Links posted in February 2008
February 29, 2008
Today is the fifth Friday in February. It only happens once every 28 years, so get it on while you can.
February 28, 2008
The Medicated Americans: Antidepressant Prescriptions on the Rise. "Close to 10 percent of men and women in America are now taking drugs to combat depression. How did a once rare condition become so common?" [Via Mind Hacks.]
Blind Irishman sees with the aid of son's tooth in his eye. Posted for the title, by the title, and nothing but the title.
Some scientists are reconsidering the "common sense" about autism, particularly the idea that profound autism is always accompanied by retardation. The article comes at this from both scientific and civil rights angles. [more inside]
How to build a Cardboard Spaceship - Snarfled from the blort
February 27, 2008
A picture has been found of the boy Anne Frank described in her diary as "my one true love." [more inside]
Curious George: UK Earthquake? - How's everyone o'er there in Blighty, did you just get an earthquake?
February 26, 2008
Mix-tape For Water Boarding- Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, "prolong capture shock," disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose.
Are you man enough to survive the Cello Challenge? Personally, I doubt it, but for the fearless among you yearning to release that inner Yo Yo Ma, this Flash game might be just the ticket.
Nazi Gold! But perhaps no Amber Room, though.
How to Exercise an Open Mind
- Simply put, doing unique, random, different, and ridiculous things is a good way to exercise the mind and promote new ways of thinking about the world around us. One hour of increased brain activity via thinking a lot or experiencing new stimuli can make you smarter, more energetic, more creative, more sociable, and more open to new experiences and ways of thinking.
from wikiHow
February 25, 2008
Apparently, we all missed the Third Annual International Indoor Bunnock Tournament. Bunnock? Yes, bunnock. It's bunnock, ok?
Le site de l´architecture ferroviaire A railway architecture site, featuring photos and descriptions of hundreds of railway stations in France and abroad. [more inside]
Man dies in clubland cake incident but it's a more ordinary tragedy than the problem with "Czech neck" Chris Morris once warned us about. Don't risk your Shatner's bassoon, kids. [more inside]
Powder
This web game is a game that reels the powder by using the mouse, sends the wind, and enjoys that the dot dances.
(Java)
February 24, 2008
Curious George: Radio Jingle Chord
Yo musical monkeys: what's that chord so typical of radio bumpers (link goes to American Top 40 audio)?
Think of singing a radio call sign and it's that chord: "Double-you - Kay - Are - Peeeeeee . . in Cincinnati" kinda thing. What chord is that?
[more inside]
The entire contents of Design Magazine (1965-1974)
February 23, 2008
Sweden's Ice Hotel draws creative artists every year to create the hotel's guest suites with inspiring results. Also, a reporter's account of a visit. Here are some more photos. At the official website, you can book your stay.
The Escapist Editorials has a Zero Punctuation section by a game reviewer Yahtzee Croshaw who writes insane bitter reviews of the latest games, that also happen to be hilarious, in a John Cleese sort of way, with video animations. [more inside]
Curious George: How reliable is opednews.com? just interested. OpEdNews.Com
February 22, 2008
Nine experienced cross-country skiers hurriedly left their tent on a Urals slope in the middle of the night at around -30 degrees Celsius, casting aside skis, food, boots and most of their clothes. Soon they would be dead, many of them with unexplained physical injuries more suited to car crash victims, and dosed with radiation. Their deaths are still unexplained, 49 years later. The Dyatlov Pass Mystery. [more inside]
February 21, 2008
Pee+Vegetable Oil = Self-healing rubber, that maintains chemical attraction after being cut, it reconnects and re-adheres. Cool! What would you use it for? via der boingo von boingsingvich
St. Patrick's Day falls during Holy Week this year.
Some St. Paddy's Days have been moved to March 14th, others not. Check your local listings.
