Why rubber bands are so important

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, Spinach Festival Day.

NOTE:  In observance of Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, I hereby declare the making up of Metric Mitochondria Day, celebrating those symbionts without which we could not exist.  The first Metric Mitochondria Day will be celebrated April 16, 2010, with subsequent celebrations every 100 days.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Repower America | We got next”, “Take Action: Send Congress Your State's Invoice for Foodborne Illness.”, and “MoveOn.org Political Action: Republican Leaders: Condemn the hate”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “A star buzzing through the outer solar system? Bring it on”:  In 1,500,000 years we may have a problem.
  
• “Government 'a Counting: Does the U.S. Census Need a 21st-Century Makeover?”
  
• “H1N1 shares key similar structures to 1918 flu, providing research avenues for better vaccines”
  
• “No Bones about It: Ancient DNA from Siberia Hints at Previously Unknown Human Relative”
• “Child Receives Trachea Organ Transplant Created With Own Stem Cells”:  I cannot make something like this up.
  

Today’s weird thing is “Suddenly, George understood what the”:

Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of midnight knitters

Greetings.

Jewish date:  9 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Houdini Day, World Tuberculosis Day, Ada Lovelace Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Take Action: No stolen elections in Sudan | Save Darfur” and “ColorOfChange.org:  Tell the GOP: Stop inciting and supporting hate”.

Questionably worthy cause of the day:  “A Ticket For Rush!”.  (Submitted by Barry.)  Apparently Rush Limbaugh said on the air that if health care reform passed, he would go to Costa Rica.  This site is trying to raise money for his ticket.  While I would not be saddened by Limbaugh leaving the United States, I do not wish to inflict him on another country.

Image of someone who is probably not the guilty party via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing is Salty Knits, the Web-site of someone who in the middle of the night goes around a town in New Jersey and knits things on trees and stop signs and such.  (If you are going to do something wrong, at least do something creatively and intelligently wrong so that people will at least begrudgingly admire it.)  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and do not do this at home, at least if your neighbors do not have a sense of humor.

Aaron

WE ARE THE BORG. YOUR LEGOS WILL BE ASSIMILATED.

Greetings.

Jewish date:  8 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  World Meteorological Day, Toast Day, American Diabetes Association Alert Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Protect the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard - The Petition Site”, “Health Insurance Reform: Finish the Job | Senator Harry Reid, Nevada - HarryReid.com”, and “Urge Congress to Increase Funding for Emergency Food Assistance - The Petition Site”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Still seething over bailouts”:  There are some good ideas for how to handle bailouts in this article.  I particularly like the notion that executives should have to pay the company if they do a bad job.

Image of an alien craft determined to assimilate our Legos via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing is the Brickshelf Gallery of Star Trek ships modeled in Legos.  Whoever created this has a lot more free time than probably most people.  The Borg cube is especially good.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of Russian ASCII cats

Image which Zemata somehow thought was relevant via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  7 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  International Goof Off Day, World Water Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “MoveOn.org Political Action: Get It Done”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Macro-Weirdness: "Quantum Microphone" Puts Naked-Eye Object in 2 Places at Once”

Today’s weird thing is “1968 ASCII Animation from Russia”.  I have no idea whatsoever why they made this.  Maybe they were just goofing off.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of armed arthropods

Greetings.

Jewish date:  6 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, World Poetry Day, Flower Day

Worthy cause of the day:  “Stop the Money Train to Washington - The Petition Site”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Human ancestors walked comfortably upright 3.6 million years ago, new footprint study says”
  
• “Don't Top Off Your Gas Tank!”
  
• “Library book is returned -- 45 years late”
• “The Evolving Science and Guidelines of CPR”
  
• “Dismiss dinosaurs as failures...and pave a path to a bleak future”
  

Today’s weird thing is “When seafood”:

Enjoy, share the weirdness, and keep your cutlery away from lobsters.

Aaron

Beware of short Daleks

Greetings.

Jewish date:  4 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Wayyiqra’).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Poultry Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Save the Internet: Take Action!:  Stop the Great Internet Rip-Off”, “American Heart Association - Reinventing Healthcare:  Time to Act: Tell Your Representative to "Vote YES"”, “Heart Disease and Stroke. You’re the Cure.:  Tell your Senator NOW is the time to protect South Carolina kids”, and “Save BioGems: Take Action: Stop Pebble Mine”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Thin Wallets, Thick Waistlines: New USDA Effort Targets Link between Obesity and Food Stamps”

Today’s weird thing, which should be instantly understandable to all Doctor Who fans, is “BBC budget gets drastically slashed”.

Note that if things ever get this bad, they can always free up money by getting rid of their news division, which is a waste of money anyway, given its propensity towards publishing fiction about Israel.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of people with land lines connected to their pockets

Irrelevant image which Zemata suggested but which nevertheless is cool via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Wayyiqra’).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Submarine Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “DemocracyForAmerica.com » Speaker Pelosi: The Public Option is in your hands”, “Take Action: TrueMajority.org”, “Health Insurance Reform: Finish the Job | Senator Harry Reid, Nevada - HarryReid.com”, and “Union of Concerned Scientists:”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “The Vichada Crater”
  
• “Can Smiley Faces (and a 14-Step Program to Stop Overconsumption) Save the Global Climate?”
  
• “It's 2010 - finally my jet pack is here!”
  
• “Paying to pick seats loathsome, many passengers say”
• “Just the Facts”
  
• “Blind soldier uses tongue device to 'see'”
  

Today’s weird thing is the Retro Phone Handset.  Now instead of being one of those people who seems to be talking to no one, you can look like you have a land line connected to your pocket.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of linguistic change

Image which Zemata claimed was relevant just to drive me crazy via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  26 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Middle Name Pride Day, Girl Scout Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save BioGems: Take Action: Protect the Spirit Bear”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Arranged Marriages Can Be Real Love Connection”:  Despite the fact that to people in the 21st century USA this sounds very strange.
  
