Institute of Jurassic Technology

R.I.P. health care reform

2009-12-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

Great video that captures a bit of information, and a lot of emotion (that I share) about the current B.S. that's making its way through congress about health care. Is the host being helpful? No -- but I can relate to where he's coming from:

Bp

[via Faith in Honest Doubt, whose post is worth reading]

100 days in Glacier National Park

2009-12-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a really awesome photo set from Bostom.com's "The Big Picture."

Part of their writeup:

This summer, Glacier Park Magazine editor Chris Peterson undertook a photographic project to take photos of Montana's Glacier National Park over 100 consecutive days, starting on May 1, 2009, for a traveling photo show in 2010 to commemorate Glacier's Centennial. He used a mix of film and digital cameras, including an 8 by 10 field camera, a Kodak Pocket Vest camera, circa 1909, and a Speed Graphic, among others. His idea was to use the cameras that would have been used over the course of the Park's 100 years.

Here is the whole set of 100 photographs with the artists comments, well worth your time. Some great reading, as well as more amazing shots.

[remember to click images for larger size]

check the foreground right on this one

The beargrass in this one reminds me of my days in the fire lookout.

Bufo! [that one's for you Wife]

[As is this one] Smallest bird in North America, Calliope hummingbird (Stellula calliope)

And you gotta have bighorns.

Enjoy phenomenal photography of nearly untrammeled nature,

Bp

[via my faithful Canukistani operative "Yuri", all image credits in linked photo set]

Half inch jellyfish that can take you out, quick

2009-12-07T22:51:00.001-08:00

That little guy pictured on the right there can kill you dead, pronto.

Here is the post from Boing Boing, and here is the post they referenced at The Telegraph UK.

The jellyfish's sting can lead to "Irukandji syndrome," a set of symptoms that includes shooting pains in the muscles and chest, vomiting, restlessness and anxiety. Some symptoms can last for more than a week, and the syndrome can occasionally lead to a rapid rise in blood pressure and heart failure.

and

There is no antivenom, and people generally do not realize that they have been stung at first. The initial sting causes little pain, and it may be up to half an hour before a victim starts to feel the effects.

But those effects, Miss Gershwin says, can ultimately be disastrous, with some stings causing blood pressures to soar as high as 280 over 180.

Enjoy never meeting this organism in your whole life,

Bp

[via Boing Boing, photo Wiki Commons]

Building a passive solar greenhouse

2009-12-06T07:11:00.000-08:00

The chard outside in the garden is frozen and wilted. I hear it will perk right back up, but as of the moment, it's lookin' pretty sad.

What would be better this time of year than a nice, passive-solar greenhouse out in the garden. Here is a great link from the Bradford Research and Extension Center, University of Missouri, showing plans and instructions and design concepts for a very straightforward passive solar greenhouse.

An illustration with the basic concepts [click picture for a better view]:

The solar gain off of those water barrels is amazing.

So, for the serious geeks out there, here is the page with the construction details and materials list.

Enjoy dreams of season extension in the garden,

Bp

Time lapse photography of Antarctic giant sea worms and sea stars

2009-12-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Here is our favorite nature narrator, David Attenborough, in a series called "Life" on BBC talking a bit about antarctic scavengers. 3 ft. nemertean worms aren't to be missed.

Enjoy the diversity of wiggling things on our planet,

Bp

[via my faithful Canukistani operative "Yuri"]

"Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh-Grade Viking Warrior," by TAYLOR MALI

2009-11-29T02:14:00.000-08:00

Long time readers of this blog may know that I'm a big fan of Taylor Mali. I can watch his "What Teachers Make" video any time my willpower to become a teacher flags, and it perks me right back up.

Prepare for a few sniffles on this one, it's excellent.

Enjoy people who can truly put it down,

Bp

[via my soft-hearted Canukistani Operative "Yuri"]

Vincent Floderer's origami mushroom instructions

2009-11-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

If you have any interest in mushrooms, or origami, or... I suppose The French, this aught to be of interest to you.

Enjoy awesome, kitchey art,

Bp

[via "Yuri," my faithful Canukistani Operative, via Boingboing]

"Michael Bay finally made an Art Movie" -- possibly the best movie review, ever

2009-11-19T02:24:00.000-08:00

This may be the best movie review ever written. And, funny enough, I had a similar reaction to Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen. Ask anyone I attended it with... I came out of the theatre saying "that may have been the most perfect movie I've ever seen."

It's hard to explain.

I'll let Charlie Jane Anders explain. Here is a teaser quote that gives you a peek into possibly the best movie review I've ever read. I'm not even joking:

Imagine that you went back in time to the late 1960s and found Terry Gilliam, fresh from doing his weird low-fi collage/animations for Monty Python. You proceeded to inject Gilliam with so many steroids his penis shrank to the size of a hair follicle, and you smushed a dozen tabs of LSD under his tongue. And then you gave him the GDP of a few sub-Saharan countries. Gilliam might have made a movie not unlike this one.

