Another Exciting Political Rally

Quoting the Houston Chronicle (via Fark):

Thousands of conservative Christians gathered Saturday on Independence Mall in Philadelphia to pray for the future of the United States in the weeks before the presidential election.

        * * *

"I don't care what the ACLU says or any atheists say. This nation belongs to Jesus, and we're here today to reclaim his sovereignty," said [Pat] Robertson, 82, who founded the Christian Coalition and Christian Broadcasting Network, and ran for president [as a Republican] in 1988.

Girl Dressed as Princess Vader, Apropos of Nothing

I have no idea where I found this.

Lamentations of the Father

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink.

But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away.

When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.

Laws Pertaining to Dessert

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.

On Screaming

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you, and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even now I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat of it myself, yet do not die.

Concerning Face and Hands

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.

Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand.

Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not that humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.

Complaints and Lamentations

O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the law teaches that no one shall be sent to the corner for more minutes than he has years of age, yet I would leave you there all day, so mighty am I in anger. But upon being sent to the corner you ask straightaway, "Can I come out?" and I reply, "No, you may not come out." And again you ask, and again I give the same reply. But when you ask again a third time, then you may come out.

Hear me, O my children, for the bills they kill me. I pay and pay again, even to the twelfth time in a year, and yet again they mount higher than before. For our health, that we may be covered, I give six hundred and twenty talents twelve times in a year; but even this covers not the fifteen hundred deductible for each member of the family within a calendar year. And yet for ordinary visits we still are not covered, nor for many medicines, nor for the teeth within our mouths. Guess not at what rage is in my mind, for surely you cannot know.

For I will come to you at the first of the month and at the fifteenth of the month with the bills and a great whining and moan. And when the month of taxes comes, I will decry the wrong and unfairness of it, and mourn with wine and ashtrays, and rend my receipts. And you shall remember that I am that I am: before, after, and until you are twenty-one. Hear me then, and avoid me in my wrath, O children of me.

From The Atlantic, though not recently but that's irrelevant because it's timeless.

The Clash of the Galaxies

NGC 6745 (New General Catalog object entry 6745) is actually two galaxies colliding at high speed ("high speed" here meaning astronomical speeds, which are very fast, here in the blink of 100 million years). NGC 6745 is a tad over 200 million light years from Earth ...

We're headed at super-speed towards our own collision ... with the Andromeda Galaxy ... in about 4 billion years. Ah, good times, good times.

Beautiful Concept Illustrations by Salvador Ramirez Madriz

Salvador Ramirez Madriz's illustrations are some of the best stuff I've seen on Behance in awhile. They're funny, witty, and beautifully designed and drawn. Just wonderful.

Another Song from Lyapis Trubetskoy

And here is a subtitled version. The song is a paean to faith, mixing a variety of different religious beliefs. And, oddly, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with it because it shows a great respect for humanity.

A Proposal for the US Budget

A month ago I wrote a lengthy post on "Why I am not a Republican." That post was detailed driven by facts on numerous issues affecting the U.S.'s economy, among other things. Today I thought it might be helpful to put some rough numbers on my comments, again driven by facts, with the overall  view towards whether my non-Republican views, if implemented would help or hurt the U.S. budget.

I note that as I write the U.S. has a total deficit of about $16+ trillion, an amount most agree is far too high. The U.S. budget -- discretionary and non-discretionary expenditures combined -- is now running about $3.8 trillion per year. There are three fundamental ways to reduce the deficit (or at least keep from increasing it): (1) reduce federal spending; (2) raise federal revenue through higher taxes; and (3) raise federal revenue by juicing the economy. Of course, reducing the deficit (and paying on debt obligations) is not the sole goal in federal budgetary planning. The other goals are adequately providing for (a) the welfare of citizens and residents in the U.S. and (b) for the national defense.

Stamen Design in San Francisco

Trades, color coded, for a single trader, USB, over a single minute

Stamen Design is a design and data visualization studio in San Francisco that does work for a number of prominent t.v., print, and web media companies and non-profits, among others. It's work is consistently smart and beautiful.

I'm finding that I often see graphic design, architecture, and art work that I like by going to the creator's site and treating it like a gallery.

I Have No Idea What This Means

But the video and music by Belarusian band Lyapis Trubetskoy are awesome. Oh WAIT here's a version with subtitles ... "...in my left hand is a Snickers, in my right hand is a Mars, my PR manager: Karl Marx ... ." Yes, really, that's what it is. Via MetaFilter.

"My Name is Joe Biden and I'll be your Server"

... Do you know what José does? I’ll tell you what he does, and folks, folks, this is the point I want to make. With his own hands, he sprinkles fresh house-grown rosemary on those potatoes (raises voice to a thundering crescendo), and they are golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside and they are delicious! They are delicious! They are delicious!

Thank you.

Now, folks, I gotta do a table touch on 17 and get some more breadsticks to 26, so I’m gonna wrap up here. But there’s something I want you to think about. I want you to think about something. You, me, José, Lord love him, Donna, Pat . . . we’re in this thing together. We’re in it together. You order the food, I bring the food, you eat the food. . . . That’s America. That’s America. You know, my folks had some ups and downs. ...

The whole damn New Yorker piece is hilarious.

A Formerly Gleaming "Nazi Space Buddha" from Tannu Tuva

This article at New Scientist is making all sorts of news across the interwebnets because, I think, people get to use the words Nazi" and "space rock"in their headlines. Ooooo ... spooky.

The Buddha was taken by a German scientist to Germany in 1939 perhaps because there is a (flipped from the Nazi) swastika on the Buddha's chest.  They say it affirms the Nazi's Aryan race theory or something. The buddha does not come from India though, but from Mongolia -- the meteorite is from the Chinga River in Tannu Tuva, a Siberian state in Russia north of Mongolia. (I have, by the way, a super cool side note about Tanna Tuva itself that I'll mention at the end of this post.) That's not exactly Nazi-ish Aryan "source" territory -- which is west central India -- but perhaps two thousand miles away, on the opposite side of the Himalayas. Anyway ...

Paintings by Christina Troufa

Via a write-up at Illusion, I bring you a link to the acrylic and mixed-media paintings of Portuguese painter Christina Troufa, whose work consists of lovely realistic and painterly images of women cutting into zones of her unfinished linen background. She describes them as telling the "wisdom of sayings, the conversations I heard as a child among women, the folklore, stories of my life and my family."

Given the technique, which I like, I wonder if she primes the linen at all before painting? Not priming is a technique that has a sort of modern vogue; it was really perfected by Helen Frankenthaler who painted in oils thinned with lots of turpentine so they would soak into the  canvas. the result, in layers, produced luminous, watercolor like colors. (She called it, unsurprisingly, "soak stain.")  Troufa paints mostly in acrylics, and actually her work looks similar to pastel. So I am left wondering about technique ...

Lucille and Mitt

Lucille Bluth is the matriarch of the Bluth family on Arrested Development, a television comedy that ran from 2003 to 2006 and, given its huge cult following, is being resurrected next year.  Mitt Romney is the Republican candidate for President of the United States. Put their wacky rich person hi-jinks together and you've got comedy gold!

Animated Banksy

These cinemagraphs are all from the tumblr Made by ABVH, who has done animated Banksy's six so far:

1. Spray painting the Wall.
2. Girl on a swing (above).
3. Kissing bobbies
4. Rat and painters
5. Walking the dog
6. The rat race (perhaps the best one)

There are a lot of other cool/comic animated GIFs on the ABVH tumblr. And I have no recollection where I first saw this.

Holy Madonna(s)

Via The Daily What (whose composite picture I have shamelessly borrowed, left), plaster madonna statuettes that have been transformed into beautiful works of art and kitsch. Funny, witty, and wonderfully crafted. After the jump, some of my favorites (her site's gallery design makes it a hard to see what you'll be looking at -- the icons are all detail shots).

The Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic

In 1954 in Washington State it was discovered in Bellingham, which is a suburb north of Seattle, that a number of windshields were oddly pitted. It was thought to be the work of vandals but the pitting continued spreading like a disease heading steadily south towards Seattle itself. It was too widespread and too rapid to have been the work of vandals and numerous, other causes were considered and dismissed. Old cars were particularly vulnerable. There was a sort of hysteria about it. in the end, as described in a fairly short, fun, and detailed article Neatorama reprinted from Uncle John's Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader:

George W. Bush is Back!

In breaking news from The Onion, long missing former U.S. President George W. Bush was actually in Tibet on a spiritual journey. This comes as a relief to we who would not succumb to the cynical view the Republicans -- and Mitt Romney in particular -- had hid him away so that the stupidity of his Presidency in general and creation of the economic crisis we're in specifically would not be in the public eye.

As the Onion explains (and I mangle), quoting Bush in part:

By his own account, Bush trekked across the Tibetan countryside for several months before deciding to devote his life to the study and teaching of transcendental meditation, later spending a year in seclusion during which he scaled Himalayan peaks while “guided only by the loudly whispering wind and harsh, merciless snow.” Sources reported the famed Republican is missing three toes from frostbite he suffered during his travels before mastering the ability to raise and lower his body temperature at will.

“I am but a gently falling leaf, buoyed by mountain winds,” the 66-year-old former Texas governor continued. “To see the way forward is to be connected to your own reality and be one with your consciousness—complete and pure, unburdened and without want."

We are all thankful for his return and eager for him to continue to share his wisdom with us.

The "Deepest" View of the Universe to Date

High res web optimized image -- click to enlarge

NASA's Hubble site has released a new super high resolution photograph going back 13.2 billion years into the past (the Universe is 13.7 billion years old). As described by the Hubble site:

Called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, the photo was assembled by combining 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken of a patch of sky at the center of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The XDF is a small fraction of the angular diameter of the full Moon.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is an image of a small area of space in the constellation Fornax, created using Hubble Space Telescope data from 2003 and 2004. By collecting faint light over many hours of observation, it revealed thousands of galaxies, both nearby and very distant, making it the deepest image of the universe ever taken at that time.

NASA's and Hubble's photos are free to the public since they're created with public funds. Very high resolution versions of the photo above right can be downladed from the Hubble site through this link. The original Hubble Deep Field photograph (called by some the most important photograph ever taken) can be found here.  This was followed by the Ultra Deep Field, photos found here. And here is a really cool (and educational on basic stuff) video of the Ultra Deep Field in 3D. Via MetaFilter.

The Problem with Geriatric Prisoners

An article in Mother Jones -- an unabashedly liberal magazine -- discusses the extraordinary expense and lack of compassion in keeping very elderly criminals in prison. The  elderly can have extraordinarily high medical and maintenance costs and the risk that they will be future offenders is slight.

Nonetheless, releasing the elderly early contravenes the punitive purpose of prison and the idea that criminals who are sentenced to "life" will, indeed, spend their lives in prison. It is difficult for liberals to advocate early release when they also oppose the death penalty dangling "life in prison" as an alternative.

The punitive/retributive purposes of imprisonment (and I have a hard time separately those concepts once imprisonment has begun) are the only purposes left for imprisoning the elderly -- imprisonment's rehabilitative and warehousing goals have become pointless. Given the extraordinary costs the incipient question is how much are punitive/retributive goals worth to us, because at this stage they cost a ton.

There's a point where we're punishing ourselves more than the criminals. Via boing boing.

How to Write With Style (and other insights into writing and reading)

In 1982 or so the International Paper Company published essays about the arts of reading and writing and written by luminaries in the area or popular figures like Kurt Vonnegut, George Plimpton, John Irving, James Dickey, Jane Bryant Quinn, Steve Allen, James Michener, Tony Randall, Malcomb Forbes, and Bill Cosby. Trust me: these were all luminaries or popular figures in 1982 or so.

Always Moving, Never Getting Anything Done

"Cinemagraph GIFs" are animated GIFs that work as a type of animated photograph -- a few of the elements in the photograph move while the rest appears stationary. Cinemagraph GIFs fall, for me at least, into a vague space between photos and movies yet can be quite beautiful.  they appeal to a sensibility (not one I wholly subscribe to) that Life is so much just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. At BuzzFeed a collection of some of the best Cinemagraphs.

Here in the U.S. the New Football Season has Started

Deep Thoughts ... or Something

At Reddit there's a quickly growing thread (started September 10) of people stating the "most mind-blowing thing" they can think of. Some top entries:

• We are the universe experiencing itself. [There are a lot along this line -- I've included just a few.]
• No one is going to remember your memories.
• You are to yourself what your thoughts are, you are to others what your actions are.
• When a photon is emitted from its source, it instantly arrives at its destination from its frame of reference, even if it took it 13 billion years to do so from ours.

The "Pharaoh's Serpent"

Burning mercury thiocyanate (Hg(SCN)₂)is known as the "Pharaoh's Serpent" due to the snake-like product generated when it is burned. It's also really poisonous -- I don't know what these kids are doing.

Santana: Samba Pa Ti (Live, 1998)

"Sky" -- Luminous Photos by Eric Cahan

These are superficially what one might from a series of photos named the "Sky Series" but they're, of course, a lot more: "symphonies of color" I want to write, but I can't write that because it's too pretentious sounding, so pretend I didn't write that even though it's what I meant. In lieu of sounding pretentious as such, I will defer to your assured apperception of their spiritual vision redolent of Rothko's Multiforms during his oevre's late period. Also, they're pretty.

Visiting Eric Cahan's site, as I am sure you will, note the links to the horizontal and the diptych/triptych sets, the sculptue, the what-have- you. Via Illusion.

The Worst Things For Sale

The Worst Things For Sale is a blog by Drew, the author/artist of Toothpaste for Dinner and, with Natalie Dee, Married to the Sea. Their blogs are, well, really damn funny. See also the tumblrs (random here and random there for each blog).

But The Worst Things For Sale is the funniest. Go for the absurd consumerism; stay for the comments.

Likes Obama/Hates Obama

From Buzzfeed. Obama's yo mama.

"Mighty Optical Illussions"

At the right are four concentric circles.

Might Optical Illusions is a blog that  posts an optical illusion everyday, as well as discussing some of the neuroscience and "tricks" behind them. See also Archimedes Laboratory, which has a great set of optical illusions and an illusion of the month (but appears targeted at a younger audience).

Life Among the Stars!

It is now widely believed by astronomers that life -- intelligent life -- life capable of extra-planetary communication, say -- is likely somewhere in the Universe. The reason is that the Universe is so extraordinarily vast that even if the circumstances leading to such "intelligent" life are extraordinarily rare (and they may not be) there is still is ample opportunity for such life to arise. (Here's a fun and interactive Drake equation so you can do your own calculations.)

Nice Photo of a Coronal Mass Ejection

The Sun is heading towards solar maximum likely in February 2013. Related to this, a massive solar prominence erupted from the Sun at the end of August 2012. (NB: the Sun's "prominences" and "filaments" are the same thing: a cool loop of gas held in place by the sun's magnetic field. viewed straight-on, with the Sun as the background, they look black since the body of the sun is much hotter; viewed from the side, on the edge of the sun with space on the background, they glow yellow orange. The eruption of a solar prominence/filament is one major type of coronal mass ejection, the other being a solar flare, a typically hot ejection arising from a solar storm.)  Here, just because it is cool, is a short video of another solar filament erupting in December 2010.  And, no, these do not spell doom for the Earth.

While I'm Quoting Chesterton ...

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.

• G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News (1924) (via Wikiquote)

The simplification of anything is always sensational.

• ..., Varied Types (1903) (via Wikiquote)

Cool Dynamic Periodic Table

There are a lot of interactive periodic tables on the internet, but this is my favorite -- clear, full of layers of information, and is easy to use.

Popular Movies as Russian Lubeki

These are a little dated but every bit as awesome today as the day they were made. Russian artist Andrey Kuznetsov (in Cyrillic Кузнецов Андрей) created an absolutely inspired set of fake traditional Russian  woodblock prints to "tell the story" of famous popular movies. Traditionally such Russian folk prints are known as lubok (plural, usually in meaning including the story, "lubeki"). Although many websites have referred to the lubeki as telling fairy tales, that was only one of the many stories and writings they related. Their primary purpose was, actually, decoration -- even the Tsar decorated with them. After the break I display several of Kuznetsov's series (the easier ones to interpret -- to get them all go to his site).

Les Miserables Trailer

And This is Still True

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

• G. K. Chesterton (1908) (via Lapham's Quarterly)

Photos of the Fall Harvest from Around the World

I'm not sure why I find these compelling -- I do -- but here on the first day of Fall (first moment, actually) are a great set of pictures of the Fall harvest from The Big Picture at the Boston Globe. 

Incredible Tattoos by Csaba Kolozsvari

I have to admit I don't really get the whole tattoo thing. The thing is, they're permanent. Which is maybe the cool thing about the tattoo thing for people who have a thing about  risque things.

That said, the tattoos by Csaba Kolozsvari are perhaps the best tattoos I've ever seen -- and I've seen a lot. The best source to see a sample  is probably to Illusion where I first saw Kolozsvari's work. There's also a short video.

The [English] Beat: Save It For Later

I'm surprised in a way I should not be that they made such a cheesy video, yet this was (and is) a great song. The volume's a little soft. You'll want to turn it up.

The 75th Birthday of "The Hobbit"

There's been a lot of posting around here and all over the intertubz lately about The Hobbit and one may wonder why.  Well. the why is that today is the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. tomorrow is "Hobbit Day" when the birthdays of Bilbo Baggins and his nephew, Frodo Baggins, are traditionally celebrated.  The whole dang week is "Tolkien Week." (NB: the more well read may recognize that their birthdays may have been on September 12 or 14, but the Shire calendar and Gregorian calendars are not quite aligned.)

The Panic of 1907: Why the US Federal Reserve Exists

There are plenty of kooks in the United States who believe the U.S. federal reserve is evil. There are some more mainstream thinkers who oppose the existence or function of the federal reserve, notably proponents of little or no regulation -- followers of Ayn Rand's philosophical/economic ideas for one.

The history of the federal reserve is interesting; this article at Smithsonian discusses its genesis in the Panic of 1907. The Panic arose from the attempt of colorful cooper baron Augustus Heinze, his brother Otto, and financier Charles Morse to do a short squeeze on the holders of short positions on the stock of Heinze's cooper company. The squeeze backfired -- the Heinzes and Morse had far underestimated the amount of stock -- the cooper company's stock price plummeted, and a run on banks and trusts began, sending the Dow plummeting, risking the financial solvency of New York, and severely damaging the national economy. It's an interesting story. Article link via Neatorama.

Sea and Lava

At the Daily Mail there is an incredible set of 33 photos of lava pouring into the ocean off Hawaii. The photos, by Nick Selway and CJ Kale, outdo one after another as one scrolls through them. There's also two photos of one of them (unspecified) getting a photo as he wades chest high in the surf next to the in-flowing lava. The waer is referred to by the Daily Mail as a "baking hot 110F" -- they probably mean "scalding hot" -- though 110 degrees Fahrenheit is just a very hot bath. Found at Dark Roasted Blend.

C0mm0n 4 D1g1+ P455w0rd5

x axis runs from 00xx to 99xx, y axis runs from xx00 to xx99; color on log scale

Nick Berry, a data technology consultant running the website Data Genetics, analyzed data of 4 digit passwords and pin numbers to determine which combinations are the most and which the least used and generally to poke around for other patterns. Using tables of data containing ~3.7 million passwords that had been hacked or uncovered and released, he determined frequency of use. The most common is 1234, which about 10.7% of people use, followed by 1111 (~6%), 0000 (~1.9%), 1212 (~1.2%). The least popular (which surely has changed by disclosing it) was 8068 (~.00007%), though there were many other low use numbers. His article is full of statistical goodness and interesting observations, including some thoughts on how to maintain safe passwords. Via MetaFilter.

US History: Republican Version

Many Republicans are intellectuals. Many are not. An assembly of their deep insights into history from the New Yorker:

1500s: The American Revolutionary War begins: “The reason we fought the revolution in the sixteenth century was to get away from that kind of onerous crown.”—Rick Perry

1607: First welfare state collapses: “Jamestown colony, when it was first founded as a socialist venture, dang near failed with everybody dead and dying in the snow.”—Dick Armey

1619-1808: Africans set sail for America in search of freedom: “Other than Native Americans, who were here, all of us have the same story.”—Michele Bachmann

. . . and it goes on and on

Cut Paper by Jen Stark

Jen Stark is a mostly paper-craft artist -- and I don't mean that disparagingly -- who quickly came to prominence about five to six years ago, shortly after she got out of art school. She was an internet darling or sorts whose work was repeatedly featured at high traffic sites like boing boing and Neatorama.  And there's a good reason for that: her work is really simple, really beautiful, the kind of thing that seems obvious once you've seen it. I recommend her site, and not just for the paper work but for the drawings as well. I was reminded of her work through a post at Boom.

Robert L. Shultz's Graphite and Silverpoint Drawings

Via Devid Sketchbook, a series of meticulous drawings by Robert L. Shultz, who works in graphite and silverpoint. At left just one of many beautiful works.

Dew Covered Insects -- David Chambon

At 500px, a series on dew or mist  covered insects -- and some birds thrown in for good measure -- by David Chambon. Prefer your insects super close and mist free? Then go to my post, here.

"Hobbit" Character Stills

New character stills for each of the fourteen companions (and Gandalf!) in The Hobbit.

Devil Fire

This photo by Chris Tangey and published at The Australian shows a dust devil sucking up a brushfire. The Australian will not allow me to look/link the photo on their site without registering and starting a "free trial period," so no link for you. Seen at boing boing. 

The "New" Alcubierre Warp Drive for Faster than Light Speed Travel (Count Me as a Skeptic)

This, from MetaFilter:

In 1994, theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a scheme for virtual faster than light travel using a real-world analog to the familiar science fiction trope known as "Warp Drive." The basic premise exploited certain space-time warping effects predicted by General Relativity to fold space-time, theoretically allowing a specially designed space craft to reach distant destinations effectively at FTL speeds without actually having to accelerate to light speed or beyond at all. There was, however, at least one major problem with the proposal: The math suggested it would require as much energy as the mass of the planet Jupiter to power the thing. But according to newer calculations based on a modified version of Alcubierre's original proposal, warp speed travel may now theoretically be within reach (warning: eyeball-gouging Space.com link), requiring drastically less energy than originally thought. Of course, not everyone's convinced there's anything to see here. And even so, prohibitive energy input requirements may not be the only serious challenge facing the development of real-world warp drive technology, so don't go packing your bags for that long overdue vacation to Risa just yet.

I, of course, always keep my spacekit packed and ready to go, just in case. [Note to self: make sure sunscreen has not passed expiration date since going back in time may not un-expire it.]

There are a couple of possible problems with the theory however ... just tiny ones.

Who Are You? (And What Defines Your Boundaries, Exactly)?

"Abundant taxa in the human microbiome that have been metagenomically and taxonomically well defined in the HMP population." From the Nature article  Structure, Function and Diversity of the Healthy Human Microbiome.

Scientific American (in an article getting some attention online) links to and discusses several articles in Nature and PLoS One regarding the diversity of the humane biome. The articles are reports of ongoing studies of the Human Microbiome Project ("HMP") to catalog and assess the affect of the numerous microbes that live on and in our bodies. There are -- as should come as no surprise to anyone who paying attention -- trillions of microbes living on us and in us at any time. What is surprising is the diversity of microbes from person to person. There is no doubt, however, that we need many of them to survive (and share those species in common, though lifestyle and genetic factors may affect their prevalence and our health).

