Entertainment stuff from the week 16-22/9/13

Hi, gracious readers


It was 'World Gratitude Day' on the 21st September, and it's 'Bi Visibility/Awareness Day' on the 23rd of September

...is it 'Bi Visibility Day' or 'Bi Awareness Day'? ...that's just typical of them to not be able to make up their minds, isn't it :-P

Here's the global events list if you want to get involved.


In honour of this occasion, i've rummaged through the old Uxbridge English Dictionary, and found some pertinent words. And some rather impertinent ones, besides.

This should be groan inducing :D


Bicycle - an icycle that swings both ways

Biannual - a yearly magazine for bisexual people

 {Incidentally, a diannual is a yearly obituary journal}

  {{Double incidentally, a diannual is what you would be appearing in if a Grammar Nazi caught you using the word - it's a mix of greek and latin!}}

Biceps - tongs that work with both meat and veg

Biceps - interestingly, this also means a fungus that swings both ways

Embrace - a pair of men

 {'Im-brace, you see - a brace is a pair of something, so it's a a pair of 'ims - hims. Ah, never mind...}

Transparent - a mother who used to be a father, or vice versa

Bifacial - a sexual act

 {If you happen to be under 18, you shouldn't have read that one}

Quorn - Queer porn

 {If you happen to be under 18, you shouldn't have consumed that one... but i bet many of you have, haven't you!}

Quench - a Queer wench

 {If you happen to be... ah, sod it...}

Cocksure - a nudist beach

Rearrange - a selection of buttocks

Assay - a rigorous study of bottoms

Binocular - a randy bisexual vampire

Binding - a fairy tale ending where the main character gets rescued by a prince and a princess

 {I can't think of anything more romantic [slushy music plays out] ... }


And the torture shall end there... it's more like an Umbrage English Dictionary.


I must say that i do feel gracious, myself, for all the people who've read my blog - the number of hits is now up to 7000! Today, a blog; tomorrow, the world! Mwahahaha.....


I just noticed that Michael Fish has a twitter feed... and a sense of humour:

"@HurricaneFish" :-D

https://twitter.com/HurricaneFish
http://www.fish4weather.com/

He's very well known, in the UK, for stating, quite emphatically, that despite rumours, there was to be no hurricane, one night in 1987... merely some strong winds, and mostly over Spain.

...and then 'The Great of Storm of 1987' happened!

Oh well, Michael. Never mind... i think they're over it, now.


But congratulations to Mr Timothy Minchin, who is now no longer a mister!

'Dr Tim'
http://youtu.be/bzZmt7H7aMQ

He is a doctor!

The best comments. But now no longer the top comments. Is there no justice left in the world? :-D

TVFILMBUFF: "On behalf of this universary I confer the honorary degree 'Doctor of Letters'... specifically a couple of Gs, an R and an E, an I and an? N... upon Timothy David Minchin"

EthannatMC: "Tim Minchin "confirmed" for 13th Doctor!?"

He's definitely quirky enough. Plus, we'd get some awesome songs in every episode :-D


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

'John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme sketch - 'Lucy's Complex Dilemma' - S3,E1' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/qvyaIhJzlP0

'John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme sketch - 'Ice-Cream Van Painter interview' - S3,E2' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/8LHkN6fmY6A

'10 new bets you will always win (and a link to a secret bet!)' - Richard Wiseman
http://youtu.be/Sph7VkZsryc

'A Capella Science - Bohemian Gravity!'
That's a nice hypothesis you have there. Outstripped by your musicality, though :D
http://youtu.be/2rjbtsX7twc

'Going Down the Rabbit Hole (Live) Whitney Avalon & Jonathan Hurley'
http://youtu.be/Tc-BEc7SMXk

'Wanna see a talking egg?'
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/wanna-see-a-talking-egg/

'Shed Science: Starfish (@McFlyMusic 'Star Girl' parody)'
Is it me, or does she look pretty damn good as Doctor Who? :) P.S. you took a pun around the word "anus" and... well, removed its punniness. But i suppose that can be overlooked. Grrrow, Doctor Sally :)
http://youtu.be/KN5C3BIaEAI

'"Random Acts Of Somethingness" Tales Of Mere Existence'
http://youtu.be/REUqBWDh1zU

'Giving'
"This Thai ad will make you cry"
Damn right it will! Though i'm not sure how well it advertises telephony... but it does a great job of advertising universal healthcare.
http://www.illegaladvertising.com/post/61398801219/giving

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

Word Of The Week: bromidic -- stale, trite, or commonplace through overuse

Expression Of The Week: "slam nom" -- to eat a large quantity of food (usually unhealthy food) rapidly due to extreme hunger

Etymology Of The Week: orange -- from sanskrit as 'naranga'; imported through Venice where the Italians mysteriously lost the initial 'n' so it became 'arancia', then through French into English 'orange'. The colour is named after the fruit, which is why the terms 'red kite' 'robin redbreast' 'red squirrel' 'red deer' and 'redheaded people' exist (they are all orange but the word simply wasn't used for the colour, at the time of naming)

Quote Of The Week: "Let it alone. Let’s to billiards. Come, Charmian." - Cleopatra (the character, in Shakespeare's 'Antony And Cleopatra')

Fact Of The Week: The speed a baby crawls across a floor is about 1.8 kmh - the same speed as one of our nearest stars, Alpha Centauri B wobbles to and fro, due to the orbital tug of its planet, Alpha Centauri B b?

