Shared posts

22 Jul 20:13

Thalassophobia

by Don
Christopher Lantz

The novel I'm writing comes from me overcoming this fear.

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This extreme fear of the sea if often associated with illustrated depictions of large sea monsters shared on sites like DeviantArt.

22 Jul 20:11

How Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard came up with their big ideas

by Mark Frauenfelder

Funny 2012 video from Cracked. (Thanks, LDoBe!)

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22 Jul 19:57

Stephen Colbert made a text adventure about getting locked in a closet

by Laura Hudson
Christopher Lantz

I'm a sucker for old text adventures.

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Stephen Colbert's new Late Show gig doesn't start till September, so what's he doing in the meantime? According to the free game released by his official website, the answer is "stumbling into a closet." Escape from the Man-Sized Cabinet, a Twine-based text game that you can play in your browser, follows Colbert on a journey into a Narnia-esque world where he meets a centaur named Randall and (kind of) fights evil.

Technically, Colbert didn't write it—he's a busy man, after all. Instead, the game was summoned into being by writer Rob Dubbin, along with fellow Colbert writers Daniel Kibblesmith and Cullen Crawford and artist Tim Luecke.

If you've played Twine games before—and we've certainly spent a lot of time at Offworld trying to make you—you'll notice many of the familiar hallmarks of the popular interactive fiction tool. At one point, you (Colbert) can click to cycle endlessly through a pre-show to-do list with bullet points like "reconcile quantum theory with relativity," "save cheerleader, world" and "steal Christmas." While I've often seen this technique used to dramatic effect by Twine creators like Porpentine, it's fascinating to see it deployed by seasoned comedy writers in a way that feels a bit like a writer's room brainstorm.

The game hints a little bit at the anticipation for The Late Show; one of the first questions from Randall the Centaur is exactly how the new show is going to work without the Colbert Report persona we've all come to know and expect. While the game doesn't necessarily offer any answers, it's free to play in your browser right now, and takes but a few minutes.

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22 Jul 18:40

Alcoholic Architecture, A Unique Pop-Up Event in London That Features a Walk-In Cloud of Vaporized Cocktails

by Lori Dorn

Straw

In 2009, event producers Bompas & Parr created Alcoholic Architecture, a unique pop-up experience in which vaporized gin and tonics filled a room for participants to inhale and absorb.

Visitors donned protective suits and stepped into a mist of vaporised gin and tonic, which they imbibed through inhaling. Doctors were our mixologists for the event, performing a complex series of calculations to calibrate the ratio of alcohol to mixer. Vaporising the cocktail heightened the flavour of the G&T and reduced visibility to less than a meter. Taste became spatialised as a public realm, scaled up from bodily interior to building interior. In this way the cocktail became architecture – an immersive, habitable environment.

A similar experience is being recreated by Bompas & Parr at London’s Borough Market, premiering July 31, 2015 and continuing throughout the month of August 2015. Tickets are available online.

Bompas & Parr’s Alcoholic Architecture arrives in Borough Market, featuring a walk-in cloud of breathable cocktail as part of an installation that explodes drinks to the scale of architecture. In this fully immersive alcohol environment- the cloud is entirely composed of fine spirits and mixer at a ratio of 1:3 and made using powerful humidifiers to super-saturate the air- alcohol enters the bloodstream through primarily the lungs but also the eyeballs. …Visits to Alcoholic Architecture are based on timed entries and experiences are limited to a maximum of 50 minutes per group.

Alcoholic Architecture

Gin Mist

Alcoholic Architecture Red

Henricks

images via Alcoholic Architecture

via The Creator’s Project

22 Jul 17:40

Donald Duck taught me how to play billiards

by Michael Borys
Christopher Lantz

Best Disney cartoon ever.

Are you too young to remember the television series, The Wonderful World Of Disney? It ran once a week and you never knew what you were going to get.  It may have been a classic Disney film, a live action tour of the Disney parks or a set of animated shorts.

If you've never seen the show, you're probably also unfamiliar with Donald In Mathmagic Land.

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Sure the art and storytelling was as beautiful as you'd expect from a Disney production, but this piece was different from the others.   Somehow it educated as perfectly as it entertained.

