[ B l o g / / Archive]


The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention:



Quote: >Language is mankind's greatest invention-except, of course, that it was never invented." So begins linguist Guy Deutscher's enthralling investigation into the genesis and evolution of language. If we started off with rudimentary utterances on the level of "man throw spear," how did we end up with sophisticated grammars, enormous vocabularies, and intricately nuanced degrees of meaning?<
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Hirohito and History: Japanese and American Perspectives on the Emperor and World War II in Asia.
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Internal Debate within the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
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Bruce Wayne, Defendant: "Batman Begins"? The entire movie could be a "spot-the-issues" law school exam. And not just the easy ones, like Bruce Wayne getting prosecuted for arson for allegedly burning down his mansion.
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Pilgrims flock to image of Jesus on Bosnian tree: Christians are flocking to a northwestern Bosnian town to view an image of Jesus Christ that allegedly appeared in a section of a cut tree branch two days ago, Bosnian media reported on Friday.
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Santa and little helper seen beyond Pluto: Two sets of astronomers have spotted a new planetoid in the outskirts of our Solar System. It is the brightest object in the region after Pluto, and it has its own small moon.
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monochrom info service // Funeral: Prof. Georg Paul Thomann: On July 21, 2005 Austrian artist and writer Prof. Georg Paul Thomann died in a tragic accident at the tender age of 60.



Here are the first pictures of his funeral (July 29, 2005).
Thanks Esel for the wonderful photo documentation.
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Psychic Vibrations: Tsunami Conspiracies and Hollow Moons: Intro: "Almost as soon as the scope of the destruction became clear from the recent tragic tsunami that devastated much of coastal southern Asia, claims began to surface of strange events associated with it. Humans are pattern-seekers, and to many it seems impossible that an event so awesome and destructive could occur without at least some violation of the natural order, no matter how small."
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Super Mario Rampage: Italian plumber runs amok with shotgun.
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Atomic bomb chemist Ray Crist dies: Ray Crist, a chemist who helped produce the atomic bomb as a member of the Manhattan Project, died this week at the age of 105.
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Conservatism: Burke, Nozick, Bush, Blair? By Ted Honderich. Intro: "What follows here is the first chapter, 'Change and Reform', of a book that inquires into the distinctions and rationale of the political tradition of conservatism. The book, now much enlarged and revised, was originally Conservatism, published in 1989 as a contribution to an election. Now, in particular, each chapter ends with a sizeable section on what replaced the Labour Party in Britain, the New Labour Party. For good measure, the final section of the second chapter, partly on something known as The Third Way, is added to the final section of the first chapter below. To the book's progress towards finding the rationale of the tradition of conservatism, as you will anticipate, is added progress towards deciding on the nature of New Labour. An actual analysis of the ideology and reality of the tradition of conservatism is of use in deciding whether New Labour is in it, and maybe a start towards answering the question of New Labour's place in history. The other chapters, after the first one on change and reform: Theory, Other Thinking, Incentives; Human Nature, Dealing With It; Freedoms; Government; Societies; Equalities; Desert, Conclusions. The book is published by the estimable Pluto Press."
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Much Ado About Consciousness: Philosophy of Mind is a very exciting area in modern philosophy. One of those stirring up the dust is David Chalmers, an Australian philosopher who says that consciousness is a fundamental component of the universe, like space, time and mass. Andrew Chrucky asked the questions.
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Face Off anyone: A team led by Dr. Siemionow is planning to undertake what may be the most shocking medical procedure to occur in decades: a face transplant.
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Vixen Creations Invents New Type of Synthetik Skin: Quote: "Looks like there's a new competitor to Cyberskin out on the market, and from the gossip on the street (yes, the street where everyone talks about dildos), it's supposed to be extra.... fleshy? Vixen Creations is releasing a new line of toys using a material they've discovered called VixSkin, claiming to be the closest thing to real skin that can't say no without legal consequences. The fact that they've named their first toy after everyone's favorite typesetting software is just icing on the cake." (via Slashdong)
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Europe's inflexible bank: The European Central Bank seems accountable to no one and yet imposes punitive financial regimes on both old and new members of the EU. This has done nothing for growth or employment.
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Taking Lula's Measure: Contested by popular movements from Buenos Aires to La Paz, the neoliberal model's fate in South America's most populous country. Emir Sader presents a balance sheet of the Lula government as it approaches the final year of its mandate amid continuing social iniquities, corruption allegations and comfort for finance.
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Privacy Guru Locks Down VOIP: Phil Zimmermann, the man behind the Pretty Good Privacy encryption program for e-mail, is launching a new program that aims to provide the same security for internet phone calls.
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Japan plans mind-boggling number-cruncher: The staggeringly powerful 10-petaflop supercomputer is expected to be a hybrid design, featuring several distinct types of processor.
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Mystery AIDS Strain 'Patient Zero' Found: Doctors have identified the patient who is the source of a mystery strain of human immunodeficiency virus that sent waves of alarm through the AIDS community last February.
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Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment: Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.
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The Skeptic's Dictionary:



