March 31, 2010
Cigarettes may contain pig blood
And at a stroke, four billiontytwo filthy souls were barred from Paradise.
No virgins for you smokers!
University of Sydney Professor in Public Health Simon Chapman points to recent Dutch research which identified 185 different industrial uses of a pig - including the use of its haemoglobin in cigarette filters.
March 30, 2010
Self-esteemism
Theodore Dalrymple and self-esteem (via Quotulatiousness).
Patients, students, take your pick: Your feelings about your mark are a matter of perfect indifference to me. I would, however, be happy to explain how you earned it (as I may have said recently).
Could the feds require Americans to purchase GM cars?
Via Allahpundit, whence the question.
March 29, 2010
You rat bastard
Official armourer to Her Majesty the Queen, Terry English's home is filled with vintage film posters of the titles he has worked on.
He also keeps a replica of the breastplate worn by Helen Mirren in Excalibur.
I bet.
'She literally stripped off naked in front of me. Of course, it was strictly professional.'
Level up
A professor at Indiana University has replaced grades with experience points.
I find this notion tempting.
Shoe Polish, Japanese Version
Via Dark Roasted Blend, whence the title.
March 28, 2010
The revolution of lowering expectations
Charles Moore argues after half a century of rising expectations, the revolution of lowering expectations is only just beginning.
This is about more than mortgages and interest rates, it is political.
Which is fine, so long as the revolution is preceded by a word like Reagan or Thatcher. Most revolutions aren't.
March 27, 2010
The Turban and the Swastika
The Turban and the Swastika whole film from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.
March 26, 2010
How to Write a Thriller
Ian Fleming offers advice to aspiring writers.
We are all fed fairy stories and adventure stories and ghost stories for the first 20 years of our lives, and the only difference between me and perhaps you is that my imagination earns me money.
Image: Ian Fleming often wrote at his desk in the master bedroom at Goldeneye.
Base 22
Former US defense attache, Mark Stokes, now executive director of Project 2049, is probably not the most popular person in Beijing these days.
One can quickly understand the reason for Beijing's displeasure. Although the existence of this strategic storage complex in northwest China has been known for years, what has been said in the report about the size - 400 square kilometers, the tunnel complex inside Taibai Mountain, and the railway lines leading to this mysterious fortress is not the kind of detailed information that China is eager to share with the outside world.
Related: China's Nuclear Warhead Storage and Handling System (pdf).
March 25, 2010
There is a reason they all left Canada
In which the Flea is delighted to answer a question for Ann Coulter.
March 24, 2010
Catherine Tate: Language Translator
Watching this video is illegal in Canada.*
* If you laugh. If your job is "detecting" things for the CHRC then no harm, no foul.
March 23, 2010
O frabjous day
Cheryl Cole now prefers men with a pot belly.
March 22, 2010
March 21, 2010
Bloop
Mythos fans will recognize the Bloop for what it is (sound file at the link).
The stars, pretty much aligned.
...
According to the NOAA description, it "rises rapidly in frequency over about one minute and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km." NOAA's system ruled out its origin as any known man-made sound, such as a submarine or bomb, or familiar geological sounds such as volcanoes or earthquakes. While the audio profile of the bloop does resemble that of a living creature, the system identified it as unknown because it was far too loud for that to have been the case: it was several times louder than the loudest known biological sound.
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!
Via Dark Roasted Blend.
DUNE: An Interview with Frank Herbert & David Lynch
There are six parts in total.
Also: Jodorowsky's Dune.
David Bowie: Life On Mars?
March 20, 2010
Off your meds, I presume
When I first learned of objections to the restoration of a bronze statue memorializing Henry Morton Stanley I assumed such objections were based in post-colonial ideology, Congolese nativist fascism and the generalized, low-grade anti-British grievance children of British immigrants come to expect in, for example, Canada.
But it turns out Henry Morton Stanley was a psycho.
Those magnificent men and their flying machines
On the one hand: F-35 completes vertical landing.
On the other hand: Russia's secret fighter jet with 'human intellect'.
On the gripping hand: ACLU sues government over drones.
The good bit:
March 19, 2010
Men are quite simple to understand, actually
Sandra Bullock's husband cheated on her with the heavily tattooed Michelle “Bombshell’ McGee, leaving David Forsmark confused (hat tip to Kathy).
Leave aside the tattoos* and we are left with the question of why a man would pass over a great beauty for the charms of a seemingly lesser beauty. If he could have Sandra Bullock why would he choose to turn elsewhere?
There are two answers to this question.
The first concerns a distinction between a woman who is "beautiful" and a woman who is "hot". While the expression of this distinction is idiosyncratic to some degree, I believe the distinction itself will be immediately recognizable to most men. When it comes to sex, "hot" trumps "beautiful" every time.** Sandra Bullock is beautiful, quite lovely actually, but Bombshell McGee is hot, much more so in person, I suspect, than in her photographs.
