Mathias's mock turtle soup

I would fall in love with any boy who gave this to me.

fall right on my face and bleed all over the floor.

it would hurt, but love is just that way sometimes.

"Today, I was walking with my little brother down the street and we saw an ope..."

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:27:19 GMT

"Today, I was walking with my little brother down the street and we saw an open manhole cover. Being a huge fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he leaned over and yelled, “TURTLE POWER!”. I was worried that he would be crushed when nothing happened, but then I heard, “COWABUNGA DUDE!”. He got so excited, he peed his pants. Thank you, mystery manhole guy, you made my day."

–Tumblr

[Reposted from ashe]

Scutigera Coleoptrata: In Your Bathroom, On Your T-Shirt

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:26:23 GMT

Shared by matt.gauger
If I wear this, I'm gonna feel like it's my superhero logo. Alternatively, I want a spot where I can use a whiteboard marker to fill in my number of House Centipede kills. Like fighter plane fuselages.

Joy! You can now buy a T-shirt featuring the likeness of everybody's favorite horrific-looking, behind-the-toilet-dwelling, cockroach-eating centipede. Will Bower from the Facebook group House Centipedes Are Your Friends sent a link to these great shirts, available on Etsy (where else?). The centipedes look hardcore, and (as you can tell by looking at the models) simply putting a Scutigera Coleoptrata on your chest is sure to make you appear 10x as hip as normal.

Scutigera Coleoptrata T-shirt
Scutigera Coleoptrata T-shirt, fitted version

Previously:

It's Scutigera Coleoptrata Season! - Boing Boing

Unicornfish chaser

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:48:14 GMT

If only incidentally; up close, they are truly amazing. [Video: Jon Rawlinson - Music: Barcelona]

Cinelli outdid me on the all-white bike.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:10:21 GMT

Cinelli outdid me on the all-white bike.

#26425 - Moss in association with Edelman Arts presents...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:28:30 GMT

Moss in association with Edelman Arts presents Remains by Cathy McClure ~ she deconstructs robotic animal toys ~ recasts the pieces in bronze and reconstructs it... see all the creatures!

(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

via Overcoming Bias : Key Disputed Values

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:14:06 GMT

via Overcoming Bias : Key Disputed Values

(Image)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:39:23 GMT

[Reposted from mz-r500 via chesh]

via tumblr_kt9ge6eyuE1qzkwjao1_500.jpg (JPEG Image, 414x347 pixels)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:24:03 GMT

via tumblr_kt9ge6eyuE1qzkwjao1_500.jpg (JPEG Image, 414x347 pixels)

[Reposted from ashe]

(Image)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:20:20 GMT

[Reposted from Aluslaw via coffee]

(Image)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:18:39 GMT

[Reposted from iloveyou]

"Sometimes violence -is- the answer."

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:42:39 GMT

"Sometimes violence -is- the answer."

–Narkalant

"It really is an inconvenience to get pulled over and written up for breaking ..."

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:18:08 GMT

It really is an inconvenience to get pulled over and written up for breaking the law. But the law is implemented for the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and drivers for good reason.

When I went through the red light without stopping, I thought I knew that the coast was clear. But isn’t that how many accidents happen? You think that the street is clear so you proceed to cross when it is not your right of way. I didn’t even see the cop car, so what’s to say that I would see an oncoming car headed right towards me?

You often hear people say, “That car came from outta no where!” Impossible, that car came from somewhere, and saying that will not hold up in court. Especially when you are at fault for choosing to break the law. That is if you’re lucky enough to survive a collision with a 2,000 pound vehicle.

Luckily for me, I didn’t get into an accident that day. I wasn’t hurt, and I didn’t get anyone else hurt. But I know that if I were to continue to recklessly run red lights, the story might not end with me just receiving a ticket. It could be a fat hospital bill, a lawsuit, or worse yet, a bill for someone’s funeral.

–iMiNUSD: RIDE simply, simply RIDE

via Flickr Photo Download: New bike racks

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:27:48 GMT

via Flickr Photo Download: New bike racks

We need these for our apartment's walls :)

via Office Snapshots » Twitter’s Latest Office Move (Version 3)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:26:38 GMT

via Office Snapshots » Twitter’s Latest Office Move (Version 3)

that's my desk ;)

"Polaroid" mini-vase

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:00:00 GMT

From designer Jung Hwa Jin, the "Polaroid Flower Vase:"

...a small planter that recalls the nostalgic form of polaroid, with the plant becoming the focus of the "picture." The planter is suspended with a clothespin on the end of a cord, with a small embedded lamp illuminating its subject.

[Thanks, Ellie!]

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The Revival World Premiere on Vimeo (gotta love the soundtrack to this)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:43:02 GMT

The Revival World Premiere on Vimeo (gotta love the soundtrack to this)

Hipsters discussing Cyclocross

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:05:20 GMT

Two hipsters discussing cyclocross. Pretty funny. No idea why they wouldn't use real voices, unless they want to disguise their identities. Some really really good lines.

"I'm DJing at the Hipster Machine"

Edit: the embed code seems to be busted. Watch it here.

You Know You're a Bike Geek When

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:46:29 GMT

You squint, Google, cross reference, and determine that slightly-out-of focus bike in the background is a Trek Top Fuel WSD.

You later notice Eliza Dushku’s thong. Eliza’s show, the Dollhouse, was cancelled by Fox last week.

Sunset at the Beach.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:42:57 GMT

These are looking damn NICE. Certified art stuff. Seen on WMD’s flickr though he did post some up as well. Good stuff man!

My bike after Cranksgiving MKE 2009. I built it the day of the race ;)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:20:03 GMT

My bike after Cranksgiving MKE 2009. I built it the day of the race ;)

My laminated spoke card from Cranksgiving MKE 2009.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:19:14 GMT

My laminated spoke card from Cranksgiving MKE 2009.

The poverty trap

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:16:15 GMT

In the US, when you make under $20,000, there are government subsidies available to help you out. Between $20-40,000 per year, those subsidies are less available, which makes it difficult for people to cross the gap between one and the other.

In fact, until you get past $40,000 a year, any raise or higher paying job you get might actually sink you deeper into poverty.

(via migurski)

Tags: economics USA

Dinosaur Comics and Helmets

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:09:54 GMT

click for full-resolution

Dinosaur Comics. Helmets. Enough said.

Han Solo carbonite desk

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:09:47 GMT

From Tom Spina Designs.

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The Big Questions

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:09:07 GMT

Shared by matt.gauger
The "math all the way down" bit makes me want to read Anathem again. Maybe I'll read this book first, though.

In The Big Questions, Steven Landsburg ventures far beyond his usual domain to take on questions in metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. Beginning with Plato, mathematicians have argued for the reality of mathematical forms. Rene Thom, for example, once said "mathematicians should have the courage of their most profound convictions and thus affirm that mathematical forms indeed have an existence that is independent of the mind considering them." Roger Penrose put it more simply, mathematical abstractions are "like Mount Everest," they are, he said, "just there."

All this must make Steven Landsburg history's most courageous mathematician because for Landsburg mathematical abstractions are not like Mount Everest, rather Mount Everest is a mathematical abstraction. Indeed, for Landsburg, it's math all the way down - math is what exists and what exists is math, A=A.

Read the book for more on this view, which is as good as any metaphysics that has ever been and a far sight better than most. Moreover, Landsburg's view is not empty, it does have real implications. Since there is no uncertainty in math, for example, Landsburg's view supports a hidden variables or multiple-worlds view of quantum physics.

Speaking of quantum physics, The Big Questions, has the clearest explanation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle that I have ever read. In fact, this is a necessary consequence of Landsburg's metaphysical views; since it's all math all the way down, the explanation of the uncertainty principle is the explanation of the math and any true uncertainty or mystery is simply a fault of our own misunderstanding.

Turning to epistemology, the theory of beliefs and knowledge, two chapters stand out for me. I learned a lot from Landsburg remarkable clear explanation of Aumann's agreement theorem--and I say that despite the fact that in the office next to mine is Robin Hanson, one of the world's experts on the theorem (see Robin's papers on disagreement and also his paper with Tyler, but read Landsburg first!).

Landsburg's skills of explanation are also brought to bear in a wonderful little chapter explaining the theory of instrumental variables and of structural econometric modeling - and this from an avowedly armchair economist!

Finally for those, like me, who loved The Armchair Economist and More Sex is Safer Sex there is also lots of economics in The Big Questions. Highly recommended.

John M (via antbike)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:10:40 GMT

John M (via antbike)

Robert M (via antbike)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:09:08 GMT

Robert M (via antbike)

via antbikemike.files.wordpress.com

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:08:26 GMT

via antbikemike.files.wordpress.com

(title unknown)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:52:13 GMT

Shared by matt.gauger
Itsa me, hipster boy!

ashley_dryden posted a photo:

smutandeggs:

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:38:42 GMT

smutandeggs:

(via wearetheweirdos)

"@mathiasx Joe=4th Sam D=5th Matt G=6th correct sir!"

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:42:36 GMT

"@mathiasx Joe=4th Sam D=5th Matt G=6th correct sir!"

–cranksgiving

Top 5 artists this week

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 GMT

An Open-Source Approach To Better Prosthetics

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:00:00 GMT

An Open-Source Approach To Better Prosthetics @ NPR via Chr1s.

Before Jonathan Kuniholm had a tour of duty in Iraq, he worked for Tackle Design, an industrial design, research and development firm. After that tour, he was missing part of his right arm — which he lost when his Marine patrol was ambushed near Haditha.

When Kuniholm returned to his design shop, he brought along three prosthetic arms given to him at Walter Reed Medical Center — the same body-operated hook many veterans have used since World War I, a shorter utility prosthetic, and a new, state-of-the-art myoelectric arm. Each one had its drawbacks — and when Kuniholm and his Tackle Design colleagues disassembled them, they quickly concluded that they could improve on the designs. They founded the Open Prosthetics Project, an open-source collaboration that makes its innovations available to anyone. And Kuniholm signed on with Revolutionizing Prosthetics, an initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

Kuniholm's story — including the details of his injury and how his experience in Iraq has shaped both his work and views of the war — is featured in Michael Belfiore's new book, The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs. He joins Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies for a conversation about the Open Prosthetics Project and its goals.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Biology | Digg this!

Free beer and @mathiasx

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:45:38 GMT

svdodge posted a photo:

mathiasx">mathiasx" width="192" />

Humans Are Evolving

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:20:37 GMT

The team studied 2238 women who had passed menopause and so completed their reproductive lives. For this group, Stearns’s team tested whether a woman’s height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol or other traits correlated with the number of children she had borne. They controlled for changes due to social and cultural factors to calculate how strongly natural selection is shaping these traits.

Quite a lot, it turns out. Shorter, heavier women tended to have more children, on average, than taller, lighter ones. Women with lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels likewise reared more children, and – not surprisingly – so did women who had their first child at a younger age or who entered menopause later. Strikingly, these traits were passed on to their daughters, who in turn also had more children.

If these trends continue for 10 generations, Stearns calculates, the average woman in 2409 will be 2 centimetres shorter and 1 kilogram heavier than she is today. She will bear her first child about 5 months earlier and enter menopause 10 months later.

More here. And this is just for the few parameters tested in this study; no doubt many more features are evolving as well.

Our culture respects taller thinner women who wait longer before having kids, but in fact we are evolving short heavy women who have kids earlier. Shades of Idiocracy – in many ways we are evolving to become less of what we now respect.

In principle humans could implement strong central regulations to ensure that they evolved to become the sort of creatures they respect, at least regarding a few features of regulatory focus. But it is far from clear that we are willing, or even able, to achieve this. And it is far from clear to me that we would be better off achieving such far ideals. Perhaps short plump early moms are happier, after all.

Of course I expect that within a century the main dynamic will be even faster robot evolution, but the same principle will apply – without strong central coordination they are unlikely to evolve to become what we or they most respect.