Headline Of The Week: 'St Kilda's Clinton Jones apologises for dwarf burning incident'

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

'22 Chinese Signs That Got Seriously Lost In Translation'
http://www.buzzfeed.com/nataliemorin/chinese-signs-that-got-seriously-lost-in-tranlsation?

The Japanese, however, are much more sensible.

'Radishes That Orgasm When You Touch Them'
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82961435/

...ah. My mistake.

'Stunning Landscape Portraits Made From Fresh Food'
OMFSM! ...OM-NOM-NOM-NOM :D
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/61952831285/stunning-landscape-portraits-made-from-fresh

'Super Mario Bros. Parkour'
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/incredible-feats/super-mario-bros-parkour/

'These Dresses Are Not Made For Wearing'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/61952872888/these-dresses-are-not-made-for-wearing-susie

Anxiety graffiti:
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/61538331435

Salvador Dali coffee:
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/61334825122

'Epic Construction FAILS'
I'm pretty sure the wonky door one's deliberate. Getting it right would be easier than making it wonky like that!
http://keep0smiling.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/epic-construction-fails.html

'The illusory pencil drawings of Ramón Bruin'
Oh my - these are great :-)
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/61952994295/the-illusory-pencil-drawings-of-ramon-bruin-you

Entertainment stuff from the week 9-15/9/13

Hi voters,

This Thursday will be the 120th anniversary of New Zealand's becoming the first self-governing country to give women a vote in a national election. So i suppose now's an opportunity to rub ourselves on the back for being so much less sexist than our great-grandparents were. But we should also appreciate that there are still changes to be made to the way we live, and the beliefs we hold about what makes a man a man, a woman a woman, and an other a whatever-they-might-be.

Also, this Friday will be the 380th anniversary of Galileo's 'inquisition' by superstitionists, merely for asserting a fact. That's a reminder that even if silly beliefs aren't dangerous to people who possess them, they can at least be dangerous to those who have the gall to be honest in front of such people.


More topically - the Australian Federal Election 2013 is over!

...and the Aussie electorate have opted for the charismatic creepy bigot, instead of the boring-but-less-bigoted megalomaniac (Abbott over Rudd)

Didn't anyone tell them to STOP THE VOTES? Maybe i misheard... :-P

'The Hamster Decides - Episode 5'
http://youtu.be/iHdOBjo4azI

You can find more of The Chaser's stuff on my YouTube playlist, here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7SsI_Fc8OZNWgrRwNsscUaHi0MJgHfjL

Advert: You can now buy boxes of science from Myles Power!

'FWS - Ferrofluid Home Experiment Kits'
http://youtu.be/dklVN_5nNiU

Just don't spill them!

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

'Caro Emerald - One Day (Radio Edit)'
http://youtu.be/haUTUZW6S-Q

'Apollo Robbins: The art of misdirection'
http://youtu.be/GZGY0wPAnus

'Funny Today Tonight credits - Hamster Decides (Chaser)'
"The complete and unedited credit sequence that Today Tonight ran on the night of the Labor leadership spill"
http://youtu.be/LelOX0bKCWA

'How would you react?'
The comments are even funnier than the video. And i agree that it's faked - too may camera angles!
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/how-would-you-react/

'The Importance of Punctuation!'
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/the-importance-of-punctuation/
This one does appear to be verified:
https://twitter.com/ShoebridgeMLC/status/243267222930341889/photo/1

'Can anyone explain this?'
Yes. The motion of the aeroplane (a vertical, backward loop) is causing a net force through the 'bottom' of the plane, simulating a gravitational pull. If the pilot flattened their course out, in this orientation, water would pool in the 'top' of the cockpit, as you'd expect.
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/can-anyone-explain-this-2/

Wow - GET HER!!!

'Doll-Faced Bodybuilder'
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/body-oddity/doll-faced-bodybuilder/
So femme, and yet so muscular! 'You go, girl' :)
http://www.girlswithmuscle.com/pictures/Julia+Vins

'How guitar players sometimes see the drummer'
Haha - fantastic!
http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1ljyck/how_guitar_players_sometimes_see_the_drummer/

'13 Science Myths You Probably Believe'
I didn't, actually... but then, you'd expect that of a science blogger, wouldn't you :o)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/13-science-myths-you-probably-believe

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

Quote Of The Australian Federal Election 2013: "No-one, however smart, however well educated, however experienced, is the suppository of all wisdom" - Tony Abbott

Poll Of The Australian Federal Election 2013: "Channel 7 Question Of The Day: "Who is your preferred Prime Minister: Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott?" Answer: "YES: 56%; NO: 44%"."

Pithy Abbreviation Of The Federal Australian Election 2013: "It is what others have called 'The. Audacity. Of. Hope'; or put more simply: 'Our. Simple. Audacious. Belief. That. We. Can. Make. Our. Community. And. Our. Country. And. World. A. Better. Place. For. All. Not. Just. For. Some. For. All. Not. Just. For. Some'." - Kevin Rudd

Accidentally Truthful Journalist Quote Of The Australian Federal Election 2013: "...64.8% there, for Paul Fletcher. One of the safest Liberal cunt seats in the, err..." - Antony Green

Word Of The Week: truculent - quick to argeu or fight; aggressively defiant

Headline Of The Week: 'Canberra Man Lodges Fork In Penis'

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

'A Supercell Thunderstorm Over Texas'
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130618.html

What would you see near a black hole?

'Orbiting a Black Hole'
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130701.html

'Circling a Black Hole at its Photon Sphere'
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130702.html

'Playing with Fire'
Rob Prideaux is a San Francisco photographer who couldn't find interesting pictures of fire anywhere on the net... so he made his own. And didn't he do well!
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unusual-art-and-fashion/playing-with-fire/

'How can a river be underwater?'
More fantastic photography - of a halocline in a lake in Mexico:
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60638768417/an-underwater-river-in-yucatan-mexico

'12-Course Meal in a Can'
Looks disgusting. Probably is. You'd have to be quite daring to try it...
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/weird-foods/12-course-meal-in-a-can/

'Do You Remember the First Time You Tasted A Lemon? These Kids Will!'
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/body-oddity/pucker-up/

'Man Builds Mountain Atop Apartment. Shocker! Neighbors weren’t happy'
Eccentric millionaire doctor Zhang Biqing paid for 6 years of construction top of the 26-storey high-rise he lives in. Unfortunately, he didn't get enough permits, which means it's probably all coming down again, pretty soon ...I mean the mini-mountain - not the high-rise building!
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/astonishing-architecture/man-builds-private-mountain-on-top-of-his-apartment-building/

'Unbelievable Skin Writing'
This is wonderful - making a skin condition beautiful :)
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/61295819320/unbelievable-skin-writing-via-ripleys-ariana

A beach cartoon:
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/56923353198/playa-cerrada

A horse wearing a people costume:
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/56923795071/caballo-con-disfraz-de-personas

A robot hexapod. Rather interesting. But what does one do with such a contraption, may i ask?
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/59892673849/phantomx-un-robot-hexapodo

'Pixels' - a short animated film
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/60954464046/pixels

How times change!
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/61240282054

'Lesbian Mountain' - a parody of Brokeback Mountain
http://youtu.be/DAQ8J7vDy4E

'Porn 3D glasses' via Illegal Advertising
Ha - people already sing along when they're listening to their iPods - is it really a good idea for people to be shagging thin air because they're unaware others are watching? :-D
http://www.illegaladvertising.com/post/60917268398/porn-3d-glasses

'Epic Guinness commercial' via Illegal Advertising
http://www.illegaladvertising.com/post/60772593515/epic-guinness-commercial
.

Entertainment stuff from the fortnight 26/8 - 8/9/13

Hi, Bad Phreakozoids


I have finally finished reading Bad Pharma!

In fact, i've had so much un-otherwise-usable time recently, that i've read Freakonomics (2006, paperback edition), too!


Both books were 'a great read', as nose-scrapers currently say.

Obviously, Bad Pharma is far more topical, and far more useful, informative, important, and empowering to the reader and society in general. But that's it's nature.

As Levitt/Dubner frequently say in Freakonomics - Economics is merely about describing the way things are - whereas Ben Goldacre explains exactly how Medicinal Science works; how it has been allowed to go wrong, by people who should know better; who and what have made it go so wrong, by their own hands; and exactly how to fix it. Which includes suggestions for even a lay reader.

Bad Pharma is definitely a 'must-read', as the nose-scrapers also say.

So thank you very much to the wonderful lady who gave me Freakonomics... and also to whichever relative it was that i asked to receive Bad Pharma from (as a seasonal present, you see).


More of a downer, though... the UK government recently decided that the appropriate response to illness is to massacre anyone with the disease, and anyone who might catch it from them.

But that's OK... because they're only badgers! Genocide is fine when it's a different species, apparently, even though they can feel just as much pain as we; are just as able to panic and anticipate pain; and their deaths do nothing to mitigate the proliferation of disease between the cows themselves, as facilitated by farmers moving them around all the time!
{Live animal export/import is necessitated by the historic inbreeding that farmers have employed to genetically modify capitalistically favourable faetures into their livestock e.g. bigger legs, swollen boobs}

The only major cause for culling instead of vaccination is that the farmers find it much cheaper to cull than to vaccinate.

