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Madonnas of Science

homunculus — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:45:29 GMT

The Madonnas of Science, plus selected other work (possibly nsfw) by Chris Shaw.

Shaw's paintings are on exhibition at SFMOMA through June 2. [Via]

"Why should it be my responsibility ... to quench my neighbors thirst?"

the man of twists and turns — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:34:20 GMT

"We've seen the price of food become more expensive than ever three times in five years. Normally we'd see three price spikes in a century," said Kaufman. "And part of the reason is this new kind of commodity speculation in food markets." In an article published Oct. 24 in Nature[subscription required], Kaufman describes what he calls "Wall Street's thirst for water" — the push to turn water into a commodity like food, with the same instruments that produced the mortgage-backed security collapse and 2008 financial crisis.

Public or Private: The Fight Over the Future of Water

007's Water War Was Based In Reality, Not Fiction

"There's a growing debate about the importance of oil to our national security, and I think that without a doubt, oil is critical to our national security," says Gleick. "But ironically, I would argue that water is even more important to our national security. There are substitutes for oil; there are no substitutes for water."

As foreign investors eye their public utilities, water workers scramble to create cooperatives.

Commons Has Expanded, Not Shrunk, Over Past 200 Years - "Public water systems, public education, public libraries, and public roads are modern innovations."
Our Hidden Wealth: How The Commons Make Everything Else Work

Au revoir, Georges Moustaki.

Capt. Renault — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:12:54 GMT

Au revoir, Georges Moustaki. The French chansonnier, who got his start writing for Edith Piaf, and later had a lengthy career of his own, has passed away. His simple, languid, contemplative songs include "Le Métèque", "Ma Solitude", "Votre Fille a Vingt Ans" and many, many, many more. He was 79.

Sontar-Ha!

Podkayne of Pasadena — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:06:36 GMT

Ask Strax! The famed warrior from the Sontaran Empire answers questions from miniature humans for Monster Day Out.
"The last time a human called me a 'Potato Head' I simply turned and walked away calm and collected ... once I had crushed him to a pulp him with my monster fists!!"

Calling It Quits

Pruitt-Igoe — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:27:38 GMT

The former singer for Freshkills talks about playing in a band no one likes

BSA for all boys.

roomthreeseventeen — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:17:48 GMT

By a vote of 61%-38% the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has finalized a decision to lift sexual orientation from the criteria to discriminate for youth membership. Previously and previously.

The change in policy will not apply to pack leaders or trans youth.

"Each animal reminds one terribly of certain men."

Iridic — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:54:42 GMT

Next to a beautiful, elegant woman, between the silky spirals of her train, on the back of a chair, in a dark angle in the background, he accurately painted, although almost invisible, the animal that recalled the face of the protagonist. He thus had a series of ladies and gentlemen from the squirrel, from the lizard, from the sea horse, etc.

From "The Real Face," by Guido Gozzano, "first and finest representative of the Crepuscolari, the poets of the Twilight."

(The translators are Anna and Evan Connell. Evan Connell is himself a Neo-Decadent writer of no small accomplishment.)

Artisinal Denim

mathowie — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:50:15 GMT

Park Slope Family Circus: Old Family Circus panels combined with jokes poking fun at denizens of Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The digital equivalent of stashing a dirty magazine under your mattress

themadthinker — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:13:40 GMT

When news came through of Yahoo! buying Tumblr, everyone wanted to know what that meant for all the porn on Tumblr. But it turns out that long before Yahoo! signed a check, Tumblr had been quietly doing something about it on its own: stopping adult blogs from being indexed. [NSFW links]

Long-time smut blogger Bacchus has unearthed that over the last few months, all Tumblr blogs marked "adult" have a robots.txt that blocks all indexing by search engines and archives. So Google will never find your Teen Wolf slash art blog.

