Tyrese tweeted this msg yesterday: “Ladies and Gentleman proud to say we just closed our K-Town Deal!! Who and what is K-town?? I’m glad you asked standby..” So K-town is going to happen. Let the debauchery, histrionics and shamelessness begin!
The Huntsville a capella group Committed has won The Sing Off. Catch their performances here.
Steve Sailer put up a graph of how the 4 major US ethnic groups did on PISA compared to the rest of the world. Asian Americans outscore every nation, but are still behind the Shanghai kids.
Opera, both Beijing and classical European, is booming in China due in part to the “build it and they will come” mantra. I find the last paragraph particularly interesting: “They are all looking to China for the survival— the only hope for growth — for all classical music, frankly,” said Shirley Young, chairwoman of the US-China Cultural Institute. “The future of classical music is here.” It’s a little ironic that so few Westerners appreciate their own high culture anymore that it has to find a new home in the East to survive.
Razib summarizes a study on time preference across nations. It’s interesting to note that testing a four year-old with the marshmallow test can predict where the kid’s average SAT score will be with a 210 point difference between those who could wait and those who couldn’t. The difference is equivalent to the difference between rich and poor kids and greater than the difference between kids w/ grad school parents and those whose parents didn’t finish high school. There’s a cool graph which I’ve copy/pasted here. The college kids were asked if they’d prefer $3.4k now or $3.8k in a month. I don’t think the graph takes into account per capita income or social trust, but interesting nonetheless.
for any that remember macross plus, the main antagonist was an AI idol singer named sharon apple that used holography to project herself. the idol was so popular she would fill stadiums with fans during concerts. fact meets fiction with arrival of hatsune miku. she’s a real life holographic idol. if that makes any sense. only in japan.
this is the tech behind the projection. her voice is synthesized from voice samples of a real person who intoned phonetic japanese syllables. the syllables are then put together and pitched correctly to create words and songs. what’s a little odd is that the producers play it so straight with the concert. the character is very anime inspired, but doesn’t incorporate any fantastical elements that would be so simple to add.
lonely carrier rap song!
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
I woke up in the middle night
noticed a fleat beacon wasnt by my side
coulda swore I was dreamin, to be used i was feenin
So i had to take a little flight
looked back to the good ol years when us carriers was so feared
Tryna figure out what went so wrong
Guess it was the other units came along
Now i am so useless even in the bronze league
Huk is the only one who ever wants to use me
Even then i think he only does it for the laughs
cuz vikings come through, and kick my ass
Why does blizzard hate me, I just wanna be loved
why am i picked last, I just wanna be hugged
Terran get to use all their units
while im in the stargate gettin used to it
I wish tester loved me, I wish i was used by husky
Im the last unit ever seen, so im screamin somebody use me
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
I cant believe I had a player like you and I just let you walk out of my life
After what blizzard put me through, i got nobody by my side
What really hurt me was the Cheese you did
when you skipped by me and picked the mothership
I hope i get buffed so damn well
That ill be brought to the GSL
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
I flew around all the 2v2′s and up
but never really used well cuz they sucked
My interceptors feel like cupcakes throwin sprinkles in your face
Sad when you build a stargate for voidrays
I would feel like I am the best
to be viewed in a game by tasteless
Huk please bring me to the GSL
but until then, Well
