April 30, 2013
Whitby Goth Weekend
"Goths, romantics and macabre fans travelled over the moors to Whitby, which has become their spiritual home."
Meals on wheels
Toronto makes the top five in North America for street food.
April 29, 2013
Mars War Logs - Overview Trailer
If only the developer's accent featured in the game. Love me some French sf.
Vampire: The MMORPG
"Massively reports CCP's development team for World of Darkness is now 70 strong, and they have spent some time sharpening up the game's server infrastructure, art tools, social options and 'vampire powers.'"
Batman backpack
"I guess since the Dark Knight Rises motorcycle suit pretty much congeals itself to the body of whomever puts it on with nary a pocket to spare, UD Replicas figured they better come out with some sort of supplemental storage device."
Google Glass review
"This has changed my life. I will never live a day without it on."
April 28, 2013
Hide and seek
"HMS Ambush, the Royal Navy's newest nuclear attack submarine, is one of the most sophisticated and powerful vessels of her type ever built."
...
The giant Astute-class sub, which was launched today, is so hi-tech she doesn't even need a periscope.
A shade of grey
"Eigengrau (German: 'intrinsic gray'), also called Eigenlicht ('intrinsic light'), dark light, or brain gray, is the color seen by the eye in perfect darkness. Even in the absence of light, some action potentials are still sent along the optic nerve, causing the sensation of a uniform dark gray color."
April 27, 2013
Academic Choir of Petrozavodsk State University - Flashmob @ National Art Museum, Barcelona
"While having a great trip through Barcelona, we visited the National Art Museum. The acoustics sound nice, let's try it making a flashmob! Rachmaninov."
Power, Sex and Revolution
"Thomas Mann, in 1933, famously pleaded against making anachronistic judgements about Wagner's nationalism, and that's fair enough. But there is no getting around the fact that, for much of the German left in the 1840s, the struggle for what they called a 'purely human' future, free of the alienation imposed by capitalist society, meant a struggle against 'Jewishness'."
This week on Radio 4: Two hundred years after the composer's birth, Paul Mason reconsiders Richard Wagner.
Rule of the Trees
"if a tree’s branches were folded upward and squeezed together, the tree would look like one big trunk with the same thickness from top to bottom."
"I designed the lightest tree structure to resist wind while still maintaining the strength of the trunk," said Eloy.
April 26, 2013
Plymouth Rock was a beer stop
"The most enduring picture of Englishmen coming ashore is the Pilgrims braving freezing surf to land at 'Plymouth Rock'. Well documented is their selection of this landfall not by choice, but based upon a dwindling beer supply."
April 25, 2013
Wing man
"Michael Caine has told how he once held Sean Connery’s coat while the James Bond star single-handedly beat up four men in a nightclub."
April 24, 2013
The Steel Mace Workout
Train like an ancient Hindu warrior.
April 22, 2013
Jaguar F-Type
"Steve Cropley joins Jaguar development driver Mike Cross to drive across Britain in the new Jaguar F-Type, the belated successor to the iconic E-Type."
"Jaguar's quest for a successor to the iconic E-type ends with the launch of this, the Jaguar F-type. Steve Sutcliffe drives the range-topping V8 on road and track as he bids to discover if it could be a match for the mighty Porsche 911."
CraneTV - Fabio Novembre
"With distinct Italian flair this legendary Milan-based designer imbues every object with unique intention."
April 21, 2013
Slavoj Zizek - Fear Thy Neighbour As Thyself
Zizek on multiculturalism as ideology - a means of obscuring injustice as mere intolerance - at The Institute for Human Sciences at Boston University on November 26, 2007.
April 20, 2013
LQG
"An international team of astronomers, led by academics from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), has found the largest known structure in the universe. The large quasar group (LQG) is so large that it would take a vehicle travelling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it."
April 19, 2013
It's in the blood
Amanda Thatcher gave a composed reading during grandmother's funeral.
Also related: Slavoj Zizek offers a tribute to Margaret Thatcher.
The Return of Callas (1973)
"An Evening with Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. At the piano Ivor Newton. Monday, November 26th and Sunday, December 2nd, 1973. Royal Festival Hall, London. Highlights of the concert on November 26th were recorded for television by BBC2 first shown 20 December 1973."
April 18, 2013
Margaret Thatcher - Pt 1, The Making of Margaret (2008)
"An eight part documentary series on former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, issued by The Daily Telegraph in 2008, never released commerically.
"Narrated by the late Anna Massey. Part one features interviews with Lord Cecil Parkinson, Edwina Currie, Anthony Howard,, Lord Geoffrey Howe, Kenneth Clarke and Charles Moore."
Winter is coming
For the south pole of Titan.
