Hi overgrown prunes,
PETITION: 'BBC: Give scientists proper representation on Question Time'
"Since the last general election, scientists have been less well-represented on BBC Question time than reality TV show contestants."
change.org/qtscience
Surely people who actually know things are more valuable in a political discussion than people who... don't?
The 1st of December is World AIDS Day. Here's the factsheet.
Notorious psychic fraudster Sylvia Browne is dead at the age of 77. She said she'd live to 88.
I suppose that's the crowning failure of her life. A horrendously deceitful woman, she's most famous for telling people whose loved ones had been kidnapped, that they were dead... and then they escaped and were found.
The world is most certainly better off without characters like that! Extorting money out of the desperate. Yuck...
'The Darkness - The Horn'
The Horn's been released as a single, and is now available on iTunes
http://youtu.be/JRl2GTkppHc
They've also redone 'Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)'. Although personally, i can't hear the point. It doesn't sound majorly different/better to/than the original :-?
'The Darkness - Christmas Time [2013]'
http://youtu.be/Zz3gNmnugCg
A surgeon in West Virginia has apparently urged his hospital colleagues to 'fist bump' rather than 'handshake'.
The idea behind it, is that cultural ritual can often be disgusting and filthy, with handshaking an example. The palms of our hands are layered thick with a biofilm of oils and pathogens, which can easily be communicated from person to person, by a handshake.
{I bet someone'll work out that kissing's safer than handshaking... heck, cunnilingus is probably safer than handshaking. I'd rather receive lactobacillus than staphoreus!}
Fist bumps, however, involve touching with cleaner parts of the body. On the other hand, (pun not intended) adults feel awkward doing such a manoeuvre.
I suggest a transitory or compromisory move: a fistshake.
Bump the knuckles together, and hold for a moment, while shaking fists up and down.
Viola! A healthy but satisfying alternative to handshaking :-D
'Damien Hirst unveils fourteen towering fetus sculptures in Qatar'
http://www.designboom.com/art/damien-hirst-unveils-fourteen-towering-fetus-sculptures-in-qatar-10-09-2013/
Haha - Qatar is one majorly conflicted country! With one face, it's an incredibly pious, Islamic theocracy, enacted through an absolute monarchy; but with the other face, it's a progressive, entertaining, hip, funky place to be, where all the cool kids like to be at.
The latter, of course, is how it looks to rich foreigners - the former is how it looks to locals. Massive statues of human wombs and foetuses, replete with full genital display are OK; but alcohol is still illegal, there.
BTW - they really are monstrous to look at - out of all of the juveniles of species to display, the squishy, malformed-prune appearence of an inchoate mammalian body has to be least pleasant to the eye and to the stomach.
Why not display a nice embryonic reptile, instead? :-P
------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff
'Richard Osman on ISIHAC, hosting the round 'Useless'' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/W-T-bkNSEDk
'A Capella Science Live - "Massless" (Muse Parody)'
Typically brilliant. This man is tremendously awesome. Super... And there's air guitar, too :-D
http://youtu.be/dBxcC8zV46E
'Sleep disorder makes people act out their dreams'
This has to be the scariest video i've ever seen New Scientist publish! Seriously - i'm not pulling your arm :-o
http://youtu.be/3Job__ihh7o
'Four-winged robot flies like a jellyfish'
The reason penguins adapted so esily to swimming instead of flying, is that they are essentially the same - the use of wings to exert thrust, within a fluid medium - the only difference is that air is less viscous than water, and so requires muc harder flapping, as demonstrated by this robot.
http://youtu.be/boxeUaFl3R8
'Halestorm - "Get Lucky" (Daft Punk Cover)'
https://soundcloud.com/atlanticrecords/halestorm-get-lucky-daft-punk/s-gq6jo
This is on their newly-released covers EP, including 'Shoot To Thrill' :)
http://store.warnermusic.com/reanimate-2-0-the-covers-ep-digital.html
'Slow seahorses use head move to snag prey'
Ever since New Scientist got regular with their YouTube uploads, they've come up with some fascinating stuff. More, New Scientist, mowarrr! :D
http://youtu.be/EuVFP1j8qho
'Richards Welcome Message for the German Language Site of the Richard Dawkins Foundation'
This is the only link between Darwin and Hitler - the German language :)
http://youtu.be/5mLOKRwZJ9I
'IGUDESMAN & JOO - URUGUAY'
Is this an advert for Igudesman & Joo, or an advert for Uruguay? ...or is it a music video? [shrugs shoulders]
http://youtu.be/9lHPOU1h9eY
'What Curiosity is Discovering on the Road to Mt. Sharp'
http://youtu.be/W6BdiKIWJhY
'Musical Ferrofluid'
It appears there's a mid-range of frequences that the fluid picks up best, resulting in the greatest deviations of position - peakiness - with higher notes having less effect.
Or maybe the size of deviation is related to the frequency, with the high pitches correlating to short wavelengths and so resulting in miriad tiny peaks that clash with each other and equalise out into flatter overall structures (destructive interference).
So... where are the harmonic frequences of a ferrofluid, then?
http://youtu.be/VNW_gNbvLA8
'87,539,319 - Numberphile'
Simon Singh explains how Futurama has made millions of people accidentaly aware of the greatness of Srinivasa Ramanujan, without ever having heard of him.
http://youtu.be/bJDiZi9dqOg
'10 super simple party stunts' - Richard Wiseman
http://youtu.be/C3OuHUqzGss
'Video: Dead sperm whale explodes as it is cut open'
You might not want to watch this, if you have an anxious stomach!!
http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/27/video-dead-sperm-whale-explodes-as-it-is-cut-open-4204453/
'Bitcoin millionaire throws $7.5m virtual currency in the bin'
This isn't a story of condemnation - they lost it accidentally!
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/11/29/bitcoin-millionaire-throws-7-5m-virtual-currency-in-the-bin/
------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks
Word Of The Week: cataclysmic -- pertaining to a violent upheaval that brings about drastic change
Quote Of The Week: "It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it” - Edmund Way Teale in ’Circle of the Seasons’, quoted by Carl Sagan in ’The Demon-haunted World’.
Slightly-Too-Long Film Title Of The Week: Finding Nemo Delicious
Film Score Of The Week: Spiderman United, Three - Nottingham Forrest, Gump
Fact Of The Week: The burgeoning temperance movement of the early 20th century was funded by the wine industry. Why? Because wine was considered 'of the land' and so 'natural'. Drinks like absinthe, which subdued the wine industry's profitability, were demonised, and the term 'absinthism' invented in the process. Industry-funded hysteria reached its peak when Jean Lanfray shot his pregnant wife, two daughters, and failed to kill himself, having drunk just two glasses of absinthe that day! ...He had also drunk a creme de menthe, two coffee brandys, six cognacs... and three litres of wine. He was an alcoholic, and a vineyard worker. Absinthe was first banned in 1908, and and was only un-banned in its country of origin - Switzerland - in 2005! The only ingredient of absinthe that causes hallucination is the alcohol.
Dodgy Acronym Of The Week: TRAPPIST - a telescope, which stands for TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope. Astronomers have a strong sense of humour, as indicated by the current largest scopes, including the VLT (very large telescope) and the planned ELT (extremely large telescope). The ELT was originally designed to have a 42m aperture (actually 39m) because... 42 is 'the answer' :-D
------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff
'ROLLIN` SAFARI - what if animals were round?'
In a world like this, the diminutive yet spiky would be the most feared of all animals!
http://youtu.be/yltlJEdSAHw
'Advanced American/British Translation Guide'
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/68121277708
'Ten Germans try to say the word "squirrel"'
http://youtu.be/ejuK8_12Fmg
It looks like i have yet more YT channels to catch up on!
'Funny and weird German words'
http://youtu.be/Eru_0QCEHws
A collection of old 'funnies' that i've uploaded to my tumblr, recently:
'Bullet Proof'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193715501/bullet-proof-new-scientist-readers-thinking
'Cum Saus'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193702980/cum-saus-2-10-for-spelling-spelling-9-out-of
'Homosexuality is in'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193687751/homosexuality-is-in-teehee
'Welcome to 99c plaza'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193676610/new-scientists-feedback-column-has-almost-devoted
'About a quarter past three...'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193513153/about-a-quarter-past-three-oh-the-joys-of
'This cartoon wrote a sweary word on your toilet wall'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193503583/this-cartoon-wrote-a-sweary-word-on-your-toilet
'Carrotcat'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193421355/carrotcat-you-might-think-this-looks-cute-and
'We can repair anything... apart from the doorbell'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193194347/we-can-repair-anything-apart-from-the-doorbell
'Maybe using 'let it snow' wrapping paper wasn't the best idea!'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193063385/maybe-using-let-it-snow-wrapping-paper-wasnt
'Copping A Feel: It's Easier For Koalas'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68193036351/copping-a-feel-its-easier-for-koalas
"Escher! Get your ass up here!"
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/68188134291/escher-get-your-ass-up-here
'Why do people put traffic cones on statues?'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/67952865327/why-do-people-put-traffic-cones-on-statues-one
Fake Science catch-up:
'How Does Perfume Work?'
http://fakescience.org/post/67766373938/updated-science-how-does-perfume-work
'Temperature Conversion Table'
http://fakescience.org/post/66641748961/updates-temperature-conversion-table
'You Can Survive in the Wild…Using Science!'
http://fakescience.org/post/66388946185/you-can-survive-in-the-wild-using-science
'Your Guide to Contact Lenses'
http://fakescience.org/post/64129771625/your-guide-to-contact-lenses
'At the Merry-Go-Round'
http://fakescience.org/post/60192694877/at-the-merry-go-round
'Your Baby’s Developmental Stages'
http://fakescience.org/post/56440413370/your-babys-developmental-stages
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