Of course, you'd have to be some kind of spineless, jelly-brained conservative politician to just go along with what the industry says, despite the evidence or lack thereof... oh... yes, i see where the UK's gone wrong, now.

Then this tapejara's rooting for Team Badger!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=664024916949962&set=a.120778494607943.16772.113646935321099&type=1
http://teambadger.org/index.html

'Save The Badger Badger Badger!'
http://youtu.be/EllYgcWmcAY

In case you think my sources are biased, here's the BBC's More or less episode:

'What price the life of a badger?' 30 Aug 2013
http://castroller.com/podcasts/MoreOrLess/3715417?start=undefined

...and to go full circle, the grandmaster of statistics himself - Ben Goldacre:

'Badger badger badger badger CULL badger badger badger TRIAL'
"Squabbles between farmers and animal rights’ protesters bore me senseless..."
http://www.badscience.net/2013/06/badger-badger-badger-badger-cull-badger-badger-badger-trial/


And then there's the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics which, it should come as no surprise to you, is facing a few of its own troubles, due to it being in contemporary Russia...

'The Sochi Winter Olympics Of Homophobia'
"Proudly sponsored by Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Procter and Gamble, General Electric, Panasonic, Dow, Samsung, Omega, Atos, and Visa."
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60099224965/the-sochi-winter-olympics-of-homophobia-proudly


On to the fun stuff...


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

'The Cold Caller Sketch - The Pod Delusion' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/bnLMzc_Zbtc

What would life be like if we lived in only two spatial dimensions? Really weird!
'Dimensions - Sixty Symbols'
http://youtu.be/f3FGMJ6TNF0

'Is This Video Worthwhile?'
http://youtu.be/AfdcnuSZI78

'The Hamster Decides - Episode 3'
http://youtu.be/nGJi2v56ajs

'The Hamster Decides - Episode 4'
http://youtu.be/Jij0Du-iAio

'Walking shark discovered in Indonesia'
OMFSM - look at it go!
http://youtu.be/QAopGJamyig

'The Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love Acoustic'
http://youtu.be/g9kQwJF3svg

'LOST ISLAND : Le Repérage [Hors-Série]'
http://youtu.be/r0dBPI4etvI

'Caro Emerald - I Belong To You (Acoustic)'
http://youtu.be/81h1m6wLxt0

Caro Emerald - Back It Up (live)
http://youtu.be/vPUv_lRYwTY

Caro Emerald - I Belong To You (live)
http://youtu.be/H6bwg2nxTOE

Caro Emerald - The Wonderful In You (live)
http://youtu.be/aOKDDLeh5wg

You can download all six of Caro's acoustic session songs in a free package, from here:
'The Shocking Miss Emerald FREE Acoustic EP'
http://www.caroemerald.com/ep/

'How to Melt Cars and BBQ Pigeons - Sixty Symbols'
http://youtu.be/JZ1Hgzi2ElQ

'The Best of Dusty Smith' (volume one)
Very sweary. Great fun. (Most of his videos rib religion... just so you know)
http://youtu.be/owCXgbghoL0

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

Word Of The Week: pulchritude -- beauty. Doesn't sound right, does it!

Headline Of The Week: 'JD Wetherspoon to open first motorway pub on M40'

{Don't drink and drive! ...just leave your pint on the dashboard}

Quote Of The Week: "Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody's power and is not easy." - Aristotle

Dumb Question Of The Week: "If Hitler was so oppressive, why did he let everyone draw on the Berlin Wall?"

Fact Of The Week: The British invented the goosestep. The practice dates back to training sessions in 1806. The Nazis didn't invent their salute either - it's a variant of the Bellamy salute, which schoolchildren in the USA were made to do before the Nazis made European schoolchildren do it.

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

'The man with the magic beard'
Oh yes! This is a wonderful video :D
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/the-man-with-the-magic-beard/

'Shake your head from side to side...'
Hehe - a great illusion. If you're struggling to work out what the image is, the answer's further down the page...
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60637884639/shake-your-head-from-side-to-side-hehe-a

'Tangerine Dream'
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/tangerine-dream/

'Look at this and then blink...'
{Blink repeatedly} I don't even have to blink to see this effect... is there something wrong with me?!?
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60638170098/look-at-this-and-then-blink-blink-repeatedly

'Handy illusion'
Very well done :)
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/handy-illusion/

'Dog-man'
Ah - Dogman - the superhero who takes a break to shit at the side of the road? :P
http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/dog-man/

'Amazing new illusion'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60638320293/amazing-new-illusion-watch-the-whole-thing-and

A selection of spiralling directive illusions:

http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/60470814411

http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/60199142450

http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/59426694422

Two faces or one?
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/56194659591

A journey around a Penrose Triangle:
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/56100062340/triangulo-de-penrose

Miniature magic, by Matthew Albanese:
http://micro.cibermitanios.com.ar/post/57905681099/miaturas-magicas-por-matthew-albanese

'An underwater river, in Yucatan, Mexico'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60638768417/an-underwater-river-in-yucatan-mexico


'13 year old kid plays Eruption by Van Halen'
http://youtu.be/Y6OOFbrzdP8

And here he is, a few years later...

