Links posted in June 2007
June 29, 2007
Mr. Sparklypants
is getting neutered today so here are some cat related posts.
Cats were domesticated about 9,000 years ago of of their own volition.
A cat may have a hard time eating with one of those crazy collars.
There are an amazing number of cat breeds, some of them rather strange looking including the cornish rex and javanese.
Finally, some people take their love of cats way too far.
June 28, 2007
PT-141 is a revolutionary aphrodesiac nasal spray now entering Phase 3 clinical trials. Effects in women include "'genital warmth, tingling and throbbing,' not to mention 'a strong desire to have sex.'" Men say, "My wife knows. She can tell the difference between Viagra and PT-141." I wonder if a black market could develop around a drug that makes you "Take-your- clothes-off-right-now-and-do-me horny."
The High Cost of Paying Attention - Now watch this video clip from NBC and play along with the exercise. Don't read anything else in this entry until you watch the whole video.
June 27, 2007
I know you out-of-Austiners are probably super tired of hearing about it by now, but I felt like I had to mention that the best theater in America closes its doors tonight. (Don't get too sad; the new location is set to open in August, or at least "this year" according to Tim League at Sunday's HalfAssAThon). If you've been inside, you can hardly believe that it used to be a parking garage and that Tim and Karrie built the theater by hand 10 years ago (and here are some incredible pictures to prove it). A blogathon is documenting the old place's last days. [more inside]
June 26, 2007
Kate has bills. Oy, such bills -- seven credit cards, all with large balances. Each month, she makes a drawing of the bill which you may purchase for its minimum payment due amount. Inconspicuous? Obsessive. [more inside]
June 23, 2007
Are you a fan of swords? Maybe you attend Renaissance fairs and need a new accessory. Perhaps you really want a replica of a sword from your favorite video game or movie. [more inside]
June 22, 2007
At-home fertility testing is teh new hotness! Fertell will tell you how progressively motile your lil' swimmers are and Ovulite will give your ovulation status based on the salt conc in your saliva. [more inside]
I was happy I could dress myself at this age. What slackers we all are!
June 21, 2007
Ignobel anyone? So how was your high school love life? Mine wasn't nearly this interesting or well studied.
Deep Thoughts by scientist Carl Linnaeus.
June 20, 2007
Google Transit works for Austin Enter your starting and ending points, and a departure or arrival time. It will tell you what combination(s) of bus and walking will get you there. Snazzy! [more inside]
June 19, 2007
Is our lunchers learning?
- Ned failed today by getting the Bronx but next time he might try the Italian.
- The UK was in charge of working out the details w/r/t Israel thanks to WWI. I tried to look up why the Palestinian territories are non-contiguous but it's very long and complicated and as soon as I saw this picture I just gave up.
- ...and I was right to think that this would not be the only time in history to have a state carved up. When Pakistan broke away from India it also encompassed East Pakistan. Eventually the Bengals got tired of economic exploitation and the Urdu mandate from a government all the way across the length of India so they revolted and became Bangladesh. The Chicken's Neck (a strip of land 13miles wide at its narrowest) connects seven Indian states (including Assam) to the rest of India. There is little about how the strip came to be so narrow but it probably has something to do with the Himalayas.
- Blu-Ray seems technically better than HD-DVD but as we all know that doesn't always determine the winner. The XBox360 is HD and the PS3 is Blu-Ray. A major development may be that Blockbuster seems to have chosen Blu-Ray.
June 16, 2007
Prisons of the World - It’s the kind of place i never want to visit but am constantly intrigued about (possibly as a result of watching "Prison Break") so i did some research. [more inside]
June 15, 2007
Last.fm Listening History If you use the last.fm (formerly audioscrobbler) plugin, you can generate an amazing graph -- first done as a design project -- that shows just how boring/eclectic/superior/embarrasing your music tastes are. Mine inside. [more inside]
Your friendly neighborhood Media Matters has gone and assembled survey data to attempt to establish the thesis that America, rather than being a Conservative nation, is in fact a progressive one.
