useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists May09

The list of lists...

10 Scandalous Facts about Historical Figures [ListVerse]
Earthcam's 25 Most-Interesting WebCams of 2008 [CBC] [EarthCam]
Top 10 Ways to Save Money in a Recession [Lifehacker]
List of Translations for The Hobo Code [AContinuousLean]
10 Fascinating "Only-Existing" Photos [ListVerse]
11 Useful Tips for Setting Goals and Accomplishing Them [ DumbLittleMan]
How to De-Clutter an Entire Room in One Go [ZenHabits]
10 Privacy Settings Every facebook user Should Know [AllFacebook]
Ways to Save on your Water Bill [NotMadeofMoney] (Ed.: And enviro!)
7 Major "Missing Links" since Dawrin [NatlGeo]
Libraries using Different Web 2.0 Technologies [KraftyLibrarian]
15 Influential Early Works of Apocalyptic Fiction [ListVerse]
Financial Literacy Compendium [GetRichSlowly]
5 Ways to Stay Disciplined in Your Savings [NotMadeOfMoney]
50 Side-Businesses You Can Start on Your Own [SimpleDollar]
100 Really Creative Business Cards [WebdesignerDepot]
30 Most-Controversial Album Covers [NoiseAddicts]
1001 Rules for My Unborn Son [1001Rules] (Ed.: Great blog idea!)
Top 10 Incredible Time Capsules [ListVerse]
10 Most-Frequent Titles submitted to Virginia Quarterly Review [VQR]
11 Most-Endangered Historica Sites in U.S. [NatlGeo]
Top 10 Renewable Energy Sources [ListVerse]
Top 10 Hidden Images Found in Cartoons [ListVerse] (Ed.: Disney is Pervs)
15 Housing Projects From Hell [oobject]
100 Geeks to Follow on Twitter [wired.com]
10 Fascinating Angels and Demons [ListVerse]
10 new Sitcoms meant to cure the Recession Blues [nyt]
7 Webotainers Worth Watching [wired.com]

Pay the Ones You Love: Because the folks at ListVerse are so great at coming up with so many fascinating lists, please drop by this Amazon page and pre-order a copy of their Ultimate Book of Top Ten Lists, which is scheduled for publication in November, 2009.

And finally: Top 10 Star Trek Techno-Babbles:

Dossier Z | Radiohead

First the first time ever, a Radiohead song has been used for an advertisement, for the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless.



And in a twist, before the release of their last album, Radiohead's management suggested the band break up. [PitchFork] [IrishTimes]

Finally, here's a behind-the-scenes clip from the USC Trojan Marching Band as they rehearse and prepare for their appearance with Radiohead at the 2009 Grammy Awards. (And for as long as it doesn't get taken down... a slide-show of the performance.)





While Pitchfork:News is reporting the Oxford boys to be in the process of recording a new album [pitchfork], according to a BBC interview with bassist Colin Greenwood. [BBC]

Crazy Artist | Bert Simons

Bert Simons creates three-dimensional paper portraits and sculptures (among other things).

headspace | The Guitar Store

This is a guitar store in Southhampton, England. [guitarstore]

Good Rawkin' | Victor Borge

Victor Borge has always amazed me. His humour was amazing, his musical skills fantastic.

This clip is during one of his 80th birthday concerts. He had just finished conducting and the crowd reaction was so good that the violinist, Anton Kontra, suggested an encore. No encore was planned.

Monti's Czardas, which Victor had heard before but had never played, was suggested.

This, dear friends, is Victor Borge improvising his way through something he didn't know how to play...

Interlude | Mac vs. PC

useless mental tidbits | The Elements of Spam

Thanks to kottke for this one at McSweeney's. With apologies to Strunk and White, here are The Elements of Spam.

headspace | Dimensions

Nine chapters over two hours that gradually take you up to the 4th dimension. This will blow your mind. The first chapter is below. For the rest, go to the Dimensions website.

Good Rawkin' | Coldplay

People We Outlived | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

May 22, 2009 marks the 150th birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of seminal detective Sherlock Holmes.



