Bad Wolf

WTFriday

2012-01-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be spending my weekend wondering why this is a real thing.

Think you can explain it? Tell us in the comments.

Want to extend your weekend? Check out previous WTFridays!

Original Page: http://tosh.comedycentral.com/blog/2012/01/20/wtfriday-111/

Congressman Lamar Smith, Author Of SOPA, Breaks Copyright Law On Campaign Website

2012-01-18T21:32:00.001-08:00

By Jeromie Williams

On the same day that Wikipedia turned off their lights for 24 hours to protest the proposed "Stop Online Piracy Act" or SOPA as it is better known, the very politician who wrote the bill was called out by the 9GAG website for being caught redhanded breaking copyright law on his official campaign website.

Lamar Smith, the politician in question that has been pushing the bill that has even the tech Gurus over at Mashable screaming foul over SOPA's extreme overreach and censorship capabilities, has allegedly used a photograph for the background of his campaign website without giving credit to the photographer or paying for its use. That's right, the guy who wants to stop online piracy is apparently an Internet pirate himself – Arrrrrrr

Image from 9gag.com:

Read Jeromie's original article at; http://jeromiewilliams.com/2012/01/18/lamar-smith-the-author-of-sopa-breaks-copyright-law-on-campaign-website-and-becomes-a-pirate-himself/

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01/18/congressman-lamar-smith-author-of-sopa-breaks-copyright-law-on-campaign-website-image/

Chromeo on Yo Gabba Gabba! - "Nice N Clean"

2012-01-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

You really never know what to expect from this show.

CHROMEO - "Nice N Clean" - Yo Gabba Gabba - YouTube:

Leave it to our good friends Chromeo to remind us that you gotta wash your hands, especially before playing the synthesizer! http://www.chromeo.net/

extremely awesome visual weavings by the magical Joel Fox.

For more Yo Gabba Gabba! visit http://www.yogabbagabba.com and get Yo Gabba Gabba! toys and merchandise at http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=143362&u=303637&m=12990

I Must Demand Satisfaction

2012-01-17T12:12:00.001-08:00

I love it! Ladd Everitt is such a bottomfeeder that he has no sense of honor. He is no gentleman.

Some most excellent gentlemen have directed me to a scoundrelish attack to my honor. Political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum. The common sense of mankind affixes to the epithet adopted by the good Mr. Everitt, the very idea of dishonor. As a proper gentleman, I must demand satisfaction to this offense against my honor and reputation. If the gentlemen Mr. Everitt does not see to my satisfaction, I trust that a representative will be nominated in order to choose a proper field of honor. While the challenged party has the prerogative of choosing the weapon, I might suggest:

I am aware of the deadliness of such a dangerous weapon, but as a matter of honor, I think it suitable. As the offended party, in the interest of civility, and out of humane sense, the duel will be to the "first sauce," as I believe this will be adequate for the purposes of my satisfaction. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, and await your prompt reply.

Sebastian

http://www.pagunblog.com/2012/01/17/i-must-demand-satisfaction/

Convicts Escape Quantum Physics in Alcatraz, J.J. Abrams' Latest Wormhole Ride

2012-01-16T08:27:00.001-08:00

"Is anyone else's head exploding right now?" That's the question posed by Jorge Garcia's character midway through the premiere episode of Alacatraz, the latest TV series to spring from the mind of J.J. Abrams.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/6kH-6e7To4w/

Bunraku (film)

2012-01-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

Josh Hartnett stars in weird yet entertaining samurai, western, puppet mash-up.

Bunraku is one of the strangest films you’re likely to see. The movie is a weird amalgam of comic book sensibilities, kung fu melodrama, western trappings pushed into the visual pedigree of Bunraku (the Japanese tradition of puppet theater).

Guy Moshe wrote and directed this futuristic tale of revenge. Set in a world that has long outlawed guns, order is now carried out by the point of a sword. Ruling above all is Nicola the Woodcutter (Ron Pearlman), a murderous crime lord and the most powerful man east of the Atlantic.

Enforcing his rule are a team of assassins and their mob of henchmen, the Red Gang. Killer # 2 (Kevin McKidd) is Nicola’s right-hand man and potentially the most dangerous man alive. Smooth as a snake and with a dapper sense of style, Killer # 2’s dangerous as he is stylish. McKidd is amazing in the role. He dresses like a White Stripes band member and dances like Fred Astaire but don’t be fooled: he’s also really deadly with a sword and might just be mentally unstable.

Josh Hartnett stars as The Drifter, a cowboy in a world without guns. Rolling into town in search of Nicola and the vengeance he plans to wrought upon the crime lord, The Drifter quickly befriends a group of fellow heroes in wait including Yoshi (Japanese popstar Gackt), a samurai warrior who has refused to take lives, and The Bartender (Woody Harrelson), a source of drink, information and all-around pop-up book enthusiast. There’s a great scene in which The Bartender shows off his latest pop-up book creation — a weirdly translated-through-the-ages tale of Spider-Man.

The real star of the movie, though, is the film’s unique visual style. Produced in much the same way Sin City or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow were filmed, Bunraku creates an almost entirely artificial world around its characters. Instead of hyper-realistic computer animation, though, the world of Bunraku is made-up of towering paper landscapes and origami buildings. Bunraku is a film that continuously breaks the fourth-wall — wearing its influence (the Japanese theater style where the puppeteers would be on stage alongside their show) on its sleeve. Strings will drop down into a frame showing captions or infographics. Weird transitions bring to mind Michel Gondry’s Björk music videos. Much like the bunraku style of puppet theater, Bunraku utilizes the wry, over-the-top narration of an unseen commentator (Faith No More’s Mike Patton).

Inside Pulse | Fantastic Fest ’10 – Bunraku Review

Epicness level: ASIAN

2012-01-15T18:23:00.001-08:00

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9gag/~3/4HEJwsYuPHY/1819081

ArcAttack! vs the Sorcerer's Apprentice

2012-01-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

I was watching Disney's Sorcerer's Apprentice recently, but when I got to the Tesla Coil music scene I was caught off guard. It sounded just like listening to Austin, Texas's own ArcAttack!. I had to do some digging to find out if the two were related, or if Disney simply ripped off another local artists, or if DiPrima and Greaves worked with the media giant to bring their art to the masses. I don't see either name in the credits, so I'm assuming they were discounted in the production.

Here is ArcAttack! doing one of my favorites, the Imperial March.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice | Disney

LLOYD KAUFMAN is coming to the Alamo!

2012-01-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

Prepare ye: The infamous Lloyd Kaufman will grace the Alamo with his Tromatic presence next week at locations in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio!

Kaufman co-founded Troma Entertainment in 1974 and has inspired legions of admirers all over the world to get out there and make their own damn movies. His lowbrow and low-budget mantra inspired and aided the early works of Trey Parker of South Park fame, and James Gunn who went on to make the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. And lest we forget where Toxie would be if not for the hard work of Mr. Kaufman. Few have done more to champion independent cinema as much as Kaufman, and for this we are excited to welcome him to our theaters once again to host the Texas theatrical debuts of the latest Troma films!

Don't miss this opportunity to see the genius of schlock in person, as well as a chance to watch the latest bloody offerings from deep within Tromaville city limits. There will be plenty of sweet Troma gear for sale and Lloyd will also happily sign any of your existing Troma paraphernalia. I, for one, need to find a copy of CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE to get him to sign because of his amazing cameo!!

Lloyd is one of the funniest and interesting people out there and the chance to see him introduce these films and to participate in Q&As is a special thing. Take note, Texas:

January 18th Austin – Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek
Lloyd Kaufman LIVE presenting a double feature of FATHER'S DAY and MR. BRICKS!
Two bloody, badass movies on one rad ticket! Click HERE for more info and TICKETS!

January 19th San Antonio- Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes
Lloyd Kaufman LIVE presenting a special screening of FATHER'S DAY!
Don't miss all the hustlers, priests, premarital sex and paternal murder on the big screen!! Click HERE for more info and TICKETS!

January 21st Houston- Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park
Lloyd Kaufman LIVE presenting a double feature of FATHER'S DAY and MR. BRICKS!
In addition to being on hand for the Texas premiere of "Toxic Avenger: The Musical" across town, Lloyd will be hanging out at the Alamo for an intimate double feature that is not to be missed! Click HERE for more info and TICKETS!

TROMA!

http://rss.drafthouse.com/~r/drafthouseblog/~3/_vbZ1OGlIlI/lloyd_kaufman_is_coming_to_the_alamo

Did this Supernova Leave Nothing Behind?

2012-01-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

"Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth." -Jean Rostand

One of the most awesome events, literally, that happens in this Universe is when stars -- giant nuclear furnaces like our Sun -- die in the most energetic way possible: a supernova.

(Video credit: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Ors Hunor Detre, Oliver Krause), via YouTube.)

Every star that ever lived gets two chances to end their lives in this most spectacular of fashions. The hottest, bluest, most massive stars that are born burn through their nuclear fuel incredibly rapidly, accumulating a core of heavy metals just one million years after they're first born.

(Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.)

When that core gets massive enough and nuclear fusion can no longer provide enough outward pressure to counteract the tremendous gravitational force trying to collapse the core, we get a supernova explosion! In the end, there's a degenerate neutron star or black hole where the core once was, and the outer layers get blown off in that supernova.

But what about the stars that don't get there? This is the vast majority of stars; they are the 99%, and so are we!

[...]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/ScienceblogsSelect/~3/scy0aaiibi8/did_this_supernova_leave_nothi.php

Burglars Steal Porn and Sex Toys, Leave Cash Untouched

2012-01-12T12:04:00.001-08:00

Pornographic toys, magazines and videos were stolen from a Linda sex shop, but the store's owner is surprised by what wasn't taken.

Kevin Couch owns Fantasy Factory across the street from a strip club, and Monday night someone broke into his adult store. But the culprits never touched the cash register.

"They just took the toys and left," he said. "They didn't take the money or anything so I was lost. The sheriff's department was lost. When he saw all the stuff in here and he goes 'that's all they took?' and I was like 'yeah.'"

So Kevin thinks it was kids just trying to make a little mischief in forbidden territory.

"They see the adult store here, they can't come in here they can't purchase this stuff so they are bored and they break in and come in and take it at night when no one is here," he said.

So far, there are no suspects, just a suspected age range: boys probably about 13 to 17 years old.

"If I was to do it I'd probably go for cash, not adult toys," Linda resident Rodney Foster said. "I don't really understand why somebody would take that, that's kind of gross and weird."

The thieves busted in by using a chunk of asphalt to crash through the door. It will cost Kevin about $800 to fix the door and he's out about $150 worth of merchandise.

It's the second time his store has been broken into in a year.

Source: CBS Sacramento. Video at link.

*Note.. that is not a picture of the store front, it's just funny.

http://theswash.com/strange-stuff/burglars-steal-porn-and-sex-toys-leave-cash-untouched

If this isn't a sign of the times, I don't know what is...

I've Got that Double Dutch Dinosaur Duplex in Dubai

2012-01-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge

This Week's TV: Fringe returns, Katee Sackhoff joins Clone Wars

2012-01-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Oh happy day! Good sci-fi returns, but sadly not to SyFy...

In this week's television, Fringe is back — and kicking its universe-spanning storylines into high gear. This week also sees the return of a few of our other favorite shows. Plus the premiere of two brand new shows (to Americans, anyway), including a brand new look at a classic Marvel character.

Meanwhile, Fringe's Kirk Acevedo is trying to save the world from a collision with Mercury. Robot Chicken celebrates its 100th episode in style. Portlandia deals with the perils of Battlestar Galactica addiction. The Simpsons does a Social Network parody. And watch a totally beautiful clip from the next Clone Wars — featuring Katee Sackhoff as a female Mandalorian!

Wednesday:

At 9 PM in most markets, PBS has a new episode of Nova, "Bombing Hitler's Dams."

Thursday:

Also at 8 PM, there's the return of The Big Bang Theory on CBS, with "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver."

Friday:

And at 7:45 PM, Disney has a new Phineas and Ferb, "Tri-Stone Area."

But that's not all! Also at 8 PM, there's a new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, "A Friend in Need." This one's directed by show creator Dave Filoni, so expect big things. Here's the synopsis:

Ahsoka is ensnared in Lux Bonteri's dangerous crusade to find justice for his mother's death.

And Battlestar Galactica's Katie Sackhoff plays a female Mandalorian, Bo-Katan. Check out a beautiful clip at left.

At 9 PM, Fox has the midseason premiere of Fringe, "Back to Where You've Never Been."

In an effort to find a way home, Peter journeys to the Other Side to confront Walternate. His venture proves more dangerous than expected. Meanwhile, Olivia receives a dire premonition from an Observer.

Also at 9 PM, there's a special time-traveling episode of Supernatural, on The CW, "Time After Time After Time."

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) tangle with the God of Time (guest star Jason Dohring), who sends Dean back to 1944, where he is immediately arrested by none other than the one and only Eliot Ness (guest star Nicholas Lea). While trying to figure out how to retrieve his brother, Sam is surprised by the reappearance of an old friend.

Saturday:

And at 7:45 PM, Disney has yet another new Phineas & Ferb.

Also, because Syfy loves you and wants you to have a beautiful Saturday night, they're showing a brand new original movie at 9 PM, Collision Earth. Starring Fringe's Kirk Acevedo!

In Collision Earth, premiering Saturday, January 14 at 9PM (ET/PT), a solar flare knocks Mercury out of its orbit and onto a collision course with Earth. With global devastation quickly approaching, the secret military initiative, "Project 7," must be activated to save the world from disaster.

Sunday:

Disney has yet another new Phineas & Ferb at 7:30 PM.

