Nearly exact self-similar fractal forms occur do in nature, but I'd never seen such a beautiful and perfect example until, some time after moving to Switzerland, I came across a chou Romanesco like the one above in a grocery store. This is so visually stunning an object that on first encounter it's hard to imagine you're looking at a garden vegetable rather than an alien artefact created with molecular nanotechnology.

Coolest vegetable ever.

Fractal Food

leaving to go buy hamster...

Getting started, you'll need:
- A hampster
- Tape
- A knife

Heh.

Turn Your Hamster into a Fighting Machine

OKay, my head is still spinning a little from this and I think I'm really going to have to go back and read Flatland (http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/flatland/) again to really be able to wrap my mind around (heh) it, but I suspect that while it may have been wild speculation that allowed them to reach these conclusions, that they may be exactly right.

It really explains a great deal about subatomic particle behaviours.

Dark matter highlights extra dimensions

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening at his home in suburban Virginia, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.

A statement from the spokeswoman said he was surrounded by his three children when he died in Arlington.

"The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his dues on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days," she said.

Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1971 by President Nixon and took his seat on Jan. 7, 1982. He was elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986.

His death ends a remarkable 33-year Supreme Court career during which Rehnquist oversaw the court's conservative shift, presided over an impeachment trial and helped decide a presidential election.

The death President Bush his second court opening within pour months and sets up what's expected to be an even more bruising Senate confirmation battle than that of John Roberts.

Rehnquist, 80 and ill with cancer, presided over President Clinton's impeachment trial in 1999, helped settle the 2000 presidential election in Bush's favor, and fashioned decisions over the years that diluted the powers of the federal government while strengthening those of the states.

oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening

On sale in September! I've seen reports as early as September 14, but the consensus seems to be on September 20.

The King of All Cosmos grew to stardom after taking all of the Prince's Katamaris and replacing the stars. His fans knew no bounds and wished to see more Katamaris fill the sky. The king of all Cosmos desired to appease all of their requests and recruited the Prince and his cousins to help. Now they are tasked with rolling up even more clumps, each larger and more different than the one before.

Hooray!

We love Katamari

TOPEKA, KS—As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday in this embattled Midwestern state. Scientists from the Evangelical Center For Faith-Based Reasoning are now asserting that the long-held "theory of gravity" is flawed, and they have responded to it with a new theory of Intelligent Falling.

i heart the onion.

'Intelligent Falling' challenges Theory of Gravity

Interesting concept.

Enter in your AIM screen-name (and anyone else's you want) and see how many people link to you, within three degrees.

There's no way to increase your own score by adding people. This score is specifically calculated by counting people who have *your* name, in *their* buddy list, and some sort of formula which weights their link to you, based on their own scores.

My score today is: 45989

For reference, here are a few other people I checked. Some are folks I know, and some are just random names I typed in:

Rattle: 3176
Gordon Walton: 40466
Kim Zetter: 4851
Llearyn: 36773
GMBreeland: 38804
Randal: 5435
Strick: 13136
Virgil: 17273
Grunch: 1608
Aestetix: 17502
Bryan: 13765
God: 77395
Bob: 157924

Funny that "Bob" is more popular than "God." ;)

Elonka :)

The Three Degrees of AIMfight.com

omg. this is the best thing evar. and it has pirates. i am a convert to FSM as of now.

If "Intelligent Design" should be taught in our schools, side by side with the "unproven theory" of evolution, then it logically follows that other theories should be presented as well . . .   :)

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design.
I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe
was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that
we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific
evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence,
put in place by Him.

The above quote was sent in an open letter to the Kansas School Board. The webpage is worth a read, not just for the letter and theory (complete with scientific charts and a drawing of the Almighty FSM), but it also includes links to response letters from members of the school board, along with endorsements from many people throughout the scientific community. ;)

Intelligent Design v. Flying Spaghetti Monster-ism

a great trick to do on your background image

Note: most of these photos are not mine, they were uploaded to my website's gallery and credit goes to the guys who made them (named in each photo's description)

Pretty neat looking

w00kie's Transparent Screens slideshow on Flickr

James Doohan, who faked a Scottish burr to create one of television's most endearing characters, Chief Engineer Montgomery (Scotty) Scott of the U.S.S. Enterprise, died at the age of 85.

This happened July 20th, apparently. His ashes are going to be shot into space by Space Services Inc which provided that same service
for Gene Roddenberry and Timothy Leary awhile back.

James Doohan, Scotty on 'Star Trek,' Dies at 85