Oxygen

Oxygen
nascentparadigm's senior thesis from the Ringling College of Art + Design

This Side Up - A Short Animation by Liron Topaz

This Side Up - A Short Animation by Liron Topaz

If Only...

Ode to Joy by Beaker

Ode to Joy
classical music by a classy puppet...er, um Muppet.

Remember When MTV was Cool?

Liquid Television was an experimental short animation show on MTV - back when it was cool. Example One:
Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions - written and directed by Henry Selick

More Galaxies than People

Feeling big today? Think about this:
"There are far more galaxies than people." -Carl Sagan

But, by the same token, don't feel bad; think of the uniqueness of you in the face of the rest of the cosmos. Only once ever has a configuration of atoms come together to have your thoughts and experiences.



Now, finish your beer, get another, and go watch SportsCenter...

 

Philosophy of Death

Philosophy of Death
By Shelly Kagan from Yale U.

There are 26 lectures. The first one can be skipped; it mostly lines out what the course will cover - not science, not religion, but the philosophy of death. Also the first lecture covers some classroom expectations and grading scale (boring).

So skip the first one and jump into the second one - Dualism vs. Physicalism

http://academicearth.org/courses/death

Academic Earth is a Web site that offers full video lectures from many great universities.

The Galaxy Zoo

You can help classify the heavenly bodies - sweet!
The following is quoted from their Web site:
"The Galaxy Zoo files contain almost a quarter of a million galaxies which have been imaged with a camera attached to a robotic telescope the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, no less). In order to understand how these galaxies — and our own — formed, we need your help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which your brain is better than even the fastest computer."

So go now and help; it'll be the coolest nerdy thing you've done since selling your Everquest character for $200 and a case of Mountain Dew!

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Free Games to Waste a Day or Ten Minutes

A calming puzzle game, Loops of Zen:
http://www.quickflashgames.com/games/loops-of-zen/

However, if you want to throw knives at politicians and celebrities:

Knife Throw 2
http://www.quickflashgames.com/games/knifethrow2/

Fish Itch Also

Preliminary research on mice indicates that there are nerve cells that pass along an itch signal to the brain that appear to be seperate from the pathway for pain.

NPR - Scientists Identify 'Itchy' Neurons In Mice
by Jon Hamilton

Hold your breath for micro-sculpture

Willard Wigan: Hold your breath for micro-sculpture from Ted Talks. You might think that you've seen small sculpture before, but no. No you haven't.

Icky (living?) Thing in a Sewer

Dateline...
A Sewer pipe, Cameron Village, Raleigh, North CarolinaApparently, it's just a cluster of invertebrates called bryozoan, which are commonly found in both the sea and fresh water environments, says Thomas Kwak a biology professor at North Carolina State University's Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.
Research:

• PZ Myers a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, writes about it in Server blobs of North Carolina


• WRAL (local news site to area of filming) -Mysterious 'sewer creature' sparks curiosity - by Dan Bowens

Does it live?

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - VIII

I really can't stand Ann Geddes' so called art, babies with flower petal hoodies and other babies as seemingly random vegetable matter. This one is a baby kitten doll in her style; isn't that cute...ralph.
So it's a baby wearing a donkey outfit next to a teddy bear wearing a camper's outfit sitting on a plate in a picnic basket. I'm not hungry anymore...


I know this one may not initially look all that odd or offensive. Two sculpted faces (in the style of the 80s) looking hopefully to the future. However, consider that the sculpture is made of leather. That's right; not one leather face but two. It's even creepier to touch; believe me.

This one is not so weird, but in a previous post, I pointed out wastes of resin castings. It is missing Beethoven in the mix.

Yips Meet a Telephone

Poetry Contest part 4 - The Saga has Sputtered Out

This post references a few previous posts; the last one was
Poetry Contest part 3 - The Saga Continues

What a disappointing ending. I was trying to get an interesting story out of the scammers at Poetry.com and they just stopped contacting me. Evidently, my poem wasn't good enough for their anthology. It might have something to do with me not paying for their fine leather bound books...
It's been more than six months and nothing, but wait let's go visit them again and read some of the past winners. That's always good for a chuckle.

Hmm...the website looks different. Let's take a look at the "Welcome" link. Well, this says it all, "*Lulu.com, an award winning Internet company, recently purchased the URL 'www.poetry.com' from the previous failed business that owned it."

