The Girl Who Won’t Grow Up
(kottke)
Says it ALL
Earlier in the evening, she remembered, he had pointed out that her legs were a “very sexy version” of his own.
UC Berkeley Classes on Google Video
The University of California, Berkeley is the preeminent public research and teaching institution in the nation . From classic literature to emerging technologies, the curricula of our 130 academic departments span the wide world of thought and knowledge. Supported by the people of California, the university has embraced public service as an essential part of its mission since 1868. The content on this page —drawn from campus seminars, courses and events—is just one part of UC Berkeley’s commitment to the broadest possible dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of our state, the nation and the world.
Boratastan
“If there is one more item of Uzbek propaganda claiming that we do not drink fermented horse urine, give death penalty for baking bagels, or export over 300 tonnes of human pubis per year, then we will be left with no alternative but to commence bombardment of their cities with our catapults,” Borat said.
Sarah Silverman
ramblin jack rambles
The Audi R8
Less Contentious Richard Dawkins
In this talk, titled, “Queerer Than We Suppose: The strangeness of science,” he suggests that the true nature of the universe eludes us, because the human mind evolved to understand the “middle-sized” world we can observe.
Menu Line
We amuse ourselves at work by calling the cafeteria menu line, where in recent months the pronunciation-challenged reader has tempted us with the following:
Porn Agusta
Problemo Rice
Pogram with Picassos
Arrows Cone Poyoyo
Psycopathy
“The issue is whether the psychopath’s defects in feeling empathy and having a conscience should fail the test for legal responsibility,” Morse says. “That test is whether the defendant is able to evaluate the morality of his conduct rationally, and the law believes that psychopaths can — whatever may be the cause of their problems.”
Emilio Pucci
Spring/Summer 2007
Books
Lestyoubejudged also asks others to post their responses, my response (with cheap webcam) is here.
Superheros possess glamour
Glamour isn’t beauty or luxury; those are only specific manifestations for specific audiences. Glamour is an imaginative process that creates a specific, emotional response: a sharp mixture of projection, longing, admiration, and aspiration. It evokes an audience’s hopes and dreams and makes them seem attainable, all the while maintaining enough distance to sustain the fantasy.
“Can’t the dude make up his mind?”
Yes, yes, I admit it. I raved just a couple of days ago about the filmed performance of Klaus Nomi singing Henry Purcell’s 300-year-old “The Cold Song”. And it is a marvelous performance which gains a great deal by including both audio and video. But for pure audio, I am equally wowed by his recording of the “Mon coeur” aria from Saint-Saens’s Samson ed Dalila.
British UFO Cover-Up Revealed
An expose in the last several days has revealed the following:
The Ministry of Defence went to extraordinary lengths to cover up its true involvement in investigating UFOs, according to secret documents revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The files show that officials attempted to expunge information from documents released to the Public Records Office under the “30-year rule” that would have revealed the extent of the MoD’s interest in UFO sightings.
The files were made public following FOI requests by David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and his colleague Andy Roberts.
“These documents don’t tell us anything about UFOs but they do show how desperate the MoD have been to conceal the interest which the intelligence services had in the subject,” said Dr Clarke.
Bust to tip ratio (amongst other things)
They are doing a survey. (via Waiter Rant)
He is correct about Thucydides
One of the most deeply weird features of modern political discourse is how some conservative supporters of the Iraq war and associated numbskulls such as Dan Simmons quote Thucydides in support of their claims that we’re engaged in an epochal clash of civilizations where moderation amounts to appeasement of an enemy that will enslave us all if we don’t decimate em. I imagine that the appalling Victor Davis Hanson is to blame for most of this. I simply don’t see how one can read Thucydides without coming away with some quite emphatic lessons about the long term costs of imperial arrogance towards one’s political allies, how unnecessary military adventures turn into disasters, und so weiter.
The Quest for Randomness
This particular video was spawned from a series of responses from a number of tubers. The thread, in order, which I found most interesting may be found here.
That Dog is Really Big
Marmaduke explained.
Thanks, Daniel.
Sex Toy of the Week
Peruvian Pet Cemetery
“They have their own grave, and in some cases they are buried with blankets and food.”
Out of this Blue Eye Shadow
“I wondered if she was outsourcing campaign support to India,” he said. “It was so bizarre.”
The Return of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
After spending months in remote northwest Florida swamps searching for the ivory-billed woodpecker, researchers say they have seen and heard the rare bird once believed to be extinct.
The bird was thought to be extinct until 2004 when Cornell University researchers released recordings and an inconclusive grainy video after searching for it in the swamps of eastern Arkansas. The last confirmed ivory-billed sighting was in 1944.
Auburn ornithologist Geoffrey Hill headed the four-month Florida search that ended in April. He said his team would return to the Choctawhatchee River basin sometime around November with better equipment to try to get photographs.
“On 14 occasions different team members have seen the bird. We heard that double knock, it’s a sound the ivory-billed makes that no other bird makes, but we didn’t get a clear video of the bird,” Hill said.
Jack White as Raconteur
Jesus Camper, All Grown Up
I got my first taste of evangelism in fifth grade when my parents, long members of a Methodist congregation, migrated to the fundamentalist church across town. The differences were immediately apparent: My old church was all stained glass and frayed prayer books, but the new one was modern, with stage lighting, JumboTron video screens, and a pastor with bleached teeth and a tie. A bouncing ball tripped along lyrics to synthesizer-heavy Christian music, while 1,000 congregants convulsed in praise. It was Jesus with an exclamation point.