The second answer is a bit more straightforward: Sex addiction.***
Related: Michelle McAgee teaches men how to pick up women. They like the unattainable, apparently.
* Theodore Dalrymple will never see eye to eye on the issue.
** Some lucky men are blessed to find both qualities in the same woman. But then I am in favour of tattoos.
*** In which Matt Stone mocks The Huffington Post to their face.
March 18, 2010
It will be brutal
The British enjoy a budget deficit worse than Greece.
Jedi believer wins apology after being kicked out of Jobcentre for wearing a hood
When benefits claimant Chris Jarvis was asked to put down his hood in a Jobcentre, he said he was entitled to wear it because of his Jedi faith.
'Someone with their own religious views is allowed to wear what their religion says - the Sikhs are able to carry a great big dagger. My religion allows me to wear my hood.'
I am foursquare in favour of the Jedi religion (Episides IV, V, VI, obviously; followers of "I", "II", "III" must be killed) but surely this sets a bad precedent. Imagine the next time some child rapist is caught and he claims to follow a religion where God tells you to rape children. It would be compensation next. "No such religion exists", of course, but give it time and something like that might turn up in the UK.
/angry sarcasm
March 17, 2010
Fatuous
Funny how none of the four Entertainment Tonight and Entertainment Tonight Canada puff pieces on Kirstie Alley's fatuous new weight loss show mention her Organic Liason diet food line is yet another Scientology front company.
WWTDD? comments on the scandal.
March 16, 2010
Corpus Coranicum
Jeff Black says German researchers are preparing “Qur’an: The Critical Edition”.
What this means is that the research team is in the process of analysing and transcribing some 12,000 slides of Qur’an mansucripts from the first six centuries of the text’s existence. Once that is complete, the way is open to producing a text that annotates and, presumably, provides some sort of exegesis on the differences found in the early manuscripts.
RTWT (via Quotulatiousness).
Now about the “terrible and forbidden books” — I am forced to say that most of them are purely imaginary. There never was any Abdul Alhazred or Necronomicon, for I invented these names myself. Robert Bloch devised the idea of Ludvig Prinn and his De Vermis Mysteriis, while the Book of Eibon is an invention of Clark Ashton Smith's. Robert E. Howard is responsible for Friedrich von Junzt and his Unaussprechlichen Kulten.... As for seriously-written books on dark, occult, and supernatural themes — in all truth they don’t amount to much. That is why it’s more fun to invent mythical works like the Necronomicon and Book of Eibon.
- H.P. Lovecraft, In a letter to Willis Conover
November 1, 4006
Sabrina Sforza Galitzia has worked out the real Da Vinci code, a clue to the end of the world as we know it.
“There is a da Vinci code — it is just not the one made popular by Dan Brown,” she said.
Not so fast, say the comments.
If Leonardo really referred, in 1498, to the date "November 1, 4006", he would have been using the Julian calendar, as that was the calendar then in use. On our current Gregorian calendar, the date in question would be November 29, 4006. Not that the four-week difference means that much when you are talking about the "end of the world". But Ms. Galitzia also says that the date will mark "a new start for humanity", so I guess it isn't the literal end of the world after all, is it? Any more than December 21, 2012 will be.
March 15, 2010
March 14, 2010
Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé: Telephone
Ladies and germs, the greatest pop music video not featuring Gwen Stefani since 1982 (hat tip to Agent Bedhead).
Illuminating Hadrians Wall
Illuminating Hadrians Wall, from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway.
The Guardian calls it a recreation. I call it foreshadowing.
Vroom
Luxist rounds up the 2010 Geneva Motor Show featuring the Italians (ace), the Germans (boring Porsches)*, the French (French) and the rest including the extraordinarily tasteless Bufori Geneva (Australian).
I particularly enjoy the Stile Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept (above).
* But I repeat myself.
More: 2010 Alfa Romeo Pandion. Images.
The most unique trait of the Pandion is its side windows which extend down to the front wheel arch. Like the Pandion bird, the doors open up in a gull-wing fashion.
Paris Hilton meets Lady Gaga at the Nokia 5800 Launch
Lady Gaga is right: Stars Are Blind
March 13, 2010
The Frost Report: An Understanding of Class
And: The Frost Report on Class in full (Part 1).
March 12, 2010
Great moments in repartee
By way of taking a poke at the wets affecting deep horror at recent remarks by Nigel Farage in Brussels, Frederick Forsyth cites Parliamentary precendent (via Andrew Stuttaford).
Terribly rude but what a put-down. We should have more like that, not less.
