Clipmarks | Kore7's Comments

The joy of taking some time out

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:22:40 GMT

clipped by: haraya
clipper's remarks:

Embrace the faff. Stare out of the window. Bend paperclips. Stand in the middle of the room trying to remember what you came downstairs for. Pace. Drum your fingertips. Move papers around. Hum. Look at the garden.Go to the shed with the intention of tidying up and instead fall asleep. Make mental notes. Read every single word of the newspaper - even the job ads - before getting down to work. Lose yourself in erotic reveries. Pat your pockets. Resolve to be more organised in future. Be useless.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A new report says that we waste three hours a day faffing around, doing nothing in particular

The survey was carried out by the Learning and Skills Council, who, not surprisingly, argued we should instead use those three hours to Learn some Skills.

I beg to differ.

Faffing is when we disconnect from the matrix and idle for a while, like a car. Our body and spirit know deep down that human beings were not made for constant toil so subconsciously creates space through the mechanism of faffing.

Faffing of course does not fit the programme. We are supposed to be busy, productive citizens.

Clearly these sorts of ideals are designed to make us faffers feel bad. Well, don't.

Faffing is completely harmless, whereas its opposite - dynamic, purposeful activity - is often very harmful. Faffers do not tend to kill people or make them work 12-hour days or sell them shoddy merchandise or lend them vast sums of money that they cannot pay back.

Tags: self, time, well-being, health, body, work, survey, opinion, advice, rest

Will Smith solving the Rubik's cube on French TV

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:57:23 GMT

clipped by: betong
clipper's remarks: He learned to solve it before filming Pursuit of Happyness from a Speedcubing champ. He also solved it live on Oprah.
But the 55sec on the top right of the screen is wrong. The clock started when he was already solving the last layer. Still, below 2mins is a good solve.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: rubik's cube, will smith

Have you met Tan Hong Ming?

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:57:14 GMT

clipped by: haraya
clipper's remarks: He's so cute.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: commercial, television, children, perception, malaysia, video, cute, love, race, interview

The Electric Sheep Screen-Saver: A Case Study in Aesthetic Evolution (paper)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:29:29 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Thanks to Kore7's comment on invictus' clip, I discovered there's a working linux version now.

2 minutes later, I found this paper on the Electric Sheep Project and simply had to share it.

Clip Source: draves.org

The Electric Sheep Screen-Saver: A Case Study in Aesthetic Evolution

Scott Draves

Spotworks, San Francisco CA, USA

Electric Sheep is a distributed screen-saver that harnesses idle computers into a render farm with the purpose of animating and evolving artificial life-forms known as sheep. The votes of the users form the basis for the fitness function for a genetic algorithm on a space of fractal animations. Users also may design sheep by hand for inclusion in the gene pool. This paper describes the system and its algorithms, and reports statistics from 11 weeks of operation. The data indicate that Electric Sheep functions more as an amplifier of its human collaborators' creativity rather than as a traditional genetic algorithm that optimizes a fitness function.

Full paper as PDF (c) Springer-Verlag

Electric Sheep Home Page

Tags: pdf, paper, sheep, electric sheep, screensaver, free, evolution, art

Clipmarks + Frappr = Show us where you are!

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 04:11:04 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: You know it had to happen sooner or later! Visit

http://www.frappr.com/clipmarks

and represent your city on the worldwide Clipmarks map. It's fun!

Clip Source: www.frappr.com

ClipMarks
(link) http://www.frappr.com/clipmarks

Map

Satellite

Hybrid

Tags: clipmarks, clipper, clippers, frappr, map, town, hometown, location, world

Inedible and dangerous: black and white animals

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:06:28 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie
clipper's remarks: I was playing a game with my daughter and discovered there are more black and white animals than I thought.

Clip Source: tiger.gsfc.nasa.gov

Clip Source: www.fantom-xp.com

Clip Source: www.wildlifedamagecontrol.net

Clip Source: findarticles.com

In the human arena, simple black-and-white color schemes jump out from a more complicated world as effective attention-getting devices. Like the stripes on railroad crossing gates, they warn of danger. To would-be predators, patterns found on the likes of striped polecats, marbled salamanders and Carabid beetles cry out that the wearer is inedible, dangerous or foul tasting. Predators quickly learn not to touch.

While in Egypt preparing bird skins for a museum collection, the scientist noticed that swarms of hornets were feeding on the skinned remains of doves but ignoring nearby carcasses of pied kingfishers. Could it be, Cott wondered, that the black-and-white plumage of the pied kingfisher was warning coloration? The biologist ran blind taste tests with the flesh of 38 different species of birds, using humans, cats and hornets as tasters. Astonishingly, the diverse group concurred, giving the 'least edible' rating to the only three black-and-white birds on the menu.

Thou shalt not snort vodka....

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 10:04:16 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: It's true...it really does hit the head pretty quickly....

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Warning over vodka snorting fad

The Alcohol Problems Advisory Service in Derby said people were snorting the spirit through a straw or from a thin glass tube.

Bar staff said some people were "in tears" after trying the trend, while others reacted so quickly they were seen falling to the floor as a result of snorting the alcohol.

Nick Tegadine from the Alcohol Problems Advisory Service said pubs, clubs, bars and should get together with the authorities to robustly clamp down on the problem.

"It will get you drunk more quickly than drinking vodka, which of course is why some people do it but over time it will damage your nose.

"The fact that you get drunk more quickly means you are more likely to have an accident and do things that you later regret."

He said vodka is also being sold in thin tubes, which allows the drinker to insert the spirit like nose drops.

"These things tend not to sustain themselves because eventually bars get the message that they're getting more trouble than its worth.

"It's not a very nice thing to do, its like taking nose drops ... and when you're collapsed on the floor you certainly do not look very clever," Mr Tegadine said.

"It's hopefully a passing phase but it will pass much more quickly if the club owners act responsibly, police and trading standards get together and say this is a bad idea don't do it."

Tags: vodka, drinking, fad, society, lifestyle....

Bush regrets his image as a war monger

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:45:27 GMT

clipped by: Shugi
clipper's remarks: His "image"?

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war

President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a “guy really anxious for war” in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”. He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

Tags: politics

Electric Sheep Revisited (King of Screen Savers)

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:36:52 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: I clipped Electric Sheep back in March 2006. This is a "revisit" after 17 months. There are so many awesome "sheeps" nowadays that I sit back and watch the screensaver for minutes.

Clip Source: www.electricsheep.org

electric sheep

Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver run by thousands of people all over the world. It can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers "sleep", the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as "sheep". The result is a collective "android dream", an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animations using the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce according to a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolves to please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit them to the gene pool.

Kick-start your client
with a sheep pack.

Tags: desktop, screen savers, electric sheep, 3d, fractal, animations

5000 Clips - We're Family now - Just call me Tommy

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:41:31 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: smg.photobucket.com

Tags: 5000 clips, skwirlinator, welcome to my family, good friends

Man jumps over Grand Canyon (5 pictures)

Sat, 24 May 2008 02:18:13 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

1 / 5

Witnesses said a man taking photographs of the Grand Canyon suddenly jumped across a ravine half a mile deep to capture the sunset - after drinking a six-pack of beer

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

2 / 5

The man prepares to jump back from the outcrop

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

3 / 5

Holding his camera and tripod in one hand, he makes the leap

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

4 / 5

The man lands, clutching the rocky outcrop with his one free hand. These pictures were taken by Hans van de Vorst, an amateur photographer

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

General view of the Grand Canyon and the gap the man jumped

Tags: usa, photos

A Test of the Copernican Principle

Sun, 25 May 2008 17:54:17 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Disproving the Copernican Principle would amount to a a Copernican revolution on its own account Also, certain aspects of general relativity would need a profound review. Fortunately it seems Copernicus was right after all. Or was he?

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

The Copernican principle states that the Earth is not the center of the universe, and that, as observers, we don’t occupy a special place. First stated by Copernicus in the 16th century, today the idea is wholly accepted by scientists, and is an assumed concept in many astronomical theories.

However, as physicists Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Albert Stebbins of Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, point out, the Copernican principle has never been confirmed as a whole.

In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters called “A Test of the Copernican Principle,” the two researchers set out to prove the 500-year-old principle using observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

Then, by analyzing data for the CMB spectrum, they were able to rule out nearly all of these non-Copernican Hubble bubble void universes – meaning the Copernican principle passed this first test.

Tags: astronomy, astrophysics

Carhartt Canvas Cargo Pants

Wed, 14 May 2008 18:44:33 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is the type of pants I'll be taking with me to India. They are nice and cool. Although not as heavy as the usual Carhartt "duck" they are still pretty tough, and they feel light and breezy in the summer.

The cargo pockets are also nice. They are big enough to fit something useful. A lot of cargo pants have a five or six pockets that are essentially decorative, and all too oddly placed or strangely sized to actually be used. These pockets are simple, and in just the right place.

Clip Source: www.carhartt.com

Cargo Pant

Product Description

$45.00

Style #: B182

The Carhartt Cargo Pant is made of 8.5-ounce 100% finest quality cotton canvas. It's constructed with a natural waist and a full seat and thigh to provide extra room for comfort and movement. There are two side hand pockets, two back flapped pockets, and, of course, two large cargo pockets on the legs. Leg openings are 19-inches big to slip easily over any boots. Available in four colors. The perfect combination of convenience and great looks on or off the job.

The amazing new Apple store

Thu, 15 May 2008 14:21:21 GMT

clipped by: Beholder

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

Head of Apple Retail Ron Johnson gave some insight into the planning behind the Boylston Street location. The spot was picked out in 2000, but took eight years of planning to get it built. Because of Apple's recent success, the store has grown significantly from what was originally planned.

The first floor is all Mac, the company's "most important product" according to Johnson. Floor two is dedicated to iPod, iPhone and all the third party accessories Apple offers. The third floor is dedicated to service, with a massive Genius Bar, sections for one-on-one, workshops and a second location for Apple's new "Pro Labs" initiative.

The Genius Bar, which boasts 17 black stools, can serve 1,000 people per day at full capacity, with the store open from 8AM to 11PM.

The store is also environmentally friendly, with vegetation on the roof and a rainwater recollection system which directs water from the roof directly into the Back Bay water table.

The store opens tomorrow, Thursday the 15th, at 6PM.

Clip Source: www.apple.com

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

Tags: apple, apple store

Cutest Thing I've Ever Seen!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:52:51 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug
clipper's remarks: So tiny!

Clip Source: incredimazing.com