Sunday, April 21, 2013

Edwardian England and Ireland Circa 1900


This video has been dramatically enhanced in quality, using modern video editing tools. The film has been motion stabilized and the speed has been slowed down to correct speed (from 18 fps to 24 fps) using special frame interpolation software that re-creates missing frames. Upscaling to HD quality was done using video enhancer software.

I have been told that at least part of this film was shot in Cork (Ireland). The music is "Chanson du Soir" and "Arco Noir" from Harvey's Strings of Sorrow album.
I found the video oddly moving -- must be the sentimental music.  Yes, that's it; it was the music ...

Via Miss Cellania.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Wikipedia Live Monitor

Wikipedia Live Monitor is a major event tracking site that takes edit traffic at Wikipedia, concurrently comparing multiple different language versions of the site, and then compares them in "real time" to international social media edits. The information is used to generate notes (lists? posts? ticklers? I'm not sure what to call these) of rapidly emerging stories around the world. In short, it's a news monitoring service.

I used it during the recent Boston Marathon bombing unfolding story to see how well it worked; I think it is sort of meh right now, but could emerge into a great tracking device. I think it would be better, in the short term, for human editors to review and further edit the output -- at least more than they do -- as well as develop a much better output display.

Wikipedia Live Monitor has it genesis in articles on the possibility of using Wikipedia edits as a news alert, an idea that came from the crash of Wikipedia after Michael Jackson died and edit wars erupted.

"False Flags and Roof Terrorists: Your Guide to All the Internet Horseshit"

"Roof Guy"
An article at Gawker a few days ago, "False Flags and Roof Terrorists: Your Guide to All the Internet Horseshit," if fun of short reading of all an example of the crap nonsense people were spouting on the web and social media after the Boston Bombings when few if any of us really knew what was going on. We get a primer of "false flag attacks," "the roof guy," "crisis actors," and the "fact" that the show Family Guy supposedly predicted the attack. Of course, the readers at Reddit and 4chan were also actively trying (and failing) to solve the crime. (As Matt Buchanan said in an article at The New Yorker on the trend, "This moment is, for better or for worse, the shape of things to come.")

It is a brave new world where everybody has ready access to information on how to maim and kill hundreds or thousands and then we can all play FBI together, speculating on who did it.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Magnetic Putty "Eating" A Magnet



Via Miss Cellania.

Hobo Matters: An Important Episode from The American Experience

Conspiracy Caused American Brains to be Replaced with Pudding

Brain of Ted Nugent. Its removal increased his intelligence.
Recent documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that a covert project by the Heritage Foundation and Monsanto secretly turned the brains of millions of Americans into pudding. Most of those affected live in rural areas.

Pudding Brain, or "PB" as it is widely known, is easily detected by examining positive response to triggers like Fox Nation, Rush Limbaugh, and NASCAR racing. Those afflicted with PB also often feel an obsessive need to arm themselves with weapons for no reason whatsoever.

According to scientists, a brain composed of pudding is poor at thinking.

Scientists speculate that PB may have resulted from the ingestion of high amounts of fertilizer laced with hydroxilic acid. Only areas where agricultural supplements are widely used have significant numbers affected with PB.
U.S. counties with the highest number of Pudding Brains are shown in red

The dangers of hydroxilic acid, which also goes by the scientific name μ-oxido dihydrogen, have been well documented for decades. A campaign to ban the substance began in the 1980's but faltered. 

Oddly, those with PB often fear that hydroxilic acid is contaminated with fluoride. According to an unimpeachable source fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long range basis.

Hydroxillic acid is also a key ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine, a "medicine" popular in areas that also have a high number of Pudding Heads. Scientists have discouraged the use of methamphetamine, however, leading some to believe they are preventing the treatment of those with PB. According to Mehmet Oz, America's rural doctor, rural people should treat themselves with Reiki and berry juice. Dr. Oz was unavailable for comment according to a man behind a curtain, and, indeed, was not even in Kansas anymore.

Nazi Super Weapons -- Some New Details


The Überschwerer Kampfschreitpanzer, also known as "Thor's Hammer" was one of several super weapons that the Nazis unveiled at the end of World War II in a desperate attempt to halt the Allies. Used mostly against the Soviets. their existence was concealed after the war, though they contributed to the USSR's so-called "doomsday device" that threatened the West in the 1960's. New documents reveal that Khrushchev agreed to dismantle Thor's Hammer as part of the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In exchange the U.S. agreed to withdraw the  PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles (the "Hammer killer") it had deployed to the U.K. as part of "Project Emily."

It's Music Wednesday!

As everyone knows, we always begin our Mondays with some uplifitng music! Today's hit:

Today's Our 27th Anniversary!

While it feels like it was only a few short months ago, it's been twenty-seven since we began turning out this we-blog or "weblog" for short. You've come to know and love us today due to the efforts of our main poster boy, Galileo Feynman. To celebrate here's a sneak peek at what goes on behind the screens:

Before any post is published we run a 17,000 amp current through the author "just to test."