Ultragrrrl: 01/01/2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

23 AND ME

My brother Lawrence participated in the 23andMe genetic profiling.

My world was rocked a little when I found out that my mom's side is genetically Scandinavian, Moroccan, and Spanish, while my dad's side is Russian, Polish, Pakistani, Indian, and Asian.

Check out these maps. The areas that are darkest are where my genetics most likely come from.

UPDATED: A message from Lawrence:

Not quite: First, the dark colors are where the population of R1a1a and H1o are larger percentages. It doesn't necessarily mean origin. Second, those are just the Y-chromosome and mtDNA, respectively. What's more important is what population we're closest to and, according to my DNA, I'm right at the nexus of Palestinians, Bedouins, and Druze. That location, of course, is Israel:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5136/5390526431_34f7914674_o.jpg

So, mazal tov! When archeologists find my bones 10,000 years from now, they'll know I'm an Israelite.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A SEAL SCREAMING LIKE A MAN

I nicked this from Ke$ha's site and was in tears. Maybe it's just been one of those days, but this shit is hilarious:

HAVE YOU SEEN?: ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD

The latest installment in the Zeitgeist The Movie series came out today.

You can download a high res Quicktime (with subtitles) here.

Or stream it via YouTube by clicking here.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

(image courtesy of http://senorgif.memebase.com)

It appears as though 2010 was among the most deadliest years caused by natural disasters.
"Some 373 natural disasters claimed the lives of more than 296,800 people last year, affecting nearly 208 million and costing nearly $110 billion, according to annual data compiled by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) of the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and supported by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the UN body charged with helping coordinate efforts to achieve substantive reduction in disaster losses and build resilient nations and communities."
The terror reigns in Mexico as the drug cartels continue to cause needless murders throughout the country. In Juarez, seven men were assassinated by Mexican drug dealers while playing soccer and appeared to hold not ties to the drug cartels in the northern part of the country.
Russian President Medvedev chastised the security and management team of the Domodedovo Airport in Russia after a suicide bombing caused the death of approximately 35 people.
The food industry will be introducing new labeling to let you know how much you should regret eating that cookie.
Indonesia is jumping onto the crop circle craze about 20 years too late. A crop circle was discovered. Authorities suspect human intervention. Duh.

Monday, January 24, 2011

STUPID CUTE FACES

If you can't get any work done today because you're too busy looking at their faces, you can blame @karenplusone.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

I'm back with news. I had my head in the sand for a bit... so all this is news for me!
Philippine rebels shot and killed 5 police officers including a chief. The ambush came a week after Philippine government and communist rebel negotiators agreed to restart talks on ending the 42-year rural-based insurgency that has killed some 120,000 people.
A Chinese pianist played an anti-American propaganda song at the White House.
This winter is looking really really really rough. Get those Northface jackets, or invest in the company, while you can.
A Seattle activist won a case against the TSA! Horay! In 2009, he was arrested for using a video camera in a public space and failing to show ID.
Cuba is getting broadband! I went to Cuba in 2008. The hotels had access to the internet, but not many other places did... AND you had to show ID in order to use the 'net. This is kind of a big deal.
More than 800 people in Rio de Janeiro have tragically died as a result of the flooding that was caused by torrential downpours in the region.
Sarkozy talks G20 agenda. Main objective: Curb commodity price volatility. He warns that the world risks food riots and weaker growth if leaders fail to act.
The Pope has bless social networking. Says virtual friends can't replace real ones and warns of parallel existence, depersonalisation, alienation.
I know that China has a bagillion more people than the United States, but it still seems odd that they'd out sell the US in sales of General Motors vehicles. They have. We lose.

HAVE YOU SEEN?: CAT'S EYES

A few years ago, in a life long ago, Stolen Transmission (my now defunct record label) signed The Horrors. I love The Horrors.

The singer, Faris Badwan, launched a new band (in addition to the horrors) called Cat's Eyes and filmed the video for the song "I Knew It Was Over," from their first gig which at the Vatican. NO BIG DEAL.

more info at gigwise. video below. thanks @karenplusone for the link:

Thursday, January 20, 2011

ASTROPHYISCS!!!!!

Last night, my friend Robin Monheit, I attended The Secret Science Club at the Bell House which featured the amazing Astrophysicist Charles Liu. Astrophysics is my favorite kind of physics after quantum and particle, but after watching the amazingly hilarious, informative, and delightful Charles Liu... i may have to rethink that. The place was PACKED. At least 300 people, standing room only, and quiet enough to hear a pin drop. The crowd was filled with the kind of people you might expect at like, a Warpaint show... not the type of folk you might expect at a science lecture. Are science lectures the new indie rock show? Fuck, i hope so.

There's video of the lecture below -- 1 minute segments because that's how my G1 works... but the video also includes me on stage singing a couple songs with Liu. Kind of surreal. I was as excited about that as I was when AndrewWK put me up on his shoulders during one of his shows in 2003.

Anyway, I asked people to submit #astrophysicspickuplines on twitter. Here are the entries (including my own):