Random knowledge

A blog dedicated to … toilet signs: Funny and neat idea.

To try out (?): Adobe Photoshop Express. This online photo editing application offers users 2GB of free storage, photo sharing, and some of the more commonly-used Photoshop editing tools, including cropping, resizing, converting to black and white, red-eye and blemish removal, distort, and more. But make no mistake, this is NOT photoshop, not even close. The GUI looks nice, but I’m not sure why I should use this. Looks a bit basic.

For me an object is something living. This cigarette or this box of matches contains a secret life much more intense than that of certain human beings.

— Joan Miró

Prefixes & Words Based On Latin Number Names

Metric units and prefixes

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

–by Lord Byron (George Gordon)

On this day in 1918, French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris.

On this day in 1881, Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós.

But is “historical truth” truer than fictional truth? The difference between history and poetry, Aristotle argued, is that “the one tells what has happened, the other the kind of things that can happen. And in fact that is why the writing of poetry is a more philosophical activity, and one to be taken more seriously, than the writing of history.” Historians have turned this thinking on its head. History, not literature, is the serious stuff.

More by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker

In a move that will shock the espionage community to its foundations - James Bond has changed his tailor. After weeks of dangerous undercover investigation, we [The Times] reveal who’ll be measuring 007’s inside leg.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 Ken Loach film set during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and the Irish Civil War (1922–3). Written by long-time Loach collaborator Paul Laverty, this drama tells the story of two County Cork brothers, played by Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney, who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from Great Britain. Widely praised, the film won the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. A great movie and a nice way to spend this Eastern afternoon.

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of course materials used at MIT. A great resource !!

Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90. Obituary.

He is most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name.

BB FlashBack is “the screen recorder that creates great movies quickly and easily. Perfect for software demonstrations, screencasting, presentations, tutorials and training.”

Definitely something I want to try out.

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day (or isn’t it ?). The world will turn green again…

Update: I linked to the Britannica first, but for some reason the full article is not available, although Britannica tells otherwise ?!?

My sun came home with a rubik’s cube ! I hadn’t seen any since… 20 years at least. The whole weekend he has been studying and trying to solved it.

And now some more work to beat Edouard Chambon, the world record holder for fastest single time on a 3×3x3 Rubik’s Cube with a time of 9.18 seconds and fastest average time of 11.48 seconds. These records were set at the Murcia Open February 23, 2008:

When anarchists get together to form an anarchist association, the first thing they do is elect a governing committee… more». Interesting article.

It has never been easier to read up on a favorite topic, whether it’s an obscure philosophy, a tiny insect or an overexposed pop star. Just don’t count on being able to thumb through the printed pages of an encyclopedia to do it. The end of print encyclopedias ? I would hope not. Call me old-fashioned, but I love these printed editions.

Children will probably see a group of playing dolphins. But adults see usually something else. It’s called Message of Love from the Dolphins by Sandro Del-Prete (interesting site !).

The Belgian artist Jan De Cock’s installation in the photography galleries at MOMA will confound, even irritate, many viewers. There’s no question that it’s maddeningly hermetic, but it’s also intriguingly beautiful—like a great editorial layout blown up to billboard scale.

Vince Aletti reports in the New Yorker (pfff, this fine magazine costs already 7.5 EUR in Belgium !)

Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (March 11, 1811 – September 23, 1877) was a French mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for his part in the discovery of Neptune.

Started today with a jazz blog… in Dutch…