Fingering Never Looked so Good

By Judith Braun

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An incredible manifesto

Friends, I am delighted to share with you an incredibly moving manifesto from a Bishop in the Anglican Church regarding the subject of homosexuality. Wow. Click here to read it.

If only everybody was so minded...

Something to reflect upon in these days of war

I just received this via email. I couldn't find it at Snopes, so I'm assuming for the moment that it is a true letter penned by an actual Holocaust Survivor, in which case, I think it makes for compelling reading.

>>> Begin forwarded message:

 Subject: FW: A Holocaust Survivor's View on Islam


-----

This is one of the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is Dr Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well respected psychiatrist.

A Holocaust Survivor's View on Islam
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march... It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts -- the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, before it's too late.

Time is Beautiful

It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world is turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still... The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world.

- The Doctor in Rose (2005), BBC Doctor Who

Timelapse Montage from Mike Flores on Vimeo.

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

If Birds on Wires were Music - Jarbas Agnelli

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.

Here I've posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).

I got curious and had a look at some of Jarbas Agnelli's other videos were. Clever advert marketing with music here:

"Beethoven"/"Jaws"/"New York, New York" from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

What does a week mean to you? Although this is to advertise a weekly magazine, it made me wonder.

The Week from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

School's Webcam Espionage

School allegedly uses students' laptop webcams for espionage, lawsuit ensues

By Ross Miller


Hold onto your butts, kids, we've got a doozy of a story. Let's take this one slow: a class-action lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania accusing the Lower Merion school district of "unauthorized, inappropriate and indiscriminate remote activation" of webcams in laptops issued to students, without prior knowledge or consent. The tale begins when Assistant Principal Lindy Mastko of Harriton High School informed a student that he was "engaged in improper behavior in his home"; the suit alleges that when pressed for details, Mastko told both the boy and his father that the school district could remotely activate the webcam -- a capability that is apparently being used.

The school district has yet to respond to the accusations, so at this point we've only got the plaintiff's side of the story -- for all we know this kid took a picture of himself and somehow accidentally uploaded it on the school network. Then again, some purported Lower Merion students just emailed Gizmodo and claimed that their MacBooks' green webcam lights went on at random times, but they were told by IT support that it was just a technical glitch. Holy alleged invasion of privacy, Batman, this could get mighty interesting. PDF of the complaint available below.

Update: The Lower Merion School District superintendent Christopher McGinley has issued an official response on its website, acknowledging "a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops." Going further, he says the district " has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever" but that the matter is "under review."

Boing Boing, WHYY

Lawsuit (PDF), Gizmodo


ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Ghost in the Machine

Do you remember the days of tape cassettes? Turning them over at the end of the side, the endless winding, the stretched tape after so much use. CDs felt revolutionary.

Erika Iris Simmons gives cassette tapes a new lease of life.



See more...

Stop Motion Animation

This was a classic case of beginning reading twitter, then ending up going through half a dozen related tweets and people, and spotting this video recommended amongst them. Oddly enough, my guides (girl scouts) did some stop motion animation with plasticine only the other week, but this is really great.

MOVEMBER

Hi there, all supaheros! 

I have decided to support Movember this year by signing up as an official Mo Sista.   

During Movember (once known as November), men put down their razors for 30 days and grow a moustache with the aim of raising funds and awareness for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer and depression in men. The role of a Mo Sista is to support the Mo Bros in their life – brothers, boyfriends, Dads, uncles, cousins, husbands – and help them to raise funds. 

What many people don’t appreciate is that close to 3,000 men die of prostate cancer each year in Australia and one in eight men will experience depression in their lifetime - many of whom don’t seek help. Facts like these have convinced me I should get involved this year and I am hoping you will support me as I try and raise funds. 

To support me and the Mos in my life, you can either: 

•    Click this link http://au.movember.com/mospace/123243/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account 
•    Write a cheque payable to ‘Movember Foundation’, referencing my Registration Number 123243 and mailing it to: Movember Foundation, PO Box 292, Prahran, VIC, 3181.

