Guinness and Cream Cakes

Brontë Power Rangers

2010-05-16T08:30:00.000-06:00

May 12 - Happy Limerick Day

2010-05-11T21:11:00.001-06:00

Here's my Limerick Day page.

Greek Drama on YouTube

2010-03-05T16:57:00.002-06:00

There is some great stuff here. I've just linked to the first segment of each one:

Film Footage of Victorian England

2010-02-11T09:07:00.000-06:00

Let's meet the Victorians!

London Traffic, 1896

London to Brighton Run, 1896

Liverpool, 1896-97

Blackfriars Bridge, 1896

1920s - London in Colour

2010-02-10T20:39:00.001-06:00

Here's a wonderful color film of London from 1927:

Limerick Day

2010-02-10T09:59:00.003-06:00

I've made a web page of old limericks for Limerick Day, which is every May 12. I have written about 500 limericks over the past ten years but I think I shall only write them occasionally from now on. Here are a few of my most recent ones:

A poetical tippler named Tilton
Developed a fondness for Milton.
Each day, right at three,
He'd put on a CD
And have Milton with port and Blue Stilton.

When I dwelt with the Lullapaloons,
We would dance upon all the full moons
To songs that were played
On blue bongos they made
From the butt cheeks of certain baboons.

An ambitious punk-rock group called Slay
Has written a musical play;
It portays G. F. Handel
As a glue-sniffing vandal:
"Anachrony In the UK."

I once knew a man who was poor
Who used to sell dogs door to door.
If you asked, "Is this legal?"
He'd slip you a beagle,
Saying, "Gift for your wife – say no more!"

A frugal professor named Dors
Would crawl through his house on all fours.
He said, “I've had scares
While descending the stairs,
But it evens the stress on the floors.”

There was once a young lady named Bess
Who was constantly prone to digress.
When her truelove proposed,
Both his eyes were long closed
By the time she concluded with "Yes."

The Yuletide brought old Mr. Peck out
With visions of rooms he would deck out,
But with prices so high,
He dropped dead with a sigh,
Checking out with his check out at checkout.

You'll notice it's often the case
That I tend to fall flat on my face.
The cause, I suppose,
Is I follow my nose,
Which has no sense of shame or disgrace.

Two Twitters whose litter did Twit
Begot a tough Twitter who bit.
Said Mom, “What's more fit,
To Twitter the twit,
Or to Twitter the sitter who quit?”

There was once a dog docker named Dale
Who had learned his profession by mail.
"It's was simple," he said,
"I just studied in bed—
I'd no need to attend to de-tail."

My recommended links from Reddit

2010-01-09T10:29:00.001-06:00

Ethiopians - Mountain Goats

2009-12-26T12:04:00.001-06:00

A Series of Dreams

2009-12-26T11:57:00.001-06:00

Best Man's Speech - Mitchell and Webb

2009-12-26T11:48:00.002-06:00

Eleven Artists Arting

2009-12-11T19:02:00.000-06:00

Amazing Sand Art from Ukraine's Got Talent

2009-10-18T16:54:00.000-06:00

Guinness and Cream Cakes recommended links

2009-07-12T17:18:00.000-06:00

Shakespeare on demand

2009-07-05T11:09:00.001-06:00

I have been watching entire Shakespeare plays on YouTube at The Bard Tube.

Here is Pericles, Prince of Tyre:

Which is funnier?

2009-07-04T09:24:00.003-06:00

Two Mitchell and Webb sketches. I can't decide whether I like the evil vicar version or the evil waiter version best:

A gliding brass band with flaming heads playing Philip Glass

2009-06-27T10:36:00.001-06:00

Only on the interwebs:

Great Performances: Nobuyuki Tsujii

2009-06-13T09:16:00.001-06:00

Watch Othello Online (1952, Orson Welles)

2009-05-24T09:08:00.000-06:00

The opening scene is an absolute classic:

Some Dylan Rock’n’Roll Covers

2009-05-23T15:20:00.000-06:00

You might not have heard these:

The Red Cadillac And Black Moustache

Anyway You Want Me

I Can't Get You Off Of My Mind

A great song: "Brompton Oratory"

2009-04-25T13:38:00.000-06:00

Picasso: portraits of Olga

2009-04-19T16:05:00.005-06:00

It's a pity that Picasso didn't do more portraits like these ones of his first wife, Olga Khokhlova:

SS man has second thoughts

2009-04-19T11:38:00.000-06:00

Limericks in honor of Darwin’s bicentenary

2009-02-26T20:42:00.001-06:00

The Spectator recently asked readers to submit limericks in honor of Charles Darwin’s bicentenary. Here are my three efforts:

The Darwin debate never ceases,
For he wounded the pride of our species
When he made you and me
Share the family tree
With those monkeys that love to fling faeces.

“Dear waiter,” said Darwin, “Please stoop
And observe what I happened to scoop:
Did you know you and I
Made ascent, like this fly,
From a bleak and unsavoury soup?”

Charles Darwin declared, “I’m in pieces!
Diversity’s best for the species,
But I have a dilemma:
My sole mate is Emma*,
And she’s one of my grandfather’s nieces.”

*Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood.

The winners are here.

Evolution limericks from OEDILF.

Time

2009-02-14T12:55:00.003-06:00

Here are two self-portraits by Sofonisba Anguissola (about 1532 to 1625). In her remarkably long career she both received instruction from Michelangelo and gave advice to Van Dyck. The first self-portrait is from 1556:

The second is from 1610:

The Vegetable Butcher

2009-02-08T10:15:00.002-06:00

I found this illustration by M. Lauritano at the very absorbing deviantART site. The pictures there are set up so that you can embed them on your blog:

The Vegetable Butcher by ~mlauritano on deviant ART

How to easily create a free and awesome screensaver

2009-02-04T20:44:00.000-06:00

This is very rudimentary, but I didn’t know how to do it until recently. I expect that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know that there’s a free and easy way to make your screensaver display as slideshow of whatever paintings or photos you like. Here’s how:

1) Rightclick on your desktop
2) Click Properties
3) Click the Screensaver tab
4) Choose My Pictures Slideshow from the dropdown box
5) Click settings and select*
6) Click OK, Apply, and OK.

I recommend setting the size to the largest and stretching the small pictures*

Any pictures from you’re My Pictures file that you don’t want displayed can simply be moved over to you’re My Documents file instead. Go to Google images to find pictures to add to your collection.

I have about 800 photos and paintings that change every 20 seconds or so. I watch my screensaver while I listen to Pandora: it’s better than TV!

Rembrandt's Other Self Portraits

2009-01-10T18:59:00.003-06:00

People Flying

2009-01-03T16:20:00.002-06:00

An amazing video of people flying in "wing suits"

Recent Stories

2009-01-01T10:51:00.000-06:00

YouTube becomes a treasure trove of classical music

2008-12-28T17:54:00.001-06:00

A 19-year-old going by the familiar pseudonym FranzFerencLiszt has uploaded hundreds of hours of high-quality classical music performances to YouTube. Below, as a sampler, is Arthur Rubinstein playing the complete Waldstein Sonata:

Helpful tip: you apparently get better sound quality if you add &fmt=18 to the video URL.

Rizpah: Compelling Storytelling

2008-12-21T16:19:00.001-06:00

The old lady has quite a tale to tell:

Because nothing says Christmas like Leonard Cohen

2008-12-19T15:49:00.003-06:00

Britain is having what the Times has described as a “post-Diana's-death hysteria moment” regarding a bitter battle being fought between two versions of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” for the much coveted Christmas number one spot. There has even been a demonstration planned for Trafalgar Square over it. The Prime Minister and some-time world savior Gordon Brown has gotten personally involved.

It’s time someone cleared this up. I’ve listened to God-kows-how-many versions of “Hallelujah”, and here are the best three:

3) The Scandinavian singalong version (embedding disabled):

2) Alexandra Burke’s version:

1) Cohen’s live version:

Believe it or not, Britain has been there before. In 1953, "Answer Me" occupied the top two positions in the Christmas chart. The song had previously been the center of a controversy over the mixture of the sacred and the secular in the lyrics: the words were changed from "Answer me, oh my Lord" to "Answer me, oh my love" in order to appease offended Christians.

Two videos you should watch on Full Screen view

2008-12-16T21:09:00.000-06:00

Swimming with the Galapagos Penguins:

Kaleidoscope:

More from Suzanne Ciani

Noel Coward shares his thoughts on religion

2008-12-14T17:15:00.000-06:00

Lacrimosa, Marina Laslo

2008-12-14T13:08:00.001-06:00

Some Messages from the Dead

2008-12-12T21:10:00.000-06:00

Chant version of "Losing My Religion"

2008-12-12T19:07:00.001-06:00

Filmed in a very picturesque little town:

Lost Dylan Album “Yonder Comes Sin” Shows Up on YouTube

2008-12-11T22:13:00.001-06:00

Some tracks from a newly emerged live album from Dylan’s Christian period:

Aint Gonna Go to Hell

Thief on the Cross

We Just Disagree

Mary of the Wild Moor

Something more about Mary.

Full track list

My Favorite Songs When I Was Five

2008-12-06T11:40:00.001-06:00

When I was about five years old, these three songs somehow captured my imagination.

3: The Seekers’ version of “Blowin’ in the Wind”:

2: The Bachelors’ version of “The Sound of Silence”:

1: Cliff Richard singing “Visions”:

Guitar Music of Per-Olov Kindgren

2008-11-30T11:57:00.001-06:00

Stairway to Heaven

Sakura

Hey Jude

A Beautiful Hoax

2008-11-29T22:01:00.002-06:00

Andrea Bocelli performs Giulio Caccini's Ave Maria:

Apparently, this was actually written around 1970 by a chap called Vladimir Vavilov. I still like it though.

Lang Lang and his father play "Horse"

2008-11-23T08:52:00.000-06:00

Top 10 Somali Pirate Bailout Headlines

2008-11-21T20:43:00.002-06:00

Somali Pirates Apply to Become Bank to Access TARP

Kashkari Says Somali Pirates "Fundamentally Sound"

Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citibank

Somali Pirates Capture Bernanke, Paulson, Demand $700B Ransom. Dow Soars.

Compensation for Top Somali Pirates Cannot Be Slashed or Bailout Not Effective Says Paulson

Dr. Ron Paul Lauds Somali Pirates’ Return to the Gold Standard

Somali Pirates Union (SPU) Threatens to Begin Building Automobiles if TARP Funds Not Released Immediately

Gotcha Interview: Katie Couric Reveals Somali Pirates Woefully Ignorant of Supreme Court History

Somali Pirates Seek Goldman Sachs Merger to Become "Too Big to Jail"

Lou Dobbs Exclusive: Somali Pirates *Already* Own Citibank

Source Across the Curve

Leif Ove Andsnes plays Debussy

2008-11-21T07:02:00.001-06:00

Another find from Classic FM TV

A little Paganini

2008-11-20T08:41:00.001-06:00

Alison Balsom plays Caprice 24 on trumpet:

Found at Classic FM TV

Classic FM TV

2008-11-17T21:05:00.003-06:00

I just discovered Classic FM TV, where you can watch classical and crossover classical music videos for free 24 hours a day. Here, for instance, is a video I saw at the site of Miriam Stockley singing Remo Giazotto’s Albinoni Adagio:

Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas

2008-11-10T22:05:00.001-06:00

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) wrote an astounding 555 keyboard sonatas. Here are a few for your enjoyment.

Pogorelich #450:

Horowitz #23:

Pogorelich #366:

Horowitz #224:

Koblar #1:

Aregerich #141:

Original Rap Song: “This Is the Night Mail” 1936

2008-11-08T21:11:00.000-06:00

It appears that “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was not the first rap song after all:

Source.

Amazing Animusic: “Pictures at an Exhibition” and More

2008-10-18T08:18:00.000-06:00

Wonderful animation and the best version of "Pictures at an Exhibition" I’ve heard:

Strings:

Harp:

Pipes:

Eery Reintarnations: Look-Alike Photos

2008-10-11T10:39:00.001-06:00

see famous look-a-like faces

see famous look-a-like faces

see famous look-a-like faces

see famous look-a-like faces

see famous look-a-like faces

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain: Four Great Performances

2008-10-05T09:58:00.000-06:00

The Theme from Shaft:

A show-stopping round/medley: Fly Me Off the Handel:

You Don’t Bring Me Flowers:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

Bird and Fortune: Financial Crisis Humorously Explained

2008-10-01T05:49:00.001-06:00

Paulson on 60 Minutes

2008-09-29T07:26:00.000-06:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

Paul McCartney Live in Israel

2008-09-27T16:36:00.000-06:00

25 Most Brilliant Novels In Order of Appearance

2008-09-27T10:50:00.002-06:00

1813, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

1839, Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens

1847, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

1848, Dombey and Son, Charles Dickens

1848, Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

1850, David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

1857, Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope

1866, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

1869, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

1891, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

1903, The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler

1906, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

1910, Howards End, E. M. Forster

1915, Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham

1930, Cakes and Ale, Somerset Maugham

1931, The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck

1934, A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh

1936, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, George Orwell

1939, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

1940, You Can’t Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe

1940, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

1952, East of Eden, John Steinbeck

1987, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe

2001, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Amy Tan

Ten Great Limericks

2008-09-12T17:24:00.001-06:00

There was an old man of Darjeeling
Who boarded a bus at Ealing.
It said on the door,
“Don’t Spit On the Floor,”
So he stood up and spat on the ceiling.

A canner exceedingly canny
One morning remarked to his granny:
“A canner can can
Any thing that he can
But a canner can’t can a can, can he?”
Carolyn Wells

There once was a lady from Guam,
Who said, "Now the sea is so calm
I will swim, for a lark";
But she met with a shark.
Let us now sing the ninetieth psalm.

There once was an old man of Lyme.
Who married three wives at a time;
When asked, "Why a third?"
He replied, "One's absurd!
And bigamy, sir, is a crime."
William Cosmo Monkhouse

The star of "Anne Frank" was erratic,
And the critics were less than ecstatic --
Her acting so grim,
When the Germans marched in,
Cried the audience, "SHE'S IN THE ATTIC!"
Arthur Deex

A major, with wonderful force,
Called out in Hyde Park for a horse.
All the flowers looked round,
But no horse could be found;
So he just rhododendron, of course.

There was a young man of Nepal
Who had a mathematical ball
The cube of its weight
Times pi, minus eight,
Was four thirds of the root of **** all.

There was an old woman of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They came back from the ride
With the woman inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger.

There was a young man so benighted,
He never knew when he was slighted;
He would go to a party,
And eat just as hearty,
As if he'd been really invited.

There was an old man in a hearse,
Who murmured, "This might have been worse;
Of course the expense
Is simply immense,
But it doesn't come out of my purse."

Don't Miss Pandora’s Last Waltz

2008-09-04T18:56:00.001-06:00

Pandora allows you to listen legally to customized radio for free online, but unfortunately it is likely to soon go out of business. If you haven’t tried it, you should (although I believe it’s only available here in the USA). They even have the Beatles!

The great thing about it is that Pandora has such a large selection of music, including classical music. All you have to do is put in the name of a composer and Pandora will play music by that composers and others from the same era. For instance, I never get tired of listening to this Vivaldi station.

I’ve also discovered lots of interesting music through this Scott Joplin station.

I hope the links work!

More

The Blind, Autistic Slave Who Helped Form Modern Music

2008-08-03T12:05:00.002-06:00

Blind Tom Wiggins was one of the most remarkable individuals in American history. Not only was he born blind and a slave, but he was also very probably autistic. Yet, he became a true pioneer of modern music. Here John Davis plays one of Blind Tom's compositions, the Cyclone Gallop:

John Davis goes in search of Blind Tom’s grave:

The fascinating story of Blind Tom and his mindboggling talents can be found here.

A musical heir of Blind Tom was Missouri’s own John William “Blind” Boone. His story was perhaps less tragic than Tom’s, but still remarkable. Blind Boone, whose mother was a runaway slave, could have become a wealthy man through his music but he appears to have given most of his income away. Here John Davis plays Blind Boone’s Southern Rag Medley No. 2:

You can read more about Blind Boone here.

Leonard Cohen at Glastonbury 2008

2008-06-30T19:29:00.000-06:00

Hallelujah:

There Ain’t No Cure for Love:

Anthem:

Some more stupid graphs

2008-06-28T21:52:00.001-06:00

more song chart memes

more song chart memes

more song chart memes

more song chart memes

more song chart memes

Counteracting Global Warming by Manipulating the Earth’s Albedo

2008-06-22T14:54:00.001-06:00

Theoretically, global warming can be reversed by reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space. The cheapest and simplest solution to global warming I’ve seen is to increase cloud cover by spurting seawater up into the sky. This short video about it is well worth watching:

Another plan, the Global Albedo Enhancement Project, involves covering a vast area of desert in white plastic. Keeping the plastic white seems to be the hard part. The use of vacuum-cleaner robots has been considered.

There are also things that the average citizen can do to help raise the earth’s albedo.

What got me thinking about albedo was this article from Tree Hugger.

Good News On the Environment

2008-06-08T12:40:00.002-06:00

Sapphire Energy claims that it has a scalable and cost-effective method of producing gasoline from algae, sunlight, and carbon dioxide. It seems too good to be true, but the company does boast the support of the prestigious Wellcome Trust, so maybe they really can do it! I recently read that converting the entire US corn crop to ethanol would still only produce enough to meet 6% of the country’s gasoline needs, so it looks like algae and electric power are the best options. Link.

Here’s a radical idea for a sales tax on carbon that is then refunded directly back to consumers: carbon emissions are reduced and the cash goes back to the people. There is an obvious element of wealth redistribution that diehard capitalists might find objectionable, but in theory you can escape the tax for the most part by purchasing different products. It’s way out there, but it just might be brilliant. Link.

The Portugese are world leaders on renewable energy. They are building the world’s largest photovoltaic solar farm and stimulating their economy by developing clean-energy manufacturing industries. Link.

Britain is building enough wind turbines to power all of its homes. China is trumping that by aiming for a tremendous 100 gigawatts of wind. That's an increase that is about equal to the entire amount of wind-produced electricity currently available worldwide. Unfortunately, with about 20 times the population of Britain China’s future energy needs are projected to be so immense that even 100 gigawatts will only make up about 5% of the requirement.

A dedicated gas tax would effectively fund clean energy

2008-06-01T11:58:00.004-06:00

There are few good options for raising the enormous amounts of money needed in order to transform into a clean-energy economy. I think a 5% gas tax is a very attractive option if the funds are dedicated solely to the development of renewable energies like wind, solar, algae, etc. The tax could be implemented at the beginning of the year when gas prices are lower. This approach would actually provide an incentive for oil-producers to keep prices down: the higher the price of gas went, the more money would be put into developing alternative products.

The idea is not as unpopular as one might suppose:

The US consumes about 12 billion gallons of gas a month. At $4 a gallon, that’s 48 billion dollars, so a 5% tax could bring in $2.4 billion monthly or $28.8 billion annually. Scientific American calculated the cost of converting the US to solar power at $420 billion over forty years. A 5% gas tax would take about fifteen years to raise that amount if gas use remained stable and the pre-tax price averaged $4.00 per gallon. However, I expect that after 2015 the number of vehicles using gas will start to decrease rapidly. If the dedicated gas tax failed to influence oil poducers to keep prices low, it would at least encourage the purchase of alternative vehicles.

I think a 10% dedicated tax would be even better! Whatever the percentage, the tax would terminate when use of gasoline in vehicles ended.

Graph found at the Breakthrough Institute blog.

(This post is an alternative to a previous post suggesting a monthly use tax on vehicles, which I deleted)

Cool Earth: no good deed goes unpunished

2008-05-31T19:06:00.002-06:00

Cool Earth is a cooperative effort led by a Conservative businessman and a Labour politician aimed at preserving rainforests by enabling individuals and organizations to pool their resources and purchase large areas of them:

WHEN millionaire businessman Johan Eliasch decides to head for his country estate, it involves a slightly longer trek than a drive to the Cotswolds.

