Stream of Marknessness

Friday 26th June 2009

caitlinoppermann:

Michael Jackson had a pretty rough life and maybe he’s better off now.

This pretty much sums up what I feel too.

I kinda think the biggest tragedy is that he didn’t die after the release of Thriller. Off the Wall and Thriller were by a distance his best work, and that would have left people wondering what amazing things he might have been capable of. Legendary status secure. I mean, he would have been bigger than Jesus.

Instead we’ve witnessed his protracted fall from grace both musically and more generally as a human being. He never got to grips with reality and along with his waning musical output, some uninspiring behaviour made him merely a despised curiosity in the eye of a merciless, unrelenting media storm.

His fans will remember him at his best, of course, but there’s no question that his brilliance was unfortunately considerably tarnished by the time he died.

Thursday 25th June 2009

Skeptic magazine’s “Baloney Detection Kit”.

A good watch.

Wednesday 24th June 2009

Monday 22nd June 2009

These just keep getting better.

Friday 19th June 2009

sugarspun:
boundless stars

sugarspun:

boundless stars

iamdanw:

I think PETA can be a bit silly, but they haven’t been in this case. Read their blog posts on the matter. This is all blown up and even started by the media. Poor PETA.

I sympathise with PETA quite often, there are a lot of good reasons to argue for treating animals better/eating them less often/whatever, but I don’t feel sorry for them in this case.

The reason people have rushed to ask them for a soundbite is because in the past they have gone to great lengths to embarrass themselves with pretty silly commentary.

For examples:

The smallest form of life, even an ant or a clam, is equal to a human being.
We feel animals have the same rights as a retarded human child
The life of an ant and the life of my child should be granted equal consideration

These are all plainly disproportionate and any sensible person would (or at least, should) consider the life of a human child as more important than that of a single ant (or any number, for that matter). Hence the expectation for them to say something equally stupid now.

This time, however, they are being restrained in the face of overwhelming common sense, which may be a sign of growing maturity or at least a realisation that they are making easy targets of themselves, but they still brought this baited-breath gawking on themselves.

juliaheffernan:

“Look Around You: Water” I haven’t watched this in about a year.  Still amazing.

Look Around You is amazing. Check out some other videos of Peter Serafinowicz on youtube as well, his series was very underrated. I particularly like the Butterfield Diet Plan sketch.

Thursday 18th June 2009

Ceratosaurus vs Triceratops from 1 Million Years BC

Wednesday 3rd June 2009

“ Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fi ngers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.
“Are you feeling all right?” I asked her.
“I feel all sleepy, ” she said.
In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead. „

Roald Dahl on measles, the danger of which, somehow, is still a contentious issue.

Tuesday 2nd June 2009

Seen on Facebook, this road safety video is based in my hometown of Cardiff!

Things to look out for, with timings and google street view links:

0:47 They land next to Cardiff Castle’s clock tower, and walk on the path next to it (see it on google maps, look right to see the bus stops)

1:00 The weird prism like shapes on the bridge (see it on google maps)

1:13 Looking down Castle Street, you can see the weasel-looking statue thing on the left, and the shops on the right (see it on google maps)

1:23 The distinctive shape of Cardiff Arms Park in the background (see it on google maps)

Oddly, they seem to travel quite a distance along the road laterally as they cross it, and totally ignore a pedestrian crossing.

I’m also amused, but not particularly surprised, that Cardiff apparently has the worst traffic in the galaxy.

Monday 1st June 2009

Sunday 31st May 2009

Back to the Super Furry Animals though, here are the photos from the aforementioned gig, with more Holga craziness, this time in black and white.

Back to the Super Furry Animals though, here are the photos from the aforementioned gig, with more Holga craziness, this time in black and white.

This man, Robin Soderling, has just performed the impossible, and beaten Rafael Nadal in the French Open.
To put this amazing achievement into context: Nadal has never been beaten at the tournament, winning it for the last four years in a row. He has never even been taken to five sets (and indeed still hasn’t). Since 2005 he has previously only lost two matches on clay. In this time he has won 115. He is absolutely untouchable.
He also destroyed Soderling only a month ago, beating him 6-1 6-0 at the Rome Masters.
Wow.

This man, Robin Soderling, has just performed the impossible, and beaten Rafael Nadal in the French Open.

To put this amazing achievement into context: Nadal has never been beaten at the tournament, winning it for the last four years in a row. He has never even been taken to five sets (and indeed still hasn’t). Since 2005 he has previously only lost two matches on clay. In this time he has won 115. He is absolutely untouchable.

He also destroyed Soderling only a month ago, beating him 6-1 6-0 at the Rome Masters.

Wow.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

I’m rediscovering the Super Furry Animals after seeing them live last week.

This is probably their ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (many bands have them, Radiohead’s is Paranoid Android, for example).

Pics from the gig coming soon…

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