the Kaaba was spared
The only landmark not destroyed in 2012.
“Well, I wanted to do that, I have to admit,” Emmerich says. “But my co-writer Harald said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie. And he was right.
quote out of context
and so gull-baiting has become a hot game among the dolphins.
Learning styles are bunk.
The classifications for visual, kinaesthetic or auditory learners or left and right brainers have no basis in reality:
Two years ago, David Mosely, Elaine Hall, Kathryn Ecclestone and I produced two reports for the now defunct Learning and Skills Development Agency, which got cold feet and refused to launch them. It was afraid, as one of the government’s “delivery partners”, to back research it had itself funded, in case it upset the DfES.
Our reports reviewed, systematically, 13 models of learning styles and concluded that this area of research is theoretically incoherent and conceptually confused. I listed in the reports 30 dichotomies, such as “activists” versus “reflectors”, “globalists” versus “analysts”, and “left brainers” versus “right brainers”. We should stop using these terms. There’s no scientific justification for them. You can check that. Shake your head gently. Does the left hemisphere of your brain move independently from the right? Or do they seem connected?
I have always had a hunch that what this article says was true. (via)
What is this fractal?
(via kottke)
fathers, brothers, and crosses
A European court has ruled against the display of crucifixes in Italian classrooms.
“The presence of the crucifix could be … disturbing for pupils who practiced other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities,” the court said. “The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities… restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions,” it added.
And Barack Obama’s half-brother gave his first interview.
“My father beat my mother and my father beat me, and you don’t do that,” said Ndesandjo, whose mother, Ruth Nidesand, was Barack Obama Sr.’s third wife. “It’s something which I think affected me for a long time, and it’s something that I’ve just recently come to terms with.”
Inside The Hut
So I’m renovating my work hut, and this is a photograph from stage 1 of the process. I’ve insulated the whole interior with space blankets and now I’m fronting it all off with thermal aluminium foil. After that, I’ll lay down some carpet underlay, with carpets and rugs over that, and Bedouin tent-style roof drapes from eave to eave, via the apex of the roof, with wooden tent poles. Looks like a little wooden cabin in a field from the outside, but inside will be silver factory meets desert gypsy caravan. That’s what I’m working on, anyway. I am the insulation queen, these days.
underwater impala
king ridge revisited
On Sunday Sam and I returned to King Ridge. We brought his sister. This is what it looked like.
For Cindy
How to use an apostrophe.
Thanks, Quips!
My wife’s boyfriend broke my jaw with a fencepost
“Josie,
I won’t fail you.”
All manner of saints to comfort and protect.
A discovery from my recent trip to Crete.
Secret Knock Detecting Lock
The Fantastic Mr. Fox Soundtrack
Claude Levi-Strauss
Born on Nov. 28, 1908, in Brussels, Belgium, Levi-Strauss was the son of French parents of Jewish origin. He studied in Paris and went on to teach in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and conduct much of the research that led to his breakthrough books in the South American giant.
Levi-Strauss also won worldwide acclaim and was awarded honorary doctorates at universities, including Harvard, Yale and Oxford, as well as universities in Sweden, Mexico and Canada.
He was down to earth.
A skilled handyman who believed in the virtues of manual labor and outdoor life, he was also an ardent music-lover who once said he would have liked to have been a composer had he not become an ethnologist.
He is survived by his sons Roman and Laurent.
A New THEORY of AWESOMENESS and MIRACLES
Today I’m going to talk about the idea of the miraculous, or at least the appearance of the miraculous. Humans have a strange relationship to the miraculous, but the prime emotion it seems to stimulate is awe, and awesomeness is pretty much what we’re all striving for.
Essentially, it is a reflection on the human mind’s relationship to size and complexity:
H-O-U-S-E
via swissmiss
Glow
Video from Dance-tech.net
It was like she was sitting cupped in the hand of god
You Can Call Me Al
Paul Simon – You Can Call Me Al (1986)
Chevy Chase and Paul Simon prove that with two chairs, and an empty room, you can still make a totally perfect music video. Take note, Lady Gaga.
Quote out of context
And I pledge to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear conviction, and a servant’s heart.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, apparently confused as to the role of the Vice President, in her would-have-been victory speech.
Daily Beast via here.
that’s how the light gets in
A 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will likely become a new ocean eventually, researchers now confirm.
TAGS: COCKSUCKER
When one man hauls off and punches another in the face, the conflict often has a long-tailed provenance.
that’s mr. to you
An Antiguan panel has voted unanimously to strip Allen Stanford of his knighthood. The indicted Texas billionaire was said to have embarrassed the tiny Caribbean nation, where he had previously been the largest private employer.
name me
