human hair

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 22 September 2006 10:21:43 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

Since some time now I have been wondering what the reason is for human hair to grow as long as it's allowed. It seems to me, that it is a very human a...

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The Growth of Human Hair

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 22 September 2006 10:21:43 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

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Farewell Steve Irwin

post from The Mr Science Show on 22 September 2006 10:14:00 PM. © The Mr Science Show

Steve Irwin, probably one of the best known advocates for wilderness and animal conservation in the world, tragically passed away recently in North Queensland, Australia. He was arguably Australia's best-known science communicator. His unconventional methods of communicating his work drew criticism from some and inspired others,yet it is unarguable that Irwin will have a lasting effect on the environmental and conservation movements in Australia and around the world. Unlike so many other "wacky and zany" science communicators, Irwin was so genuinely passionate about his cause that he bought millions of dollars of land worldwide in the name of wilderness and animal conservation. How many people can you namethat have become famous to some degree through their television persona that have taken the next step and invested a large percentage of their rewards in their cause? I can barely think of one other. And nothing he ever did on screen was fake - he loved what he did and this shone through in everything that he did - whether it was on his television show, in interviews or just when he was being himself. He was genuinely passionate about what he did and was not afraidput his money where his mouth was. www.mrscienceshow.com

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Midseason autumnal equinox

post from Bad Astronomy Blog on 22 September 2006 07:52:03 PM. © Bad Astronomy Blog

So on Saturday September 23rd at 04:03 a.m. (or Friday night at 9:03 p.m. for me in the Pacific time zone) the Sun will cross from the northern celestial hemisphere to the southern one, and most people will say it’s the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere. I don’t say that, I say it’s [...]

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Good scrubbin'

post from Pharyngula on 22 September 2006 07:03:29 PM. © Pharyngula

Oh, boy…Boingboing mentions something squid-related and everyone sends me email. Should I mention that I brought up Squid Soap back in August? (Hah! That Doctorow fellow thinks he's so cutting edge. Poseur.) However, Craig Clarke just sent me some information on a holy cruciform-shaped scrub brush, and it seems to me that we have to get these two products together.

If you're going to wash away the sins of the world, you ought to do it with squid soap, I think.

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The Cost of Stigma

post from Science Blog - on 22 September 2006 06:08:06 PM. © Science Blog -

It is always a good idea to catch disease early, but by recommending that everyone get tested for AIDS, is the CDC inflicting an unnecessarily huge cost on the health care system?

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German Maglev Train Crash

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 22 September 2006 05:42:32 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

A demonstration maglev train crashed in Germany today killing 23 people and injuring 10. The train apparently hit part of the terminal at about 150...

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New device tests uncertainty principle to
unprecedented level

In the submicroscopic world -- the domain of elementary particles and individual atoms -- things behave in the strange, counter-intuitive fashion governed by the principles of quantum mechanics. Nothing (or so it seems) like our macroscopic world -- or even the microscopic world of cells or bacteria or dust particles -- where Newton's much more reasonable laws keep things sensibly ordered.

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Friday Random Ten, Sept 22

It's friday again, so in addition to a bizzare programming language, you get a random ten.

Transatlantic, "Mystery Train".: very cool neo-prog rock track.
Darol Anger and the Republic of Strings, "Dzinomwa Muna Save". Darol Anger is one the most creative artists of our generation. He's a violinist who is constantly out pushing his limits. He's played classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, rock, and stuff that just can't be classified. This tune is his take on a traditional african song, performed by his latest band. Brilliant, amazing, fascinating, and beautiful.
Bach, "Erkenne Mich, Mein Hueter" from "St. Matthews Passion". One and one half minutes of sheer perfection. Bach is, in my opinion, the greatest composer of all time, and the St. Matthews Passion is one of his finest works.
The Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra, "Golden Wedding". Andy Statman is an amazing musician who comes from the same family of musicians as Darol Anger. A few years ago, he rediscovered his Jewish roots, and ended up being an Orthodox jew. As part of that exploration of his roots, he started playing Klezmer. It's frankly shocking to see how well he can play klezmer after such a short time.
Hamster Theatre, "Litost". Strange, strange stuff. HT is a RIO offshoot of "Thinking Plague". They describe themselves as "straddling the edges of folk music, avant-garde, world music, early 20th century French composers, such as Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel, contemporary composition and many other musical forms, bringing together elements of all these styles while never sounding 'just like' any one of them." I'd say that's a pretty darned good description.
The Clogs, "Compass". Post-rock from one of the best classical-leaning post-rock ensembles. I really love post-rock, and there's no one who does it better than the Clogs.
Godspeed You Black Emperor, "Antennas To Heaven: Moya Sings "Baby-O" / Edgyswingsetacid / Glockenspeil / "Attention... Monami... Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La / She Dreamt She Was A Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was In An Empty Field / Deathcamp Drone / Antennas To Heaven". My but that's a whopper of a name. More post-rock, but GYBE is more on the electric side of the genre.
Thinking Plague, "Marching as to War". Cousin to this weeks number 5. A deeply strange band; very clearly influenced by King Crimson. They're part of the "Rock in Opposition" movement; very similar to my beloved post-rock, but with a bit more atonality.
Frank Zappa, "Valley Girl". One of Zappa's sillier tracks. Not one of my favorites, frankly.
Phish, "Rift". I don't know why so many people hate Phish. Sure, they had some pretty damned annoying fans. But they wrote and played really great music. I particularly love this album.