Source:
HALLOWEEN AIEEEEEEEEEEEE- EEE
Daryl Cagle. Cagle Cartoons

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Spiderman & Dr. Octavious

Birth Costume

Posted at 07:03 AM in Art & Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pretty damned cool

(where's the clutch?)

Posted at 09:55 AM in Design, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

ginormous version:   Worldurlmaps1200.jpg

via Strange Maps

Posted at 06:20 AM in Art & Design, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pseudo-Live performance

Posted at 06:48 AM in Music, The Beatles, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wow!

via boingboing

Posted at 08:12 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Its nearly a full moon; good to kow the Coral are keeping an eye on things:

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even lowly corals do it — but infrequently, forgoing sex for as long as a year.

      

Then, at night, just after the full moon, under warm tropic breezes, the corals dissolve in an orgy of reproduction, sowing waters with trillions of eggs and sperm that swirl and dance and merge to form new life. The frenzy can leave pink flotsam.

Scientists discovered the mysterious rite of procreation in 1981 and ever since have puzzled over its details. The moon clearly rules the synchronized mass spawning, which happens during different months in different parts of the globe, but usually in the summer. But how do corals monitor the moon’s phases and know when to start mingling?

Today, seven scientists from Australia, Israel and the United States report in the journal Science that corals have primitive photoreceptors, if not true eyes. In experiments, they found that the photosensitive chemicals respond to moonlight as admirably as, well, human lovers.

“This looks to be the smoking gun,” Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a team member at the University of Queensland, said in an interview. “It triggers the largest spawning event on the planet.”

Source:
Sexy Corals Keep ‘Eye’ on Moon, Scientists Say   
WILLIAM J. BROAD
NYT, October 19, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/science/19coral.html

Posted at 05:51 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hysterical!

Posted at 04:11 PM in Politics, Television, Video | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Fascinating:

Posted at 06:17 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A stunningly revealing interview that Jon Stewart conducted with Easy Al on the 9/18 “Daily Show."  It’s telling that the fin media and Street are ignoring Easy Al’s answers.

Easy Al admits to Jon Stewart:

1) Excess money causes inflation.
2) Fed easy credit favors stock market operators at the expense of savers. 
3) The Fed believes that the market trades more on perception of what the Fed is or will do instead of the actual policies. 
4) The Fed must make the market perceive that the system is sound.
5) The presence of the Fed guarantees there is no ‘free market’. 
6) He still can’t forecast the economy or whether there is a bubble or too much exuberance.

Here's a transcript of the interview (via Dummy Spots):

Stewart: (after Greenspan’s explanation that the market moves on expectations of the Fed move, not the fundamentals of it) So the Fed, or whoever’s leading it, if they wanted to could in fact “goof” on all of us...         

Greenspan: (smiles) You wouldn’t want to.

Stewart: When you say “Open Market,” I always wonder... Why do we have a Fed? Wouldn’t the market take care of interest rates and all that? Why do we have someone adjusting rates if we are a free market society? 

Greenspan: We didn’t need a central bank when we were on the Gold Standard . .  . [Conspiracy theorists note- the Fed was created 20 years BEFORE we decoupled from the Gold Std] . . .  people would buy and sell gold and the markets would do what the Fed does now. . . but by the 1930s most everybody in the  world decided that the Gold Standard was strangling the economy and universally the Gold Standard was abandoned...you need somebody out there or some mechanism to determine how much money is out there because the amount of money in an economy relates to the amount of inflation...

Stewart: So we’re not a free market then - there is an invisible...a “benevolent” hand that touches us...

Greenspan: Absolutely, you are quite correct. To the extent that there is a central bank governing the amount of money in the system, that is not a Free Market, and most people call it regulation.

Stewart: When you lower interest rates, it drives money to stocks and lowers the return people get on savings.      

Greenspan: Yes, indeed.

Stewart: So they’ve made a choice - “We would like to favor those who invest in the stock market and not those who [save]”... 

Greenspan: That’s the way it comes out, but that’s not the way we think about it.

Stewart: Explain that to me. It seems to me that we favor investment, but we don’t favor work. The vast majority of people work, they pay payroll taxes, and they use banks. And then there’s this whole other world of hedge funds and short betting... y’know, it seems like craps. And they keep saying, “No no no, don’t worry about it, it’s Free Market, that’s why we live in much bigger houses.” But it really is, it’s the Fed, or some other thing, no?

