Saturday, June 14, 2008

Proven: We're Extraterrestrial

That's what they're saying:

Martins and her colleagues said they discovered uracil and xanthine, which are precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA and are known as nucleobases in rock fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969. She explained that “early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoritic fragments for use in genetic coding which enabled them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations."


Image of xanthine molecule structure from Wikimedia Commons

Digg!

Read More...

The Scuba Channel

It's a YouTube section, but for scuba divers and snorklers.

This is a nice 7 minute selection.



Digg!

Read More...

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Honk Kong: Worst Floods in 124 Years



Nasty. Great photos, though.


Digg!

Read More...

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

"Baby Carriers: a Cultural History"

Cool article about baby carriers around the world and through time, and how they may have affected human development:

The invention of simple baby carrying devices may have played a decisive role in the development of the human species. Blaffer-Hrdy (2000) suggests that 50,000 years ago, this “technological revolution” (p.197) allowed mothers to carry food as well as their babies, leading to a new division of labour between men and women. She indicates that this led to better fed mothers, who gave birth after shorter intervals, and an expanding human population moving out of Africa.


Image of Nez Perce papoose from here.


Digg!

Read More...

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Telly Savalas on Birmingham, England

I have never heard of "Quota Quickies."

And I did not know that Kojak used to be on BBC telly:

In the late 1970s, several of the UK's major cities were the stars of B-movies the so-called 'Quota Quickies'.

Laurie Taylor tells the bizarre story of how the cities tried to make themselves appear exciting to a captive cinema audience through the medium of a travelogue.

One such classic is called Telly Savalas Looks At Birmingham. It has the American actor extolling the virtues and history of Birmingham. His narration is unintentionally funny and wonderfully kitsch.

The director of these quota quickies, the late Harold Baim, seemed to have an obsession with multi-storey car parks, concrete shopping centres and motorways in his attempt to catapult the city into the 21st century. Others in the Harold Baim series include Telly Savalas Looks At Aberdeen and Telly Savalas Looks At Portsmouth.


BBC audio of the show.

Stills from the film.

Digg!

Read More...

"Men's Long Hair Hyperboard"

I find this odd and intriguing.

Digg!

Read More...

Boxing Kangaroos Art

Image used by permission of Lesley, of Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art, Queensland, Australia. Thank you kindly, LS.

Lesley graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1982 after gaining a Degree with Honours in Design, specialising in Printed Textiles.

After teaching art in a High School for ten years in Scotland , Lesley immigrated to Australia where she has taught adults drawing and silk painting at TAFE Colleges. Lesley is currently teaching art in a private College in the Gold Coast, Queensland.


She has a really cool blog, too.

Digg!

Read More...

The Ketchup Song

The Ketchup Song:



More videos from the Tallinna Saksa Gümnaasium.

Digg!

Read More...

Internet Unknown III

I googled the work "nurk." This is what I found:

Nurk Wildebeest and the Mutations.

Enn Nurk. Enn Nurk.

Kareel Nurk's Flickr photostream.

Kareel Nurk's blog.

The Linda Nurk collection.

Tartu. Raekoja platsi ja Küüni tänava nurk.

Vitaly Nurk. Electronic music from the Russian Federation.

Digg!

Read More...