January 23, 2008

If You Loved Springtime for Hitler . . .

I must not be the only bitter Dallas Cowboys fan. Another follower of America's Team who reads Kesher Talk sent me a link to this screamingly amusing video. I won't give the topic away, just refer to my headline and let your imagination do the rest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJHb9m4ccmQ

Van | 01/23/08 at 08:05 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 31, 2007

Chestnuts Roasting on an Exploding Planet

The site LiveScience has a compulsively readable section of Top Ten lists, from useless limbs to killer tornados. For readers with a sweep of vision, you can't do better than "Top Ten Ways to Destroy Earth." The list proceeds according to probability. The one way you need to least worry about is Total Existence Failure:

You will need: nothing

Method: No method. Simply sit back and twiddle your thumbs as, completely by chance, all 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms making up the planet Earth suddenly, simultaneously and spontaneously cease to exist. Note: the odds against this actually ever occurring are considerably greater than a googolplex to one. Failing this, some kind of arcane (read: scientifically laughable) probability-manipulation device may be employed.

Utter, utter rubbish.

This being Kesher Talk, I like to present an opposing view, from that eminent scientist-philosopher Maimonides. The last two of his 13 Principles apply here. Take it away, Rambam:

12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will await His coming every day.

13. I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when G-d wills it to happen

.

Doesn't that make you feel better? It does for me.

Van | 12/31/07 at 08:39 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 10, 2007

The Incredible Adventures of Scott and Noah

One man went to Iraq and suffered the hell of war. Another man went to his yeshiva reunion and suffered the hell of not having his picture with his Korean-American fiancee in a school newsletter.

Oh, the humanity!

Fortunately, Scott Thomas Beauchamp and Noah Feldman survived to write gripping, nay, horrifying, accounts of their soul-destroying encounters with, respectively, the Iraq war and the rigid tribalist exclusivity of the Modern Orthodox movement. They bared their scars in The New Republic and the New York Times Magazine.

As they say on late-night TV, BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. It turns out Scott and Noah's incredible adventures bear certain journalistic similarities.

Continue reading "The Incredible Adventures of Scott and Noah"

Van | 08/10/07 at 01:42 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 21, 2007

Queer Duck: He Can't Even Fly Straight

With all the publicity around the Simpsons movie, another hilarious animated series deserves visibility. Showtime's Queer Duck has only 20 short episodes, but they are delightfully twisted and all available on the Showtime website.

The main character is Queer Duck, a/k/a Adam Seymour Duckstein, the son of "orthoducks" Jews. So that shows the source of some of the humor, as when Queer Duck brings boyfriend Openly Gator home to meet the parents. Other characters are Oscar Wildcat and Bi-Polar Bear (complete with Paul Lynde-like voice).

I defy viewers to not hum along to the irresistably bouncy theme song, which starts

Queer Duck, he's intellectual
Queer Duck, he's homosexual
Please don't think that he's perverse
He's the patients' favorite male nurse.

I'm sorry Showtime never made more episodes. Fortunately, last year Queer Duck: The Movie came out, with the unforgettable tag line "He Can't Even Fly Straight!" Simpson writer Mike Reiss created the movie, so you know it's got to be good.

This DVD goes to the top of my Hanukkah list.

Van | 07/21/07 at 09:07 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 10, 2007

RoboCup: Questions to Consider

RoboCup 2007 ended today in Atlanta, with robots playing soccer to show the cutting edge of robotic technology.

The pictures are great, the other programs are fascinating. I'm waiting for the next iteration of robotic soccer, involving robot fans. For example, will they be programmed to reflect national attributes. Will we see:

-- English robot fans rioting and chanting anti-black and anti-semitic slogans?
-- Arab robot soccer teams refusing to play Israeli robots?
-- Latin American robot fans chanting anti-American slogans?
-- US female robots tearing off their coverings to show the mechanical works underneath?
-- a plucky robot team from South Korea?

Van | 07/10/07 at 08:42 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 05, 2007

NY Times: Email Scammers Need Love, Too

Every day the New York Times tosses out some idiocy reflecting the oppression and evil intent lurking behind every news story. Its group-grievance template for understanding the world makes for unintentionally hilarious reading.

Case in point: this past Monday had an article, "A Web Cadre Turns the Tables on African Scam Artists." The article spoke of scam-baiters who trick and foil the criminals who send out fake emails enticing people to get rich quick off hidden millions in Africa and elsewhere.

While grudgingly acknowledging the harm scammers do, the Times dutifully found a source who reacted with horror at the hoaxes played on scammers. In the Times' view, the scammers are the ultimate victims, with injured dignity on the level of those saintly poets of Gitmo, practically. Here is the money-shot paragraph:

Continue reading "NY Times: Email Scammers Need Love, Too"

Van | 07/05/07 at 08:48 PM | 4 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 24, 2007

Extreme Home Makeover: Iraq Edition

The site Iraq Slogger: Insights, Scoops & Blunders packs a huge amount of information into a very attractive web package. It aggregates stories on every conceivable angle on Iraq. Including humor.

For evidence of what our fighting G.I.s do, and how they keep their sanity while doing it, check out the video "Extreme Home Makeover: Iraq Edition," set to the throbbing beat of "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred.

Van | 06/24/07 at 09:11 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 21, 2007

When in Rome (in 320 C.E.)

Fans of the ancient world will enjoy clicking through the University of Virginia's site Rome Reborn, which shows what the Eternal City looked like in 320 C.E. Readers of Kesher Talk, of course, already know to combine this with their contemporary activities as SPQR revivalists, ready to talk on the hordes.

Van | 06/21/07 at 07:16 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 10, 2007

Yeah, We're Descended from Apes. You Got a Problem With That?

Some people out there claim that Jews are descended from apes and pigs. I don't know about the porcine part, but I don't mind the monkey connection. To those who think otherwise, I would say in my best Lords of Flatbush accent, you got a problem with that?

Now, a way exists to honor that supposed connection, help primates in need and take a poke at the mullahs who think they are insulting us. Through the Jane Goodall Institute, you can become a Chimpanzee Guardian. For $100, you can support a specific chimp and get

• A photograph and biography of your chimpanzee
• A chimpanzee poster
• A certificate of guardianship
• Information about the Gombe Stream Research Centre Sanctuary Program and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Short biographies of the chimps in need present them in terms that tug the heartstrings. For example:

Timi is the 75th orphan chimpanzee at Tchimpounga sanctuary. His mother was shot for bushmeat.

I like this idea, uniting two groups with a common enemy. I even came up with a zippy chant to use for a joint Jews 'n Chimps freedom rally:

The primates, united, will never be defeated!

Van | 04/10/07 at 07:15 AM | 6 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 01, 2007

Relatively Political: Left/Right Debate That's All in the Family

One of the biggest challenges for those of us who live in the left-leaning San Francisco Bay Area and whose political views are right-of-center is navigating the oftentimes treacherous waters of politics and personal relationships. And this difficult situation exists across the nation wherever left and right meet. Let's just say there's a reason for the old axiom about avoiding the topics of religion and politics.

Nowhere does this clashing of political cultures become more difficult than within the family. But Maury Litwack, a conservative strategist on Capitol Hill and Executive Director for the Conservative Coalition for Israel, and his father David Litwack, a top fundraiser for the National Jewish Democratic Council, have come up with a novel way to approach their political differences.

Continue reading "Relatively Political: Left/Right Debate That's All in the Family"

Cinnamon | 04/01/07 at 02:35 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

March 11, 2007

More on the Secular Islam Summit from Phyllis Chesler

Phyllis Chesler continues her three-part article series on the Secular Islam Summit. Here's Part II:

An Islamic Enlightenment

Continue reading "More on the Secular Islam Summit from Phyllis Chesler"

Cinnamon | 03/11/07 at 01:25 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 27, 2007

Lawrence of Arabia Was a Zionist

Watching Peter O'Toole at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, one couldn't help but hearken back to that David Lean film classic, Lawrence of Arabia. O'Toole's T.E. Lawrence was the archetype British Arabist, but, according to historian Sir Martin Gilbert, Lawrence was in reality a staunch Zionist.

Continue reading "Lawrence of Arabia Was a Zionist"

Cinnamon | 02/27/07 at 01:14 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 25, 2007

Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam

I have to bring to your attention the most amazing comment spam I have ever caught in my antispam net. It is a monster mutation of its species, probably spawned in some fetid lush jungle where things like this can grow to incredible size. It exhibits the primary characteristic of its species: numerous URLs for unsavory substances and practices, but the number of appendages is way off the charts. Look upon this grotesque mutation and be very afraid:

Continue reading "Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam"

Judith | 02/25/07 at 01:23 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 07, 2007

Thermal Depolymerization redux

Via Pajamas, a story about a new type of garbage-in, energy-out refinery.

Looks like a subset of thermal depolymerization, one of my pet enthusiasms. The literature on TDP says it could scale to the size of a flatbed truck (as in this invention) or to a huge refinery. The first operating plant is pretty huge.

TDP can theoretically ingest anything except radioactive waste and render it into something useful. This plant concentrates on organic waste:

Continue reading "Thermal Depolymerization redux"

Judith | 02/07/07 at 12:23 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 01, 2007

Want to Know What's Really Going on in Afghanistan? Listen to the Military, Not the Media

Much as they do with the so-called insurgency in Iraq, the mainstream media (MSM) is constantly telling us that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are "winning" in Afghanistan. To hear the MSM tell it, vastly outnumbered Taliban forces are about to push U.S. and NATO forces out of Aghanistan and take over the country again, all with the support of the people. That is, when they're not building schools and kissing babies. In other words, the MSM reports Taliban propaganda as if it were fact.

Thankfully, we have the men and women of the U.S. military itself to tell us what's really going on. My own source comes via "Daily Situation Reports" given by someone (who wishes to remain anonymous) serving in Afghanistan. His appraisal of the situation is quite different from that of the MSM, not to mention his straight-talking commentary on anti-war naysayers, flip-flopping politicians, Hollywood halfwits and media bias. And let's just say, he doesn't plan on losing anytime soon.

Continue reading "Want to Know What's Really Going on in Afghanistan? Listen to the Military, Not the Media"

Cinnamon | 02/01/07 at 06:11 PM | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 29, 2007

Cinnamon Stillwell on Indians: Interview with David Yeagley at BadEagle.com

In my post-9/11 political travels on the right, I've often gravitated towards others I see as minority Republicans and/or conservatives in their respective environments. In my own case, it's being right-of-center in San Francisco and a politically conservative Jewish woman. . . . more »

Cinnamon | 01/29/07 at 11:14 PM | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 28, 2007

Doggone Good Pet Tricks

The best doggone good pet tricks you've ever seen: . . . more »

Alcibiades | 01/28/07 at 10:28 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 23, 2007

SPQR Resurgens: Life Among the New Romans

People liked my update on the Zeus-and-Hera crowd, so here's information about a sterner legion: Nova Roma, a group dedicated to the "restoration of classical Roman religion, culture and virtues." The New Romans really get into the project, taking new . . . more »

Van | 01/23/07 at 10:19 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 21, 2007

Giant Comet In the Sky

The brightest comet in 40 years lights the sky. It's around 140 million kilometres (87 million miles) from the Earth. The comet consists of a head bigger than Mount Everest and a tail that stretches 30 million kilometres into space. . . . more »

Alcibiades | 01/21/07 at 11:54 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 12, 2007

Animal Affection

Otherwise known as Friday smushy blogging. I saw this story a few days ago, and I lurved it. And now it is circulating on Drudge and I decided what the hay! It's adorable enough to post. Ana Julia Torres, who . . . more »

Alcibiades | 01/12/07 at 01:20 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 16, 2006

Diabetes Breakthrough

Excellent news of a diabetes breakthrough, which, like the paradigm shifting ulcer breakthrough over a decade ago, holds out hope of more or less solving the problem of the disease. In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, . . . more »

