Duck Rape

jicarh: GREATEST EVER

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:04:46 -0500

GREATEST EVER

jicarh _____: Oscar Ballot Selections: 85th Annual Academy Awards

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:29:28 -0500

jicarh _____: Oscar Ballot Selections: 85th Annual Academy Awards:

Ahhhhhhhhhh the Academy Awards. I do not particularly enjoy the methodology, the show, the vidis, or the concept of Hollywood, but it requires a certain commitment to browsing Wikipedia and IMDB. Actually I lied—I do like most of the vidis, but I am more into movies than filmsssss, if you catch…

They couldn't think of anything more important?

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:06:19 -0400

They couldn't think of anything more important?

Shitshow or Fuckfest?

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:18:00 -0400

Shitshow or Fuckfest?

My 16 year old self would probably have enjoyed this video more...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:46:33 -0400

My 16 year old self would probably have enjoyed this video more than my current self.

Kanye West - Coldest Winter (808s and Heartbreak) One of those...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:47:21 -0400

Kanye West - Coldest Winter (808s and Heartbreak)

One of those few times that I’m glad Kanye West was bold enough to try to sing an entire album.

"I do not know much about writing rap lyrics, but I’m guessing that most rappers do not meet with..."

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 21:00:24 -0400

“I do not know much about writing rap lyrics, but I’m guessing that most rappers do not meet with physicists and cosmologists from MIT and Cornell before sitting down to write. But that’s exactly what Wu-Tang Clan founding member GZA did during the creation of his new album, Dark Matter — a project the rapper hopes will turn his audience on to science.”

- GZA and Neil deGrasse Tyson team up on a hip-hop record about science (via poptech)

npr: (via What America Spends On Groceries : Planet...

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:57:16 -0400

npr:

(via What America Spends On Groceries : Planet Money)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Credit: Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

architectura: The Slauerhoffbrug is a fully automatic bascule...

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:46:55 -0400

architectura:

The Slauerhoffbrug is a fully automatic bascule bridge in the city of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. It uses two arms to swing a section of road in and out of place within the road itself. It is also known as the “Slauerhoffbrug ‘Flying’ Drawbridge”.

npr: Dark Energy And The Joy Of Being Wrong Sometimes nature...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:34:23 -0400

npr:

Dark Energy And The Joy Of Being Wrong

Sometimes nature just throws you a loop. All your carefully laid plans, all your exquisite calculations, all your deeply held beliefs and expectations get blown away in the simple eloquence of real data from the real world. That is how Dark Energy made its appearance into the world of cosmology. Its not just that folks weren’t expecting it. They were, in fact, expecting the very opposite.

Last week I explained how Dark Matter was “discovered” (inferred really), based on observations over decades of the gravitational influence it exerts on matter we can see (the stuff we are made of). Dark Energy was discovered in a similar way, except that it arrived all at once in one big, fat surprise package.

The year was 1998 and two highly competitive groups of astronomers were each rushing toward the same goal: they hoped to hunt down the effects of gravitational braking in the universe. Ever since astronomers had accepted the idea of the Big Bang, they had been out hunting for its subsequent cosmic deceleration.

The idea was simple.

While the Big Bang blows space apart (it literally stretches all points of space-time away from each other), the gravitational pull of matter should, over time, slow down that initial burst of cosmic expansion. The two research groups, (Berkeley vs. Harvard), were racing to find the magnitude of deceleration in the universe. It was a critical project since the rate of cosmic braking is directly related to the total density of mass (and energy) in the universe. It would be a Nobel Prize-worthy result.

Things didn’t go quite as planned. -Adam Frank (Photo credit: WMAP/NASA)

poptech: “Sweet Home Alabama” played on Tesla coils (via Open...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:43:50 -0400

poptech:

“Sweet Home Alabama” played on Tesla coils

(via Open Culture)

Fox e

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:18:53 -0400

Fox e

Photo

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:17:04 -0400

Sunday afternoon easy listening

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:44:00 -0400

Sunday afternoon easy listening

Slow Magic Double Feature

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:27:19 -0400

Slow Magic Double Feature:

Slow Magic is getting big right now. My kind of music. Check em out

npr: gq: Conundrum of the Week:Why Does America Suck At...

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:01:46 -0400

npr:

gq:

Conundrum of the Week:
Why Does America Suck At Tennis?

Take away the Williams sisters, and it’s a barren desert, especially on the mens’ side. GQ’s Daniel Riley spoke with the three most recent American male superstars—John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi—what the hell is going on. Below, a sample of McEnroe’s response. Read the rest here.

John McEnroe: We haven’t done a very good job with this all-or-nothing approach to training young people. I think it can be detrimental to a lot of kids, where they sorta live and breath it too young. In many cases, American kids are burned out early. I benefitted from living quote-unquote a pretty normal life and playing other sports and not focusing on tennis entirely at such a young age. These are the type of things I think we need to be doing more of in the States.

That headline’s a little bit of hyperbole, but you gotta love McEnroe! —Wright

A Friendly Stranger

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:59:03 -0400

A man came to my door this afternoon while I was home alone. He said he was here to look at the generator to make sure it was ready in case the hurricane knocks out our power this weekend. He said he had spoken with my father. My father had not informed me that anyone would be coming to the house today.

I hesitantly showed him to the generator, and our banal conversation quickly turned to the universe and religion. It’s interesting that whenever someone finds out I want to study theoretical physics, they instantaneously smirk and ask me questions like, “so you want to prove the un-provable?”, or make statements like, “We don’t even know what space is.” This man did not disappoint. Our 15-minute conversation about the deepest questions I have ever pondered continued as he tested the connections on the generator’s terminals and I showed him to the circuit breakers.

He left as quickly as he arrived, saying that the generator was good to go. White van, no last name, and a cheery mustache. I hope the generator is okay.

fuerzza: Norway (by peterspencer49)

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:06:51 -0400

fuerzza:

Norway (by peterspencer49)

Old school Garageband beats. I wrote this in ‘08 More to...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:55:23 -0400

Old school Garageband beats. I wrote this in ‘08

More to come

npr: theoinglis: The Evolution of the London Underground...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:54:49 -0400

npr:

theoinglis:

The Evolution of the London Underground Map;

Above left to right - 1908, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1927, 1933, 1937 and the present day. (Old maps are from here)

Before the development of the iconic diagram style map in 1931 the tube map was constantly changing, never sticking to a consistent style. Some maps showed what was going on overground too and most of them attempt to be geographically correct, showing the curves and turns of the lines. By 1927 the map has become much clearer and easier to follow.

The problem was that the train lines were getting longer and this made it impossible to fit everything into one map. Keeping it geographically accurate would have meant that the centre became smaller and harder to read, and the centre is the most densely packed and most important part. In comes Harry Beck in 1931, inspired by electronic circuit diagrams he had the idea of scrapping geographical accuracy and making all lines straight with only 45 and 90 degree angles. Design history was made and the map has barely changed since, becoming an icon and one of the easiest to use maps in the world!

Interestingly some people think the map should be more geographically correct once again, have a look at this article for more on that. Personally I dont think the tube map needs changing. But if they could include a seperate geographically correct version of the centre of London on the pocket tube map, people would see how close some stations are together and it would encourage walking. But the map itself, isn’t broke so why fix it!

You just gotta love London, right? —Wright

Duck Rape

jicarh: GREATEST EVER

jicarh _____: Oscar Ballot Selections: 85th Annual Academy Awards

They couldn't think of anything more important?

Shitshow or Fuckfest?

My 16 year old self would probably have enjoyed this video more...

Kanye West - Coldest Winter (808s and Heartbreak) One of those...

"I do not know much about writing rap lyrics, but I’m guessing that most rappers do not meet with..."

npr: (via What America Spends On Groceries : Planet...

architectura: The Slauerhoffbrug is a fully automatic bascule...

npr: Dark Energy And The Joy Of Being Wrong Sometimes nature...

poptech: “Sweet Home Alabama” played on Tesla coils (via Open...

Fox e

Photo

Sunday afternoon easy listening

Slow Magic Double Feature

npr: gq: Conundrum of the Week:Why Does America Suck At...

Conundrum of the Week:Why Does America Suck At Tennis?

A Friendly Stranger

fuerzza: Norway (by peterspencer49)

Old school Garageband beats. I wrote this in ‘08 More to...

npr: theoinglis: The Evolution of the London Underground...

Conundrum of the Week:
Why Does America Suck At Tennis?