Entertainment stuff from the week 11-17/11/13

Greetings, children of the universe!


First up: I must mention the Typhoon-damaged Phillipines. Every time a 'natural disaster' happens, charities get really noisy and unfortunately it's the least hardest working that divert most effort into clamouring for our money.

And every time I take a look at what they do, I'm worried by their lack of secularity. In the bad ol' days, missionaries were cast as missionaries, and the poor exploited victims were cast as poor exploited victims.

In modern times, charities are more two-faced. They turn to us and exhort charitability; then they turn to the needy and start proselytising.

I'm afraid i just don't trust charities unless they're explicitly secular -- Médecins Sans Frontières is one of those -- all of the money given to them is spent on improving lives - not used to prey on people's fears.

'Philippine Typhoon Relief'
Through the 'Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science', 100% of donations go through to MSF. These are who i opt for.

"The Philippines was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, leaving nearly 5,000 dead as of November 14th, with hundreds of thousands more lacking food, shelter, and clean water."


In 1954, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that the 20th November would be 'Universal Children's Day'. It's an event established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children, and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world's children.

Countries around the world have various different dates, but that Universal Children's Day falls, this year, in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, makes little difference to the fact that, all year around, there are children living in poverty, fuel poverty, receiving poor education, poor healthcare, poor diets, suffering maltreatment at the hands/mouths of unempowered and superstitious adults, and more.

All of this happens every day, and millions of children grow up thinking their situation is immutable - an inextricable part of their life, their personality, and their prospects.

When/if you donate to spare children and adults from suffering, give a thought for the fact that big changes have been made to our own well-internet-connected lives, in our own families' pasts, and big changes must happen to theirs, in their futures, but also in their presents.


On a much lighter note:

Series 60 of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue is here!

'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - Series 60 - Episode 1'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03gvsln/Im_Sorry_I_Havent_A_Clue_Series_60_Episode_1/

The guest, for the first two shows, is John Finnemore, of 'Souvenir Show' and 'Cabin Pressure' fame. He also wrote sketches for Mitchell and Webb.

I've uploaded a couple of his sketches to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/notsyort/videos

And this rendition in the round 'One Song To The Tune Of Another', from Episode 1:

'Barry Cryer on ISIHAC - I Predict A Riot, A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square'
http://youtu.be/7kD6huFFb8I

Tickets are already being sold for 2014's tour dates. Catch them if you can!
https://twitter.com/isihaclue


Formula E - a new class of motor racing - is due to start in 2014.

'Up close with the new 'Formula E' car'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24918209

Ten races; ten teams; twenty drivers; forty cars.

The difference - all the cars will be electric! It's going to be exciting - not just to see the races, but also to see how the technology performs.

There's going to be a hell of a noise though - they're only silent when they're going really slowly :o)


Of interest to those of us who are Darklings:

'The Darkness - 'The Horn' [Live] NEW SONG - Electric Ballroom - 12/11/13'
http://youtu.be/ZBwqc6AZT3w

If that style's going to be typical of their next album, which should be released in 2014, then i want to hear more :-)

I've never heard this song at a gig, before!

'The Darkness - Curse Of The Tollund Man [Live] - Electric Ballroom - 12/11/13'
http://youtu.be/60o8Mot-Efk

And i've never heard a studio version of this one, before!

'The Darkness- Second Fiddle'
http://youtu.be/iZqZxSqqTcY

You can get a proper-quality audio of this by signing up to their mailing list, at the web-site, here:
www.theactualdarkness.com/music/


'Cuban Fury - Trailer'
OMFSM - Lovejoy, in the same film as Colly - didn't think i'd ever see that. IMDB says it'll be on from 14th Feb 2014
http://youtu.be/vEj-d7aXG8c


You might have heard/read claims or PR about a thorium-powered car that can run for 100 years.

Is it true? Um... nope.

'Thorium Powered Car, Drive 100 yrs on 8 grams of fuel!'
http://youtu.be/568iDYn8pjc

And yes, he does use the word 'bullshit' a lot, in this video :D


------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff

Top billing:

'Doctor (123456789) - a parody/spoof of the Tommy Tutone song Jenny (867-5309)'
http://youtu.be/TMjnEFrrTjY

It's a song about epidemiology, and how the numbers help patients and doctors to reach good decisions about their healthcare. Btw, there is a lot of information in the video - like James says, you might want to watch it several times!

More from John Finnemore. Gets about a bit, doesn't he! He's noticed something rather disturbing:
'Ho Ho... No, No, God No!'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/67064324883/ho-ho-no-no-god-no-ah-christmas-is

'HOW TO PLAY GUITAR'
Thanks, Hannah - this video was utterly uninstructional - but at least we got to hear some Halestorm :o)
http://youtu.be/VT0X33Ynm0o

'WHAT YOUR MUSTACHE IS REALLY SAYING'
Frankly, my dear, if you think your moustache is saying anything, you ate the wrong fungi - they weren't movember mushrooms!
http://youtu.be/qp0FZ6WxNjI

'Shapes and Solids of Constant Width - Numberphile'
These will blow your mind... even harder than Harto's guitar playing :-P
http://youtu.be/cUCSSJwO3GU

'Roger Taylor - Sunny Day (official promo video)'
Beautiful song; but i'd expected to at least see one shot of a woman, somewhere. Oh, well - the flowers'll have to do :D
http://youtu.be/5tw5-Iflbhk

'Horny sea slugs stab each other in the head'
http://youtu.be/TpPj7d5YcDQ

'How To Be A Real Man. (According To The Internet)'
Dusty Smith swears his way through the internet's attempts to tell him how to be a 'real' man :-D
http://youtu.be/jLS1oAQQuc8

'Ice proved cool way to move stones for Forbidden City'
The Chinese could have utilised their icey-cold winters to construct temporary ice roads, researchers have suggested.
They say the massive stones found in the ancient buildings of Beijing would conventionally require about 1500 men; but with ice roads, it could be done with fewer than 50.
Other researchers have derided the idea of moving 112-tonne sledges with fewer than 50 people pulling; but the mechanism still seems viable as a method of transport, and one that the locals could easily have thought up.
http://www.nature.com/news/ice-proved-cool-way-to-move-stones-for-forbidden-city-1.14090

'Roger Taylor - 'Dear Mr Murdoch' (Nude Mix) (taken from 'Fun On Earth', 'The Lot' version)'
Yeah - Roger's the political one - did you know he did a cover of John Lennon's 'Working Class Hero' on 'Electric Fire'? Well he did.
http://youtu.be/snFLtFZvcrM

'Unbelievable domino tricks'
A month ago, this guy celebrated having 20,000 subscribers, by creating a course with 20,000 dominoes in it. This video's had more than 8,000,000 views, earning him another 80,000 subscribers! 100,000 domino course coming up?
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/66906076908/trucos-domino

------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks

Word Of The Week: juncaceous -- belonging to the family of plants called the juncaceae

Expression Of The Week: 'kangaroo court' --  a makeshift court, set up to speedily or cheaply deal with a matter of justice; originally meant entirely derogatorily, as kangaroo courts were dodgy alternatives to real ones, and often purposely employed to commit injustice

New Scientist Video Title Of The Week: 'Horny sea slugs stab each other in the head' (see 'contemporary stuff')

Quote Of The Week: "It’s funny when people accuse science of being narrow merely because it asks for proof. Science expanded the number of elements from four to over 100. It expanded treatment options from bloodletting, herbs and purgatives to the untold riches we have today. It expanded the universe from a series of armillary spheres to the current, nigh-endless void. It expanded the number of worlds from two to billions upon billions. It expanded the age of the universe from 7,000 to 13.5 billion. Science expanded our senses from a tiny range of sound and light to an endless modulation of wavelengths revealing whole worlds we knew nothing about. It extended our senses from millimeters to angstroms, from kilometers to light years. Science discovered volcanoes under the oceans, terrible lizards who ruled our murine predecessors, asteroids that shattered the world, glaciers that circled the globe, the origins of man in ape rather than god. Science exposed the lie of vitalism, extended lives, cured cancer, discovered vitamins, discovered radiation (then found it was bad for us). And in the last group of discoveries, quacks were poised to kill the discoveries and loot their corpses." - William Lawrence Utridge

Fact Of The Week: Passengers on the Jubilee Line, in the London Underground network, inhale one fungal cell per minute - twice as much as in a park, and four times as much as in a hospital.

------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff

Charles Trenet was based the tune of 'La Mer' on this song:

'Heart and Soul-----Bea Wain with Larry Clinton 1939'
http://youtu.be/h9-WLXm_faE

And here is Trenet's version. With french lyrics, of course.

'La mer - Mr Bean holiday'
http://youtu.be/KViGUKQPfks

Mr. Bean's Holiday has been on several times, on UK linear TV, in the last week. I suppose the motive is our inexorable descent into Winter!


Too big, hmm...
cynicalsongs.tumblr.com/post/52701895275/deducecanoe-myflawedfairytale-rebloggable-by

They get bigger than that, too. He must be one chunky fella!
http://youtu.be/sFTFNR1Og7k


Who the hell thought this stock photo up?
"young attractive dangerous woman aiming at gold fish"
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-7970011/stock-photo-wishes

There are plenty more, with many of them listed here:
'Awkward Stock Photos'
http://awkwardstockphotos.com/archive


A special kind of mat
http://payyourchildsupport.tumblr.com/post/66716597046

Ratatouille - the snowboarding opossum:
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/uncategorized/snowboarding-celebrity/

'The Unbelievable 3D Paintings of Keng Lye'
Just one question: why do it this way, when it's easier, and more effective, to paint a 3D model and suspend it in the resin!?
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unusual-art-and-fashion/the-unbelievable-3d-paintings-of-keng-lye/

Funky driving, by Ken Block:
'NEED FOR SPEED: KEN BLOCK'S GYMKHANA SIX -- ULTIMATE GYMKHANA GRID COURSE'
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/66729159231/ken-block

'Singing Ringing Tree, escultura sonora de Tonkin Liu'
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/67108785379/singing-ringing-tree-escultura-sonora-de-tonkin
Wiki file on the Singing Ringing Tree, near Burnley, in Lancashire, UK

'Secret nuclear bunker? Right this way...'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/67251566311/secret-nuclear-bunker-right-this-way-kelveden

Junvenile humour... YES PLEASE :o)
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/66552019676

It's not as bad as a decapitated Santa Clause, i suppose...
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/66617848288

"Where did you come in the grammarbee, honeybun?" "I came, um..."
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/67251596963/jacksonrodstewart-the-3st-is-real-where-did

I leave you with Nvidia shooting Mona Lisa's face. Tara :D
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/67204151868
.