A Lotus Quasi-Loop
I keep expecting the universe to collapse but this tastes so good I don’t care…
Posted in Art, Memes and Stuff, Mixing, No Category, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
העצלנות
אנחנו חוזרים הביתה אתמול. חונים במקום הכי קרוב שאפשר (שאינו ממש קרוב). יושבים באוטו לכמה דקות, מדברים. מגיעה מישהי עם האוטו שלה, מחפשת חנייה וחוזרת כשאינה מוצאת. היא חונה ממש מלפנינו, על המדרכה. כשיש מקום חנייה או ארבעה בדיוק מאחורינו. אההה!!!
Posted in Humanity, No Category, Thinking Out Loud, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
Weirdest E-mail I Ever Got from the Technion
Posted in Memes and Stuff, No Category, School, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
Violent Video Games – Again
A few weeks ago, there was horrible incident in Newtown, Connecticut. If you haven’t heard about the Sandy Hook shooting, it’s about time to start. It’s horrible, I won’t say it’s not. And with the internet, all these incidents seem close to home. That is not my problem. My problem is that the blame for the psychopath is falling to games again. A senator, a word which seems to mean less nowadays, proposes, quite subtly, I’ll say, a bill to make the National Academy of Science to study the effect of violent video games on real world violence (available online). Which is something that has never been done before, of course. And they keep doing this, instead of looking at gun laws or education or mental health. And the most annoying thing, the NRA, the fscking NRA, is condemning violent video games as the cause of the shooting. In plain English, the organisation who carves it on their flag the freedom to put weapons in every hand that wants one is saying that mass murders and shootings are because of violent video games. Only in America. At least one guy acquired some sense.
Posted in Gaming, Humanity, Thinking Out Loud, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
Kids and Strangers
I’ve been reading the Free Range Kids blog for a little while now. This blog came out of a book, written by the blogger Lenore, about the idea that kids are not unsafe if you leave them alone and when you give them responsibility, whether they are 16 years old, 11 years old or even 6-7 years old, you’re not endangering them but empowering them. And on top of that, the fact that current society sees all of these activities as dangerous to kids is borderline psychotic. It has been interesting so far, but the first post I would really like to talk about is this one. The story actually starts in this post (linked inside the new one as well) about the Virgin-Air Airline who forced a man to move from his seat just because he was seated next to two boys, 8 and 10 years old. The 33-year-old firefighter was immediately suspected as a secret pedophile just because he was male. This is a great blow to this man’s honor and to human decency in general. After that story was posted, Lenore posted two letters she got in response. One stating how right Virgin Air is of their action because 99% of pedophiles are male (so, by obvious “logic”, 99% of males are pedophiles, right?) and another one, which I linked to first, that tells an interesting story by a reader who says that when she was 4, she, her mother and her 1-year-old sister where going cross Continue Reading →
Posted in Humanity, Practice, Thinking Out Loud, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
University Sues Student for Graduating Early
This has been sitting in my to read queue for a few days now and I want to say something about it but I don’t know what. It just seems totally weird. So, when you don’t have anything to write, write about not having anything to write. Here’s the deal: A student enrolled in a private business and economics university in Germany. By an act of sheer genius (both for planning and execution) he managed to finish 11 semesters worth of studies in just 3, completing 60 exams in 20 months. If I met the guy, I would probably shake his hand vigorously and then maybe carry him on my shoulder and parade him around the town. The university had other plans; they are demanding 3000 euros as missing fees for his studies. That is, they want him to pay up for the rest of the year even though he only needed half of it. So… The university says the fees are for all the studies, which means they are probably charging all in advance. If not, why say that? If so, why are they only asking now and why only for the remainder of the year? The payment shouldn’t be for studies, the payment should be for access to university property (material, instruments, etc…) and the privilege of taking the tests and passing them, getting a degree. He should only pay for the time he used. The Technion charges per semester, which seems fair to me. But what if Continue Reading →
Posted in Geekdom, Less Interesting News, Weird by Eran with 1 comment.
What Would a Machine Say?
New Scientist had a contest, asking people what a conscious machine’s first words would be. My first thought: “Feed me…” What do you think?
Posted in High-Tech, Humanity, Less Interesting News, Thinking Out Loud, Weird by Eran with 7 comments.
היום האחד באפריל
אני שונא את האחד באפריל… אבל אני אנסה להביא פה את הדברים המשונים שאני מוצא באינטרנט. The Next Web is Introducing a Very Interesting Pay-Wall System Google Introduces Google Maps 8-Bit Version, for the Nintendo Entertainment System Air New Zealand Introduces Standing Room Fares, Intercity Coachline with a Triple-Decker Bus, Naked Bus with Intrabus Barbecues, and Black Cat Cruises with a Device that Allows People to Talk to Dolphins Think Geek is Giving You a Modernized Hungry Hungry Hippos for the iPad. The Chrome Team has Released Multitask Mode. MetaCritic Goes Even More Meta and Reviews the Reviewers. XKCD did…. Well, It’s a bit Tough to Explain… Google is Also Intent on Putting Autonomous Cars in Nascar (Double Joke There). Notch Unveils His Brand New Project: Mars Effect. GameSpot has a Round Up of Several Game Related Pranks (I especially like the Kinect Assassin’s Creed).
Posted in Geekdom, Less Interesting News, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
Happy Cephalopodmas to All
And to all… a very very scary night.
Posted in Art, Weird by Eran with comments disabled.
חב”דניקים בצומת
ביום חמישי, בדרך למרכז, ראיתי שני דתיים בצומת. אני רק מניח שהם חב”דניקים כי הם נראו ככה. הם קיבצו נדבות, כל אחד בדרכו שלו. אני נגד כל הנושא הזה. אני מעדיף שילכו לעבוד וחבל לי שהם כנראה מרוויחים יותר טוב בקיבוץ נדבות מאשר שהיו יכולים להרוויח מעבודות נקיון או שמירה. אבל אם כבר קיבוץ נדבות, יש גם דרך לעשות את זה. הדתי השני שראיתי באותו יום עשה את זה בצורה מנומסת. מילא הוא מנסה להרוג את עצמו בצומת אבל לפחות הוא לא מציק. הדתי הראשון שראיתי היה כל כך מעצבן שאני כבר חשבתי על ללכת ולהרביץ לו בעצמי. הדתי השני היה בצומת, החזיק פחית ושלט ופשוט הלך בין המכוניות. מי שהחליט לתרום לו, עצר אותו ותרם. למל”מ מושלם. הדתי הראשון היה, קודם כל, לבוש כמו כלומניק, כמו מישהו שגר בבית מתפרק ואמא שלו זרק אותו החוצה עם הדברים היחידיים שיש ללבוש בבית רק שיפסיק לרבוץ. והוא הסתובב באחד הצמתים העמוסים ביותר בנתניה והיה דופק על חלונות של אנשים כמו נקר עד שהיו פותחים לו. וכשהיו פותחים לו, הוא היה נשען פנימה ומציק (אני לא יודע בדיוק מה הוא אמר) עד שהיו נותנים לו כסף. אז אני התחלתי לדמיין איך, אם אני הייתי באחת המכוניות, הייתי פותח לו את החלון רק קצת, צועק עליו שיפסיק להיות כלומניק ושיילך להשיג עבודה, וסוגר את החלון בלי שום קשר להאם הוא הכניס את היד שלו פנימה או לא. ואם הוא היה מתעצבן ומגיע אליי לדלת אז הייתי רק מחכה לנסיון הראשון שלו לאלימות לפני שהייתי מפזר אותו על האספלט. ואז באותו הערב ראיתי בחדשות Continue Reading →
Posted in Humanity, Religion, Thinking Out Loud, Weird by Eran with 3 comments.