061609_NF_F_D59_Feat4The first time I saw it I took mental notes and patiently waited a long, long time for it to air again.  Each week I would pray to the programming gods for my wish to come true and one day it did.  This time, I was ready with paper and pencil so that I could take actual notes.

During the cartoon I learned about Pythagoras, the golden ratio and the history of music.  But to me, the most important lesson was on the game of billiards.  I grew up with a pool table and I played a lot more than any kid should.  I read my parent's books on the game, I drained the local library of what they had on the subject but this cartoon taught me more about the table and angles than any book ever could.

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I think it was because in the story, Donald Duck himself was learning and playing the game with me.  Because it took so long between viewings, Donald and I were evolving together.

And here's the thing...I guarantee that if you are not already an advanced pool player, you will become better just by watching this masterpiece.  For me, it turned on a giant light bulb over my head.

UnknownSee Michael, a passionate collector of artifacts and designer of unique puzzles, at Boing Boing's three-day extravaganza, the Weekend of Wonder, running Sept. 18-20. A weekend of workshops, tech demons and wild performances, there'll be plenty of fun surprises!

I remember running downstairs with my notes to try out the new concepts I had just learned. The angles of the game were no longer a complete mystery after experiencing this magical cartoon.  I also found that the new knowledge could be applied to other games that dealt with spheres and angles like racquetball, squash and wallyball.  In fact, getting better at that game had an upward spiral effect on other aspects of my life.  That game, during difficult times was my best friend.

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Once you've seen this animated short you will think about billiards in a whole new way.  You may even see shots and angles in your sleep...not that I do.

If you haven't experienced Donald In Mathmagic Land, you don't have to hope and pray for it to be the episode of the week.  Just go to Youtube and watch it now.

 

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And if you ever want to play a few games, just look me up.

I'll be the guy at the table with the talking duck.

 

 

22 Jul 17:39

The phenomenon of the Breakup Explanation status update

by Nicole Dieker
Christopher Lantz

Interesting point. For those who like to share such information to a mass audience. I'm still a bit ol' fashioned and apply heavy filters to those I interact with online. If the narrative of such an event is important to you, I can tell you in person.

On December 5, 2012, musician Jonathan Mann posted Song A Day #1435.

It was titled “We’ve Got to Break Up.

Although I had worked with Jonathan Mann previously, I knew very little about his personal life. I watched this video several times, examining the elegant and kind way Mann and his ex-girlfriend sang about the end of their relationship and defined the boundaries they would have going forward. It was the first time I had seen anything like it.

You don’t have to choose
Though it will be awkward, yes
Just invite us to your parties and we’ll work it out
Don’t feel weird, we love all of you

Now, we see these types of status updates all the time. They show up on Facebook or Tumblr or via Twitter link, and carefully explain that the people involved in the breakup want to maintain an amicable relationship while still sharing a catalog of friends. They’ll note which partner is changing living arrangements, or offer suggestions about how to include all parties at social events. Sometimes, they’ll simply say that nobody involved wants to share details about the breakup and trust silence to stand in for privacy.

When our personal lives become public through YouTube, blog posts, and social media, our breakups become public as well. We want to share this aspect of our lives in a way that makes sense with the rest of our public story. So we shape and create a narrative that is both true and just enough; that is, like Jonathan Mann’s example, both elegant and kind.

In case you think that this type of story-shaping is a uniquely Facebook-related phenomenon, remember that we’ve always communicated with each other through stories. The “how was your weekend” story we tell to our boss on Monday morning; the “what did you think of The Walking Dead” story we text to a friend after the season finale; and the story of our relationships, edited and embellished for various audiences. A coworker might not need to know that you and a partner are having a fight, a parent might receive a calm version of the story with an emphasis on how maturely you are handling the situation, and your closest friend will get the “that asshole” narrative.

And, as anybody who’s been in a relationship knows, saying “that asshole” to your closest friend is very different from saying “that asshole” to you and your partner’s closest mutual friend. One is an expression of emotion to a sympathetic source, and the other is a chess move. When you take the next step and post “that asshole” to a public forum like Facebook, it’s like pushing down the handle on a detonator.

