I know I said I’d stop reblogging, but this is Carl Sagan and he was right. We’re obliged to leave Earth.

spaceandstuffidk:

physicsphysics:

thelonelyastronaut:

itsfullofstars:

mohandasgandhi:

Let’s go to Mars!

Let’s go ANYWHERE!!

Even our cheese isn't safe from the absurdity of human behavior.

chelseawayward:

Rennet

is a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother’s milk, and is often used in the production of cheese.

Natural calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber (the abomasum) of young, unweaned calves. These stomachs are a by-product of veal production. (source)

That’s right, some of the cheese we eat is made with stomach juice from slaughtered baby calves.  Yeah…I have a problem with this.  My diet is definitely changing.

This baffles me. What weirdo was the first to think “let’s extract the juices from a calf’s fourth stomach and see what happens when we add it to cheese!”

And who’s the idiot who didn’t immediately respond with: “Shut up, Steve. That’s a stupid idea.”

OK, the asteroid can really come any day now.  I still have stuff I want to do, but we’re so screwed up I wouldn’t blame the universe for not wanting us around anymore. >_<

Not (yet) Space Battleship Yamato...

error888:

???46cm??????????????????

Taken LONG before the Gamelas asteroid bombs began to strike Earth.

“Saraba chikuyo!”

The workplace is becoming more and more virtual, with meetings occurring across time zones and organizations and with participants who barely know each other, working on swarms attacking rapidly emerging problems. But the employee will still have a “place” where they work. Many will have neither a company-provided physical office nor a desk, and their work will increasingly happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In this work environment, the lines between personal, professional, social and family matters, along with organization subjects, will disappear.

The workplace is becoming more and more virtual, with meetings occurring across time zones and organizations and with participants who barely know each other, working on swarms attacking rapidly emerging problems. But the employee will still have a “place” where they work. Many will have neither a company-provided physical office nor a desk, and their work will increasingly happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In this work environment, the lines between personal, professional, social and family matters, along with organization subjects, will disappear.

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1416513  (via fredericguarino)

This sounds GREAT!

…waitasec…

“We are the Borg” much?

Lest we forget, Ted Stevens was a dodgy man at best. Mind you, this is me doing my job as Devil’s Advocate.Ted certainly didn’t deserve to die, but let’s try to remember why we knew who this guy was in the first place. He was one of the main guys behind the Bridge to Nowhere. He once said the Internet was a series of tubes. He would wear an Incredible Hulk necktie on days he faced tough fights on the Senate floor (that’s cool, actually) and lost his last reelection campaign after being convicted of ethics violations (only to be unconvicted before being sentenced). Sure, sure, Ted Stevens was never caught slaughtering puppies, but let’s remember he wasn’t a saint, either.

The conscience of Google & how to opt out of Stalkery Ads

Link: The conscience of Google & how to opt out of Stalkery Ads

Apparently Sergey Brin had some issues with Googles move towards ad-targeting that relies on “stalkery” to the point where there was a shouting match in front of subordinates. Also: find out how you…

Rest in peace, Mr. Jack Parnell

From sierrarein:

RT @hensoncompany: Rest in peace, Mr. Jack Parnell, musical director of The Muppet Show, who passed away on Sunday http://bit.ly/aQG0Lq

This is what Disney looks like in Japan: way cooler than our Disney!

This is what Disney looks like in Japan: way cooler than our Disney!



error888:

lj7stkok:

hirrrra:

shadowzero:

?????????????????? | ???????????

Sure, we get Pixar, but that’s not really “DISNEY” is it?  Nor is Fireball (the above pictured) really Disney, either—why? Because it’s futuristic, clever and most of all: COOL.

In case you’re not familiar with Fireball, it’s an oddly named series of shorts about a robot princess and her industrial-robot butler who are under attack from an outside force.  Drossel, the robot princess, goes about her day, as usual, but asks her butler various questions that she has never thought about before over the span of her previously privileged life.

Dryly amusing with amazingly cool character designs, Fireball isn’t going to blow your mind, but it should entertain you just fine.  It did, me.  And good news—there’s a new series premiering next year (hence the above art).  YAY!  Let’s hope it’s a full series and not just another series of shorts. It’d be fun to see more of Drossel’s world than the short time spans of the shorts would allow.

I still want to pick up a Drossel figure… such a cool design!!

Learn more (if you can read Japanese) at http://fireball.tv

??????????: US Military Uses Manga in Attempt to Strengthen US/Japan Ties

Link: ??????????: US Military Uses Manga in Attempt to Strengthen US/Japan Ties

I posted this on my J blog earlier today but thought it would fit well here, too:

My mom emailed me today wondering what the word “manga” meant after reading an article on CNNgo.com that reported on an interesting development in US/Japan relations. I told her it basically was the word the Japanese use for “comic books.” But the story she linked to fascinated me. Turns out…

US Military Uses Manga in Attempt to Strengthen US/Japan Ties

My mom emailed me today wondering what the word “manga” meant after reading an article on CNNgo.com that reported on an interesting development in US/Japan relations. I told her it basically was the word the Japanese use for “comic books.”  But the story she linked to fascinated me.  Turns out the ongoing stress caused by Futenma Base, the US Navy base in Okinawa, has inspired the US military to hire manga artist Yukio Hirai, who, AnimeNewsNetwork.com reports, is best known for “Magical Marine Pixel*Maritan” (a manga/CD set that apparently teaches you how to swear like a US Marine.) Hirai-san, along with others involved in “Maritan” will do four issues of a pro-US/Japan Alliance propaganda manga (propamanga?) meant to help Japanese readers better understand and like the close relationship Japan has with the US.

Now, I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the Japanese people, but my understanding is that they don’t really like the tight connection between their country and the US. In fact, I thought the winners of the last national election got that way because they had promised to loosen those ties a bit.  When they didn’t, there was a public outcry and Naoto Kan was immediately offered up as the replacement PM.  So, this manga seems like an amusingly desperate attempt by the US to appeal to the Japanese.

Sadly, my Japanese is still too lousy to allow me to read and understand the “Our Alliance - a Lasting Partnership” manga, but I really don’t think it will make much of a difference in Japan/US relations.  That’s just my ¥2, of course.

Check out the manga for yourself here: http://www.usfj.mil/manga/

There’s no PDF on the site, but I made one that you can grab here (I claim no copyrights!! If you’re the USMil and want me to take it down, just let me know!).