"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." "Like I always say, there's no 'I' in "team". There is a 'me', though, if you jumble it up." We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do. Wisdom - that part of knowledge that isn't only true, but also happens to be helpful. Wisdom speaks softly... Thereafter the volume increases proportionate to the level of ignorance A punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet? All designed objects are propaganda for a certain way of life. Sometimes we need to stop analysing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely how we feel, stop deciding exactly what we want, and just see what happens. We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence." --Napoleon Bonaparte The best designed clothes: invite being removed but reward being kept on. It's that you just can't take the effect and make it the cause | Rapid urbanization and widespread habitat destruction stemming from human activities are negatively impacting wildlife populations as never before. City-dwelling birds, which are an integral part of urban ecologies, are no exception. As this thought-provoking ‘mass bird-housing’ installation by eco-artist collective London Fieldworks shows (more photos after the jump), encouraging urban biodiversity — whether in urban planning or green building — is something that deserves more thought. (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» ‘Spontaneous City’ of Birdhouses Springs Up in London : TreeHugger: .) [ continue reading ‘Spontaneous City’ of birdhouses springs up in London ] Britain’s eccentrics, recluses and misanthropes, you can relax. Ignoring neighbours and keeping your curtains permanently shut to the world outside might not win you many friends, but you’re no longer likely to be denounced as a possible terrorist. A radio advert that urged listeners to consider calling the police’s anti-terrorist hotline if they had suspicions about local people who avoided company, kept [ continue reading ASA watchdog bans ‘offensive’ anti-terror hotline radio advert ] followed on from a Kottke.org post (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» kottke.org Cinema of Attractions: .) The Ross sisters came from Texas – why does Texas endlessly surprise me? Then we get Dickie Henderson and Gunnersbury cemetery – what are the chances of that? Wrote Kathryn Schulz in her very entertaining book, “Being Wrong: Adventures in The Margin of Error“: •••••••••••••••••••••••• This is one of my favorite optical illusions, not because it is particularly dazzling but because it is particularly maddening…. If you think of this image as a checkerboard, then all the “white” squares that fall within the shadow of the cylinder (like B) are the same color as all the “black” squares that fall outside the shadow (like A). (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» bookofjoe The squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray: .) [ continue reading The squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray ] I PREDICT A DIET! The cholesterol hypothesis can be likened to a cathedral built on a bog. Rather than admit they made a horrible mistake and let it sink, the builders decided to try and keep the cathedral afloat at all costs. Each time a crack appeared, a new buttress was built. Then further buttresses were built to support the original buttresses. Although direct contradictions to the cholesterol hypothesis repeatedly appear, nobody dares to say ‘okay, this isn’t working, time to build again from scratch’. That decision has become just too painful, especially now [ continue reading The Great Cholesterol Myth – at Spiked ] Seriously, this is the future that China’s envisioning: huge friggin’ buses engulfing smaller cars on the road. Despite the silly picture and the eccentric “3D Express Coach” branding, this cunning project by Shenzhen Huashi Future Car-Parking Equipment actually makes sense. The idea is to make use of the space between regular-size cars and bridges, thus saving construction costs as well as minimizing congestion impact by allowing cars to drive underneath these jumbo buses. Fancy hitching a ride? Y (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under (video) — Engadget: [ continue reading China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under (+ video) ] This article is provided courtesy of the blogs feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/blog “And what volunteering do you do?” “I do…golly, what do I do? Umm, a whole load of things….Um, gosh, that’s a really unfair question cold…” (Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude in an interview with Eddie Mair on the PM Programme yesterday evening to talk about the Big Society). There was more: “Well, I do various things. It’s a great question to err… drop on me err… and if I had time to think about it…” It was both hilarious but painful to listen to. You can hear the [ continue reading Maude and NAVCA on volunteering ] Long story short: Most of the world’s beer has between 4% and 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). Over the past few years beer wars have broken out, with rapid escalation of alcohol content