Saturday, April 30, 2005
not The Mummy
Interesting photos of a huge sandstorm in Iraq. This is from Snopes, so we know they weren't photoshopped.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Thursday, April 28, 2005
"Life without music would be a mistake." --Nietzche
This guy has some great concert shots from the '70s and '80s on Flickr. I really like these of Dylan.
digits
Back when I was a reporter for the Post-Herald, one of my favorite sources of stories was the 2000 Census. I'd go here, type in something like "asian muslim teenagers" and presto--I had a story about the growing (or diminishing) numbers of chinese islamic youth. It makes for an interesting search. Well, now you can see the numbers in a different light. The Social Explorer is a map interface of the census data, with zoom features not unlike Google Maps. I did a search for the distribution of males and females in the state of Alabama by county and got the following info:
Fellas, the gals outnumber us. Unless you’re in Birmingham, of course. Very interesting.
Fellas, the gals outnumber us. Unless you’re in Birmingham, of course. Very interesting.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
yo yo yo
If you're in law school and you need yo' rhymes, check this guy out.
Lesser quantums tried to fade this, but I'm back. Reversion style.(via Garrick)
To A for Life, then I come back. Reversions stacked like that, cause y'all are slack like that, and class is whack like that.
Yeah, Gilbert'sTM ain't got that.
Crazy conveyance in F[ee] S[imple] D[eterminate], best not front that shit'll come back to me, rapidly. Exams are slappin' Me. ASP don't do jack for me.
Right of Re-entry, hell, I got that too. Got crazy conditions on this place, so watch what you do. Got the lot? Maybe so, maybe not. There's not way to know, so you drop crazy flow bout possession, seisen, feudal time reason, it melts in your mind like a stork chocolate reisen.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
He's playing with fire again
Check out the photos from Daniel's latest hobby. His troupe, Djintanna, is performing tonight at UNCA's campus in Asheville. If you happen to be up that way, check it out. He'll be playing Eros, the embodiment of all human sexuality, of course. As he notes: 
Oh, I will be wearing wings. You know you are living a good life when FINISH WINGS appears at the top of your to-do list.
Pimp my shopping cart
This shopping cart should make any homeless guy jealous. Check out the features:
* AM/FM/Cassette Radio and speakers
* Video screen w/ TV tuner
* GPS Tracking
* Refridgerator/warmer
* 10" Rubber wheels
* Can crusher
* Slide out seat
* Alarm w/strobe lights
* 81 Neon and L.E.D. Lights
* Tent
* Solar Powered battery charging system
* Deep cycle battery- Optima Yellow top
Sunday, April 17, 2005
life
Due to a mystifying increase in popularity of crack-brained theories like creationism and intelligent design as viable explanations of the orgin of life, I tender this interesting and informative site on T.H. Huxley, scientist, president of the Royal Society, and Darwin's Bulldog. Darwin was a timid chap and might not have published Origin of Species but for Huxley, as this letter written to Darwin in 1859 shows:
We should remember this important and influential man.
"[I trust you will not be] disgusted or annoyed by the considerable abuse and misrepresentation which, unless I greatly mistake, is in store for you. Depend upon it, you have earned the lasting gratitude of all thoughtful men. And as to the curs which will bark and yelp, you must recollect that some of your friends, at any rate, are endowed with an amount of combativeness which (though you have often and justly rebuked it) may stand you in good stead. I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness."
We should remember this important and influential man.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Thursday, April 14, 2005
April is National Poetry Month
Every Day You Play
by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)
Every day you play with the light of the universe.
Subtle visitor, you arrive in the flower and the water.
You are more than this white head that I hold tightly
as a cluster of fruit, every day, between my hands.
You are like nobody since I love you.
Let me spread you out among yellow garlands.
Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.
Suddenly the wind howls and bangs at my shut window.
The sky is a net crammed with shadowy fish.
Here all the winds let go sooner or later, all of them.
The rain takes off her clothes.
The birds go by, fleeing.
The wind. The wind.
I can contend only against the power of men.
The storm whirls dark leaves
and turns loose all the boats that were moored last night to the sky.
You are here. Oh, you do not run away.
You will answer me to the last cry.
Cling to me as though you were frightened.
Even so, at one time a strange shadow ran through your eyes.
Now, now too, little one, you bring me honeysuckle,
and even your breasts smell of it.
While the sad wind goes slaughtering butterflies I love you,
and my happiness bites the plum of your mouth.
How you must have suffered getting accustomed to me,
my savage, solitary soul, my name that sends them all running.
So many times we have seen the morning star burn, kissing our eyes,
and over our heads the gray light unwind in turning fans.
My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains,
bluebells, dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want to do with you what spring does to the cherry trees.
by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)
Every day you play with the light of the universe.
Subtle visitor, you arrive in the flower and the water.
You are more than this white head that I hold tightly
as a cluster of fruit, every day, between my hands.
You are like nobody since I love you.
Let me spread you out among yellow garlands.
Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.
Suddenly the wind howls and bangs at my shut window.
The sky is a net crammed with shadowy fish.
Here all the winds let go sooner or later, all of them.
The rain takes off her clothes.
The birds go by, fleeing.
The wind. The wind.
I can contend only against the power of men.
The storm whirls dark leaves
and turns loose all the boats that were moored last night to the sky.
You are here. Oh, you do not run away.
You will answer me to the last cry.
Cling to me as though you were frightened.
Even so, at one time a strange shadow ran through your eyes.
Now, now too, little one, you bring me honeysuckle,
and even your breasts smell of it.
While the sad wind goes slaughtering butterflies I love you,
and my happiness bites the plum of your mouth.
How you must have suffered getting accustomed to me,
my savage, solitary soul, my name that sends them all running.
So many times we have seen the morning star burn, kissing our eyes,
and over our heads the gray light unwind in turning fans.
My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains,
bluebells, dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want to do with you what spring does to the cherry trees.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
whereas
If this is real, I'm moving to Idaho. Check out IDAHO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 29
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 29 BY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE 1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 2 STATING LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND COMMENDING JARED AND JERUSHA HESS AND THE 3 CITY OF PRESTON FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE MOVIE 'NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.'
This is my favorite provision:
"WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of Their Lives!"
Update: It's for real.
This is my favorite provision:
"WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of Their Lives!"
Update: It's for real.
"Our aim here is to maximize amusement, rather than coherence."
I cracked up reading this one. Some graduate students at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a random computer science research paper generator. You just plug in some author's names, and presto, you're ready to submit a paper to the 9th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics Conference. Feel free to check out my latest project: "Ambimorphic Epistemologies for a* Search"
Monday, April 11, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
it's a gas
The Long Emergency: What's going to happen as we start running out of cheap gas to guzzle? By Howard Kunstler.
scrapbook
For all of you ultra-savvy computer folks who have converted to the Firefox browser, let me heartily recommend that you try out the Scrapbook extension. It rocks my little laptop world. Here's the deal: this little app lets you download web pages for offline viewing. Whole pages, with images, embedded video, links, etc. You can even program it to download all the pages that are linked to on that page. Pretty nifty. You just right-click on a page and hit "Capture page as.." and whallah.
Moreover, you can then edit the pages you've saved. Well, you can write notes and highlight passages. To wit:
You do the editing from this little tool bar at the bottom of the window, shown here:
This extension just came in super-handy on my seminar paper. I didn't need to print out the pages I found--I just saved 'em.
Moreover, you can then edit the pages you've saved. Well, you can write notes and highlight passages. To wit:
You do the editing from this little tool bar at the bottom of the window, shown here:
This extension just came in super-handy on my seminar paper. I didn't need to print out the pages I found--I just saved 'em.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
parallax: an apparent change in the direction of an object, caused by a change in observational position providing a new line of sight
This is the view from folks on the ground whenever anyone does a Google Maps search like this. For another view, see this.
On a related note, this site keeps a log of interesting Google Map discoveries made by various bloggers. My favorite is this one, where some fellow has written the name "DAVE" in big letters in a field in Illinois (look right in the middle). Indeed, grafiti has been taken to new levels.
poetry is good for you
It's official: reading poetry makes you smarter.
"If literature is food for the mind, then a poem is a banquet, according to research by Scottish scientists which shows poetry is better for the brain than prose."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)