We can only begin to live...

Contrary to its title, this article does not tell us why we have personal space only that we do and that it's related to the region in the brain that regulates fear. The zones are:

1. Intimate space: 18 inches
2. Personal space: 1.5 - 4.0 feet
3. Social space: 4 - 12 feet
4. Public space: 12+ feet

Must-watch video of the week: Symmetry.

Reason I'm Going to Hell #9 - Cyborg Pirate Ninja Jesus. source

Sometimes by trying too hard you can hurt your cause. In The Male Gaze we hear a tale about why sexism is bad with several embarrassing tales from the tech industry (it's like an anti brogrammer rant which is fine cuz anything that equates software developers with frat boys is dangerous). But the tale goes on and on and on and recommends that employees are trained in "feminist theory" (whatever the hell that is) and apologizes for forgetting that transgender females have penises. Just stop already - you had me at "free blow jobs."

Speaking of phallic symbols, only the French could've come up with the C450 Coleoptere.

There is absolutely nothing funny about Jorts.

3 of 7 ain't bad, right? That's how many I've read of these 7 tiny books that pack a big punch. (Included with Machiavelli and Marx is Dr. Seuss.)

We can all read the transcript of the now-infamous "You're Not Special" high school commencement address. (My wife will be mad because she told me to read it about two weeks ago.) "Climb the mountain so you can see the world not so the world can see you."

"Can this cock-Pit hold within this Woodden O?" Perhaps yes since they seem to have found Shakespeare's first theatre, the place where Henry V was first performed (and from which that quote cometh forth.)

My MRI explains a lot. source

Teh interwebs get blamed for everything - this time it's for killing pr0n.

Somewhere out there some little green aliens are trying to make sense of all the sights and sounds we sent with the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. You can see and hear them all at the link.

Watch all the little fishies on Kelp Cam from the Birch Aquarium.

Big. Wooden. Ball. (Tree stump + huge lathe = cool orb)

Floating. Shiny. Knot. (A Google maps street view mashup.)

Title says it all. source

There's some awesome artwork in this peek at the Walt Disney Family Museum's upcoming exhibit on Snow White.

Disney artist Eyvind Earle created this remarkably stylish trailer in 1960 for West Side Story.

Get out your drool cups, Star Wars freaks. Here's some candid, home movie quality, fan-footage of behind the scenes activity during the 1982 filming of Return of the Jedi.

Reimagining Star Wars if done by Dr. Seuss by artist Adam Watson.

Strike Star sounds so bad ass. But it's just a real-time map of lightening strikes in the continental U.S. (Wait, that is bad ass.)

How to kiss from 1942. Dammit, I've been doing it wrong.

I was never a huge fan of material science back in my college days but these two videos are pretty cool. First we have cutting steel and something called iscar chip formation. Second we have slow motion film showing how metal chips are shed by a drill bit.

Aviation pr0n of the week - vapor trails and sonic booms. There are many more pics at the link.

Mystery solved. Amelia Earhart landed, lived on, and probably died on Gardner island in the Pacific.

Spending on groceries in the U.S. has dropped in the 30 years since 1982 and the biggest change in foods bought is the jump in spending on processed foods from 11.6% to 22.9%. (Note: this does not say anything about how much processed food is bought or consumed, just how much is spent on it.)

Delve into some data on county-by-county diabetes rates in the U.S. (sorry southeast and Appalachia) and other data such as income and access to fresh fruit.

What will my craft beer friends say about the Save on Brew "Beer on the Cheap" blog? It will not score many points by calling Stone's Arrogant Bastard "foul."

You can debate the inclusion or exclusion of individuals all day but it's impressive just to get all these people together for Vanity Fair's photo for Paramount's 100th Anniversary.

Adrian Belew looks like your parents' neighbor who's always out working in his garden in Bermuda shorts with dark socks and a plain white t-shirt. But he's also one of the most innovative guitar players around as demonstrated by this 3-part video series on the History and Future of Guitar Noise: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.


...when we conceive life as tragedy. ~W.B. Yeats