Links posted in November 2007
November 29, 2007
Apparently the El Paso office of the US Marshals are taking a page from the Springfield police force. [more inside]
Apparently our favorite irrigation fluid is about to become an actual product. If you don't like to drink it, FUCK YOU!
November 28, 2007
Isn't it strange that the supposedly überleftist Times neglects to mention, anywhere in this article anything regarding what must be a huge gap between rich and poor in a country where the average person makes $12,000 a year?
“You see, in Moscow, everyone can feel himself a millionaire,” Mr. Karryev said.
Indeed. And I do realize that coverage of poverty here is hardly better, but this article struck me as particularly strange--EVERYONE'S A MILLIONAIRE!!
If you've been checking in on the Writers' Strike, you may have the same question I did: Where does the unionista in a hurry find someone to handle her giant-inflatable-Corporate-Greed-pig-balloon needs? In the City That Works, natch: Chicago-based Big Sky Balloons has a whole menu of Union Balloons (dig the URL), including "Scabby The Rat" and a Giant Cockroach.
November 27, 2007
Desert Bus for Hope! Remember Desert Bus? Drive from Tucson to Vegas in real time (8hrs): 1 point. Drive back (8hrs): 1 point. These guys have been at it for almost 4 days and have raised over $14k for charity. [more inside]
November 24, 2007
November 22, 2007
Happy Linksgiving! It's the time of the year to give thanks. And to clean off your desktop of links. Like Mark Twain's passenjare, I pass them along to be rid of them:
- Gitmo SOP -- Standard Operating Procedures at Guantanamo Bay prison. While the DoD has been insisting it stay secret, and the ACLU has been trying to get it released, the document has leaked itself. [thx Schneier]
- Design Challenge: fit a calendar comfortably within a business card, with type my mom can read - this collection of solutions is amazing, though this one seems the most straightforward. [thx kottke]
- How much copyright infringement liability do you accrue each day? (In the neighborhood of $12 million per day, as it turns out.) Also: Good Copy Bad Copy - interesting-looking documentary on copyright.
- Household spending on food at home has decreased from 20% in 1929 to 9% in 1980 to 5.8% today. Meanwhile, the non-marketing fraction of all food expenditures (i.e. the cost as it leaves the farm) has fallen from 41% in 1950 to 20% today -- 80% of our food budget is just for getting it from farm to fridge. The combined effect is that the fraction of household income headed to farmers has dropped from 8% (1950) to 1.9% (2004). This comes almost entirely from enormous productivity gains by the ag industry... Since per-capita demand is relatively inelastic (not totally inelastic: note the growth in marketing expenditures and food-away-from-home), this has paradoxically shrunk the ag industry in GDP terms while it provides markedly better food at a fraction of the cost.
- Alert Scooter: Baseball Pitches, Illustrated (ooh, pretty).
- Kitlers! (Cats that look like НᎥtlеr). By Godwins Law I'm now done posting.
November 21, 2007
Ever wonder what it's like to sleep with a senator? Well, how about an asshole conservative republican senator that hates his own sexual orientation? Then, the above link is for you (warning: not for those uncomfortable with graphic sexual detail). Additionally, the guy was in trouble with Virgina for his awesone licence plate. Well, he gets to keep it. So, yay for creative expression of sexuality. Particularly when it embarrasses jerks.
Obama gets it - I continue to be impressed by his campaign. Too bad none of us get to choose.
November 20, 2007
Turning a (self-intersecting) Basketball Inside out Even if you don't have time or interest for the full thing, the twenty seconds from 1:20 to 1:40 will evert your mind. By the end of the video, you'll be reminded that girls are smarter than guys, nail down some important topology concepts, and receive your contractually obligated dose of wacky mathematics humor. [more inside]
November 19, 2007
Everyone's favorite conservative who has recently been shaking up the Republican primary race has a hell of an innovative ad. I wish the dems could pull something like this off. I can't remember the last time I giggled at a political ad. Even this series by Bill Richardson didn't impress me that much, though they are at least watchable.
Finding love in the dungeon BTW - Current male-to-female ratio on WoW is 6:1.
