Yummy Wakame

I posted this earlier a little while back on The Perfumed Garden of the Shaykh Nefwazi -but obviously you didn’t read it. So here come’s your spoon-feeding. Open the tunnel, the choo choo train is coming…

Chapter 2: Concerning Women Who Deserve To Be Praised

“In order that a woman may be relished by men, she must have a perfect waist…… If one looks at a woman with those qualities in front, one is fascinated; if from behind, one dies with pleasure…… She speaks and laughs rarely, and never without a reason. She never leaves the house, even to see neighbours of her acquaintance. She has no women friends, gives her confidence to nobody, and her husband is her sole reliance…… If her husband shows his intention of performing the conjugal rite, she is agreeable to his desires and occasionally even provokes them…… she is always elegantly attired, of the utmost personal propriety, and takes care not to let her husband see what might be repugnant to him.”

HAHAHA oh man! This is the cleverest anti-smoking ad I’ve ever seen! Listen up guys. Smoking damages the tissues in your dingle dangle. Look after mr floppy!
www.stayinghard.info

The new fragrance by Alan Cumming.
Check out the ad! (Found on Can You Dig It?)

“The fact that somebody like me is a sex symbol, it’s kind of good, I think, because it’s not like I’m a big muscle man or any of those things that normally are treated as sex symbols. It’s quite a good kind of thing for skinny people.”

Alan Cumming, Detour

So if all we have are bones to look at, how do the experts know dinosaurs weren’t cute and furry? They might have even had pink and purple racing stripes!

Phone snaps taken on my walk home along Brighton seafront…

more…

DQ Issue 3

Translated by Sir Richard Burton (1886)

This is an amazing collection of artwork depicting UFO’s through the ages! Some of the artwork represents actual sightings, others feature UFOs in a religious context.

Here are 8 of my favourites:

“These petroglyphs were created thousands of years ago by ancient Indians in the American Southwest. According to Indian folklore, two objects collided high in the sky and one crash-landed in the region of Death Valley. Some men arrived (presumably in another ship) and spent some time repairing the damaged Craft and were observed by the local Indians…”

“This cave painting is c.10,000 BC and is from Val Camonica, Italy. It appears to depict two beings in protective suits holding strange implements.” more…

AFRICAN VOICES

“Africa’s history and peoples have profoundly influenced global culture and thought - and continue to do so today. America’s own past and present are strongly linked to Africa.

In this web site explore objects that attest to Africa’s striking diversity and long history. Listen as Africans talk about their lives and cultures. Discover your connections to Africa.”

There are some real gems to be found on this site. Note: the navigation runs along the bottom in case you miss it.

Quick Reference: Google Advanced Operators

Using just the search bar learn how to find:
Definitions for a word or phrase, files of a particular filetype (like PDFs), pages that link to your site, pages related to your site, phonebook listings (residential or business), weather in your city, display a previously cached version of a web page and more.

Man this is even better than the original Citroen ad!

“I first had the vision to build a robot while working as an engineer on the old Mini Coopers in the late 1960s. There were no real robots at the time of course, so it was purely science-fiction. But I always believed a robot would be the most natural complement to the automobile - a full biped, intelligent version having great strength, dexterity and a library of mechanical knowledge. I imagined a robot with the ability to repair vehicles, direct traffic and watch over high-accident crossroads to preempt accidents.

This ambition started to look possible when work began on the new Mini. I’ve always believed BMW overbuilds many of their parts, so the over-building of certain Mini applications for my robotics use went unnoticed. In 1998, I began tests in a remote location outside Oxford.

In 2000 I thought my formal connection to Mini might be severed when Rover was sold by BMW. Luckily, BMW chose to retain the Mini brand. Subsequently, a few engineers would need to stay in England - Oxford to be exact. I was slated for retirement and was originally from the Oxford area so it raised little suspicion when I offered to stay. From then on, progress was swift.”

This is SO COOL! You HAVE to check out the videos of this robot further down the page!

Architecture of density - Hong Kong
I’m suddenly feeling horribly claustrophobic and dizzy!

