"If America could be, once again,
a nation of self-reliant farmers,
craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists,
then the rich would have little power to dominate others.
Neither to serve nor to rule: That was the American dream."
~ Edward Abbey
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~ Edward Abbey
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2012 September
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Salway
Explanation: Which part of this picture do you find more interesting -- the land or the sky? Advocates for the land might cite the beauty of the ancient domes of the Bungle Bungle Range in Western Australia. These picturesque domes appear as huge layered beehives and are made of sandstones and conglomerates deposited over 350 million years ago. Advocates for the sky might laud the beauty of the Milky Way's central band shown arching from horizon to horizon. The photogenic Milky Way band formed over 10 billion years ago and now includes many well-known nebulae and bright stars. Fortunately, you don't have to decide and can enjoy both together in this beautiful 8-frame panorama taken from the dark skies of Purnululu National Park about two months ago.
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2012 September
Curiosity on the Move
Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Univ. of Arizona, HiRise-LPL
Photo: Alper Bozkurt/North Carolina State University
Conjoined twins walk into a pub in Toronto and park themselves on a bar stool. One of them says to the bartender, "Don't mind us, we're joined at the hip. I'm John, he's Jim. Two Molson Canadian beers please."
The bartender, feeling slightly awkward, tries to make polite conversation while pouring the beers. "Been on holiday, lads?"
"Off to England next month," says John. "We go to England every year, hire a car, and drive for miles, don't we, Jim?" Jim agrees.
"Ah, England!" says the bartender. "Wonderful Country...the history, the beer, the culture..."
"Nah, we don't like that British crap," says John. "Hamburgers and Molson's beer, that's us, eh, Jim? And we can't stand the English; they're so arrogant and rude, not civil and polite like us Canadians."
"So why keep going to England?" asks the bartender.
"It's the only chance Jim gets to drive."
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I failed my audition as Romeo through a misunderstanding over a stage direction. In my script it clearly said: "Enter Juliette from the rear."
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Watertown, New York:
It was eagle-eyed zookeepers who noticed first.The DNA testing only proved what they already suspected.
The Thompson Park Zoo's American bald eagle breeding program was going nowhere. Not with two males, anyway.
"We had our suspicions right away. The birds are virtually the identical size," said Director Glenn D. Dobrogosz, who laughed Tuesday about the gender mix-up that provided a comical start to the zoo's new eagle breeding program.
"It happens. Not a lot. But it happens," he said. The two American bald eagles - supposedly a male and
female - arrived at the zoo last July from the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, Alaska.
The two males became good buddies but zookeepers quickly realized there would be no amorous flights
for these two, Dobrogosz said. Because bald eagle males and females share the same coloring characteristics, it is difficult to determine gender by visual inspection. However, in most raptor species, the female is slightly larger than the male, he said.
Based on their size and behavior, the Alaska center mistakenly thought it had sent a male and a female,
Dobrogosz said. It wasn't until the Thompson Park Zoo took blood samples for DNA testing that it confirmed the
birds' sexes.
"Sure enough, they both were boys," he said.
Now that the confusion has been cleared up, zookeepers are once again focused on the romancing.
One of the males is being sent to the Clinch Park Zoo in Traverse City, Mich. Meanwhile, the Watertown zoo already has received a new female from another raptor rehabilitation center on Sitka Island in Alaska.
"We're positive this time," Dobrogosz said, heading off the inevitable inquiry about the bird's gender.
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Photo of the week: Autumn on Telaquana Lake in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. More captivating photos to get lost in athttp://1.usa.gov/OvW8yL ~MW
Two priests are off to the showers late one night.
They undress and step in the showers before they realize there is no soap. Father John says he has some soap in his room and goes to get it, not bothering to dress. He grabs two bars of soap in his hands and heads back to the showers. He gets halfway down the hall when he sees three nuns heading his way. Having no place to hide, he stands against the wall and freezes like he's a statue.
The nuns stop and comment on how life-like he looks.
The first nun suddenly reaches out and pulls his dick. Startled, he drops a bar of soap.
"Oh look," says the 2nd nun... "A soap dispenser."
To test her theory she also pulls his dick...and sure enough he drops the last bar of soap.
"Will the father be present during the birth?" asked the obstetrician.
"Nah," replied the mother-to-be, "He and my husband don't get along."
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One night a police officer named Mike was working the grave-yard shift and he drove to his house around 3 A.M. in the morning. He opened the door to the bedroom quietly and took off his clothes in the dark ,and got in bed with his wife. Then she said ,"Honey, can you go over to the Drug Store and pick me up some Asprin?"
The Serious Eats Guide to Sandwiches
Giant smoke rings experiment on Ellen.
Gear factory gets a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Man builds a cardboard castle for his cat.
Pacific Northwest timelapse.
"Game of Thrones" cover by Lindsey Stirling and Peter Hollens.
Japanese dough pounding.
Behind the great firewall of China.
A screaming sheep.
A pong traffic light in Germany.
Airhead?
Executive Orders: The Famous, The Infamous & The Ridiculous. You’ll even find out what an executive order is!
The 1968 Playboy Club Bunny Manual Be mindful of the rules of Bunny Behavior so you won’t have to have a “Personal Meeting with the Bunny Mother.”
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Disorienting Geometric Installations by Esther Stocker
"User error. Replace user and press any key to continue."-- Unknown
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What an impressive landform, described in a Telegraph photogallery as "an aerial view of Nabiyotum Crater in Lake Turkana - the world's largest desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake - in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.
Lake Turkana: "It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake[citation needed] after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul, and Lake Van (passing the shrinking South Aral Sea... Nile crocodiles are found in great abundance on the flats. The rocky shores are home to scorpions and carpet vipers..."
This is located in the Rift Valley area of Africa, the acknowledged "cradle of mankind." I wonder if modern people have explored inside the crater, which does have a land bridge to the mainland.
In the wild, squirrels make their nests of dried leaves and branches... A strange natural accident that sometimes occurs is sap from pine branches that the nest is constructed of can adhere to the squirrels' tails and ultimately to each other's tails. Squirrels normally have litters of 4 to 6 babies. As they are fed in the nest, they are quite "squirmy" and move around frequently. Once their tails become stuck together, movement is limited amongst them and they jump under and over each other trying to reposition themselves. In the process, they literally knot or braid themselves together. The squirrels pull in many directions, thereby worsening the situation. They can actually live quite a long time like this, as the mother continues to feed them.
Q: What did the Atlantic Ocean say to the Pacific Ocean?
A: Nothing, it just waved.
Q: What kind of dog did the vampire have?
A: A bloodhound.
Q: What should a football team do if the field is flooded?
A: Bring on their subs!
Q: How do hens encourage their favorite sports teams?
A: They egg them on!
Q: What did the dog say when he sat on sandpaper?
A: Rough! Rough!
Q: What did Neptune say to Saturn?
A: Give me a ring sometime!
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Organizers of the Sioux Falls Marathon in South Dakota said they disqualified a runner as the winner after realizing he only ran half the race. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported that while Olok Nykew, 37, a St. Paul, Minn., resident who is originally from Sudan, crossed the finish line first Sunday morning, officials determined he had run the half-marathon course, not the full 26.2-mile marathon course. The companion events followed separate, but sometimes overlapping, routes through the city before ending at the same spot. The marathoners wore black numbers and the half-marathoners wore red. Nykew who came in 25 minutes faster than the event's record, was wearing a black number but finished among runners wearing red ones. "He registered for the marathon and ended up running the half and came in 25 minutes before the record," assistant race director Jason Richards told the newspaper. "They figured it out and disqualified him." Nykew expressed confusion and said he realized when he reached the finish line so quickly something must have gone wrong. "I thought, what is this? When I got there, I thought it was not long enough. I'm thinking I'm not cheating. I was just confused. It was an honest mistake," he said. The real winner was Justin Gillette, 29, of Goshen, Ind., who broke the event record he set last year with a time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds.
"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"A Minnesota man was arrested for stealing up to $25,000 worth of laundry detergent. Would that be a white-collar crime? Luckily, he made a clean getaway." -Jay Leno
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"For the first time ever, scientists have created artificial life. The hope is that it can revolutionize healthcare, generate clean energy, become super-intelligent, take over the world, make us all its slaves, etc." -Jimmy Kimmel
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My wife, a real estate agent, wrote an ad for a house she was listing. The house had a second-floor suite that could be accessed using a lift chair that slid along the staircase.
Quickly describing this feature, she inadvertently made it sound even more attractive: "Mother-in-law suite comes with an electric chair."
Read more at Women's Health: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/best-fitness-food#ixzz26aHbOiNa
Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Univ. of Arizona, HiRise-LPL
Explanation: Curiosity is on the move across Mars -- but where is it going? The car-sized rover's path after 29 Martian days on the surface is shown on the above map. Curiosity is still almost 300 meters from its first major destination, though, a meeting of different types of terrain called Glenelg and visible on the image right. It may take Curiosity two months or so to get to Glenelg as it stops to inspect interesting rocks or landscape features along the way. The above image was taken about one week ago from high up by the HiRise camera onboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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"When Do You Stop Worrying?"
Is there a magic cutoff period when offspring become accountable for their own actions? Is there a wonderful moment when parents can become detached spectators in the lives of their children and shrug, "It's their life," and feel nothing?
When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to put a few stitches in my son's head. I asked, "When do you stop worrying?" A nurse said, "When they get out of the accident stage." My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom and heard how one of my children talked incessantly, disrupted the class, and was headed for a career making license plates. As if to read my mind, a teacher said, "Don't worry. They all go through this stage, and then you can sit back, relax, and enjoy them." My mother listened and said nothing.
When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring and the cars to come home, the front door to open. A friend said, "They're trying to find themselves. In a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll be adults."
By the time I was 50, I was sick and tired of being vulnerable. I was still worrying over my children, but there was nothing I could do about it. I continued to anguish over their failures, be tormented by their frustrations and absorbed in their disappointments. My friends said that when my kids got married I could stop worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by my mother's wan smile and her occasional, "You look pale. Are you all right? Call me the minute you get home. Are you depressed about something?"
Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry? Is concern for one another handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of human frailties and the fears of the unknown? Is concern a curse? Or is it a virtue that elevates us to the highest form of life? One of my children became quite irritable recently, saying to me, "Where were you? I've been calling for three days, and no one answered. I was worried!!!"
I smiled a wan smile.
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When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to put a few stitches in my son's head. I asked, "When do you stop worrying?" A nurse said, "When they get out of the accident stage." My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom and heard how one of my children talked incessantly, disrupted the class, and was headed for a career making license plates. As if to read my mind, a teacher said, "Don't worry. They all go through this stage, and then you can sit back, relax, and enjoy them." My mother listened and said nothing.
When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring and the cars to come home, the front door to open. A friend said, "They're trying to find themselves. In a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll be adults."
By the time I was 50, I was sick and tired of being vulnerable. I was still worrying over my children, but there was nothing I could do about it. I continued to anguish over their failures, be tormented by their frustrations and absorbed in their disappointments. My friends said that when my kids got married I could stop worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by my mother's wan smile and her occasional, "You look pale. Are you all right? Call me the minute you get home. Are you depressed about something?"
Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry? Is concern for one another handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of human frailties and the fears of the unknown? Is concern a curse? Or is it a virtue that elevates us to the highest form of life? One of my children became quite irritable recently, saying to me, "Where were you? I've been calling for three days, and no one answered. I was worried!!!"
I smiled a wan smile.
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“To himself every one is an immortal: he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.” — Samuel Butler
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I saw a pen in a store the other day. I picked it up and took a look at it
cause it was prettier than most.
The clerk said, "It's made in Germany".
I said, "That's too bad, I can't use it then".
The clerk said, "What's the matter? You don't like German pens?"
I said, "No. I just never learned to write German."
cause it was prettier than most.
The clerk said, "It's made in Germany".
I said, "That's too bad, I can't use it then".
The clerk said, "What's the matter? You don't like German pens?"
I said, "No. I just never learned to write German."
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Portland On The Web: OPB, Seattle Pulp, USA Today & More
It's another glorious week in Portland with constant sunshine, Ira Glass throwing out hundred dollar bills to needy journalists and a platinum rating on our bike infrastructure.
But hey, it's Portland and we always find something to complain about. This week, the Oregonian's food writers bemoaned the lack of dining diversity in town.
Instead of wishing for more, let's be happy with what we have: a self-sustaining economy based around recycled jeweley, circus acts, and handmade bike bags.
Here is a round-up of Portland happenings this week:
Seattle Pulp: Portland dachsund reaches national headline-level obesity
OPB: Ira Glass rewards OPB's April Baer's journalistic ethics -- with $101
USA Today: In Portland, bikes rule the road
OregonLive: Here's our Portland restaurant wish list, what's yours?
OPB: Young and creative: Does Portland hypothesis ring true?
Portland Online: Portland named one of 100 Best Communities for Young People
Eastern Oregon University: 2012 Oregon Brewers Festival generates $30 million for local economy
Portland Palate: Portland FREE birthday perks
Portland Business Journal: Portland Seed Fund expands portfolio by eight
Neighborhood Notes: 16 locally owned businesses opened in August
Good Environment: Which cities are most ready for electric vehicles? You may be surprsied
It's another glorious week in Portland with constant sunshine, Ira Glass throwing out hundred dollar bills to needy journalists and a platinum rating on our bike infrastructure.
But hey, it's Portland and we always find something to complain about. This week, the Oregonian's food writers bemoaned the lack of dining diversity in town.
Instead of wishing for more, let's be happy with what we have: a self-sustaining economy based around recycled jeweley, circus acts, and handmade bike bags.
Here is a round-up of Portland happenings this week:
Seattle Pulp: Portland dachsund reaches national headline-level obesity
OPB: Ira Glass rewards OPB's April Baer's journalistic ethics -- with $101
USA Today: In Portland, bikes rule the road
OregonLive: Here's our Portland restaurant wish list, what's yours?
OPB: Young and creative: Does Portland hypothesis ring true?
Portland Online: Portland named one of 100 Best Communities for Young People
Eastern Oregon University: 2012 Oregon Brewers Festival generates $30 million for local economy
Portland Palate: Portland FREE birthday perks
Portland Business Journal: Portland Seed Fund expands portfolio by eight
Neighborhood Notes: 16 locally owned businesses opened in August
Good Environment: Which cities are most ready for electric vehicles? You may be surprsied
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Millions of hermit crabs were observed on the move, carrying their homes on their backs at Nanny Point in the Virgin Islands. The music makes their trip seem like an epic quest! Where are they going? What do they hope to find there? I had no idea, so I looked around and found an article that explained: Take the hermit crabs in the Virgin Islands. The adults are terrestrial, but the larvae develop in the sea. The adults must migrate to the waters edge in order to reproduce and release their eggs into the water. -via The Daily What
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Did you hear about the Polish Navy's tragic accident?
A hundred and thirty-seven sailors drowned trying to push-start their new submarine.
A hundred and thirty-seven sailors drowned trying to push-start their new submarine.
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The company sergent is briefing the recruits:
"For the next ten weeks the commanding officer will be your father, and I will be your mother.
"For the next ten weeks the commanding officer will be your father, and I will be your mother.
Incidentally we are not married, so you know what that makes you..."
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Plot five points at random at the intersections of a coordinate grid. Between each pair of points a line segment can be drawn. Prove that the midpoint of at least one of these segments occurs at an intersection of grid lines.
The coordinates of each point can be categorized by their parity — for example, (1, 1) is odd-odd and (4, 17) is even-odd. The midpoint of a line segment between two points will occur at a lattice point only if the two endpoints fall into the same category; for example, the two points above won’t produce such a midpoint, but (6, 8) and (14, 2) will because both are even-even.
There are only four possible categories: even-even, odd-odd, even-odd, and odd-even. And because we are plotting five points, at least two points must fall into the same category. The midpoint between these two points will occur at a lattice point.
From L.C. Larsen, Problem Solving Through Problems, 1983.
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The guy in this video is singlehandedly ruining Spider-Man's good name, acting less like a hero and more like a merry prankster! Most of the citizens that encounter the slapstick Spidey seem appropriately amused by his antics, but he's definitely getting on the wrong side of the law, and that'll cost him if he ever thinks about starting his own superheroic organization. --via io9
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Clean Laffs Joe was complaining that he needed to buy some new clothes for a big event he had planned for the weekend.
"I need something that will make me look metrosexual, but not androgynous or effeminate. Wait a minute, is that what retrosexual is? I'm confused by what's hip and trendy now-a-days.
"TZ!" he accosted me, "What do you call a hip, well-dressed, well-groomed guy now-a-days; metrosexual or retrosexual?"