The same type of cloud has been hanging over Titan's north pole, but it is now fading and spring has arrived there, according to observations made by an infrared spectrometer on NASA's Cassini craft.
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Vaughan Williams, "A Sea Symphony", First Movement
April 17, 2013
La Traviata (2005)
Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón and Thomas Hampson in Verdi's La Traviata at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Carlo Rizzi and directed by Willy Decker.
Fourth dimension
Iron Man 3 is set to be the first film screened in 4DX format in Japan.
The Gatsby Collection
Brooks Brothers offers a look inspired by Catherine Martin's costume design for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby.
April 16, 2013
Women fighters in reasonable armour
"For women headed to newly opened combat roles, there’s this very practical consideration: body armor."
CraneTV - A Taste of the South
"The co-founders of London's coolest chicken shop give their top picks for food joints south of the river."
April 15, 2013
Caserta
"The world’s largest royal palace is under threat from vandals and looters, with damages so bad the local mayor is calling on the Italian army to step in to protect it."
"The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century."
Reggia di Caserta - Appartamenti Reali, Parco e Giardino Inglese.
Il meraviglioso Parco della Reggia di Caserta.
Luckily, that could never happen here
"What has happened to Britain is what happens when a nation falls into the hands of a ruling class that doesn’t much care for the nation it rules."
April 14, 2013
OREO Separator Machines
Creator: Physicist David Neevel.
"It's a basic human desire to separate an OREO cookie. Humans love either cookie or creme. And sometimes a man just needs to invent a machine to do the hard work of separating the two. Today, that man is physicist and cookie-part preferrer David Neevel. Watch him operate the machine he created that separates OREO cookies."
Creators: Toy Scientists Bill and Barry.
"One toy scientist in Minnesota likes the creme while another likes the cookie, so they built a machine to separate OREO cookies and serve each delicious half to its respective scientist."
Creator: Conceptual Artist Collective DENTAKU.
"Conceptual art has its uses. Especially when it separates OREO cookies. Watch as art collective Dentaku blurs the line between art and deliciousness."
Creator: Robotic Butler HERB.
"Finally a robot we can all relate to. This little guy's name is HERB, and he lives at Carnegie Mellon University, where he's been taught to separate the cookie from the creme. He might be made of servos and cameras, but clearly he loves one part of the OREO more than the other."
April 13, 2013
Thatcher, Liberator
"To put it bluntly: The Britain I grew up in was insane. The government owned almost all major manufacturing, from coal to steel to automobiles. Owned. It employed almost every doctor and owned almost every hospital. Almost every university and elementary and high school was government-run. And in the 1970s, you could not help but realize as a young Brit, that you were living in a decaying museum – some horrifying mixture of Eastern European grimness surrounded by the sculptured bric-a-brac of statues and buildings and edifices that spoke of an empire on which the sun had once never set. Now, in contrast, we lived on the dark side of the moon and it was made up of damp, slowly degrading concrete.
"I owe my entire political obsession to the one person in British politics who refused to accept this state of affairs."
Girl power: "Geri Halliwell today described herself as 'spineless' and 'weak' for deleting a tweet that paid tribute to Baroness Thatcher when she died."
I so I asked myself over the last 3 days – why I did I do it? Why did I take that tweet down?
These are my conclusions…
I. I was so afraid of upsetting people, and not being liked for saying something that was not to everyone’s taste.
2. Also, I suddenly thought given the adverse reaction, did I even really know enough about Margaret Thatcher? Was I just trying to be relevant? She had obviously upset a lot of people.
3. But now I realise that I do admire a woman, whether she is right or wrong, regardless of her opinions. She had the courage to stand by her convictions. Not like me. I look at my behavior, which exposed how weak I was under fire, not like Margaret Thatcher. Rest in peace.
London's best and most secretive address
"The longstanding rules governing life at Albany — the stately Georgian pile situated surprisingly, if conveniently, in the heart of Piccadilly, which I have had the good fortune of calling home for half my life — are mercifully straightforward: no pets, no children, no whistling, no noise and absolutely no publicity."
Don't despair, repair
"An innovative project in London is helping people to prolong the life of their electronic devices by repairing them and encouraging others to do learn to do the same."
#1 Penhaligon’s London
Georgia Barretta-Whiteley, head of design at Saatchi & Saatchi X, introduces the ten best shops in the world.
April 12, 2013
April 11, 2013
Saab 9-Griffin concept
"The Saab 9-Griffin concept was created by Joonhyung Park for the final graduation project while studying automotive design at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea."
Westerdals
"Westerdals is one of the leading communication schools in Norway, ranked as one of the top ten creative schools in the world. The new building, drawn by Kristin Jarmund Arkitekter (KJARK), is situated at Vulkan in Oslo, an old industrial area. It was nominated for both the Statens Byggskikkpris and Oslo City Architecture Award 2012."