Alcibiades | 12/16/06 at 10:26 PM | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

November 29, 2006

The Bathsheba Deadline: Fiction Straight Out of the Headlines

Political junkies looking for fiction straight out of the headlines should definitely consider gravitating towards Jack Engelhard's serial novel "The Bathsheba Deadline." It's an "Amazon Shorts" novel, which means it's published in installments and touches on real life events as . . . more »

Cinnamon | 11/29/06 at 12:01 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

November 18, 2006

Spies Separated at Birth

Cue famous theme music, and then the immortal words Putin, Vladimir Putin. And make it shaken not stirred, Shmattas Galore. Does anybody else think the new Bond movie, Casino Royale, is a smash because the new Bond interpreter, Daniel Craig, . . . more »

Van | 11/18/06 at 11:16 PM | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

November 04, 2006

Fox News to Air "Obession" Special Throughout the Weekend

A one-hour special involving segments of the documentary "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" will air several times this weekend on Fox News. Go to the film's website for the details. The lefty spin at Huffington Post and beyond . . . more »

Cinnamon | 11/04/06 at 07:38 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 31, 2006

One Day in the Life of Yale University

The October 30 edition of the Yale Daily News, which I found yesterday, provided some solid reading and insights into what's churning in undergrad minds these days. Even the ads are eye-catching, because they deal with academic rather than consumer-driven . . . more »

Van | 10/31/06 at 07:48 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 25, 2006

"Absolutely San Francisco" - Absolutely Fabulous Theater!

[CS: This is something of a local, as in San Francisco Bay Area, story, but I thought Kesher Talk readers might appreciate it nonetheless...] I must admit, my days as a theater-goer, whether large productions or small, in San Francisco . . . more »

Cinnamon | 10/25/06 at 02:27 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 08, 2006

Giant Camel Bones Discovered...

in the Syrian Desert, dating back 100,000 years, twice the size of today's camels. Oh, so that is what was eating the giant grapes of biblical Israel. . . . more »

Alcibiades | 10/08/06 at 09:12 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 06, 2006

Insert "Columbia University Logo" Here

So Columbia University let thugs assault Minutemen speakers appearing on campus. Columbia does not seem too concerned. Take the right political stance and you can get away with anything on Morningside Heights. Maybe the Minutemen should say they are bisexual, . . . more »

Van | 10/06/06 at 07:29 AM | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 15, 2006

Canada's Amazing Jewish "Triplets"

The next generation of adorable yingeles has arrived. A friend in Toronto alerted me to this story about one novel way to build a family fast. When Jodi Goldstein wheels her triple-stroller through her north Toronto neighbourhood, she gets double . . . more »

Van | 08/15/06 at 09:39 PM | 4 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

Zionist Conspiracy Unmasked

Ever notice how much the VAIO logo looks like "SONY" written in Hebrew? . . . more »

Asher Abrams | 08/15/06 at 08:00 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 11, 2006

Mean Green Mother from Outer Space

if you are in the NYC vicinity and have a few hours to kill today or tomorrow, head over to the the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and bring a gas mask. The BBG is the proud curator of an Amorphophallus . . . more »

Judith | 08/11/06 at 10:19 AM | 6 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 10, 2006

War humor

Via Jameel: Two Israelis from Tel-Aviv...calling Burger King...in Beirut Best. Blog title. Evah. At least if you've seen "Team America." Pixy Misa:Lebanon is smaller (10,400 km² vs 12,145 km²) and has a smaller population (3,874,050 vs 4,198,543) than Sydney. Israel . . . more »

Judith | 08/10/06 at 02:33 AM | 0 Comments | 2 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 05, 2006

Eureka

Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers. Over the past week, researchers at . . . more »

Alcibiades | 08/05/06 at 08:59 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 11, 2006

Sleeping with the fishes

I used to post a lot of linkfests of neat science/art things. I haven't done that in a while, no special reason. Anyway, these days I get most links to this things from the Corner, including these two stories of . . . more »

Judith | 07/11/06 at 06:12 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 10, 2006

Audioanimatronics

This is hilarious. (via the Corner) . . . more »

