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Can you lick it? [Tumblr/sixpenceee]

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Us trying to read physics equations. [@badsciencejokes]

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"My Bark" I am not throwing away my bark I am not throwing away my bark Hey yo, I’m just like my country I’m young, scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my bark

I’m ‘a get a scholarship to Dog College I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish I gotta howl just to be heard With every woof, I bark knowledge I’m a doggo who can ruff, got a shiny silky coat Tryin’ to find some food with my power of smell, I'm adorable Only nineteen months but my mind is older These Morrisville streets get colder, I shoulder Every smell and every toy to play with I have learned to manage, I don’t have a ball to chase I walk these streets with family The plan is to woof and bark and play a game But damn, it’s getting dark, so let me spell out the name I am the J-A-C-K that is me. You and me are meant to be

A family that goes on walks with me Meanwhile, I keep shittin’ on the grass daily Essentially, that's when I poop and pee Then my family turns around, goes on runs with me But they ain’t ever gonna let a doggo run off leash So we'll have to get a back yard in this century Just for me, he says in parentheses

Don’t be shocked when your Facebook post mentions me I will lay down and nap right at your feet Eventually, you’ll see I'm pet worthy

And I am not throwing away my bark

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10 essential films for today’s political climate

While drifting off to sleep last night, thoughts scattered between today’s errands and what has been going on here in the States over the past year, I put together a list of some films that have touched me deeply and seem fairly topical today.

Note: Some of these are NOT easy to watch.

1. For understanding the tension between the Muslim world and the West:

THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1967) dir by Gillo Pontecorvo

This film focuses on tensions between native Algerians and the occupying French forces during the Algerian War (1954-62). It touches on colonialism, guerrilla warfare, terrorism, and a clash between different ways of living.

The best aspect of this film is the way it depicts everyone involved. It does its best to humanize both sides, developing their motivations, societies, and ideals. Never does it criticize or glorify anyone. Instead, it looks to understand where people are coming from and why they make the decisions they do.

The result is an experience where one sympathizes with the people involved and becomes enraged that such a situation exists in the first place! Such a way of perceiving humanity is essential to finding mutual understanding and is every bit as applicable today as it was in the late 1960s.

The Battle of Algiers is available on disc through the Criterion Collection: https://www.criterion.com/films/248-the-battle-of-algiers And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

2. For understanding the tension between races in America and the Black Lives Matter movement:

DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) dir by Spike Lee

This is the original film about modern race relations and the consequences of our own prejudices. It highlights the anger harbored over injustices, including those that are unintentional, the lack of trust between those that are different, and the extent of police brutality long before Ferguson brought it to the national discussion.

Do the Right Thing is available on disc through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Do-Right-Thing-Ossie-Davis/dp/B000ICXQTC And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

3. For understanding the tension between corporate America and those who have been laid off:

UP IN THE AIR (2009) dir by Jason Reitman

Underneath the story of love and loneliness, underneath the story of finding one’s way in a new job, there is the story of the modern economic climate. Corporate America is seeing well paid guys in suits lay off those who’s jobs won’t exist anymore. The people being fired will have their lives completely upended with little chance of making that kind of money again, news so difficult to deliver that an outside company takes care of it. The fact that such a company exists is a good indication of the extent of the problem.

Up in the Air is available on disc through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Up-Air-George-Clooney/dp/B00337KM2S And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

4. For understanding the decisions of a military superpower and the moral grey area surrounding them:

THE FOG OF WAR: ELEVEN LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF ROBERT S. MCNAMARA (2003) dir by Errol Morris

This is a very honest film. McNamara tells his life as he sees it without bragging or apologizing, without claiming anything he has done was either right or wrong. McNamara simply tells you his decisions, why he made such decisions at the time, and what he has learned looking back on them. It’s a sobering film to watch with the weight of atrocities carried out by the US, but it’s even more troubling wondering if we’d do anything differently given a second chance. War is not easy.

The Fog of War is available on disc through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fog-War-Robert-McNamara/dp/B0001L3LUE And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

5. For understanding the dangers of fake news and the propaganda machine:

A FILM UNFINISHED (2010) dir by Yael Hersonski

A glimpse into the Nazi propaganda machine, the unfinished film in question is a documentary on the Warsaw Ghetto. It was designed to lie to the German people about the quality of life of Polish Jews. Hersonski’s documentary shows like no other the dangers of falsifying history and manipulating public opinion by delivering fake news.

A Film Unfinished is available on disc through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Film-Unfinished-Alexander-Beyer/dp/B004EI2NWM And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

6. On dissension and the power of the press:

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (2005) dir by George Clooney

This film highlights exactly why we need a free press. When the government silences ideas like they did in the McCarthy era, a free press can be an important tool of dissent. This is every bit as applicable to today’s political climate as it was to the 1950s.

Good Night, and Good Luck is available on disc through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Night-Luck-Widescreen/dp/B000E1NXJ0 And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

7. A cautionary tale on the product of fascism:

STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997) dir by Paul Verhoeven

Buried beneath the cheesy romance and horrendous violence is political satire. The soldiers are all products of a brainwashed society where continuing the fight is what drives them. They don’t think for themselves. They don’t see their enemy as anything more than evil. They are even given a chance for redemption, but they don’t learn anything. They continue the fight. In that manner, this is a very depressing film.

Starship Troopers s available on disc through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Jake-Busey/dp/0767802659 And streaming through YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play

8. A cautionary tale of inaction to fascism:

SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1979) dir by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Salo is infamous for being one of the most obscene films ever made. It’s brutal and shocking and devistating. This I expected coming into it. What surprised me the most was how beautifully it was shot and how poignant its message was.

The whole film is a metaphor for a fascist state. It shows how absolute power in the hands of a few (the adults) leads to insanity. But more interesting is the how the others (the children) behave themselves. They are essentially divided into one of three groups at random. The guards follow orders and seem immune to the depravity around them. The perpetrators (chosen for their “gifts”) seem honored to get to do such awful things. And the victims are silent. They don’t talk. They don’t speak up against anything. They encourage each other to shut up an go along with it. And when they are caught breaking rules, they turn on each other. They sell each other out for their own safety, which eventually costs them everything. 

The film is a warning, equating fascism with depravity. Left alone fascism will rape your entire country, force you to eat sh*t, and then take your very life away.

Salo is available on disc through the Criterion Collection: https://www.criterion.com/films/532-salo-or-the-120-days-of-sodom And I really couldn’t find a (legal) stream of this one.

9. For the worst that has fascism has brought the world:

SHOAH (1985) dir by Claude Lanzmann

This is the most important film I’ve ever seen. I’d go as far to say that it is required viewing for all of humanity! No film has ever shaken me as hard or as deeply as Shoah.

Lanzmann’s journey to understand how this could have happened is exactly what was needed to be put to film. Lanzmann comes at the topic from every angle he possibly can. It consists of interviews of survivors, bystanders, and even perpetrators! It’s the most thorough investigation into the Holocaust that has ever been made.

Shoah is a testament to the worst of what humans are capable of. Inaction due to ignorance, hatred, fear or any other reason lets this happen. And it is up to humanity to never forget and never let it happen again. Shoah is available on disc through the Criterion Collection: https://www.criterion.com/films/27968-shoah And streaming on Sundance Now: https://www.sundancenow.com/shoah---the-first-era-part-1/documentary/2314995

10. And finally a ray of hope in light of all this:

THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940) dir by Charles Chaplin

This is probably the least well made film on this list. It is far from Chaplin’s best and makes light of a lot of Hitler’s organization before the full extent of it was known.

However, the final speech at the end is easily one of the greatest speeches ever made. Those 4 minutes make the whole thing worth it. Those 4 minutes are so inspiring and lovely that I will put them as required viewing for all humanity!

You can skip the film if you want, but watch the speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1fMvLbE85E

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Forget #bestnine2016, here’s the Top Ten Posts!

[Via @birdandmoon]

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þ!

A feature of English which I think is stupid,

If we’re carrying on with this game,

Is how we abolished the thorn and replaced it,

With two letters that meant the same.

The þ was a letter, amazing, astounding,

Perfect in every respect,

Representing the ‘th’ sound and shortening words,

The one thing it didn’t expect;

One day T and H went and burgled its meaning,

And then, thanks to the printing press,

Its symbol mutated and morphed into Y,

Which is pointless, I must confess.

Þoughtlessly, the þ was forgotten,

Þreatened as the language evolved,

Þankful for þose who knew of old English,

A topic where it was involved.

It only survived in Modern Icelandic,

In English it’s treated with scorn,

And as barely anyone knows it exists,

Please try to remember the thorn.

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Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?

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So this is happening on Twitter. And it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

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So, as we learned previously, sound can actually travel through space. But the recordings our spacecraft send us from other planets or from the edge of the Solar System aren’t really that kind of sound. Acoustic waves require a medium; they travel when particles bump into one another, which, given the sparseness of space, means that only very low frequency sounds can travel. But space has a lot of ions and plasmas – charged particles like electrons and protons – and those particles can interact without physically contacting one another. Instead their motion causes a changing magnetic field that affects nearby particles, which in turn affect more particles (and so on). This transmits what’s called ionic sound. Check out the video above to hear some awesome examples of the ionic sounds of our solar system! (Video credit: The Point Studios)

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Everyone knows that, in space, no one can hear you scream. Sound is a wave that requires a medium to travel through, and if space is empty, there’s no medium to carry that sound. Except, as Mike from The Point Studios explains, empty is a relative term. Space is full of dust and gas and plasma, just not as full of that matter as we’re used to. Thus, the question of whether sound can travel through space turns into a matter of scale. If the scale–the wavelength–of a sound is much larger than the distance between molecules, then the sound can propagate. So there CAN be sound in space – it just has to have a very long wavelength and, thus, a very low frequency. Check out the video for the full story! (Video credit: The Point Studios)

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what is mean of life???

Here is a 2.5 page mathematical analysis: