bioshock

Though on first reading it struck me as a little bit like those gimmicky techniques touted to cure male-pattern baldness or maybe Frankenstein’s Monster jolted back to life apparently, via Slashdot, it’s sound and proven that one can accelerate coral growth and hasten the rebuilding of the ecosystems that they support by stimulating them with electricity.
The matrices of surviving coral in areas that have been ravaged by cyclones, heat-waves and other destructive acts are scaffolded with galvanised steel frame in order to rehabilitate the colonies, having previously shown that re-growth occurs at a rate three to four times faster than normal due to the current attracting free floating minerals which the coral incorporate. Even with this rapid growth, however, it will take decades for the reefs to fully heal. Visit the links above to learn more and for a video demonstration of divers constructing the underwater frames.

no hypnosis like a mass hypnosis because a mass hypnosis isn’t happening

Part of their growing Dial-a-Song repertoire, “Lake Monsters” by They Might be Giants is set to a cute music video crafted by artist Hiné Mizushima with stop-motion needlepoint and embroidery. The song reminded me of MST3K’s Kaiju Rap. Learn more about the band’s projects and the artist at Laughing Squid and at the links above

offred

More tone-deaf than the spec-script for an all female version of Lord of the Flies, this predictably sexist Sexy Handmaiden Brave Red Maiden Costume really does project the message “I am aware of popular culture, but I don’t understand it” (as one commented) or worse doesn’t care. I’m a bit nauseated and I think it’s in awfully bad taste. What do you think? I recall reading that a cosmetic company pulled its witchcraft starter kits after backlash from the Wiccan community. Maybe together we rally for more refinement from businesses that peddle crudeness.

8x8

deuterocanonical: ranking depictions of Judith beheading Holofernes, via Things Magazine

miami vice: a look inside the Mutiny Hotel where Scarface was filmed

stylite: an investigation into the doctored photograph of an ancient ruin reveals an ascetic tradition

knight industries two thousand: a banjo version of the Knight Rider theme

second skin: special membrane that transforms inanimate objects into multifunctional robots

plosive fricative: in English, counting from zero upwards, one’s lips won’t touch before one million, via Kottke’s Quick Links

biggs is right, i’m never getting out of here: animator Dmitry Grozov creates a brilliant anime trailer for Star Wars: A New Hope

pigpen: researchers isolate the chemical, microbial shadow that accompanies all of us