the rest?
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We use them every day - but what are the mysterious origins of these symbols we take for granted? Here are a few short explanations to demystify the meanings of our favorite symbols.
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Good Chemistry
A love story in chemistry. Everyone should have someone to bond ionically with.
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Deborah Blum takes you on a journey of intrigue, murder, and chemistry. Great stuff:
“The 1850 murder of Gustave Fougnies in Belgium is not famous because of the cleverness of his killers. Not at all. They – his sister and brother-in-law – practically set off signal flares announcing their parts in a suspicious death. It’s not famous because it was such a classic high society murder. The killers were the dashing, expensive, and deeply indebted Comte and Countess de Bocarmé. The death occurred during a dangerously intimate dinner at their chateau, a 18th century mansion on an estate in southern Belgium. Nor it is remembered because the Comte died by guillotine in 1851 – so many did after all.
No, this is a famous murder because of its use of a notably lethal poison. And because the solving of this particular murder changed the history of toxicology, helped lay the foundation for modern forensic science.”
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Getting the Book Invented Properly
Long before we actually had e-readers, Douglas Adams recorded the audio portion of this video in 1993 for his publisher, Voyager Expanded Books. Now there’s a competition underway challenging animators to illustrate Adams’ prophetic essay, and this entry by Gavin Edwards is a standout. Link -via Buzzfeed
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Combo Post: Dumb crook of the day tries for Darwin Award

Thomas sitting in the cab before he fell to his death
A nearly 15-hour standoff ended early Tuesday in Dallas when a robbery suspect who climbed atop a construction crane on the campus of Southern Methodist University fell 150 feet to his death.
Lee Dell Thomas Jr., 44, had barricaded himself in the crane’s cab Monday. He fell after Dallas police sent four officers up the crane to try to remove him…
Thomas had one leg inside and one leg outside the window of the compartment. Then, he clung to the crane’s edge for a moment before falling to his death just before 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Thomas may have been involved in a robbery in Dallas, police said…
Thomas was spotted in the crane’s control cab around 11:30 a.m. Monday, apparently trying to avoid arrest, local affiliates reported. Shortly afterward, he threw an unidentified object from the cab.
The crane was being used to build a housing area near the football stadium, according to CNN affiliate KTVT. The crane is also next to the George W. Bush Presidential Library, which is under construction.
Video from KTVT showed the silhouette of a man holed up in the cab of the crane, refusing to come down.
Local affiliates at the scene said Thomas got sick inside the cab Monday, possibly because the compartment didn’t have air-conditioning. Members of the media saw him take off his shirt and shoes, break out a window and toss his clothing out.
Another one bites the dust – pretty much literally. How do you hide from the law in a dead end 150 feet in the air?
Thanks, Ed
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Anodizing (or the beauty of corrosion)
Bill Hammock, the Engineer Guy, explains how our hi-tech gizmos work as well as they do because of a thin layer of corrosion. -Thanks, Bill!
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I found my son’s killer. It took three years. But we did it. I should clarify one point: my son is very much alive. Yet, my wife Cristina and I have been found responsible for his death. That’s how Matt Might (of The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. fame) introduces us to his heart-wrenching tale of a sick child. Months of research, dozens of doctors’ visits and no answers found … only more questions. Time was, and is, running out for their son. So they decided to go beyond the cutting edge, and have their genomes sequenced (the parts that encode proteins, anyway). Their son is patient zero of a never-before seen disorder, and the knowledge to save his life lies just beyond our reach. It’s a must-read, and a reminder of why we toil in labs across the world: To move that line a bit farther out, and help people like Matt and his son. If you’d like to help support this work, Matt is selling printed copies of his famous Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. with proceeds going to research to benefit genetic disorders.
I found my son’s killer.
It took three years.
But we did it.
I should clarify one point: my son is very much alive.
Yet, my wife Cristina and I have been found responsible for his death.
That’s how Matt Might (of The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. fame) introduces us to his heart-wrenching tale of a sick child. Months of research, dozens of doctors’ visits and no answers found … only more questions. Time was, and is, running out for their son.
So they decided to go beyond the cutting edge, and have their genomes sequenced (the parts that encode proteins, anyway). Their son is patient zero of a never-before seen disorder, and the knowledge to save his life lies just beyond our reach.
It’s a must-read, and a reminder of why we toil in labs across the world: To move that line a bit farther out, and help people like Matt and his son.
If you’d like to help support this work, Matt is selling printed copies of his famous Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. with proceeds going to research to benefit genetic disorders.
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What do you get if you cross an insect with the Easter rabbit?
Bugs Bunny.
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Save the Yeasts


EVERY TIME A LOAF OF BREAD IS BAKED,

APPROXIMATELY 150,000,000 YEASTS ARE KILLED.