Found on s a u c e r u n e y.

What… on EARTH… is this?!

Today class we will talk about circumcision.

In the first world circumcision is a widespread practice and considered the norm. But just because a practice is widely accepted, it doesn’t automatically make it right. Slavery used to be widely accepted, and in some parts of the world, it still is. Everything should be questioned.

I put this to you: Why is female circumcision considered genital mutilation while male circumcision is not? This seems like a sexist double standard to me. Also a lot of people don’t realise that this delicate operation can easily go horribly wrong, scarring a man for life, and in some cases entirely destroying the penis. Surely with so much at risk, the patient should get to choose when he is at an age to make such a big decision?

I remember as a little girl finding myself at a Jewish circumcision ceremony. I asked what they were going to do, and when they told me, I was horrified! I begged and pleaded with them not to do it. They giggled at my naivety and told me it would be perfectly fine, and because the baby is so small, it would only hurt a very tiny amount. I didn’t understand how that could be true. I was small, and when I cut myself or slammed a finger in the door, it hurt like hell. It didnt hurt less because I was small.

I’ll never forget hearing the baby scream. I cried for him. The adults got annoyed with me and ushered me to another room. Why should such a painful operation be forced on a defenceless baby WITHOUT any anesthetic? Why do we just accept this as normal?

I am not against circumcision or any form of body modification. There are pro’s to being circumcised, just as there are to going natural. What I am against is forced mutilation.

If we left it up to the adult male to decide the fate of his member, I wonder just how many would go through with it after all. If you decided to go through with it later in life, I bet you’d demand anesthetic and take painkillers home with you.

“The proof of why Nathan is a fish was removed from this website due to it’s provocative nature and detailed analysis of Nathan’s biological make up.”

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - “Monster mice” are eating three-foot-high albatross chicks alive, threatening rare bird species on a remote south Atlantic island seen as the world’s most important seabird colony. more…

BBC News: New research suggests circumcision could be effective in preventing the spread of HIV among men.

The study of more than 3,000 men in South Africa was done by the French agency for Aids and Viral Hepatitis. The data, outlined at a conference in Brazil, shows male circumcision prevented about seven of 10 infections. UN health agencies have cautioned that more trials are necessary before they will recommend this as a method to protect against Aids. Previous studies have suggested that men who are circumcised have a lower rate of HIV infection. more…

And not just any freeway, but the German autobahn! He tool to the hard shoulder in his electric chair which can only reach a maximum speed of 6mph. Truck drivers called the police who intercepted the pensioner and took him back to his nursing home.

And all he wanted to do was a little shopping.

If you don’t believe me read it at BBC News.

www.konfabulator.com

Version 2.1 won’t send you registration reminders because it’s free. There’s no catch. No spyware, no ads, nothing sending your information to them. This has all happened since Yahoo! aquired Konfabulator. Did you know Yahoo! also aquired Flickr? Well they did, and what a good all round job they did there.

If you take a peek at my desktop the widgets floating on it are: a Flickr photo frame, a Flickr quick file upload utility, weather in Erie PA, multi time-zone display, event countdown timer, a thingy so I can chat directly to A.L.I.C.E Bot from my desktop without having to look at her ugly face, quick currency converter, Mahjong and a cute little ladybug that crawls all over and under my pages. Where would I be without them? There are thousands of widgets to choose from and new ones are being added daily.

If you haven’t already tried Konfabulator, and you’re the sort of person who likes to soup up their desktop, this is the ultimate mod!
Go on, give it a try!

(Available for Mac OS X 10.2 or greater, Windows XP and Windows 2000)

Bombardier Embryo

But Treehugger.com is completely real. And so is

The Wonder Wash Pressure HandWasher!

A portable washing machine for $43 that requires no electricity. Washes a 4-lb load. Cleans in 2 minutes. It uses a pressure system that forces the detergent into the fabric at high speed for a fast, efficient, economic and very easy wash. It’s ideal for campers, single persons and even for people with small frequent loads like hand washables and diapers. It’s ideal for delicates such as woolens, silks, knitted dresses and cashmere garments. Uses far less water than even hand washing.

These have been available for years and I’ve always wanted one.

Miko: “A student told me that her friend was killed in the Amagasaki train crash. The friend was a divorced mother of two boys, who was raising her sons together with the help of her family (parents and siblings). The father of the boys hadn’t initiated any form of contact with them for five years, and had done nothing to contribute to their upkeep.

On the very day of the funeral, he showed up, took his sons, and drove off with them, just like that! And there was nothing that the family could do, not one thing.

All that is known about him is that he is living with a heavily pregnant teenage girlfriend. He doesn’t allow the boys to have any contact with their grandparents, aunts, or uncles (ie, the only family they’ve known up till now).

The boys are in line for a large sum of compensation from the rail company. I don’t know exactly how much, but it’s a lot of money, running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, the maternal family has hired a lawyer. I cannot imagine on what grounds they think they are going to get the boys back, but they are determined to try.”

Wow, I’d completely forgotten about the few pics I’d taken with my other camera… hope you like em!

more…

Well I’ve added a new piece to the portfolio… and there’s another major change to the site, but you might have to hunt around a bit for it ;@)

Hint: you’ll probably need to clear your cache first

Voyeur Heaven: finding interesting video, sound and image files in unprotected directories
“I’m going to show you how to create search queries that will list the contents of unprotected directories on the internet. You’ll be able to play the music files, watch the videos, look at photos and more. I have to say, it’s really addicting.”

Clearing Google Search History to Maintain Your Privacy
“If you’re one of the many it seems that have search terms you’d prefer to hide from other users of your computer, this article is for you.”

Burning fields of weed
Sometimes it really pays to be in the army! Who else would get called in to do a hard job like this…

“Sufjan Stevens was found in a milk crate on the doorstep of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, in Detroit, MI, on Canada Day, July 1, 1975. He was wrapped in cellophane, and tagged on the wrist with the mysterious note: “I love you.” Mr. and Mrs. Stevens had three other children: Jo-Jo, Zukey-Dukey, and Jam-Jam. Mrs. Stevens crocheted afghans for the flea market. Mr. Stevens was the custodian at the hospital. They had very little money, but very big hearts. They decided to keep the baby (using the milk crate to hold their National Geographics). They named him Sufjan Stevens, after Abu Sufjan Muhammad, the great Armenian Sufi warrior who slew ten thousand dragons to save the Fairy Princess. Despite his despondent looks, Sufjan was a good kid. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens did the best they could. They fed him carrots, they read him parts of the Bhagavad Gita, they combed his hair, they sang songs and tap-danced in the living room. Things were looking good!”

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens has a totally unique and ambitious goal - to explore all 50 states of the USA and produce a full length CD about each one, inspired by the places and people he meets and the stories they tell. I have to admit, when Nathan first told me about this guy a few months ago, I had this idea in my head that Sufjan wanted to do this as a bit of a fun joke, purely to see if he could do it, because it seemed so ridiculously impossible. But tonight I listened to some of his tracks for the first time. They are hauntingly soulful and so much care has been taken into writing and composing each piece. Yet at the same time the songs just flow so naturally and easily, like he could write them in his sleep. He is so talented, I wouldn’t be surprised if he does.

He has already released two -

Greetings from Michigan, The Great Lakes State

(buy it here)

• Take a listen to Romulus (RealAudio - from NPR All Songs Considered, The Best Songs of 2003)
• and listen to All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! or Forever Hold Your Peace! (RealAudi0 - courtesy NPR’s All Songs Considered)

Come on Feel The Illinoise

(buy it here)

• Take a listen to a bone chilling tune about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr. (RealAudio - courtesy NPR’s All Songs Considered)

As a brief departure from this project, he released a new album -

Seven Swans

(buy it here)

• Take a listen to Sister (RealAudio - courtesy NPR’s All Songs Considered)

If you like what you heard there, there’s more! more…