From the Knowledge Refresher File:

The standard overview. [wikipedia]
The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street. [SHM]
A top-rated omnibus site. [SirConanDoyle.Com]
An online exhibit. [Westminster Libraries Online Exhibit]
Ashcroft B.C. ACD Society... (last update 2003) [ACD-Ashcroft]
The Canon of The Masterpiece Creation. [Canon of Sherlock Holmes]
Conan Doyle on Project Gutenberg. [ProjectGutenberg]
On Conan Doyle's "odd spiritualism". [more.intelligent.life]
Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes sites in WebRing. [WebRing]

Finally, a filmed interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, talking about his fictional detective and his spiritual interests.

useless mental tidbits | Stories Behind Hollywood Logos

The fine folk over at neatorama put up a fantastic collection of stories tracing the history of Hollywood studio logos. Like the kid fishing while sitting on a crescent moon, from Dreamworks? The logo was hand-painted, and the model of the kid was/is the artist's son. And there have been five lions playing the "leo the Lion" part in MGM's famous opening sequence. [neatorama]

Good Rawkin' | Sara... the 13-year-old drummer.

Crazy Artist | Emma Hack

Emma Hack is an Australian artist. She started as a children's face painter and hairdresser, and over her 20-year career has emerged as an award-winning international sensation. [emmahack]

Her canvas is the human body. Here are a few of her "wallflowers."

Livin' Spaced | MVRDV's Gwanggyo Power Center

Dutch architect design firm MVRDV won a design competition for a new community near Seoul, Korea. [bd] An interesting comment on the bd site is that it makes it look like "the future is anthills." And local community-design guru Gordon Price thinks it's "too much of a good thing." [pricetags]

I think it's way cool. I'm a proponent of the "live where you work and play" school of thought.

Here's the MVRDV site. [mvrdv] And here's their flickr site, with many other designs as well. [flickr]

Good Rawkin' | Smokie

Abomb reminded me about this tune from last summer. We were partying with some former classmates and this played about twenty times throughout the extremely long and beer-soaked day, afternoon, evening, and night.

I wouldn't play this at work with the volume cranked to 11, but it's one to crank if you're out of delicate-ears earshot...

This is Smokie's 1976 classic version of "Living Next Door to Alice". (I say version because the original was co-written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, originally released as a vocal harmony by Australia's New World in 1972.)

So... here's a "clean" version from a performance in 1977:



And here's the version that really went stellar...

Crazy Artist | Alex Budovsky "The King's Nightmare"

CitiZEN | Demise of Democracy in the Days of Swine

The recent Provincial Election returned the ruling B.C. Liberal Party into a majority government for their third term. I voted strategically, and still lost. I had hoped the BC-STV referendum would pass, but lost on that as well. I stopped watching the election coverage by about 9:30pm.

As I lay in bed that night, pondering the state of modern democracy, I sadly admit to feeling a bit bleak about the future. I have often joked, as a descendent of the disremembered aristocracy of British Columbia, of being a Monarchist. (As the benevolent prince I feel I have a strong claim to the throne.)

Is there any wonder that voter turnout is at an all-time low? [CTV] In the tyranny allowable under the political party system is it a surprise free citizens are forbidden from speaking out upon their opinions (with enough caveats to make it seem fair)? [tyee]

I first heard about nowpolling.ca the first time I watched pasifik on Shaw Television. I have assumed the two, the program and the web site, are affilliated with each other, but haven't bothered to look into it.

Nowpolling.ca is an online mechanism for direct democracy.

From the web site: Direct Democracy depends upon your perpetual participation. Nowpolling.ca is a non-partisan, non-profit perpetual voting system which enables you, with your individual password, to register your opinions on relevant political issues. Nowpolling.ca empowers you to change your vote when you change your mind, anytime. This is what perpetual democracy is all about. You are welcome to view the questions and results without having to register. However, the success of this democratic exercise depends on your participation. Create an account and be counted.

I think this is a great idea. I think if we are to preserve freedom from the ongoing decline of 21st-Century Democracy, we need to start looking at what we want to evolve it into. Using technology to leverage direct participation in political issues is a strong candidate for consideration.

If we don't, I fear this idea, "erasing" the US-Canada Border, is closer than we might think.

(There is too much to say on this topic, so I will leave it for another time. Just to say: while I feel this position enjoys strong points both in favour and opposed, I'm sure all can agree this cannot be something either side is forced into by negative circumstance.)

To Hell in a Handbasket | Reefer Madness!

