"Moderate drinkers are healthier, wealthier and more educated, and they get better health care, even though they are more likely to smoke. They are even more likely to have all of their teeth, a marker of well-being."
Maybe also better looking and loads more charm...
6.17.2009
6.12.2009
What the Fuck? File # 17-L
A 14-year old German boy was hit in the hand by a pea-sized meteorite that scared the bejeezus out of him and left a scar.
"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," Gerrit Blank said in a newspaper account. Astronomers have analyzed the object and conclude it was indeed a natural object from space, The Telegraph reports.
Most meteors vaporize in the atmosphere, creating "shooting stars," and never reach the ground. The few that do are typically made mostly of metals. Stony space rocks, even if they are big as a car, will usually break apart or explode as they crash through the atmosphere.
There are a handful of reports of homes and cars being struck by meteorites, and many cases of space rocks streaking to the surface and being found later.
But human strikes are rare. There are no known instances of humans being killed by space rocks.
According to a SPACE.com article on the topic a few years, back:
- On November 30, 1954, Alabama housewife Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her couch when she was awakened by a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor that crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off a piece of furniture and struck her in the hip, causing a large bruise.
- On October 9, 1992, a large fireball was seen streaking over the eastern United States, finally exploding into many pieces. In Peekskill, New York, one of the pieces struck a Chevrolet automobile owned by Michelle Knapp. Knapp was not in the car at the time.
- On June 21, 1994, Jose Martin of Spain was driving with his wife near Madrid when a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) meteor crashed through his windshield, bent the steering wheel and ended up in the back seat.
In 2004, a 2,000-pound space rock bigger than a refrigerator exploded in the late-night sky over Chicago, producing a large flash and a sound resembling a detonation that woke people up. Fragments rained down on that wild Chicago night, and many were collected by residents in a northern suburb.
5.17.2009
5.16.2009
Processed Foods
I know processed foods are unhealthy but this really was a shocker...
"Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients." (From the NY Times)
"Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients." (From the NY Times)
5.15.2009
5.12.2009
5.07.2009
4.15.2009
Choreo vs. Impro
The glass is either half full or half empty.
Wrong. It's both. Those two states are not mutually exclusive.
Been thinking about choreography, improvisation, definitions a lot since M2M '09. Had an "aha" moment the other day driving home. No piece is either choreographed or improvised. All pieces are both. Even the most rigorously choreographed piece has a vast number of variations each time it is performed. And each improvisation has a lot of choreography i.e. habit, physical limitations etc.
Also the question of which elements are improvised and which are choreographed arises. For several years, Lower Left has been choreographing pieces using the lights. We predetermine(choreograph) what the lights will be and how long each will be on and what the transitions will be. What our bodies do within those lights is improvised. But then there is the question of habits and current injuries and what other information we have been taking in recently. All those elements can limit or choreograph us.
In fact with each improvisation each piece that people claim is "open" has a huge amount of predetermined factors:
-Gravity
It will still be same throughout the piece. There might be some fluctuation due to the moon and the earth's spinning core or other factors. But essentially the same.
-The Theater
Not many pieces change venues partway through. How many improvisations have decided to leave the building completely? (How about choreographing a piece but improvising the theater/location?)
-Performers
yes, people do enter and exit the performance space, but they are still the performers. How do we improvise the performers. Beside the names in a hat thing, because that is from a predetermined set of performers.
-Costumes
The pieces I have been in that had costume changes were choreographed as were the costume changes. I haven't been in a single improvisation in which I had the opportunity to improvise my costume. I have disrobed, maybe that counts. But never had an improvisation with costume as an equal improvisational element. Must look into this.
-Bodies
I always (for the most part) have the same body. I have never been able to grow extra legs on stage. Never have I seen anyone improvise on stage how many limbs s/he had.
Every piece is choreographed and every piece is improvised. The question is what elements are the choreographed ones and which ones are the improvised ones. And the next question is how tightly each one is improvised and choreographed.
Share
Wrong. It's both. Those two states are not mutually exclusive.
