Movie Review of X-Men Origins (with Wolverine)
Pretty dumb. Hugh Jackman has definitely been working out.
Updates from October, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Carmen
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Emilily
Wired!
A 3-dimensional model of the human genome! According to the Wired article: In mathematical terms, the pieces of the genome are folded into something similar to a Hilbert curve, one of a family of shapes that can fill a two-dimensional space without ever overlapping — and then do the same trick in three dimensions. Trippy.The subscription should start in November, so your first issue will arrive in November or December, I think.
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Carmen
sweet!
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Carmen
Whats this now?
oh by the way – someone cured cancer aaaaaaand I can live forever now.
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Emilily
innnnteresting. It sort of looks like you’ll have to pick one or the other – either live forever as a telomerase-tumor-growing science project, or stay all mortal and low-tech.
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Emilily
another awesome app
Check this out. I did not mean to buy it, but now that I did, it is pretty cool. (I was looking for a font or typography related app, and this one popped up, and I accidentally hit “buy” when I really meant to preview it.) Anyways, you select a font, write a word or little phrase, and then you draw a picture or write a note using the font and text you have created. The speed you “draw” at determines the size of the font. You can also adjust the opacity and change the background. This is a really sloppy one I made just to experiment! Unlike the myPantone post I did earlier, I have yet to find a clever use for this app, aside from trying to look busy and unapproachable while I wait in line at the grocery store.
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Carmen
One of my favorite people…
Shuna. She has a blog that I love to read. She is truly a genius when it comes to food and words. And she’s open and honest and just a lovely person. Her newest blog entry is about October and I think she encapsulates it perfectly. She once had a birthday party for me on the rare and elusive 29th, it was delicious. I remember pot de cremes at her house and cardomom cookies that were insane and I remember when I first met her at Aziza on my 3rd (about) date with Max – Ah, such fond memories! Now she lives far away. I wish we could go to London just to have a meal with her. Maybe someday…
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Emilily
Joshua Tree
I’m going camping this weekend at Joshua Tree National Park. I have never been, so I am really looking forward to it! (I’ve done some cooking in preparation, which will be the topic of my next two posts!)
Here are some random facts about Joshua Tree:
The rock formations of Joshua Tree National Park were formed 100 million years ago from the cooling of magma beneath the surface.
Humans have occupied the area around the park for over 5,000 years.
Known as the park namesake, the Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia, is a giant member of the lily family.
The band U2 named their fifth album after the park, as a nod to both the wide-open spaces of America that produced the county and blues music they borrow liberally from, and their antipathy towards American foreign policy, a prevalent theme underlying many of the tracks on the album.
I think it is kind of cool to give a tree a human name, but the story of how the Joshua Tree came to be called Joshua is surprisingly unexciting, and actually a little lame. From the National Park website: According to legend, Mormon pioneers considered the limbs of the Joshua trees to resemble the upstretched arms of Joshua leading them to the promised land.
On the other hand, I do like the story of how the local town of Twentynine Palms was named: Legend holds that the Serrano Indians came to the Oasis of Mara because a medicine man told them it was a good place to live and that they would have many boy babies. The medicine man instructed them to plant a palm tree each time a boy was born. In the first year, the Serrano planted 29 palm trees at the oasis.
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Carmen
faves…
So I’ve been perusing the photos from Milan fashion week and Style.com has a nice spread of street photos taken by Tommy Ton. Yeah, I know, everyone wants to be just like The Sartorialist but I gotta say…quietly…I might like this guy better. The Sartorialist is beholden to his models and his old, rich, european fellows and this new guy, Tommy Ton, can just take shots of everyone! It seems he goes for the more voyeuristic angles and it also seems as though he might also have a foot fetish. Here are my favorites:
Ok, first, you know me, I love pictures of hair. And this one is so lovely with all the movement. (click on the picture to see a larger version) They look like the Black Bag Brigade. Second, not sure what is going on with the feather thing but I can totally get on board with that. I especially love the girl in the background getting caught red handed eating her invitation. She’s so hungry! Lastly, I don’t care much for these shoes but its the gold nail polish that they’re wearing. I must have it!
