Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere
"Country great Porter Wagoner probably summed up Scruggs' importance best of all: "I always felt like Earl was to the five-string banjo what Babe Ruth was to baseball. He is the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.""
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Published: January 20, 2012
"LONGWOOD, Fla. — Back, way back, before King Tut was born and Alexander the Great roamed his empire, the Senator sprouted in a swamp here in central Florida.
So on Monday, when word got out that the huge, 3,500-year-old bald cypress had burned and collapsed, people from the area who thought that nothing — not hurricanes, not loggers, not disease — could fell the Senator, sank into disbelief.
Investigators for the Division of Forestry are still trying to figure out how the tree burned down early Monday morning. Arson remains a possibility, although it had been initially discounted. Two other possible theories are being considered: the tree was struck by lightning long before Monday (maybe as long as two weeks) and slowly smoldered from the inside, or friction from the wind caused it to combust."
"Talk about having a great view for the hereafter. In Sagada, the ancient ritual of hanging coffins from cliffs has been going on for more than 2,000 years. The coffins are carved by their future occupants, although if they are unable to carve them, their relatives will help. In a 5 day pre-burial feast, the corpses are smoked for preservation and the bodies are pushed into the coffins, which can cause cracking and breaking of bones. After the deceased are put inside these coffins, they are then brought to the caves high in the cliffs, where they join the ranks of their ancestors. Cliffside burial is the preferred method of burial in Sagada." via Ripley's
A bizarre underwater "icicle of death" has been filmed by a BBC crew.
With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking.
The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it.
Where the so-called "brinicle" met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish.
"Starting as a lark several years ago, Death and Taxes has grown into a powerhouse of information.
In it's 4th year, this poster now contains over 500 departments, agencies, programs and just about everything else the goverment can spend money on. It is still the single most open and accessable record of government spending ever created.
WallStats (wôlstăts) n.1. Complex and elusive information synthesized into palatable and insightful visual pieces. 2 Friggin' awesome posters.
I'm Jess Bachman and I love information. But far too often, chewing on a raw data set can leave a salty and dry taste in your mouth. That is why I use my pseudo- culinary-visualizing skills to form data into sweet and savoury design.
Understanding, clarity and perspective. That is my stock and trade.
All in six square feet."
World military spending has now reached one trillion dollars.
(via Princeton)
"Sokushinbutsu were Buddhist monks or priests who caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their mummification. This practice reportedly took place almost exclusively in northern Japan around the Yamagata Prefecture. It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only between 16 and 24 such mummifications have been discovered to date. The practice is not advocated or practised today by any Buddhist sect."
