Lido por aí #8

Pessoas que falam por falar, frase feita atrás de frase feita, sem pensar, porque não sabem ficar caladas, porque o som disfarça o vazio, porque não perguntam porquê, todos devíamos ter um grilo falante em cima do ombro a perguntar porquê, porque estás a fazer isso, porque estás a postar fotos em bikini no facebook, porque é que vais comprar isso, porque é que estás a apitar, porque é que continuas casado, porque é que não páras de comer, porquê, porquê, porquê. Vidas mais simples e mais fáceis, era o que era.

Da Febre dos Fenos

Lido por aí #7

E todos os dias nas margens da Europa dão à praia seres humanos que não têm a sorte dos golfinhos, o poder dos políticos, a oportunidade dos colonos ou o dinheiro dos investidores, só têm esperança e por ela morrem, às centenas, no mar mediterraneo da europa do século XXI. Seres humanos que provavelmente preferiam ser tratados como animais, daqueles que estão à beira da extinção.

Da Febre dos Fenos

Isto promete muito

Arcade Fire FTW!

(mas o que se passa com o Win e a sua dança... amaricada?!)

Isto promete

Ralph Fiennes FTW! (whatever that means)

Leituras interessantes #3

Animals in their Environment - Winner - The water bear - Paul Souders (USA)

The fact that most images of polar bears show them on land or ice says more about the practical difficulties faced by humans than it does about the bears’ behaviour. With adaptations such as thick blubber and nostrils that close, polar bears are, in fact, highly aquatic, and they spend most of their time hunting seals on sea ice and are capable of swimming for hours at a time.

Behaviour: Cold-Blooded Animals - Winner - Dive buddy - Luis Javier Sandoval (Mexico)

Great Expectations #2

“He was a prosperous old bachelor, and his open window looked into a prosperous little garden and orchard, and there was a prosperous iron safe let into the wall at the side of his fireplace, and I did not doubt that heaps of his prosperity were put away in it in bags.” 

― Charles Dickens

The amazing intelligence of elephants

Researchers have found that elephants understand pointing. It's more evidence of their intelligence, yet people still hunt them

Anna Calvi has an aura

Aura is an important but somewhat uncommon trait in singer-songwriters; that certain presence which some artists just have. It’s not really something you can learn or develop but it can be the difference between good and great. Anna Calvi has an aura.

Leituras interessantes #2

That 95% certainty means there is only a 5% chance that nature, or something else, aliens, God, the CIA, is changing the climate.

The Climate Sceptic Party

(...) As temperatures have declined and climate models have failed to predict this decline, the IPCC has gained confidence in catastrophic warming and dismisses the pause as unpredictable climate variability.

Judith Curry

Oceanic Cloud Decrease since 1987 Explains 1/3 of Ocean Heating

By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Oct 3, 2013

Numerous other prominent scientists — even many who have worked with the IPCC and accept some of its global-warming theories — have been equally critical. (...) “They are proclaiming increased confidence in their models as the discrepancies between their models and observations increase,” added Dr. Lindzen, who has published hundreds of scientific papers. 

The New American

JC conclusion

What a relief that the IPCC consensus has decreed with high confidence that solar variations won’t influence the 21st century climate. For a minute there, after reading the NRC Report, Svensmark and Vahrenholt, I thought us scientists might have more work to do to figure out how the Earth’s climate system works. - Judith Curry

Sound+Vision

No essencial, (Shinead) O'Connor vem dizer à sua assumida discípula que tem de saber evitar que o negócio da música a "transforme numa prostituta", apontando o equívoco central da sua pose: "NÃO se trata, de modo ALGUM, de um reforço do teu poder ou de qualquer outra jovem fazer passar a mensagem segundo a qual deves ser avaliada (inclusive por ti própria) mais pelo teu apelo sexual do que pelo teu óbvio talento."

  O'Connor + Cyrus (BBC)

Great Expectations, de Charles Dickens

I wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common, that he might be worthier of my society and less open to Estella's reproach. (...) Yet he would smoke his pipe at the Battery with a far more sagacious air then anywhere else - even with a learned air - as if he considered himself to be advancing immensely. Dear fellow, I hope he did.