Fox brings back its Sunday night animation bloc, starting at 8 PM with a new Simpsons, followed by Napoleon Dynamite, Family Guy and another Napoleon Dynamite. Oh, and the Simpsons' parody of The Social Network, "The D'Oh-cial Network," might actually be… funny?

As the mastermind and creator of the online social networking phenomenon SpringFace, Lisa is called to trial when Springfield's obsession with the site becomes chaotic and dysfunctional. Lisa recounts her story and explains that she created the site after realizing she had no real friends. But as SpringFace expands and Springfield's fixation with the site causes mass hysteria, Lisa begins to realize that adding thousands of friends online did not compare to having real friendships. Later, Patty and Selma compete against the Winklevoss Twins (guest star Armie Hammer) in the rowing event at the 2012 Olympic Games.

And finally, at 11:30 PM on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, there's the 100th episode of Robot Chicken, which is also the season finale. So expect an extra dose of insanity in "Fight Club Paradise." When we interviewed co-creator Matt Senreich ages ago, he promised this episode would explore the show's robot chicken and scientist characters — and the photo at left, tweeted by Seth Green, seems to back that up.

View full page: io9.com/5874199/this-weeks-tv-fringe-returns-katee-sackhoff-joins-clone-wars-and-2-shows-de...

The Year in Beer: the Top 5 Stories of 2011

2012-01-04T14:44:00.001-08:00

Here is the conclusion of the top 30 stories of the year. If you are just catching up, here is 26-30, 21-25, 16-20, 11-15 and 6-10.

Without further ado, your top five stories of the year in beer. Agree or disagree with the list?

5. Anthony Bourdain claims that Discovery Channel pulled the plug on Brew Masters due to "Big Beer"

In March, No Reservations (television show) host, Anthony Bourdain, lit a match and dropped it into a pool of gasoline.

The Discovery Channel released a statement saying that the company did not cancel the show but only chose not to renew it. Those will turn out to be empty words until the sixth episode, which was filmed in New York and Italy, airs here in the United States. It aired in Italy last month.

From discussions I've had with a couple parties and the few ratings I recall at the time, there wasn't enough national interest in the program to bring it back for another season. It is quite likely that we won't see another craft beer series on national television anytime soon.

The Dogfish Head crew is said to be investigating the possibility of an online video series now. Keep an eye on that in 2012.

4. Dogfish Head brews two more music collaboration beers for Pearl Jam, Robert Johnson

First, in March, Dogfish Head announced its collaboration on a beer for Robert Johnson…

Robert Johnson may not exactly be a household name like Miles Davis, the subject of Sony Legacy and Dogfish Head's Bitches Brew collaboration beer, but he influenced a number of musicians who grew to stardom.

Then in October, the Pearl Jam beer…

Faithfull Ale is a celebration of Pearl Jam's 20th anniversary and their seminal album Ten – In recognition of these milestones this Belgian-style golden ale is delicately hopped to 20 IBUs and fruit-forward from 10 incremental additions of black currants over the course of the one hour boil. 7% ABV.

3. Founders Brewing releases Canadian Breakfast Stout in bottles, all-out frenzy ensues

Founders Brewing Co. Vice President/Director of Marketing Dave Engbers announced today that the highly anticipated Canadian Breakfast Stout (CBS) will be the second release in the company's 750mL "Backstage Series". It will be released to the market on October 3, 2011, with a taproom release party on October 1.

There has been a great deal of anticipation and speculation regarding the upcoming release after the success of Blushing Monk, the series' debut, earlier this year. Canadian Breakfast Stout is the epitome of why Founders launched the Backstage Series: it brings some of the brewery's most sought-after beers, which have been available primarily at the taproom or at a few select events, to a much larger audience.

2. Breckenridge Brewery mocks "Big Beer" in ad campaign

In May, Breckenridge came out with what may have been the most viral video campaign ever for a craft brewery. The Breckenridge Brewery's TV campaign in which it mocked traditional marketing jargon used by large beer manufacturers got over half a million hits on Youtube by my count. Later, I blogged about how it managed to be successful despite Breckenridge's ad agency dropping the ball on distribution of the videos.

In any case, here is a sample of what you missed.

1. Anheuser-Busch purchases Goose Island for $39 million

On March 27, 2011, Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated ("ABI"), a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., and Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc. ("CBA") entered into a binding term sheet by which ABI will purchase the 42% interest in Fulton Street Brewery, LLC ("FSB") owned by CBA (the "CBA Interest") for a purchase price of $16,300,000 in cash, reductions in the distribution fees to be paid by CBA to ABI under the existing distribution arrangements between the parties, amendments to the minority rights held by ABI and additional commercial considerations described below. FSB is a Chicago-based brewer of malt beverage products under the "Goose Island" brand.

This story was as big as it was because of one thing and one thing only. Anheuser-Busch. The largest beermaker in the country bought the Chicago icon back in the first half of the year. Longtime Beernews.org readers may remember that day which was filled with updates and server crashes from the traffic. The news made Twitter's trending topics list on a national level though I don't recall whether it ever trended worldwide.

Symphony IRI data from earlier in the year revealed that the sale had had no effect on Goose Island sales in the aggregate despite a vocal minority of people that boycotted the company due to the new AB affiliation.

Stay tuned for more thoughts as we settle into 2012.

Oh, and sound off in the comments on the list of 30 stories. What did I miss?

More at: http://beernews.org/2012/01/the-year-in-beer-the-top-5-stories-of-2011/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-year-in-beer-the-top-5-stories-of-2011

Lots of interesting news in the brewery world this past year. It looks like the microbrews are making inroads in America, much to the dismay of Big Brew. This is good news for fans of good beer, not so much for Coors, Budweiser, Miller, and other garbage disguised as beer.

Celis Gran Cru and a Monetcristo

2012-01-02T12:53:00.001-08:00

The best beer indeed is Belgian, with the Celis Gran Cru being no exception. Formerly from Celis in Austin, TX, the new owners have done its reputation well.

Appearance: Hazy, light pale golden in color, with a large, dense white head, which retains superbly. The carbonation is slight and slow-rising; the lacing arrays itself on the glass walls in a superb Belgian pattern.

Aroma: Opens with a strong note of of spicy alcohol, coriander and orange peel. There is also an understated note of earthy hops.

Taste: Opens with coriander and orange peel, and sweet alcohol as well. There is a solid pale malt presence throughout the taste, and a mildly sweet undercurrent of candy sugar and some clove as well. Finishes with a lingering, mild earthy hop flavor, and a brief burst of sweet alcohol.

Mouth feel: Smooth, soft, and velvety, quite pleasant.

Drinkability/notes: Quite wonderful, very drinkable and pleasant. Would be excellent for a holiday dinner.

Presentation: Packaged in a twelve-ounce brown glass long neck bottle with a pop-off crown, served in a standard Pilsener glass.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/565/9584

Even on a nearly chilly Texas winter afternoon, the Gran Cru goes well with a medium-bodied Montecristo.

Appearance :
Sleek-looking cigar; looks great with the white band. Montecristos are ALL about look, and this one was no exception.

Construction :
Superb ash, nice and white. VERY even burn. All around, it's one of the best-constructed cigars I've ever had.

Flavor :
It smells a bit like cedar, but when I inhaled it, my nostrils stung a bit. This cigar has a bit of a kick at first, but when it's lit, it's mild enough for smokers of any level. It has a toasty flavor and would make a wonderful breakfast cigar, paired up with a strong cup of coffee.

Value :
For $10, you can get yourself a nice cigar. If you want a Connecticut-wrapped cigar with a bit of a punch, this could be it. At $10, I wouldn't — probably ever — make this my regular smoke. But it may be a good thing to have around for small celebrations, bar mitzvahs, Web 2.0 site launch parties, etc.

Overall Rating :
Great cigar from a great brand.

http://www.cigarinspector.com/montecristo-dominican/montecristo-white-rothchilde

What a wonderful combination for a lazy afternoon out on the patio, listening to nature, watching the occasional bird of prey float by on the breeze.

SPIDERMAN

2011-12-30T13:38:00.001-08:00

Looks like the only thing he has been fighting lately
is the urge to get off the couch

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/motifake/~3/l53OXuHkjZo/index.php

How Twilight Should have Ended

2011-12-30T11:17:00.001-08:00

The Prodigy - Keith Flint's Camping Guide

2011-12-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

The Prodigy - Keith Flint's Camping Guide - YouTube: Keith Flint's hilarious guide to the world of hunting: appropriate camping footwear, caribou hunting and wearing a plastic Canadian goose on your head. Contains excessively strong but hilarious language.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I've loved these guys for years, took a while to warm up to Keith Flint, though. I thought seeing him introduce us to large game ammunition was a riot.

And death shall have no dominon

2011-12-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

by Dylan Thomas

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominon, from the Solaris rehash

BBC Radio One's Essential Mix of the Year - Above and Beyond

2011-12-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

The top listener-voted Essential Mix of 2011 comes from Above and Beyond. Just listen and you'll understand why.

It's Radio 1's Essential Mix of the Year, as voted for by listeners of the show. This show contains some strong language.

Music played

Sebastian Ingrosso & Unless — Calling

Refune

Cliff Martinez — Is That What Everybody Wants

Parker & Hanson — Arabesque (Original Mix)

Anjunabeats

Cosmic Gate & Andrew Beyer — Nothing Ever Lasts

Black Hole

Mat Zo — Loop

Anjunabeats

Mat Zo — Superman (Original Mix)

Anjubeats

Andrew Bayer — Counting The Points (Club Mix)

Anjunabeats

Matt Lange — Bad Year Blimp (Original Mix)

Revolver Label/ Anjunadeep

Edu & Cramp — Human Turbines (Original Mix)

Anjunabeats

Massive Attack — Teardrop (Bart Claessen's & Tom Fall Bootleg, Above & Beyond Tweak)

Maor Levi & Raul Siberdi — Infatuation (Original Mix)

Anjubeats

Above & Beyond — Formula Rossa

Anjunabeats

Above & Beyond & Richard Bedford — Thing Called Love

Arty — Around The World

Anjunabeats

Creep Feat. Romy Madley Croft — Days (Super8 & Tab Remix)

Young Turks

Super8 and Tab — Slow To Learn (Maor Levi Club Mix) (feat. Jan Burton)

Anjubeats

Above & Beyond — You Got To Go (Feat Zoë Johnston) (Kyau & Albert Remix)

Arty & Mat Zo — Rebound (Original Mix)

Above & Beyond — Sun & Moon (Feat. Richard Bedford) (Bart Claessen's Lost Dub)

Above & Beyond — Prelude

Andrew Bayer — From The Earth (Album Mix)

Anjubeats

BBC iPlayer - BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix: The Essential Mix of 2011

Ode To Joy

2011-12-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

Ode To Joy - YouTube

Starbucks, Starbucks in Starbucks

2011-12-26T21:27:00.000-08:00

Starbucks - Very Demotivational - The Demotivational Posters Blog

Don't Panic and Carry On

2011-12-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

DON'T PANIC:

An 18"x24" poster, designed around Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A quick personal project to keep myself busy over the summer.

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

This also makes me think; If the Battlestar Galactica carried an encyclopedia, would it have been the Encyclopedia Galactica?

Dilbert On Green Goals vs Corporate Security

2011-12-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

Dilbert comic strip for 12/23/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

The Streets - Blinded by the Light (Nero Dubstep Remix)

2011-12-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

The Streets - Blinded by the light (Nero dubstep remix) (HQ) - YouTube

Paul Kalkbrenner vs. Deadmau5 - Faxing Gebrünn [PaulTM Mashup]

2011-12-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

Paul Kalkbrenner vs. Deadmau5 - Faxing Gebrünn [PaulTM Mashup] - YouTube

2Raumwohnung - Wir Werden Sehen (Paul Kalkbrenner Remix)

2011-12-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Wir Werden Sehen - Paul Kalkbrenner Remix - YouTube

Fringe Returns in 2012

2011-12-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Fox's Fringe will return with new episodes in 2012. I'm on the edge of my seat in anticipation. The episode Back to Where You've Never Been will air on 13 January, 2012. It's on my calendar, and I won't miss it. In a way, keeping this show on the air almost makes up for Fox cancelling Firefly. Almost...

I only recently realized there was a pattern to the glyphs in the breaks, more at Fringepedia.

The retro 1985 intro was probably one of my favorite twists in the series so far.

Here is an amazing combination of all four variations together at once.

Star Trek vs Dr. Who by ~Summerset on deviantART

2011-12-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

Star Trek vs Dr. Who by ~Summerset on deviantART

Happy Birthday to Philip K. Dick

2011-12-16T01:12:00.000-08:00

I share a birthday with my favorite author, Philip K. Dick. I am, however, blessed with a lack of that psychosis which may have contributed to the unique style which brought us so much prophetic work from the author. Here is one of his essays in part, giving us a perspective on the author as another human, not just a name on a dust jacket. He lived in the real world, interacted with it, and made observations about it.

How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later
by Philip K. Dick, 1978

[...]

Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful. A few years ago, no college or university would ever have considered inviting one of us to speak. We were mercifully confined to lurid pulp magazines, impressing no one. In those days, friends would say me, "But are you writing anything serious?" meaning "Are you writing anything other than science fiction?" We longed to be accepted. We yearned to be noticed. Then, suddenly, the academic world noticed us, we were invited to give speeches and appear on panels—and immediately we made idiots of ourselves. The problem is simply this: What does a science fiction writer know about? On what topic is he an authority?

It reminds me of a headline that appeared in a California newspaper just before I flew here. SCIENTISTS SAY THAT MICE CANNOT BE MADE TO LOOK LIKE HUMAN BEINGS. It was a federally funded research program, I suppose. Just think: Someone in this world is an authority on the topic of whether mice can or cannot put on two-tone shoes, derby hats, pinstriped shirts, and Dacron pants, and pass as humans.