Many of us don’t want to turn breakups into explosions. We also, instinctively, understand that a single sentence, the kind that is auto-generated by creating a Facebook Life Event, is not “just enough.” It implies that there is a part of the story that we’re not telling, and people who like sniffing around for sulfur will start contacting us, wanting to know whyyyyyyyyy, whose fault was it, are you mad or sad or ready to start dating again?

So instead, we say in public: these are the new boundaries around the edges of my life, including the boundaries around the conversation I will have about this breakup.

As Jonathan Mann told me:

“The main reason I wanted to do a song/video was because I'd seen lots of breakup announcements on Facebook. Often, they came in the form of people simply changing their "single/in a relationship" status, and then that change being posted into the timeline. This always felt really weird to me. I understood the desire to let everyone know what happened, but being so vague about it made it seem almost like folks were asking for a certain kind of sympathy and attention in a really weird way. It made me uncomfortable.

So I wanted to kind of flip that on it's head. The polar opposite of a vague status change: a full song and video explaining exactly what was going on and letting everyone know that we still loved them, and loved each other, and everything is OK. We're just breaking up.”

I wanted to hear from other breakup-status-updaters, so I put out the call on Facebook, asking people if they would be willing to anonymously share their stories with Boing Boing. One response highlighted the importance of the breakup explanation as a way to pre-empt additional conversation:

“Because my relationship had been a fairly "stable" thing in my social circle, and very few people in it had any insight into the horrible problems said relationship had, we both felt that a blanket "Hey we're breaking up" announcement set up on Facebook would be the best route to go. We felt people would be really shocked by the whole thing (and really, a lot of people were).

Honestly, I didn't want everyone asking me questions, (and looking back, I foolishly felt people would care more than they actually did/want to cause drama for some reason?) about why the break was happening. I wanted to reserve those conversations for people who I felt deserved to know the story, and who I could trust not to tell my Ex anything about my life once I left.”

When social media puts all of our friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and relatives on the same level of social access, it becomes important to, as this person put it, “reserve conversations for people who deserve to know the story.” We’ve probably all been in social media conversations where we’ve had to endure unwanted advice or sympathy from people who might be on our Friends List but who are not actually our friends. A well-crafted breakup status inhibits this type of unwanted communication by being self-contained. If there are no lingering obvious questions to ask, we will not be forced to address them in a Facebook status comment thread.

Breakup status updates are also crafted to allow both parties to end the relationship with a mutual agreement of respect. The person who wrote the “blanket ‘Hey, we’re breaking up’ announcement” did it with the ex in the room, so both of them could approve the status before it was posted; when I wrote my own breakup status update, I sent it to my ex before posting it online to ensure that we both agreed on what was publicly shared.

This is also important when people in a former relationship share a friend group; Mann and his ex-girlfriend advised friends to invite them both to parties, for example, and another person told me about a party specifically thrown as a way to introduce friends to the breakup:

“An ex and I had a breakup party (we invited people via Facebook). People were a little confused about it, but it was really good. It directly let everyone know we were breaking up on good terms and they didn't need to choose sides or feel uncomfortable about it. Basically a relationship wake.”

In “We’ve Got to Break Up,” Jonathan Mann sang about wanting to have kids. His son, Jupiter Mann, was born in time for Song A Day #1951. Since Mann’s daily songs are part of his career, his old breakup status song is still available online and is, in fact, one of his most popular videos. Other people I heard from chose to take theirs down. Removing the breakup status post from the Facebook status history makes sense, the way removing or untagging yourself from photos featuring an ex-partner makes sense; this person is no longer a part of your public story, and removing images and references lets you literally reshape your own narrative.

I also heard from a person who decided to reshape this public narrative even before the relationship formally ended:

“Several months before I could admit to myself that my relationship with my then-husband might be ending, I went through a life purge. I thought that if I could lighten my environment, maybe I would feel emotionally lighter as well. I stripped our apartment of duplicates, items that hadn't been used in more than six months, and objects I had until then held onto for sentimental reasons. I closed unused accounts. From active accounts I deleted statuses/photos/albums shared before that year and any information I thought was too revealing. This included hiding my Relationship Status from public view.”