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Emilily
Yes, I just discovered Tommy Ton today, too! I was reading Garance D’or, and saw that she was sitting in the front row at D&G with two bloggers I did not recognize. I like his most recent post that he likes fan mail with illustrations…perhaps some self-promoting fan mail is in order! One thing The Sartorialist does better is the whimsical titles…I get the feeling that he loves each and every picture he posts, whereas the the Jak & Jil blog is a little more just snap the shot and throw it out there. On the other hand, I appreciate the lack of any ads, specifically those annoying American Apparel ones, on Jak & Jil.
Oh man, do I love feathers and gold nail polish. at the same time even.
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Emilily
An update on the gold toenails: there are a number of brands that do a gold-ish polish, but to get that smooth chrome, I think you have to use these: Minx nails.
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Emilily
stupidity in government and advertising
This is kind of a lame post, but I’ve been slacking on my posts lately, and just thought I’d share whatever pointless information was on my mind at the moment.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the advertising methods of Hulu, the online TV portal, but basically, they show little 30-second adverts, from one sponsor, two to three times during each episode. Their recent sponsor is Latisse, the prescription eyelash-growing treatment. Now, I am a sucker for anything that claims to make your eyelashes grow – I once paid someone $200 to individually glue fake eyelashes to each of my real eyelashes, and did not regret it for a minute – but I have two complaints about this product. First, they claim their product is for the treatment of “inadequate or not enough lashes.” Inadequate or not enough? Aren’t those the same thing? The redundancy bothers me – either their ad copy is written by an idiot, or they really are targeting two audiences: people who know what inadequate means, and stupid people who just don’t have enough lashes. Whichever it is, I’m annoyed, and if there’s one thing that will stop me from buying your product, it’s being annoyed by your marketing. The other thing that will stop me from buying a product is when the fine print side-effects are horrifying. They claim “Latisse may result in increased brown iris pigmentation, which is most likely permanent.” This intrigued me, so I did some internet research, and found that it literally means, for like 12-18% of the blue eyed people who underwent the clinical trials, it turned their blue eyes brown, forever. I’m sorry, but eye color is determined genetically, and the fact that this product alters that, and they are not even sure if it is reversible or not, makes me suspect they really have no clue what this product is doing to the parts of your face that are not eyelash.
Update (after checking the website for a thumbnail image to accompany this post): I take that above statement back – they do have a clue, because the pigmentation warning is followed by “There is a potential for hair growth to occur in areas where Latisse solution comes in repeated contact with skin surfaces.” Hmmm, freaky. I think I’ll pass.
I’ve been reading, and digging, the Discovery On website, and found this choice quote in the article on the geoglyphs discovered in Kazakhstan: “Recently the Kazakhstan Government toyed with the idea of creating a UFO landing field and an alien embassy.” I re-read this a couple times, and there was nothing indicating they were kidding. Heck, why not?
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Carmen
wow, good post! and WHAT?! they can permanently change blue eyes to brown?!?! And the reason is – let me see if i have this right – because your iris is growing hair on it? Also, I think some don’t have enough lashes and other people have enough but they are too thin (or something) to have real impact, thus, inadequate. Maybe that clears up the redundancy quandary you are having.
I’m liking the Discovery On too, its kind of like Scientific American (which I love) but more tailored to my short attention span. I wonder if the people who “discovered” the geoglyphs thought about the possibility that these were just trails for goats and sheep?
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Olga
So many things come to mind as I read your post Emily. 1. Are we going to be seeing an abundance of middle-age men with brown eyes in the future? I would think that the baldies of the world would be buying this product up in mass quantities and rubbing it all over their shiny lil’ heads. 2. What did the first few (girls?) think when their nice blue eyes started turning to Mayblline dark lash #21? 3. What will the rest of us think about brown-eyed-girls in the future? Maybe she was born with it… maybe she’s Latisse? 4. And here’s a tip for all you gangsters and fugitives out there, are your eyes blue on your wanted poster? Whallha! Insta-brown will save you from the FBI! So many possibilities, so little time.
P.S. Speaking of genetic tom-foolery, I think that hair color is in a similar category. I was once (genetically) a brunette, now I’m L’oreal # 9A-bL
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Carmen
I think we should all buy stocks in Latisse.
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Emilily
That’s a really good idea!
I think we should also try growing our own mustaches.
(ok, kidding about that last one.)