"I don't know," I answered. "I'm not metrosexual or retrosexual. I'm just a poor asshole who works all the time, gets screwed out of his taxes and doesn't have any money left at the end of the month. What's the name for me?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders, "American?"
"I need something that will make me look metrosexual, but not androgynous or effeminate. Wait a minute, is that what retrosexual is? I'm confused by what's hip and trendy now-a-days.
"TZ!" he accosted me, "What do you call a hip, well-dressed, well-groomed guy now-a-days; metrosexual or retrosexual?"
"I don't know," I answered. "I'm not metrosexual or retrosexual. I'm just a poor asshole who works all the time, gets screwed out of his taxes and doesn't have any money left at the end of the month. What's the name for me?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders, "American?"
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Mark Siddall is an expert on leeches. To find new species, he travels the world and wades into strange waters, offering his own flesh as bait.
My expedition to Peru was especially fruitful. We started out in the Andes Mountains, elevation 16,000 feet, to look for a lake that had been recorded in the 1880s as having the highest-altitude leech ever found. We found the site, but the problem was that local mining operations had obliterated the lake. Fortunately, just as we were about to leave for lower ground, I spotted another small lake nearby. We jumped in, turned over some rocks to unsettle any leeches that might be in the sediment, and felt some pinches on the skin. We found the highest leech ever, a new species I’m still trying to classify.
But it gets really weird when he begins to describe specialized leeches that target certain body parts. Link
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Like many people, Emily Finch gave up her big SUV for a bicycle. But what makes this story unusual is that she's a mother of six and yes, she bikes them around town in what can only be called a human-powered minivan.
Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland interviewed super-mom Emily:
Biking with kids is all the rage in Portland these days, but biking with six kids between the ages of 2 and 11? That's something I never would have thought possible before I met southeast Portland resident Emily Finch.
Finch, 34, is a powerhouse. Watching her pedal her bakfiets cargo bike with four kids in the front, another one in a child seat behind her, and another one on a bike attached to hers via the rear rack, is a sight that not only inspires — it forces you to re-think what's possible Link- via Metafilter
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Symphony of Science - Our Biggest Challenge (Climate Change Music Video)
A musical investigation into the causes and effects of global climate change and our opportunities to use science to offset it. Featuring Bill Nye, David Attenborough, Richard Alley and Isaac Asimov. "Our Biggest Challenge" is the 16th episode of the Symphony of Science series by melodysheep.
Visit http://symphonyofscience.com for more science remixes!
Visit http://symphonyofscience.com for more science remixes!
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Shakespeare may sound better in the original Klingon, but The Fellowship of the Ring sounds better in Elvish. Here's a 1952 recording of J.R.R. Tolkien reading "Namárië," an Elvish language poem that appeared in that book. -via io9
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The Federal Reserve had a partial audit to check how much money was REALLY doled out to banks. The Federal Reserve, back by US tax payers gave US AND FOREIGN banks more than... are you ready... $16 TRILLION!!
This is directly from the GAO (General Accounting Office) that was allowed to do only a partial audit...Page 131 of the audit listed the banks and the amounts.
We included a link to the actual audit report so you could personally verify the information. We thought this was important for you to know.
This is directly from the GAO (General Accounting Office) that was allowed to do only a partial audit...Page 131 of the audit listed the banks and the amounts.
We included a link to the actual audit report so you could personally verify the information. We thought this was important for you to know.
Citigroup: $2.5 trillion
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion
Bear Sterns: $853 billion
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK):
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places
http://www.scribd.com/doc/60553686/GAO-Fed-Investigation
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion
Bear Sterns: $853 billion
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK):
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places
http://www.scribd.com/doc/60553686/GAO-Fed-Investigation
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"The reality is earth contains only so much fossil fuel. So the solution is obvious. If oil comes from fossils, then we should genetically engineer more dinosaurs. What could possibly go wrong?" -Craig Ferguson
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While shopping for vacation clothes, my husband and I passed a display of bathing suits. It had been at least ten years and twenty pounds since I had even considered buying a bathing suit, so I sought my husband's advice.
"What do you think?" I asked. "Should I get a bikini or an all-in-one?"
"Better get a bikini," he replied. "You'd never get it all in one."
"What do you think?" I asked. "Should I get a bikini or an all-in-one?"
"Better get a bikini," he replied. "You'd never get it all in one."
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"According to a survey by nationwide mutual insurance, 2 percent of people actually shave while they're driving. They shave! How many guys would like to be in the car with those women?" --Jay Leno
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Photo: Alper Bozkurt/North Carolina State University
You may say "yuck" today, but if you are ever unfortunate enough to be trapped inside the rubble of an earthquake-damaged building, you'd be glad to see this cockroach search and rescue cyborg!
Alper Bozkurt of the North Carolina State University worked up a way to remotely control cockroaches:
Their remote control system consists of two parts: antennae stimulators and another on their rear end.Cockroaches use their antennae to feel their way around the environment. “What we do is we insert tiny electrodes to the antennae and we send low-power pulses [to them],” Bozkurt said.The pulse simulates the antenna feeling an obstacle, such as a wall, causing the cockroach to turn the other direction. Buzz the left antenna, the cockroach turns right; buzz the right one, the bug turns left.Spurring the cockroaches to scurry forward comes via a sensor on their rear end called cerci “which senses if there is a predator trying to reach from behind. When they feel something, they just go in the forward direction to run away from the predator,” Bozkurt explained.“So, we use that to make the insect go forward and antenna electrodes to make it go left and right.”
John Roach (really) has the story over at Future of Tech: Link
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Meet Fluffy, Muffy, Buffy, White Shirt, and Flop-ear. White Shirt has a touch of Attention Deficit Disorder. Together they formed a dance troupe and would love to work for anyone willing to replace the polka tunes with Rammstein. -via Buzzfeed
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Did you watch a whodunit movie with someone who later proclaimed that he knew the killer all along? Don't be annoyed with such people for they probably couldn't help it. They may be suffering from "hindsight bias":
Researchers found that they are suffering from “hindsight bias”, when a person genuinely believes that they know something when in fact they are hearing or seeing it for the first time. Although the effects might seem relatively harmless, researchers claimed it could prevent people learning why something has happened or from taking advice. Prof Neal Roese, of Northwestern University in Chicago, said: “If you feel like you knew it all along, it means you won’t stop to examine why something really happened. “It’s often hard to convince seasoned decision-makers that they might fall prey to hindsight bias.”
I, of course, have known about it all along: Link
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Conjoined twins walk into a pub in Toronto and park themselves on a bar stool. One of them says to the bartender, "Don't mind us, we're joined at the hip. I'm John, he's Jim. Two Molson Canadian beers please."
The bartender, feeling slightly awkward, tries to make polite conversation while pouring the beers. "Been on holiday, lads?"
"Off to England next month," says John. "We go to England every year, hire a car, and drive for miles, don't we, Jim?" Jim agrees.
"Ah, England!" says the bartender. "Wonderful Country...the history, the beer, the culture..."
"Nah, we don't like that British crap," says John. "Hamburgers and Molson's beer, that's us, eh, Jim? And we can't stand the English; they're so arrogant and rude, not civil and polite like us Canadians."
"So why keep going to England?" asks the bartender.
"It's the only chance Jim gets to drive."
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I failed my audition as Romeo through a misunderstanding over a stage direction. In my script it clearly said: "Enter Juliette from the rear."
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Reddit has a post about phrases that make you angry. . Here are a few:
- Not to sound like an asshole, but..
- Real life cake day
- People calling things OCD that are not OCD.
- Should of, could of, or would of
- I could care less.
- Calm down… I’m usually calm until someone tells me to calm down
- He’s just trolling!
- As a mother… Because you know something extremely bigoted is going to follow.
- If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen
- You get what I’m saying?
- Money can’t buy happiness.
- Everything happens for a reason.
- when someone says “supposably“… And “irregardless“, while we’re at it.
- Intensive purposes
- Just saying
- let me axe you a question
- Touch base
- What a coinkidink!
- I’m not racist, but..
- Same difference
Do you have any phrases that make you angry?
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http://youtu.be/aNYT_rOgvIA
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The cats of Mars lead everyday, normal lives until a NASA rover comes to visit. That is, if Martian cats on a flying carpet is what you'd call "normal." Jacob Stålhammar wrote Cats on Mars in 2004 and finished the Swedish animated version in 2010. Now translated into Englsh! Link-via mental_floss
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Perhaps there's more to the backstory than what is included in this Huffington Post column, but what is there is not very complimentary toward American Airlines:
Joan and Robert Vanderhorst had flown without issue with their 16-year-old son Bede, who has Down Syndrome, at least 30 times, Robert told the New York Daily News. This time, on a "lark," they decided to spend an extra $625 to fly first class. "My wife said, 'Oh Bede's never flown first class. He'll be so excited,'" Robert recounted.
And yet, while the family was waiting to board from Newark, New Jersey back home to their Porterville home, near Bakersfield on Sunday, an American Airlines representative pulled them aside and said the pilot thought Bede was a "flight risk."..
Robert said he and his wife were told that their son's behavior could disrupt the pilot, since their first class seats were close to the cockpit, KTLA reports. But Robert insisted, "My son is no different from a 4 or 5 year old as far as behavior."
An American Airlines spokesman said the boy was agitated and running around the gate area and thus deemed "not ready to fly," the Associated Press reports. But Robert said his son did not run, make any loud noises or cause any other distractions.
The family was escorted from the gate by Port Authority and transferred--to the coach section--of an United Airlines flight. They were not refunded for their upgrade fee, according to KTLA.
And yet, while the family was waiting to board from Newark, New Jersey back home to their Porterville home, near Bakersfield on Sunday, an American Airlines representative pulled them aside and said the pilot thought Bede was a "flight risk."..
Robert said he and his wife were told that their son's behavior could disrupt the pilot, since their first class seats were close to the cockpit, KTLA reports. But Robert insisted, "My son is no different from a 4 or 5 year old as far as behavior."
An American Airlines spokesman said the boy was agitated and running around the gate area and thus deemed "not ready to fly," the Associated Press reports. But Robert said his son did not run, make any loud noises or cause any other distractions.
The family was escorted from the gate by Port Authority and transferred--to the coach section--of an United Airlines flight. They were not refunded for their upgrade fee, according to KTLA.
So after the airlines spent a bazillion dollars installing zombie-proof steel doors to the cockpit to keep out terrorists, they are concerned that a boy with Down syndrome would "disrupt the pilot."
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Stefani Pollack, the cupcake scientist who developed the buffalo wing cupcake, has once again advanced the fontiers of cupcake science. She sliced cupcakes into pieces, dipped them eggs, buttermilk and breading, then deep fried them. You can use any sauce that you like, but I suggest ranch.
Link -via Bit Rebels
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Woman charged with fatal penis enlargement by silicone injection
A 35-year-old woman pleaded not guilt…in a Newark court to second-degree reckless manslaughter, more than a year after the East Orange man whom she had allegedly performed a penis enlargement procedure on died of a silicone embolism.
Authorities say Kasia Rivera, also of East Orange, had no medical training when she allegedly injected silicone into 22-year-old Justin Street at her Glenwood Avenue home on May 5, 2011. It shot directly into Street’s bloodstream, shutting down his organs, authorities said. The father of two young sons was dead the next day…Rivera was charged in December, after the medical examiner ruled Street’s death a homicide, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor William Neafsey said. A grand jury returned an indictment last month and she faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the crime.
Rivera, who is free on bail, appeared this morning in a pattern red jacket and black dress. From her pronounced features, Rivera appears to have either performed cosmetic injections on herself or received them from someone. She stood silently for the brief arraignment in Superior Court in Newark, and later refused a reporter’s request for comment…
“The state is not alleging at all that she purposely caused his death, but that her behavior, her acting with no training, no preparation led to his death.” Neafsey said after the hearing, referring to the charges against Rivera. “Performing this type of procedure, basically a surgical procedure on him without any proper training or certificates, that’s why it’s reckless.”
Reckless? Feckless. Eeoough!
Reckless? Feckless. Eeoough!
Thanks, Ed
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Don Pettit, an astronaut currently stationed on the International Space Station, has recently taken a series of wonderful long-exposure photographs from orbit. The good news is, he does this kind of stuff all the time! You can view all his updates by following him on twitter. Many of his posts contain videos showing experiments he performs in his free time...in "zero gravity"!
Don's twitter page...See More
Don's twitter page...See More
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Bagpipes, Mouth Harps, and Unicycles in Portland - Oh My!
Possibly the world's first performance of bagpipes and mouth harps on unicycles - a collaboration featuring The Unipiper and Neptune Unicycle. Be sure to check out their websites here:
The Unipiper: https://www.facebook.com/theunipiper
Neptune Unicycle: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Neptune-Unicycle/164308300282903?ref=ts
Mouth Harps From Around the World: https://www.facebook.com/worldharps
The Unipiper: https://www.facebook.com/theunipiper
Neptune Unicycle: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Neptune-Unicycle/164308300282903?ref=ts
Mouth Harps From Around the World: https://www.facebook.com/worldharps
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For all of you who've held up the Leaning Tower of Pisa in clever forced-perspective photos, take a look at this photo and weep:
NASA spacewalker Sunita Williams looks as if she's reaching out to touch the sun in this picture, which is one of the coolest views ever sent down from the International Space Station. Of course, the sun is actually about 93 million miles behind her. This is one of those joke pictures like the ones that show someone plucking up the Eiffel Tower — only it was taken in outer space.
In addition to the Suni vs. sun angle, this picture is special because the photographer is mirrored in Williams' shiny helmet visor. If you look closely at the full-resolution image, you can catch sight of Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide holding up the Nikon D2Xs camera that took the picture, with one of the space station's solar arrays behind him. The setting reminds me of Neil Armstrong's famous Apollo 11 picture of Buzz Aldrin, which similarly shows the photographer's reflection Link
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Short film by Eirik Solheim. Images from the same spot through one year.
Details on how this video was made here.
Details on how this video was made here.
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Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Why do so many countries end in '-stan'?
Why do so many countries end in '-stan'?
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Watertown, New York:
It was eagle-eyed zookeepers who noticed first.The DNA testing only proved what they already suspected.
The Thompson Park Zoo's American bald eagle breeding program was going nowhere. Not with two males, anyway.
"We had our suspicions right away. The birds are virtually the identical size," said Director Glenn D. Dobrogosz, who laughed Tuesday about the gender mix-up that provided a comical start to the zoo's new eagle breeding program.
"It happens. Not a lot. But it happens," he said. The two American bald eagles - supposedly a male and
female - arrived at the zoo last July from the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, Alaska.
The two males became good buddies but zookeepers quickly realized there would be no amorous flights
for these two, Dobrogosz said. Because bald eagle males and females share the same coloring characteristics, it is difficult to determine gender by visual inspection. However, in most raptor species, the female is slightly larger than the male, he said.
Based on their size and behavior, the Alaska center mistakenly thought it had sent a male and a female,
Dobrogosz said. It wasn't until the Thompson Park Zoo took blood samples for DNA testing that it confirmed the
birds' sexes.
"Sure enough, they both were boys," he said.
Now that the confusion has been cleared up, zookeepers are once again focused on the romancing.
One of the males is being sent to the Clinch Park Zoo in Traverse City, Mich. Meanwhile, the Watertown zoo already has received a new female from another raptor rehabilitation center on Sitka Island in Alaska.
"We're positive this time," Dobrogosz said, heading off the inevitable inquiry about the bird's gender.
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Text from the poster above:
We Should Ban Life Jackets & Other Flotation Devices
They only encourage risky behavior. The only 100% effective way to prevent drowning is total abstinence from going in the water. And if you do, by chance, find yourself struggling with drowning, then no life-saving or otherwise procedure or act should be allowed to be administered. You got yourself into this mess, you have to live with the consequences. You should see drowning as a gift. Also, if you were forcibly pushed into the water, don't worry. If it was a legitimate pushing, your body will find a way to shut out all the water and survive the drowning. Via Accordion Guy
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I know many people like Scotch, but to me, it tastes like I imagine licking an ashtray might taste.
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Be careful if you go to Thailand
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Instructional video on how to tell if an aircraft is on a long haul flight. It’s very simple when you know how.
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TheWhite House brews, Honey Porter and Honey Blonde Ale, are made with the honeyfrom Michelle Obama’s White House garden. Go behind the scenes in the WhiteHouse kitchen and see the brewing of President Obama’s homemade beer.
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Three women were sitting at a bar having a few drinks.
After a while the conversation started turning a little rude and crass. Soon the women were getting louder and
they were arguing about how wide their snatches were. (This happens all the time.)
The first woman got up on the bar, lifted her leg, grabbed a baseball bat and slid it home.
All the people in the bar were watching, hooting and hollering, throwing money.
Five minutes later the second woman got up, lifted her leg, grabbed a bowling ball and slid it in.
People were going ballistic.
Finally the third women very casually got up on the bar and asked for a quarter.
After a while the conversation started turning a little rude and crass. Soon the women were getting louder and
they were arguing about how wide their snatches were. (This happens all the time.)
The first woman got up on the bar, lifted her leg, grabbed a baseball bat and slid it home.
All the people in the bar were watching, hooting and hollering, throwing money.
Five minutes later the second woman got up, lifted her leg, grabbed a bowling ball and slid it in.
People were going ballistic.
Finally the third women very casually got up on the bar and asked for a quarter.
She slid it in..... and the jukebox starts playing.
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These bizarre Buddha-shaped pears were invented by a farmer in China who is planning to export his novel idea. Hao Xianzhang has created 10,000 of the mini marvels at his orchard this season and said he plans to take the fruits of his labour to Europe. Hao spent six years perfecting the intricate Buddha pears, carefully crafting each one which grows inside an individual mould.
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Tom Freeman of The Stroppy Editor took the Major-General's Song from the Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan and adapted it to suit the modern swashbuckling world of grammar nazism:
I am the very model of an amateur grammarian
I have a little knowledge and I am authoritarian
But I make no apology for being doctrinarian
We must not plummet to the verbal depths of the barbarianI’d sooner break my heart in two than sunder an infinitive
And I’d disown my closest family within a minute if
They dared to place a preposition at a sentence terminus
Or sully the Queen’s English with neologisms verminousI know that ‘soon’ and not ‘right now’ is the true sense of ‘presently’
I’m happy to correct you and I do it oh so pleasantly
I’m not a grammar Nazi; I’m just a linguistic Aryan
I am the very model of an amateur grammarian
Somebody needs to make a YouTube clip! Read the rest (to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's masterpiece, of course) over at Tom's blog: Link- via Metafilter
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Photo of the week: Autumn on Telaquana Lake in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. More captivating photos to get lost in athttp://1.usa.gov/OvW8yL ~MW
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A conundrum by Russian puzzle maven Boris Kordemsky:
A work train composed of a locomotive and five cars has just stopped at a railway station when word comes that a passenger train is approaching. The smaller train must make way for it to pass through, but the station has only one siding, and this will accommodate only three cars (or an engine and two cars). How can it arrange to let the passenger train through?
The work train backs into the siding and uncouples its three rearmost cars. Then it moves forward a sufficient distance. The passenger train passes entirely through the station, backs into the siding, and couples these three cars. Then it moves forward again into the main railway, backs entirely through the station, and uncouples the three cars. The work train backs into the siding, which will now accommodate it, and the passenger train can move forward on its way. Now the work train can emerge from the siding and recouple the three waiting cars.
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To say that the optical art installations created by Esther Stocker are trippy would be an understatement, because they are positively mind altering! Each space evokes a unique perception shifting feeling in simple black and white, and even the individual pics of the rooms have a unique optical effect on the viewer.
Link--via Hi Fructose
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Two priests are off to the showers late one night.
They undress and step in the showers before they realize there is no soap. Father John says he has some soap in his room and goes to get it, not bothering to dress. He grabs two bars of soap in his hands and heads back to the showers. He gets halfway down the hall when he sees three nuns heading his way. Having no place to hide, he stands against the wall and freezes like he's a statue.
The nuns stop and comment on how life-like he looks.
The first nun suddenly reaches out and pulls his dick. Startled, he drops a bar of soap.
"Oh look," says the 2nd nun... "A soap dispenser."
To test her theory she also pulls his dick...and sure enough he drops the last bar of soap.
The third nun then pulls, first once, then twice and three times. Still nothing happens. So she tries once more and to her delight she yells... "Look, hand cream!"
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"Will the father be present during the birth?" asked the obstetrician.
"Nah," replied the mother-to-be, "He and my husband don't get along."
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This, miraculously, is a happy column about food! It’s about a farmer who names all his 230 milk cows, along with his 200 heifers and calves, and loves them like children.
Let me introduce Bob Bansen, who is a third-generation dairyman raising Jersey cows on lovely green pastures here in Oregon beside the Yamhill River.
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This is amazing! Sasha the dog met a carp while swimming in Lake Mead, Nevada. They nosed each other for a while, then started swimming together like they were friends. -via Blame It on the Voices
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We've featured plenty of geek lingerie before, but this is the first time I've seen so many great geeky corsets in one place. From clever uses of logos and colors like this one to designs incorporating licensed fabric patterns, Castle Corsetry has some of the greatest waist cinchers out there for us geek gals.
Link Via The Mary Sue
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Making cocktails requires accurate mixing of various ingredients at the right quantity - a task that is easy enough, until you've had a few drinks under your belt.
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One night a police officer named Mike was working the grave-yard shift and he drove to his house around 3 A.M. in the morning. He opened the door to the bedroom quietly and took off his clothes in the dark ,and got in bed with his wife. Then she said ,"Honey, can you go over to the Drug Store and pick me up some Asprin?"
The husband said yes, got dressed in the dark, and walked over to the Drug Store. When he got to the Drug Store, he got the Asprin and went up to the desk so that the clerk could ring it up. Then when he got up there, the clerk asked,"Say, Aren't you Mike This-and-That?"
Mike answered him and said, "Yes I am."
Then the clerk looked puzzled and asked, "Well, aren't you a police officer?"
And again Mike replied yes.
Then the clerk asked,"Then why are you dressed like the fire chief?"
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Mike answered him and said, "Yes I am."
Then the clerk looked puzzled and asked, "Well, aren't you a police officer?"
And again Mike replied yes.
Then the clerk asked,"Then why are you dressed like the fire chief?"
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The Serious Eats Guide to Sandwiches
Serious Eats compiled a mouth-watering list of 48 sandwiches that can be found in different regions of the United States. Link -via Marginal Revolution
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Australian filmmaker Neil Harvey combined original footage and 3D animation with stock footage from the NASA archives to create ROBBIE- a spaced out short film about the robotic beings that help the humans at NASA explore the cosmos. Here's more on Neil's process: The film-making process involved downloading about 10 hours of footage from the NASA archives and compiling a list of shots which resonated with me at some level. I did this over about 2 or 3 months when I had the spare time. From there, I put these selected shots on an editing timeline and watched them back until characters and narratives began developing in my mind. That is when i met Robbie. --via Geek Tyrant
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There's no indication of where this bus stop is, but it's a great idea for the entire world! Link -via Breakfast Links
Update: Neatoramanaut Joshua Frazer identified this! It's an art installation in Montreal called 21 Balançoires in which the swings play music. Link -Thanks, Joshua!
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Giant smoke rings experiment on Ellen.
Gear factory gets a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Man builds a cardboard castle for his cat.
Pacific Northwest timelapse.
"Game of Thrones" cover by Lindsey Stirling and Peter Hollens.
Japanese dough pounding.
Behind the great firewall of China.
A screaming sheep.
A pong traffic light in Germany.
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Airhead?
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/09/10/airhead/
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Woman goes into a hardware store and asks the clerk for two AA batteries. The clerk gestures with his fingers and says, "Come this way," and heads towards the back of the store.
"If I could come that way," she tells the retreating clerk, "I wouldn't need the batteries."
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"If I could come that way," she tells the retreating clerk, "I wouldn't need the batteries."
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A mouse and a lion walk were in a bar, drinking a few beers when a giraffe walked in.
"Get a load of her" said the mouse, "what a babe!" "Well, why not try your luck?" replied the lion. So the mouse went over to the giraffe and started talking to her. Within five minutes they're out the door and into the night.
"Get a load of her" said the mouse, "what a babe!" "Well, why not try your luck?" replied the lion. So the mouse went over to the giraffe and started talking to her. Within five minutes they're out the door and into the night.
The next day, the lion was drinking in the bar, when the mouse staggered in. The mouse is completely worn out,
and can hardly hold himself up.
and can hardly hold himself up.
The lion helped his pal up on to a stool, poured a drink down his throat and said, "What the hell happened to you? I saw you leave with the giraffe, what happened after that? Was she all right?"
The mouse replied, "Yeah, she was really something, we went out to dinner, had a couple of glasses of wine, and she invited me back to her place to spend the night. And oh, man! I've never had a night like it!"
The mouse replied, "Yeah, she was really something, we went out to dinner, had a couple of glasses of wine, and she invited me back to her place to spend the night. And oh, man! I've never had a night like it!"
"But how come you look like you're so exhausted?" asked the lion.
"Well" said the mouse, "between the kissing and the screwing, I must have run a thousand miles!"
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Take one letter out of a movie title and remake the movie poster. Makes a big difference.
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Trust no one.
Only those who you trust can betray you.
-- Robert Goodkind --
Only those who you trust can betray you.
-- Robert Goodkind --
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Reddit has a post about mind-blowing sentences. Here are a few:
- There are more atoms in a grain of sand than grains of sand on earth.
- Cleopatra lived closer in time to the first Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid.
- You are on a rock floating through space.
- The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.
- There’s an ocean of magma right under you!
- The brain named itself.
- I used to think the brain was the most amazing organ in the human body, but then I thought, “look who is telling me that!”
- Maybe it was dyslexic and wanted to be called Brian?
- They put people on the moon with far less technology than the phone in my pocket.
- Everyone who reads this post will die.
- Today is tomorrow’s yesterday and tomorrow is tomorrow’s today.
- Pinnochio saying: “My nose will grow now”.
- This statement is false.
Are the any mind-blowing sentences that you know?
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The parenteral interaction and his incentive is mentioned in the Reddit thread.
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Quick: what's the connection between climate change and conspiracy theory?
According to a new study published in the upcoming issue of Psychological Science, people who tend to believe in conspiracy theory are also more likely to be climate change deniers:
Believing that climate change isn't happening or that it's not human-caused requires a belief that thousands of climate scientists around the world are lying outright, Lewandowsky and his colleagues wrote in their new paper. Conspiracy theory beliefs are known to come in clusters — someone who thinks NASA faked the moon landing is more likely to accept the theory that 9/11 was an inside job, for example. So Lewandowsky and his colleagues created an online survey and asked eight mostly pro-science blogs and five climate-skeptic blogs to post a link to the survey for their readers. The respondents were self-selecting, but highly motivated to care about climate science, the researchers noted.
The responses came only from the eight pro-science blogs, the researchers reported. Of 1,145 usable survey responses, the researchers found that support for free-market, laissez-faire economics was linked to a rejection of climate change. A tendency to believe other conspiracy theories was also linked to denial of climate change. Finally, climate-change deniers were more likely than others to say that other environmental problems have been solved, indicating a dismissive attitude toward "green" causes.
And as you can expect, the findings of this study sparked its own conspiracy theory. Stephanie Pappas of LiveScience has the story: Link
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Cosmic Latte: The Color of the Universe
Astronomers discovered that the universe has a color, a beigeish white called "cosmic latte."
In 2001, Johns Hopkins University astronomers Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry averaged all of the colors from 200,000 galaxies and came up with ... beigeish white.
When they asked for suggestions for a name of the color in a Washington Post article, a reader named Peter Drum came up with Cosmic Latte. Other name suggestions that didn't get picked include Cappuccino Cosmico, Big Bang Beige, Cosmic Cream, Skyvory, Univeige, and Primordial Clam Chowder.
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A modest young girl named Oola
Once donned a grass skirt to dance Hula
A cow ate the grass
Exposing her ass
Now she's no longer modest but coola
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Once donned a grass skirt to dance Hula
A cow ate the grass
Exposing her ass
Now she's no longer modest but coola
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You're looking at the Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a 1920s theater in Argentina that has been converted into the fanciest bookstore in exsistence. The theater boxes now serve as quiet reading rooms, and as one of the busiest bookshops in the country, the selection is incredible. For more awesome bookstore built in spaces that used to serve very different purposes, check out the collection on Flavorwire. Link | Images
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Two elephants named Harry and Fay
Could not kiss with their trunks in the way.
So they boarded a plane,
They're now kissing in Maine,
Because their trunks got sent to L.A.
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Could not kiss with their trunks in the way.
So they boarded a plane,
They're now kissing in Maine,
Because their trunks got sent to L.A.
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On a bridge overlooking a ravine
Archibald was screwing Kathleen.
The force of his lunge
Caused the whole bridge to plunge.
The worst fucking disaster yet seen.
Archibald was screwing Kathleen.
The force of his lunge
Caused the whole bridge to plunge.
The worst fucking disaster yet seen.
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Irisation
In meteorology, irisation, a type of photometeor, is multiple mixed iridescent colors caused by sunlight being diffracted in clouds. The colors are often brilliant and mingled together, sometimes similar to mother-of-pearl. They sometimes appear as bands parallel to the edge of the clouds. Irisation is caused by very uniform water droplets diffracting light (Within 10 degrees from the Sun) and by first order interference effects (Beyond about 10 degrees from the Sun). It can extend up to 40 degrees from the Sun. Irisation is sometimes seen along the borders of lenticular clouds. Irisations are named after the Greek goddess Iris, goddess of rainbows and messenger of Zeus and Hera to the mortals below.
My print of 'Ice Cloud' by photographer Herbert Dreiwitz, 1978, from the Dreiwitz Collection
I bought it from the photographer in Los Angeles
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http://www.futilitycloset.com/2012/09/11/can-this-be-hell/
Of the 45,000 Union prisoners sent to the Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Ga., 12,913 died, the victims of starvation, disease, exposure, and abusive guards. Excerpts from the diary of 1st Sgt. John L. Ransom of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, who was captured in November 1863:
Of the 45,000 Union prisoners sent to the Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Ga., 12,913 died, the victims of starvation, disease, exposure, and abusive guards. Excerpts from the diary of 1st Sgt. John L. Ransom of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, who was captured in November 1863:
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A Jehovah’s Witness sermon on the evils of masturbation in sign language is strangely entertaining and probably NSFW. Add the proper soundtrack, and you just may spew coffee on your screen.
New documents from the Samsung trial shed light on how Apple invented the iPhone.
New documents from the Samsung trial shed light on how Apple invented the iPhone.
Mathematical proofs are just plain awesome. And someone who believes that should be teaching our kids about them.
Executive Orders: The Famous, The Infamous & The Ridiculous. You’ll even find out what an executive order is!
The 1968 Playboy Club Bunny Manual Be mindful of the rules of Bunny Behavior so you won’t have to have a “Personal Meeting with the Bunny Mother.”
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If They Tore A Stitch, Then You Must Snitch
One of O.J. Simpson’s prosecutors offers a new theory on the famous bloody glove (albeit 17 years too late).
One of O.J. Simpson’s prosecutors offers a new theory on the famous bloody glove (albeit 17 years too late).
Other Headlines I Considered:
- If they try to fudge, you must tell the Judge.
- If they alter the fit, you must mention it.
- If they tamper with evidence, then you shouldn’t wait almost two decades to say something because c’mon, if you really think that happened you really should have said something then.
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This is the great Japanese maple tree in the Portland Japanese Gardens. I tried to bring a different perspective of this frequently photographed tree. (Photo and caption by Fred An/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest) #
On June 22, 2012 The Big Picture featured some (just 54) of the thousands of images that were entered in the 2012 National Geographic Traveler Magazine Photo Contest. It was a popular post with over 731 comments by viewers. The winners have been chosen. Their images follow. (The winners gallery is also available here as well as the complete contest and all its entrants here. You can see the editor's picks and can download wallpaper images for your desktop or your smartphone.) It's a wonderful visual treat from around the world. -- Paula Nelson (NOTE: The captions are written by the photographer.) (11 photos total)
One of my favorite wallpapers
One of my favorite wallpapers
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Karoto is an ingenious vegetable peeler and sharpener that can create decorative vegetable shavings in the manner of a manual pencil sharpener (video). Karoto was designed by Avichai Tadmor and is sold by Monkey Business. via designboom photo and video via Monkey Business
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Disorienting Geometric Installations by Esther Stocker
In 1950s Southern California, Hispanic school children often suffered the indignity of having their names anglicized (Ramon became Raymond, Maria became Mary). The humorous short animation “Facundo The Great” recounts the true tale of a boy whose name proved impossible for his school teachers to anglicize. The animation was created by Rauch Brothers Animation for StoryCorps, an oral history preservation project.
Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez was raised in a small farming community in southern California in the 1950s. As was common practice at that time, teachers at his local elementary school Anglicized the Mexican American students’ names. Here, Chunky remembers a new classmate who proved to be the exception to the rule.
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Harvest is a time of plenty, when the season's hard work is rewarded by bounty. Many of the rhythms of our lives are shaped by the gathering of crops, even if most of us now live in cities. Worldwide, festivals and rituals mark the passage from growing season to harvest, with indigenous and popular practices making fall in the Northern Hemisphere a festive time. This year sees a reduced harvest in much of the world as extreme weather decimated many regions. Half of the United States is in prolonged drought, as well as much of Europe. In India, the monsoon is 20 percent off the annual average. Food prices are expected to rise by 2013 as demand taxes supplies, and later the price rises will transfer to the meat industry as costs of feed for livestock are passed on. Gathered here are images of farms industrial and traditional, crops critical and obscure, and harvest festivals among drought and bounty. -- Lane Turner (41 photos total)
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Improv Everywhere has posted photos and video of the 3rd annual Black Tie Beach Party which took place August 18 on Brighton Beach in Coney Island. Participants were asked to come to the beach in formal wear and then undertake typical beach activities, including swimming, in their fancy duds. For more photos of past parties, see our posts from Black Tie Beach 2010 and 2011.
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Animated Banksy, A Series of Banksy Street Art as Animated GIFs
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Another Foggy Day in San Francisco
The approximate area where my house is ~ is marked in red
The approximate area where my house is ~ is marked in red
Sep 11, 2012
Fog forms along the Pacific coast when warm air currents meet chilly waters welling up from the deep ocean. Read more
What exactly is fog? Technically, it is a field of water droplets suspended at or near the surface that significantly reduces visibility. By international convention, suspended droplets must limit visibility to 1,000 meters (3,000 feet) or less to be considered fog; otherwise the suspension is considered “mist.” Put more simply, fog is just a low-lying stratus cloud in contact with the ground.
I included pics of the house my father built in Oakland, accross the bay. We lived on a hill, up 35 steps, with a panormac view of the bay and the Golden Gate bridge, I still remember watching the fog roilng, boiling into the bay ~ it looked alive!
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Playboy is coming out with a new magazine for men who are married.
Every month the centerfold is the exact same woman.
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Every month the centerfold is the exact same woman.
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Q: Did you hear about the new "morning after" pill for men?
A: It changes their blood type.
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A: It changes their blood type.
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Oli Beale was fed up with his neighbors' loud singing one Saturday night, and decided to deliver a critique on the housing complex's communal board: Thank you for your EPIC performance. Your terrace faces 115 windows so you really did have the perfect stage. I'm sure you're keen to hear our verdict Link
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"User error. Replace user and press any key to continue."-- Unknown
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Please don't throw cirarettes in the toilet.
It makes them sticky, wet and hard to light.
- Urinal at Mike Quinn's Surplus Electronics.
It makes them sticky, wet and hard to light.
- Urinal at Mike Quinn's Surplus Electronics.
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'Socialism is when man exploits man, Capitalism is the reverse'
Polish Proverb
Polish Proverb
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"Life without you would be like a broken pencil."
"How's that?"
"Completely pointless."
"Completely pointless."
-- Blackadder, Series II
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ON LAMENTATION
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
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A Clever Way to Estimate Enormous Numbers
A nifty, and rather hilarious, TED-Ed lesson from Michael Mitchell. That speed of light is quite the hefty mouth-breather, eh? Enrico Fermi laser eyes!! (by TEDEducation)
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Then there was the psychology professor, a Yankee's Yankee and a feminist's feminist, who tells the following story about herself to illustrate that doctorates don't necessarily make you smart.
She was driving to a workshop in Atlanta from her home in Ohio. It was about 10 am, and she'd been driving the entire preceding day and night herself, and she was consequently not in the best of tempers as she searched for a motel in which to crash.
A Georgia state policeman pulled her over, got out of his cruiser, swaggered up to her driver's window, bent down, and drawled, "Lookie here, darlin'," (uh oh, everybody duck) "Lookie here, darlin', nobody blows through Georgia that fast."
Said the feminist Yankee overtired psychology professor: "Sherman did."
She says he was not satisfied merely to give her a speeding ticket; he made her follow him fifty miles out of her way to Nowheresburg, GA, and wait at the police station until three in the afternoon for a circuit judge to arrive so that he could explain to her why it wasn't the best idea in the world to be impolite to policemen, who were after
all interested only in creating the safest possible environment for everybody including her, etc. etc. The lecture went on for about two hours, she says, after which she was released to drive the fifty miles back to her route and resume her search for someplace to crash.
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She was driving to a workshop in Atlanta from her home in Ohio. It was about 10 am, and she'd been driving the entire preceding day and night herself, and she was consequently not in the best of tempers as she searched for a motel in which to crash.
A Georgia state policeman pulled her over, got out of his cruiser, swaggered up to her driver's window, bent down, and drawled, "Lookie here, darlin'," (uh oh, everybody duck) "Lookie here, darlin', nobody blows through Georgia that fast."
Said the feminist Yankee overtired psychology professor: "Sherman did."
She says he was not satisfied merely to give her a speeding ticket; he made her follow him fifty miles out of her way to Nowheresburg, GA, and wait at the police station until three in the afternoon for a circuit judge to arrive so that he could explain to her why it wasn't the best idea in the world to be impolite to policemen, who were after
all interested only in creating the safest possible environment for everybody including her, etc. etc. The lecture went on for about two hours, she says, after which she was released to drive the fifty miles back to her route and resume her search for someplace to crash.
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What an impressive landform, described in a Telegraph photogallery as "an aerial view of Nabiyotum Crater in Lake Turkana - the world's largest desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake - in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.
Lake Turkana: "It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake[citation needed] after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul, and Lake Van (passing the shrinking South Aral Sea... Nile crocodiles are found in great abundance on the flats. The rocky shores are home to scorpions and carpet vipers..."
This is located in the Rift Valley area of Africa, the acknowledged "cradle of mankind." I wonder if modern people have explored inside the crater, which does have a land bridge to the mainland.
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Posted as a reminder to stay away from strangely-behaving wild animals.
http://youtu.be/f9-umU1C_QU
Addendum: I might as well add in this report of an attack by a rabid beaver:
http://youtu.be/f9-umU1C_QU
Addendum: I might as well add in this report of an attack by a rabid beaver:
The creature knocked Lillian Peterson off her feet as she was climbing out of Lake Barcroft after a swim. The 83-year-old woman twisted around to see what attacked her and noticed one thing: large, orange teeth.
A 35-pound, 24-inch rabid beaver had bitten her on the back of the leg and would not let go, sparking an ordeal that lasted more than 20 minutes Tuesday evening. The Falls Church woman and a friend battled the animal with canoe paddles, a stick and bare hands as it came at them again and again. Peterson was seriously injured...
Peterson, who has been a top real estate agent for Long & Foster, said she immediately began fighting back. She grabbed for a walking stick and gouged the beaver in its eyes, thinking she could blind it, she said.
During the struggle, the beaver took a bite out of her left calf, nearly bit off her thumb, and left puncture wounds all over her arms and legs, Korin and Peterson said. Still, it wouldn’t stop. Further details at the Washington Post.
A 35-pound, 24-inch rabid beaver had bitten her on the back of the leg and would not let go, sparking an ordeal that lasted more than 20 minutes Tuesday evening. The Falls Church woman and a friend battled the animal with canoe paddles, a stick and bare hands as it came at them again and again. Peterson was seriously injured...
Peterson, who has been a top real estate agent for Long & Foster, said she immediately began fighting back. She grabbed for a walking stick and gouged the beaver in its eyes, thinking she could blind it, she said.
During the struggle, the beaver took a bite out of her left calf, nearly bit off her thumb, and left puncture wounds all over her arms and legs, Korin and Peterson said. Still, it wouldn’t stop. Further details at the Washington Post.
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Horsetail Fall is a small, ephemeral waterfall that flows over the eastern edge of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. For two weeks in February, the setting sun striking the waterfall creates a deep orange glow that resembles Yosemite’s historic ‘Firefall.’
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It was a little like Apollo 13 - if its mission to the moon had been saved by a tool of good oral hygiene, that is. Last Wednesday, the International Space Station, having battled electrical malfunctions for over a week, was repaired by a combination that MacGyver himself would have been proud of: an allen wrench, a wire brush, a bolt... and a toothbrush.
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Before the existence of the association of clubs (1857), and when [baseball] was to be learned only from witnessing the practice and match games at Hoboken, the prejudice which existed against the game could scarcely be imagined. The favor with which it was regarded may be judged from the observation used by an accidental witness of a game who, after looking for a while, with unfeigned astonishment exclaimed: ‘I can’t see what fun such great, big men can find in hitting a little ball with a big stick and run away like mad, and kick at a sand bag.’ – DeWitt Baseball Guide, 1868
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Europe once had a state whose official language was Esperanto. When boundaries were redrawn after the Napoleonic wars, a dispute arose regarding the border between Prussia and the Netherlands, and a sliver of 3.44 square kilometers became a no man’s land known as Neutral Moresnet. In 1908, German immigrant Wilhelm Molly proposed making the territory into the world’s first Esperanto-speaking state. They rechristened the area Amikejo (literally, “friend-place”) and adopted a national anthem, and the International Esperantist Congress even decided to move its headquarters from The Hague to the new “world capital” of the international language.
But it wasn’t to be. Germany overran the tiny territory as World War I broke out, and it was formally annexed by Belgium in the Treaty of Versailles.
Somewhat related: In 2004 deaf journalist Marvin T. Miller proposed building the “world’s first sign language town,” a community whose common languages would be American Sign Language and written English. Miller chose a site in South Dakota and named it Laurent, after Laurent Clerc, who co-founded the country’s first school for the deaf. But the project appears to have stalled due to lack of funding.
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Carrots Used To Be Purple Before The 17th Century
Before the 17th century, almost all carrots cultivated were purple. The modern day orange carrot wasn't cultivated until Dutch growers in the 16th century took strains of the purple carrot, including yellow and white carrots and gradually developed them into the sweet, plump, orange variety we have today.
Some think that the reason the orange carrot became so popular in the Netherlands was in tribute to the emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. This could be, but it also might just be that the orange carrots that the Dutch developed were sweeter tasting and more fleshy than their purple counterparts, thus providing more food per plant and being better tasting.
Before the 17th century, almost all carrots cultivated were purple. The modern day orange carrot wasn't cultivated until Dutch growers in the 16th century took strains of the purple carrot, including yellow and white carrots and gradually developed them into the sweet, plump, orange variety we have today.
Some think that the reason the orange carrot became so popular in the Netherlands was in tribute to the emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. This could be, but it also might just be that the orange carrots that the Dutch developed were sweeter tasting and more fleshy than their purple counterparts, thus providing more food per plant and being better tasting.
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If you’ve not heard about Benford’s Law before, you’re in for a real treat with this post
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In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt
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A "squirrel king"
"My co-worker sent an email saying he would be late because he was trying to untie a squirrel tail knot. I asked for a picture, and he delivered... This is the email he sent:
I was pressed into squirrel rescue this morning on my way out. Five young squirrels got tangled in Christmas lights in my neighbor’s yard. We got the lights off, but now their tails are one big knot, so I have to bring them into a rescue place to untie them, as I am unequipped to untie squirrel tail knots. I should be in this afternoon.
Some readers of this blog will remember my January repost from 2008: A "rat king" - and three bucks. Rat kings have been presumed to be mostly apochryphal, but the Reddit thread included a link to a most-interesting article at Messinger Woods Wildlife Care and Education Center:
In the wild, squirrels make their nests of dried leaves and branches... A strange natural accident that sometimes occurs is sap from pine branches that the nest is constructed of can adhere to the squirrels' tails and ultimately to each other's tails. Squirrels normally have litters of 4 to 6 babies. As they are fed in the nest, they are quite "squirmy" and move around frequently. Once their tails become stuck together, movement is limited amongst them and they jump under and over each other trying to reposition themselves. In the process, they literally knot or braid themselves together. The squirrels pull in many directions, thereby worsening the situation. They can actually live quite a long time like this, as the mother continues to feed them.
The article continues with detailed directions on how to cope with a squirrel king if you encounter one, and how the victims can be untangled.
You learn something every day.
You learn something every day.
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Just like movie buffs and bookworms, avid gamers have favorite memorable quotes that only others with shared interests will recognize. And though I disagree that number one on this list is more memorable than number five ("You have died of dysentery," from Oregon Trail), it is a good cross-section of notable gaming quotables. (Bonus points for Bad Dudes appearance.) Link
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“The secret of playwriting can be given in two maxims: stick to the point and whenever you can, cut.” — W. Somerset Maugham
“I’ll give you the whole secret of short story writing, and here it is: Rule one, write stories that please yourself. There is no rule two. If you can’t write a story that pleases yourself, you’ll never please the public.” — O. Henry
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A puzzle from Polish mathematician Paul Vaderlind:
John is swimming upstream in a river when he loses his goggles. He lets them go and continues upstream for 10 minutes, then decides to turn around and retrieve them. He catches up with them at a point one half mile from the point where he lost them. Is the river flowing faster than 1 mile per hour? (Assume that John swims at the same strength throughout.)
Imagine an observer in a boat near the goggles. From her point of view, the goggles aren’t moving — John simply swims away from them for 10 minutes and will swim back in another 10 minutes (since he’s swimming at a constant speed). If the goggles have traveled half a mile in these 20 minutes, then the river is flowing at 1.5 miles per hour.
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obambulate
v. to wander aimlessly
v. to wander aimlessly
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This will confuse archaeologists someday: In 1750 Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, commissioned a ruined medieval castle for the grounds of Wimpole Hall, his country house near Cambridge. The earl’s friend Lord Lyttleton described the project to architect Sanderson Miller:
[H]e wants no House or even Room in it, but mearly the Walls and Semblance of an Old castle to make an object from his house. At most he only desires to have a staircase carried up one of the Towers, and a leaded gallery half round it to stand in, and view the Prospect. It will have a fine Wood of Firrs for a backing behind it and will stand on an Eminence at a proper distance from his House. I ventured to promise that you should draw one for his Lordship that would be fitt for his Purpose. … I know that these works are an Amusement to you.
More than 30 sham ruins of castles and abbeys appeared in English landscape gardens in this period; Sanderson acquired a reputation as the “grand master of gothic.” Perhaps some of the ruins we ourselves have unearthed were contrived by ancient artisans?
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
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Further ill-considered newspaper headlines gathered by readers of the Columbia Journalism Review:
MILK DRINKERS TURN TO POWDER (Detroit Free Press, Nov. 12, 1974)
COLUMNIST GETS UROLOGIST IN TROUBLE WITH HIS PEERS (Lewiston, Idaho, Morning Tribune, March 17, 1975)
STUD TIRES OUT (Ridgewood, N.J., News, March 30, 1978)
ALBANY TURNS TO GARBAGE (New York Daily News, Oct. 3, 1977)
PASTOR AGHAST AT FIRST LADY SEX POSITION (Alamogordo, N.M., Daily News, Aug. 13, 1975)
TIME FOR FOOTBALL AND MEATBALL STEW (Detroit Free Press, Oct. 19, 1977)
CHILD’S STOOL GREAT FOR USE IN GARDEN (Buffalo Courier-Express, June 23, 1977)
FARMER BILL DIES IN HOUSE (Atlanta Constitution, April 13, 1978)
DEAD EXPECTED TO RISE (Macon, Ga., News, Aug. 11, 1976)
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS DRIFT TO LEFT (Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 26, 1976)
NEW CHURCH PANNED (Albuquerque News, July 22, 1978)
CARTER TICKS OFF BLACK HELP (San Francisco Examiner, April 7, 1978)
DEER KILL 130,000 (Minneapolis Tribune, Dec. 7, 1967)
DRUNK GETS NINE MONTHS IN VIOLIN CASE (Lethbridge Herald, Oct. 30, 1976)
POLICE KILL MAN WITH AX (Charlotte Observer, Nov. 27, 1976)
YOUNG MAKES ZANZIBAR STOP (Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 4, 1977)
CHESTER MORRILL, 92, WAS FED SECRETARY (Washington Post, April 21, 1978)
PROSTITUTES APPEAL TO POPE (Eugene, Ore., Register-Guard, Dec. 18, 1975)
COLUMNIST GETS UROLOGIST IN TROUBLE WITH HIS PEERS (Lewiston, Idaho, Morning Tribune, March 17, 1975)
STUD TIRES OUT (Ridgewood, N.J., News, March 30, 1978)
ALBANY TURNS TO GARBAGE (New York Daily News, Oct. 3, 1977)
PASTOR AGHAST AT FIRST LADY SEX POSITION (Alamogordo, N.M., Daily News, Aug. 13, 1975)
TIME FOR FOOTBALL AND MEATBALL STEW (Detroit Free Press, Oct. 19, 1977)
CHILD’S STOOL GREAT FOR USE IN GARDEN (Buffalo Courier-Express, June 23, 1977)
FARMER BILL DIES IN HOUSE (Atlanta Constitution, April 13, 1978)
DEAD EXPECTED TO RISE (Macon, Ga., News, Aug. 11, 1976)
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS DRIFT TO LEFT (Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 26, 1976)
NEW CHURCH PANNED (Albuquerque News, July 22, 1978)
CARTER TICKS OFF BLACK HELP (San Francisco Examiner, April 7, 1978)
DEER KILL 130,000 (Minneapolis Tribune, Dec. 7, 1967)
DRUNK GETS NINE MONTHS IN VIOLIN CASE (Lethbridge Herald, Oct. 30, 1976)
POLICE KILL MAN WITH AX (Charlotte Observer, Nov. 27, 1976)
YOUNG MAKES ZANZIBAR STOP (Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 4, 1977)
CHESTER MORRILL, 92, WAS FED SECRETARY (Washington Post, April 21, 1978)
PROSTITUTES APPEAL TO POPE (Eugene, Ore., Register-Guard, Dec. 18, 1975)
When the Carmichael, Calif., chamber of commerce received relatively few applications for its 1975 beauty pageant, the local Courier ran the headline FEW HAVE ENTERED MISS CARMICHAEL.
See News to Us.
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Pumpkin Poop
So that's what they call candy corn these days! Makes it less appetizing, and that means more for me! Link -via WTFPinterest
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In proper grenade fishing, you're supposed to throw grenades, not catch them. Tell that to Matt Tucker, who was fishing in a lake near Springfield, Missouri:
He noticed an old sock near his lure and pulled the odd bit of trash out of the lake.Inside the sock? A Vietnam-era pineapple hand grenade with the safety pin still intact.“I felt the weight to it and felt the ridges of the pineapple and knew what it was,” said Tucker, who formerly served in the Army. “I looked at it and found it wasn’t a dud — it wasn’t drilled out."
Was it a live grenade? According to a US Army bomb disposal technician, yes:
“The pin was still in it,” Herbert said. “Based on the X-rays we saw, I’m going to call it armed,” Herbert said.
Let's just be glad he wasn't noodling.
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White tigers are not a distinct species, nor are they albino. Rather, they are Bengal/Siberian tigers with recessive traits that manifest as white fur and blue eyes. “Stripeless” tigers, like the cub in the back of the picture, have very faint stripes, and are seen as an even more exceptional anomaly.
There are six subspecies of tiger alive today: Bengal, Malayan, IndoChinese, Siberian, South Chi...See More
There are six subspecies of tiger alive today: Bengal, Malayan, IndoChinese, Siberian, South Chi...See More
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The British Beard and Moustache Championships
Thanks, Ed
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Blocks
Blocks is a game by Bart Bonte. Move blocks in one line to make them disappear until any block is left on the level in the puzzler blocks
More Bart Bonte Games.
Blocks is a game by Bart Bonte. Move blocks in one line to make them disappear until any block is left on the level in the puzzler blocks
More Bart Bonte Games.
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…when it finally arrives…
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A sign for live weather reporters…
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/09/09/a-sign-for-live-weather-reporters/
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/09/09/a-sign-for-live-weather-reporters/
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http://youtu.be/9dAV7cjnoII
John Eklund is a photographer from Portland, Oregon. In this time-lapse video he shares the beautiful Northwest region of the USA. Various locations include Mount Shuksan, Crater Lake, Mount Bachelor, Mount St. Helens, Oregon's Badlands, Painted Hills, Cape Kiwanda, Mt. Hood, Lost lake, and Cannon Beach.
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John Eklund is a photographer from Portland, Oregon. In this time-lapse video he shares the beautiful Northwest region of the USA. Various locations include Mount Shuksan, Crater Lake, Mount Bachelor, Mount St. Helens, Oregon's Badlands, Painted Hills, Cape Kiwanda, Mt. Hood, Lost lake, and Cannon Beach.
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QUOTE: "It is one of man's curious idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them."
HINT: (1753-1821), French-speaking Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat.
ANSWER: Joseph de Maistre.
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RANDOM TIDBITS
Pinball machines and video games were banned in New York City from 1942 until 1976. The city's lawmakers felt they were nothing more than gambling devices that owed more to luck than to skill.
The only positive aspect of the 1979 film flop Tilt that critics could find was the then-groundbreaking "point of view" photography from the inside of a pinball machine.
The sequence makes sense. First there were the arcade video games Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, then a pinball machine called "Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man. The next natural step was the 1982 hybrid known as Baby Pac-Man, which was half video game and half pinball machine.
A pinball machine provides a great example of chaos theory's "butterfly effect." A seemingly unnoticeable variation in the speed or angle of a particular flipper movement can completely alter the result of the game.
The tilt feature that keeps players from over-manipulating a pinball game by using too much "body English" was originally called stool pigeon.
While Elton John played a specially constructed machine for his role as the Pinball Wizard in the 1975 film Tommy, Roger Daltrey unleashed his supple wrist on a classic Gottleib game called Kings and Queens.
Pinball machines and video games were banned in New York City from 1942 until 1976. The city's lawmakers felt they were nothing more than gambling devices that owed more to luck than to skill.
The only positive aspect of the 1979 film flop Tilt that critics could find was the then-groundbreaking "point of view" photography from the inside of a pinball machine.
The sequence makes sense. First there were the arcade video games Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, then a pinball machine called "Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man. The next natural step was the 1982 hybrid known as Baby Pac-Man, which was half video game and half pinball machine.
A pinball machine provides a great example of chaos theory's "butterfly effect." A seemingly unnoticeable variation in the speed or angle of a particular flipper movement can completely alter the result of the game.
The tilt feature that keeps players from over-manipulating a pinball game by using too much "body English" was originally called stool pigeon.
While Elton John played a specially constructed machine for his role as the Pinball Wizard in the 1975 film Tommy, Roger Daltrey unleashed his supple wrist on a classic Gottleib game called Kings and Queens.
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Slip and Slide Pinball - Japanese Game Show
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=12394
The Japanese really do have the best game shows EVER! In this clip they play a insane game of Human Pinball. Japanese TV at its best!
The Japanese really do have the best game shows EVER! In this clip they play a insane game of Human Pinball. Japanese TV at its best!
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Fractal flatware.
Best appearance of fractals since this collection of satellite photos demonstrating Earth’s fractal geography patterns. (via fractalforums)
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Q and A Quickies
Q: What did the Atlantic Ocean say to the Pacific Ocean?
A: Nothing, it just waved.
Q: What kind of dog did the vampire have?
A: A bloodhound.
Q: What should a football team do if the field is flooded?
A: Bring on their subs!
Q: How do hens encourage their favorite sports teams?
A: They egg them on!
Q: What did the dog say when he sat on sandpaper?
A: Rough! Rough!
Q: What did Neptune say to Saturn?
A: Give me a ring sometime!
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With Italian, Greek, German, Japanese and every other style of restaurant you can think of practically on every street corner, it may seem difficult to come up with some examples of good ol' authentic American cuisine. Following are a couple of examples that might surprise you.
Today's Random Facts:
Chinese Food. All across America, Chinese buffets offer endless arrays of beautiful, deep-fried, grease-soaked food. General Tso's chicken, chop suey, egg rolls, chow mein, fortune cookies. What do all these dishes have in common? They were all invented in America.
Today's Random Facts:
Chinese Food. All across America, Chinese buffets offer endless arrays of beautiful, deep-fried, grease-soaked food. General Tso's chicken, chop suey, egg rolls, chow mein, fortune cookies. What do all these dishes have in common? They were all invented in America.
Chinese people typically eat rice with vegetables and maybe a little meat. And it's not battered or fried, and it's certainly not filled with cheese. That's all American. USA! USA!
Fajitas. In 1984, Texas A&M lecturer Homero Recio traced fajita history back to the ranches of 1930s south and west Texas. According to Recio, the Mexican cowboys, known as vaqueros, working in Texas often received throwaway scraps as part of their pay, including the cow's diaphragm. The diaphragm, which we now call a skirt steak, is covered with a tough membrane that allowed the vaqueros to grill it outdoors directly on open mesquite coals: the prototypical fajita.
Fajitas. In 1984, Texas A&M lecturer Homero Recio traced fajita history back to the ranches of 1930s south and west Texas. According to Recio, the Mexican cowboys, known as vaqueros, working in Texas often received throwaway scraps as part of their pay, including the cow's diaphragm. The diaphragm, which we now call a skirt steak, is covered with a tough membrane that allowed the vaqueros to grill it outdoors directly on open mesquite coals: the prototypical fajita.
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S.D. marathoner only ran half the race --*
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Organizers of the Sioux Falls Marathon in South Dakota said they disqualified a runner as the winner after realizing he only ran half the race. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported that while Olok Nykew, 37, a St. Paul, Minn., resident who is originally from Sudan, crossed the finish line first Sunday morning, officials determined he had run the half-marathon course, not the full 26.2-mile marathon course. The companion events followed separate, but sometimes overlapping, routes through the city before ending at the same spot. The marathoners wore black numbers and the half-marathoners wore red. Nykew who came in 25 minutes faster than the event's record, was wearing a black number but finished among runners wearing red ones. "He registered for the marathon and ended up running the half and came in 25 minutes before the record," assistant race director Jason Richards told the newspaper. "They figured it out and disqualified him." Nykew expressed confusion and said he realized when he reached the finish line so quickly something must have gone wrong. "I thought, what is this? When I got there, I thought it was not long enough. I'm thinking I'm not cheating. I was just confused. It was an honest mistake," he said. The real winner was Justin Gillette, 29, of Goshen, Ind., who broke the event record he set last year with a time of 2 hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds.
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"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." - Abraham Lincoln
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"The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause." - Mark Twain
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"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it." - Napoleon Bonaparte
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5 Powerful Sci-Fi Technologies Wasted by their Own Movies
http://www.cracked.com/article_20004_5-powerful-sci-fi-technologies-wasted-by-their-own-movies.html
Sometimes the smartest Sci-Fi movies miss the mark when it comes to technology. Take a look at 5 films that tossed aside technological advancements like they were an 8-track player. IDIOTS!
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http://www.cracked.com/article_20004_5-powerful-sci-fi-technologies-wasted-by-their-own-movies.html
Sometimes the smartest Sci-Fi movies miss the mark when it comes to technology. Take a look at 5 films that tossed aside technological advancements like they were an 8-track player. IDIOTS!
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Mahjongg
http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/mahjongg.jsp
I've run this classic game before, but a nice reader asked if I could run it again. I hope you enjoy. It's a game of skill and patience. Click on two matching tiles to remove them and try to get rid of all the tiles to win.
http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/mahjongg.jsp
I've run this classic game before, but a nice reader asked if I could run it again. I hope you enjoy. It's a game of skill and patience. Click on two matching tiles to remove them and try to get rid of all the tiles to win.
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Top 10 Least Desirable Fortunes in a Fortune Cookie
1. We know where you live.
2. You will need good reading material in approximately 15 minutes.
3. Everyone's meal today is on you!
4. The "special sauce" came from the floor!
5. Guess what our special "drop" was in our Egg Drop Soup and win a free meal!
6. Your colon will self destruct in five seconds.
7. A recent prison escapee that is sitting near by wants to love you long time.
8. Your dog Sparky...he's no longer missing.
9. See the waiter about our new food poison life insurance policies.
10. MSG? NO!! Ebola Virus....maybe
(From Aha! Jokes)
1. We know where you live.
2. You will need good reading material in approximately 15 minutes.
3. Everyone's meal today is on you!
4. The "special sauce" came from the floor!
5. Guess what our special "drop" was in our Egg Drop Soup and win a free meal!
6. Your colon will self destruct in five seconds.
7. A recent prison escapee that is sitting near by wants to love you long time.
8. Your dog Sparky...he's no longer missing.
9. See the waiter about our new food poison life insurance policies.
10. MSG? NO!! Ebola Virus....maybe
(From Aha! Jokes)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems." ~ Homer Simpson
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A message in a bottle was found in Russia, 24 years after it was written. Unfortunately, the note said, 'Help! Stranded with enough food for exactly 23 years.'" -Jimmy Fallon
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"A Minnesota man was arrested for stealing up to $25,000 worth of laundry detergent. Would that be a white-collar crime? Luckily, he made a clean getaway." -Jay Leno
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"For the first time ever, scientists have created artificial life. The hope is that it can revolutionize healthcare, generate clean energy, become super-intelligent, take over the world, make us all its slaves, etc." -Jimmy Kimmel
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My wife, a real estate agent, wrote an ad for a house she was listing. The house had a second-floor suite that could be accessed using a lift chair that slid along the staircase.
Quickly describing this feature, she inadvertently made it sound even more attractive: "Mother-in-law suite comes with an electric chair."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Today the entire "mainstream media" is closed to truth tellers. The US media is Washington's propaganda ministry. The US media has only one function-to lie for Washington. --Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
Politicians, including Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, serve the demented ends of corporations that will, until the final flicker of life, attempt to profit from our death spiral. --Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning author
Resistance is a moral imperative...We can expect only mounting hostility from the corporate state. --Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning author
Politicians, including Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, serve the demented ends of corporations that will, until the final flicker of life, attempt to profit from our death spiral. --Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning author
Resistance is a moral imperative...We can expect only mounting hostility from the corporate state. --Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning author
Our life is what our thoughts make it. --Marcus Aurelius
Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allow you to put there.
--Nassim Taleb, Author and Essayist
Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allow you to put there.
--Nassim Taleb, Author and Essayist
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All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad. ~ Captain Ahab from Moby Dick
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Q. What's the difference between a woman and a fridge?
A. A fridge doesn't fart when you pull your meat out!
Thinking of you, Phlax
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A. A fridge doesn't fart when you pull your meat out!
Thinking of you, Phlax
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A chemistry shot glass set for your up-close-and-personal examinations of various ethanol solutions.
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52 HEALTHY RECIPE MAKEOVERS
http://health.chtah.net/a/tBQUMdPBFYNexB8t$7yCFNC1E77/top23
From mashed potatoes to meatloaf, some of our favorite dishes are not all that healthy. But no more! We gave comfort foods a healthy makeover. Finally, cozy without the extra calories!
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YOUR POST-SUMMER BEAUTY PLAN
From mashed potatoes to meatloaf, some of our favorite dishes are not all that healthy. But no more! We gave comfort foods a healthy makeover. Finally, cozy without the extra calories!
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YOUR POST-SUMMER BEAUTY PLAN
http://health.chtah.net/a/tBQUJxrBFYNexB8t$qWCFNC1E7U/hol23
Dried-out strands? Freckly skin? Rough feet? Unfortunately, fun-in-the-sun can dry out your skin and harm your hair. Here's how to repair late-summer damage and look fantastic this Fall.
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Dried-out strands? Freckly skin? Rough feet? Unfortunately, fun-in-the-sun can dry out your skin and harm your hair. Here's how to repair late-summer damage and look fantastic this Fall.
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theatlanticvideo: On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy made an inspiring case for space exploration and putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Speaking at Rice University, where he was an honorary visiting professor, Kennedy explained, “I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency. ” Indeed, the U.S. tripled the budget for space exploration between 1961 and 1962, and on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 made history.
What else might we choose to do not because it is easy, but because it is hard?
(via theatlantic)
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10 Best Fitness Foods For Women
Add these super foods to your diet for a better workout and even better results
Avocados
The cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fat in these green health bombs can help keep your body strong and pain free. University of Buffalo researchers found that competitive women runners who ate less than 20 percent fat were more likely to suffer injuries than those who consumed at least 31 percent. Peter J. Horvath, Ph.D., a professor at the university, speculates that the problem is linked to extreme low-fat diets, which weaken muscles and joints. "A few slices of avocado a day are a great way to boost fat for women who are fat shy".
The cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fat in these green health bombs can help keep your body strong and pain free. University of Buffalo researchers found that competitive women runners who ate less than 20 percent fat were more likely to suffer injuries than those who consumed at least 31 percent. Peter J. Horvath, Ph.D., a professor at the university, speculates that the problem is linked to extreme low-fat diets, which weaken muscles and joints. "A few slices of avocado a day are a great way to boost fat for women who are fat shy".
Bananas
Thanks to bananas' high potassium content, peeling one is a speedy solution to that stitch in your side. While a lack of sodium is the main culprit behind muscle cramps, studies show potassium plays a supporting role: You need it to replace sweat losses and help with fluid absorption. Bananas are also packed with energizing carbohydrates. One medium-size fruit has 400 milligrams of potassium and as many carbs (29 grams) as two slices of whole-wheat bread.
