Wilco - Sunken Treasure (Live at Farmaid 25)

If I had a mountain, I'd try to fold it over.
If I had a boat, you know I'd probably roll over.
And I leave it on the shore, I'd leave it for somebody.
Surely there's somebody who needs it more than me.

Mos Def & Brooklyn Philharmonic - "Life in Beautiful Times"

A song originally from his 2009 album "The Ecstatic". Cool to see him perform with a live classical ensemble.

Camouflaged Cuttlefish: Don't Mind Me, I'm Not Here.

Cuttlefish have amazing camouflage capabilities -- really incredible. Even when it encounters patterns not found in nature (black and white stripes, for example.... unless there are underwater zebras). Watch how it adapts. All this, despite the fact that, according to scientists, they cannot perceive colour.

Full article at NPR.

Anonymous has a flair for the dramatic

They got Stephen Hawkins' hot British girlfriend to narrate.

Thoughts on the "Occupy" movement?

'My black berry isn't working"

Singapore Harbour from Above

A winner of the National Geographic amateur photography competition this year. The caption is: "Well this photo is a perk of being an airline pilot.I got lucky to have captured this while descending into singapore.So many ships parked in a symmetrical way to get into the harbour along the coast."

Source

Cloudy Blue Sky reflected in Central Park Lake on GoogleEarth

Alabama Shakes -You Ain't Alone

Down-homey southern blues out of Athens, Alabama.

Translation and the Meaning of Everything

So publishing companies now make these kind of "trailers" for books before they come out, and they're often just delightful. This one is for a new book on how our relationship to the world is reflected and mediated through culture and language.

From what Manhattanese has in common with the Kuuk Thaayorre language of South Australia to why we don’t have a word for all things with chrome handlebars, Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything dances across linguistic fascination, cultural history, and pure wit to deliver a unique meditation on mankind’s ever-evolving tango with global communication.

Animation – Is That A Fish In Your Ear? – David Bellos from Penguin Books on Vimeo.

Richard Feynman discusses "Beauty".

Richard Feynman, was a famous American physicist who was known for "his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory ofquantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model)." I have no idea what any of this means, but he won a Nobel Prize in 1965 along with his team for their work on quantum electrodynamics, assisted in the development of the atomic bomb, and was on the panel that investigates the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Anyway, he worked in areas of physics that I can't even pronounce. But above all that, he was an engaging speaker, and did much to popularize science and make it accessible and magical to the masses.

Here, he talks about the nature of beauty, and how sciences awakens rather than dulllens his sense of awe when contemplating the natural world. All in thick, wonderful Queens, NY accent...

New Kitten

What happens when introducing a new cat into a house.

Word Portraits

Artist John Sokol has a collection of portraits made out of the words of famous authors:

Walt Whitman as "Leaves of Grass"

John Keats as "Lamia"

Dante as "The Inferno"

James Joyce as "Ulysses"

Charles de Beadelaire as "Les Fleurs du Mal"