tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:16:54 +0000Bloghttp://shlogblog.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)Blogger300125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-2100969954409921991Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:38:00 +00002009-08-16T20:07:51.875+08:00mixotrichRichard Dawkins' great book- "The Ancestor's Tale" tells the story of evolution backwards- from man to microbe- so as not to give the incorrect impression that we are the pinnacle of the evolutionary tree. This is frankly annoying. Who would write a history book starting in the present day, then heading backwards? Hopefully, some future edition will be re-written backwards.Regardless, it is a http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/mixotrichs-tale.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-3232312168943891027Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:26:00 +00002009-08-04T23:28:54.073+08:00http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/artefacts-from-future-preschool.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-4644708824676625395Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:16:00 +00002009-08-03T23:32:09.412+08:00seminars long term thinkingAmazing isn't it? You sort of think that 'fruit' has been around forever- but no- there wasn't any such thing as a grapefruit before 1750. This, and other amazing facts in the latest great lecture on "SALT" - Seminars About Long-term Thinking: a balanced, rational view of "Organic" vs "GM" food. http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/grapefruit-was-invented.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-8539739342331587218Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:08:00 +00002009-08-03T23:14:23.520+08:00adam kalkinArtist/chitect Adam Kalkin built his amazing house around another house - and now uses the front porch as a dining room. Tremendously cool.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/hmmm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-4419795266854765885Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:40:00 +00002009-08-02T17:56:07.168+08:00photosynth universeWhen you look up at the beautiful stars on a clear night- you're looking at an image that's different from anything you'll see on earth. That's because each point of light is from a different time. Adjacent stars may be separated by billions of miles. You're seeing the stars as they were, and WHERE THEY WERE billions of years ago. Before there were humans, before there was Earth. Who knows http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/photosynth-of-night-sky.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-5001258943886779211Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:28:00 +00002009-07-29T19:21:38.208+08:00control codes bose sony v20After much struggling- i've finally got the home theater/hi-fi thing all sorted. It did take quite a bit of trawling thru anti-Bose internet fora and an email to Bose HQ but it's all worked out in the end. And yes- before anyone gets stuck into me- i KNOW Bose stuff is overpriced!What i wanted was:a) a system that was integrated using ONE REMOTE ONLY- preferably without having to buy a http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/bose-v20-sony-blu-ray-tivo-sony-tv.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-2092911691835635415Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:44:00 +00002009-07-28T09:45:02.728+08:00jazzCan't explain why somebody set this to this movie.. but great music.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/flanger-crime-in-pale-moonlight.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-5403916965090045994Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:35:00 +00002009-07-28T09:35:32.514+08:00jazzhttp://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/koop-come-to-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-1979269773614752770Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:19:00 +00002009-07-27T17:22:05.232+08:00tony-b musicGreat music machine from tony-b: great fun - great sound. Don't forget to check out the 'specials'. You need to enter a name and password to get started.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/music-machine-for-kids.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-2537874490442632076Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:10:00 +00002009-07-27T17:18:30.821+08:00google earthGoogle Earth is much more than Google Earth- it's now also Google Moon, Google Mars, Google Sky and Google Flight Simulator! (although you can't fly around the moon or mars yet). You can even dive underneath the water and zoom along undersea mountains etc. It also now has simulated day/night and 'atmosphere' on Earth. Amazing!http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-earth-updates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-2433746555233128484Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:55:00 +00002009-07-22T20:51:28.162+08:00butterfly effectI first heard about the 'Butterfly Effect' reading Douglas Hofstaedter's amazing book 'Metamagical Themas', and subsequently James Gleick's book on Chaos when they came out decades ago.Essentially, systems (like the weather) where the output is fed back into the input (i.e. 'iterated') demonstrate 'sensitive dependence on initial conditions'. In other words, a teeny tiny difference in the http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/evolution-of-butterfly-effect.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-5183784859847676251Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:12:00 +00002009-07-16T21:13:37.433+08:00documentariesLots great free stuff from Australian ABC- quality looks excellent even on my 24" iMAC with fullscreen view.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/free-full-high-quality-documentaries.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-3289340243537642951Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:28:00 +00002009-07-16T00:01:33.682+08:00Big historyJust bought Cynthia Brown's "Big History" today and started reading... history from the big bang to the present day. Looks like it going to be very interesting (and better than Bill Bryson's effort). There is however a mistake in the 2nd paragraph of the 1st page!Cynthia assumes that because the universe is 13.7 billion years old, it must be 13.7 billion light years across. In fact, logic http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/big-history-error.