Coming to Kindle and Smashwords
November 2013
Jul 27, 2012
Ayn Rand's Lord of the Rings
“'Yes,' said Frodo. 'I shall keep the Ring from the foolish parasities who wish to destroy it. For shockingly, many wish to destroy the Ring! They wish to keep the Ring from the rightful ownership of the rugged individualist who made it as his own.'" [Oliver Miller at Slacktory. Previously.]
South Dakota Legalizes Lies With Suicide Warning for Abortion Seekers
The 8th Circuit basically ruled that legislatures are free to pick and choose which "science" they’d prefer to believe. What abortion law’s backers are hiding about suicide .........
Ordinarily, when a doctor warns you of the risks connected to a medical procedure, you can trust that you’re being told the truth, or at least what your doctor believes to be true. For any woman seeking an abortion in South Dakota, though, this is no longer the case. Thanks to an 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week with far-reaching implications, doctors performing abortions will now be legally mandated to mislead their patients. The result is not just an attack on abortion rights that’s likely to be copied in other states—it’s an attack on the broader idea that policymaking should privilege fact over fantasy.
At issue is a 2005 law that, among other things, requires doctors to warn women that abortion would subject them to increased risk of “[d]epression and related psychological distress” and “[i]ncreased risk of suicide ideation and suicide.” This would be perfectly legitimate if it were true, but the vast preponderance of medical and academic research shows that it is not. “The best scientific evidence published indicates that among adult women who have an unplanned pregnancy, the relative risk of mental-health problems is no greater if they have a single elective first-trimester abortion than if they deliver that pregnancy,” concluded an American Psychological Association task force that studied the issue. (Italics theirs.)
To justify a law forcing doctors to tell women otherwise, the 8th Circuit has turned the burden of evidence on its head. Essentially, it said that the state doesn’t have to prove the suicide advisory is true—rather, the plaintiffs have to prove it definitively untrue. “[I]n order to render the suicide advisory unconstitutionally misleading or irrelevant, Planned Parenthood would have to show that abortion has been ruled out, to a degree of scientifically accepted certainty, as a statistically significant causal factor in post-abortion suicides,” the court concluded. In other words, Planned Parenthood would have to prove a negative.
For many observers, the idea that there’s a causal link between abortion, depression, and suicide probably makes a certain amount of sense. After all, for most women, an unwanted pregnancy is deeply distressing. There are clearly women who feel immense guilt about their abortions, particularly if they come from communities where abortion is taboo. Furthermore, there is a statistical correlation between abortion and suicide—women who’ve had abortions are more likely than women who haven’t to die by their own hands.
If you think that that makes the antiabortion movement’s case, however, consider that, according to the American Psychological Association, women who’ve had abortions are also more likely to be murdered than other women. No one, however, would argue that they are murdered because they have had abortions. Rather, the same factors that have left them vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies can leave them vulnerable to other acts of violence. “Unwanted pregnancies are not random events,” says the APA report. “The lives of women who have unwanted pregnancies or abortions differ in a variety of ways from the lives of women who do not have unwanted pregnancies or abortions, and do so before, during, and after pregnancy occurs… [S]ubstantial research literature has shown that systemic and personal characteristics that predispose women to have unintended pregnancies also predispose them to have psychological and behavioral problems.”
In arguing that abortion causes suicide, abortion opponents turn correlation into causation. Consider the work of Priscilla Coleman, an antiabortion professor at Bowling Green University who is cited repeatedly in the 8th Circuit’s opinion. In 2009, she coauthored an article in the Journal of Psychiatric Research titled “Induced Abortion and Anxiety, Mood, and Substance Use Disorders: Isolating the Effects of Abortion in the National Comorbidity Survey.” It purported to find that, adjusting for other variables, abortion was an increased risk factor for a variety of mental-health problems and substance-abuse disorders. Using the same data set, though, the researchers Julia Steinberg of the University of California, San Francisco, and Lawrence Finer of the Guttmacher Institute were unable to replicate Coleman’s results, and they soon discovered that she and her colleagues had made errors in their calculations. Acknowledging this, Coleman and her coauthors published a correction in which they offered new figures that, they argued, still proved their case.
The court’s ruling should also comfort creationists, anti-vaccine activists, global-warming deniers, and purveyors of ex-gay therapy.
Looking at those figures, Steinberg and Finer found even more serious problems. Coleman and her coauthors, it turned out, didn’t just rely on mental illness that manifested after abortion—they counted mental-health diagnoses across women’s entire lifetime. Thus if a depressed woman had an abortion, the abortion was treated as a risk factor for her depression, even if the depression came first. A review by the journal’s editor, Stanford’s Alan F. Schatzberg, and Harvard’s Ronald C. Kessler concurred with Steinberg and Finer’s critique. “[T]he Coleman et al. (2009) analysis does not support their assertions that abortions led to psychopathology in the … data,” they wrote.
But if Coleman’s research isn’t respected by others in her field, it nevertheless served as a justification for upholding South Dakota’s law. The 8th Circuit basically ruled that legislatures are free to pick and choose which "science" they’d prefer to believe. “We express no opinion as to whether some of the studies are more reliable than others; instead, we hold only that the state legislature, rather than a federal court, is in the best position to weigh the divergent results and come to a conclusion about the best way to protect its populace,” the court wrote.
