There are times when silence...

New band, new music. O.R.k. is Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari (vocals, keyboards), Colin Edwin (bass), Pat Mastelotto (percussion), and Carmelo Pipitone (guitar). Their sound is self-described as "playful acoustic psychedelia and precise math rock, but with an added seasoning of intense ambient electronica." Their website, www.orkband.com, includes video previews of two tracks from their debut album, Inflamed Rides, that's now available for pre-order.

But wait, there's more. Another new band, KoMaRa, is David Kollar (guitar), Pat Mastelotto (drums), and Paolo Raineri. Their self-titled debut is available for pre-order. Self-described as "Cinematic Industrial Ethno-Rock."

Still more. The second album from Metallic Taste of Blood, Doctoring the Dead, now featuring Eraldo Bernocchi, Colin Edwin, Ted Parsons, and Roy Powell.

Normally I keep my aviation pr0n on Pinterest but this night photo of a C-130J was sufficiently cool to share here (i.e. how the motion of the stars in the background mimics the propeller tips).

How many aeronautical records can a C-5M set on a single flight? How about 45.

Convair B-58 Hustler. Take 28 minutes for this vintage aviation pr0n video.

New solo album from Trey Gunn: The Waters, They Are Rising. I'd like to think the title is a reference to Peter Gabriel's iconic track Here Comes the Flood. There are, in fact, four versions of a song called Flood on this album. (And if I had read Trey's blog post before writing, I would've seen that yes indeed that's what he's doing.)

Lindsey Taylor creates floral arrangements in the style of various paintings and my favorites - no surprise - are the more abstract. Here she pays homage to Gerhard Richter's Bouquet. Flower arranging isn't normally my thing but I really enjoy her creativity.

Got $179 to spare? Wanna buy a 3D printer?

You can stream the soundtrack for the film Ex Machina from Rdio. The film's trailers look interesting.

Vincent Laforet's abstract aerial photographs of trains help make a point about abstract art in general. When does the figurative become abstract? A lot of it is a matter of perspective.

Hear marine biologists and/or oceanographers get all giddy when a sperm whale dances with their ROV.

Abstract art? Check. Animation? Check. What do you get? The international festival on abstract animation.

Speaking of animation, this year's Tex Avery award was presented by Dallas' Reel FX to the writers of the LEGO Movie.

Screen capture from Raven Kwok's film 1194D, based on "recursive triangular subdivision."

Fan of Stanley Kubrick? Got time for 3 hours of videos on his directorial expertise?

And then there's this: The Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre.

Begin Tiny Rant

Idiot America is at war with expertise. In their own words, "We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture." Duh. From the article: "There's never been a better time to espouse, profit from, and believe in utter, unadulterated crap." Reminds me of the book Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?

Totally damning is the article Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing-Down of America from Psychology Today. "There is a growing and disturbing trend of anti-intellectual elitism in American culture. It’s the dismissal of science, the arts, and humanities and their replacement by entertainment, self-righteousness, ignorance, and deliberate gullibility."

On a related note, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrates that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism.

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Time for a new font: Times New Ramen

I like McSweeney's. I liked this article because my better half does Zumba. I loved this article because of the phrase: "There’s a point at which your body becomes a bruised bag of yams that you haul around, waiting for it to finally rot and return to the miserable earth whence it came..." And what makes this article truly funny is the life/death subtext.

For my friends in Canadia: poutine tornado

Median lifetime earnings by college major. Keep in mind the average across all majors is around $1.2 million. #2 is aerospace engineering at about $2.1 million. Computer science comes in at #10 with $1.7 million.

What teh interwebs is made for: all the world's passports in one place.

Maps.

And find a point halfway between two locations.

The perfect road trip map of the U.S. In my early teens my family and I went on a 3-week driving road trip of the U.S: Ohio to Texas to Arizona to Yellowstone to Mt. Rushmore to Chicago and home. The adjective I'd use to describe that isn't "perfect."

Pantone Minion Yellow

I question whether people are really addicted to my vibe.

The periodic table of Wordpress plugins

Nuke fun that you can play all day: The Critical Assembly Simulator.

MUST WATCH VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Ham Goes Up an Escalator. Best thing in video since Waffle Falling Over.

And now, 11 hours of the soothing sounds of Tibetan bowls.

...is a poem. ~John Fowles