PASTAFARI

“austrian atheist niko alm supports the church of the flying spaghetti monster, a joke religion conjured up by atheists who say their make-believe stories are no better or worse than any traditional church’s. in 2008, to make a point about his faith’s sanctity compared to others, alm asked to wear a pasta strainer on his head for his driver’s license photo. austrian citizens are only allowed to wear headgear in state IDs for religious purposes, so alm, a spaghetti monster “pastafarian,” argued that a colander is his “religious headgear.”

this week, after avoiding alm for three years and even making him submit to a psychiatric examination, the austrian government caved. alm now has a valid austrian drivers license, complete with colander.”

he has too much free time but at least he got his way by ak

CATEGORIES: mind candy, musings

do not pass go, do not collect $200

chicago based anonymous art collective bored engaged rich uncle pennybags in his biggest role yet, a life-sized one.  they took to the streets in chicago’s logan square neighborhood, adorning the sidewalks with plywood dice, chance and community chest cards.  if you’re not careful, you may get a card that says go to jail for douchebaggery.  i like the way these kids think. by sv

CATEGORIES: art

luna nera

watched louis malle’s masterpiece ‘black moon’ last night.  like an alice in wonderland meets brazil meets dante’s inferno.  perhaps in this instance, it isn’t a world that is worth becoming; however, it is certainly a film worth a watch.  by sv

CATEGORIES: must be considered films

THE HIGGS BOSON

so, there is a teaser out right now from the scientific community planting anticipation for opening night of the  higgs boson. they say this could change the way we understand the world as we know it? maybe us civilians should start by trying to understand  the other elements first… THEN we can get logical about the 96% of matter that is invisible.

• the standard model is the simplest set of ingredients – elementary particles – needed to make up the world we see in the heavens and in the laboratory

• quarks combine together to make, for example, the proton and neutron – which make up the nuclei of atoms today – though more exotic combinations were around in the universe’s early days

• leptons come in charged and uncharged versions; electrons – the most familiar charged lepton – together with quarks make up all the matter we can see; the uncharged leptons are neutrinos, which rarely interact with matter

• the “force carriers” are particles whose movements are observed as familiar forces such as those behind electricity and light (electromagnetism) and radioactive decay (the weak nuclear force)

• the higgs boson came about because although the standard model holds together neatly, nothing requires the particles to have mass; for a fuller theory, the higgs – or something else – must fill in that gap

by kl

CATEGORIES: earth related

happy day, eh!

Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

by  kl

CATEGORIES: musings