Check out the Purple Kush. (bonussaves)
Sooo... it's that date, it's that time... we're talking about marijuana. The Weed. The Reef. Uh... anyhoo... Usage by teens has gone down... but the usage of prescription drugs and hallucinogenics has risen. (CTV) And a home-grown study shows that "young people" are turning to the weed for therapeutic purposes... not "just to get high"... (CTV)

There's story in the Georgia Straight about a Victoria police officer that has called for legalization. (straight) And a letter in response points out that we should find out what police officers really do think about the issue... they have been kept on a leash to toe the party line, but their insight really would be useful to make a rational decision. (straight)

If you're in favour of decriminalization, your vote should go to the Green Party in the May 12, 2009 Provincial Election. (CTV) In a refreshingly rational response from a politician, the Green leader, Jane Sterk, wants to see pot sold in liquor-store-style outlets. (straight) As the B.C. Marijuana Party leader, Marc Emory, pointed out: Gang Violence cannot be stopped with Prohibition. (straight)

Oh, and your friend in the Feds is Liberal MP Keith Martin, who tabled a bill to make possession of two grams or two marijuana plants legal. Fines would be assessed for possession over the limit. (CTV) Mr. Martin also wrote a compelling Op-Ed piece in the Globe. (G&M) This is in contrast to the Conservative Party, who tabled Bill C-15 which marks a draconian step backward. (straight) The BC Compassion Club also voiced their opposition to this bill. (straight)

And the U.S. Consul General in Vancouver walks the line... he expressed doubts on the usefulness of punishing the user, but stated a reduction in consumption was the only way to reduce gang violence, if gang violence was fueled by drugs. (straight)

I love lists:
Top 10 Common Myths About Cannabis
15 Fascinating Facts about Hemp

The abomb&thecorpse Take: The illegal drug trade is pumping cash into gangs. In order to reduce the strength of the gangs, we need to hinder their cash-flow. If the System doesn't have the balls to legalize, regulate and tax this product, then maybe the only option available to individuals wanting to get as close to the law-and-order side of the equation as possible should see if their family physician will prescribe some herbal-pharm for medicinal use. (I think through a physician is the best way... the freelance "compassion associations" may actually be "connected" to the wrong side. (CTV)

Oh, and Phish is touring again. (NYT)

But it's not all happy-fun-times news. Germany banned a "marijuana-like" substance known as "Spice". (TheLocalDotDE)

And the Journal of Cancer has an article that links heavy marijuana use to testicular cancer in men. (GoodMag)

But to be fair, there's concerning news no matter what one's drug of choice may be: research shows that heavy coffee, tea, soda or energy beverage drinkers (in other words: caffeine) may be more prone to hallucinate, hear imaginary voices, and even sense the presence of deceased people. (NatlGeo)

Finally, Good Magazine can point you to a BostonDotCom article about how to hack your brain to experience a drug-free high...

ThreatWatch | Mystery Spots

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Christoph Rehage

useless mental tidbits | fantastic lists

There's something about a good list that captivates my Collector Instinct. I've been keeping links to different lists with the idea that "one day" I would be able to use parts as a jumping-point for blog articles. Riiiight. I'm learning that I'm the sort of fella that likes to gather information, and can gather and gather until there is nothing left to gather... hint: there is always something more to gather...

Few do the list-thing quite as well as the fine folks at ListVerse, so here's a list of my favourite lists on ListVerse.

Top 10 Myths about Ninjas
Top 10 Misconceptions about Vikings
Top 10 Medieval Urban Legends
10 Christ-like Figures that Pre-Date Jesus
10 Gunslinging Outlaws of the American Wild West
10 More Books that Changed the World
Top 20 Wise Quotes from Confucius
10 Great Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Novels
Top 10 Interesting Jack the Ripper Suspects
Top 10 Fascinating Secrets Taken to the Grave
10 Weird and Wonderful Oddities of Nature
Top 10 Signs of Evolution in Modern Man

The group at wired also know how to put together interesting lists.

Apocalypse Then: Wired's Favorite World Expiration Dates
10 Best Geeky Last Words
7 (Crazy) Civilian Uses for Nuclear Bombs
Bongs, Virginity & Other Stuff You Can't Sell on eBay
Top 10 Celebrity Rants Caight on Tape
Top 5 Most Extreme Exoplanets
Top 5 Bets for Extraterrestrial Life in the Solar System

And for the Variety-Pack...

NYT Tech Columnist David Pogue's Top 10 Cocktail-Party Questions
BrainzDotOrg has the 10 Most Revealing Psych Experiments
New Scientist lists the Top 10 Bizarre Experiments
TelegraphUK lists the Top 10 Greatest Experiments of All Time
kottke lists Spread the Word's survey of Top 10 Books People Lie about Reading
PopCrunch has a great list of Celebs That Look Like Animals
DumbLittleMan lists 15 Simple Changes that will Improve Your Health

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Dead Hoodlums

No Cowboy (2009) from Ritxi Ostáriz on Vimeo.

