1906 San Francisco Earthquake Photos Blended With The Present Day
A very cool gallery of photos that blends in the present day with that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Archive for August, 2012
Aug 31
“Chore list of champions”, a letter by Kurt Vonnegut – 1947
Here’s a wonderful little nugget by Kurt Vonnegut, a sort of Bill of Rights for the chores of a husband around the house. It was written in 1947 during the time his wife was pregnant with their first child.
I, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., that is, do hereby swear that I will be faithful to the commitments hereunder listed:
I. With the agreement that my wife will not nag, heckle, or otherwise disturb me on the subject, I promise to scrub the bathroom and kitchen floors once a week, on a day and hour of my own choosing. Not only that, but I will do a good and thorough job, and by that she means that I will get under the bathtub, behind the toilet, under the sink, under the icebox, into the corners; and I will pick up and put in some other location whatever movable objects happen to be on said floors at the time so as to get under them too, and not just around them. Furthermore, while I am undertaking these tasks I will refrain from indulging in such remarks as “Shit,” “Goddamn sonofabitch,” and similar vulgarities, as such language is nerve-wracking to have around the house when nothing more drastic is taking place than the facing of Necessity. If I do not live up to this agreement, my wife is to feel free to nag, heckle, and otherwise disturb me until I am driven to scrub the floors anyway—no matter how busy I am.
The letter will be published in an upcoming book called “Kurt Vonnegut: Letters”, a collection of his letters. This letter can be read in full at Harper’s Magazine online.
Central America’s Largest Garbage Dump
A photograph like this really does put life into perspective. It’s also so hard to see people living like this.
Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012: ‘The Gift of Apollo’ from ‘The Sagan Series’
Neil Armstrong died today. He was as true of a hero as there ever was. This video of Carl Sagan narrating footage from the Apollo years is a fitting tribute to Armstrong’s accomplishments.
A Map Of 149 Years of Hurricane History: 1851-2010
Here’s a really cool map of 159 years of hurricane data. It’s not complete, but a pretty comprehensive one for sure. What I want to know is how they tracked hurricanes in 1851. I assume there were stations on various islands in the Atlantic and the data is nowhere nearly as complete as we have today, considering satellites and other technology. I also love how this map has Antarctica at its center.
Dazzling Map Shows More Than 150 Years of Hurricanes | Hurricane Map | LiveScience.
Miss The Typewriter? Use Now With Your iPad
For those that really miss typewriters but can’t live without modern technology.
Martian Rock Tweets As It’s Obliterated By Curiosity
How would you feel if of all the rocks on the martian surface, a large robotic device picked you to obliterate with its laser.
Innocent Martian Rock Tweets As Its Zapped by Curiosity | Popular Science.
What Would It Look Like Orbiting Mars?
If you were an astronaut in orbit around Mars, what would it look like? Here’s an idea.
Full orbit: How an astronaut will view Mars from orbit – YouTube.
Curiosity’s Descent Onto Mars
Absolutely amazing! First NASA records the descent of the Huygens probe on Titan. Now NASA places a camera on the bottom of the Curiosity Rover for it’s descent onto the Martian surface yesterday evening. What will NASA do next?
Your Telephone Company Knows Where You Are…
Here’s an amazing video that shows just how much info your telephone company knows about your whereabouts and it’s saving of that info. A politician in Germany obtained his records and compiled it into this video showing his locations over the period of several months.
Green party politician Malte Spitz sued to have German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom hand over six months of his phone data that he then made available to ZEIT ONLINE. We combined this geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites, all of which is all freely available on the internet.