Been thinking about choreography, improvisation, definitions a lot since M2M '09. Had an "aha" moment the other day driving home. No piece is either choreographed or improvised. All pieces are both. Even the most rigorously choreographed piece has a vast number of variations each time it is performed. And each improvisation has a lot of choreography i.e. habit, physical limitations etc.
Also the question of which elements are improvised and which are choreographed arises. For several years, Lower Left has been choreographing pieces using the lights. We predetermine(choreograph) what the lights will be and how long each will be on and what the transitions will be. What our bodies do within those lights is improvised. But then there is the question of habits and current injuries and what other information we have been taking in recently. All those elements can limit or choreograph us.
In fact with each improvisation each piece that people claim is "open" has a huge amount of predetermined factors:
-Gravity
It will still be same throughout the piece. There might be some fluctuation due to the moon and the earth's spinning core or other factors. But essentially the same.
-The Theater
Not many pieces change venues partway through. How many improvisations have decided to leave the building completely? (How about choreographing a piece but improvising the theater/location?)
-Performers
yes, people do enter and exit the performance space, but they are still the performers. How do we improvise the performers. Beside the names in a hat thing, because that is from a predetermined set of performers.
-Costumes
The pieces I have been in that had costume changes were choreographed as were the costume changes. I haven't been in a single improvisation in which I had the opportunity to improvise my costume. I have disrobed, maybe that counts. But never had an improvisation with costume as an equal improvisational element. Must look into this.
-Bodies
I always (for the most part) have the same body. I have never been able to grow extra legs on stage. Never have I seen anyone improvise on stage how many limbs s/he had.
Every piece is choreographed and every piece is improvised. The question is what elements are the choreographed ones and which ones are the improvised ones. And the next question is how tightly each one is improvised and choreographed.
Share
4.12.2009
Darwin Thwarted Again
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time, police said Saturday. One adult polar bit her several times after she plunged into the moat, police said.Zoo workers tossed rescue rings toward the woman to hoist her out and distract polar bears swimming nearby, said Goerg Gebhard, a Berlin police officer. At one point the woman fell back into the water and was grabbed by a bear before she was eventually hoisted to safety. "They saved her life," Gebhard told CNN. The woman was severely injured and was being treated at a hospital, police said. It's unclear why the woman entered the bear habitat, but police issued her a citation for trespassing. Berlin Zoo is home to Knut, the first polar bear to be born there in over 30 years. The bear became a huge talking point in Germany when his mother gave birth to him in December 2006.
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4.07.2009
New Method of Terrorist Attack?
A man stole a plane from a Canadian flight school and flew into the United States.
Will this be the new paradigm of attack? 9/11 caused the first shift. And then the Shoe Bomber, Richard Reid caused another shift. Thanks to him we have to take our shoes off now when going through security. Found out after looking at Wikipedia that I am 6 days older than the Shoe Bomber.
from Wikipedia - "He was sentenced by Judge Young to life imprisonment on each of the three charges, 20 years imprisonment on four other charges, and 30 years on four other counts, to be served consecutively, followed by five years of supervised release."
So after the Shoe Bomber serves his life imprisonment term he will have 5 years of supervised release. Who is going to supervise that? And then once the supervision is done, will he be able to freely roam the after-life?
But back to the topic at hand - Are Cessnas from Canada the new dirty bomb? What about Mexico? Well, those from Mexico are probably too full of cocaine or weed to put any bombs in them. But then again, I heard that Canada grows some fine buds also...
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Will this be the new paradigm of attack? 9/11 caused the first shift. And then the Shoe Bomber, Richard Reid caused another shift. Thanks to him we have to take our shoes off now when going through security. Found out after looking at Wikipedia that I am 6 days older than the Shoe Bomber.
from Wikipedia - "He was sentenced by Judge Young to life imprisonment on each of the three charges, 20 years imprisonment on four other charges, and 30 years on four other counts, to be served consecutively, followed by five years of supervised release."
So after the Shoe Bomber serves his life imprisonment term he will have 5 years of supervised release. Who is going to supervise that? And then once the supervision is done, will he be able to freely roam the after-life?
