Tuesday, July 31, 2007

"he really was an artist, and his medium was the actual flesh of real animals"

A comment about Robert Bakewell, "the first to implement systematic selective breeding of livestock."

"Robert Bakewell followed on the work of arable pioneers Jethro Tull and Lord "Turnip" Townshend but it is in the field of livestock and especially sheep that Bakewell particularly excelled. "

Sunday, July 29, 2007

"The Items We Carry"

A gallery of stuff people carry around in their pockets.

Friday, July 27, 2007

What does the phrase "Public Water Source" mean?

That's what Pepsi's going to put on Aquafina labels for now to indicate it's tap water. Link.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Quiltsryche: Evil Rock Quilts

"Quiltsrÿche turns traditional quilting on its ear with modern heirloom quilts that look like they were made by your metal-loving, half-blind Grandma. Bold designs, eye-popping color combinations and a touch of evil are the hallmarks of Quiltsrÿche quilts. A one-of-a-kind rock quilt won't match your curtains, but it will have enough character and craftsmanship to captivate you year after headbanging year."


Link.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Dr. Wright of Sim City to be in Smash Bros. Brawl

"Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon"

Guardian:
Their location at the centre of one of the bloodiest conflicts on the planet, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has meant that the mystery apes have been little studied by western scientists. Reaching the region means negotiating the shifting fortunes of warring rebel factions, and the heart of the animals' range is deep in impenetrable forest.

...

"What we have found is this completely new chimpanzee culture,"

Friday, July 13, 2007

Shop at Ikea, and then sleep over?

From July 23 to July 27, the public will be able to spend the night in special rooms set up in the store, with a choice of bridal suite, complete with hanging chandelier and a round bed, or a luxury suite that includes breakfast in bed.

Others can share a bunk in the dormitory, while parents and children can join in the fun in one of Ikea's family rooms.
Link.

The Christian message in the Harry Potter books

Dave Kopel:
J. K. Rowling is an Inkling. That's the well-argued thesis of John Granger's fine book The Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning, Genius, and Popularity of Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter Novels. Granger demonstrates the absurdity of the claim that Harry Potter is anti-Christian. And even if you've never worried about charges brought by misguided fundamentalists, The Hidden Key will substantially augment your understanding of what's really at stake in Harry's adventures.

The Inklings were originally a group of Oxford dons who wrote Christian fiction. The most famous of them are J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series never mention Christianity overtly, and in Tolkien's books, religion itself is absent from the plot. Yet these mythopoeic books aim to "baptize the imagination" of the reader — to teach her the importance of fighting for the right, no matter how powerful the forces of evil may appear.
Read on.

It was nicknamed "Traction Park," "Accident Park," "Danger Park," and "Death Park" by doctors at nearby hospitals

Action Park theme park.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Choose-your-own-adventure stencil art

"The mission stencil story is an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure story that takes place on the sidewalks of the Mission district in San Francisco. It is told in a new medium of storytelling that uses spraypainted stencils connected to each other by arrows. The streetscape is used as sort of an illustration to accompany each piece of text."


Link.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Until the 1950s (or so), pink was for boys, and blue was for girls

Pink was a stronger color and thus best suited for boys; blue was more delicate and dainty and thus best for girls. Link. There's a variety of theories as to the change, including that it was the Nazi's fault.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

China censors undead skeletons from World of Warcraft

Hu Jintao, Chinese president, has called for action to 'purify' the internet of anything that might affect 'national cultural information security' or undermine his attempt to promote a 'harmonious society'.

...

As well as changing undead skeletons into fully fleshed zombies, the upgrade has replaced the bare-boned corpses of dead characters with neat graves.
Read more.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Big Wendy the muscular whippet

Wendy was recently part of a genetics study done in the U.S. on mutation in the myostatin gene in whippets, which resemble greyhounds in appearance. The National Institute of Health study reported that whippets with one single defective copy of the gene have increased muscle mass that can enhance racing performance in the breed, known for speeds up to 60 kilometres an hour.

But whippets with two mutated copies of the gene become "double-muscled," like Wendy. It has been seen before in one human
Read more.

Friday, July 6, 2007

"Chinese villagers eat dinosaur bones"

"Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers."  Link.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Mike Rowe worked as a late-night QVC presenter in the early nineties.

Video of him in action.

Lemony Snicket explains how his parents interested him in reading

One way my parents continued to get me really excited was reading aloud to me. A lot of books are just inherently fascinating on the printed page, but if you start to read them out loud, they became even more interesting. So, for many years when I was a child, at night my parents would read books to me. But then -- and here's the twist -- they'd stop at a really suspenseful part and say, "Well, now it's time for bed." I'd whine, I'd plead, but they wouldn't give in. They would put the book on the nightstand, place a flashlight on top of it, and say, "Remember, there is no reading after the lights go out."

What could I do? They would close the door and go downstairs, and I would click on the light and keep on reading. The next day, the bookmark would be in an entirely different place, and my parents would pick up from there as if nothing had happened, and stop at the next suspenseful moment.
Read more.