Archive for the ‘Cool Stuff’ Category
Sunday, April 28th, 2013
A fascinating look at how dollar bills move, courtesy of the Where’s George website. I find it fascinating the Pennsylvania is divided in half.
This is what I mean by Sports Media Twerp. They are never wrong and everybody else is just an idiot.
Really interesting blog on the least visited countries in the world. The writer is trying to visit every country at least once. Wish I had the resources for that.
I wish climate scientists would not overstate their conclusions. It makes it so much easier for people to pretend global warming is a hoax.
John McWhorter has a great article disputing the notion that texting is destroying the English language.
The contention that FDR was anti-semitic does not really surprise me. Years ago I read a book called While Six Million Died that detailed, point by point, how FDR did almost nothing to stop or prevent the Holocaust. It was only when members of his own Administration confronted him over foot-dragging on the issue of saving Romanian Jews that he did anything. He defeated Hitler, of course, which was why he became a hero to my grandparents’ generation. But the idea that he was immune from the anti-semitism that gripped much of the country and the world is absurd.
Fascinating and kind of frightening photo essay of high-density living. Think of all the stories you see in each picture.
Tags: Geography, History, Language, Photography, Science, Sports, Travel
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Friday, February 22nd, 2013
I just noticed I have about five Linkoramas lingering in my queue. So I’ll take out whole bunch here.
DARPA is looking into recycling satellites. This makes a huge amount of sense if it can be done. Space debris is a big problem. And the launch is one of the biggest expense of any mission. If you could put something up there cheap that could rove around and repair satellites, it would be worth a fortune.
Cracked has a nice article about how poverty isn’t the cliche we like to think it is.
An interview with James Alan Fox disputing Mother Jones on mass shootings.
This is an amazing story about how a family was cut off from civilization for 40 years. A modern-day Swiss Family Robinson.
I love this depiction of what Mars would look like with water. In actuality, it wouldn’t look quite like that, since erosion would wear down the extreme features.
I also love this depiction of what Cambrian creatures might have looked like.
When you make a little girl in a wheelchair cry that she doesn’t want to go to Disney World, you are slime.
Nine hilarious NYT corrections. I mean, even I knew the My Little Pony one.
Anatomy of a drug panic.
Anatomy of a female orgasm.
Tags: Astronomy, Gun Control, Gun Violence, Humor, Paleontology, Politics, Poverty, Space, Transportation Security Agency, War on Drugs, Welfare
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Thursday, January 24th, 2013
I think I’ve spent the entirety of this week either on the phone or having a meeting or curled up in bed with a migraine. Sigh. Some weeks are like that.
I can’t say that I enjoy the retuning of some songs to different keys, per se. I do, however, find it utterly fascinating how important key is to the mood and feel of a song or musical piece. I knew a woman back in college who had a variety of health issues that would eventually take her at a young age. But she was an amazing pianist who could shift the key on a song instantly and play it perfectly. Somehow, it never changed the tone like these retunings do.
Cracked looks at lines censored by TV. My brother and I used to get great amusement from watching movies like The Breakfast Club and Police Academy on Channel 46. The dubbing was so bad and the lines so hilariously stupid, we almost preferred them. My favorite comes from Police Academy: “Mahoney …. nobody plays with me.” with “plays” delivered about an octave and a half lower than Bailey’s register.
This article, which tries to argue that Southern dominance of Miss America is a result of racism, is so idiotic, so filled with PC bullshit and is such an inaccurate assessment of Southern history, culture and tradition, that it could only possibly have been published in the New York Times.
Eerie pictures of Chernobyl and amazing pictures of World War I.
Jacob Sullum details some of the concerns about allowing the CDC to do research into guns. I’m in favor of lifting restrictions on scientific research, even if it does mean politicized work. I just hate restrictions too much. But it is worth noting that the public health experts have a bad history of cooking the books to reach their conclusions, as seen in the EPA’s study of second-hand smoke and the CDC’s own study of obesity deaths.
A woman drives 900 miles out of her way and through several countries due to a supposed GPS error. Maybe it’s me, but I doubt the GPS was the only malfunctioning thing in that car.
An environmentalist admits he was wrong on GMO’s. Thanks a lot.
How much do you want to bet that most of the people involved in these idiocies were not fired?
I can’t vouch for the accuracy, but if these people really have recreated a hairstyle from the Roman Empire, that’s pretty damned cool.
Tags: Censorship, Education, Gun Control, History, Movies, Music, Photography, Sociology
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Saturday, November 3rd, 2012
A great letter on the situation at Penn State, from the former Paterno Chair.
This article, sent to me by several, argues that China will be a benevolent world power. I found it ludicrous. not only do I not think China will become a dominant world power (there are still massive areas of abject poverty and they are aging too fast); I find the historical analysis from this sinophile to be absurdly optimistic about what they would do with power.
Color photos of Nazi-occupied Poland.
Heart-rending notes pinned to abandoned babies.
This article, about Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen, came out this summer. But I found it amusing and kind of touching.
This story, about the explosion of solitary confinement in this country, is a must-read.
I knew that music has sucked since the 1980′s (#1). #5 is one we explore in Music Theory class.
