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Magic Eye Tetris

Just in case the puppycam isn't fulfilling your procrastination needs, I bring you: Magic Eye Tetris. Believe it or not, there are actually two popular Magic Eye Tetris games online, separately programmed:

I much prefer the hidden-3d.com version of the game. It's more accurate to the real Tetris rules, and the stereogram pattern is much easier on the eyes. However, if you're feeling particularly adventurous, try the lutanho.net version - which has a board that's only 8, not 10, blocks wide. Anyway, good luck with it. I find it's pretty hard to stay in focus consistently... I haven't been able to get above a score of about 10,000.


3D-Stereogram Tetris by ~3Dimka on deviantART

And if you've had enough of Magic Eye Tetris, there's always the Magic Eye Snake game...

Fighting in South Ossetia

If you haven't been following the news very closely the past few days you've likely missed this:
Following Georgia's attempt to retake the capital of breakaway territory South Ossetia. Citing the fact that many residents of South Ossetia are also Russian citizens, Russia has responded in kind with military strikes against Georgia.

I don't have an especially good handle on the situation myself, so I'm not going to try to describe it any further.

More reading:
Reuters
BBC
Al Jazeera
CNN
Wikinews
Wikipedia summary of the conflict

(Pertaining to comments in the shoutbox: I know this isn't a current events blog, but I feel this is important enough and has so far not been much mentioned in the mainstream media that it was appropriate.)

Edit [Isaac]: Some Russian forces have now moved beyond the disputed regions and entered central Georgia. There are also Russian troop buildups in South Ossetia and Gorgian troop buildups beyond the border.
NYTimes
The Times

Beijing Olympics Disaster Guide

Slate compiles a handy guide to potential crises that may or may not erupt in China in the coming weeks, while that nation hosts what will probably be the most interesting Olympics in recent memory even without the threats of festering political unrest ignited by dissident groups, terrorist attacks, suffocating smog, rolling blackouts... or a plague of locusts.

Slate: A Disaster Guide for the Beijing Olympics

Totally Offensive

I know much of the blogosphere is talking about the horribly offensive New Yorker cover featuring Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, but I personally would like to talk about another piece of infuriating media that offends my liberal sensibilities:


That's right, Jonathan Swift's 1729 treatise about how the Irish might alleviate their poverty by selling their children for food.

How dare Jonathan Swift perpetuate stereotypes of the Irish as being both poor and delicious! With lines like "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout" Jonathan swift ignores the plight of Papists everywhere, who have to contend with being objectified as delicious treats, perfect with a good ale, imported from the colonies.

Now, I know the piece is meant as irony and satire, but, beyond being unfunny (in my ever-so-humble opinion) much of our nation still believes that the Irish would make a fine delicacy. And, what's more, because most people outside of our elite liberal arts school have no understanding of subtlety or humor, this essay will only perpetuate these ugly, yet mouthwatering stereotypes of the Irish. So shame on ye, Jonathan Swift, for offending both myself and millions of proud Irish folk with your bilious drivel. You will not get another penny-farthing from me!

Suggested further reading:
Rush Limbaugh was Right @ Salon.com
The New Yorker Draws Fire @ Slate

Score one for the Everglades

In a bit of news that might not usually make this page but is suitable (and still as happy) during the Wesleying dry season, the Associated Press is reporting that one of the biggest conservation deals in U.S. history was tentatively struck earlier today between the state of Florida and the U.S. Sugar corporation:

The nation's largest producer of cane sugar reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to get out of the business and sell its nearly 300 square miles in the Everglades to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion... The state is trying to restore the Everglades and clean up pollution caused by Big Sugar and other growers, while the American sugar industry is being squeezed by low-price imports... Republican Gov. Charlie Crist declared the agreement "as monumental as the creation of our nation's first national park, Yellowstone."

Under the deal, the state would buy U.S. Sugar's holdings in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee, including its cane fields, mill and railroad line. U.S. Sugar would be allowed to farm the 187,000 acres for six more years, after which it would go out of business. The state would then protect the land from development.. State officials would also build a network of reservoirs and marshes to filter water flowing into the Everglades and help restore the River of Grass to a cleaner, more natural state...

Negotiations are still going on, and officials hope to sign a final agreement by September... "It makes it a lot more manageable," said Ken Ammon, deputy executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, the state agency overseeing restoration efforts. "It totally changes the face of Everglades restoration ... No one ever thought that a whole corporation like U.S. Sugar would up and potentially leave the Everglades."

Somewhere, environmentalists are having a kegger.

EDIT: Someone in the comments asked for the full article. The NYT covered this today, so you can see their more in-depth story here

Green Porno: Sex to Die For

So you're done with finals, kinda bored, and maybe looking for something sexy to pass the time? This is the total opposite of that, unless you get off to Isabella Rossellini wearing bug costumes and simulating arthropod intercourse.

Check out Green Porno, a series of eight bizarrely hilarious (and informative!) short videos written by and starring the classy actress. Rossellini starts each clip by saying "If I were a... [insert bug name]", and then using life-size costumes, puppets, and animation to imagine herself as the male half of each slightly anthropomorphized coupling (unless the bug is hermaphroditic).

Here's a preview:

Fight brain rot! The full videos are here.

Bill O'Reilly Dance Remix

A video has been making waves across the Internet this week of Bill O'Reilly, everybody's favorite conserva-pundit, flipping out over a teleprompter malfunction. This is the remix!

Ex-Student Defrauds Yale

Akash Maharaj, a 26-year-old New Yorker by way of Trinidad and Tobago, faked his way into Yale with phony transcripts and a distorted identity, and received a full year's scholarship for $47,000, only to get busted when his Yale ex-boyfriend, who had been threatened by Maharaj in the weeks since they broke up, reported him to school authorities who investigated his background.

Yale is PISSED. You can't make this stuff up! Ok never mind, this guy clearly did.

If you're feeling extra seedy, Gawker.com dug up as much as they possibly could about the story.

Hartford Courant: Ex-Student Dupes Yale

Obama/Pitt, Clinton/Jolie, All in the Family

By now you might have heard the questionably newsworthy news that leading Democratic contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are distantly related, respectively, to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, members of Hollywood's leading couple . The New England Historic Genealogical Society found that Obama and Pitt had a common ancestor 11 generations ago, and Clinton and Jolie are 9th cousins twice removed through their shared French Canadian roots.

I only bring this up because these ridiculous hybrid photos came to my attention:












HOT!

Arthur C. Clarke: the Great Monolith Beyond

Arthur C. Clarke, the guy who kind of helped invent our concept of space, passed away earlier this week in Sri Lanka. Best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke was a prolific writer of science fiction and was optimistic, even prophetic, about the role that satellites would eventually play in communications technology and space exploration. Whether his ideas about the direction of human evolution pan out still remains to be seen.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

I know that lots of peeps at Wes recognize the genius that is Alan Moore's Watchmen, but you might not know that Zach Snyder (of 300 Fame) is directing a movie adaptation. (Alan Moore, of course, wants nothing to do with it)

Well, the production blog just posted pictures of a few of the characters here, and all I have to say is:

OMG!!!!!!!!!!1

It's Abraham Lincoln's birthday today

Or so my housemate tells me. So here is a really great song from Best Friends Forever about Abraham Lincoln and how they want to marry him. Don't look at me like that.

Other thing my housemate says: Weswings has an Eat Your Feelings dinner special on Valentine's Day. It involves deep-fried PB&J. Mmm.

Heath Ledger: RIP

Heath Ledger, star of Brokeback Mountain, A Knight's Tale, and the upcoming The Dark Knight was found dead in his apartment today.

RIP Heath.

File Under: Way Better Than "Kings"

These days you've got to look hard among the silly, fake petition groups (Revolt against donuts!) and silly, useless applications (Grow your own nosehair!) to find anything worthwhile on Facebook. Once in awhile, though, you can run across a diamond in the rough, and this month's jewel is: Horcruxes (the drinking game). Developed by some devoted--and clearly ingenius-- Harry Potter fans at SUNY Plattsburgh, the game (which has a facebook group devoted to it of the same name) has simple rules obviously derived from Kings. But way better. According to the group's site:

"The new drinking game for Harry Potter fans everywhere:

THE RULES:
This game is played with two die. Sit in a circle and have the youngest person roll first.
2- The Twins: you either have to tell a joke or do a dare agreed upon by the rest of the circle in honor of Fred & George Weasley.
3- The Trio: you're Harry. Pick a Ron and a Hermione to drink with.
4- The Dungeons: last person with their hands to the floor drinks
5- Quidditch: last person with their hands to the ceiling drinks
6- The Slytherin: pick one other person in the circle. they must drink
7- The End of Year Feast: everyone drinks
8- The Marauders Map: everyone lists a Harry Potter character until one is repeated or someone can't think of one. this person drinks (go clockwise.)
9- The Hogwarts Express: the person that rolls starts drinking, then the next person starts drinking, and so on. you can not stop drinking until the person before you stops drinking. (go clockwise)
10- The Filch: you have to roll the dice and multiply whatever you roll by 3. if you roll doubles you've gotten out of detention and don't have to drink.
11- The Dark Lord: you have gained a Horcrux.
12- Dumbledore's Army: you have lost a Horcrux.

You begin the game with 1 Horcrux.
If you get to 7 you get to drink the Elixer of Life which will be in the middle of the circle.
Every time you make someone drink, you gain a Horcrux. When you roll an 12, you dump a drink into the middle (the Elixer).
If you're down to zero Horcruxes you're out of the game."

The next time you're wishing you were in Charms instead of Chemistry, quit taking notes and plan out a Horcruxes party instead. Happy Geek-ing!

We're 2 SMRT 4 U

Rarely do we at Wesleying ask ourselves:

• Are we typing smart?
• Are we posting wisely?

Well, today, I'm going to ask myself that. And the answer:

Probably not.

But hey, the U.S. Postal Service, in cooperation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, wants you to be SMRT. But not smart enough to know how to spell SMART, apparently. Their 2 SMRT 4 U campaign (which has been around for a while now, I know) is aimed at all those emotional teen girls who post their thoughts and undies online for all to see:

Having your own webpage or blog and using IM may put you in touch with all of your friends. But it could also put you in touch with online predators and cyberbullies. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children have come together to give you the tools to help protect yourself online. 71% of teens receive messages online from someone they don't know. Would you know what to do?

Once you get past the pink color scheme, the tug-on-your-heartstrings videos, the inspirational female model, the girl-power slogans, and the utterly sex-biased theme of the entire thing (as if guys don't blog or use Facebook!), ask yourself:

Are you SMRT? Are you on the lookout for those cyberbullies? We here at Wesleying hope so.

250-lb. cast-iron grate. To your face.

And I thought my 45-minute commute was a pain.
39-year-old Pawel Swierczynski of North Easton, Massachusetts experienced a much more, well, painful kind of pain when a 250-lb. cast-iron sewer grate went crashing through his windshield, and ended up sitting in his backseat. Swierczynski's being treated for his injuries, and the Massachusetts Highway Department is busy welding down all the state's catch basin grates as a temporary solution.

I may never complain about traffic again. I'll be all set as long as a giant hunk of iron doesn't take my face off.

... But if it does, I'll take comfort in knowing that Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston will now perform face transplants.