So as I was researching (and looking at the links I just posted, and snacking... you know how research goes), I had an impulse to see if Utena is available for sale (possibly an impulse born of seeing the Utena-themed Lesbian Wedding whose link I posted recently). I currently own the first season, the movie, and volumes 7 and 8 (the end of the Akio car arc).

I discovered that while all the rest of the DVDs are available on Amazon, several of them available for less than $10, the last two DVDs -- Revelation and Finale -- are down to ONE source each (one source that is not asking $50, that is). One is $14, but the the other is $25.

I know there are Utena fans on this f-list who are more knowledgeable about things anime than I, so here is my question -- is this a case where, if I don't snag available DVDs like NOW, they will be gone forever? I'm trying to live very frugally right now, and while there's other series that I'd like to own/own more of someday, they've got active distributors and I'm sure they'll still be around in a few years, so I'm content to wait. But I can't stop thinking about these Utena DVDs!

Spent all of Thursday researching for a paper, and a good chunk of yesterday and today writing it. And I've made good progress. So I feel comfortable sharing with you all some of the crazy things I stumbled over in the course of research (or procrastination -- but a surprising amount of this was one click away from environmental policy).

- Obama with Unicorns. I can't quite decide whether these remind me more of Neil Patrick Harris in "Harold & Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay", or that spoof of Star Trek where Data paints abominations. A little of both.

- The link most closely related to the research I was actually doing... kind of... clever satire Cheating Offsets! First reduce the amount you cheat on your partner... then buy cheating offsets for the rest.

- Burka Barbie. Hijab Barbie is prettier than standard Barbie IMO.

- Finally, Suicide Food. Animals that encourage you to eat them -- like in Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Tier 1 (one noose) is pretty much just standard BBQ restaurant signage, but the ones rated 5 nooses (you can filter on the right) are REALLY disturbing.

For the past three years I've volunteered at the info desk for Katsucon. I can't do it this year, though -- too swamped with work.

I just heard from the coordinator, and he says they're still looking for two or three people. It's a pretty good gig -- free admission for all three days, free crash space, and free food, all for being only nominally better informed than the con-goers -- it's more about presenting a friendly face to guests.

If anyone is interested or knows anyone who's interested, drop me a line and I'll post / email the email address for the coordinator.

Baguette Dropped From Bird's Beak Shuts Down The Large Hadron Collider

It's the comments that really make the article. Example: "I propose we start calling all defects in Colliders 'Baguettes'"

(nesuphyn, you're gonna love this...)

Utenta-themed gamer geek lesbian wedding!!!

(My favorite detail: that inside the rings is engraved "Revolution")

Many thanks to selecasharp for the link!

Because I know my f-list contains many animal lovers, and especially one sighthound aficionado:

The text gets pretty cheesy, but the photos are so freakin' cute (the photo with the deer just kills me): Jasmine the Greyhound

And according to Snopes it's true.

I know the Kanye jokes have been going around for a while at this point, but this one makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Despair and elation followed each other in quick succession on Friday, as I became convinced that my wireless card had become irreversibly broken after only a year of use and took it to the store where I had bought it, only to have it mystically start working again and be told that I had apparently pressed some key wrong.

I knew to check that the exterior hard switch was on! I at least am not that clueless. But apparently you can also turn off the wireless by pressing the function key and something else, and that might be what I had done. Either that, or my wireless really is on the road to busted-ness, and it was just giving me a break. It has worked fine for the last few days, though.

And I wouldn't put it past myself to hit those keys and never know it -- I have a history of doing that sort of thing. Like the time last year, when a cat stood on the keyboard and changed the output so it was directed at a nonexistent external screen, leaving the laptop screen blank. Or -- even better -- the time I fell asleep at work and my cheek hit the keyboard, and when I woke up a few minutes later the whole display had rotated 90%. "How did you make it turn sideways like that?" asked my coworkers. "I don't know," I answered honestly, "I wasn't doing anything unusual," fibbing slightly.

Creepy!

Bizarre newt uses ribs as weapons

A natural history museum, Madagascar, creepy creatures (warning: spiders), art, and doing the seemingly impossible...

This spider-silk textile is absolutely awesome-tastic.

I'm working on an assignment to "write a memo" to the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, presenting ways to improve water quality in the United States. Making my task much easier, the NY Times website posted a memo from her to the EPA that was issued just this past July. In the memo, she identifies three areas in which she would like to see improvement.

But look at the excerpts of areas one and three below and tell me... am I just crazy, or aren't they the same thing (make information accessible and clear on the website), just framed differently?

( Read more... )

The ants, they love the new ant bait. <"lj user="sleepy_bird"> told me so, and lo, the next morning I witnessed the swarming. Apparently ants only swarm in shifts, though. The one who shrugged apparently wasn't indifferent towards the bait, she was just indifferent because she wasn't on call just then.

The Mystery of Masala Wok is still unresolved.

Article on how everyone experiences a little bit of synaesthesia.

Interesting to me because I've always said that I preferred Coca-cola to Pepsi because the taste of Coca-cola is "round" while Pepsi tastes "sharp" -- according to this article, it's probably just their names that seem round or sharp to me.

Last weekend I took a trip with my Dad to the northern wilds of Michigan for an alumni thingy (we had to rush up to make the programming and back down Monday so I could make my first class of the semester that evening, so we weren't able to make stops to visit -- so sorry selecasharp and pixymisa, I wish I could have seen you! but we didn't even see my cousin who lives in Ann Arbor).

Anyhow, we had a good 5-hour drive each way, so we had lots of radio-listening time. I surprised him with my relatively newly acquired knowledge of classic rock, ie identifying "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane and "Eye in the Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project by both title and artist, and I even stumped him by correctly identifying "Bad Case of Loving You" as being by Robert Palmer.

He told me his unofficial list of "The Five Best Classic Rock Songs" -- that is, not songs that are the most fun or the most influential, but simply songs that he thought had "all the elements" of a great classic rock song:

"Crossroads" by Cream
"All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix
"Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen
"Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne
"Don't Stop Believing" by Journey

Most of these (except Jackson Browne) scored high on this list, which looks somewhat more official than the personal lists you get on YouTube -- although I wasn't expecting the more soul stuff on here, like Aretha Franklin, to count as classic rock.

When we got back to my hometown and I had access to a familiar modern rock station, I turned the tables a bit by quizzing him on the alternative 90's-ish rock we heard. He successfully identified "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, but he had absolutely no clue about "Lighting Crashes" by Live. In fact, when I told him that the band was called Live, he gave me a weird look. Worst of all, when we heard "Doin' Time" by Sublime and I was trying to see whether he knew "What I Got", he turned to me and went "Hiya hiya hi hi hi?"... NOOOO, that was Sugar Ray! Argh!

So my question to all of you -- and this is purely for discussion purposes, not to try to compile any sort of authoritative list -- is:
What are the best 90's-era alternative rock songs? The ones that have "all the elements", that really capture the era, or the ones you should be familiar with to have a taste of the time. A few songs come to my mind:

"Smells Like Teen Spirit", definitely -- this makes it on to many "best rock songs ever" lists, and wikipedia says it "marked when alternative rock entered the mainstream".
I would nominate "What I Got" by Sublime, "Lightning Crashes" by Live (YES it's hyper-dramatic, but it's still played often today despite containing the line "her placenta falls to the floor", they must've done something right), "Basketcase" by Green Day, "Say it Ain't So" by Weezer, and "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish (to capture the ska craze), and "Loser" by Beck.

Thoughts? Nominations?

Side note: we heard a song by Pink, and he asked me, "Is Pink like Kelly Clarkson, or like Fergie?" I told him that Pink was the dark step-sister of Britney Spears and Cristina Aguilera.

New species of rat discovered in Papua New Guinea
"Ee's like a li'le... puppy!" says the researcher with the fun accent.

One of my favorite comics is Lackadaisy (I'm sure I must have posted about it in the past). I am subscribed to get its updates on Deviant Art, and I even bought the hard copy of volume 1 (and promptly loaned it to someone).

It's amazing to me how self-indulgence in art can produce Mary Sues and all sorts of horrible things, and yet once in a while it results in a real gem. "Lackadaisy" starts the author's cat -- name and characteristics intact -- as an anthropomorphic prohibition-era gangster... and it's brilliant.

Said cat just recently died, and the author posted a eulogy on her Deviant Art journal. It's written with as much skill as she puts into her comics, and what she calls "sentimental drivel" is not only eloquent but hilarious, and heartwarming even for a person like me who's never actually owned a cat.
Sample: "Early on we had outfitted Rocky with collar bells, ensuring I would ever after associate their sound with him. Initially, this was a well-meaning attempt to warn cute backyard wildlife of the oncoming likelihood of dismemberment. In practice, however, the bells failed to create any real handicap for his sport, and ultimately only provided the ironically cheerful, tinkling death knell for many a hapless rabbit and field mouse."

You can see how the cat is recognizable in the comic by his bio on the Lackadaisy character bio page.

I've seen the latest incarnation of the JesusFish. See, first it was the JesusFish... then the DarwinFish... then the TruthJesusFish swallowing the DarwinFish. And now... a dinosaur taking a big bite out of the JesusFish. At first I thought it might be Raptor Jesus, but it looks more like a T-Rex (kind of looks like the T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics, honestly).

* * *

I love my coworkers. The communal microwave has died, and somebody posted the following sign on it:
"I have SAD news to report. The microwave has died. R.I.P. First Michael Jackson, and now this. Both hit their peak in the mid-1980s."

* * *

This is the possibly the cutest animal in the entire world. That is my serious scholarly opinion as a scientist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTq972q8fVA
(Also look at "Do you want to know more about Sonya?" for even more)

I know some people on my f-list will appreciate this. I was cracking up.