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Carmen
Nerd alert…
I’m sharing your love for Wired Magazine today with their “Stunning Views of Glaciers from Space” (!) I love looking at these pictures and just imagining the millions of years of time and information that locked in that ice.
Just perusing Wired’s list of Recent Articles is like finding a treasure trove of information. So, I think you are right, we should get a subscription.
Here is a list of some articles just to entice you:
“Freaky new Ghostshark ID’d Off California Coast”
“One Million Spiders make Golden Silk for Rare Cloth”
“Details of Galactic Core Revealed in X-Rays”
Ok, thats enough.
Here’s something else nerdy that I thought you would like. This article about our brain’s “dark network“. Apparently, our brain is constantly traveling back and forth in time visiting our past and our future except when we have a task at hand and then the time traveling chatter falls silent so we can concentrate. Weird.
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Emilily
I am on it! I love Wired. Except it is going to have to be sent to your house for now, and then perhaps you can send them to me after you’ve read them. But consider it done!
Those glacier pictures are amazing! Seeing them is the closest we will ever get to seeing time freeze (I think, unless we learn to time travel, in which case it follows we will also learn to time stop, too…and I bet there’s a Wired article on that somewhere.) What strikes me the most is that, except for the brown land and the blue water, they are almost completely colorless, like in the hundreds of square miles between the ice and the sky, there is nothing to disrupt the purity of light and shadows. Beautiful.
We must have been on the same page today, because I was looking at these images earlier. They’re high-megapixel panoramic views taken with cameras mounted on robotic arms at the tops of redwood trees. (From the image on that link, you can zoom in and pan across the horizon.) The excerpt for the image says: “This is a 360 degree panorama from atop the largest (not tallest) tree in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. This is the world’s tallest forest, containing over 100 of the 150 known trees on Earth over 350 feet.”
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Emilily
New Orleans, part 3
My second favorite part of New Orleans (the architecture was first, the food third) was the cemetery. According to the map, there are two main cemeteries, Lafayette One and Lafayette Two, but we only made it to the first. Cemeteries, by their nature, have an aura about them that makes me feel they should only be visited under the cover of darkness, preferably on a moonless night, with a thick layer of mist rolling over the horizon and the sound of wolves howling in the distance. So it felt odd to be walking through the tall, wrought iron gates in the blazing hot afternoon sun. Add to the oddness – then there was this guy, gravedigger Shawn. He was rounding up the few visitors for what he referred to as the last tour of the day. My first thought was, “oh, awesome, I didn’t know there was a cemetery tour, the pamphlet didn’t say anything about this…” and my second thought was “hey, the pamphlet didn’t say anything about this…” 
And although I try not discriminate against people who are missing most of their teeth, just because you have really dirty hands and are walking around a cemetery with a broom does not make you the gravedigger; it does not even prove you are the gardener, the tour guide, or the officially sanctioned welcome wagon. In his defense, he also had a pad of post-it notes with the Lafayette Cemetery logo stamped on them, a fanny pack that appeared to be stuffed full of leaves, and a laminate badge of indistinct design whose only claim to validity was the fact that it was laminated. None of that stopped Shawn from launching into what proved to be a lengthy, rambling, poorly-enunciated speech on why the bodies were stored above ground, how the headstones were unsealed, and what he would do if he accidentally got trapped inside a casket with a pretty lady. At this point, Mia and I had concluded that this guy was probably not a gravedigger, but just a resourceful individual with access to a Kinko’s, knowledge of the area, a flair for oration, and most likely a substance abuse problem. 
To avoid the inevitable request for tips at the end of the “tour” we wandered off on our own and I took pictures of the graves. As you can see, most of them are in a severe state of disrepair. In New Orleans, the cemeteries are built in the Latin style, with all the bodies “buried” above ground in tombs. Each tomb can hold an unlimited number of bodies; after one year and one day, the remains have deteriorated enough that the tomb can be unsealed, the bodily remains separated from any casket remains, and pushed to the back of the cell to make room for the new casket. (It was the image-alignment gremlins who saw fit to put that last paragraph next to the picture of the dumpster.) Most of the dates on the headstones were from the late 1800′s; the most recent ones we could find were one or two from the late 1990′s. Many tombs had a pile of rubble in front of the bare seal where the headstone had fallen years ago, others were crumbling from the top down. There were silk flowers in front of some of the graves, but they had all faded to a dusty gray. Stories of bodies rising with the flood waters and floating through the streets seem far more plausible once you see the condition of the cemetery. Many of the houses we saw in the Garden District had been abandoned after Katrina, but the cemetery seems to have been forgotten long before then.
