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.
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I’ve got to admit it’s getting better.
Brad Pitt is no spring chicken, but it still took some work to put an 85-year-old version of his face on a child’s body in his newest movie. The first step: a new markerless, wireless, uncanny-valley-clearing motion capture process, termed “volumetric cinematography” by the effects studio.
And that’s only the beginning of the magic routine a single movie can go through: a story spaning ninety years might pull out CGI, old-fashioned matte painting, “youthening”, and more.
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History of War and Peace Collection
Peace and War in the 20th Century
is an ambitious, in progress, massive assemblage of posters,
photographs, propaganda, ephemera, letters, diaries, paintings,
sketches, stories, letters, music and related items, from McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario. The collection is international in
scope. Some of the nodes lack content, and the navigation is a little
confusing, so the jump I list some of my favorite case studies from
their site.
Note: Many of the images are reasonable resolution if you right
click and open in a new tab rather than only view in the pop-forward
window. Also scroll down for thumbnails of additional material. The advanced search option is very useful as it includes a detailed site map.
Representing War: Posters, Art and Music. Many of the posters are unusual and new to me, such as ‘Save Waste Bones – They Make Glue for Aircraft‘, ‘Boys, Come Along, You’re Wanted‘, and this beautiful poster of the Earth and Doves.
Concentration Camp correspondence
Sir Norman Angell: a lifelong proponent of peace (many images of his pamphlets and posters)
The Spanish Civil War: Foreign Intervention, American Reaction. Includes evocative pamphlets, leaflets, and posters.
Waging War
London prepares for World War II: a great selection of instructional and civil defence materials such as posters and memos.
Britain prepares for World War I: some diary pages of Adrian Duff.
William Frank Kenwood, Canadian Pilot and Prisoner of War, including newspaper clippings, a letter from the Red Cross, telegrams, etc.
Vera Brittain’s diaries and pamphlets
Canadian Women’s Roles in World War I: anything new in war work?
Mapping and Photographing World War I: interesting instructional materials, etc.
The Nuclear Disarmament Movement, which includes a great collection of very striking posters and leaflets.
Evolving Technology in World War I, which includes numerous artistic visions of machine guns, tanks, etc.
War Resisters, including pamphlets.
World War 1 in the Middle East
I like this typed report of a raid.
I also like this leaflet against War Toys.
As I noted, there is a huge amount of great stuff at this site,
interspersed with some dead ends as one would expect from a work in
progress.
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The Press: Making Bloggers Look Good Since Before Blogging Was Invented
Of all the offshoots of the “Stuff White People Like“, my favorite is Stuff Journalists Like. From Free Food to Press Passes to Exclusives, this blog is covering everything in the ink-stained-wretch’s lifestyle, including some things they really just barely tolerate.
For a more serious look at the Journalistic Profession during this time
of Transition/Crisis/Insanity, there’s always Jay Rosen, whose PressThink blog has been previously seen here and is getting more attention than ever via (shudder) Twitter. Or, for something more in-between… 10,000 Words uses a bright, shiny bunch of tag clouds, maps and other visual aids (plus fun with typography) to tell the journos how it should be done while doing it.
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due to export regulations cycles greater than 1024 should not be used
A small collection of special programs for system administration, written at a level suitable for senior admins.
Useful standouts include but are not limited to maybe, bottom, lsss, ged, pam happy hour, and jecho.
RobDurdle.com 
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