November 15, 2007
A compendium of what is allowable on everyone's favorite news site.
The sheer number of these shirts made me doubt my physics knowledge!
- Just a poll. Have any of you ever heard anything about CO2 sequestration? What it is, how it is done, anything?
B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Sorry, no other witty ways to describe this came to mind.
November 14, 2007
HEB gives away free re-usable grocery bags So if you have a ton of pesky plastic bags sitting around, tomorrow is your chance to do something useful with them.
Ze on Strike, pt 2 I think our long national nightmare needs its own thread. For your convenience, some links scattered across the comments: Ausiello does the hard math to tell you How long before your TV shows go dark; Ze thinks again so you don't have to pt. 1. [more inside]
November 13, 2007
How to Paper Mache by Rob Cockerham. (Consider this an invitation for the crafties to linkdump.) [Ed: Fixed a glaring oversight in the list of crafties]
Seamheads by the Dashboard Light - a story of Love, Meatloaf and Sabermetrics, featuring guest appearances by Phil Rizzuto and Oddibe "Young Again" McDowell.
November 11, 2007
Moskau with subtitles - in which the pantheon-level Dschengis Khan hit "Moskau" is given the scholarly translation it deserves. We've linked to similar translations before, but apparently this is blowing up the meme-o-nets now that someone realized he could use youtube for this... Language Log breaks it down for you and supplies a wealth of historical links.
November 10, 2007
November 09, 2007
Dear [Judge Edward Redd]... We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in [a Roxbury jail] for whatever it was that we did wrong. [In this case: going on a drunken rampage after the Sox clinched the ALCS]. What we did WAS wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us -- in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a art student, a radical, a recidivist, a college boy and a criminal. Does that answer your question?
24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot - Wow, 24 would have been a much lamer show before cell phones, call waiting, and the Internet.
Illustrated Spaceship Dimensions, from AT-ST Walker to Ringworld.
November 08, 2007
Booty tosses 2 TDs in Trojans' romp against Beavers - you know the headline author isn't buying drinks at the next newsroom happy hour. [more inside]
November 07, 2007
Your monitor looks a little dirty. Here, lemme get that... Ah, much better. If you need ongoing maintenance and don't mind being marketed at, you can find regular maintenance solutions (for mac and pc) here.
November 05, 2007
Opening soon in Austin is a franchise of TechShop. Pay your monthly fee, take a few training courses, and get access to sweet laser cutting, injection molding, plasma cutting and other construction tools.
So, a week ago, do you remember the protests in Myanmar, and Bush's strong reaction against them?
Well, now we've got a whole new crisis against self rule in the region. Pakistan is currently ruled by a military dictator, Pervez Musharraf (seen here and here on the Daily show) who seized power in the wake of various corruption scandals in the country and the declared nuclear tests of the late 90s. He has been under increasing domestic pressure to moderate and perhaps step down, culminating in a conflict with the Pakistani supreme court over the constitutionality of him remaining both head of the military and civilian governments.
more inside [more inside]
November 04, 2007
Self-Righteousness + Word Rage + Blackmarket Electronics == Cell Phone Jammer. Is this you? DIY Plans here and here (first one much better). One might integrate the TV-B-Gone (DIY) for full cyberluddite power. There's also reports of hotels jamming cell service (and assumedly wifi) to force use of their high-margin copper service.
November 02, 2007
Choose Your Own Adventure: The Alex Rodriguez Saga - obviously a far-fetched work of fiction but hey, whatyougonnado.
By the way, a pair of good articles that show the other side of Boras. Not the hug-a-puppy side -- there isn't one -- but the if-you-were-an-athlete-you'd-sign-with-him side. (The 99.44% of other articles, about how he's ruining Baseball, Western Civilization and Christmas, are easy to find.) [more inside]
November 01, 2007
One out of Eight Americans Agree: Colbert for President. As the wikiality of the situation starts to hit home (and questions about federal campaign laws), the Democratic Party shows the superb instincts that have led them from triumph to triumph this last decade. Remember: "Nothing says 'I am ashamed of you, my government' more than 'Stewart/Colbert '08'".
Human Tetris from Japan - the best thing since matrix ping-pong.