Why give another teddy bear or stuffed cartoon character when you can give your little (or not so little) darling the Flu, Athletes Foot, The Black Death, Ebola and other dangerous microbes?
I don't think I would like having one of these but it might be interesting to spend one whole day with it.
If you spend enough time in a place, you will begin to know the patterns of that place - the sun and moon, traffic, tides, smells, faces, sounds. SineClock presents an aural pattern - the interaction of three sets of sine waves - representing the time of day.
Here's another interesting article on synaesthesia, a condition that I've always been slightly fascinated with. As I understand it, synaesthesia goes deeper than simply associating certain words, musical passages and so forth, with colors. This confuses a lot of people. Whenever I try to explain synaesthesia to someone who has never heard of it they almost invariably say, "Oh, I have that!" but I have never met anyone who actually does have it.
The linked article talks about recent studies, using blindfolded subjects, that suggest that all brains might have the ability to "adapt to make these unusual associations, with the ability only being unmasked in a select few people," however, some scientists believe that the experiences of the test subjects were merely hallucinations.
That does seem like a reasonable explanation. Naturally, I found the following very interesting, in a disturbing sort of way:
DB, who was not known to be synaesthetic, was blindfolded for five consecutive days, and saw very vividly a frightening face whenever he listened to a specific passage of Mozart's Requiem. It only happened while he was deprived of vision. Though this mental association was not genuine synaesthesia, it did have many of the hallmarks of the condition, the researchers claim. It could be reproduced, was consistent and was triggered by something specific.
Hmmmm... I wonder exactly what passage that was. The Dies Irae perhaps? How come they never have any of these studies near me? I'd like to get paid to listen to Mozart and have weird hallucinations. Oh, right... I live in Oklahoma. If they had a study like that here I wonder if they would make subjects listen to Garth Brooks or Lee Greenwood. Anyway, I do listen to music with eyes closed sometimes but I've never experienced anything quite so vivid. Maybe I should keep experimenting.
posted by Lynn S @ 11:21
(category: Cool & Bizarre) 1 comment
17 Aug 04
Doorways to the Underworld
Interesting that I should find this Catalogue of UK Entrances to Hell so soon after the previous post. I agree with Jason - you'd think that entrances to Hell would be more enticing. Where are all the dens of iniquity?
UPDATE: Go to the E-merl homepage for links to more illustrated stories.
posted by Lynn S @ 11:04
(category: Cool & Bizarre) 2 comments
27 Jul 04
Worshippers at the Altar of Mathematics
I've always thought math would be a cool thing to be able to do but there's one thing I've never understood - aren't we supposed to be good at the things we like? I'm not any good at math at all. I could never do anything past about a third grade level and yet, it's sort of fascinating, maybe even spiritual, in a way. Obviously a lot of people who are much better at it than I am think so too. Check out this site dedicated to Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section - 200 pages of math! I don't know whether to be awed or nauseated. But if that's not enough, go have a look at Bruce Rawles Favorite Sacred Geometry Links. See, I told you it was spiritual.
posted by Lynn S @ 08:44
(category: Cool & Bizarre) 3 comments
20 Jul 04
The #1 Reason to Buy a Pickup
I've seen this photo before. Thanks to LeeAnn and her dad for reminding me of it. I love this line: "Witnesses said their physical/mental state was OTHER than normal."
Warning: Psychotronic Subsystems Must Be Circumvented
I don't have much to say about this - just that it's pretty funny no matter which side of the political fence you're on. A sample:
MindGuard only runs on open source software, and works by emitting jamming signals that protect you from the mind-control waves. But note this significant caveat:
Many popular operating system platforms -- most notably Windows and Macintosh -- are in fact created by agents of mind control. As such, these platforms tend to include subsystems that not only produce mind control, but also defeat anti-psychotronic software such as MindGuard. In order for MindGuard to run successfully on these platforms, their psychotronic subsystems must be circumvented.
If these subsystems are not completely overcome, the results could be worse than not using MindGuard at all. This is because psychotronic signals in the wild tend to be generally balanced across contradicting view points, which is the result of competition for mind space. If Apple increases the strength of their psychotronic signals, Microsoft follows suit. (While this balance diminishes the relative difference between the contradicting signals, it does not diminish the overall effect of mind control in the environment, which is only getting worse.) By only partially defeating the psychotronic subsystems in a platform, MindGuard could end up silencing one signal while letting its competing signal (presumably the one from the platform's creator) through loud and clear, which might cause erratic behavior, nerve damage, or an insane zeal to follow the signal's message beyond what even its creator desired.
O-kaaaaaay.... Lots more. Don't miss the "Important Note" at the end!
That thing is way cool but at $3000 I'll have to be satisfied with my obsolete, bottom of the line Dell Dimension until it either has a meltdown or refuses to run some new software that I absolutely must have, then I will buy another bottom of the line Dell computer which, by the way, is now going for about $200 dollars less than I paid for this much more primitive machine. If I wait long enough maybe I'll be able to get a 900GHz, PC with a one million gigabyte hard-drive out of a cereal box.
44 Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena. I have seen a few of these before. I'll look at the others as soon as I'm done playing with the little green eyes. (Move your mouse.)
the notion of level of grammaticalness is not subject to the system of base rules exclusive of the lexicon
Found in Iowahawk's sidebar: the Chomskybot. (Don't worry, it's not political, just hilarious) The FAQ page is interesting.
By the way, Iowahawk is pretty hilarious too but unlike the Chomskybot he is political.
posted by Lynn S @ 20:53
(category: Cool & Bizarre) 2 comments
11 Dec 03
Web Toy
I am glad that there are people who have enough time on their hands to create stuff like this. (Flash animation; takes forever to load on dial-up.) Be sure you have your speakers turned up so you can hear the little people scream when you shake up their world.
I know... I've said that about other optical illusions but... Oh just go look. Someone emailed me the link almost a month ago and I bookmarked it and forgot about it until now.
posted by Lynn S @ 18:28
(category: Cool & Bizarre) 2 comments
3 Dec 03
More Gift Ideas
I have an idea. Why don't we have a contest to see who can find the most tasteless or disgusting gifts. The front-runner so far is Captain Yips. His find is not only disgusting, it's both tasteless and tasty.
posted by Lynn S @ 08:22
(category: Cool & Bizarre) 1 comment
1 Dec 03
The Internet
Byzantium's Shores has posted a lovely graphical representation of the Internet. (Dec. 1, permalink bloggered) I always knew that the Internet is a beautiful thing. Now there's proof.