Do you remember when we used to run around the cemetery in Arcata late at night? With our thermos full of warm tomo-dachi? Those are some of my favorite memories!
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Carmen
I totally want to go there! but not at night time.
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mia
my favorite portion of Gravedigger Shawn’s “lecture” was when he described in detail how he removes the contents of the grave and separates the bones from the pieces of casket. NIce. Thank you Gravedigger Shawn for making my second trip to Lafayette One actually fun. While I share Emily’s fascination with architecture, I prefer to keep my cemetery visits to a minimum as I am one of the lucky few who “talk to dead people”. While on vacation I prefer to keep my conversations to people who have a pulse.
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Emilily
New Orleans, part 2
Here are a few more New Orleans pictures. There is a cable car system running through the city, and you can take it anywhere for $1.25. It’s almost like a tour in itself, since it goes through some really beautiful parts of the garden district. All of these pictures were taken from the window of the cable car (in motion.)
You cannot really see from the small pictures, but a lot of the houses have water marks almost to the second story. Many of them are under construction, and others have just been boarded up and abandoned.I think everyone has a favorite type of sight-seeing when they are traveling – some people go places for the food, some for the history, some for the nature; mine is definitely the architecture.
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Carmen
oh man, i love those pictures. i totally want to go there just to check out abandoned mansions. Good job!
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Carmen
My brain hurts…
I’m sorry, but what are these people talking about? I mean, I read it – I just don’t get it. Time is disappearing???
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Emilily
Whoa. Gives the phrase “we are running out of time” a whole new meaning. I like it somehow, or I like the direction it is going in…even if it is not right, it is approaching the expanding universe theory from another angle. And I agree that maybe time won’t always behave the way we expect it to, the way we experience it now, but if it is disappearing, where is it going? Is it turning into something else? Are all the other dimensions disappearing also? Does that means time was moving faster at the beginning of the universe? More explanations please!
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Emilily
New Orleans, part 1
Parasol's Bar, on the corner of 2nd and Constance streets
Where is a chainsaw when you really need one? I had to use my glasses as a prop instead.
Since we have some food-themed posts going on, I thought I’d post some New Orleans pics and make a few comments on the food! The bar above, Parasol’s, was my first New Orleans meal. Before you ask if I was trying to get mugged or contract some sort of food-borne illness, I should point out that Parasol’s has been featured on that show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and beat Bobby Flay in a Roast Beef Po’Boy throw-down. We ordered their famous roast beef po’boy, an oyster po’boy, and a side of fries smothered in brown gravy. I thought the oysters in one sandwich were good, but I am in general not a fan of soggy food. The roast beef was prepared in the traditional New Orleans style, shredded and soaked in gravy, then sandwiched between crusty french bread, slathered in mayonnaise, and topped with pickles. Although I am sure it is a fine specimen of a po’boy, it was a little too sloppy for me. That, and mayo makes me want to hurl.
They do get points on atmosphere, though! The picture at left is the lone bathroom in the joint…I had to go back in with my camera to capture the utter creepiness; I believe this shade of chartreuse is called Grisly Massacre. Also, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the walls are not proper walls, but painted, unprimed, plywood. The sink was cracked, the ceiling sported one bare strip of constantly-flickering flouresecent bulbs, and the light swtich (top right in picture) had no plate cover. Not like it makes any difference, once you’ve committed to this color, the only thing you can really accessorize with is splattered blood and carnage.
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Carmen
Frankly I’m surprised you made it through the front door! The whole place looks like a horror movie waiting to happen. Turns out it was just a horror movie starring your arteries. (high five!)
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mia
dear emily, thank you for putting up with my obsession for deep-fried, mayo-slathered, wrapped-in-bread food. I hope my counter obsession for spinach salad balanced the greasy, make-ya-wanna-hurl path I led you down for a good part of our trip. love, mia
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Emilily
I’m right there with ya on the deep-fried and wrapped-in-bread stuff, just replace my mayo with cheeeessse!
