Here's your Face on a Fist

While not a science video, this is a good slow motion video of people doing normal things and being struck in the face.

The West, The East, and The Oil

The nation of Georgia recently tried to assert control over autonomous "breaking-away" regions it considered internal, but were opposed by the military intervention of Russia, which they called "peace-keeping." Then they dug in. (Globe)

In the midst of this conflict, Russia dropped some nasty comments about developments in the wider region, namely a missile defence base in Poland. (CBC)

Then started taking (verbal) swings at NATO. (Globe) Why is Russia turning back into the global bogeyman... blame Bush. (Tyee) And why not? Everybody else does. (And by "everybody" I mean Putin.) (Globe) Except Georgia, of course... they're miffed at the Russians and close their Consulate. (Globe)

When the inevitable dissection begins, I'm sure we'll find out it's the same old same old: people fight over resources. (Globe) Best way to get resources is to take them over, hence Russia threatens to annex Georgia. (Globe)

But afterwards, Russia's allies decide they aren't completely behind Russia's aggressive behaviour. So the Russians come out and tell the folks they went to war over (to protect their autonomous identity within the nasty nation of Georgia) that they figure they'll eventually absorb their region into Russia. (CBC) Uh... WTF?!

So why all this?

Oil. Pipelines. Resources. It's called the "New Great Game." (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) Local politico Gordon Price weighs in on the oil issue. (Price Tags) And a strong quote dug up by Price Tags.

Don't anybody just remember this: All You Need is Love!

"The Googling" series, by the Vacationeers

The Straight comes out swinging

Federal Election: What Canadians really want and Federal Election: What Canadians really need by Mike Cowie in the Georgia Straight.

A taste of Politics

If you do one thing today, read and do this. Chuck Ansbacher of Only Magazine delivers an eloquent argument in favour of checking your voter status and registering to vote, with links to both Civic and Federal electoral agencies.

The Tyee gives advice for how to exercise free speech during elections and avoid being fined. (That's right: you can be fined for offering your opinion in public.)

Beyond Robson's Sean Orr has thrown his support behind Carr in Vancouver-Centre.

Michael Byers has been nominated by the NDP to take on Hedy Fry in the upcoming federal election. Andrew Dewberry, the "treehouse dad" in Kerrisdale, is running for city hall. The NPA has a range of candidates, and the final slate was just announced.

A round-up of election blogs from The Tyee.
A round-up of election blogs from The Sun.

The UBC Election Stock Market is open for business. And just as the Kitsilano condo market is down through August.

Miriam Toews new book

The author of "a complicated kindness" has a new book out.

The Political Analysis of The Redneck

The BBC has an interesting article analyzing the hitherto unexplored political faction that is coming to be known as Redneck.

I'm somewhat certain this stems from John McCain's choice of running-mate in Sarah Palin. The article has a few light moments (I'd expected it to be written by a comedian in a comedic manner) but is surprisingly sincere in handling the topic as the rise in political power of one group. The question I have is whether calling this faction "redneck" is an attempt to deflect painting/smearing them with previously-used labels like "religious-right" or "red-state voters" or so on. (I hate to ask, but: is this putting lipstick on a pig...?)

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - explanation for laypeople

Bugliosi at the Hearings for Limits on Executive Power

The opening statements of Vincent Bugliosi, best known as the lawyer that prosecuted Charles Manson, at U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearings discussing constitutional limits on executive power.

Google digitizes old newspapers

For fans of history, Google has digitized old newspapers as part of their archives on Google News. Here's the story on the official blog. And another on Google Blogoscoped.

And here's a quick search I did for "Vancouver" limited to "1890" which returned 448 articles. Granted, they are not all about Vancouver B.C., but still pretty cool.

911 Call: Officer bakes pot cookies with wife and thinks they're dying

I remember the first time time stopped for me. Yet I still have to go to work tomorrow morning.

Viva la Vida by Coldplay

But that was when I ruled the world.

Round-up of The Arts

Let's just start with an article from The Tyee about the death of pleasure-blogging...

And move on to the idea that the identity of Banksy has been discovered...

Then to Jimmy Fallon honing his late-night skill in preparation of taking over NBC's Late Night next year by putting out some webisodes...

And for the Nature-as-Art category, 30 incredible abstract satellite photos....

Here's a 1964 interview with Ayn Rand for Playboy Magazine...

Videos of David Lynch and Donovan talking about where ideas come from...

The impact of the creative class on communities...

The lawsuit is over: there will be no Doors without Jim Morrison...

And for anyone looking at putting tiles in their bathroom, check out this arty tile-work...

And now your musical tastes are in tune with your personality...

How to read a movie, by Roger Ebert...

Increase in Crypto-biological Activity

I'm not sure yet what to make of this, but there seems to be an increase in "unexplained" sightings.

There were a record number of UFO sightings in 2007. There was a total of 836 sightings, an increase of 12% over 2006.

The legendary Ogopogo was sighted at the end of July.

And some berry-pickers in Ontario saw Bigfoot. And not like that rat-rug in a cooler trick like down south.

Hmmm. Let's have a chat about Charles Darwin.

Suicide as Art

Half-a-century ago a 20-year-old woman jumped off the Empire State Building. About four minutes later, an art student who was across the street when the incident happened took a photo. The photo was used in Time Magazine, and was later appropriated by Andy Warhol for use in one of his prints. While a morbid idea, Jason Kottke describes this interesting story on his site.

Westbam-United States Of Love-Loveparade 2006 Anthem

Conspiracy Analysts' Alert: US$ is Masonic Code

Two bits on music-related tidbits...

Chuck D tells musicians to cut out the middle man and sell directly to consumers.

And here's a great video explaining one of the most important 6-second loops in the history of music.

Doomed of History: The Arctic

I read the news over time and I start to feel like we're missing patterns and events that are rushing us toward obstacles and conflict. Here's the progress of the Arctic Problem, up to now.

Global warming is both a problem and an opportunity. Scientists predicted that there was a 50-50 chance the arctic would be ice-free this summer.

And that means open waters and new trade routes... and people are starting to notice.
The Americans have changed their northern policy. The Canadians are quietly studying the continental shelves to bolster claims. Plus there's that whole Russian thing that needs to have an eye kept on. So we need to bolster the forces at home, sort of. (Here's a bit more on that.)

But the ice keeps shrinking.

And Canada announces an extension of the northern jurisdiction. But to make it viable, we need to get folks to move up there... but before that happens we need to improve the economy and invest in the region. And we need to identify and defend the resources in the region. Then it's all over the media: Canada is talking tough... Canada is being assertive...

And the ice keeps breaking apart.

But we start building, you guessed it: icebreakers!

Now the Americans want to have a chat about the definition of "international" and "internal" waters.

And the ice... the ice... two words: ice shelves.

And none too soon: the Northwest Passage is open, for the second time in history, and the second year in a row. By the way, want to move to Nunavut?

Anyway. Let's hope it all ends better than it did for these poor buggers: the Franklin Expedition.

I'm a Marvel... I'm a DC... and I'm... Hellboy...

Great series of parodies of the Mac/PC commercials done to comic book movie heroes.

Review of "The Man Game" by Lee Henderson

A good article about "The Man Game" by Lee Henderson. In his first novel, Henderson uses the Vancouver of 1886 as the setting.

There's also a list about little-known Vancouver historical facts that the author dug up in his research.

"Away" by The Feelies