Why do so many of us write and post stories about our breakups instead of, as this person did, hiding our Relationship Status updates from the public? Well, to start with, by the time that a relationship reaches the point where it needs a breakup explanation, there are probably a lot of people—from parents to coworkers to mutual friends—who are invested in that relationship’s story, if not the relationship’s success. Writing a breakup status update is a way to inform these people about a relationship’s end, but it also lets us reframe the end of a relationship as something besides a failure. As Jonathan Mann explained:

“The song got a hugely positive response both in terms of the content, i.e., let's not get awkward about this in social situations, and also just in general. People seemed to really resonate with a heartbreak song that wasn't sad but joyful. I heard from a ton of people who were going through breakups at the time who said the song helped them through.”

In that aspect, sharing the truth about our relationships and breakups—even a highly edited, boundary-bound truth—is just another a way to connect with each other; to accept Facebook likes and expressions of love from people across all of our social circles, and to let that little bit of emotion resonate with other people who have had similar experiences.

Because, at some point in nearly all of our lives, we’ve got to break up.

So we use this elegant and kind way to tell people the story of what happened.

22 Jul 17:29

LOL: Special Edition of ‘Jurassic Park’ Puts Everyone in High Heels

by Ethan Anderton

Jurassic Park High Heels Edition

Before Jurassic World even hit theaters, it was already getting spoofed online with a completely wacky edit of the trailer, complete with velociraptors riding motorcycles alongside Chris Pratt (don’t forget you can bid to win that motorcycle starting July 23rd).

And now that the sequel has been unleashed, it’s time for the entire preceding Jurassic Park trilogy to get a flashy makeover to be more in tune with Jurassic World. More specifically, everyone will now be wearing high heels. And I do mean everyone.

Watch Jurassic Park High Heels Edition after the jump!

As the video explains, this new edition of Jurassic Park is in response to the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Bryce Dallas Howard parading around in Jurassic World in high heels. The heels show that she’s a strong female character and isn’t just relegated to being a humorless, career-driven, childless woman. Right?

In reality, this is easily one of the silliest scenes in the movie. Somehow Howard is able to outrun a tyrannosaurus rex that previously was able to keep up with a gas-powered Jeep in Jurassic Park. I guess the old girl has taken a beating over the years, so we can’t blame her for not being able to catch a nice meal on heels. But she was strong enough to take on the Indominus Rex, so we’re back to the start with this problem again.

XVP Comedy from Chicago is the group behind this amusing video that’s only made better once we get around to the dinosaurs wearing high heels. I love how the video builds to that, and the shot of that giant high heel stepping into the mud is just perfect, not to mention the raptor digging another heel into the back of the late Michael Jeter. And can we just say how high heels just make Jeff Goldblum look even cooler? I can’t wait to get my hands on Jurassic Park High Heels Edition, and I hope all our favorite movies take a cue from this incredible release.

The post LOL: Special Edition of ‘Jurassic Park’ Puts Everyone in High Heels appeared first on /Film.

22 Jul 17:25

‘Tree of 40 Fruit’, A Hyper Hybrid Tree That Grows Over 40 Varieties of Heirloom Stone Fruits

by Lori Dorn

40 Fruit Tree

Artist Sam Van Aken has created the amazing “Tree of 40 Fruit“, a hybrid tree that can grow over 40 varieties of stone fruits in various shades of pinks, purples and oranges. Using the process of chip grafting, Van Aken propagated the tree in order to preserve a number of heirloom varieties that have been marketed out of existence.

The Tree of 40 Fruit is an ongoing series of hybridized fruit trees by contemporary artist Sam Van Aken. Each unique Tree of 40 Fruit grows over forty different types of stone fruit including peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries, and almonds. Sculpted through the process of grafting, the Tree of 40 Fruit blossom in variegated tones of pink, crimson and white in spring, and in summer bear a multitude of fruit. Primarily composed of native and antique varieties the Tree of 40 Fruit are a form of conversation, preserving heirloom stone fruit varieties that are not commercially produced or available.

National Geographic recently interviewed Van Aken about the project.

Tree and Fruit

Fruit

Fruits

images via Tree of 40

22 Jul 17:24

Blade Runner by chaseblood

Christopher Lantz

Jordan, you are the current winner of most prolific sharer in my feed.