New Trailer for "The Hobbit"?

This appears to be a new trailer for The Hobbit:

And this was the first trailer: 

Argh Yer Speakin as a Pirate

I have no idea what that means.  Yet verily this be September 19 and, fer no dercernible reason yar know, 'tis Talk Like a Pirate Day. Here I be with helpful links ter bail yer out with yer mateys:

• The Pirate Quote Generator. Of skeptical provenance.
• Real Pirate Quotes. No arrrs. Looks legit. Sadly.
• Pirate Quotes and Sayings. First quote from ... Johnny Depp; second, from ... Mark Twain. Not a strong effort.
• Mitt Romney Quotes. I have no idea how this got in here.
• Instructional Materials For When Yer Ready to be Freestylin'
• Video instruction
• How to Talk Like a Pirate from Wikihow
• Yet More Instructions

God speed to ye.

I feel like an idiot.

Has Cliffs of Dover Been Overdone? Yes.

Well, whatever ... still.

Romney's Statement and Where Non-payers of Income Taxes Live

Update: I thought this discussion at the Atlantic was better than mine, below.
_______________

I had already written a post on the map at right, when it came out yesterday that Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney said (video link) that Obama's core supporters are people who do not pay income taxes and rely on entitlements. I pay income taxes and I get no entitlements, and I am voting for Obama, albeit I am voting for him for non-partisan reasons.

If Romney's statement is taken simply  as "[t]here are ... people who will vote for the president no matter what," he's right. There are people who will vote against the President or for Mr. Romney no matter what, too.

The problem is he goes well beyond that. Instead of quibbling over his 47% figure, which a few sentences later in the same talk he inflates to "48, 49" -- and the 47% is inflated too -- he slaps people like me and a lot of other people int he face with what is a flat out lie.

The Dark Energy Camera's First Photos

The Dark Energy Camera (the "DECam") is a specially designed camera newly mounted on the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile and designed to take very wide field astronomical photographs towards the red and infrared wavelengths. The goal is to observe and catalog Type Ia supernova (which are white dwarf supernova), baryon (matter) wave fluctuations, galaxy clusters, and gravitational lensing. All of these are potential measures of the amount of dark energy (which drives the expansion of the Universe) and distributions and fluctuations of dark matter (which involves galaxy formation, distribution, and rotation).  According to Fermilab, the DECam has 62 charged-coupled devices (CCDs), which record a total of 570 megapixels per photo. Below the page break, is a very high resolution set of photos (which are how the DECam's photos are collected) from Fermilab's press release. The project involves Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as the US.

Scanning Electron Photographs of Food by Caren Alpert

Pop Tart

Via Colossal, huge, beautiful hyper close-up photographs of food by photographer Caren Alpert. Mostly these are what one would expect except a few thousand times more fantastic. As scanning electron photographs, I assume they're artificially colored (as scanning electron microscopes work by bouncing electrons off objects, not by sensing photons), nonetheless they look, well, delicious.

It's Doodles All the Way Down

A classic from Colossal, the amazing artwork of Japanese artist Sagaki Keita. His work is phenomenally detailed, large often formal pictures arising as the gestalt of tiny funny parts. What is amazing here is not just his effort and the quality of his craft, but his phenomenal imagination as one looks closer and closer.

Craft and imagination to the side, a computer program could be written to compile scanned doodles and generate larger images from them, allowing infinite regress as one zooms in closer and closer or out farther and farther. The doodles would be composed of doodles that would be composed of doodles ... in other words, a recursive dynamic photo mosaic (with fitting for irregular boundaries).

What makes Sagaki Keita's work wonderful, however, is the personal touch he brings; if it were purely created by computer, it would be nothing but a novelty.

Here Be Dragons: Maps on the Geological History of the United States

I previously posted on Codex 99's two part series on the development of the US "National Atlas," and one interesting thing I noticed were the changes in the geological maps of the US.  The geological history of the US has not changed.  So what has changed is what is understood or, more exactly, what is reported as fact since no unknowns or margins of error was reported with these maps. They are printed as known and exact knowledge, when it is evident that (at least until recently) that knowledge was quite inexact.

I Cannot Understate the Unimportance of this "Momentous" Post

When I first began this blog almost two months ago I descried it as "[a] blog about science, law, language, and the arts." Well, I've had exactly one post so far tagged "language" -- a rant (footnoted, I want to note) about how words do not have meaning but convey meaning. It was deeply insightful.

With this in mind, I wish to note for you, my dear likely well spoken reader, that people -- and by "people" I mean "people who are speakers of English in the United States" -- often use the phrase "cannot understate" to mean "cannot overstate," a loathsome phrase itself for many reasons.¹  My friends at the blog Language Log -- and by "friends" here I mean "intellectual superiors" -- which, by the way, says more insightful things about language in general and English in particular than I will ever muster here -- have carefully analyzed this situation. Here's Language Log's list of relevant posts (yikes):

The Color Field Paintings of Virginia Leonard

Virginia Leonard is an abstract expressionistic color field painter from New Zealand. Very beautiful, feeling work.

"The National Atlas (Part II)"

Codex 99 has completed its great series on "The National Atlas," which I originally discussed here. Part II covers the development of an actual National Atlas, the prior versions having been extensions of the US decennial census, efforts that were eventually abandoned. In the 60's beautiful large format paper maps were developed and published in 1970.  The maps of the Atlas can be found online at the US Library of Congress and University of Texas's Perry-Castañeda LibraryMap Collection. The National Atlas, such as it is, can now be found online through the US National Geological Survey, with similar maps available through the US Census Bureau. Codex 99 displays one beautiful NGS map, The North America Tapestry of Time and Terrain, similar to some of the content of the Atlas.

Hula Hooping From the Perspective of the Hula Hoop

At Burning Man -- Not Particularly Safe For Work (NPSFW?)

The Odd Fact

From Buzzfeed, a variety of facts that are supposed to blow our minds. You have to move down the list to find the really interesting things. Like if the Sun were the same size as a white blood cell, the Milky Way Galaxy would be the size of the continental United States. Hmmm ...

Know Your Cartoon Characters

As a public service, We here at Galileo Feynman bring you this important link so that you may know the difference between Gordon Shumway and Aloysius Snuffleupagus.  We will now return to our normal blogging.

2Cellos Play Smooth Criminal

Great Short Science Fiction

Apropos of nothing other than listing them for the dusty annals of posterity, here's a list of the best science fiction short stories and novellas of all time I've ever read. It's the list I'd recommend to someone if they were seriously interested in the genre. I'm told making such lists is what blogs are for. Anyway ... as is obvious I've linked to text or pdf versions where I could find them, and annoyingly called them all "classics," listing them in no certain order:

• The Time Machine, H.G. Wells [link] [back-up link]
  The classic story about time travel and the future of humanity as well as segmentation of society into the haves (the Eloi) and the have-nots (the Morlocks). The Time Machine has been adapted to film many times.
• Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes [link] [back-up link] 
  Classic story about modifying intelligence and the tragedy of technology; subsequently expanded to a novel and then a wide release movie. Very smart, well written, and moving.

"Boogie Woogie" -- This Rocks, Plain and Simple

Robots

Robots, a collection of images from Creaturebox at the Behance Network. That is all.

The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

Via a link from James Gurney's wonderful blog, Gurney Journey, we have The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator, an unquestionably essential tool to be used here often.  Frankly, I'm surprised that no one's mentioned yet that the aura of the sexy fish verges on codifying a participation in the critical dialogue of the 90s.

Likewise, as a sometimes practicing "artist" (not that one would know that here), we find Gurney's own Artist Statement Generator invaluable.

"The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law"

This is actually pretty good. Here's the "first episode" -- you need to proceed in order -- but the series, in progress since December 2011, has just been completed. Via Meta Filter.