Near Earth T-Shirt 2007 TU24

I came across the Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 30, 2008...which was a photo of Asteroid 2007 TU24 at its closest buzz by Earth.

I liked the pixelly nature of the shape and thought it would would look nice as a t-shirt...and I think I was right. And yes, I recreated the asteroid picture in Illustrator.

I was debating adding a clever tag line (the urban-hipster renegade designer-ish "TU24" with an implied "Woooha!" or maybe something like "NEAR EARTH OBJECT" or maybe "OBLONG & IRREGULAR"), but I think it is nice on its own.

I'm debating actually getting these up on CafePress or something, and donating all (ALL) the profits to my favorite Astronomy podcast, Astronomycast.

Infinite Free-Floating Brains

From the NYTimes:

Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs?

"The basic problem is that across the eons of time, the standard theories suggest, the universe can recur over and over again in an endless cycle of big bangs, but it's hard for nature to make a whole universe. It's much easier to make fragments of one, like planets, yourself maybe in a spacesuit or even - in the most absurd and troubling example - a naked brain floating in space. Nature tends to do what is easiest, from the standpoint of energy and probability. And so these fragments - in particular the brains - would appear far more frequently than real full-fledged universes, or than us. Or they might be us."

I love that things like this are so fascinating and yet make almost no sense to me. Other than they are fascinating (and they illustrated the sad limits to my understanding of such things...or maybe not, since I may just be a floating brain creating this reality, of which this floating-brain theory may just be a construct).

However, it seems that there is some may be some truth to one of my ignorant suppositions about reincarnation...or at least people smarter than I are discussing it:

"Over the course of eternity, [Linde] said, anything is possible. After some Big Bang in the far future, he said, 'it's possible that you yourself will re-emerge. Eventually you will appear with your table and your computer.'"

A moral question

"It's a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species."
- David Attenborough

and before you ask...

Kat: and before you ask, yes, i would probably be mad if you got shot at a strip club
Tim: More mad than sad?
Kat: if you weren't dead, more mad
Kat: well, assuming i didn't know you were there
Kat: let me rephrase to say if i find out you're at a strip club b/c you ended up getting shot, i would be mad
Kat: if i already know you're there, and you get shot, then i will be not mad
Tim: Because your mad would be used up early on
Kat: true
Tim: What if, because I got shot I HAD to go to a strip club?
Kat: a combination strip club and ambulatory surgery center
Tim: There was some amazing doctor who happened to strip during the day.
Kat: a girl in a naughty nurse outfit does not count as a medical professional

Listen...now

Burial - Archangel (Boy 8-Bit Simple Remix)

...that is all.

Across The Street

Five things I wish were happening out the window of my new desk at work:

 - man works on completing construction of his ion-drive rocket ship
 - man-beast stirs, plaintively chained in a garage
 - nervous group buries something in a large, slowly-moving duffel bag
 - earth golem rises silently from the ground
 - visible time appears through a fracture in the fabric of space

Five things that actually happen out the window of my new desk at work:

 - woman takes recycling to curb
 - squirrel runs across roof
 - man walks dog (and talks on his cellphone)
 - woman takes trash to curb
 - car drives by

Things That Rhyme With Air That I Wish Had Been Unveiled At MacWorld Yesterday

 - Macbook Hair
 - Macbook Cher
 - Macbook Ric Flair
 - Macbook Chair
 - Macbook Voltaire

You may imagine the feature sets of each on your own.

Runners up (thanks to the helpful Rhyming Dictionary) include:  au pair, lord's prayer, cab fare, despair, red scare, midair, skunk bear, unfair, croix de guerre, debonair, disrepair, Jeanpierre, solar flare, wear and tear, electric chair, social affair, and tender loving care.

Bizarro Otis

Bizarro Otis found on Flickr!

Murphy (via geekgirlunveiled):


Otis (via moi):

Unsolicited

Two unsolicitations that have visited me recently, much to my ire:

One - An automated voicemail on my cell phone "offering" me an SBN ("Small Business Network") Mastercard. The call originated from (216) 839-2146. I called back the "sign up now" number (1-866-310-9662) to find out how they got my number...spoke to a harried (rude) gentleman who ensured me that all he does is "sit in front of a computer" (his words) and if I wanted to find out how my number was collected, i'd have to be transferred to their customer service number. He put added my number to their "do not call" list, but from this lengthy discussion on WhoCalled.us, it sounds like that is a joke and I should be expecting more calls. Solution: ignore and resent.

