May 10, 2006
AIM Pages
I guess freedom ain't free.
Have your war and heat it too? As the war approaches the $350 billion mark, Cass Sunstein notes: "For the United States, the economic burden of the Iraq war is on the verge of exceeding the total anticipated burden of the Kyoto Protocol." Costs may rise as high as $10 trillion. At least we know it wasn't about oil: in a good year, Iraq makes about $14 billion on fossil fuels. (via)
Odd but fun short films...
The odd films of Neural Surfer. I've yet to watch them all but my fave so far is Little Things that Jiggle: Richard Feynman and Atomic Physics {google vid}, which is part of the Philosophy in less than five minutes (sometimes) series.
Left-Right Alliance?
John Birch Society Member calls for a Rebel Alliance in this fascinating article on those opinions jointly shared by both conservatives and liberals. I didn't expect to read this from someone I consider so far to the right.
Just some things to make us laugh...
Funny Stuff. Laughing usually doesn't hurt but even when it does it can help you stay healthy and happy too! Other than the obvious *ahem*, is there anything the internet is better for than laughing yourself into a coughing fit? If you like jokes, or puns (that one is awesome - by the way), or people setting their faces on fire (my personal favorites), it's all out there.
In his cups, too, he had fitful but almost demoniac inspirations for hidden truth
Another black eye for ID (youtube link): Zoologist Dan-Eric Nilsson of the University of Lund in Sweden explains how the complex human eye could have evolved gradually from a primitive light-sensitive eye-spot. Via Swift.
This is fiction
Writing has been around for a long time, but that doesn't mean we've mastered it yet. Want to make fiction? Perhaps it makes itself, perhaps it makes you... Self reference breeding infinite hyperrealities. Which world will you choose?
But What About Us? Student Photographs from the Corridor of Shame
"But What About Us? Student Photographs from the Corridor of Shame" is a traveling photography exhibit that follows up on “Corridor of Shame: the neglect of South Carolina's rural schools" [wmv], a 58 minute documentary that tells the story of the challenges faced in funding an adequate education in South Carolina's rural school districts. The documentary tracks the evidence presented on behalf of eight school districts in Abbeville County School District v. The State of South Carolina [pdf].
The exhibit is a powerful demonstration to the needs still unmet in South Carolina's rural schools. Only five pictures and captions are on the website now, but most of the pictures appear inside with permission from the copyright holder.
redefining the zeitgeist or something!
Google Trends is really cool. Yes, it's yet another google project, but you can compare so much pointless
stuff with it!
Straddle the line in discord and rhyme, I'm on the hunt I'm after you...
Hungry like the wolf. In his state-of-the-nation address, Vladamir Putin took a swipe at the Bush administration, saying that Russia should build "a strong, reliable home because we do see what's going on in the world. . . Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat. It's eating without listening to anyone. And by all appearances, it's not going to listen . . . Where is all this pathos about the need to fight for human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests? Here everything is possible. There are no limits."
spooky fluids!
Order from chaos! Fill a cylindrical bucket with water and make it so the bottom can spin. At certain speeds, stable regular polygonal shapes will spontaneously form at the turbulent surface of the water. See the video. [2.6MB avi] [via last week's PRL]
Super Mario Galaxy
No More Black and White
No More Black and White. An article in the Washington Post about a census report released today shows that 45 percent of children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities, with Hispanics the largest group.
Interestingly enough, as Andrew Sullivan notes, among the under-5 population only 4% are black, a trend he's seen in the time he's lived in Washington D.C. ("It's only gotten whiter and browner.") This has happened/is happening perhaps most dramatically in New Orleans (previously).
or he doesnt fly away....
The Magical Number Seven
The Magical Number Seven Psychologist George A. Miller on the human limits for processing and remembering data. It is a little dramatic to watch a person memorize 40 binary digits in a row without error.
Luttig resigns Fourth Circuit post.
Luttig Resigns. Judge J. Michael Luttig, long considered a front-runner for a Supreme Court nomination, at least until he was passed over by President Bush, has resigned his position on the Fourth circuit. Luttig will take over as general counsel to Boeing. Read Boeing's press release and Luttig's resignation letter [pdf].
Gum Blondes
Undercover Surrealism
George Bataille's Documents—a short-lived but influential journal conceived as a 'war machine against received ideas'—has inspired an exhibition, Undercover Surrealism (Flash with sound).
Live here and now.
Living without Numbers or Time...
The Pirahã people have no history, no descriptive words and no subordinate clauses. That makes their language one of the strangest in the world -- and also one of the most hotly debated by linguists. [via aldaily.com]
The Pirahã people have no history, no descriptive words and no subordinate clauses. That makes their language one of the strangest in the world -- and also one of the most hotly debated by linguists. [via aldaily.com]
Every little helps
British supermarket giant Tesco recently posted profits of £2m ($3.73bn), like most modern employers it decided to reward its employees for their hard work: by giving them a free meal in the staff canteen worth £1.40 ($2.60). Others were offered sausage rolls and tuna sandwhiches. Does this make Tesco the most tightfisted corporation of all time? Or are their others equally parsimonious? Or even worse?
You spell 'honor' like a Brit!
Spinner Disk A flash site with Einstein, penguins, ninjas, narwhals and a dinosaur. What more could one want?
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