After leaving his office in London’s Mayfair, it is a 12-hour journey by air and road before he can view his 400,000-acre plot in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The estate is the size of Greater London.

Eliasch, 43, a banker, film producer and chief executive of the Head sports equipment company, has bought it from a logging company to protect the plants and wildlife. He sees himself as a pioneer on the new frontier of climate change.

Eliasch, who is also deputy treasurer of the Conservative party, is part of a growing trend towards “green colonialism”. Link.

According to Cool Earth, an average acre of rainforest locks in more than 100 tonnes of carbon. Sponsors are invited to contribute about $140 to protect one acre. Eliasch has suggested that the entire Amazon could, in theory, be purchased for about $50 billion. Such an astronomical investment seems like a promising proposal when you consider that logging in the rainforests is thought to contribute more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than all of the human activity in China or the United States.

More background on Cool Earth here and here.

Unfortunately, Cool Earth’s plans seem to have been completely misunderstood by some in the Brazilian government:

. . . the daily O Globo from Rio de Janeiro reveals that a private report by the Abin, Brazilian Intelligence Agency found out that Johan Eliasch, a Swede businessman who works as a consultant for British prime minister Gordon Brown, estimated that the whole Amazon Forest can be bought for about US$ 50 billion.

Apparently, Eliasch's purpose is to encourage British businessmen to buy real estate in the area. Brazilian authorities have been investigating Eliasch's participation in the acquisition of 160,000 hectares of land in the states of Amazonas and Mato Grosso.

Eliasch is head of the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) Cool Earth, which is in the Brazilian government's black list as suspect of doing monkey business in the Amazon. Link.

How about a 2020 ban on gas-powered vehicles?

2008-05-25T08:24:00.004-06:00

What would happen if the US and the EU both decided to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles as of a future date about twelve to fifteen years in the future, say 2020 for instance? That ought to give automakers plenty of time to adjust and it wouldn’t place any limitations on vehicles already on the road prior to that date.

Norway has already been considering banning gas vehicles, although the Norwegians are apparently thinking of switching to ethanol whereas it seems to me that electric vehicles would probably be preferable.

A future ban would be a great spur to technological innovation and would make an enormous contribution to both energy independence and the environment. It would be an example for China and India and the rest of the world too.

There are two principle drawbacks to replacing gas with electric: the energy for the electricity has to come from somewhere and the range of current electric vehicles is too short. The first objection is really just one aspect of the great general question of where we should get our power from in the future and there are obviously several answers (solar, wind, nuclear, “clean” coal, etc.). The range of electric vehicles is constantly improving: lithium-ion batteries should bring the distance up to 250 or 300 miles. There is also the option of using battery-exchange stations for long trips.

Distance is obviously a much smaller problem in limited areas like Hawaii. Big cities are another special case. Here are a couple of guys testing out electric vehicles in London. The cars shown are a bit unsafe and unsexy, but they’re fun:

For more information on environmentally friendly vehicles, read AutoblogGreen - a fascinating blog that is frequently updated.

Whimsical Graphs

2008-05-23T19:49:00.002-06:00

Another selection of GraphJams:

see more funny graphs

more song chart memes

see more funny graphs

more song chart memes

more song chart memes

Classic Children’s Television

2008-05-10T09:48:00.000-06:00

Some of the BBC’s attempts to kill off the amazing John Noakes (after a couple of minutes of dog stuff)-back when children’s TV presenters were expected to risk life and limb:

Patti Smith on kids TV!

Philip Glass on Sesame Street:

JK Rowling Interview:

One Blog, Four Links

2008-05-07T20:10:00.001-06:00

It’s adorable but it probably won’t end well . . .

The calendar for September, 1752

The Tale of the Harvard Gringo

World’s coolest bike

I stole one of his photos for this LOL Cat:

moar funny pictures

Some Crazy-Ass Videos

2008-05-04T18:56:00.000-06:00

Petra Haden, “Don’t Stop Believin’”

Leningrad Cowboys and the Red Army Choir, “Sweet Home Alabama”

Bulgarian Idol, "Without You" Take 1

Bulgarian Idol, "Without You" Take 2 (with awesome audience support!)

African High-School Dropout’s Windmill Brings Electricity To Village

2008-05-04T11:33:00.001-06:00

Here’s a very inspiring video about a teen-ager in Malawi who built a working windmill from old parts after seeing a picture of one in a book:

Here is William’s Blog.

Remarkable people

2008-04-30T19:41:00.001-06:00

Vidal Sassoon’s streetfighting past

Emilie du Chatelet, woman of science

Germaine Tillion, resistance leader

Looking for more remarkable people? Why not borrow someone from the library?

New Mountain Goats Video

2008-04-27T11:26:00.001-06:00

My favorite American band offers a new development of the old Subterranean Homesick Blues here-are-the-lyrics theme: “Sax Rohmer #1”

More Mountain Goats: “This Year”

“Song For an Old Friend”

Her Majesty’s Wall of Sound

2008-04-25T19:00:00.000-06:00

Here are some entertaining British attempts to emulate Phil Spector’s production techniques.

