Is anyone remotely surprised that the computer virus Stuxnet was created in a joint effort by the United States and Israel to use against Iran? I’d wager the same thing is the case with the recent flame virus, as well. The damning part of the report was the program started under Bush, but was accelerated under Obama.
June 1, 2012
Reports Confirms Stuxnet Created by US and Israel
June 1, 2012
The Serenity of Surfing
Above is a sequence from ‘The Glide’, a concert performance featuring video projections playing behind a live orchestra, by Jon Frank and Richard Tognetti. [via andrewsullivan]
June 1, 2012
Dream from ‘The Glide’. Images by Jon Frank. Music by Richard Tognetti. by Jon Frank // Sequence from ‘The Glide’, a concert performance featuring video projections behind live orchestra. Premiered at Festival Maribor in 2009 and also performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra in a series of three concerts in Melbourne and Sydney in 2011. www.jonfrank.org
June 1, 2012
Periodic Table of Elements Makes Room for Two More
Say hello to Flerovium and Livermorium.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially approved names for the elements – which sit at slot 114 and 116, respectively — on May 31. They have until now gone by the temporary monikers ununquadium and ununhexium.
Both elements are man-made, having first been synthesized at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, in 1998 and 2000. The discoveries were confirmed with further work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Suggested names for the two elements have been pending since they were submitted to the IUPAC last year.
The elements were created by smashing calcium ions (with 20 protons) into curium targets (which have 96 protons), combining to form element 116, Livermorium. This element decayed almost immediately into Flerovium, with 114 protons.
And for that absolutely care, Flerovium’s symbol on the Periodic table will be ‘Fl’ and Livermorium’s will be ‘Lv’.
June 1, 2012
In Praise of VICE: Japan’s Suicide Forest, Illegally Crossing the Border, and Stalking the Paparazzi
I’ve watched three excellent exposés courtesy of VICE Magazine this past week. They are all really fascinating stories and prime examples for the excellent journalism the media company continually pumps out. It’s worth noting, however, this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. At some point today, I’ll read and watch Benjamin Hall’s story about spending four days with Syria’s free army.
Japan’s Suicide Forest
Geologist Azusa Hayano visits the Aokigahara Forest, the most popular suicide destination in Japan.
Illegally Crossing the US-Mexico Border
To find out precisely how thousands of Mexicans illegally cross the US border every year, VICE reporters went to El Alberto, Mexico to film the experience.
Stalking the Paparazzi
Steven Randolph and videographer Steven Perilloux turn the tables on the celebrity-stalking Paparazzi to find out more about the kind of person that would enter such a seedy profession.
June 1, 2012
Cassette Tape Coffee Table
The Mixtape table, which is actually a gigantic cassette tape coffee table, is a 12:1 scale replica by Jeff Skierka. The original prototype pictured above has been in the works for more than five years and is made from reclaimed maple and walnut wood with a plexiglass top. Skierka has plans to manufacture these at scale using high grade plywood.
As much as I love this, what I really want would be one of these cassette tables paired with a plastic table that resembles the mixtape track listings of yore (I would link to a Google image search, but finding one is harder than I thought) featuring some cool stencil work. [via likecool]
June 1, 2012
Green Lantern is Gay
Literally: “Today, DC has confirmed Internet rumors that the character in question is Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, currently appearing as a lead character in DC’s Earth 2.”
I was pulling for Superman or Batman once the rumors started a few weeks ago, but I kind of assumed it would be Aquaman. Wrong on both my assumptions and desires.
June 1, 2012
The Taxi Composer
Kate Imbach shares the interesting life story of Christopher Fulkerson, who is a modernist classical composer. That’s not terribly interesting, but, “for the last 23 years has worked as cab driver in San Francisco.” Imbach then wonders what we are all thinking: “With a Ph.D. and an impressive body of work, what’s he doing behind the wheel of a taxi?” [via trashlab]
May 31, 2012
Her Majesty is Not to be Trifled With
Better or less awesome than Anthony Bourdain hanging out with Omar and Marlo? [via reddit]
May 31, 2012
Anthony Bourdain Brokers a Peace Accord Between Marlo and Omar
Yup, more proof that Anthony Bourdain is cooler than everyone else. He posted this picture on Twitter last night of himself hanging out with Omar (Michael K. Williams) and Marlo (Jamie Hector) from “The Wire.”
At the same time, I just learned that Jamie Hector hosts a celebrity paintball game every year featuring members of “The Wire”, which is probably the coolest thing ever. [via endswell]
May 31, 2012
Why a Good Bar Is Essential to Your Neighborhood
The Atlantic Cities has an examination on the importance that bars play as communal gathering spaces in communities and neighborhoods.
“The vaunted ‘third space’ isn’t home, and isn’t work - it’s more like the living room of society at large. It’s a place where you are neither family nor co-worker, and yet where the values, interests, gossip, complaints and inspirations of these two other spheres intersect. It’s a place at least one step removed from the structures of work and home, more random, and yet familiar enough to breed a sense of identity and connection. It’s a place of both possibility and comfort, where the unexpected and the mundane transcend and mingle. And nine times out of ten, it’s a bar.”
Not only are bars crucial for raising a neighborhood’s “lingering index”, making the community spaces more well-rounded in the process, but they are instrumental as the digital age have erased other community gathering spaces.
(In case you couldn’t tell, The Atlantic Cities has become my new favorite publication. They are just killing it day in and day out.)
May 31, 2012
Zombie Garden Gnomes
Here are some adorable zombie garden gnomes attacking a plastic flamingo because I’ve been too terrified to do anything related to the actual Miami Zombie attack that occurred this week and which eventually spawned a Yelp review for “that guy’s face.”
Drugs are no bueno kids. Anyway, I don’t care much for garden gnomes, but I would love to have this piece my yard. [via laughingsquid]
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