Well, I will tell you what interests me, what I consider important. I can't claim to be an authority on anything, but I can honestly say that certain matters absolutely fascinate me, and that I write about them all the time. The two basic topics which fascinate me are "What is reality?" and "What constitutes the authentic human being?" Over the twenty-seven years in which I have published novels and stories I have investigated these two interrelated topics over and over again. I consider them important topics. What are we? What is it which surrounds us, that we call the not-me, or the empirical or phenomenal world?

In 1951, when I sold my first story, I had no idea that such fundamental issues could be pursued in the science fiction field. I began to pursue them unconsciously. My first story had to do with a dog who imagined that the garbagemen who came every Friday morning were stealing valuable food which the family had carefully stored away in a safe metal container. Every day, members of the family carried out paper sacks of nice ripe food, stuffed them into the metal container, shut the lid tightly—and when the container was full, these dreadful-looking creatures came and stole everything but the can.

Finally, in the story, the dog begins to imagine that someday the garbagemen will eat the people in the house, as well as stealing their food. Of course, the dog is wrong about this. We all know that garbagemen do not eat people. But the dog's extrapolation was in a sense logical—given the facts at his disposal. The story was about a real dog, and I used to watch him and try to get inside his head and imagine how he saw the world. Certainly, I decided, that dog sees the world quite differently than I do, or any humans do. And then I began to think, Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world, a world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. And that led me wonder, If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn't we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others? What about the world of a schizophrenic? Maybe, it's as real as our world. Maybe we cannot say that we are in touch with reality and he is not, but should instead say, His reality is so different from ours that he can't explain his to us, and we can't explain ours to him. The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too diffrently, there occurs a breakdown of communication... and there is the real illness.

I once wrote a story about a man who was injured and taken to a hospital. When they began surgery on him, they discovered that he was an android, not a human, but that he did not know it. They had to break the news to him. Almost at once, Mr. Garson Poole discovered that his reality consisted of punched tape passing from reel to reel in his chest. Fascinated, he began to fill in some of the punched holes and add new ones. Immediately, his world changed. A flock of ducks flew through the room when he punched one new hole in the tape. Finally he cut the tape entirely, whereupon the world disappeared. However, it also disappeared for the other characters in the story... which makes no sense, if you think about it. Unless the other characters were figments of his punched-tape fantasy. Which I guess is what they were.

It was always my hope, in writing novels and stories which asked the question "What is reality?", to someday get an answer. This was the hope of most of my readers, too. Years passed. I wrote over thirty novels and over a hundred stories, and still I could not figure out what was real. One day a girl college student in Canada asked me to define reality for her, for a paper she was writing for her philosophy class. She wanted a one-sentence answer. I thought about it and finally said, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." That's all I could come up with. That was back in 1972. Since then I haven't been able to define reality any more lucidly.

But the problem is a real one, not a mere intellectual game. Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups—and the electronic hardware exists by which to deliver these pseudo-worlds right into the heads of the reader, the viewer, the listener. Sometimes when I watch my eleven-year-old daughter watch TV, I wonder what she is being taught. The problem of miscuing; consider that. A TV program produced for adults is viewed by a small child. Half of what is said and done in the TV drama is probably misunderstood by the child. Maybe it's all misunderstood. And the thing is, Just how authentic is the information anyhow, even if the child correctly understood it? What is the relationship between the average TV situation comedy to reality? What about the cop shows? Cars are continually swerving out of control, crashing, and catching fire. The police are always good and they always win. Do not ignore that point: The police always win. What a lesson that is. You should not fight authority, and even if you do, you will lose. The message here is, Be passive. And—cooperate. If Officer Baretta asks you for information, give it to him, because Officer Beratta is a good man and to be trusted. He loves you, and you should love him.

So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing. It is my job to create universes, as the basis of one novel after another. And I have to build them in such a way that they do not fall apart two days later. Or at least that is what my editors hope. However, I will reveal a secret to you: I like to build universes which do fall apart. I like to see them come unglued, and I like to see how the characters in the novels cope with this problem. I have a secret love of chaos. There should be more of it. Do not believe—and I am dead serious when I say this—do not assume that order and stability are always good, in a society or in a universe. The old, the ossified, must always give way to new life and the birth of new things. Before the new things can be born the old must perish. This is a dangerous realization, because it tells us that we must eventually part with much of what is familiar to us. And that hurts. But that is part of the script of life. Unless we can psychologically accommodate change, we ourselves begin to die, inwardly. What I am saying is that objects, customs, habits, and ways of life must perish so that the authentic human being can live. And it is the authentic human being who matters most, the viable, elastic organism which can bounce back, absorb, and deal with the new.

[...]

Philip K. Dick - Introduction to Essays & Other Published Works

Google

2011-12-15T20:45:00.001-08:00

I have it on good authority that if you type Google into Google, you
can break the Internet.

Philip K. Dick's Exegesis

2011-12-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

I haven’t posted anything about the release of The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick because I assumed that anyone who likes Philip K. Dick knows about this because of the importance of this release.
I have a copy of the first release of the Exegesis and have only read parts of it because it is difficult to choose to read it over reading VALIS which is my favorite book and one that explains parts of the Exegesis so I get my fix from that.

I haven’t picked up my copy of this yet (I’m sure I will soon). I tend to buy all of my most desired books on the day of release. If anyone would like to post mini-reviews in the comments or send a full length review, I will post (or allow) them here.

Exegesis Is Here! « Book Editions « Philip K. Dick Fan Site

The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick

2011-12-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

    The unbilled costar of Paycheck, the latest Hollywood thriller from the battered typewriter of Philip K. Dick, is a bullet. A crack engineer named Jennings, played by Ben Affleck, finds himself in a jam, as Dick's characters invariably do, and the bullet is headed his way. Spiraling through the air in superslow motion, it pierces his chest in a plume of red and bores into his heart. Or does it? Though the image recurs throughout the film, it's hard to tell whether it's actually happening or not. Philip K. Dick liked nothing better than to toy with the fundamentals of human existence, reality chief among them, so what better for the movie than a bullet that may or may not be tearing through the main character's flesh? Like other Dick protagonists - Tom Cruise in Minority Report, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall, Harrison Ford in Blade Runner- Affleck finds himself struggling for equilibrium in a world where even the most elemental questions are almost impossible to answer. Can the senses be trusted? Are memories real? Is anything real?

    Paycheck, directed by John Woo and set to open Christmas Day, is the latest in a run of films based on Philip K. Dick stories that began 21 years ago with Blade Runner. The writer's hallucinatory tales make for suspense with an epistemological twist: full-bore action pics that turn on questions of perception versus reality. Having agreed to have his memory erased after completing a super-sensitive job, Jennings learns that he apparently signed away his $4.4 billion paycheck in exchange for an envelope of trinkets. Armed men are chasing him, but he has no idea why until he teams up with Rachel (Uma Thurman), whom he vaguely recalls meeting just before he started the job. Jennings, it turns out, is a man who has seen the future but can't remember it.

    Dick died shortly before Blade Runner's release in 1982, and, despite a cult readership, he spent most of his life in poverty. Yet now, more than two decades later, the future he saw has made him one of the most sought-after writers in Hollywood. Paycheck, based on a 1953 short story Dick sold to a pulp magazine for less than $200, will bring close to $2 million to his estate. And movies based on more than a half-dozen other stories and novels are in the works - among them "The King of the Elves" at Disney, "The Short, Happy Life of the Brown Oxford" at Miramax, and A Scanner Darkly at Warner Bros.

    Dick's anxious surrealism all but defines contemporary Hollywood science fiction and spills over into other kinds of movies as well. His influence is pervasive in The Matrix and its sequels, which present the world we know as nothing more than an information grid; Dick articulated the concept in a 1977 speech in which he posited the existence of multiple realities overlapping the "matrix world" that most of us experience. Vanilla Sky, with its dizzying shifts between fantasy and fact, likewise ventures into a Dickian warp zone, as does Dark City, The Thirteenth Floor, and David Cronenberg's eXistenZ. Memento reprises Dick's memory obsession by focusing on a man whose attempts to avenge his wife's murder are complicated by his inability to remember anything. In The Truman Show, Jim Carrey discovers the life he's living is an illusion, an idea Dick developed in his 1959 novel Time Out of Joint. Next year, Carrey and Kate Winslet will play a couple who have their memories of each other erased in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Memory, paranoia, alternate realities: Dick's themes are everywhere.

    At a time when most 20th-century science fiction writers seem hopelessly dated, Dick gives us a vision of the future that captures the feel of our time. He didn't really care about robots or space travel, though they sometimes turn up in his stories. He wrote about ordinary Joes caught in a web of corporate domination and ubiquitous electronic media, of memory implants and mood dispensers and counterfeit worlds. This strikes a nerve. "People cannot put their finger anymore on what is real and what is not real," observes Paul Verhoeven, the one-time Dutch mathematician who directed Total Recall. "What we find in Dick is an absence of truth and an ambiguous interpretation of reality. Dreams that turn out to be reality, reality that turns out to be a dream. This can only sell when people recognize it, and they can only recognize it when they see it in their own lives."

Wired 11.12: The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick

Starbucks

2011-12-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

Batman Double-Ended Knife

2011-12-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is just awesome. A double-sided Batman-themes assisted opening knife.

11" LENGTH - DUAL BLADES

This Batman folding knife features two very sharp blades. Both blades are spring assisted allowing you to open the blades quickly and efficiently. Each blade can be opened independently so the knife can be used as a single blade knife as well as a dual blade knife. The handle is in the shape of the Batman logo, and the logo itself is stamped on the handle. Comes with a belt clip for easy portability. A must have for any Batman fan.

11" SPRING ASSISTED DUAL BLADE BATMAN FOLDING KNIFE Pocket Assist Opening Switch | eBay

Explaining Philip K Dick's Exegesis

2011-12-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

Philip K Dick rewired my brain when I was a mere lad, after I plucked Clans of the Alphane Moon at random from a shelf in my local library. This was in the 1980s: PKD had not yet become a multi-million dollar industry and his best endorsements came from counterculture figures such as Timothy Leary or fellow denizens of the SF ghetto such as Michael Moorcock.

It was exciting to be a PKD reader back then. Lots of secondary material was being published, such as Paul Williams's interview book Only Apparently Real, or Lawrence Sutin's excellent biography Divine Invasions. Soon it was obvious that not only were PKD's books – with their combination of metaphysical speculation, social satire, bad relationships, and fantastic ideas tossed out as mere afterthoughts – bizarre and wonderful, but that Dick the man was Seriously Weird.

Sure, there was the paranoia, his prodigious appetite for amphetamines, his obsession with Linda Ronstadt and his fear that either the Black Panthers or FBI had raided his house – enough eccentricity for any lifetime, you might think. But that was all eclipsed by what happened on 20 February 1974, when a pink laser beam filled his mind with arcane and beneficial knowledge.

Where had it come from? God? Aliens? A healthy vitamin solution he had quaffed hours earlier? Dick loved to speculate, so much so that this event inspired not only his late "VALIS Trilogy" but also a private work he called The Exegesis. When he died in 1982 it ran to approximately 8,000 pages of analysis, hypothesis and self-questioning.

For some, the pink laser beam is mere lunacy. I recall a TV documentary in which Brian Aldiss dismissed it as the result of neurochemistry gone awry. Others have argued that it was temporal lobe epilepsy. For still others, an unsavoury whiff of L Ron Hubbard hangs over the event. After all, Dick was heavily into theology. Was he starting a cult? If not, would his fans do it for him?

Probably not: Dick's approach to 2-3-74 (as he called the experience, since the cosmic mind invasion was most intense between February and March) was not dogmatic but critical, and he was the first to suggest that it might have been a neurological event. But then again, the light had diagnosed a potentially critical illness in his son which doctors had missed, and he had received information in dream states in dead languages he could not speak. "It" knew things he did not. So what was it?

Dick never intended The Exegesis for publication, and aside from In Pursuit of VALIS, a tiny selection of extracts from the book that was brought out in 1991, it has remained a thing of legend only. Until last month, however, when Houghton Mifflin Harcourt brought out a huge 900-page volume, co-edited by Jonathan Lethem and Pamela Jackson. It's still only about one tenth of the whole thing, but it's a start. But what, if anything, does this text have to offer people who are not Philip K Dick?

Afraid that the answer might be "not much" I started in on it immediately lest it sit on my shelf unread for 20 years like In Pursuit of VALIS. The first thing I noticed is that Lethem et al assume that anyone reading this book already knows what it is, and will only come to it after deep immersion in PKD's fiction. And indeed, Dick himself begins with a discussion of 2-3-74 through the prism of his novel Ubik, where many of the characters are dead bodies lying in "cold-pac", while their ex-employer Glen Runciter seeks to communicate with them from the world of the living … maybe. Was the pink laser beam likewise an invasion of a dead world by something alive?

That PKD had published Ubik four years earlier was not a problem; he writes as if his book might still have related the truth behind appearances. But Ubik doesn't work, as the world is not visibly rotting around him as it was in the novel. However, Dick immediately conceives of another possibility, and I can't help but wonder what his friend Claudia Bush thought when she received a letter in which Dick speculates that a dead bishop named Jim Pike was invading his mind, before suddenly switching to the theory that it might be an ancient Greek named Asklepios. Asklepios's ignorance of Christ suggests something else: did the world go wrong around 2,000 years ago? Is the goal of this higher intelligence to restore man to a pre-Christian path?

