Rather be ashes than dust » Links

Star Wars and Trekkies unite against Twilight; George Takei you’re my hero

ryguy — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:24:28 +0000

I wish I would have known of him from and earlier age but George Takei makes my day. The dude bleeds wit. Anyways he decided it was time that Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans stop rattling their sabers at each other and raise their arms against a common enemy; the twilight series. I agree, one because I am both a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek, but I also have a healthy dislike for that wet-dream that Stephanie Meyers has inked out on paper. Without further adieu, watch this clip by George Takei and then read this Gawker article.

‘Hallyu’ through the Lens of the West

ryguy — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:48:22 +0000

Just read this great blog post about how smug people can be when reporting about K-pop music. If you’ve got some time give it a read.

A Smug Sense of Self-Satisfaction – ‘hallyu’ through the Lens of the West

Murmuration of Starlings

ryguy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:58:51 +0000

Ben showed me this incredible video earlier this week and I thought I would continue the sharing…

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena.

American Gods

ryguy — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:46:55 +0000

Wide open and unguarded stand our gates,
And through them passes a wild motley throng.
Men from Volga and Tartar steppes,
Featureless figures from the Hoang-Ho,
Malayan, Scythian, Tenton, Kelt, and Slav.
Flying the Old World’s poverty and scorn,
These bringing with them unknown gods and rites,
Those tiger passions here to stretch their claws,
In street and alley what strange tongues are these,
Accents of menace in our ear,
Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew.

-Thomas Bailey Aldrich
“The Unguarded Gatea” 1882

While traveling around Taiwan I found this little poem in Neil Gaiman’s book American Gods and thought it was a great primer for the book. I’m not going to go into any depth about the book at all but if you ever have a chance to read American Gods, please do so. I’ll wager that you won’t be disappointed. Here’s a link to Amazon.com’s American Gods page.

Faster than light

ryguy — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:54:11 +0000

I know you probably have already heard the news that scientists have found neutrinos traveling faster than light. I hope there is no errors in this discover because it is just too damn exciting! The idea that Einsteins relativity might get turned on it’s head after standing for over a 100 years is fantastic. Anyways here is a groovy news article about it and an awesome picture of the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector in Japan.

Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Detector

Interesting thing about color

ryguy — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:47:41 +0000

I remember a few years ago talking to my old coworker Kailey (I’m 90% sure it was her, I have a terrible memory) in South Korea. She was telling me that she was frustrated that her students kept insisting that sky blue was not blue and she just couldn’t get it through to them that sky blue is just a shade of blue. I remember thinking that was really interesting at the time. Colors are one of those things that I just assumed were pretty standard across the peoples of the world. So I was stoked to run across this video on Reddit that shows how different peoples develop different words to describe colors differently than we do in the West and how that actually changes the way they perceive color. Might be to nerdy for some to watch, but after teaching language for a few years I find it terribly interesting.

BBC Horizon: Do you see what I see? “The Himba tribe”

Google thank you: Freddie Mercury Google doodle

ryguy — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:36:45 +0000

Freddie Mercury Google Doodle

Funny Condom Commercial

ryguy — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:34:24 +0000

Funny Condom Commercial

Popping Dancer wins Korea’s Got Talent

ryguy — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 10:38:40 +0000

I think the correct way to refer to someone that dances using a popping style is a popper, but it just sounded funny to say that. Anyways this high school girl just won Korea’s Got Talent by dancing. She does some pretty incredible stuff. The first video is her audition and the second video is from the semi-finals. Check out the cool background effects in the second video. Oh and FYI if you hit the CC button on the bottom of the video it will start displaying English subtitles.

Joo Min Jeong’s (주민정) First Audition Performance

Joo Min Jeong’s (주민정) Semi-Final performance

Climbing Yosemite

ryguy — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:10:18 +0000

One thing I have been super interested into getting into is climbing. I know certain Elvish person I know is way into it and is actively recruiting new participants all the time. I saw that my sister, Satan, wants to go climbing with her soon and that my friend Gordo might have just got himself stuck on it too. So hopefully I can find a new hobby while I’m in Taiwan. Without further adieu here is some Earthporn mixed in with some awesome climbing shots.

On Assignment from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.

Oh and also seeing Yosemite makes me want to settle in California more than just about anything. Ok and maybe the good beers…and the fam.