Two - recently, I seemed to have been signed up for "The US Daily Newsletter" (from newsletter@digitalmediaonlineinc.com), which is perhaps the poorest formatted diarrhea spill of hyperlinks that has slipped through gmail's spam filters. There is no unsubscribe option to be seen, and a visit to the lovely site is of no help. Solution: "mark as spam" and be done with it.

Invisible Ham, the Meta Awakening

Last night, I had a dream about how I should tell everyone about a dream (that I didn't actually dream, rather, I just dreamt that I dreamt it...or something) about a superhero named "Invisible Ham"...whose power was that he could turn ham invisible.

I think, in my real dream, I thought this was hilarious.

Daniel Pink Legitimates My Career

...just kidding, i'm not that vain.

But Daniel Pink's talk at Pop!Tech 2007 is short, sweet, and astounding....you can view the video or download the audio from Pop!Tech's site.

"Provocateur Daniel Pink has built a career on his keen insights into business, technology and the economy. Engaging, enlightening and funny, the best-selling author heralds a new job market—one that devalues the logical and rule-based in favor of the artistic, empathic and inventive."

He touches on a fear of mine (as a parent):  our education system is failing to prepare for (or is completely ignorant of) this future (bad example, but for instance, I found out that our local school system has art classes once per month).  But hey, I have a sense that this creative and empathic revolution involves a lot of inherent "basic" skills...so, it's a minor fear.

Anyways, you should listen to the talk (it's only 20 or so minutes).

Movies I Suggest While Having Very Little To Say: Eastern Promises

In director David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," Viggo Mortensen's Nikolai is, perhaps, the coolest, most badass character I can recall.  I had to grin at each of his subdued, broken-English, pursed-lipped...almost whispered intimidations.  In addition to Mortensen's wicked performance, Eastern Promises has all the throat-slitting, monstrous Mercedes-Benz-driving, omnipresent Russian underground dread you could possibly...possibly...ask for.  Loved it.

Relatedly, Netflix' "Information for Parents" entry for this movie is...amusing.  I feel a little bit more dirty reading it than I did actually watching the "brutal" film.

Well, hello there...

...and happy new year.

(Picture from Rotorglow)

Happy Holiday Miles

Unwanted DNS assistance

Last night I noticed that Verizon (provider of our up-to-now awesomely-praised FiOS service) has foisted upon us a crappy "DNS assistance" thing...the gist being that should we enter an incorrect URL (though, this also occurs if one omits things like "www") into a browser, we are no longer greeted with a simple "page not found," but instead are met by some Verizon page full of suggested sites, ads, and branding.  Freedom To Tinker has a good write-up of the...new feature.  There's more, and more...much more.

I am pretty sure I hate it, and I certainly know I don't want it.

Allegedly, one can "opt out" of the "service," but I can't make heads or tails of the 16-step process I need to undertake in order to do so.  In fact, I can't even get past step 3 (or, sub-step 3 of step 1)...in order to note the DNS addresses, i'm told to "Select Status from the main menu."  Alas, there is no link anywhere to be found called "status."  I am completely dumbfounded by the fact that I have to wade through this...garbage...in order for my internet to act the way it did a few months ago (but maybe I am secretly happy to have to "change octets" [sub-step 9 of step 2]).

Of course, if I were a smarter or more patient man, I would be able to find this information on my own...but navigating my gateway settings site is an exercise in crapfoolery of its own.

Boo.

A Crude Awakening

I highly recommend everyone taking the time to watch "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash"...a sobering (miserable), rational look at our unsustainable addiction to fossil fuels and the utter lack of any planning around the future of this issue.

"If An Inconvenient Truth could be considered The Wizard of Oz of environmental documentaries, then A Crude Awakening would have be considered the Rosemary’s Baby of that same genre...Global warming. So what? Melting polar icecaps? Call me later. A Crude Awakening paints a picture so much grimmer than anything Americans have seen in their lifetimes. Or in the movies this summer, for that matter. It is dark. It is primordial. It is terrifying. It is - The end of oil, as we know it."