“It’s all caviar and ballons until someone backhands a cop!”
The Cliche-o-Matic: Never be at a loss for banal words again!
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How Opium Can Save Afghanistan
Poppy For Medicine. “America’s drug war in Afghanistan has been a miserable failure. So why not legalize opium production and let Afghanistan become the Saudi Arabia of morphine?”
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Paper. Rock. Scissors.
In 1986, most gamers who were lucky enough to own a new video game system at home were playing the original Nintendo. It’s launch in 1985, a year before the Sega Master System was launched in the states, allowed it plenty of time become the most popular console in the market, and the game Super Mario Bros. quickly became the best-selling video game of all time (a title it continues to hold, having sold over 40 million copies to date). However, even though Nintendo commanded 95% of the North American video game market at the time and the CEO of Sega made little effort to promote and market it, some people still bought and gave the Sega Master System a chance. Perhaps it was the 3-D glasses or it’s unique ability to read multiple media inputs… or perhaps that the original version of the system had a secret game built right into it (and it was unbeatable!).
Although the system was an underdog, it underwent several redesigns and mascot changes, ranging from Alex Kidd to, finally, Sonic
in the end. When the system was redesigned around 1990, Sega finally
tried to market it aggressively, but it was too late. By 1992, sales
were nearly non-existent in North America (although it should be noted
the console was very popular in Europe and several other countries where Nintendo did not sell consoles). Which is all too bad, because there were many brilliant, brilliant games for the SMS.
For those of us lucky enough to have owned a SMS, we can delight in the
nostalgia brought about by the mere mention of games such as Zillion, Alex the Kid in Miracle World, Choplifter, Ys, After Burner, Altered Beast, Phantasy Star, Hang On/Safari Hunt, and Shinobi.
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Go Grease Your Friends.
Need a side of bacon on your web site? Everything is better with a little bacon added to it.
Keep up to date with what’s cooking at the Bacolicio.us blog.
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Games people play… for free
95 Old School Games You Can Play Online:
Every game is reviewed and rated. Includes a link to every game on the
list, a visual and mini description and how each one is played.
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For Those Looking for a Little “Board”om This Holiday Season
Play board games during the holidays? Try an updated version of an old classic.
You can indulge in as much sex, drugs, crime, and rock and roll as your
health will handle, just don’t roll a 1 on your first turn or you’ll be
aborted before you get started.
Or, if you are looking for something a little more fresh and less “serious gamish” why not try the new religious parody game in which you can play a chain gun wielding, cross toting Jesus? Other board games designed around (possibly exploitative) socio-cultural satire, like Ghettopoly and Redneckopoly, have provoked strong reactions.
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The Great Cornholio’s more literate sibling
The Caffeine Examiner will review any product containing caffeine. For example: chewing gum, sprays, energy drinks, soft drinks, hard drinks, perplexingly hard drinks, patches…?
The sidebar on the right points to reviews of more caffeinated products
than I had ever dreamed existed. Products are also rated by taste,
packaging, nutrition/buzz, and website functionality.
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How Cats Are Able to Land on All Four Feet
Cats have a seemingly unique ability, a ‘righting reflex’, to orient
themselves in a fall allowing them to avoid many injuries and land on
all four feet. It is this ability that helps cats to parachute safely into Borneo and survive falls from the 38th floor of a skyscraper (although falls from lower levels can be more serious given that it takes some time for the cat to right itself). Here’s how it works. Here’s a video of the reflex in action.
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An Eye for an Eye: Justice or Injustice, Poetic or Barbaric?
Four years ago, a spurned suitor poured a bucket of
sulfuric acid over [Ameneh Bahrami’s] head, leaving her blind and
disfigured. Late last month, an Iranian court ordered that five drops
of the same chemical be placed in each of her attacker’s eyes, acceding
to Bahrami’s demand that he be punished according to a principle in
Islamic jurisprudence that allows a victim to seek retribution for a
crime. The sentence has not yet been carried out.
If you’re not familiar with acid attacks against women, you can start with Wikipedia.
Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims
(usually at their faces), burning them, damaging skin tissue, often
exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The consequences of these
attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body.
These attacks are common in Cambodia, Afganistan, India, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and other Asian countries.
Acid attacks are being used in Afghanistan against women and girls to as part of an effort to oppress them. Specifically, girls who attend school are being targeted to prevent them from getting an education.
In India, Haseena Hussain, the victim of an acid attack, now works with the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAAW).
In Pakistan, a cosmetics company is trying to help women who are the victims of arson and acid attacks.
Nicholas Kristof wrote an article about acid attacks last month, “Terrorism That’s Personal” which discusses a Pakistani organization, the Progressive Women’s Association:
Fighting Against the Horror of Violence Against Women working to stop
this sort of violence and an effort being made by the US Congress to
pass the International Violence Against Women Act.
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That’s Sir Pratchett to You.
Terry Pratchett , a man renowned for his staggering sales figures from his renowned Discworld series has been knighted.
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Did You Try Rebooting?
A single serving site that should be the one link IT help desk you offer to Luddite friends, family and peers when they come to you with computer related problems.
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Scouting NY
I work as a film location scout in New York City.
My day is basically spent combing the streets for interesting and
unique locations for feature films. In my travels, I often stumble
across some pretty incredible sights, most of which are ignored every
day by thousands of New Yorkers in too much of a rush to pay attention.
As it happens, it’s my job to pay attention, and I’ve started this blog
to keep a record of what I see.
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Namaste! Welcome to my kitchen!
Never had an Indian mom? You poor, deprived wretch! Meet Manjula.
She’ll be happy to teach you to make Naan, Rotis, Pani Puri, Vegetable Pakoras, Paneer, Raita, Navattran Korma, Palak Paneer, Pulav, Malai Kofta, Aloo Gobi, Chana Masala, Hari Chutney, Ras Malai, Gajar ka Halwa and much more! I can… almost… smell her kitchen. *sigh*
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Swimming pools, movie stars. Cha-ching!
“The multi-million dollar casino will feature unique applications of The Beverly Hillbillies theme. Granny’s Shot Gun Weddin’ Chapel, Jethro’s All-You-Ken-Et Buffet, the Cement Pond, Granny’s White Lightnin’ Bar complete with rain & lightning [“The waitresses are dressed like Elly May but padded like Dolly Parton”], Elly May’s Buns (Bakery) [Link possibly NSFW], gourmet meals from Drysdales’ Fancy Eatin’ Fo Da Richins, Granny’s Vittles & Hog Jowls Coffee Shop, and an oil derrick are just a few of the many attractions … a project of Las Vegas standards will be created!”
Max Baer, Jr. —
that’s Jethro to you — “has the rights from CBS to use The Beverly
Hillbillies theme for casinos, hotels, theme parks, restaurants, cosmetics and consumables.” And by god, he’s going to exercise that right.
Good news: The final hurdle for the casino has been overcome. Over the
objections of the church across the street, County Commissioners gave
the go-ahead yesterday for the 9-story oil derrick that will serve as the casino’s welcome beacon. (Sadly, the original plans for a 200-foot-tall derrick were quashed.)
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What exactly is a ‘rainbow connection’? And is it as fast as fiber?
“Some day we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me.”
In 1979, Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher composed “The Rainbow Connection” [midi] which served as a radio hit and song for the The Muppet Movie. It was nominated for an Academy Award and reviewed
in the allmusic guide as a song in which “Kermit the Frog sings with
all the dreamy wistfulness of a short green Judy Garland.” Enclosed are
some performances of it I hope you enjoy.
Kermit the Frog – Original Movie
Debbie Harry on the Muppet Show
The Dixie Chicks
Willie Nelson
Jason Mraz
Sarah McLachlan
Kenny Loggins
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Dresden Dolls – Live
Jamie Leonhart
John Michael Higgins in an acapella version
Heartland Men’s Chorus
I tried to cross a span here, but if I had to pick favorites you might
be surprised with what Jamie Leonhart and Kenneth Ascher later did
(with the cast of The Break-Up — John Micahel Higgins et al)
Oh, and my favorite
version – an on-the-prowl Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) singing it, in a sexy
high falsetto voice, accompanied by the banjo, in pig latin.
