To live is to suffer...

As I write this I'm streaming the album A Winged Victory for the Sullen by Atomos. This is my first listen and I know nothing about the artist.

Who's the best blogger in Fort Worth? Have you voted yet?

The most common job in each state, animated in timeline form. Between 1996 and 2014 D.C. went from janitor to lawyer which makes sense - they're both cleaning up other people's messes.

Begin Science

"We live in an age when all manner of scientific knowledge faces organized and often furious opposition." In this article from National Geographic we find toward the end a relatively simple but understandable distinction between two camps. Science embraces the truth over the tribe, others embrace the tribe over truth.

Even NPR dips their toe into this issue with "science denial has actual real-world consequences."

Where's C.P. Snow when you need him?

Exactly how do science and the public differ? A lot. Genetically modified foods, animal research, nuclear power. Or so says the Pew Research Center.

So to all you anti-vaxers out there, do you have a parental right to refuse to have your kids vaccinated? Given all the other shitty things we let parents do to their kids, sure. But don't for a minute believe that your stupid decision is inconsequential. Perhaps your germy kids shouldn't be allowed in public schools. I certainly don't want them in my house or in the airliner I'm on.

And then there's this children's book written about "the benefits of having measles." The reviews on Amazon are better than anything I could write, like this one: "My infant daughter went blind after contracting measles from an unvaccinated child, and yet there's no braille version of this wonderful book for me to give her someday to explain to her how awesome the disease that took her sight away is."

End Science

Google Earth Pro is now free. So what could I use it for? (Be certain to see the special license key on the right side of the page.)

Great photo of the Mars Curiosity Rover taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. source

From Earth to our solar system. Riding on Light is for you astronomy geeks and shows our solar system as viewed by a photon emitted by the sun. Jupiter shows up at about 45 minutes. Which should emphasize physical size given how fast light is. Don't worry - the video has a nice soundtrack by Steve Reich.

And in something only tangentially related to astronomy, here's Wikipedia in 3D galaxy format: WikiGalaxy.

The periodic table of spices. source

More? How about a periodic table of sexy talk. Along those sames lines comes an article from The Onion that made me LOL.

More videos? OK, here are trailers from this year's Oscar-nominated animated shorts. (The style of The Dam Keeper's animation looks pretty damn good.)

And it's worth taking a look at this compilation of the Oscar for best animated film being presented if only to see Elke Sommer and Don Knotts giving the award to Chuck Jones' The Dot and the Line. (Of which I have an original cel.)

Franz Kline, Orange and Black Wall. Too often we think of Kline in terms of  blacks, whites, and browns but his use of color is equally stunning. source

You can take a stroll through the exhibition of Matisse's cutouts.

What teh interwebs was meant for: a collection of Milwaukee bus passes.

How well do you know the sounds of technology? Find out by playing Name that Beep.

Normally I put all my Aviation Pr0n on my Pinterest page but this photo essay on construction of the SR-71 Blackbird was too good to pass up.

For something truly zen-like, here are demotivational posters made from Werner Herzog's quotes. This is my favorite: "Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness."

This article's subtitle is "Your future smartphone may be made out of poop metal." Interested now?

And finally, enjoy the rest of your day playing this Daft Punk console.

...to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. ~Friedrich Nietzsche