See also: How To Search Your Adult Tumblr Blog, How To Back Up Your Adult Tumblr Blog

After years of dodging outside assessment... Rossi and Cold Fusion

Just Another Entity — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:30:15 GMT

"Against all probability, a device that purports to use cold fusion to generate vast amounts of power has been verified by a panel of independent scientists . . . The cold fusion device being tested has roughly 10,000 times the energy density and 1,000 times the power density of gasoline. Even allowing for a massively conservative margin of error, the scientists say that the cold fusion device they tested is 10 times more powerful than gasoline — which is currently the best fuel readily available to mankind."

After a few years, Rossi has returned with "his E-Cat project, a device that produces heat through a process called a Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR)." Earlier, Rossi has kept his technique secret, but now an independent panel of seven scientists has reviewed and published a research paper on Arxiv.

Although the paper remains to be peer reviewed, "the tests suggest that the reactor managed to produce just under twice as much energy as consumed in the first test and more than four-and-a-half times as much energy after a few problems were addressed in the latter exercise. Rough estimates of the low-end energy density and power density of the reactor put them at 10,000 times and 1,000 times that of gasoline, respectively"

Skepticism remains.

Previously. Previously

So how DOES copyright work in space?

DiesIrae — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:42:28 GMT

Chris Hadfield has captured the world's heart, judging by the 14m YouTube views of his free-fall rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", recorded on the International Space Station (ISS). The Canadian astronaut's clear voice and capable guitar-playing were complemented by his facility in moving around in the microgravity of low-earth orbit. But when the man fell to Earth in a neat and safe descent a few days ago, after a five-month stay in orbit, should he have been greeted by copyright police?

"There was little we didn't know about Nazi Germany"

never used baby shoes — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:06:01 GMT

In a new book, a historian reveals that during WWII, the British kept three groups of Nazi prisoners captive under condititons that an outraged Churchill demanded be stopped.

As seen on Secrets of the Dead. how British Intelligence bugged their Nazi prisoners and learned about the inner workings of the Third Reich.

Try Blowing on the Contacts

codacorolla — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:36:35 GMT

ROM corruptions are games played in emulators where the files have been run through a program (for example: Corrupster, and The Vinesauce Corrupter) which makes changes to the game data while still allowing it to remain playable. This results in strange graphical and audial glitches, like character models exploding in to chaotic swirls, garbled sprite assignments, and music distorted in to fascinating new compositions. Some other still image examples from Max Capacity (previously). This forum thread has a guide on how to corrupt ROMs yourself. Some Youtube links NWS due to swearing.

When does six equal nine?

a fiendish thingy — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:52:15 GMT

Magic Hat Brewery is facing a ban in several Lexington, Kentucky establishments after a recent lawsuit against local business West Sixth Brewery. Many are dubious about the claims being made regarding copyright infringement. The Consumerist offers a visual guide to some of the potential similarities between the designs. West Sixth claims that they are experiencing corporate bullying and have asked the community to sign a petition and stop drinking Magic Hat, while Magic Hat argues that West Sixth has been less than straightforward with the public. West Sixth responds with further claims of corporate chicanery.

Gone to Carolina and they're fined

Shoggoth — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:16:54 GMT

While national media coverage of state politics has focused on hot-button topics like gun control and gay rights, a storm has been quietly brewing in Raleigh, NC, where the NAACP has organized protests calling attention to the regressive agenda of the Republican governor and NC General Assembly. Known as "Moral Mondays," these protests have resulted in nearly 160 arrests -- and they're getting bigger each week. With the GA taking a break for Memorial Day, the next showdown is set for June 3.

Black Backpacks and Colored Circles

El Sabor Asiatico — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:41:49 GMT

The Boston Marathon bombings may be fading from the front pages, but the numerous conspiracy theories that sprang up in the wake of the incident continue to rage on, spurred by professional conspiracists such as Alex Jones. Book reviewer and skeptic Anita Dalton (previously), at her new website devoted to skeptical examinations of conspiracy theories and paranormal claims, has kicked off a meticulous and in-depth series of posts comprehensively debunking the Boston Marathon conspiracy theories. (Related: Why rational people buy into conspiracy theories.)

Submerged Mass: Under the water, there is granite undersea

filthy light thief — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:09:17 GMT

Scientists have discovered a 10-metre-high rock of granite deep in the Atlantic, more than 8,000 feet beneath the sea in a region known as the Rio Grande Elevation (Google auto-translation; original Portuguese webpage). It is believed that this formation could be part of a lost continent, something formed when South America split from Africa, around 100 million years ago.

The formation was found by an Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC; mentioned previously) expedition, dubbed QUELLE2013. "Quelle" means "roots" or "origin" in German, and stands for "Quest for the Limit of Life." The project is a yearlong mission involves exploring hydrothermal vent fields, submarine seepage sites, deep-sea trenches and other extreme environments to explore the habitable limits of life and its unique survival strategies.

According to a JAMSTEC official, the finding was "not totally a coincidence."

They had been aware that Brazilian scientists had collected what appeared to be granite in the area, but it remained a mystery whether the granite was intrinsic or whether it had been dropped by ships passing through, the official said.

Scientists plan to drill for more samples later this year, as further conformation is needed. Geology Service of Brazil (CPRM) geology director Roberto Ventura Santos said

If it is the case that we find a continent in the middle of the ocean, it will be a very big discovery that could have various implications in relation to the extension of the continental shelf.

As is the case with any mysterious, submerged "lost continent," (previously) talk of Atlantis gets bandied about. "We speak of Atlantis more in terms of symbolism," Santos noted. "Obviously, we don't expect to find a lost city in the middle of the Atlantic."

Whereupon We Rediscover The Glowing Jewels of Mathematical Education

tarpin — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:23:44 GMT

The series of Project Mathematics tapes regularly brought the house down at the annual SIGGRAPH video show; these mathematical animations were glowing jewels among the over-produced, techy-commercial animations usually shown at SIGGRAPH. -- Edward Tufte via edwardtufte.com

I wonder where these jewels might be found ...

All told there are 9 videos, animated by James F. Blinn and produced by Tom M. Apostol at the California Institute of Technology, even through the VHS haze of the 1980's these videos still glow with insight and clarity.

Similarity eduondemand.org
The Theorem of Pythagoras archive.org eduondemand.org
The Story of Pi youtube.com eduondemand.org
Sines and Cosines, Part I youtube.com eduondemand.org
Sines and Cosines, Part II youtube.com eduondemand.org
Sines and Cosines, Part III youtube.com eduondemand.org
Polynomials eduondemand.org
The Tunnel of Samos eduondemand.org
Early History of Mathematic Unknown URL

The eduondemand links are behind a login wall, but free.

"Now, there are a lot of Jim Blinn stories, and I'll tell you what mine is. It was at a session in the 1980's when he was explaining this bug that had ruined one frame in an animation sequence. So he showed us how to fix the bug by holding up the film and cutting out the frame with a pair of scissors." -- Walt Bradsford, SIGGRAPH 98 Keynote

40 Year Old Squares

Artw — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:44:57 GMT

Rave and Hardcore YouTube Comments Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

New York's Hottest Club Is

dabug — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:16:55 GMT

The Night Heron (SL NYTimes), an invitation-only club held in an abandoned water tower in Chelsea for 8 weekends in March, April and May.

"Listen here James, we're lucky we made it—she earned it!"

halcyonday — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:06:51 GMT

The female artists who shaped the American Dream Girl (mildly NSFW) "...according to pin-up art expert Louis K. Meisel, three of the most talented pin-up painters from the Golden Age, roughly the 1920s to the early 1960s, were women. "Pearl Frush, Joyce Ballantyne, and Zoë Mozert were terrific, as good as any of the men—in fact, better than many of them," Meisel says." A fascinating look at three very interesting women and their work in an area of art that is overwhelmingly known for its male artists.

Related: Meet J. C. Leyendecker, the Golden Boy of American Illustration and The story of the girls behind the boys at Disney.

Fiona's Revenge

Charlemagne In Sweatpants — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:38:23 GMT

Steven Universe is an upcoming series by Rebecca Sugar, who has written many songs for Adventure Time. It will be the first Cartoon Network series created by a woman. Check out some screenshots here.