Hi,
A while back I mentioned my friend Anna who is currently working in Liberia and her photo’s that she stashes at Picasa album. Well she was quite cool about the link being shared out (and I suspect a tad bemused). Here is the link to the pics, A bit of vicarious travel for a Monday.
{link only went out to mailing list people… sorry}
I met Anna when she worked at IWDA and she now works for ARC as a Gender Based Violence Prevention Coordinator. http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_GBV it’s the same sort of stuff she did at IWDA. Just on a different continent.
Totally changing the subject, Ross Ryan has a another gig at Capers in early July. http://www.rossryan.com/gigs.htm I am sure it will be as much fun as last time. See https://thatchspace.com/2007/11/14/ross-ryan-and-a-zoom-h4-at-capers/ and http://www.rossryan.com/av/index.html
So on with the sillies.
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HacknMod has some great reading about ballistic gel (you know the stuff. it appears in just about every episode of Mythbusters) http://www.hacknmod.com/displayMOD.php?hack=1484
They have some links to online resources related to making and using it. Here is a video of Adam from Mythbusters explaining everything you ever wanted to know about the stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=023Ho–XPts
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As I have pointed out on one or two previous occasions I think Google Earth is pretty spiffy. And equally I find the whole “cereal art” thing totally fascinating on a whole bunch of levels, I mean just check the bottom of the page on any given week. So just in case you were wondering… Yes there are other people out in the world who are just as fascinated by “cereal art” and Google Mapsas I am and Yes they are way deeper into than me.
Spotted at Cabinet of Wonders http://tinyurl.com/425jvf
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Fair Use Dept: Over at VideoGum there is fab collection of light saber mashups. Some are priceless, Aragorn, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Westley. Using a computer, bright sparks have put a lightsaber in these fearsome warriors hands.
Some of you will ask “Why” and there can be only one answer. because they can.
http://videogum.com/archives/the-ultimate-argument-settler/lightsaber_010339.html
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On a more serious note, Over at the New York Times, David Brooks has an article entitled “The Neural Buddhists”
It starts off ..
In 1996, Tom Wolfe wrote a brilliant essay called “Sorry, but Your Soul Just Died,” in which he captured the militant materialism of some modern scientists.
To these self-confident researchers, the idea that the spirit might exist apart from the body is just ridiculous. Instead, everything arises from atoms. Genes shape temperament. Brain chemicals shape behavior. Assemblies of neurons create consciousness. Free will is an illusion. Human beings are “hard-wired” to do this or that. Religion is an accident.
Then over at the IEEE Spectrum there is a special issue on the Singularity
(Wikipedia to the rescue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity )
“The technological singularity is a hypothesised point in the future variously characterized by the technological creation of self-improving intelligence, unprecedentedly rapid technological progress, or some combination of the two.
It’s a great read and if you follow all the links on the webpage it will be well past Tuesday before you finish.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/singularity
Hang tight folks it’s a bumpy ride.
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This week at Duggup. Jools wrote about “The Trinity River Whalers” and “Stone Angels”. Well worth a look. Me, my faves this week would be “Postal Service” and The Awkward Stage”, Postal Service are on their way to taking up permanent residence on the MP3 player. Head over and check it out. http://duggup.com.au
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Flash Game Time: On Mondays you will have noticed that there is a overwhelming urge to waste time. and seeing as how a few of our readers (yes there are more than two. god knows why) like cats Todays timewaster is Kitten Cannon. Yep, today we shoot small fluffy kittens out of a cannon.
This one is so simple, shoot the kitten out of the cannon as far as possible. You can adjust the aim and velocity of the cannon, but for real distance you need for the kitty to land on a pile of explosives, or is bounced into a balloon-bomb. I love the Venus Fly errr Cat-traps and then there are the tasteless spikes as yet another impediment. to a high score.
Head over to http://www.burststudio.com/kitten.html and be offended.
I prefer to think of it as a Road Runner/Coyote induced desensitizing of the good taste chip.
Actually, seeing as though the good taste chip is cactus this would be a good time for another tasteless Flash Game. You’ve read the book, seen the movie, watched the DVD, flicked through the comic book (no I am not kidding) and now you are bored with the ring. But to revitalize your flagging interest in the franchise we have The Lord Of The Rings Swig and Toss game. ( I am not making this up)
This is silly for a few reasons.
1: The more you drink, the harder it is to hold the axe straight, naturally.
2: The more you drink and the better you do, the more points you get!
Oh just go and play it. http://www.kewlbox.com/games/GameLaunch.aspx?GameId=289
Well that’s enough for this week. Have a good one.
thatch
{Currently listening to Slainte and Oregon (the Winter Light from 1974) it makes for some interesting juxtapositions}
{Currently reading: Greg Bear’s Eternity and the CSS manual}
{Quick Status Check: Hell}
{Crop Circle Status: Total for is June so far is 8. A couple of pretty ones starting to show up. http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2008/2008.html }