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Einstein on Bees: Not so much
During the recent kerfluffle about colony collapse disorder, several sources have noted Einstein's dire warning to humans, that the demise of bees would signal the end of humanity. Well, according to Snopes, Einstein never said it. Or at least, status is undetermined. It gets dated to a 1994 protest in Brussels by Beekeepers:
The beekeepers' warnings had some heavyweight expert support. A pamphlet distributed by the National Union of French Apiculture quoted Albert Einstein. "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live," Einstein was quoted as saying. "No more bees, no morepollination ... no more men!"
At any rate, it's probably not cellphones. Just a parasitic fungus. We should've just looked in the hive medicine cabinet.
Do you like movies about Gladiators?
The Telegraph reports that a recently-discovered mosaic is a portrait of Russell Crowe's character from Gladiator. Except his name is Montanus, not Maximus, making me think it's Al Pacino's character from Scarface.
Postcards from paleofuture
Here's what they thought 2000 would look like, in 1900 Germany.
Big Lebowski Action Figures
This is too cool. Of course, they'll need some more toys to go along:
- Jackie Treehorn's Malibu Estate Playset
- Dude's car with embankment damage decals
- Nihlist figures with motorcycles, cricket bats, marmot*, and girlfriend with detachable toe
- Action Maude with painting sling
Via Uncrate.
*the marmot is actually a ferret.
A graphical dissertation on Mims' "This is Why I'm Hot"
if p->q, and q->p, !p->!q and !q->!p. I think that's it in a few lines. The Village Voice carries out a longer analysis. And here's the song, if you're not already hepped to this fly groove.
Via Metafilter.
Cho's Mephistopheles
Religious expert Oral Roberts thinks the devil made Cho do it. That in and of itself is unremarkable. The fact that it's the subject of a serious Fox news article?
If they're going to be fair and balanced, they should get the devil's opinion, shouldn't they? Where's Jon Lovitz when you need him?
In the year 2000...
Predictions about the 21st century from Ladies Home Journal, in 1900. Via kottke.
The world of wal-mart
A map showing where Wal-mart products come from. Via Consumerist.
Where's the money going?
Throwing things has the dirt on who's backing whom in Hollywood.
A few reminders from the IRS
From Publication 525:
Illegal income. Illegal income, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
Bribes. If you receive a bribe, include it in your income.
Kickbacks. You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or similar payments you receive in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
São Paulo ditches ads
Due to a dispute on where particular ad content could go, the city is now free of ads. How do they know what to buy?
Via boingboing.
Don Lancaster's Guru's Lair
Some people are dilettantes, and some people become an expert in a single topic. Don Lancaster is neither. He is a tinkerer by nature, but he masters a strange handful of specialties, including, in his website's words:
Along with Don's eclectic coverage for Acrobat and PostScript, his Incredible Secret Money Machine, his guidelines to Avoid Patent Ripoffs, doing your own Book-on-Demand publishing, or getting great surplus Live eBay Auctions and Test Equipment bargains, exploring Hydrogen energy or Bezier Cubic Splines, trashing Pseudoscience, going on a Tinaja Quest, exploring new Magic Sinewave ventures, learning PIC Microcontrollers, or exploring InfoPack research, superb Partnering opportunities, Santa Claus Machines, Water Soluble Swimsuits, or Wavelets, Books, Flutterwumpers, Fonts, and Webmastering.
Plus annotated links to many thousands of websites and related resources. All based on the premise that if Don personally uses them and is interested in them, others are also likely to.
Note that this isn't a blog; it's entirely Web 1.0 in its layout and organization. Easily forgivable, since Don's been tinkering before you were born. As one Metafilter commenter mentioned, the website has the feel of a scientist's notebook.
Dems, RIAA? please.
If we wanted corporate interests to run rampant over consumers, we'd be Republicans. I swear to Zeus I'll vote for Nader again if you keep this shit up.
When leading and following both suck, obstruct.
How bad a Republican president do you have to be, before Lee Iacocca hates you?
Bill's head asplode
There are very few people who cause me to root for Geraldo, but this clip of him and Bill O'Reilly screaming at each other is pretty goddamn funny.
Communist Robot
The name's a little misleading. They're worried about the coming robot communist threat, not robot communists themselves. But for all your robot, space, and fusion news, it's the place to go.
Nine Great feature films under 90 minutes
For those nights when you don't get to blockbuster until 10:30.
Keeping morons off the Internet
Sure you can ask users to type a few letters, to make sure they're not robots. But what if you want to screen against morons?
Defective Yeti presents Internet Access CAPTCHAs.
Today on Smallist
How to decide which books to throw out. Army Man Alphabet. Metagenomics. Get thee to Smallist!
The Secret 2007 = Janis Joplin 1967
Those who do not study history are doomed to be the subject of 40-year-old jokes.
 |  | Jerry Adler of Newsweek notes that despite the film's allusions to conspiratorially suppressed ancient wisdom, the notions presented by the motivational speakers who make up the film's cast have been commonplace for decades. Adler notes that the film is ethically "deplorable," fixating on "a narrow range of middle-class concerns — houses, cars, vacations, followed by health and relationships, with the rest of humanity a very distant sixth." Noting that the scientific foundations of the movie are clearly dubious, the Newsweek article quotes psychologist John Norcross, characterizing it as "pseudoscientific, psychospiritual babble." | Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV? Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town? |
