I have a few food links for teh 'Hanksgivin' holiday. Just a few, but they're worth it.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Time for another Firestarter. Guess what? No news links this time! But damn, is the list random. And long.
- Tao Te Ching
- This is a Taoism resource, for a philosophy not oft considered by Westerners.
- Religion Facts
- Facts on religion that go more in depth than a casual reference. Taoism is included.
- Dining in 2015
- How to Learn Any Language
- There's a part of me that wants to be a polyglot. For those of you who are like me, read the tips on this site and feel incredibly lazy because you know you'll never be able to dedicate yourself. Don't worry. You're certainly not alone. We can lament together.
- 36 Beautiful Resume Ideas that Work
- Some very interesting designs for resumes. I don't know that I'll ever be able to use any of them for one of mine, but they are certainly attractive designs.
- CalorieConnect.com
- Food name in, calorie count out. Just a cleaner application than I've seen in the past. It all comes up on one page without reloading.
- How Stuff Works
- Self-explanatory, methinks.
- Dinosaur Comics
- I'd heard of it and read one or two beforehand, but I didn't realize how hilarious it is until I ran across it again. Always silly, but always funny.
- Microsoft Interview Questions
- Can you answer any of those? I knew there was a reason why I wasn't a computer programmer. Besides the math bit. And the logic.
- How to Draw a Woman (video)
- Cool sorta kinda tutorial. I've never seen someone start from the skeletal structure.
- How to Detect Lies
- Always a useful tool, especially in those casual interrogations that we all conduct in our basements, right? Saves on mess.
- Why we do dumb s@#$.
- Ten social psychology studies that explain why we don't always make the best judgment we could, among other things.
- Test Your English
- Can you say all of the words correctly the first time?
- Cooking By Numbers
- A good site, if rudimentary. Hilarious sidenote: Some friends and I put what they had in their fridge, and they only complete recipe that came up said, "You have 100% of 2 ingredients to make a Cup of Coffee." Even better: "You have 50% of 2 ingredients to make Scrambled Eggs." What were we lacking? Eggs.
- FilmSecrets
- Make your own films for a fraction of the cost. A cool guide to help those trying to make it on their own.
- Write Your Name in Elvish in 10 Minutes!
- If it was a real language, it would soooo be the best language ever.
- "Street Installations"
- Some very cool street artwork. It would be freaky to happen upon, but it's very cool at a distance.
- The Table of Condiments
*deep breath* Whew.
Time for another Firestarter!
- Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep (Wired.com)
- If that's not scary enough as it is, the article states that it has "no apparent side effects." Is this the dawn of the eternal all-nighter? I kind of hope so. Not enough hours in the day as it is. Speaking of monkeys...
- Monkey controls a robot half a world away. (NYTimes)
- What's the big deal? Well, because the monkey was able to make the robot walk with her brain (even after she'd stopped walking and had started eating a banana), it's a breakthrough that may give the paralyzed hope that they will actually be able to control their bodies full-ranged movement with the same amount of effort as the rest of us. Oh, and speaking (indirectly) of prosthetics...
- "Bionic" arm revolutionizes prosthetics. (IEEE)
- Believe it or not, prosthetics haven't changed much. With the advancement of the "Luke" arm (named after Skywalker and his prosthesis in Star Wars), amputees will be given the possibility of six possible grip functions, as well as a nearly full range (if not full range) of movement possible in non-amputees - if it gets the funding. Speaking of (even more indirectly) revolutionizing the existing system...
- "The 'Bowed' Piano: Fishing for a New Sound" (NPR.org)
- The most amazing sounds to come out of a piano - possibly ever. While they mangle the piano to a point where it's nearly unrecognizable, you have to admit that it's still amazing and awesome that ten people are playing it. There is a video and a few songs listed on the left if you would like to listen to something amazing. Speaking of music...
- RIAA abandons ruse that they sue for the artists as they seek to stick it to said artists. (Hollywood Reporter)
- As if the “reign of terror” against college students wasn’t bad enough. While I don’t advocate piracy, I don’t “advocate” corporate greed, either. This entire time, the RIAA has been suing on the premise that not only is their bottom line hurting, but the artists are hurting too. Well, no longer. Songwriters and publishers are making too much money, they say. Sad thing is, major music distribution services like Apple, Yahoo, and Napster all agree. Speaking of corporate bastards and those who would like to stick it to them like they have to everyone else...
- "20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack" (Lessig Blog)
- While you may or may not be involved in the political process, it's still a good video to watch - if not to see if your mind can be changed, then to see the differences between Barack and Hillary (though rather negative on the Hillary side of things). This is who I'm voting for this primary season, and I thought I'd share some of the reasons why. Speaking of political rivalries...
- "In Democratic Families, Politics make for Estranged Bedfellows." (NYTimes)
- Maria Shriver went for Obama? The Kennedys are all split up? Husbands and wives working for opposing Democratic (and sometimes Republican) campaigns? Crazy times in this country, but it's great that it's happening. People are thinking, and by God that's reason to celebrate. And, finally, speaking of... well... really nothing in particular...
- Creationist Museum (YouTube)
- The one in Texas may be goin' broke, but the one in Kentucky is juuuuuuust fine.
Though not all of these link posts will be themed, I thought I would theme this as Hope for the Future.
- The Year's 10 Craziest Ways to Hack the Earth (Wired.com)
- Geoengineering the next frontier? "Scientists have come up with extreme -- some might say crazy -- schemes to counteract global warming. This year saw the most radical geo-engineering ideas yet: man-made volcanoes, orbiting mirror fleets and ocean re-engineering to cool the planet and absorb carbon dioxide." It's awesome how creative we can be.
- X-Prize Foundation
- Though this organization has been around for a while, it's recently made news with its focus on designing energy efficient cars. One of the front runners going for this prize is a company in California that is planning on releasing 300 MPG hybrid within the next two years. They are the organization to be watching in the future.
- World Wildlife Fund and the Golden Compass
- I'm a regular donor to the WWF and a lover of the Golden Compass (as you all know), so this site is very exciting. Don't forget about animals in the coming year. While I don't believe that humans are a privileged kind among the animal kingdom, I do believe that we have a responsibility that comes with our intelligence and that we must work toward saving all creatures. This world would be a lonely place with just us, wouldn't it?
- The Year's Top 10 Science and Tech Stories (Slate.com)
- Some of the advancements on this list are absolutely amazing (regeneration? cyborgs?) Some are also very troubling (embryo manufacture? non-lethal beam weapons?). It's worth a look. If you're like me, you'll be shaking your head in disbelief of how far we've come (and how far we've yet to go).
Links for the Holidays (but only a few).
I'm starting a new post-type. We've got the regular kind, the filler kind, and now the "Firestarter" kind. These are links to articles, research, pictures, videos, products - you name it - that caught my interest. If you have anything to add or something you'd like to see on the site, then done hesitate to reply to one of these posts.
- "Al-Qaeda to give 'open interview.'"
- Be sure that this will be gathering attention in the next few weeks if it actually happens. It's a curious step that al-Zawahiri is making, and it will be quite interesting to see where this goes.
- BROTRON
- Greg Brotherton has a self-described "passion for all types of design." It certainly shows. He has some amazing pieces of art in the online gallery. I found it on a Wired.com list on steampunk, which had some really cool stuff.
- Brianna Martray
- I was in Denver recently and saw Martray's work, which is an odd but very interesting in its execution. Besides, she has a work named after Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. She's apparently up to a lot more than just painting, too.
- "EU Ministers to allow more fish to be caught next year."
- It's a sad day for environmentalists. It's just another case that's indicative of our (meaning "the world's") inability to a) plan ahead, b) accept the consequences of our past actions, c) accept that it takes suffering of people in the present to guarantee the future, and d) realize that standing up for the right thing often means losing favor with someone, somewhere.
- No Matter the Approach, Sex Ed Works
- Well, it might, but the results are ambiguous and don't lean either way (sex education or abstinence only) in the great sex ed battle. Funnily enough, the goal is to get kids to wait until age 15. Does that seem like a high standard to anyone?
- Super Slow Motion Compilation
- Exactly what it sounds like. Lots of slow motion clips put together in rapid succession. Got this from a forum I frequent.
- "Best Buy Bodhisattva"
- Cool anecdotal blog post about Guitar Hero III and the "religious experiences" we can have with video games.