such that little more than 12 months ago, the world’s strongest beer was 27%. Now the race is on to break through the heretofore-undreamed-of 50% barrier. Reading this post may cause clifyt to abandon his post and head for the nearest tavern. Sorry about that. Why go the high-alcohol route? Georg Tscheuschner, who brews the potent 43% beer (as [ continue reading Worlds strongest beer — Where content* is king ] As it turns out, the Iroquois Nationals are the only internationally recognized Native American team in any sport, and they are no novelty act. They are ranked fourth by the Federation of International Lacrosse, particularly impressive given the Confederacy’s enrolled population of just 125,000. The Nationals’s indoor side finished second in the 2007 world championship. Why the Iroquois Can’t Win the Lacrosse Championship Infographic: 120 fake sci-fi events on a real-world timeline | Blastr. With city budgets stretched thin and more people riding trains and buses, public transportation is getting more crowded. As the Washington Post reports, in Washington, D.C., and Manhattan (and probably elsewhere!), there’s a growing irritation with "seat hogs": people who intentionally sit in an aisle seat in an empty row forcing their fellow commuters to stand. Brooke Timmons grasped a bar in the middle of a crowded Red Line rail car and held on, looking exasperated as she tried to keep her balance while the train jerked and accelerated down the track. On both sides of Timmons [ continue reading “Seat Hogs”: The New Scourge of Public Transit? ] “Hello fringsters, As you may have noticed, Skype has blocked fring. We are very sorry for any convenience this Skype policy has unfairly caused you. As loyal fring users, you deserve an explanation: Last week, following the surge in fring video calling traffic, fring service to Skype was temporarily reduced . Unfortunately, Skype and their legal team demanded not to restore your connectivity to Skype via fring. Needless to say, we are very disappointed that Skype is now trying to muzzle competition, even at the expense of its own users.” fring- make FREE Mobile calls, video calls [ continue reading fring- make FREE Mobile calls, video calls & live chat . ] For a thrilling, stomach-churning time, venture into the sewers of London, where everything that gets flushed ends up. All the stuff that you’re not supposed to flush gets stuck, making subfecal condombergs and other odd formations. Weirdest of all is the fat — tons of fat, enough to fill nine double-decker buses — found under Leicester Square. Presumably, this comes from frytraps emptied into the toilet, and not from fat excreted by the London’s straining colons. Enough fat to fill nine double-decker buses is being removed from sewers under London’s Leicester Square. A team of “flushers” [ continue reading Mountains of putrid fat scraped of the sewer-walls beneath Leicester Square ] Snowdonia National Park Authority prove they are blithering fools without the sense, vision or understanding to care for the land in their charge. A project to create a tarmac surface on part of a path on Snowdon has been criticised. The Miners’ Track is a popular starting point for walkers attempting [ continue reading Row over new Snowdon path surface ] An aquarium director kisses an octopus goodbye before setting it free in the ocean to mate before dying. Larger version of photo here, along with the beautiful story behind it. (Image: Kitsap Sun / Thanks, Steve Silberman!) (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» Boing Boing Octokiss: .) Thanks Abi. The future is behind us. But, as I have been reminded by many people, they only set it to that date and then they are/were/will be interrupted by the Libyans. For those on a technical trip around time and movies and television – click here Some days it feels like this, but I keep myself inspired by dreaming that one day I’ll climb up this, The Stelvio Pass. The great thing about climbing up hills is that you know there’s a great descent on the other side. Elcyclista via La Gazetta Della Bici! (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» DoubleOhTwo What’s it like up there, do you worry anymore: .) [ continue reading What’s it like up there, do you worry anymore ] Metalwork from David Clarke. Simply put, it’s a swirling mass of plastic in the middle of the Pacific ocean that is big enough to qualify as the planet’s largest landfill. Roughly located in an area between 135° to 155°W and 35° to 42°N, much of the world’s trash has accumulated into this part of the Pacific Ocean based on the movement of ocean currents. The Pacific Garbage Patch Explained – Planet Green. A rose any other name applies to the Pacific Garbage Patch – you’ll also hear it called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” [ continue reading the Pacific garbage-patch explained ] Slowly but surely an extinct glacier in a remote corner of the Peruvian Andes is being returned to its former colour, not by falling snow or regenerated ice sheets, but by whitewash. It is the first experimental step in an innovative plan to recuperate Peru’s disappearing Andean glaciers. But there is debate between those [ continue reading can