1960s: The Walker Brothers, “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”

1960s: Marianne Faithfull, “Is This What I Get for Loving You?”

1970s: Wizzard, “See My Baby Jive”

2000s: The Pipettes, “Because It’s Not Love (But It’s Still a Feeling)”

And one of Spector’s tracks with Starsailor from a few years ago, “Silence Is Easy”

Yusuf Islam Lets the Cat Out

2008-04-20T16:16:00.001-06:00

Here are some nice new songs from the latest Yusuf Islam CD, An Other Cup.

Midday (Avoid City After Dark):

I Think I See the Light:

Heaven/Where True Love Goes:

GLASS: a Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts

2008-04-19T19:34:00.001-06:00

At last, a movie that I’m actually interested in seeing:

An interview with the director:

Here are some Indian dancers and a piece from the excellent Passages collaboration between Glass and Ravi Shankar:

A mighty vision of Philip Glass in the clouds over Edinburgh:

And a video from the New York Times about a visually stunning setting of Glass’s opera Satyagraha.

Stephen Fry on Room 101

2008-04-19T14:55:00.001-06:00

Here's a very entertaining interview with Stephen Fry. Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Wacky Graphs II

2008-04-19T08:12:00.001-06:00

Good graphs that somehow didn’t make the front page of GraphJam:

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

Intriguing stories from the past month or so

2008-04-08T19:48:00.002-06:00

“Supergrid” could power 100% of human needs from 1% of the world’s desert

Operation Cumulus: did UK government drown 35 people?

Wal-Mart, doing the right thing

A gripping read that’s just plain scary

Charity that costs government 14 times more money than it raises!

Thorium: abundant nuclear energy with minimal drawbacks.

Anyone want a free laptop?

Anyone want a free car? Israel goes electric (watch the embedded video – very inspiring)

Extra windpower to fuel Denmark’s cars

Greatest Beatles Covers from YouTube – a Top Ten

2008-04-06T19:09:00.000-06:00

10) Regina Spektor: “Real Love”

9) Emmylou Harris: “For No One”

8) Johnny Cash: “In My Life”

7) Sarah McLachlan "Blackbird"

6) tied-Wilson Pickett: “Hey Jude”

6) tied-Cilla Black: “Step Inside, Love” demo

5) Los Fabulosos Cadillacs: “Strawberry Fields Forever”

4) Vanessa-mae: “Because”

3) Jake Shimabukuro: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

2) Fiona Apple: Across the Universe

1) Rick Wakeman: “Help” with “Eleanor Rigby”

Bonus newer Beatley track from Paul McCartney: “English Tea”

Honorable Mentions (good covers, lousy videos)

Will Downing: “Michelle”

Aimee Mann: “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (not much of a video)

Maurice André, Trumpet Master

2008-04-05T14:17:00.002-06:00

Here’s an extraordinary performance of Marcello’s adagio:

Maurice with Dizzy:

Yo, Granada!

GraphJam Rocks!

2008-03-29T17:50:00.001-06:00

GraphJam is a wonderful idea--a site where you can submit silly graphs like these:

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

see more funny graphs

Some links worth clicking

2008-03-08T08:54:00.002-06:00

African tribal fashions

In New York City minor subway infractions can lead to nightmares

North Korea has 14 women and 8 men shot for no good reason

Dude invents new letter and it actually gets added to the alphabet

A Venn diagram that explains Britain’s various names

Awe-inspiring pictures of Dubai developments

"Everyone knew dimethylmercury was bad," says Sugden. "No one knew it was this bad."

Bach’s face reconstructed

Some woman makes a good case for staying in Iraq (but the US still can’t afford to)

Iraq: everybody lost, no matter which side they were on

Your Stuff: If It Isn't Grown, It Must Be Mined

Dick Cavett: Bobby Fischer before he went crazy

The 61-year-old eccentric behind Abercrombie & Fitch

Uber-cute lion-hug video

More cute: before and after

Emerging Energies-Some Positive Developments

2008-02-24T12:40:00.002-06:00

An ingenious plan that uses variations in ocean temperature to boil ammonia and generate electricity

Abu Dhabi is building a primarily solar-powered, carless city in which people travel in pods along magnetic tracks

Dongtan: China’s green city, coming soon

Mexico taking the lead on environmentally friendly housing.

AFL-CIO blog: green economy could save manufacturing

A new method that uses sunlight to generate hydrogen power from sea water

Massive wind farms are regenerating rural economies in western Texas

New Arizona solar plant will power 70,000 homes.

Three Solutions for Global Warming

2008-02-17T15:53:00.003-06:00

Solution 1: a new method of capturing carbon dioxide emissions
Solution 2: using ocean-based pipes to promote algae growth
Solution 3: going solar (below)

Scientific American recently announced a grand solar-power plan that would “generate 100 percent of all US electricity and more that 90 percent of total US energy ” by 2100 at a cost of about $10 billion a year for 40 years. Here is their synopsis:

A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.

A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours.

Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well.

A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country.

You can read the details of the plan here.

What about the cost?