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Carmen
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Emilily
That place does look cool – I want to visit! (The Vice website is pretty interesting, too, although I just wasted an hour reading about some freakshow who thinks he is Jesus the Second and now I am thoroughly annoyed with both the people who join cults, and the people who leave fanatical comments on blogs featuring interviews with said cult leaders.)
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Emilily
a review
I don’t know if I told you, but I saw Inglourious Basterds last weekend, and I just wanted to say – highly recommended. Two thumbs up, five stars, a juicy red tomato, the whole shebang. I have probably seen almost every Tarantino film, and find him to be entertaining, but often a little over done. Take Kill Bill, for example – it was great, but after the 57th blood-spewing-jugular, I was over it. Before now, True Romance and Reservior Dogs were tied for my favorites, with Pulp Fiction a close second. But I am going to go out on a limb here and say that every other Tarantino movie ever made was simply in preparation for this, his masterpiece, a perfect combination of comedy, gore, and, most importantly, restraint. (More …)
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Carmen
Well allrighty then – I’ll make sure to note this review and see this when it comes out on blu-ray. Sadly, unless I want to go to the movies alone (its a possibility) the movies I see at the theater (with Max) only involve 1) Science Fiction 2) Explosions 3) Boobs – or a mixture of all three. Very nicely written review though!
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Emilily
Well, there are a ton of explosions in this movie, but no topless aliens. If it is still playing when you come down here, I will see it again with you!
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Ma
Yes yes, a very nice review, cheers! However I did not have the same feelings for this movie. I will openly admit that Tarantino films are not tops on my list. It’s not that I mind blood and guts, and I just adore Brad Pitt, my problem is with the subtitles. I hate subtitles! When do you get to actually “watch” the movie? I was so busy reading subtitles that I feel like I missed most of the action. I may go see it again but first I must indulge in a speed reading class. The ending however was fantastic. I won’t give it away but I would love to have an audience photo-shot from the screens viewpoint, that would be worth a thousand reviews.
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Carmen
Another recommendation…
I’ve been reading a lot of articles about the brain lately and in doing so I’ve come across a blog written by a woman who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Her blog is called Asperger’s Diary – its really interesting. Her last article talks about how she learned how to convey herself properly at a very late age. She goes really in depth about her thought process and I find it refreshing. Emily I know you have had your run-ins with Aspergers and now you can finally, truly understand how their brains work!
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Emilily
Okay, first let me say: thanks for carrying the blog this weekend! Right now I am still without internet, but I did buy you a present!
Asperger’s Diary sounds interesting, I would like to learn more about that syndrome. I think maybe we (“we” as a society, not just you and I) should start recognizing mild asperger’s, ADD and ADHD as not simply disorders but very common conditions that more and more people are going to experience, either directly or indirectly, and we should tailor our medical, educational, and professional environments to work with this reality, not against it. Just because someone has asperger’s, ADD, or even mild dyslexia or autism, should not preclude them from making the same contributions as everyone else. Maybe the increasing prevalence of these “disorders” is not the problem, maybe the problem is our too rigid concept of normal learning processes and our black and white approach to functional versus dysfunctional.
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Carmen
Actually, you’re right on the money with that I think. One of her previous articles called “Getting to the Root of It” talks about that. About what a cure really means and I totally agree with her. It doesn’t mean getting rid of the disorder, it means learning to work with what you’ve got. I think everyone who has this disorder has a point in their life (hopefully) where they have to wonder if its really everyone else who has the problem.
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Carmen
kayak angst…
So I’ve been listening to a podcast that I think you will really like. Its called Stuff You Should Know and its a branch off of the website HowStuffWorks. It has all of the requirements needed for our kind of entertainment. It has two funny guys talking to each other and these two guys talk about obscure topics and get really in depth… I think those are the only requirements so far. I’ve learned so much since I started listening to them. For example: Toxoplasmosis, Whale Sharks, Brownfields, Body Dymorphia, Parasites and the list goes on! I’m sure you looked at each one of those words and got a little excited about what you could be learning about in the near future right?! Thats what I thought. And as a teaser check out their blog and learn about kayak angst… fascinating!
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Emilily
Whoa! I did not know there was an official term for it, but I totally have kayak angst! Is that where you are afraid to get in a kayak because it will undoubtedly tip over and you will be stuck and drown trapped underneath? I have that. We took kayak lessons on the Trinity river with my family when I was a kid and I faked sick almost the whole time.
