I'm Back

So, out of curiosity, can you tell which of the above is Alan "Cata-" Colmes? I'm not sure - I'm trying to keep in mind the "Superman effect" wherein Clark Kent becomes Superman merely by removing his glasses... At any rate, I've been working on a few projects to herald my triumphant return to blogging, but I just wanted to whet your appetite with a few of the amazing things I've been coming across lately. I just discovered stumbleupon.com which is a pretty sweet site that you may have heard of - it allows you to download a toolbar, set preferences and then click a button to be randomly fed websites that meet the criteria for things you are interested in. Here are a few of the many cool things I've come across in the last few days (posted in accordance to what a blog should be - that's right, I'm linking to material you can find not only in my own blog, but directly below this post):

Firstly, I've been feeling pretty stupid lately (which happens every day, but every couple of months I'll get honestly concerned that I'm getting dumber), so I've been trying to expand my mind a bit. Wired.com has told me exactly how to do that in this series of articles. Next, while it's not mathematically based (or "accurate" per se), this flash animation describing how one should visualize the (a) tenth dimension is a must-watch. It tends to meander a bit from the intended topic, but it's all interesting and good for mental gymnastics. Another flash animation (taken from this way cool collection of physics-related animations) will bend your mind with a great, intuitive explanation of the "Twin Paradox" - an example of the relativistic Doppler effect. I've heard this explained before, but the visuals really make this peculiar paradox easier to grasp. Also, Bill Nye the Science Guy has a sweet site.

On the lighter side, musicovery.com is a very cool site that lets you input your mood and then it selects and plays (entire) songs to suit your state of mind.

Lastly (for now), if you're into movie mistakes, here they all are and here's a funny site that condenses popular movies into a minute. Here's a sample:

The Sixth Sense

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Ultra-Condensed by Derek Richardson

---

Haley Joel Osment

I see dead people.

Bruce Willis

Try talking to them.

Haley Joel Osment

It worked.

THE END

The Top Gun one is pretty funny too, as are many of the others. Well, that's it for now; keep your eyes peeled in the next week or so as there will be some big changes around here. Or not.