Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites
Fan-bloody-tastic. See the lunar landing sites - possibly the furthest mankind will ever go from his planet?
EDIT - zoom right in for the best easter egg ever. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Hobbit (Denham) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"'What a happiness this must have been seventy or eighty years ago and upwards, to those chosen few who had the good luck to be born on the eve of this festival of all festivals; when the whole earth was so overrun with ghosts, boggles, bloody-bones, spirits, demons, ignis fatui, brownies, bugbears, black dogs, specters, shellycoats, scarecrows, witches, wizards, barguests, Robin-Goodfellows, hags, night-bats, scrags, breaknecks, fantasms, hobgoblins, hobhoulards, boggy-boes, dobbies, hob-thrusts, fetches, kelpies, warlocks, mock-beggars, mum-pokers, Jemmy-burties, urchins, satyrs, pans, fauns, sirens, tritons, centaurs, calcars, nymphs, imps, incubuses, spoorns, men-in-the-oak, hell-wains, fire-drakes, kit-a-can-sticks, Tom-tumblers, melch-dicks, larrs, kitty-witches, hobby-lanthorns, Dick-a-Tuesdays, Elf-fires, Gyl-burnt-tales, knockers, elves, rawheads, Meg-with-the-wads, old-shocks, ouphs, pad-foots, pixies, pictrees, giants, dwarfs, Tom-pokers, tutgots, snapdragons, sprets, spunks, conjurers, thurses, spurns, tantarrabobs, swaithes, tints, tod-lowries, Jack-in-the-Wads, mormos, changelings, redcaps, yeth-hounds, colt-pixies, Tom-thumbs, black-bugs, boggarts, scar-bugs, shag-foals, hodge-pochers, hob-thrushes, bugs, bull-beggars, bygorns, bolls, caddies, bomen, brags, wraiths, waffs, flay-boggarts, fiends, gallytrots, imps, gytrashes, patches, hob-and-lanthorns, gringes, boguests, bonelesses, Peg-powlers, pucks, fays, kidnappers, gallybeggars, hudskins, nickers, madcaps, trolls, robinets, friars' lanthorns, silkies, cauld-lads, death-hearses, goblins, hob-headlesses, bugaboos, kows, or cowes, nickies, nacks [necks], waiths, miffies, buckies, ghouls, sylphs, guests, swarths, freiths, freits, gy-carlins [Gyre-carling], pigmies, chittifaces, nixies, Jinny-burnt-tails, dudmen, hell-hounds, dopple-gangers, boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies, wirrikows, alholdes, mannikins, follets, korreds, lubberkins, cluricauns, kobolds, leprechauns, kors, mares, korreds, puckles korigans, sylvans, succubuses, blackmen, shadows, banshees, lian-hanshees, clabbernappers, Gabriel-hounds, mawkins, doubles, corpse lights or candles, scrats, mahounds, trows, gnomes, sprites, fates, fiends, sibyls, nicknevins, whitewomen, fairies, thrummy-caps, cutties, and nisses, and apparitions of every shape, make, form, fashion, kind and description, that there was not a village in England that had not its own peculiar ghost. Nay, every lone tenement, castle, or mansion-house, which could boast of any antiquity had its bogle, its specter, or its knocker. The churches, churchyards, and crossroads were all haunted. Every green lane had its boulder-stone on which an apparition kept watch at night. Every common had its circle of fairies belonging to it. And there was scarcely a shepherd to be met with who had not seen a spirit!'"
Just a beautiful bit of English I came across while randoming Wikipedia. Tolkien fans (the deplorable cultus) apparently are avid that he invented the word 'Hobbit'. He wasn't sure, but thought he probably had, from the Olde Englishe root "hobbe-", as in "hobbe-hoss" (hobby-horse). However, it crops up a couple of times before, notably in this list of haunters by Denham.
