Time to Caucus!

soupsoup: colleendougherty: (via livejamie)

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:32:21 -0400

soupsoup:

colleendougherty:

(via livejamie)

Old school Amy Winehouse. Pre-crack, pre-Rehab, pre-Blaaake

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:25:57 -0400

Old school Amy Winehouse. Pre-crack, pre-Rehab, pre-Blaaake

Sa-Ra

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:12:44 -0400

Sa-Ra

I have a non gay mancrush on Tom Ford. I want my home and my...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:03:58 -0400

I have a non gay mancrush on Tom Ford. I want my home and my wardrobe to look straight out of his Milan store.

Help me understand: "China"

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:53:00 -0400

jakoblodwick:

Can you explain the political situation in China in three sentences?

Substitute China with Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, etc. and I bet this is how George W starts all his briefings.

syntheticpubes: wheeee: via www.thismachinekills.com

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:04:18 -0400

syntheticpubes:

wheeee:

via www.thismachinekills.com

I think we have hit a new level of...

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:31:09 -0400

I think we have hit a new level of “oversharing”

maryrambin:

Holy shit…literally. Let the “fun” begin.

The Truth About the Spinning Dancer

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:10:55 -0400

A popular e-mail going around features a spinning dancer that has been touted as a test of whether you are right-brained and creative or left-brained and logical. If you see the dancer spinning clockwise, the story goes, you are using more of your right brain, and if you see it moving counterclockwise, you are more of a left-brained person.

Clockwise or counterclockwise?But while the dancer does indeed reflect the brain savvy of its creator, Japanese Web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara, it is not a brain test. Instead, it is simply an optical illusion called a reversible, or ambiguous, image. Images like this one have been long studied by scientists to learn more about how vision works.

The silhouette image of the spinning dancer doesn’t have any depth cues. As a result, your eyes will sometimes see the dancer standing on her left leg and spinning to the right. And sometimes they will perceive her as standing on her right leg and spinning to the left. Most people, if they stare at the image long enough, will eventually see her turn both ways.

Perhaps the most-studied reversible image is the Necker cube, which looks like the wire-frame of a cube. The picture also lacks depth cues, so sometimes the face of the cube appears on the lower left, but sometimes it jumps to the back and the face of the cube shifts. A moving rotating Necker cube can be seen here.

“What’s happening here to cause the flip is something happening entirely within the visual system,’’ said Thomas C. Toppino, chair of the department of psychology at Villanova University. “If we can understand why it is these figures reverse then we’re in a position to understand something pretty fundamental to how the visual system contributes to the conscious experience.’’

Sometimes, a person will stare at an image and it will never reverse. Dr. Toppino advises staring at one part of the image, such as the foot, and most of the time it will eventually flip. I tried this several times, but it never flipped. Dr. Toppino says in people who can’t see the reversal, it may be that one underlying neural structure is more dominant, but once someone finally manages to see the flip, it will start to happen more often.

I did finally see the dancer flip, but it was only after using a sort of cheat sheet that draws a line on the dancer’s standing leg. To see the lined image moving clockwise, click here. To see it move counterclockwise, click here.

And if you haven’t wasted enough time staring at the Necker cube and spinning dancer, check out these fun optical illusions.

Kanye West - Flashing Lights (2nd Version) World Premiere (via )

Tue, 27 May 2008 21:34:44 -0400

Kanye West - Flashing Lights (2nd Version) World Premiere (via )

I can’t prove it but I’m pretty sure the image...

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:34:19 -0400

I can’t prove it but I’m pretty sure the image changes direction not my brain.

ericlodwick:

musicbrain:

image via starline:dirtysob:

Apparently, this is a left-brain/right-brain test. If you see the figure rotating counterclockwise, you are “left-brained,” and you’re “right-brained” if you see the figure rotating clockwise.

So, what kind of brain do you have if you know how to switch the rotation of the figure at will? While sometimes I wonder if I even have a damn brain, I may have figured out a simple way to explain how to switch the rotation. Scroll down on this image until you can’t see boobs anymore because they may be a bit distracting. Now, as you are looking at the legs, pretend that there are 3 legs. The woman turns into a man! No, really, just imagine the right leg coming around clockwise. As the right leg is coming around on the right side clockwise and crossing the “middle” leg, imagine a third leg appearing from behind the middle leg. This third leg will be rotating counterclockwise. Now scroll back up and try this.

I think that most of this left-brain/right-brain dichotomy is based on where our language centers are located. Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas for language processing are primarily active in the left hemisphere. This is mostly based on decades of clinical evidence from stroke victims, traumatic brain injuries, and fMRI studies. Even with that said, language processing is shared more between hemispheres in some right-handed people and a larger proportion of left-handed people. Just this bit of info precludes a complete dichotomy for language processing, but for simplicity’s sake, the left side is for language. Still yet, the right side of the brain is an emotional and visual integrator, and I think common sense tells us that we need this for some aspects of language and communication. On average, most people use both sides of their brain for most activities. We’re not split-brained. Even if some of us are slightly more lateralized to one side of the brain, I don’t see how a naked ballerina gives us any insight into this.

More sexiness

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:09:00 -0400

Slang Stock Market

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:03:03 -0400

Agreed… The word “douchebag” has gone the way of such classics as “NOT” or “totally radical” or “gnarly” or “jiggy”. In otherwards, only douchebags still use it.

rickyv:

I’m shorting the word “douche.”

After a strong resurgence in 2005 and showing strong staying power through 2007, its day has come. Lately most of the people I’ve seen use it fit into two categories, or a combination of both:

1) people over 40 who have finally had the word passed down the cool chain from their younger friends and co-workers

2) the “douches” originally being described themselves

Pretty soon even the douches won’t be calling people douches, which is when the stock will completely crash.

Rick Haskins, EVP Marketing at the CW, lying.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:59:07 -0400

Rick Haskins, EVP Marketing at the CW, lying.:

And the ad’s purpose has been served. I don’t understand why these so-called advocates of decency continue to go on television and raise a big stink about these sort of ads. All it does is serve to provide even MORE exposure for the very thing that they are rallying against. In that news clip I saw more sex (video images rather than still posters) and I heard/saw OMFG more times than I have through CW’s own ad campaign. Rick Haskins + CW = Smart; Parental Television Council = Retarded.

rickyv:

Related, this book.

Screw Megan Fox! This Bitch has my vote for World's Sexiest

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:02:58 -0400

"I also think that my party can be smug, detached, and dogmatic at times. I believe in free market,..."

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:48:12 -0400

“I also think that my party can be smug, detached, and dogmatic at times. I believe in free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs don’t work as advertised. I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers.”

- Barack Obama (via azspot) (via marco) (via jakoblodwick)

As a (soon to be admitted) lawyer I whole-heartedly agree.

oh, just some predictions from the first Earth Day in 1970

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:13:00 -0400

I have always believed that many of the current predictions about the effect and causes of global warming are overblow. I do, however, still believe that minimum impact production and consumption naturally makes sense.

dihard:

“By 1985…air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the earth by one half” – Life magazine, January 1970

“By the year 2000…the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America and Australia, will be in famine,” Peter Gunter, North Texas State University, The Living Wilderness, Spring 1970.

Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor “…the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born,” Newsweek magazine, January 26, 1970.

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” Paul Ehrlich, interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970. Ehrlich also predicted that in 1973, 200,000 Americans would die from air pollution, and that by 1980 the life expectancy of Americans would be 42 years.

more here.

"I don’t think I could properly educate a child right now. Maybe in the future, but I actually..."

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:56:39 -0400

“I don’t think I could properly educate a child right now. Maybe in the future, but I actually haven’t thought about it.”
Carey said having children would leave her feeling “violated… I know that’s a kind of weird thing to say, but that’s how I am. You gotta take care of yourself,” she said. “You have to try and stay pretty, you know.”

- Mariah Carey

After using Tumblr semi-regularly now for awhile, I think I've finally figured out how "viral" works

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:35:00 -0400

Haha..Funny cuz its true. I’m a level 3 poser.

catbird:

This outfit is my summer style inspiration. The Sartorialist

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:24:44 -0400

This outfit is my summer style inspiration. The Sartorialist

Miley Cyrus

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:16:32 -0400

The fact that “Miley Cyrus Bra” is one of the top 10 searches on google trends is slightly disturbing. She is 15 YEARS OLD!! I am never having daughters.