May 23, 2011
The official blog of notorious former African dictator Mobutu Sese Seko
Et tu, Mr. Destructo? is a funny, insightful blog that covers everything from politics to film to sports and mystery novels.
Some of the men think they freak this like we do, but no they don't.
Hey Beyonce, Guess What? You're a Liar. (SLYT) Angry young video blogger (vlogger?) Nineteen Percent calls out Beyonce's Run the World (Girls) for shallow girl-power lyrics.
(via Feministing.)
Heading East
"Excuse me while I rock out to the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble and The Wangjaesan Light Music Band." The human face of communism. It's a Pyongyang thang.
The New Hotness
Only downsides I see are that the peppers are so small and the grueling stomach pain. The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T measures a record 1,463,700 Scoville Heat Units - about 7 times hotter than a habanero. (related)
"Americans maximize their... [happiness] by working, and Europeans maximize their [happiness] through leisure,"
Why America is the 'no vacation nation'. (CNN) -- Let's be blunt: If you like to take lots of vacation, the United States is not the place to work.
Bubbles and Public Facts
The Destruction of Economic Facts - "Renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto argues that the financial crisis wasn't just about finance—it was about a staggering lack of knowledge" (via) [more inside]
Wondeful Dog
A load of sys
Apple says app developers are covered under license, Lodsys' patent infringement claims are invalid Macworld has more.
I can't believe we had that in the budget
Microsoft Mathematics CAS
Microsoft Mathematics is a free Computer Algebra System (CAS) available from Microsoft. A CAS is a program that can solve purely symbolic mathematical equations. For example, the program can tell you that the derivative of 6x^2 + 12x is 12x + 12. The program has functions for calculus, statistics, linear algebra, and graphing. One interesting feature of the program is that in some cases it can show and describe the intermediate steps involved in solving an equation. Here’s a 16 page tutorial (in MS Word docx format) showing how to use the program. The program can be downloaded from the Microsoft download page. Thirty-two and sixty-four bit versions are available. The program only works on XP/Vista/Windows 7.
"Meticulous and ambitious"--Horace Rumpole.
Film on Paper documents in detail a personal collection of some 1500 movie posters from the UK, US, and Japan.
Grand Prix - the Killer Years.
Grand Prix - the Killer Years A BBC documentary on how rapidly evolving technology and an indifference to driver safety on the part of car designers and track owners caused ever-escalating casualties among the top-tier drivers of the '60s and '70s, and the efforts of the drivers to introduce modern safety standards and rules. The footage is in places exhilarating, capturing the beauty and the excitement of the sport at its best, and in others horrifying and tragic, the sport at its worst.
Brown v. Plata
Conditions in California’s overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, ordering the state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates. [more inside]
They Never Managed To Get Jean Giraud, Moebius, and Gir Together To Do One
Du Tac au Tac was a 1970s French television programme which brought cartoonists together to create improvised jam drawings based on specific themes, building upon one another's illustrations. Some highlights:
Neal Adams (Batman), Joe Kubert (Sgt. Rock), and Jean Giraud (Blueberry) open Pandora's Box and in another segment, create a bestiary and draw their favorite comic-book heroes.
Jean Giraud and Hugo Pratt (Corto Maltese) create a 3-panel strip using four onomatopoeia provided by Jean Claude Forest (Barbarella) and Jije (Spirou and Fantasio).
Goscinny and Uderzo (Asterix) play a game of equisite corpse with Greg (Achille Talon) and Davy (Olivier Rameau). [more inside]
Dude. MOVE ALREADY.
"Challenge: Create a game. The game can be of any theme or genre you desire, but there is one restriction: You're creating a 'new classic,' like Chess, Tag or card games. So, create a game to be enjoyed by generations of players for a thousand years. Prize: $1,000 to the winning entrant, to be announced and awarded January 1, 2012." Daniel Solis' Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge. [more inside]
Joseph Brooks
Joseph Brooks was a writer of commercial jingles in the 60's. He went on to write and direct the film You Light Up My Life in 1977; the film was a critical flop but a commercial success, and the title song went on to win an Oscar and become an adult contemporary standard. He later wrote the book and music for, and direct the stage musical In My Life (nyt), which flopped famously in 2005 amidst reactions of bewilderment. In 2009, he was indicted on charges(nyt) of luring at least 11 actresses across the country to his Manhattan apartment and raping them. He was found dead yesterday of a suicide while awaiting trial.
Obama's Car gets stuck pulling out of Dublin Embassy
While pulling out of the American Embassy in Dublin this morning, Barack Obama's bullet-proof, missile-proof, nuclear launch-code enabled limo got stuck on an overly steep concrete incline.
Iran and the West
While not being an outright example of a clash of civilizations in the Huntingtonian sense, elements of cultural misunderstanding and fears about the system-challenging tendencies of Iran do affect Western perceptions and influence Western behavior toward Iran. Furthermore, these kinds of reciprocal identity-based fears and projections of the other side’s presumed malevolent intentions tend to be mutually reinforcing. The risk is that they eventually become self-fulfilling prophecies.Iran and the West - Regional Interests and Global Controversies [PDF]. [more inside]
Themselves + Notwist = 13 & God
The details are hazy, but somewhere outside of Toronto in the winter of 2004, on a stretch of highway near the U.S. border, a computer onboard a large bus spontaneously combusted. Some point the finger at the driver, others blame a faulty battery. Whatever the cause, Themselves and the Notwist were stranded. Gigs were cancelled. Meals were skipped. Shady motels were booked in below-freezing weather. It was the fifth breakdown of the tour, and despite those frustrations, a minor language barrier and the unfamiliar terrain, a cross-continental brotherhood was forged. Seven years later, the megagroup 13 & God have two albums, a live CD and and an EP as proof of that fateful tour. Join Doseone for a track-by-track commentary of their new album, and listen to the album, streaming on Soundcloud.
“Cambridge is a city, not a highway!”
There is an inspiring mural on the back of the Micro Center building in Cambridge, MA. It commemorates the freeway revolt against the proposed I-695 Inner Belt. There are usually cars parked in front of it, but some have managed to get good photos.
Intelligence and imagination vs a light show for cattle
Deadly tornado hits Missouri
Joplin, Missouri was hit by a tornado on Sunday evening, leaving at least 89 people dead and an estimated 2,000 buildings destroyed, as much as 30 percent of the town.
Teeny tiny womb
A rare black lion tamarin at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust gave birth by c-section last month (via). The c-section was necessary because, though tamarins usually give birth to twins, this mother had only a single baby that was too big to deliver naturally (adult tamarins weigh about 600 grams). [more inside]
Wolgamot
"It's harder than you think to write a sentence that doesn't say anything." The quest to find and understand the author of In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women. "Includes full-length album (by Robert Ashley) and PDF of Wolgamot's magnum opus." (Via)
"Or don't you like to write letters. I do because it's such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something." ~Ernest Hemingway
An Open Letter to Writers of Open Letters: To those who feel compelled to address the world from Facebook, Twitter, and email chains, TEDDY WAYNE has a message: No one is listening, least of all Luther Vandross. [TheMorningNews.org]
Doctor Who, Cali style...
The Doctor Who theme, Adam Savage of Mythbusters, and tesla coils! (SLYT) ... just a part of this weekend's S.F. Bay Area Maker Faire.
Money for Nothing
In 2009, Jon Gosselin was offered $365,000 for interviews: how reality stars, celebrity parents and rehab workers make money selling gossip to celebrity websites and TV shows.
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