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Xylopholks at NYC Subway Station

Jessica Pressler posted this on her Daily Intel blog on the "New York Blogs" section of New York Magazine...

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Evolution of Dance

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Noah Kalina over 6 years

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | All Your Base Are Belong To Us

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Bohemian Rhapsody on Gadgets

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Little Red Riding Hood

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

CitiZEN | Is the Oregon Historical Society.... Doomed...?

A good friend of mine that compiles a top online source of historical tidbits about Vancouver recently sent me a link to a story from Seattle's Crosscut.Com about the possibly impending doom of the Oregon Historical Society. (Crosscut)

Two points stand out to me:
(1) the organizations involved are non-profit quasi-public institutions; and
(2) the idea that "in good times competing missions can co-exist but in tough times there are tough choices."

Whenever I read items like this I instinctively start thinking about situations closer to home. We have a Library, a Museum, an Archives, and several history-interest societies, including the Vancouver Historical Society, the Vancouver Heritage Society, and others. Is the situation in Oregon just a leading indicator to our own?

Is a crisis to our historical institutions coming down the track...? What will it look like? Can we stop or reduce the impact? What needs to be done? Who needs to do it?

Crazy Artist | Reza Dolatabadi

This beautiful film was made from 6,000 paintings Reza Dolatabadi produced over two years.


Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

Saturday Night's Good Rockin'! | Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Blatent PostWaste Series Experiment #70 | Spinning Bowling Trick

Saturday Night's Good Rockin'! | Codebreaker feat. Kathy Diamond : Fire

Fire (Jimmy Edgar Remix)-Codebreaker Feat. Kathy Diamond from Erik West on Vimeo.

ThreatWatch | Rabbits! (at least to this... snake!)

Interlude | Power Line Fliers

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo.

Hell in a Handbasket | It all ended in a dead President.

Forgive me, but I think I've been here before.

The Kremlin was quick to declare "hypothetical scenario" when Interfax reported the Russian Military had been invited to deploy Russian Bombers to Cuba. (NYT, Cuba Reportedly Offers to Host Russian Bombers.)

But this haunting repeat of the Cuban Missle Crisis is a dangerous diplomatic path because the Americans have deployed missle defence in Russia's backyard.

From NYT: In the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba pushed the world to the brink of nuclear conflict after U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced their presence to the world. After a tense week of diplomacy, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev removed the missiles.

And about the US Missiles, again from the NYT:

U.S. plans initiated under former President George W. Bush to put elements of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic had particularly irked Russia, although the United States insists they are intended to counter potential future threats from Iran.

Russia has welcomed Obama's apparently more cautious approach to the divisive issue.

Why not joint-responsibility for the missile defense of all involved Nations? Whose side is everyone on? Just as in South America: who would the Russians be protecting, and who would be subject to attack? So in Europe: who would the Americans be protecting, and who would be subject to attack?

The Grand Game of Government. War and Peace. Each war obtains industrial resources. Each peace leads to economic collapse.

The saddest part is that until we go forth with a single global government, we are doomed to continually repeat the cycle of war and resource-based conflict.

Interlude | Extreme Sheep Herding...

Saturday Night's Good Rockin'! | The Dead Weather

Interlude | Beast

Beast - Mr. Hurricane

citiZEN | Poet Laureate for Vancouver

The deadline for submissions to become the next Poet Laureate of Vancouver has been extended to March 20, 2009. Check out vancouververse.

From the no-shame category, here's a poem I wrote... available for purchase in my book, 51 Poems for a 50-Poem World...

Like Alma, not seen since summertime, with love,

I have loved you since you were a road--
You rebellious outsider edging civilization.
The Captain saluted and bid adieu
To a thin green line charging lightly
Into the pages of History.
(Or at least Elizabeth Walker's.)

And Jerry may have had his cove
While the Chief of Khats his beach
I had unfettered access to all
Grounds that Alderman Almond loved
(For such it is in times of war
Coffee comes with peace.)
With your unrestrained curves
Twisting like a goat's path in the highlands.

It was sad to lose you at your Sweet 16
When you crashed into the 3700 block
And abruptly ended.

Interlude | Crowd Dance at Metro Station

headspace | This Is Where We Live

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Interlude | Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Bars & Tones from André Chocron on Vimeo.

Interlude | Royksopp - Happy Up Here

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

Interlude | Check This Out

Interlude | Opera from 1907

Check this story out from the New York Times. There is multimedia of the recordings available. (NYT)

Interlude | Photos from Space

Photos of EARTH by Sunita Williams???

View more presentations from Rahul Tiwari.

To Hell in a Handbasket | Aliens!

The question s not whether we are the aliens. The question is not whether we need more pond scum. The question isn't even if humanity would riot in the streets if we found out whether intelligent life exists Somewhere.

The question is what we would do when we find out.

My bet is that if we found out there ws intelligent life somewhere in the universe, we would do everything within out technological capability to seek that life out, irregardless of the consequence, just to let them know that we were there... that we exist... that life has taken root somewhere other than with them...

That path has many questions to consider, many paths to contemplate.

Interlude | Air : La Femme D'Argent

Doomed by History | Evolution

Image via Wikipedia

Ancestry 101 is a wonderful little video by 23andMe.

It is always important to remember that we too are likely an evolutionary dead-end. Eventually. Never forget what we did to the Neanderthals... and what will be done to us by the Next Step...



And if you can forgive the nattering hostess that shot this video, here's an interesting look into the 23andMe offices. If I hear "Right. Right. Interesting. Right." one more time, I'm going to genetically mutate into something unpleasant. Oh wait.

Interlude | El Corazon by Hard 'n Phirm

Just to prove any song can turn into a love song when sung in Spanish, here's a tune by one of my favourite askew-song-smiths... to be fair, there are a few images from a somewhat surgical perspective, so if you're squeemish about blood... get the barf-bag handy.

useless mental tidbits | mind-fricks

Extraordinary Brain Tricks - video powered by Metacafe

ThreatWatch | Learnin' Folk

Image via Wikipedia

As part of Good magazine's "State of the Planet" for 2009, they've put up lots of interesting graphs, including this one, which is a look at how different countries rank in math and science test scores, based on the average score of 15-year-old students on math and science literacy tests, out of 1000. (good)

The top score in Science: Finland with 563.

The top score in Math: Taiwan with 549.

The United States didn't make the Top 20. The few comments I read seem to be angry excuses as to why this list doesn't take into account something or other to explain the poor showing. But here's a guess: the public education system isn't world-class. Sorry.

Three European countries made the top 10 in science (Finland, Estonia, and Netherlands), one North American (Canada), with Austral-Asia rounding out the rest, including both Australia and New Zealand.

And any way one looks at it, Finland's model is one to look at, since it placed first in science and second in math. Hong Kong is another consistent performer, in second spot for science and third for math.

[Finland on wikipedia]
[Finland's Government site]
[Education in Finland on wikipedia]
[List of Universities in Finland on wikipedia]

Interlude | Timelapse Night Flight

Saturday Night's Good Rockin'! | Oren Lavie

Quiet calm music... but really well done. Brilliant video. Go to his site, it's well-done as well. (OrenLavie)

headspace | Baby working the room...

Kottke posted this one, and sums it up nicely: "The camera angle and the way he moves through the room consuming his toys makes it look like an amoeba in a petri dish. (kottke)

ThreatWatch | Panic Predictions

Image via Wikipedia

One of the messages in Michael Moore's 2002 film Bowling for Columbine pointed out the fear-based reporting of the American Media Machine. ("Children are suffering massive head-wounds by falling into furniture while learning to walk... after the break: what you need to know to protect your children...!")

Seed has published an interesting article by Bruce Sterling outlining seven potential precarious situations that are ripe for panic-picking. (seed)

My favourite: Number 6... the Westphalian system. I've been saying this for decades.

Hell in a Handbasket | Cold War Era Scare Film

Geez, they sure don't make movies like they used to. It used to be sooo glamorous.

citiZEN | Vancouver

There are recommendations in the works to change the on-ramp "loops" of the Granville Street Bridge. This already happened to the south-east... where the original "loop" was restructured into a park with tennis courts. (The photo in the Price Tags post is very revealing, even if you know what I'm referring to!)

Fascinating post. Read it! (PriceTags)

Interlude | A tale of Four Bubbles

Watch and be amazed.

headspace | Magic Wave

This comes from haha.nu.

On 27.11.2008 the Swiss Science Center Technorama opened a show that illustrates three characteristics of waves: wavelength, amplitude and frequency, using a 25-square-meter “magic carpet” that was made of more than 50,000 pieces. Here to the higher quality version. It was created by Reuben Margolin, and staff.

It's not very impressive until it really sinks in: this is not a computer-generated animation... this is an actual live show, on stage, for an audience.

useless mental tidbits | 1984 was the dawn of 1984

After showing its iconic 1984 commercial during the Superbowl two days earlier, the first Apple Macintosh computer became available for sale 25 years ago today.

