Got no self control? Can't stop eating? You're not alone. Obesity is a (ahem) growing problem in the United States of America (and the rest of the world). But did you ever considered the root cause of why you just simply can't stop eating?
Well, it's trendy to blame video games for the preponderance of violence in today's society, so why not for obesity and lack of self control as well? Brian Gordon of Fowl Language comics shows us the how and why we just simply can't stop stuffing our faces with food. It's all Pac-Man's fault! (Waka waka waka = nom nom nom, see?)
You shall not pass! Gandalf may be the bad ass that stopped the dreadful Balrog dead in its track on the Bridge of Khazad-dum in The Lord of the Rings, but could the powerful wizard stop ... tourists?
Holy T-rex, Dino Man! Patrick Connan of Barbarian Factory has created this neat tribute poster of his favorite movie, Jurassic Park. Behold, "Turn The Light Off" poster.
The poster is available for a limited time from Geek-Art and we only have three words for you: Must go faster ... visit Geek-Art before these beauties sell out! Thanks Thomas Olivri!
Political scientists often divide the United States of America into red conservative Republican states and blue liberal Democratic states, but is that really political reality? Not according to this new Esquire-NBC News survey. Instead, the
The survey shows that a majority of the American population belongs to the political center, which is made of four distinct sub-types:
Minivan Moderates: Mostly white suburbanite women clustered in the Midwest and South with pro-choice/anti-gun tendencies and a distrust of government
The MBA Middle: Mostly white, well-educated voters in upscale sections of the South and West who blend a don't-tread-on-me-streak with progressive social views.
Pick-up Populist: Mostly white, low-income voters living in the South and Midwest who worry the economy is unfair and Washington is wasteful.
WhateverMan: Very young and diverse voters in the Northeast and West who seem to lean left but are so politically "meh" it's hard to tell.
This American political center is flanked to the left by the Liberal Base, composed of:
Bleeding Hearts: Mostly young, unmarried, white, well-educated voters in the Northeast and West who are extremely supportive of the progressive agenda.
The Gospel Left: Mostly black party-line progressives who live in Southern cities but with God as their co-pilot fly rightward on social issues.
... and to the right by the Conservative Base, composed of:
The Righteous Right: Middle-aged white voters in the South who use faith as their guide on gay marriage (bad), abortion (very bad), and programs for the poor (ok).
Talk Radio Heads: Alpha male conservatives who want government to ban abortion and support traditional marriage but otherwise stay out of our private lives.
NBC News summarizes this political center as such:
Pluralities believe that the political system is broken (49 percent), and the economy is bad (50 percent) and likely to stay that way a while (41 percent). Majorities fear another 9/11 or Boston-style bombing is likely (70 percent), and that their children’s lives will be more difficult than their own (62 percent), which are either stuck in place or getting worse (84 percent) — while the rich keep getting richer at the expense of everyone else (70 percent).
The new American center has a socially progressive streak, supporting gay marriage (64 percent), the right to an abortion for any reason within the first trimester (63 percent), and legalized marijuana (52 percent). Women, workers and the marginal would also benefit if the center had its way, supporting paid sick leave (62 percent); paid maternity leave (70 percent); tax-subsidized childcare to help women return to work (57 percent); and a federal minimum wage hike to no less than $10 per hour (67 percent).
Ray Bradbury once famously said, "Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it's the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself ... Science fiction is central to everything we've ever done, and people who make fun of science fiction writers don't know what they're talking about."
Hard Sci-Fi Movies is a novelty Twitter account, started by a metafilter user, that takes the Occam's Razor approach to science fiction. The result is pure brilliance. See if you can identify the science fiction movies and novels referenced in the tweets.
Image:
The Asylum
A tornado passes over a large group of sharks. They are unaffected.
After watching the classic cartoon 101 Dalmatians, Nelson Vergara of Santiago, Chile, was inspired to take care of the city's abandoned dogs.
So far, he's rescued 42 Dalmatians. According to the AP, there are millions of stray dogs in Chile, because dog owners rarely spay or neuter their pets and they often leave them outside when they go to work.
You may call Vergara, whose neighbors call the "Dalmatian Man," a hero for saving stray dogs, but his neighbors consider him a nuisance. The man gets into constant trouble with the authorities because of complaints of foul smell coming from his yard. He has been threatened with evition by municipal officials.
Vergara said that he's only trying to help, according to Oddity Central. "I wanted to help - not just the Dalmatians but all dogs, because in Chile we need a solution to the canine problem. Every day you see news of abandoned dogs roaming, but no one does anything about it. If we had a shelter, we wouldn't have these kinds of problems." Vergara, who is unemployed, relies on donations to feed and take care of his dogs.
The solution, of course, is simple, as pointed out by Cruella de Vil in the movie: skin some to raise money to save the others!
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Veterinary epidemiologist Tony Goldberg came back from a trip to Uganda to study chimpanzees and how the diseases they carry may jump to another species like humans, when he felt an itch in his nose.
Goldberg quickly gathered the necessary supplies—a pair of forceps, a flashlight, and a mirror—and steeled his resolve. Using the mirror to steer his hand, he poked the instrument into his irritated nostril, latched onto a suspicious lump, and quickly yanked it out, careful not to snag any nose hairs in the process. There it was: an adolescent tick. At that point, Goldberg knew, it had likely been living in his nostril for several days.
Goldberg's nostril tick is nothing to sneeze at: after sequencing its DNA, Goldberg realized that it could be a whole new species of tick.
So, next time your booger wriggles, you know what it is!
Oh, and how did it feel to have a nostril tick? Goldberg said that on the whole, the experience is "not pleasant but not as bad as you might think.")
The national zoo is closed, Federal employees deemed unessential are furloughed, and the US in in the brink of defaulting on its loan, but the US Federal Government shutdown is now in SERIOUS mode after messin' with Pokemon.
According to Go Nintendo website, shipment of Pokemon X and Pokemon Y games to military bases is now delayed, thanks to the shutdown.
Just because today is monday, here's a video clip of a monkey grooming a cat (You're welcome!) The monkey is wearing a shirt, and the cat just lies there like it's nothin'
Woohoo! This week's collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles brings us CalcuDoku, a neat puzzle game where you get to add, subtract, multiply and divide to solve the clues.
The object is to fill all empty squares so that the numbers 1 to N (where N is the number of rows or columns in the grid) appear exactly once in each row and column. In addition, the numbers in each block should produce the result shown in the top-left corner of the block according to the math operation appearing on the top of the grid. In CalcuDoku a number may be used more than once in the same block. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.
Game Instructions: Click mouse on the desired square to open dial pad and then click on the desired number. To remove a number, repeat the above using X at the bottom of the dial pad. Numbers can also be placed by pointing mouse on the desired square and then typing with the keyboard.
It's time for our weekly collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles, and this week we have the Skyscraper Light game, where you get to arrange skyscrapers in a grid so their skyline is visible according to the clues.
The object is to place a skyscraper in each square so that no two skyscrapers in a row or column have the same number of floors. In addition, the number of visible skyscrapers, as viewed from the direction of each clue, is equal to the value of the clue. Note that higher skyscrapers block the view of lower skyscrapers located behind them. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.
Game Instructions: Click mouse on the desired square to open dial pad and then click on the desired number. To remove a number, repeat the above using X at the bottom of the dial pad. Numbers can also be placed by pointing mouse on the desired square and then typing with the keyboard.
Each puzzle consists of a grid containing colored clues in various places. Every clue, except for the 1’s, is half of a pair. The object is to reveal a hidden picture by linking the pairs and painting the paths so that the number of squares (including the squares at the ends) and the color of the path is the same as the value and the color of the clues being linked together. Paths may follow horizontal or vertical directions and are not allowed to cross other paths. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.
Game Instructions: Link-a-Pix Light is played by creating links in a grid according to the rules. To create a link, click mouse on a clue and drag to a square with the same clue so that the length of the path equals the value of the clues. Links with length 1 are created with a single click. To edit, click one of the link’s ends and drag mouse to redraw the path. To delete, double click mouse anywhere on the partial link’s path.
Our weekly collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles is back! Today, we get to play Hitori Light, a game where you get to shade squares so that numbers don't appear in a row or column more than once.
Each puzzle consists of a square grid with numbers appearing in all squares. The object is to shade squares so that the numbers don't appear in a row or column more than once. In addition, shaded squares must not touch each other vertically or horizontally while all un-shaded squares must create a single continuous area. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.
Game Instructions: Hitori Light is played by shading and un-shading squares in a grid. First click un-shades the square, second click shades the square and the third click brings the square back to its original state.
W00t! Our weekly collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles is back with the neat game of Chain Sudoku, where you get to fill empty circles so each number appears exactly once in a row, column and chain.
Each puzzle consists of a group of circles arranged in a square grid and containing given clues in various places. The object is to fill all empty circles so that the numbers 1 to 5 for 5x5 puzzles and 1 to 6 for 6x6 puzzles appear exactly once in each row, column and chain. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.
Game Instructions: Click mouse on the desired circle to open dial pad and then click on the desired number. To remove a number, repeat the above using X at the bottom of the dial pad. Numbers can also be placed by pointing mouse on the desired circle and then typing with the keyboard.