Thanks to bananas' high potassium content, peeling one is a speedy solution to that stitch in your side. While a lack of sodium is the main culprit behind muscle cramps, studies show potassium plays a supporting role: You need it to replace sweat losses and help with fluid absorption. Bananas are also packed with energizing carbohydrates. One medium-size fruit has 400 milligrams of potassium and as many carbs (29 grams) as two slices of whole-wheat bread.
Berries
USDA researchers recently placed fresh berries on their list of the 20 foods richest in antioxidants. Just a handful of blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries is an excellent source of these potent nutrients, which protect muscles from free radical damage that might be caused by exercise. Shop for berries by the shade of their skin: The deeper the color, the healthier the fruit.
USDA researchers recently placed fresh berries on their list of the 20 foods richest in antioxidants. Just a handful of blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries is an excellent source of these potent nutrients, which protect muscles from free radical damage that might be caused by exercise. Shop for berries by the shade of their skin: The deeper the color, the healthier the fruit.
Carrots
Close your eyes and they almost taste like crunchy candy. Carrots pack complex carbs that provide energy to muscles and potassium to control blood pressure and muscle contractions.
Close your eyes and they almost taste like crunchy candy. Carrots pack complex carbs that provide energy to muscles and potassium to control blood pressure and muscle contractions.
Whole Grain Cereal
Looking for something to nosh before you hit the gym? Raid your cereal stash. The healthiest brands contain endurance-boosting complex carbs and muscle-building protein. Sixty minutes before a workout, fuel up with a 200-calorie snack: ¾ cup of whole-grain cereal with 4 ounces of fat-free milk. "When you eat something before exercising, you have more energy, so you can work out harder and perhaps longer. And you'll be less likely to overeat afterward,".
Looking for something to nosh before you hit the gym? Raid your cereal stash. The healthiest brands contain endurance-boosting complex carbs and muscle-building protein. Sixty minutes before a workout, fuel up with a 200-calorie snack: ¾ cup of whole-grain cereal with 4 ounces of fat-free milk. "When you eat something before exercising, you have more energy, so you can work out harder and perhaps longer. And you'll be less likely to overeat afterward,".
Chicken Thighs
Skimp on iron and zinc and your energy will flag. Cooking up some juicy chicken thighs or turkey drumsticks is the best way to get more of both. "Dark-meat poultry is significantly lower in fat than red meat yet has all the iron, zinc, and B vitamins that women need in their diets,".
Skimp on iron and zinc and your energy will flag. Cooking up some juicy chicken thighs or turkey drumsticks is the best way to get more of both. "Dark-meat poultry is significantly lower in fat than red meat yet has all the iron, zinc, and B vitamins that women need in their diets,".
Hummus
Complex carbohydrates, protein, and unsaturated fats—all the right elements to fuel activity—meet in one healthy little 70-calorie, 3-tablespoon package. Plus, hummus is often made with olive oil, which contains oleic acid—a fat that helps cripple the gene responsible for 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers.
Complex carbohydrates, protein, and unsaturated fats—all the right elements to fuel activity—meet in one healthy little 70-calorie, 3-tablespoon package. Plus, hummus is often made with olive oil, which contains oleic acid—a fat that helps cripple the gene responsible for 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers.
Eggs
Don't skip the yolk. One egg a day supplies 215 milligrams of cholesterol—not enough to push you over the 300-milligram daily cholesterol limit recommended by the American Heart Association. Plus, the yolk is a good source of iron, and it's loaded with lecithin, critical for brain health.
Don't skip the yolk. One egg a day supplies 215 milligrams of cholesterol—not enough to push you over the 300-milligram daily cholesterol limit recommended by the American Heart Association. Plus, the yolk is a good source of iron, and it's loaded with lecithin, critical for brain health.
Chocolate Milk
There's way more to milk than just calcium. In fact, it's a damn near perfect food, giving you a lot of valuable energy while keeping your calorie count low. The chocolate kind is loaded with calcium, vitamins, and minerals just like the plain stuff, but new studies confirm that milk with a touch of cocoa is as powerful as commercial recovery drinks at replenishing and repairing muscles.
There's way more to milk than just calcium. In fact, it's a damn near perfect food, giving you a lot of valuable energy while keeping your calorie count low. The chocolate kind is loaded with calcium, vitamins, and minerals just like the plain stuff, but new studies confirm that milk with a touch of cocoa is as powerful as commercial recovery drinks at replenishing and repairing muscles.
Salmon
Great for heart health, but here's an added twist: New studies are suggesting that monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fats might help lessen abdominal fat. It's too soon to understand the link, but "this could be particularly good for women working to tone their core,".
Great for heart health, but here's an added twist: New studies are suggesting that monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fats might help lessen abdominal fat. It's too soon to understand the link, but "this could be particularly good for women working to tone their core,".
Read more at Women's Health: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/best-fitness-food#ixzz26aHbOiNa
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Whenever I see a story like today's I think to myself, 'Don't be in America. Don't be in America!' And I am usually disappointed. But this bit of inhumanity was actually perpetrated in Sweden, of all places.
A robbery victim returning home after a drunken night on the town fell down on the tracks at subway station south of Stockholm. He was knocked unconscious when his head hit the tracks.
A bystander who witnessed the accident jumped down after him - but not for a daring rescue before the train arrived. Instead, the witness steals the man's valuables, climbs back on the platform and leaves his victim to be hit by a train.
The man - who was on his way home from a party - survived, but was seriously injured and doctors had to amputate half his left foot.
Swedish police now hope that surveillance camera footage of the disturbing incident will help them find and arrest the thief.
"To me it's incredible that one could steal or rob from somebody who is lying in such a place where you know that, if I don't do something, then this person will, in a worst-case scenario, get killed by the train that is coming. Because the train is going to come," police inspector Dan Ostman said.
He calmly walked out of the subway station, waving to the ticket vendor, as a train ran over the victim on the tracks below.
Photograph credit: Chris Kotsiopoulos
For larger version :http://
"English farmers are feeding their cattle healthier food to reduce the amount of gas they produce. Farmers also say they won't fall for the old 'pull my hoof' trick." -Conan O'Brien
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As a court clerk, I am well-versed in the jury selection process. First a computer randomly selects a few hundred citizens from the entire county to report for jury duty on a particular day. Then another computer assigns 40 of those present to a courtroom. Then the 40 names are placed into a drum, and a dozen names are pulled.
During jury selection for one trial, the judge asked potential Juror No. 1 if there was any reason he could not be a fair and impartial juror.
"There may be," he replied. "Juror No. 12 is my ex-wife, and if we were on the same jury, I guarantee we would not be able to agree on anything."
Both were excused.
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Woman: "No, I'm telling you, I'm right! He couldn't eat the Trix because he was an adult rabbit, and Trix were only supposed to be for kids."
Man: "Well, I always thought it was just because he was a rabbit and not a person."
[A period of silence -- the woman looks down at her food.]
Man: "What's wrong?"
Woman: "I'm just really getting tired of you always being wrong."
My neighbor's young son swallowed a quarter, a dime and a nickle. He was rushed to the hospital.
The next day I asked my neighbor how his son was doing, and he replied, "No change yet".
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So there's this Wizard who worked in a factory. Everything was satisfactory except that certain miscreants, taking advantage of his good nature, would steal his parking spot.
This continued until he put up the following sign: "This parking space belongs to the Wizard...Violators will be toad."
A robbery victim returning home after a drunken night on the town fell down on the tracks at subway station south of Stockholm. He was knocked unconscious when his head hit the tracks.
A bystander who witnessed the accident jumped down after him - but not for a daring rescue before the train arrived. Instead, the witness steals the man's valuables, climbs back on the platform and leaves his victim to be hit by a train.
The man - who was on his way home from a party - survived, but was seriously injured and doctors had to amputate half his left foot.
Swedish police now hope that surveillance camera footage of the disturbing incident will help them find and arrest the thief.
"To me it's incredible that one could steal or rob from somebody who is lying in such a place where you know that, if I don't do something, then this person will, in a worst-case scenario, get killed by the train that is coming. Because the train is going to come," police inspector Dan Ostman said.
He calmly walked out of the subway station, waving to the ticket vendor, as a train ran over the victim on the tracks below.
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Texas asks voters if they're dead
AUSTIN, Texas - Thousands of registered voters in Texas are getting letters from elections officials, asking for verification they are not dead. Nearly 77,000 letters, referred to as notices of examination, were sent to comply with a 2011 state law requiring the Texas Secretary of State's office to cross-reference voter rolls with the massive Social Security Administration's death master file to determine whether an eligible voter is deceased, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Thursday. Use of the federal death file and its 89 million entries has resulted in a large number of letters mailed, said Tina Morton, Travis County tax assessor-collector and voter registrar. The letters were sent out two months before the presidential election because of delays caused by redistricting issues, said Rich Parsons, the Secretary of State office's director of communications. "The primary was delayed, as were several deadlines related to the primary election. This was the first window of opportunity we have had to do this," he said. Still-living voters have 30 days to complete and return forms accompanying the letters, but county clerks are encouraging voters to report their eligibility by telephone, the newspaper said.
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Man helped by same stranger 8 years apart
PARMA, Ohio - An Ohio man said a kindly passerby stopped to help him with a flat tire and he soon realized he was the same man who helped him eight years earlier. Gerald Gronowski of Parma said he pulled his van over to the side of an Auburn Township road Saturday evening to fix a flat and Christopher Manacci of Chagrin Falls pulled his car up behind the vehicle to offer his assistance, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported Thursday. Gronowski said an out-of-control pickup truck hit Manacci's car moments later, narrowly missing the two men and Gronowski's son. "His actions probably saved those people's lives," Ohio State Patrol Lt. Mark Neff said of Manacci. The driver of the truck, Joseph Pawlowski of Burton was charged with drunken driving and treated at a local hospital. Gronowski said the close call got him talking about an encounter with a helpful man eight years ago. "I told the story about how I was fishing and I got a triple hook embedded deep into my hand," Gronowski said. "I was in a lot of pain and my son asked if anyone was a doctor and this guy paddles up in a kayak. He was a nurse practitioner and he surgically removed the hook from my hand. Chris looked at me and said, 'That was me.'" "And then I recognized him," Gronowski said. "The odds of that happening are astronomical. Now I know it's my job to repay this by helping someone else."
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Elvis: The Family Man
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=431&aid=
In 1967, at the pinnacle of his career, the King of Rock N Roll Elvis Presley married teen beauty Priscilla making family priority. It was also in this period that he was setting attendance records at his many Las Vegas shows.
In 1967, at the pinnacle of his career, the King of Rock N Roll Elvis Presley married teen beauty Priscilla making family priority. It was also in this period that he was setting attendance records at his many Las Vegas shows.
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Elvis Home Movies
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=430&aid=
Get a rare touching glimpse into the life of American icon Elvis Aaron Presley and wife Priscilla through this montage of clips from authentic home movies. See the King of Rock N Roll like you have never seen him before.
Get a rare touching glimpse into the life of American icon Elvis Aaron Presley and wife Priscilla through this montage of clips from authentic home movies. See the King of Rock N Roll like you have never seen him before.
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Earth has more than enough wind to power the entire world, at least technically, two new studies find.
But the research looks only at physics, not finances. Other experts note it would be too costly to put up all the necessary wind turbines and build a system that could transmit energy to all consumers.
The studies are by two different U.S. science teams and were published in separate journals on Sunday and Monday. They calculate that existing wind turbine technology could produce hundreds of trillions of watts of power. That's more than 10 times what the world now consumes.
But the research looks only at physics, not finances. Other experts note it would be too costly to put up all the necessary wind turbines and build a system that could transmit energy to all consumers.
The studies are by two different U.S. science teams and were published in separate journals on Sunday and Monday. They calculate that existing wind turbine technology could produce hundreds of trillions of watts of power. That's more than 10 times what the world now consumes.
Wind power doesn't emit heat-trapping gases like burning coal, oil and natural gas. But there have been questions, raised in earlier studies, about whether physical limits would prevent the world from being powered by wind.
The new studies, done independently, showed potential wind energy limits wouldn't be an issue.
Money would be.
"It's really a question about economics and engineering and not a question of fundamental resource availability," said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Palo Alto, Calif., campus of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution for Science. He is a co-author of one of the studies; that one appeared Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Caldeira's study finds wind has the potential to produce more than 20 times the amount of energy the world now consumes. Right now, wind accounts for just a tiny fraction of the energy the world consumes. So to get to the levels these studies say is possible, wind production would have to increase dramatically.
If there were 100 new wind turbines for every existing one, that could do the trick says, Mark Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering.
The new studies, done independently, showed potential wind energy limits wouldn't be an issue.
Money would be.
"It's really a question about economics and engineering and not a question of fundamental resource availability," said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Palo Alto, Calif., campus of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution for Science. He is a co-author of one of the studies; that one appeared Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Caldeira's study finds wind has the potential to produce more than 20 times the amount of energy the world now consumes. Right now, wind accounts for just a tiny fraction of the energy the world consumes. So to get to the levels these studies say is possible, wind production would have to increase dramatically.
If there were 100 new wind turbines for every existing one, that could do the trick says, Mark Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering.
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I can help you have some fun,
Sometimes I get stronger from the sun.
If you never give me a break,
You will find I may never again wake.
I am optimistic on one side,
I can be short, fat, tall, or wide.
Rectangle, cylinder are just a couple of my shapes,
And maybe I can even help you make some videotapes.
Sometimes you have to wait long for me to get ready,
Just hold on for a few hours and be steady.
I can help you get around to the market or mall,
and even help you make a call.
What am I?
ANSWER: A battery.
Sometimes I get stronger from the sun.
If you never give me a break,
You will find I may never again wake.
I am optimistic on one side,
I can be short, fat, tall, or wide.
Rectangle, cylinder are just a couple of my shapes,
And maybe I can even help you make some videotapes.
Sometimes you have to wait long for me to get ready,
Just hold on for a few hours and be steady.
I can help you get around to the market or mall,
and even help you make a call.
What am I?
ANSWER: A battery.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
QUOTE: "To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe."
HINT: (1946-), American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright.
ANSWER: Marilyn vos Savant.
HINT: (1946-), American magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright.
ANSWER: Marilyn vos Savant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RANDOM TIDBITS
In the United States, pepperoni is the overwhelming favorite addition to a cheese pizza. In Japan, seafood (eel and squid) is a popular choice, while green peas are added to the mix in Brazil. In Costa Rica, pizza pies are often topped with coconut.
The Pizza Hut restaurant chain got its name when the first location opened in Wichita in 1957. The sign only had space for three more letters besides "Pizza," and because the restaurant building resembled a hut, the choice was a natural one.
Modern pizza (also known as pizza margherita) is made with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil - though to represent the three colors (red, white, and green) of the flag of Italy.
Benjamin Salisbury, who found success as son Brighton Sheffield on the sitcom The Nanny, played a Domino's delivery person on a series of TV commercials in 2006, promoting the chain's short-lived Fudgem brownies.
It's not delivery; it's DiGiornio (introduced nationally in 1996) that stormed onto the scene to become the top-selling frozen pizza in the United States. Its "rising crust" has helped the brand rise to claim nearly 20 percent of the market. Perennial favorites Red Baron and Tombstone are the next biggest brand names.
Carmela Bitale became an unknown hero to millions in 1983 when she patented her "package saver for pizza and cakes." It's the tiny plastic stand used by pizza take-out and delivery services that helps keep the top of the cardboard box from sticking to the pizza.
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In the United States, pepperoni is the overwhelming favorite addition to a cheese pizza. In Japan, seafood (eel and squid) is a popular choice, while green peas are added to the mix in Brazil. In Costa Rica, pizza pies are often topped with coconut.
The Pizza Hut restaurant chain got its name when the first location opened in Wichita in 1957. The sign only had space for three more letters besides "Pizza," and because the restaurant building resembled a hut, the choice was a natural one.
Modern pizza (also known as pizza margherita) is made with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil - though to represent the three colors (red, white, and green) of the flag of Italy.
Benjamin Salisbury, who found success as son Brighton Sheffield on the sitcom The Nanny, played a Domino's delivery person on a series of TV commercials in 2006, promoting the chain's short-lived Fudgem brownies.
It's not delivery; it's DiGiornio (introduced nationally in 1996) that stormed onto the scene to become the top-selling frozen pizza in the United States. Its "rising crust" has helped the brand rise to claim nearly 20 percent of the market. Perennial favorites Red Baron and Tombstone are the next biggest brand names.