Greenspan: I think you’d better re-read my book. 

Stewart: Am I wrong that we penalize work by not making the choice to...

Greenspan: No, what a sound money system does is to stabilize the elements in it and reduce the uncertainty that people confront, and when people confront uncertainty they withdraw and it reduces economic activity...

Stewart: So it’s all about perception then. It’s about making people believe the system is sound. If the stock market is high, people feel confident in spending, and if it lowers, they feel less confident?

Greenspan: Well...uh...I think you have to realize, there are certain aspects of human nature, which  move exactly the way you defined it. The problem is, periodically we all go a little bit euphoric until we are assuming with confidence that everything is terrific, there will be no problems, nothing will ever happen, and then it dawns on us- NO!

Stewart: And then it goes the other way.   

Greenspan: Exactly.   

Stewart: Huge Fear.

Greenspan: I was telling my colleagues the other day...I’d been dealing with these big mathematical models for forecasting the economy, and I’m looking at what’s going on the last few weeks and I say, “Y’know, if I could figure out a way to determine whether or not people are more fearful, or changing to euphoric... I don’t need any of this other stuff. I could forecast the economy better than any way I know.  The trouble is, we can’t figure that out. I’ve been in the forecasting business for 50 years, and I’m no better than I ever was, and nobody else is either.”

Stewart: (Leans back in chair)...You just bummed the sh*t outta me!

And here's something I never thought I would type:  Alan Greenspan on The Daily Show

Video via Comedy Central

Posted at 06:43 AM in Books, Finance, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This is now the largest evacuation in the U.S. since Katrina: 250,000  513,000.

Source: Google Maps San Diego County Fires

Charities:

Donations to help fire victims can be made at SD Foundation or by calling 619-235-2300

American Red Cross
http://www.sdarc.org/site/pp.asp?c=erKQL4NQE&b=3510321

Volunteer San Diego: Make a donation to Volunteer San Diego's Disaster Program is made possible by donations of time and money.

Local residents who wish to donate emergency supplies and personal necessities are advised to contact:

St. Vincent De Paul - 619-446-2100
Goodwill - 886-446-6394
Salvation Army - 619-231-6000

Money collected will first go towards supporting the disaster volunteer recruitment efforts for the wildfires. Additional funds will support year-round disaster preparedness and volunteer programs. You can donate online here or mail your donation to:

Volunteer San Diego
4699 Murphy Canyon Road
San Diego, CA 92123

Local Emergency Information:

County Emergency Page:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dmpr/emer/index.html

Emergency Hotel Lodging Assistance
800-918-4182
www.arestravel.com

Updates via Sign On San Diego's news blog:
http://fireblog.signonsandiego.com

Additional Resources:

Fire Information Engine 

Fire Information - National Fire News

Google Maps San Diego County Fires

NOAA California Fire Weather web page   

Southern California Situation Report

Posted at 08:29 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Longtime NYT and Macworld tech columnist David Pogue has been keeping a list of nagging questions: Pogue's Imponderables:

* Why is Wi-Fi free at cheap hotels, but $14 a night at expensive ones?

* What happens to software programs when their publishers go out of business?

* Would the record companies sell more music online if it weren't copy-protected?

* Do cellphones cause brain cancer?

* What's the real reason you have to turn off your laptop for takeoff?

* Why can't a digital S.L.R. camera record video?

* Wi-Fi on airplanes. What's taking so long?

* Who are the morons who respond to junk-mail offers, thereby keeping spammers in business?

* I'm told that they could make a shirt-pocket digital camera that takes pictures like an S.L.R., but it would cost a lot. So why don't they make one for people who can afford it?

* How come there are still no viruses for Mac OS X? If it has 6 percent of the market, shouldn't it have 6 percent of the viruses?

* Do shareware programmers pay taxes on all those $20 contributions?

* How are we going to preserve all of our digital photos and videos for future generations?

* Why are there no federal rebates or tax credits for solar power?

* Why do you have to take tape camcorders out of your carry-on at airport security, but not the tapeless kind? Couldn't you hide a bomb equally well in either one? (Actually, I have about 500 more logic questions about the rules at airport security, but I have a feeling they'll remain answerless for a very long time.)

* Laptops, cameras and cellphones have improved by a thousand percent in the last ten years. Why not their batteries?

* SmartDisplay, Spot Watch, U.M.P.C., Zune… when will Microsoft realize that it's not a hardware company?

