Everything is Interesting
America is a 2012 studio album by American electronic musician Dan Deacon. The album cover is a photo of Lake Placid. America was recorded using both electronic sounds and live recordings.
An anechoic (echo-free) chamber was built in Baltimore to record the orchestral track ‘Rail.’ Deacon felt that electronic beats were limited by a lack of flaws; he said that he wanted the ‘slight imperfection in timing’ human musicians have. Continue reading
Stuff White People Like (SWPL) is a blog that takes a satirical aim at the interests of North American ‘left-leaning, city-dwelling, white folk.’ The blog was created in 2008 by a white Canadian, Christian Lander, a Los Angeles copywriter who grew up in Toronto and graduated from McGill University. Lander co-authored the site with his Filipino Canadian friend Myles Valentin, after Valentin teased Lander for watching the HBO television series ‘The Wire.’
Although the blog ‘has spurred an outpouring from those who view it as offensive and racist,’ it is not about the interests of all white people, but rather a stereotype of affluent, environmentally and socially conscious, anti-corporate white North Americans, who typically hold a degree in the liberal arts. Lander claims to be lampooning contemporary versions of bohemian/hipster culture, and jokingly refers to other classes and subcultures of white people as ‘the wrong kind of white people.’ Despite the site’s satirical edge, Lander regards the people he describes with affection and numbers himself among them, describing himself as ‘a self-aware, left-wing person who’s not afraid to recognize the selfishness and contradictions that come on the left.’
The question of whether or not crustaceans can experience pain is unresolved. Because of the ambiguous nature of pain, most people who contend that crustaceans do have this capacity approach the issue using ‘argument by analogy’ – that is, they hold that certain similarities between crustacean and human biology or behaviour warrant an assumption that crustaceans can feel pain.
In vertebrates, endogenous opioids are neurochemicals that moderate pain by interacting with opioid receptors. Opioid peptides (chains of amino acids) and opioid receptors occur naturally in crustaceans, and although ‘at present no certain conclusion can be drawn,’ some have interpreted their presence as an indication that crustaceans may be able to experience pain. Lobsters’ opioids may ‘mediate pain in the same way’ as in vertebrates.
Ad filtering or ad blocking is removing or altering advertising content in a webpage. Advertising can exist in a variety of forms including pictures, animations, embedded audio and video, text, or pop-up windows. Very often it employs autoplay of audio and video.
It is a known problem with most web browsers that restoring sessions often plays multiple embedded ads at once. All browsers offer some solution to the problem, either by targeting technologies (Flash/Shockwave, Window Media files, etc.) that are used to deliver ads, targeting URLs that are the source of ads, or targeting behavior characteristic of ads (such as the use of HTML5 autoplay of both audio and video). Continue reading
Commercial skipping is an advanced feature in some digital video recorders that makes it possible to automatically skip commercials in recorded programs. This feature has created controversy, with major television networks and movie studios claiming it violates copyright and should be banned. For many years, video recorders manufactured for the Japanese market have been able to skip advertisements automatically, which is done by detecting when foreign language audio overdub tracks provided for many programs go silent, as advertisements were broadcast with a single language only.
The first DVR which had a built-in Commercial skipping feature was ReplayTV with its ‘4000 Series’ and ‘5000 Series’ units. In 2002 five owners of the ReplayTV DVR sued the main television networks and movie studios, asking the federal judge to uphold consumers’ rights to record TV shows and skip commercials claiming that features like commercial skipping help parents protect their kids from excessive consumerism. ReplayTV ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2003 after fighting a copyright infringement suit over the ReplayTV’s ability to skip commercials. Continue reading
Cards Against Humanity is a multiplayer party game currently available as a free download or a published hardcopy. The game is available under a Creative Commons license. Its title references the phrase ‘crimes against humanity,’ reflecting its politically incorrect content.