I will definitely check out that podcast, I need to learn some more stuff.
I put the WP app on my phone, but something has to be changed in the admin settings before it gives me access. (you might have to accept this reply also…) Anyways, we’re off to find some coffee and then hit the gym for a bit, then we’re going to Jackson Square to sight see…there are so many great things to post about here, but I’ll pick one this afternoon!
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Carmen
Ok, so kayak angst is NOT where you are afraid to get in a kayak for fear it will tip over, but I can see where you could come to that conclusion without having read the StuffYouShouldKnow blog. Kayak angst is where you are afraid to go fishing for days on end in the endless waters of Alaska in a kayak with no reference point because you’ll end up going in large circles, falling asleep, waking up not knowing where you are and continue going in circles until the end of time! Hows that for a run-on sentence! Yeah!
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Emilily
Links
So I added a few links to our sidebar.
I was browsing the WordPress showcase and found these sites. One of them, Modelinia, I think we’ve been on before. My first reactions to this website were, in no particular order:
Why are we celebrating unrealistic expectations of female beauty!?
How much of a sucker do you think I am to watch/do/try something just because a supermodel says so?!
What could possibly be entertaining about this thinly-veiled attempt to add depth and personality to a bunch of walking clothes hangers?
Where can I find one of those pictures with Kate Moss all coked out?
Wow, this is like a reality TV show, but with less of a plot, if that’s even possible.However, the truth is, I just like this website. I like watching models talk about stuff. There’s a video here of a supermodel giving a lesson on how to walk in high-heels, and she’s got her little tiny daughters running around in size 10 designer stilettos. It’s adorable and horrifying at the same time.
I also added one on fonts, all types of fonts (pun intended!) I thought this tied in nicely to our WORD category, and I think you share my appreciation of a nice font. (And speaking of banned lists, my friend Duncan and I nearly banned this great restaurant in SB because the font on their menu was completely unreadable. Businesspeople really need to be aware of that kind of thing, I don’t know why some of them are so dense.)
At first review, this website showcases some nice fonts; after a few minutes of browsing, you start to get an idea of the admirable degree of obsession going one here. This person’s office has font clippings covering every inch of wall space, they cannot hold down a job because they kept yelling at co-workers when the signature and body fonts in their emails were mis-matched, they have not been able to drive since their license expired and they cannot fill out the driver’s license renewal form because the DMV has no respect for fonts, and the mere sight of Curlz makes their eyeball twitch. You should especially check out the Sunday napkin fonts – real art. I am inspired to buy some paper napkins and draw on them. I will do that, and save them for a dinner party we will have someday.
I linked this image to the creator's website...where on earth does .ua reside?
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Carmen
Well, first, I remember Modelinia from Kdukes. My first reaction to it was that there was alot of good information on there that I could definitely use in my day to day life. As well as – I like looking at models. You can’t get away from that because its your brain drawing you to it. Its millions of years of evolution behind that. I’m not sure what to tell you about your revulsion. And frankly, we are suckers because thats why we were going to try washing our face with aspirin right? Of course, we haven’t gotten around to that…yet.
Secondly, I’m truly not sure that I have any kind of good font aesthetic or not. I know that I hate Curlz and I know what I think is pretty (hello napkin!) but I’m not at all sure that I can pull off being cool about fonts. I think I’ll leave those conversations to the professionals.
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Emilily
Good morning!
How was your dinner party? I was bummed last night that I was missing it, but in retrospect, it is probably good I did not stay…it is “that time” again, and my god am I evil right now. I almost killed someone at work yesterday…but then I couldn’t decide who should be first.
This article I read in the New York Times this morning was pretty interesting, but the most intriguing part was mention of this program called 23andMe. Basically, they offer discounted genetic testing, with the caveat that your DNA is mapped and all your results go into their data bank. I did some internet research (always reliable) and read that it is funded by Google*, which fascinates me. I can understand if it was funded by some random medical organization or a wealthy mad scientist, but Google? The big-brother-conspiracy-inspiring search-engine wizards? The whole concept just went from mostly innocuous to sinister, and undoubtedly very well organized. I was going to say we should do it, but then discovered that the stupid Times made a typo, and the discounted tests are $999, not $99. So until the price goes down, I’m keeping my DNA to myself…although now we know, I would part with it, and a C-note, in exchange for some probably useless medical trivia.
