- So first the Discovery Channel created this commercial, which was actually kind of awesome. It was set to the tune of a traditional campire song (which was itself set to the tune of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Heart and Soul”). And then Randall Munroe created this webcomic, riffing off the commerical, which was itself pretty awesome. And now that awesomeness has gone one step further. Honestly, where else are you going to see Neil Gaiman singing while bouncing on a trampoline with his daughter? Or Cory Doctorow in full red cape and goggles regalia? This is just seriously fun. [via]
- Meanwhile, here’s the Ultimate Graphic Novel (in six panels). I don’t think they missed anything. [via]
- While I’m on the subject of comics and artwork, check out Derek Chatwood’s terrific illustrations. The short stories that accompany the drawings are worth reading, too! [via]
- Apparently, you can remove scratches from your DVDs using just a banana and some toothpaste. Time to MacGyver up! [via]
- And finally, the world’s luckiest sports fan? [via]
sports
Monday various
- “US pop star Britney Spears, seen here in August 2009, took aim at some of the tabloid stories that have dogged her through 2009, publishing a list of the top 75 articles deemed to be the most ridiculous.” Number one on the list? That she used to be an internationally famous and successful recording artist.
- “Everywhere I turned, I found pain and loss, a procession of wasted lives, people who never fought Ali and, thus, won’t ever have someone come looking for them.” Muhammad Ali fought 50 men. Only one disappeared.” [via]
- “The gases which formed the Earth’s atmosphere — and probably its oceans — did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space, according to a new study.” [via]
- MC Frontalot uses Dungeons & Dragons to quit smoking. [via]
- And finally, “Are the Stars?” [via]
Tuesday various
- The drugs! They do nothink! The placebo effect appears to be getting stronger. It’s an interesting article, and the whole thing has some pretty far-ranging implications, but I was especially intrigued by this aside:
One recent afternoon in his lab, a young soccer player grimaced with exertion while doing leg curls on a weight machine. Benedetti and his colleagues were exploring the potential of using Pavlovian conditioning to give athletes a competitive edge undetectable by anti-doping authorities. A player would receive doses of a performance-enhancing drug for weeks and then a jolt of placebo just before competition.
Using the placebo response to cheat at sports? Hmm. [via]
- Meanwhile, in other medical news, depression may be good for you [via]
- Missing Link found in church: both more and less than the headline suggests. [via]
- Have I mentioned recently how much I dislike Antonin Scalia?
As a constitutional matter, Scalia is not wrong. The court has never found a constitutional right for the actually innocent to be free from execution. When the court flirted with the question in 1993, a majority ruled against the accused, but Chief Justice William Rehnquist left open the possibility that it may be unconstitutional to execute someone with a “truly persuasive demonstration” of innocence. Oddly enough, for at least some members of the current court that question is now seemingly irrelevant: In Scalia’s America, the Cameron Todd Willingham whose very existence was once in doubt is today constitutionally immaterial. Having waited decades for an innocent victim of capital punishment, the fact that we have finally found one won’t matter at all. In this new America we can execute a man for an accidental house fire, while the constitution stands silently by.
I think there are several strong arguments against the death penalty, but for me the most convincing has always been that it demonstrably sends innocent people to their death. [via]
- Maybe I should cast Scalia in this interesting class assignment from Jeffrey Ford:
In one of my classes this semester, we are reading Dante’s Inferno….Our reading will lead to a number of assignments, but one of them will be a written canto that will deal with the students choosing one of their most despised political, religious, or cultural figures and developing a circle of Hell for that individual, the tortures of which somehow metaphorically fit the perceived sin of the offender. They must also choose some political, religious, literary, or cultural icon to be their Virgil. I put this out to ditch readers who are up to the challenge and ask — Who would be your guide? Who would be the sinner? What would the bole of Hell be like that the sinner is trapped in for eternity?
Hmm.