painting a mountain restore a glacier? ] We may not have learned much from last summer’s Confederations Cup, but we certainly became well acquainted with the word ‘vuvuzela’ and the mute button on the TV remote. If anything, the horns will be louder still at the World Cup: what effect will they have on the players and coaches? A horny issue Bryan Robson is in no doubt: the vuvuzela is a weapon. The former Middlesbrough boss offered a stark warning after seeing his [ continue reading the effect of the vuzuzela ] UP to 1,000 bicycles are to be fitted with number plates. The scheme, which will be launched in Co Mayo today, is designed to increase awareness of road safety for cyclists. Under law, only vehicles with combustion engines have to carry designated number plates. But Noel Gibbons, road safety officer with Mayo County Council, said that the new scheme would bring cyclists into line with drivers of larger, more [ continue reading cyclists saddled with number plates ] If Ron Wayne, now 76, weren’t one of the most luckless men in the history of Silicon Valley, it wouldn’t have turned out like this. He was present at the birth of cool on April Fool’s Day, 1976: Co-founder — along with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak — of the Apple Computer Inc., Wayne designed the company’s original logo, wrote the manual for the Apple I computer, and drafted the fledgling company’s partnership agreement. Apple’s lost founder: Jobs, Woz and Wayne ] On Saturday 12 June 2010 the seventh London World Naked Bike Ride will return to the streets of the capital, allowing riders to see the city sights from the comfort of a bike or skates. The ride is easy and upbeat, and riders decorate their bodies and bikes with messages of protest against oil dependency and car culture. London is the largest daytime WNBR event in the world. We had 1,200 participants on Saturday 13 June 2009!!! Previously we had 1,000 (2007 & 2008), 800 (2006), 250 (2005) [ continue reading London – World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) ] An anonymous reader writes“Even humans sometimes fail to recognize sarcasm and irony; can machines do better? An algorithm that identifies sarcastic tweets(PDF) on Twitter and sarcastic sentences in product reviews on Amazon will be presented next week in the International Conference for Weblogs and Social Media in Washington, DC, and in the Computational Natural Language Learning in Sweden in July. A team from the Hebrew University, Israel, has developed an algorithm that identifies sarcastic sentences by using a machine learning technique in which a small number of sarcastic sentences act as seeds for the software to learn and generalize upon. [ continue reading software recognises sarcastic tweets ] Knew This was coming. On top of a service that doesn’t cover large parts of Wales, Shropshire, Northamptonshire and LONDON! this is not the best way to ensure a smooth renewal by this customer! It seems like the entire United Kingdom (at least those who aren’t out partying it up with Patsy Kensit at the Met Bar) has emailed us in the last two minutes to clue us in on the fact that O2 has posted its newiPhone 4 pricing. It looks like your beloved “unlimited 3G” plans of are a thing of the [ continue reading UK’s O2 to impose 3G data limits for iPhone 4 users ] Un carril para los turistas y otro para los barceloneses. No se trata de una nueva iniciativa del área de movilidad del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona. Tampoco de ninguna idea surgida de los despachos de los responsables de turismo de la Generalitat. Son las marcas vialesque han aparecido pintadas en diferentes calles del centro de Barcelona y que hoy han sorprendido a más de un transeúnte. En aceras o calzadas, escritas en castellano, de color blanco y separadas por una breve línea se pueden leer las palabras ‘barceloneses’, en un lado, y ‘turistas‘, en el [ continue reading La línea que separa a los turistas de los barceloneses ] Feather identification expert Roxie Laybourne, amidst a portion of NMNH’s bird collection. Photo by Chip Clark. That’s from behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Tags: amnh museums NYC (CLICK HERE FOR MORE »» kottke.org A catalog of nature: .) | Shirdi Sai Baba: "Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it true, is it necessary, does it improve upon the silence?" Well known fact that any kiss where one or other party is in control of heavy machinery doesn't count for quality assessment purposes. There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. The honest heart that's free frae a' intended fraud or guile. However fortune kick the ba', Has ay some cause to smile. Life consists in replacing one worry with another, and one desire with the next, what the Buddhists call ‘grasping’ or upādāna in Sanskrit "Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future." "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." A wrong decision isn't forever; it can be reversed. The losses from a delayed decision are forever; they can never be retrieved. heavy words thrown lightly And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” |
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