Archive for May, 2008

Opposite Absolutes

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If, as theists argue, a materialistic world view (whether or not you base it on evolutionary theory, which arrived fairly late in human history) means that we don’t have to believe in, and have to live according to, "moral absolutes," it by no means follows that we therefore believe in and follow "opposite absolutes." It doesn’t mean that we have to live as sociopaths or become the henchmen for atheistic dictators ready to kill innocent people, as Ben Stein apparently argues in his film Expelled (which I haven’t seen). The whole idea of "moral absolutes" sounds incoherent to me any way, because it provides no guidance when one moral absolute comes into conflict with another. [transsurvivalist]

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Posted: May 9th, 2008
at 2:07am by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: myninjaplease,life,film,science

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Are we sending the right message to ET?

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It’s midnight on a far-flung planet and some alien astronomers happen to have their radio telescopes pointed right at Earth, when they get a tiny spike in RF power - it’s a message! Quick, decode it. What’s it say?

It’s . . . it’s . . . an advertisement for Doritos. Beamed across the cosmos. On purpose.

No joke. Doritos’ latest effort will see the UK public trying to come up with the winning 30-second spot that evidently will represent humanity’s first interstellar ad campaign. With that universal fame, the winner will collect the tidy sum of 20,000 GBP.

In June, the ad will be broadcast using the high frequency radar telescope at the EISCAT Space Centre in Svalbard, Norway. It’ll be aimed toward the "habitable zone" around one of the stars in the Ursa Major constellation, one of our best candidates for an untapped populace of snack food consumers.

But it’s 42 light years away. By the time they get the message and pop over, just think of all the Doritos flavours there will be.

OK, OK, so everybody loves a good PR stunt. Admittedly it could be more enticing than the heady stuff we’ve been pumping out until now, or nothing at all. And I’m as compulsive a Doritos eater as the next guy (or the next seagull).

But we are, conceivably, talking about the first impression we are going to make on an alien population. Couldn’t we advertise something more representative of our cultures, our hopes and dreams and interplanetary worthiness? Like Spam? Corn dogs? Help me out here. After June the marketing floodgates shall be open forever - what do you think we should be pitching to the universe at large?

Jason Palmer, New Scientist intern
(Mashup by danp)

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The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever (colour)

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Posted: May 8th, 2008
at 10:05am by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: youtube,music

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Foto del dia 5.8

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Posted: May 8th, 2008
at 10:01am by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: foto del dia

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Sneak preview: Method Man’s graphic novel

HOW THE HELL DID A LEVIATHAN GET IN CITY SEWERS?" An important question a€" and there are few people I’d rather help me answer it than the Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man. Luckily, Mr. Mef is addressing this very issue in the new graphic novel he’s written with David Atchison and artist Sanford Greene. Titled simply Method Man, it won’t be on sale ’til July. But I’m lucky enough to have an eight-page excerpt sitting in front of me right now, and a€" well, let me just see if I can communicate a small taste of its awesomeness to you.

Okay, so, there’s an evil sea monster dwelling in the underground sewer system of "One Bad Ghetto, USA." And man, did that thing pick the wrong kung-fu-obsessed rapper to mess with. In the excerpt, Method Man a€" er, his thinly veiled alter ego, mystical detective/"murder priest" Mosley Paine a€" accidentally discovers it swimming around. (This would be when he produces the exclamation that opened this post.) Paine pumps a few bullets into the beast… and then the excerpt cuts off. Right in the middle of the action!

Now I’m fiending to read the rest of the story, not to mention the separate graphic novels that Wu brothers GZA and Ghostface Killah are reportedly working on as well. Who’s with me? And is it too much for me to ask that Meth record a new tune to soundtrack his monster-slaying adventures a€" a RZA-produced epic sampling Radiohead’s "Fog" (a.k.a. "Alligators in New York Sewers"), perchance? [popwatch.ew]

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Posted: May 8th, 2008
at 9:41am by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: celebrity,mnp is for the children

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Birding in Burma : ’09

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Posted: May 7th, 2008
at 1:49pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: green,web,science,10th dan

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How to make a kite

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Posted: May 7th, 2008
at 1:45pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: hood status,games,weaponry,design,boredom killer,diy

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Fastest Lawnmower in the World

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Posted: May 7th, 2008
at 1:29pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: youtube,green,whips,weaponry,fo' real?,9th dan,science,"ninja"

Comments: 1 comment


Tim Maia (Telefone)

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Posted: May 7th, 2008
at 1:23pm by Koookiecrumbles


Categories: youtube,music,cell phones

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