Kinderwette Star Wars
Sophia Heesch identifies Star Wars figurines with her mouth.
March 11, 2010
Why, yes, I would like fries with that
Reading: Today's young workers, it appears, believe they deserve jobs with big salaries, status and plenty of leisure time - without having to put in the hours.
Generation Y are much more likely than previous generations to see work as simply a means of paying the bills.
Writing: They can't read, can't write and think the world owes them a living.
Many also struggle with basic maths and English as exams become easier and schools fail to properly enforce discipline.
Rithmetic: Teenagers who complete two weeks' work experience at a McDonald's restaurant will be awarded a qualification worth up to a B grade at GCSE.
Subterranean operations
As the world's superweapons projects move underground, DARPA has pondered a means of navigating through huge enemy underground bases in the absence of GPS: Sferics-Based Underground Geolocation (S-BUG).
But the right kind of signals are generated naturally by lightning strikes, which cause the emission of "atmospheric" ("sferic" or "spheric") radio pulses. An underground receiver could perhaps be built capable of detecting sferics from lightning bolts hitting the surface hundreds of miles away. It could be informed of the positions of the strikes over LF comms by a single specialised surface base station, similarly far off, and thus calculate its own position from sferic data coming in from several directions.
The Jersey Shore Presents: Inglourious Basterds - The Line Up
Via Agent Bedhead.
March 10, 2010
A Victorian rave
It is difficult to convery the precise degree of annoyance I feel at missing out on the Thames Tunnel Tour and Fancy Fair at London's Brunel Museum.
Due to unprecedented demand, tickets for the Tunnel tours have now sold out however there are still places left for the Fancy Fair, a recreation of the original 1852 party hosted to celebrate the opening of the tunnel. Audiences are promised strange and wonderful Victorian characters, cosmoranic views, aerialists, jugglers, historic food and drink and music powered by steam. As Robert Hulse, the Director of the Brunel Museum has stated, “This is not just the birthplace of the tube system, it is the site of a Victorian rave!”
Wikipedia: Thames Tunnel.
The Telegraph: Top 10: Isambard Kingdom Brunel's great surviving structures.
Swan song
Alexander McQueen's last collection.
More.
Etc: Chanel autumn/winter 2010/11 collection celebrates global colding.
More hot Wookie action.
Also: London Fashion Week's top looks for Autumn/Winter 2010.
Cretinism on this historic level is comparatively rare
Christopher Hitchens considers one of the most astoundingly stupid and nasty documents ever to have landed on his desk.
Not so longer ago, this sort of language would have been cause for ridicule, and the threats a cause for war. At some point, vigilantism is going to take the place where the law used to be. At the moment, it is a war of every one against every one and Danish newspapermen have been comprehensively disarmed.
Armed Occupation Act
The Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 (5 U.S. Statutes 502) was passed as an incentive to populate Florida. The main terms of the Act read like public policy via Robert Heinlein.
* be a resident of Florida and not having 160 acres (0.6 km²) of land in Florida when asking for the permit;
* get a permit from the Lands Office;
* he or his heirs reside for five consecutive years on the grant ;
* clear, enclose and cultivate 5 acres (20,000 m2) of land during the first year;
* build a house on the lot during the first year;
* the land should be two or more miles away from a garrisoned military post.
The last statement implied that the person should bear arms for his own protection.
Actually, the last statement implied the new homestead is the functional equivalent of a garrisoned military outpost; a redoubt of civilization held by force against Nature and against the barbarians.
A lot has changed in the world in 170 years. There has been a bigger change in our souls.
Lynching Republicans
Otherwise known as the forgotten supressed history of the Democrat party: following the Civil War, 1300 white Republicans and 3500 black Republicans were lynched by the Ku Klux Klan (via Mitchieville).
March 09, 2010
Ka-ka
In a whirl of limbs and with eyes bulging, the woman is helped to a squat in the ramshackle shed and starts cackling maniacally like a terrified chicken.
In related news: Tears, joy greet Michaëlle Jean in Haiti.
Je me souviens: Les felquistes.
March 08, 2010
Depeche mode
Future tense: Haute Macabre features Gareth Pugh Fall / Winter 2010 at Paris Fashion Week.
Present tense: Jean Paul Gaultier collection debuts at Target ([ˈtarːgeɪ] n).
Past tense: Alexander McQueen wins posthumous fashion design award.
Too soon?: Gareth Pugh is front runner to take over Alexander McQueen's fashion label.
Chinese Guy's Official Music Video
Peter Chao is one of only a handful of public figures who truly understands the place of multiculturalism in Canadian life.
March 07, 2010
On your bike
Uneuropean language at Bild reminds us of Germany's work ethic.
...
"No one here has to pay thousands of euros in bribes to get a hospital bed. We don't give pensions to generals' daughters who can't find a husband ... Taxi drivers give receipts and farmers don't get billions of euros in EU subsidies for non-existent olive trees," the newspaper thundered in its Friday edition.
Yet another sign the People may be fed up with the Party.
Weapon of Mosquito Destruction
I have been dreaming about one of these since my childhood (via Jonah Goldberg).
March 06, 2010
I want to drive my car on my television
While Tim Rogers is finally fed up with Japan I suspect I could stick it out for a bit. For one thing, I have no problem with sarcastic office participation. I much prefer the Japanese understanding of the practice as pure, empty ritual; for its zen, if you will. The cheerleaders at my old hospital job expected me to pretend to be happy and somehow to mean it (hat tip to Quotulatiousness).
A friendly word of advice to the author: If you are a vegetarian, non-smoker you need to move back to San Fransisco for anyone to respect your particular complaints. The Japanese do not owe you a living, let alone your brand of righteous, masturbatory puritanism.
The game design thoughts are fascinating, however.
March 05, 2010
Meet Dr Who's new sidekick
InStyle profiles Karen Gillan, the new Who Companion (that last one is nsfw).
I gather the TARDIS has also undergone some interior remodeling.
Related: The Chanel 2.55 Handbag.
An excessive interest in demonology
Mike Potemra is troubled by news of Satanic sects at the Vatican (ahem), or rather by the high probability the news suggests an otherwise respected exorcist has gone "off the emotional rails" by drawing attention to the problem.
This is a mistake. I have no clue if Satanic sects are particularly active at the Vatican at the moment (too busy in Canterbury, I would have thought) but accusing an exorcist of an "excessive interest in demonology" is not only unreasonable in itself but is also bad for the brand. Do you think anyone would watch Omen or The Exorcist or, at one time, Madonna if it they used Quaker iconography (ahem)?
They would not.
Visionary
Typealyzer lets you assesses your blog using Myers-Briggs personality types and a text sample from your front page.
Take the Flea, for example.
The charming and trend savvy type. They are especially attuned to the big picture and anticipate trends. They often have sophisticated language skills and come across as witty and social. At the end of the day, however, they are pragmatic decision makers and have a good analytical ability.
They enjoy work that lets them use their cleverness, great communication skills and knack for new exciting ventures. They have to look out not to become quitters, since they easily get bored when the creative exciting start-up phase is over.
Fortunately, I think this blog is still in the exciting start-up phase.
Update: A friendly reminder of the real Myers-Briggs Personality Types made relevant.
For example.
The ENTP, like the ENTJ, is charismatic, outgoing, and intelligent. ENTPs are often quickwitted, clever, and genial; they typically display a highly organized, rational cognitive ability which makes them natural scientists and inventors.
ENTPs are creative, complex people who seek to improve their understanding of the natural world, usually by building armored fifty-story-tall robotic monsters with iron jaws and death-ray eyes, or by creating genetically mutated plagues that spread unstoppably across the land, turning all who are contaminated into mindless zombie drones. They are less likely to want to conquer the world than to destroy it utterly, reducing it to nothing but slag and rubble--though this is often merely a side-effect of their pursuit of knowledge.
March 04, 2010
March 03, 2010
March 02, 2010
Know your Reapers from your Global Hawks
Or your Demons. The Complete UAV Field Guide.
For example.
BAE Systems
Class: Autonomous
Habitat: Defense giant BAE Systems laboratory in London
Behavior: The Demon flies with no fins and almost no moving parts, so it rarely needs repairs. Software makes it partially autonomous.
Notable Features: The entire body of the craft is shaped like a wing. Dozens of thrusters situated on its top and bottom shape airflow, replacing the work typically done by tail fins and ailerons. Onboard software varies the strength of each thruster to control pitch, side-to-side movement (yaw) and roll. BAE Systems engineers hope to begin test flights this month.
Après moi
Mark Steyn considers a West hoping to fend off the final collapse just long enough to live out its retirement benefits.
March 01, 2010
Eurocopter Blue Edge rotor blade noise reduction
"The good news is that there is no such thing as silent, stealth black helicopters. The bad news is that, thanks to Eurocopter's noise-canceling Blue Edge rotor blades, there soon will be."
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at Barbican Centre, London
For his installation in The Curve, Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.
Ads that have disappeared
Once among the missing: The classic Ferrero Roche "Ambassador's Party" ad was lost then found.
Still among the missing: The Wunderbar chocolate Viking on the beach ad... "It's Wunderbar!"
Also, a relax with (Passion) Flakie ad I never saw but is wanted by the GF of the Flea.
David Christie: Saddle Up
With a shout out to Ben, who will wish he found it first.
David Christie - Saddle Up
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