Alex Santoso's Blog Posts
Photo: Patrik Riklin (Source: Aftenposten Reise)
Whereas Dubai has gone upscale with the world's first (and only) 7-star hotel, Switzerland has gone the opposite way: it has opened (for a trial run) the world's first zero-star hotel, a former nuclear bunker!
"Using the weapon of art, we have created a low-budget hotel, which has charm, takes into account guests' individual wishes and thus becomes quite something," said twin brothers Frank and Patrik Riklin, artists commissioned by local authorities to convert an ancient neighboring factory into a culture center and integrate the bunker.
Organizers said the price per night will be between $9 and $13.
The shared bathroom has been converted into a fountain with swimming flowers, and a live-cam is sending images from the outside onto a large screen in the windowless building.
Australian musician Josh Pyke has a curious boat: it's shaped like a giant guitar!
Josh's voyage on board the SS Maton - named after Australian guitar manufacturer Maton, who designed the curious vessel - was caught on film for the video that will be coming out with his new single Make You Happy.
It is a giant-sized replica of the acoustic instrument Josh uses in the video.
Dressed in ancient mariner's clothes, Josh, a maritime history fan, did not even get his feet wet as he cruised among the yachts and the ferries crossing the harbour.
Talkin' bout boats, here's another strange one - this time, from China:
A Chinese schoolteacher is preparing to cross the 112 mile-wide Taiwan Straits in a paper boat.
Zhu Yalin, a chemistry teacher in Meishan, Sichuan province, has arrived in Xiamen to build his boat.
"Not only is the whole boat made of paper, but the glue is an organic material - cooked flour soup," he told the Straits Guidance Daily.
Photo: Lars Klove for The New York Times / Manipulation by Tommer Leyvand
Tommer Leyvand and colleagues have created a "beautification engine," a software program that uses a mathematical formula to alter a person's face into what theoretically is the more "beautiful" version, while retaining "unmistakable similarity" to the original:
Studies have shown that there is surprising agreement about what makes a face attractive. Symmetry is at the core, along with youthfulness; clarity or smoothness of skin; and vivid color, say, in the eyes and hair. There is little dissent among people of different cultures, ethnicities, races, ages and gender.
Yet, like the many other attempts to use objective principles or even mathematical formulas to define beauty, this software program raises what psychologists, philosophers and feminists say are complex, even disturbing, questions about the perception of beauty and a beauty ideal.
To what extent is beauty quantifiable? Does a supposedly scientific definition merely reflect the ideal of the moment, built from the images of pop culture and the news media?
Being blind usually stops someone from driving - but not a Belgian man named Luc Costermans. He's just set the world's blind speed record:
Mr Costermans topped 308.78km/h (192 mph) while driving a Lamborghini Gallardo supercar at Istres, near Marseille, in southern France.
Mr Costermans thanked his co-pilot Guillaume Roman, saying: ""I'm very, very happy. It's a team effort."
Jack Newton, 23, is one big fan of physicist Stephen Hawking. So much so that he decided to get his right leg tattooed with Hawking's face after reading A Brief History of Time - even though he didn't understand a word of it!
The tattoo - complete with a Monty Python line from the classic Life of Brian film 'He's not the messiah. He's a very naughty boy' written underneath it - has already won two trophies at tattoo conventions.
Mr Newton said: "I read A Brief History of Time, but to be honest I didn't understand a word, but I respect the man and that's why I got his face tattooed on my leg.
Photo: Kent News
Mary Ann Foster is one lucky woman - she survived a bonk in the head from a "space ice" that crashed through the roof over her bed!
Mary Ann and her husband think that the ice is from outer space, and so they're saving it next to the bagels in their freezer ...
Link (Flash video on nbc4)
Dear smart people: do you think that you know everything? See how you'd do at Miss Cellania's short little quiz for know-it-alls. For example:
1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
I got 5. Sigh.
Super Punch blog has a neat round up of spooky Halloween food you can make.
This one is a spider cake by Megan of Not Martha blog (the "legs" are Pockys - yum!)
Rumors, according researchers, aren't just idle or malicious gossips: instead, they are driven by real curiosity and the desire for knowledge. Even negative rumors often serve as a "glue" for social networks (in real life, and online):
Aside from their use as a news grapevine, rumors serve a second purpose as well, researchers have found: People spread them to shore up their social networks, and boost their own importance within them. To the extent people do have an agenda in spreading rumors, it's directed more at the people they're spreading them to, rather than at the subject of the rumor.
People are rather specific about which rumors they share, and with whom, researchers have found: They tend to spread rumors to warn friends of potential trouble, or otherwise help them, while remaining mum if it would be harmful to spread a given rumor in a certain context or to a certain person.
That's why the best way to combat rumors isn't to deny that they exist, instead, the best way to stem a rumor is actually to spread it:
Other than denying a rumor that's true, perhaps the biggest mistake one can make, DiFonzo and other researchers say, is to adopt a "no comment" policy: Numerous studies have shown that rumors thrive in environments of uncertainty. Considering that rumors often represent a real attempt to get at the truth, the best way to fight them is to address them in as comprehensive a manner as possible.
Anthony Pratkanis, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who studies persuasion and propaganda, says that an effective rebuttal will be more than a denial - it will create a new truth, including an explanation of why the rumor exists and who is benefiting from it.
Here's an interesting article by Jesse Singal for The Boston Globe (note: the article does use how Obama and McCain campaigns deal with rumors to illustrate ways to deal with rumors, but I think the post merits a thoughtful reading sans the political connection): Link
Photo: Jule Berlin [Flickr] | more here
How do you make an abandoned building an extra air of mystery? Take a photo of it in HDR! Our pal WebUrbanist blog has compiled some of the most interesting HDR photographs of abandoned places around the world.
Link | More: Revealing Photos & Storeis of Deserted Buildings
This one above is one of a series of amazing HDR shots of the abandoned Beelitz sanatorium in Brandenburg, Germany.
Photo: Whole Wheat Toast [Flickr]
Apparently, this is located at the Hunter's Point Shipyard studios in San Francisco ...
Everyone has a special talent. Ru Anting's is writing ... with his own tears:
Ru Anting, 56, of Luoyang, Henan province, sucks up the water with his nose and then sprays it through his tear ducts. [...]
... when Ru lost his job in a local fertilizer factory after more than 20 years, that he began to develop his unusual talent. "At that time I started to train myself and hone my eye spraying skills," he explained.
After three years of intensive training, he found he could shoot water accurately up to 10ft from his eyes at will.
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Things That Are (Almost) Impossible To Do With Your Body
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