Although $420 billion is substantial, the annual expense would be less than the current U.S. Farm Price Support program. It is also less than the tax subsidies that have been levied to build the country’s high-speed telecommunications infrastructure over the past 35 years. And it frees the U.S. from policy and budget issues driven by international energy conflicts.

Without subsidies, the solar grand plan is impossible. Other countries have reached similar conclusions: Japan is already building a large, subsidized solar infrastructure, and Germany has embarked on a nationwide program. Although the investment is high, it is important to remember that the energy source, sunlight, is free. There are no annual fuel or pollution-control costs like those for coal, oil or nuclear power, and only a slight cost for natural gas in compressed-air systems, although hydrogen or biofuels could displace that, too. When fuel savings are factored in, the cost of solar would be a bargain in coming decades. Link.

Recent news about solar energy developments can be found here.

Marni Nixon's Greatest Hits

2008-02-16T12:39:00.000-06:00

Marni Nixon singing “Shall We Dance” for Deborah Kerr

Marni Nixon singing “Tonight” for Natalie Wood

Marni Nixon singing “I Could Have Danced All Night” for Aubrey Hepburn

Marni Nixon interview

Extreme Soccer

2008-02-16T09:42:00.001-06:00

An amazing display of skills:

Related: Parkour

A car that runs on air

2008-02-14T21:04:00.000-06:00

The main drawback seems to be that electricity is needed in order to compress the air in the first place. But what if that electricity was generated by sunlight?

More compressed-air cars here.

A nifty global development presentation

2008-02-12T21:20:00.002-06:00

Check out the use of animated graphics in this intriguing and surprisingly upbeat presentation on global development by Hans Rosling:

More from Gapminder.org.

Lost Monty Python: Birds Eye Peas

2008-02-09T13:52:00.000-06:00

Before there was SPAM, or even a Wicker Island . . . Birds Eye Peas!

Who Made Huckabee

2008-02-05T08:57:00.001-06:00

Classic television:

A Feast of Goodies You Might Have Missed

2008-02-02T12:49:00.000-06:00

ideas

10 signs of intelligent life on YouTube

10 positive items from the Islamic world

I Am the Very Model of a Model Libertarian

How Henrietta attained immortality

Solar-powered internet cafes (in Gambia)

Pay attention to road signs! (picture)

Chinese anchor makes unexpected comments

Lack of sewing skills (no warm undies!) might have doomed Neanderthals

The web page that could have saved the Neanderthals (scroll down for image)

Inside the Iranian government on 911

The German healthcare system

D Day on a shoestring (4-minute video)

Rush Limbaugh’s Nightmare: pink-clad “feminazis” ready to whoop ass

Why repealing the tax cuts might stimulate the economy

MBA the easy way

An insider explains Scientology

Citigroup buys bank, cancels accounts of people who pay on time (read down all the way)

Uncle Sam’s Color Photoblog of the 1930s and 1940s

2008-01-27T10:33:00.000-06:00

US government photos of the 1930s and 1940s. See the whole set on flickr.

Paris Hilton Announces Economic Stimulus Package

2008-01-19T17:17:00.000-06:00

Paris Hilton called Friday for roughly “$145 zillion trillion” in tax relief for individuals and businesses that she said would “provide a shot in the arm” for the economy, “but not in like a druggy, smelly hippy sort of way.”

Her comments reflected a heightened sense within the celebrity community that a multi-billion dollar economic stimulus package is now a must-have accessory. Though she hasn’t mastered the details yet, Ms. Hilton essentially suggests a combination package that would include a permanent tax waiver for individuals who must subsist entirely on massive inherited fortunes and an immediate three thousand dollar tax rebate for all females between the age of thirteen and twenty four.

There is a growing consensus among top economists that very young female consumers provide the best “bang for the buck.” According to Professor Milkin Banx of Yale Business School, “the multiplier effect of putting cash in the hands of young girls is extraordinary. If you give a tax rebate to people with incomes over $200,000 dollars, they tend to put most of it into savings, which creates a multiplier effect of around about 0.45 only. However, if you give money to girls between the ages of thirteen and twenty four they will spend on average three times as much as you give them. The multiplier effect is approximately 3.0. We now know how to jumpstart any economy anywhere and at any time.”

If Congress acts quickly, checks could be in the hands of twenty million young American women and teens as early as Friday, February 1. Banx expects that the $60 billion dollars paid out by the treasury will result in $120 billion additional consumer spending by Monday, February 4 and $180 billion by the following Friday.

In laying the foundation for a plan rooted in tax policy, Ms. Hilton held fast to a central theme that increased spending rather than the production of goods and services is the route to prosperity. Hilton is also calling for the elimination of sales tax on any items that are pink or fluffy.

Britney Spears’ rival package, by contrast, calls for an extension of free non-prescription drug benefits to all Americans, coupled with a 500% sales tax on clothing and other body coverings (with an exemption for tattoos). The latter provision is aimed squarely at the unfashionable classes.

Ms. Hilton laid out her ideas for an economic rescue package only in broad strokes. She said that her plan was “big enough to make a difference in an economy as large as such as ours is and also in states like North Dakota and South Africa and the Iraqs. I know I can make a difference and hopefully stop this vicious cycle of people without food and shelter going around with off-brand handbags and ugly clothing and like not taking proper care of their chihuahuas and everything.” She did not use economic jargon terms like “recession” but acknowledged that “there is a lot of the paparazzi looking scrawny and underfed lately and they are staring at me sort of really like scary.” She said that this was giving her severe anxiety, panic attacks and claustrophobia.

LOL Cats and Similar Critters

2008-01-05T17:25:00.000-06:00

Since I don't like cats (other than lions and tigers), I was one of the last people on earth to find out about LOL Cats. I only started looking at them after I saw the LOL Chairs mentioned two posts ago. Anyway, here's a few:

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

Here Comes the Sun - Solar Energy

2007-12-29T10:01:00.000-06:00

This year the Edge asked its impressive collection of smart people what they were optimistic about. Solar energy came up several times.

The Edge, Oliver Morton:

New materials and new material-processing techniques should allow the cost of installed photovoltaic capacity to be halved in the next few years, and there is room for considerable further improvement after that: while wind power, nuclear power and dams are not going to become radically cheaper to install, solar power capacity is. It is also going to become more flexible, both physically and metaphorically, with new applications on new surfaces, from windows to clothing. Some of these applications may well be gimmicky and unsustainable, but one of the great advantages of the coming solar power boom is that it offers the possibility for a wide range of technologies both to compete for the main prize—cheap domestic and light industrial electricity in developed and developing countries alike—and also to find and to create new niches. Link.

According to a company called Nanosolar, solar energy will soo be as cheap as that derived from coal:

"Our first solar panels will be used in a solar power station in Germany," said Erik Oldekop, Nanosolar's manager in Switzerland. "We aim to produce the panels for 99 cents [50p] a watt, which is comparable to the price of electricity generated from coal. We cannot disclose our exact figures yet as we are a private company but we can bring it down to that level. That is the vision we are aiming at."
(snip)
Nanosolar is one of several companies in Japan, Europe, China and the US racing to develop different versions of "thin film" solar technology. It is owned by internet entrepreneur Martin Roscheisen who sold his company to Yahoo for $450m and, with the help of the founders of Google, the US government and other entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, has invested nearly $300m in commercialising the technology. Link.

Every school should copy this project--a home-made solar-powered car built by designer and high-school students:

The Edge’s, Alun Anderson discusses alternative fuels:

First, reprogramming the genetic make-up of simple organisms so that they directly produce useable fuels (hydrogen, for example). That will be much more efficient than today's fashionable new bioethanol programs because they will cut out all the energy wasted in growing a crop, then harvesting it and then converting its sugars into fuel. Second, self-organizing polymer solar cells. Silicon solar cells may be robust and efficient but they are inevitably small and need a lot of energy to make. Self-organizing polymer cells could be ink jetted onto plastics by the hectare, creating dirt cheap solar cells the size of advertising hoardings. Third, there's artificial photosynthesis. Nature uses a different trick from silicon solar cells to capture light energy, whipping away high-energy electrons from photo-pigments into a separate system in a few thousand millionths of a second. We are getting much closer to understanding how it's done, and even how to use the same principles in totally different nano-materials. Link.

Hybrid solar lighting:

Gregory Cochran envisions solar-powered self-replicating machines:

Right now the human race uses about 13 trillion watts: the solar cells required to produce that much power would take up less than a fifth of one percent of the Earth's land surface—remember that the Earth intercepts more solar energy in an hour than the human race uses in a year. That's a lot of solar cell acreage, but it's affordable as long as they make themselves. We could put them in deserts—in fact, they'd all fit inside the Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia. As I understand it, we like depending on the Saudis for energy.

But there are better ways. Solar energy works better in space—sure, the weather is better, but also consider that the vast majority of the Sun's energy misses the Earth. In fact only about one part in two billion warms this planet. Space-based self-replicating systems could harvest some of that lost sunlight—enough to make possible a lot of energy-expensive projects that are currently impractical. An interstellar probe is a bit beyond our means right now, and the same is true of terraforming Venus or Mars. That will change within our children's lifetimes. Link.

More here.

Good Stuff From the Last Few Weeks

2007-12-24T19:28:00.000-06:00

Seven pages of LOL Chairs for your amusement

The weirdest conspiracy theory ever

Look at this for 30 seconds and then look away – Oh my!

Sicko visits Norway, where even the prisons rock

Waterboarding: “I could feel my lungs going tight with fluid and felt like I was drowning. I thrashed in panic as darkness took over. As I passed out, thinking I was dying, I remember thanking God that we had made a stand against this kind of society.”

Better Business Bureau generates surprising number of complaints

Victoria’s Secret’s secret world of imprisonment, beatings and exploitation

Reading Anna Karenina in Zimbabwe: Doris Lessing on the hunger for books

Prince Philip’s greatest foot-in-the-mouth hits

Jack the Ripper speculation refuted by fabulous anagram

The gospel of supply-side Jesus

O Holy Night

2007-12-05T21:12:00.000-06:00

I don't believe in God, but I'm a big fan of Christmas. I think my favorite carol is O Holy Night. Here's a touching country-style version by John Berry: