Just like two strands of DNA are spirally entwinedYour nature and your nurture are inspiringly combinedScientists remind me and I find that it is trueSlightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you
Thursday, 8 May 2014
From a group in Singapore, this is a couple of years old but I'd never seen it. It may seem a little confusing at first, but keep watching and it'll make sense after a while. You may need a box of tissues handy.
Don't get along with your mom? This might help:
There's a Communicate With Dad version, as well:
Since they have to come to the surface regularly for oxygen, how do dolphins sleep without drowning?
It's V.E. Day: 69 years ago today, World War 2 ended in Europe.
You Had Me At Hello: The Science Behind First Impressions
Actual Reviews from Amazon Reenacted by Rhett & Link.
China Commands an Army of Trained Monkeys.
The Invention of the Chilean Sea Bass.
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include the implications for Godzilla's ever-increasing size on sexual selection and urine production, a VW Beetle made from wood, and the health benefits of transfusions of young blood.
It's V.E. Day: 69 years ago today, World War 2 ended in Europe.
You Had Me At Hello: The Science Behind First Impressions
Actual Reviews from Amazon Reenacted by Rhett & Link.
China Commands an Army of Trained Monkeys.
The Invention of the Chilean Sea Bass.
ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include the implications for Godzilla's ever-increasing size on sexual selection and urine production, a VW Beetle made from wood, and the health benefits of transfusions of young blood.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
The beaten foe emerged.
All over the broad Atlantic, wherever they had been working or lying hid, the U-boats surfaced, confessing the war's end. A few of them, prompted by determination or struck by guilt, scuttled or destroyed themselves, or ran for shelter, not knowing that there was none; but mostly they did what they had been told to do, mostly they hoisted their black surrender flags, and stayed where they were, and waited for orders.
They rose, dripping and silent, in the Irish Sea, and at the mouth of the Clyde, and off the Lizard in the English Channel, at the top of the Minches where the tides raced; they rose near Iceland, where Compass Rose was sunk and off the north-west tip of Ireland, and close to the Faeroes, and on the Gibraltar run where the sunk ships lay so thick, and near St. Johns and Halifax and in the deep of the Atlantic, with three thousand fathoms of water beneath their keel.
They surfaced in secret places, betraying themselves and their frustrated plans: they rose within sight of land, they rose far away in mortal waters, where on the map of the battle, the crosses that were the sunken ships were etched so many and so close that the ink ran together. They surfaced above their handiwork, in hatred or in fear, sometimes snarling their continued rage, sometimes accepting thankfully a truce they had never offered to other ships, other sailors.
They rose, and lay wherever they were on the battlefield, waiting for the victors to claim their victory.
Today, May 8th, is the 69th anniversary of V.E. Day (for "Victory in Europe") (wiki, BBC) in 1945, which saw the German surrender and the end of World War II in the European theater.* Lest we forget. English novelist Nicolas Monsarrat (1910-1979) was born in Liverpool and earned a law degree at Cambridge. With the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served on the North Atlantic convoys for several years. This experience led to his crafting perhaps the most highly regarded novel about modern naval warfare yet written - The Cruel Sea - which appeared in 1951 while its author was serving as a British diplomat in South Africa. An equally esteemed motion picture, starring Jack Hawkins, was made of the book two years later, and it remains a classic today. Several other Monsarrat novels followed, but none ever gained the stature of The Cruel Sea.
* N.B. V.E. Day is called "Victory Day" in Russia and is celebrated tomorrow, May 9th, with elaborate ceremony.
The novel The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monserrat was an unflinching portrayal of life at sea during WWII on a boat tasked with protecting convoys and seeking and destroying U-boats. A runaway success, the novel had already sold over 4 million copies in just 2 years when Ealing decided to make the film version. Filmed aboard an actual Royal Navy corvette, The Cruel Sea tells the story of the sailors aboard the HMS Compass Rose: the bonds that form between them, the daily pressures they face and their epic struggle to overcome the enemy. Nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Film, The Cruel Sea stars Jack Hawkins, Sir Donald Sinden and Stanley Clarke, and is a gripping insight into the lives of unsung heroes at sea during the war, and the agonizing decisions and incredible peril they faced on a daily basis.
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you want to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
A technical problem with optical character recognition software creates some awkward moments when romance novels (and other books, I guess) are converted to ebooks.
Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has done some research and unearthed some of the lines created by this little glitch:
"Mrs. Tipton went over to him and put her anus around his neck. " My dear," she said, rapturously. " I have been hoping for years that you would talk that way to me."From the title Matisse on the Loose: "When she spotted me, she flung her anus high in the air and kept them up until she reached me.
'Matisse. Oh boy!' she said. She grabbed my anus and positioned my body in the direction of the east gallery and we started walking."Also: "Mrs, Nevile, in exquisite emotion, threw her anus around the neck of Caroline, pressed Her with fervour to her breast".And '"Bertie, dear Bertie, will you not say good night to me" pleaded the sweet, voice of Minnie Hamilton, as she wound her anus affectionately around her brother's neck. "No," he replied angrily, pushing her away from him."' Well, wouldn't you?
"So if the text is old, and it says 'arms', the OCR [optical character recognition] scanner will see it as 'anus.' OMG," Wendell tweeted.
via Guardian.
I love Rhett & Link (see a few favorites below) and I love some of the weirder Amazon reviews. I think they could have chosen better reviews to re-enact, and maybe they will in the future. In the meantime, here's Slamazon: 7 Kitten T-Shirt:
Want one of these for Mother's/Father's Day? The 7 kitten t-shirt is here (and there's now a 10 kitten version available!), pug-face shirt is here (my elder daughter bought one of these for her husband, and it was eactly what he wanted. Weird, huh?), and the ninja face shirt is here.
This post has a bunch of hilarious Amazon product reviews they should consider going forward, including (diarrhea-inducing) Haribo Gummy Candy, Sugarless Gummy Bears, Passion Natural Water-Based Lubricant - 55 Gallon, Veet for Men Hair Removal Gel Creme, Uranium Ore, Best of David Hasselhoff, AutoExec Wheelmate Steering Wheel Attachable Work Surface Tray and more, including further links to even more.
One that would be particularly fun to act out is this review for Fresh Whole Rabbit:
Every week, I order a fresh whole rabbit and affix it to a remote control car that is operated by one of my children. This way, I get the thrill of the hunt, and when the car's batteries are exhausted, I can leap upon it, bury my teeth into the rabbit's soft flesh and perform my ritual victory dance right there in the Walgreen's parking lot.
Rhett & Link have a bunch of things that I love, but I think my favorite still has to be Rub Some Bacon On It:
The Fast Food Folk Song is up there, too:
And the worlds best commercial for transmission service:
Here's a list of their videos in order of popularity - explore!
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
During the zombie apocalypse, Steadfast Stanley, a loyal Corgi, just wants to reunite with the boy he loves.
via Nerd Approved.
Previous post: Death and Taxes... and Zombies: Tax implications of the zombie apocalypse
The most comprehensive zombie classification chart ever.
via Nerd Approved.
Previous post: Death and Taxes... and Zombies: Tax implications of the zombie apocalypse
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