22 Jul 17:21

A Noble Bunny Goes On a Quest for Treasure

Christopher Lantz

... because cat wizard.

Submitted by: (via Mr.TVCow)

Tagged: bunny , funny , Video
20 Jul 21:21

Neil deGrasse Tyson Provides a Brief History of Everything in the Universe

by Scott Beale

Renown astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains “The Genesis of the Universe” on a special episode of MinutePhysics writen and narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson and animated by Henry Reich. The video’s soundtrack of “The Firebird Suite” by Igor Stravinsky, performed by The United States Air Force Band.

20 Jul 21:05

Jeez Pluto, Chill Out

18 Jul 17:47

The best of #DeepDream porn

by Violet Blue
Christopher Lantz

Warning not only NSFW.... prolly not safe for your mind. Some very weird application of the Deepdream.

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Source.

Once I found what people were doing with DeepDream and porn images online, I immediately had to see as much as I possibly could. Salvador Dali would be crazed with delight to have this tool to play with; maybe he’d feel like there was a place for him in our new technologies. These images are the result of feeding an image (in this post, porn photos) into an artificial neural network, thanks to Google.

Google researchers discovered, “neural networks that were trained to discriminate between different kinds of images have quite a bit of the information needed to generate images too.” Google released DeepDream on June 17, in this post on its research blog. VICE describes DeepDream thusly,

Google’s DeepDream program takes images fed into the company’s image recognition system and turns them into the most extreme version of that image imaginable. The network snags tiny portions of an image and runs it through its recognition system, exaggerating small features within it. As we explained last month:

“This basically generated a feedback loop, which exaggerated or read more meaning into simple features. For example, the researchers explained that: ‘If a cloud looks a little bit like a bird, the network will make it look more like a bird. This in turn will make the network recognize the bird even more strongly on the next pass and so forth, until a highly detailed bird appears, seemingly out of nowhere.'”

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This large-scale .gif is just insane. Find a more at Deepdream Porn and r/deepdream.

The post The best of #DeepDream porn appeared first on Violet Blue ® :: Open Source Sex - Journalist and author Violet Blue's site for sex and tech culture, accurate sex information, erotica and more..

17 Jul 21:15

VOTD: The Summer of 1982 Was a Great Time for Sci-Fi

by Ethan Anderton

summer movies of 1982

Among cinephiles, sometimes discussion turns to what the best summer ever for movies was. Everyone has their own idea of the greatest summer for blockbusters, and a new retro TV clip from 1982 just might give the definitive answer.

Entertainment Tonight is mostly a bastion of gossip and garbage today, but they used to be much more focused on real entertainment, and that’s where this sneak preview clip of movies hitting theaters in the summer of 1982 comes from, and your mind will be blown by the sci-fi titles that were released in that season.

See the retro sneak preview of the summer movies of 1982 after the jump!

Thanks to The AV Club for unearthing this 33-year old video clip:

That’s right, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Steven Lisberger’s TRON and Nicholas Meyer’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were all released in the summer of 1982. And it’s pretty funny to see them all described in such a glossy, flashy way on Entertainment Tonight.

Saying that Blade Runner is filled with “colorful characters, fancy technology and flying cars” is cute, but the best line has to be calling TRON “a bold move to get kids out of video arcades and back into the theaters.” Oh, those kids and their video arcades! Thanks goodness they don’t have video games in their pockets!

But perhaps the craziest thing about this video is in the description of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when the anchor happily and without hesitation says, “One of the main features of this sequel is the ending, where the beloved Mr. Spock meets his end.” Could you imagine the eruption that would occur if something like that was spoiled for a major movie like that today? Of course, information travels much faster today than it did in 1982, so far fewer people would hear about that major death.

What do you think the best summer for movies was?

The post VOTD: The Summer of 1982 Was a Great Time for Sci-Fi appeared first on /Film.

16 Jul 17:28

Pluto and other known “not-planets” in our solar system mapped in scale image montage

by Xeni Jardin
Montage by Emily Lakdawalla.


Montage by Emily Lakdawalla.

“Now that I have a reasonable-resolution global color view of Pluto,” writes Emily Lakdawalla, “I can drop it into one of my trademark scale image montages, to show you how it fits in with the rest of the similar-sized worlds in the solar system: the major moons and the biggest asteroids.”

The solar system contains dozens of objects that are large enough for self-gravity to make them round, and yet are not considered planets. They include the major moons of the planets, one asteroid, and many worlds in the Kuiper belt. The ones that we have visited with spacecraft are shown here to scale with each other. A couple of items on here are not quite round, illustrating the transition to smaller, lumpier objects.

It's just an accident that Pluto wound up next to Iapetus and Triton, which I think are the two best analogs for what we can see on Pluto's surface. Yet Pluto stands out for its uniquely ruddy color. Charon, too, is unique, for its dark pole, but there are similarities to the similar-sized worlds on the left side of the diagram: Ariel and Dione in particular.

These are the not-planets. Their non-planetary status is a handicap because these are the worlds that we need to get Earthlings excited about exploring. Titan's strange hydrology -- Enceladus' geysers -- the subsurface oceans of Europa and Ganymede -- the dynamic surfaces of Triton and Pluto. And beyond all the worlds pictured here, there are hundreds of Kuiper belt objects that I would include on this montage if we had ever visited them up close. But we haven't yet. So much undiscovered country yet to explore -- but they're all worlds that much of the public is not familiar with.

Full size here [PNG].
The not-planets” [planetary.org]

Montage by Emily Lakdawalla. The Moon: Gari Arrillaga. Other data: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/SwRI/UCLA/MPS/IDA. Processing by Ted Stryk, Gordan Ugarkovic, Emily Lakdawalla, and Jason Perry.

Montage by Emily Lakdawalla.


Montage by Emily Lakdawalla.

15 Jul 18:51

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele Provide Menstruation Orientation for Men in a Sketch From ‘Key & Peele’

by Glen Tickle
Christopher Lantz

"Locus outta yo dick"

Shaboots Michaels (Keegan-Michael Key) and T-Ray Tombstone (Jordan Peele) provide menstruation orientation for men in a sketch from their Comedy Central series Key & Peele. Shaboots and T-Ray explain the process of menstruation in detail and suggest ways that men can be more supportive to women.

15 Jul 18:48

Stephen Colbert and Neil deGrasse Tyson Discuss the New Horizons Mission, Debate Pluto’s Status, and Eat Ice Cream

by Glen Tickle
Christopher Lantz

This is just full of lulz.

In a recent online video by The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert and guest Neil deGrasse Tyson discuss the New Horizons mission that recently flew by Pluto. Colbert and Tyson also debated Pluto‘s status as a planet and enjoyed some ice cream bars.

09 Jul 18:35

You Can Tour a Fox Village In Japan

Tame foxes live in this "villiage" that is accompanied by a fox hospital and safe enclosures for baby foxes and their mothers as well as young foxes. Visitors can walk through the facility to meet and even pet the foxes that live there. 

Submitted by: (via Rachel & Jun)

Tagged: fox , cute , Video
09 Jul 16:47

Motivation of the Day: F*ck Everything with This Perfect Guided Meditation

by TDW

This 2.5 minute video just might change your life.

Writer/director Jason Headley has put together a brutally honest guided mediation “for the realities of today’s world.”

It’s pretty much all you need in the morning when you wake up to get you ready for the day and before you go to bed at night.

“If your thoughts drift to the three-ringed sh*t show of your life, bring your attention back to your breathing,” the voice says. “And with each breath, feel your body saying: ‘F*ck that.'”

So sit back, relax and let out all of that pent up aggression while the waves splash along the shore.

The post Motivation of the Day: F*ck Everything with This Perfect Guided Meditation appeared first on The Daily What.

08 Jul 22:11

Alex Jones Will Punch Everyone in the Nose

Submitted by: (via Vernaculis)

04 Jul 01:42

mothersuperiorblog:photographed by jamie nelson





















mothersuperiorblog:

photographed by jamie nelson

03 Jul 22:50

Photo



02 Jul 21:37

Two Ultra Hal Chatbots Talking to Each Other Quickly Devolves Into a Strangely Sexual Conversation

by Rollin Bishop

Two Ultra Hal chatbots by Zabaware having a conversation in a 2011 video quickly devolve into a strangely sexual place that’s also obsessed with alcohol consumption. As Zabaware notes, Ultra Hal learns from conversations with other people as well as Twitter–though neither method seems to make for the best teachers.