*Here is the footnote to that asterisk: 23andMe is not actually funded by Google, but it was founded by the wife of the founder of Google. Which means it’s sleeping with Google, but not on the official payroll.
(I feel like there should be a picture in this post, but I have nothing relevant banked. I guess there doesn’t always have to be a picture in the post…I just feel it makes it slightly more interesting to look at. I spent a few minutes trying to think of a picture that might illustrate discounted DNA testing, and came up with nothing…or, nothing appropriate, at least.)
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Carmen
Bode’s Galaxy…
This can be seen by the naked eye, living in the constellation of the Great Bear. Only 11.6 million light years away! There’s gotta be some aliens in there.
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Carmen
The crossroads where Japanese history meets deep space…
I read this article a while ago and have been thinking about it ever since. It describes how these researchers, using a variety of telescopes pointing into deep space, found an object that they can’t explain. But they do know some very interesting tidbits about this object that make it very intriguing. For example, they know that it is one of the oldest blobs that they have been able to capture on film. They say that this object existed when the universe was only a little baby – 800 million years old. To state this one assertion, however, brings up a whole host of questions. Like, really? You know how old the universe is? And I know this is a widely accepted theory (that the universe had a beginning) but I’m not on board with this theory just yet. So, they are very surprised to see something so bright at such a stage of the universe. And this is another interesting tidbit – this “stage” of the universe is commonly known as a transition point in the evolution of the universe called the “reionization epoch”. (what!) Yeah. Put that in your long term memory just in case you play a game of Trivial Pursuit – Universe Edition. OH! and here’s where it meets Japanese history – they named this blob Himiko after a mysterious Japanese Queen. And thats all they had to say to get me to look her up. Apparently she ruled her particular kingdom through shamanism and sorcery! Of course, details are kind of spotty because she lived so very long ago (yeah, just like the blob!). And keep in mind the intrigue doesn’t stop there – just imagine that this picture of Himiko is reaching you after travelling across space for 12.9 billion light years! Imagine what it looks like now…woah.
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Emilily
That was an awesome article. There are SO MANY concepts there I could ponder on for hours! My favorite was when the guy said “The farther out we look into space, the farther we go back in time.” What a great way to conceptualize the fourth dimension (time still is considered the fourth dimension, right?) It just makes sense! A one dimensional line increases into a two dimensional plane, which then increases into a three dimensional shape, and if you increase three dimensions far enough, you get closer and closer to a four dimensional space…although I guess we are always moving in the fourth dimension…but in a straight line, maybe traveling through deep space is like traveling through the fourth dimension in something other than a straight line…whoa. That makes a telescope the closest thing we have to a time machine.
Or, wait, maybe this one is my favorite “…according to the concordance model of Big Bang cosmology, small objects form first and then merge to produce larger systems…” Okay, for lack of my knowledge of any alternative, I can go along with that, but what if this Himiko blob IS a small object? What if it only looks large to us because we only have the things within our current reach to compare it to, maybe on the scale of the rest of the universe, the Himiko blob is a brand spankin’ new teeny tiny speck?!
I’m going to go read that article again.
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Carmen
Yeah! Thats what i’m saying! Maybe we should get this book about the TEN dimensions so we really know what we’re talking about. http://www.tenthdimension.com/flash2.php
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Emilily
I think we’ve looked at this book before. According to the psychobiologist who reviewed, we should read this, and I am inclined to agree with psychobiologists. We should read it at the same time so we can discuss it.
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Emilily
ethics shmethics
Did you read the article in today’s Daily Galaxy yet, the one about improved memory? Fascinating stuff, however, what is the deal with this quote: “A team of scientists at the Spanish University of Malaga were working with rat brains, because of the combination of ethics and wimpiness that prevents human trials.” I mean, haven’t we been saying all this time, we’re ready already? I am going to be so bummed when I am 90 and the youth of tomorrow is getting all these biological and/or genetic enhancements and I’m stuck living out my golden years in a rocking chair on some shady porch with this completely obsolete 21st century brain I was born with. It’s rubbish.