'Van Halen - I'm the One cover'
http://youtu.be/tnn-3u2uJjU

'The Darkness - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us COVER!!!'
http://youtu.be/JTPQGi0icPo


'Chickens by Hot Leg recorded at The Fleece in Bristol 02/03/09'
Haha - nothing gets more rock 'n' roll than this. Especially the falsetto. Nothing's more rock 'n' roll than falsetto. Justin Hawkins, you rock!
http://youtu.be/oX-1p3VM3h4

'Kissing in the Wind by Hot Leg'
I'd never heard Kissing 'live', before :)
http://youtu.be/QRobLCSRfVU

I've recently added quite a lot to my 'Justin Hawkins and The Darkness' playlist. Have a look, if you like...

'Justin Hawkins and The Darkness - Tapejara Channel'
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL557F647C43D7F21E

Having filled that one up, there'll have to be a second one for the new album... and yes, there is going to be one :-D
http://www.justinhawkinsrocks.co.uk/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1375992868&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&


'How German Sounds Compared To Other Languages'
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=563535147036354

Wow - just look at the way Nadal and Janowicz were playing in their match in Montreal!
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing/*/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/8/9/Montreal-2013-Thursday-Highlights.aspx

Wahahey, Gasquet! He must have been taking lessons from his countryman - Fabrice Santoro - the magician :D
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing/*/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/8/9/Montreal-2013-Friday-Hot-Shot-Gasquet.aspx

Zouch! That's not the way to play a ball, Novak!
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing/*/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/8/11/Montreal-2013-Saturday-Hot-Shot-Djokovic-Cops-It.aspx

This is how you play a ball... in Squash :D
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing/*/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/8/15/Cincinnati-2013-Thursday-Hot-Shot-Dimitrov.aspx

...this is how you play a dropshot...
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing/*/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/8/18/Cincinnati-2013-Final-Hot-Shot-Nadal.aspx

...and this is how you play a backhand to win a set!
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing/*/Tennis/Media/Videos/Uploaded/2013/8/16/Cincinnati-2013-Friday-Hot-Shot-Federer.aspx


The answer to what's in the illusion: it's pikachu!

And i shall leave you with a tidied up, rebalanced live performance of Hot Leg's unreleased song 'Into My Arms':

Hot Leg - Into My Arms (Live)
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/60635682168/the-unreleased-track-into-my-arms-that-has-been.
.

Entertainment stuff from the period 22/7 - 25/8/13

Hello there, sexy scientists ;-)


Well, i wasn't expecting that! I know the Naked Scientists like to do their science with a pinch of humour, but i've never see them do something like this before!

To Hannah Critchlow (the narrator) -- I like it :o)

'Ravishing Rubber'
http://youtu.be/itKKMQ60rjQ

'Whimsical Wood'
http://youtu.be/1sFqpZsGXrw

Hannah's given me hardwood :o)

The whole series is here:

Material Chef - The Naked Scientists
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65IchQPZKwlHzBNuDoplhL7bGPow-f8I


I don't believe it! Sally Le Page has gone all sexy, too! ...although in a slightly different way...

'Shed Science: HOW TO BE SEXY! (using supernormal stimuli)'

http://youtu.be/P1Y9tG48Vos

The old man in grayscale, at the end, was Michael Flanders, btw - of the comedy satirical duo Flanders & Swann - and the song was called 'The Armadillo' (they were famous for their animal songs). If you're wondering why he's moving weirdly, it's because he caught polio while serving in WWII, so he was paralysed from the waste down, and therefore singing from his chest.

What!? Has the whole of science turned into a pornorama., or something?

'Japanese quail whips up a sperm meringue'

http://youtu.be/QdUwdcaXC0c

Oh, to be a quail... that lady must have wonderfully delicate hands :-D

'The Curious Sex Lives Of Animals | TNTM Throwback Thursday'

http://youtu.be/vQlbvg_MvXg

Oh to be a lady tapir! Goodness me! :-o


And just in case you didn't see this, a couple of months ago...

'The tiny insect with the massive sperm'
"THE male produces a single sperm, wraps it in a package, and sticks it on the female's abdomen. It's then up to her to transfer this lone giant sperm into her genital tract. Most insects abandoned this primitive mating system millions of years ago, but it turns out the ground louse, Zorotypus impolitus, has stuck with it... Each [spermatophore] was just 0.1 millimetres across, but the solitary sperm it held was about 3 millimetres long, uncoiled – roughly the same length as the female."
""The sperm is so large, it can fill the space in the female's [genital tract]," [Romano Dallai of the University of Siena in Italy] says. That plugs it up, ensuring no other male can mate with her."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829195.600-the-tiny-insect-with-the-massive-sperm.html#.UhiqPD8ywSk

Fascinating, eh!


