[W]e ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow to the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? … A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.

– Franz Kafka in a letter to Oskar Pollak

Posted on Coredump - Work, play, and everything in-between, under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. Original article: QOTD: What books to read by Ian Dexter R Marquez
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Read more:

• Books I’m trying to read
• QOTD: Learning journalism
• Info revolution, delivered by camels
• Surprise finds
• Reading “The Brethren”

Julian Emmanuel turns three, originally uploaded by iandexter.

Happy birthday, Wild Mutt-Echo Echo-Power Ranger!

We love you.

– Kuya Gab, mom, and tatay

Posted on Coredump - Work, play, and everything in-between, under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. Original article: Julian Emmanuel turns three by Ian Dexter R Marquez
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Directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, I’m Here is a “robot love story celebrating a life enriched by creativity.”

The movie is set in contemporary L.A., where life moves at a seemingly regular pace with the exception of a certain amount of robot residents who live among the population. A male robot librarian lives a solitary and methodical life — devoid of creativity, joy and passion — until he meets an adventurous and free spirited female robot.

/via Slashfilm

Posted on Coredump - Work, play, and everything in-between, under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. Original article: Robot Sunday: Robot love by Ian Dexter R Marquez
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Read more:

• Robot Sunday: Stickers
• Robot Sunday
• Robot Sunday: Spare parts for power loaders
• Robot Sunday: Panic Attack!
• Robot Sunday: Better design

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There is a theory — a “unified” theory, in fact — that the universe is connected by “wave tubes”. (Imagine traveling to other galaxies through wormholes ala-Star Gate.) But I digress.

On a less grander scale, but still beautiful, here is the Milky Way, represented as a transit (tube) map.

Credit: Samuel Arbesman

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Speaking of tubes (what a segue…), ever wondered how the Internet is made? Wonder no more. Here is an Instructables how-to about making a replica of “The Internet”, as seen in the comedy hit, The IT Crowd. (Embedding is not allowed so here’s a link to the clip of that episode.)

Fun facts about the internet!

1. The internet is surprisingly small!
2. The internet is wireless!
3. The internet is very light! (Of course the internet doesn’t weigh anything!)
4. The internet lives at the top of Big Ben! (Where it gets the best reception.)
5. Before being borrowed, it MUST be demagnetised! Preferably by a Grand Master of The Internet such as Stephen Hawking.

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Something totally unrelated, but very cool nevertheless: an SF story about vampires, with a twist. (Here is the link to the MP3.) I should look for more of these.

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And here’s someone who loves typography: she bakes cookies shaped as Helvetica type. Lorem ipsum dolor sit yummy!

Credit: Beverly Hsu

Posted on Coredump - Work, play, and everything in-between, under a Creative Commons BY-NC license. Original article: Link dump: Tubes, vampires, cookies by Ian Dexter R Marquez
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Read more:

• Link dump: Shuttles, monsters and Apple(s)
• On PTB: Content delivery via internet shops