what kind of freak are you?

I’m working on a set of t-shirts for the Global Spin community (plus a secret project I’ll unveil later this month). I have a couple designs mocked up already and a decent place to make and sell them, and I’ve run into a bit of a snag.
There are too many kinds of freaks.
That’s ordinarily [...]

websites as flowers

or: Let a thousand elements bloom!

Global Spin page graph courtesy of Websites as graphs and htmlgraph.

And Jesus said, “Go, spel: G-N-O-S-T-I-C in the Code”

This is an excellent article by Elaine Pagels concerning not so much “The DaVinci Code” but rather the nerve it hits that makes it so popular. Elaine Pagels is a senior scholar of religion at Princeton. She is well known for her book The Gnostic Gospels. Here is an interesting excerpt.

bush to insurgents: “please stop bringing ‘em on”

From a Reuters story today:
President George W. Bush admitted on Thursday that his bellicose “bring ‘em on” taunt to Iraqi insurgents was a big mistake, as he and Prime Minister Tony Blair carefully avoided setting a timetable for removing troops from Iraq.
A mistake? Really? Ya think? Could there perhaps be other mistakes [...]

Scientists Predict How to Detect a Fourth Dimension of Space

From PhysOrg:
Scientists at Duke and Rutgers universities have developed a mathematical framework they say will enable astronomers to test a new five-dimensional theory of gravity that competes with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
I especially like that the test uses gravitational lensing, the same effect that was used to test the General Theory back in 1919.  [...]

Wedding beastie

Deana and Glen are getting married. Did anyone not know that? So in honor of their nearing nupital nuptal wedding, Deana has asked me to make them a quilt. Me! I’m pretty darn honored, I am. And it’s a challenge. Oo, color me intrigued. So I’m going, on occasion, to [...]

further signs of empire

Faced with human rights scandals, trillion-dollar deficits, rampant corruption, and a rising death toll, our Senate finally decided to do something:
They declared English the national language of the United States. Or maybe the common language. Something like that.
Sigh. What exactly does this get anyone? Nothing.  Then again, what harm could it [...]

lazy ramadi

Watch US Soldiers’ “Lazy Ramadi” SNL Remix

what color would non-proselytizing Gaian rational physical theorists wear?

UPDATE: Apparently this whole story was false, a hoax. I’m definitely relieved. I’ll leave the rest here because, well, I’m lazy like that.
I haven’t followed internal affairs in Iran lately, but a recent story has chilling history-repeating-itself overtones. Apparently Jews and other non-Muslims will be required to wear color-coded insignia to differentiate them [...]

a movie to watch for

Strathairn in program for “Challenger”
David Strathairn, who received an Oscar nomination this year for his portrayal of newsman Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” will play Richard Feynman. The noted physicist, whose probe was motivated in part by his participation in the Manhattan Project, sought to ensure that there was no institutional [...]