June 14, 2007
It's that time again. What time, you ask? Time for Harry Potter mania. And what better way to indulge your wizardry fantasies than attending a new Harry Potter theme park at Universal's Islands of Adventure? Or how about wizard rock, where bands sing songs about epic battle between Harry and Voldemort?
Premiere Magazine has a great list of 20 Films Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You. Some of these films have been in development hell even with such excellent source material as books by Chabon, Eggers, and Toole. On the other hand, some of these movies were made (as in completed!) by the staff of The Onion and star Steven Seagal as a character named "Cock Puncher."
June 13, 2007
This man might be responsible for my career choice. He certainly was responsible for my argument with the 6th grade science teacher who told me that summer was a result of the Earth being closer to the sun.
June 12, 2007
Completely badass WSJ infographic on presidential approval ratings. Click on the left to find out all of the missteps that everyone made!
June 11, 2007
Bad Gods explores the sordid world of the Normo fetish. (click series next to see the full saga).
June 05, 2007
2007 Punoff Videos are up - enjoy three great long-form pun routines, then watch some guy go head to head with Joe Sabia on the subject of Wheeled Vehicles (pt1, pt2). Warning: long, painful, with occasional NSFW. [more inside]
Leaving the Toilet Seat Down: A Game-Theoretical Analysis Someone's gunning for an IgNobel.
"...further assume that the need for #1 arises with a probability p."
This Pele video is just ridiculous. Half the time he looks like he's playing a jr. high team. [thx SG] I don't know where I'd have ranked him in the "Greatest Athlete of All Time" discussion before -- but seeing this puts him straight into the pantheon for sure.
June 04, 2007
I always wondered what Kerouac looked like. But I was too lazy to bother looking it up. Now you can find out the easy way. [more inside]
Start building your Cat Army with some home-distilled ultra-potent catnip extract - and learn some chemistry along the way.
When all the toluene is gone... you will be left with a tiny amount of greenish liquid in the bottom of your container that smells strongly of that familiar minty, catnip smell. I got 143 mg, ... not far off from the 0.3% theoretical maximum yield given the improvised apparatus. And a little goes a long way. Furthermore, this material is extremely pure. I analyzed it using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and found it to be >99% nepetalactone (see the second image below). For comparison, a sample of "catnip oil" that I purchased online was only about 80% nepetalactone.
What's better than 14 Leias for every Jabba? 14 Leias, 1 Jabba and an Elvis Han Solo plus a Pancho Villa Stormtrooper of course. After wasting an hour going back through old boingboing and Cynical-C posts, it's time for me to pay it forward and make your lunchtime as rewarding as my morning was:
- screwasylum is, y'know, a blog about screws: defective screws, odd screws, broken screws, screw humor, and just screws in general. Perhaps I'll start a preposterously specific blog that just collects preposterously specific blogs.
- Bollywood Superman and Bollywood Spiderwoman shake a leg (vid).
- The American Look: A Tribute to the Men and Women Who Design. Thanks Chevrolet!
- a long surrealistic early film by Jim Henson. We saw this one at XMFC.
- Latawnya, The Naughty Horse, Learns to Say "No" to Drugs
- Sarah Silverman vs. Paris Hilton: Round 1 -- Go!
June 03, 2007
Austinist on Frisbee - it's mostly too late to tell you to go watch, but not too late to give a shout-out to the world-famous photog.
June 02, 2007
Good summary of postcolonial development in the "Third World". No new news to those already in the know, but a well written summary.
June 01, 2007
I know I am going to go celebrate this afternoon.
I believe Krispy Kreme is celebrating in a very tasty way.
Or send a loved one a card.
Interesting jonx found using Google Maps' new StreetView. Be careful what kind of bookstores you visit. Or when you walk out of New Century at 970 Farrel St in SF, CA. Google Sightseeing? Meet Google Peeping Tom.
Microsoft circa 1978 - plus where are they now?