I've noticed a similarity before between Chinese Shang Dynasty (c. 16th-11th century BC) art and pre-Columbian art from Central and South America. Since such trans-Pacific contact has been theorized before, I think this is kind of interesting. I dug up some examples to get your take:

Shang
vs.
Chavín (9th-3rd century BC)

Shang
vs.
Chavín

Shang ( Read more... )

DO NOT WANTAs the UN’s climate change chief, Dr Rajendra Pachauri has spent his career writing only the driest of academic articles. But the latest offering from the chairman of the UN’s climate change panel is an altogether racier tome ( Read more... )

According to some sources, the wild haggis's left legs are of different length than its right legs, allowing it to run quickly around the steep mountains and hillsides which make up its natural habitat, but only in one direction. It is further claimed that there are two varieties of haggis, one with longer left legs and the other with longer right ( Read more... )

I was writing a reply to a comment, but I realized I was saying everything I had meant to say in a post anyway. This is kind of unorthodox but I'm too lazy to make it elegant; I'll just reply here.

Original comment

We're on the same page with that, but this situation isn't a matter of "waiting for God to change me". I do want to change, and if ( Read more... )

It's New Year's Eve and I feel my insecurities ( Read more... )

You're free ( Read more... )

Here is a field recording from some of the early research into ǃXóõ, a click language which has the most distinct sounds (consonants and vowels) of any known language. The recording in the language itself starts at 2:45 - it's incredible and kind of funny to listen to. (If you want to know how "ǃXóõ" itself is pronounced, listen to the first 20 ( Read more... )

A character is a person with a collapsed wavefunction. They are not enslaved by maybes. They can be defined, given enough time, if you get to know them; their value can be expressed on paper.

I have always wanted to be a character.

Walker Percy does a strange thing in his novel The Last Gentleman. His main character isn't a character. He ( Read more... )

(I know it's a little petty of me, but ( Read more... )

Actually, I guess it's only been a couple of months, but it was a pain getting a hold of the video. This is a comedy routine I wrote and performed this summer while studying at the Canada Institute of Linguistics. Please watch if you can stand the nerdy humour and inside jokes. ^.^

Click to view