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2006-12-06
This is a pretty cool website filled with alternative alphabets for both natural and constructed languages. Some of the coolest are the Betamaze alphabet which forms a maze when written.
Betamaze - I think; therefore I am.
I also like Chromaphonoglyphics.
* Vowels are represented as pure color, filling the space enclosed by surrounding consonantal shapes.
* Consonant blends, sometimes referred to as consonant clusters, are considered individual letters, resulting in an alphabet of 210 symbols and 13 vowel colors.
* Words whose symbol plus punctuation count is 8 or less all occupy a single square, with the very small percentage of words longer than this accommodated by a continuation feature.
* Syllables within a word are stacked vertically from top to bottom, with their heights compressed as necessary depending on how many a word contains.
* Punctuation is indicated by black-and-white pattern-filled shapes appended at the bottom (or top) of the word after which they would be postpended (or before which they would be prepended) in normal writing.
* Digits are indicated by spelling out their first syllable, with numbers assembled by stacking up to three digits per word square.
See the Tower of Babel story translated into Chromaphonoglyphics here.
2006-11-19
Today I showcase the power and wonder of the internet through a list I've complied of niche dating sites. Enjoy, and potentially find someone just like you to love!
Millionare Match
Does your economic success make it difficult for you to meet that special someone? Why try other dating websites that can only claim to get results, when you can meet tens of thousands of successful and quality singles and friends right here!
Date My Pet
Whether you are looking for a life partner, or just someone to hang out with, here you'll be able to find exactly who you are looking for - pet lovers like yourself. It's fun, interactive, safe and anonymous - until you decide to take it further.
Biker Kiss
This is a great place for bikers to get to know each other and talk about their interests, or to help others with their problems. Hundreds of thousands of members include riders of Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, Honda, Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Gold Wing, BMW, Triumph, BSA, Indian Motorcycles, Choppers as well as all other motorcycles.
Wine Singles
Wine singles brings you a new concept in online dating. We make online dating Fun, Interesting and Exciting by creating "THE" destination for singles interested in meeting winelovers and learning more about wine. In addition, you have access to some of the best wine, social and single events giving you several FUN opportunities to meet people of style and substance, maybe even the love of your life.
Recovering Mates
Recovering mates.com is the premiere online dating service where all types of recovery are welcome. Sign up now for access to the largest database of sober singles and join the online dating movement that values the recovery lifestyle. Sober dating has never been so simple.
STD Singles
STD Singles is a socials and personals website specializing in STD and Herpes dating for people with HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and other sexually transmitted diseases. Creating a profile is absolutely free and will allow you to access the latest STD news, newsletters, and chats. It's fun, interactive, safe and anonymous -- until you decide to take it further.
Adventist Options
hile attempting to meet the social needs of Seventh-day Adventist men and women, we firmly believe that true contentment is found only in Jesus Christ and by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is our desire that strong and healthy relationships between Seventh-day Adventist Christians will develop by the use of this site.
And some honorable mentions:
Date-a-Golfer - Find people to golf with.
Whispers for You - for the "differently abled"
The Atlasphere - for Ayn Rand fans
2006-11-06
This visual representation of the federal budget for 2007 is quite interesting and well done. It covers everything in the federal budget with both a money amount allocated, and the percentage change in the amount of money as compared to last year. Viewable through the website, and also available as a poster.
Gigantic Death and Taxes on display at the Department of Energy.
Also, if you opt to buy a poster for your favorite congress member, the total cost (including shipping) is only $10 (as compared to the $24 plus shipping if you want one for yourself).
2006-10-30
This is a great article written by Walter E. Williams, a professor of economics at George Mason University.
I personally believe that economics is fun and valuable. People who say they found it a nightmare in college just didn’t have a good teacher-professor. I became a good teacher-professor as a result of tenacious mentors during my graduate study at UCLA. Professor Armen Alchian, a very distinguished economist, used to give me a hard time in class. But one day, we were having a friendly chat during our department’s weekly faculty/graduate-student coffee hour, and he said, “Williams, the true test of whether someone understands his subject is whether he can explain it to someone who doesn’t know a darn thing about it.” That’s a challenge I love: making economics fun and understandable.
One of the things I particularly admire about Williams' article is that he pays particular attention to the differences between normative (judgement calls, what should we do?) and positive (pure theory, action and reaction) economics. He encourages you to learn the lingo and understand it enough to use it to get what you want.
