Friday Ephemera

Xenu is Loose! Scientology the musical. // Bees make vase. One vase, one week, 40,000 bees. // Hawk versus deer. // Dub versus cornstarch. (H/T, Chastity Darling) // Norman Geras on God and being eaten by aliens. // Jeff Goldstein on “hate speech” and illiberal liberals. // Terrorism as a bourgeois vice. // Iranian and Egyptian cartoons. Humour not entirely obvious. // Man robs bank disguised as tree. (H/T, Ace.) // Via Coconut Jam, bubblegum cards. All of them, just about. // Type the sky. (H/T, Coudal.) // State-of-the-art eyelash curler offers “ultimate precision.” // Kitchen blender blends phones, toys, cans of cheese. (H/T, Dr Westerhaus.) // Stupid movie physics. Cars burst into flames for no apparent reason. // Larry Niven on the problems of human-kryptonian intercourse. Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex. // New polymer for armoured, flexible suits. (H/T, Warren Ellis.) // Robotic toilet provides “family environment” and discourages “homosexual activity.” // Balloons + lawn chair = beer at 13,000 feet. (H/T, Ace.) // Cute and moody mini-drama by Isaak Fernandez Rodriguez. But how does it end? // Holy conceptual nightmare, Batman! The Riddler sings. (H/T, EQ-ualiser)

Comments

[Vitruvius]

Speaking of Friday Ephemera, based on my to date limited reading of your blog, David, here are a few more I think you might find interesting.

* High Frame-per-Second Slow Motion Photography

youtube.com/watch?v=NZvon-TV0qo

* Charlie Callas

video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2105867084995180486

* Franzl Lang - Einen Jodler Hör I Gern

youtube.com/watch?v=67rc96joOz8

* How to move a 100 year old church

youtube.com/watch?v=tfXm2eJxXII

[David]

Vitruvius,

Thanks for those. I see you’ve got the idea. The slow-motion shockwave from the exploding car is pretty impressive, but I make no comment about the breasts. I’ll peruse the rest later today. It might be an idea to email any ephemera candidates rather than posting them in the comments. It sort of spoils the surprise for others.

[Vitruvius]

Sorry about that, David. In your penultimate Friday Ephemera - tinyurl.com/yvwou4 - you noted: "Thanks for those. Submissions for the Friday Ephemera linksfest are always welcome", in response to in-line comments, ergo I concluded that was standard operating procedure for your Friday Ephemera methodology.

Now that the deed is done, though, I will note that I really like the slow-mo footage of the dog curling its tongue *backwards* as it laps water.

Telescopes and microscopes allow us to see things in the spatial dimensions that we can't see with the naked eye. Slow motion and fast motion photography allow us to see things in the temporal dimension that we can't see with the naked eye. I think that's cool, or as the kids say now-a-days, sweet.

[David]

Vitruvius,

As you’ll see from the latest post, I particularly like the relocated church. Extraordinary stuff. Much appreciated. Perhaps you’ve seen Edgerton’s “rapatronic” strobe photos of early atomic tests. The first millionths of a second as the fireball expands are quite eerie. I think I posted one or two in the article below.

http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2007/02/exposure_revisi.html

[Vitruvius]

Aha! We have liftoff ;-)

I should probably mention that if you liked the exploding car shockwave, you should probably check out this high frame per second footage of a Pratt & Whitney blade-out turbine test:

youtube.com/watch?v=mqRpsq7BosM

[David]

Yes, that’s rather fine. I’ve just rummaged through the Ephemera archive…

http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/ephemera/index.html

…and found some more “rapatronic” atom bomb images:

http://www.vce.com/Rapatronic/rapa.html

I also like these shots of sonic booms, with water vapour making the shockwave visible:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010221.html

http://www.sky-flash.com/boom.htm (Scroll down for best shot.)

[Dr.Dawg]

Vitruvius:

The bee slowly making its way...worth the price of admission. Thanks.

[Vitruvius]

There are some more good Rapatronic images here, David: simplethinking.com/home/rapatronic_photographs.htm