DaddyD writes: "Are you the type if person who just can't get friendly with tiny sugar balls and essence of flowers? Who starts giggling at people who call a massage energy work? If you do , then you might like the Skeptic's Dictionary. It features roughly 400 essays, descriptions and arguments on occult topics from acupuncture to zombies. Even if you aren't into the mythbusting thing, or proudly count yourself among the superstitious, this site has a lot of information that might be interesting. If nothing else, it's always good to know what the other side thinks. Right?"
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Feel Like A Stranger or, Why I Almost Wore a Skirt for the Grateful Dead: Why Matt Goldberg put on a skirt for The Greatful Dead. Intro: >In the beginning, before I'd seen sixty Grateful Dead shows in four countries, before my hair had grown halfway down my back and sported beaded and string-wrapped dreadlocks-before the Grizzly Adams beard, the multiple earrings, the Winnie the Pooh T-shirts and the clown pants , all I knew was that the lifestyle of the authentic Head was the only one for me. So in 1988, when I left home for college, still a clean-cut kid sporting short hair and a pair of Nikes, I set out to imitate the look and style exhibited by the charismatic young Heads who lit up the campus-and the parking lots outside the shows I'd been attending more and more frequently-with their flowing Day Glo garb and their seeming lack of any inhibitions or hang-ups. Taking inspiration from David Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair," I decided to grow a flying freak flag of my own. Things kind of escalated from there, until one day I found myself standing in front of a full-length mirror, earnestly trying on dresses. Skirts really, since I was testing them out as part of an overall look that didn't call for a shirt. Or shoes for that matter. Just the thin, Batik-drenched, vaguely subcontinental skirts worn by approximately half of the women Heads one might meet on tour. You see, the kind of Heads to whom I initially looked for model behavior—the ones who went on tour four times a year and were always immediately identifiable as hippie types—opt for all the widely-known, politically correct sensitivities as a matter of course. Nonjudgmentalism, or, more accurately, a knee-jerk respect for difference, is a holy precept for Touring Heads. The Gaia-centric worldview, with a firm yet forgiving Earth Mother at its core, has no room for cocksure young bucks prancing about the fairgrounds being, well... cocksure. Which is why Touring Heads, particularly Touring female Heads, hold a special place in their hearts for those men among them who manage to transcend the bourgeois gender roles ingrained during their cookie-cutter suburban upbringings-by wearing skirts. For the chance to get laid more, if for no other reason, it seemed worth a try.<
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Is There Anyone Out There ...Yes, 15,000 Times, Yes: The Ministry of Defence has examined the reports of more than 15,000 alleged UFO sightings over Britain since 1959 and is still keeping an open mind on the existence of aliens.
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Zombies of the World, Unite: Excellent review of Romero's "Land of the Dead". Quote: "[I]f you're going to stick with authorial intent, you have to be content with some strong though not doctrinaire lefty politics. I say if you're going to do an anti-market screed, this is the way to do it. [...] I have to admit, Land of the Dead reminded me of how invigorating full-throated lefty agitprop can be in an entertaining movie."
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Dustiest Star Could Harbor A Young Earth: A relatively young star located about 300 light-years away is greatly improving our understanding of the formation of Earth-like planets. The star, going by the unassuming name of BD +20 307, is shrouded by the dustiest environment ever seen so close to a Sun-like star well after its formation. The warm dust is believed to be from recent collisions of rocky bodies at distances from the star comparable to that of the Earth from the Sun.
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Ace Auto Dismantling: Laughing Squid reports that Ace Auto Dismantling in San Francisco now has it’s own website. Ace Auto Dismantling is not just any junkyard.
Quote: "That right, not only is Ace Auto an excellent place to junk your car, find that part you have been searching for or even buy a car, but it has been home to many amazing events over the years, including: Power Tool Drag Races, Cyclecide Bike Rodeo, Mongoloid/Cookie Mongoloid, Attaboy & Burke and many more. Ace owner Junkman Bill has been helping out Bay Area artists for years and has provided precious obtainium to art organizations like Survival Research Labs (SRL), SEEMEN, Burning Man and so on. In fact Ace is even an employer of artists and many of our good friends have worked there including Chicken John and Cyclecide’s own Jarico Reese. [...] With all the great stuff that Junkman Bill has done with Ace Auto, it's no wonder it was voted “Best Junkyard for Artists” by SF Bay Guardian's for their Best of the Bay 1998 issue." So, if you should plan to visit SF, plan to visit Ace Auto Dismantling.
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monochrom info service // Obituary: Prof. Georg Paul Thomann: On July 21, 2005 Austrian artist and writer Prof. Georg Paul Thomann died in a tragic accident at the tender age of 60.
Born 1945 in the Vorarlberg region of Austria. Thomann started to study arts in Vienna in 1963 where he carried out his first artistic projects. Between 1964-1980 he lived and worked in Berlin, Paris, Munich, Palo Alto/California, New York, London. In 1980 he returned to his beloved Vienna.
Upon his return he carried out various projects as a conceptual artist. He time was spent divided between being a painter, performer, photographer, video artist, musician, etc. A true renascence man with an undying love for Austria. He frequently received prizes and grants in recognition of his various amazing talents.
In 1988 he was awarded the Professor h. c. title by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was an honored lecturer on contemporary art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
In 2002 he was Austria’s national representative at the Sao Paulo Biennial where he was received with great fanfare. He also wrote various books on artistic and sociopolitical topics (last publication: "Die Konflikt-Masche", edition selene, Vienna 1999).
The funeral will take place on Friday, July 29 in Hall in Tirol/Austria.
(Thanks to Jake Appelbaum for help with translation; original OTS/APA press release in German language)
Link / Thomann biography



Welcome to Google Moon:



Quote: "In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing."
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"Kosovo": A couple of moronic Norwegian soldiers (on a peace mission in Kosovo) filmed a Beach Boys spoof video. Instead of doing their job they got bored and turned "Kokomo" into "Kosovo". The Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs is already trying to calm down the situation.
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Iron Maiden now hold 9 of the Top 10 albums in the Swedish catalogue albums chart - a feat unequalled in chart history.
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Babies With Beards:



"Welcome, and thank you for joining us! We are parents, teachers, educators, and caretakers of bearded babies. It is with pride and enthusiasm that we introduce you this site. Babies With Beards is your window to the world of bearded babies! Enjoy your stay, and please come back soon."
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Seafloor survey buoys Atlantis claim: Earthquake debris shores up evidence for lost city. Quote: "In a recent paper in Geology, Marc-Andre Gutscher of the European Institute for Marine Studies in Plouzané gives details of one candidate for the lost city: the submerged island of Spartel, west of the Straits of Gibraltar. The top of this isle lies some 60 metres beneath the surface in the Gulf of Cadiz, having plunged beneath the waves at the end of the most recent ice age as melting glaciers caused the sea level to rise. Geological evidence has shown that a large earthquake and a tsunami hit this island some 12,000 years ago, at roughly the location and time indicated in Plato's writings. Gutscher has surveyed this island in detail, using sound waves reflected off the sea floor to map its contours1. His results bring mixed news to Atlantis hunters."
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All roads lead to Rove: A report shows Karl Rove may have lied to federal agents, a federal crime, during October 2003 testimony into CIA agent leak.
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Graffiti Archaeology: Quote: "Graffiti Archaeology is the study of graffiti-covered walls as they change over time. The grafarc.org project is a timelapse collage, made of photos of graffiti taken at the same location by many different photographers over a span of several years. Most of the photos are from San Francisco, over a timespan from the late 1990's to the present. Using the grafarc explorer, you can visit some classic graffiti spots, see what they looked like in the past, and explore how they have changed over the years."
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The Myth of Cyber-Terrorism: Why bin Laden != /bin/laden: Summary: "In this post-9/11 world, security is seemingly at the fore of every national and political agenda. But how much of this agenda is grounded in reality and how much is simply buzzword-compliant sound bites? This presentation addresses why the issue of "cyber-terrorism" is based more on hysterical theatrics than genuine threat analysis. Also addressed is how and why the hype does more harm than good to security efforts overall."
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The Next Secular Revolution? Article by Austin Dacey. Intro: >March 15, 2005. Tehran. Somewhere, a Qur'an is burning. It is Tchahr Shanbe Souri, the traditional Persian fire festival, and in major cities throughout the country Iranians are turning the celebration-denounced as pagan by the ruling clerics-into a protest. There are reports of revelers chanting "Down with the Islamic Republic" and casting Islamist literature and even scripture into bonfires.1 Government militia respond brutally, and violent clashes with demonstrators continue into the night. The episode is not isolated but appears to be part of a trend in which large numbers of Iranians are taking to the streets, as they did in July 1999, October 2001, November 2002, and July 2003. During the fire festival of 2000, so many bushes were set ablaze that the pilot of an Air France plane attempting to land in Tehran changed course, thinking that a revolution had begun in Iran. The pilot may have been right. Twenty-six years ago, 98 percent of Iranians voted in favor of Ayatollah Khomeini's referendum calling for an Islamic republic. Today, half the population is between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. They were not even born at the time of the revolution. An August 2002 telephone public-opinion poll found that only 19 percent of Iranians supported a politically active clergy, while 68 percent said their family's financial situation had gotten worse since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.2 An overwhelming majority favor a new referendum, which asks simply: theocracy or democracy?<
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The Unicorn Orgy: Is this considered fantasy sex?



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Students Steer A Blimp To Test Near Space Military Technology: Using a 17-foot-long helium-filled blimp, four propellers and sophisticated electronics, three Johns Hopkins undergraduates have built a model airship that will aid professional engineers who are designing a military craft to conduct surveillance at the outer edge of the Earth's atmosphere. The similar but much larger unmanned airship is being developed by engineers at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., to provide visual and communications support from an altitude of about 100,000 feet above sea level.
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Napoleon Dynamite: A Comedy of Nihilism.



Continuing a tradition of 'entertainment' that began with Gummo.
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Robotic Modelling Reveals Ancient Hominid Stride: An ancient human ancestor once thought to have shuffled its way across the plains of Africa in fact walked upright much like modern man, a study of robotic models has revealed.
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monochrom tour update // Experience The Experience Of 1 Baud: July 22, 5 PM, meeting point @ RxGallery/San Francisco.



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monochrom tour update // Experience The Experience Of 1 Baud // Workshop: July 20, 7:30 PM, meeting point @ Dorkbot @ RxGallery/San Francisco.
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monochrom tour update // Experience The Experience Of Catapulting Wirless Devices: July 16, 2 PM, meeting point @ RxGallery/San Francisco.



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Symbols Made Simple: A quick and friendly introduction to symbolic logic by Stephen Szanto.
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Nite Caps: Fiction by Tom Bradley. Quote: "During the greater part of my fourteenth year, I was obliged to pay regular visits to a certain loved one in the loony bin. I was the only person in the family who could spend time in the locked ward without acting too cheerful."
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Titan's Big Smile: "The Smile" is a peculiar semi-circular feature seen on Titan during Cassini's recent pass near Saturn's largest moon. The 345 mile Smile is the brightest spot on Titan's surface and may correspond to icy upland areas.
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Surreal Clouds: Beautiful mammatus.



Via boing boing.
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monochrom tour update // Experience The Experience Of Growing Money: July 14, 8 PM @ RxGallery/San Francisco.



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Bloody Fingermail:



If you can't find a pen, try it.
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The Myths We Live By by Mary Midgley: Bob Sharpe applauds Mary Midgley’s exposé of some modern myths.
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Manhattan on Film: Walking Tours of Hollywood's Fabled Front Lot: This book offers 18 of the best walking tours you'd ever want to take of the greatest venues of movie scenes in New York City. In one volume, Katz updates the two best-selling Limelight Editions guidebooks, Manhattan on Film and Manhattan on Film 2 to include films released over the past six years as well as changes to New York City neighborhoods, especially lower Manhattan. Each tour is illustrated with photos from each film shot along its route and includes maps and travel tips. No tour takes more than two hours. A list of the films, with page references, provides an easy guide for those who want to quickly look up their favorite movies.
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Family Trees by Blood or Tongue? Whether the genetic relationships between African populations are better predicted by geographical or linguistic distances has not been clarified by research so far. A new study in the current issue of European Journal of Human Genetics, however, throws light on the historic patterns to the genetic make-up of Africa.
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'Human-Brained' Monkeys: Scientists have been warned that their latest experiments may accidently produce monkeys with brains more human than animal.
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The Fifth Nail: A convicted sex offender spent months on the Internet documenting his internal struggle with right and wrong. Then, four days before two children he is accused of kidnapping disappeared, he wrote, "The demons have taken over."

