Flying People in New York City – Video
| February 6, 2012
Category: Weird
The 25 Most Powerful Songs of the Past 25 Years
| February 5, 2012
1. “I Love You” (Barney the Dinosaur)- The Song That Makes Bad Guys Tremble
Why is the opening theme from Barney the most powerful song of the last 25 years? Because it made sure the terrorists didn’t win. In the U.S. military detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, there’s a special spot, known as “the Disco,” where interrogators use music to get detainees to talk. Naturally, death metal is on the playlist, and so is Christina Aguilera. But according to The Guardian, the most used song in the military’s arsenal is Barney’s “I Love You.” Interrogators refer to it as “futility music,” which convinces prisoners that it’s pointless to keep their silence. After listening to the song over and over, detainees start to feel that life is meaningless, and that it’s time to give up. It really works—Just ask any parent.
Hand Balancing – Video
| February 3, 2012
Landscape Absurdism: Las Vegas
| February 3, 2012
Las Vegas’s built environment is full of absurdities. The city’s development patterns showcase a tension between the natural (desert) and the built (the planned communities that litter the landscape).
They also serve as visual symbols of America’s 2008 housing bubble. Anticipating rapid growth, developments fail to connect to each other, confidently (or, perhaps thoughtlessly) leaving the future to fill the spaces between.
Below is a collection of satellite imagery via Google Maps that showcase some of these bizarre building patterns:
YouTube – One Hour Per Second – Video
| February 2, 2012
Every second, one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube. That’s 24 hours every 24 seconds… or a decade every single day.
Twenty top predictions for life 100 years from now
| January 31, 2012
1. Oceans will be extensively farmed and not just for fish (Jim 300)
IP: Likelihood 10/10. We will need to feed 10 billion people and nature can’t keep up with demand, so we will need much more ocean farming for fish. But algae farming is also on the way for renewable energy, and maybe even for growth of feedstock (raw materials) or resource extraction via GM seaweed or algae.
PT: Good chance. According to Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at the Nasa Langley Research Center, saltwater algae that’s been genetically modified to absorb more nitrogen from the air than conventional algae could free up to 68% of the fresh water that is now tied up in conventional agriculture. This water could go to thirsty populations.
2. We will have the ability to communicate through thought transmission (Dev 2)
IP: Likelihood 10/10. Transmission will be just as easy as other forms of brain augmentation. Picking up thoughts and relaying them to another brain will not be much harder than storing them on the net.
PT: Good chance. Synthetic telepathy sounds like something out of Hollywood but it is absolutely possible, so long as “communication” is understood to be electrical signals rather than words.