Zabaware’s Ultra Hal is an artificially intelligent chat bot that learns from past conversations (human-to-bot) as well as from observing Twitter conversations (human-to-human). Watch what happens when one Ultra Hal bot has a conversation with another Ultra Hal bot.

via Digg

02 Jul 21:10

WATCH: John Cage, Gay Divorce Lawyer

by Andrea James

Now that America's civil rights honeymoon is over and everyone is reverting their rainbow avatars, divorce lawyer John Cage is ready to help gays achieve equality in divorce rates. Directed by noted director/choreographer Adam Shankman.

john-cage-law-01

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01 Jul 20:54

Farewell, Station Master Tama

cute cats news Farewell, Station Master Tama

This dapper calico named Tama had a very important role as the station master of an electric railway station in Japan. After eight years on the job, she was laid to rest in a beautiful ceremony which 3,000 co-workers, admirers and friends attended. 

As you can see, she took her job very seriously. The Kishi Railway Station where Tama worked was nearly shut down, leading to her adoptive owner, a local grocer, to be named station master in 2006 to cut costs. A year later Tama took over the role.


(via Super Station Master Tama Facebook)

Her popularity as station master is credited for saving the station. She even has her own merchandise. 


(via Super Station Master Tama Facebook)

Fortunately a new station master has been named. Tama had an apprentice who is ready to take over the job. She is also a calico cat, her name is Nitama and by the way she's wearing that station master hat it looks like she's up for the challenge. 


(via Super Station Master Tama Facebook)

Submitted by: (via Buzzfeed Animals)

Tagged: news , cute , Cats , image
30 Jun 21:13

Watch: Michael Bay style Bat vs. Crocodile warfare with bombs and lasers

by Xeni Jardin
Christopher Lantz

YES! Go Bats!

“What would a nature documentary be like if the animals were armed with our favorite weapons?”

(more…)

30 Jun 17:36

Photographer Captures Stunning Images of Bioluminescent Glowworms in the Caves of New Zealand

by Glen Tickle

bioluminescent worms 2

Photographer Joseph Michael captured stunning images of bioluminescent Arachnocampa luminosa glowworms in the caves of New Zealand’s North Island in a series titled Luminosity. The A. luminosa shine an eerie light on the 30-million-year-old limestone formations of the caves.

bioluminescent worms 1

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bioluminescent worms 5

photos via Joseph Michael

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

30 Jun 17:34

Shia LaBeouf Delivers His Motivational Speech to Anime Characters in a Toonami Edition of the Video

by Rollin Bishop
Christopher Lantz

The best thus far.

Shia LaBeouf delivers his motivational speech to anime characters from series like Kill la Kill, Naruto: Shippuden, Attack on Titan, and more in a Toonami edition of the video made by Adult Swim.

30 Jun 17:29

The Bottle Boys Perform Johannes Brahms’ Song ‘Hungarian Dace No. 5′ Using Beer Bottles as Instruments

by Justin Page
Christopher Lantz

I love the Hungarian Dance.

The five Denmark-based members of The Bottle Boys recently performed a fast-paced cover of the famous “Hungarian Dace No. 5” dance tune, created in the mid 1800s by German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms, using beer bottles as instruments.

For this video we decided that we wanted to challenge ourselves musically. We wanted to play something that would demand us playing really fast and still musically intriguing.

While brainstorming which song to play we found that we had made all too few interpretations of classical pieces of music which can be quite challenging. So we chose one of the most virtuosic pieces of classical music and made a bottle interpretation of it: Brahm’s Hungarian Dance No. 5.

It was quite hard and extremely fun to play, since there are a lot of changes in tempo and dynamics throughout the piece. The most well-known interpretations of it are played by a symphony orchestra lead by a conductor who makes all the interpretational musical decisions. So we had a lot of fun practicing to play this piece as “one mind” like a (bottle) chamber music quartet.

The original song for comparison:

29 Jun 02:17

Ranger Ron's Wilderness survival guide

Christopher Lantz

Sage advice.

http://oglaf.com/rangerron/