Tags: China, Chris Christie, History, Law and Order, Music, Penn State, Photography, Politics, Prison
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Wednesday, October 17th, 2012
Distracted parenting is a problem, obviously. But, despite the horrible tragedies described, it’s not clear how big a problem it is. Mobile devices free parents up to do more things with kids and to supervise them more. I will let on, however, that they can occupy your attention. I was at a park when a kid broke his arm and didn’t notice immediately because of my phone. Don’t know if it would have been different with my kid.
I’m really looking forward to reading Nate Silver’s book.
Statues at the bottom of the sea. Amazing. And heart-breaking, when you think of what they represent.
I think this author has a good point that the Star Wars universe is likely illiterate. However, I think it’s less a conscious “where is modernism driving us” thing than a reflection of Star Wars being built on medieval narratives and cliches.
An interesting take on one of the more panned documentaries of the year. It does seem that people have a problem accepting that being anti-Big Education is not the same as being anti-education. Or even anti-teacher.
This story made my day. This is religion at its finest.
Whatever the political fallout of Benghazi, the story of the attack is an amazing one.
This is NOT the way to fight global warming. And they say all the greed and abuse is on the skeptic side.
Tags: Art, Child Rearing, Education, Environment, Global Warming, Libya, Movies, Religion, Science Fiction, Statistics, Technology
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Sunday, August 5th, 2012
I’m doing more long-form posting of links I care to comment on. But here’s a few I don’t have time for.
Man, do I love time lapse video
.
I haven’t found a good handle on the contention that Mitt Romney’s CEO background is actually a minus. I really think the CEO thing is irrelevant. What concerns me more is his lading up his staff with former Bush people.
I’m a little dubious of the contention that trash correlates with economic health. The graph smacks to me of a manipulated stat (it measure the derivative not the absolute). And our push on durability and recycling could confused it. Really, it looks, to me, more like you have one big correlated dip in both stats that’s driving the supposed correlation. The collapse of 2008 was unique. I’m not sure it’s a trend.
Tags: Economics, Election 2012, Photography, Politics
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Thursday, July 26th, 2012
I love love love photo series like this one, in which five men photographed themselves for thirty years. It’s time-lapse photography on an epic scale, showing just how fast we age and die. WHen my daughter was born, we used to photograph her in the same place every week but unfortunately fell out of practice.
Such projects are not just artistic: I believe they have enormous scientific potential for learning how people grow and age. Given the explosion of digital photography, it’s only a matter of time before someone mines the massive public data set for scientific insight. That is, if they’re not already doing it.
Tags: Photography, Time Lapse Photography
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Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
Starry Night … in dominoes.
A great interview with the Skeptical Environmentalist.
The DEA can’t justify it’s own War on Drugs.
This post, on whether kids should hate their parents, deserves a feature-length post from me. Suffice it to say that I, uh, split he baby on this one. I’m my daughter’s friend when I can be but if she doesn’t hate me once a week, I’m not doing my job.
Tags: Child Rearing, Cool Stuff, Environmentalism, Science, War on Drugs
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Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
The rise of resistant diseases is one of the biggest reasons I fear socialized medicine. Innovation is critical to the next century and I am afraid that price controls will kill it.
Amazing pictures of the Kowloon City.
This is why I read Joe Posnanski religiously. A post about nothing. And it’s beautiful.
I was going to write an article taking apart Buzz Blowhard Bissinger on the subject of college football. Now I don’t have to.
A study says women value sleep more than sex. This is unsurprising although the reasons are a bit different than what they think. It’s pure economics. For women, sex is available (mostly) when they want it so sleep takes priority. For men, you have to get it when you can, so everything else is secondary. I think Seinfeld did an episode on this, no?
Tags: Baseball, College Football, Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Kowloon, Photography, Sexuality, Sports
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Sunday, April 15th, 2012
Did Fata Morgana sink the Titanic?
Nowadays, it takes ten years to build a sidewalk. Didn’t used to be that way.
You know how women were supposed to never get married if they were still on the shelf at 30? Yeah, that was bullshit.
Moore’s real law.
Mathematical malpractice watch: Mitt Romney.
Tags: Computing, History, Marriage, Politics, Science, Sociology, Technology
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Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012
This week’s linkorama is brought to you by my insanity over the last two weeks.
Will even a little red meat kill you? Maybe not. But even if it did, what’s the point in living a couple of extra years if you’re hungry and miserable for the previous 70?
A pretty cool story about a cab ride around the world.
Why I love the internet: it creates heart-warming stories like this one.
Tags: Science
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Monday, March 19th, 2012
A tour of ancient Rome.
I’ve commented enough on the Sandra Fluke business at the other site and on Twitter. But here’s one last piece on the lack of outrage when conservative women are smeared — sometimes by supposed feminists.
These ads for a symphony are startlingly beautiful. I love modern photography.
A little profile of one of the more important First Amendment defenders out there.
And now … the least helpful review on Amazon.
And 100 reasons not to go to grad school.
My wife says she likes to exercise every day, but I don’t believe her.
Tags: Feminism, Free Speech, History, Humor, Politics
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