Road House: the Play

From Gustave Le Bon's The Crowd: A study of the popular mind.

The great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations such as the fall of the Roman Empire and the foundation of the Arabian Empire, seem at first sight determined more especially by political transformations, foreign invasion, or the overthrow of dynasties. But a more attentive study of these events shows that behind their apparent causes the real cause is generally seen to be a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples. The true historical upheavals are not those which astonish us by their grandeur and violence. The only important changes whence the renewal of civilisations results, affect ideas, conceptions, and beliefs. The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the invisible changes of human thought. The reason these great events are so rare is that there is nothing so stable in a race as the inherited groundwork of its thoughts.

A bacterium that sat dormant in a frozen pond in Alaska for 32,000 years has been revived by NASA scientists.

Blink O Rama. Sometimes the Web can be a delightfully pointless place.

P2240051
Originally uploaded by dmushrush.

Anyone out there read romance novels? I'll bet you never read any like these.

via boingboing

So there was this yankee judge at a chili cookoff...

I'm going on tour with Thievery Corporation.

The Onion interviews Dave Eggers, the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

"[Fiction feels] like driving a car in a clown suit. You're going somewhere, but you're in costume, and you're not really fooling anybody. You're the guy in costume, and everybody's supposed to forget that and go along with you."

Now we've all collected things before, but this guy has taken it way too far.

Common Errors in English

The best of Hubble. Some nice images here. (Thanks, mom!)

This is disturbingly cool.

The Bible comes in first once again.

Illegal cellphone jammers are selling like hotcakes on the streets of New York.

The 10 greatest rock'n'roll myths:

"6: Robert Johnson's pact with the devil Famously, Johnson sold his soul to the devil in order to play guitar like a demon. You want prima facie evidence? How about 'Me and the Devil Blues', and the fact that young Robert was a poor guitarist whose improvement was remarkable. Actually, he used that little known voodoo technique 'practice', and was tutored by a bluesman called Ike Zimmerman. Not Satan."

Hunter S. Thompson commits suicide.

Huge 'star-quake' rocks Milky Way

I want one.

How to build an ice wall.

It's the Golden Bull Awards, given for the year's worst examples of gobbledygook. My favorite was the British Airways terms and conditions entry:

CHARGES FOR CHANGES AND CANCELLATIONS

NOTE – CANCELLATIONS – BEFORE DEPARTURE FARE IS REFUNDABLE. IF COMBINING A NON-REFUNDABLE FARE WITH A REFUNDABLE FARE ONLY THE Y/C/J-CLASS HALF RETURN AMOUNT CAN BE REFUNDED. AFTER DEPARTURE FARE IS REFUNDABLE. IF COMBINING A NON-REFUNDABLE FARE WITH A REFUNDABLE FARE REFUND THE DIFFERENCE /IF ANY/BETWEEN THE FARE PAID AND THE APPLICABLE NORMAL BA ONEWAY FARE.

CHANGES/UPGRADES- PERMITTED ANYTIME.

"American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares."

Apparently real possession by the devil isn't as common as people who are possessed might think.

"Father Scarafoni said that, generally, "85 percent to 90 percent of these people are not possessed or even being attacked by the devil. They need someone to listen. They need a prayer. They need a long walk and a glass of water."

Hubble photos

I've blogged this before, but these photos of nuclear explosions are haunting. More galleries are here and here.

I'm fascinated with the pinhole camera now. Dave has directed my attention to Pinholeday.org, which has an impressive collection of home-brewed photos from around the world. One of many great shots:

Thanks, Dave!

BBC: How the world is changing, in pictures.

This is interesting. Have you wondered how everyone on NPR always sounds so smooth and amazingly articulate? Here's a discussion on the "media sausage" you're actually hearing during those oh so flawless interviews. Here's the actual transcript of the interview, entitled "Pulling Back the Curtain."

Now, I'm a fan of Star Wars and all, but these people are losers beyond the pale.

Great pictures of Tiger Woods practicing off the heli-deck of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, UAE.

Beautiful pictures of Paris with a pinhole camera. What's a pinhole camera, you ask? So glad you did.

View the preview to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the movie. In theaters April 29.

Remember in high school trying to write "The Doors" on your Algebra book, in that cool font they had on their album cover? I do. Well, now all you have to do is type it. Get your music band fonts here.

Amazing story about Daniel Tammet, a 26-year-old autistic savant and mathematical genius.

"Tammet is calculating 377 multiplied by 795. Actually, he isn't 'calculating': there is nothing conscious about what he is doing. He arrives at the answer instantly. Since his epileptic fit, he has been able to see numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. 'When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think.'"

Fantastic fullscreen panoramic images here, including a shot from the Apollo moon landing.

I hope this thing is finished when I win the lottery. Poseidon Undersea Resorts is building an underwater hotel on the sea floor in the Bahamas. At $1500 a night, it better be nice.

"About 60% of the exterior surface of the suite is transparent acrylic making the undersea views panoramic. Outside of the sitting area of each suite will be a private artificial reef that will be the home for unique varieties of marine life. Each suite will also have its own underwater lights controllable from an inside switch and an external fish feeder as well. Guests will be able to push a button and feed the fish outside. The level of luxury in the suites themselves will be unsurpassed with the finest fabrics, woods and fixtures. Each suite has a large jacuzzi tub with fabulous views of the sea floor as well."

OK--it'll be nice.

This weekend I headed on over to D.C. for the Burton D. Wechsler First Amendment Moot Court Competition at the American University College of Law. My co-counsel, Matt Skeens, and our coach, Ebony Huddleston, and I had a pretty good time--even though we didn't win. The competition was tough. We rolled into town on Thursday, two days before the arguments, and set up shop at The Jefferson Hotel on 16th and M. Nice digs, I must say. On Friday we sightsaw, and then on Saturday we argued. And Sunday we rested. Actually we did quite a bit of sightseeing, including a great trip over to Arlington to see the changing of the guard. Let me once again say that I love Washington. I love the Mall, the museums, the Capitol; the whole American gestalt surrounding everything. I can't help but get this big squishy sentiment for democracy, and all that it represents, every time. Call me patriotic. I'd never seen the changing of the guard before either, and I ate it up. Washington is very effective at conveying the idea of America quite apart from the reality, which is the essence of patriotism. I don't really wrap myself in the flag very often, but I still love Washington and everything it stands for. At any rate, it was certainly the appropriate place to be, seeing as Matt and I were arguing a hot First Amendment issue. Click on the picture at left to see the photos.

Once again, thanks Erin for being such a good emissary and restauranteur! We had a blast.

First true-color images of Saturn released.

Is your computer screen smudged and dirty? Click here.

This cracked me up. A Jordanian couple who had a torrid online romance finally met face to face--only to find out that they were already married. The couple had separated, but later met coincidentally online and fell in love again through their disguised online persona. Needless to say, the new romance was short-lived. Amazing.

Good article on the HUGE disparity between the penalties for actual stealing and those for downloading. These numbers are illustrative of the unreasonableness of the music industry's stance:

	Stealing	Infringing
Absolute Minimum	$0 no jail	$4,400
Absolute Maximum	$100,000 1 year jail	$3,400,000 1 year jail lawyer fees and costs
Real World Example	Winona Ryder*: $2,700 fine $6,355 restitution $1,000 court cost 3 years probation	An Average RIAA settlement**: $14,875

Beautiful images from Gigapixel's image gallery.

Google Maps.

Oh dear.

"The massive west Antarctic ice sheet, previously assumed to be stable, is starting to collapse, scientists warned on Tuesday.

Antarctica contains more than 90% of the world's ice, and the loss of any significant part of it would cause a substantial sea level rise. Scientists used to view Antarctica as a 'slumbering giant', said Chris Rapley, from the British Antarctic Survey, but now he sees it as an 'awakened giant'"

My little nazi dolls.

Interesting article on magnetars--similar to pulsars, they flash X-rays and bursts of gamma rays. They're rare, and they're huge: "If a magnetar flew past Earth within 100,000 miles, the intense magnetic field of the exotic object would destroy the data on every credit card on the planet."

Stupid questions stupid sports reporters have asked stupid athletes. My favorite--one reporter asked the Titans' Jevon Kearse about the religious symbol dangling from his neck:

"What's the significance of the cross?"

This image of what appears to be a captured US soldier was posted on an Iraqi militant website, Tuesday Feb. 1, 2005. According to the website, the militants threatened to behead the hostage in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The claim could not be verified.

Are they serious? This is a toy. Not a bad photshop job, though.

Amusing take on the new alternative theory to evolution, "Intelligent Design." ID seems to be picking up adherents ever day, and I imagine that "Inherit the Wind" rentals are soaring as well. This Q&A is funny because it's true. Excerpt:

Q: So what is ID doing to research the identity and characteristics of this 'intelligence' that it posits?
A: Well, nothing that I've found yet...


Q: Because if they really wanted to research stuff, they'd be saying things like, 'Well, could a giant lobster make a flower?' and, 'Is there anything about the design of DNA that looks like something a space crustacean would come up with?'
A: I really think you need to get off this whole lobster thing.

Q: But these ID guys aren't looking into just who this intelligence is, are they?
A: No.

Q: Because they think it's God, right?
A: They don't say that.

Q: Because if they thought they saw evidence of giant superintelligent eyestalks peering down on them from under a celestial carapace, they'd be seriously bummed, wouldn't they?
A: I think this Q&A is over now."

The original iPod.

Amazing stop-time photography.

Not that this happens to me very often, but just in case, here is a comprehensive list of things to say when you are losing a tech argument.