(Originally sent March 2009)
Movies
I saw and enjoyed Watchmen. I think having already read the graphic novel helped a lot, but it is certainly an interesting bunch of things to see on a screen in any case. Despite an unhealthy obsession with being true to the graphic novel (I personally think changes do need to be made to present a story in a different medium) the director couldn’t resist pumping up the strength of the characters, thereby undoing one of the most interesting aspects of the original, which was having superheroes that aren’t super, they’re just people who are a bit weird.
Video
A time lapse video demonstrates how babies are agents of chaos:
Link
Gigapan is a clever system for taking and knitting together photos into a zoomable panoramic image such as this one.
Quote
Last week’s quote about a dog finding a chainsaw was from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch which I highly recommend to everyone.
This week, an amusing line from Rousseau’s ‘Discourse On Inequality’:
“Savage man, when he has dined, is at peace with all nature, and the friend of all his fellow-creatures.”
Puzzle
On the subject of the body’s constituent molecules being replaced every seven years, some interesting things to consider are tattoos, memories, teeth, and ova. A proper scientific answer with real experiments and references and everything can be found here.
Now, a geometry classic: if you had a piece of string long enough to go around the earth’s equator at sea level, how much longer would it need to be if you wished it to be one meter above sea level?
Picture
Below, a rather fascinating forecast of global energy production. Had I been asked to guess, I would have thought the yellow area indicated nuclear fusion, which turns out to be conspicuous by its absence. Presumably on the basis of always being about 30 years away.
(Click for big)