[...] The authorities maintain that the 42-year-old blogger, Joseph E. Duncan III of Fargo, N.D., took Dylan Groene, 9, and Dylan's sister, Shasta, 8, from their rural Idaho home shortly before their 13-year-old brother, their mother and her boyfriend were found bludgeoned to death on May 16. The police say Mr. Duncan is a suspect in those killings, and a body believed to be that of Dylan has been found in Montana and is awaiting positive identification.
"God has shown me the right choice, but my demons have me tied to a spit and the fire has already been lit," Mr. Duncan wrote on April 24, after he had jumped bail in Minnesota on charges of molesting a 6-year-old boy in a playground.
His last entry on the Web log was on May 13, three days before Dylan and Shasta vanished.
"As far as 'taking people with me,' well, I don't know if that is right or wrong," he wrote then. "In fact, I don't know much anymore what right and wrong even is." [...]

The site www.fifthnail.com has been taken down, of course.
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Leap second to be added to 2005:



Earth's rotation spins out of accord with atomic clock.
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World's oldest creature alive and well in Scotland: The world's oldest creature is still alive and well. Most believed the tadpole shrimp, dating from the Triassic period, had gone the way of the dinosaurs, but it was, literally, just being a stick-in-the-mud in a pond near Dumfries.
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Erotic Health Day: Mark your calendar because Saturday (Nov. 13) is the first ever "Erotic Health Day" -- at least in San Francisco.
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NRL Study Finds Shuttle Exhaust Is Source Of Mysterious Clouds In Antarctica: A new study, funded in part by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reports that exhaust from the space shuttle can create high-altitude clouds over Antarctica mere days following launch, providing valuable insight to global transport processes in the lower thermosphere. The same study also finds that the shuttle's main engine exhaust plume carries small quantities of iron that can be observed from the ground, half a world away.
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The many mysteries of the female orgasm: Researchers still don't know much about women's sexual satisfaction.
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EU commission proposes reform on internet music licencing: "The principle that a right-holders' choice of a single EU rights manager should be exercised irrespective of residence or nationality of either the rights-manager or the right-holder."
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MagneCote - the first magnetic paper: "We've combined Sterling Ultra with proprietary magnetic coating to create a paper that can be perforated, die-cut and laminated, and can run on sheet-fed, flexo, and most HP Indigo presses. Magnecote delivers high quality printing with excellent color reproduction, superior ink adhesion and long shelf-life. In other words, it's everything you want in top shelf paper - and yet, is magnetic."

Don't miss out on telling the sales-rep what you find attractive. Try "flowers", "telephone poles", "beer" or even "lesbians" for reaction.
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monochrom content update // Gastro-Art: In gastronomical enterprises the management frequently elects to present art as a form of extraordinary room decoration. Some time ago we at monochrom have decided to dedicate a page to the breathtaking world of 'gastro-art'. And there are some excellent new gastro-art picture submissions.



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Kaali Crater: Still Having an Impact: The Kaali meteor crater site on Estonia's largest island, Saaremaa, is the stuff of legends and weird science.
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European parliament rejects software patent law: The proposed law pitted big technology companies against small firms and open source programmers who claimed it would stifle innovation.
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When Taste Politics Meet Terror: The Critical Art Ensemble on Trial. Comment by Joan Hawkins. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University Bloomington. She is the author of Cutting Edge: Art Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde.
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Bells on Sunday: A weekly BBC radio broadcast featuring recordings of church bells from across England.