* Why don't public sinks have foot pedals?

* Why don't all hotels have check-in kiosks like airlines do?

* Five billion dollars a year spent on ringtones? What the?

* How come cellphone signal-strength bars are so often wrong?

* Do P.R. people really expect anyone to believe that the standard, stilted, second-paragraph C.E.O. quote was really uttered by a human being?

* Why aren't there recycling bins for bottles and cans where they're most obviously needed, like food courts and cafeterias?

* Why doesn't someone start a cellphone company that bills you only for what you use? That model works O.K. for the electricity, gas and water companies —and people would beat a path to its door.

* Why doesn't everyone have lights that turn off automatically when the room is empty?

* What's the deal with Palm?

* Why are so many people rude on the Internet?

If you know the answers, by all means—fill us in at nytimes.com/pogue.

Posted at 06:05 AM in Current Affairs, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I remember these on TV when I was a kid  . . .

Posted at 06:46 AM in Music, The Beatles, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

How frickin' cool is this absurd, retro futuristic, tube powered, $750  iPod doc?
(speakers NOT included)

>

Roth Audio Music Cocoon

Back:

Roth Audio

Posted at 06:50 AM in Art & Design, Design, Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In what has to be one of the most brazen examples of click whoring I have ever come across, is this list of “20 timeless money rules” from CNN/Money Magazine

I won’t lift their copyrighted material, but let me save you the 20 clicks: Here are a collection of quotes that addresses the same issues that CNN addresses:

1. Be humble
When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it--this is knowledge.
--Confucius

2. Take calculated risks
He that is overcautious will accomplish little.
--Friedrich von Schiller

3. Have an emergency fund
For age and want, save while you may; no morning sun lasts a whole day.
--Benjamin Franklin

4. Mix it up
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
--Miguel de Cervantes

5. It's the portfolio, stupid
Asset allocation...is the overwhelmingly dominant contributor to total return.
--Gary Brinson, Brian Singer and Gilbert Beebower

6. Average is the new best
The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund.
--Warren Buffett

7. Practice patience
It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It was always my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
--Edwin Lefevre

8. Don't time the market
The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.
--Peter Lynch

9. Be a cheapskate
Performance comes and goes, but costs roll on forever.
--Jack Bogle

10. Don't follow the crowd
Fashion is made to become unfashionable.
--Coco Chanel

11. Buy low
If a business is worth a dollar and I can buy it for 40 cents, something good may happen to me.
--Warren Buffett

12. Invest abroad
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
--St. Augustine

13. Keep perspective
There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
--Harry Truman

14. Just do it
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

15. Borrow responsibly
As life closes in on someone who has borrowed far too much money on the strength of far too little income, there are no fire escapes.
--John Kenneth Galbraith

16. Talk to your spouse
"In every house of marriage there's room for an interpreter."
--Stanley Kunitz

17. Exit gracefully
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
--Pablo Picasso

18. Pay only your share
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.
--John Maynard Keynes

19. Give wisely
The time is always right to do the right thing.
--Martin Luther King Jr.

20. Keep money in its place
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
--Jonathan Swift

Never hurts to learn from people smarter and/or more experienced than yourself . . .

>

Source:
20 timeless money rules
Carla Fried
Money Magazine, August 7, 2007
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0708/gallery.20_rules.moneymag/index.html

Posted at 05:55 AM in Finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ron Mueck is a London-based artist, makes giant photo-realist Human sculptures: A Ron Mueck Exhibition Opened November 3, 2006 at the Brooklyn Museum.

There is a full run of his work on flickr . . . here are some of the more interesting works:

Here's more on Mueck, via Snopes:

Ron Mueck is a London-based photo-realist artist. Born in Melbourne , Australia , to parents who were toy makers, he labored on children's television shows for 15 years before working in special effects for such films as Labyrinth, a 1986 fantasy epic starring David Bowie.

Mueck then started his own company in London, making models to be photographed for advertisements. He has lots of the dolls he made during his advertising years stored in his home. Although some still have a presence on their own. Many were made just to be photographed from a particular angle -one strip of a face, for example, with a lot of loose material lurking an inch outside the camera's frame.

Eventually Mueck concluded that photography pretty much destroys the physical presence of the original object, and so he turned to fine art and sculpture.

In the early 1990's, still in his advertising days, Mueck was commissioned to make something highly realistic, and was wondering what material would do the trick. Latex was the usual, but he wanted something harder, more precise. Luckily, he saw a little architectural decor on the wall of a boutique and inquired as to the nice, pink stuff's nature. Fiberglass resin was the answer, and Mueck has made it his bronze and marble ever since.

The attention to detail and sheer technical brilliance of his figures are incredible, but it is Mueck's use of scale that takes your breath away..

Ron Mueck's work became world-famous when a poignant sculpture of his dead fathers small, naked body caused shock waves in the Royal Academy'SSensation exhibition in 1997.

His work is lifelike but not life size, and being face to face with the tiny, gossiping Two Women (2005) or the monumental woman In Bed (2005) is an unforgettable experience

Mueck's huge 4.5m crouching Boy was the centerpiece of the Millennium Dome in London and of the Venice Biennale in 2001. The artist's work is becoming ever more intriguing, ranging from smaller-than-life size naked figures to much larger, but never actual, life size.

Consequently his hyper-realistic sculptures in fiberglass and silicone, while extraordinarily lifelike, challenge us by their odd scale. The psychological confrontation for the viewer is to recognize and assimilate two contradictory realities.

Posted at 06:46 AM in Art & Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fascinating and bizarre (NSFW)

via Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/culture/art/multimedia/2007/10/video_robotsex

Posted at 06:28 AM in Art & Design, Film, Video | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

I thought I had taken the courtesy thing about as far as I could push it, with my LIRR Commuter from Hell. It was just anti-social enough to help me deal with the cretins and keep the blood pressure down.

Now, I see another pinhead has taken this concept to a whole new level: 

Long Island resident John Clifford has, by his own account, punched one woman in the head and poured his coffee on another. He's interrupted cell-phone conversations and yelled at others who managed to make his morning commute from Long Beach to Penn Station miserable. Clifford says he's tired of rude behavior.

The retired New York City police officer, who is now a lawyer, has been arrested or issued a summons by MTA police eight times since March 2003 for his conduct on trains and at Penn Station. He says his friends call him the "train terrorist."

Through all of his arrests, Clifford said, none of the charges have stuck because his accusers never show up in court. The police officers and train conductors who wrote the formal complaints never witnessed his actions.

But Gerry Bringmann, of the LIRR Commuter's Council says Clifford is "a vigilante" whose aggressive actions should not be tolerated.  Clifford has a November court date for his latest dustup, a March incident in which he smacked a woman and yelled at a man riding the train with him. He says all he wants is for the LIRR to designate one car on each train a quiet car, where loud talking and cell-phone conversations would be forbidden.

That's awesome . . .

>

Source:
LIRR 'train terrorist' takes courtesy enforcement to new level
Eyewitness News
Long Beach - WABC, October 15, 2007) -
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5707708

Posted at 05:30 AM in LIRR Commuter From Hell | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Lijit Search

Posted at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wearing your anatomy on your skin:

via Street Anatomy
http://streetanatomy.com/blog/?p=132

Posted at 06:42 AM in Art & Design, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Giant_planes_comparison.svg

Posted at 06:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The recording of:

Posted at 06:38 AM in Music, The Beatles, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Eeesh! Gross!

via kottke

Posted at 12:31 PM in Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Tom Toles via Yahoo!

Posted at 06:12 AM in Idiot!, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Edgar Cruz - Bohemian Rhapsody (classical guitar)

Posted at 06:25 AM in Music, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Terrific graphic via Jennifer Daniel:

Posted at 06:31 AM in Art & Design, Finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dove warns parents about their own industry

Posted at 06:29 AM in Current Affairs, Media, Philosophy, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Jon Stewart torments Chris Matthews about his book:

Posted at 05:48 PM in Books, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

click for ginormous version:

Posted at 05:50 AM in Finance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I love the lip synching . . .

Posted at 06:36 AM in Music, The Beatles, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Way cool:

Posted at 06:43 AM in Photo Caption Contest! | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I pulled this off of somewhere, and now I cannot remember where -- but I do love this graphic:

Posted at 06:22 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Every song on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1946:

Posted at 06:26 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pat Oliphant via Yahoo

Posted at 07:26 AM in Humor, Politics, Religion | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Calling it as they see it:   

Posted at 06:38 AM in Idiot!, Politics, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Interesting graphic:

Source:
The Everyman Who Exposed Tainted Toothpaste
WALT BOGDANICH
NYT, October 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/world/americas/01panama.html

Posted at 10:38 AM in Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack