Stonehenge’s wooden sister
The timber henge — a name given to prehistoric monuments surrounded by a circular ditch — would have been constructed and modified at the same time as its more famous relative, and probably had some allied ceremonial or religious function, Chapman said in a telephone interview from Stonehenge.
Exactly what kind of ceremonies those were is unclear. The new henge joins a growing complex of tombs and mysterious Neolithic structures found across the area.
Sleepingfish iX
This next [online] Sleepingfish sequence has been seeded with works by marc t. wise, Jasmine Golestaneh & Chiara Barzini. I’ll be adding new pieces on a rolling basis whenever it strikes my fancy.
the irreducible mystery of human conscience
At the risk of starting a fight, David Bentley Hart’s review of Absence of Mind has a few salient points about contemporary regnant philosophical assumptions:
In the end, perhaps the most penetrating question Robinson asks in regard to all the modern schools of suspicion is, simply enough: why? That is, if purely material, purely selfish impulses underlie all those behaviors we mistake for selfless altruism or spiritual longing or magnanimity or self-outpouring love, why do they so utterly invert themselves in our conscious minds? Why do they dissimulate themselves as the very opposite of what they are? Let us assume that the conscious mind, with all of its ambiguities and mysteries and abyssal sense of identity, is nothing but the illusory and superficial epiphenomenon of some hidden, unitary, primordial, and amoral material impulse towards survival. Very well, then, but why would it have to hide this fact? Surely it would have no need to deceive itself so elaborately, or to conceal its own genetic interests from itself, unless it already possessed some kind of moral sensitivity to the shame of selfishness. What, then, is that moral self that is there “before” the Darwinian self, whose conscience must be appeased, needing to believe that it is moved by altruism or disinterested love?
The reductionist tendencies of physicalist explanations, incidentally, are precisely the reason I got bored with Radio Lab. Also: I apologize for writing “contemporary regnant philosophical assumptions.”
Posted Without Comment
headline of the day
Naked Cowboy sues Naked Cowgirl
Antarctic Anti-Freeze Venom Octopi
This is the tits:
Researchers have discovered four new species of octopus in Antarctica with venom that works at sub-zero temperatures.
They hope to analyze the venom to see if it has medical uses, said one of the researchers, Bryan Fry, of the University of Melbourne. Their discovery, during a six-week expedition to Antarctica in 2007, was published in the journal Toxicon.
Experts have long known there were octopuses in Antarctica, but what surprised Fry and his colleagues was the sheer biodiversity and how natural selection changed the way they hunted and the nature of their venom.
quote out of context
In fact, according to Hsee’s team, such interventions already exist, with some airports having deliberately increased the walk to the luggage carousel so as to reduce the time passengers spend waiting idly for luggage to arrive.
No, I don’t think you are competitive enough
from the comments
Everyone who’s spent any time on the Internet is well-aware of how anonymity turns people into raging assholes, but lately I’ve noticed a prominent trend and others are too: People on the Internet are astoundingly, mind-numbingly literal much of the time. I really do think that anonymity is at least a partial cause for this. Identity gives people a context for sarcasm. It becomes a frame of reference that a reader can judge a statement against since they lack facial cues or tone of voice.
Obviously on Clusterflock many of you can detect sarcasm (most of the time) simply because you’re friends. But even as a reader, seeing all of these real people talking about so many different things on a daily basis does allow me to detect sarcasm much better than I might on other parts of the Internet.
It’s interesting!
Bill Murray: Interviewed
Bill Murray has given a rare interview with GQ’s Dan Fierman. The actor has developed a bit of notoriety for his slightly misanthropic attitudes towards his work and collaborators. As Fierman notes, “If you—movie director, journalist, dentist—want to speak to him, you don’t go through any gatekeeper. You leave a message on an 800 number. If Bill Murray wants to speak with you, he’ll call you back. If his three and a half decades in the public sphere have taught us anything about the 59-year-old actor, it’s that he simply does not give a good goddamn.”
