Category Archives: Fun

A live performance by Johannes Moller from a concert in the Vasteras Concert Hall, Sweden, May 2005 :

Saw the movie over the weekend. Mrs.Coturnix and Coturnietta read the first book (Coturnietta is now reading the second) so we went together.
I am a horrible movie critic – I usually kick back, munch popcorn, and enjoy every piece of crap on the screen. Heck, I love B-monster movies.
So, back to Twilight – first, it was obvious it was a movie made after a book:
– it was too long (Hollywood makes them 90min by design)
– it was choppy and the story was overcomplicated (Hollywood makes simple storylines by design)
– it was missing relevant information, probably something explained in the book, but not possible to turn to the screen.
OK, so this place is, like, in the middle of nowhere and has population of 1200 and some change. That ‘change’ must be the few adults, as the high school looks like it houses about 1200 students (it was actually a Seattle suburb school where it was filmed), so almost all inhabitants must be high-schoolers.
For a place that small, the school is amazingly big, clean, bright and well-equipped. For a place that small, the diversity is amazing – just the right mix of whites, blacks, Asians, Native Americans and vampires. For a place that small, stats would suggest a total of about 2-3 prettier-than-normal people, but here, every single person is gorgeous – every guy is super-handsome and every woman is stunningly beautiful. Nobody’s fat. Nobody’s ugly. Nobody’s just, you know, normal!
Also, the movie is constantly reminding us how the two main protagonists are hawt, and self-aware about their hawtness, and self-confident about their hawtness, and too busy with their adventure to pay much attention to the mere mortals around them. But there was just a small hint (the scene in the biology lab in which they won an onion) that they are also very smart and educated. I asked Mrs.Coturnix and she confirmed that the books stress this a lot, while the movie completely omits their intelligence.
I checked the IMBD afterwards to see who all those super-beautiful actors were as only one or two seemed familiar. Apparently they all have nice long careers on TV (which I don’t watch), the guy who plays Edward also plays Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter movies, the actor who plays the Dad was in a lot of B movies, and the main actress played the daughter as a kid in Panic Room which I loved (so I could not recognize her at all). Apparently, the two main actors each got $2mil for this movie, and will get $12mil for the second one.
Oh, but I loved it, did I tell you that?

You will have to go here to read them.

Go here to find out how to make paper Darwin, Einstein, Sagan and more….

Can be yours:

[Excerpt from here]

With nunchacks, of course:

This image came from the website of Eshel Ben-Jacob a Professor of Physics and artist. You can see more fascinating science-related images on the Seed Portfolio page – there are bacterial colonies growing into strange shapes, amazing flight patterns of birds, close-ups of hairy insects, etc, well worth your time.

Remember the mirror?
Well, having Tanja’s art made on order is not the only option any more. She has just opened her online store.
And if you come to the ScienceOnline09 you’ll get to meet Tanja in person as she is one of the moderators of the How to paint your own blog images session.

…to this day, every time I walk through the front door, I say, I ALWAYS say: “Honey, I’m home!”

After making several potential designs in silico, my daughter chose one and we carved it. In order to participate in the Happy Hallo-Meme, we brought out the camera – first picture immediately after, the second once the darkness arrived and we lit up the candle inside:

Of course, Juno in costume was a hit with neighbors….

….using the Pumpkin Simulator:

What is the mathematical description of the treshold point at which any old generic FAIL suddenly becomes Epic FAIL? Is there a similar curve (EWRC) for WIN?

How to ROFL:

Zadi Diaz is the co-creator and host of EPIC FU (which also has its own blog):

The cover graphics designer at Nature is not going to sleep very well tonight (and will, in the future, always open up the mag to see both the front and back covers at the same time), after making this gaffe:

Here:

Apparently not – it won’t embed so check it out at the link above…

Under the fold….

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Under the fold….

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Under the fold….

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What Happens When You Go Number 2 in Space?:

[Hat-tip]

Don’t click on “Play”! I warned you. Don’t blame me if you cannot sleep for a week trying to get rid of this old pernicious ear-worm:

A Chicago Tribune reporter travels to an Illinois farm to literally try to put lipstick on a pig:

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From http://www.ImprovEverywhere.com, 16 agents create a spontaneous musical in a food court in a Los Angeles mall. Using wireless microphones and the mall’s PA system, both their voices and the music was amplified throughout the food court. All cameras were hidden behind two-way mirrors and other concealed structures.
This is one of over 70 different missions Improv Everywhere has executed over the past six years in New York City. Others include Frozen Grand Central, the Best Buy uniform prank, and the famous U2 Rooftop Hoax, to name a few. Visit the website to see tons of photos and video of all of our work, including behind the scenes information on how this video was made.

Totally awesome: Dimensions:

Nine chapters, two hours of maths, that take you gradually up to the fourth dimension. Mathematical vertigo guaranteed!

Hat-tip: quixote

But, how many fonts are out there anyway?
Or perhaps Nature is secretly diversifying its operations 😉
But what would be the formula for calculating Impact Factor of pet food?
d = maximal distance of projectile vomiting
t = time between the onset of feeding and onset of projectile vomiting
m = total mass of vomited material as percent of ingested food
k = coefficient that normalizes the pet size to 15kg regardless of the actual size of the animal.
So, how does one plug these values in?

My favourite discipline is citation gymnastics! What is yours? Can you invent a new sport?

Remember when I wrote about Squishables?
They have arrived! Left to right: puppy, panda, penguin and hedgehog (guess what is whose):

There is this food meme going around everywhere, so I checked out what Chad, Archy, Mark CC and Rev. BigDumbChimp picked. I have to admit I had to use Google for a lot of these, often realizing that I have, indeed, tasted some of these but under a different name. Different people do it differently, i.e., adding comments, or bolding those they tried, perhaps also italicizing those that they tried and spit in disgust. Here is my list with comments:
1. Venison (deer and elk). Yes. Very tasty.
2. Nettle tea. Yes. Not very tasty, but OK.
3. Huevos rancheros. No. Mexican food is too new and unusual for me.
4. Steak tartare. Yes. Excellent.
5. Crocodile. No. But alligator tasted just like chicken.
6. Black pudding. Yes. Under the name “krvavica”. Never liked it too much, though.
7. Cheese fondue. Yes.
8. Carp. Yes, many times, many species.
9. Borscht. Yes. Did not like it.
10. Baba ghanoush. Yes. It’s OK.
11. Calamari. Yes, many times with several different recipes.
12. Pho. Yes, or at least something very similar.
13. PB&J sandwich. No. Probably the biggest surprise to my readers. In my mind, peanuts are salty nuts. Cannot be sweet goo. Thus, never tried peanut butter in my life. Have not even seen it until I was in my late teens.
14. Aloo gobi. No. But I had caulfilower in various other recipes.
15. Hot dog from a street cart. Sure.
16. Epoisses. No.
17. Black truffle. No. I guess I would remember if I did.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes. Yes. Real blackbery wine.
19. Steamed pork buns. Yes.
20. Pistachio ice cream. Yes.
21. Heirloom tomatoes. Yes.
22. Fresh wild berries. Yes. Many kinds – raspberries, straweberries, blackberries, blueberries, all found in the wild.
23. Foie gras. No. Duck and goose livers – yes. Duck and goose pate – yes.
24. Rice and beans. Yes.
25. Brawn, or head cheese. Yes. Love it.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper. No, but many other kinds of very hot peppers.
27. Dulce de leche. No.
28. Oysters. Yes. Do not like them.
29. Baklava. You know wher I am from! Of course!
30. Bagna cauda. No.
31. Wasabi peas. Wasabi in a kind of paste, yes, but in a shape of peas, no.
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl. Not as a combo. I’ve had them separately. Do not like clam chowder, love other soups in a sourdough bowl.
33. Salted lassi. No.
34. Sauerkraut. Of course – remember sarma? We had that stuff in various recipes all the time.
35. Root beer float. No.
36. Cognac with a fat cigar. Not at the same time. But yes.
37. Clotted cream tea. Nooooo!
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O. No.
39. Gumbo. Yes.
40. Oxtail. Yes, many times, love it. The best part of cow for tender beef.
41. Curried goat. Yes.
42. Whole insects. No.
43. Phaal. No. Would like to try.
44. Goat’s milk. Yes.
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more. I did not care about the price at the time….
46. Fugu. No.
47. Chicken tikka masala. Yes.
48. Eel. No.
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut. Yes.
50. Sea urchin. No.
51. Prickly pear. Yes.
52. Umeboshi. No.
53. Abalone. No.
54. Paneer. I doubt it. Possible.
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal. Yes.
56. Spaetzle. Something similar under a different name, yes.
57. Dirty gin martini. No.
58. Beer above 8% ABV. Yes, of course, many times. Scroll down to the last picture for one.
59. Poutine. No.
60. Carob chips. Yes, it’s not chocolate.
61. S’mores. No.
62. Sweetbreads. No.
63. Kaolin. No.
64. Currywurst. No.
65. Durian. No.
66. Frogs’ legs. No.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
68. Haggis. Yes, under different names: svargla, kishka, drob.
69. Fried plantain. No.
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette. Actually no. One of the dishes that was a delicacy my Mom fixed for guests, but I had a sandwich instead.
71. Gazpacho. Yes, do not like it.
72. Caviar and blini. Yes, but not at the same time.
73. Louche absinthe. No.
74. Gjetost, or brunost. Yes, the Swedish version.
75. Roadkill. No.
76. Baijiu. No.
77. Hostess Fruit Pie. No.
78. Snail. No.
79. Lapsang souchong. Yes.
80. Bellini. No.
81. Tom yum. No.
82. Eggs Benedict. Yes.
83. Pocky. No.
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. No idea. Probably not.
85. Kobe beef. Yes – oxtail Kobe beef! (see #40 above)
86. Hare. Yes. Also rabbit.
87. Goulash. Haha! This is a family of goulash-fixing competitions!
88. Flowers. Yes. I had no idea they were just decorations on my plate! On the other hand, cauliflower is a flower. And rose preserve is from a flower. And so is elderberry juice.
89. Horse. Yes, not just testes of horses I knew, but also grilled horse steaks and horse sausages.
90. Criollo chocolate. No.
91. Spam. Yes, many times.
92. Soft shell crab. No.
93. Rose harissa. No.
94. Catfish. Yes, both the American and European species (very different).
95. Mole poblano. No.
96. Bagel and lox. Yes.
97. Lobster Thermidor. No. Just steamed lobster.
98. Polenta. Yes, almost every Sunday morning when I was a kid.
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. No.
100. Snake. No.
Others have added some more – Archy:
101. Moose. No.
102. Bear. Yes.
103. Caribou. No.
104. Retsina. Yes.
105. Cevapcici. Yes, of course.
106. Postum. No.
107. Fried halibut cheeks. No.
108. Cracklings. Yes, from several species (pig, goose, duck…)
109. Injera. Yes.
110. Home brewed wine or mead. Yes, often.
Rev. BigDumbChimp:
101. Elk. No.
102. Ostrich. A burger once – did not like it.
103. Moose. No.
104. whole hog BBQ. Yes.
105. wine that costs more than $400.00 a bottle. Probably not.
106. Home made bacon and sausage. Yes.
107. chocolate and chiles. No.
108. chittlins – see above.
109. moonshine (of many different varieties). Yes.
110. quail eggs. Yes. And grilled bobwhite quail and Japanese quail.
Mark CC:
1. Monkfish liver: No.
2. Live scallop: No.
3. Fried chicken giblets. Yes.
4. Duck cracklings. Yes (see 108 from Archy above).
5. Grappa: Yes.
How about a few more by me:
1. Rocky Mountain oysters. Yes, including from stallions (well, at that point they were geldings) I used to ride.
2. Sarma (see above)
3. Slivovitz. Of course.
4. Pig-on-a-spit. Often.
5. Moussaka. Yes, a couple of different recipes – love it!
6. Djuvech. Of course.
7. Boiled knees, hooves (sometimes in pihtije/brawn)
8. Halvah (white, brown or mixed)
9. Flambeed walnut crepes.
10. Tulumbe
11. Ajvar
12. Burek
13. Kitnikes
14. Tufahije
15. Floating Islands