Come to the award-winning 1987 film,
"The Very Small and Quiet Screams"
-- a cinematic electromicrograph of yeasts being baked.

"A must for those who care about yeast, and especially for those who don't."

+----------------------------------------------------+
| Evening showing in Johnson & Wales |
| Pirsig Auditorium: 7PM, 4/19 |
+----------------------------------------------------+
==============================================================
SPONSORED BY
Brown Anaerobe Rights Coalition (BARC)
Student Bakers for Social Responsibility
Coalition for the ELevation of Life (CELL)
Campus Crusade for Fetal Matters
==============================================================
Defend all life: 'from greatest to least, from human to yeast!"

This poster printed on 100% yeast-free paper.
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Q. What's better than roses on your piano ?
A. Two lips on your organ ...
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Hot Dogs For Dessert?

When should you polish off a meal of hot dogs with more hot dogs for dessert? When the later dogs are actually delicious sugar cookies with a quick squeeze of yellow frosting. I know what I’m having this Fourth of July!
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Puppy-Go-Round
Or is it a puppy pinwheel? I can’t tell what these dogs are being fed, and honestly it might be better to not know. But it must be tasty, as the whole litter goes into full Busby Berkeley mode as soon as it’s set down for them! -via The Daily What
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No Big Deal, I’m Just Swimming With a Polar Bear



You have to be pretty darn brave to get this up close and personal with one of the biggest predators around. That being said, it’s pretty adorable and I’m totally jealous. Would you dare to swim with this cuddly beast?
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Another great Japanese invention.
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X-Ray Journey Through Man
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MIB and You

Now it’s starting to make sense.
Mib annd you
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Every Day is a Holiday
Paul Loong was born in Malaysia, and served with the British Royal Air Force during World War II. He spent three years in Japanese prison camps. Then Loong worked for years to become a U.S. citizen, which included joining the U.S. Army during the Korean War. But even then, he had to fight for citizenship. Afterward, Loong became a doctor for the Veterans Administration. And that’s just the barest details of his incredible life. Now 88 years old, Loong only recently began to share his wartime stories when he revealed a diary he kept as a POW. Loong’s daughter, Theresa Loong, produced a documentary on her father’s life that will air this weekend on PBS. Check your local listings for Every Day is a Holiday. Link to story. Link to film site. -via Fark
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For three years, the young attorney had been taking his brief vacations at this country inn. The last time he'd finally managed an affair with the innkeeper's daughter. Looking forward to an exciting few days, he dragged his suitcase up the stairs of the inn, then stopped short. There sat his lover with an infant in her lap!

"Helen, why didn't you write when you learned you were pregnant?" he cried. "I would have rushed up here, we could have gotten married, and the baby would have my name!"

"Well," she said, "when my folks found out about my condition, we sat up all night talkin' and talkin' and decided it would be better to have a bastard in the family than a lawyer!"
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A doctor fell into a well once.
He learned to tend to the sick and leave the well alone.
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After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal, the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of David Steele to the post. -- Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington, Rhode Island
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The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort. - The Phantom Tollbooth
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As a little girl climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual, "And what would you like for Christmas?"
The child stared at him open mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped: "Didn't you get my E-mail?"
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A man called the undertaker one afternoon and sobbed: "Come and bury my wife."
"But I buried your wife ten years ago," replied the undertaker.
"I got married again," the man sobbed.
"Oh," said the undertaker. "Congratulations."
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The future of CCTV. Watch what you do.
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Boobs in focus
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Jocasta Jones is walking in a wood when she discovers a deep freeze containing a man. She thaws him out, and he introduces himself as Dum and shows her a book that explains how to build a time machine and a deep freeze.
Jocasta and Dum marry and produce a baby, whom they name Dee. Dee grows up, discovers the book, builds a time machine and gets inside, taking his father and the book with him. The journey into the past takes a long time, and Dee is forced to kill and eat his father to stay alive.
Wracked with guilt, he emerges at his destination and destroys the machine. He changes his name to Dum, but still fearful of being punished, he builds a deep freeze and gets inside, taking the book with him. He is awakened by Jocasta.
Now, asks University of Nottingham philosopher Jonathan Harrison, “Did Jocasta commit a logically possible crime?” From her perspective, Dum enters her life, they have a child, and husband and child both disappear. But from Dee’s perspective, she has married her son and borne a child. Is this incest?
(Harrison, J. (1979) “Jocasta’s crime”, Analysis 39, 65.)
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The Third Mario Brother
Mario and Luigi might have all the glorious adventure saving the princess and all, but someone has to keep the plumbing business afloat. That job sadly fell on the third Mario Brother, Guiseppe. Geeks Are Sexy blog has the story of the unsung hero: Link [video clip by Dorkly]
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Fun Music Video – Zeroes And Ones
This quirky music video is for the Baby Seal Club song Zeroes and Ones, and it features a bunch of chickens wreaking havoc on the beet headed employees at an Apple store. It’s poultry flavored mayhem at its finest, and the song ain’t half bad neither! –via Laughing Squid
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Light Left On For 17 Years Racked Up $17,000 Electricity Bill
This is what happens when someone forgot to turn off the light: A long-forgotten neon lamp that was switched on during the Great Depression and left burning for about 77 years has been discovered hidden behind a dusty partition at Clifton's Cafeteria. The find was made amid an extensive renovation of the downtown eatery, according to the building's owner, Andrew Meieran.
The neon fixture is believed to have been installed in 1935 when Clifford Clinton purchased the lease to Boos Bros. Cafeteria on Broadway and 7th Street and converted the place into a forest-themed restaurant. [...] In 1949, the nook was covered over with plastic and plywood when part of the restroom was partitioned off as a storage area. But for some reason, workmen never got around to disconnecting the electricity. For the next 62 years the illuminated tubing was hidden within the wall. Meieran estimates that the neon tube has racked up more than $17,000 in electrical bills.
Link (Photo: Allen J. Schaben/LA Times) - via Now What's Trending
And, no-one noticed the bill???
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10 Amazingly Old Things That Still Work
Alex recently shared the story of a light that was still going after 77 years, but if you think that’s impressive, then behold the one that’s been going for 111. For more creations that have lasted amazingly long, check out this Oddee article. Link
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Black Magic in Roman Curses

Photo: Museo Archeologico Civico di Bologna
There ain't no curse like black magic curse! Newly deciphered tablets revealed the use of black magic in 1,600-year-old Roman curses:
One of the curses targets a Roman senator named Fistus and appears to be the only known example of a cursed senator. The other curse targets a veterinarian named Porcello. Ironically, Porcello is the Latin word for pig. Celia Sánchez Natalías, a doctoral student at the University of Zaragoza, explained that Porcello was probably his real name. "In the world of curse tablets, one of the things that you have to do is to try to identify your victim in a very, very, exact way." Sánchez Natalías added that it isn't certain who cursed Porcello or why. It could be for either personal or professional reasons. "Maybe this person was someone that (had) a horse or an animal killed by Porcello's medicine," said Sánchez Natalías. "Destroy, crush, kill, strangle Porcello and wife Maurilla. Their soul, heart, buttocks, liver ..." part of it reads. The iconography on the tablet actually shows a mummified Porcello, his arms crossed (as is the deity) and his name written on both of his arms. Owen Jarus of LiveScience has the story: Link
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The Plant That Hunts Its Prey
Think that plants are just sitting around photosynthesizin’, think again: some plants like the parasitic dodder vine actually hunt. Consuelo De Moraes of Penn State University discovered that the parasitic plant can even sniff out its prey:
Dodder is a parasite—it lives off of other plants. Instead
of waiting around for a suitable host, the vine hunts one down. Conseulo De Moraes of Penn State University planted a young dodder near a tomato plant and continuously filmed the pair for several days. Her time-lapse video reveals a growing dodder flailing around, tasting the air like a snake, until it finally brushes the tomato’s stem and begins to encircle its victim. Eventually it would sink tiny nozzles into the tomato plant to suck out vital juices. De Moraes discovered something surprising about the dodder: it can smell. The vine sniffs out its hosts, growing toward telltale chemicals released by its neighbors. And it is picky. Dodder prefers juicy tomato plants to slender wheat and healthy plants to sick plants. Link
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Real Cats Pee Like Men



Someone needs to install a urinal into his litter box to make this process even easier for the little guy.

