I’ve thought this in recent years, finding my convictions falling in scattered patterns along liberal, radical, conservative, and libertarian lines. It seems that both Democrats and Republicans are very good at ignoring facts to line things up with their prospective party lines.
This has been hinted at in past years, but apparently there is more conclusive evidence now that two analytical or scientific parents are more likely to produce offspring with autism.
Here’s an interesting article at the Association for Psychological Science which explains how actors “remember” their lines. They actually read them off the other actors, much the same way we remember the words to music as we hear the song. It just flows…
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is apparently full of underground tunnels, where as many as 10-20,000 people live. I kinda like the term catacombs better!
Awww… so adorable, and three entire comic stories are online here.
I’ve been to Shenzhen, it’s just over the border, about 20 minutes north of Hong Kong. Shanghaiist, a blog in the Gothamist family, has an article on these cute mascots who warn you to be good little citizens…
My new project is to build a dream machine a la the invention of Brion Gysin. Gyson was friends with Burroughs, and Throbbing Gristle’s well known Genesis P-Oridge among others.
Basically you need a turntable and a hanging lightbulb, and the rest is easily found materials. It is said to produce visions, so I’m curious to see how it works.
You’ve all heard a lot of conspiracies, but what if someone told you that fossil fuels were actually a natural component of the biosphere. It turns out Thomas Gold has fairly well proven that fossil fuels are misnamed, and not the result of surface animals decaying over the eons. What’s still unclear is if in fact the hydrocarbon reserves *DO* refill and whether or not we’re reaching a peak oil point or not. If you have the time, read deep hot biosphere by Thomas Gold.
This book publisher Anomalist has an interesting website, and some wacky way-out books.
A friend of mine runs a blog called This Side of the City which you should all checkout. You’ll like the minmalist titling “below”, “holidaze”, “libertine”… One part stream of consciousness, one part existential conflict… Goodness.
This bbc article reports on green glowing pigs, genetically modified by a Taiwanese research team! What’s the saying, “when pigs fly”, how far are we, really?
One of my favorite creative people, Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, artist, and writer, responsible for the invention of virtual reality. I’ve seen him perform music pieces with virtual intruments at the Knitting Factory in NYC. In this article
The Gory Antigora: Illusions of Capitalism and Computers he talks about the closed internet, and what it means.
My friend Elissa runs a blog called unabashedly pc. I think you all will enjoy it.
From Robert Anton Wilson’s latest “Email to the Universe”:
“where the state prevents a free market, by banning any form of goods or services, consumer demand will create a black market for those goods or services at vastly higher prices”
Ever holding someone’s hand and don’t know what to do with it? Well read those lines and tell their future with this guide to finding love in the hands.
I thought I was up on all the conspiracy talk, but I guess I don’t read enough People or the Enquirerer. Apparently Tom is gay, and Katy is the third wife that he has paid to marry him as a coverup for his gayness. And apparently the sci-en-tol-ogy folks have set it all up!
This is pretty hilarious, and I’m sure some of you will wanna order a few of these excellent t-shirts to show off your intellect. There’s an elephant pissing on liberals, peace through superior firepower, and “silly liberals, paychecks are for workers”. I think my favorite is the one “ACLU, enemy of the state” where the “C” is a hammer & sickle. I kinda wanna order one. Aren’t hammer + sickles a holdover from 80’s commie times?
Check out these wacky pod dwellings that you can keep right in your own backyard!
Granted most of the items are pretty pricey, if nothing else they give you plenty of enjoyable time wasting. But if you need a very unique gift, or something special for yourself, you’ll find some really nice stuff ahttp://cribcandy.com/t Crib Candy.
boingboing has a link to an interview with famed inventor of LSD, Albert Hoffman. He just turned 100.
panspermia before. It seems in 2001 a rain of red microbes fell on India.
This got a big WOW from me. According to this article cellphone records are available on anyone, even law enforcement or feds. Apparently they’re skirting a loophole of some kind in the law.
Crazy but true, there are bottles of wine which go for the absurd price of $40,000 per bottle. Funny that, I’m sure the guys who can afford that wine are not the wine geeks from Sideways so what gives? Well when you have a lot of money, you become interested in all sorts of expensive things like wine, and art, and don’t have to be a connoisseur of either.
What I want to know is, the guy who the article talks about who left his job as an ibanker to follow his true calling of wine, does he really believe his own BS, or does he laugh all the way to the bank?
Featured recently in Arthur Magazine check out Jon Hassell’s website, full of art and sound goodness.
This is great, the russians have picked up on an American creation, ass-vertising. Personally I think those russian girls dropping their pencils and picking them up, are way hotter than the NY Sports Club Girls lifting their skirts…
New Scientist has a yearly article called 13 Things that Don’t Make Sense. It’s a good article, but I’d rather it be called 13 Things Which Dispute the Monopoly over Truth that Science Thinks it Holds. Two of the biggest ones, the Placebo Affect, and Homeopathy. Hello… Our mind affects our immune system, and all life function. Our mind yes, attitude, stress, happiness, all that unquantifiable goodness that is human.
I like this weblog Godlorica which dubs itself “Breaking News on God and Other Higher Beings in this World and the World to Come”.
Check out this fascinating story over at BoingBoing. Tom Owad, a MAKE contributor, and all-around smarty guy took to data mining Amazon’s wish lists, and then dumping that into his homebrewed database, where he could do whatever searches he wanted. The results he then tied into google maps, so we know who is reading the WRONG books, and WHERE they live!
Actually none of this is a surprise, though I’m a little surprised it’s so easy with all public info, however, you can be sure that what a homebrew garage hacker can do is just the tip of a very large iceberg of what the boys at the No Such Agency can do.
A hotel in Orlando booked soccer teams, and a big swinger event under the same roof, and ticked off the families!!!!
Edge.org is a think-tank organization trying to think about big questions, and finding some amazing insights along the way. Check out how 117 of our greatest thinkers answer the question WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA? You may not read all 117 but skimming through their titles, there are plenty worth your time.