Do you think we can smuggle Juno into the movie theater to watch this with us:

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You know I like the guy. So I laughed when I saw this cartoon (via):

There are lots of meetings and events this week….
The biggie this week is, of course, SciFoo, the third iteration of the most amazing meeting of scientists, techies and other interesting people who tend to think outside the box. I never hid my disappointment that my last year’s participation did not lead to a repeat invitation this year. Perhaps next year….
For those in the Bay Area at the time, both those arriving a couple of days early for SciFoo and for those who live there, there is BioBarCamp which is described as an “unconference focused on life sciences, biotechnology, synthetic biology, personalized genomics & medicine, bioinformatics, do-it-yourself biology and related topics.” Scroll down to see the impressive list of participants. Watch that site over the next few days – there’s bound to be some kind of aggregation of blog-posts and other coverage.
Or, if you are in NYC this week and are into food, you can meet Michael Pollan:

“In case you’re in the area this coming Friday evening, I’m speaking at PS-1 in Long Island City. It’s a free event sponsored by the New York Horticultural Society in conjunction with a group show they’ve mounted at the UBS galleries on 52nd Street, a show that was in part inspired by The Botany of Desire and includes a painting by my wife Judith Belzer. Hope you’ll pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. Best, Michael
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and The Horticultural Society of New York present:
Michael Pollan
“Taking the Plant’s Point of View”
Friday, August 8, 2008
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
6:30PM: Exclusive HSNY members reception
7:00PM: Doors open to the public
7:30PM: Talk begins
Visit http://www.hsny.org for more details.”

Or, if you are in NYC this weekend and would like to meet the SciBlings – well, you sure can.

(thanks Sara Aton)

At Stripped Science. Here is one (I guess this is within the Fair Use principle, you’ll have to click on the link and go there to see the other strips):