The Macintosh on Wikipedia.

Interlude | The National Film Board of Canada

I love the internet, there are always amazing goodies that come along for info-junkies such as myself. (cbc) The National Film Board of Canada has released a large portion of their collection online, including such classics as The Cat Came Back. (NFB) I have dedicated an entire screen in the WarRoom as the NFB monitor.

Here's a silent film from 1928 with conservationist Grey Owl with the Beaver People.

Benevolent Prince | Trickle-Down Recycling

Image via WikipediaA post by Raul at Hummingbird604 started me thinking about how trickle-down economics is really just political rhetoric for tax cuts. The post was about recycling, which, of course, is a long way off from economics. But the theory of trickle-down, where those with too much pass along "something" to those with less, is to me a concept humanity already is familiar with. I mean, haven't most families been using this concept for generations...? We call them hand-me downs.

It doesn't work so well for items with only conceptual basis, such as money, apparently. Nobody seems to want to just "hand-me-down" some cash without some sort of artificial lever or consideration, like "tax cuts". (Unless you consider my own "Cottagist Anima" which has never yet been spoken of. And shan't be just yet.) But what about "trickle-down" recycling?

(I know, it already exists. But "trickle-down" recycling sounds much sexier than what goes on every day at the local thrift store, wouldn't you say...? Maybe it's time for a "re-branding" of the concept...)

"Hand-me-down" on wikipedia.

The point that got me thinking about it was Raul points out that BC Digital Divide will give donated computers to impovershed recipients. (H.604)

And check out the Electronic Recycling Association of Canada. (era) And the Vancouver page of the ERA site. (eraVan)

And according to this story in the CBC, recyclemycell.ca will show people where to recycle their cell in cities across Canada. (Here's the in-depth look at the cell-recycling issue. (cbc)

For a quick look at what other countries around the world are doing to curb their economic impact, check out this Good article. (good) My favourites: kick the oil habit, save the trees, and increase no-fishing zones along the coastline.

And finally, the best recycling program is the one that doesn't hae to start in the first place... Good brings us a list of five Anti-Consumer Groups... because the best way to save the planet is to reduce one's usage of something to nothing, if possible. (good)

headspace | Art of Mime

I first noticed this on good.com. (good)

I found this on youTube...

The (real) West Wing...

Hell in a Handbasket | 50mt "Tsar Bomba"

Image by Berd Whitlock via FlickrI've been hearing about the end of the world for a long time, it seems. I'm going to dedicate this installment to a Grand-Daddy of the Modern Terrors: the Nuclear Detonation.

In the following entry from Good, I believe I represent the third category of possible interested readers: "those with questionable taste in diversions." (good) Basically, the article highlights a google map that will estimate the blast radius of nuclear weapons of various yields. (carloslabs) There is also a link to a NYT graphic showing the timeline of proliferation. (nyt)

The timeline raises a question. We can see that Klaus Fuchs passed information along to the U.S.S.R and China, but there are no names listed for the exchange between the Canada/UK node and both the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

Maybe it's in the book. (amazon)

headspace | The Benny Hill-ifier

It's simple, but fantastic: find a youtube video you like and copy the url into the the Benny Hill-ifier... and the video will have the iconic Benny Hill theme play behind it. Multiple uses, as you can imagine. (haha)

For a... shall I say... slightly creepy example... go here.

Saturday Night's Good Rockin'! | Peter, Bjorn and John

Swedish trio Peter, Bjorn & John's single "Young Folks" featuring Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes, was one of my favourite tunes of 2006. (wichita-recordings)

useless mental tidbits | History of the Internet

"History of the Internet" is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet.


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

People We Outlived | Khan and Number Six

This will be a short post. I have to go to bed and cry myself to sleep.

The star of the '70s-era hit television program Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban, is dead at the age of 88. (He may be more familiar to some as the reason for William Shatner's most-famous-Kirk-scream: the Star Trek villian Khan Noonien Singh. Khaaaaannnnnnn!!!)

The CBC write-up is here.
The wired write-up is here.
And his bio on wikipedia.
And his entry in IMDB.



And, if that all were not bad enough.

The star of the '60s-era George-Orwell-meets-Timothy-Leary-meets-Franz-Kafka television program The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan, is dead at the age of 80.

The CBC write up is here.
The wired write-up is here.
And his bio on wikipedia.
And his entry in IMDB.