Stay tuned; I'll be submitting there soon. Maybe I'll get that story after all...

Physical Optical Illusion

I picked this up from Richard Wiseman's blog.

I'm a Fan

It's Crop Circle Season Again

Well, summer is approaching, the grains have reached the perfect height, and it's crop circle season again...
No, it's not UFOs, but it is awesome rural graffiti!
Check out the jelly fish!

Jonny Lee and Wii

Let's all go to RadioShack! Watch Johnny Lee's Ted Talk presentation and you'll know why.

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - VII

Since when do clowns belong in baseball? Rodeos sure, but not baseball. I hate clowns. Although Bobcat Goldthwait did make a funny clown movie once (Shakes the Clown), but that hardly makes up for the fact that clowns suck. They're never funny or cute or wanted at parties.

Brass monkeys those funky monkeys...

Help me robot angel! Do robot angels dream of collecting little kids gold teeth?
Brass angel? Why not gold or silver? Brass is for monkeys and saxophones.

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - VI

Okay, at first I was "Ohh weird, pain killer cookbook" then I was, "Eww, creepy, that child is too happy about something," then I was, "Aww, that's sad. Why is he happy and hungry?"
That a whole lot of emotion for one cookbook. Then I thought, if you are poor enough that you need recipes to ease hunger pangs, then perhaps you should not be spending money on a cookbook. Instead, spend that money on some more food. I wonder how many copies it sold?

I have joked for years with my wife that I was going to start collecting salt and pepper shakers; I may start with these...

One More Disembodied Foot Found in Canada

Well, here we are again, it's random, severed foot time. Place your bets! I've got ten bucks on left foot and male.
Everyone get your tarps and hacksaws.
I'll admit for the first few feet, I thought, 'No big deal. Feet fall off all the time; the world is an imperfect place.'
(See Breakfast Club quote)

Canada 7
USA 1

But now the count is up to seven (for Canada and only one for the US - sounds like the winter Olympics gold medal count). Normally, some consider that a lucky number, but in this case...nah.

Quebec farmer finds winter boot containing severed foot
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 5:56 PM ET
Canadian Press Andy Blatchford, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Dang, it's a right foot. Double or nothing on it being male, that hasn't been determined yet.

For a catalog of the previous six visit the Wikipeda article Discoveries of human feet on British Columbia beaches, 2007–2008 (yes, can you believe that there is a Wikipeda article on the number of severed feet that wash up on Canada's shores - tis a weird, weird world we have here)

And if you read the Wikipeda article, and I did, you'll see that four of the eight feet match two people, one man and one woman who was wearing New Balance running shoes. Also, there was a hoax foot - not funny.

The CBC is maintaining an interactive map of the locations of the found feet. They have pictures of some of the shoes. "What!" you say, "Yes, they do!" I say. Go look. Of course, they took the feet out, you sicko.

So the count is as follows:
New Balance (woman) 2
Nike (man) 2
Reebok (man) 1
Low-cut Hiking boot (man) (unidentified brand) 1
Unidentified shoe (man) 1
Unisex boot (sex as yet undetermined) 1

In addition to the source that brought this to my attention (credited below) I did some independent Google searching for more facts. Normally, no big deal but when I did there were some 'Sponsored Links' shown that I hope were auto-generated, because if someone planned them, EWWW! Gross! This is not Photoshopped; this is a genuine screen capture!


"Cut Feet Online" and "Low prices on severed foot." Someone needs to review their keyword auto-gen system. Please! You do a Google News search for "severed foot" and see what you get; I'd be interested to see yours.

Oh and to give total source credit, because a good English major hates plagierism and always quotes the sources; I got the articles from a tweet by Rachel Maddow. A news woman interested in severed feet - swoon...

Amazing 3-D Appearing Murals

Just go look:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1187338/Off-wall-The-astonishing-3D-murals-painted-sides-buildings-trompe-loeil-artist.html

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - V

Dolphin or Whale and Butterflies

Okay, they're whales. Really, they don't look anything like dolphins. Anything.
"Hey, I calls 'em like I sees 'em! I'm a whale biologist."
And if you don't get that quote, you should watch more Futurama!
Butterfly Ball. Do they do this in nature?

Okay,... Ball Cluster. That's all I'm saying. Ball Cluster. Do people really buy ball clusters of butterflies? What a waste of resin. We could have used a few more thousand resin frogs, or birds, or clowns, or little girls with umbrellas, or wolves, or Beethovens.

