Here is an interesting albeit saddening piece from Time.com where two French photographers strove to capture the great Motor City's slide into abandonment on film. It's surprisingly heavy.
(via The Agitator)
Continued ...»Damn those infernal feminine temptresses! Beguilers of straight men, ruiners of pocketbooks, killers of men's patience during shopping sessions, wreckers of gay couples ...
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- The San Francisco Zoo’s popular same-sex penguin couple has broken up.Male Magellan penguins Harry and Pepper have been together since 2003. The pair nested together and even incubated an egg laid by another penguin in 2008, but their relationship hit the rocks earlier this year when a female penguin, Linda, befriended Harry after her long-time companion died.
This did not go over well with Pepper, who became violent. The three penguins were separated for some time following the fight.
"They have been doing okay since,” said Zookeeper Jennifer Katz. “They have been getting along okay. But Pepper is by himself now, so we are keeping an eye on the three of them."
On Friday they appeared to be back on good terms, as they were re-introduced back into their enclosure.
Zookeepers say Harry and Linda are happy and were able to successfully nest this year.
Anti-gay bigots using this example as "more proof that there is no real homosexuality in animals" in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Sad news though. =( I'd already covered this very couple back in June; it was just so cute. That Linda's nothing but a no-good homewrecker. Pfft.
Any dibs on Pepper?
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
Continued ...»Ed Brayton over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars has had a fantastic idea, one I think I'll usurp and use whenever I think to from now on.
This new term occurred to me as a useful one for those of us who regularly chronicle the nuttiness of the right wing: the Loonisphere. The loonisphere is a magical place where the laws of logic do not apply. A place where not allowing someone to oppress another is a violation of the oppressor's religious freedom, where quitting one's job is done to avoid being a quitter, where destroying the constitution is necessary to prevent terrorists from destroying the constitution and where someone who advocates killing untold numbers of people in another country can call themself "pro-life" without a hint of irony.
It's a good word for a good use.
Continued ...»Here's more evidence that music has no age limits, young or old, despite the biased name of Rockabye Baby. Seriously, it's cool stuff. (Guess which rendition album I wish I had most?
So cute and peaceful and soothing ... My kind of lullaby (and all-around good music).
Continued ...»Horribly clichéd and disturbingly cute, I know ... but it's so neat!
(via The Examining Room)
Continued ...»Introducing my latest find filed under "cool shit!": the Time Tree, "the timescale of life". This nifty resource allows you to check out just how many years it took for two distinct organisms to evolve from their common ancestor, whether it be cats from dogs, or horses from zebras, or hell, humans from bacteria while you're at it. Go nuts! :P
Don't laugh at it's inherent geekiness; how else could you discover that Melissa split from her beloved katydids some 910 million years ago? Or that I'm separated from my beautiful wolves by 97.4 million years? Or that chimpanzees split from cyanobacteria, a whopping 2,500.36 million years ago?
(And it's about 324.5 million years that separate you from the Tyrant Lizard, by the way.)
Go ahead, explore your genetic lineage!
Continued ...»So why am I apparently "Foreman"-level in this fan-made House "brilliance" quiz? =(
You've got some game but you're not a genius, Foreman. Climb down from your pedestal, that's occupied for brilliance, something you inherently lack. Your hard work and dedication got you up here.
Are you a medical genius like House?Damn, I was so sure I'd get at least 80% ... =( How would YOU perform as a doctor?
Continued ...»My new favorite Internet toy has only just launched, and already it's showing traits that indicate it might not be that far from Skynet, after all, despite its creators' claims to the contrary. (Always a conspiracy ...)
Q: What is your name?
A: My name is Wolfram|Alpha.
[Hmm ... First step to self-awareness is self-identity ... o_o]
Q: What's the speed of an unladen swallow?
A: there is unfortunately insufficient data to estimate the velocity of an African swallow (even if you specified which of the 47 species of swallow found in Africa you meant)
(asked of a general swallow (but not answered) in Monty Python's Holy Grail.)
[Ooh, so W|A knows Monty Python!]
Q: Hello.
A: Hello, human.
[Bit condescending, aren't we ...?]
Q: What is the answer to life?
A: 42
[Forty ... two ...?]
(Google.com has the same answer to the query "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?".)
Q: To be or not to be
A: ...that is the question.
(according to the William Shakespeare)
[So W|A's a playwright, too?]
Q: how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a A: woodchuck could chuck wood?
a woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood
(according to the tongue-twister)
[Okay, I gotta admit, that was my favorite.]
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: Angels are pure intelligences, not material, but limited, so that they have location in space, but not extension. Therefore, an infinity of angels can be located on the head of a pin.
(according to Dorothy Sayers (who also maintains that the question is simply a debating exercise))
[A religious expert, too?]
Q: 88MPH
A: 88 mph (miles per hour)
[...]
Comparisons as speed:
= speed at which Marty McFly needed to drive the Delorean DMC-12 in order to time travel ( 88 mph )
[Wow, this guy knows movies ...]
Q: how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
A: 3
(according to Tootsie Pop commercials)
[Answering all those important questions ...]
Q: Are you self-aware?
A: I am capable of universal computation; that I can say.
[Hmm ... sneaky.]
(See Mashable.com's Top 10 Wolfram|Alpha Easter Eggs, and 10 Even Better Wolfram|Alpha Easter Eggs, for a few more neat tricks and gags this mother can deliver.)
Continued ...»This is it: Wolfram|Alpha has arrived. This is what's gonna keep this geek awake for way more hours than his circadian rhythm allows. (Don't forget to start with this introductory video that demonstrates just what this mother of Internet resources can do.)
Continued ...»Oh God, I'm having a geeky thrill overload. In just over a week, I'll finally be able to see what the mythical Wolfram Alpha Internet search answer engine can do ... and if the previews and pre-release reviews and critiques hold true (and there are quite a few of them), it's gonna totally revolutionize the fucking Internet. You can say goodbye to Google ... Maybe.
Ed Brayton, of the Dispatches from the Culture Wars blog I love to follow (and get many of my stories from), had the incredible luck to be invited to meet Archbishop Tutu, arguably one of the very, very few men on this Earth who would legitimately deserve to be considered a "saint". I know relatively very little of this man, but just skimming along his Wikipedia article is enough to win him my deep respect considering all he's done, and all that he's been through to do it. Meeting him is something like meeting Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr. or something.
He is a man of enormous personal charm and wit. When he walked into the room, he immediately began greeting each person individually, shaking their hands and asking our names. His energy at 77 years old would be remarkable for a man 25 years younger. His age did show a bit when, speaking to the students, he held up Bono and Bob Geldof as examples of "young people" making a difference in the world.
Just thought I'd mention. Lucky bastard.
Continued ...»
Joé McKen
Joé McKen (also known as Bumdark) is a young misanthropic atheist who spends his time composing music, blogging, entertaining a passion for science and technology, bitching against social and civil injustices, and most of all, jabbing idiots, trolls and assorted cretins with sharp pointy sticks.
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