thoughtfarm

Posted by Nathaniel at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2007

Mickey Mouse attempts to off himself - And hilarity ensues!

Yes, it really ran in newspapers in October 1930 and yes, Walt Disney himself came up with this story idea, though he didn't execute it. A cool city slicker steals Minnie's heart away and Mickey tries to commit suicide in a number of (cough) gut-busting ways.

Posted by Ben at 06:16 AM | Comments (1)

June 08, 2007

Bloggingheads.tv

Bloggingheads.tv is a very interesting site which hosts a long list of "Diavlogs." The basic premise is two bloggers with expertise in heady subjects talk to each other using webcams, and we get to listen. Topics range from politics and international affairs to science and philosophy, and maybe other stuff too. Here's a diavlog centered around one of my favorite topics in general: consciousness.

Posted by Nathaniel at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2007

Soda Constructor

This is an awesome internet invention that's still alive and kicking after having been around for years. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth a look. Check out the Soda Zoo to see all kinds of strange two-dimensional animals, moving parts and all, or try making your own.

Posted by Nathaniel at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

June 04, 2007

Anagram Generator

I'm running out of juice to find cool stuff online.. I'm like Tinkerbell, you've got to keep clapping or believing in me or something. Here's an Anagram Generator to keep you busy, courtesy of your favorite website, Mocha Cutlet Overflight. This link is from Anu Garg's Wordsmith site. Garg is a man who dreams of a society that will "replace guns with dictionaries." Single tear rolling down my cheek.

Posted by Nathaniel at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

June 03, 2007

Sig Alert

Here's an indispensable site for any drivers or commuters living in the Los Angeles area, San Fransisco Bay area, in San Diego, or in Phoenix, Arizona. They have maps of all the major freeways in those areas with up-to-the-minute data on how fast cars are going all over the freeways. They even have reports on traffic accidents, hazards, even little blurbs like "Traffic Collision - Ambulance Responding." This thing is amazingly useful if you're battling traffic on a daily basis. The power is yours!

Posted by Nathaniel at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2007

Buddha Machine

“The Buddha Machine is a little plastic box that plays music.

Specifically, FM3 constructed nine drones, varying from two seconds to 42 seconds, which repeat endlessly in the listener’s ear until the “track” is switched to the next drone (or the two AA batteries run out).

The machine has its own built-in speaker, in case one would like to fill a room with the drones, but there is also a headphone jack for more personal meditative experiences. There’s a switch on the side that allows for traversal of the tracks, and a DC jack (though an adapter is not included) for those who would like the Buddha Machine experience be truly endless.

In a way, it’s like the cheapest pre-loaded IPod you’ll ever be able to buy.”

- excerpt from review at PopMatters.com

Posted by Nathaniel at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)

Regulating the Monopoly on Death and Violence

A little more craziness than usual in the world today.. JFK airport bombing plot foiled, US Navy ship shelling a small Somali village, officially approved and controlled pre-G8 riot taking place.. just a few that stand out amid the everyday mess on Google News. I guess death and violence are OK as long as they're government-approved.

Protesters attack riot police at G8 summit

[...] "The police were attacked massively from the violent protesters," said Police spokesman Frank Scheulen. "They threw bottles, fire crackers, rocks and Molotov cocktails."

He estimated the number of violence-minded demonstrators at about 2,000. Police put the size of the demonstration at 25,000, while organisers said it was 80,000.

Demonstrator Peter Mueller had tears streaming from bloodshot eyes after the tear gas was released. "As long as the police were in the background it was OK, but as soon as one took a step closer, it went out of control," he said. [More on the story here...]

Four arrested in plot on JFK airport

Four people, including a former member of Guyana's parliament, have been arrested in connection with a plot against ground operations at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, U.S. officials said on Saturday.

Another one of the suspects was a former airport cargo worker at the airport. The four were charged with conspiring to attack the airport by planting explosives to blow up the airport's major jet fuel tanks and pipeline, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The plot was foiled well before it came to fruition and the FBI said there was no threat to the public from the plot. [More on the story here...]

US Navy Ships Fire on Northern Somalia Village

Officials in Somalia say U.S. naval warships have bombarded a remote coastal village where suspected Islamist insurgents had set up a base.

The attack happened Friday night when a Navy destroyer opened fire around the village of Bargal, located in northern Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Officials say the extremists arrived in Bargal earlier this week, then fought with troops from the region.

A U.S. Department of Defense spokesman would not confirm or deny the report. He would only say the United States remains committed to reducing terrorist capabilities when it finds them. [More on the story here...]

