Psybertron Asks

Saw the main (first) image in this set earlier and was intrigued how dense the light population of the Nile appears. I see in this collection the Nile is in fact now highlighted in a separate image. The relative intensity is amazing.

[Comparing Seoul / S.Korea with N.Korea is also telling, and China with N.Korea too.]

Plausible analysis of why Angry Birds is an engaging user experience. No idea how “scientific” the fact gathering actually was or how the hypotheses / conclusions were actually tested – but plausible and interesting. Might be worth sharing on current project – using response (waiting) times to provide user with opportunity to enlarge their “schema” of knowledge of future use possibilities ?

[via BifRiv]

A bit much maybe, to turn to born-again bible-bashing for spiritual guidance as a young teenager earning £200K a week, but you always felt for the too-worldly-wise 10 year old Angus T Jones playing alongside Charlie Sheen in 2.5 Men for all those years.

The “clashes” headline reads like rival fans bumping into each other.
In fact it’s premeditated fascist attacks.

100 Lazio “Ultras” attacking Spurs fans in Rome
… armed with knives, baseball bats, and knuckle dusters.

Gaza or Rome, what’s the difference ?

[Like I said “attempted murder” is not “rival fans clashing” – get a grip BBC.]

Yes that really is water at the bottom of this “Baori” or step-well. The Chand Baori near Jaipur, India photographed by BldgBlog (hat tip to BifRiv).

Fascinating “building” – one of many in a fascinating blog – recall their post on Nottingham Caves a couple of months ago – have a browse.

I’m often mentioning “theologians talking sense”, but Sentamu is not one of them. Totally incoherent in his response to questions on the Today programme this morning – just denial.

Nice, but Airbus and the US Army have been doing this for decades.

The side-kick to Robert Pirsig on the 1968 road trip that was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Quite a character by all accounts; I met him just once in 2008 at the old Pirsig house in St.Paul where he regaled us with stories of bike rides and musical parties in the 60’s. Sad to hear of his passing Sunday 18th November 2012 after failing to recover from an earlier stroke. A character undoubtedly missed, but immortalized for many in ZMM.

Example story:

The Pirsig’s were the first people in the neighbourhood to get a copy of the Beatle’s White album, and also had a serious HiFi sound system, enough to broadcast into the street, so their parties were a frequent and popular focal point for local musos and artists^(*).

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Post Notes in 2024:

There are three recorded interviews with John Sutherland

This one by film-maker Lee Glover in 2008 on YouTube.

Another by Pirsig enthusiast Henry Gurr in 2003 (currently available as DVD and local MP4 copy – will be made accessible through the Robert Pirsig Association in due course.)

And interviews with John are included in Dr McWatt’s 3rd Pirsig documentary “On the Road with John Sutherland” (~2010) (currently available as DVD and local MP4 copy – will be made accessible through the Robert Pirsig Association in due course.)

(*) The artistic thread is carried by the DeWeese family to this day in Bozeman and Montana State University. Bob and Gennie both characters found in ZMM.

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Great collection from Buzzfeed via BifRiv.
I like this one, but they’re all good.