Book Tour Virgin is Will Clarke.com

Geaux Tigers! Ole War Skule Movie Trailer

via www.youtube.com

Remember Me.

MetLife Foundation: Remember Me.

An Abandoned Country Estate in Yonkers « Scouting NY

via www.scoutingny.com

Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs of 2011

From law-violating subatomic particles to entirely new, earth-like worlds, 2011 was an incredible year for scientific discovery. In the past 12 months, scientific breakthroughs in fields ranging from archaeology to structural biochemistry have allowed humanity to rewrite history, and enabled us to open to brand new chapters in our development as a species.

via io9.com

No Matter How Old You Are...

via pull.imgfave.netdna-cdn.com

A little perspective

via chandra.harvard.edu

Transcript of My TEDxSMU Talk on Hazing

As a novelist, a big part of my job is to ask questions about things that have happened in my life? To take the truth from my own personal experience and apply it to my craft of fiction. So when I wrote The Worthy, that’s exactly what I did.

See, when I was 18, I wanted more than anything to be in fraternity.

But to be honest, I didn't understand pledgeship. So when active members harassed me, I joked back. The meaner they were, the swifter my comebacks. As you can imagine, this didn’t go over so well.

So one dark October night, a burlap sack was put over my head and I was taken out into the tall piney woods of north Louisiana to be taught a lesson that only bloodied noses and busted lips could teach. When it was all said and done, I was dumped off at my dorm at around 3AM covered in mud and bruises and with a big question:

Why?

Why did they do this?

Why didn’t I fight back?

Why was I too embarrassed to tell anyone?

I eventually wrestled these "Whys" to the ground when I wrote The Worthy. But writing this novel, lead me to bigger "Whys?".

Like why does someone’s son die from hazing every Fall. One college student a year has died from hazing related circumstances since 1970. From a senseless acts. The most senseless part of all of this, is that someone else’s son, someone’s very smart, well-raised son will be responsible for this death, or at least just stand by in silence as it is going on.

Why is this?

Some folks will tell me that it’s just boys being boys. That accidents will happen. That these are traditions—as cruel as they may be that turn boys into men—sometimes great men. But great men, like so many American Presidents and CEOs, were great despite the tradition of hazing, not because of it. I can promise you that.

So I keep asking the question. Why?

Some people would have you believe that this is biology at play. Alpha males being alpha males.  Too much testosterone. Pack behavior. That hazing is just some kind of Darwinian way of weeding out the weakest among us.

Really?

So do we feel comfortable giving that answer to the grieving parents of a pledge or rookie who just died? That’s the best we’ve got?

So I keep asking why, and when I do, two things are apparent: 

1) Hazing is not biological. It’s cultural. It’s about our traditions. It’s about what we believe, the very ideas we all share about what it means to become a man.  It’s that simple. 

2) Hazing is a bellwether to a far greater challenge facing us—the fact that many of us are lacking a heroic imagination—that sudden inspiration to do the right thing when everyone else is asleep to it.

So how do we spark thia magination?  How do we disrupt these worn-out traditions?

By asking "Why".

When something doesn’t sound right—ask, "Why".  When "Why" pops into your head that is your soul calling—calling you to take action, to change things, to disrupt what is going on. So don’t ignore it. 

If we are going to stop hazing, we have to ask "Why" out loud and often. We have to ask it until everyone acknowledges that our sons deserve traditions that are better than this. We have to ask it until everyone understands that becoming a man doesn’t require a lose of humanity.

Just the opposite: Becoming a man means understanding your connection to all of humanity.

Before our sons go to college, let’s teach them that they have a soul and with that comes the power to change the world. And with this soul also comes the responsibility to never ignore the question, "Why?".

 Thank You. 

 

The 10 Most Bad-Ass Chemistry Scenes From Breaking Bad

via io9.com

The 10 Most Bad-Ass Chemistry Scenes From Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad recently wrapped up its fourth season, leaving us despondent that it will be a good couple months until we see the further misadventures of cancer victim/chemistry teacher/crystal meth chef Walter "Heisenberg" White and his brash partner Jesse Pinkman.

While we twiddle our thumbs in anticipation for Season 5, here are 10 times Breaking Bad flaunted its chemistry for nefarious purposes. There are some pretty significant spoilers ahead, so don't say we didn't warn you.

10.) Walt blows up a douchebag's car
When: Season 1, Episode 4
("Cancer Man")
After the twin psychological duresses of terminal cancer and slinging meth begin to sink in, Walt entertains himself by inserting a moist sponge into an obnoxious man's car engine. This is more automotive shenanigans than chemistry, but Bryan Cranston sells Walt as a haunted man toying with his dark side.

 

9.) Walt saves his life by building electrochemical cells
When: Season 2, Episode 9
("Four Days Out")
When the RV's battery dies in the middle of nowhere, Walt and Jesse must build something to start the engine. On the verge of fatal dehydration, Walt constructs salvation out of found materials.

 

8.) Jesse's lab cleanliness speech
When: Season 4, Episode 10 ("Salud")
When the cartels force Jesse to travel south of the border to cook up his patented Blue Sky methamphetamine, the surly young meth chef is confronted by a group of dubious Mexican chemists. After they doubt his credentials, Jesse shoots back by demanding better workplace standards.

 

7.) Walt and Jesse synthesize thermite from Etch A Sketches

When: Season 1, Episode 7
("A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal")
To steal a barrel of methylamine from a guarded warehouse, Jesse and Walt crack open a few Etch A Sketches, purloin the aluminum powder inside, and whip up a batch of thermite to burn through security. I'm assuming Bruce Wayne is a major stockholder in the Ohio Art Company, as Batman always seems to have plenty of unsuspicious thermite lying around.

 

6.) Walt serves Tuco a ricin burrito

When: Season 2, Episode 2 ("Grilled")
When Walt and Jesse realize that they've hitched their apple cart to mentally unstable drug kingpin Tuco Salamanca, Walt synthesizes ricin from castor beans, laces it with a batch of meth, and offers it to the meth-happy Tuco. After Tuco complains that the ricin meth stinks like "head cheese," Walt adds it as a garnish to his burrito. This plan goes about as well as you'd expect.

 

5.) Walt blows up Tuco's HQ with fulminated Mercury

When: Season 1, Episode 6
("Crazy Handful of Nothin'")
The burrito wasn't the first time Walter used chemistry to tussle with Tuco. Several episodes earlier, the drug lord had robbed Jesse, so Walt cooks up some Mercury Fulminate for a hostage situation. The depiction of the explosive was embellished for the episode, but it's one of the first times we see Walt go into 100% bugfuck "Heisenberg mode."

 

4.) Walt poisons a child using plant toxins
When: Season 4, Episode 12 ("Face-Off")
There were a few shockers in the Season 4 finale, but the revelation that Walt poisoned innocent little kid Brock to break Gus Fring's spell on Jesse was a jaw-dropper. After usingLily of the Valley to put Brock in the hospital, Walt's officially past redemption. Here's a play-by-play of his actions.

 

3.) Walt murders a drug dealer with phosphine gas
When: Season 1, Episode 1 ("Pilot")
During the very first episode, drug dealers force Walt into revealing his recipe for meth. Rather than give up his secrets and die in the desert, he intentionally creates phosphinegas to kill his captors.

 

2.) Disposing of bodies in hydrofluoric acid
When: Several times, namely Season 1, Episode 2 ("The Cat's In The Bag")
Whenever the protagonists on Breaking Badneed to dispose of a corpse, they usually shove the dead person in a barrel of hydrofluoric acid. The first time Jesse tries this, he fails miserably. To quote Walt, "Hydrofluoric acid won't eat through plastic. It will, however, dissolve metal, rock, glass, ceramic. So there's that."

1.) Heisenberg's impromptu chemistry lesson

When: Season 2, Episode 10 ("Over")
"Over" is a spectacular episode, as it shows Walt trying to balance his family obligations with his increasingly dominant Heisenberg persona. In the episode's final scene, he meets a novice meth chef in a home supply store. At first, Walt gives the confused cook some avuncular tips straight out of high school chemistry class. But after a moment of reflection, Walt metamorphoses into Heisenberg, and he utters the grimiest five words of the entire series.TV on the Radio makes this scene.

 

 

BONUS: Apropos of nothing, Gale Boetticher's full karaoke video! Thanks, SkippityMonster!

RELATED STORIES

The Hidden Beauty of Pollination

Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollination from TEDTalks on Vimeo.

LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls

via www.youtube.com

Team Hitchcock at the Integer Halloween Party

Sent from my iPhone

ICE ICE BABY

via www.youtube.com

What English Sounds Like to People Who Don't Speak It

via gawker.com

Breaking Bad Finale Theory - A Case For Walt Poisoning Brock

TEDxSMU

Sent from my iPhone

'Breaking Bad' recap: The one who knocks - latimes.com

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

All season long, the question “Breaking Bad” has asked is simple: Can Walter White become the one who knocks? Or must he always remain the one who answers the door, living in fear of people like Gus, who lord over him? In “Face Off,” we get a definitive answer: Walter White is finally the one who knocks. He just had to poison a child and give away a little more of his humanity to get there.

Dallas' Own Tina Parker Blows The Doors Off on Breaking Bad Finale

Breaking Bad: The Simpsons Version

Tribute Video to Steve Jobs

via gizmodo.com

Everything Is Terrible!: IT'S THE 90S...

IT'S THE 90S! from Everything Is Terrible! on Vimeo.

Primary CSS

Primary CSS

jonathan hobin: in the playroom

Somehow it hurts me to look at these images. It's a bit obvious...perhaps its has to do with a combination of being a parent and living close to Ground Zero? Never thought I would feel this way but...the imagery actually pisses me off. Good job,

via www.designboom.com

Heaven

via features.cgsociety.org

Inside The Stanley Hotel

Sent from my iPhone

What I got for my birthday

Sent from my iPhone

‪Deep Ellum 1991, Dallas Texas‬‏ - YouTube

You Asked For It!

via www.youtube.com

Inside my stomach

Inside Herby-K's

Lunch in Shreveport

Clever Uses of Stickers in Advertising

via www.toxel.com

train

via www.randompics.net

Visualized: Your Content Is Their Profit

via www.visualnews.com

Evolutionary Origins of Your Right and Left Brain: Scientific American

In the human brain the left hemisphere controls language, the dexterity of the right hand, the ability to classify, and routine behavior in general. The right hemisphere specializes in reacting to emergencies, organizing items spatially, recognizing faces and processing emotions

via www.scientificamerican.com

The authors have proposed that the specialization of the brain’s two hemispheres was already in place when vertebrates arose 500 million years ago.
The left hemisphere originally seems to have focused in general on controlling well-established patterns of behavior; the right specialized in detecting and responding to unexpected stimuli.
Both speech and right-handedness may have evolved from a specialization for the control of routine behavior.
Face recognition and the processing of spatial relations may trace their heritage to a need to sense predators quickly.

American Express launches Social Currency app powered by foursquare

via aboutfoursquare.com

Yeah, Separation of Church and State was a dumb idea anyway.

 

Separation of Church and State: Good for Government, Good for Religion

 

The right to freedom of religion is so central to American democracy that it was enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution along with other fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."       -- The First Amendment

In order to guarantee an atmosphere of absolute religious liberty, this country's founders also mandated the strict separation of church and state. Largely because of this prohibition against government regulation or endorsement of religion, diverse faiths have flourished and thrived in America since the founding of the republic. Indeed, James Madison, the father of the United States Constitution, once observed that "the [religious] devotion of the people has been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state."

Americans are still among the most religious people in the world. Yet the government plays almost no role in promoting, endorsing or funding religious institutions or religious beliefs. Free from government control -- and without government assistance -- religious values, literature, traditions and holidays permeate the lives of our citizens and, in their diverse ways, form an integral part of our national culture. By maintaining the wall separating church and state, we can guarantee the continued vitality of religion in American life.

http://www.adl.org/issue_religious_freedom/separation_cs_primer.asp

 

Infographic of the Day: How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor | Fast Company

via www.fastcompany.com

MIT soft rocker - solar powered sun lounger

via www.designboom.com

Sound and Taste | Gigabiting

via gigabiting.com

The fish tastes fishier when the background sounds are nautical.
We reach for Bordeaux wines when La Vie en Rose is on the soundtrack, and oompah bands have us craving Reisling.

The music playing, the swirl of conversation, the ambient noise in the background—they all have the power to affect our taste buds.

Redwoods

At least 1,500 years old, a 300-foot titan in California's Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the most complex crown scientists have mapped. This photo, taken by Michael Nichols, is a mosaic composed of 84 images.

Technical assistance: Ken Geiger, NG Staff; Nathan Williamson; Walter Boggs, David Mathews, and Kenji Yamaguchi, NG Staff; Jim C. Spickler; Giacomo Renzullo; Marty Reed, Steve Sillett, and Marie Antoine, Humboldt State University