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splagxna for showing me Googlism!Its results for the word "Catherine" are enlightening:
catherine is dancing
catherine is our eigth child
catherine is not evil
catherine is victim of russian stamp hoax
catherine is single and waiting for the right man to come
catherine is here somewhere
( Read more... )
Looks like someone figured out a way to decompose a plastic bag. You have to grind up the bags into powder first, and there's a specific temperature range and type of microbe involved, but it's possible.
Hooray for science in the news!
I'm still wondering why the Kremlin's elite guard ordered 3,200 female mice back in March. So weird.
"Cholitas" women wrestlers in Bolivia: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/8973
A beautiful, short poem called "Seeing the Eclipse in Maine"
Japanese scientists craft the world's smallest ramen bowl, complete with microscopic noodles
And, for those who like trying to puzzle out foreign languages, check out this picture from http://ma-gnus.livejournal.com/8869.html:
Any translations for me? Hugh, I know you can do it!
Most of them are pictures, and I don't find most of them amusing, because we've all been that person who totally wiped out and fell face-forward onto hard, rainy pavement. So a picture of that happening to someone else elicits mostly pity and "ouch!" from me, not laughter.
But this actual example of an entry has me... laughing, I guess, even as I fear for the youth of today. Read on:
book rental service?
was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like…video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person had read one the next person can get enjoyment from it etc
Oh, wow. There really only is one thing to say:
FAIL.
I enjoy the recipes, although I haven't tried any yet, and I especially like the series on Other People's Pantries -- how they are configured and what cooking supplies they store therein.
I canceled my subscription to The Seattle Times a few years ago after reading, in an article about foster children, that half of foster children in Washington State are under the age of 9. If you define "child" as "someone under 18," and barring any huge bumps in birth rates recently, wouldn't you expect that about half of all children would be under 9? Honestly.
So anyway, when I see a stupid graph or hear a stupid statistic, it bugs me.
Here's one from the most recent church newsletter. It clearly shows that one number is smaller than the other.
See how the "Pledges Received" number is smaller than the "2008-09 Goal" number? See it? Because there's no way anyone could grasp the concept of one number being smaller than the other without a graph showing that it's so.
*fume*
Along those lines -- only in a humorous vein -- check out GraphJam. It's a site where people can create and upload their own flow charts, Venn diagrams, bar graphs, pie charts, and other forms of visual statistical representation; and a la LOLcats, it's being used for laughs.
I particularly like that if you don't get the joke, you can click "See Cheat Sheet" underneath almost every offering to find out where the reference comes from. Perfect for people who missed Pop Culture 101.
A handy reminder to us all: You should try to actually meet someone in person before becoming romantically involved with him/her. As the article so wisely says,
Ever since we crawled out of the mud and started hitting each other over the head with rocks, attraction has worked this way: I see you across the room. You see me. Something clicks. We approach. We talk. If there’s some kind of connection between our inner selves — even if it’s just a mutual desire to rub chocolate pudding over each other’s naughty bits — we get on with the business at hand. But the Internet has turned things upside down. Now, things work the other way around. Our inner selves meet and connect, and then we get to the raw, physical-attraction thing. And while it’s painful to learn that someone you find physically attractive doesn’t go for you, how much more painful to find that someone whose soul speaks to you across the series of tubes that make up the World Wide Web doesn’t go for your fat ass and spotty face.
But the story is much more interesting than that. It's a very strange window into the world of a very strange, sad, twisted person who preys on the honest emotions of others. You should read it.
And, in the chronicles of synchronicity, Andrew got home a bit ago and, after hearing about the fascinating article I had just finished, showed me the book he had literally just finished a few minutes before, Isaac Asimov's book "Murder at the ABA," which is dedicated to none other than Harlan Ellison.
It's a Harlan Ellison Fest around here, I tell you.
Now I'll actually have to read some of his stuff... Feel free to comment with your outrage over me not having read any Harlan Ellison before... but only if you tell me what to read first, OK?
Why was I not informed? And more importantly, what is their fight song??
Anyway, a scene from last night's game caught my imagination. As Nikki described a new character we were meeting, with her outlandish goggles, collection of mad-scientist oddments, and sprawling, be-turret-ed, windmill-bedecked estate, I was moved to ponder this new -- thing -- that is emerging today. That thing called Steampunk (Wikipedia article here).
Is it a subculture? Is it a genre? Is it a proto-subculture? Is it a movement? Or just an aesthetic? Or not even that?
( Read more... )
I have to say that viewed simply as a subculture, Steampunk beats Wicca hands-down. The fiction is better, and there's less chance of being burned at the stake for it. Plus, you have full permission to wear waistcoats or corsets along with very high lace-up boots, brandish preposterous-looking ray guns, and gleefully cackle things like: "At last! At last! My invention -- my creation shall live once more!!!"
Thanks for bearing with me. As a reward for your patience, here are all the links I have to steampunk-y goodness. So if that's the kind of thing that turns your crank, hop into the horseless carriage and putt-putt-putt away!
Check out the "Catherine basket" partway down the page!
[EDIT] Just stole the Catherine basket for a new icon. Mwahahahaha. *rubs hands together evilly*
People keep sending me links to strange things. It's not my fault. Honest!
