MyPunchbowl.com lets you set a range of dates you’d like to throw a party, invite a bunch of friends through email, decide which friends you most want to come, and based on everyone’s responses and the dates they’re available, automaticaly decide the optimal time to get down.
Sharpest image ever taken of M81, released today at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Honolulu. The image is compiled from data taken from 2004 to 2006.
You can see the whole first episode on HBO’s site or through their podcast. Premieres Sunday, June 17 at 10:30 pm (9:30 ct).
The lake, once connected to the ocean through a tunnel, has long since been shut off by limestone. The jellyfish, with no natural predators save sea anemone which pose no serious threat, are trapped inside the lake and have grown to incredible numbers. They follow the sun and feed on algae harvested inside their bodies, and due to the safety of the lake have lost their sting.
“Could pond scum solve the world’s energy and global warming crises?
University of Hawai’i professor Pengchen “Patrick” Fu thinks it can, with a little push from biotechnology.
Fu has developed strains of cyanobacteria — one of the components of pond scum — that feed on atmospheric carbon dioxide, and produce ethanol as a waste product.”
After letting Last.fm track his music listening habits for over a year, Lee Byron took the data generated and through some clever math and plotting, produced this beautiful, organic representation of his history. Artists ebb and flow as the seasons and his preferences change.
This is hot beyond words.
(videos)
architect (images)
Play-by-play pictures from a couple’s visit to L’Enclume, the restaurant home to world-famous chef Simon Rogan and his cutting edge molecular gastronomy (read: playing chemist/physisict with food).
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Earth’s troposphere is carbonated!
“Kecak (pronounced: “KEH-chahk” …), a form of Balinese music drama, originated in the 1930s and is performed primarily by men. Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 100 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting “cak”, and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana where monkeys help Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.”
If this track is anything like the rest of his upcoming album, Finding Forever, then I’m all over it. Common’s 7th studio release will feature Kanye West who also did a majority of the production along with the late J Dilla, Dwele, Lily Allen (what up girl?!), Bilal and D’Angelo. Comes out the 10th of July so heads up.
Probably the most poignant interview I’ve seen with John Stewart — this time on Bill Moyers Journal — discussing the role of the Daily Show, Stewart’s opinions on the war, and offering a few props to the political blogosphere.
Boston.com estimates the total cost of the War in Iraq at around $456 billion. What could we have bought instead?
Not only does the engine run off of methane, which is abundant in all kinds of interesting destinations like like Saturn’s moon Titan, but it looks freaking awesome.
“At first glance, the manuscript appears to be a medieval Christian prayer book.
But on the same pages as the prayers, experts using a high-tech imaging system have discovered commentary likely written in the third century A.D. on a work written around 350 B.C. by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.”
Proposed for construction in Shanghai to coincide w/ the 2010 World Expo. The Chinese character 人 (romanized “ren”) means person or people.
Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille comes out June 29th. In the meantime you can catch two 9-minute clips from the movie at Disney’s website. These may not be available for long so check them out before they’re gone.
This slipped by me unnoticed until today. Mstislav Rostropovich, former director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC and virtuoso cellist died last Friday morning in Moscow, the city he considered home. Included in this post is a recording of him playing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
A classic Beethoven symphony takes on the ethereal dissonant properties of something reminiscent to a Philip Glass composition — I’ve been listening to it now for a couple hours.