Belgian weather man Frank Deboosere sets up a One Billion Seconds clock which will run for over 32 years, to illustrate the incomprehensible vastness of large numbers.

josbos · 1 day

I was lucky to realize my billionth second was approaching just a few months before it arrived! Celebrated it by flying with some friends to Sardinia and swimming naked into the sea at night. ONE BILLION SECONDS. it's a lot of seconds to be alive.

I'm looking forward to celebrating my 2 billionth second as well. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll make it to 3.

oldspicerolldadice · 2 days

You know... Her theory is speculative for sure, but I think it's not all that far out there. We've somewhat recently discovered strong correlations between some viral infections and specific types of cancer (HPV & some forms of cervical cancer, for example), and it doesn't seem unimaginable to me that the future might reveal more of these viral precursors for cancer. Colds are viral too. So who knows.

Apotheosis91 · 3 days

Back in 1999 or 2000 I went to see Man or Astro Man? play somewhere in NYC. They were good, but the opening band put on a show that utterly blew my mind and ended up being a show that I've spoken about ever since.

Their opening act was a band called The Causey Way. Here is a photo of them: http://imgur.com/sdRBR. They were a band pretending to be a cult pretending to be a band.

The show began with lights coming up on an empty stage. This squat bespectacled fellow walked onstage, dressed as if he had just left his cubicle. He sat behind the keyboard, made himself comfortable, then looked out into the crowd and brought his hand down on the keyboard, playing a single organ-like note.

The note rang out over the crowd, and a few people here and there started cheering and whistling in anticipation of the show finally beginning.

The thing is... the note just kept on playing. Nobody else came onstage. It was just this nerdy looking fella in shirt and tie sitting there playing a single note. This went on for 30 seconds, then 1 minute. 1 minute is a SERIOUSLY long time to watch and wait for a show to begin, listening to a single note. And... the minute came and went. He kept on staring impassively into the audience, his finger mashed down on the keyboard. Another minute passed. Still the same note. And it went on, and on and on and on. Think he must have played that note for a good 5 or 6 minutes.

You feel a wide range of emotions when something like this is occurring. At first there's a sort of pleasant surprise, a sort of bemused whimsy. Like "Wow, this guy's got balls to just sit there and do this." Soon after that you start to feel a bit of disbelief, you talk to people around you. "What's going on?" "Can you believe this shit?" This eventually melts into an indignant sort of anger, with people around me starting to talk about leaving, saying that this kinda thing was stupid bullshit. Some people found it hilarious, started laughing hysterically. Others got more and more upset. It slowly became more and more surreal though, with some of us wondering if this was going to be the opening act's entire show. Maybe he was going to sit there for 30 minutes and play this single note, unmoving and expressionless. SO BIZARRE.

Suddenly, he took his finger off the keyboard. He threw his head back, played a chord, and the rest of the band rushed onto stage and began playing.

Now remember, they were a band pretending to be a cult pretending to be a band. The singer was this tall David-Koresh lookalike who called himself Causey. The other band members worshiped him as their leader. All of the songs seemed to be about him and how great he was. In fact, there was a big banner hanging beside the stage that said "C.I.A.". Partway through the show, it was revealed to us that this stood for "Causey Is Awesome!"

They played a sort of pop-punk that was somewhat catchy but not too remarkable. The weirdest thing was the guy on keyboards who came out and played the neverending note. He really looked out of place. The other members of the band were hip, sexy looking people. Not this guy though. He looked like a nerd amongst hipster jocks, like a geek scientist sitting behind his control panel of a keyboard.

At some point during the show the sexy girls started giving Causey dirty looks. The bass player (who I believe was River Phoenix's sister) went over to him in the middle of a song and whispered something into his ear while they were all still playing. Causey started to look upset as well. Pretty soon it became apparent that the girls and Causey were pissed as hell at each other about something. I finally thought this was some of the cloak of performance art lifting from the show, like finally we were seeing a bit of the real personalities of the band members shine through.

They actually stopped a song, and over the hubbub of the crowd I thought I heard Causey yelling at the bass player to "Just play it how we used to play it, goddamit!" Soon enough they continued, but suddenly in the middle of the song, the bass player had enough and took off her bass, then angrily stormed offstage.

The thing is... the music kept playing, like the bass notes didn't stop! A few seconds later, the other girl stopped what she was doing, yelled something angrily at Causey and also started walking offstage. Causey, guitar slung around his neck and singing, looked at them leaving and stopped playing himself, throwing the guitar from his neck and running to the back of the stage after them.

All this time, the music just kept on going! We could still hear the bass being played, the guitar being played, the keyboard, all of it was still coming out of the PA system even though 3/5ths of the band had left the stage!

It suddenly became apparent to us what was going on. The nerd in the center, the scientist behind the keyboard, was sort of like the Wizard of Oz. He was the source of ALL THE MUSIC. He was playing absolutely everything on his control panel there. The performers, well they were just there to look good and seem to be a cool looking band. While they left the stage, he thrashed back and forth maniacally behind his keyboard, busier than ever as he played everything there was to play, emulating a full band from behind his little machine.

Soon thereafter, the song was over, and the show as well. My mind was blown.

C.I.A.

tl;dr: Band/Cult plays single note for many minutes. Are later revealed to be impostors, only one musician onstage.

legion26 · 5 days

wow, your liver is either tons more powerful than mine or the drinks you drink are a hell of a lot weaker. Six drinks in an hour is head-swimmingly drunk for me. Six beers, maybe. But six cocktails and i'm fucked.

theAlphaginger · 16 days

Also, I think this story sheds a bit of light on Japan's decision to call its WWII suicide pilots by the same name, "Kamikaze". Whether it was propaganda or true belief, those pilots were hoped to be national saviors, a kind of divine wind from the sky that would protect the country from invasion, just as they had been protected from the Mongols centuries before.

theAlphaginger · 16 days

Japan was protected twice from Mongol invasion by huge storms referred to as Kamikaze, or "Divine Wind".

My Japanese grandfather told me the story when I was a little kid. Not sure how much he exaggerated, but as he told it to me, Kublai Khan sent the largest fleet the world had ever seen to invade Southern Japan.

The Japanese were outnumbered by this overwhelming force and essentially stood no chance against the Mongol invaders. Thankfully, during the first night of the invasion an ENORMOUS typhoon swept across the land and completely destroyed the Mongol fleet.

7 years later Kublai Khan tried it again, and once again a huge storm blew in and destroyed his army. As my grandfather told it, Kublai Khan then decided that it was not worth the trouble to invade Japan, and the nation was untouched by foreign invaders for close to a millennium, until the Americans arrived in 1945.

Sounds like a fairy tale, but I've spoken to people since then who have told me that it is indeed considered legitimate military history. I'm no expert though, just a guy with a Japanese grandfather who liked to tell tales.

KazamaSmokers · 16 days

huh, how interesting - i don't mean to cause any offense by this, i know the history of bad blood between Armenians and Turks.

But I was utterly unexposed to this kind of food until moving to the Netherlands. Something that looks just like this is sold everywhere as either "Turkish Pizza" or "Lahmacun".

Whatever its origin, no matter whose kitchen it comes from, I love it!

Drunkdrood · 16 days

yes, they still do this. or at least they still do this to me.

underwear_viking · 17 days

I would also like to know this. Here is a photo of a cracked raw egg that I took in Uganda a few months ago. Perhaps it's a bit hard to see, but it's a raw egg in a white bowl. The yolk is only slightly darker than the color of the white bowl refracting through the egg white. I took the photo specifically because I was so shocked at the lack of yellow in the yolk.

What causes this? I also thought it must be diet, but what specifically about the diet?

autotom · 18 days

I think one of the main issues is that most people's impressions of Windows and its security is based on running XP machines. Now don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan of XP - run it on 2 machines at home. But for a non-power-user, a fresh install of XP usually leads to infection and at the very least a whole lot of annoying adware.

I think that Win7 compares well to OSX in terms of security and virus protection. But we're still living in a world where XP is dominant.

Qwiggalo · 22 days

what are YOU doing here? omg.

bradinphx · 23 days

Is booze not allowed on these trips at all or is it just ridiculously expensive from the bars on board?

Qwiggalo · 24 days

Your layout makes it look like an official document of some sort.

Once you read what it says, it becomes clear that it's not any sort of official document or posting.

This immediately diminishes its credibility in the eyes of the reader. It's a small deception of sorts that will lead anyone who reads it (including the thief) to view it as a kind of trickery.

Imagine a big red STOP sign posted on a street, with "SALE AHEAD" in smaller letters beneath it. This is an exaggerated version of the same deceit you are making use of here.

Why did you make it look somewhat official like this? It would honestly be more effective if it were ugly and all text was in comic sans - that way it would be presented as the work of a real human trying to spread word of a crime.

Also, telling the thief that (s)he can "go on with your pitiful life". Why say this? Does it make you feel better? Hope so, because it serves no useful purpose other than to further diminish your credibility. The thief will not be hurt in any way by reading your words.

Finally, putting some email address at the bottom and asking people to mail you "information regarding suspicious activity"..?? Ridiculous. How do people know it's not the thief who has posted this email address to keep tabs on people's suspicions?

If you want to actually have an effect, try to get people in your community together for a quick meeting sometime to talk about the break-in and get to know each other a bit better. Neighborhood watches work because people feel like they belong to a community that they are willing to protect. You need to work with people and not simply tell others what to do with ridiculous notices like this.

ohgoshwheretobegin · 25 days

SAP?

bootleric63 · 28 days

you want him to read the whole article to you? Out loud? Actually, that sounds quite nice.

Will someone please find the article and record themselves reading it out loud?

Vauce · 29 days

Plans for a European launch. We will buy this in Northern Europe.

Vauce · 29 days

I would also like to know about availability in Europe. There are so many people here (Netherlands) who would like to buy something like this.

Seriously, we tend to have small houses here compared to the US, but we're a tech-savvy nation who are willing to spend plenty of money on furnishing our homes well. With minimal marketing and placement in a few of the right stores, this will make Nest a tidy profit.

I only see a few hurdles keeping this from being released here:

Needs to be run past the lawyers to begin with to examine liability and other issues that might put the company at risk.
Support. Will this be done from America, or must a European office be established? Can support for Europe take place via email or must it be over the phone?
Some technical issues regarding voltage and standard wiring practices, but these can be solved with a series of phone calls and emails, then some engineering time.
Gain foothold in the market via shelf space at the right stores. Or online-ordering only?

Please ask your roommates to tell people at Nest that there is plenty to be made by selling this product in Europe. If they make the investments required to sell here, we will buy it!

shmoyko · 1 month

Here's a minute-long tune I made a while ago in 13/4. I'm a rank amateur in comparison though, your stuff sounds beautiful!

http://www.lightwires.net/upload/JKT016.mp3

iqwutyhquk · 1 month

Yes! If he only revealed his "Split" to him in place of his intention of "Steal", his opponent could have chosen to split underneath the fear of his intention of stealing! The prospect of choosing to "Steal" in the face of common Logic, therefore losing the game, should be enough motivation for him to reveal his intention and "Split" instead of "Steal", even though his opponent realizes that the prospect of a steal has become a reality by the first assuring that he will split after the official "Steal". This reveals the home audience as a witness to the man who has lost his prospect of revealing the "Split" as a "Steal", resulting in them both honorably and Logically splitting the stolen money. Genius!

DavidJMurphy · 1 month

In this example, track 2 is a really low tone that plays constantly, but is "muted" so you don't normally hear it.

The "sidechain" means that every time the kick drum is hit, the muting of track 2 is momentarily released, and you can briefly hear track 2.

This has the effect of making the kick drum sound more bass-y, because each hit of the kick drum is accompanied by a simultaneous low note as track 2 is briefly heard.

nixawme · 1 month

yup. but this is war!

nixawme · 1 month

What happened then? Did they go to the pow camp/hospital, with your grandpa holding them at gunpoint? It's kinda a strange thing to force someone at gunpoint to take you to prison.

laurieisastar · 1 month

stealing is so stupid! seriously, that stealer is so dumb. he is so dumb, dumb and wrong. i'm so glad he got cut and learned his lesson about stealing! what a valuable lesson!

thelaw · 1 month

huh.

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