Story in Newsweek about a children's book for kids whose moms are getting cosmetic surgery. The book is called "My Beautiful Mommy."
Old forum thread from 2003 with joke suggestions for future Harry Potter book titles. My favorites:
Harry Potter Reloaded
Harry Potter and the OTHER Chamber of Secrets That We Didn't Tell You About
Harry Potter and the big movie deal
Harry Potter and the Restraining Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Azkaban in which there is a Sorcerer's Goblet of Fire (way to hit all the high notes at once!)
And, OK, I admit it, I found this link all by myself... Bible Adventures for Children with Earl the Emu: A Children's Book Series with a Purpose!
It's all so scary. Hold me.
If you come up with the winning caption for this cartoon, you can get a free year of "Brain, Child Magazine" -- my favorite parenting magazine. Actually, my only parenting magazine. Or you could choose their "Greatest Hits" compilation of past essays, which I own and recommend, especially the essay on "Why I Hate Dr. Sears." Or you could choose to -- gasp -- give your gift subscription to someone you know, someone you like, someone who reads this magazine... *hint hint*
A real-life personal story, written by Get Rich Slowly.org guy J.D., that I found riveting -- the story of the worst job he ever had.
In the comments, he writes:
"I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m moaning or complaining here. I’m not. I realize perfectly well that this job came as a consequence of my choices. I tell the story because it’s amusing (in a nightmarish sort of way), because it illustrates the consequences of a failure to plan, and because those three months form the bedrock of all my debt. The choices I made then still affect me every day, fifteen years down the road.I think this is important for young adults to realize: small decicions you make now can have a huge impact on future happiness."
And finally, Have you ever wondered whether there are ratites in the Bible? Not Hittites or Amelikites or Jebusites -- we all know the Bible is filled with those, usually being slaughtered by the righteous fury of the Israelites, but ratites -- the family of flightless bird that includes the emu? Of course you have!
Well, the Bible is, sadly, emu-free, since they are native to Australia. Ostriches do appear in the Bible, however, and here is one of the places.
Lamentations 4:3
Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.
Happy Friday!
mevennen: Things I Learned from British Folk Ballads. By Jim Macdonald, who writes, "I have four children, two daughters and two sons. Naturally, I worry about their moral upbringing. As everyone knows who’s paying attention, “Just say no” doesn’t work. Instead, I made sure they were constantly exposed to the traditional folksongs and legends of Great Britain. Nothing’s more certain to give you a strong sense of the negative consequences of immoral or imprudent behavior."
splagxna's LJ (OK, originally from Gourmet magazine), an article on the making of the perfect omelet, titled "Chasing Perfection." "Three eggs, salt, pepper, and a little butter. That’s all there is in a classic French omelet, but it’s enough to keep reteaching me this vital lesson: Things are only simple when you’ve stopped asking the right questions of them, when you’ve stopped finding new ways to see them. Because what you find, when you learn how to find it, is that even simple things can be wonderfully, frustratingly, world-openingly complex."
I had no idea.
"Kalā (Sanskrit: कला) refers to art forms, attributes or virtues.
- Histrionic Talents, Drama, story telling techniques, mnemonics etc.,
- Making musical Instruments, simple mechanical devices etc., ( But wait, there's more! )
So very much to comment on.
Here are a few things, just off the top of my head --
Gamers, you will notice that #9 ("Playing games like dice") leads seemingly inevitably to #10 ("Mastering eroticism as per Vatsyayana, erotic devices and sexual arts"). Woo hoo!
Parents, you will notice that #53 ("Child rearing & Pediatrics") leads, also seemingly inevitably, to #54 ("Punishing guilty appropriately by Law and Order").
#45, "Managing Oil Resources," leads to #46, "Having control over others' minds, spells, charms ,Omens." That explains Haliburton quite neatly.
And finally, what the heck is up with #20, "Making ICBM"? Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles are part of ancient Hindu texts??
I am getting all my good links from
3countylaugh recently. This one came to me from her via tatterdamelion. "Arguments" -- towers and other structures made out of books by artist Tom Bendtsen.
I especially like this little chapel-esque building. This was done over 10 years ago, but I'm just finding out about it now. Hooray for the relative permanency of easily reproducible media like photographs and, er, books!
Thanks to
3countylaugh and brighids_own for spending the afternoon with me gardening and showing me cool things on the internet. Thanks to them, here are a couple of Japanese things that should probably be seen to be believed.
- The Algorithm March -- reminds me strongly of the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks
- PythagoraSwitch -- a show in Japan that opens with a cute little Rube Goldberg-esque machine. This video is a compilation of many of them all in a row.
And finally, here's my astrological chart according to Astrolabe.com.
Warning: It's long.
( Chart me up! )
They've charted the amounts out in a very pretty format that looks like something organic, like an umbilical cord, or a dreamscape mountain range that goes down as well as up.
There's a scroll bar, so you can scroll left and right and explore.
I am laughing so hard at work that others are looking at me.
Thank you thank you,
tatterdamelion, for passing this along and releasing all of my endorphins at once from their little endorphin prisons. :-DSyndicate
