Cold Turkey: By Kurt Vonnegut. Intro: "Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace. But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America’s becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. [...]"
Link Junko Mizuno's graphic novel 'Hansel & Gretel': Her version of the famous fairytale features "pigs that slice and sell meat off of their own stomachs, girls that grow spinach out of their heads, and a Hansel with a tuna can strapped over his mouth." Interesting. To quote the homepage: "Meet Hansel. Meet Gretel. She's a little bit loudmouthed and aggressive, he's a little bit brainy and pudgy. And everything's fine in their tiny mountain hamlet--Dad's on medication, the local barber's selling diet food, and there's croissants for everyone--until one day a tiny lady shows up...and something goes horribly wrong in Hibari-cho. Can Hansel & Gretel save the day? This comic book is recommended for mature readers."
Link Dont Get High Without It: The Vaults of Erowid supplies the ultimate trip buddy: information: Erik Davis wrote an article about culture jamming and online drug info for the LA Weekly (April 30, 2004).
Link "Cinema and Desire" brings together a selection of essays by Dai Jinhua, one of the People’s Republic of China’s most prolific film and cultural studies academics. This collection will certainly make her important critical voice more widely heard within the English-speaking world.
Link Smart music system skips to chorus: Song analysis could replace fast forward button. Quote: "Sick of hitting fast forward to find your favourite bars of a song? A Japanese researcher has invented a new programme that can jump straight to the chorus or verse."
Link monochrom content update // Condolence For A Crab: A tragic confrontation between robotics and undersea life forms. We fixed the guestbook trouble that Joey (thanx!) reported.
Link Restoring Our Cultural Mammary: Russ Kick recommends a recent study: "Women of the 1600s, from queens to prostitutes, commonly exposed one or both breasts in public and in the popular media of the day, according to a study of fashion, portraits, prints, and thousands of woodcuts from 17th-century ballads. The finding suggests breast exposure by women in England and in the Netherlands during the 17th century was more accepted than it is in most countries today. Researchers, for example, say Janet Jackson's Super Bowl baring would not even have raised eyebrows in the 17th century."
Link Women Outspend Men on Electronics: Quote: "The newest innovation to hit the electronics industry doesn't involve technology; rather it's who's buying the products. Women are actually out-spending men in the electronics aisles, accounting for fifty-five-billion dollars' worth of sales last year alone. More women are focusing their purchasing power on electronics."
Link Is Lars von Trier’s 2003 film "Dogville" a meditation on Matthew 11.20–24? Quote: "I submit that Dogville makes more sense and is meatier when seen as a religious film rather than a political one, the unfortunately crude and literal closing credits notwithstanding. But as a religious work of art, Dogville is a rare breed today—unapologetically moralistic, and displaying and justifying the most unpopular Christian doctrine of all—Hell."
Link Rare Creature Discovered: A tiny, orange-coloured, rodent-like mammal was found by a joint US-Filipino team of biologists at a burnt forest clearing on Mount Banahaw, south of Manila.
Link Naoto Hattori: DaddyD recommends the homepage of Naoto, a Japanese artist who has studied in New York: "I could describe the works in the galleries as being intriguing, but that is so noncommital, I will just let you draw your own conclusions."
Link New monochrom content // monochrom's Massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network: The principle of thumb-wrestling is simple. Two players take each others right hand and entangle their fingers - except the thumbs - forming a fist. The players then try to catch and freeze the opponent's thumb.
By forming a star, it is also possible to play the game with three or four participants. The left hands are also free to hook up with even more players. Again a connection with up to 4 players is possible. By Massive Thumb-Wrestling according to the rules described above unlimited amounts of players can connect to join a Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network. As the number of players is unlimited, global thumb-wrestling may emerge through self-sustaining peer-to-peer networks and ad-hoc socializing. Join the community! Link Remembrance Of Smells Past: Smells trigger memories but can memories trigger smell, and what does this imply for the way memories are stored? A UCL study of the smell gateway in the brain has found that the memory of an event is scattered across sensory parts of the brain.
Link When movies and plays set out to shock and awe, minor details like, oh, plot and acting can be left in the dust. Quote: >We are what we see. In an entertainment culture suffused with spectacle, the desire to be dazed, dazzled, carried away and left speechless has never seemed more compelling. In movie houses and theaters, rock concert arenas and horse-filled tents, visual amazement abounds and overwhelms. Language, lyrics, character and narrative make way for sensory superabundance. Buffeted by world events too menacing to fathom, we've become eager, wide- eyed witnesses, our faces longingly pressed to ever larger windows. We want to be enveloped and transported by intensity now, not merely diverted. Consider some of our current fixations. The two most-discussed movies of the season, Mel Gibson's flesh-flaying "The Passion of the Christ" and Oscar behemoth "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," depend dominantly on their overpowering imagery. Their stories aren't so much dramatized onscreen as dynamically, hyperbolically illustrated.<
Link Survival of the Smallest: Mini-Microbes Redefine Extreme Living: A world of mini-microbes discovered deep under ice in Greenland reveals apparent survival skills that could come in handy on Mars or other extreme worlds: Get small and hang in there.
Link Venus clouds 'might harbour life': Article by Martin Redfern. Venus's thick clouds may be able to support life, scientists think. There could be life on the planet Venus, US scientists have concluded in a report in the journal Astrobiology.
Link Regarding the Torture of Others: Read Susan Sontag's piece on the images from Abu Ghraib, published in New York Times Magazine. (via bb)
Link The Duckomenta: The Wall Street Journal Europe wrote: "This Exhibit Is No Featherweight, so You Better Duck." And DaddyD wrote: "More Kitsch unless of course, you don't happen to be an art critic, in which case it might be something else. I don't really know. I do know that there are some pretty nifty works put together here. I am sure you can all agree with me that a life size duck mummy is just the thing every household needs. I want a job with interduck." I have to go there!
Link Science, and fiction: Article by Sandy Starr. Quote: >A vision of the White House being destroyed by aliens in Roland Emmerich's 1996 blockbuster Independence Day wowed moviegoing audiences around the world. Emmerich could not have anticipated that following the attacks of 9/11, Independence Day would be held up as an example of Hollywood's irresponsible habit of revelling in spectacles of destruction. Now, a chastened Emmerich brings us a new blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow, which depicts a form of apocalypse that is more acceptable to current sensibilities - environmental disaster. Independence Day was an unashamedly silly film, aspiring to little more than to entertain. The Day After Tomorrow, however, is being touted as carrying a serious message about climate change. Emmerich says 'the threat of global climate change is the only problem big enough to force all the countries of the world to stop fighting and work together to save the planet'. The studio behind the film has organised special preview screenings for scientists, and has successfully sparked off a serious debate in scientific circles about the scenario that the film depicts.<
Link Dust rocks martian river theory: Signs of water may really be slumping sand. Quote: "Gullies on Mars that appear to have been carved by flowing water could instead have been created by landslides of dry powdery material, scientists have found."
Link Bigfoot's Achilles heel: Quote: "Some call it Sasquatch. Some call it Yeti. Some call it Bigfoot. Some call it a guy in a gorilla suit. Bob Heironimus, to be exact. Heironimus of Yakima, Wash., says he wore a gorilla suit to help make America's most famous Bigfoot film. North Carolina costume maker Philip Morris says he made the suit and sold it to Roger Patterson, who made the movie."
Link A true scientific breakthrough: the blue rose: It is the "Holy Grail" of horticulture and soon it could make the perfect present for Mother's Day: scientists have found a way to produce a blue rose.
Link Visonary Computers May Put Hockey On Cell Phones: They may never appreciate the poetry of a sprawling glove save, or the thrill of an overtime winner, but computers are a step closer to 'seeing' the sport of ice hockey, thanks to research at the University of Calgary.
Link Library of Living Philosophers: Intro: >The basic idea for the series, according to Professor Schilpp's general introduction to each of the earlier volumes, came from the late F. C. S. Schiller, who declared in his essay on "Must Philosophers Disagree?" (in Must Philosophers Disagree? London: Macmillan, 1934) that the greatest obstacle to fruitful discussion in philosophy is "the curious etiquette which apparently taboos the asking of questions about a philosopher's meaning while he is alive." The "interminable controversies which fill the histories of philosophy," in Schiller's opinion, "could have been ended at once by asking the living philosophers a few searching questions." And while he may have been overly optimistic about ending "interminable controversies" in this way, it seems clear that directing searching questions to great philosophers about what they really mean or how they think certain difficulties in their philosophy can be resolved while they are still alive can produce far greater clarity of understanding and more fruitful philosophizing than might otherwise be had.<
Link The Man Who Saved the World Finally Recognized: Half an hour past midnight, September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov saw the first apparent U.S. nuclear attack launch on his computer monitor at the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) command and control post.
Link Tzadik is dedicated to releasing the best in avant garde and experimental music, presenting a worldwide community of contemporary musician-composers who find it difficult or impossible to release their music through more conventional channels.
Link Chandra Opens New Line Of Investigation On Dark Energy: Dark energy. Does it exist, and what are its properties? Using galaxy-cluster images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have applied a powerful, new method for detecting and probing dark energy.
Link Offshoring the Audience: If France makes movies for the French, and America makes movies for the world, who's left to make movies for America? Quote: "Here, alas, is the virus laying waste to modern Hollywood movies. What do, say, the Batman and Matrix pictures have in common, besides banality? Just for openers, insipid, infrequent dialogue. Why take the trouble to bang out good lines—supposing one can—if they’ll only be mistranslated for their real target markets, abroad? Both these movies could have been silents if they weren’t so loud. They’re overbearing, carelessly told, and gang-written into incomprehensibility. Small wonder they were tepidly welcomed in the United States. Americans at the movies are guilty of the same mistake in the early twenty-first century that grown-ups made at the movies in the 1980s: supposing that the pictures are made for them."
Link Meet the World's Most Perfect Mutant: Armand Marie Leroi, author of Mutants: On the Form, Variety & Errors of the Human Body: "I have met the World's Most Beautiful Woman." There is a picture.
Link Look forward to a darker world: Intro: "It's official: the world is getting darker. Scientists now agree that as cloud cover and particles in the atmosphere increase, the amount of radiation reaching us from the Sun is falling. And although they are nervous about raising the idea, they think the effect may help protect us from global warming."
Link UFO Antenna Is A Sponge: Quote: >The USNS Eltanin, an ice breaking cargo ship, was launched and acquired by the US Navy in 1957. [...] On 29 August 1964 [...] the Eltanin took the photo shown here. [...] Scientists then on board were unable to identify the strange object, which lent it an aura of mystery. [...] In articles about Undersea UFOs, Brad Steiger called it a 'strange machine' (SAGA, June 1968) while Ivan Sanderson called it a 'complex antenna'. (ARGOSY, March, 1970) Since then it has become a 'Grid Pole' reference point for Egyptian pyramids; the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC; the Orbital Period of Sitchin's Annunaki Planet Nibiru; free energy; the Philadelphia Experiment; Ley Lines; Gematrian Numbers & Numerology in general; Anti-gravity; Soybean Circles in Ohio .. and more .. to nanometers accuracy! Sadly, the "Eltanin antenna" is a sponge.<
Link Derelict London is an unusual photographic portrait (of over 600 pics). It is not a compilation of familiar tourist sights, as another of those is hardly needed, but depiction of an (often un-picturesque) view of everyday life in London.
Link Did a 'Verneshot' See Off the Dinosaurs? Dinosaurs might not have been the victims of a giant asteroid after all. They could have been blown out of existence by an almighty underground explosion with the energy of seven million atom bombs.
Link Fact via Fiction: Stories that Communicate Science: Paper by Aquiles Negrete. Intro: "What are the possible outcomes of science and art interaction? How should science be communicated? Can we remember scientific information included in fictional stories? Can we communicate science through literature? What are the differences of learning through factual texts versus fictional stories? How is science credibility affected when information is communicated in a fictional narrative way? These are some of the questions that inspired this research."
Link Internet Implorer: Internet implorer is a work of the German web artist group rolux.org. The application implores Internet web pages in a very, very white way. The Implorer gradually empties web sites by replacing all texts and images with blank fields, thus wiping out the whole content. On an aesthetical basis, especially commercial web space really looks great.
Link Anti-Vaccination Fever: The Shot Hurt Around the World: Article published in Skeptical Inquirer, January 2004.
Link monochrom content update // Somewhere in the 1930s. Speechballoon on everybody’s poster: We now ship overseas.
Link Four Air Fix Kits: Art? Definitely. Air Fix Kits for: "Depression" / "Sexual Harassment In the Workplace" / "Dysfunctional Marriage" / "Adultery".
Link Critical Questions Towards a Naturalized Concept of Karma in Buddhism: Paper by Dale S. Wright (Department of Religious Studies, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California). Abstract: "In an effort to articulate a naturalized concept of karma for the purposes of contemporary ethical reflection, this paper raises four critical questions about the Buddhist doctrine of karma. The paper asks (1) about the advisability of linking the concept of karma to assurance of ultimate cosmic justice through the doctrine of rebirth; (2) about the effects of this link on the quest for human justice in the social, economic, and political spheres of culture; (3) about the kinds of rewards that the doctrine of karma attaches to virtuous action, whether they tend to be necessary or contingent consequences; and (4) about the extent to which karma is best conceived individually or collectively. The paper ends with suggestions for how a non-metaphysical concept of karma might function and what role it might play in contemporary ethics."
Link Decoding Schizophrenia: A fuller understanding of signaling in the brain of people with this disorder offers new hope for improved therapy.
Link Workplace drug testing and the detox industry: Article by Kenneth D. Tunnell. There is little evidence to suggest that drug testing is effective in controlling drug use in the workplace, and critics question whether a substantial problem, commensurate with such initiatives, exists or has ever existed.
Link Very Unnatural Organism Created: Bacteria that live in the gut have been modified to use a 22-amino acid genetic code rather than the normal 20.
Link The e-Skeletons Project website enables you to view the bones of a human, gorilla, orangutan, and baboon and gather information about them from our osteology database. (via J-Walk)
Link Your Duty To Phone In Sick: Everything they told you is wrong. Working long hours in a depressing job is not in accord with the idea of a "free market". But phoning in sick is in accord... The time has come for people to understand the true economics of sick days. (via J-Walk)
Link City Jumper: If your personal fetish is a longing to jump over buildings -- you're perfectly right here.
Link Aussie Sea Crater May Explain Big Extinction: A giant submerged crater off the Australian coast could hold the key to the biggest extinction event in Earth's history -- the so-called 'Great Dying' 250 million years ago.
Link A Home Test for Parallel Universes: Article by Sam Sachdev. Intro: "When you think of a parallel universe, do you think of a universe, or a world, similar to ours but different in some fundamental quality. Bill Clinton, for instance, is a happily celibate priest. Or George W. Bush delights his fellow Mensa members, at parties, with his verbal games. Or, perhaps, you only have a science-fiction quality vagueness to what you think of a parallel universe: pointed ears, warp-drive through worm holes, and form fitting Lycra body suits on a thin, well-groomed crew. A parallel universe, it may surprise you to learn, is actually detectable in your own home, office, or almost anywhere indoors. All that’s required is a red laser pointer, a pin, and a piece of paper."
Link Private spaceship almost in space: A privately built manned spacecraft has reached a record altitude of 211,000ft (64km) over California on one of its final tests before officially entering space.
Link Kill Bill: Volume 2: Mommy Kills Daddy. Tarantino finishes his therapy session by showing Uma what it means to be a natural woman. And, this time, it’s a Western!
Link Study In Flies Allows Researchers To Visualize Formation Of A Memory: For the first time, researchers have used a technique called optical imaging to visualize changes in nerve connections when flies learn. These changes may be the beginning of a complex chain of events that leads to formation of lasting memories.
Link This Day in Alternate History: Quote: "Did you ever wonder how differently things may have turned out if one particular historical event hadn't happened the way it did? What if JFK hadn't been assassinated? What if FDR had been? This web site gives you a chance to see speculation about what might have happened. Or if you have your own ideas this web site gives you a chance to share them. The site calendar has an alternate timeline for every day of the year. Most are based on actual historical events from our own timeline, some are completely made up. Some are major events, some barely qualify as minor."
Link New monochrom content // Mobutobe: In the last months monochrom members in Vienna were pestered by ultra-right anti-abortionists and eco-fascist animal rights groups (comparing animal farms to concentration camps). So we started "Mobutobe", the citizens' initiative for the accomplishment of total population. Next time these groups try to harass us, we will give them some of our flyers. That means hitting the anti-abortionists with radical over-affirmation and the eco-suckers with cynical maximation. Wrooam!
Link Fabulous add-on to the coca-cola post: Another exhibition on the brown fizzy product, or in fact its yellow sister Fanta. The concept behind it is to expose that "Coca Cola's German wing (Coca Cola GmbH) worked with the Nazis, developing Fanta (a leading Coke brand) specifically for the Third Reich Market amongst other things". The historical background is sourced on the website, but not too well actually, so I strongly advise to do your own research. Interesting nonetheless.
Link New monochrom content // Coca Cola: Our little installation about Coca Cola, history and foreign markets.
Link Library of Alexandria discovered: Boing Boing links to a BBC story about the discovery of what archaeologists believe to be the site of the Library of Alexandria, often described as the world's first major seat of learning. Comment for Saganites: They illustrate the article with a picture of the computer model that was created for the first episode of "Cosmos".
Link Over the Limit: Neil Bartlett recommends this article: "Nice analysis of how loudness as a music company policy trend is ruining modern CDs and, in this case, the music of Rush. Also contains an excellent analysis of the history of volume normalization in modern CD recording."
Link To the Moon: Did you know the first Earth Creatures to reach the Moon were not American Astronauts, but Soviet Turtles? Excellent moon mission fact collection. Quote: "Recent discussions about restarting Manned Exploration of the Moon deserves some reflection on historical Lunar Missions. In all, since the first serious try in 1958 (USA's Pioneer 0), men have attempted 105 missions to the Moon, with two more slated in the next couple of years. [...] Of these 105 attempts, only 46 completed their missions successfully. Americans launched 44 missions (with a 64% success rate), the USSR attempted 59 missions (with a 34% success rate). Japan has successfully launched one probe, with two more to come, and the ESA has a single probe en route to the Moon by 2005."
Link Small, Frequent Doses Of Caffeine Best Strategy For Staying Awake, According To New Study: Quote: "Caffeine is the world's most widely-used stimulant yet, scientists still do not know exactly how it staves off sleep. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and other institutions have now discovered that caffeine works by thwarting one of two interacting physiological systems that govern the human sleep-wake cycle. The researchers, who report their findings in the May issue of the journal Sleep, propose a novel regimen, consisting of frequent low doses of caffeine, to help shift workers, medical residents, truck drivers, and others who need to stay awake get a bigger boost from their tea or coffee."
Link Without Sanctuary: Searching through America's past for the last 25 years, collector James Allen uncovered an extraordinary visual legacy: photographs and postcards taken as souvenirs at lynchings throughout America.
Link New monochrom content // The Engine Hood Cookies: Finally some pictures of our little cooking cooperation with Angela Dorrer.
Link "Pansies don't float" – gay representability, film noir, and The Man Who Wasn’t There: Analysis by Vincent Brook and Allan Campbell. Quote: >Roderick Jaynes is the pseudonym employed by the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen to disguise the editing of the films they otherwise produce, direct, and write together under one or both of their given names. The use of this fictive persona (a source that dares not speak its name) in regard to the neo-noir ultimately released as The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) is doubly ironic. Here it foregrounds a similar subterfuge of identification in the film itself, a subterfuge that has gone largely unnoticed or at least not remarked on in the discourse surrounding the film. As for the working title, "not to float" suggests submersion, something kept beneath the surface, and what in a Hollywood film is more likely treated as submerged ("subtextual," if you will) than the representation of a homosexual? Yet "Pansies Don’t Float," like "Roderick Jaynes," both shrouds and reveals, for, as we will show, more than one "pansy" (beyond the secondary character openly disclosed as homosexual) lurks beneath the surface of The Man Who Wasn’t There. Besides "outing" none other than the film’s protagonist, and assessing the significance of his "closeted" gayness, this essay will analyze the relation of homosexual submersion to film noir as a genre specifically, and to the issue of "gay representability" in American commercial cinema as a whole.<
Link The discarded Lemon: Kant, prostitution and respect for persons: Timothy J. Madigan thinks Kant's duty-based ethics could approve of prostitution.
Link Mortality And Mercy In Los Angeles: Article by by Michael Healey. Intro: >"You're judging this shit the wrong way," says Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in the final scene of Pulp Fiction. He could be speaking to the hundreds of commentators on the film in 1994, when it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and did unprecedented business for an independent release. Critics gushed, fans memorized profane speeches, and armchair editorialists, denying that a film that takes such delight in cinematic surfaces could be anything but superficial, lamented the sorry state of contemporary culture. Although much was made of Pulp Fiction's energetic style and imaginative recasting of genre elements (especially those of Westerns and films noirs), the picture's traditionally "serious" aspects were all but lost in the shuffle.<
Link God, Send a Realistic Tech Flick: Comment by Kristen Philipkoski. Quote: >In movies, anyone who dares to use a newfangled technology to "play God" almost always opens the "gates of hell."<
Link When There's No More Room in Hell: Zombies and Post-Sept. 11 Horror: Article by Tony Nigro. Intro: "The Dawn of the Dead remake could not be timelier. The incumbent presidential candidate plays the "war president" card as the death toll continues to rise at alarming rates in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. Tragedy lingers in Spain, and assassination has escalated the ever-present tension between Israelis and Palestinians. Real-life horror is out there in spades. Meanwhile, an unassuming zombie movie remains in the box office Top 10 for a month. Call it the residue of fear, confusion and divisiveness."
Link Oral sex lessons to cut rates of teenage pregnancy: Quote: "Encouraging schoolchildren to experiment with oral sex could prove the most effective way of curbing teenage pregnancy rates, a government study has found. Pupils under 16 who were taught to consider other forms of 'intimacy' such as oral sex were significantly less likely to engage in full intercourse, it was revealed."
Link Brickfilms: Intro: >We are a community dedicated to the art of stop motion animation. Our main focus is the animation of plastic building toys, or bricks (LEGO, Mega Bloks, Best-Lock etc), which we call "brickfilms" (these films are also commonly called "LEGO Movies"). We also encourage other forms of animation, including 3D and Flash. On this site you will find a searchable directory of hundreds of films, contests, a busy forum, and great resources to help animators of any level in the creation of their movies.<
Link Makeover-o-Matic: To quote DaddyD: "They have a really nifty toy. It's called the Makeover-o-matic and with it's help I was transformed form a bland and slightly scary middle-aged freak into a glamorous and completely horrifying mystery maven in a few short minutes. I personally found the Cameron Diaz haircut with a bit of blush and eye shadow to be the most complimentary look I was able to conjure, although I have to admit it brings to mind certain nirvana videos that I haven't seen in ages."
Link What causes hiccups? William A. Whitelaw, a professor in the department of medicine at the University of Calgary, explains.
Link monochrom content update // 452 x 157 cm^2 global durability: Our collection of milk Tetra Pak covers -- the ultimate form of PopArt -- is still growing.
Link EU Council Plans to Scrap Parliamentary Vote without Discussion: Quote: "The EU Council of Ministers is demonstrating that the concept of democracy is alien to the EU. This Wednesday, the Irish Presidency managed to secure a qualified majority for a counter-proposal to the software patents directive, with only a few countries - including Belgium and Germany - showing resistance. The new text proposes to discard all the amendments from the European which would limite patentability. Instead the lax language of the original Commission proposal is to be reinstated in its entirety, with direct patentability of computer programs, data structures and process descriptions added as icing on the cake. The proposal is now scheduled to be confirmed without discussion at a meeting of ministers on 17-18 May, unless one of the Member States changes its vote. In a remarkable sign of unity in times of imminent elections, members of the European Parliament from all groups across the political spectrum are condemning this blatant disrespect for democracy in Europe." (via Henso)
Link Rasterbate your image: Quote: "The Rasterbator is a web service which creates huge rasterized pictures out of relatively small image files. The pictures can be assembled into extremely cool looking posters up to 5 meters in size! Enter the gallery to see what the images look like."
Link Arrows of Time: Quote: "On June 17th, every year, the family goes through a private ritual: we photograph ourselves to stop a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by."
Link A sense of no place: Article by Tom Bradley. Quote: "I was born downwind in Utah in the heat of the aboveground hydrogen bomb test era. There's a projected mass die-off of Utahns my exact age, of thyroid cancer, due to commence any day now."
Link Scientists Confront 'Weird Life' on Other Worlds: What are the limits of organic life in planetary systems? It’s a heady question that, if answered, may reveal just how crowded the cosmos could be with alien biology. A study arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council (NRC), has pulled together a task group of specialists to tackle the issue of alternative life forms -- a.k.a. "weird life".
Link Enforce correct shitting! And of course it costs $119 plus $13 shipping. Quote: "Use the natural squatting position safely and comfortably with Nature's Platform. [...] Two-thirds of humanity use the squatting position to answer the call of nature. In those cultures, appendicitis, diverticulosis, hemorrhoids, colitis, prostate disorders and colon cancer are virtually unknown ... Learn why. [...] Guaranteed to support a 300-pound man or woman -- comfortably."
Link Cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis) is [...] a fungus that "fruits" out of the head of dead worms or insects. [...] In 1993, the women athletes of Chinese National running team achieved nine world records at the World Track and Field Meet in Germany. One of them broke the record for the 10,000 meter-run by an astounding 42 seconds. What was their secret? They gave credit to an intense training schedule and the use of Cordyceps.
Link Fugazi live series: Everybody loves Raym...Fugazi, right? Well, they have recently started to go through their own massive library of recorded live-shows and now offer a selection for sale for a fantastic price. It's official and it's not a rip off, not to mention that it's good, therefore it's Fugazi. 20 shows are on the list so far, and they say it will grow. They rule.
Link Milky Way spiral gets an extra arm: The map of the Milky Way is being redrawn, following the discovery of another arm of the galaxy. The structure consists of an arc of hydrogen gas 77,000 light years long and a few thousand light years thick running along the galaxy's outermost edge.
Link Artcoup: Boogie gives us nice b/w-photographs on diverse subjects such as Ethnography, Skinheads, Street and Crack, shot in Europe and the US.
Link Satellite data confirms climate change: Article in Nature by Quirin Schiermeier. Intro: "For years, climate researchers have struggled with an apparent discrepancy in the data on global warming: temperatures in the lower atmosphere have been rising far slower than models predict, given how fast the Earth’s surface is heating. The discrepancy has been central to the arguments of sceptics about global warming. But according to a study in this issue of Nature it can be explained by interactions between the troposphere - the first 11 km of the atmosphere - and the stratosphere above it."
Link Internet gift economies: Voluntary payment schemes as tangible reciprocity: Analysis by Kylie J. Veale. Intro: "The Internet today is a mix of the ‘free and the fee’, though it still remains in part a gift economy. Personal and organisational sharing of free information, products and software continues to flourish as a circle of gifts for returned intangible reward. Though a perceived lack of these rewards, due in part to an inability to quantify them, has resulted in givers seeking more for their efforts. What are their revised motivations? What now are their rewards? Confronted with this development, I suggest their rewards are voluntary payments as forms of tangible reciprocity. This paper therefore outlines the Internet as a gift economy. It suggests a conceptual path through gift economy principles to reveal voluntary payments as tangible reciprocity. It also documents an analysis of voluntary payment schemes as evidence of operationalising tangible reciprocity. I also introduce monetary, content and purpose gifting mechanisms as tangible reciprocity."
Link Milkmaid of Human Kindness: Pissamai Trapsukhorn, 71: 'I realized that I had supernatural breasts after I had my last child ... and I continued lactating. I sought the advice of a foreign dharma master ... and he explained to me that I had supernatural breasts.'
Link The giant squid is not especially choosy when it comes to sex and will mate blind without checking if the object of its affections is male or female.
Link Guinness Book of Wanks: What can I say....a 26-year-old's attempt to get into the book of records by "24 hours of uninterrupted onanism" failed. Bless.
Link Streetphotography: -sounds very stupid, but the concept is as beautiful as it is simple. Have a look at the photo-of-the-month section, it's worth it.
Link For reasons of flash-loveliness: And not, I repeat, not for the sake of me wanting you to buy a car. I personally don't like cars, but the following work is devine:
Link Woof: Dog is a bounty hunter – "with over 6,000 captures Dog is the modern-day Billy The Kid!". Look at him. Is he a clone of Chuck Norris? Dog makes it clear he’s not messing, with 'Dogisms' including: "Six men can carry you or 12 men can judge you. You decide!"
Link Hot to Get Real: Is Postmodernism finally on its deathbed? Roger Caldwell examines the evidence and takes a look at its would-be successor: Critical Realism.
Link Scientists sight 'dinosaurs of the deep' as African waters reveal new secrets: German and South African scientists last week discovered more living specimens of a so-called Jurassic Park-style "living fossil" off the coast of Zululand than in any previous sightings.
Link Warner Bros Cartoons Filmography: When Johannes posted the suicidal Mickey Mouse strip I remembered a webpage I found a while ago. A massive resource for those interested in the old WB cartoons from 1929 to 1964. Impressive.
Link Delectable, Not Deletable: A visit to the Spam museum. Quote: >Just off Interstate 90, across the street from Johnny's Restaurant, a local greasy spoon, you'll find the world's first--and likely last--museum dedicated solely to Spam. No, not the annoying e-mail messages in your inbox. I'm talking about the "miracle meat" in a can your grandma used to make you eat.<
Link New monochrom content // Doormat: Never before have I come across an incarnated metaphor of the perfidy of capitalism more beautiful than this one. A rant.
Link Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures: This is a dictionary of algorithms, algorithmic techniques, data structures, archetypical problems, and related definitions. Algorithms include common functions, such as Ackermann's function. Problems include traveling salesman and Byzantine generals. (via annelogue)
Link Mickey Mouse Trying to Commit Suicide: Back in the olden days (first published in daily newspapers from October 8th to 24th, 1930) Mickey Mouse had real-life problems, like his lady friend going off with a rat called Slicker. So he spends a week trying to kill himself.
Link [The Archives] 
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. . monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
[more] Booking monochrom: [Europe] [USA] External monochrom links: [monochrom Wikipedia] [monochrom Flickr] [monochrom blip.tv] [monochrom GV] [monochrom Youtube] [monochrom Facebook] [monochrom iTunes] [monochrom Twitter] 
[ P r o j e c t s ] Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 2 / The Adventure Game Krach der Roboter: Hello World! Slacking is killing the DIY industry (T-Shirt) Carefully Selected Moments / CD, LP Freedom is a whore of a word (T-Shirt) International Year of Polytheism 2007 Santa Claus Vs. Christkindl: A Mobster Battle Kiki and Bubu and The Shift / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Self / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Good Plan / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Feelings / Short film / Short film Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 1 / The Adventure Game I was a copyright infringement in a previous life (T-Shirt) Firing Squad Euro2008 Intervention I can count every star in the heavens above -- The image of computers in popular music All Tomorrow's Condensations / Puppet show The Redro Loitzl Story / Short film Law and Second Order (T-Shirt) They really kicked you out of the Situationist International? When I was asked to write about new economy Arse Elektronika 2007, 2008, 2009 etc. The Void's Foaming Ebb / Short film The Charcoal Burner / Short film Fieldrecording in Sankt Wechselberg / Short film Campaign For The Abolition Of Personal Pronouns Entertainment (Unterhaltung) / Short film Nicholas Negroponte Memorial Cable Experience the Experience! (West Coast USA/Canada Tour 2005) A Holiday in Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Metroblogging Every Five Seconds an Inkjet Printer Dies Somewhere 452 x 157 cm² global durability Blattoptera / Art for Cockroaches An attempt to emulate an attempt The Department for Criticism against Globalisation Disney vs. Chrusov / Short film Turning Threshold Countries Into Plows Roböxotica // Festival for Cocktail-Robotics Cracked Foundation For The Fine Arts Oh my God, they use a history which repeats itself! (T-Shirt) Administrating:  . . . . . |
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