"Oranges and Lemons" say the bells of St. Clemens
"I owe you five farthings" say the bells of St. Martens,
"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Shore Daily
"When I grow rich!" say the bells of Shore Ditch
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
and here comes the 'chopper' to chop off your head!
Found via music thing.
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Medical Student Portraiture (Wih Cadavers):



"This online exhibit features part of our collection of approximately two hundred dissection images. Most of these intriguing photographs feature a group of students gathered around the cadaver, either actively dissecting or just posing, often wearing their best suits. " Found via we make money, not art.
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Simon's Photo Archive of Pregnant Animals:



Quote: "Welcome to my site! My name is Simon 'Skunky' Morrison, and I very love animals. Probably it looks bizarre, but I very much like to see pregnant animals. I very much love to look at their huge, distended bellys. I have female dog named Marta, and each year she becomes pregnant, and I very like to observe her and touch her inflated belly. It's great!"
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Astrologist sues NASA over comet crash: A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported Monday.
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Call for Papers: Fight Club and Philosophy: metaphilm call for papers for a forthcoming book on Fight Club and Philosophy over on their Writer's Blog. Academic and popular writing both welcome.



Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona: By Subcomandante Marcos. Originally published in Spanish by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Intro: "This is our simple word which seeks to touch the hearts of humble and simple people like ourselves, but people who are also, like ourselves, dignified and rebel. This is our simple word for recounting what our path has been and where we are now, in order to explain how we see the world and our country, in order to say what we are thinking of doing and how we are thinking of doing it, and in order to invite other persons to walk with us in something very great which is called Mexico and something greater which is called the world. This is our simple word in order to inform all honest and noble hearts what it is we want in Mexico and the world. This is our simple word, because it is our idea to call on those who are like us and to join together with them, everywhere they are living and struggling."
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Feeling the Pinch: Flying the shuttle means cutting some science.
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40,000-Year-Old Footprint of First Americans: A plastic replica of a 40,000-year-old, size eight foot has shattered previous theories of the identity of the first humans to walk in the Americas.
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Happy Independence Day to the Land of the Free: Statistics on imprisonment in the USA: The USA has 5% of the world's population, but has 25% of the world's prison population. "If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged in the USA, an estimated 1 in every 19 Americans will be incarcerated during their lifetime."
via indymedia
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Vancouver Special: From wikipedia: "Vancouver Special is an architectural style to describe houses built in the 1970s in Vancouver. They are characterised by their box-like structure gobbling up much of the lot, almost flat roofs, full balconies across the front of the house, and brick or stucco finishes. In many cases the builders never hired architects so Vancouver Specials have similar floor plans with the main living quarters on the upper floor and secondary bedrooms on the bottom, making them ideal for secondary suites. These homes were favoured by immigrants for their spaciousness and were often times a first house purchase."



A photo index that categorizes the buildings by location and varying physical characteristics.
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Beijing Clinic Treats Web Addicts: The first official clinic for internet addiction is dedicated to helping kids who have suffered health and emotional problems as a result of their obsessive computer use.
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The Tao of Tetris: Article by Seamus Sweeney. Quote: "I can still pinpoint the exact moment when I realised that pub games could be the path to inner peace, deep contentedness, spiritual fulfilment, and all that sort of thing."
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Science And Theatre: A Multifaceted Relationship Between Pedagogical Purpose And Artistic Expression: Essay by Silvana Barbacci. Abstract: >This article offers an analysis of the relationship between science and theatre. Such a connection can be twofold: either theatre is used primarily as a means for conveying scientific concepts and ideas, or it borrows its contents from science while maintaining its own features as an artistic expression. I will focus on the second form of "scientific theatre", i.e. when theatre preserves its artistic and aesthetic characteristics, thus enhancing the scientific imagination for the public.<
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Rats on Cocaine:



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Researchers Create First Nanofluidic Transistor, The Basis Of Future Chemical Processors:



University of California, Berkeley, researchers have invented a variation on the standard electronic transistor, creating the first "nanofluidic" transistor that allows them to control the movement of ions through sub-microscopic, water-filled channels. The researchers - a chemist and a mechanical engineer - predict that, just as the electronic transistor became the main component of microprocessors and integrated circuits, so will nanofluidic transistors anchor molecular processors, allowing microscopic chemical plants on a chip that operate without moving parts.
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Feline Medical Curiosities:



A gallery of deformed cats including conjoined kittens, double heads, and anopthalmia (those born with no eyes - only empty sockets).
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Making Movies from the Mind:



