This is one of the better ideas I've seen so far, but still not a great solution. Good for about three days, I estimate, before it's destroyed.

I want an alarm clock that senses when I'm in shallow sleep and gently wakes me up then. Preferably towards the end of my dreams.

The "Husband Chart, 2008" is soooo easy:

1. Enables wife to eat the way she really wants to (voraciously) without ever calling her fat. (+n merits)
2. Makes enough money so wife is surrounded by luxury and will never have to work again (or read a book). (+n merits)
3. Donates his sperm to wife's prime directive. (+n+1 merits)

:D

I have nothing against dandelions. I actually like them in their various forms. But a fair portion of people think of them as annoying weeds that infiltrate their landscape and challenge their efforts to keep up with the Joneses, and their kids learn to kick them with disdain, snapping their heads off with glee while the decapitated stalk bleeds its white blood. The common weed repellents have pictures of dandelions on them.

Being like a weed with self-promotion turns a person into a marketer or advertising rep, and anyone who meets one of those creatures would put one off that particular meat for good, religiously, if one has any sort of decency. Unless you're already indoctrinated, of course, in which case it's okay, I guess. Takes all kinds.

Internet ADD is no excuse. Quality and innovative resourcefulness, however, are are always interesting options. Let's never put our work and creativity on the level of weeds.

LOL at Jack #8. Except it would perhaps be more like a bored, artsy-fartsy shark fixing our fishing nets with a bunch of spare teeth where the netting used to be, making it so heavy that it sank our bobbers. Pesky hippie shark! I'm hungry!

Finally something uber-geeky that I can relate to here. One of my prized possessions is a Texas Instruments Model 101 from the mid-70s that I picked up at eBay some years ago, that still works and that I wear with pride. Everybody who sees it is amazed at how old it is because it looks like something that could have been made today (and definitely not like some of those huge, clunky ones that were made back then).

I've been fairly obsessed with LED watches since I was a little kid in the 70s. Like the guy interviewed in the link, it's definitely something that takes me back to my childhood. If I had the dough I'd have one with a calculator. :D

Todd #20: +1

I am continually humbled by the interweb's fetish power.

This is an idea I've been interested in, as a music-maker, since it broke. I fluctuate between optimism and pessimism regarding the idea. It seems to be very Socialistic when it's boiled down, and that may not be realistic in an increasingly Capitalistic Western culture. But then again, there's an audience for everybody, given a certain minimum of quality.

I gave $100 to the owner of a small record label not too long ago, one that I wasn't even a True Fan of, to send me that amount of the label's best material. I enjoyed it, and I won't do it again with that label.

$100,000 a year is a lot of money. Let's keep that in mind. I'd be ecstatic with half that if it meant I could break the ball and chain of my day job, and know that I'm making a lot of people happy with the work that makes ME happy. Hell yeah, I'd work to maintain it. Shit, I'd dedicate my soul to those people. I'm already dedicating much of my soul to pushing paper that means absolutely nothing to me, for the same amount of money I'd make with this True Fan set-up.

Additionally, Robert Rich, of whom I'm a fan, doesn't mention, although he begins to imply it, that the 1,000 fans will be rolling over as the years go by, with lags and booms, just as long as output and quality are more or less maintained. The same 1,000 True Fans do not have to be kept.

Finally, for the visual artists: There are lots of ways to fulfill one's duties in this area. Limited edition (say, 1,000?), framed giclee prints, for example, for painters. I was a dedicated painter not too long ago, and it might be smart to start to think of painting in terms of mass production, like musicians did way back in the 20th century. Why do paintings have to be one-of-a-kind anyway? It's a very interesting question. I don't have the answer, except that it's been the tradition, and staying traditional is not how art works. Art is as commercial as anything else.

No way. It's so bad it's good, or at least "interesting." I've lived long enough to know that plenty of people get off on weird stuff like this.

Nah, what I find people detest the most, especially females - at least in Western culture - is stuff stuff without guitars and vocals, and then music that doesn't stay in tune or have a narrative. Most people hate Noise music, for instance.

I nominate Chicago's Kevin Drumm for worst music.

guidodavid: Atheism set out to be a non-religion, but it became a religion anyway. Totally disappointing. Then again, any belief system that claims to be able to know, in the strictest sense, anything beyond the limits of our understanding is disappointing.