This was my favorite moment in the exchange:
Last question. I have to know, because I love this story and want it to be true. There have been stories about you sneaking up behind people in New York City, covering their eyes with your hands, and saying: Guess who. And when they turn around, they see Bill Murray and hear the words “No one will ever believe you.”
[long pause] I know. I know, I know, I know. I’ve heard about that from a lot of people. A lot of people. I don’t know what to say. There’s probably a really appropriate thing to say. Something exactly and just perfectly right. [long beat, and then he breaks into a huge grin] But by God, it sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Just so crazy and unlikely and unusual?
“‘Kafkaesque’ is a word now used to describe everything from entrapment in bureaucracy to the general absurdity of life”
If the Jewish novelist, who wrote in German while living in Prague, had had his way, the boxes would not exist. Shortly before his death from tuberculosis in 1924, Kafka wrote to his friend Max Brod: “Dearest Max, my last request: everything I leave behind me … in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters … [is] to be burned unread.” Brod refused to heed his dying friend’s wish, saying it puzzled him. In 1939, on the eve of the Nazi invasion, he smuggled two suitcases of material to Palestine. During the Suez crisis in 1956, he moved parts of the archive to Switzerland. His action saved the manuscripts of The Castle, The Trial and Amerika.
The rest were in a Zurich bank vault opened Monday.
Quote Out of Context
There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.
cast iron bathtub couch
For $1700.00
Errol Morris Responds
…to the Open Letter
clusterflock 3.0
First, the new version of the site is largely possible because of Andrew’s hard work. I can’t thank him enough for his effort and persistence. (I’ll be sending some cash his way in the next few days, so if anyone would like to contribute, you can donate to my paypal account.)
Second, I hope everyone likes the redesign. And, to Chris Glass and Espen Tuft, we are forever in your debt for the first two versions, and I hope the new design does your initial guidance justice.
Third, if changes need to be made, Andrew and I will be making them over the next few days (and maybe adding a few things). If you notice anything glaring that absolutely needs to be fixed right away, please let us know. If not, I know we’re both tired, so tap us on the shoulder in a day or two.
Thanks, also, to Kelsey for pointing out the logo I was futzing with a while ago might work for clusterflock. And again, if people have suggestions for making the site better, we are all ears — but, again, maybe give us a day or two.
Smooch.
books not prison
With one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and the death penalty, the US state of Texas seems the last place to embrace a liberal-minded alternative to prison. But when Mitchell Rouse was convicted of two drug offences in Houston, the former x-ray technician who faced a 60-year prison sentence – reduced to 30 years if he pleaded guilty – was instead put on probation and sentenced to read.
…
Rouse is one of thousands of offenders across the US who, as an alternative to prison, are placed on a rehabilitation programme called Changing Lives Through Literature (CLTL). Repeat offenders of serious crimes such as armed robbery, assault or drug dealing are made to attend a reading group where they discuss literary classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Bell Jar and Of Mice and Men.
via Text Patterns
A national snapshot of grumpy Americans
Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day inferred from Twitter.
via Walt
quote out of context
“Mr. Murdoch would like to know why you’re wearing short pants.”
fuck tables
Some fantastic design here.
from the contact form
John Murphy:
If any Dallas-area flockers would like to hear Steely Dan music played live, and decide to hear Naked Lunch at Lee Harvey’s this Friday, they can do so with the knowledge that the person who plays tenor and alto saxophone in the band is a regular reader of the site.
Dear Clusterflock
What are the most unlikely search terms you could Google that return something written by you as the top search result?
Mine are “london fog umbrella warranty.”
Love the comments and email I get because of that.
This is the app that makes me want the iPad.
Aha Ha Ha
In the Grassmarket, Edinburgh
quote out of context
Start your journey by exploring Peckerwood.
(thanks, Aaron)
thought out of context
Used to be, they recognized you as one of them. Now they aren’t one of them, so how are they supposed to recognize you?
