October 12, 2012
StubHub Data
Baseball or Football? How Your Sports Choices ... Reveal your Politics. StubHub crunched their ticket data and found that baseball states tend to vote blue and football states tend to vote red. [via PostRoad's very excellent linkblog (nsfw)]
Cat + Dog = Fox
Just four minutes of a domesticated fox being aggressively cute. (SLYT)
No, it does not turn me on. Stop.
The hedgehog does not mate for life; it mates for death.
True facts about hedgehogs.
Sic transit gloria Zanta
Zanta (previously, previously) was a fixture of the streets of Toronto for several years. Zanta (b. David Zancai) was a muscular, shirtless man in a Santa hat who entertained passersby for years and he was the subject of a 2007 graphic novel and a documentary film. His absence the last few years had been noticed and commented on. Zanta (or someone pretending to be him) launched a Twitter-based mayoral campaign in 2009 but he had been quiet since then.
The Toronto Star reveals today that Zancai is alive, living with his mother and being medicated for his schizophrenia.
Adventures in celebrity charity.
“If I had depended on Yéle,” said Diaoly Estimé, whose orphanage features a wall painting of Mr. Jean and his wife, “these kids would all be dead by now.” (SLNYT)
Great song, soul scarring music video
Genesis and Destruction
"You ended up losing your family over this?” “I did.” Genesis Associates was an Exton, PA-based counseling practice which crashed and burned in the late 90's, leaving a long, scorchingly-painful trail of destruction in their wake. Founded by Pat Mansmann and Pat Neuhausel, Genesis employed the then-controversial, now-largely-discredited recovered memory therapy. Genesis also urged patients to "detach" (cut off contact) from their alleged abusers, as well as any individuals to whom they had become "addicted" - including their own children. In a long, harshly critical article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a former patient is quoted as saying, "They had me brainwashed ... they get you so worn out, so confused, you can't think straight." A patient estranged from her children wrote, “The Genesis therapists were not only out to implant memories - they were out to destroy families and lives.” (“Betrayed” by Carol Diament; 3/4 of the way down this page). The group's use of detachment and "rage therapy" were also prominently featured in the Frontline special "Divided Memories". Genesis was sued by dozens of former patients (1,2,3); at least nine cases were settled out of court. In 1999, Mansmann and Neuhausel surrendered their licenses to practice in Pennsylvania. Unlike their patients', Mansmann and Neuhausel's relationship has remained tight... they're partners in an entity named "WIC Enterprises", they co-own property in Key West (manual search here) and, as of 2008, they were both members of the "National Center for Crisis Management". Their attorney has since been disbarred. The book they co-authored is still available used on Amazon.
What happens if the polar bears actually drank cola
The Real Bears What bears drinking soda would look like.
Rand Paul, who fills the role of Enkimdu,
"In the Sumerian religions, once one dies and enters the underworld, one cannot leave without finding another to take their place. Ron Paul leads an ideology that calls for a retrieval of the past. The only way to bring the past and its people back is an immense sacrifice, 350,000,000. Ron Paul’s followers are willing and grateful to be sacrificed, not only because they love him and believe in him, but because they know, that like the sun and wind god Nergal in the Sumerian religion, who entered the underworld and seduced Ereshkigal, he will enter the underworld and bring all of his loyal followers back to life, eternally. " Ron Paul Funeral City (Slightly NSFW, SL-TMBLR). [more inside]
Mittenless man discovers hidden talent
Farmer plays a song with ‘hand-farts’ (1933). (SLvideo / SFW)
The Buck Stops Here
The American Presidency Project is a comprehensive archive of more than 100,000 documents related to the study of the United States' Commander-in-Chief, including transcripts of debates, public papers, state of the union addresses, White House Press Briefings, party platforms and election returns, as well as audio and video recordings. [more inside]
The greatest event in television history!
This is the Greatest Event in Television History (SLYT). Jon Hamm, Adam Scott, and Paul Rudd re-create the opening credits to "Simon and Simon." Jeff Probst gives it a proper dramatic (and hilarious) introduction.
RIP, Prince of Sealand
In his 45th year on the throne, Prince Roy Bates has passed away at the age of 91. The seeds of his nation were planted with the establishment of pirate station Radio Essex aboard the Knock John Tower offshore platform. Legal troubles forced Bates to move his operations further into international waters, claiming Roughs Tower for himself, and establishing the micronation of Sealand. He is survived by his wife and children, including his son, Prince Michael Bates, who has been acting ruler the nation of Sealand since the 1990s.
"...everything can go ‘Bonk!’"
“I’m trying to design the game so you don’t have to know programming but you can share the code,” says Notch. “If you have a friend who’s made this really awesome docking algorithm, you can put that on a floppy disk within the game and put that into your computer.”Mojang (of Minecraft fame) have released details and footage about their upcoming game 0x10c. [more inside]
Heaven is Real: A Doctor's Experience of the Afterlife
Heaven is Real: A Doctor's Experience of the Afterlife. As a neurosurgeon, I did not believe in the phenomenon of near-death experiences...In the fall of 2008, however, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death.
House of Music
In 1983 House of Music, the Italo disco label managed by and featuring Carlo Favilli & Stefano Zito released arguably one of the best 12"s of the genre: B.W.H. - Livin 'Up / Stop. Both tracks, Stop (Music Video of Helene, the actual track singer and wife of Stefano Zitto) and Livin' Up, had their importance cemented in 1999's Mixed up in the Hague Volume 1 & Volume 2[mp3] Italo mix compiled by I-f aka DJ Ferenc/Interr-Ference
Happy Friday, watch this right meow
What if your action movie starred feline thespians instead of Colin Ferrel, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Tom Waits, and Christopher Walken? You'd get Seven PsychoCats. SLYT, NSFW
"I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother."