A few pages later, however, and Dick confides in Ursula Le Guin that it's the prophet Elijah. Or at least that's what Thomas M Disch (a great SF writer of the 60s and 70s) had suggested. But there is precisely zero possibility that Disch was serious – his take on PKD was that the great man liked to play with his own mental illness. Disch always kept an ironic distance – which is something I miss in the ultra-reverential contemporary introductions to Dick's work written by fanboys with PhDs and MFAs.

These ideas rush past and are discarded within the first 40 pages or so. John Denver also pops up. The Exegesis is dizzying, bewildering, exhilarating, and more or less as strange as it sounds. But again, should you read it? It doesn't contain the answers to all things; it doesn't even contain the answer to what happened to Dick.

Lethem suggests that the reader must simply "surrender". I suspect he's right – but that won't work unless you've read at least 16 of Dick's novels, plus his biography, and love metaphysics. At that point, The Exegesis will bring you extraordinarily close to his unique mind, with its mixture of doubt, wild invention, minuscule detail, grandiose theory and wry humour. Reality collapses and is then remade, over and over again – but what is real?
Who cares? That's part of the game.

In short: if you want to know what it's like to have your world dissolve, and then try to rebuild it while suffering mental invasions from God, Asklepios or whomever, you should read The Exegesis. Then again, you could always try one of Dick's novels, like Ubik, or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, or even a minor book such as Galactic Pot-Healer. That one's a lot of fun – and considerably less of an investment of time and energy.

Explaining Philip K Dick's Exegesis

Roll over, Frank Miller: or why the Occupy Wall Street kids are better than #$%! Spartans | Contrary Brin

2011-12-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, the famous comic book writer and illustrator Frank Miller issued a howl of hatred toward the young people in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Well, all right, that’s a bowdlerization. After reading even one randomly-chosen paragraph, I’m sure you’ll agree that “howl” understates the red-hot fury and scatalogical spew of Miller’s lavishly expressed hate: “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.“
In fact, I need do nothing more — in order to reduce that individual’s public esteem — than simply point you all to his bile-drenched missive. Please. If you must choose between reading that or my detailed, cogently-argued response (below), by all means let his words suffice! I cede the floor. Let him express the maturity and thoughtfulness of his side.

Well, well. I’ve been fuming silently at Frank Miller for a years. The time’s come, so get ready for steam! Because the screech that you just read – Miller’s attack on young citizens, clumsily feeling their way ahead toward saving their country – is only the latest example of Frank’s astonishing agenda. One that really needs exposure to light.

Roll over, Frank Miller: or why the Occupy Wall Street kids are better than #$%! Spartans | Contrary Brin

Star Trek TNG Ambient Engine Noise (Idling for 24 hrs) - YouTube

2011-12-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

Best white noise machine ever. (Caution: May induce cravings for tea, Earl Grey, hot.)

One of my favorite things about the Star Trek franchise are all the great ambient sounds that represent the engine noise on the various ships. My favorite ambient noise from the whole series is the engine idling noise in TNG. I have cleaned up a sample from the show and then looped it for 24 hours. Great for ambiance and imagining that you're in deep space.

Here is a download link for any interested in the original sound file for the video. Its saved as a .ogg: http://www.mediafire.com/?p8p70p8od51700c

Star Trek TNG Ambient Engine Noise (Idling for 24 hrs)

Winning at Nerd Bait

2011-12-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

WINNING AT EVERYTHING

I love the comments:

Aren’t you a little stacked to be a Storm Trooper?

I’d bullseye her womp-rat.
.
I’d herd her nerfs.
.
I’d fall into her Sarlaac pit.
.
I’d…….I’ve never been with a woman.
.
.
.
.
“MOM!!! ARE MY HOT POCKETS DONE YET???”

Golf Tours, Tournaments & Leaderboards | Golf Channel

2011-12-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

Really? A whole channel? What? An hour a week isn't enough?

http://www.golfchannel.com/tours/

Rock Paper Scissorhands

2011-12-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Edward Scissor Hands vs The Thing in a rock paper scissors match comic

Edward Scissor Hands Rock Paper Scissors | WeKnowMemes

Ridley Scott on 'Prophets of Science Fiction' and Philip K. Dick ‎

2011-12-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

Ridley Scott is the executive producer of a new television series, “Prophets of Science Fiction,” which premieres on Discovery Communications Inc.’s Science Channel tonight.
“Prophets of Science Fiction” explores how visionary authors such as Philip K. Dick and H.G. Wells accurately predicted future scientific advancements such as medical research, virtual reality and civilian surveillance techniques.

Scott is a host on each hour-long episode, which includes commentary by experts such as theoretical physicists, biographers, and film directors. “Because I have a television company, we gradually have evolved into doing documentary television and reconstruction documentary, so this is how we found our way into this,” Scott told Speakeasy. “They said to me I seem to be a natural fit to be one of the spokesmen on the show. So that’s how it came about and how could I say no? I am a science fiction enthusiast really, deep down.”

Scott has directed two sci-fi films that helped define the genre and cemented his legacy among sci-fi fans for more than three decades: “Alien” (1979) and “Blade Runner” (1982). He just finished his third sci-fi movie, “Prometheus,” shot in 3-D with CGI, which will be released in June 2012, and he told the Journal recently that he plans to direct a “Blade Runner” sequel.

The premiere episode is on Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein.” Others who will be featured in the season are Philip K. Dick, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, Robert Heinlein and George Lucas.

Scott’s film, “Blade Runner,” was inspired by a novel by Philip K. Dick, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” about Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter searching for sophisticated, rogue androids.

“I think Phil Dick was particularly interesting in that first of all, he was a very modern man and a very modern thinker, but I don’t know what demons drove him,” Scott said in the interview. “I think he was a little bit paranoid and you know how people become obsessive about deterioration or disintegration or growing older? I think he was very conscious of the way the world was going into an area of negativity as opposed to positivity.”

“What science fiction enables us to do is look into those futures from where we are now to where we are going,” Scott continued. “Certain kinds of movies do that and what’s interesting is a lot of them lean very much toward decay. Decay in the metaphorical sense of the world of not getting better but getting worse. People have found the romanticism in that.”

Ridley Scott on 'Prophets of Science Fiction' and Philip K. Dick

1984 and V for Vendetta

2011-12-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

A lot of people compare world events to 1984, and sometimes it's frightening how similar they appear to be. After finally reading it, though, I'm inclined to say the level of oppression present in the book just isn't possible. In piecemeal, it serves warnings, but the aspects outlined are required to be present all at the same time, some of which just seem so unlikely as to be impossible (such as the reduction to 3 nation-states, the rounding up of all first generational dissenters, the acceptance of lack of privacy, doublethink, the technological infrastucture necessary for the telemonitors, the tracking and changing of all literature, etc...).

1984 posits that power is its own goal, but I have a hard time believing that there is even one person that wants power for only power's sake; that there is a person who would be wholly satisfied lording over his fellow man while living in filth and squallor (does anybody remember the line "my kingdom for a horse"?). In that sense, 1984 does address something that I've pondered, and that's the need for stratified goods and services between the classes. Hopefully I'll write on it at a later date, but the basic idea is that there's no point to being rich if it doesn't get you something better than someone who's poorer. Taken down the logical path that 1984 itself proposes, even the highest class citizens would eventually have a very meager quality of life. True, a better one than their inferiors, but a poor one by the standards of what could be.

However, more than anything, and probably because of V for Vendetta, I'm inclined to think like Winston did: that people won't live like that. That someone would eventually notice, and then more and more. The peasants would become incapable of accepting an even lower standard of life, and then the higher classses. Or perhaps the higher would no longer think that merely being able to fill one's stomach was such a grand high thing. Perhaps the Brotherhood existed, maybe it didn't. But I would think something like the Brotherhood would exist. And maybe 1984 would have its own V. Maybe not an untouchable superman, but perhaps a Claudius, willfully cloaked by seeming innocuousness.

Not Quite Somewhat: 1984, V for Vendetta

Reply All

2011-12-08T10:55:00.000-08:00

If you’re going burn a bridge, make it worth it.

How I feel when I see this

2011-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

Submitted by: Unkind
Posted at: 2011-12-06 02:32:46
See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/912525

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9gag/~3/78U6D1Z2lEk/912525

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

The 15 Funniest Autocorrects From November 2011

2011-12-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

These were the 15 most popular autocorrect submissions sent into this site in November, 2011. Congratulations to the submitters!

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/15063/the-15-funniest-autocorrects-from-november-2011/

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

To Google: Stop Reading My Email

2011-12-07T14:06:00.001-08:00

I noticed that when I hovered over the flag in Gmail, the following text descriptor showed up. While convenient, it makes me think that even if through automation, I am still not comfortable with Google reading my email content.

What’s YOUR Budget These Days? « THE WAKING GIANT

2011-12-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

I love it when complex things are simplified so that most people can understand.

• United States Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

• Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000

• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000

• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000

Now, remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget.

• Annual family income: $21,700

• Money the family spent: $38,200

• New debt on the credit card: $16,500

• Outstanding balance on credit card: $142,710

• Total budget cuts which some politicians are proud about: $385

What’s YOUR Budget These Days? « THE WAKING GIANT

Street art: The Death of SpongeBob

2011-12-06T05:15:00.001-08:00

The Death of SpongeBob..(Read...)

Ridley Scott Signs On For Blade Runner Sequel ‎

2011-12-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

For those of you born post-1990, Blade Runner is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Superficially it's the story of a man hunting down android killers, though (depending on which version you watch) it also serves as a meditation on what it means to actually be human.

The film features Harrison Ford, Sean Young and the most intense Rutger Hauer performance not centered on transient vigilantes. Most critics adore Blade Runner, and rank it alongside Alien (another film directed by Scott) as one of the finest science fiction efforts ever committed to the silver screen.

Now, nearly 30 years after the film's debut, Scott has agreed to revisit the universe. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, Scott said production is already rolling along nicely, and that he is currently seeking a screenwriter to assist in crafting a final script.

"I think I'm close to finding a writer that might be able to help me deliver. We're quite a long way in, actually," Scott says.

As for what exactly this new film might be about, that remains a question mark. Though Scott specifically says that this new tale won't focus on the original's cast of characters, he did mention his impression that the original "is very much about humanity," offering a subtle hint that the follow-up will likewise focus on the original's core existential query.

Revisiting his early successes seems to be a key theme for Scott these days, as the director recently finished filming Prometheus, a movie tied to the same mythos as 1979's Alien.

So, what would you like to see in a new Blade Runner film? I've got my fingers crossed for some of them glittering C-beams.

Ridley Scott Signs On For Blade Runner Sequel
‎

The New Eugenics in Cinema: Genetic Determinism and Gene Therapy in GATTACA

2011-12-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

Genetic Determinism and Eugenics in GATTACA. Given this cultural context, Sony Pictures’ GATTACA (1997) presents a unique counter-argument. GATTACA not only deals with the bioethical issues associated with the new eugenics, it actually suggests that these issues arise from societal acceptance of the genetic-determinist ideology. In essence, GATTACA tries to break out of the black box constructed by genetic scientists who portray a world dominated by genes. GATTACA does not deny the importance of genes, nor does it fault the technology itself; rather, the film warns of the problems that arise if we believe that humans are nothing more than their genes.

GATTACA depicts a future world in which parents are encouraged to decide the genetic makeup of their offspring before birth. In this world not everyone has access to the technology, and individuals who have not been genetically enhanced encounter severe discrimination. GATTACA’s narrative focuses on Vincent Freeman, a genetically unenhanced individual, and his interactions with three characters, Eugene, Irene, and Anton, who are genetically enhanced. During the course of the film, Vincent avoids genetic discrimination by passing off Eugene Morrow’s genetic makeup as his own.⁸ Because everyone believes that Vincent has Eugene’s genetic profile, he is able to obtain a job at the prestigious Gattaca corporation, which arranges offworld expeditions. While at Gattaca, Vincent develops a romantic relationship with Irene, who would be genetically perfect except for a single flaw, a weak heart—ironically, the same defect suffered by Vincent himself. Early in the film an executive is murdered at Gattaca, and the subsequent investigation is conducted by Vincent’s genetically augmented younger brother, Anton. A stray eyelash provides DNA evidence, making Vincent the prime suspect in the murder. Because the DNA profile from the eyelash shows a genetically imperfect individual, nobody suspects that the eyelash really belongs to the best engineer working at Gattaca. As Irene and Anton begin to realize that Vincent is not genetically perfect, they are forced, along with Eugene, to confront the fact that the genetically unenhanced Vincent is actually a superior human being, able to excel physically and socially despite his built-in "flaws."

More: David A. Kirby: The New Eugenics in Cinema: Genetic Determinism and Gene Therapy in GATTACA

Why Mark Twain would be booted from Facebook

2011-11-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

American author Mark Twain would have turned 176 today, and to celebrate, Google has decorated its homepage with an elaborate doodle, depicting a couple of boys slapping paint on a wooden fence. The boys, of course, are Tom Sawyer and a friend that he conned into whitewashing the fence. But who was Twain? Only one of the most accomplished writers in American history.
Born in 1835 in Missouri, Twain traveled widely through the American south and the west, recording his impressions for magazines and newspapers, including Harper's and the Sacramento Union. His first novel, The Gilded Age, was published in 1873, and his last, The Mysterious Stranger, in 1916, after his death. Ernest Hemingway later acknowledged that "all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn."
All of which got us thinking: What if Mark Twain, that great chronicler of American culture, was alive today? Would he approve of today's online world? Well, maybe not. He certainly wouldn't be allowed on Facebook, especially if he refused – as he sometimes did – to go by anything other than his pen name: Mark Twain.
After all, savvy readers will remember that "Mark Twain" is an invention – a piece of riverboat slang. Twain's real name was the somewhat-less-pithy Samuel Langhorn Clemens. (True story: Before he was Twain, Clemens was often credited as "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass.") And there's nothing that riles up Facebook more than a person – any person! – who refuses to use their real name.
Consider the peculiar case of another writer, Salman Rushdie. Rushdie recently had his account deactivated. After he sent Facebook HQ a copy of his passport, the social network reactivated the page, but forced him to use his birth name, Ahmed Rushdie. Rushdie eventually obtained a reversal, as well as an apology from the folks at the social network, but Facebook brass has stressed the importance of something called "real name culture," an idea also embraced by Google+ and several other social networks.
"Facebook has always been based on a real-name culture," Elliot Schrage, vice president of public policy at Facebook, told the New York Times. "We fundamentally believe this leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for people who use the service." Maybe so. But it sure would have made Samuel Langhorn Clemens pretty cranky.

Why Mark Twain would be booted from Facebook

The Average Bush Tax Cut For The 1 Percent This Year Will Be Greater Than The Average Income Of The Other 99 Percent

2011-11-27T17:19:00.001-08:00

As Occupy Wall Street protestors continue to demonstrate across the country, congress' fiscal super committee failed to craft a deficit reduction packagedue to Republican refusal to consider tax increases on the super wealthy. In fact, the only package that the GOP officially submitted to the committee includedlowering the top tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent, even as new research shows that the optimal top tax rate iscloser to 70 percent.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who co-chaired the super committee, explained that the major sticking point during negotiations with the GOP was what to do with the Bush tax cuts. With that in mind, the National Priorities Project points out that those tax cuts this year will give the richest 1 percent of Americans a bigger tax cut than the other 99 percent will receive in average income:

The average Bush tax cut in 2011 for a taxpayer in the richest one percent is greater than the average income of the other 99 percent ($66,384 compared to $58,506).

"The super committee failed to grapple with the extraordinarily costly Bush tax cuts for the richest—tax policies that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, cost more in added federal debt than they add in additional economic activity," explained Jo Comerford, NPP's Executive Director. Frank Knapp, vice chairman of the American Sustainable Business Council, added in a statement yesterday, "the high-end Bush tax cuts are a big part of the problem – not the solution…It's obscene to keep slashing infrastructure and services for everybody on Main Street to keep up tax giveaways for millionaires and multinational corporations."

The Bush tax cuts have done nothing but blow up the federal debt and hand billions in tax breaks to the Americans who needed them least. As a reminder, past grand bargains when it came to the budget included substantial new revenues, to balance the pain of getting the country's budget in order. Instead of adopting that approach, the GOP wants to continue lavishing tax breaks onto the 1 percent, while asking everyone else to sacrifice.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/23/375654/bush-tax-cut-one-percent/

Ralph Steadman's artwork for Alice in Wonderland takes you to Gonzoland [Alice In Wonderland]

2011-11-26T16:01:00.000-08:00

In 1967, artist Ralph Steadman — whose freewheeling design would go on to be synonymous with Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — drew an edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Just like Salvador Dalí, here was an illustrator whose style was a custom fit for Carroll's phantasmagoric fantasy world. More »

I'm seriously looking forward to reading this.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/io9/full/~3/E2oNZ7ROc1w/ralph-steadmans-artwork-for-alice-in-wonderland-takes-you-to-gonzoland

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The illegal immigrants of the USA

2011-11-26T15:55:00.001-08:00

Submitted by: daegu
Posted at: 2011-11-25 06:40:22
See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/738732

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9gag/~3/cebnudoOppM/738732

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An Exorcism

2011-11-23T07:55:00.000-08:00

The Exorcist

Nina Simone/ Feeling Good

2011-11-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

I have a new idea for a story, probably a short story. It comes from the idea of waking up in a fog from a vivid dream. It also makes me think of the song Feeling Good, covered best by Nina Simone. Teasers...

Nina Simone/ Feeling Good - YouTube

JP Morgan Money Mismanagement

2011-11-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

I recently had the unpleasant experience of attempting to make a withdrawal from a 401k account managed by JP Morgan. That should be the first sign that this was going to be an unpleasant experience at best. After going back and forth for over three months, I was finally able to withdraw less than half of what I was originally told. Almost every aspect of the experience was painful and felt like being taken for a ride by con men. It's no wonder the world has lost faith in our banking and investment system. With companies like this treating customers like step-children, I would hope that everyone sees the reality and decides to cut the cord as I have. They make bad investments, customers pay the price, and they write it off as market fluctuations. I no longer contribute to this system and have taken as much of my money out as they let me (there's the other big problem, it's my money) and invest in something I can hold in my hand, like silver or gold.

Then they have the nerve to ask me to complete a customer satisfaction survey. Open the floodgates:

Taking over three months to complete a withdrawal is beyond unacceptable. Working with a business that consistently fails to communicate status of a withdrawal or even acknowledges responsibility for failures in communication is also a serious let-down to the customer. I will say that the initial people who answer the phones are friendly, courteous, and apologetic for the failures of the company and other departments which refuse to speak directly to the customers. That was the only part of my interaction with the company that was not a completely miserable experience.

Given the overall displeasure with the banking and financial industry, I would think that this business would want to make all efforts to maintain customer satisfaction and trust. Maybe that's not a part of the mission statement anymore? The retirement planning division also needs to recognize that customers CHOOSE to allow JPMorgan to manage our money, but the company responds in a manner that suggests they believe they are entitled to and unwilling to surrender customer funds without a fight.

Customer complaints: http://www.epinions.com/review/JP_Morgan_Chase_Bank_1/content_362834333316

Sven Vath – Live @ Creamfields 2011, Buenos Aires – 12-11-2011

2011-11-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Sven Vath – Live @ Creamfields 2011, Buenos Aires – 12-11-2011

Download:

Filesonic, Uploaded, Wupload, Fileserve

http://mixing.dj/2011/livesets/sven-vath-live-creamfields-2011-buenos-aires-12-11-2011/

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Steve Niles' Remains

2011-11-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

REMAINS 1-5 ( COMPLETE )  ZOMBIE MAYHEM  BY STEVE NILES AND KIERON DWYER

REMAINS (download torrent) - TPB

Startled Deer Becomes New Republican Frontrunner

2011-11-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

CONCORD, NH (The Borowitz Report) – The race for the Republican presidential nomination took an unexpected turn today as a new poll showed that a startled deer was the new GOP frontrunner.

Bucky, the red deer who is the first choice of likely Republican voters is believed to be the first woodland creature ever to lead a major party's presidential field.

"Voters like what they see in Bucky," said veteran political strategist Ed Rollins, who has signed on to helm the red deer's primary campaign. "The fact that he is unable to speak is a major asset."

In his first appearance in Concord, New Hampshire, however, the antlered candidate garnered mixed reviews for what some observers said was an unsteady performance.

Appearing frightened by the TV lights, Bucky kicked over the podium and then pranced down the hall before being subdued by a tranquilizer dart.

"Clearly he's a little rough around the edges," said Mr. Rollins. "But he still did better than Herman Cain."

It was another rough day for Mr. Cain, who offered this response to a reporter's question: "For the last time, I did not touch her down there. Oh wait, did you say 'Libya?'"

Gov. Rick Perry also stumbled badly in a campaign appearance in Iowa, telling supporters, "If I am elected, I will find out where Iran's nuclear weapons are. Also, where Iran is."

Meanwhile, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted that his recent rise in the polls is not a fluke: "The American people want an adult, and no one has a stronger record of adultery than I do."

http://www.borowitzreport.com/2011/11/15/startled-deer-becomes-new-republican-frontrunner/

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Employees Create Beer Vending Machine

2011-11-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

I've read articles about cool places to work such as Google where they have free massages and sushi lunches, Facebook which provides free laundry and daycare services, or Clif Bar which has a 40 foot rock wall and fitness center.

Add to the list of cool places to work Arnold Worldwide, a Boston-based advertising agency.

Instead of being content with the usual vending machine most large companies have, the employees decided to create a machine they call Arnie, which sounds like the ultimate vending machine.

No, not just because it tweets on it's own, or the fact it has data recognition when employees insert there key fob into it and it greets them by name and remembers their preferences, or even the touch screen iPad like interface that is temperature aware and has a Soundtube.

It's all about the beer.

Yes, thats right, for all employees over 21 they can use Arnie, the beer vending machine that also includes an "alepedia" that allows employees to learn more about each of the brews it carries.

At the time of me writing this, they currently have 6 different beers, all of which they brew including an eponymous brew, the "Arnold Pilsner." The agency has also experimented with a variety of ale styles, and will be able to brew beer styles specific to seasons, events, people and even clients, inviting others at the agency to become involved in the brewing process.

The employees who came up with the beer vending machine took advantage of Arnold's agency-wide initiative to "manage less and make more." The agency sets aside $100,000 each year for employees to bring new and innovative ideas to life.

Although I work from home and can drink a beer pretty much whenever I want, most people don't have that luxury so having a beer vending machine might just be one of the greatest perks a company could offer.

To keep up with Arnies tweets you can visit its Twitter at @ArnieBeer.

What types of perks does your company have?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogaboutbeer/~3/cSPUj-ZfaPE/

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Seven Funniest Facebook Statuses Ever

2011-11-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

Young Love

Raising The Dead

It’s A Wall Street Miracle!

That Took An Unexpected Turn

God Is Dead, And We Have Killed Him

Why Was She Searching That In The First Place?

He Had It Coming

The Seven Funniest Facebook Statuses Ever | Runt Of The Web - StumbleUpon

What secret Star Wars project is Lucasfilm working on? [Star Wars]

2011-11-15T09:04:00.001-08:00

Mysterious domain name snatchings are happening over at Lucasfilm. Has the latest Lucasfilm online activity just revealed a big Star Wars project on the rise? Definitely perhaps. More »

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/io9/full/~3/sJUya2f88ps/what-secret-star-wars-project-is-lucasfilm-working-on

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Six Fictional Drugs With Unintended Side Effects

2011-11-15T08:54:00.001-08:00

Substance D, Soma, Melange – they've all been part of our culture for decades. Gabe Habash looks at the side effects for Publishers Weekly:

In fiction and in reality, medicine is designed and set up to operate with the best of intentions, to eliminate pain and disease and the things that push us toward mortality. In theory. In practice, we know that there are holes in this theory. But for all the problems in the reality of medicine, at least we don't have to worry about these 6 fictional drugs, which were designed to make the world a better place, but failed in all types of spectacular ways.

1. Altruizine from "Altruizine" by Stanislaw Lem

Unintended Side Effect: It makes people too altruistic.

Lem, one of the most widely-read sci-fi writers in the world, wrote a short story within his collection The Cyberiad about Altruizine, a metapsychotropic drug that causes the user to feel the pains and emotions of others within a radius of fifty yards.

According to its discoverer, Altruizine

"will ensure the untrammeled reign of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Compassion in any society, since the neighbors of a happy man must share his happiness, and the happier he, the happier perforce they, so it is entirely in their own interest that they wish him nothing but the best. Should he suffer any hurt, they will rush so help at once, so as to spare themselves the pain induced by his. Neither walls, fences, hedges, nor any other obstacle will weaken the altruizing influence… We assume no responsibility for results at variance with the discoverer's claims."

The story, which has a full title of "Altruizine, Or a True Account of How Bonhomius the Hermetic Hermit Tried to Bring About Happiness, and What Came of It," is about a robotic engineer who creates the drug and sends Bonhomius the Hermit (who is eager to help others) into society to try it out. What happens is people start experiencing things like the birthing pains of a cow, while others run into a newlyweds' house to experience their new pleasures vicariously…

[continues at Publishers Weekly]

...as if looking through a scanner, darkly...

http://www.disinfo.com/2011/11/six-fictional-drugs-with-unintended-side-effects/

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Italy Makes Large Cash Transaction Illegal

2011-11-15T08:40:00.001-08:00

For those of you who pay attention to world news you've already heard that Italy has implemented a series of austerity measures. One of these measures I find especially egregious:

Measures to fight tax evasion will be strengthened, including a limit of 2,500 euros on cash transactions

What am I supposed to do if I want to buy my friend's $5,000 vehicle? Since cash is out do I have to wait for them to get setup to accept credit and debit card transactions? Perhaps we'll have to insert a middle-man such as an auto dealer in order to complete the transaction now. Is the legality of the transaction based on the worth of the object(s) being sold or the method of trade being accepted. If it's based on the worth of the object(s) this becomes a big deal since all large value transactions between individuals (selling your automobile for example) will basically be illegal as most individuals are not setup to accept credit and debit cards. On the other hand if this is based on the method of trade being accepted (euros in this case) than this isn't too big of a deal since both parties could agree to transact using something of value like gold and silver.

This austerity measure also assumes Italy's problems have stemmed from lost tax money due to minor transactions between individuals going unreported. I can tell you right now that's not the problem. As this isn't the problem I'm betting money this austerity measure is being put into place so the government can keep and eye on what people are purchasing and use that data in enacting future legislation.

The globalist central banks are tightening their grip on economies around the world in a last-ditch effort to retain control. To paraphrase Princess Leia; the tighter you squeeze your fist, the more communities will slip through your fingers. And to quote Philip K Dick; "The Empire Never Ended."

http://christopherburg.com/2011/11/15/italy-makes-large-cash-transaction-illegal/

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Whisky

2011-11-13T12:07:00.001-08:00

I had no idea that American corn whiskey was not wood-aged...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey

Whisky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A glass of whisky

Whisky (Scottish English and British English) or whiskey (Hiberno-English and American English^[1]) is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize (corn). Whisky is aged in wooden casks, made generally of charred white oak, except that in the United States corn whiskey need not be aged.

