Undress Me Robot

Quantum poetry

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:36:05 +0000

Nick Laird in The Guardian on merging science with poetry:

How do you describe things of this size or length of time, this speed or heat? Experience, being broadly empirical, gives us no meaningful terms. What we do have is domestic analogies, and poems that reference outer space tend to tell us more about inner space - ourselves - than anything about the cosmos.

Any description of the deep underpinnings of science is likely to border on poetry or prose. As Laird says, the facts of the universe are so beyond our imagination that analogies are necessary to explain the world in anything but math. Thus any attempt to put the truth in layman’s terms is an attempt at poetry.

Also, Laird reminded me of perhaps my favorite two lines ever put together from the English language:

Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night:
God said, ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.

(via Alexander Pope)

Dinosaur roams through LA Museum

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:13:23 +0000

After just watching Jurassic Park, this movie is frightening (and AWESOME):

Before anyone screams ‘SHOPPED!, this is not CGI or animatronics. The dinosaur is a large costume with a puppeteer inside, whose skinny legs you can see popping out the bottom.

Baby’s First Internet

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:05:32 +0000

Baby’s First Internet - It’s not your job to right a wrong // just mark it FAIL and move along.

Ruined scenes

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:57:48 +0000

Take a movie scene, add a completely inappropriate soundtrack, and ruin the scene:

It started on Something Awful, Kottke has a few more, and YouTube has them all.

iPhone apps waiting to happen

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:50:35 +0000

Not quite as world changing as Y Combinator’s list of 30 startup ideas they would fund, Merlin Mann comes up with three iPhone Apps he would totally buy. The three apps are all great ideas, but the real gold is in the comments.

30 startups waiting to happen

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:47:30 +0000

Paul Graham posts venture capital firm Y Combinator’s Startup Ideas We’d Like to Fund. The list is 30 ideas long, and covers a wide breadth, from ousting Microsoft from their monopolizing grasp on office software (#11) to “[doing] to Wikipedia what Wikipedia did to Britannica” (#23).

i am other people

Spencer Sugarman — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:22:12 +0000

The polymathematic Joey Comeau has started a series of interviews with people important to him: i am other people. The series begins with the illustrious Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics. Best part? Joey and Ryan are friends, and the interview reads like a conversation half the time, both of them ending up being questioned.

Lego Stephen Hawking. In space.

Spencer Sugarman — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:45:42 +0000

Who watches the Watchmen?

Spencer Sugarman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:08:39 +0000

WATCHMEN TRAILER MARCH 2009 OMG PONIES

Watch it in HD over at Apple Trailers.

The Stand Ins

Spencer Sugarman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:38:43 +0000

The Stand Ins, the upcoming album by Okkervil River to be released in September, has hit the underground internets, and well… First impressions? It’s fantastic. Okkervil River has been smoothly putting out more and more upbeat songs since 2005’s Black Sheep Boy, culminating in an album that takes all the energy of Black Sheep Boy and 2007’s The Stage Names and brings it to A Happy Place. Oh sure, Will Sheff still emanates melancholy, but by-and-large this is a fun album.

Okkervil River - Pop Lie

Track listing:

01 The Stand Ins, One
02 Lost Coastlines
03 Singer Songwriter
04 Starry Stairs
05 Blue Tulip
06 The Stand Ins, Two
07 Pop Lie
08 On Tour With Zykos
09 Calling and Not Calling My Ex
10 The Stand Ins, Three
11 Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979

The album is also a great concept, acting as a sequel to The Stage Names. Check out the poetically paired album art: