Sky Burial & Self-Mummification

Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common practice in Tibet. A human corpse is cut into small pieces and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals – especially to birds of prey. In Tibetan the practice is known as jhator (Tibetan: བྱ་གཏོར་), which literally means, "giving alms to the birds."

Tibetan sky burial in China (w/photos)
Sky Burial (Alternate Description)

Scattered throughout Northern Japan are two dozen mummified Japanese monks known as Sokushinbutsu. Followers of Shugendô, an ancient form of Buddhism, the monks died in the ultimate act of self-denial.

Self-Mummified Buddhist Monks

...Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw / With ravine, shriek'd against his creed

Insects with modified body structures and embedded micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have survived to adulthood in a US Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency (DARPA) programme.

Cyborg insects 'born' in DARPA project
InsectLabs

Baka wa shinanakya naoranai

Haishaku, a critter found in the upper lungs, has a nose that opens directly into its chest. People infected with Haishaku hate pleasant smells and foul smells, but are fond of strong, fishy smells. Other symptoms include extreme sadness and a craving for spicy food.

Mythical 16th-century disease critters

Lets just be friends

Dongzhong

Chinese Students Attend School in a Cave

Resonance

The eye is a coward

De Slag in de Olmelil Vallei
A war of bows and arrows in the heart of Kenya's crisis

Tokyo Mule

Lemongrass
Sake
Vodka
Fresh lime
Ginger
Lychees
Ginger Beer

ratio of 2:3 of sake:vodka
Muddle thin slice of ginger, squeezed lime, vodka, sake, short strips of lemon grass, lychee and some lychee juice in glass. Top up with ginger beer and ice, garnish with longer strip of lemon grass.

Fish

Electrodes sense "bioelectronic signals" emitted whenever the fish inhale through their gills. The information is fed into a computer programmed to recognise their normal respiration rates.

A screen displays the information. If the computer ever detects that at least five fish - a majority of those on guard - are breathing abnormally and are in distress, it will automatically trigger an alarm and order gates to close, shutting off the flow in canals carrying water to Sydney.

Sink or swim: eight fish who guard the health of millions

stupid universe

The Universe, Expanding Beyond All Understanding

When there is an original sound in the world, it makes a hundred echoes

The Art of the Shiv
Chechen Self-made weapons

I liked things better when I didn't understand them

[Nadia] set down lines as if she were swiftly tracing round an outline, moving here and there, until the figure emerged to the astonishment of the onlooker. Unlike all young artists, her production did not appear to be governed by the previously drawn lines but by a very strong image of the finished product.

20 Most Fascinating Prehistoric Paintings
Cave Art, Autism, and the Evolution of the Human Mind (pdf)

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.

AOL Search Log Special, Part 1
AOL Search Log Special, Part 2
AOL Search Log Special, Part 3

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'

I don't think I'm alone in finding this artificial genocide eerie. The outcome, of course, is chilling; but what is at least as spooky is that such complicated—to say nothing of familiar—social patterns can be produced by mindless packets of data following a few almost ridiculously simple rules. If I showed you these illustrations and told you they represented genocide, you might well assume you were seeing a schematic diagram of an actual event.

Seeing Around Corners

The Scene in Tehran

The weakest goes to the wall

(The original Spiegel gallery is deleted, so a few images can be found at each link)
http://wtnrradio.com/news/story.php?story=138
http://yagosweb.blogspot.com/2007/03/microscopic-photos-of-smashed-bugs.html
http://www.stegerphoto.com/interviews/newscientist_volkersteger.html

Code lines

Phreakers were early computer-hacker equivalents: prying information and resources out of labyrinthine phone networks while generating the subculture camaraderie, ego-driven competition and illicit activities that cross-pollenated with 80s/90s hacking.

The relatively-recent technology of Voice Mail Boxes allowed for permanence, accessibility and volume of information beyond what had been seen previously. Networks of VMBs would be co-opted into exchanging greetings, codes, news and organising conference calls.

http://audio.textfiles.com/conferences/PHREAKYBOYS/ (MP3s, some transcribed)
http://www.textfiles.com/phreak/zone2.txt (search for PHONE CRACKING)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaking#Voice_mail_boxes_and_bridges

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. - St Augustine

For the members of Thuggee, murder was both a way of life and a religious duty. They believed their killings were a means of worshiping the Hindu goddess Kali, who was honored at each stage of the murder by a vast and complex system of rituals and superstitions. Thugs were guided to their victims by omens observed in nature, and once the deed was done, the graves and bodies were prepared according to strict ceremonies. A sacrificial rite would be conducted after the burial involving the consecration of sugar and of the sacred pickax, the tool the brotherhood believed was given to them by Kali to dig the graves of their prey.

The Thugs of India

Hyalophora cecropia

Cecropia Silkmoth

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

The most unsettling thing about sleeping on Chantix is that I never felt like I was truly asleep. Some part of me remained on guard. It was more like lucid dreaming, what I thought it might feel like to be hypnotized. And it didn’t entirely go away come morning. As I showered, shaved, and scrambled into clothes, I tried to shake a weird, paranoid sense that I’d just been psychically raped by a household appliance.

This Is My Brain on Chantix

Snaps

http://reibert.info/gallery/v/foto_album/

The basis of optimism is sheer terror

Today, the sasumata is marketed as a tool for law enforcement as well as schools. A reported rise in school invasions has prompted some schools in Japan to keep sasumata available as a method for teachers to protect themselves or students and detain a potential threat until the authorities can arrive

Sasumata Product Page
Sasumata on Wikipedia (mainly historical)

The White Lobster

"They throw most of it off," says a Lt Commander in the US Coastguard. "I have been on four interdictions and we have confiscated about 6000 pounds [2720kg] of cocaine, and I'd say equal that much was dumped into the ocean."...

People here now go beachcombing for miles, they walk until the find packets. Even the lobster fisherman now go out with the pretence of fishing but really they are looking for la langosta blanca - the white lobster.

Catch of the day: Cocaine

A map of everything

Complete Map of the Universe, 200dpi
Logarithmic maps of the universe

...I got more bones than he has. If you're trying to impress me, you failed.

Abandoned Russian Mining Machines