[more inside]
Actual free credit report. As a consumer, I get tons of offers to view my FREE CREDIT REPORT every year, particularly around tax time, suggesting that my FREE CREDIT REPORT is a special offer for, say, $39.95, plus a swimming pool and years of usurious rates. But consumers actually do get this free. See FREE above. Or call US 877-322-8228. [more inside]
Email Apnea: Describes the way people hold their breaths, or breathe shallowly, while answering email. [more inside]
February 20, 2008
Lost in translation - Stewart Lee (who he? - Ed) on the German sense of humour. A rather good old article from the Grauniad.
CuriousGeorge: Student loan bothers
I have, for the past 4 months, been making monthly payments to Company X, which is a collection agency, for an old student loan with the NY State Higher Ed folks. I have not missed a payment.
Today, I get a call from Company Y asking me to set up payments for my student loan. When I say that I'm already making payment with Company X, they say "well, NY State transferred it to us, and we need to set up a new payment plan."
Can they do this?
Can Scientists Dance? After watching Simone Recchi's "Dynamical and chemical evolution of blue compact dwarf galaxies", I tend towards NO.
Millions of starlings flock together in Scotland. (embedded video) It's amazing how they move together and the motion of the flock is like water. Seriously.
February 19, 2008
Beautiful plumage? A Stackwatcher's guide to plume types and smoke density grades (as applied to the Hammer).
Five-Minute Films. The new movie Be Kind, Rewind inspires amateur filmmakers. [more inside]
The Metamorphosis of the Cecropia Silkmoth Larva - pics. This is Hyalophora cecropia, one of the largest moths of North America, member of the Saturniidae family.
Fidel Castro to retire. Castro declined another term as President, ending 49 years in power. [more inside]
February 18, 2008
Another Ancient city discovered in India - Indian archaeologists say they have found remains which point to the existence of a city about 7,000 years old at Sisupalgarh, inland in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. [more inside]
February 17, 2008
A Lone Wolf Is You!
If you were a sheltered, ostracized child in the 1980s, your misspent youth undoubtedly included far too many hours Choosing Your Own Adventures. If your sheltered ostracized childhood then turned into a sheltered, ostracized adolescence, shunned even by D&D players, you may have "graduated" to the wholly nerdish realm of the Solo Adeventure! Instead of talking to members of the opposite sex, perhaps you found yourself embroiled in Fighting Fantasy, GrailQuest, or, arguably at the top of the sweaty, pimply pyramid, Lone Wolf.
[more inside]
Gecko 'begs' insect for honeydew
~~ Symbiosis. List of symbiotic relationships (incomplete).
Previously on MoFi:Moray eel & Grouper hunting cooperatively
Sewage Workers Stalked by 'Zombie' in Underground Tunnels - shurely shome mishtake? Jobbie not Zombie
February 16, 2008
Who doesn't want to be this inventor?
Steve Hollinger
was recently profiled in the New Yorker about his umbrella.
[more inside]
February 15, 2008
Beat Boxing Basset Hound Warning: Contains Swedish beats, long ears and floppy jowls. Oh, and it's a flash thingy with sound. via.
Up With Hillary- HP Marketing Expert Gives Flagging Clinton Campaign the Dancingest Endorsement of Them All: Up With People! [more inside]
A very compelling shower scene - yes, it's an advertisement, but such a seductively beautiful bit of video. Directed by Bruno Aveillan of Short-Films, as Anne at Ample Sanity informs us. Possibly nsfw if rippling six-packs, glistening pecs and steamy titanium offend.
Monkey Love. I've been absent for awhile, but I saw this and thought of you, MonkeyFilter. Happy Valentine's Day
February 14, 2008
Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality This a lot like my self-image vs. what I actually see in the mirror in the morning.
A look into Cookie Monster's mind Cookie Monster interviewed on NPR, including a variation of Proust's famous questionnaire. (via MetaChat)
Mathematically Challenged George
.