Posted by Nathaniel at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2007

Watson gets his Genome Sequence

Co-Discoverer Of DNA Presented With His Own Genome Sequence

James Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer with Francis Crick of the DNA double helix was presented this week with his own genome sequence.

Watson, who is also the father of the Human Genome project, is the first human to be given the data that surrounds his own personal genome sequence.

The project to unravel Watson's DNA took two months and cost 1 million US dollars. It was a joint effort between 454 Life Sciences, a US subsidiary of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche AG, based in Connecticut, and another American organization, the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Human Genome Sequencing Center (HGSC) in Houston, Texas.

Watson, who is 79, and Francis Crick, who died in 2004, won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for their discovery of the DNA double helix.

Cool. Futuristic. Read the rest here.

Posted by Nathaniel at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)

Cat Allergy & Cognitive Dissonance

Today I learned that I have an acute histamine reaction to glycoprotein Fel d 1, which is usually secreted by the sebaceous glands of the Felis catus species, and found most prominently on their skin and in their saliva. In other words, I am allergic to cats, which is sad because I was convinced I was the Cat Whisperer. The symptoms basically mirror those of asthma, and can be mild to severe. One of the possible side effects is sleeplessness, which is why I know all these things, because I couldn't sleep last night after my housemate's girlfriend moved her cat into our house and I started having difficulty breathing and sleeping, two things which are generally considered to be important to human health.

I also picked up a better understanding of the term cognitive dissonance after stumbling upon a review of Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) on the front page of the UCSC website (the author is a social psychologist and presumably a faculty member).

Um.. "booyah."

Posted by Nathaniel at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2007

White Ninja Comics

This one = courtesy of my roommate John.

White Ninja Comics are not for the weak of mind. They are a brilliant satirical commentary on controversial worldly issues.

They can be enjoyed on many levels. Scholars, Philosophers, and the like, who possess the intellect to analyze and break down the comics to their hidden, and often devious, roots, will enjoy White Ninja to its fullest degree. Others, like you and I, however, can still enjoy the comics for their light-hearted surface humour and funny drawings.

Posted by Nathaniel at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

All of TV (dot net)

This site is amazing. They don't just have a whole lot of shows running right now, but old shows that have been taken off the air for years, even decades. Do you remember a time when cartoons were the hand-crafted gems of the industry? This site has them all. Ren and Stimpy, X-Men, Space Ghost, Two Stupid Dogs, even Yogi Bear and that terrible Super Mario Brothers show. They also have old shows like Sliders, ALL the Star Treks, Dragnet, The A-Team, even Eureka's Castle from the old Nickelodeon days. They even have all the latest episodes for any daytime soap freaks out there, Sports, Reality TV, Game Shows.... This thing is unbelievable. I don't know how they're still online, but I want my Ren and Stimpy!

What's even more amazing is that the networks don't seem to mind. Big ones like NBC and ABC allow their shows to be streamed off their sites and haven't sought any action against sites like this. I'm guessing they figure if they can get someone hooked on their shows indirectly, they'll be getting some extra revenue from DVD sales and they don't have to pay a dime for the free advertisement. It's the film industry that's going after sites like youtube since people freely and anonymously uploading their movies or parts thereof is directly cutting into the corporate paycheck.

Posted by Nathaniel at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

Homeless Signs

Mark Daye, a student from OCAD (Ontario College of Art & Design), produced a pretty interesting thesis project over in Toronto. I'll let him speak for himself:

Instead of rebranding a product, or service for my 4th year thesis project I chose to represent a local population that usually gets overlooked. I re-coded official signage and affixed 30 of them to poles in the downtown core with messages pertaining to an obvious but ignored urban sub culture. The goal was not only to catch people off guard by creating signs that acknowledge the homeless population on a seemingly official level, but to get people to think about codes of behaviour, conformity, acceptance and to maybe spare some consideration for the homeless who live mostly ignored in the city, blending into the background just like the signs.

Kudos, Mark! Here are a couple of examples of his work. Check the Homeless Signs entry on the Spacing Wire blog for the full story.

Posted by Nathaniel at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Cats That Look Like Hitler (dot com)

I think the title says it all. Please note that I don't seek out things like this, they just find me.

Posted by Nathaniel at 01:29 PM | Comments (1)

May 24, 2007

Viral Infections

I've been having trouble getting rid of a flu for the last week, so I looked up a few things and found this useful page, which contains a concisely precise list of some herbal dietary supplements useful for combatting viral infections of different kinds. I have taken it upon myself to post a link for the general posterity of our collective.

Posted by Nathaniel at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)