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Were gonna need a bigger donut
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The Extraordinary Pink Katydid
pink katydid
A pink katydid is rare, but (not) so rare that we don’t have photographs to enjoy! It’s not a separate species, but a condition somewhat similar to albinism. Read more about pink katydids and see stunning pictures at The Ark in Space. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Richard Whitby)
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On the first day of fighting at Gettysburg, an old man in a swallowtail coat and a high black silk hat presented himself to a Union officer, volunteering to fight. When asked if he could shoot, he said, “If you knew that you had before you a soldier of the War of 1812 who fought at Lundy’s Lane, you would not ask such a question.”
It was the town constable, John L. Burns, born in 1793 and now nearly 70. He exchanged his ancient musket for a modern rifle and joined the 7th Wisconsin volunteers, with whom he distinguished himself as a sharpshooter throughout the battle. “He was as calm and collected as as any veteran on the ground,” remembered Sgt. George Eustice. “He was true blue and grit to the backbone, and fought until he was three times wounded.”
After the war he was hailed as the “hero of Gettysburg” and visited by tourists, veterans, and dignitaries, and he even met Lincoln at the dedication of the National Cemetery. He died in 1872 at age 78.
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The tradition of building castells originated in Valls, near the city of Tarragona, in the southern part of Catalonia towards the end of the 18th century. Later it developed a following in other regions of Catalonia and, since 1981, when the first castell of 9 levels of the 20th century was built, it has become very popular in most of Catalonia.
A castell is considered a success when stages of its assembling and disassembling, can be done in complete succession. The assembly is complete once all castellers have climbed into their designated places, and the enxaneta climbs into place at the top and raises one hand with four fingers erect, in a gesture said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag. The enxaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after which the remaining levels of castellers descend in highest-to-lowest order until all have reached safety.

The sash (faixa) is the most important part of their outfit, since it supports the lower back and is used by other castellers in the team as a foothold or handhold when climbing up the tower. This tasselled piece of cloth varies in length and width and depends on the casteller's position inside the tower and also on choice. The length of the sash ranges from 1.5 to 12 m, and usually is shorter for those higher up in the castell. Performing castellers usually go barefoot as to minimise injures upon each other as they climb to their position and also for sensitivity when balancing and to have better feel and hold each other.

The motto of Castellers is "Força, equilibri, valor i seny" (Strength, balance, courage and common sense). Not a bad motto for life in general. More info here.
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The Rise of Plastic
What did we ever do before plastic? After all, the synthetic material is not all that ancient. “Plastic is so new, Freinkel began, that among all the objects preserved in the sunken Titanic, none are synthetic plastic, because there was hardly any available in 1912. Natural plastic, however, was a familiar material. Amber was popular. Rubber was essential (all plant cellulose is made of long-chain polymers). Ivory for everything from billiard balls to piano keys was in such high demand that an 1867 paper warned about the looming extinction of elephants. The first synthetic plastic—celluoid—was developed as a substitute for ivory, and the elephants survived. Wired posted interesting excerpts from a talk by Susan Freinkel about the history of manufacturing objects of plastic. Link -via Boing Boing
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10 Incredible Confluences Around the World
A confluence is a place where two (or more) bodies of water meet. When two rivers meet and mix, especially rivers with water of different colors, the confluence is quite dramatic. See pictures of the most interesting meetings of contrasting waters from around the world at Twisted Sifter. Shown here is the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze Rivers in China. Link -via The World Geography
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Eddie Deezen gave us 12 Baseball Feats That Only Happened Once.