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-945141086836597540Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:05:00 +00002009-07-15T23:13:29.570+08:00pride and prejudice and zombiesSaw a copy of "Pride andPrejudice and Zombies" at the local bookstore- and i was very tempted to buy it but unfortunately i do not belong either to the part of the subculture that is into Zombies- or that part that is into Jane Austen. In fact, i can imagine the Venn Diagram of the intersection of these two sets to be an exceedingly small area that includes the author and a handful of others.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/zombies-zombies-everywhere-classic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-1237566501123605670Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:37:00 +00002009-07-15T00:44:57.210+08:00rapamycinWe can all live forever! There's a fascinating bit on the wiki entry on the worlds oldest living (currently dead) person: Jeanne Calment-"In 1965, aged 90, with no living heirs, Jeanne Calment signed a deal to sell her former apartment to lawyer André-François Raffray, on a contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs until she died, an agreement http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/longer-you-live-more-rapamycinsirolimus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-7714539990266950493Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:55:00 +00002009-07-14T00:57:22.749+08:00Good article from the Guardian:http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/bin-laden-8-years-and-counting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-345215594224026754Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:35:00 +00002009-07-14T00:51:50.460+08:00iranTwo must-listen-to podcasts from 'Rear Vision' on the history of foreign intervention in Iran:Oil, Democracy and a CIA CoupThe Iranian Revolution"Kermit Roosevelt was a fascinating character. He really was a true-life James Bond, and when it was decided that the United States would overthrow Mossadeq, he was the guy that the CIA turned to. They gave him the job. They told him, 'You've got to gohttp://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/british-greed-cia-blowback-islamic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-4433683581216578713Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:18:00 +00002009-07-14T00:33:18.119+08:00hmm?1. Why are there no black rock bands?2. Why don't people brush their teeth with hot water?3. Why/How did the French+Russian Revolutions wind up with Napoleon+Stalin?4. Why does Rapamycin make you live longer?5. Is it really always darkest before the dawn?6. Was Earth's sky blue before photosynthetic plants made all that oxygen? ( this depends on the relative importance of oxygen vs nitrogen in http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/questions-i-have-for-this-week.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-7197759660999360172Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:04:00 +00002009-06-25T00:13:41.019+08:00never post when you are overtiredIngredients:Neodymium atom x 2Iron tom x 14Boron x 1Method A:Prepare by pulverizing an ingot precursor and liquid phase, sintering the magnetically aligned powder into dense blocksthen heat treat, cut to shape, surface treat and magnetize.Method B:Melt spin a thin ribbon of the Nd-Fe-B alloy. pulverize ribbon into particles mixed with polymer either compression or injection mold into bonded http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-midnight-and-ive-just-ordered-some.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-3021959304496245482Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:34:00 +00002009-06-25T00:01:10.034+08:00elliot smithhttp://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/best-elliot-smith-covers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-3177942623477480502Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:36:00 +00002009-06-24T23:26:08.462+08:00aaa BEST OF THE SHLOGcranial nerve zeroNow this is entirely news to me! Despite 6 years of undergraduate med school study, and two postgraduate degrees- including one in which i spent quite a bit of time learning about neurology- i have NEVER heard about Cranial Nerve Zero. I wish i was in a band because that's what i'd call it.It apparently usually gets ripped off when the brain is removed from the skull so anatomists often miss ithttp://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/cranial-nerve-zero-sex-and-secret-nerve.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-7028885712072572631Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:35:00 +00002009-06-24T23:34:00.332+08:00james yuillWhat i want to know is: was there anyone who sounded like Elliot Smith before Elliot Smith? He stabbed himself thru the heart don't you know. Crazy.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/electrofolk-james-yuill-this-sweet-love.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-5043009697431777241Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:13:00 +00002009-06-19T23:18:27.324+08:00What a terrible, terrible flop of a film- redeemed only marginally by the repeated appearance of Dr Manhattan's giant glowing uncircumcised flip-flopping blue penis.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/watchmen-giant-blue-penis.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-1496934875169857992Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:28:00 +00002009-06-12T23:31:06.340+08:00chaplinThis is the 1st Charlie Chaplin film i've ever seen- and i expected to be bored after 5 minutes. Really this is (i know you probably don't believe me) extremely funny. Laughed? I nearly cried. How did he train those monkeys to bite his nose? I think the kids will love it. You can watch it all on youtube in segments.http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/charlie-chaplin-circus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17614267.post-6815472400058096106Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:44:00 +00002009-06-12T23:18:09.694+08:00Step:1. Listen to NPR's "All Songs Considered".2. Read/Listen to AURGASM for amazing stuff- download (legal/free) any tracks you like... or better yet - subscribe to the podcast. They are a little 'top heavy' on quirky jazzy french/german chanteuses- but i like that stuff.Rachel GoodrichMélissa LaveauxPrincetonTheresa AnderssonBen SolleeLily FrostKate SchuttLucy SchwartzKitty Hoff & http://shlogblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-find-new-music.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shlog Blogger)0