Judith | 07/10/06 at 11:48 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 12, 2006

Letting Our Hair Down

It's summer, and even the most politically aware, hyper-wired KTer needs to relax a little and shift the focus away from 24/7 threats to the way of life we hold so dear. When I want to let my remaining hair . . . more »

Van | 06/12/06 at 06:59 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 05, 2006

Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Professor Predicts Human Time Travel This Century With a brilliant idea and equations based on Einstein’s relativity theories, Ronald Mallett from the University of Connecticut has devised an experiment to observe a time traveling neutron in a circulating light beam. . . . more »

Alcibiades | 04/05/06 at 10:19 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 04, 2006

Eclipsed

Last week's Solar Eclipse Over Turkey . . . more »

Alcibiades | 04/04/06 at 04:55 PM | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

March 28, 2006

The Allah Fish

Is the allah fish weirder...or less weird than the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese selling for $28,000 and/or the Virgin Mary image in the Window? Or exactly the same? Check here for the video. Michelle Malkin has more extensive coverage . . . more »

Alcibiades | 03/28/06 at 04:59 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

March 14, 2006

Pi Day

By Kosmic Koincidence, today is not only Purim, it's Pi Day! for Americans anyway. If you don't get the reference, go here and be educated and buy stuff. According to John Derbyshire: There is a plot being hatched by those . . . more »

Judith | 03/14/06 at 09:07 AM | 0 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

March 05, 2006

Schrodinger's CPU

John Derbyshire: Me: “Why would the on-off switch on a quantum computer have two positions? Shouldn't it just have one, labeled INDETERMINATE?” He: “Only when you're not looking at it.” . . . more »

Judith | 03/05/06 at 08:32 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 18, 2005

Yes, we do everything better in Texas

Everyone's linking to this over the top holiday light display, and I have to wonder if this guy blasts that soundtrack out his window while the display is flashing. Then I wonder if his neighbors love him or hate him. . . . more »

Judith | 12/18/05 at 10:11 PM | 1 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 01, 2005

Testing bookmarklet

I just put the MT posting bookmarklet on my toolbar and I'm testing it out. . . . more »

Judith | 12/01/05 at 11:46 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

November 03, 2005

Edging Closer to the Black

Astronomers are edging closer to seeing the dark hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers are reporting today that they have moved a notch closer to seeing the unseeable. Using a worldwide array of radio telescopes to . . . more »

Alcibiades | 11/03/05 at 10:16 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 31, 2005

Cool stuff

The ultimate Shakespeare site, via Eve Tushnet. Also Chaucer, the Gutenberg Bible, and the Magna Carta. With photos of each page of text. Many many many links to sundials and annalemmas and other earth-sun-related things. Creeping cancer cells. Creepy too. . . . more »

Judith | 10/31/05 at 12:11 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 19, 2005

Cool stuff: Google Maps

There is a blog devoted to Google Maps fun thingies; some highlights: Pick a point on the earth, then click Dig Here! (You know what happens next, don't you?) (My house in Austin goes to a point in the middle . . . more »

Judith | 10/19/05 at 09:23 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 09, 2005

Cool stuff: foodie edition

(Browse other intriguing links in the cool stuff category . . . ) Would you eat bread artfully shaped and colored to look like a dissected cadaver? No? How about Hello Kitty and Pokemon sushi? No? How about letting a . . . more »

Judith | 10/09/05 at 08:35 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 07, 2005

The Finding of Ithaca - Not the one in Upstate New York

I think this story is just so neat. Ancient Ithaca, home to Odysseus and Penelope, has, it seems, been located at last. Good news, since people have been searching for it since Strabo in the first century CE. As it . . . more »

Alcibiades | 10/07/05 at 12:27 AM | 4 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

September 23, 2005

To Be Or Not To Be...A Hobbit

Speaking of Viggo, that's an excellent segway point into this new story about the little *Hobbits* discovered last year on an island in Indonesia, that were then touted as a new human species, Homo floresiensis, that had developed its own . . . more »

Alcibiades | 09/23/05 at 12:11 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

September 21, 2005

Emergency landing

So I come home from the Steve Mumford talk at Barnes & Noble about 9 PM, I get out of the subway at Columbus Circle and I decide to stop in Whole Foods and peruse the deli case before going . . . more »

Judith | 09/21/05 at 10:38 PM | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

September 09, 2005

Cool stuff about time

My apologies to everyone from whom I don't remember collecting these links. The Table of Condiments that Periodically Go Bad. Life expectancy calculator, based on health, stress, family history, etc. (It tells me I'm going to live to be 90! . . . more »

Judith | 09/09/05 at 11:20 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 28, 2005

Cool stuff

The future of hearing aids and ear plugs. iPod subway maps. Actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. Sample: "Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh . . . more »

Judith | 08/28/05 at 12:58 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 22, 2005

Thermal depolymerization

Increased fuel efficiency should go hand in hand with encouraging innovative solutions to fuel needs. Which gives me another opportunity to plug thermal depolymerization. Put anything carbon-based in one end, get different grades of oil at the other end. It's . . . more »

Judith | 08/22/05 at 12:17 PM | 1 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 15, 2005

More WWII photos

After browsing this link I posted (which I found via Chicagoboyz), Rona emailed me the following (reproduced with permission):That found film link was cool. In WWII my father found a whole reel of unexposed 35mm film for movie making. He . . . more »

Judith | 07/15/05 at 04:05 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 14, 2005

Cool stuff

Hurricane Dennis not only upended my vacation plans, it upended a sunken Navy ship. But that's a good thing. For the fish. Dennis did a number on a couple of oil rigs too. A roundup of applications using Google Maps, . . . more »

Judith | 07/14/05 at 12:24 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 26, 2005

Global disaster roundup

No particular reason, I've just been collecting these links for a long time. There was some speculation that we were going to be hit by an asteroid last winter, and here you can read the kind of discussion that . . . more »

Judith | 06/26/05 at 01:54 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 23, 2005

Small blue thing

Google Maps now has satellite photos of the entire globe. Raise your hand if Israel, Iraq, or Afghanistan were the first places you zoomed in on. . . . more »

Judith | 06/23/05 at 12:40 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 15, 2005

The return of Cool Stuff

Journalist Michael Yon has been blogging from Iraq for some time, with photos. He spends some time visiting with the Yezidis, who claim their religion is the oldest in the world. Some of their angels have the same names . . . more »

Judith | 06/15/05 at 04:03 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

May 03, 2005

Cool stuff: Superwoman edition

Uli Derickson was the Ashley Smith of her decade, but she didn't just handle a single violent criminal who broke into her home, she verbally managed a gang of terrorists aboard an airplane in 1985, protecting over 150 passengers. . . . more »

Judith | 05/03/05 at 09:00 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 17, 2005

Way cool stuff from a great height

Previous entry on this topic here. An enterprising blogger took advantage of the new Google map feature to post satellite photos of notable sites, like, oh, CIA headquarters, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Unisphere, Area 51, and lots of . . . more »

Judith | 04/17/05 at 06:57 AM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

March 08, 2005

Way Cool Science Stuff

I haven't posted a Cool Stuff link roundup in quite a while. Enough politics! Bring on the 10 ugliest animals in the world! Some bacteria live a very long time. The web was made for sites like this: an . . . more »

Judith | 03/08/05 at 08:31 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 12, 2005

Random cool stuff

If you have an opinion on who is the greatest American of all time, head over here and nominate someone before Feb 14th. Grancrete is a sprayable ceramic you can build buildings out of. It is stronger than concrete, . . . more »

Judith | 02/12/05 at 07:50 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 08, 2005

More ageing irrelevant cool stuff: Tech and science

Another attempt to clean out my "cool stuff" bookmark folder, so some of this is old news. (Apologies if you provided the original link and I can't remember who you are.) Bar Code Clock. (Also everything you might wonder . . . more »

Judith | 02/08/05 at 02:35 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 11, 2005

More ageing irrelevant cool stuff: anthropology

Still cleaning out my "cool stuff" bookmarks, so some of this is old news. (Apologies if you saw it already or if I got the link from you and don't remember.) Subway systems of the world, presented on the same . . . more »

Judith | 01/11/05 at 11:37 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 10, 2005

Nature is fun

After two weeks of horrifying tsunami videos, let's break for some natural events that won't cause human death. Remember the giant iceberg that was blocking the supply route to McMurdo Station? Well, next week it's going to collide with . . . more »

Judith | 01/10/05 at 05:22 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 28, 2004

Aging irrelevant cool stuff: Pop culture

I'm cleaning out my "cool stuff" bookmarks, so some of this is old news. (Apologies if you saw it already or if you provided the original link and I can't remember who you were.) This might be the cover . . . more »

Judith | 12/28/04 at 06:50 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 22, 2004

Fun with animals

I'm cleaning out my "cool stuff" bookmarks, so some of this is old news. (Apologies if you saw it already or if you provided the original link and I don't remember.) From Ace: take a ride on the wings . . . more »

Judith | 12/22/04 at 10:36 AM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 21, 2004

Cold weather

A few years ago a huge iceberg calved off the Ross Ice Shelf and is making life difficult for penguins and scientists down there. (Blog link courtesy of Ken Wheaton.) Antarctic iceberg webcam. Fun facts about icebergs. Awesome iceberg . . . more »

Judith | 12/21/04 at 01:55 PM | 0 Comments | 1 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 19, 2004

Cool bridge stuff

This Cool Stuff entry is devoted to the new Millau bridge in the south of France. First some background on bridge construction. The official website for the bridge. Chicagoboyz has lots of links, especially check out the panoramic views. . . . more »

Judith | 12/19/04 at 11:43 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 08, 2004

Great moments in history

Thirteen years ago today, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was dissolved. UPDATE: Not so great moments in history. Gerard van der Leun was one of the last people to see John Lennon alive.Taken large, this was the death . . . more »

Judith | 12/08/04 at 09:08 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

December 06, 2004

Cool stuff

How to use email efficiently. How to manage your email interactions at work so they don't suck up all your time and energy, especially for the software industry, but applies to other professional environments as well. Speaking of email, . . . more »

Judith | 12/06/04 at 08:49 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

November 28, 2004

Designy cool stuff

Elite Designers against IKEA. Und now it is time for Shprockets to dance. Another NYC photoblog, for all your ironic urban landscape needs. What's up these days with wearable computers. From my most reliable source of cool stuff: How . . . more »

Judith | 11/28/04 at 07:21 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 23, 2004

Time for more cool stuff

An occasional feature on Kesher Talk, this is where I link to random very interesting sites and information. Most of these links have been sitting in the bookmark folder for so long I don't remember where I got them, . . . more »

Judith | 10/23/04 at 08:26 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

October 02, 2004

Way more way cool stuff

From World Changing: The Face of Tomorrow. Beautiful composites of hundreds of portraits taken in certain cities, that express the result of their racial and ethnic mixing. Forgotten New York: the trolleys, the signs, the cemeteries, the streets . . . . more »

Judith | 10/02/04 at 09:54 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

September 22, 2004

Way cool stuff

This totally hilarious Matrix Kung Fu movie bad special effects pingpong TV comedy sketch was linked from the Corner. Another video, this time an extreme sport meets Hurricane Ivan. "And we're gonna go suuuuurfinnnn, surfin' USA . . . . . . more »

Judith | 09/22/04 at 04:53 PM | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 19, 2004

Time for some cool stuff

I think I got this from Electrolite: Funny lists from McSweeney's, such as Favorite Gerund Movie Titles, Un-gerunded, Sexual Euphemisms That Won't Catch On, Words and Phrases I Use at Work, but Seldom Use at Home, and Match the . . . more »

Judith | 08/19/04 at 11:51 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

August 04, 2004

Random cool stuff

Sorry I was AWOL last week. Blogger ate half a post I was working on for hours and I just went into an extended "feh" moment. It was an update on the Temple Mount destruction, meant to be posted . . . more »

Judith | 08/04/04 at 08:29 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

July 20, 2004

Cool animated stuff

Just to remind ourselves that some things in life are more eternal than a nasty political campaign and a nasty endless asymmetrical war. Your one-stop shopping for bar-code art. Bar code portraits, bar code clocks, bar code white noise . . . more »

Judith | 07/20/04 at 03:20 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 18, 2004

More way cool stuff

Via Imshin I think, an interactive Flash-based Israel atlas. I can't begin to describe how well-designed and engrossing this is (note the little animated airplanes and trucks), I'll just say don't click there unless you've got an hour to . . . more »

Judith | 06/18/04 at 04:49 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

June 02, 2004

Way cool stuff

Operation Smile. Read the whole thing. We could learn a lot from India about having a religiously and ethnically diverse government. Next week Venus will transit the sun for the first time in over 100 years. Heh. . . . more »

Judith | 06/02/04 at 05:37 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

May 19, 2004

Totally Cool Stuff

The January 1856 Harper's Monthly fantasizes about the year 3000 AD: Global government, travel by steam cannons, female Generals, genetic engineering, 67 different kinds of water, infant creches, and many more marvels of the Future! Read and be amazed! . . . more »

Judith | 05/19/04 at 10:49 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 29, 2004

Way Cool Stuff

What a sweet idea, and certainly a grand and ancient tradition too. Fold proteins in your spare time. Or rather, in your computer's CPU's spare time. (via Oxblog) Wow. Sorry I missed this. I am most emphatically not a . . . more »

Judith | 04/29/04 at 11:12 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 21, 2004

Cool stuff

Brits indulge their passion for wordplay. Rejected letters to Penthouse. (This is in the same vein as gentile jokes.) Buried amidst all the retro flotsam on Lileks' site is a '53 travel guide to Baghdad. Did you know that . . . more »

Judith | 04/21/04 at 09:22 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

April 11, 2004

Kool taktile kulture stuff

Would you rather have your environment coated with Peeps? Or tinfoil? Or perhaps bubblewrap? I went through a phase where I thought I waned to be an artisan bookbinder and create works like this. Make your own blogger license . . . more »

Judith | 04/11/04 at 01:31 AM | Categories: - Amazing things

March 31, 2004

Cool stuff

American ingenuity continues to shower the world with gifts, for example this low-cost method of vision-testing and lens-manufacturing which could bring eyeglasses within the reach of millions of poor people around the globe. By a MIT student. Could you . . . more »

Judith | 03/31/04 at 03:32 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 22, 2004

Cool shit

My Bond Girl name is "Raven la Rue." How they got that from "Judith Weiss" I don't know. Miss Piggy and Suha Arafat - Separated at birth? . . . more »

Judith | 02/22/04 at 03:49 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 16, 2004

Cool stuff

A guide to interpreting Friendster photos. *chuckle* You never know who you'll find on Friendster. The biggest diamond ever. As in 2500 miles across. If these walls could talk, they would never shut up. Political graffiti in Iraq. . . . more »

Judith | 02/16/04 at 02:49 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 04, 2004

Greetings from Mars

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed I have linked to Hans Nyberg's QTVR photo site several times. Here's the latest: a 360 degree color panorama from the Mars Spirit. Here's another Mars panorama (b/w) with zenith and . . . more »

Judith | 02/04/04 at 05:16 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

February 02, 2004

Cool stuff

Anytime someone says the invasion of Iraq was "unilateral," send them here. Hi-tech investment in Israel rebounds. Stupid Americans annoy local intellectuals with their success. The Power Point Hamlet. Also project planning a la Robert Frost. . . . more »

Judith | 02/02/04 at 03:35 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things

January 27, 2004

Cool stuff

Microsoft proves once again that it has no sense of humor. But Mike Rowe does. Being Howard Dean's sign language interpreter. Cute interactive thingy, I think via Meryl. (tip: Keep making him fly up.) And last but not least, . . . more »

Judith | 01/27/04 at 01:25 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks | Categories: - Amazing things