"'What a happiness this must have been seventy or eighty years ago and upwards, to those chosen few who had the good luck to be born on the eve of this festival of all festivals; when the whole earth was so overrun with ghosts, boggles, bloody-bones, spirits, demons, ignis fatui, brownies, bugbears, black dogs, specters, shellycoats, scarecrows, witches, wizards, barguests, Robin-Goodfellows, hags, night-bats, scrags, breaknecks, fantasms, hobgoblins, hobhoulards, boggy-boes, dobbies, hob-thrusts, fetches, kelpies, warlocks, mock-beggars, mum-pokers, Jemmy-burties, urchins, satyrs, pans, fauns, sirens, tritons, centaurs, calcars, nymphs, imps, incubuses, spoorns, men-in-the-oak, hell-wains, fire-drakes, kit-a-can-sticks, Tom-tumblers, melch-dicks, larrs, kitty-witches, hobby-lanthorns, Dick-a-Tuesdays, Elf-fires, Gyl-burnt-tales, knockers, elves, rawheads, Meg-with-the-wads, old-shocks, ouphs, pad-foots, pixies, pictrees, giants, dwarfs, Tom-pokers, tutgots, snapdragons, sprets, spunks, conjurers, thurses, spurns, tantarrabobs, swaithes, tints, tod-lowries, Jack-in-the-Wads, mormos, changelings, redcaps, yeth-hounds, colt-pixies, Tom-thumbs, black-bugs, boggarts, scar-bugs, shag-foals, hodge-pochers, hob-thrushes, bugs, bull-beggars, bygorns, bolls, caddies, bomen, brags, wraiths, waffs, flay-boggarts, fiends, gallytrots, imps, gytrashes, patches, hob-and-lanthorns, gringes, boguests, bonelesses, Peg-powlers, pucks, fays, kidnappers, gallybeggars, hudskins, nickers, madcaps, trolls, robinets, friars' lanthorns, silkies, cauld-lads, death-hearses, goblins, hob-headlesses, bugaboos, kows, or cowes, nickies, nacks [necks], waiths, miffies, buckies, ghouls, sylphs, guests, swarths, freiths, freits, gy-carlins [Gyre-carling], pigmies, chittifaces, nixies, Jinny-burnt-tails, dudmen, hell-hounds, dopple-gangers, boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies, wirrikows, alholdes, mannikins, follets, korreds, lubberkins, cluricauns, kobolds, leprechauns, kors, mares, korreds, puckles korigans, sylvans, succubuses, blackmen, shadows, banshees, lian-hanshees, clabbernappers, Gabriel-hounds, mawkins, doubles, corpse lights or candles, scrats, mahounds, trows, gnomes, sprites, fates, fiends, sibyls, nicknevins, whitewomen, fairies, thrummy-caps, cutties, and nisses, and apparitions of every shape, make, form, fashion, kind and description, that there was not a village in England that had not its own peculiar ghost. Nay, every lone tenement, castle, or mansion-house, which could boast of any antiquity had its bogle, its specter, or its knocker. The churches, churchyards, and crossroads were all haunted. Every green lane had its boulder-stone on which an apparition kept watch at night. Every common had its circle of fairies belonging to it. And there was scarcely a shepherd to be met with who had not seen a spirit!'"
Just a beautiful bit of English I came across while randoming Wikipedia. Tolkien fans (the deplorable cultus) apparently are avid that he invented the word 'Hobbit'. He wasn't sure, but thought he probably had, from the Olde Englishe root "hobbe-", as in "hobbe-hoss" (hobby-horse). However, it crops up a couple of times before, notably in this list of haunters by Denham.
we make money not art: "Fabian Seibert at Suelzkotlett designs rather dangerous accessories.
His Lugosi 20 Suicide Bracelet comes with a sharp blade and is easy to use: wear slit on pulse, break off blade, insert blade, cut wrist. Here you go: a stylish suicide for just 160 euros.
And if you did use it as prescribed, you might be happy to buy another of Suelzkotlett's items: Healer for the modern suicide addict."
His Lugosi 20 Suicide Bracelet comes with a sharp blade and is easy to use: wear slit on pulse, break off blade, insert blade, cut wrist. Here you go: a stylish suicide for just 160 euros.
And if you did use it as prescribed, you might be happy to buy another of Suelzkotlett's items: Healer for the modern suicide addict."
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
The evolution of intelligence | Natural genius?:
"people with a single copy of the gene for Tay-Sachs, or that for Gaucher's, or that for Niemann-Pick should be more intelligent than average. Dr Cochran and his colleagues predict they will be so by about five IQ points. If that turns out to be the case, it will strengthen the idea that, albeit unwillingly, Ashkenazi Jews have been part of an accidental experiment in eugenics. It has brought them some advantages. But, like the deliberate eugenics experiments of the 20th century, it has also exacted a terrible price."
Being half-Ashkenazi myself, this is a little worrying, though obviously my head (and the sphingolipid storage cells in my nerves) swelled a little when reading this. The problem with this story is obviously that it's a eugenic theory, and they're mostly out of fashion due to the whole Nazi death-camp thing (though the whole Aryan ideal was initially inspired by American eugenics efforts).
My problem with eugenic theories is that they are so plausible; there are physical differences between different strands of humanity, so it seems logical to assume that there will be mental differences (especially if you avoid dualism, and believe that the human mind is entirely a product of the human body.) Of course, the problem is in the perception of those differences, and the social value placed on those differences; if Ashkenazim have higher I.Q.s, that could mean some other minority has lower IQs - but to claim that would instantly attract cries of racism, whereas we only feel a mild quibble of disquiet at this thesis.