Click that expanse of awesomeness above to get the whole article, it's worth reading in its entirety.

Enjoy fantastic writing whenever you can find it,

Bp

[image credit in linked article]

Paul Krugman quote, on Climate Change

2009-11-19T01:05:00.000-08:00

"Responding to climate change with the vigor that the threat deserves would not, contrary to legend, be devastating for the economy as a whole. But it would shuffle the economic deck, hurting some powerful vested interests even as it created new economic opportunities. And the industries of the past have armies of lobbyists in place right now; the industries of the future don’t."

— Paul Krugman

Tibetan Yogis on film

2009-11-16T01:12:00.000-08:00

Ran across this archival footage on Boing Boing. A Frenchmen named Arnaud Desjardins took the images, they are just scenes from the movie "Message of the Tibetans."

I am posting the third video of the series, because it's such a visual trip. To see the eyes of the yogis as they practice is quite a thing. It turns out that the first two of the last practitioners depicted are heroes of mine. They all rock, of course, but these two gentlemen I have a connection with from back in the day. Here is the list from the description of the video:

1) His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage in India

B) Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, great realized master in the Kagyu lineage.

C) His Holiness, the 16th Karmapa! The head of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Here is a link to the first of the youtube videos, and here is the second:

Enjoy running across blasts from the past,

Bp

Saturday Morning Awesome -- Area Man Passionate Defender of What He Imagines Constitution to Be

2009-11-14T09:26:00.001-08:00

This awesomeness brought to you by The Onion:

ESCONDIDO, CA—Spurred by an administration he believes to be guilty of numerous transgressions, self-described American patriot Kyle Mortensen, 47, is a vehement defender of ideas he seems to think are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and principles that brave men have fought and died for solely in his head.

"Our very way of life is under siege," said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. "It's time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are."

According to Mortensen—an otherwise mild-mannered husband, father, and small-business owner—the most serious threat to his fanciful version of the 222-year-old Constitution is the attempt by far-left "traitors" to strip it of its religious foundation.

"Right there in the preamble, the authors make their priorities clear: 'one nation under God,'" said Mortensen, attributing to the Constitution a line from the Pledge of Allegiance, which itself did not include any reference to a deity until 1954. "Well, there's a reason they put that right at the top."

"Men like Madison and Jefferson were moved by the ideals of Christianity, and wanted the United States to reflect those values as a Christian nation," continued Mortensen, referring to the "Father of the Constitution," James Madison, considered by many historians to be an atheist, and Thomas Jefferson, an Enlightenment-era thinker who rejected the divinity of Christ and was in France at the time the document was written. "The words on the page speak for themselves."

According to sources who have read the nation's charter, the U.S. Constitution and its 27 amendments do not contain the word "God" or "Christ."

Mortensen said his admiration for the loose assemblage of vague half-notions he calls the Constitution has only grown over time. He believes that each detail he has pulled from thin air—from prohibitions on sodomy and flag-burning, to mandatory crackdowns on immigrants, to the right of citizens not to have their hard-earned income confiscated in the form of taxes—has contributed to making it the best framework for governance "since the Ten Commandments."

"And let's not forget that when the Constitution was ratified it brought freedom to every single American," Mortensen said.

Mortensen's passion for safeguarding the elaborate fantasy world in which his conception of the Constitution resides is greatly respected by his likeminded friends and relatives, many of whom have been known to repeat his unfounded assertions verbatim when angered. Still, some friends and family members remain critical.

"Dad's great, but listening to all that talk radio has put some weird ideas into his head," said daughter Samantha, a freshman at Reed College in Portland, OR. "He believes the Constitution allows the government to torture people and ban gay marriage, yet he doesn't even know that it guarantees universal health care."

Mortensen told reporters that he'll fight until the bitter end for what he roughly supposes the Constitution to be. He acknowledged, however, that it might already be too late to win the battle.

"The freedoms our Founding Fathers spilled their blood for are vanishing before our eyes," Mortensen said. "In under a year, a fascist, socialist regime has turned a proud democracy into a totalitarian state that will soon control every facet of American life."

"Don't just take my word for it," Mortensen added. "Try reading a newspaper or watching the news sometime."

Enjoy the Onion in all its glory,

Bp

[image and text via, of course, The Onion]

Clash of the Titans trailer

2009-11-12T18:35:00.001-08:00

Liam Neeson as Zeus... 'nuff said.

Enjoy epic movies despite the potential suckage,

Bp

How to build a Coracle (traditional Irish hide boat)

2009-11-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

I love seeing skills like this demonstrated. Those that are, to quote the narrator, in the "ancient and sufficient way."

Text from Neatorama's post:

This video incorporates footage from 1935, in which Irish craftsmen build a coracle from willow and an ox hide, then use the craft to set their nets in the River Boyne. One has to admire the skill and experience required to propel a keel-less craft in a reasonably straight line. As the narrator notes, these river craft are related to the larger currachs that were capable of substantial ocean voyages.

Enjoy peeks into the past through traditional skills,

Bp

[via Neatorama, dedicated to my faithful Canukistani operative, "Yuri"]

World's luckiest rail inspector

2009-11-11T22:16:00.001-08:00

No idea of the history or validity of this video. But it's a hell of a view.

Enjoy someone else's good fortune, and reflexes,

Bp

[via Blame It on the Voices]

Saturday Morning Awesome (music edition) Klint -- Diamond

2009-10-31T06:36:00.000-07:00

I heard this song on a friend's mixed tape (ok it was a CD, whatever) -- and later found out it was from the Snatch Soundtrack

Behold a single image screen with a great song.

Ps: this is the tempo I prefer for this song -- other versions are slightly slower and not quite right to my ear.

Young woman killed by coyotes in Canada

2009-10-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

A young Canukistani folk singer was actually taken out by (at least) a pair of coyotes, and on a popular hiking trail too.

Coyotes attacking people is an extremely rare event. Here is a great page aggregating a bunch of snippets about coyote attacks on humans. A nice quote right from the beginning is that people are millions of times more likely to be injured by a family pet than a coyote.

Bp

[original link via Cynical-C blog]

A real cost of Premarin -- Hormone Replacement Therapy drug

2009-10-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

Horse lovers, honestly, just pass this post up.

Folks interested in knowing where your medicines and foods come from -- here's a quick note about Premarin, by Pfizer.

Click quoted text for a Discovery News article about Premarin, horses, and horse rescue (they leave you on an up note in the article, thankfully):

The active ingredients for Premarin—used by around nine million women to relieve menopause symptoms—come from the urine of pregnant horses. The mares are confined to narrow stalls for 20 hours at a time while hooked to collection devices, MSNBC reports. The foals of these mares usually go to auction, where they are often snapped up by bidders known as "horse killers," who send the horses to feedlots. There the animals are fattened before slaughter, according to the report.

Excellent mobile home commercial

2009-10-28T05:43:00.001-07:00

First off, here is the commercial -- I'll let it speak for itself:

The commercial was produced by a strange little project called I Love Local Commercials. These guys find small businesses to make commercials for, creating instant internet viral material like you saw above. If you are interested in the making of the epically honest mobile home commercial, click here for some good video on it.

Enjoy folks doing their ironic media work and accidentally helping small business in the process,

Bp

Thom Hartmann - The Crisis of Western Culture

2009-10-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

A good interview of Thom Hartmann regarding his new book Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture.

Enjoy hearing the good news,

Bp

[via Canukistani Kate]
.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies

2009-10-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

I totally hijacked this from the Cynical-C blog -- nice catch sir.

Enjoy watchin a senator disputing think-tank bullshit and sticking to the facts at hand,

Bp

The Virile Vampire cameos on Family Guy

2009-10-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, this blog is a big fan of the media around The Virile Vampire (Vladamir Putin).

The ever-talented Dani Boynton (of Dani Boynton photography) caught this Reuters article which tipped us off that Putin had a cameo character on Family guy. Apparently, he was also on South Park, but I couldn't the episode, only this video which may or may not be legit.

Behold:

Enjoy the continued media narrative that is The Virile Vampire,

Bp

[the putin bear picture is so far unattributed, but I loved it so much I had to share]

Brooklyn Beekeepers -- Breakin' the Law!

2009-10-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

It would probably be best to have this song stuck in your head as you watch this video of rooftop beekeepers in NY, NY.

Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet (Part I) from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

Enjoy people doing the right thing and having a good time doing it,

Bp

[via my faithful Canukistani Operative "Yuri"]

Japanese honeybees roast a hornet

2009-10-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Japanese honeybees have a very unusual way of killing one of their worst predators, the hornet. They cook them. The bees raise their temperature to 117-degrees and literally roast their enemy. Way too cool. (Sorry for the brief commercial at the beginning).

Enjoy watching nature doing what it takes to get by,

Bp

[via Beebs]

Saturday Morning Awesome: Grey Fox caught in a camera trap

2009-10-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

There is a wonderful blog I follow called Camera Trap Codger, and I saw this post today that really shows the best of the best one can get using a camera trap. Hit this link to see the rest of the pictures. Not only great shots of a photogenic animal, but with a possible storyline/narrative as well.

This, of course, makes me want to run out and get one and set it up. That's what I need -- really, a new hobby. Yeah, with all that time I have.

Enjoy folks following their passions and creating great content for you to enjoy on the intartubes,

Bp

[photo credit Camera Trap Codger blog]

Lindy Hop Showdown

2009-10-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

These people are all insane, and double jointed.

To quote Yuri -- "All I can think about when I watch this is knee surgery."

Enjoy talent on hyperdrive,

Bp

[via my faithful Canukistani operative "Yuri"]