"Using cats selected for their sharp vision, in 1999 Garret Stanley and his team recorded signals from a total of 177 cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus - a part of the brain’s thalamus [the thalamus integrates all of the brains sensory input and forms the base of the seven-layered thalamocortical loop with the six layered neocortex] - as they played 16 second digitized (64 by 64 pixels) movies of indoor and outdoor scenes. Using simple mathematical filters, the Stanley and his buddies decoded the signals to generate movies of what the cats actually saw. Though the reconstructed movies lacked color and resolution and could not be recorded in real-time [the experimenters could only record from 10 neurons at a time and thus had to make several different recording runs, showing the same video] they turned out to be amazingly faithful to the original."
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Falling Woman:



Animation of a bikini clad figure falling (and flipping) through an endless world of bubbles. Gross but strangely mesmerizing.
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Land of the Dead: America at Large.



It's a liberal's nightmare: a whole nation of zombies questing for the American dream.
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Entering a dark age of innovation: It may seem like we are living in a technological nirvana, but the rate of technological innovation has been falling for 100 years, a new study reveals.
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Ukrainian Vampire Drugged Children And Drank Their Blood: Diana Semenuha, 29, believed that drinking blood could fend off a muscle-wasting condition.
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Freedom Ship:



Quote: >Envision an ideal place to live or run a business, a friendly, safe and secure community with large areas of open space and extensive entertainment and recreational facilities. Finally, picture this community continually moving around the world. You are beginning to understand the Freedom Ship concept of a massive ocean-going vessel. With a design length of 4,500 feet, a width of 750 feet, and a height of 350 feet, Freedom Ship would be more than 4 times longer than the Queen Mary. The design concepts include a mobile modern city featuring luxurious living, an extensive duty-free international shopping mall, and a full 1.7 million square foot floor set aside for various companies to showcase their products. Freedom Ship would not be a cruise ship, it is proposed to be a unique place to live, work, retire, vacation, or visit. The proposed voyage would continuously circle the globe, covering most of the world's coastal regions. Its large fleet of commuter aircraft and hydrofoils would ferry residents and visitors to and from shore. The airport on the ship's top deck would serve private and small commercial aircraft (up to about 40 passengers each). The proposed vessel's superstructure, rising twenty-five stories above its broad main deck, would house residential space, a library, schools, and a first-class hospital in addition to retail and wholesale shops, banks, hotels, restaurants, entertainment facilities, casinos, offices, warehouses, and light manufacturing and assembly enterprises. Finally, this concept would include a wide array of recreational and athletic facilities, worthy of a world-class resort, making Freedom Ship a veritable "Community on the Sea."<
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Sandia Develops Secure Wireless Technology: Sandia National Laboratories in cooperation with Time Domain Corporation and KoolSpan Inc. has developed a secure wireless Ultra Wideband (UWB) data communication network that can be used to help sensors monitor U.S. Air Force bases and DOE nuclear facilities and wirelessly control remotely operated weapon systems.
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Big Babies: File under 'bizarre'.



Galleries of grown men dressed wearing nappies and sucking dummies.
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monochrom tour update // Experience The Experience Of Being Buried Alive: Due to huge demand we provide a couple of additional premature burials on Saturday, July 2, 4 PM @ Contemporary Art Gallery/Vancouver.



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Needies:



Needies are interactive plush dolls inspired by codependent, high-maintenance relationships. Totally attention-starved, they compete with each other for human affection -- or, getting touch, as they like to say. When you give Needies touch (by hugging and squeezing them), they will return your kindness with songs and shameless flattery. But remember that Needies always know when other Needies are getting touch! If one Needie is getting touch while others are neglected, the unloved Needies will conspire to take its place.
Link




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monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
[more]

Booking monochrom:
[Europe]
[USA]

External monochrom links:
[monochrom Wikipedia]
[monochrom Flickr]
[monochrom blip.tv]
[monochrom GV]
[monochrom Youtube]
[monochrom Facebook]
[monochrom iTunes]
[monochrom Twitter]
 


Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 2 / The Adventure Game

Climate Training Camp

Krach der Roboter: Hello World!

Slacking is killing the DIY industry (T-Shirt)

Carefully Selected Moments / CD, LP

Freedom is a whore of a word (T-Shirt)

#fullboycott

International Year of Polytheism 2007

Santa Claus Vs. Christkindl: A Mobster Battle

Could It Be (Video clip)

Pot Tin God

Hacking the Spaces

Kiki and Bubu and The Shift / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Self / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Good Plan / Short film

Kiki and Bubu and The Feelings / Short film / Short film

Sculpture Mobs

Nazi Petting Zoo / Short film

The Great Firewall of China

KPMG / Short film

The BRAICIN / Short film

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 1 / The Adventure Game

I was a copyright infringement in a previous life (T-Shirt)

Brave New Pong

Leben ist LARPen e.V.

One Minute / Short film

Firing Squad Euro2008 Intervention

RFID Song

A tribute to Honzo

Lessig ist lässig

I can count every star in the heavens above -- The image of computers in popular music

All Tomorrow's Condensations / Puppet show

Bye Bye / Short film

Revaluation

PC/DC patch

Proto-Melodic Comment Squad

myfacespace.com

The Redro Loitzl Story / Short film

Hax0rcise SCO

Law and Second Order (T-Shirt)

They really kicked you out of the Situationist International?

Death Special: Falco

Applicant Fisch / Short film

When I was asked to write about new economy

Taugshow #6

Taugshow #7

Taugshow #9

Taugshow #10

Taugshow #11

Taugshow #14

Taugshow #15

Campfire at Will

Arse Elektronika 2007, 2008, 2009 etc.

The Void's Foaming Ebb / Short film

Remoting Future

When you / Short film

Elf

Free Bariumnitrate

Toyps / Typing Errors

ARAD-II Miami Beach Crisis

The Charcoal Burner / Short film

Digital Culture In Brazil

Hegemonchhichi

Nation of Zombia

Lonely Planet Guide action

CSI Oven Cloth

Dept. of Applied Office Arts

Farewell to Overhead

Google Buttplug

Fieldrecording in Sankt Wechselberg / Short film

Dark Dune Spots

Campaign For The Abolition Of Personal Pronouns

Zeigerpointer

Space Tourism

In the Head of the Gardener

Entertainment (Unterhaltung) / Short film

Cthulhu Goatse

Nicholas Negroponte Memorial Cable

Coke Light Art Edition 06

Experience the Experience! (West Coast USA/Canada Tour 2005)

April 23

Overhead Cumshot

Irark / Short film

Wart

Instant Blitz Copy Fight

A Patriotic Fireman

A Micro Graphic Novel Project

Noise and Talk

The Exhilarator

H&M

SUZOeG Training / Short film

The Flower Currency

Gastro-Art/Gastrokunst

A Holiday in Soviet Unterzoegersdorf

How does the Internet work?

Paraflows 2006 and up

Special Forces

Coca Cola

About Work

Turing Train Terminal

Me / Short Film

Massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network

Doormat

Some Code To Die For

The Year Wrap-up

Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Metroblogging

Project Mendel

Display, Retry, Fail

Manifesto of Ignorantism

Actionfilm

Towers of Hanoi

Heisenberg

Opto-Hedonism

Every Five Seconds an Inkjet Printer Dies Somewhere

Milk

Mobutobe

Brandmarker

We know apocalypses

452 x 157 cm² global durability

A Good Haul

Blattoptera / Art for Cockroaches

Minus 24x

Gladiator / Short Film

Eden

An attempt to emulate an attempt

Paschal Duct-Taping

Laptop Crochetication

Russka

Somewhere in the 1930s

Soul Sale

The Department for Criticism against Globalisation

Dot Smoke

Georg Paul Thomann

Nurgel Staring

War On

Let's network it out

Nude

Mackerel Fiddlers

Whales

Disney vs. Chrusov / Short film

Bulk Mail

Easter Celebrations

Mouse Over Matter

Condolence for a Crab

Force Sting

Turning Threshold Countries Into Plows

System

A Noise

A. C. A.

Hopping Overland

Achy Breaky Heart Campaign

Hermeneutic Imperative III

Holy Water / Franchise

Roböxotica // Festival for Cocktail-Robotics

Spears

Engine Hood Cookies

Ikea

The Watch

Creative Industry 2003

This World

Cracked Foundation For The Fine Arts

Sometimes I feel

Fit with INRI

Growing Money

Catapulting Wireless Devices

Buried Alive

Illegal Space Race

Magnetism Party

Brick of Coke

1 Baud

Scrota Contra Vota

Direct Intervention Engine

Oh my God, they use a history which repeats itself! (T-Shirt)

Administrating:

Dorkbot Vienna





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