• “Chicken's split sex identity revealed”:  I cannot make up the fact that there are (rare) chickens which are half male and half female.  Given enough chances, all sorts of strange things are bound to happen.

Today’s weird thing is “Babel 2.0”, a fairly bizarre science-fiction story about linguistic change.  Somebody get me some of the technology described therein; there about a dozen or twenty languages which would make some sense for me to learn…  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of Windows 98 and Windows XP sounds

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  International Day of Awesomeness, Learn What Your Name Means Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “action.firedoglake.com | Tell the Senate: Pass Direct Student Lending Now!” and “End International Violence Against Women - The Petition Site”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Wake up Call”
  
• “Scooting toward Oblivion”
• “Fastest Orbiting Stars Circle Each Other in Mere Minutes”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Windows 98 Jam”, a song composed entirely of Windows 98 and Windows XP sounds:

This may be the most awesome thing to ever come out of Windows.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of algebraic exegesis

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Unique Names Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Alliance for Justice:  Call for Investigation of Missing Torture Emails”, “MoveOn.org Political Action: Tell the party establishment to stay out”, and “CARE:  Voices Against Violence”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• Hebrew Spelling Service:  OK, this is not news or commentary, but still it should be useful for anyone doing anything with Hebrew on Mac OS X.
  
• “Another reason vitamin D is important: It gets T cells going”

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing is “Algebra in Wonderland”, which claims that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll parodies mathematical concepts which were new in Carroll’s day.  I have no idea whether the author is correct, but at least it makes for interesting reading if you understand something of mathematics.   Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of creatures leaving tracks in the snow

Greetings.

Jewish date:  21 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Wayyaqhel-Fequdhe).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Namesake Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell Obama: Let us fight for the public option.”

Today’s news and commentary:

• “NASA Uses Fish to Fight Space Sickness”
  
• “Methane Leaks off Siberian Coast, Speeding Climate Change”
• “A Welcome Upgrade to a Childhood Vaccine – PCV 13”:  Included is a reminder of what is so great about vaccination in the first place.
  

Today’s weird thing is “Snow Tracking”.

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Forward this post to 50 people or else

Greetings.

Jewish date:  19 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Bridge Players Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: Join Us for the Food Safety Action Day on the Hill!”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Global Speeding”
  
• “Recycling Some Hospital Waste (Not the Really Gross Kind)”
  
• “Dinosaurlike creature spread in Triassic times”
• “Impact Factor: Can a Scientific Retraction Change Public Opinion?”
  
• “Weaponizing Mozart: How Britain is using classical music as a form of social control”
  
• “Soundless calling: The possibilities are endless”
  
• “Space and Numbers”
  
• “Heavy antimatter created in gold collisions”
  
• “"Extinct" Australian frog reappears 30 years after last sighting”
  

Today’s weird thing is “What happens to me when I don’t send out chain messages”:

(Was anyone expecting anything else?)  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of multicolored flowers

Image which Zemata thought was relevant for absolutely no apparent reason via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  18 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  March Forth – Do Something Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Tell the FDA to Update Nutrition Label Info - The Petition Site”, “DemocracyForAmerica.com » Become a Citizen Co-Sponsor”, This is how we stop Blackwater for good.“”, and “Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) | Tell Democrats We Have Their Backs”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Waste Land: Does the Large Amount of Food Discarded in the U.S. Take a Toll on the Environment?”
  
• “Generation Gap”
• “Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth”
  
• “Galactic Lenses Confirm Universe's Age, Size”
  
• “Down the Hatch(ling): Nest-Raiding Snake Gulped Newborn Titanosaurs”
  
• “Engraved Ostrich Eggshell Fragments Reveal 60,000-Year-Old Graphic Design Tradition”
  
• “Do Stolen E-Mails Show Climate Science Malfeasance?”:  The answer is “no”.
  
• “Gut bacteria gene complement dwarfs human genome”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Rainbow Roses”.  These are not a breed, but rather specially treated flowers.  I had no idea they could work such an effect by injecting a plant with dyes.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of Firefox crashing

Greetings.

Jewish date:  16 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, Read Across America Day, Old Stuff Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: Help stop expanded logging in the Tongass”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Antidepressants: Do They 'Work' or Don't They?”:  It is not as simple as works verus does not work.
  
• “How slums can save the planet”
  
• “Cyber Bullying Intensifies as Climate Data Questioned”:  Note:  Making the lives of one’s opponents miserable has no effect on what is actually true.  Yes, that sounds mindbogglingly obvious, but some very rude people do not seem to know this.

Today’s weird thing is “Firefocks has Crashed”:

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of the known universe

Image Zemata thought was relevant via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  15 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  National Surf and Turf Day, National Pig Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “MoveOn.org Political Action: Strip insurers of their antitrust exemption”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Can greener gadgets save us from e-waste?”
  
• “McKibben on Why Climate Change Denial Is Like the O.J. Trial”
  
• “California Assembly passes resolution for Cuss Free Week”
  
• “Toyota and the price of modernity”:  Note:  Everything we do entails some level of risk.  The question is not whether anything is risky, but what level of risk we are willing to accept and what we can do to reduce the risk.
  
• “We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change”
• “Changing Climate, Changing Infections”
  
• “Are Pesticides from Plants Dangerous to Humans?”
  

Today’s weird cool thing is “The Known Universe Scientifically Rendered For All to See”, which gives some perspective on the size of things.  Enjoy and share the weirdness coolness.

Aaron