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Carmen
I know, I think in order to be considered for human trials we need to avail ourselves to other countries. And then, I would be too scared. So, I guess this law of not doing scientific research on humans is probably there for a reason. But, as far as I know, there is no law against doing scientific research on your OWN brain! Now where did I put that RGS-14 for my V2 secondary visual cortex…
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Emilily
Gadget mania
In our pursuit of a functional magazine, to supplement our consumption of fashion magazines and websites, which have loads of pretty pictures interspersed with a small amount of intellectual drivel, I wanted to share Wired magazine’s product review page with you. Although I think I actually need all of these products, the reviews are thorough and comprehensive. And the products are awesome: power tools galore (plus that lovely toolbox pictured at left), a portable microwave oven, a toilet-paper holder/iPod dock, and something I didn’t even know I needed until now, the Dyson Motorlight Floorlamp.-
Carmen
Sweet! that floor lamp is only $1000!
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Carmen
I want one.
Yes please! Is there some way I can volunteer for this?? Sounds like Sci-Fi but researchers are trying to insert a third strand of DNA into our standard double-helix. I totally want one. (warning: you might have to read this article slowly to understand what they are talking about)
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Emilily
Whoa. That was interesting. I made the mistake of reading the Scientific American article it was based on, and now my head hurts. I kind of got lost around page 4, but I do know a lot more about genes now – what a fascinating field of study! In conclusion – I’m sold, let the human experiments commence!
This just goes to show that Science Fiction really should be renamed Science That Just Hasn’t Happened Yet, or Future Science.
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Emilily
I want one of these
8 GB of Bond-worthy shininess
I have a La Cie “Rugged” external hard drive already, which I am very happy with. For something more portable, I love the design of this La Cie “I am a key” flash drive.
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Carmen
ooooh, thats pretty. I want one too. Not that expensive!
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Carmen
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Emilily
Hmmm. I can see how this would be very very bad. I looked it up, and apparently there’s some cool new lightening prevention technology! The article is not that interesting, but their description of what this thing does is kind of intriguing: “Unlike antiquated lightning rods, which collect and direct lightning at a site, charge transfer technology prevents direct strikes by reducing the local electrical field to below lightning-collection potential.”
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Carmen
Whole body nervous system scan…
I thought this article was pretty fascinating. Not necessarily because they have figured out how to do something never before done – map the entire nervous system of the body – but more because it describes in detail how an MRI machine works! What an amazing invention.
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Emilily
I would very much like to read about how an MRI works, but first let me say OH THANK GOD THAT SCROLL BAR IS GONE.
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Emilily
A few things for you this morning
First, awesome: superpowers, nearly. I am not kidding when I say I would be willing to test like a robotic third arm or something to see if my brain could figure out what to do with it.
Second, here’s a joke I read in Maxim:
What’s the number one most effective pick-up line?
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Carmen
Sweet! Ok, i haven’t read the MIT article yet but I agree, I have often wished that I could insert electrodes into my brain and zap it in a few places just to see what happens. Did I send you the article on the Deep Brain Stimulation therapy going on right now (mainly in Europe)? They are using it to treat stuff like OCD and Depression and there is no invasive instruments just very concentrated waves. I’ll send you the article later.
Also, Wired, ok. lets do it. I think Max has a bunch of back issues i could read to see if I’ll like it but if you say its good then I believe you!
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Carmen
Not sure how he does it…
Tree is talking to me
Thats a big nest!
close up
Portal to parallel universe
I'm gonna live in there
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Emilily
Art we should see
Patrick Dougherty
So I was looking at more nature art, Patrick Dougherty in this case, and decided I wanted one of these in my house. I mean, we could make that, right? They look so graceful and serene, and I imagine they smell like a perfect blend of fresh dirt and old paper. I read an article here, and it mentioned some of his recent installations, one of which I had seen and didn’t know it: the redesign of the Max Azaria store on Melrose, which was right by Danny and Amy’s house. Anyways, there’s an installation of his in San Francisco that will be up until November 2009, so maybe we should check it out? It’s at the Joseph L Alioto Performing Arts Piazza – do you know where that is?
Emilily is discussing. 
Carmen is discussing. 
Olga are discussing. 
mia, and 
Ma, 
Emilily 10:57 am on October 12, 2009 Permalink
I agree. Dumb. It is a little better if you turn the volume off, and waaay better if you turn the volume off and just leave it on pause when the screen looks like this…