But back to the topic at hand - Are Cessnas from Canada the new dirty bomb? What about Mexico? Well, those from Mexico are probably too full of cocaine or weed to put any bombs in them. But then again, I heard that Canada grows some fine buds also...
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4.03.2009
The Positions of the Human Form
360(shoulder) x 360 (shoulder) x 135(elbow) x 135(elbow) x 360 (wrist) x 360 (wrist) x 360 (spine) x 360 (hip) x 360 (hip) x 135(knee) x 135(knee) x 360 (ankle) x 360 (ankle) x 360 (head) =
12,143,953,109,659,430,000,000,000,000,000,000 body positions
Between 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 estimated number of stars in the universe.
Assuming 1 postion/sec (31,449,600 seconds in a year)
386,140,145,173,847,400,000,000,000 years for 1 person to do all positions.
These are rough calculations that do not take into account several factors. The fingers, the face, the wide range of mobility of the spine, the various sizes of circles that each rotation joint can do.
If you wanted to see how many possible positions there are in a duet, square the large number at the top. A trio - that number to the third power... a quartet that number to the fourth power etc.
Adding in costumes, lighting, repetition of movement, sound...there are an infinite number of dances possible.
Which leads me to a question of value. If so many dances are possible, how do we determine the good ones? Value and quantity usually have an inverse relationship - the greater the number of something, the less that something is valued. Take grains of sand and diamonds.
Are all of the dances that have been created of equal value because there are vastly fewer dances that have been created in comparison to dances that have not been created? Is every dance you will see in your lifetime of equal value?
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12,143,953,109,659,430,000,000,000,000,000,000 body positions
Between 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 estimated number of stars in the universe.
Assuming 1 postion/sec (31,449,600 seconds in a year)
386,140,145,173,847,400,000,000,000 years for 1 person to do all positions.
These are rough calculations that do not take into account several factors. The fingers, the face, the wide range of mobility of the spine, the various sizes of circles that each rotation joint can do.
If you wanted to see how many possible positions there are in a duet, square the large number at the top. A trio - that number to the third power... a quartet that number to the fourth power etc.
Adding in costumes, lighting, repetition of movement, sound...there are an infinite number of dances possible.
Which leads me to a question of value. If so many dances are possible, how do we determine the good ones? Value and quantity usually have an inverse relationship - the greater the number of something, the less that something is valued. Take grains of sand and diamonds.
Are all of the dances that have been created of equal value because there are vastly fewer dances that have been created in comparison to dances that have not been created? Is every dance you will see in your lifetime of equal value?
Share
3.30.2009
Tax Cuts vs. Food Stamps
From Harper's Index:
Estimated amount by which the U.S. GDP increases for each additional dollar of tax cuts:
$1.03
Amount for each additional dollar of infrastructure spending and food stamps, respectively:
$1.59, $1.73
Are Republicans, supposedly the business minded and business friendly party, unaware of this fact? Maybe I don't have such a great business acumen but I have always thought a 73% or even a meagrer 59% return on investment is much better than a 3% return. But then again, the Republicans were at the helm when the economy went into the toilet, so what do they know.
What are we waiting for, Obama? Let's start feeding people and building bridges!!!
Estimated amount by which the U.S. GDP increases for each additional dollar of tax cuts:
$1.03
Amount for each additional dollar of infrastructure spending and food stamps, respectively:
$1.59, $1.73
Are Republicans, supposedly the business minded and business friendly party, unaware of this fact? Maybe I don't have such a great business acumen but I have always thought a 73% or even a meagrer 59% return on investment is much better than a 3% return. But then again, the Republicans were at the helm when the economy went into the toilet, so what do they know.
What are we waiting for, Obama? Let's start feeding people and building bridges!!!
3.28.2009
Don't candles also make greenhouses gases?
From an Antarctic research base to the Great Pyramids of Egypt and beyond, the world switched off the lights on Saturday for Earth Hour, dimming skyscrapers, city streets and some of the world's most recognizable monuments for 60 minutes to highlight the threat of climate change.
Sounds like a good idea. But I am not sure if everyone got the idea completely.
"In Australia, people attended candlelit speed-dating events..."
Candles burn oxygen creating carbon dioxide, a green house gas. Therefore they were still adding to the problem.
"A key 2010 football World Cup qualifier against Serbia posed a dilemma for Romanians. "Shall we watch the match or turn off the lights?," the 7plus daily asked in its main front-page headline."
Couldn't they just play the game during the day time when there is carbon free light?
"McDonald's Corp. planned to dim its arches at 500 locations around the U.S. Midwest"
Why not stop selling burgers for an hour? The consumption of meat adds more to global warming than transportation.
Sounds like a good idea. But I am not sure if everyone got the idea completely.
"In Australia, people attended candlelit speed-dating events..."
Candles burn oxygen creating carbon dioxide, a green house gas. Therefore they were still adding to the problem.
"A key 2010 football World Cup qualifier against Serbia posed a dilemma for Romanians. "Shall we watch the match or turn off the lights?," the 7plus daily asked in its main front-page headline."
Couldn't they just play the game during the day time when there is carbon free light?
"McDonald's Corp. planned to dim its arches at 500 locations around the U.S. Midwest"
Why not stop selling burgers for an hour? The consumption of meat adds more to global warming than transportation.
2.19.2009
Irish Police
Sounds like the police in Ireland could use the Rosetta Stone.
from the BBC -
"Details of how police in the Irish Republic finally caught up with the country's most reckless driver have emerged. 
from the BBC -
"Details of how police in the Irish Republic finally caught up with the country's most reckless driver have emerged.
He had been wanted from counties Cork to Cavan after racking up scores of speeding tickets and parking fines.
However, each time the serial offender was stopped he managed to evade justice by giving a different address.
Poles are Ireland's largest immigrant population
But then his cover was blown.
It was discovered that the man every member of the Irish police's rank and file had been looking for - a Mr Prawo Jazdy - wasn't exactly the sort of prized villain whose apprehension leads to an officer winning an award.
In fact he wasn't even human.
"Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence," read a letter from June 2007 from an officer working within the Garda's traffic division.
"Having noticed this, I decided to check and see how many times officers have made this mistake.
"It is quite embarrassing to see that the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities."
The officer added that the "mistake" needed to be rectified immediately and asked that a memo be circulated throughout the force.
In a bid to avoid similar mistakes being made in future relevant guidelines were also amended.
And if nothing else is learnt from this driving-related debacle, Irish police officers should now know at least two words of Polish.
As for the seemingly elusive Mr Prawo Jazdy, he has presumably become a cult hero among Ireland's largest immigrant population"
2.15.2009
Solar Panels over Parking Lots
After seeing this on the news yesterday, I had one of those moments of - Duh, why didn't I think of that? (a feeling that also happens when viewing contemporary art) In Sunnyvale, Ca, the parking lot of Applied Materials is covered in solar panels. Electric vehicles can charge up in that lot.
Why are we not covering every single parking lot south of San Francisco with such structures? I remember listening to a Science Friday on NPR that talked about solar panels and part of the problem is that there isn't enough room for solar farms near where the power is needed, i.e. urban areas.
Well, doesn't this just solve that problem? How many parking lots, huge parking lots, are there in L.A., in Pheonix, in Houston, that are just baking in the sun 300+ days of the year? Why are we not demanding these solar farms be built? They could be a revenue source by charging people to recharge their cars while they are at the mall or the movies or at Disneyland or the golf courses outside Palm Springs.
Why are we not doing this? Are projects like this in the Stimulus Package?
p.s. why are there golf courses in the desert?
Why are we not covering every single parking lot south of San Francisco with such structures? I remember listening to a Science Friday on NPR that talked about solar panels and part of the problem is that there isn't enough room for solar farms near where the power is needed, i.e. urban areas.
Well, doesn't this just solve that problem? How many parking lots, huge parking lots, are there in L.A., in Pheonix, in Houston, that are just baking in the sun 300+ days of the year? Why are we not demanding these solar farms be built? They could be a revenue source by charging people to recharge their cars while they are at the mall or the movies or at Disneyland or the golf courses outside Palm Springs.