The Chaser are back!

And so is Hammy the Hamster! This time they're doing their election specials, for everything you might need to know about the Australian Federal Election 2013 :-D

'The Hamster Decides - Episode 1'
{Back back, The Hamster is back :D}
http://youtu.be/K3EUgQw4CMA

'The Hamster Decides - Episode 2'
http://youtu.be/8viqaGF6GCs


'Tony Abbott - Captain Inappropriate'
http://youtu.be/sepSw7ec74M

'Tony Abbott knows his team'
http://youtu.be/hcybdHA3HMc

'Tony Abbott and gay marriage satire'
http://youtu.be/NJOEc8wVuLE

G'd'on'ya Tone. He's got my vote :-D


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

'IGUDESMAN & JOO: Gravity - from AND NOW MOZART'
Haha - this is great - i want to learn the violin. No! I want to learn that violin!
http://youtu.be/Ov_qBR79e08

'IGUDESMAN & JOO: Give It Up For Mo - from AND NOW MOZART'
A new version of their cover of that famous classic. Utterly wonderful :D
http://youtu.be/RS1-lxD9Cbs

'Viva La Evidence'
Yeah, great song. Great lyrics :-)
http://youtu.be/QUW0Q8tXVUc

'10 Amazing Bets You Will Always Win'
Another dose of merryment from Richard Wiseman
http://youtu.be/rYAsst2TxPk

'The final Horrible Histories song'
Noooooo - HH is over! Well, it was horrible... :-P
http://youtu.be/FQEmMVx7dXs

'An Appeal to Creationists....'
Ah, potholer - your subject matter is so amusing :-D
http://youtu.be/CiK38pOo5Tc

'Golden Crocoduck 2013 nominee -- Louis Giglio'
"I don't want to go too crazy here..." THAT'S CRAZY ENOUGH FOR ME :D :D :D
http://youtu.be/rOr2rEUP5b4

'Why do people laugh at creationists? (part 39)'
The much-demanded WDPLAC series returns, to celebrate Thunderf00t's 50,000,000th video view. The subject? Shooting marsupials from a volcano. Oh yeah :-D
http://youtu.be/4mjmGbfyPPU

'Butterflight'
A butterfly flying in slow-motion
http://youtu.be/MSgPPFwah0o

'Meanwhile, at the NSA'
"What's bugging you?" "It's either the NSA, or GCHQ..."
http://youtu.be/BU9WmcAa5So

'The chemical reaction from Hell! (Potassium and conc. sulfuric acid)'
http://youtu.be/52YP4CLNVHs

'Material magic: Objects with hidden talents'
http://youtu.be/vaVubm7OPxQ

'Bad Teeth's Guide To: Grooming Hacks'
"Period arrived suddenly and you haven't got any tampons? Carefully thread some cotton through a wotsit, and you'll be sorted for the rest of the day" :-D
http://youtu.be/PugYXxGsTEQ

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

Word Of The Week: syzygy -- occlusion involving more than one cosmological object e.g. a planet transiting another planet, while both transiting their star

Nonsensical Politicians' Quote Of The Week: "This will keep happening, unless it stops; and it won't stop until it stops" - Clive Morrison

Headline Of The Week: 'Murderer Ruined My Life'

Expression Of The Week: "in flagrante delicto" -- latin for "in blazing offence" meaning the same as 'caught red-handed' i.e. caught while committing an act

Cocktail Of The Week: Pink Squirrel -- 3 parts creme de noyaux, 3 parts white creme de cacao, 2 parts heavy cream

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

'Upside-Down Ads Reveal The Subtlety Of Depression'
I'm no sure these are very subtle, nor depressive, but they are exceedingly clever!
http://adventuresinnerdiness.tumblr.com/post/56250455686/jonnovstheinternet-upside-down-ads-reveal-the

'Cooking with thermite'
Well, this looks fun!
http://youtu.be/UPoJFL-l9jw

'Russian Tampax Commercial'
http://youtu.be/wGZpWOMGJCM

Seven years of blood, LOL. Women are harrrrrrrd :D
http://candysmom.tumblr.com/post/56052700233

Something drove me to enjoy Professor Vivian Alice again. So here he is:
'Prof. Alice on gender'
Isn't Kryten different without his face on! Lady humans just don't know they're born...
http://youtu.be/IvH5w_LwNlQ

'British Whale - England'
This is a song Justin Hawkins wrote as an Association Football World Cup anthem. For some reason, it didn't get picked to be official?!?
http://youtu.be/zdZBTippmp4



Feedback updates:

LAST month we reported on Hugh Lawton's screenshot showing that his download of the MacKeeper programme had reached "4,100% complete" before he got bored with watching it (25 May)
Marc Smith-Evans writes: "I can do better. Hugh hasn't reached half way, but then again, how many per cent would be half way?"
Marc sends us a screenshot of MacKeeper installing on his computer. The screen announces: "Downloading: 9,800% complete."
22 June
....
Following this issue, an interesting occurrence happened to me, which facilitated my first issue to Feedback. I haven't heard back, but i hear their piling system is getting quite slow, these days. Apparently, the Feedback staff spend most of their time giggling and spilling their coffee. But then, as a recent Ig Nobel prizewinner found, that's hardly a surprise. My submission:

Hello, Feedback
After reading about MacKeeper software's ability to break mathematics, or at least mathematics as we know it (22 June), my copy of windows media player seemed to break time. I notice, however, that its ability to play 136% of the way through a song is nowhere near Marc Smith-Evans' achievement!
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/54247839833/time-has-been-broken-and-by-windows-media-player

READER Martin Couchman bought a new computer hard drive from Amazon in November last year. He sends a photo of the box it arrived in, showing a solid-looking brown cardboard box with a big red label on it saying "Multi item set. Do not open." Martin is now "looking for ways of making use of the contents of the box. Some sort of wireless communication has been suggested to me, but I don't think that'll help."
22 June

IDLY studying a packet of Sainsbury's grissini breadsticks, Chris McManus noted with approval that they were "Torinesi grissini", so presumably from Turin. But the small print on the back says "Produced in Italy (incl. Vatican City)".
"Doesn't that suddenly transform both the Vatican and these humble breadsticks?" Chris observes. "Who would have thought that bakers toil at the back of St Peter's, hand-rolling grissini?" Then: "Are these, perhaps, Holy Grissini?"
Sainsbury's uses the slogan "Taste the Difference". Surely, Chris, we should be able to tell whether the grissini are holy.
29 June


Surely some mistake? A press release from the University of Alberta announces: "U Alberta teams with citizen researchers 370 light years from Earth"
29 June
{I think they mean "Shurely shome mishtake - Ed". The UoA HR department sounds tired and confused, to me :D }

SMARTPHONES are wonderful things. Rowland Coles shortens people's names and uses surname initials when he stores a number on his, adding "m" for mobile and "h" for home number. Stupid phones also allow that – but only a smart one announces the caller's shortened name in an authoritative voice that reminds him of a Pathé newsreel film.
One friend with a second mobile number, tagged "Chris 2m", gets announced as "Chris Two Metres", and the name has stuck in the outside world. Keith Wells's entry, "KW home", comes booming out as "Kilowatt Home". Have any other readers encountered hardware that tries this hard to understand?
29 June

Georgina Seaman sends us a photo, taken on a road near Newbury in the English countryside, of a sign that says: "Access to Wasing's secret walled garden 350 yards"
6 July

SPURRED on by Feedback's reference to announcements by disembodied voices on London's Underground (8 June), Jonathan Singer tells us of one he heard at the city's Victoria main-line station:
"Customers," the voice began ("we were once called 'passengers'," Jonathan laments) "are warned that unofficial pickpockets are operating on the station."
"Does this mean there's a course they can take to legitimise the profession?" Jonathan wonders.
6 July
{Thunderwood College is working on it :-P (Thunderwood might be a spoof, but there are plenty of fake universities that exist to give false legitimacy to... well, criminals) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3369567.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unaccredited_institutions_of_higher_education}

CONGRATULATIONS to Ben Buckton for achieving a truly stupendous performance while training for the recent London Revolution cycle ride. His son Sam sends a screen-shot from a smartphone app that records Ben cycling 2.4 kilometres at 882.3 kilometres per hour. Feedback is wondering whether the app would work for buses. Sam is more concerned that the device will be "considered as illegal as performance-enhancing drugs".
6 July
{I wonder... Earth's velocity around the sun is many thousands of kilometres per hour, so maybe Sam's app knows something about spacetime that we don't. A calculable velocity relative to the universe's centre is unknown - perhaps Sam's smartphone is smarter than we appreciate!}

Bob Seymour sends us a picture of a notice on a hydrofoil sailing between Sorrento and Capri. The notice details the "Assistant Procedures for persons of reduced mobility" travelling on the boat. It assures passengers that "the persons with reduced mobility will be received by personnel designed by the master".
6 July
{Brushing theism brusquely to one side; i'm worried that maybe this is a Doctor Who reference, and in fact disabled passengers will be met by a Dalek horde, set on bringing about the end times for humanity... oh, and we've come full circle to theism again. Maybe i should brush more brusquely, next time :P }


Alex Allan sends us a photo of a sign in Western Australia. It reads: "Cottesloe Main Beach. WARNING. Water." Alex feels this "seems somewhat overprotective"
13 July
{It's out there. It's out there somewhere. I know it is. Watching us... waiting... Ready to creep up on us... and make our feet wet! Aaaaaargh......}

THE people who produced the advert for "The Great Courses" that Paul Barker spotted in the Economist magazine would do well to take a course in arithmetic themselves. "Save up to $385," the ad proclaims. A DVD set of 32 lectures on great orchestral works originally cost $519.95 and is now $134.95. "Truly a great deal," says Paul. But a CD set of the same lectures that was originally $359.95 is now on offer at $994.95.
The "saving" of minus $635 is indeed "up to" $385. But is this really what was meant?
13 July
{It's definitely what they meant. It's a business conspiracy -- they've been using the term "up to" all this time so that they can abuse us with a negative discount, like this one! Nah, but seriously, i have noticed thetrainline.com posters that advertise that you 'can save more than 26% on tickets'. Can save. Can. Might not. But can. So your saving could be in the range of: less than 26%, to more than 26%. In fact, it could be anything. Clever work, guys :D}

Should this scandal be reported?" frets Mike Byrne. He refers to the blue plastic bin he photographed outside a kindergarten in Limerick, Ireland, labelled "Infant Recycling"
20 July

At his place of work, Stephen Reynolds found a sign informing him: "The toilet is temporally out of order."
Stephen tells us that he and his colleagues spent a long time worrying about what the implications of this might be.
20 July
{A long time? How could they tell? Presumably, they ruminated from outside the toilets...}

The pack of Basics Toilet Rolls that Richard Jowitt bought from Sainsbury's supermarket bore the inscription: "For Everyday Use". Richard wonders if he should buy other toilet tissue for use on special occasions.
27 July

OUR colleague Jeff Hecht forwards "a clever bit of foolishness making its way round the internet". It is an email, supposedly from the US National Security Agency, offering to come to the rescue of those whose hard drive has crashed or whose PC has been stolen.

"Hard drive crash?" the email asks. "PC stolen? No problem! Just call the NSA for a back-up of all your files. Just call 1-Got-Your-Stuff...

"Offer void where prohibited by law, but we don't really care about that part."

3 Aug

AFTER all the spurious claims reported by Feedback, says Ian Cutter, he finds it is refreshing to read what appears on a packet of Strepsil lozenges.

Ian sends us a scan of a packet of orange-flavoured Strepsils purchased in Mentone, Victoria, Australia. At the top it states: "Strepsil lozenges contain an effective combination of two antibacterial agents to help kill the bacteria which can cause sore throats and mouth infections." Lower down, the packet tells us: "The efficacy of an antibacterial agent in lozenges in reducing the severity or duration of throat infections has not been clinically established."

"Now that is real truth in advertising," says Ian.

3 Aug

{Our product's really wonderful. P.S. We're lying!}

Whenever Jeremy Hodge drives round the M25 motorway that encircles London, his Mercedes satnav lets him know if there is traffic congestion "between Reigate and cubic metres".

"I think it means the M3 motorway," he says.

3 Aug

ON THE UK government's public petitions website at bit.ly/petitionpage, Tom Rogers found a page in the "Rejected Petitions" category that made him smile.

The rejected petition asked the responsible government department – in this case the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons – to "Ban anyone adding a new petition until they have read all the existing ones to check whether or not someone has already posted one on the subject".

Dave Goodwin, the author of this petition, claims to have read through the current list of petitions and found that "there are a great many topics that are repeated, some as many as 8 times – if someone is too lazy to check whether or not their pet topic has already been posted they should be declared too stupid to post their own one..."

Below this complaint, Her Majesty's government offers the following explanation for why Goodwin's petition is in the Rejected section: "There is already an e-petition about this issue."

This must be one of those rare cases in which the government shows it has a sense of humour.

10 Aug

FRIENDS in a medical family in North London tell us how they worried about their cat getting too fat. They tried cutting back on its food, but the cat just kept on getting fatter. What could explain this?

The local pet shop suggested an experiment and sold the family a brightly coloured new collar with the inscribed message: "If you are feeding this cat please phone this telephone number".

The number of people who phoned ran into double digits – enough to make a very fat cat indeed.

10 Aug

IN THE window of a Boots Opticians shop photographed by Andrew Doble in the town of Wokingham in the UK, there is a poster bearing, in very large letters, the words "Eye tests available today*".

But note that asterisk. Tucked away in the bottom corner of the poster, in letters so small they are almost invisible, are the words: "*subject to availability".

10 Aug

READER James Parsons's email from "those nice people at npower" told him: "We're really sorry that you're leaving us. We've now confirmed that your gas will transfer to your new supplier on 1st January 10000 so we'll carry on supplying you until then."

"You can't accuse them of not giving me plenty of notice," James comments.

17 Aug

BEING "somewhat deaf", Ted Webber had the subtitles on for the televised keynote speech at a meeting of the National Press Club of Australia. During her discourse, Suzanne Cory, president of the Australian Academy of Science, referred to Professor Brian Smith as an "Australian Nobel laureate". The subtitles rendered this as "noble lawyer rat".

17 Aug

And that's it for this... month... folks. Hopefully, i'll be able to get back to some form of regularity, in future weeks. [crosses wings] :o)