Carmela Bitale became an unknown hero to millions in 1983 when she patented her "package saver for pizza and cakes." It's the tiny plastic stand used by pizza take-out and delivery services that helps keep the top of the cardboard box from sticking to the pizza.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to Raise a Child: 10 Rules from Susan Sontag
September of 1959, Sontag lists her 10 rules for raising a child. (Their object, Sontag's son David Rieff, edited this very volume.) Underpinning them is a subtle but palpable reverence for the precious gift of "childishness" -- something Ted Hughes has spoken to with such stirring eloquence.
- Be consistent.
- Don't speak about him to others (e.g., tell funny things) in his presence. (Don't make him self-conscious.)
- Don't praise him for something I wouldn't always accept as good.
- Don't reprimand him harshly for something he's been allowed to do.
- Daily routine: eating, homework, bath, teeth, room, story, bed.
- Don't allow him to monopolize me when I am with other people.
- Always speak well of his pop. (No faces, sighs, impatience, etc.)
- Do not discourage childish fantasies.
- Make him aware that there is a grown-up world that's none of his business.
- Don't assume that what I don't like to do (bath, hairwash) he won't like either.
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What's the Perfect Book to Get Over a Breakup?http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Whats-the-Perfect-Book-to-Get-Over-a-Breakup-169163326.html?
Alain de Botton has provided a valuable service: giving reading prescriptions for a "shelf-help" approach to everyday problem.
Alain de Botton has provided a valuable service: giving reading prescriptions for a "shelf-help" approach to everyday problem.
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A bite from the banana spider (also known as the Brazilian wandering spider) of Central and South American rain forests causes shortness of breath, excessive salivation, tremors and—for men—a persistent, intensely painful erection, known as priapism in the medical community. So potent is this spider’s ability to command an erection that researchers wondered if it couldn’t be somehow transformed and used for good. According to WebMD, erectile dysfunction affects around 18 million men in the U.S. alone, and common treatments like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis fall short of providing results for one in three men with ED.
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Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009) was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution". Borlaug was one of six people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor.
Borlaug rece
Borlaug rece
ived his Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942. He took up an agricultural research position in Mexico, where he developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties.
During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. These collective increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply.
Later in his life, he helped apply these methods of increasing food production to Asia and Africa.
During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. These collective increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply.
Later in his life, he helped apply these methods of increasing food production to Asia and Africa.
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Researchers are currently working on genetically engineering both HIV and the gut flora of malaria carrying mosquitoes to prevent the transmission of these diseases. Genetic engineering is used to create animal models of human illnesses. Genetically engineered mice are used to model and study cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, substance abuse, anxiety, aging and Parkinsons disease.
No technology is intrinsically evil. It is only the way in which we use it that can be harmful. Many companies and individuals have used GM technologies in less than ideal ways. Many have not. Chances are, someone you know is only alive because of GM technology.
Please, before you object to something - take the time to understand it first.
Did I just delete and repost this entire thread because of a minor typo? Yes, yes I did. Apologies for any lost comments.
No technology is intrinsically evil. It is only the way in which we use it that can be harmful. Many companies and individuals have used GM technologies in less than ideal ways. Many have not. Chances are, someone you know is only alive because of GM technology.
Please, before you object to something - take the time to understand it first.
Did I just delete and repost this entire thread because of a minor typo? Yes, yes I did. Apologies for any lost comments.
When you think of genetic engineering, what springs to mind? For many, it's two words: 'Monsanto' and 'crops'.
The extensive media coverage of genetically engineered crops and the work of Monsanto has led to many people ignoring, or even not being aware of the amazing medical advances brought about by this technology.
Do you have any friends with Type 1 Diabetes? Chances are, they're only alive
The extensive media coverage of genetically engineered crops and the work of Monsanto has led to many people ignoring, or even not being aware of the amazing medical advances brought about by this technology.
Do you have any friends with Type 1 Diabetes? Chances are, they're only alive
because of genetic engineering. As you can see from this infographic, bacteria are genetically engineered to mass produce the insulin that keeps them healthy.
Genetic engineering has also been used to produce human growth hormones, follistim (for treating infertility), human albumin, monoclonal antibodies, antihemophilic factors, vaccines and many other drugs. Many vaccines are produced by genetically engineering the virus or bacteria to render them harmless, while still producing an immune response. Mouse hybridomas, cells fused together to create monoclonal antibodies, have been humanised through genetic engineering to create human monoclonal antibodies.
Like any technology, genetic engineering can be used for both good and ill. Please, before making blanket statements take the time to research a topic - and remember that generalizations and off focus accusations don't help anyone.
Genetic engineering has also been used to produce human growth hormones, follistim (for treating infertility), human albumin, monoclonal antibodies, antihemophilic factors, vaccines and many other drugs. Many vaccines are produced by genetically engineering the virus or bacteria to render them harmless, while still producing an immune response. Mouse hybridomas, cells fused together to create monoclonal antibodies, have been humanised through genetic engineering to create human monoclonal antibodies.
Like any technology, genetic engineering can be used for both good and ill. Please, before making blanket statements take the time to research a topic - and remember that generalizations and off focus accusations don't help anyone.
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It's "Flying Spaghetti Monster, The Game"
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One liners
A rabbi, a priest, and a duck walked into a bar. The bartender looked up and said, "What is this? A joke?"
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
Every kind action has a not-so-kind reaction.
Taste makes waist.
When money talks, the criminal walks.
If you think talk is cheap, try hiring a lawyer.
It’s a lot easier to apologize than to ask permission.
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
Every kind action has a not-so-kind reaction.
Taste makes waist.
When money talks, the criminal walks.
If you think talk is cheap, try hiring a lawyer.
It’s a lot easier to apologize than to ask permission.
Why doesn't DOS ever say "EXCELLENT command or filename!"
Who's General Failure & why's he reading my disk?
Smash forehead on keyboard to continue.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI!
To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
If electricity is produced by electrons, is morality produced by morons?
Who's General Failure & why's he reading my disk?
Smash forehead on keyboard to continue.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI!
To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
If electricity is produced by electrons, is morality produced by morons?
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If you can read this
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If I have a rooster and you have a donkey
and your donkey bites off my roosters feet,
what do you have?
Two feet of my cock in your ass.
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This incredible image was created on Ikaria island. The photographer set up his camera on a tripod, and then took repeated 20 second exposures. He then combined 70 of them into a single frame, creating this stunning image. The photographs were taken over 83 minutes, and the result was this 'wall of lightning'.
Photograph credit: Chris Kotsiopoulos
For larger version :http://
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This is neat. It's sort of a "Jukebox Time Machine" of music. Each of the years below connects to the best 20 hits of that year via a Jukebox. Click on a year, wait a few seconds, and a Jukebox will appear showing you 20 hits from that year to select from. You can play all 20 hits, or.. click on just those that you like. Enjoy the ride!
> > > 1940
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> > > 1950
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> > > 1960
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> > > 1970
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> > > 1980
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> > > 1990
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> > > 1941
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> > > 1951
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> > > 1961
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> > > 1971
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> > > 1981
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> > > 1991
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> > > 1942
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> > > 1952
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> > > 1962
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> > > 1972
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> > > 1982
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> > > 1992
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> > > 1943
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> > > 1953
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> > > 1963
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> > > 1973
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> > > 1983
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> > > 1993
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> > > 1944
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> > > 1954
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> > > 1964
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> > > 1974
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> > > 1984
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> > > 1994
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> > > 1945
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> > > 1955
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> > > 1965
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> > > 1975
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> > > 1985
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> > > 1995
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> > > 1946
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> > > 1956
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> > > 1966
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> > > 1976
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> > > 1986
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> > > 1996
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> > > 1947
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> > > 1957
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> > > 1967
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> > > 1977
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> > > 1987
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> > > 1997
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> > > 1948
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> > > 1958
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> > > 1968
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> > > 1978
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> > > 1988
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> > > 1998
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> > > 1949
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> > > 1959
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> > > 1969
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> > > 1979
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> > > 1989
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> > > 1999
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Thanks, Mike
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Just a typical Japanese game show?
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Arthur Miller’s first impressions of Marilyn Monroe, on the set of As Young As You Feel, 1950:
We had just arrived on a nightclub set when Marilyn, in a black open-work lace dress, was directed to walk across the floor, attracting the worn gaze of the bearded [Monty] Woolley. She was being shot from the rear to set off the swivelling of her hips, a motion fluid enough to seem comic. It was, in fact, her natural walk: her footprints on a beach would be in a straight line, the heel descending exactly before the last toeprint, throwing her pelvis into motion.
When the shot was finished she came over to [Elia] Kazan, who had met her with [agent Johnny] Hyde on another visit some time before. From where I stood, yards away, I saw her in profile against a white light, with her hair coiled atop her head; she was weeping under a veil of black lace that she lifted now and then to dab her eyes. When we shook hands the shock of her body’s motion sped through me, a sensation at odds with her sadness amid all this glamour and technology and the busy confusion of a new shot being set up. She had been weeping, she would explain later, while telling Kazan that Hyde had died calling her name in a hospital room she had been forbidden by his family to enter. She had heard him from the corridor, and had left, as always, alone.
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Sam Loyd devised this puzzle for P.T. Barnum:
A trained cat and dog run a race, one hundred feet straight away and return. The dog leaps three feet at each bound and the cat but two, but then she makes three leaps to his two. Now, under those circumstances, what are the possible outcomes of the race?
As we might have expected, it’s a trick question. It appears at first that the race will end in a tie, as the two animals are covering ground at the same rate. The trouble occurs at the far end of the course. The cat, which covers 2 feet at a bound, can turn around neatly at the halfway point. The dog, which covers 3 feet, cannot: It will arrive at the 99-foot mark and then must make an additional leap to get past the same point.
“In all, the dog must make 68 leaps to go the distance. But it jumps only two-thirds as quickly as the cat, so that while the cat is making 100 leaps the dog cannot make quite 67.”
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Ordinarily plowing merely turns over the same old soil year after year, and constant decrease in crops is only prevented by rotation or expensive fertilizing.With ‘Red Cross’ Dynamite you can break up the ground all over the field to a depth of two or three feet, for less than the cost of adequate fertilizing, and with better results. Fertilizing only improves the top soil. Dynamiting renders available all the moisture and elements of growth throughout the entire depth of the blast.In an article by J.H. Caldwell, of Spartanburg, S.C., in the September, 1910, Technical World Magazine, he states that before the ground was broken up with dynamite, he planted his corn with stalks 18 inches apart in rows 4 feet apart and raised 90 bushels to the acre. After the ground was blasted, it was able to nourish stalks 6 inches apart in rows the same distance apart, and to produce over 250 bushels to the acre. This means an increase of about 160 bushels to the acre, every year, for an original expense of $40 an acre for labor and explosives.F.G. Moughon, of Walton County, Georgia, reports that he has been raising crops of watermelons, weighing from 50 to 60 pounds each, on land blasted by exploding charges of about 3 ounces of dynamite in holes 2-½ to 3 feet deep, spaced 8 to 10 feet apart.
– From Farming With Dynamite, published by the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Co., 1910
Download This eBook
Read This Book Online
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Kalos kagathos (Ancient Greek καλὸς κἀγαθός [kalos kaːɡatʰǒs]), of which kalokagathia (καλοκαγαθία) is the derived noun, is a phrase used by classical Greek writers to describe an ideal of personal conduct, especially in a military context. Its use is attested since Herodotus and the classical period. The phrase is adjectival, composed of two adjectives, καλός ("beautiful") and ἀγαθός ("good" or "virtuous"), the second of which is combined by crasis with καί "and" to form κἀγαθός. Werner Jaeger summarizes it as ”the chivalrous ideal of the complete human personality, harmonious in mind and body, foursquare in battle and speech, song and action”.
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I like a lady with class. Farting during sex kinda puts me off (except fussy parts...they're ok).
Thanks (I think) Phlax
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Sand under a 250x magnification.
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Peace cannot be kept by force;
it can only be achieved by understanding.
~ Albert Einstein
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Mountain of Men
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NEW SKYFALL INTERNATIONAL TRAILER
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Ed researched the ants story ~ very cool stuff!
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Two doctorate students and their professor have discovered a very special relationship between bats and carnivorous pitcher plants not previously recognised. Professor Ulmar Grafe noticed that Hardwicke's woolly bats were regularly roosting in Nepenthes hemsleyana pitcher plants in Brunei (on the tropical island of Borneo). With the help of two of his students (who intend on continuing the investi
gation) he has identified a mutual benefit between the two species.
The benefits for the bats appears quite obvious, as this particular species of pitcher plant has a very low level of digestive fluid, meaning the bats can safely roost in an environment sheltered from predators and without fear of being eaten by enzymes. For the benefit to the plants however, a closer look at their habitat was needed. Pitcher plants typically grow in areas where the soil is very nitrogen depleted, hence their reliance on a carnivorous life style. The soil of Brunei is no exception to this rule, but previous studies have shown that Nepenthes hemsleyana catches less prey than other species of pitcher plant. So where was Nepenthes hemsleyana getting the nitrogen it so badly needed? Under further investigation Grafe found that the plants gained 33% of their nitrogen not from feeding on insects but from the droppings of the bats, showing strong evidence for an intriguing case of mutualism. JB
http://www.batcon.org/
The benefits for the bats appears quite obvious, as this particular species of pitcher plant has a very low level of digestive fluid, meaning the bats can safely roost in an environment sheltered from predators and without fear of being eaten by enzymes. For the benefit to the plants however, a closer look at their habitat was needed. Pitcher plants typically grow in areas where the soil is very nitrogen depleted, hence their reliance on a carnivorous life style. The soil of Brunei is no exception to this rule, but previous studies have shown that Nepenthes hemsleyana catches less prey than other species of pitcher plant. So where was Nepenthes hemsleyana getting the nitrogen it so badly needed? Under further investigation Grafe found that the plants gained 33% of their nitrogen not from feeding on insects but from the droppings of the bats, showing strong evidence for an intriguing case of mutualism. JB
http://www.batcon.org/
Need a heart monitor fast and cheap? There’s an app for that.
17-year-old Catherine Wong has developed an app that serves as a personal, cost-effective electrocardiogram. The app was entered in Google’s Second Anual Science Fair, but didn’t win. That’s okay, though, because NPR recognized Wong’s genius lifesaving device as the winner of “Joe’s Big Idea,” a video contest that explores how ideas become innovations and inventions. The app records information and makes it accessible to medical personnel, who interpret the data to diagnose medical conditions. [Tecca]
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New London Airport: Floating?
The plan to expand London Heathrow’s Airport has been quite vehemently protested (despite a clear necessity – that airport is not equipped to handle the insane amount of transit it has to cope with!) and so architecture firm Gensler proposed this amazing little treasure: a floating airport.
The “London Britannia Airport” would be an expensive endeavour at £50 billion (US$80 billion) but before you balk at the price, check out what it would have:
- It would float on the Estuary of the River Thames – so no land to be taken up.
- It would be surrounded by four floating runways, which would be stabilised with tethering to the riverbed. Heathrow currently only has two runways.
- Only one terminal. Anyone who’s been to Heathrow and been confused about all the multiple terminals and how to get from one to the other will appreciate this.
- The airport will connect to London’s train system, as well as the European rail lines, making this hub a transition point between the air and the rest of Europe.
The plan also involves converting the old Heathrow airport into an “eco-city”, which would provide homes for as many as 300,000 people!
The writers at Geekosystem seem to believe that due to the hefty price tag and the legal hoops to jump through – not to mention “the sheer insanity of the whole project” – the proposal will never actually be approved. I think it’s a crying shame because that would be one of most epic airports to have ever existed.
What do you think? Floating airport yay or nay?
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DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!
http://youtu.be/_2vtFPbg7NA
Matt Inman from The Oatmeal tested out his new Tesla cannon on my flesh and science got done. Yes, the current is lighting the bulb. And yes, it hurt.
Matt Inman from The Oatmeal tested out his new Tesla cannon on my flesh and science got done. Yes, the current is lighting the bulb. And yes, it hurt.
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Chocolate skulls! A delicious crani-nom. Unfortunately only available to those lucky folks who order them from Two Little Cats Bakery in the UK. Sigh. that would have made my Halloween.
(via EAT YOUR HEART OUT)
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The Universe is full of galaxies, immense collections of stars, scattered throughout the vastness of space. To see them we need to use a telescope, and for all but the nearest that telescope needs to be pretty big to make out any details. Those details reveal there are galaxies shaped like animals and even the letters of the alphabet.
Ever wanted to see your name in lights? You can now write a message where the letters are shaped like galaxies.
Ever wanted to see your name in lights? You can now write a message where the letters are shaped like galaxies.
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Think the Hubble Space Telescope is awesome? Ok, me too, but wait until you check out the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope! With its larger light-collecting primary mirror and state-of-the-art instruments it will peer deeper into the cosmos than than ever before.
http://www.nasa.gov/
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
http://www.nasa.gov/
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
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Installation of shape shifting walls created by media artist group Jonpasang from Seoul for the Hyundai Motor Group exhibition pavilion in Korea.
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New Kon Tiki Trailer 2012
New full length trailer of the new Kon Tiki movie from the creators of Max Manus. Based upon a true story. Releasing 2012. The expedition in 1947 took Thor Heyerdahl and the team from Peru to Polynesia.
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The High Price of a Degree in LSD
In 1965 and '66, author Ken Kesey and his friends, called the Merry Pranksters, held a series of parties called "acid tests." LSD, which was not outlawed in the U.S. until 1968, flowed freely at these parties in San Francisco. A "graduation" for those who "passed the acid test" was scheduled for Halloween, 1966.
In 1965 and '66, author Ken Kesey and his friends, called the Merry Pranksters, held a series of parties called "acid tests." LSD, which was not outlawed in the U.S. until 1968, flowed freely at these parties in San Francisco. A "graduation" for those who "passed the acid test" was scheduled for Halloween, 1966.
The circumstances leading up to the graduation have been well documented, by Tom Wolfe in his 1968 novel “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” and by the first salaried employee of Rolling Stone magazine, Charles Perry, whose 1984 “The Haight-Ashbury: A History” stands as a definitive chronicle of the late-1960s San Francisco scene. Kesey had been working with rock-promoter Bill Graham to host his graduation ceremony at the Winterland Arena. The Grateful Dead would be the headliners, with support from a group of former Stanford University students called the Anonymous Artists of America.
Plans changed, but the graduation ceremony went on. Now one of those rare diplomas is up for sale, and the story behind it is explained at Collector's Weekly. Link
Plans changed, but the graduation ceremony went on. Now one of those rare diplomas is up for sale, and the story behind it is explained at Collector's Weekly. Link
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“The aggregate of our joy and suffering…every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization…every young couple in love…lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.
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Scientists are taking a closer look at the extremely rare people who remember everything from their pasts. And yes, their brains are different.
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I fucking love science added a new photo.
Why those cute stuffed animals always slip through your mechanical robot finger
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Well, at least they weren't driving a convertable....
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Cyriak Harris made a music video for the song "Yellow Bridges" by the band El Ten Eleven. He used one log, two twigs, a couple of leaves, and Adobe After Effects to create his mesmerizing biological fractals. -via Laughing Squid
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This Is the World's Tallest Mohawk
It took Japanese fashion designer Kazuhiro Watanabe 15 years to make his dream a reality. After great effort, he was able to grow a mohawk that is 3 feet, 8.6 inches tall. According to Guinness World Records, it's the tallest in the world.
He says to make it stand upright it takes stylists two hours, one can of gel and three cans of hairspray. He says he wanted to grow the mohawk to rebel against the conformity of Japanese society.
Watanabe's long but successful struggle reminds me of a statement by Calvin Coolidge:
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
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“The Poet’s Reply”
What’s unusual about this poem, composed by James Rambo for Word Ways, May 1977?
Use fulsome howl or direst word in galling us; toil over a shoddy ode?
Listen, dressed in gyves, tiger, allies fall, ensnared in timeless eras, mentally in agony, essays in gall.
Outwit Hades, ignore verses, you real lover? Come!
Listen, dressed in gyves, tiger, allies fall, ensnared in timeless eras, mentally in agony, essays in gall.
Outwit Hades, ignore verses, you real lover? Come!
Useful somehow, Lord, I rest, wording all in gusto I love.
Rash odd yodel is tendresse; dingy vestige rallies fallen snared.
In time, lesser as men tally, I nag on — yes, say, sing all out — with a design.
O reverses, you’re all overcome!
Rash odd yodel is tendresse; dingy vestige rallies fallen snared.
In time, lesser as men tally, I nag on — yes, say, sing all out — with a design.
O reverses, you’re all overcome!
The two stanzas are spelled identically.
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"A new study found that students who use Facebook while studying have 20 percent lower grades than students who focus. When kids who use Facebook heard that they were like, '20 percent? Big deal. What's that, like 10 percent?'" -Jimmy Fallon
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"Studies show American students are becoming less proficient in math. Experts say we should have seen this coming, but nobody could put 2 and 2 together." -Jay Leno
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"Studies show American students are becoming less proficient in math. Experts say we should have seen this coming, but nobody could put 2 and 2 together." -Jay Leno
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"English farmers are feeding their cattle healthier food to reduce the amount of gas they produce. Farmers also say they won't fall for the old 'pull my hoof' trick." -Conan O'Brien
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As a court clerk, I am well-versed in the jury selection process. First a computer randomly selects a few hundred citizens from the entire county to report for jury duty on a particular day. Then another computer assigns 40 of those present to a courtroom. Then the 40 names are placed into a drum, and a dozen names are pulled.
During jury selection for one trial, the judge asked potential Juror No. 1 if there was any reason he could not be a fair and impartial juror.
"There may be," he replied. "Juror No. 12 is my ex-wife, and if we were on the same jury, I guarantee we would not be able to agree on anything."
Both were excused.
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Woman: "No, I'm telling you, I'm right! He couldn't eat the Trix because he was an adult rabbit, and Trix were only supposed to be for kids."
Man: "Well, I always thought it was just because he was a rabbit and not a person."
[A period of silence -- the woman looks down at her food.]
Man: "What's wrong?"
Woman: "I'm just really getting tired of you always being wrong."
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Random Facts:
There are approximately 78.2 million owned dogs in the United States. Twenty-one percent of owned dogs were adopted from an animal shelter. On average, dog owners spent $248 on veterinary visits annually.
There are approximately 86.4 million owned cats in the United States. Twenty-one percent of owned cats were adopted from an animal shelter. Cat owners spent an average of $219 on routine veterinary visits.
There are approximately 78.2 million owned dogs in the United States. Twenty-one percent of owned dogs were adopted from an animal shelter. On average, dog owners spent $248 on veterinary visits annually.
There are approximately 86.4 million owned cats in the United States. Twenty-one percent of owned cats were adopted from an animal shelter. Cat owners spent an average of $219 on routine veterinary visits.
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QUOTE: "The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish."
HINT: (1828-1906), major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet.
HINT: (1828-1906), major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet.
ANSWER: Henrik Ibsen.
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Google debuted a new search tool today.
Type “Bacon number” into the search bar with any celebrity's name and say goodbye to your afternoon.
(Go to Google and in the search bar type "Kevin Bacon number" followed by some random actor's name. Try to get above 3. Try hard.)
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The Bacon number of an actor or actress is the number of degrees of separation he or she has from Bacon, as defined by the game. This is an application of the Erdős number concept to the Hollywood movie industry. The higher the Bacon number, the farther away from Kevin Bacon the actor is.
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Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a variation on "six degrees of separation" which posits that any two people on Earth are, on average, about six acquaintance links apart. That idea moved into the pop culture mainstream when it spawned a popular play and movie by the same name. It later morphed into a parlor game, wherein movie buffs challenge each other to find the shortest path between an arbitrary actor and veteran Hollywood character actor Kevin Bacon. It can also be described as a trivia game based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any individual involved in the Hollywood, California film industry can be linked through his or her film roles to Kevin Bacon within six steps. The name of the game is a play on the "six degrees of separation" concept. The game requires a group of players to try to connect any individual to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. In 2007, Bacon started a charitable organization named SixDegrees.org.
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The Erdős number (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɛrdøːʃ]) describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.
The same principle has been proposed for other eminent people in other fields.
The idea of the Erdős number was created by friends as a humorous tribute to the enormous output of Erdős, one of the most prolific modern writers of mathematical papers, and has become well known in scientific circles as a tongue-in-cheek measurement of mathematical prominence.
Paul Erdős (1913–1996) was an influential and itinerant mathematician, who spent a large portion of his later life living out of a suitcase and writing papers with those of his colleagues willing to give him room and board. He published more papers during his life (at least 1,525) than any other mathematician in history.
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A person's Erdős–Bacon number is the sum of one's Erdős number—which measures the "collaborative distance" in authoring mathematical papers between that person and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős—and one's Bacon number—which represents the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from American actor Kevin Bacon. The lower the number, the closer a person is to Erdős and Bacon, and this reflects a small world phenomenon in academia and entertainment.
In general, to have a defined Erdős–Bacon number, it is necessary (but not sufficient) for one to have both appeared in a film and co-authored an academic paper.
Notable scientists with defined Erdős–Bacon numbers include popular astronomer Carl Sagan. One of the best-known actors with a number is actress Natalie Portman, whose authorship of a psychology paper during her Harvard degree in psychology earned her an Erdős–Bacon number of 6 (see table below).
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Astronomer Carl Sagan has an Erdős number of no more than 4 via Steven J. Ostro and a Bacon number of 3, for a total of 7.
Physicist Richard Feynman has an Erdős number of 3 and a Bacon number of 3, having appeared in the film Anti-Clock alongside Tony Tang.
Danica McKellar, most famous for her role as Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years, has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6, having coauthored a mathematics paper published while an undergraduate at UCLA. Her paper gives her an Erdős number of 4, and a Bacon number of 2, both of them having worked with Margaret Easley.
US actress Natalie Portman has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6. She collaborated (using her birth name, Natalie Hershlag) with Abigail A. Baird, who has a collaboration path leading to Joseph Gillis, who has an Erdős number of 1. Bacon and Portman both appear in New York, I Love You, giving Portman a Bacon number of 1 and an Erdős number of 5.
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Something huge just hit Jupiter.
Russian Jumpstyle dancing.
School of jumping fish caught on camera.
Misconceptions about temperature.
Weedy seadragons dance into the night.
Russian Jumpstyle dancing.
School of jumping fish caught on camera.
Misconceptions about temperature.
Weedy seadragons dance into the night.
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INCONSISTENT is an anagram of N IS, N IS NOT, ETC.
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The Shiniest Stuff of Life
This African fruit has earned the title of shiniest living material on Earth. It’s from a plant called Pollia condensata, and its candy-painted hues are not the result of traditional pigments like we’re used to seeing in plants. Normally, the greens, yellows, reds and oranges we see in leaves and fruits are deposits of pigmented molecules like carotene or lycopene.
Like the exotic iridescence seen in butterfly wings and jeweled beetles, this berry’s sparkle and shimmer is actually due to complex molecular structures that stack like a series of psychedelic reflectors. Cambridge University biophysicists recently decoded those structures. For more details on the nano-optical magic, visit Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science.
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When Linus Pauling won his second Nobel Prize in 1962, he joked that receiving his second Nobel was less remarkable than receiving his first: The chance of anyone receiving his first Nobel Prize is one in several billion (the population of the world), while the chance of receiving his second is one in several hundred (the number of living people who have received one prize).
What’s wrong with this argument?
Nobel prize winners are chosen independently of past awards, so if Pauling’s chance of winning one prize was (say) 1 in 3,000,000,000, then he’d have the same chance of winning the second, and his chance of winning two would be 1 in 3,000,000,0002. (Actually they’re considerably better than that — not everyone on Earth is equally deserving of the Nobel prize.)
If we knew that the Nobel committee would award the 1962 prize only to an existing laureate, then Pauling’s argument would hold.
(From The Ivan Morris Puzzle Book, 1972.)
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How to prove a mathematical theory, animated.
But how do you prove an animated mathematical theory?
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RANDOM TIDBITS
Yamaha eventually became known as one of the more popular Japanese motorcycle brands, but the company has been doing what it does best - producing pianos - for more than 120 years.
The hinged cover that protects a piano's keyboard is called a fallboard.
While many of those who play piano in motion pictures are faking, that's not always the case. Notable exceptions of pianists who performed "for real" include Holly Hunter in The Piano, Richard Gere in Pretty Women, and Dudley Moore in Arthur.
Except for a few variations in color, the basic design of the piano keyboard has remained the same since 1450.
The piano on which John Lennon composed the classic "Imagine" was sold at auction in 2000 and was purchased by singer George Michael. It was sent on a symbolic "peace tour" of the United States in 2007.
The toy piano was invented in Philadelphia in 1872 by German immigrant Albert Schoenhut. It was meant to provide educational entertainment for children but has since been used as an instrument in many serious compositions.
Yamaha eventually became known as one of the more popular Japanese motorcycle brands, but the company has been doing what it does best - producing pianos - for more than 120 years.
The hinged cover that protects a piano's keyboard is called a fallboard.
While many of those who play piano in motion pictures are faking, that's not always the case. Notable exceptions of pianists who performed "for real" include Holly Hunter in The Piano, Richard Gere in Pretty Women, and Dudley Moore in Arthur.
Except for a few variations in color, the basic design of the piano keyboard has remained the same since 1450.
The piano on which John Lennon composed the classic "Imagine" was sold at auction in 2000 and was purchased by singer George Michael. It was sent on a symbolic "peace tour" of the United States in 2007.
The toy piano was invented in Philadelphia in 1872 by German immigrant Albert Schoenhut. It was meant to provide educational entertainment for children but has since been used as an instrument in many serious compositions.
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I can help you have some fun,
Sometimes I get stronger from the sun.
If you never give me a break,
You will find I may never again wake.
I am optimistic on one side,
I can be short, fat, tall, or wide.
Rectangle, cylinder are just a couple of my shapes,
And maybe I can even help you make some videotapes.
Sometimes you have to wait long for me to get ready,
Just hold on for a few hours and be steady.
I can help you get around to the market or mall,
and even help you make a call.
What am I?
Sometimes I get stronger from the sun.
If you never give me a break,
You will find I may never again wake.
I am optimistic on one side,
I can be short, fat, tall, or wide.
Rectangle, cylinder are just a couple of my shapes,
And maybe I can even help you make some videotapes.
Sometimes you have to wait long for me to get ready,
Just hold on for a few hours and be steady.
I can help you get around to the market or mall,
and even help you make a call.
What am I?
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So the story is a man paid his traffic fine of $137 in one dollar bills...folded into origami pigs...delivered in 2 Dunkin' Donuts boxes. Well played sir. Well played.
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The Taste of Money
My neighbor's young son swallowed a quarter, a dime and a nickle. He was rushed to the hospital.
The next day I asked my neighbor how his son was doing, and he replied, "No change yet".
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You Don't Wand to Park
So there's this Wizard who worked in a factory. Everything was satisfactory except that certain miscreants, taking advantage of his good nature, would steal his parking spot.
This continued until he put up the following sign: "This parking space belongs to the Wizard...Violators will be toad."
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A little girl came running into the house crying and miserable from a small cut she just received. She asked her mom for a glass of cider.
"Why do you want cider?" asked Mom.
"To take the pain away," sobbed the little girl.
Tired of all the tears, Mom poured her a glass. The little girl immediately put her hand into the drink.
"It doesn't work!" she yelled.
"What do you mean?" asked Mom.
"Well," sniffed the little girl, "I overheard my sister say that whenever she gets a prick in her hand, she can't wait to get it in cider."
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"Why do you want cider?" asked Mom.
"To take the pain away," sobbed the little girl.
Tired of all the tears, Mom poured her a glass. The little girl immediately put her hand into the drink.
"It doesn't work!" she yelled.
"What do you mean?" asked Mom.
"Well," sniffed the little girl, "I overheard my sister say that whenever she gets a prick in her hand, she can't wait to get it in cider."
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When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer
When I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
- Walt Whitman
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Volcanic lightning over the Puyehue volcano, June 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno)
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Q and A Quickies
Q: What time do ducks wake up in the morning?
A: At the quack of dawn.
Q: What's brown and sticky?
A: A twig.
Q: What time do ducks wake up in the morning?
A: At the quack of dawn.
Q: What's brown and sticky?
A: A twig.
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In the midst of a veritable downpour, a gallant driver saw a woman alone in the mud trying to change a flat tire, and couldn't bear passing her by. He completed the job for her, and, soaked to the skin, exclaimed jovially, "There, little lady, that's done!"
"Quiet," she ordered him. "You'll wake up my husband. He's taking a nap in the back seat."
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No lawyers allowed- Prosecutors will be violated!
If two lawyers were drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you read the paper or go to lunch?
If two lawyers were drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you read the paper or go to lunch?
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Thank you all for your birthday wishes ~
I had a wonderful celebration: got to get dressed up ~
the full-on nails, hair, jewelry, skirt, heels bit ~ went out for a delicious dinner.
My friend was working long hours, so I traded that night of dancing for 2 nights of dancing: time to be decided later ~
Instead, we got a bottle of (Australian) wine & a birthday mousse for me, and danced on the patio in the light of the moon ~
Aging gracefully ~
My birthday mousse ~
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Ursa ~
ursarodinia@aol.com
ursarodinia@aol.com
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