Why are we not doing this? Are projects like this in the Stimulus Package?
p.s. why are there golf courses in the desert?
2.13.2009
A piece of the Pi
3. 14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510 58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679 82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128 48111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196 44288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091 45648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273 72458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436 78925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094 33057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548 07446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912 98336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798 60943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132 00056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872 14684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235 42019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960 51870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859 50244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881 71010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303 59825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778 18577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989 38095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952 03530185296899577362259941389124972177528347913151 55748572424541506959508295331168617278558890750983 81754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012 85836160356370766010471018194295559619894676783744 94482553797747268471040475346462080466842590694912 93313677028989152104752162056966024058038150193511 25338243003558764024749647326391419927260426992279 67823547816360093417216412199245863150302861829745 55706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302955 32116534498720275596023648066549911988183479775356 63698074265425278625518184175746728909777727938000 81647060016145249192173217214772350141441973568548 16136115735255213347574184946843852332390739414333 45477624168625189835694855620992192221842725502542 56887671790494601653466804988627232791786085784383 82796797668145410095388378636095068006422512520511 73929848960841284886269456042419652850222106611863 06744278622039194945047123713786960956364371917287 46776465757396241389086583264599581339047802759009 94657640789512694683983525957098258226205224894077 26719478268482601476990902640136394437455305068203 49625245174939965143142980919065925093722169646151 57098583874105978859597729754989301617539284681382 68683868942774155991855925245953959431049972524680 84598727364469584865383673622262609912460805124388 43904512441365497627807977156914359977001296160894 41694868555848406353422072225828488648158456028506 01684273945226746767889525213852254995466672782398 64565961163548862305774564980355936345681743241125 15076069479451096596094025228879710893145669136867 22874894056010150330861792868092087476091782493858 90097149096759852613655497818931297848216829989487 22658804857564014270477555132379641451523746234364 54285844479526586782105114135473573952311342716610
2.11.2009
Art = Science
"[Art] is what it is simply because it can break down fetishes and superstitions and is bold in explorations and because it opposes following the beaten path and dares to destroy outmoded conventions and bad customs."
- Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
The first word in his quote is "science", but art works just as well, if not better. In many repressive regimes throughout history, art is suppressed. As is science.
Galileo, Degenerate Art, Evolution...just to name a few.
- Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
The first word in his quote is "science", but art works just as well, if not better. In many repressive regimes throughout history, art is suppressed. As is science.
Galileo, Degenerate Art, Evolution...just to name a few.
1.26.2009
Love Hurts With Frequency
Love hurts with frequency.
Drinking a lot of beer is what ails me.
The young lad wept loudly because he didn't catch the ball.
Johnnie Carson was as good as a host as Jack Paar.
Hank always wore nylons when he went stalking
The geologist thought the coarsely foliated and crystallized rock was nice.
After a vigorous food fight, the Maitré d was gored by the spaghetti squash.
Hank spends much of his time looking at a book about reeds and other marsh flora.
He chewed in rhythm while eating a beet salad with a nice balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Drinking a lot of beer is what ails me.
The young lad wept loudly because he didn't catch the ball.
Johnnie Carson was as good as a host as Jack Paar.
Hank always wore nylons when he went stalking
The geologist thought the coarsely foliated and crystallized rock was nice.
After a vigorous food fight, the Maitré d was gored by the spaghetti squash.
Hank spends much of his time looking at a book about reeds and other marsh flora.
He chewed in rhythm while eating a beet salad with a nice balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
1.05.2009
Insanity
"Hamas had it coming" read a sign I saw at a protest near the Oakland Farmer's Market last Saturday. Did these children in Palestine have it coming?Did Hamas think Israel would respond in any other way?
How can Israel not think that killing more wives, husbands, daughters and sons will make even more "terrorists"?
How can Hamas not think that Israel is going to pound the #^@% out of Gaza once they start firing rockets?
Insanity - doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
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