The MOMA establishes a video game collection
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
April 10, 2013
BioShock Infinite - Creating Elizabeth
Beyond the uncanny valley of the dolls.
Governable
"The kind of services that Thatcher rendered Britain in peace were of a magnitude equal to Winston Churchill's in war."
She also reduced Britain's huge and loss-making state-owned industries, nearly a third of the economy, to less than one-tenth, by her new policy of privatization—inviting the public to buy from the state industries, such as coal, steel, utilities and transport by bargain share offers. Hence loss-makers, funded from taxes, became themselves profit-making and so massive tax contributors.
...
As a result Britain was soon absorbing more than 50% of all inward investment in Europe, the British economy rose from the sixth to the fourth largest in the world, and its production per capita, having been half that of Germany's in the 1970s, became, by the early years of the 21st century, one-third higher.
Five life lessons from Left4Dead
"The game might be right. Things probably are better for people who behave this way. Political people are survivors, but I've rejected this message for the first half of my life, and I'm not going to become an asshole for the second half just because a video game tells me to."
April 09, 2013
Sam Harris - Death and the Present Moment
"I think about the human brain all the time but it almost never occurs to me that I actually have one."
The last one to leave England
"An odd thing was happening, or rather not happening, as dusk fell the other day across Belgravia, home to some of the world’s most valuable real estate: almost no one seemed to be coming home. Perhaps half the windows were dark."
April 08, 2013
Margaret Thatcher - An impromptu live tribute by Janet Albrechtsen
"The passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher was fittingly announced during a live discussion on women's issues and feminism. Columnist for 'The Australia' newspaper, Janet Albrechtsen, contributed this spontaneous and considerate analysis. Well done Janet. RIP Maggie."
The Sermon on the Mound
In May 1988 Margaret Thatcher addressed the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (video at the link).
If you want something said, ask a man
"If you want something done, ask a woman." - attributed to Margaret Thatcher
On socialism:
No no no:
Falklands invaded:
In her own words:
Another thought From the comments.
Margaret Thatcher and music
"There is a deep irony in that many of the bands most militantly anti Thatcher were on labels that seized the ethos of self help small enterprises that Thatcher loved or were indeed de facto self employed businessmen themselves."
"Telstar is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in July 1962."
April 06, 2013
Boston Dynamics - PETMAN
They left out Cyberdyne Systems Corporation.
Not me, I'm afraid of widths
"We are back with the Russian guys who climbed the Great Pyramide in Egypt recently. This time they are in Dubai – no way this city can disappoint anyone especially being observed from the roofs."
Cthulhu macrofasciculumque, fhtagn!
"The newly discovered Cthulhu macrofasciculumque is tiny and harmless. It lives in the hind gut of termites with no desire to dominate all of existence -- as far as we know."
April 05, 2013
One ring found
A cursed Roman ring that was dug up by a farmer is believed to have been the inspiration behind JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Historians believe the large 12g gold ring once belonged to a Roman called Silvianus but he put a curse on it after it was stolen.
Related: Curse tablets from Roman Britain.
Exeter Book, Riddle 25
Ic eom weorð werum, wide funden,
brungen of bearwum ond of burghleoþum,
of denum ond of dunum. Dæges mec wægun
feþre on lifte, feredon mid liste
under hrofes hleo. Hæleð mec siþþan
baþedan in bydene. Nu ic eom bindere
ond swingere, sona weorpe
esne to eorþan, hwilum ealdne ceorl.
Sona þæt onfindeð, se þe mec fehð ongean,
ond wið mægenþisan minre genæsteð,
þæt he hrycge sceal hrusan secan,
gif he unrædes ær ne geswiceð,
strengo bistolen, strong on spræce,
mægene binumen - nah his modes geweald,
fota ne folma. Frige hwæt ic hatte,
ðe on eorþan swa esnas binde,
dole æfter dyntum be dæges leohte.
I am man’s treasure, taken from the woods,
Cliff-sides, hill-slopes, valleys, downs;
By day wings bear me in the buzzing air,
Slip me under a sheltering roof-sweet craft.
Soon a man bears me to a tub. Bathed,
I am binder and scourge of men, bring down
The young, ravage the old, sap strength.
Soon he discovers who wrestles with me
My fierce body-rush-I roll fools
Flush on the ground. Robbed of strength,
Reckless of speech, a man knows no power
Over hands, feet, mind. Who am I who bind
Men on middle-earth, blinding with rage?
Fools know my dark power by daylight.
(Mead.)