Why Disco Died, from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, was the followup to the previous article Why Disco Happened.
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You Gotta Pay the Piper
If you had to guess what German city has a big rodent problem, you might think of Hamelin -and you’d be right. City officials say a popular fountain has been put out of service after the rodents gnawed through a power cable, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. The Lower Saxony city is where, legend has it, the Pied Piper led all the rats out in 1284 with his magic pipe into the Weser River, where they drowned. This time around, city officials say they’ll just decommission the fountain, which was due to be permanently closed anyway. Oh, why were they planning to close the fountain? High maintenance costs. Seven hundred years later, the city is still stingy about paying for municipal services. Link -via Fark
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…and he’s very angry!
Which reminds me of one of the most awesome tees of all time: Schrödinger’s Cat t-shirt.
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Some states permit less-than-unanimous jury verdicts in criminal cases. If a person is convicted of a crime in such a state by a jury that splits, say, nine to three, then has the defendant’s guilt been proved beyond a reasonable doubt? Does the mere existence of outvoted jurors (or their doubts) establish a reasonable doubt that should overturn the majority’s vote to convict? In Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U.S. 356 (1972), the Supreme Court faced this question and held that it does not; even a split jury can convict a person beyond a reasonable doubt. But in Johnson, the Supreme Court was itself split as much as it could be, five to four. Is there a reasonable doubt as to what constitutes reasonable doubt?
– Peter Suber, The Paradox of Self-Amendment, 1990
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The Man Who Lived in AOL
After completing a four-month incubator program at AOL's Palo Alto campus, Eric Simons discovered that his badge still worked so he decided to live there:
"I couldn't afford to live anywhere," Simons recalled. "I started living out of AOL's headquarters." [...] For someone with neither money nor an aversion to sleeping on others' couches, the AOL building had plenty of allure. "They had a gym there with showers," Simons said. "I'd take a shower after work. I was like, 'I could totally work here...They have food upstairs, they have every drink on tap. This would be a sweet place to live.'"
CNET's Daniel Terdiman has the fascinating story: Link - via Boing Boing
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The UPS Van Smuggler
An enterprising human smuggler tried to use a phony UPS van to make a special delivery to the United States: 13 illegal immigrants from Mexico.
What can Brown do for you? Apparently not human smuggling as the scheme was foiled by U.S. Border Patrol:
The van looked like a legitimate United Parcel Service Inc. delivery vehicle, except the company decal on the back door was slightly crooked. [..] Migrants told authorities they had agreed to pay between $5,000 and $8,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to the criminal complaint. Link Well, at least being stuffed inside a UPS van beats being stuffed into a van's seat! Previously on Neatorama: 10 Weird Items People Tried to Smuggle
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Sketches from Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook: The Large Hadron Collider
You may already know about Leonardo da Vinci’s submarine design, or his sketches for helicopters, parachutes and airplanes. But you not have seen his plan for a compact muon solenoid detector, almost identical to the one now used by CERN in its Large Hadron Collider. That, at least, is the idea behind this drawing by physicist Sergio Cittolin. View more images at the link. Link -via io9
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New Bacteria Could Make You Poop Rainbows
“‘The Oracle of Wikipedia‘ finds the quickest Wikipedia link between two searches you provide.

A really cool stop motion video that would be good on its own, but the music really makes it.

These lovely lightning photographs are electrifying (pun intended, yes. YES!)

Top 10 New Species Of 2012.
DeLorean Enters Bicycle Biz
Plutonium is expensive. It also can’t be good for the environment.
So, DeLorean — yes, that DeLorean — has entered the bicycle business. According to estimates, these babies will still set you back a whopping $5,000*…which, if you think about it, is still less than Plutonium. No word on what happens if you pedal to 88mph. (*Flux capacitor not included.) [Source: DeLorean Bicycles / Via HiConsumption]
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Frank Zappa - “It’s Okay To Be Smart”
“A lot of people who were born smart pretend to be dumb so they can have friends, and that’s a tragedy, you know? … [forget about] acting dumb to have friends, because those friends aren’t gonna do you any good anyway.”
(by robotorb)