Cards Against Humanity was created by a group of alumni of Highland Park High School as a party game for a New Year’s Eve celebration. The project was financed through the website Kickstarter. Co-creator Ben Hantoot stated in an interview that the game was developed by ‘8 of us who are the core writer-creators, 5 or 6 additional ‘part time’ developers’ and ‘dozens of friends and acquaintances who have played the game.’ Continue reading
Psilocybin [sil-uh-sahy-bin] is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by more than 200 species of mushrooms, collectively known as psilocybin mushrooms. The most potent are members of the genus Psilocybe, such as P. azurescens, P. semilanceata, and P. cyanescens, but psilocybin has also been isolated from about a dozen other genera.
Psilocybin is quickly converted by the body to psilocin, which has mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline. The effects generally include euphoria, visual and mental hallucinations, changes in perception, a distorted sense of time, and spiritual experiences, and can include possible adverse reactions such as nausea and panic attacks. Possession of psilocybin-containing mushrooms has been outlawed in most countries, and it has been classified as a scheduled drug by many national drug laws.
The Korean wave refers to the significant increase in the popularity of South Korean entertainment and culture starting in the 1990s, in Asia, and more recently in other parts of the world. It represents a surge in the international visibility of Korean culture.
The term was coined in mid 1999 by Beijing journalists surprised at the fast growing popularity of Korean entertainment and culture in China. The wave has had considerable impact on the South Korean economy, as well as on the political and cultural influence of South Korea. For example, in 2011 based on international activity the Korean wave added approximately USD$3.8 billion dollars of revenue to the South Korean economy. Continue reading
‘Gangnam Style‘ is a 2012 K-pop single by the South Korean rapper PSY. ‘Gangnam Style’ is widely praised for its humor, catchy rhythm as well as Psy’s unusual dance moves that have introduced many people to K-pop (South Korean pop music). ‘Gangnam Style’ is a Korean language colloquialism that refers to a luxurious lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district, an affluent and trendy area of Seoul. The music video depicts Psy dancing at various locations in Gangnam.
The song is about ‘the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild.’ The music video shows PSY dancing a comical horse-riding dance and appearing in unexpected locations around Gangnam such as an outdoor yoga session and a hot tub. The ‘skewering [of] the Gangnam image’ by the ‘non-Gangnam PSY’ is recognizable to Korean viewers, but those less familiar with the cultural context have found the video ‘fresh’ amidst the teen pop idol groups increasingly popular with overseas viewers.
‘I would rather cry in a BMW‘ is a quotation that became an online sensation in China in 2010. It originated from Ma Nuo, a 20-year-old female contestant on the television show ‘Fei Cheng Wu Rao’ (also known in English as ‘If you are the One’).
The line was in response to a question by an unemployed suitor who asked if Ma would ‘ride a bicycle with him’ on a date. The series of events have been summed up in the media with the quip ‘I would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle.’
Kale is a form of cabbage, green or purple, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms. It is in the same family as broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and brussels sprouts..When baked or dehydrated, Kale takes on a consistency similar to that of a potato chip, and is a much healthier alternative to regular potato chips. The chips can be seasoned with salt or other spices.
Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming, microwaving, or stir frying do not result in significant loss.
Double-yolk eggs occur when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk becomes joined with another yolk. These eggs may be the result of a young hen’s reproductive cycle not yet being synchronized. Some hybrid breeds of hens also produce double-yolk eggs by default. Such eggs are produced in India. Heavier poultry breeds such as the buff Orpington have been known to lay triple yolk eggs in their lifetime. Although heredity causes some hens to have a higher propensity to lay double-yolked eggs, they occur more frequently as occasional abnormalities in young hens beginning to lay. Double-yolked eggs usually only lead to observed successful hatchlings under human intervention, as the chickens interfere with each other’s hatching process and die.
Eggs without yolk are called ‘dwarf’ or ‘wind’ eggs. Such an egg is most often a pullet’s first effort, produced before her laying mechanism is fully ready. In a mature hen, a wind egg is unlikely, but can occur if a bit of reproductive tissue breaks away, stimulating the egg producing glands to treat it like a yolk and wrap it in albumen, membranes and a shell as it travels through the egg tube. An archaic term for a no yolk egg is a ‘cock’ egg. Since they contained no yolk and therefore can’t hatch, it was traditionally believed that these eggs were laid by roosters.