The Mom Stays in the Picture - When Allison Tate wrote about how "Too much of a mama's life goes undocumented and unseen... I'm everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them", it resonated with many other women. "To read through the notes that came with the thousand-plus photos (and yes, we have read every single one) was to read the minds of today's mothers. Over and over you told us that you don't look the way you want to look, don't look the way you once did. Even when joining a movement created around the motto 'I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother,' you felt the need to apologize." (via middleclasstool's other half)
Ultimate Glory: A Frisbee Memoir
"It’s the feeling I remember from that glorious fall, a feeling I have never felt since and am quite sure I’ll never feel again. I was full of sap and muscular and strong, and, of course, quite deluded. A young Icarus with enough literary training to be pretty sure of where all this was heading. It was hubris plain and simple, but one thing they don’t tell you about hubris is how good it feels. In fact in some ways, though I now know what it will lead to, I still think of that fall as the high tide of my twenties. In some ways I still think of it as the high tide of my life. Though a happier and better man now, I still miss that time and if there were a way, if granted a wish, I can’t pretend I wouldn’t run right back and crawl inside that lunatic’s skin." Ultimate Glory: A Frisbee Memoir by David Gessner. [more inside]
Like my new shoes?
"Humans are playing God by physically and metaphorically perfecting themselves." Do these shoes "inflict a new beauty standard"?
Is One Of The Names In Rodgers' Envelopes 'Duncan Jenkins'?
Duncan Jenkins, Oldham fan and perspiring football journo, is not real. Slam Dunc overcame his fictional status to get thousands of followers on Twitter and even impact the real world by costing Liverpool FC hundreds of thousands of pounds when the made up journo posted some made up inside information that just happened to be true. Jen Chang, Liverpool's Director of Communications, was not happy and upon finding the real person, a Liverpool fan, behind the account, threatened him with revealing his identity which would lead to the destruction of his parents' business and the smearing of his name by the press. Oh, and a lifetime ban from Anfield, Liverpool's home stadium. [more inside]
Argo and the Canadian Caper
Today marks the release of the film Argo, about the effort to smuggle out six Americans from Iran after the fall of the shah. The film is based on the actual events of the Canadian Caper, during which the Canadian embassy and staff in Iran sheltered the six Americans and, in cooperation with the CIA, provided Canadian identities and passports for the six. They were then smuggled out under the ruse of being part of the film crew for a science fiction film based on Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. [more inside]
Enter the Freeman
PS
The BBC have released a narrated storyboard of an unfilmed Doctor Who scene that would have been a postscript to 'Angels In Manhattan' (SLYT)
In the Clizzoud
Microsoft is pushing hard to win adoption and support for Windows Azure Cloud services. How hard? Nerdcore hard.
When you think "cloud", do you think rap? Someone at Microsoft does, apparently.
As true today as it's ever been
R I D N O U
"From Washington, D.C.: The Nation of Ulysses"
"Brothers and Sisters, what are your real desires?" 9:30 Club 1991, Part 2
"That's how you do this song, loose baby. Okay, 1 2 3 4" Live at Peace Center 1992, Part 2
Live at Jabberjaw
"Brothers and Sisters, what are your real desires?" 9:30 Club 1991, Part 2
"That's how you do this song, loose baby. Okay, 1 2 3 4" Live at Peace Center 1992, Part 2
Live at Jabberjaw
Here's looking at you, kid
Softball-sized eyeball washes up on Florida beach (SLN) Single Link Nightmare
Animal Halloween Costumes
Jill Harness from Neatorama curates a collection of photos of Over 40 Fantastic Animal Halloween Costumes. [more inside]
Erebus and Fury
Bomb vessels were heavily-fortified sailing ships designed to carry explosive shells. The Hecla Class of bomb vessels lived particularly interesting lives. [more inside]
No Prize Awarded
" the false equivalence between experts and non-experts"
A Family That Will Accept You No Matter What
"I'm a 41 year old mom of two teenage boys. My oldest is gay and has the full support of both of his parents and his brother. If your family won't accept you, in honor of the day, I will be happy to virtually adopt you if you want to come out to a family that will accept you no matter what. "
The weirdest thing you will hear today.
"So a friend of mine pitched down the sound of a baby crying" - Probably the weirdest sound you will hear today. [Link is SFW. Rest of site NSFW.] [more inside]
Nothing is black and white here
[There] is a glaring contradiction in the fact that Gunung Kemukus, a mass ritual of adultery and sex, is going on in the middle of Java, the demographic heart of the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Of course, the ritual isn’t Islam as most would recognise it. Instead, it’s emblematic of Indonesia’s – and especially Java’s – syncretic mix of Islam with earlier Hindu, Buddhist and animist beliefs. But what is truly surprising is that even while Indonesia undergoes a steady shift towards more orthodox Islam, the ritual on Gunung Kemukus is exploding in popularity. It’s a quintessentially Indonesian contradiction.
To the heavens and hell
If I Fly a UAV Over My Neighbor's House, Is It Trespassing? "The wide availability of UAV technology (combined with HD video) scrambles my sense of what is right. Specifically, it points out how much of our sense of privacy is intimately connected up with our expectations of our property rights. Drones - as flying, seeing objects - scramble our 2D sense of property boundaries, and along the way, make privacy much more complicated." [more inside]
« Previous day | Next day »