Animals love each other

With regard to my previous post about the tower of walking cuteness that was a rat riding a dog riding a cat, I offer this link:

Raccoon on boar.

Haha, "All aboard!

I'm so clever.

One can't help but wonder what other miraculous riding arrangements this contest will call forth from the depths of the forest. Bats on bears? Snakes on bees? Koalas on kangaroos (yes, please!)?

Carving the cognitive surplus

Tristyn sent me an engrossing link about The Cognitive Surplus.

In summation it argues that we've had an overwhelming load of free time where our brains have not been occupied by fuck-all. No work, no survival stuff. So the sitcom was created and sort of absorbed some of that brain load. We're shaking ourselves out of it, though, and beginning to realize that there are things we can be doing for society and with society as a whole, largely in thanks to th'internet.

Kiss your tubes, folks.

So how big is that surplus? So if you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, the whole project--every page, every edit, every talk page, every line of code, in every language that Wikipedia exists in--that represents something like the cumulation of 100 million hours of human thought. I worked this out with Martin Wattenberg at IBM; it's a back-of-the-envelope calculation, but it's the right order of magnitude, about 100 million hours of thought.

And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that's 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television. Or put still another way, in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads. This is a pretty big surplus. People asking, "Where do they find the time?" when they're looking at things like Wikipedia don't understand how tiny that entire project is, as a carve-out of this asset that's finally being dragged into what Tim calls an architecture of participation.

Think about all that brain power, is th'argument here, and what better we could be doing with it. I, for one, think that we need more Pet Rocks. Or more of this

Like Wine or Cheese, I guess

It's not that I think I'm getting old, like a stick in the mud or anything. But I'm definitely aging.

I really hurt my neck last night. I leapt over a railing and when I came down on my feet something lodged or dislodged or jarred. Anyway, it's sore. Right now I'm just waiting on it to get better.

Sure I've had a sore neck before. But I usually did something to deserve it before. Like sleep in a closet or take a nasty fall water skiing. But I just landed this time. I'm not sure if my body's trying to tell me to stop landing, but I don't plan on following that advice any time soon.

So while I'm grouchy and sore I've been thinking about how lives change. And, again, I really don't think that I'm old, but I'm getting older. No longer am I thrilled by the prospect of toys or playing hide and seek. I do, however, recall the exhilaration of getting new shelves for my room.

That shocked me. Realizing I could be excited for matching woods in my room. Finding a kitchen table. I think it's the same sort of, "I'm making it mine" thing that throwing up posters of Rammstein and KoRn was in high school but it just seems like such an adult thing.

On the other hand, there's a joyful juvenile tract through my life as well. I'm still pretty keen on comic books, cartoons and movies. Zombie Kickball has been occupying a large part of my cerebellum lately. And I still doodle as obsessively as ever.

But I've been aware of little changes in my body and life that show my advanced years. I guess the fun comes in reconciling the forty years of adultivity ahead of me with the twenty years of youthful exuberance behind. And after sixty five I completely plan on regressing. Should be a fun time.

And what do you think of the Deep Ones?

Here is an alleged interview from 1933 with H.P. Lovecraft. I question it's authenticity but it's still pretty neat to watch.



My favorite quote came in reference to whether or not he had considered the idea of adapting his works to the silver screen:

My work is too arcane and... I hope, too frightening to be consumed with sarsaparillas and popped corn.

I really like the reporter. I think it might be Gordon Cole.

That's two links, by the by, the second will give you an example of what, exactly, I'm talking about.

Cat on Rat on Dog... Where's Dr. Seuss?

A man recently trained a rat to sit on a cat to sit on a dog, creating a tower of cute whimsy. There's totally a kid's story in there. Except for the fact that the artist in question is a homeless crazy.

The link is a video. My personal favorite quote might be, "It's never been about the money."

Or perhaps when he's talking about Van Gogh.

Portland Rocks!

I'm entirely too excited about this event.

ZOMBIE KICKBALL!

Dude! That's like... so cool! SO COOL!

I'll be there with bells on. And by bells on, I mean ragged jeans and pale make up.

Good music, zombie times and kickball. Who could ask for more?

Pre-Colombian Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism is an increasing trend. People in the U.S., where the health industry is fairly deplorable (if you haven't seen Sicko, I'd highly recommend it) will travel to other countries to have medical procedures done. Hannaford, for instance, has a program where knee and hip surgery is performed in Singapore. The benefits are many: it's cheap! Sometimes as much as 10% of the original cost. Doctors are trained in either the U.K., Canada or the States and you get a long recovery time in a foreign country. Service tends to be prompt and professional, quicker even than the U.S. Of course, there are downsides. You aren't anywhere near your family, for instance, and should something bad happen you have to navigate a foreign legal landscape.

I'm for it. I'm ardently opposed to the H.M.O. system and our outlandish fees. I'm also none too fond of the fact that the U.S. is one of the only first world countries without universal health care. Seriously, we're behind Cuba. Cuba! The country that just this year got cell phones has better health care than we do. And a fearsome literacy rate.

I'm also for Cuba.

Anyway, this post isn't really about Medical Tourism. Sort of. I mean, you need a time machine for the kind of medical tourism I'm talking about.

It turns out the Incas were surprisingly skilled at trepanation. If you're unfamiliar with that, it's where they remove a bit of your skull to relieve internal pressure. Particularly after receiving a severe blow and the blood starts flowing up there to help you recover.

