Tag Archives: totally unrelated to wesleyan

Magic Eye Tetris

Just in case the puppycam isn’t fulfilling your procrastination needs, I bring you: Magic Eye Tetris. Believe it or not, there are actually two popular Magic Eye Tetris games online, separately programmed:

I much prefer the hidden-3d.com version of the game. It’s more accurate to the real Tetris rules, and the stereogram pattern is much easier on the eyes. However, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, try the lutanho.net version – which has a board that’s only 8, not 10, blocks wide. Anyway, good luck with it. I find it’s pretty hard to stay in focus consistently… I haven’t been able to get above a score of about 10,000.


3D-Stereogram Tetris by ~3Dimka on deviantART

And if you’ve had enough of Magic Eye Tetris, there’s always the Magic Eye Snake game…

Fighting in South Ossetia

If you haven’t been following the news very closely the past few days you’ve likely missed this:
Following Georgia’s attempt to retake the capital of breakaway territory South Ossetia. Citing the fact that many residents of South Ossetia are also Russian citizens, Russia has responded in kind with military strikes against Georgia.

I don’t have an especially good handle on the situation myself, so I’m not going to try to describe it any further.

More reading:
Reuters
BBC
Al Jazeera
CNN
Wikinews
Wikipedia summary of the conflict

(Pertaining to comments in the shoutbox: I know this isn’t a current events blog, but I feel this is important enough and has so far not been much mentioned in the mainstream media that it was appropriate.)

Edit [Isaac]: Some Russian forces have now moved beyond the disputed regions and entered central Georgia. There are also Russian troop buildups in South Ossetia and Gorgian troop buildups beyond the border.
NYTimes
The Times

Totally Offensive

I know much of the blogosphere is talking about the horribly offensive New Yorker cover featuring Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, but I personally would like to talk about another piece of infuriating media that offends my liberal sensibilities:


That’s right, Jonathan Swift’s 1729 treatise about how the Irish might alleviate their poverty by selling their children for food.

How dare Jonathan Swift perpetuate stereotypes of the Irish as being both poor and delicious! With lines like “A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout” Jonathan swift ignores the plight of Papists everywhere, who have to contend with being objectified as delicious treats, perfect with a good ale, imported from the colonies.

Now, I know the piece is meant as irony and satire, but, beyond being unfunny (in my ever-so-humble opinion) much of our nation still believes that the Irish would make a fine delicacy. And, what’s more, because most people outside of our elite liberal arts school have no understanding of subtlety or humor, this essay will only perpetuate these ugly, yet mouthwatering stereotypes of the Irish. So shame on ye, Jonathan Swift, for offending both myself and millions of proud Irish folk with your bilious drivel. You will not get another penny-farthing from me!

Suggested further reading:
Rush Limbaugh was Right @ Salon.com
The New Yorker Draws Fire @ Slate

Score one for the Everglades

In a bit of news that might not usually make this page but is suitable (and still as happy) during the Wesleying dry season, the Associated Press is reporting that one of the biggest conservation deals in U.S. history was tentatively struck earlier today between the state of Florida and the U.S. Sugar corporation:

The nation’s largest producer of cane sugar reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to get out of the business and sell its nearly 300 square miles in the Everglades to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion… The state is trying to restore the Everglades and clean up pollution caused by Big Sugar and other growers, while the American sugar industry is being squeezed by low-price imports… Republican Gov. Charlie Crist declared the agreement “as monumental as the creation of our nation’s first national park, Yellowstone.”

Under the deal, the state would buy U.S. Sugar’s holdings in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee, including its cane fields, mill and railroad line. U.S. Sugar would be allowed to farm the 187,000 acres for six more years, after which it would go out of business. The state would then protect the land from development.. State officials would also build a network of reservoirs and marshes to filter water flowing into the Everglades and help restore the River of Grass to a cleaner, more natural state…

Negotiations are still going on, and officials hope to sign a final agreement by September… “It makes it a lot more manageable,” said Ken Ammon, deputy executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, the state agency overseeing restoration efforts. “It totally changes the face of Everglades restoration … No one ever thought that a whole corporation like U.S. Sugar would up and potentially leave the Everglades.”

Somewhere, environmentalists are having a kegger.

EDIT: Someone in the comments asked for the full article. The NYT covered this today, so you can see their more in-depth story here

Green Porno: Sex to Die For

So you’re done with finals, kinda bored, and maybe looking for something sexy to pass the time? This is the total opposite of that, unless you get off to Isabella Rossellini wearing bug costumes and simulating arthropod intercourse.

Check out Green Porno, a series of eight bizarrely hilarious (and informative!) short videos written by and starring the classy actress. Rossellini starts each clip by saying “If I were a… [insert bug name]”, and then using life-size costumes, puppets, and animation to imagine herself as the male half of each slightly anthropomorphized coupling (unless the bug is hermaphroditic).

Here’s a preview:

Fight brain rot! The full videos are here.

Bill O’Reilly Dance Remix

A video has been making waves across the Internet this week of Bill O’Reilly, everybody’s favorite conserva-pundit, flipping out over a teleprompter malfunction. This is the remix!

Ex-Student Defrauds Yale

Akash Maharaj, a 26-year-old New Yorker by way of Trinidad and Tobago, faked his way into Yale with phony transcripts and a distorted identity, and received a full year’s scholarship for $47,000, only to get busted when his Yale ex-boyfriend, who had been threatened by Maharaj in the weeks since they broke up, reported him to school authorities who investigated his background.

Yale is PISSED. You can’t make this stuff up! Ok never mind, this guy clearly did.

If you’re feeling extra seedy, Gawker.com dug up as much as they possibly could about the story.

Hartford Courant: Ex-Student Dupes Yale

Obama/Pitt, Clinton/Jolie, All in the Family

By now you might have heard the questionably newsworthy news that leading Democratic contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are distantly related, respectively, to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, members of Hollywood’s leading couple . The New England Historic Genealogical Society found that Obama and Pitt had a common ancestor 11 generations ago, and Clinton and Jolie are 9th cousins twice removed through their shared French Canadian roots.

I only bring this up because these ridiculous hybrid photos came to my attention:

HOT!