John Martyn - Head and Heart

I need say little more...

Except it's Danny Thompson on bass

Grow into these trousers... >>

Ogdens' Nut Gone Celebrated Flake Tobacco

I'm trying to kick the habit myself but here's the Small Faces' with the awesome Happiness Stan complete with narration by Prof. Stanly Unwin.

Yes I know I'm starting with part 3, that's side B of the LP record. The rest of the album is blow the belt.

The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake 3/5


The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake 4/5


The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake 5/5
(end of Stan, followed by bonus track Tin Soldier)


Flip it over, here's side A...

The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake 1/5


The Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake 2/5

Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

"We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the Universe".

Jerome K. Jerome (1859 – 1927)

on 'Cooperation'.

-----------------------
See also John Donne. Grow into these trousers... >>

I'm one year old today.

One year ago today, when I signed up with Blogger, I didn't know what to expect. I never thought that I'd still be going strong a year later but here it is. Blogoversary!!

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement and great comments, so let's party. Here's my new theme tune:



Madness - Baggy Trousers
Grow into these trousers... >>

Continuing the feeling of my last post

I present without comment:

Everything you always wanted to know about female ejaculation (but were afraid to ask)

and

Six things science has revealed about the female orgasm

Thank you - you're welcome. Grow into these trousers... >>

I just had to...

A philosophical song by Jon Lajoie.

Alone in the Universe (Jon Lajoie)

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Via Pharyngula, again. Grow into these trousers... >>

I'm in a mood...

Don't ask!
Here's some videos instead.

QualiaSoup does a neat shakedown on sceptical and critical thinking in science:

Skewed views of science


and Pat Condell's latest is below the belt.

Children of a stupid god
Grow into these trousers... >>

Which Pope Am I?

Or rather, which Pope might you be?

"Have you ever laid in bed at night wondering how you'd run the Catholic Church? Or do you have genuine ambitions of taking over in Vatican City? If so, you ought to try Which Pope Am I?, our all-new Papal personality test devised by Christina Martin..."

Take the test. It turns out that I am:

"...an amalgamation of those pesky anti-Popes Clement VII and Benedict XIII."

Oh well, at least I have the beard to be Clement VII - given a trim and a dab of Grecian 2000!
-----------------------------
Via Pharyngula and New Humanist. Grow into these trousers... >>

Fawlty Towers - A Touch of Class

Another classic, Lord Melbury comes to stay.

Fawlty Towers - A Touch of Class ( 1 of 3)



Fawlty Towers - A Touch of Class (2 of 3)


Fawlty Towers - A Touch of Class ( 3 of 3)
Grow into these trousers... >>

Red Dwarf: Series 5 -Episode 5

Red Dwarf ~ Demons and Angels ~ Pt 1 of 3



Red Dwarf ~ Demons and Angels ~ Pt 2 of 3


Red Dwarf ~ Demons and Angels ~ Pt 3 of 3
Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

"We have designed our civilization based on science and technology and at the same time arranged things so that almost no one understands anything at all about science and technology. This is a clear prescription for disaster."

Carl Edward Sagan (1934 – 1996)

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Reminder: you can't watch Pale Blue Dot too often. The video's in the sidebar, or here's the YouTube link. Grow into these trousers... >>

Scarygirl

Scarygirl

OK the game's a bit buggy, it's slow to load and the controls are a bit wonky, but what's not to like about a pirate girl with an eye patch and a hook for a hand? Grow into these trousers... >>

A down to earth atheist, on topic

I'd forgotten about Nick Gisburne, shame on me! But many thanks to GrrlScientist for the memory jogger (and for Cat Yodeling).

The Benefits of Atheism
Grow into these trousers... >>

Advanced Cat Yodeling

The Engineers extend our understanding of this new musical form:

Grow into these trousers... >>

10 things you didn't know about...

...orgasm, so if there are children around you'll know what I mean. The topic comes up lots in this next video.

Watch; then go read Bee's comment at Cosmic Variance.

Grow into these trousers... >>

Sir Ranulph Fiennes on top of the world

Veteran explorer Ranulph Fiennes has succeeded in conquering Mount Everest at his third attempt.

Despite suffering a heart attack on his first attempt in 2005 and being defeated by exhaustion last year, sheer determination has taken him to the summit. His expedition has been raising money for the charity Marie Curie Cancer Care.

A remarkable achievement by a remarkable man. Grow into these trousers... >>

Islam is not for me

A cool tune which I found at Verbal Razors.
I thought it was well worth passing round again, and I must say that I pretty much agree with the sentiments.

Grow into these trousers... >>

LEGS CROSSED - EYES WATERING!

Erm?

"Case Presentation: A 14 year old boy came to us with complaints of pain, difficulty in voiding with dribbling of urine and subsequently developed acute urinary retention of 24 hours duration. On further questioning he gave an interesting history. While he was cleaning the fish tank in his house, he was holding a fish in his hand and went to the toilet for passing urine. While he was passing urine, the fish slipped from his hand and entered his urethra..."

Unusual Foreign Body In Urinary Bladder: A Case Report.
Vezhaventhan, G. and Jeyaraman, R. The Internet Journal of Urology, 5:2, 41 (2007).

According to couriermail.com.au:


"The fish the urologists removed, which Practical Fishkeeping believes to be a small member of the Betta genus, measured 2cm long and 1.5cm wide."


Yeah, sure; many people urinate whilst holding their pet fish! But wait - if you follow this link to The Internet Journal of Urology there is an endoscopic video of said fish, in situ. It sure looks like a Betta but with much caudal fin damage. Presumably due to the last frantic efforts to get the damn thing out again.

Kinda reminds me of this.

And, of course, the candiru:


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Via Pharyngula and Rev. BigDumbChimp. Grow into these trousers... >>

Imagine being able to fly

Imagine having a beak you can control with hypodermic precision.

"A hummingbird flaps its wings up to 70 times per second; its heart rate can reach 1,260 beats per minute."

That's 21 heartbeats per second.

Time Warp: Hummingbird

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Via LGF. Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

"Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
The last whose realm was fair and free
Between the mountains and the sea.




His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen.
The countless stars of heaven's field
Were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,
And where he dwelleth none can say.
For into darkness fell his star;
In Mordor, where the shadows are."


From The Fall of Gil-Galad,
as translated by Bilbo Baggins and recited by Sam Gamgee just prior to the battle on Weathertop.

The Fellowship of the Ring I 11 'A Knife in the Dark'
by J.R.R Tolkien.

Audio from the 1981 BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Lord of the Rings with Bill Nighy as Sam (if you haven’t heard this, it's well worth a listen). Grow into these trousers... >>

Why English is So Hard

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese,
You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But a bow if repeated is never called bine,
And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.

If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?
Then one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren,
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,

So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the queerest language you ever did see.

Anon

Via World Wide Words. Grow into these trousers... >>

Hitch

No, thankfully not that kind...

Christopher Hitchens - on being himself. I quite like Hitch!

Christopher Hitchens on The Hour (Part 1 of 2)

Part 2 is below the belt...

Christopher Hitchens on The Hour (Part 2 of 2)


Hitch has stopped smoking!? If he can do it, then I can too.
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Many thaks to [Matt] at Atheist News. Grow into these trousers... >>

Testing Intelligent Design creationism

YouTube video makers C0nc0rdance and Thunderf00t throw down a challenge to advocates of ID: "find a gene without an evolutionary heritage", let's say that again "look for a single gene that shows signs of non-evolutionary origin."

Shortened version: Put up or STFU.

Challenging the Discovery Institute to Discover

I doubt this is restricted to followers of Christianity. Anyone who believes that evolution does not occur and that speciation is divinely guided, supernatural or magic may post their hypothesis on YouTube. Or feel free to make a suggestion below, I will forward your idea to C0nc0rdance.
------------------
HT PZ Myers. Grow into these trousers... >>

A landmark day for astronomy

The Hubble Space Telescope gets an upgrade, kudos to the crew of Atlantis, and two more space telescopes were successfully launched - Herschel and Planck.

Herschel carries the largest mirror ever on a spacecraft. At 3.5m it has twice the collecting area as Hubble (2.4m), but will examine the universe in different a different part of the spectrum. It's designed to detect long wavelength infrared, it will peer through the dust which often obscures inner detail in Hubble images.

Plank is an orbiting thermometer. Carrying a range of detectors to pick up microwaves it will scan the ubiquitous background radiation of the Big Bang. With exquisite sensitivity it will add to the understanding of how the universe came to be and how the distant future may unfold.

2009: Herschel and Planck (ESA)


The data will be amazing, but we have to wait 'till next year until they reach operational position. Herschel and Planck are not intended to last very long either. A two or three years of use will deplete their coolant systems, and their great distance means no service missions are possible. But later, the unravelling of the findings over many more years, will inspire a generation. Grow into these trousers... >>

Herschel and Planck are ready for launch

Two new space telescopes are set to launch in a couple of hours aboard the same Ariane 5 rocket. Watch it live on Mogulus.

White knuckle time again, here's hoping for a great mission.

More to follow later today.

UPDATE: Launch successful and bang on time. Grow into these trousers... >>

Chicken Town? When I heard it originally it was...

...'fucking' all the way through. Wasn't it? That's how I do it anyway! I used to have it rehearsed up as a "party piece" :)

Like this - Chicken Town.

Thanks to The Madhatters for again jiggling my grey bits and reminding me of John Cooper Clarke:

John Cooper Clarke - Chicken Town


But I done it slower, and with arm waving, and in a Yorkshire accent, and many f-words, and...

Maybe this is why the band never let me attempt 'Chicken Town' on stage. Hmmm, they've always told me it's because "it's a private function, there may be youngsters there", or "it's the middle of the afternoon man, we're playing outside", or "it's for charity", etc.

And I thought the deal was: 'we do Cocaine every night'. Grow into these trousers... >>

Pandemic? Not to spread alarm or ...

But, remember - it's just a couple of years ago when H5N1*, or bird flu from China, was all the rage. This time it's H1N1**, porcine and Mexican. In 1918 it was Spanish and human.

It's a flighty swine is the flu.

If you haven't played "Pandemic II" yet, do so now.
Then watch Laurie Garrett give this talk at TED.

Laurie Garrett: What can we learn from the 1918 flu?

--------------------
*H5N1 - the H stands for haemagglutinin, a virus protein which helps the virus bind to the outside of a host cell prior to infecting it. The 5 indicates the 5th variant to be discovered. N is for neuraminidase which enables the emergent progeny viruses to pass out of the cell. As for the 1, guess.

**H1N1 - see above, substitute 1 for 5 as needed. Grow into these trousers... >>

A song I would like to play*

Angie - The Rolling Stones


*A song I would give my right arm to be capable of playing... (Metaphorically). Grow into these trousers... >>

Red Dwarf: Series 5 -Episode 4

Hologram virus?

Red Dwarf - Quarantine 1/3

"Mr Flibble's very cross..."

Red Dwarf - Quarantine 2/3


Red Dwarf - Quarantine 3/3
Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

"It's not till you're halfway through a pint that you stop drinking for the government and start drinking for yourself."


Al Murray, The Pub Landlord. Grow into these trousers... >>

Koyaanisqatsi

Francis Ford Coppola "presents" a visual treat.
Koyaanisqatsi: an ever changing, often almost iconic, disturbingly stunning series of video images with music by Phillip Glass:



I first saw this on DVD, and it's well worth seeing in higher quality. The photography is awesome. Grow into these trousers... >>

Oops - I just destroyed humanity

There I was, a relaxed parasite born in Madagascar. The worst things I caused were fever, pulmonary oedema and a bit of vomiting. Hitching a ride with insects and rodents, I infected every person on the planet. And slowly killed them.

How stupid was that? I've nowhere to live now. Come back! Oh shit...

---------------------------
Thanks to The Lay Scientist for the link. Grow into these trousers... >>

Give Vaccines

Test your knowledge of words and contribute to children's health:

Mission Statement
GiveVaccines.org will donate the funds to the GAVI Fund for the purchase of vaccines to prevent disease in the neediest areas of the world. Your answers are pooled together with the correct answers of other participants so that the maximum amount of funds can be donated for the purchase of vaccines.

Get clicking! I've done 3¼ ml so far, that's six kids.

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Thanks to Bad Astronomy for the link. Grow into these trousers... >>

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

I don't know what to say but... HAHAHA!
Many thanks to GrrlScientist for the link.



There's also the Cat Yodeling as a clip. Grow into these trousers... >>

Fossils, Genes, and Gaps

I've posted before about Neil Shubin's remarkable work in uncovering fossils from the time when vertebrates made the transition from water to land, about 375 million years ago, and a fascinating story it is. Here's a recent lecture given by Shubin at UC Berkeley in March 2009.

The Great Transitions in Evolution:

Note: the first 5 or 6 mins is someone introducing the person who introduces the person who introduces Neil Shubin, so skip forward to 5:30 or so.
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Via Atheist Media Blog. Grow into these trousers... >>

What not to do if you get breathalysed

From FailBlog.org

Grow into these trousers... >>

More bubble popping

Bubble Master

Grow into these trousers... >>

Red Dwarf: Series 5 -Episode 3

Rimmer's mind... Enough said.

Red Dwarf ~ Terrorform ~ Part 1 of 3


Red Dwarf ~ Terrorform ~ Part 2 of 3


Red Dwarf ~ Terrorform ~ Part 3 of 3
Grow into these trousers... >>

A thought for a Sunday

"The church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the church."

Attributed to Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – 1521) by Robert Green Ingersoll. Grow into these trousers... >>

Totally chilled

Lou Reed - Take A Walk On The Wild Side
Grow into these trousers... >>

Isn't nature wonderful?

And I thought worming my cats was a chore!

'The 7 Most Horrifying Parasites on the Planet'.












Be sure not to miss page 2.
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Via ismellarat via Debunking Christianity. Grow into these trousers... >>