Daily Quippages: 06.24.2009

• I like the headline: Can’t compete on dung? Try mating on apple pomace – via EurekAlert!
  June 25, 2009
  Via: EurekAlert! – Breaking News
  Kurt’s Notes: Excerpt: “In the mating world of yellow dung flies, large, males almost always get the girl. However, a new Syracuse University study suggests that smaller males rule if presented with an opportunity to woo females when they are not hanging out on cow dung.”

• Song from Pavement’s Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs new album due October 20 “Maltese Terrier” MP3 via Pitchfork

• Elvis Costello live on Conan/Tonight Show last night performing “Sulphur to Sugercane” – via YouTube.

• We are the robots – via Cosmos
  June 24, 2009
  Via: COSMOS magazine – Features
  Kurt’s Notes: Excerpt: “My own view is that things will unfold very differently. I do not claim that any specific assumption or extrapolation of theirs is faulty. Rather, I argue that an artificial intelligence could evolve in a much different way. In particular, I don’t think there is going to be one single sudden technological ‘big bang’ that springs an AGI into life. Starting with the mildly intelligent systems we have today, machines will become gradually more intelligent, generation-by-generation. The singularity will be a period, not an event.”

• Richard Marx (!) attacks RIAA after $1.92M Thomas verdict – via ArsTech
  June 24, 2009
  Via: Ars Technica – All Ars Technica Content
  Kurt’s Notes: Excerpt: “. . . Richard Marx this week has partially redeemed himself for the album’s [Paid Vacation] creation (and for the $11 I must have spent on it back in high school). Marx issued a strong statement against the “greedy actions of the major labels” after hearing about the $1.92 million Jammie Thomas-Rasset verdict.”

• Vatican’s Celestial Eye, Seeking Not Angels but Data
  June 24, 2009
  Via: American Scientist Online
  Kurt’s Notes: I thought the Catholic Church deserved equal time after my OTDIH video re their mistreatment of Galileo 300+ years ago. Can’t forget that they accept evolution, too!

• NASA Moon Impactor Successfully Completes Lunar Maneuver – via Science Daily
  June 24, 2009
  Via: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News
  Kurt’s Notes: Excerpt: “LCROSS and the Centaur separately will collide with the moon at approximately 7:30 a.m. EDT on Oct. 9, creating a pair of debris plumes that will be analyzed for the presence of water ice or water vapor, hydrocarbons and hydrated materials. The spacecraft and Centaur are targeted to impact the moon’s south pole near the Cabeus region. The exact target crater will be identified 30 days before impact, after considering information collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and observatories on Earth.”

• Dinosaur Jr announces fall tour – via NME
  June 24, 2009
  Via: NME.COM – News
  Kurt’s Notes: November 6 at Solana Beach’s Belly Up Tavern – great place.

• Rolling Stone Tour Tracker: Elvis Costello, Slipknot and Arctic Monkeys
  June 24, 2009
  Via: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily
  Kurt’s Notes: Elvis Costello in Austin on my birthday, September 1 – have to figure out a way to see that show!

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