how cool is that?

Higgs Boson Search: CERN Releases New Data Said To Narrow Hunt For 'God Particle'

GENEVA — Researchers hunting for an elusive sub-atomic particle believed to be a basic building block of the universe announced Tuesday that they have narrowed down the search thanks to the latest data.

The Higgs boson – popularly referred to as the "God particle" – is more likely to be found in the lower mass or energy ranges of the massive atom smasher being used to track it down, researchers from two independent teams said.
The unveiling of the latest data has generated much buzz among researchers who hope that the particle, if it exists, can help explain many mysteries of the universe. British physicist Peter Higgs and others theorized the particle's existence more than 40 years ago to explain why atoms, and everything else in the universe, have weight.
Both of the research teams are involved with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva. CERN oversees the $10-billion Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border, a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel where high energy beams of protons are sent crashing into each other at incredible speeds.
Fabiola Gianotti, an Italian physicist who heads the team running what's called the ATLAS experiment, said "the hottest region" is in lower energy ranges of the collider. She said there are indications of the Higgs' existence and that with enough data it could be unambiguously discovered or ruled out next year.
Several mass or energy ranges within the atom smasher are now excluded to a "95 percent confidence level," Gianotti told other physicists at CERN.
Afterward, Guido Tonelli, lead physicist for the team running what's called the CMS experiment, outlined findings similar to those of the ATLAS team, saying the particle is most likely found "in the low mass region" of the collider.
Although it would be an enormous scientific breakthrough for the physics world if the Higgs boson was found, officials at CERN have ruled out making any such announcement this year.

in the produce section no one can hear you scream......

cool and weird......

The Unclouded Mind, Creepy & Cute Mini-Exhibition by Artist Xue Wang

London-based artist Xue Wang posted several preview images for her mini-exhibition of creepy and cute paintings, The Unclouded Mind, at CoproGallery in Santa Monica, California. The new work for this show was “inspired by her visit to Hellingly Insane Asylum“. The show runs through December 31, 2011.

via

Bane Breaks the Bat’s Mask in New Dark Knight Rises Teaser

Get a good look at Bane's back in the new The Dark Knight Rises one-sheet.
Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures (click to enlarge)

Batman’s cowl lies broken in the rain as Bane stalks away in the new one-sheet for The Dark Knight Rises.
The image, released Saturday by Warner Bros. Pictures with the intriguing tag line “The Legend Ends,” is the latest tease leading up to next week’s screening of the movie’s prologue, which introduces Batman’s brutal nemesis.
In the opening moments of Christopher Nolan’s final Batman movie, the director gives viewers a menacing blast of Bane, as revealed Thursday in advance screenings of the prologue, which might be the most highly anticipated six minutes of footage in cinematic history

inspired....

America Psycho' Author Bret Easton Ellis Wants Scott Disick For Movie Remake

  Video , Brett Easton Ellis , American Psycho , American Pyscho Remake , Brett Easton Ellis Scott Disick , Scott Disick , Books News

As soon as we heard that Lionsgate was looking to remake "American Psycho" -- a film made only 11 years ago -- we immediately thought why? And too soon!

But then we thought what a perfect opportunity for Scott Disick to play the character he's been dressing as for the last decade.

It turns out we weren't the only ones to have that brilliant thought -- Kourtney Kardashian's baby daddy totally wants in on it. A few hours after the annoucement of the remake, 28-year-old Disick tweeted:

"Just heard there doing a remake of American Psycho! best news i have ever heard! i hope they call me!

We were even more delighted when late last night, "American Pyscho" author Bret Easton Ellis, chimed in too:

"I have warned Lionsgate that I will not approve a new version of 'American Psycho' unless it stars SCOTT DISICK or MILES FISHER," and he quickly added, "I am waiting for Scott Disick to ask: 'Who in the hell is Bret Easton Ellis?"

Oh Bret, you are too funny! But seriously, we doubt you have any say in the remake since you had no say in the film's awful sequel, "American Psycho 2" staring Mila Kunis before Hollywood loved her.

In 2001, Ellis told the press, "I've sold the rights [to the book], but I really don't know how they ended up with all of these rights. Basically, the book really kind of survives. I'm the kind of writer that sees books and movies as two totally different animals. So far, none of these movies has blotted out the book for the reader."

And of course Disick knows who the creator of his sartorial idol is, and responded to the author's bait, tweeting:

"Not going to happen, I know just who u r!"
The remake is still in early development but is said to explore how the wealthy, immaculately -groomed, homicidal character brought to life by Chrisian Bale would "fare in modern day Gotham."
We are guessing the studio is trying to capitalize on the public's general distaste (or disgust) with Wall Street by offering up a story with a villainous investment banker -- and is there a banker more evil than Patrick Bateman?

If the studio decides to go through with the unnecessary remake, we hope Disick is seriously considered for the role, or at least cast as one of the guys in that scene about the business cards.

If you need anymore convincing as to why Disick would be the perfect Bateman 2.0, watch this video a fan created. (Probaby NSFW):

The presumptive Republican nominee...

Newt on Calista...

"First of all she is a very strong personality, which Nancy Reagan was,” Gingrich said. “She actually describes herself as being a cross between Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush with just a slight bit of Jackie Kennedy tossed in and I think there is, somewhere swirling in there, the model Calista would like to live up to.”
Newt on Newt

"People like me are alll that stand us and Auschwitcz."

Newt on foster families"
Newt Gingrich, the soon-to-be Republican Speaker of the House, was eager to flex his muscle. Minor controversy erupted over remarks he made about welfare reform and orphanages. Some Republicans had suggested that the nation could reduce welfare rolls by placing the children of welfare mothers in orphanages. The idea was to prohibit states from paying welfare benefits for two groups of children: Those whose paternity was not established and those born out of wedlock to women under 18. The savings, according to this proposal, would be used to establish and operate orphanages and group homes for unwed mothers.
I thought this was a horrible idea. In a speech before the New York Women's Agenda on Nov. 30, 1994, I criticized Gingrich.
Gingrich swung back: "I'd ask her to go to Blockbuster and rent the Mickey Rooney movie about Boys Town [an orphanage]. I don't understand liberals who live in enclaves of safety who say, 'Oh, this would be a terrible thing.'

Newt on women in combat

"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare. On the other hand, men are basically little piglets, you drop them in the ditch, they roll around in it, doesn't matter, you know. These things are very real. On the other hand, if combat means being on an Aegis-class cruiser managing the computer controls for twelve ships and their rockets, a female may be again dramatically better than a male who gets very, very frustrated sitting in a chair all the time because males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes. "

"Taekwondo Finger Guy”

finally...

Proudy (Piss), Prague

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An 18th-century Portuguese monk who pioneered hypnotic techniques, Abbé Faria was honored in 1945 in the city of his birth with this rather unwholesome tribute. The novelist Evelyn Waugh called the thing “wildly vivacious,” saying that it captured the illustrious abbé at the “climax of an experiment, rampant over an entranced female.” Be that as it may, it’s easy to imagine that the abbé’s prostrate subject wishes that she could call the whole thing off and make a run for the beach instead.

See More Ugly Public Art

Photo: Wendy Underwood

 

 

Created by the provocateur and artist David Černý, this sculpture of two swiveling, copper-clad bros urinating into a pool shaped like the Czech Republic is a high-tech homage to Brussels’ beloved Manneken Pis. In an experiential twist, you can send a text message to the sculpture (the number’s on a plaque nearby), and the accommodating animatronic dudes will “write” your text in the water.

Biosphere 2 is Dying

If you grew up when we grew up, chances are you learned about the Biosphere 2 project in science class. Maybe you even read about it in Ranger Rick magazine. It was a hugely ambitious project — recreate the earth (aka Biosphere 1) so that people could live inside entirely self-sufficient. Some called it a failure because people only lived in there for two entire years, but they were calorie and oxygen deprived. However, many scientists call it a success because of the amount of knowledge gained by the experiment. We vote it as a success.
It was interesting to visit. In the magazines growing up, the entire structure radiated newness and cleanliness. Now, there are rusty spots, the paint is pealing away … it’s dying. Biosphere 1 is kicking Biosphere 2′s ass.
However, it was most interesting to hear the insider stories. Rumor has it that two factions formed during the long mission and there are still members of the groups that refuse to speak to each other! And supposedly there was at least one Biosphere hook-up — two of the original team were married after the mission according to our guide. Also according to our guide, the second experiment ended because the knowledge they were gaining was the same as the knowledge gained during the first experiment. Because of this, it was cut short. Wikipedia, however, tells a different story: federal marshals served the management team with a retraining order, removing them from the site. This pushed the mission into chaos.
The structure is now being used for other experiments, notably the LEO experiment that is going on now that hopes to learn more about soil formation and the interaction between rain and soil. It’s now wholly owned by the University of Arizona, and it’s evidently pretty expensive to keep up — tickets for the tour are $20.
We, of course, took a lot of pictures.

Biosphere 2 housing -- everybody had a duplex apartment.

Biosphere 2 kitchen. They cooked without oil for 2 years.

The Biosphere 2 rainforest.

The Biosphere 2 "ocean" area.

Under the ocean.

The guts of the Biosphere 2 building. This leads to one of the lungs.

One of the lungs -- the middle ceiling rises and falls to equalize the pressure when sealed. Otherwise it would blow out on hot days.

The LEO project gives the building new life.

The LEO is a big experiment. This is the old agricultural area.

Biosphere 2 shows its age -- construction finished in the early '90s.

A fresh coat of paint would do wonders ... and cost millions.

spooky...

An unexpected side-effect of the 2010 flooding in parts of Sindh, Pakistan, was that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters; because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water took so long to recede, many trees became cocooned in spiders webs. People in the area had never seen this phenomenon before, but they also reported that there were fewer mosquitoes than they would have expected, given the amount of standing water that was left. Not being bitten by mosquitoes was one small blessing for people that had lost everything in the floods. Photo and caption by Russell Watkins/National Geographic Photo Contest

Bane Lets It Rip in Dark Knight Rises’ Menacing Prologue

As Bane, actor Tom Hardy brings convincing menace to The Dark Knight Rises, at least in the prologue.
Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

HOLLYWOOD — Heath Ledger’s Joker blasted through the opening heist sequence of The Dark Knight with chilling conviction three years ago. Smart, scary and utterly riveting, Ledger’s character set the tone for the rest of the picture by blending ice-cold humor with utterly remorseless criminal smarts.

sign of the Apocalypse #71

Taco Bell Doritos Taco: Chain Claims New Shell Will Reinvent Titular Menu Item .

Some things are perfect: sunshine, rainbows, koala bears, King Lear, fish tacos eaten on the beach in Malibu. These are things that, like the wheel, no one would want to reinvent. But what about Taco Bell tacos? Given that they've been accused of being filled with a faux-ground meat mixture, they hardly seem as perfect as rainbows. So why not reinvent them? Probably can't make them any worse, right?

If only.
As it turns out, Taco Bell had the capability to make its tacos much, much worse. Parent company Yum Brands just had to team up with fellow food giant PepsiCo for an answer, in the form of taco shells made of nacho cheese-flavored Doritos.

The tacos debuted at the beginning of 2011 in selected markets in the San Joaquin Valley in California, and proved enough a success that Yum Brands has decided to bring the product to Taco Bells around the country.

Representative from the company told Nation's Restaurant News that the Doritos Locos Tacos would "reinvent the taco," and help separate Taco Bell from its competitors. The fillings on the Dorito-clad tacos are said to be spiced more mildly than those in traditional tacos, to help compensate for the extra flavor in the shell.

At this point, it's unclear how the bright orange cheese powder on the exterior of the new tacos will affect Taco Bell's sodium reduction initiative, but we can't imagine it's helping. Maybe Taco Bell shouldn't have reinvented its wheel after all.

Here's an ad for the tacos that's been aired in California test markets

AL JAFFEE's Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions: Live at Joe's Pub

Uploaded by jahfurry on Nov 14, 2011

AL JAFFEE's Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions

hooray!!!!!!!!!!!

Nigella Douses Self In Salted Caramel As Guest Editor For Stylist Magazine

If someone really loved salted caramel, she could proclaim that love by consuming the sweet treat. Or she could pour the sugary sauce over her head, photograph it and put it on the cover of a magazine. That just so happens to be the way cookbook author and TV personality Nigella Lawson shared her love for this sweet confection with the world -- as Eater brought to light -- with an image of caramel dripping down her heavily made-up face on the latest cover of Stylist.

Nigella denies that this haunting image is by any means sexual in nature. In an interview with the London Times, Nigella maintains that this image "is simply rapturous joy in caramel," the Daily Mail reports. Well, we have never seen such joy take this form in the past, and we certainly hope that it sticks to its usual smiles from here on out.

It is safe to assume that not everyone perceives the Domestic Goddess' cover in the innocent light she may have hoped for. Celebrities do have a history of dousing themselves in food items while suggestively posing for the camera. If you have managed to forget some of the more striking erotic food photographs, Grub Street has nicely rounded up some of the best ones to refresh your memory. From images of actress Josie Maran spraying her face with milk straight from an udder to Giada De Laurentiis playing in a vat of tomato sauce -- feels like we have seen it all.

OMG!!!!!!

Mr. Spock Of 'Star Trek' A Woman? Nichelle Nicols Says She Was Offered Role

Though the "Star Trek" has been rebooted with a new sheen, make no mistake: Leonard Nimoy is Mr. Spock. But here's a twist: had things turned out the way series creator Gene Roddenberry intended them, the role would have been perhaps been cast as Ms. Spock.

In an interview filmed in 2002 for "Trek Nation Director's Log" and aired recently on the Science Channel special "Trek Nation," Nichelle Nicols revealed that she was the original Vulcan of Roddenberry's eye.

"They gave me a three-page script to read from that had three characters named," she said. "There was Bones, Kirk and someone called Spock and they asked me to read for the role of Spock. When I looked at this great text, I said to myself, 'I'll take any one of these roles,' but I found the Spock character to be very interesting, and I asked them to tell me what she [Spock] was like."

As io9 points out, there was a female character, much like Spock, named Number One in an early iteration of the script; it was later cut and Spock was added, seemingly in its place.

Eventually, of course, Nicols would end up winning the role of Lieutenant Uhura, leading to what is largely considered the first interracial kiss on television, with William Shatner's Captain Kirk.

As for Spock, Nimoy said he got a call from his agent saying that Roddenberry, who produced a show he had already been on, wanted him for a role in another show he was working. He sent in an episode of "Dr. Kildare," in which, as he told Emmytvlegends.org, "he played a very quiet, shy guy who befriended a blind girl and quoted poetry to her, a very sensitive, nice character," which was the absolute opposite of what he had done on Roddenberry's show.

Then came a meeting in a studio with Roddenberry, and the rest is history. In the most recent iteration of the franchise, director JJ Abrams' films, Zachary Quinto plays Spock, to devastating effect, but after three seasons of orignal show, seven film starring roles and various other cameos, Nimoy will forever be the one true Spock.

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going to be hard to top Noomi Rapace...

 

MythBusters Accidentally Fires Cannonball Into Suburban Neighborhood

 

If there were an urban myth that suburban homes are impervious to becoming cannon fodder, it just got busted

yummy.....

Brain sandwich ( bread crumbs and painted clay )
Cervello panino ( pangrattato e creta dipinta )

Food for canaries / Mangime per canarini

Candies / Zuccherini

What have you got in your head? is a two-part artwork series of human brains made with food from Italian artist Sara Asnaghi. Created in 2006, Part 1 of the series includes human brains molded from polenta, red lentils, salt and more. Later in 2010, Sara created Part 2 which includes brains made from canary food, nonpareil candies and a ‘brain sandwich’ made from bread crumbs and clay

great turing sculpture

people and the fish they look like

looks interesting..

 

Escape From New York goes to outerspace in the new sci-fi flick from French action man Luc Besson. In Lockout, Guy Pearce plays a wrongly-convicted felon who invades an interstellar prison and extracts the president’s daughter in exchange for his freedom

wow....Hero, A Pointillist Portrait Made With 3.2 Million Dots

 

stupid, but funny..

oh please...oh please.....

Cain exit sparks Gingrich poll surge in Republican race for the White House

Former House Speaker now leads favourite Romney in key states

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Newt Gingrich's resurgence comes after his hopes of winning the nomination appeared dead and buried only a few weeks ago

AFP/Getty Images

Newt Gingrich, whose career seemed dead and buried just weeks ago, has capitalised on Herman Cain's exit to establish a huge lead in the early voting states that could decide the Republican White House race.

A poll in The Washington Post yesterday put him 15 points ahead of Mitt Romney, the nominal front-runner whose victory has been seen as a given by political analysts.
Mr Gingrich has similarly large leads in two of the other three states that hold presidential primaries next month and is steadily closing the gap in the fourth – Mr Romney's once-impregnable stronghold of New Hampshire.

watched it last night for the first time in years..

very cool and spooky

first look prometheus

because it's monday and I need it......

very cool.......

not really surprised...but saddened..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/03/kurt-vonnegut-biography?newsfeed=true

Kurt Vonnegut's dark, sad, cruel side is laid bare

A biography of the author of Slaughterhouse Five undermines his warm, grandfatherly image

Despite being hailed by so many as a genius, Kurt Vonnegut felt that the literary establishment never took him seriously. Photograph: Crescent/Everett /Rex Features

A new biography of acclaimed American author Kurt Vonnegut, beloved by fans worldwide for his work's warm humour and homespun Midwestern wisdom, has shocked many with a portrayal of a bitter, angry man prone to depression and fits of temper.
The book on Vonnegut, who died in 2007, lifts the lid on the writer's private life, revealing a man far removed from the grandfather-like public figure his millions of devotees adored.
And So It Goes was written by Charles Shields, who also wrote a controversial biography of Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird. The book paints a picture of a man who was often distant from his children, cruel to a long-suffering first wife, caught in an unpleasant second marriage and spent much of his later years depressed and angry. "Cruel, nasty and scary are the adjectives commonly used to describe him by the friends, colleagues, and relatives Shields quotes," wrote one reviewer, Wendy Smith, on the Daily Beast website. The New York Times reviewer, Chris Buckley, called Shields's portrayal "sad, often heartbreaking".
Through novels such as The Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle and the classic Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut's career spanned five decades, often working in the science fiction genre, and catapulted him into the canon of great American writers. His work, while often dealing with tragedy, was famed for espousing humanitarian, even socialist values, and often had a strong anti-war, anti-capitalist feel. It is full of references to the virtues of small-town life, volunteer firefighters and the Midwest, especially his home city of Indianapolis.
Yet Shields's book is unsparing in its portrayal of Vonnegut's dark side. It reveals that the writer – whose experience as a PoW during the firebombing of Dresden scarred his psyche for life – had no qualms about investing in firms that made napalm or indulged in a host of other morally suspect activities. He fell out with friends, editors and relatives and had a shocking temper. In later life he appeared deeply bitter and lonely. In the opening part of the book Shields describes meeting Vonnegut just a few months before his death. He describes Vonnegut asking him to look up his name in a dictionary (it was not there) and then look up Jack Kerouac (it was there). "How about that?" Vonnegut then states with a frown. The chapter of Shields's book dealing with Vonnegut's final 15 years of life is called simply "Waiting to Die".
"Towards the end he was very feeble, very depressed and almost morose. I think that slants this book," said Jerome Klinkowitz, an academic at the University of Northern Iowa and one of the world's leading experts on Vonnegut.
"It is a little naive to be surprised by this," said Gregory Sumner of the University of Detroit Mercy, who recently wrote a book exploring Vonnegut's work, called Unstuck In Time. "Personal relationships were difficult for him. He had a lot of survivor's guilt."
Vonnegut definitely had survived a lot. His once wealthy family was impoverished by the Great Depression, causing grim strains in his parents' marriage. His mother committed suicide. His beloved sister died of breast cancer, a day after her husband was killed in a train accident. But the defining horror of Vonnegut's life was his wartime experience and surviving the Dresden bombing, only to be sent into the ruins as prison labour in order to collect and burn the corpses. The ordeal cropped up continually in his work, but most notably formed the basis of Slaughterhouse-Five, the book that made Vonnegut famous.
But there was more to it than just coping with such traumatic situations. In later life, despite being hailed by so many as an American genius, Vonnegut felt that the literary establishment never took him seriously. They interpreted his simplistic style, love of science fiction and Midwestern values as being beneath serious study.
The book will do little to dampen enthusiasm for Vonnegut's work. "He's not a relic of the 1960s. His work is vibrant today even posthumously," said Sumner. "Maybe we just expect too much of our heroes."