Art:
- I love Photoshop, but I'm not as good at it as I should be after using it for... holy jeebus, about 15 years now! I want to get better, so I need to start using VunkySearch's tutorial finder thingy.
Technology:
- Researchers found a way to make solar power cheaper. Any time now solar should make sense (sadly, it usually doesn't right now; it hurts the environment enough to make solar cells that their benefit probably doesn't offset it). How long after that do you think it'll take for it to actually be used?
- I'm so in love with this key finder idea that I want to elope with it and bear its children.
Psychology:
- A couple weeks ago, I mentioned an interesting-sounding survey over at Cognitive Daily. Soon after that (but not soon enough to make it into my last update), they posted results. Turns out we're more random than at least one of their readers thought.
The Internets:
- The stimulus bill requires that each government agency report money it gives out via RSS. Neat.
- I'm using Gmail's new multiple inboxes feature, and I think I like it.
- Speaking of Gmail, attaching multiple files in Gmail is now easier. Can gDrive be far away?
- This xkcd comic notes something I noticed with my Kindle the first time I laid eyes on it; that's why I re-read the Hitchhiker's series on it, and set up this store. Took him long enough!
Politics:
- Legalization of marijuana is more popular than key conservative leaders.
- 538.com examines the same question I had: Was volcano monitoring really the worst thing
KennethJindal could find in the stimulus bill? Really? The Governor of Louisiana can't see the economic benefit in paying people to make sure people aren't killed by volcanos? Really?? - News organizations can now show photos of returning war dead, after an 18-year ban. The reason reversing this was important was so Americans could get a clear picture of what these wars are costing. I think we're already starting to get that, but better late than never on the reversal.
- The economy tanking may have a good result: states are scrapping barbarism because it's too expense. Woot.
- Obama has picked former Washington Governor Gary Locke for Commerce. Let's hope third time's a charm...
- Because I like to be fair, here's FactCheck.org's run-down on Obama's speech. I think most of those "exaggerations and factual misstatements" are what I'd call "rhetorically true," meaning that the truth fits at least one interpretation of what he said, whether that's the interpretation most people would jump to first or not... but anyway, it's good to check this sorta thing.
- The Senate has passed the DC Voting Rights Bill 61-37. The idea sounds great, but, dammit, it's illegal. You can't just change the Constitution because it sounds like a good idea. You need to ammend it. It's not that complicated: "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed." That's quoted from the 14th Amendment, because we already realized once that the original was broken. Fixing it again wouldn't be a big thing, but you can't change the Constitution through a bill, no matter how good of an idea you think the bill is.
Science:
- Researchers are getting close to a universal flu vaccine. Neat. Someone was talking about something similar at a party recently (because that's the sort of party I attend), but they had the process all wrong.
- Learn all about nanotechnology and why it's cool through the Nano Song. Strong work.
Entertainment:
- The Oscars didn't show Don LaFontaine in their dead people montage. That's terribly lame.
- Jim Kakalios, author of the awesome The Physics of Superheroes (great read, I highly recommend it), was a consultant on The Watchmen movie, and made a video about it. Neat.
- U2's Bono and the Edge are writing music and lyrics for a Spider-Man musical, set to premier in 2010. Awesome.
Atheism:
- Teehee. (BTW, for those who think I filed the comic under the wrong heading, "atheist" and "agnostic" pretty much mean the same thing, I just prefer the taken-as-more-shocking term. If you aren't sure that you believe in something, particularly something that damns you to eternal torment for not swearing fealty to it, you don't believe in it.)
- The UN has passed a resolution trying to ban making fun of religion. The response to that is obvious: Fuck you, religion! In case that's not specific enough, I'm talking about you, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. Are you such a bunch of pussies that you need special protection? Aw, what's wrong, religion? Is free speech telling you you're unnecessary? Suck it up and take it like a man.
As always, leave your comments on these or anything else below.
4 comments:
My main source of Photoshop techniques for years was good-tutorials.com. However, it's rare these days to find a tutorial for something I can't already do. They've alos expanded to JS, CSS and other software tutorials so it's worth less to me. But you may find it interesting.
As to the universal flu vaccine: yay. Heard it on NPR. Smarty-pants there likened the process to this: flu viruses wear different coats. However, each coat has an identical pocket.
Agnostics are atheists who are afraid of commitment.
I know this was just meant as a joke, but a better version of the statement is: "Agnostics are atheists."
To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes about atheism, I'm "committed" to atheism the same way I'm "committed" to not collecting stamps. Atheists aren't any more "committed" than agnostics.
>"Aw, what's wrong, religion? Is free speech telling you you're unnecessary? Suck it up and take it like a man."
Right on Jon. I'm always a bit annoyed at religions/religious people who just love to tell us we're headed for eternal hell and damnation but can't stand a few gibes thrown their way.
Die Anyway - not an agnostic, not just an atheist but an extreme, radical, militant, revolutionary atheist.
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