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Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.

- Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings

Posted 7 months ago

Proof hot girls can’t be unhot not matter how hard they try

Posted 8 months ago

I found this hilarious, some guy calls up a talk show and calls himself a Solipsist, the two hosts go “you’re a solipsist?” simultaneously and end the call

(relevant part starts at 1 minute mark)

Posted 8 months ago

So you know cats are interesting. They are kind of like girls. If they come and talk to you it’s great. But if you try to talk to them it doesn’t always go so well.

- Shigeru Miyamoto, Game Designer/Producer for Nintendo

Posted 8 months ago

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Oh god I’m a sucker for this stuff, I think Jim and Pam is half the reason I watched the Office for as long as I did (and my sister has given me a silly appreciation for John Mayer)

Posted 8 months ago

So I got into a discussion with a friend online a few days ago regarding relative levels of sentience across species. He’s a philosophy major, so has a bit of a leg up on me in the debate, but the essential argument was based on this question: Do humans have any sort of “superior” intellect or individualistic essence that makes them different from other animals with advanced central nervous systems?

Intuitively, I believe that humans do, but I had a hard time arguing it. What indicators do you use to measure intellectual capability? How do you choose those indicators? I mean, you can arbitrarily come up with a scale- a funny quote I remember from a science fiction story is that you should never do medical research on “anything capable of performing calculus”.

I thought it was an interesting concept, and definitely provides some artillery for certain arguments towards vegetarianism, specifically ones regarding the mental capacity of those beings which it is considered “OK” to hurt. However, my struggle with vegetarianism is a slightly different beast which should be covered elsewhere.

Posted 8 months ago

If you aren’t familiar with Jimi Hendrix’s performance of the Star Spangled Banner, here it is. The interesting bit is all the deviations he makes. I used to think that it was just senseless noise he tacked on, but I read a more interesting interpretation: he took the National Anthem, a sort of epitome of national spirit and chose to tweak it at critical points in the song, potentially trying to emulate the sounds of “bombs bursting in air” etc. He throws Taps in at some point, customarily played at military funerals. He focused an entire generation’s civil feelings of unrest and revolution against “the man” and anti-war protests into the Star Spangled Banner, pretty cool stuff.

Posted 8 months ago

Mentally handicapped man sings the national anthem at a baseball game. It starts out a little slow, but in the middle he seems to stumble a bit and the crowd chimes in to keep him going. Surprisingly moving!

Posted 8 months ago

Listened to this whole album at work yesterday

Posted 8 months ago

Adorable video of an elephant seal and a girl on a beach cuddling (well, sort of)

Posted 8 months ago

Another for the file, as the previous picture is actually not real (digital composition), but this is a real place, Moraine Lake.

Posted 8 months ago

File under “places I want to see”

Posted 8 months ago