Graveyard Train - End of the World
"I wrote this while on tour in a beautiful old hotel that we were staying at up in The Blue Mountains - it was pissing down rain and felt like the beginning of the end of the world and was all very pretentious. In step with the apocalyptic lyrics I'd originally thought that the song needed really over the top production like sweeping strings and horn sections and a choir and stuff... But when the band played it in the rehearsal room we nailed it down perfectly and decided that it really didn't need all the bells and whistles after all. The only slightly over the top thing was the 'wind'. The wind sound you can hear throughout the song came from a crack in a door that whistled (we discovered) only when a particular combination of studio doors were closed and the air-con was switched to a certain temperature. We all had to hold our breath and be completely silent while Loki (engineer) stood up on a chair and recorded this door crack with some super duper microphone. Pretty extravagant stuff!"
Also: Bit By A Dog.
April 04, 2013
ComicBookGirl19 - Game of Thrones Epic History, Part 1 of 4: The Targaryens
"The Long back history of House Targaryen is dramatically explained and how it led up to the events of Game of Thrones Season one and two. ........SPOILER ALERT...This video is intended for those who have already seen season 1 and 2."
The Ritz really did have a springy dancefloor
Twenty-two signs you grew up in Manchester in the 1990s.
Wolves In The Throne Room - I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots
The torment has ended
the beast has done his work
Great fires rage outside of this wooded sanctuary
But soon they will be quenched by a purifying rain
the embers of the ceremonial fire burn to ash
A new warmth stirs within the center of the earth
I am alone here no more
The wood is filled with the sounds of wildness
The songs of birds fill the forest on this new morning
This will be my new home
Deep within the most sacred grove
the sun god is born anew
I will lay down my bones among the rocks and roots of the deepest
hollow next to the streambed
The quiet hum of the earth's dreaming is my new song
When I awake, the world will be born anew
April 03, 2013
Bioshock Infinite: Reviewers Roundtable
"Arthur Gies, Russ Frushtick, and Chris Plante from Polygon sit down with Adam Sessler from Rev3 Games and Ben Kuchera from The Penny Arcade Report to discuss and spoil the hell out of Bioshock Infinite."
More spoilers: BioShock Infinite ending... It’s all easy to explain, really.
And: The one twist in Bioshock Infinite's ending that you might have missed completely.
Google maps a nuclear ghost town
"Two years after the the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the following tsunami and nuclear disaster, a large area around the failed Fukushima nuclear plant is still considered an exclusion zone. Namie, a small city just north of the nuclear power plant, was evacuated shortly after the quake, and its 21,000 townspeople have been unable to return since, leaving it a ghost town.
"At the invitation of local officials, Google recently deployed its camera-equipped vehicles to Namie to create a street view map of the deserted town so residents can see their abandoned homes, and the world can witness the remains of the disaster."
In fairness
Society is controlled by lizard people.
Obvious but still needs pointing out: Public Policy Polling lumps "global warming" in with UFOs, etc.
April 02, 2013
The Boer War (2002)
"When Britain went to war against the Boers in October 1899, the British public expected the fighting to be over by Christmas. As it turned out, The Boer War, in Kipling's famous phrase, gave the British 'no end of a lesson'. Using accounts of the soldiers who fought in this bitter and bloody clash of arms and remarkable contemporary photographs, this documentary tells the story of Britain's last great imperial war."
Game of Drones
"The biographer Plutarch tells an anecdote that, in the fourth century B.C., the Spartan King Archidamus, at the sight of a revolutionary new catapult, cried out, 'By Herakles, it is the end of manly virtue.'"
Fashion related: The anti-drone hoodie.
The winged messenger
"Scientists may have discovered the first meteorite from Mercury."
Duran Duran - Sing Blue Silver (1984)
"'18,000 miles, 51 shows, 79 days, over 1,000,000 fans...'
"Filmed at the height of their fame, Sing Blue Silver follows Duran Duran around Canada and the United States for three months from 30 January - 17 April 1984 as they toured in support of their Seven and the Ragged Tiger album around North America."
April 01, 2013
Bioshock Infinite - Ken Levine discusses Columbia, Elizabeth and Religion
"Adam Sessler got a chance to sit down with Ken Levine, director of Bioshock Infinite, to discuss the game's stunning scope. In part one of a two-part interview, Ken explains how Bioshock Infinite earned its title, the setting of Columbia and its relation to Rapture, and the huge task of creating an engaing AI companion."
"In part two of Adam Sessler's discussion with Ken Levine, the Bioshock Infinite director explains the enhancements to the game's combat systems, the game's delays, and public perception."
Sleep Art
"With early morning starts and a more unusual sleep routine than most I was intrigued to see how my sleep could be translated into a work of art."