Another part of this particular lecture to my students is that by no means do I suggest that they purge their vocabulary of normative or subjective statements. Such statements are useful tools for tricking people into doing what you want them to do. You tell your father that you need a cell phone and he should buy you one. There’s no evidence whatsoever that you need a cell phone. After all, George Washington managed to lead our nation to defeat Great Britain, the mightiest nation on Earth at the time, without owning a cell phone.
2006-10-26
Those who know me know that I am kind of a walking advertisment for Google. But I appreciate them as a company because they are continually doing cool stuff for me! Yes, they have effectively bought my love yet again.
This time they have made many horror classics availiable for free through their Google Book Search.
Since we've digitized the full text of these stories and novels, you can search every word. But that's not all -- whenever you see a Download button, you're free to download, save and print a PDF version to read at your own pace. And if you decide you want to buy a bound copy, "All editions" will show you multiple editions, many of which are available for purchase.
Books available for download include Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Turn of the Screw, the Tell-Tale Heart and many other great stories. And there are a lot more you can read online.
2006-09-26
To the unsuspecting observer Avast News looks like a regular news site. It is one of my favorite sites to check when someone is reading over my shoulder.
Avant News is a one-of-a-kind news source that provides the ultimate in late-breaking news: news that hasn't even broken yet. News that won't break for weeks, months, years, or centuries. News that, in fact, may never break, because it is news from the future, stories that at the time of their writing represent data and occurrences that take place in only one of a potentially infinite number of possible futures. In other words, each news item is transmitted verbatim as intercepted at the time of transmission and is historically accurate, but the future's history is constantly changing and recent events in the past's future may have rendered them inaccurate prior to the time in which they received.
Tommorows news, Today!
2006-09-25
This is my favorite of the breast cancer awareness events that I have seen. It approaches the fairly serious topic of breast cancer with a sort of irreverence that I think is admirable. This yearly event features bloggers showing their (covered and uncovered) breasts in order to raise money for charity during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Among the photos submitted are the breasts of the event's creator Robyn (of Shutterblog), Regina Lynn of Wired's Sex Drive, my own lovely boobies, and the breasts of many cancer survivors.
Naked breast pictures go into a special section available only to those who donate over $50. Last year the event raised nearly $10,000.
2006-09-14
These photos where taken by George Borman while on a guided tour of Chernobyl. The city has been all but abandoned since the nuclear disaster that occured there in April 1986.
Some of the images are not particularly spectacular. Others remind me of every horror movie about the apocalypse I've ever seen, like the one above of gas masks littering the floor of an abandoned school. My other favorites include the photo of a childs doll lying in the middle of the street, and old soviet propaganda that hasn't been touched in 20 years. Probably one of the only places in Russia (actually, what is now Ukraine) where the old hammer and sickle still lay around.
2006-09-10
Most recent I have started to make white paper cuts/sculptures inspired by fairytales and romanticism exploring the relationship between two and three dimensionality, between image and reality. I find the materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form as an almost magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is as well an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts.
I find the A4 sheet of paper interesting to work with, because it probably still is the most common and consumed media and format for carrying information today, and in that sense it is something very loaded. This means that we rarely notice the actual materiality of the A4 paper. By removing all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white 80gms A4 paper as basic for my creations, I feel that I have found a material which, on one hand, we all are able to relate to, and which on the other hand is non-loaded and neutral and therefore easier to fill with different meanings. The thin white paper gives at the same time the paper sculptures a fragility which underlines the tragic and romantic theme of the works.
2006-09-06
Old news? Maybe. Really fucking cool? Definitely.
Freshly done tattoo
From the Wired blog on the subject:
Tattoo artist Richie, who lives and works in Colorado, has been offering UV blacklight reactive ink to his clients for most of his 4-year career. "Three and a half years ago, I was asked by a friend about the UV ink," Richie says. "So I did a little research and got a sample of the ink and all the paperwork explaining how it was made and how safe it is. After trying a small sample on myself, I began to use the ink."
Fully healed tattoo
The second cool thing about UV reactive tattoos (ya know, apart from the fact that they glow) is that once healed, the UV ink is undetectable in natural light. Completely work friendly!
Same tattoo under both normal light and blacklight.
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