Song of the weekend: two minutes of pure genius

Well, 2'11" to be precise. This is Lyndsay Buckingham (I'll never understand the unisex names in English). He is one fourth of Fleetwood Mac. Given this song, I can say he is one of the best quarters...


Did you like it?

The "most controversial" math problems

I like lists, that tell you 5, 10 or 11 things or events that were the most, the least, the best, the worst... I simply love them. This one is close to my heart. We already covered The Monty Hall problem here (post is in Spanish but video is in English)... but the rest are quite cool to read. The slideshow link is here.

Nothing to do with maths... or does it?

Which did you find the most interesting?

Chewing-gum portraits. No, not the way you think!

This crazy genius woman grabs chewing gum on the street, gathers the DNA in the dried saliva and matches them with the archive of faces according to genetic types... as a result, she finds what the person that was chewing the gum looks like!

Some examples of faces built with gum-found DNA
I thought it was all bollocks until I saw her self-portrait using this method... and it's quite accurate!

Similar?
So the next time you throw your gum on the street, be careful: you may be the (unwitting) subject to an experiment!

Fantastic: cartoonist draws himself in 100 different cartoon styles!

This animator called Kevin McShane, decided to take a self-portrait and copy it in the style of 100 cartoons. I think some of the drawings are amazing, and the whole concept is quite original (despite essentially being 100 copies!).

In the style of Peyo (Smurfs).
The originals here. Which one did you like the most?

Espectaculares timelapses

La revista TIME (online, porque ya no hay más en papel) publicó estos timelapses, powered by Google. Muestran varios lugares en el espacio de varias décadas. Me parecen geniales.


¿Cuál les gustó más? A mí el de Dubai.

Public service: for your tie-knotting needs

Yes, I know. You couldn't sleep for the past 2 weeks because you have an interview and you want to impress your future boss. Sapioblog to the rescue! This knot, called the Eldredge Tie Knot, will give you the edge you need to nail that mofo down. I don't wear a tie to work, but now I know this knot, damn I want to bring one.


You're welcome.

Science Saturday: Richard Dawkins on evolution

He is arrogant. He is a bit upfront. And, I have to say, I like him. (Not least because of his plum Brit accent).  And in this video, he talks about his passion - evolution. It's a short 20 minutes.


You have to admit: he doesn't mind calling a spade a spade.

Song of the weekend: a fantastic, gritty ballad

I tend to like these songs, that are dark, honest and open, with a fantastic melody. It also helps if the lady in question is "easy on the eye" (come at me, feminists!).



I heard this on a taxi and I couldn't get it out of my head. Also, the lyrics are quite poignant. Me likes. You?

If you are a parent you HAVE to see this

This Tumblr blog, called Reasons my Son is Crying, is self-explanatory. The author posts photos of his son(s) and adds below the reasons why they are crying. It's hilarious and it hits home with parents and parents-to-be.

Original caption is: "I washed the dirt and sand off his pear".

Did you like it?

The "Rupert's Drop" mystery, solved

I didn't know this, but apparently if you drop a blob of molten glass into water, what's formed is called "Rupert's Drop". It is nearly impossible to break directly (with a hammer or such) but if you actually just cut the tail or nick it, boom goes the whole thing. Quite interesting.

 

This video shows some examples in fantastic slow motion, and explains very didactically how it happens. Worth a watch.

Did you like it?

Public service: shave like a man

Almost all of us use those disposable razors, that make us feel like lesser men. Enough! This video shows how you can become a man's man, a ladies' macho, a chauvinistic pig... er, no, cross out the last one. What was I saying? Oh, yes. Check the video below to learn how to shave... using old technology.


I, for one, am tempted to try. Anyone with experience to enlighten the rest of us?

Story of the week: another cliffhanger by the master

I really loved this story. Its in crescendo, its vivid images of the decrepitude of old age, the way he weaves the thoughts and words. I couldn't put this short story down.


As usual, after the break. Let me know what you think.


The real Batman!

So this guy did this. He put on a batsuit and flew through a small hole on a cliff. This beggars belief, but it looks like it actually happened.


I thoroughly recommend you put this video on full screen!

Science Saturday: relation between science and values

Sam Harris, one of the four "Horsemen of the Apocalypse", deviates here from his usual atheist talks, and goes into describing the relationship between science and values. It ends up in religion, of course... but it takes some time to get there!


I really like his style. Did you like it?

Song of the weekend: f*ck helicopters, man

The title of the post reflects a comment from this YouTube video that is very appropriate to what I feel. You see: Stevie Ray Vaughan, the genius who had taken the mantle of Jimmy Hendrix, and who is the author and performer of the video below, died in 1990 in a helicopter crash going to a concert (where Eric Clapton was also scheduled to play).