So should scientists participate in this sort of research? Can it help in any way? In every field of life we're encouraged to treat each individual anew, not judging them on the basis of previous bias; but we also behave entirely according to personal biases, according to rules of action we create so that we do not have to cope with each stimuli from absolutely basic principles. Call these rules of action moral codes, call them character, they're there and they're part of who we are. When we meet a person for the first time, we judge them according to our knowledge of other types we've met before like them, and some of those similarities may well have a racial base, though we've just derived them from our experiences. Does the lack of intent towards a racist action, make the action racist? And a similar rule, that judges according to a person being a public schoolboy, or knowing a certain town, is that a form of prejudice too? Yes, most likely, but it's useful prejudice, whether it's fair or not.
"people with a single copy of the gene for Tay-Sachs, or that for Gaucher's, or that for Niemann-Pick should be more intelligent than average. Dr Cochran and his colleagues predict they will be so by about five IQ points. If that turns out to be the case, it will strengthen the idea that, albeit unwillingly, Ashkenazi Jews have been part of an accidental experiment in eugenics. It has brought them some advantages. But, like the deliberate eugenics experiments of the 20th century, it has also exacted a terrible price."
Being half-Ashkenazi myself, this is a little worrying, though obviously my head (and the sphingolipid storage cells in my nerves) swelled a little when reading this. The problem with this story is obviously that it's a eugenic theory, and they're mostly out of fashion due to the whole Nazi death-camp thing (though the whole Aryan ideal was initially inspired by American eugenics efforts).
My problem with eugenic theories is that they are so plausible; there are physical differences between different strands of humanity, so it seems logical to assume that there will be mental differences (especially if you avoid dualism, and believe that the human mind is entirely a product of the human body.) Of course, the problem is in the perception of those differences, and the social value placed on those differences; if Ashkenazim have higher I.Q.s, that could mean some other minority has lower IQs - but to claim that would instantly attract cries of racism, whereas we only feel a mild quibble of disquiet at this thesis.
So should scientists participate in this sort of research? Can it help in any way? In every field of life we're encouraged to treat each individual anew, not judging them on the basis of previous bias; but we also behave entirely according to personal biases, according to rules of action we create so that we do not have to cope with each stimuli from absolutely basic principles. Call these rules of action moral codes, call them character, they're there and they're part of who we are. When we meet a person for the first time, we judge them according to our knowledge of other types we've met before like them, and some of those similarities may well have a racial base, though we've just derived them from our experiences. Does the lack of intent towards a racist action, make the action racist? And a similar rule, that judges according to a person being a public schoolboy, or knowing a certain town, is that a form of prejudice too? Yes, most likely, but it's useful prejudice, whether it's fair or not.
MMODating: "MMODATING NOW COMPLETLY FREE!
That's right, free...
Cost of signing up: Free
Cost of creating a profile so others can find you: Free
Cost of searching for your next love: Free
Cost of sending a message: Free
Finding a guy/girl who actually wants to play that game with you: Priceless."
Dating for massively multiplayer geeks. The site currently features two pages of girl gamers (mostly jokes, video game characters or hideous trolls; sorry ladies) and innumerable pages of turkey-necked blokes. Gamers really should have a higher prevalence of homosexuality, it would make life so much easier on them, as well alleviating other problems. A friend was telling me that in his school there were girls in all the other years but his; this lead to massive violence, anger, and terrible behaviour on the part of the kids. Perhaps the over-prevalence of violence in games is related to this as well; the proximity of the opposite sex combined with an unbridgeable gap between them.
That's right, free...
Cost of signing up: Free
Cost of creating a profile so others can find you: Free
Cost of searching for your next love: Free
Cost of sending a message: Free
Finding a guy/girl who actually wants to play that game with you: Priceless."
Dating for massively multiplayer geeks. The site currently features two pages of girl gamers (mostly jokes, video game characters or hideous trolls; sorry ladies) and innumerable pages of turkey-necked blokes. Gamers really should have a higher prevalence of homosexuality, it would make life so much easier on them, as well alleviating other problems. A friend was telling me that in his school there were girls in all the other years but his; this lead to massive violence, anger, and terrible behaviour on the part of the kids. Perhaps the over-prevalence of violence in games is related to this as well; the proximity of the opposite sex combined with an unbridgeable gap between them.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Newgrounds presents: Super Mario Physics
Oh my. Truly astounding basic level phsyics explained through the medium of Mario. It'sa Me=MC2!
Oh my. Truly astounding basic level phsyics explained through the medium of Mario. It'sa Me=MC2!
Belgian Beer Ad
I saw this as a trailer to something; The Edukators I think (an excellent movie). Its a very Bunuel advert involving period Jacques Tati types sat around staring at a fatal bottle of beer. Who'll break first? Compelling.
I saw this as a trailer to something; The Edukators I think (an excellent movie). Its a very Bunuel advert involving period Jacques Tati types sat around staring at a fatal bottle of beer. Who'll break first? Compelling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)