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Some traditional Jewish holiday music
Almost no traditional Christmas carols were written by Jews (though there have been rumors). But sometimes it seems like almost all the best 20th century Christmas songs were. Many people are dimly aware of this, but few know its full extent. I have compiled a list, with representative performances.
Wikipedia’s (ASCAP) list
of the top 25 most-performed holiday songs is loaded with Jewish
Christmas songs. The list of Jewish-written songs in the top 25 follows
(I may be missing some); links to YT performances:
1. The Christmas Song (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) – Mel Torme, Robert Wells
5. White Christmas – Irving Berlin
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne
7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Johnny Marks (also responsible for many second-tier Christmas songs)
9. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Walter Kent, Kim Gannon, Buck Ram (at least two are Jewish)
11. Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish (one Jew)
13. Silver Bells – Jay Livingston, Ray Evans
14. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Johnny Marks
18. A Holly Jolly Christmas – Johnny Marks
22. (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays – Bob Allen, Al Stillman (at least one Jew)
24. Santa Baby – Joan Ellen Javits, Philip Springer, Tony Springer (at least one Jew)
And here is a similar list (with slightly different rules for inclusion) that I had the misfortune of discovering after I did all the research for my own. It has brief discussions of the Jewishness of the various writers.
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Classic Animation Remixed
While Adult Swim is generally regarded as the pioneer of irreverent short-form animation — especially for ‘toons that reimagine past hits — it wasn’t always the king. In fact, the late-night programming block arguably found its birth in a series of short toons and interstitials
that ran in the heyday of its daytime alter ego, the venerable Cartoon
Network. The brainchild of C.N. Creative Director Michael Ouweleen and
Hanna-Barbera chief Fred Seibert, these cartoons reinterpreted the
network’s properties through stock footage, indie music, and original
animation in a wide variety of styles, as well as introducing
prototypes of characters that would become some of the most famous in
the history of American animation.
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Text-to-Movie(tm)
If you can type, you can make movies.
A website that allows users to create animated movies using
text-to-speech scripts and a surprisingly versatile selection of
characters, voices, actions, camera shots, etc.
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STOOPID %*@&ING COMPUTER!
Shouting in a datacenter – increased disk latency caused by shouting: Yelling at your computer* may cause an increase in disk latency and a decrease in performance.
*Hitting, slapping, punching and otherwise Fonzi-ing your computer should be considered equally harmfull. Unless, of course, you’re trying the old trick of unplugging everying and dropping the chassis on the ground for the purposes of reseating socketed chips.
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Free Online Comic Books for All!
Fans of both Dead Space (and comic books in general), will be
happy to learn that the first issue of the new comic book mini-series
based on the game has been released online, in full, for free here. Not a fan of Dead Space but like comic books? There are lots of other comic books online that can be viewed for free, like stuff from DC Comics, Marvel and Image. There’s also a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who comics online for your viewing pleasure (in fact you can even make your own with the latter).
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He likes to be called Hef.
So one of your resolutions was about your lifelong dream of getting into Playboy? Here’s an article
that has all the details you don’t normally hear about.
“Hef is like any normal hot-blooded American who likes pretty ladies:
He took a wife or two, has four kids, and lives in a Tudor-style
mansion with luscious lawns and a personal zoo. Sounds like any old
family man, right?”
Here’s a How-To:
1. Be a Busty Blonde
2. Be Legal (Barely)
3 – 7. Nudity and Sex! (Lots of Sex)
8. Keep to the Right (If Your Name Is Kendra)
9 & 10. ??? (and Sex)
11. Profit!!! (Playboy.com link, otherwise OK)
Or if you have your sights set higher it appears there’s an opening, or two, in the harem!
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AstroPic of the Day
The site the video came from, The Sky in Motion, is pretty damn sweet.
RobDurdle.com 
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