George Jones - He Stopped Loving Her Today

Tonight I raise a glass of Maker's Mark to one of country and western's greatest singers and songwriters. George Jones died today at the age of 81. I have to commend him for his longevity.

I remember first hearing the song "White Lightning" in a pickup truck in the middle of a cow pasture with my grandfather on his farm in southern Oklahoma. I couldn't have been older than ten at the time. That song was burned into my head and it was my favorite country and western song from then until this day. But it wasn't until my early thirties that I realized it was written and performed by none other than George Jones.

Allan Savory: How to fight desertification and reverse climate change

Allan Savory's solution to the problem of desertification runs completely counter to my intuition and everything I've been taught about why desertification happens in the first place, but his solution seems to be proven to work.

From TED:

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And it's happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes -- and his work so far shows -- that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

Ryan Teague - Cascades

This is from Ryan Teague's recent album, Field Drawings.

"The movements of a music box ballerina are reinterpreted in a groundbreaking video for British composer Ryan Teague using electromagnetic fields, sub zero temperatures and 2000 volts of electricity."

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit isolated vocal track, vocals only

Listening to isolated vocal tracks from famous songs always reveals things about the song you never knew were there.

IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL - trailer

This movie is on my list of need-to-watch documentaries. It's about the very strange life and works of the outsider artist, Henry Darger.

A Petition For Stronger Gun Laws

This commercial makes a damn good point. Technology has changed since 1787 when the constitution was written.

Color Mixing: The Mystery of Magenta

I thought this was a very interesting discussion on the properties of color when it comes to projected light. When I give my color theory lecture in my design class I have to explain how the properties of color are completely different depending on whether you are dealing with projected light or reflected light.

When light is being projected from a light source such as a digital projector or a television the three primary colors are red, green and blue; hence the initials RGB. And when you mix those three primary colors together you get white light.

 But when white light is reflected off of an object that does not itself emit light, such as a painting, the primary colors you would use to mix the colors on that painting would be red, yellow and blue. And when you mix all three of those primaries together you end up with black or dark brown paint.

And then to complicate matters even further, I explain that the three-color printing process has still it's own set of primary colors. If you've ever had to replace ink cartridges in your printer you know that the three primaries for printers are magenta, cyan and yellow.

Confused yet?

Grizzly Bear - gun-shy [Official Music Video]

Medical Oddities from the Bowels of the Mütter

I've always been a goth at heart. Medical oddities are prominent in my darker macabre interests.

"Disturbingly informative," is how museum director Robert Hicks describes Philadelphia's Mütter Museum--items of interest include a gangrenous hand, wax models of extinct diseases, deformed bones and body parts. Now imagine what's in the basement. Science Friday got a behind-the-scenes tour.

Is Our Universe The Only Universe?

This is one of the most persuasive lectures I have seen discussing the possibility of a multiverse, which is the idea our own universe may be just one among a boiling sea of universes. This lecture is more action-packed, but on a very similar subject to a lecture I posted a few years ago by Lawrence Krauss.

The Brain as explained by John Cleese

Here is John Cleese explaining the human brain as only he can do it. After you've watched it once, turn on the closed-captions and watch the Youtube translator self destruct.

Supersilent featuring John Paul Jones

Wow!!! Talk about an odd pairing, but John Paul Jones, the legendary bass player for Led Zepplin has teamed up the un-categorizable 'deathjazzambientavantrock' ensemble known as Supersilent. I knew that Jones was responsible for some of the more experimental leanings of Led Zepplin, but it's great to see him still out there pushing the boundaries at age 67.

KCRW Presents: Matmos

From KCRW

KCRW Presents: Matmos April 3, 2013. The crazy-smart producers Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt join Jason Bentley on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic to play songs from their new album as Matmos, The Marriage of True Minds. Watch them perform "Aetheric Vehicle."