The below is one of my favourites from SRV, Pride and Joy.



Do you like this song? Which is your SRV favourite?

This is why I love Google

Well, one of the reasons. Go here and enjoy... and then realize, it's a Google Image search!

Ideal for a rainy afternoon
How many minutes did you waste on it?

Scared pilots are bad news

The thing I fear the most is Panic.

Pilot panic to be precise. This article -which reads like a thriller- has a fabulous minute-by-minute description of what brought down Air France's flight 447 in June 2009. As you may remember, the plane vanished at some point in the mid-Atlantic, en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro. The account is based on the conversations between the pilots which became available after the black boxes were found almost 2 year after the crash at a depth of 4,000 metres (an event which we covered here - in Spanish).

True, the plane was caught in a very nasty storm and there were a couple of technical issues, but what brought this ultra-modern jet down was nothing more that old fashioned pilot panic. Scary concept...

Amazing Chuck Norris GIF

When you get a Chuck Norris GIF, you don't need anything to add. You just post it. Especially when its awesomeness is infinite.


Did you like it?

A little extra after the break.

Story of the week: teen angst

Interesting story by Joyce Carol Oates about a fifteen-year-old and the growing crescendo of tension that her angst brings upon her.

Both the girl and the camel liked the story.
As usual, after the break.

The beauty of geometry

So there's this process called "Moebius transformation" which essentially maps one point to another, through four possible types of movement: translation, dilation, rotation and inversion. This video shows them in a fantastic, absolutely stunning way. I thoroughly recommend it.


Did you like it?

Science Saturday: if you need to do only one thing today, watch this video!

An absolutely amazing video of the heartthrob physicist Richard Feynmann (whom we've introduced here) talking about things that are fun to imagine in physics. Probably the best of all the videos I've posted here.



It's one hour but it goes really quickly. Did you like it?

Song of the weekend: two fantastic modern orchestra performances

Today I want to leave you with two amazing orchestra performances. One comes from a movie, 28 Days Later, and it featured in a Louis Vuitton ad:


The other featured in a Giorgio Armani commercial, and is also amazing:



Which one did you like the most?

How do men, real men, split Oreos?

With the hands? No, of course not. That's for lesser men! Real macho men build a gun and shoot them, like we can see on this hilarious and unmissable video from the Slingshot Channel (sic) below:



Fantastic, I love the guy is German, fits the stereotype to a T. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a gun to build.

Trading up from one red paperclip

The title is not an exaggeration. The creator of this blog, had an idea: to start from a red paperclip.

This red paperclip.
From there, to get something better. The catch? He would do it only by trading (up). What did he end up with, after only 11 trades? This.

Pretty nifty, huh?

Of course, he now owns an agency and speaks in public events (as he well should).

Did you like the story?

The 5 deadliest substances on Earth

I only knew the first one, the top one, the incomparable botulinic toxin, but I was still surprised to find out about its power. Wow. The other 4 were very interesting as well - you'll find out, for instance, why you shouldn't give honey to babies younger than one.



Did you like it?

The story of the week: a very short story that won a prize

The winner of the National Short Story Prize in 2006 is this (really) short story by James Lasdun, which is actually quite vivid. I like stories that don't overcomplicate things too much, and this one hits the spot.

Related.
As usual, after the break. Tell me if you liked it!


The new planking is here and it's way cooler

It's from Japan, it's called "Makankosappo" (ok, it's not very catchily named), and it represents a super-power being put in place by the person in the middle. It's amazing and much more fun than planking and (god forbid) the "Harlem Shake".


See more (and the website) after the break. Shall we start it in our cities?

Science Saturday: have you heard of Paul Dirac?

I hope you have. He was the holder of the Lucasian Chair (a honour previously held by Newton and, after Dirac left, held by one Stephen Hawking). Here you have a 1-hour lecture on quantum mechanics that is quite interesting. It's in 4 parts (when finishing the below you'll find the links for the others).



Let me know if you liked it!

Song of the weekend: amazing opera singer

In The Magic Flute by Mozart, there is one aria "Der Holle Rache" which is known to be one of the most technically demanding. Look how Erika Miklosa sings it almost effortlessly. I still get the goosebumps every time I hear this.



Did you like her? I mean, did you like it?

The magnetic blob is here to eat us!

(If by "us" you assume elements made of ferromagnetic metals). Look at the below, it's a putty with grains of magnets dissolved into it - and it's effectively "eating up" the ferromagnetic cube.



A mazing. Isn't it?

Soon... soon...

Soon robots will start to talk. So far, as the video below shows, they're not there with their vocalization yet (see what I did there?).




Did you find it impressive, or not yet?