I can understand a belief system based upon reason and empiricism alone, but I can't understand how one can claim that they therefore apply to everything beyond the thin slice of reality humans have evolved to comprehend. Atheists in this way anthropomorphize the external world, and therefore appear to lack the reason they so dearly champion.

Again, one can't take an extreme view on universals (and atheism is extreme) without leaking logic, thereby exposing one's intellectual deficit.

Sorry to offend you, Takuan. I use the term "God" very broadly. If I, personally, were to call it something I'd call it "Universe", and even that surely comes nowhere near to encapsulating it. That's where faith, in all shapes and colors, comes in, like I say, to fill in those truly massive gaps that humans will forever be incapable of comprehending.

To assume that when a person uses the term "God" it necessarily implies some traditional, institutionalized version, and therefore a minimalized version, is a blunder. To sweep away the vast reality that exists beyond the limits of human comprehension is to do a profound disservice to our kind's ability to wonder and imagine about the approximately 99.9999999999999999999999% of reality beyond our scope, which is to have true faith, the spice and magic of life, in that majestic something-other-ness that we, *all of us*, privately tremble to be intimate with but tragically can never even begin to know by any realistic standards. That is God.

Not some dude with a beard.

I have to say I really enjoy a sensible discussion about this, and very much appreciate the various views here. It shows that we respect each other, and gives me faith that intelligence does indeed exist.

It's interesting and sad to me how the fundamentalist extremes are falling right into each others' traps, to see how Creationists, for example, try to use scientific tactics to compete with (A)theists, and (A)theists use faith-based tactics when they compete. One sees regularly how the right makes up bogus "scientific" claims to further their agenda, and how the left insists that science can explain absolutely everything, which as far as I'm concerned reeks of faith.

It's as if we require this sort of sporting event to remind us we're still vital as individuals, but by the very act of competing we annihilate the beliefs we defend so vehemently. Meanwhile we've all learned at least a few times that the real answer in cases like these is always - ALWAYS! - somewhere in the middle. How many times do we have to relearn that lesson before we make the break?

Perhaps sports are more important to culture than rationality after all. :|

The middle says there must be a (G)od, of sorts, one that we're simply not capable of understanding, as the finite and limited lifeforms we are, which therefore requires faith to fill in the majority of the blanks. And science is the path towards filling in a few, if not many, but never most, and certainly not all, of those blanks.

Star Trek. Let me play yuz it on ma thurmin.

Yeah, the expression of the cat at the end is totally priceless. =(o.o)=

Semiotix: I hear ya. I honestly don't remember [a]theism being as violent - and increasingly so - as it is today.

#14: That's what I'm talking about. Dawkins' forceful approach only serves to feed the flames of those with differing (but not objectively better or worse) belief systems. It's a game of reaction tag, and has become increasingly violent. Therefore, in my opinion, both/all sides are invalidated and should be given a time-out for a few decades to cool down and regain their senses.

Atheism, once a beacon of objective rationality, is defeating itself by choosing to wrestle with monsters, and you know how that saying goes.

Yeah, there was a time I leaned towards Atheism, until I realized it was populated by the same sort of manic fundamentalists one finds on the opposite side, like among the Creationists. Man, what a nasty, reactionary war that is! Dawkins, for instance, although an interesting writer, has serious unresolved issues to need to fight that war that badly. He and others helped me realize that affiliation of any sort is by default a violent act, both externally and internally. Thus I, for one, opted for an independent stance where I have the freedom to pluck my ideological valuables from wherever I need or want.

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the chocolate rain. Time to die.

Foreshadowing of the post-energy-crisis crisis when water rates are up to $40 a bottle and we're at war with Scandinavia?

I don't know Russian, Ethanol, but the five large characters on the monument look like they might say "Laika".

The big pink female monkey in that video is doing it wrong.

Here's to you, Laika, brave doggie. If all the animals who've been forced to sacrifice themselves for us in horrible ways had such statues we'd run out of metal.

And while you're at it, check the tags on that pirate's mattress.

Talk about culture clash. If this site wants to promote enlightened technology as a means towards cultural progress I feel it's only logical that it try to steer away (no pun intended, honestly) from promoting primitive practices such as leather goods. What's next, news of aliens landing in steampunked ships? Unlikely.