Fellow simians, I need at least twenty monkeys to answer a simple survey question to complete the take-home part of my math exam. After I correlate your answers, I'll post a copy of the lovely three color Venn diagram I intend to draw to illustrate this information. As an additional incentive, I will also post my exam grade when completed. Please, Monkeys, can you hope me?
[more inside]
February 13, 2008
Sleeveface! 1. Take a record sleeve 2. Put it where your face is (youtube) 3. Take a picture and upload it to the intarwebs 4. !!!!
Man destroys Stradivarius in a fit of slapstick.
"Do you want our Chinese women? We can give you ten million." What a cheeky old crackpot the late Chairman was. "Mao continued, 'By doing so we can let them flood your country with disaster and therefore impair your interests. In our country we have too many women, and they have a way of doing things.They give birth to children and our children are too many.'"
A 1913 article about the brand spanking new and shiny Panama Canal. Currently the canal is being widened, because the Panamax supertankers, built especially to maximise tonnage while using the Panama Canal, just aren't big enough any more. The expansion will double the canal's capacity, which is currently 14,000 vessels annually.
Where can Miggi get some monkey underpants? Proper monkey ones with a hole for his tail, but nice and snug all the same?
February 12, 2008
How To Make a Real-Looking Ghost
Top 10 Strangest Things in Space
Debunking Latest Anti-Pot Quack Science - 'Marijuana Makes Your Teeth Fall Out' and other nonsense.
The Squidbrains at Squdoo steal MonkeyFilter's identity and MetaFilter's content... "HEY MONKEYBRAIN" is a place to make arguments. Mmmm-kay... Explanation attempted here. Still, Monty Python did it better.
February 11, 2008
John McCain: Yes We Can! [Via]
Pieter Hugo takes passport-style photos of South Africans whether black, white or albino. More of his work is available on his own website. I love his "The Hyena & Other Men" series.
Roy Scheider dead at 75. Jaws, French Connection, Naked Lunch, 2010, Klute, Marathon Man...
$0.00 Airbrush = Metacafe Flash video
February 10, 2008
Anal Sex Fatwa ~~ "Allah will not look at a man who has anal sex with his wife." [more inside]
Discovery backs theory oil not 'fossil fuel' - A study published in Science Magazine presents new evidence supporting the abiotic theory for the origin of oil, which asserts oil is a natural product that the Earth generates naturally. [more inside]
February 09, 2008
Motorcycles and mountains. Twisty mountain roads, motorcycles, and lots of pretty pictures. Bad web design, but nice pictures and stories
Cyrano de Bergerac was real, but not as Rostand depicted him. For one, his nose wasn't that big. He was a successful writer. His most prominent work is now published under the title 'Other Worlds', a collection of stories describing his fictional journeys to the Moon and Sun. Cyrano thus rests alongside such minds as Kepler and Jules Verne in the genre of Science Fiction. But Cyrano as a gay anti-Catholic sci-fi writer with the pox? [more inside]
Capn Jack Sparrow, Coffee Pirate (YouTube, but worth it)
Capt. Sensible So I got a bad nosebleed tonight, which somehow reminded me of being a punk rocker, which somehow reminded me of the Damned, who I saw in some condemned rathole of a club in Southern California around 1980. Captain Sensible had fun insulting American bands until a boy I was in love with shouted out, "Oh, yeah? MC5!" Whereupon the Captain turned around and said, "Yeah, all right." I liked the Captain for that, and kept up with him. [more inside]
February 08, 2008
Curious George: My (Not-So-Golden) Arches The saga begins: I decided recently (like last week) to take part in a women-only duathlon -- 3.5km run, 10km bike, 1.5km run. However, a couple of days after making the decision I sprained my ankle. The duathlon is next month. [more inside]
Hummingbirds: Tail Chirpers When they dive, the sound's not coming from their beaks.
Spartan Government: The Gerousia and the Ephorate - from Arcane History Blog.
