Random Stuff
esiegel | June 12, 2011"We're always on the side of the animal that's being chased. We always seem to be on the side of the rabbit or the fox and not on the side of the hounds." -Norman Jewison
For those of you who are fans of Punk Rock, Post-Punk, or New Wave music, you definitely need to check out the French group, Nouvelle Vague. Performing only covers of well-known songs in those genres, they present them in a light, poppy way that's reminiscent of such bizarre albums as Lounge Against the Machine. Only, it's much more "art" than it is novelty, at least to my ears. For this weekend's diversion, I present to you…
esiegel | June 3, 2011"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike." -Alexander Pope
As you know, last weekend I was on vacation at a certain music festival, and of course, a good time was had by all.
Image credit: my new buddy Chad. Also, R.I.P., Macho Man.
There were a huge number of great bands there with big names, like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, and the band that I'll pick this week's song from, Foo Fighters and their hit,
Learn to Fly.…
esiegel | May 25, 2011"Too much work, and no vacation,
Deserves at least a small libation.
So hail! my friends, and raise your glasses,
Work's the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
It may seem like it's been forever since I've taken a vacation, because it has been. So this coming Memorial Day Weekend, I'm going to make it count. (Although you can read my previous Memorial Day post here if you're starving.)
So what will I be doing? Well, here's a little taste, courtesy of the band Flogging Molly, whom I'll be listening to in just a few days,
Selfish Man.Why's that? Where am I going to be?
At the 2011…
esiegel | May 22, 2011"There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair." -Martial
It's been far too long since I introduced you to a great musical artist you may not have heard of, so let's get right to that. Kristin Hersch, famed leader of the punk/alternative band Throwing Muses (which she started at the age of 15 or so), has gone on to do some amazing singing/songwriting work. Here's one of my favorites of hers,
Uncle June And Aunt Kiyoti.On a completely unrelated note, other than its amusement for me, the 2011 World Beard and Mustache Championships just took place in Trondheim,…
esiegel | May 14, 2011"I'm going to fight if you touch me or hurt me or do harm to my family. But if you call me a bad name, or whatnot, I'm too smart for that. That's the message the kids need to hear coming from me. I tell them, 'If I fought every time somebody called me a name, I would never get out of jail. But I'm disciplined. I'm smarter than that.' So I tell them, like my mother said, 'Consider the source.' When you see who called you the name, then you understand why they're doing it. Then you don't have to stoop that low." -Mr. T
Ahh, Mr. T. Perhaps my favorite of the muscular, brash, but positive role…
esiegel | April 24, 2011"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." -Kurt Cobain
Back in the early 1990s, not only a new sound, but also a new attitude emerged in Rock 'n' Roll. One that was dark and heavy, one that expressed the frustration and malaise of youth, and one that -- perhaps surprisingly -- swept the nation. The most prominent of these bands, without a doubt, was Nirvana, and here's their opening track off of my favorite album of theirs (and easily one of the best of all time):
About A Girl.Although it aired on MTV in December of 1993, I first heard that album about this time of year,…
esiegel | April 17, 2011"The loss of the night sky is most troubling for children. Whole generations of kids in cities and suburbs are growing up seldom if ever having seen the milky way and what a sky full of thousands of stars look like." -Timothy Ferris
While Dave Chappelle will tell you that everything looks better in slow motion, when you're looking at the night sky, you need a lot going for you these days. Paramount among them, as the Easy Star All-Stars might tell you (covering Pink Floyd), is
Time.Because if all you do is look up from within your city, you're likely to see something like this.
A pretty…
esiegel | April 1, 2011"This is Tokyo. Once a city of six million people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination." -Steve Martin
What was once only in the realm of our wildest science-fiction fantasies has become a nightmare come true for the people of Japan. Reports are everywhere that a fearsome, 200-foot tall monster emerged from the damaged Fukushima Reactor early this morning.
Referred to by eyewitnesses as some kind of whale-gorilla, the creature now has one Universally recognized name,
Godzilla.After emerging from the…
esiegel | March 26, 2011"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more." -Lord Byron
All over the world, Earth Hour has fallen, and it's about to, imminently, here in my part of the world. For a song to take you through this post, I've got a (Peter Rowan?) folk classic performed by The Be Good Tanyas in their own unique style,
Midnight Moonlight.Perhaps, if you're one of the lucky ones with clear skies, you might be able to notice something you hardly ever get…
esiegel | March 12, 2011"The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up." -Elia Kazan
There's a lot of negativity in the world lately, from natural disasters to social, political, and economic strife. But this week also saw the 100th International Women's Day go by, and what I saw was so inspirational that I decided to share one piece of it with you.
This is Lil Wayne: a young, successful musician with four kids, including a 12 year-old daughter. By all accounts, Wayne is a good dad -- something his father never was -- and an intelligent, independent-minded man.
But his lyrics are…
esiegel | March 6, 2011"Blessed be Providence which has given to each his toy: the doll to the child, the child to the woman, the woman to the man, the man to the devil!" -Victor Hugo
I don't know how many of you have ever had the experience of listening to all your music on shuffle, had a song come on, and then say to yourself, "That's really good! Who is that?" Well, that happened to me this week, when I was, apparently, listening to The Decemberists' song,
Culling Of The Fold.(And for those of you who like music festivals, I'll see you -- and The Decemberists -- at this one this coming Memorial Day weekend.)…
esiegel | February 27, 2011"Glaciers are almost gone from Glacier National Park." -Donella Meadows
This world is full of beautiful things that are simply awe-inspiring. Some of them are very much man-made, such as this 2007 song by Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby,
Crown Of Jewels.But others took thousands of years to form.
Image credit: deleted flickr user, of Franz Joseph Glacier in New Zealand.
In many great places all over the world, glaciers are an incredible wonder to behold. Carving valleys, rivers and lakes over thousands of years, they are one of our planets great examples of how slow processes can make…
esiegel | February 13, 2011"Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum."
(I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am) -Rene Descartes
I always try to give you something beautiful completely unrelated to astronomy, physics, or cosmology for the weekend. So if I'm going to talk to you about dark matter, I figured I'd better go for a particularly beautiful song. For those of you who don't know the voice of Regina Spektor, have a good listen, because I think she might be the best young vocalist out there today. Here's her song,
Braille.The first week of this past December was designated to be Dark Matter Awareness Week,…
esiegel | February 6, 2011"We are tested academically and the only people who benefit are academics. Everyone doesn't make A's and B's in school - and those people who can't, it doesn't mean you don't have a gift. There are people who are gifted but maybe not academically. You could be an average student but exceptional in other areas." -Pearl Fryar
Every once in a while, I come across something so wonderful that I can't help but stop everything else I was doing and share it with you. Have a listen to New Grass Revival's song from 1989,
You Plant Your Fields,while I introduce you to Pearl Fryar.
Pearl is the subject…
esiegel | January 16, 2011"Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree." -Terry Pratchett
With a high unemployment rate and many people having stopped looking for work, it's pretty hard to live in the United States and not be aware of the struggles many people are facing. Here's a song by Loudon Wainwright III to set the tone,
The Home Stretch.Although many people have their theories, it's worth asking just what the income disparity is in America. Thankfully, Catherine Rampell's NY Times article earlier this week came loaded with data from Rachel Johnson of the Tax Policy Center. Specifically, they…
esiegel | January 5, 2011"If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two weeks' vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days." -Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Everyone needs to take a vacation, even your favorite science bloggers. I'm always telling you to get out there and enjoy the world, and while I'm not going to Antarctica like some people (yet), I should have a great adventure ahead of me. Starting today, we're headed up to Vancouver, BC and Whistler, where for…
esiegel | December 18, 2010"You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back."
-Steve Prefontaine
But there are lots of amazing ways to propel yourself forward, indeed. Listen to one of the greatest musical groups of our times, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, as they perform Victor Wooten's song,
Sex In A Pan,off their album UFO Tofu.
Last week, I told you about a runaway galaxy, speeding through the Universe and leaving a tail behind it.
Image credit: GALEX.
Of course, this is a composite image in visible and ultra-violet light. We saw here that the galaxy looks normal in visible light; only in the…
esiegel | December 5, 2010"If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."
-Gus Grissom, who perished in the Apollo 1 fire.
Every once in a while, I try to look past the amazing accomplishments humanity has made in space. And here's a great little piece by Leo Kottke for you to listen to,
Memories Are Made Of This.Forget about walking on the Moon, sending spacecrafts to all the planets and even out of the Solar System, and instead to just focus on how beautiful some small…
esiegel | November 27, 2010"Sounds of laughter shades of life
Are ringing through my open ears
Exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
Shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the Universe" -The Beatles
Now that you've all given thanks for all the great things you've got, it's time to enjoy some of the great music of our world. The Beatles had some amazing songs, such as Across the Universe, and this Rufus Wainwright cover more than does it justice.
Across The UniverseWhile you're enjoying that, why not take a look at some of the great things some cancer researchers are doing?…
esiegel | November 21, 2010"Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art." -Ambrose Bierce
The most common emails I get about this blog are questions about physics, astronomy, and some very speculative theories. But second most common are questions asking where I get my pictures.
Well, except in rare instances, I don't make them myself. Should you just make like Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and,
Keep On Looking?Let me tell you about a great tool to help you figure out where any image on the site comes from! Let's pick one at random, from say, this recent post.
So what can you do? You can copy…