Tensions were high during the decision-making process that would lead up to the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Success depended on the precision of the Navy SEALs team in order to kill this slaughterer of thousands. More »
Maybe you couldn't keep up with your favorite Gawker Media sites this week. Or perhaps you could just use something fun to do this afternoon. Well, whatever the reason, we've got your prescription: Here are some of the best videos we watched during the crazy, post-bin Laden week that was.
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UPDATE: SOLVED by Bill at 12:23
Bonjour! Ça va?
What did you think about the way the clues were presented on the bonus riddle? I had fun with those; so I thought I would slip a few in the weekly riddles now and then. After seeing how the clues worked once, I don’t think anyone will have any major difficulties with them in the future. Don’t worry; I’m not planning on blasting you out of the water with them. Just a few, every now and then. A lot of you really underestimate yourselves, you know?
Okay! Are you ready to tackle this week’s scintillating brain teaser? One for the money… two for the show… three to get ready… and four to GO!
Piero di Cosimo, "Death of Procris"
Although this is well-represented in SciFi, look in the real world for the answer to this riddle.
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
You think of this as one thing, but it’s not.
Flag of Brazil
There was a large body of superstition built up around this; and some people truly feared it.
This was known to our ancestors, who used it (among other things) as a means of divination.
“… but when the hot days come, I think they might remember that those are the dog days, and leave a little water outside in a trough, like they do for the horses.”
Map of Nile Delta around the time of Herodotus, James Rennell, published ca 1800-1830 -- This has an excellent enlargement, by the way
There is an interesting paradox closely associated with this in Greek mythology.
Not so long ago, seeing this in time could save your life.
It was associated with life, but it was also associated with death.
Orion - engraving by Johann Bayer 1603
You’ll run across this when studying proper motion and radial velocities.
You can see this in the North, you can see it in the South. You can see it during the day, you can see it at night. You can see it in the morning, you can see it in the evening.
A Lockheed Tingmissartoq Sea Plane - the name is Inuit for "one who flies like a large bird"
There! I bet you’re not in the least confused. Let me know what you think — or if you’re not thinking, come over to the comments and keep me company.
AV losses badly, Lib Dems routed
Conservatives hold up well in England, Labour surges in Wales
Scottish Nationals win big
by Clifford F. Thies
Several cross-currents in the just conducted elections in the United Kingdom. The Scottish National Party has won a majority in the local parliament. There is now a real prospect for the scheduling of a referendum regarding independence.
Across the country, the referendum on what they call "AV" and what we would call "Instant Run-off" was defeated. Based on only a partial count of the vote, the margin looks to be something like 2-to-1. The scheduling of this vote was part of the deal that brought the Liberal Democrats into the ruling coalition as junior partners of the Conservatives. The size of the loss precludes any renewed effort any
time soon for replacing the country's "first past the gate" system of voting.
Along with the loss of the referendum on AV, the Lib Dems suffered huge losses all throughout the country. The success of the party, in the last national parliamentary election, can now be seen as a personal triumph for its leader, but not part of a movement to a new orientation of the electorate. This centrist party finds itself, again, in a struggle for meaning in a voting system that call forth two major parties.
If anything, the Conservatives find themselves in an even stronger position with regard to local councils throughout England, following this election. Given the increasingly clear choice between a Labour Party that acts as though Tony Blair had never re-defined it, and a Conservative Party that embraces the growing diversity of the place, a clear majority of the voters of England are going with the center-right alternative.
Photo - Baroness Sayidi Warsi, Cabinet member in David Cameron's government, and Co-Chair of the Conservative Party.
“We will force all schools to teach homosexuality as normal … Our front bench team Simon Hughes and David Laws are committed homosexuals, while Nick Clegg was recently voted by readers of Pink Times as the sexiest party leader.”
From Eric Dondero:
The Liberal Democrats are unabashedly pro-homosexual rights. But party leaders are crying foul over a fake flyer leafletted all over mostly Muslim neighborhoods in Leicester two days before the election, which highlighted their pro-homosexual stances.
From PoliticalScrapbook.net:
The Leicester South by-election has turned dirty. A leaflet purporting to be from the Liberal Democrats and featuring a picture of two men kissing has been distributed in an Asian [Pakistani] area of the city. The materials, which campaign organisers have confirmed as fake, are clearly an attempt to inflame anti-gay sentiment in the largely Muslim Spinney Hills area.
And a comment from the Brit political blog HurryupHarry.org
After the “Gay Free Zone” stickers targeted several areas, including Tower Hamlets and Hackney in London, it seems drafting in homophobia in an attempt to turn Muslim voters away from mainstream parties is a strategy we’ll be seeing more and more.
The result? The BBC reports:
The Lib Dems lost 695 councillors in England, with Labour gaining 800... In a by-election in Leicester South, Labour held on the (sic) the seat with an increased majority...
From Eric Dondero:
Rudy Giuliani accompanied the President to Ground Zero on Thursday. Asked by reporters afterwards about his own presidential ambitions, he responded that the Party ought to choose the Republican who has the best chance of beating Obama.
Quoted by Politico:
“I will sure think about it. … It’s too early and I want to see how it all develops,” he answered. “My major goal is to elect a Republican in 2012. If it turns out that I’m the best one to do that, I can probably be talked into doing it or convince myself to do it,” he said.
“If I thought somebody else had a better chance of doing it, I would be a very enthusiastic supporter of somebody else,” he added.
A recent Marist poll has him ahead of the entire GOP field in New York with 23% over Romney's 20%.
And two New Hampshire polls has him at 7% and 8% respectively.
Top thirteen picks
This Pulitzer-winning series on a desperate bid to identify and treat a rare genetic disorder is incredible science writing. Truly incredible. You have to read it (and the story behind the story).
BLOODY HELL!! Those are whale sharks! 420 of them! Read Al Dove’s take on his own paper for a textbook example of a scientist blogging their own work.
“Charles Darwin was the original crowd-sourced scientist.” Carl Zimmer on the wonderfully named “Evolution Megalab”
Forget arseniclife. Here’s Deborah Blum with a moving tale of arsenic death
If you read one thing this month on the challenges of live, real-time, breaking news, read this by Emily Bell.
I loved this New Yorker profile on David Eagleman and his research on how the brain deals with time
This is why it’s important for journalists to get it right first time round: Vaughan Bell on why retractions fall on deaf ears.
“Are there circumstances in which feeding kittens to boa constrictors might be morally acceptable?” by Emily Anthes
Do we reason to find truth or simply to create more persuasive arguments? Jonah Lehrer on a compelling new hypothesis
Don’t read this in company. You will cry. “Here it ...
The fact that the death of Osama bin Laden rocked the Twitterverse is very much common knowledge. Here, though, is a visualization showing just how far and fast the news spread in those first moments after the news leaked. More »
What with all the recent buzz about the death of the typewriter — that turned out to be super false — artist Jeremy Mayer went ahead and created this piece, Bust V (Grandfather), to comment on the hullabaloo. More »
This should need Guru's suggestion.
In the original design, of an office, showed that there is a wall between engineering and administration room. But due to some reasons, this wall was missed out during the quotation. So, when the constructor starts building the office, he founds that this wall is
Hi friends, good evening to all. i want know the function of the marshelling panel inside the control room. so anybody can describe the function and uses of the marshelling panel. Expecting your valuable answers, thanks & regrds
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I love clever art, especially when that art has a deeper meaning… literally and figuratively.
Check out Japanese artist Takayuki Hori’s X-ray animal origami:
Pictures of the animal bones are printed on transparent paper, so when assembled you get a complete skeleton. They’re beautiful and a bit eerie… and the message the artist is conveying is about pollution in Japan that is threatening and killing wildlife there.
Tip o’ the lead apron to Geekologie.
Related posts:
- X-rayted pinup
- Follow-up: X-Rayted calendar
- Hoo barfed?
- What the hell were we thinking?
From Eric Dondero:
The annual state convention of the Libertarian Party of Alaska convenes today at the Best Western Golden Lion Hotel in Anchorage.
Among the speakers, a bit of a surprise: Former Anchorage Mayor Tom Fink.
From AlaskaDispatch.com "The Libertarians convene" :
It’s a decidedly bi-partisan event. Speakers include avowed Republican and former mayor Tom Fink. He’ll take on the school choice issue. Next up is Dr. Paul Johnson, a libertarian UAA economist. He’ll be speaking about Adam Smith and the morality of free markets.
Then there’s Alaska Independence Party member and former senatorial candidate Bob Bird. The AIP made national headlines when it was discovered that Sarah Palin’s husband Todd, had been a member of the party from 1995 to 2002. One of the party's goal its succession from the United States.
Note - Carolyn Clift, Sec. of the ALP is a regular reader of this website. More info: Alaskalibertarian.com
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