CricketToes

The Internets™ Proudly Presents One More Colossal Time Waster!

Geeks, nerds and other way-smarter-than-you peeps have been honing and refining complex software algorithms for decades, all in the hopes of forwarding humanity's progress into the officially capitalized Future. More often than not, however, R&D cranks out kooky little games so you can waste your time at a level of sophistication that even Jules Verne couldn't have imagined.

The latest of these is Codeorgan. Just input any url and it will turn the content into a tune you can hum. It's not science, it's magic!

(via The Observer's Very Short List)

Related:
Virtual Choir Makes Actual Music
iPhone App Answers Art's Most Pointless Question

iPhone App Answers Art's Most Pointless Question

As all fancy iPhone users know, there's a multitude of apps they can download to their gadgets should they desire to have the experience of time being relentlessly sucked through their fingers at light speed. In fact, everyday scores of teenagers get so engrossed in the virtual Game Of Life that by the time they look up they have no real life of their own.

Thankfully Deeplocal and The Mattress Factory of Pittsburgh, PA have come to the rescue with an app that's so monumentally important we just had to bring it to your attention: Is This Art?

That's right, people, no longer will you have to twist your noodle this way and that, striking cerebral poses normally achieved only by the world's most nimble gurus, in an effort to discern whether what your lookin' at is art or not. Just ask your iPhone and the mystery shall be solved. Spooky, yes? You're darn tootin' it is.

Actually, it's supposed to be a humorous little interactive thing whereby peeps take photos, submit 'em and--viola!--get back clever answers to the most subjective and pointless question ever. For example, "This work manipulates reality in a realistic but non-manipulative way, therefore THIS IS ART." Haha! Now we understand why complex algorithms were invented.

Go here to see photos submitted and answers given. Feel free to submit comments of your own to the site, which no doubt will soon be inundated with überserious art debaters who wouldn't know a joke if it physically shook their funny bone, shouting, "Laugh, damn it, laugh!" Here's hoping!

(via @The_Mint_Museum)

Horseless Carriage Maker Proves Behavioral Psychology of Fun

When was the last time you heard any of the Big Three U.S. automakers actually introduce an idea for the good that wasn't completely made up of empty oh-look-at-us-we-care-about-health-and-the-environment PR hot air? Think hard now. Give up? Yep, that'd be never.

Leave it to Volkswagen--the creators of the "people's car"--to start a project that not only talks the change-for-the-better talk but walks it, too. It's called The Fun Theory and its aim is to encourage peeps to upgrade their daily behavior so we can all live a better life.

Based on the well established psychological premise that folks will respond positively to change if ya make doing so even a tad hoot worthy, The Fun Theory has already shown some powerful results. B.F. Skinner, eat your heart out!

To wit, Piano Stairs:

Haha! That is so frickin' awesome I can hardly stand it! When I watched it the first time, tears of happy, mushy joy filled my eyes and that's sayin' a whole lotta somethin'.

Best of all, Volkswagen is holding a competition for Fun Theory ideas and you can submit your own here. First prize is €2500--that currently rings in at about $3661 USD--so rev up your puzzler and get crackin'! Deadline is December 15, 2009.

Link (Thanks, Brian & Kate!)

Carl Sagan Sings The Cosmos Electric

Yesterday our good pal Brian reminded us of a music video that we'd heard about on "All Tech Considered", a regular segment on NPR's All Things Considered, that y'all simply must experience. Despite having passed from this mortal coil nearly 13 years ago, the extraordinarily brainy and charismatic astronomer, astrochemist and author Carl Sagan is still singing the praises of the cosmos--literally.

Musician John Boswell composed "A Glorious Dawn (Cosmos Remixed)" using video from Sagan's groundbreaking 1980 PBS television series Cosmos and transformed the scientist's speech into singing through Auto-Tune, an electronic cheat for vocalists with questionable talent and work ethic--I'm lookin' at you, Britney!--but a pretty fantastic creative tool if used with non-sneaky intent. There's also a minor assist from übergenious-in-his-own-right Stephen Hawking.

A few of the samples chosen don't quite flow, musically speaking, but it is nonetheless a stirring tribute to the man who made the complex science of the universe and the philosophy of our place in it accessible to all. Also, just like Sagan himself, it is simultaneously cool and cheesy!

(Thanks, Brian!)

The Umali Awards: A Celebration of One Man's OCD

Renato Umali, musician/composer/artist/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Film Department lecturer, will be presenting his annual and completely nutty Umali Awards at The Green Gallery West tonight. Birthed in 2001, the awards and ceremony are intended to be, in his words, "a celebration of life as lived by Renato Umali," and why the hell not, eh?

Categories covered include Best Dining Out Experience, Best Day and the much coveted DIWITTYs--a.k.a. Day In Which I Talked To You--a Top 10 list of folks that the data mad artist has logged the most days chatting and commiserating with during the twelve months of 2008.

To say that Umali conveys obsessive-compulsive traits as he meticulously documents and charts his daily activities, meetings, chance encounters, and perceptions of the world is to make an observation of monumental understatement. He is full-on OCD, and loved by many for his rare and artistically inclined scientific experiment.

The 8th Annual Umali Awards Ceremony will begin at 7:30PM tonight, Friday June 26, The Green Gallery West, 631 Center Street on the 3rd Floor, with an after-party at Bremen Cafe in Riverwest. Semi-formal attire is requested. Those showing up in a t-shirt and shorts will be promptly marked down in Umali's ever-present notebook as Never-Ever Recipients of a DIWITTY, regardless of how many times he speaks with them in the future, imprinting their reputation with a massive indelible black stain forever.

Link (Thanks, Tamiko!)

A World of Culture on The Internets™

Today in Paris, France a momentous and ambitious project was launched for the edification of all possessing access to the web: World Digital Library (WDL). Created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the U.S. Library of Congress and partner institutions 'round the globe, the website seeks to present no less than the entire cultural history of the world.

Thus far, they've got a smallish collection of primary documents and images in the areas of Philosophy & Psychology, Religion, Social Sciences, Language, Natural Sciences & Mathematics, Technology, Arts, Literature & Rhetoric, and History & Geography, but they just put it out there today so let's cut 'em a bit of slack, eh? The plan is to continue to add information until, well, until we stop creating, expressing, fighting, loving, and breathing all at the exact same time--spooky, yes?

The site can be viewed in seven different languages--Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish--with additional languages under consideration.

While it's mainly aimed at ankle, knee, elbow and shoulder biters, the WDL manages to avoid cutesy, laughably simplistic presentations, offering scholarly information in plain language. Over time it should also become an extremely useful tool for writers, musicians and other artists interested in doing a bit o' research for their next multilingual, multicultural, muiltimulti mashup masterpiece.

Link (via Thomas Cott's "You've Cott Mail")

Java to Fuel Your Body & Your Car

The New York Times' Henry Fountain filed a report today on a groundbreaking development that has major implications for the coffee industry and everyone else on the planet: Way smarter than you scientists at the University of Nevada-Reno have made diesel fuel from used coffee grounds!

So, how did this happen? Were these scientists conducting some kind of super secret study--hehe, Nevada--that's taken years, perhaps even decades of 'round the clock inquiry and experimentation to prove useful? Did they will themselves through spirit-crushing failure and seemingly certain intellectual defeat time and time again, all the while sure, damn sure that they would find the solution and with it win complete vindication from their peers that they were not indeed mad?

Not exactly. Seems one of the scientists, Dr. Mano Misra, left a cup of untouched coffee sitting on the table one night and the next morning noticed that there was a layer of oil floating atop the liquid. He then brought this curious fact to the attention of his two colleagues, Narasimharao Kondamudi and Susanta K. Mohapatra, postulating on what use this oil could have, and--Viola!--biodiesel was born from waste coffee grounds.

"That's it?!" you cry. "They stumbled upon it by accident?" Yes, but some of the very best ideas have come in the form of happy accidents. You do bring up a valid point, however. The fact is that anyone who works or has worked in the coffee industry knows that roasted java beans and grounds possess an enormous amount of oil, which is why you should never put coffee in the refrigerator or freezer. Too bad most of those people aren't scientists.

It's just another example of why interdisciplinary education, working environments and social networking should become a way of life. Without access to diverse forms of knowledge, it takes a lot longer to see what's floating right in front of your face.

Link (via CoffeeTalk)

Operatic Physics

What do you get when you cross cosmology and particle physics with opera? A huge musical show filled with nanonotes? High art infused with mind-bendingly high theoretical concepts that your last science class--what was it, Earth Science?--could never have prepared you for? A tonal or atonal mishmash of maybes, perhaps and things-may-not-be-what-they-seems?

Dunno, but theoretical physicist Lisa Randall of Harvard's Jefferson Laboratory has teamed up with Spanish composer Hector Parra and artist Matthew Ritchie to create an opera that could be one, all or none of the above.

Called Hypermusic Prologue: A projective opera in seven planes, the piece requires just two performers to carry out the daunting task of artistically conveying the scientific theory of seven-dimensional realities in seven acts. Good thing the opera is only an hour long or there'd be a whole lotta head exploding goin' on.

The practice of combining science with art is not new by any stretch, but I would love to see if this work can successfully pull it off. Sadly, Kev and I aren't gonna be anywhere near Paris or the Continent, where the opera is scheduled to debut this summer and fall, any time soon--unless, of course, our plans for Cricky's complete and total domination of The Internets™ comes to fruition sooner than expected. Here's hoping!

Link (via Thomas Cott's You've Cott Mail)

Radiolab: It's the Greatest Show On-Air!

Oh, how I loves me some Radiolab. I just listened to the first episode of the fifth season of this quirky, hilarious, totally trippy science and culture radio program and I am filled with glee--honest, I really am.

Co-hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich have an exceedingly rare and easy chemistry that draws you into the strange and wondrous world of science and won't let go. They giggle like school girls, completely freak each other out with weird science facts and engage the listener at such an intense level that there's absolutely no temptation to multitask--it is the show and nothing else. Also, the sheer quality of Radiolab's production and editing is quite frankly without equal as it borders on, and sometimes occupies, the realm of experimental sound art.

Listen to any one of their shows and you'll be blown away--I guarantee.

Oh, and I would be most remiss if I didn't thank WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio for bringing Radiolab to our local airwaves, so Thank You!

Warm Up Your Psyche with a Hot Cup o' Joe

A recent study published in the journal Science concludes that merely holding a hot cup of coffee results in an increase of people's perception of others as warm and caring. It also shows that hot coffee holders tend to behave more generously.

Researchers Lawrence Williams of the University of Colorado at Boulder and John Bargh of Yale University conducted the study by recruiting forty-one undergraduate students, 27 of which were female. The participants were divided into two groups, with one holding hot coffee and the other holding iced coffee for 10 to 25 seconds while riding in an elevator and stating their name and time of participation. They were then given a personality impression questionnaire that described an individual unknown to them as "intelligent, skillful, industrious, determined, practical, and cautious." Participants rated their perception of this unknown person on a 7-point scale in the categories of generous/ungenerous, happy/unhappy, good-natured/irritable, sociable/anti-social, and caring/selfish.

The conclusion? Those who had held the hot cup of coffee tended to view the unknown person as having a "warmer" personality than those who had held the iced coffee.

The same study gave the participants the opportunity to get a gift certificate that they could then give to a friend or family member. And whaddya know, the hot coffee holders tended to do just that instead of keeping it for themselves, which was the more common action taken by the cold-hearted iced coffee crowd.

While I'm sure the results would have been the same if the hot coffee holders had been given a cup of hot tea or cocoa, this study is just one more reason for you to brew up the java and share the love. Feel free to add a shot of somethin' stronger so the world will look even more beautiful.

Link to abstract (via LiveScience)