Be seeing you.

citiZEN | Vancouver

Jackson Murphy over at The Vancouverite has a nice round-up of the Olympic Village debacle that unfolded over the last weekend, along with some insightful insights of his own. (vancouverite)

And for those following along at home, Vancouver recorded the first two homocides of the year on January 8th and the 11th. The first murder last year wasn't until January 19, 2008. (ctv)

Maggie Chandler, on her Vancouver Reflections site, posted the average price graph of Vancouver real estate. Sales decreased by 35%. And while prices are down over the previous year, house prices are up 64% for the Vancouver West Side over the last five years. Maple Ridge comes out on top on "Best Value" for houses, townhomes and condos in Greater Vancouver. (vanreflections)

According to Tourism Vancouver, the number of tourists that are visiting Vancouver has gone down since the Summer of SARS in 2003, for reasons that can be easily guessed: the economy has tanked. But the good news is that more people are choosing to spend their time and money at home, paticularly on local restaurants and attractions. Ticket sales at the Vancouver Aquarium are actually up. (ctv)

Even though I hardly ever leave my warroom, or go out of the bunker, or even step foot off the compound, I'm a huge supporter of local neighbourhood attractions. Even in (supposedly) laid-back Lotus-Land, we seem to forget most of the amazing sights and places that surround us. Sure, Grouse Mountain and the Stanley Park Seawall are all sexy for getting the outdoorsy-types and therefore all the press, but many of us are (particularly the born-and-bred, or close-at-hand born-and-bred) very much like those lifer New Yorkers that have never been to the Statue of Liberty or into the Empire State Building: it's always been there, so we figure we'll get to it eventually. Yet that visit to the Vancouver Police Museum or lunch at the Jericho Sailing Club never seems to come by.

Sean Orr at Beyond Robson has posted an interesting review on the Vancouver Museum's new exhibit called The Unnatural History of Stanley Park. (br) If you have a chance to watch the youTube video and Mr. Orr's Flickr set, please do. The silent video is particularly relaxing.

From the Civic-Duty citiZEN files comes an article via Megaphone, Vancouver's Street Paper, called 50 Ways to Help the Homeless: A Practical Guide to What the Experts Say Can, and Must, Be Done. (megaphone) (tyee)

And more from the General-City-Improvement files, take a look at this bicycle-storage unit that's being used in Japan. It can store up to 144 bicycles at a time. For a view of how it works, here's dannychoo.

headspace | Nature Can Save the Environment

...who would have guessed?

Janine Benyus discusses sustainable design ideas from nature.



Robert Full talks about how engineers learn from evolution.

useless mental tidbits | Immune Cell chasing bacterium

Archival footage of a neutrophil dancing through red blood cells to destroy its bacterial enemy.

Keep On Keepin' On | Mony Mony round-up

I won't bother to run through the FearWatch File... it's difficult to escape the fact the global financial markets have tanked (cb), the loonie's wings have been clipped (fp), job losses are rising quickly (cb), high personal debt is leading a rise in bankrupcy, major corporations we once thought invincible are walking the tightrope-with-oblivion-game (and bringing down entire industries), home starts and building permits are slowing (fp) (cb), and at least one government that I know of (Stevie Canuck might take a stick to the 'nads, so to speak...) is being threatened with a Coalition-led toppling unless they produce "comprehensive" budgets to address dire circumstances (cbc) (fp) (cb)... and so on...

I think the Take-Away is that we need to keep an eye on our cookie-jars. So here's a fairly random round-up of money-saving, finance-watching type posts that have caught my eye lately.

Let's start with the "general-getting-your-finances-together" types, like the Personal Finance Section of the CBC. And Get Rich Slowly has a good list of 9 methods for 2009. (grs)

The basic list for getting it together looks like this:

First you need to figure out what comes in and where it goes. In other words, it's time to learn, or review, the tracking-the-cash and budgeting-skills. (grs) (cbc)

Then deal with debt: the CBC has a good "in depth" section to look through. (cbc) You can go right to the tips here.

And make sure your investments are in order. (cbc) It's also good to check your credit rating. (cbc)

Cutting down on expenses will help with staying in the budget and reduce the debt-load. There are lots of tips out there. Like creating a "price book" for comparison shopping with your groceries. (frugalhacks) And why you should only buy your gas at gas stations, not groceries. (mbh)

You can increase your income... like leveraging your hobbies into paying work. (dumblittleman)

Make sure you're planning your retirement. (cbc)

And... "after your retirement" is politely called Estate Planning. (cbc)

There are lots of good sites to check out.

Festival of Frugality.
Frugal Hacks.
Frugal Living.
Get Rich Slowly.
The Simple Dollar.
I Will Teach You To Get Rich.
Mighty Bargain Hunter.
Not Made of Money.

Saturday Night's Good Rockin'! | Spiritualized

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

People We Outlived | "Dave Dee" Harman (1942-2009)

British pop star Dave Dee, whose biggest hit was 1968's Legend of Xanadu, has died. He was 65.

Obit. (CBC)
Obit. (BBC)
Bio. (wikipedia)
Legend of Xanadu. (wikipedia)

Legend of Xanadu... from Top of the Pops in 1968...

Conspiracy Analyst | U.S. Disintegration

I think Professor Igor Panarin is having one of those "15-minutes-of-" moments.

Over the last little while, the Soviet-era-KGB-Analyst-cum-Professor has been interviewed by the media as much as twice a day. (To put this in perspective, at the time of this writing, Google News shows a total of 179 stories about Professor Panarin. There are 15,650 about Britney Spears. Suppression? You be the judge...)

The real fuss began when the Wall Street Journal published a story about Mr. Panarin. (WSJ)

But enough hedging: At a conference in 1998, Mr. Panarin gave a presentation on his theory that the United States would disintegrate in 2010. His forecast was based on classified information provided by FAPSI, which at the time was the Russian version of the National Security Agency (US NSA).

The theory is basically this: Economic, financial and demographic trends provoke a political and social crisis. Then wealthier states withhold funds from the federal government, triggering social unrest and civil war. Finally the U.S. splits along ethnic lines, which is the cue for foreign powers to move in.

Panarin says right now there is a 45-55% chance this disintegration will occur, in either June or July of 2010.



The current fuss started Mon Nov 24, 2008 when Professor Panarin was interviewed by the Russian newspaper Izvestia. After that the story appeared in the Drudge Report on Tue Nov 25, 2008. (drudge) Then the bloggers started feeding. (freedomfighter) (curmudgeon) Eventually a big name media outlet caught on, and the Wall Street Journal published their story on December 29, 2008. (WSJ) After that it hit the wire... or the fan. Take your pick.

So: Professor Igor Panarin.



His entry in Wikipedia.
His entry in RussiaHouse.
One of his affiliations is the Diplomatic Academy.

As one might imagine, there are opponents to Panarin's predictions. Here's a good article (Time), pointing us toward Joel Garreau, who wrote the book Nine Nations of North America. Mr. Garreau also responded to Mr. Panarin's theory, which is nicely summed up here.

And Future Atlas puts the chances of an American Disintegration on the low side. (future.atlas)

The abomb&thecorpse Analysis: Professor Panarin is an expert in Information Warfare. The initial interview occurred in a tightly-regulated media environment. This sounds like a distraction campaign. But for what? Generated by the Americans... for keeping minds off the Israeli-Gaza conflict, perhaps to give Israel time, slowing public popular opposition? Generated by the Russians... for keeping the Americans occupied during the Gas-less Ukraine manouver?

Interlude | Amazing Artist: Devorah Sperber

As designboom puts it:

devorah sperber is a new york city based artist who recreates famous works of art using spools of thread. sperber treats the spools like pixels, recreating the works of da vinci, rembrandt and van gogh in detail. however viewers will not see the work until the move up close because most of her work is created upside down. the reason why the spools hang from the wall backwards is so that when reflected in a mirror or metal sphere, they will appear in the correct size and proportion. the reflection also shrinks the images and blends the spools together to create a more accurate representation of the original works. (designboom)

It's amazing stuff.





Check out her web site. (devorahsperber.com)

citiZEN | Vancouver

The first thing to do is give a tip of the hat to Old Man Winter, who has been knocking these parts around for the better bit of a few weeks now. I think I've heard the word snowmageddon more times than I care to admit. There are a lot of people that went from thinking it was pretty, and lovely to have around during the Traditional Western-Culture Holiday Season that is popularly referred to as "Christmas", to really wishing it would hurry up and melt and allow us to get back to our first love (being driving). Urban Vancouver has some good photos. (UV Pt1) (UV Pt2)

And check this out: during the snowstorm, somebody in Seattle created these snow-sculptures on the windows of parked vehicles. Amazing! (wooster)

Onward. One of the opponents taking on Premier Gordon Campbell in the upcoming Provincial election will be Mel Lehan, punching in for the NDP ticket. (straight)

Lastly, we know you've been waiting all year for this to come back: the 2009 Vancouver Taboo Sex Show will be at the Convention & Exhibition Centre from January 15-18. Tickets are $20 at the door or can be purchased online. (vanBuzz)