Monday gifts -- 03/29/2010

For almost exactly two years I've been sending weekly gifts to a good and unusual friend, a collection of links I choose for the recipient's amusement. They are carefully chosen to appeal to that person's tastes, and those tastes are quite unique. I will not say who this person is, but you may find it interesting to try to build a mental picture of him or her, based solely on the links I send.

I've decided to share these links with you, the fearless reader. Enjoy!

WARNING! Some or all of these links may be NSFW, some *incredibly* so. Open at your peril.

More Photoshop CS Content-Aware Sneak Peak Awesomeness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ScWu7pG7r0

Computer Assisted Design
http://vimeo.com/9163295

DIY Turing Machine
http://gizmodo.com/5503234/a-diy-turing-machine

Motherbrain
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/500x_motherbrain.jpg

Play
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIZVCCJxIQ4

Found Film Clips from the 60s and 70s
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neatocoolville/sets/72157623369717673/

Voynich under the microscope
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/3145/voynich_under_the_microscope.html

AP2000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbJDiyHuBmw

Good Show Sir -- Dreadful SF book covers
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/

Pierre Molinier's art
http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/molinier1.html

*Painfully* cute
http://crig.deviantart.com/art/Meow-158531137

Hybrid - Break My Soul
http://www.digitalcinemafoundry.com/2010/03/24/hybrid-break-my-soul-music-video/

The 10 greatest modern recreations of ancient tech
http://io9.com/5502066/the-ten-greatest-modern+day-recreations-of-ancient-technologies

The Secret World gameplay footage -- part WoW, part Cthulhu, part Left4Dead, it seems
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gdc-10-the-secret/63666?type=flv

Paramotor swoopdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9V7GEOUGhk

A pretty mermaid painting
http://www.warmphotos.net/img/cool/beautiful-mermaids-from-many-artist/beautiful-mermaids-from-many-artist02.jpg

from
http://www.warmphotos.net/beautiful-mermaids

Saul Bass-styled retro Tron titles
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/03/retro-tron-intro-saul-bass/

Broken by Trifonic -- an instant Dangerous track -- ignore the visuals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88yLWB-Q2bE

Their Growing Distance is also nice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_QkkPvuzVE

Inside a 4-stroke engine
http://io9.com/5500701/watch-the-explosion-that-never-stops-inside-your-engine

RPG heroes are jerks
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1930495

Art by Charles Immer
http://www.charlieimmer.com/index.html

Nature By Numbers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkGeOWYOFoA

Program or be programmed
http://rushkoff.com/2010/03/25/program-or-be-programmed/

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir -- it makes me cry. It's the Internet all in one package.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs

Conducting video for the above
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1c2xWVWiA

Cary Grant's love of LSD
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/03/his-girl-lsd-the-cary-grant-experience.html

Table of odd British Pronunciations
http://slb-ltsu.hull.ac.uk/awe/index.php?title=Odd_pronunciations_of_proper_names_-_examples

Spy Party
http://kotaku.com/5500968/the-next-smart-video-game-only-lets-you-kill-once

B-Radical harmonicas
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-news-harmonica-factory-20100321,0,309365.story

A fascinating history of the 6-second Amen Break
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac

...
http://ugliesttattoos.com/2010/03/18/funny-tattoos-unicorn-vs-robot-dolphin/
and
http://ugliesttattoos.com/2010/03/17/funny-tattoos-of-course-i-suppose-he-could-have-both/
and
http://ugliesttattoos.com/2010/03/13/pussy-hound/

Fine Structure
http://qntm.org/structure

Do subatomic particles have free will?

If humans have the least bit of free will, then subatomic particles do too, claim two scientists. Read more here.

How an emotion (compassion) became a virtue

Seems the classical world was neutral (even a bit disapproving) toward compassion, as it was seen as a lack of objectivity. It wasn't until the 18th century that it began to be seen as a virtue.

Notre Dame

I've been listening to hours and hours of Joseph Campbell's lectures on mythology. He's really a fascinating fellow. Yesterday I listened to the episode of Bill Moyer's series Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth entitled Love and the Goddess, where he spoke of Christianity's gentle reintroduction of Goddess worship with the rise of interest in the Virgin Mary during the middle ages. He pointed out that the cathedrals which sprang up in those times can be thought of as a womb, wherein one can experience their own 'virgin birth', that of a spiritual rebirth.
I went to look at pictures of cathedrals, and was forced to agree. In particular, the entrances to cathedrals have a very strong resonance with the organs of childbirth -- quite beautifully so. Take a peek.
That's a vagina if I ever saw one. (smiles)

Why today's kids don't understand math

This is the NEW New Math, and it's no wonder kids have no understanding of mathematics.

By the way, this kind of complete obfuscation is taking place in every subject. Not just math.
And it's deliberate.
This is how you turn people into cattle.

On-air awakening

It is not often you get to hear someone wake up ON AIR to the complete puppet show that is our political system. But this is a delightful example. Talk show host Mark Larsen interviews Mitt Romney and blows a fuse. It's beautiful.

Final score: Romney 0, Paul 1

BBC documentary on the attempted US coup, 1930s

It was plotted by a number of powerful American industrialists. And guess who was in the group? Prescott Bush, Dubya's grandfather. Hmm.... They were going to install an openly fascist regime after deposing FDR. Unfuckingbelievable. This is not fringe stuff, this is real history.

Part One:

Here is the rest of the documentary: Part Two | Part Three