Virus Glass Art
by Chris Cunningham
Artist Luke Jerram has fulfilled another one of my favorite things. He is turning science into art. I discovered his art reading Science Magazine. They had a feature including his version of Swine Flu. However, not only is it beautiful, it is also very accurate to the real science involved. A combination of accurate micrographs and scientist opinions has made this art some of the most scientific I have ever seen.
Wind Turbines and the End of the World
by Chris Cunningham
Wind Turbines are becoming a more popular way to generate power. Their proponents claim that they produce almost zero waste, are completely silent, and allow the surrounding ground to be completely useable. However, there are a lot of things they leave out.
Giant Squids, Now more Dangerous than Ever
by Derek SchmidtOsaka, Japan
Japanese scientists researching kelp in the waters of the Pacific Ocean survived an attack from a giant lazer squid, sustaining major damage to the crews deep sea science floaty-down machine from the squids 'beak lazers'. If not for the quick maneuvering of Dr. Akiko Toyota, as well as the on board 'white-out' lazers, the scientists would have not survived the attack.
Squids and Lasers
Once thought to be reclusive animals, the attack on the Japanese scientists marks the fifteenth giant lazer squid attack to take place in the last six months. This sudden increase in frequency of attacks has lead many in Japan and in countries around the Pacific to plead with their governments to declare war on the lazer squids. Hitomi Nintendo, a local Osakan fishermen and frequent traveler of 'the ink blot' (the portion of the Pacific that is the habitat of the giant lazer squids), is the head of Permanent Extinction Now In-terms of Squids, "PENIS is a group on the rise. Our message is perfectly straight and not bent to one side of the issue or the other, we want the nation of Japan to declare war on these murderous squids and eradicate them from the earth. To long have travelers of the Pacific shriveled in fear or shrunken up at the thought of encountering such beasts! At least 1 out of every 5 voyages into the Pacific wont even get off this year! That's sad, and devastating to the Psyche of the captains of the ships. Sure one could say it happens to a lot of captains, and statistically that's true, but if all that is in the way of getting off and rising to the sea is a lazer shooting sea monster than I say we kill those monsters dead!"
...continue reading Giant Squids, Now more Dangerous than Ever
Flavors of Chile: Crudo
by Andrew ChastainAs mentioned in my previous post I used to be a vegetarian before coming to Chile. I felt that it would be impossible to fully experience the culture here and, more importantly, it would be impossible to eat anything that I didn't prepare myself. Since I want to fully take advantage of my current meat-eating I have been trying to sample as much of the strange local cuisine as I can, which I will then be reporting in my new "Flavors of Chile" articles.
McDonalds Monopoly vs. Powerball vs. Nature
by Pat CunninghamWell I don't know about you all but when it is Monopoly season at McDonalds I get kind of excited. I always figured there could be a chance at winning some cash! Well I think I was mistaken...
| Game | Payout | Odds | $/Odds |
| Monopoly | $1,000,000 | 1 in 542,034,000 | 0.00184490 |
| Monopoly | $50,000 | 1 in 640,586,000 | 0.00007805 |
| Monopoly | $25,000 | 1 in 320,293,000 | 0.00007805 |
| Monopoly | $10,000 | 1 in 427,058,000 | 0.00002342 |
| Monopoly | $5,000 | 1 in 256,235,000 | 0.00001951 |
| Powerball | Jackpot (Minimum $10,000,000) | 1 in 195,249,054 | 0.05121664 |
| Powerball | $200,000 | 1 in 5,138,133 | 0.03892464 |
Well that is interesting - who would have guessed you have better odds playing the lottery. Infract you are about 2.7 times more likely to win the Powerball jackpot than to win the $1M at McDonalds. Gee looks like if you are interested in cash your better stop eating those Big Macs and head across the street to 7-11 for a Powerball ticket.
But then again if you want to put that statistic to to the test the probability of being in a plane crash is 1 in 11,000,000. Oh and the chances of dying in a car crash are around 1 in 5,000. So lets see 17.7 times more likely to be in a plane crash than win the Powerball Jackpot and 39,049.8 times more likely to die in an automobile accident than win the Powerball Jackpot. Well I know what your saying now - I don't ride planes or cars - well if you want a nature perspective the probability of being struck by lighting is 1 in 280,000 which is 697.3 times more likly than the Powerball Jackpot and if you compare that to Monopoly ($1M) you are 1,935.8 times morre likly to get fried.
So in conclusion - Good Luck
Trademarks not used with permission. Odds and payouts found at the following links.
On the Music Industry, Piracy and Copyright
by Chris Cunningham
Cleverpork Central is often a comedy site, but there are things that we believe strongly about and will bring to the forefront of conversation. Anything filed under "Serious" is not a joke, even if it seems counter to everything else on this site.
Recently I was reading an argument on Facebook between two people about music piracy. Interestingly the person advocating piracy was a musician and the one against it was not. Now, I'm not saying all musicians are for piracy, but I have noticed a trend that many musicians enjoy that their music being listened to more than having their music sold. In fact, I had read that musicians made more money while Napster was active because piracy actually encouraged activities that make artists money, like concert attendance.
...continue reading On the Music Industry, Piracy and Copyright