Agave Plants Cultivated Since 800 AD

Tequila goes way back - we all know that it's agave squeezings that make that mythical passout booze tequila. It looks like the native cultures of the US southwest raised agave as a food crop.


Visit the web site here http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10219/
Images by Annette Heist/Science Friday, Wendy Hodgson and Melissa Kruse-Peeples. Filmed and produced by Flora Lichtman.

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - IV

This one deserves a post unto itself. I did not stage this; I innocently walked around the corner and there it was. Either someone has the same sick sense of humor that I do, other booth owner thought that might be a good way to keep dust out of the doll head's hair.

Typically a cloche (bell jar), covers garden plants planted in early spring from cold weather and surprise frosts. The first use of bell jars (in the West) is attributed to the French; ironically enough they are also well-known as doll makers.

Also the title of Sylvia Plath's only novel, the bell jar is the metaphor she uses to describe her mental illness. She is trapped in a bell jar and can't breath. Ironically, depriving herself of breathable air is how she finally committed suicide. She sealed up the kitchen with wet towels under the doors and gassed herself in the open oven.

I shall name this doll head, Sylvia Lackabottom. Say hello, Sylvia.
"Mmph, emphy bodmphy...."

Photos from the Vault - July 4th 2008

With the 4th of July quickly approaching, I felt the need to post these photos. These are the feeling that are supposed to be encouraged by our (the USA's) desire and pleasure at what some black powder and fire can produce. I'm only making a little fun; I seriously love fireworks. And you don't need a lot of money to create awesome havoc: the basic firecracker, bottle rockets, and Roman candles are enough to make an amazing catastrophe.
Honestly, who hasn't blown their fingers numb or set themselves on fire at least once as a kid; and if they're like me continue to do so.
Light my punk, and let's go!

Ahh, the Ultimate Encore. Sounds good, doesn't it? Just when you thought the show was done, you don't just get the encore you've been waiting for, but you get Freebird and Stairway to Heaven and a BJ all rolled into the Ultimate Encore! Mmmm...


That's either a BFG or a boombox on her shoulder, either way...Fire Goddess Walk with Me!


This one, well...someone has be watching the old pirate movies, you know, Errol Flynn and crap like that. That's no Keith Richards shitty-pig drunk on rum with six eyes kind of pirate. Hide your booty and your bum.


Did vikings have fireworks? Who cares! There is something about a buxom blond with a horned helmet holding a sword with dripping blood that gets your pressure up and makes your pants tight. Super-buxom means that each breast is the size of her head - get a ruler and measure them; I dare you. I haven't even mentioned that she's got 24 shots; I don't even know what that means out of a woman with a sword, but it's still hot! I almost bought this one.


Small Festival Balls. Not really a lot to say here, other than, WARNING Shoots Flaming Balls! Okay, it was a ball joke, but really, you were thinking it; I just typed it.


Power and Pride. What else is there to the holiday? The Statue of Liberty on one side, a bald eagle on the other, with the old stars and stripes behind - nothing is more American. Did you happen to notice the "String o' Pearls" sitting next to the box?


This is America. We blow shit up for fun while drinking beer. Don't mess with us, we're crazy.

Sixth Sense Device

"This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment." -TED

The URL http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - III

Here are some more great (blech) finds. If you didn't believe that fact is worse than fiction take a gander at these. Happy misshapen head clown - he's not really happy, it's just that he likes kids - a little too much...


and black velvet clown not as kitschy as Elvis or dogs playing poker and somewhat evil looking like Sideshow Bob (from the Simpsons). I must say the execution of the painting was surprising good, but the subject matter is straight from a sub-par cranked-out (not the drug - something quickly done to capitalize on your fame to make money before your fame dies and not concentrating on the originality or the quality of the story line), Stephen King novel. Ta-da...

Michael Shermer: Why people believe strange things

Micheal Shermer from Ted Talks. Enjoy. The last bit about the auditory patterns is great!

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - II

More pic of things that will never sell. A different day, a different Flea market... more weird stuff. A copper can, with mirrors and a cow skull hot glued on it. And I don't even know what that blue crap is...
Does this one remind you of a song? Perhaps, a song by the untalented girlfriend of a dead talented grung rock star? Maybe a song by a drug thinned, bleached blond that only became famous after screwing the aforementioned grung rock star? Not coming to you? I bet she doesn't smell like teen spirit...