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible. 

Movember is now in its sixth year and, to date, has achieved some pretty amazing results by working alongside men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCFA) and beyondblue: the national depression initiative. Check out further details at: http://au.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs. 

To find out more information on Movember, check out http://au.movember.com.

Thank you in advance for supporting my on my Movember journey as a Mo Sista. 

Pamela Andrews

Fighting Your Moral Decay With Censordyne

I don't know if you guys know about this, but the Australian Government is spending $44 million on a "safer internet for Australia". They're trying to put into place some great big censorship which will PROTECT the wee babes of Australia from accidentally clicking onto something untoward when their parents aren't supervising their computer time. Yes, that's right. First, they're stupid enough to think that they can censor the internet and that the rest of us won't find some way around it, but secondly, they're dumb enough to spend $44 million creating an "internet filter" which will be rendered ineffective approximately an hour after it's finished, due to the ever-changing nature of the internet. Waaaayyyyyy to go, Australian Government. Of course, being Australians and living in a country that is utterly perfect, we have absolutely no need for that $44 million to be channelled into something useful, like, I don't know... upgrading medical facilities, looking after our elderly, getting kids off the streets, improving education, helping the homeless... We don't have problems like that in Australia, you see, so we have to spend all of our hard-earned dollars on creating a filter for a problem that we don't have.

Sarcasm aside, there's a FANTASTIC website that really puts into words how Australia really feels about the whole debacle. Ladies and Gentleman of the Internet, I give you:

CENSORDYNE.

Before we had the internet the world was a peaceful and safe place. Now with the internet it's mean and nasty.

Some sources tell us that the boogy monster actually lives in the internet.

From dentists, to news sources, to private conversations, there is plenty to be scared of online.

But don't worry, here at the Federal Government we have been working hard to protect you from the internet and that's why we've created Censordyne.

The internet is an amazing place. But here at the Federal Government we think it's a little too amazing.

That's why we've developed Censordyne - a mandatory way to censor the internet.

Censordyne lets the Government decide what you can and can't do online. From what you buy to how you communicate and even what you read.

Censordyne, developed in our secret Internet laboratory:

Offers protection against fast Internet
Is mandatory, for a cleaner feed
Reduces your democratic protections
Pretends to fight moral decay

All with a fresh multi-million dollar flavour.

The wonders of the pentatonic scale

Neuroscience and music colliding.

I so want to try this out.

Typography

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Derren Brown

Some of you might be familiar with the British illusionist Derren Brown, perhaps because I might have subjected you to youtube videos or articles. He has turned his hand to stunts from psychologically influencing a group of business people to take a toy gun and hold up a bank security van in a street on a whim, to a seance, where you forget he's telling you what utter tosh it is, because you too get wrapped up in the trick. He even went to America, where he was unknown, and tricked alien investigators, psychics, and religious groups. Its all fairly intellectual with a slant of humour, and he's easy on the eye to look at.

After discovering my boss was almost equally fanatical about the man, we have also subjected colleagues to the amusement of his blog (in a similar way to Team Supahero, it is blogged by a team of people including Brown). One of his more amusing posts of late was a video from his dressing room. A proud owner of the Iphone and an mac air, he also, as you will find, does a mean impression of Stewie from family guy while in the fridge...

His Blog
Art site - he paints very individual portraits

Little Boots

May I share my listening choice of the moment, UK artist Little Boots.

Little Boots on Last.fm

She has, regrettably, been one of those artists that has penetrated the subconscious through media promotion, rather than a lady I've stumbled across. Yey for her promoters, but I must admit I do like discovering musicians through other means, as it tends to feel a lot more satisfying.

Still, that fact is nothing to take away from Little Boots who has written some much more wholesome and interesting melodies and lyrics than Lady GaGa and her bloody Poker Face.

Mathematics is a difficult thing
I never understood what was the missing link
And by the time I calculated the correct solution
The question had escaped me and so did the conclusion

So tell me everything must always equal two
Or nothing else is true
And I'll believe you
Cos your X is equal to my Y
But equations pass me by

So will you take just a little of my mind and subtract it from my soul
Add a fraction of your half and you'll see it makes me whole
Multiply it by the times that we've never been apart
You'll see nothing can divide just a heart plus a heart

A little of my mind
Take it from my soul
A fraction of your half
See it makes me whole
And multiply the times
Never be apart
Cos nothing can divide a heart plus a heart

Don't know my Fibonacci or Pythagoras
But the only formula I know will work for us is that
When we're together in the sum of our parts
It's far greater than what we added up to at the start

So tell me everything must always equal two
Or nothing else is true
And I'll believe you
Cos your X is equal to my Y
But equations pass me by

So will you take just a little of my mind and subtract it from my soul
Add a fraction of your half and you'll see it makes me whole
Multiply it by the times that we've never been apart
You'll see nothing can divide just a heart plus a heart

A little of my mind
Take it from my soul
A fraction of your half
See it makes me whole
And multiply the times
Never be apart
Cos nothing can divide a heart plus a heart

A heart plus a heart

Take just a little of my mind and subtract it from my soul
Add a fraction of your half and you'll see it makes me whole
Multiply it by the times that we've never been apart
You'll see nothing can divide just a heart plus a heart

A little of my mind
Take it from my soul
A fraction of your half
See it makes me whole
And multiply the times
Never be apart
Cos nothing can divide a heart plus a heart

Creepy But Cool #1

Chinese Giant Salamander

Angler Fish

Angler Fish

Axolot

Axolot

Look at those eggs... And the tiny, tiny Betic Midwife Toad that laid them.

Bullfrogs

Cane Toad

Darwin Frog

Giant Squids

BoonOakley.com

Greetings from web company land. Want to see a novel way of using youtube? Why not put your whole website on it. Yes, host it on youtube.

Don't believe me?

BooneOakley.com

Creative media agency Boone Oakley have their whole site as videos on youtube. To add to this rather inventive presentation, they also have quite a humourous presentation of their creative talent, even if I haven't a clue what "The One" show is. (In the UK, "The One Show" is a weekday television programme on live at 7pm, by the BBC covering topical issues!)

I do wonder if the site will survive or die to internet hype....

Abandonned Places

There's a lovely little community on livejournal that I flicked through about five months ago when they were on spotlight. However, I remembered these photos later when a colleague was talking about a music video he made when he was a DJ. It was in an abandoned mental hospital and had some creepy interesting things there.

Anyhow, the photos that I recalled were these ones, for a Russian hospital.

Creepy.


(link updated 16 June 2009 19:17 GMT. I missed off the l from html)

For Every Harry Potter Wannabe

Rather than post something truly geeky like Google Wave or the Tea Flash Game I found at work while we were looking for something today, I figured a more lighthearted but rather excellent flash game called Witches Brew was far more the cup of tea!

I started laughing when I realised how to do the fish bones in the last part, but I did get accusations that I was abusing a cat for the noise.


Witches' Brew

Tree Houses

When I was a kid, I wanted a tree house more than most things in the world. Back then, in my flights of fancy, my tree house resembled the ones in Enid Blyton novels or the ultra-girly one in the film, Now And Then, that Samantha, Teeny, Roberta and Chrissy spent all summer saving up for. I never had a giant tree in my garden so this desire remained little more than a pipe dream.

Recently, while surfing the internet, I discovered tree houses that made my fantasy tree house look like it belonged in a tree ghetto.

- NATALIE

{CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE}

Beatboxing

I misguidedly, attempted to learn beatboxing last year. I failed quite soon, but I will prevail, as its nice to have something to surprise people with.

Anyhow, I am always in awe of people who can make amazingly realistic noises with their mouths and voices. Just like ventriloquists and impressionists. So here's one I recently was shared.