Things I Can See From Under the Snowpocalypse

I've spent the last four days barricaded inside my apartment as my city and state were slowly buried under enough snow to lightly blanket a small moon. I'm happy to report that I managed to avoid the most horrific horrors inherent in shitty Missouri weather (i.e. people who need help shoveling their driveways.) Now that I've freed myself (mostly) from my white, fluffy prison let us see what the Internet has to offer by way of amusement.

Research uses quantum mechanics to melt glass at absolute zero
If you put the word "quantum" in front of anything I usually reply with either, "Der, guh, brain hurty" or "Wow. Could I use that to blow shit up?" This article on physorg.com got both reactions at the same time.

First ever aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe released
Living in Media Saturation land, it's somehow comforting to know that we really haven't been everywhere and done it all. Unfortunately, these uncontacted Brazilian tribes are about to get done the same way "civilization" has been doing indigenous people since we showed up some five-hundred years ago as logging companies from the Peru side of the border are encroaching on their homelands. I recommend checking out the video as our first glimpse might be your last chance to see. Found via Hacker News

Of course, I have to include this because...well, obviously.


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Ohhhh!!!! While I'm here, has anyone seen Buried yet? No? You're in for a treat. Ryan Reynolds is trapped in a coffin, buried alive. That is the entire plot. Beautiful in its simplicity and terrifying in its execution. This could almost be described as the greatest 90 minute one man play ever, EVER, if not for the fact that the camera and voices on Reynold's cell phone act as characters in their own right. Here, have a trailer.


Which, for some reason the anti-piracy bastards won't allow me to embed here, so I'm just going to give you the link.

Stem cell transplant has cured HIV infection in 'Berlin patient', say doctors

That headline deserves it's own post.

Don't let this story get buried people! The medical industry has a lot more money to make by treating the disease rather than curing it. The religious fanatics in the anti-stem cell/anti-gay/anti-anything-that-pisses-them-off crowds will have their usual issues.

Between the money and the crazy in the world you're probably going to either not hear much about this story or you're going to hear that it was a fluke and there's no actual cure here.

I call horseshit on that in advance. I call horseshit on behalf of the millions of people who've died or become infected or widowed or orphaned as a result of this disease.

But if basic altruism isn't enough of a reason for you to shout this news from the rooftops and demand that your government renew its support of HIV\AIDS research, maybe you'll appreciate what Bill Hicks had to say on the subject.