Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
Memphis, y’all! More importantly, the P&H!
You Look Like is a roasting competition between four comedians. They go head-to-head in two rounds of insults which must all start with “You look like…” The winning comic takes home the You Look Like crown and the losers must face the Mirror of Shame. Who will win this week’s roast battle?
UPDATED: What the hell, here’s another one. The second round is a keeper.
I really think Heath Ledger set the bar for this role. Joaquin looks like he might give him a run for the money though. Who’s in on this one?
The Grateful Dead’s Legacy of Awful Music
A good summary of the anti-Dead perspective.
On a personal note: back in the 80’s I found myself in a short, ill-advised relationship with a neo-hippie chick. Because I will listen to anything once, I allowed myself to be subjected to a fair cross-section of their live and studio recordings. What I heard was not one, but TWO drummers who couldn’t keep time (where else but in 60’s San Francisco could two such creatures be found?), a bass player who aimlessly noodles when he should be anchoring the song, meandering guitar solos (see article for a good description of those), silly-sounding harmonies, and songs that were either watered down country–country without the requisite redneck element–or jazz without the requisite improvisational talent. In short, to my ears, they couldn’t play, sing, or write. Other than that, great band.
And while it’s true that I was prejudiced because I hate jam bands, it’s also true that I at least respect ones who can play. I never liked the Allman Bros., but I’m forced to admit their musicianship was top-notch. Hell, Duane Allman even worked as a session guy in Muscle Shoals. I believe Jerry Garcia would have been laughed out of the room.
Google Duplex, coming to an iPhone near you.
Google Duplex is one of the more impressive products Google has shown off in recent years. Just ask the Google Assistant to make a restaurant reservation at a certain time, and it will do it. By “do it,” I mean it will make a phone call to a business, speak to the business on your behalf with one of the most human-sounding computer-generated voices ever made, negotiate a reservation time, and get back to you.
I can’t decide if I’m excited or terrified.
The first batch of Fest 18 (that’s the number, not the year) bands has been announced and it’s a doozey. Jawbreaker is headlining, which blows my mind, but the rest of the line-up looks pretty great as well (Mariachi El Bronx, Dag Nasty, Lee Bains III, etc. etc.). Almost makes living in Pigville worthwhile. Almost.
More at thefestfl.com
David Nutt, psychiatrist and director of the neuropsychopharmacology unit at Imperial College London, has been working on a safe alternative to booze since he discovered an alcohol antidote as a PhD student in 1983. From an article in The Guardian, here’s the cool science-nerd part …
What Nutt now knows is that there are 15 different Gaba receptor subtypes in multiple brain regions, “and alcohol is very promiscuous. It will bind to them all.” Without giving away his trade secrets, he says he has found which Gaba and other receptors can be stimulated to induce tipsiness without adverse effects. “We know where in the brain alcohol has its ‘good’ effects and ‘bad’ effects, and what particular receptors mediate that – Gaba, glutamate and other ones, such as serotonin and dopamine. The effects of alcohol are complicated but … you can target the parts of the brain you want to target.”
Handily, you can modify the way in which a molecule binds to a receptor to produce different effects. You can design a peak effect into it, so no matter how much Alcarelle you consume, you won’t get hammered. This is well-established science; in fact Nutt says a number of medicines, such as the smoking cessation drug varenicline (marketed as Champix), use a similar shut-off effect. You can create other effects, too, while still avoiding inebriation, so you could choose between a party drink or a business-lunch beverage.
Ultimately, the aim isn’t for Alcarelle to become a drinks company, but to supply companies in the drinks industry with the active ingredient, so that they can make and market their own products. You would expect that the alcohol industry would view Alcarelle as its nemesis, but Orren says that industry players “are approaching us as potential investing collaborators”. This doesn’t surprise Jonny Forsyth, a global drinks analyst at Mintel. “The industry is increasingly investing in alcohol alternatives,” he says. “We have seen a lot of investment in cannabis … They’re looking at nonalcoholic gins and soft drinks because they know people are drinking less [alcohol], and this is a trend that is going to carry on. If the science is right, and if it’s easy to mask the taste, I think it’s got a great chance.”
Full article here.
Yes, please.
THE DEAD DON’T DIE – the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane, Austin Butler, Luka Sabbat and Tom Waits. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. In Theaters June 14th.
Because I don’t feel especially creative today.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have better tasting coffee right in your own home or office? Well one of the most important steps you can take to get a better cup of coffee is to regularly clean your coffee maker every 40-80 brews. Here are the steps to follow to clean your manual or digital coffee maker so you can brew that next pot of delicious, hot coffee!