February 07, 2008
I am the condom friend ever useful to you! [YouTube]
Plastic patch in the Pacific now twice the size of the US. This is pretty shocking news even in this day of shocking environmental news. You can see a map of the full extent of the blight here. [more inside]
February 06, 2008
Sex Death & Horror Disclosure: this is a self-post in regards to both the yesterday's Fat Tuesday and last week's: Celebrate the Holocaust!! links. Think of this as "Cultural Awareness. [more inside]
JM's World War One Sketchbook - The images here are from a set of two World War One sketchbooks containing approximately 130 water-colour and pen and ink images which were produced by an unknown British soldier. [more inside]
MIT Sketching: I don't know how useful this really is, but it sure is neat. (YouTube)
February 05, 2008
The Booze Bra. The latest technological development in the alcohol-smuggling field. [more inside]
Barry Morse , aka Lt. Philip Gerard and Professor Victor Bergman, has passed. [more inside]
On-line Board Gaming: craving a little Carcasonne? Want to play Settlers of Catan, but you don't actually own a table to table-top board game on? Don't worry - everything really is online, including board games. [more inside]
Hopefully this study doesn't suck. Its author contends that high heels are good for women's pelvic health. Being a fan, I can only pray she's right. [more inside]
February 04, 2008
Study Says Many Studies Suck Research shows we are far too drunk on stupid studies that tell us what research shows.
Curious Ugly Toy George Curious Ugly Toys George. Anyone know of any toy websites that sell really ugly toys? (Other than Archie McPhee) I'm talking toys that are unintentionally bad, sooo bad they're funny. (The same way that really bad movies are funny). Toys that make you go "WTF???"
CARNIVAL! If you're in Italy or Brazil, tomorrow is Carnival. If you're in France or New Orleans, it's Mardi Gras. If you're in the UK, it's Shrovetide or Pancake Day. But this year, history was made in the form of the first ever Mardi Gras Parade at the South Pole. [more inside]
Making a dog's dinner out of fish and chips, can result in a big litter.
Curious George: I need a new Domain Registrar
GoDaddy's StupidBowl XLII ad was grossly offensive and, worse, unentertaining not to mention I some how missed this little gem from founder Bob Parsons.
I need to move my domains somewhere more better. Suggestions?
[more inside]
Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey. [more inside]
February 03, 2008
Last vinyl record factory in Canada closes Oh geez, no more Canuck albums eh. Like, that sucks.
What Have The Unions Ever Done For Us? [via Sociological Images]
February 02, 2008
Henry Lizardlover
has lots of Iguanas which he has patiently taught to pose in amusing human-like ways. You may have seen a couple of pix do the rounds recently of his posing lizards. Here are some more.
Warning: picture of Iguana bite wound on human - not that icky but YMMV
Snarfled from Blort
[more inside]
Carl Warner's luscious foodscapes. More at his site here. Warning: silly Flash site; click on the orange box and then the second suitcase from left to get to the foodscapes. Shamelessly ganked from the Blue because really, EVERYONE needs to see an ocean made out of salmon. [more inside]
Teens Unremorseful After Stealing From Girl Scout
- two Florida teenagers stole money from a little girl selling Girl Scout cookies in front of a crowded supermarket in broad daylight. Strangely, they agree to explain to reporters that they are unrepentant about the crime. "I'm not sorry," one of the teenagers explains, "I'm just pissed that I got caught."
Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVv7Uz8nC2A
(Sorry, you'll have to cut'n'paste this link into your browser. My HTML skillz don't really pay da bills...)
February 01, 2008
How Scratching Works. A new study sheds light on the brain chemistry of scratching. [more inside]
Theories of cancer - On the purposeful hiding of environmental factors in cancer.
Where Did All Those Gorgeous Russians Come From?
Cat 5e wiring questions Curious George: Cat 5e Wiring-- Straight-through or Cross-over? [more inside]
