Things are not bad in themselves...

I would agree with Tony Levin's assessment: the day on which he met both Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp was a the best day he ever had.

A triumverate of Harold Budd:

1. His new album Jane 1-11 is available for pre-order (June release) from Darla Records. Audio samples are available on the site.
2. A performance of his works by various artists (including himself) from 2004.
3. An interview and live performance with Budd from 2003 around the time of the release of La Bella Vista.

Wassily Kandinsky, Picture with a Circle, 1911 - Is this really the world's first abstract painting? He said it was.

Take 7 minutes for this video about Clyfford Still.

What are the seven virtues of the samurai Bushido code?

1. Do the right thing.
2. Be courageous.
3. Be benevolent.
4. Be polite.
5. Be true in word and action.
6. Be honorable.
7. Act faithfully.

"...a secular state need not demand of the religious that they put their most cherished beliefs to one side when they enter public debate; only that they shouldn’t expect those beliefs to be accepted without scepticism [sic]." If that makes you slightly curious here's a tl;dr article on what atheists can learn from believers.

Change of pace - true facts about the sea pig.

If human eyes have 3 color-receptors and mantis shrimp eyes have 16, what the hell can they actually see?

Know yer college sports team names by their classification (people, animals, insects, professions, etc.)

NASA and Lockheed Martin teamed up on this "supersonic green machine" and it's just one of many futuristic aircraft concepts you can browse. (But do we have to slap "green" on everything for a feel good buzz?)

Watch as the Antares rocket is moved to the launch pad.

Just for the programmers: pictures from a programmer's life. Can you tell a programmer by their keyboard? (A Python programmer's tab key is worn out.)

I never claimed to be all that bright but I'm just not getting MIT's Self-Assembly Lab.

Ever wonder what happens to a package you send through the mail? The video From A to B shows you through the wonder of a camera inside a package.

You have four minutes to name as many of Shakespeare's plays as you can. (I scored below average.)

When Pink Floyd meets Shakespeare the result is David Gilmour singing Sonnet 18.

When Kermit the Frog meets Miles Davis it's, well... interesting.

We're missing this right now. The Illustration, Comics, and Animation Conference at Dartmouth.

How much more magical could a unicorn font be?

Need some head? Check out this ultrasonic beer frother.

You've heard about coffee made from a bean that's eaten by a bird and then pooped out? Why should the caffeine junkies have all the fun? How about beer pooped by an elephant.

I know one fellow blogger who might be interested in whiskey cologne.

Where blogs go to die: Zombie Dead Blog is a blog of long-dead blogs.

Speaking of science, have we humans evolved to be nice or nasty? Yes.

What did we think life on other planets was like back in the 50s? We were off by just a tiny bit.

Do your glasses define you? (Mine all too accurately, apparently.)

Thanks for nothing, Science. Men have trouble reading women's emotions.

Must-see video of the week: Blue Angels cockpit footage shot with a handheld Flip camera.

You've heard of the Pantone color system, right? Here's Choctone.

Only true militaria afficianados will want to read even parts of General Hap Arnold's Third Report of the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces to the Secretary of War from November 1945. But it is an interesting time capsule that gives an overview of WWII and a look to the then future including atomic weapons. Or you could just read an article Life magazine (also Nov '45) about surviving a future 36 hour war.

When one thinks of books on war two come to mind immediately: Sun Tzu's Art of War and von Clausewitz' On War.  Lesser known is Keegan's The Face of Battle. Now we're asked to include a fourth: Emile Simpson's War from the Ground Up.

And only a true Cold War junkie would read Hans Bethe's 1952 memo Memorandum on the History of the Thermonuclear Program (slightly redacted).

What about art during the Cold War?

"You don’t read great novels once. You read them, in a sense, all the time throughout your life." So concludes an article about Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!

The proton is shrinking. Its diameter is down 4% to 0.84087 femtometers (a millionth of a billionth of a meter). 

Everything Below Here Is Just Plain Wrong

Dogs. Wearing. Pantyhose. Hey China, you're doing it wrong.

For any other article of this length I'd tl;dr it but is it ever possible that an article on farts could be too long? Passing Gas: A Modern Scientific History

Three words I never thought I'd see together in one sentence: duck, penis, controversy. As in why NSF-funded basic research is good. (Videos probably make it NSFW. If you're a duck.)

I couldn't remember why I bookmarked this until I got to this sentence: Tetrahymena thermophila is a single-celled organism with seven sexes.

There are many adjectives I'd use to describe the vagina but strong is not one of them. Until now because this Russian gymnast has the world's strongest vagina.

Not to be outdone, enjoy the Metropolitan Museum of Butts.

...but cowardice makes them so. ~Michel de Montaigne