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The moon is about to become crowded.
In the next few years a slew of countries, including China, India, and Japan, are looking to put unmanned probes on the lunar surface. But more unprecedented are the 26 teams currently racing to win the Google Lunar X Prize – a contest that will award $20 million to the first private company to land a robot on the lunar surface, travel a third of a mile, and send back a high-definition image before 2015.
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Snowglobe Salt & Pepper Shakers
Are you looking for a way to make your dining experience more magical? You need the Snowglobe Salt & Pepper Shakers from the NeatoShop. The pieces of this enchanting set are shaped like waterglobes. They are sure to bring fun and child like innocence back to your table. More importantly, however, they are a great way to distract from really bad food.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Salt & Pepper Shakers!
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The source of all this au naturel flaunting lies not in the culture of fame, but in the design of our sexual brains.
This flood of celebrity skin has prompted folks to wonder, ‘Why are so many famous people exhibitionists?’ The source of all this au naturel flaunting lies not in the culture of fame, but in the design of our sexual brains. In fact, research has unveiled two distinct explanations: Female exhibitionism appears to be primarily cortical, while male exhibitionism is mainly subcortical.
“The desire of the man is for the woman,” Madame de Stael famously penned, “The desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.” Being the center of sexual attention is a fundamental female turn-on dramatized in women’s fantasies, female-authored erotica, and in the cross-cultural gush of sultry self-portraits.
Studies have found that more than half of women’s sexual fantasies reflect the desire to be sexually irresistible. In one academic survey, 47 percent of women reported the fantasy of seeing themselves as a striptease dancer, harem girl, or other performer. Fifty percent fantasized about delighting many men.
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The evidence for precognition was staring us in the face all along. Hilarious satire of psychology’s problems.
Deathtraps so beautiful you could cry. Jennifer Frazer on glow worms.
10 science concepts that would make awesome supervillains
What is the “Bible of Psychiatry” supposed to do?
Space junk piling up around Earth has reached a tipping point.
“Citizens in Space is sponsoring… a $10,000 competition to detect organisms at the edge of space.”
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The mudskipper – a fish that drags itself along muddy land with its front fins (as in the video below).
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Judging by the lack of fur on this little guy, he or she has a month or more of pouch-time to go before fully venturing out, but limbs and snout will ocassionally make an appearance.
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Mind The Map
I love old maps and this cleverly titled "Mind the Map" exhibition (from the famous "Mind the Gap" phrase, if you're familiar with it) at the London Transport Museum certainly has a lot of them: the exhibition features the museum's maps and artwork about the London Tube. Chris Michael of The Guardian has 14 of the best examples: Link
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Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere has created these Cappuccino Pops, delicious iced pops made primarily with freshly brewed espresso, sweetened condensed milk, and whipped cream. The original recipe is from Everyday with Rachael Ray.
Yield: 10 Prep: 15 mins(plus cooling and freezing)
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Smithsonian Magazine Online
The fight over Robert E. Lee's beloved home—seized by the U.S. government during the Civil War—went on for decades
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A little girl asked her father, "Daddy? Do all Fairy Tales begin with Once Upon A Time?"
And he replied, "No, there is a whole series of Fairy Tales that begin with 'If Elected I promise...'"
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The Final Journey of USS Iowa

Photo: Don Bartletti/LA Times | Don't miss the Large version
Los Angeles Times photographer Don Bartletti snapped this wonderful photo of the battleship U.S.S. Iowa passing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on its final journey.
Steve Chawkins of the LA Times has the story: Coincidentally, the 69-year-old ship's stately passage occurred as tourists thronged San Francisco for Memorial Day and for a citywide celebration of the bridge's 75th birthday. "It's so fitting that this great warship goes out for her last time on the bridge's 75th anniversary," said Bob Rogers, a spokesman for the Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit that is funding the ship's move and transformation into a museum. "So many battleships and destroyers left for the Pacific out of San Francisco Bay," he said. "There were very emotional feelings as they passed under the bridge to go out and very happy feelings when they passed under it to return."
Link | USS Iowa official website
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A clerk at a business in Henderson, North Carolina punched a would-be robber and knocked him out cold just minutes after the man barged in with a gun and demanded money. After the robber came to he was made to clean up his own blood.
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Think alpine sports and you'll probably think of skiing and snowboarding, but there's another alpine sport that doesn't get the same coverage - Alpine Finger Wrestling. The 35th edition of the annual Alpine Finger Wrestling Championships took place in the Bavarian region of Schnaitsee, Germany recently - with a handful of winners across the weight divisions thrilling the highly enthusiastic crowd. The sport began when the art of finger wrestling was used as a method of settling disputes in the Alps back in the 17th century. But today, in 2012, finger wrestling is a sport in its own right. Well, in Bavaria at least.
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California-based Imnopeas posted a recipe and detailed tutorial on Instructables on how to make Cake Fries, crinkle cut french fry-shaped cakes that is paired with a red raspberry ‘ketchup’. A store-bought pound cake is cut with a zig-zag knife, and then baked to look like crinkle cut fries. Pureed raspberries are the base of the ‘ketchup’. She was inspired by a recipe by Bob Blumer of Food Network’s The Surreal Gourmet.
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The Law in Longyearbyen, Norway: No Dying Allowed!