Whisky is documented in Ireland and Scotland in the 15th century.^[2]^[3] Whisky is a strictly regulated spirit worldwide with many classes and types. The typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in wood. Indian whisky is an exception, where grain fermentation is not a requirement and the most common basis is fermented molasses. The requirement for aging in wood is also not entirely universal.

Dr. Russ Roberts: "I Want My Country Back!"

2011-11-11T16:15:00.001-08:00

Video - George Mason University Economics Professor Dr. Russ Roberts What follows is my testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, delivered October 28,...

What follows is my testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, delivered October 28, 2009. The topic was executive compensation and the Special Master for TARP Compensation, Kenneth Feinberg, who was determining compensation at the firms who had not repaid their TARP funds.

Americans are angry about executive compensation.

Rightfully so.

The executives at General Motors and Chrysler don't deserve to make a lot of money. They made bad products that people didn't want to buy.

The executives on Wall Street don't deserve to make a lot of money. They were reckless. They borrowed huge sums to make bets that didn't pay off. And they wasted trillions of dollars of precious capital, funneling it into housing instead of health innovation or high mileage cars or a thousand investments more productive than more and bigger houses.

Everyday folks who are out of work through no fault of their own want to know why people who made bad decisions not only have a job but a big salary to go with it.

No wonder they're angry at Wall Street,

But if we keep getting angry at Wall Street, we'll miss the real source of the problem. It's right here. In Washington.

We are what we do. Not what we wish to be. Not what we say we are. But what we do. And what we do here in Washington is rescue big companies and rich people from the consequences of their mistakes. When mistakes don't cost you anything, you do more of them.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyBail/~3/hBlbNpAeLEA/dr-russ-roberts-i-want-my-country-back.html

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Why We Still Love Battlestar Galactica's Ronald D. Moore [Essay]

2011-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

Ronald D. Moore had a huge cult following long before he relaunched Battlestar Galactica. His work on Star Trek was notably awesome, and his very public departure from Voyager, complete with spot-on critiques of the show's failings, was legendary. Whenever Moore joined the staff of a show like Carnivàle or Roswell, you knew you were in for something special. More »

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/io9/full/~3/hVqTF94jkgk/why-we-still-love-battlestar-galacticas-ronald-d-moore

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New Italian PM, European Head of Trilateral Commission,Yale graduate, Bilderberg member & Goldman Sa

2011-11-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Monti

Mario Monti was born in Varese, Lombardy. He is married, and has two children. He holds a degree in economics and management from Bocconi University, Milan. He completed graduate studies at Yale University, where he studied under James Tobin, the Nobel prize-winning economist.

He taught economics at the University of Turin (1970-85) before moving to the Bocconi University, of which he has been rector (1989-1994) and then president (since 1994). His researches have conducted to the Klein-Monti model, aimed at describing the behaviour of banks operating under monopoly circumstances.

In 1994 he was appointed to the European Commission, along with fellow-Italian, Emma Bonino, by the first Silvio Berlusconi government. In his capacity as European Commissioner from 1995, he was responsible for "Internal Market, Financial Services and Financial Integration, Customs, and Taxation".

Four years later, in 1999, Massimo D'Alema's government confirmed his appointment to the new European Commission under the presidency of Romano Prodi. Thereafter he was responsible for "Competition", in which capacity he initiated anti-monopoly proceedings against Microsoft. He also led the investigation into the proposed merger between General Electric and Honeywell in 2001, which the European Commission blocked.

The second Berlusconi government did not confirm him in 2004, and proposed Rocco Buttiglione in his place. Since Rocco Buttiglione was rejected by the European Parliament, the government proposed Franco Frattini.

In 2010, Monti was entrusted by president Barroso to produce a Report on the future of the Single Market proposing further measures towards the completion of the EU single market.

On 15 September 2010 Monti supported the new initiative Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate the strive for federalisation of the European Union (EU). Other prominent supporters are: Jacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Andrew Duff, Elmar Brok.

As well as being President of the Bocconi University of Milan, Monti is the first chairman of Bruegel, a European think tank founded in 2005. He is also European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, a neoliberal think tank founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller and member of the Bilderberg Group .

On 9 November 2011 Monti was nominated Senator for life by the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Mario Monti has been seen as a favourite to replace Silvio Berlusconi to lead a new unity government in Italy in order to implement reforms and austerity measures.

Monti is a keen Egyptologist, an interest he picked up during his time at Turin University. He is a patron of the Museo Egizio in Turin a museum that specialises in Egyptian archeology.

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/bef2009/speakers/mario-monti/index.html

Mario Monti is President of Bocconi University and Honorary President of Bruegel, the European think tank he launched in 2005. He is also a member of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe set up by the European Council and chaired by Felipe González.

Mr. Monti served as European Commissioner in charge of the Internal Market, Financial Services and Taxation from 1995 to 1999 and then as European Commissioner for Competition (1999-2004). In the latter position, he handled a number of well-known cases such as General Electric/Honeywell, Microsoft, and the German Landesbanken. He also introduced a radical reform of EU antitrust and merger controls and led, with the US authorities, the creation of the International Competition Network (ICN).

As EU coordinator for the France-Spain electricity interconnection, he brokered the agreement between Prime Ministers Fillon and Zapatero in June 2008. Mr. Monti was also a member of the Attali Committee on French economic growth, set up by President Sarkozy (2007-2008).

Mr. Monti is an international advisor to Goldman Sachs and a member of the advisory board of the Coca-Cola Company.

Mr. Monti graduated from Bocconi University and continued his studies at Yale University. Prior to joining the Commission, he was a professor of economics and subsequently Rector at Bocconi University, his alma mater.

————-

tick tick tick tick..yeah hes got all the ticks..

we showed you the greek PM a few days ago..and now heres the new italian PM to be..all roads lead to the same big groups..

http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2011/11/12/new-italian-pm-european-head-of-trilateral-commissionyale-graduate-bilderberg-member-goldman-sachs-advisor

Radioactive iodine detected over Europe: Source currently a mystery

2011-11-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

The U.N. nuclear agency is reporting "very low" — but higher than usual — levels of radiation in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says the "very low levels of iodine-131 have been measured in the atmosphere over the Czech Republic" and elsewhere on the continent.

Its statement on Friday said the current levels do not seem to pose a public health risk.

IAEA says the cause is not known, but it is not the result of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which spread radiation across the globe in March. more

This tragedy makes me think of the Japanese anime film Vexille, where humanity becomes a victim of its own technological achievements.

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/11/radioactive-iodine-detected-over-europe.html

Texas Scientist Makes Strands of Invisibility Cloak

2011-11-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

A University of Texas scientist is working on developing a technology that would delight Harry Potter fans everywhere--an invisibility cloak. Ali Aliev uses carbon nanotubes--which look like pieces of thread--and then heats them up rapidly until the objects beneath them effectively disappear.You can watch the threads disappear as they are heated up in this video. So how do the threads work? In a paper published in Nanotechnology in June, Aliev explains that the invisibility cloak exploits the "mirage effect." A highway can become so hot that small circles that look like puddles of water appear in the road. That happens when the road is so hot that the surface bends the light around it, so that the driver sees the reflected sky instead of the pavement. The carbon nanotubes create a similar effect.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237491-Texas-Scientist-Makes-Strands-of-Invisibility-Cloak

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Ron Paul wins again

2011-11-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

You Tube

You Tube

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t844798/

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The Herminator

2011-11-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

(Click for larger image)

http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Zdnj-9rUjAs/-The-Herminator

Landlord set 240v booby-trap for lodger

2011-11-11T07:30:00.001-08:00

AN "irrational" British landlord booby-trapped a door handle almost electrocuted his lodger after an argument over a pay-TV subscription.

Social collapse is rising across the planet. It's a mad, mad world.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/landlord-set-240v-booby-trap-for-lodger/story-e6frea73-1226193239293

Doctor Who Ride-in Dalek

2011-11-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

When we were kids, we wanted nothing more than Power Wheels. Or an ATV. But our moms said no because they are meanies. (Hi Moms. We really don't mean this. Okay, we did mean it when we were five, but what did we know?) Once we get our hands on the TARDIS, we're going to have The Doctor go back to the 80s, buy a Power Wheels car, and drop it off on our front doorstep with a bow and a little gift card. Then everything will be right with the world.

Until then, we've found the ultimate thing for the wee geeks we love in the present time: the Doctor Who Ride-In Dalek. This Red Dalek is made from a mixture of ballistic nylon and laminated rubberized polyvinyl, which is soft to the touch but extremely durable and tear resistant. While it is inflatable, this is more the quality of a snow tube, not a beach ball.

A 6v battery powered motor gives 360 degree steering and a maximum speed of nearly 2 mph! It won't hover or fly up stairs, but hey, we'll put in that suggestion for version 2.0. A soft bumper around the edge of the Dalek will protect your walls and furniture. The steering wheel has buttons which trigger ten authentic Dalek phrases so your wee geek can let people know that their extermination is at hand.

And because we know you'll ask, no, we haven't found one in adult sizes yet. We'll keep looking.

NOTE: Because this is imported from the UK, it will require a UK outlet adapter (not included) to be able to charge in an outlet in the USA.

Product Specifications

For Ages 3 - 6 years old or small older kids :)
Maximum weight: 65 lbs
Ride-in Dalek lets your wee geek exterminate their foes
Red Dalek body made of extremely durable and tear resistant nylon/polyvinyl
6v rechargeable battery powered motor
360 degree steering and a maximum speed of nearly 2 mph
Flashing lights give an eerie Dalek technology glow
10 authentic Dalek phrases can be triggered on the steering wheel
Soft bumper on the edges protects your walls and furniture
Comes in 2 parts: motorized base and inflatable body section
Easy to assemble, just over 4 feet tall when fully assemble.
Unfortunately, it does not hover. We hope v. 2.0 does.
We checked and no, it does not come in adult sizes. Sorry!
NOTE: Because this is imported from the UK, it will require a UK outlet adapter (not included) to be able to charge in an outlet in the USA.

ThinkGeek :: Doctor Who Ride-in Dalek

Ridley Scott Brings Us The Prophets of Science Fiction

2011-11-09T08:57:00.001-08:00

There are some writers who you would swear must be able to see directly into the future. Even if only through a scanner, darkly, these authors of speculative fiction seem to be looking over your shoulder from the past and reading the headlines from today.

Starting tonight at 10PM ET/PT on Science, movie maker Ridley Scott brings together scientists, writers, and other thinkers to honor the Prophets of Science Fiction. Each episode focuses on a writer who helped explain and expand the world of science through the use of fiction. The series will use film clips, reenactments, illustrations, and interviews with top thinkers — including director Paul Verhoeven and theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kakuto — to tell the story of the author, and the modern day scientific implications of what they wrote.

According to Scott:

For years I have been fascinated with the connection between creative inspiration and scientific progress. Often there is an attempt to separate the worlds of art and science, when in reality the two are inseparably linked.

I had a chance to preview the first episode, telling the story of Mary Shelly and how she wrote her masterpiece Frankenstein at the tender age of 19 during 1816, the infamous "year without a summer." The narrative follows her own explorations of reanimation based on the best science of the early 19th century, and of the creation of man-made life.

Interestingly — and often overlooked in favor of the Hollywood versions of the story — the actual animation of the monster in Shelley's novel barely takes a page to describe. Yet the mythology around the use of electricity is what most of us remember, and forms an important part of this documentary's narrative, most especially showing clips from Kenneth Branagh's 1994 interpretation. However, what the documentary also spends a good deal of time on is the true central theme of the book — how we might deal with intelligences of our own making — examining robots and artificial intelligence.

I'm more a fan of the Cinéma-vérité style of documentary, and I found the narrator in this episode often annoying. The interviews, although expert and informed, felt a bit on the stilted side. The speakers seemed to have scripted bullet points they were speaking from. Still, the information was interesting, and enlightening. I especially enjoyed how the documentary went back and forth from the story of Shelley, directly tying what she wrote to modern science.

The story of Mary Shelley is the first of the prophets, but by no means the last. The list is not particularly surprising, but may not be without controversy:

Mary Shelley — Tonight
H.G. Wells — 16 November
Phillip K. Dick — 23 November
Arthur C. Clarke — 30 November
Isaac Asimov — 7 December
Jules Verne — 1 February
Robert Heinlein — 8 February

Notice anybody missing?

The list favors the Classic and Golden Age of science fction, with Dick being the only representative of New Wave sci-fi. There are no Cyberpunk authors. That's not to say any of the authors spotlighted in the series are unworthy, but I hope they do a second season with Harlan Ellison, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., J.G. Ballard, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Pat Caddigen, and Bruce Sterling.

Did I leave anybody out?

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/Uf_QvfY0KNU/

Cunnilingus

2011-11-07T20:23:00.001-08:00

http://pics.rofl.to/pic/cunnilingus

Ron Paul on the World Debt Crisis

2011-11-07T20:17:00.001-08:00

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. If you notice any errors please report them using the "Help improve this post" link at the bottom of this post.

Neil Cavuto: Republican presidential could, Ron Paul, says, "Think again". He joins us on the phone. Congressman, your concern has always been, "We've got a world that's broke, and a world that just has to wake up to that fact", right?

Ron Paul: Right, I don't think we're willing to admit the truth around the world, we know where all the problems are, but the only thing they talk about is spending more money and increasing the debt. But it's a debt crisis, and it's worldwide. This week, our national debt crossed our GDP for the first time in its history. But the world is that way too, they have a 195 trillion dollars worth of debt, and that's approximately what the GDP is. So, the world is literally bankrupt, and all they can say is, "Where are we going to get the money from? How are we going to bail them out?" And we're very much involved because our banks are involved with the derivatives, protecting the banks of Europe, so that's why they don't want the banks to go under. But you can't solve the problem of debt and too much spending by spending more and increasing the debt. I just don't understand how they can believe this would work.

