Entertainment stuff from the week 13-19/1/14

Hi synthetic-breasted-DNA-shedding-cannibalist-novelists!


I'm running short on inventive intros. Can you tell? :-D


First up - please sign this - the more signatures there are, in petitions like this one, the more it'll show the Russian government that homophobic hysteria is not OK, and that there are plenty of people around the world who agree on that point. All people and nations can influence each other, so any changed mind is an achievement. 
 
 'To: Winter Olympians'
https://www.allout.org/en/actions/p6-gb?

That sexy top's being modelled by Belle Brockhoff, btw, whom, amongst other athletes, fears the way they might be treated, at the Games. Their fears are not unfounded - non-athlete residents have been subject to brutal homophobic violence, in recent years, with victims unable to name their perpetrators' crime, because it's unlawful to even acknowledge homosexuality, in Russia atm!
 
Please sign.


And, on with the show. You might have seen the last episode of the Sherlock mini-series. In it, they reference 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens - houses that are mere facades. Are they real?

'The 'houses' in Leinster Gardens'
http://150greatthingsabouttheunderground.com/2012/09/08/48-the-houses-in-leinster-gardens/

They're absolutely real - the facades are in Leinster Gardens, built to preserve the image of the street, from the road, but to leave room behind, for smoke from the London Underground trains to escape through!

As the article says of numbers 23 and 24:

"Like Dolly Parton, Blackpool and extreme political organisations of both left and right, it is all front."

Incidentally, i happen to know that 'Dolly the Sheep' was called Dolly, because she was cloned from a cell from another sheep's mammary gland.

"Who's famous for mammaries?", thought the scientists, "Why, Dolly Parton is", they giggled, "Then we shall call her 'Dolly'." And so it was.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why scientists never present comedy shows... apart from Brian Cox, Dara O'Briain, Harry Hill, and, um... more.

Some scientists do have a strong sense of humour :-P


Exciting news from the world of synthetic biology:

'First Plastic Cell With Working Organelle'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140114091707.htm

"Jan van Hest and his PhD candidate Ruud Peters created their organelles by filling tiny spheres with chemicals and placing these inside a water droplet. They then cleverly covered the water droplet with a polymer layer -- the cell wall. Using fluorescence, they were able to show that the planned cascade of reactions did in fact take place. This means that they are the first chemists to create a polymer cell with working organelles. Just like in the cells in our bodies, the chemicals are able to enter the cell plasma following the reaction in the organelles, to be processed elsewhere in the cell."

Other researchers have been working on replicating the equivalent mechanisms, with the specific materials that are used within real cells - fatty acids, for example - but i think the mechanisms are of highest interest. It doesn't really matter whether the specific components are the same, as long as the processes they go through mimic real cells.

In future, these simplified versions of real cells, made to order, will be incredibly useful in exploring the myriad of chemical reactions that go in inside the cells of every living organism on Earth - a world that is, as yet, very murky to us!


'DNA detectives able to 'count' thousands of fish using as little as a glass of water'
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-dna-thousands-fish-glass.html

"It might be unpleasant to think about when going for a swim in the ocean, but the water is a soup of cells shed by what lives there," [Ryan Kelly, University of Washington assistant professor of marine and environmental affairs, and lead author] said. Fish shed cells from their skin, damaged tissues and as body wastes. "Every one of those cells has DNA and if you have the right tools you can tell what species the cell came from. Now we're working to find the relative abundance of each species present," he said.

Wow! What the scientists did, was to identify different species by the genetic samples they left in the water. By collecting a glass of it, they could recognise those traces, and match them to the species they already knew.

This technique could be used to track the presence and abundance of known species, in the wild, without catching them.

The limitations are, of course, that it can't be used to identify unknown species, because their genetic 'fingerprint' would be unknown. Also, the technique didn't work for cartilaginous 'bony' fishes - rays and sharks - or the reptiles in the tank - turtles.

Potentially, this means that ocean and waterway surveys can be conducted without costing the lives of the species they're looking for... and no excuse for Japanese whalers who slaughter them 'for research'.


And here i go, bringing the mood down again --- sickening religious behaviour by a Christian man who blamed a Muslim for his wife's death -- he proceeded to find the next entirely-different Muslim man, and to eat him, in public, while passing strangers vomited in disgust!

'Cannibal Eating Muslim Man That Killed His Wife–CAUGHT ON TAPE'
http://informoverload.com/cannibal-eating-muslim-man-that-killed-his-wife-caught-on-tape/

Imagine if he'd arbitrarily picked somebody who instead happened to be White, or had epicanthal folds, or was short, or fat, or had collected sticks on an arbitrary day of the week.

What kind of a sick, corrupted mind could think such a thing morally viable? Well, actually, this other Christian dude thinks it:

'How Religion can make you happy to kill!'
http://youtu.be/K2Rx4cW6E6Y

Except he's a pale and pastey White man, boasting armchair bigotry. Either way - religion, yuck. :-(

There will never be peace in the world while do-gooders don't know what 'good' is!


A first for RC Christianity: this week, the Holy See (the Roman Catholic Church when it's speaking through its 'country' hat) reported to the UN, for the first time ever. And guess what about -- their systematised abuse and rape of children, around the world.

'Crime But No Punishment'
http://youtu.be/AcKn46n79jM

Did they show an intent to stop being such perverted anti-sexual deviants, however? No - they offered only empty promises - as usual - to prevent their faction's 'image' from slipping! It's possibly a sign of progress that they're apologising to the UN, though, or maybe they're just trying to make more use of their guise as a nation?!


As if to pile in on the coincidence, Roy Zimmerman has presciently recorded and uploaded a good 'ol song, to cheer us up, in deriding the factionalism that keeps people apart:

'"Norwedish Hate Anthem" by Roy Zimmerman with Joe Zimmerman'
http://youtu.be/4gWAUxP6RmM

They're both wrong, however. The English, the English, the English are best! I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest :-D

'Flanders & Swann - A Song Of Patriotic Prejudice (VIDEO)'
http://youtu.be/1vh-wEXvdW8

"This is a song calculated to offend practically everybody" :-D

In case you're wondering:

- Michael Flanders had polio, which left him paralysed from the chest down, meaning he had to breath from the shoulder.
- This performance is from the '60s - not the Teenies of Lloyd-George's Prime Ministership.
- And no, Donald Swann was always like that :-D


Away from Superstition, and back to Science, for some pleasant News...

'ScienceCasts: Countdown to Pluto'
http://youtu.be/eMaPAM3vfv0

NASA has officially started plugging New Horizons' arrival at Pluto. Unfortunately, that countdown's going to be quite long - it won't start sending back pictures until July of 2015!

There's more from NASA in 'contemporary stuff', btw...


'The Secret to Writing a Bestselling Novel'
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/the-secret-to-writing-a-bestselling-novel

If you have any awareness of anything, you'll probably be aware that there are all kinds of people willing to offer fatuous advice about how to do things. Writing novels is just one example.

Don't worry - Mignon is not trying to sell you anything - her podcast's free!

But the 'rules' she describes... not very useful, but certainly curious ;-)



Other things that happened this week:

MI5 and MI6 officers have been granted permission to break the national speed limits on the UK's roads. They have to abide by the rules of the road even if national security is threatened, but they will be given the same exemptions as police vehicles, ambulances and fire engines, Transport Minister Robert Goodwill has announced. Basically, that means they can treat red lights as 'give way' signs, and break speed limits on open roads, where it's safe to do so.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25703725

Guenter Zettl was awarded a copy of 'Painter Man' by 'The Creation', for correctly identifying it in a radio competition, 45 years before, when he was 18. The Stasi intercepted his postcard response, and censored it due to the illegality of listening to 'Western' stations. This week, the radio station Europawelle Saar awarded him a copy of the single. How cute.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25742917

Female capuchin monkeys were captured by film-makers for the BBC/Discovery Channel co-production series Wild Brazil throwing stones at potential mates as a form of flirtation. In-so-doing, their use of tools displays greater skill than the humans who behave with similar antipathy to lovers - they usually resort to punching, shoving and verbal abuse. Does this mean capuchins are more mature than humans? Discuss.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/25667268

A nun who had sex, got pregnant, and then birthed the baby somewhere in the central Italian city of Rieti, claimed she had no idea she was pregnant. She thought she merely had stomach ache. I have no idea whether she's also claiming pathenogenesis! Do i have to remind everyone that Jesus was a girl? It's impossible to produce an XY individual, when all of the genome comes from an XX mother. Either 'the big JC' was a lady, or Mary was a bloke in drag... or lying. Nah - people don't ever lie to save face, do they :-P
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25787757

I've held a ball lightning story over 'til next week.... just so you know :-P

I reckoned there was disproportionately much wordiness, for one week, in this issue.

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

To start - two awesome astronomy videos, from AMNH - the American Museum of Natural History:

'Science Bulletins: Signs of Water Detected on Distant Worlds'
http://youtu.be/gZTimovGIM4
{There's no narration in this one, so keep you peepers on the text!}

'Seeing Planets Like Never Before'
A demonstration of the incredible science that's done to peruse the exoplanets of our galaxy.
http://youtu.be/urQeIjx7Ibo
{When the James Webb Space Telescope comes online, in 2018, it'll give us masses more data to search for signs of life in}

And from Science@NASA - how to recover meteorites:

'ScienceCasts: New Year's Asteroid Strike'
http://youtu.be/uQ5DI97K_S8

'See Liquid Carbon Dioxide'
http://youtu.be/N_cHcOLcAvE

'Pouring Mercury into Liquid Nitrogen (slow motion)'
http://youtu.be/5I4rxfnCtxY

'How the Rosetta spacecraft will orbit a comet'
Funky-sounding music, for a funky-looking journey :D
http://youtu.be/GRjdqUDU3yI

'Hunting falcons rely on sailor's trick'
http://youtu.be/er3AASCnpRg

'Knight's Tour - Numberphile'
http://youtu.be/ab_dY3dZFHM

'Cassetteboy vs David Attenborough'
http://youtu.be/m108JMxpWb0
{Deleted on the grounds of nudity? Pathetic! Hopefully, the video will be returned. Update: Link to silly version with pixellated bits so we don't know what they could possibly have 'down there'. Gah! http://youtu.be/dXZ-ijNAFVM }

'Eating Grass For Jesus!'
http://youtu.be/Q2hf4GLAMzg

'SURICATE - Faites-Le Rire / Make Him Laugh'
http://youtu.be/R2xNMB3JIv8

'Top Wesh (Lucien Maine)'
The gangsta version of Masterchef! This week, on Top Gangsta, the candidates vie to impress the judges on Gangsta Stars.
http://youtu.be/ECGEoifu0as

Interesting goings-on at the Australian Open, this week:

'Ball kid classic catch (2014 edition) - 2014 Australian Open'
http://youtu.be/UDSQ9ivWJLY

And proof that even the best can completely shash up a serve!

'Wozniacki serve fail - 2014 Australian Open'
http://youtu.be/Y9dT8az6wCk

'Andy Murray's super shank serve - 2014 Australian Open'
http://youtu.be/PM2noQkZMPo

I feel so much better about myself :-D

'Sherlock Falling'
This was bound to happen. Internet memes, eh :D
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/73660673869

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

Word Of The Week: opprobrium -- harsh criticism or censure; often following someone's shameful conduct

Etymology Of The Week: Spain -- possibly via 'I-spania', from Punic for 'land of rabbits'

Gene Of The Week: Headbobber - Headbobber mice have characteristic ear problems including bobbing their heads (obviously), going round in circles, balance problems and deafness.

Quote Of The Week: "A stitch in Time makes it difficult to turn the pages" - Anon; very possibly me

Fact Of The Week: The first spherical magnets were made in the 16th century (or earlier), by grinding mined magnets, called lodestones, into spheres. These were called "terrellas" (little Earths) by William Gilbert, the physician to Queen Elizabeth I of England. He presciently believed the Earth itself to be a giant lodestone with a weathered surface.

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

'Is Katy Perry's Album a Biohazard?'
http://www.livescience.com/41006-katy-perry-prism-album-biohazard.html

'I'm A Climate Scientist - Extended Version - (CLEAN)'
http://youtu.be/H7wdKg8rYL0

'Wonders of the Stoner System'
What Brian Cox really did with licence-fee-payers' money :-P
http://youtu.be/30ruBtLIvJM

'Incredible Painted Dolls'
The best thing about this article, is that they censored the boobs on the Angelina Jolie doll! LMAO. That puts porn filters in perspective :-D
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unusual-art-and-fashion/incredible-painted-dolls/

'Knife Throwing Mama'
Oh, the horrendous things people do for a giggle >:-(
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/uncategorized/knife-throwing-mama/


Some of cheekychickenhead's videos, that i've added to my YT playlist 'comedy 4' - casual, aussie humour, newly-discovered by me. I like :o) Starting with the oldest... and most psychotic, haha :-D

'Survivor Parody'
http://youtu.be/BuNWALRR9r4
{This is what Survivor is, btw, if you don't know it}

'TaDa Look at Me | Olympic Events'
http://youtu.be/EV8ZShRbIe4

'ROFLMAO'
"I've got to get on the floor!"
http://youtu.be/OaRgC4vweqY

'Flagged | I've made it big time!'
http://youtu.be/83oHNnRTngQ

'Keep Your Day Job'
http://youtu.be/IADGIzmwtn0

'Yentl Bra'
Are four boobs better than two? Answers on a postcard... :-P
http://youtu.be/-2QTlD7WFj8

'Gift wrapped'
Best. Freudian Slip. Everrrr. :-D
http://youtu.be/DF2DoyL_98g


Pokemon tribute to Miley Cyrus:
http://goldspandexleggings.tumblr.com/post/73663991978

Are those dogs mocking that baby? Bitches!
http://niebosaur.tumblr.com/post/63653429701/dogs-imitate-crawling-baby
<<<Tapejara receives 3 points on its blogging licence for using such a trite joke>>>


'futurama songs'
Songs from Futurama. Self-explanatory, really :-P
http://youtu.be/aaawT2ylOmc

And this DIY 'cheap and cheerful' not-really-a-valid-medical-test says you are... oh :-/
"u have a demon"
http://islivalive.tumblr.com/post/73475135127

'Unlikely things for Andy Murray to think - Mock the Week - Series 12 Episode 9 - BBC Two'
http://youtu.be/ZQOyjfkhxPA

'Chris Packham's The Smiths references - Springwatch 2009'
Chris Packham is a Leg End. There is nothing more to say :-D
http://youtu.be/FT9hGAlt89o

'Clever Old Dog'
Featuring the dog that plays fetch with himself.
http://llewblog.squarespace.com/journal/2014/1/12/clever-old-dog.html
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