In the frozen Svalbard archipelago, far north of the Norwegian mainland, temperatures rarely rise above freezing. This became a problem during the influenza pandemic of 1917-1920 because the victims’ bodies did not decompose, the virus inside of them did not die. So officials in the settlement of Longyearbyen passed a clever law to prevent further destruction by the disease. They banned death:
The cold earth had preserved the corpses and, unfortunately, had also kept the influenza strain alive. There is no reason to believe that anyone was infected by the resurrected influenza, but regardless, its discovery provided a warning to the town officials. Realizing that Longyearbyen, quite isolated from the rest of the world, had no way of handling its dead — and at risk to the living — its leaders simply declared that dying was not permitted in the town. Enforcement, of course, cannot be done via punitive action — “don’t die, or else!” is a strange ultimatum, to say the least. Rather, Longyearbyen prevents people from dying in town by a system akin to an administrative hokey-pokey. The cemetery closed in 1930, accepting no future burials. Link
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Why People Cheat and Lie (Just a Little!)

There are a few bad apples that cheat a lot, but surely most of us are honest people who'd never cheat, right? Not according to research study by Duke University Economics professor Dan Ariely. His study showed that almost everybody cheats just a little. In a series of experiments, Ariely was able to increase or decrease the ratio of cheaters:
Much of what we have learned about the causes of dishonesty comes from a simple little experiment that we call the "matrix task," which we have been using in many variations. It has shown rather conclusively that cheating does not correspond to the traditional, rational model of human behavior—that is, the idea that people simply weigh the benefits (say, money) against the costs (the possibility of getting caught and punished) and act accordingly.
The basic matrix task goes as follows: Test subjects (usually college students) are given a sheet of paper containing a series of 20 different matrices (structured like the example you can see above) and are told to find in each of the matrices two numbers that add up to 10. They have five minutes to solve as many of the matrices as possible, and they get paid based on how many they solve correctly. When we want to make it possible for subjects to cheat on the matrix task, we introduce what we call the "shredder condition." The subjects are told to count their correct answers on their own and then put their work sheets through a paper shredder at the back of the room. They then tell us how many matrices they solved correctly and get paid accordingly.
What happens when we put people through the control condition and the shredder condition and then compare their scores? In the control condition, it turns out that most people can solve about four matrices in five minutes. But in the shredder condition, something funny happens: Everyone suddenly and miraculously gets a little smarter. Participants in the shredder condition claim to solve an average of six matrices—two more than in the control condition. This overall increase results not from a few individuals who claim to solve a lot more matrices but from lots of people who cheat just by a little.
Interestingly, increasing the payoff or the probability of being caught has no effect on making people cheat more.
The Wall Street Journal has the fascinating (honest!) post: Link
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EST
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“We have our Arts so we won’t die of Truth.”
Ray Bradbury and other famous authors on truth vs. fiction (via explore-blog)
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A sunrise in China’s Sea of Clouds is shockingly gorgeous
"Monkey Gazing at the Cloud Sea" vista in China's Huangshan mountain range
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How much does it cost to be an unbeatable evil overlord?
Peter Anspach's "The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord" is required reading for anyone hoping to enter the growing field of supervillainry. But how much does it cost to be a successful and rational evil overlord?
The speculative bean counters at Centives have attached a price tag to each item on Anspach's list, and it should surprise no one that truly thorough supervillainry doesn't come cheap.
31. All naive, busty tavern wenches in my realm will be replaced with surly, world-weary waitresses who will provide no unexpected reinforcement and/or romantic subplot for the hero or his sidekick.
Cost: $4,701,320 Notes: The unemployment benefits of a thousand young ladies every year.
See the rest of the items, and their sources, at Centives.
Love the comments ~
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A sincere thanks to all those who’ve served their country and given their lives for ours. You are not forgotten. You’ll find many of America’s National Memorials in the District of Columbia, including the FDR Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. Today’s quiz takes you outside the borders of the capital to identify the states in which these 10 other National Memorials lie. Match them up by keying in the corresponding number from the left column in the blanks on the right column. Good luck!
The Memorial Day Quiz: National Memorials
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Arlington is some of the most hallowed ground in the United States. More than 400,000 fallen servicemen and women are buried there and are honored with a service every Memorial Day. But despite its great importance, the cemetery has had more than its share of scandals over the last 148 years.
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Alternative Energy Revolution
Alternative Energy Revolution



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Why does a dog lick his balls?
Because he can't make a fist.
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Ursa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ursarodinia@aol.com






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