I'm available for proofreading, too, actually, and would make a small fortune from your submissions, Cory, were I paid by the error. Oooooooo. :D

#10! LOL

I wonder if the CERN folks will take 12.21.12 off, just in case. It's a Friday.

And I have to wonder what sort of stuff that botanist is growing.

Human children, as well as adults, are also trained how to paint, and are rewarded for it. Whether or not the elephant is truly enjoying itself or is emotionally connected to the activity of painting seems to be a secondary issue. The primary issue is that an elephant has learned, via some sort of reward and punishment system - to use tools to create an image. Remember that everything we do, too, is firmly enmeshed within a reward and punishment system. To flatter ourselves while viewing this is a grave error.

I'm just glad that people are beginning to discover their humble, relative place among the animals, that we're actually not alone here on Earth, that we're not surrounded by a bunch of stupid life that we're somehow obligated to exploit.

In recent years we've discovered that chimps have superior short term memories. We've discovered that lots of animals enjoy getting high (lemurs with millipedes is a fun example). We've seen a dog that's obsessed with skateboarding. We've seen how mice laugh when tickled. We've seen how some male birds woo females with what can easily be called world-class installation art. And that's just the beginning of what I hope will be a landslide of similar knowledge that can only improve the condition of life on this planet for all species.

Nah, I'm a very passionate vegan - in all ways it has been a religious experience for me, from rebirth on - and I think any mode that raises an often latent capacity to question and challenge one's own belief system is a good thing. Good for everyone's team. Nice win.

And by the way, it seems more like the veganism is the gimmick for the sexuality, not the other way around, as presented, because it's more likely that the sexuality is what's ultimately making the place its money.

When I was a kid we loosened up our cubes by just taking them apart and putting them back together a million times. How else were we going to solve it after we messed it up? I wasn't the "solving" type.

LOL @ 25. I like the multi-layering. It could either mean a) that we have injected them with our views^TM and now they're stupid; or b) maybe our shit is contagious; or c) that it's not actually us, and the whole world is stupid.

Probably a combination.

I'm leaning towards fake. The background scene of glove-wearing (they certainly looked rubber to me at first glance) while talking about proms and dances seems to give it away. And I really do find it hard to believe that the woman, Sharon?, can't get more excited than that. She's not even trying.

Then again, truth really is stranger than fiction. Part of me wants it to be fake, because that way the intention, to me, is significantly more brilliant.

The moment artists get over themselves, Rick., advanced culture will cease to exist. But hey, there are all sorts of ways for you to experiment with this in your own life, if you're genuinely serious about it. You can start by chucking your music collection.

Dols is clearly missing the point of everything he does. Typical of art enthusiasts, and all too often with art administrators. The very fact that this discussion is here alone makes the prank successful. Duh.

The man speaks the truth. But it's a truth that's spoken so many times that it tends to become an invisible installation. You can only look at a food pyramid so many times before you forget what you're looking at. And happiness is so much more complex than just good food and exercise, even if they are major components. And if one is willing to fight a losing battle with the entropy involved, then money can certainly play a role in happiness, temporarily.

But honestly, you have to be a saint to be consistently happy on public transportation, much less in a the singing mood. People who sing on the train are annoying. I prefer the people who dance.

Thanks, Gary. I got almost as much experience from you as I would had I killed Demogorgon. :)

Yeah, what's up with the 29th century? Twice now in only a handful of TED reports. I think there's something else REALLY going on there, and all this intellectualism is just a ploy to deceive us, and thereby distract us. From the aliens. 8\

Duck Dodgers indeed.

Really great videos. I downloaded straight from the site, no torrent necessary. The last, 3D, video was my favorite. After watching the rest first, which was all amazing, seeing the action in 3D was truly awesome. Very inspired work. The music was decent too, and matched the hi-fi/lo-fi-ness of the visuals nicely. Thanks! :D

I also remember seeing this two or three times as a kid. It's even more awesome as an adult. Well, okay, it's a different type of awesome now.

Only 10,000 more years until enlightenment!

"Dough!"

- Homer J. Simpson

I really love it. Reminds me quite a bit of The Onion's advice columnists, which is some of my favorite stuff in the world. "Ask Sir Mix-a-Lot" was probably the best. Except where The Onion makes it totally random (which to me is the funny part), Brian makes it subtly meaningful (which is brain expanding). Nice.