February 2011
15 tags
14 Songs for Sad Sacks
For all the lonely people on Valentine’s Day.
Prelude (Jan. 31): Brian McBride — “Prelude”
Feb. 01: The Magnetic Fields — “All My Little Words” Feb. 02: R.E.M. — “Losing My Religion” Feb. 03: Portishead — “Sour Times” Feb. 04: Gary Jules — “Mad World” Feb. 05: Georges Delerue — “Camille (from Le Mepris)” Feb. 06:...
6 tags
5 tags
January 2011
Major pet peeve...
sammistarrdust:
When shows/movies play suspenseful music during a non-suspenseful scene.
When shows/movies use contemporary indie/alt pop-rock music for montages showing several characters having “private moments.”
This is one of several dozen pet peeves I have regarding sound design and editing…
or they’re—as George Carlin might describe them—major psychotic...
4 tags
Drunken scientists slosh alcohol on experiment,... →
BREAKING: Judge rules entire health care reform... →
jayparkinsonmd:
For a really good description of what’s legally going on here, read this New Republic piece. It’s long, but you’ll at least be educated on the legal implications and historical precendent of the constitutionality of the individual mandate.
9 tags
The end of "The End of History" →
[W]hat Mr Fukuyama is doing here (and he’s been on this track for years now) really retracts the thesis to which he subscribed in the early 1990s. History, he’s saying, isn’t closed. It’s by no means clear that the United States or any other welfare-state capitalist liberal democracy is the goal. It’s not clear where we’re heading, and we should keep our...
2 tags
1 tag
Before I die, I wanna have a party with fake...
itsjustshaniquaa:caryrulesyourworld:
This excites whatever part of my brain is responsible for carrying out randomized controlled experiments.
1 tag
“What would you like? We have ointments, salves, creams, tonics, scrapers, vibrators, suction devices and agitators. Would you like me to demonstrate them?”
Means something completely different 60 years ago.
3 tags
The Drake Equation for Dating & Romance
N = P • R • ƒa • ƒg • ƒd • ƒi • ƒc • X • L
The equation is broken down thusly:
N = Number of possible dating/romantic partners P = Population of the globe R = Ratio of births to deaths at any given time ƒa = fraction of which survive to reach age of consent ƒg = fraction of above who have compatible gender/orientation ƒd = fraction of the above which actually live within a compatible distance...
1 tag
3 tags
Walter Murch: "3D films will never work." →
[T]he “CPU” of our perceptual brain has to work extra hard, which is why after 20 minutes or so many people get headaches. They are doing something that 600 million years of evolution never prepared them for. This is a deep problem, which no amount of technical tweaking can fix. Nothing will fix it short of producing true “holographic” images.
Everything Walter...
1 tag
1 tag
Love Shyness →
The problem… is that, according to all social rules, men are supposed to approach women, so love-shy heterosexual men fare badly. In women, shyness is seen as an attractive quality, but if a man is too shy to initiate a conversation with a woman, his chances of a love life are slim.
1 tag
WSJ: Electronic Medical Records Don’t Improve... →
jayparkinsonmd:
So let me get this straight…a doctor using a computer in a doctor’s office doesn’t significantly influence how their patients live their lives?? It’s absurd that someone would even think that somehow a doctor using a computer encourages people to change their lifestyle and take their health more seriously.
Hey Obama…did you just waste the $20B you’ve appropriated toward giving...
Hedonic treadmill →
bestofwikipedia:
The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the supposed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. (via sleevia)
Cros Out Everything That Applies
My Personality
I’m loud
I’m obnoxious
I’m sarcastic
I’m cocky
I cry easily
I have a bad temper (sometimes)
For the most part, I don’t like people
I’m easy to get along with
I have more enemies than friends
I’ve smoked
I clean my room
I drink coffee daily
My Appearance:
I wear makeup
I wear a piece of jewelry at all times
I wear contacts
I wear glasses
I have braces
I change...
Iatrogenesis →
bestofwikipedia:
The terms iatrogenesis and iatrogenic artifact refer to inadvertent adverse effects or complications caused by or resulting from medical treatment or advice. In addition to harmful consequences of actions by physicians, iatrogenesis can also refer to actions by other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists, therapists, pharmacists, nurses, dentists, and others....
I hate double standards
nobodysparkles:
Why is it if a girl has sex with a bunch of guys, she’s a slut, but if a guy does the same thing, he’s a homosexual.
Black swan theory →
bestofwikipedia:
The Black Swan Theory or “Theory of Black Swan Events” was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain: 1. The disproportionate role of high-impact, hard to predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance and technology 2. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific...
An Atheist Professor of Philosophy was speaking to...
This is pure bullshit, Einstein didn't go to college. Whatever professor this was, assuming this happened at all, isn't very good if he couldn't find the holes in this argument.
[According to Snopes, this story is purely fictional. — Peckinpah]
http: //snopes.com/religion/einstein.asp
Professor: You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Professor: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Professor: My brother died of cancer, even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is God good, then? Hmm?
(Student was silent)
Professor: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Professor: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From.. God.
Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Professor: So who created evil?
(Student didn’t answer)
Professor: Is there sickness? Immortality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, who created them?
(Student had no answer)
Professor: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son.. have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your God.
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God, for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.
Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Professor: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, Science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my Faith.
Professor: Yes, Faith. And that is the problem Science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?
Professor: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as Cold?
Professor: Yes.
Student: No, sir, there isn’t.
(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of Heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was a pin-drop silence in the Lecture Theatre)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?
Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light… But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called Darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, You would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is, your Philosophical Premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality. You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor: If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?
(The class was in uproar)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? .. No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable and Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures?
(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on Faith, son.
Student: That is it, sir.. exactly! The link between man and God is Faith. That is all that keeps things alive and moving!
----------------------------------------------------
That student was Albert Einstein.
Brilliant.
i dunno
i feel tired and lonely.
good time to pack it in for the night.
7 tags
