George's atheism disease

shamelessly stolen from George's google talk caption:

http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/6z2xu/text_of_n_yorker_article_on_leschnyhan_syndrome/

absolutely horrifying....

Those crazy xians

And their crazy music. (LOL)

(and everyone else's as well.)

In these troubling financial times

LOLFED!

Thanks, Truth Ninja!

Truth Ninja may disagree with the Official Ninja Webpage.

(I did mention Bob the Angry Flower, didn't I? It amuses me, anyway.)

Cheney Waits Until Last Minute Again To Buy Sept. 11 Gifts

"Although Cheney himself has never received any Sept. 11 gifts, with the exception of a pair of silk pajamas from his wife and a second term in office, he insisted that he gets more joy from giving than receiving. According to Cheney, Sept. 11 is a time to reflect and give thanks for all the benefits and blessings 9/11 has given him in the past."

Link to the onion article...

mental fruit

someone called Wolfgang whose job is "seed morphologist" explains some of the crazy strategies used by fruit to spread their seeds, using some awesome electron microscope pictures...

bet you can't stare at this for a full minute...

click me!

for Dave, and any other Portishead fans

In need of a reference, I did a quick bout of web-stalking my old Philosophy tutor, Peter Smith, which led to the revelation that he is a committed Portishead fan.  Have a peek at this post on his blog for a link to series of high-quality portishead recordings.

careful you don't stray onto the rest of his blog, and just avoid http://www.askphilosophers.org/ altogether unless you really didn't have anything important to do today...

eyes bigger than stomach?

no that's not quite the right expression...

Calvin and the chipmunks

in response to ben's post, i'm exposing myself to reprisals from viz (subscribe now!), but here it is:

(click the pic!)

Calvin, no chipmunks

Calvin and Jobs.

Finally! A handy guide to all those Internet Memes you can't be bothered to keep track of. Woo!

Apropos of nothing

It's all a bit Sci-fi...

• The comp.basilisk FAQ.


• Page one of Dresden Codak's "Hob" story. (Warning; it isn't finished yet, and he manages about 2 pages a month.)

Everyone's heard of Conservapedia right? Well, they appear to have some Tricky editorial questions...

Uncle Mike's cider festival

No doubt you're all coming to the GBBF on Friday this week?  but the other major event of the discerning drinker's calendar has to be the annual cider festival at Broome farm in Herefordshire. 

Clem's uncle Mike runs the "Ross-on-Wye Cider and Perry co" which organises this 3-day festival in his barn. This year it's from the 29th to the 31st of August

 Key items on the agenda:

• music: folkey, bluesey, barn-dancey. more info here.
• food: auntie hill's home cooked roast pork with stuffing and apple sauce, sausages baps, veggie curry, etc etc. all incredibly tasty. 
• cider: aside from uncle mike's, about a dozen Welsh and Herefordian cider makers bring their wares. if you get bored of cider, you can get your taste buds working on some of the perries (cider made from pears? yum yum), and there are a couple of local ales as well.
• Farmer's market
• rhubarb thrashing

Aside from that, you can take in the local countryside. Here's a view from the Broome Farm B&B which is run by Clem's aunt Hillary.

Local B&B's are one option for accommodation, but most people choose to camp in the orchard.  come for just one day, or all three! Parking available (in a field).  children and old people welcome.

 

  Morris Dancers not guaranteed...

more info here: http://www.rosscider.com/cider%20festival.htm, and here's a write up of last year's: http://www.rosscider.com/cider_festival_2007.htm

Also, how about some post-democracy?

I think, overall, this guy is probably exaggerating.  but still some interesting viewing:

http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=62*

and this is a vaguely famous text also, may be worth a read... will let you know if i do!

* video content had quite a cool feature people's comments come up in little popups while the video is playing... neat.  mind you, on the internet you get comments and you get comments...

the feminist film rule:

via charlie stross

can you think of a film that passes?

Clementine concert - august 15th - in London (!)

OK Ben, this might represent a serious abuse of the original purpose of your blog, so let me know if I am getting a slap on the wrist.

Anyways, here's a chance to see the lassie without having to trek all the way to the west country:

"Nick Morris (baritone) and I are doing a repeat of our opera scenes concert in London, on 15th August at the County Hall, London (near the London Eye / Aquarium). We will perform operatic arias and staged duets, including Mozart's La ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni, Rossini's Dunque io son from Barber of Seville, and Bess you is my woman now, from Gershwin's Porgy & Bess.
The concert will be combined with music from a kora player and an Irish violinist! Format tbc, but it should be a fun evening, and for those of you who can't make my Herefordshire concerts a chance to see what I do!!"

Here's a pic from the original concert at broome farm.  

It's not all opera though, oh no no. the concert is actually all in aid of a small Herefordshirean pirate called Isis who is financing a trip to Borneo.   Other music on the bill includes a Kora player - that's an obscure type of african harp, like a guitar with about 20 strings, suspect if you ask Dan about it he would be able to bang on about it for ages. 

And the inescapable folk music connection is provided by some chick playing the fiddle, who comes highly recommended from Time Out, l'Ouest-France newspaper and Terry Jones of Monty Python.

All of this set in the London County Hall Debating Chamber, which was last used for a Star Wars exhibition.

It's almost too much to handle isn't it?  Friday August 15th, 7:30 PM, tTickets are £10, available on the door.   And yes, it does clash with the bangface boat party :-(

PS - also, everyone, don't forget the cider festival on 30th & 31st of August!

Best CAPTCHA evar

This was good enough to make me sign up to the website. Screw you, arts graduates!

Also on the Internet this week; Coen Koans (Zen and The Big Lebowski)

stealing george's links....

zombie outbreak hideout no 263:

from the comments:

"According to the Zombie Survival Guide, off shore structures (preferable oil rigs) are the safest place to ride out the Zombie Apocalypse. Zombies can float if they are decomposing but they can't swim or climb ladders. The only way you could be attacked at these structures would be to be swarmed by ten of thousands of zombies on the bottom of the ocean that eventually (chaotically) stack on top of each other to allow access. But that's just crazy because zombies aren't real yet."

and if you haven't been reading georges blog.... well, you should.

and, check out this photo-documentation of a typical festival weather event

let's hope this year's glade is better

don't treat me like an object!

this is all over boingboing and the web in general. 

Forget animals or babies, the latest truly fashionable fetish of the moment is being "objectum-sexual".  This can get seriously weird, as when the lady pictured, who is not only in love with the Berlin wall, but also married to it (she says), describes her reaction to the events of 1989:

“When I saw it happen on TV, I closed the door. I felt shocked,” she says, sadly. “I loved my husband when he was in his prime – it took me 10 years until I could love him again after that. I just didn’t know who he was any more. It’s difficult to explain.”

As difficult as the hoff's jacket?  i don't know.  but read more here at bizzarremag.com, including, obviously, an exposition of the physical aspects of this deviant form of love...

"Winther makes the important distinction that, for OS people, physical union isn’t to be confused with masturbation. “If you masturbate, you see your partner as an object, something only to pleasure you,” she says. “When I have sex with the Berlin Wall, or a model of him, I want to please him too. That’s the big difference.”

Dumb cops

Note: This is not The Onion

Also, How many sequels?. (Several, it turns out)

For all the aspiring Bishops. (IYKWIM)