Links posted in April 2007
April 29, 2007
What if you were sane, but presented yourself to a mental hospital with auditory hallucinations? Would the mental hospital be able to discern your underlying sanity? Not in 1972. Some claim not in 2004. [more inside]
Fixies in the NYTimes. A good article about the resurgence of fixed-gear riders.
Looks like the cards lost a pitcher. I bet he was drunk, how else do you strike a vehicle helping another motorist?
The Rolling Roadshow 2007 lineup was announced if you weren't interesting in doing anything else with your life this summer. Among the highlights (to me) are the Deliverance canoe trip on the actual river and Goldfinger screened on the grounds of Fort Knox!
If you plan to work on your graduatin' and whatnot this summer instead might I recommend the Paramount summer classics series (not updated for 2007 yet) beginning just near the end of May.
Finally, if seeing a bunch of old movies doesn't appeal, you might have one last option.
April 28, 2007
April 27, 2007
Just look at the picture from this BBC article [more inside]
Language Log on lolcats - diagram your kitty's pidgin below (BNF preferred, please). [more inside]
A Completely Typical Customer Service Call - with annotations by the CEO of a company that does call-service quality tracking.
I was listening to a call recording from our Service Quality Tracker, and the call was so ordinary, yet pointless, that I was inspired to create some video commentary.
April 26, 2007
Opinion time:
There was a brief discussion of bike security today at lunch and it got me wondering. (Also, I'm pretty sure it's a matter of time before someone complains about me leaning my bike up against an ultrasound machine in the lab). So, let's say I decide to leave my bike outside with a lock. Right now, I wouldn't even think of using my circa late 90's Kryptonite lock thanks to the pen trick. Unfortunately, I think I missed my chance to get a free replacement. So: what kind of lock? Regular or Mini? What do you do with your quick release seat? I don't want to carry that around with me. Are any places near the engineering side of campus better than others? Do you really lock the back tire, because I've always been told to lock the frame and the front tire (but that would be with a full sized U-lock). What is a non-irritating way to carry the lock with you on a ride? (I'd have to look but I don't think there's any other way to mount something on my bike).
This game might be the greatest 96k program ever written. Best of all, it takes about 45 seconds to play a 5 round match (if you don't stop to watch the players wander around and fall out of the ring).
keepin' it green is relative. to and fro with 59 hens or 3 hogs and 0 carbon footprint, peeps. (except for when you gotta bring the moped). [more inside]
April 24, 2007
David Halberstam passed away - in a car accident of all things.
April 23, 2007
Earth to rural Georgia: Welcome to 2007. [more inside]
April 19, 2007
Seven Minute Sopranos - for those who want to start watching the Sopranos but can't tell their Baccala from their Capicola.
What happens when you piss off a bunch of Polish astronomers with your repressive communist regime? They take their message to your TV screens. A great personal story about what it meant to juggle actual science (and use of resources) with underground propagandizing.
Step back for Roe. I am going to go to the demonstration this afternoon at the capitol. If anyone would like to go with me, send me and e-mail, I left my phone at home, whoops!
Holy shit, this article is real! This is a real fox news article on how Cho might have LITERALLY been POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL. SERIOUSLY, this is NOT a joke article.
We're fucked. We're so fucked. I can't believe how fucked we are as a country.
April 18, 2007
Leaping Lizards Shampoo
- and the Stable Kaye Effect.
April 17, 2007
http://my.alkalineearth.com/ - post below if you want a YourAEName @alkalineearth email address. [more inside]
Great, is it time for the copycats to come out? St. Edwards evacuated on a bomb threat. I say any asswipe caught pulling stunts like this be flogged Singapore style in the center of campus.
April 16, 2007
I don't know about you all but this whole VT shooting thing really has me bummed. Condolences to all those involved and those of you who call it your alma mater.
Is David Sedaris the next James Frey? The author of this piece in The New Republic (bugmenot) says no just before he (lightly) proceeds to give all of his "non-fiction" works a factual scrub-down. (Hint: it doesn't all check out).
The literary establishment responds mostly with support and a pish-tosh attitude. I still want to look up to Sedaris as a literary hero but condemn James Frey and Jayson Blair. Any suggestions to help calm my psychic dissonance?
April 15, 2007
Because Washington is Hollywood for Ugly People - an MC Paul Barman and Tin-Kin joint.
