Sunday, August 28, 2016
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Pale Blue Dot
"We succeeded in taking that picture, and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there – on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
[...] To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
- Carl Sagan, 1994
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Monday, August 22, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Monday, August 15, 2016
Criminal Podcast - Jessica Parker
New Zealand makes it onto the Criminal Podcast. Probably not the best advertising, but an interesting story.
Friday, August 12, 2016
The Saturn V rocket
"...that was the problem and this is how we solved it...and we solved it really well."
Engineering FTW. So impressive.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
For all those "they should have capped him in the leg" enthusiasts
An interesting related article HERE.
Oddities of South Auckland, Part 1: The mystery car of Tamaki Ave
This 2006 BMW has been sitting in the same spot on Tamaki Ave in Otahuhu since at least the beginning of 2016, with its rear and side windows broken in, the front badge stolen, and rubbish all through the inside:
Eight months, at least, and nobody has done anything with it. To give perspective, the red star on the map below is where the car is parked, and the blue star is the nearest police station, all of 200 metres away at a stretch:
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
He said he'd learn "Free Bird" in a year, then teaches himself guitar, gets singing lessons, and actually performs it
Brad. You'd never bet against him.
100 days of normal
One photo per day for 100 days to give a snapshot of our normal lives. Raj's frustration-fueled response to the "100 days of happiness" narcissistic fakery that was threatening to gain traction at the time.
All credit obviously goes to The Generator Of Creative Ideas herself.
Unresolved Podcast - The Original Night Stalker
An excellent account of a little-known case. Recommended++. This truly is some nightmare fuel right here.
A thoroughly British reflection on the terror threat
"Our approach to Muslims is no different because these attacks purport to be committed in the name of Islam. We don't stigmatise the millions of British Muslims whose values and faith completely reject the terrorists' litany of hate. We are a nation that accepts difference but builds communities with shared values. We should be proud of that - it is another reason why the UK is a hostile environment for those intent on murderous terrorism. It means that the vigilance of our officers is backed-up by millions more eyes and ears. These are whole communities united in defeating terrorism."
An interesting article by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, on the terror threat to the UK. Full article HERE.
Dunedin-era noisemaker
Epiphone Les Paul Studio, with Gibson Burstbucker pickup in the bridge position.
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