Neil Cavuto: But would Americans be any more receptive to this painful medicine than the Italians are right now. You know, a lot of these folks singing and celebrating in Rome as we speak – we can take a peek at that again – they're not inclined to want to accept cutbacks of any sort, even slightly raising the retirement age in Italy, which I believe is 55, they want to make it 57; it's 52 in Greece, they want to make it 54. And they resist that in any way they can, and these Italians are resisting any adjustments in the social net in any way they can. Would we react the same way?

Ron Paul: Yea, and I think you can understand that; people become very dependent, they don't want their allowance cut because they won't know what to do. But the whole thing is, if we continue to do this, it will be cut. For instance, the cost of living is going up for the retired people, the standards of living is going down, so if we keep doing what we're doing, they will be cut. And I think the government knows that, I think Bernanke knows this, but they want inflation. Certainly Paul Krugman argues this case, and they want inflation and therefore that will reduce the standard of living without saying that you have a nominal cut. But this has been around for a long time, that's how you cut real wages when wages have to come down, because nobody will accept the nominal cut, so nobody is going to accept this. Their problem is the usual tools of spending and printing money hasn't worked for them because the debt is so big. And just continuing to do this just makes our problems that much worse. And what I have always worried about has been that this would lead to political turmoil, and that's what we're witnessing today; and that will be worldwide.

Neil Cavuto: So I take it from what you're saying, Congressman, is that you certainly, if you became President of the United States, would not be adding American moneys to either the IMF, a big international lender, or the World Bank for that matter; we are, of course, the biggest contributor to both. And when it came to bailing out a country, be it Italy or Greece, you would say no?

Ron Paul: I would say no, but what the IMF does is into the billions, but the Fed plans to spend trillions. And Bernanke was rather clear the other day: "We're standing by, we're watching this, and we're ready to act so that the system doesn't collapse". And there will be a lot of threats and intimidations and fears, just like they did in 2008, and they will resort to bailing out. But I think the people are waking up, the rich get bailed out, the banks stay in business and the corporations get the money. But the common man, the middle class, lose their jobs and they get the disadvantage of their cost of living going up, and then they lose their houses. So the resentment is there and it's justified. What I worry about, though, is where the blame goes. Is the blame going to go to the monetary system and the bailing out of the special interests, or will the blame go to … I don't want them to start blaming capitalism and free markets and profits, per say.

Neil Cavuto: I was just going to say, Congressman, because you were sounding like an occupy-Wall Street there, I guess you relate more to their frustration, but not to their target. In this case, and in some of these protests this week, a lot of banks and brokerage houses and that sort of thing.

Ron Paul: Right, and I think it's a mixed bag, I think there are some people there that are directing their attention to the Federal Reserve, but there are a lot of them saying anybody who's rich has to be taxed, and that is wrong. If you're rich because you provide a good product for the marketplace, you should be rewarded and encouraged. But if you're rich because you have an inside track to easy money and credit and you get bailed out and the Fed takes care of you because you're too big to fail; people have caught on to this and that's their anger. But the big job we have is sorting this out and blaming the bad economic policies that we've been putting up with for so long.

Neil Cavuto: Congressman, good, at least, hearing you again. Be well.

Ron Paul: Thank you.

Neil Cavuto: By the way, I was getting a clarification on this concert going on.

Ron Paul makes me think the world might have a second chance to survive, if we can change the way we think.

Neil Cavuto: We Love Having Ron Paul On This Program Transcript This is a rush transcript. If you notice any...
Ron Paul on FEMA, Inflation and 2012 Campaign Transcript This is a rush transcript. If you notice any...
Ron Paul on the Need to Cut Spending Ron Paul explains why he favors cutting government spending

http://www.ronpaul.com/2011-11-05/ron-paul-on-the-world-debt-crisis/

Unbelievable rock formations around the world (35 Photos)

2011-11-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/feedburner/ZdSV/~3/pFo4bdKxAYo/

Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale release day

2011-11-07T11:09:00.001-08:00

Stone Brewing Co. has released Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale, the penultimate installment of its legendary series. Begun on February 2nd, 2002 (02.02.02), these bottle-conditioned ales have all been Belgian-influenced, but they share little else in […]

http://beernews.org/2011/11/stone-11-11-11-vertical-epic-ale-release-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stone-11-11-11-vertical-epic-ale-release-day

Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale release day

2011-11-07T10:51:00.001-08:00

Press Release: (Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing Co. has released Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale, the penultimate installment of its legendary series. Begun on February 2nd, 2002 (02.02.02), these bottle-conditioned ales have all been Belgian-influenced, but they share little else in […]

http://beernews.org/2011/11/stone-11-11-11-vertical-epic-ale-release-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stone-11-11-11-vertical-epic-ale-release-day

Is “Higher Education” more of a rip-off than a benefit today?

2011-11-07T08:55:00.001-08:00

Well you have to ask yourself what you get for the money when you purchase anything don't you? I mean isn't that how you make buying decisions for the most part? You weigh the advantage the purchase makes in your life and you figure out whether or not parting with your money justifies the supposed benefits.

In the case of higher education in this country, it's my guess we passed the point of diminishing returns eons ago. A college degree just isn't what used to be a few decades ago, but it costs a hell of a lot more. Jack Kelly fills us in:

Tuition and fees at colleges and universities rose 439 percent between 1982 and 2007. Median family income rose just 147 percent during that period.

Median household income has fallen 6.7 percent since June 2009. The cost of attending the average public university rose 5.4 percent this year.

Student loan debt recently passed $1 trillion. It's now more than credit card debt. The average graduate of a four-year college owes $27,000.

So you have a cost that has risen far and away faster than inflation and median family income for, well, no good reason that I know of.

Oh wait, I said "good reason". There is a reason. Can you say "subsidy"? That coupled with the myth that a college degree … any college degree … is worth its weight in future gold. But it appears that gold may be fool's gold.

I love this description of what many institutions of "higher learning" have become:

College students don't get much for their money. Nearly half learn next to nothing in their first two years; a third learn almost nothing in four, according to a report authored principally by Prof. Richard Arum of New York University.

"Students who say that college has not prepared them for the real world are largely right," said Ann Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. "The fundamental problem here is not debt, but a broken educational system that no longer insists on excellence."

Or even adequacy. "A college degree nowadays doesn't necessarily signal that its holder has any useful work skills," said Charlotte Allen of the Manhattan Institute.

"For decades our schools have abandoned the teaching of basic facts and foundational thinking skills, and replaced both with leftish received wisdom and stale mythologies, all the while they have anxiously monitored and puffed up students' self esteem," said classics Prof. Bruce Thornton of California State University Fresno.

I agree totally with Ms. Neal. There is no insistence on excellence. That's not true of every institution out there, obviously.

However a look at the various new degree programs provides a peek into the priorities of the schools. To broaden and accept as many students as they can to also broaden the revenue stream they're provided. The unique offerings are most likely not made to produce anything meaningful in academia and certainly not in the real world, but they do attract a certain type of student to such a degree program that is fully willing to buy into the myth that somehow a degree in gender studies is going to be useful and are willing to pay the big bucks demanded (even if that means borrowing them).

And, of course, government subsidizes the purchase, so there's certainly no reason for the school to back off such a useless program or lower it's price to something roughly equivalent to its utility in the real world.

What happens? Precisely what you'd think would happen. Its much like the housing crisis. Loans are given to people who aren't really capable of college work. They leave with nothing or some marginal degree and huge debt.

Meanwhile:

Others graduate to find there are no jobs for them. Roughly 60 percent of the increase in the number of college graduates since 1992 work in low-skill jobs, Prof. Richard Vedder of Ohio University discovered. In 2008, 318,000 waiters and waitresses had college degrees, as did 365,000 cashiers and 18,000 parking lot attendants.

Because degrees have been so diluted and their worth so compromised over the years, they're less and less of a guarantee of a good job and better wages.

But because government subsidizes education and distorts the market, guess what?

And, according to a study by the American Enterprise Institution and the Heritage Foundation, teachers are paid $120 billion over market value.

There is fraud at every level of the education system, thanks mostly to politics, said Herbert London, professor emeritus at New York University. Teachers and professors go along to save their jobs.

"They simply cannot say that college isn't for everyone … or that rigorous exit requirements at any level do not exist," he said. "Hence, there is the clarion call for more money."

Of course they can't. The gravy train is just too rich to quit.

And, you also need to understand what is actually happening in colleges and universities across the nation to appreciate the full impact of this market intrusion by government. Colleges, as mentioned, no longer demand excellence. Instead, they spend an enormous amount of time and effort teaching what a college student should have mastered before ever showing up at a university:

We spend about $10,600 per pupil in public schools, 377 percent more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than we spent in 1961. Yet among students who go to college, 75 percent require some remedial work.

If you managed to catch some of the protests in WI that included teachers and caught the spelling on some of their signs, the stats above wouldn't particularly surprise you. We spend more on education today and and get even less than in the past. What you have to remember is that at every level it is either run by or subsidized by government.

Now at every level, we're seeing the results of that sort of intrusion, aren't we? A dismal record of extraordinarily expensive non-achievement. And nothing is going to change or improve in that regard as long as government stays in charge and subsidizes the growing bubble with your money.

But you'll never hear that said, will you?

Mark my words. There is a bubble in the educational debt market building toward a burst just like the one we saw in the housing and automotive manufacturing markets. Subsidizing any market or industry at taxpayer expense only props up than market falsely when it can not sustain itself, inviting collapse. Continued bailouts of these markets is unsustainable as driving our economy further down the hole.

http://www.qando.net/?p=11941

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

Rubik’s Cube for Blondes

2011-11-04T09:20:00.001-07:00

Submitted by: ddave94
Posted at: 2011-11-01 18:55:32
See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/462360

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9gag/~3/Q8aufNLHnZw/462360

Testicular tumor has a face

2011-11-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is an ultrasound image of a mass in a 45-year-old's testicle. It was published in the International Society of Urology's journal, Urology. Is it just another example of pareidolia or something far… more… sinister? From the article:

The residents and staff alike were amazed to see the outline of a man's face staring up out of the image, his mouth agape as if the face seen on the ultrasound scan itself was also experiencing severe epididymo-orchitis.

"Face discovered in testicular tumour"

Twisted X Brewing Co • Cedar Park, TX

2011-10-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

TWISTED X BREWING COMPANY (www.texmexbeer.com), a new craft micro brewery opens today with a Cinco de Mayo party at 7pm CST announced by The Dig Pub, 401 Cypress Creek Rd. Ste. 600, Cedar Park, Texas (www.thedigpub.com). Twisted X is focused on making premium Mexican style craft lagers right here in central Texas with a twist, called Tex Mex Beer.

“We are the pioneers of the Tex Mex Beer market and will be distributing kegs around the central Texas area in production by the end of June 2011.” The beer/malt beverage line includes:

CHUPAHOPRA - Tex Mex - India Pale Ale (TM-IPA)
This is a full flavored IPA with a pronounced hoppy finish.
This Ale will withstand the long voyage to your local bar or fridge...... asusta me one time !!!
ABV: 7.5%
OG (Plato): 17.6
IBU: 53
SRM: 7

Twisted X is also brewing up a new beer concept and a partnership with Austin’s own Republic Tequila. A Republic Tequila barrel aged Imperial Black Lager - Schwarzbier is in the making to be named Señor Viejo.

Texas Beer and Wine: PRESS RELEASE: Twisted X Brewing Co., Cedar Park, Tx.

Let The Right One In

2011-10-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

I feel for Oskar. An interesting movie. It makes you feel for the outcast. Both of them.

Russian vampires, always good stuff.

Innocence lost, for a nation. Orlov noted the similarities between two global powers, but one won the race to the bottom before the other.

Das vi dan ya, little one. Here comes the sun.

It must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Let the Right One In (Official Movie Site) - Starring Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragnar - Now on DVD and Blu-ray™ - Trailers, Pictures & More

Spell Check Her

2011-10-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Is #OccupyWallStreet the Millennial Generation's WTO?

2011-10-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

I was at the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999. Other than blocking the entrance to the WTO summit, and a few pre-organized march routes at certain days and times, there wasn't much in the way of plans. So people collected into 'affinity groups' to make their own group decisions about what to do and where to go: Shall we lock arms in front of this door to the convention center and risk some pushing, or just stick to standing and yelling? Shall we sit down in front of this police advance and resign ourselves to being arrested?

It was also a radicalizing experience. At least 1,000 of us eventually gathered in front of the downtown Seattle prison to demand the release of those who'd been arrested. And that thousand-some of us (and eventually many more) started hearing about some pretty terrible things. Protestors in custody being held on police buses and kept there for hours without access to a bathroom. Vegetarian protestors in custody being given nothing to eat for over half a day, or longer, except a baloney sandwich. There was even a story that some protestors, perhaps the more unruly ones, had been stripped and cuffed to floors of their cells. (And I doubt it was lost on anyone that, if this was the way us largely middle-class, educated white folks were being treated, it was surely significantly worse for the countless underprivileged young black men who are thrown into the U.S. prison system daily.)

And of course, there was the policy brutality many of us witnessed first-hand on the street. It still boils my blood when I hear the protests referred to as a "riot." A handful of black-masked kids trashing a few corporate storefronts is not a riot. A squad of heavily armored police rushing a group of sitting, peaceful demonstrators, pepper-spraying them point-blank and hauling them off to vans with bruises and broken bones... that's closer to the definition of a riot in my opinion.

There are now tens of thousands of so-called Millennials who—for likely the first time ever—are having the life-changing experience of standing up and demanding change, of marching in the streets, of getting beat on and pepper-sprayed by the police, of getting misportrayed and vilified by the media,... and of coming back and keeping at it, and seeing their actions pay off.

http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/535288-is-occupywallstreet-the-millennial-generation-s-wto

Jealous, controlling 300gb high-speed USB 2.0 hard disk

2011-10-09T17:26:00.001-07:00

I've long since upgraded from this uniqueBuffalo 300gb USB 2.0 external hard disk, and now my loss can possibly be yours, too. I bought this disk around 2005, and it was amazingly massive at the time. What wonderful times we had! Happily storing and retrieving everything I sent over her 480mbit/sec high-speed USB 2.0 link, and me happily accessing it at later dates. But as time went on, my eye turned outwards. There were so many newer, prettier hard drives out there.

I admit it, I dallied. I bought a 250gb portable drive - I rationalized it. It was smaller than this one. I only needed it for when I went out. I'd always come home to my faithful Buffalo. Emboldened by this success, I became quite the rake. First came a pair of identical 500gb Seagate twins, then their younger cousin, a 500gb portable. No matter how much I had, my wanton lust for storage would not be quenched. I became irresponsible, and was known to have immodest flings. I once bought quite a tart of a 1tb disk. I spent the day with her, then returned her to the shop in the morning.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo faithfully put up with it. And then, she started exhibiting some disturbing inconsistencies. I would plug her in, dutifully waiting for the icon to appear on my desktop. I'd wait, and wait, and wait. I sometimes waited for hours or days, peering at my desktop with slavish attention, groveling for access to my miserable data. She was showing me who was really in control here, and exerting its power. I wanted to leave, but it wouldn't let me. Every time I thought about it, I'd remember all the good times we had - and more importantly, my data, which it jealously guarded.

The end came unexpectedly for her, though I planned it long in advance. I spent a full two weeks sweet-talking. I put her back in a prominent position on my desk, letting the other disks know who was my favorite. We wined and dined, and I showered her with chocolate and roses. One evening, after a particularly romantic night out at Ruth's Chris, I politely asked for access to my files. And she complied opened right up.

I rushed in and plundered every miserable byte, leaving her magnetic surfaces a desolate, empty expanse.

Things haven't been the same between us. They never can be. Despite all our time together, good and bad, it's time to set her free. I hope you treat each other better than we did.

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/1498137500.html

Smells So Good

2011-10-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/12927/smells-so-good/

Which VPN Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously?

2011-10-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

As detailed in yesterday's article, if a VPN provider carries logs of their users' activities the chances of them not being able to live up to their claim of offering an anonymous service begins to decrease rapidly.

There are dozens of VPN providers, many of which carry marketing on their web pages which suggests that the anonymity of their subscribers is a top priority. But is it really? Do their privacy policies stand up to scrutiny? We decided to find out.

Over the past two weeks TorrentFreak contacted some of the leading, most-advertised, and most talked about VPN providers in the file-sharing and anonymity space. Rather than trying to decipher what their often-confusing marketing lingo really means, we asked them two direct questions instead:

1. Do you keep ANY logs which would allow you or a 3rd party to match an IP address and a time stamp to a user of your service? If so, exactly what information do you hold?

2. Under what jurisdictions does your company operate and under what exact circumstances will you share the information you hold with a 3rd party?

This article does not attempt to consider the actual quality of service offered by any listed provider, nor does it consider whether any service is good value for money. All we are interested in is this: Do they live up to claims that they provide a 100% anonymous service? So here we go, VPN providers in the file-sharing space first.

VPN providers marketed strongly in the P2P space

BTguard

Response to Q1: "It's technically unfeasible for us to maintain log files with the amount of connections we route," BTguard explain. "We estimate the capacity needed to store log files would be 4TB per day."

Response to Q2: "The jurisdiction is Canada. Since we do not have log files, we have no information to share. We do not communicate with any third parties. The only event we would even communicate with a third party is if we received a court order. We would then be forced to notify them we have no information. This has not happened yet."

BTguard website

ItsHidden

Response to Q1: "No logs, they are not kept. Even system logs that do not directly link to users are rotated on an hourly basis."

Response to Q2: "The company has recently been sold and falls under the Jurisdiction of the Seychelles. As such there is no requirement [to log] within that jurisdiction."

ItsHidden website

TorrentPrivacy

Response to Q1: "We have connection logs, but we don't store IP addresses there. These logs are kept for 7 days. Though it's impossible to determine who exactly have used the service."

Response to Q2: "We have servers in Netherlands, Sweden and USA while our company is based on Seychelles. We do not disclose any information to 3rd parties and this can be done only in case of a certain lawsuit filed against our company."

TorrentPrivacy website

Ipredator

Response to Q1: "We don't store the IP at all actually. It's in temporary use for the session you have when you're connected but that's it. We've had very few issues with not having logs, but not keeping them makes it safer even for us since we can't accidentally give out information about anyone."

Response to Q2: "We fall – mostly – under Swedish jurisdiction when it comes to the service. When it comes to organisational stuff (who keeps the data, who owns the service, who owns the server, who owns the network etc etc) it's very mixed, intentionally. This is to make it hard and/or impossible to legally bully us around if that would be the case."

"We can't be easily shut down, and we can't be pressured by courts to implement stuff we would oppose. For end-users this is not affecting them in a negative way at all, only the opposite."

Ipredator website

General VPN providers

AirVPN

Response to Q1: The company carries no identifying logs.

Response to Q2: "Jurisdiction is in the EU, under most circumstances Italy (country of the company and home of the person legally responsible for data protection), but applicable law may be one of the EU Member States where the servers of the network are physically located (no servers are in Italy)," AirVPN told us.

"We don't share any information with anyone."

AirVPN website

VPNReactor

Response to Q1: "Only for 5 days to stop abuse[..]. After 5 days we have absolutely no way to match any IP address or time stamp to any users. Privacy and Security is further enhanced for individual users because their VPN connections are basically lost in the crowd."

"Our free VPN users share a block of IPs when they connect to the internet via VPNReactor. So at any given time hundreds/thousands of our VPN users that have active connections could all be sharing a single IP address. None of our VPN users are assigned individual public IPs."

Response to Q2: "We strive to be upfront and transparent with our logging policies for the benefit of our VPN users." Logs seen by TorrentFreak seemed to confirm no identifiable information being stored.

"We are a U.S. based company and are bound by U.S. based court orders," VPNReactor continued. "However, if a U.S. based subpoena comes in requesting info for activity that occurred more then 5 days prior, we have absolutely nothing to provide as our logs would have expired off. Request for connection details outside a U.S. based court order will be fully ignored."

VPNReactor website

BlackVPN

Response to Q1: "We do not keep any logs about our users internet activities including which sites they access or what data they transfer. We also run log cleaners on our systems which removes the IPs from logs before they are written to disk," the company told TorrentFreak.

"For tax and legal reasons we do store some billing information (name, email, country), but it is stored with a third-party and separate from the rest of BlackVPN."

BlackVPN say they hold a username and email address of their subscribers and the times of connection and disconnection to their services along with bandwidth consumption. Logging is carried out as follows:

"On our Privacy Servers, NL & LT we don't log anything that can identify the user, but on our US & UK server where we don't allow sharing copyrighted materials we do log the internal RFC1918 IP that is assigned to the user at a specific time," BlackVPN explain.

"So to clarify, we don't log the real external IP of the user, just our RFC1918 internal one, this we have to do to comply with local laws and to be able to handle DMCAs."

Response to Q2: "We operate under the jurisdiction of the Netherlands and we will fiercely protect the privacy and rights of our users and we will not disclose any information on our users to anyone, unless forced to by law enforcement personnel that have produced the proper legal compliance documents or a court order. (In which case we don't really have a choice)."

BlackVPN website

PrivatVPN

Response to Q1: "We don't keep ANY logs that allow us or a 3rd party to match an IP address and a time stamp to a user our service. The only thing we log are e-mails and usernames but it's not possible to bind a activity on the Internet to a user."

Please note: PrivatVPN also offer use of a US server for watching services like Hulu. IP logs are kept when users use this service.

Response to Q2: "Since we do not log any IP addresses [we have] nothing to disclose. Circumstances doesn't matter in this case, we have no information regarding our customers' IP addresses."

PrivatVPN website

Mullvad

Response to Q1: "No. And we don't see why anyone would. It would be dishonest towards our customers and mean *more* potential legal trouble."

Response to Q2: "Swedish jurisdiction. We don't know of any way in which the Swedish state in practice could make us behave badly towards our clients and that has never happened. Another sign we take privacy seriously is that we accept payments in Bitcoin and cash in the mail."

Mullvad website

Cryptocloud

Response to Q1: "We log nothing at all."

Response to Q2: "We don't log anything on the customer usage side so there are no dots to connect period, we completely separate the payment information," they told us.

"Realistically unless you operate out of one of the 'Axis of Evil Countries" Law Enforcement will find a way to put the screws to you," Cryptocloud add.

"I have read the nonsense that being in Europe will protect you from US Law Enforcement, worked well for HMA didn't it? Furthermore I am pretty sure the Swiss Banking veil was penetrated and historically that is more defend-able than individual privacy. The way to solve this is just not to log, period."

Cryptocloud website

VPN providers who log, sometimes a lot

VyprVPN

VyprVPN is the VPN service connected to and offered by the Giganews Usenet service, although it can be used completely standalone. In common with many other providers we contacted, VyprVPN acknowledged receipt of our questions but then failed to respond. We've included them here since they have such a high-profile.

The company policy says that logging data "is maintained for use with billing, troubleshooting, service offering evaluation, [Terms of Service] issues, [Acceptable Use Policy] issues, and for handling crimes performed over the service. We maintain this level of information on a per-session basis for at least 90 days."

On Usenet forum NZBMatrix several users have reported having their VyprVPN service terminated after the company processed "a backlog" of DMCA notices which pushed them over the "two-strikes-and-out" acceptable use policy.

So, does VyprVPN log? You bet.

SwissVPN

We included SwissVPN in our survey because they are well known, relatively cheap and have been used by those on a tight budget. To their credit, they were also the fastest company to respond. They are one of the few companies that do not make anonymity claims.

Response to Q1: "SwissVPN is being operated based on Swiss Telecommunications and Personal Data Protection Law. Session IP's (not visited content, websites, mail, etc.) are being logged for 6 months," the company told us.

Response to Q2: The company responds to requests from 3rd parties under Swiss criminal law (pdf).

SwissVPN website

StrongVPN

This company did not directly answer our questions but pointed us to their logkeeping policy instead.

StrongVPN do log and are able to match an external IP address to their subscribers. We have included them here since they were the most outwardly aggressive provider in our survey when it came to dealing with infringement.

"StrongVPN does not restrict P2P usage, but please note sharing of Copyrighted materials is forbidden, please do not do this or we will have to take action against your account," the told us, later adding in a separate mail: "StrongVPN Notice: You may NOT distribute copyright-protected material through our network. We may cancel your account if that happens."

StrongVPN website

Disappointing: VPN providers who simply failed to respond

In addition to the above, TorrentFreak also approached a number of other fairly well known VPN providers. It's not clear whether our questions were simply too tricky to answer in a positive light or whether there was some other reason, but disappointingly none of them responded to our emails, despite in some cases having acknowledged receipt of our questions.

They include Blacklogic.com, PureVPN.com, VPNTunnel.se, Bolehvpn.net and Ivacy.com.

Should the above now feel able to respond directly to our questions, or if there any other VPN providers reading who would like to be included in a future update, please contact us now with direct responses to the questions above. Apologies to the providers who contacted us at the last minute but were too late to be included in the report – we had to stop somewhere.

Final thoughts

When signing up to a VPN provider it really is evident that their their logging and privacy policies should be read slowly. And then read again, even more slowly than at first. Many are not as straightforward as they first appear (some even seem to be deliberately misleading) and that is the very reason why we asked our own questions instead.

In contrast to the the pessimism generated by yesterday's report, as we can see from the list above, when it comes to offerng real privacy there are plenty of services out there.

Source: Which VPN Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously?

http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9l5B4f6Fkbw/

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Sent from my frakkin toaster

Extreme Dunk

2011-10-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

Submitted by: getott
Posted at: 2011-10-06 20:12:51
See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/326984

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/9gag/~3/gmXvB-x5VWQ/326984

ESPN, Hank Williams Jr. part ways

2011-10-06T15:39:00.001-07:00

Political analogy causes split for ESPN and musician

http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/06/espn-hank-williams-jr-part-ways/

Funny, no one seems to complain about how offensive Hank Williams III is...

Hitler is Angry About the iPhone 4S

2011-10-05T14:57:00.001-07:00

[Video Link] This one is inspired. (Via Cynical-C)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/mNcJxgecohg/hitler-is-angry-about-the-iphone-4s.html

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Teach the truth, Godzilla and the Titanic

2011-10-05T12:08:00.001-07:00

Teach the truth, Godzilla and the Titanic

The 14 Best "Keep Calm and Carry On" Spoof Posters

2011-10-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

My favorite:

The 14 Best "Keep Calm and Carry On" Spoof Posters

Stunning Vertical Gardens

2011-10-03T19:44:00.001-07:00

These "living walls" bring a new twist to the idea of gardening, especially if you are scared of heights. While some of the gardens are works of art, others just look strange.

http://www.barnorama.com/stunning-vertical-gardens/

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Hanging With Mom

2011-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

-submitted by Dana

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/12708/hanging-with-mom/

SteamPunk Dalek

2011-09-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

I Disasembleled Dalek bubble bath container, then painted initially with Primer, then with Gold, in hindsight, I should have painted it in a more metalic Gold I sanded of the plastic domes and replaced them with Rivet I covered the 4 back ones with plastic as this is where the gauge is ...
By: Sci_Fi_Steve

Continue Reading »

http://www.instructables.com/id/SteamPunk-Dalek/