April 14, 2007
The Yankess still suck, but this story of a batboy's first day is pretty funny. Also: 'Betrayal' starring Big Papi (watch 'Clouds' with Kenny & Dikembe while you're there).
April 12, 2007
A safe place for mac users to talk about their ... preferences.
So I was looking for apartments and wondered why the corner 1BR in this building was cheaper than the others, when it seems usually to be the other way around. Well duh, of course it's cheaper if you can't use the bedroom.
The US Attorney Purge Scandal - broken down, yeti-style, into clear and manageable pieces.
April 11, 2007
Slate explains how even quite good baseball teams don't wind up at the World Series. This article is nothing new to leroy or valatan or flip, or people who pay attention, but was a wakeup call to me. [more inside]
April 10, 2007
What's a NOKA chocolate really worth? - a pretty amazing read. [more inside]
April 09, 2007
"You must be the Dutch guy." Click on "breedband" under the picture and enjoy my brother's stick fate in this commercial. [more inside]
Safety Tips - using the Warning Label Generator. [more inside]
April 08, 2007
Results of the First Ever Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest Holy smokes, was Ms.C ever sleeping to have missed this one. The winner, "Peeps are a Girl's Best Friend," features a $16 Swarovski crystal necklace for Maripeep Monroe. The breathtakingly awesome peep show gallery of entries is here. [more inside]
LibraryThing - like last.fm for books. [more inside]
April 07, 2007
The Mile High/Edgar Church collection - you're a comic book dealer in the 1970s -- the nadir of the comic age -- trying to keep your small network of stores afloat. A family calls you to come haul away a big pile of comics so they can sell the house. You offer a payment plan or consignment, but they insist on cash up front and that you quickly haul the junk away (they've thrown half of it away). Then you get to the boxes in the back, with the Action #1 and other key issues in mint condition, and you realize you just paid $1800 for what will become the most valuable comic collection ever brought to market. [more inside]
Art out of Context - What happens when one of the world's premier violinists takes his Stradivarius to a DC subway stop and busks in his jeans and tshirt? [more inside]
Help the Police - how to drive the kids to school while still expressing your love for the streets. (An earlier attempt went the other direction.)
Per several requests tonight, Bill O'Reilly debates Geraldo Rivera on THE FACTOR. This is just fab on so many levels of insanity. Enjoy.
April 06, 2007
From What's New - Bob Park - best item ever (for no good reason - just love the way he slams NASA):
4. RUNNING IN PLACE: CAN AN ASTRONAUT FIND A CURE FOR NASA HYPE?
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams plans to run the Boston Marathon on board the ISS. She's been training on the treadmill at least 4 times a week for months. Is that good? I don't know. It's not as if she has anything better to do on the ISS.
Frank Zappa on the Steve Allen show -- one of my faves from the Show with No Name. Zappa and host Steve Allen play a duet on the bicycle, accompanied by Allen's house band (who are instructed by Zappa to "make any noise possible on your instruments -- [but] try to refrain from musical tones"). [more inside]
April 05, 2007
This is about the ultimate in dickishness, douchbagitation, and jackassery.
Mrflip/Spezio appears on a Cards blog . Commentators want to sign mrflip as a fifth outfielder.
April 04, 2007
How Insensitive - by Paul Festa
A new study confirms a longtime fear: circumcised men are missi
April 03, 2007
Two long, interesting articles from the NYT: The pressures on high-achieving teenage girls and
How China's education system is learning from America's.
iTunes to sell music - instead of renting it. It's only one label, and the price is outrageous, but it's a huge step.
The Ol' Spinning Ball Trick Intentionally leaving one pin? Wow.
Astronomical clock from 65BC discovered in a wrecked ship - featuring differential gears (previously thought to be invented in the 16th century) and a level of miniaturization comparable to clocks from the 18th century.
April 01, 2007
Think twice before buying a house right now A good number of the AE readership has recently or will in the next couple years be finishing up school and heading into the "real world". One thing that often accompanies this is the desire to purchase a house. This article should at least give you pause. [more inside]
Yes, it's that time again. The increasingly annoying tradition of websites doing zany things. I had thought about starting a thread to catalog these, but then I realized that Wikipedia would do it for me.
YOTS
thedysh says:
please add the tag 'yots' to participate in the "Year of the Sandwich" photo set
thedysh says:
What kind of sandwich is this?
mrflip says:
I believe Ned is enjoying the *hell* out of a Quizno's steak sandwich here. Thanks for your interest!
[more inside]