If you're not into reading the entire article, here are some neat snippets from it:

Shaved Skull

So, the method of making a hole in your skull was to shave away bits of it. They had it down to such a science at the end that the Inca Nation - in a time before electricty, hospitals, vaccinations, penicillin and advil - had a 90% survival rate. 90%! For putting a hole in your skull! They also had a surprisingly low rate of infection afterwards.

Drunken Surgery

So you've lived through the battle but before you could kill that last guy, he gave you one hell of a smack. Time to start drinking. Without anesthetics the preferred method of putting you under was Maize Beer. Which kind of sucks. Not only do you sustain a horrible head injury but during recovery from having bits of your skull chipped away, you're going to have one hell of a mean hangover.

Worked though.

Acceptance

You wouldn't even be the weird guy with the hole in his head! In one site nearly a third of the skulls had trepanation holes. It was the thing to do. Like tattoos, piercings or inserting a magnet into your finger, it's a culturally accepted thang. Ain't even a phenomenon.

When Time Machines are invented, travel back to 1400s Perú and seek out some nifty skull surgery. You'll get to drink Maize Beer, hang out with warring, human-sacrificing tribes and honor llamas.

Here are some other reasons why the Incas were cool:
Fat Kids and Nice tans.

Sun worship! Ha!

Sketchcraft in Brooklyn

Song's called "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" by the Mountain Goats and this is a version remixed by Aesop Rock. It's all set to a sketch from Sketch Theater. The sketch is done by some dude named Nate Frizzell. It's captivating to watch the sketch form before your eyes. And the song's kinda neat, too.

Thanks to Ectoplasmosis for another neat link!

A Skewed Perspective

A recent New York Times Editorial really captivated me. It deals mostly with the recent Obama/Wright controversy which I feel has been blown way out of proportion.

I like Reverend Wright, quite frankly. Sure he's boisterous and loud and said, "God Fucking Damn America" or something. But he's right about a lot of what he says. It is a country run largely by white men who have an active and long-standing interest in keeping down minorities of all stripes and enforcing the status quo.

But his distrust stems from a solid two hundred year heritage of abuse. There certainly are problems with America and Reverend Wright happens to see (some of) them with alarming clarity.

On the other side, though, we have people like this Hagee fellow, or Pat Robertson or any other religious, right-wing evangelical. These guys are hateful and have no good reason to be after a lifetime of privilege and power. The American system works for them and they still want to crush gays, jews, blacks, catholics, atheists, sodomists, abortionists, leprechauns, anteaters and apple pie. These guys are awful, despicable human beings.

And it's OK that they endorse John McCain. It must be OK. It has gone unsaid, unchallenged and unrecognized for months. Say what you will about the relationship between Reverend Wright and Obama (and I'll say this: I like that we've got a candidate who was angry at some point. Maybe he'll get something done), it's nowhere near as ill-boding and insidious as this nasty McCain/Hagee business.

And in the end, the Obama/Wright thing really doesn't influence my opinion on Obama or Hillary. I'm still on the fence. I still can't decide. I'll be more than happy with either candidate and I hope that enough Democrats aren't childish enough to completely screw the pooch here and vote Nader and give us another four years of economic slipping and another 100 years in Iraq and war in Iran and the slow chipping away of our rights.

My hero

So, this man loves PBR. I also love PBR, though I must confess my devotion falls a little short of his.

Not that I don't envy him and perhaps even strive for his goals. Maybe I'll have my ashes placed in an urn shaped like a PBR bottle.

Yes, it comes in bottles. It's perhaps the most delicious way to consume the beverage.

Holy Crap!

This might be one of the most incredible inventions ever.

Now if only I ate more stuff out of jars. It's still really clever, though.

5 (presumably) Diabetic Cats

A comparison of Wilford Brimley to not 1 or 2 or 3 but 5 cats to which he bears (or they bear) a distinct resemblance. One can assume these cats are all vaguely cranky, speak in a horrible creole (at about 1:40. He's got a beard!), and enjoy oatmeal.

Link

Adorable Penguin Technology

So, there was a poor penguin named Pierre
Who found that he was losing his hair

So a wet suit was made
So he could leave the arcade
And fish for quarters in the cool arctic water!

Shit. That sucks. Anyway, that's the story. This penguin was losing his feathers. Unlike mammals, penguins have no blubber to insulate against the cold. They rely on their waterproof feathers to keep the icy water out. So some people made him a wet suit. Now all his feathers are returning and he's being weaned off the wet suit.

Hooray for science!

And on a related note, they've discovered the remains of Human Sized Peruvian Penguins. If it turns out they ate flesh, I'll have something new to add to my nightmares.

"¡No! ¡Andalé! ¡Los pingüinos horrificos vienen del mar!"

And that would be the story of the death of the Peruvians. For surely no one could withstand the fury of the Mighty Penguin (Pingüino Temible).

I'm a genius!

I've done it now!: http://tinyurl.com/u

Haha. I'm so clever. If at first you don't understand, follow the link (do it, do it!) and read what the site's about.

Haha! It is a pretty clever site, though.

Happy May Day!

In lieu of a basket, I have for you a sort of digital treat that might come inside a hypothetical imaginary basket. Woven of reeds of Ones and Zeros.



Enjoy!