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PBS: Dogs Decoded
Every dog owner thinks he knows how his or her canine companion thinks. I doubt that many dog owners already know everything covered in this single one-hour program on PBS’s Nova series, (re-)broadcast last night. Here’s a brief intro: Watch Dogs Decoded on PBS. See more from NOVA. Sample tidbit: genetically, via mitochondrial DNA (passed down, [...]
Something in the Air
[Image: at left, all the Earth's water collected into a single ball, about 865 miles in diameter; at right, all the Earth's atmosphere in a single ball, about 1240 miles in diameter, assuming sea-level pressure. (source)] From whiskey river: One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am — a [...]
Make Your World
[Above: an image designed to induce binocular rivalry: an attempt by one's senses to forge a single thing from two conflicting images. See here for instructions on how to use.] From whiskey river: When you have lived as long as I, you will see that every human being has his shell, and that you must take [...]
Knowing What You’re Looking At
[Image: graffiti artist Bansky visited a subway archway in central London, adding a caption to a wall which just happens to fall within the view of a surveillance camera.] From whiskey river: All men, at one time or another, have fallen in love with the veiled Isis whom they call Truth. With most, this has [...]
Spacestruck
[Video: "Golden Record," a "collage/montage" of the contents of the so-called "golden record" sent into space with the two Voyager interstellar spacecraft. For more information, see the note below.] From whiskey river (italicized portion): Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book or The Strange Case of the Self, your Self, the Ghost which Haunts [...]
What You Miss When You Don’t Look Up… and Don’t Stand Still
At the page at the Popular Science site where I first saw this video, the author says: The video below was captured by Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile’s Atacama Desert. And it might make you cry. What makes this time lapse particularly amazing [...]
“An Echo That Did Not Die Away”
[Image: a communications "satelloon." For more information, see the note at the foot of this post.] From whiskey river: There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. You may have noticed that [...]
Spark of Interest
[Video: "Musical Tesla Coils: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies." For more information, see the note at the foot of this post.] From whiskey river: What is it that you contain? The dead. Time. Light patterns of millennia opening in your gut. Every minute, in each of you, a few million potassium atoms succumb to [...]
How to Stupefy a Small Dog
[Image: not The Pooch. Depicts the desired outcome, however.] In the Harry Potter wizarding universe, most spells are cast using incantations of a vaguely Latin(ish) form: Cruciato! Expecto patronum! Wingardium leviosa! and so on. The sole exception which I can think of off the top of my head: Stupefy! When cast in magical combat, you [...]
Landscapes, Perceived
[Image: a view of the Preseli Hills in north Pembrokeshire, West Wales. See the note below for more information.] From whiskey river: Landscape and Soul Though we should not speak about the soul, that is, about things we don’t know, I’m sure mine sleeps the day long, waiting to be jolted, even jilted awake, preferably [...]