The consequences of such reasoning go beyond abortion. The court’s ruling should also comfort creationists, anti-vaccine activists, global-warming deniers, and purveyors of ex-gay therapy—anyone who wants ideological fictions to be given the same policymaking weight as scientific consensus. For now, though, the immediate effect will be on women with unwanted pregnancies in South Dakota. They’re the only people in the United States who must, by law, be deceived by their doctors.
South Dakota Legalizes Lies With Suicide Warning for Abortion Seekers
The 8th Circuit basically ruled that legislatures are free to pick and choose which "science" they’d prefer to believe. What abortion law’s backers are hiding about suicide risks.
Ordinarily, when a doctor warns you of the risks connected to a medical procedure, you can trust that you’re being told the truth, or at least what your doctor believes to be true. For any woman seeking an abortion in South Dakota, though, this is no longer the case. Thanks to an 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week with far-reaching implications, doctors performing abortions will now be legally mandated to mislead their patients. The result is not just an attack on abortion rights that’s likely to be copied in other states—it’s an attack on the broader idea that policymaking should privilege fact over fantasy.
At issue is a 2005 law that, among other things, requires doctors to warn women that abortion would subject them to increased risk of “[d]epression and related psychological distress” and “[i]ncreased risk of suicide ideation and suicide.” This would be perfectly legitimate if it were true, but the vast preponderance of medical and academic research shows that it is not. “The best scientific evidence published indicates that among adult women who have an unplanned pregnancy, the relative risk of mental-health problems is no greater if they have a single elective first-trimester abortion than if they deliver that pregnancy,” concluded an American Psychological Association task force that studied the issue. (Italics theirs.)
To justify a law forcing doctors to tell women otherwise, the 8th Circuit has turned the burden of evidence on its head. Essentially, it said that the state doesn’t have to prove the suicide advisory is true—rather, the plaintiffs have to prove it definitively untrue. “[I]n order to render the suicide advisory unconstitutionally misleading or irrelevant, Planned Parenthood would have to show that abortion has been ruled out, to a degree of scientifically accepted certainty, as a statistically significant causal factor in post-abortion suicides,” the court concluded. In other words, Planned Parenthood would have to prove a negative.
For many observers, the idea that there’s a causal link between abortion, depression, and suicide probably makes a certain amount of sense. After all, for most women, an unwanted pregnancy is deeply distressing. There are clearly women who feel immense guilt about their abortions, particularly if they come from communities where abortion is taboo. Furthermore, there is a statistical correlation between abortion and suicide—women who’ve had abortions are more likely than women who haven’t to die by their own hands.
If you think that that makes the antiabortion movement’s case, however, consider that, according to the American Psychological Association, women who’ve had abortions are also more likely to be murdered than other women. No one, however, would argue that they are murdered because they have had abortions. Rather, the same factors that have left them vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies can leave them vulnerable to other acts of violence. “Unwanted pregnancies are not random events,” says the APA report. “The lives of women who have unwanted pregnancies or abortions differ in a variety of ways from the lives of women who do not have unwanted pregnancies or abortions, and do so before, during, and after pregnancy occurs… [S]ubstantial research literature has shown that systemic and personal characteristics that predispose women to have unintended pregnancies also predispose them to have psychological and behavioral problems.”
In arguing that abortion causes suicide, abortion opponents turn correlation into causation. Consider the work of Priscilla Coleman, an antiabortion professor at Bowling Green University who is cited repeatedly in the 8th Circuit’s opinion. In 2009, she coauthored an article in the Journal of Psychiatric Research titled “Induced Abortion and Anxiety, Mood, and Substance Use Disorders: Isolating the Effects of Abortion in the National Comorbidity Survey.” It purported to find that, adjusting for other variables, abortion was an increased risk factor for a variety of mental-health problems and substance-abuse disorders. Using the same data set, though, the researchers Julia Steinberg of the University of California, San Francisco, and Lawrence Finer of the Guttmacher Institute were unable to replicate Coleman’s results, and they soon discovered that she and her colleagues had made errors in their calculations. Acknowledging this, Coleman and her coauthors published a correction in which they offered new figures that, they argued, still proved their case.
The court’s ruling should also comfort creationists, anti-vaccine activists, global-warming deniers, and purveyors of ex-gay therapy.
Looking at those figures, Steinberg and Finer found even more serious problems. Coleman and her coauthors, it turned out, didn’t just rely on mental illness that manifested after abortion—they counted mental-health diagnoses across women’s entire lifetime. Thus if a depressed woman had an abortion, the abortion was treated as a risk factor for her depression, even if the depression came first. A review by the journal’s editor, Stanford’s Alan F. Schatzberg, and Harvard’s Ronald C. Kessler concurred with Steinberg and Finer’s critique. “[T]he Coleman et al. (2009) analysis does not support their assertions that abortions led to psychopathology in the … data,” they wrote.
But if Coleman’s research isn’t respected by others in her field, it nevertheless served as a justification for upholding South Dakota’s law. The 8th Circuit basically ruled that legislatures are free to pick and choose which "science" they’d prefer to believe. “We express no opinion as to whether some of the studies are more reliable than others; instead, we hold only that the state legislature, rather than a federal court, is in the best position to weigh the divergent results and come to a conclusion about the best way to protect its populace,” the court wrote.
The consequences of such reasoning go beyond abortion. The court’s ruling should also comfort creationists, anti-vaccine activists, global-warming deniers, and purveyors of ex-gay therapy—anyone who wants ideological fictions to be given the same policymaking weight as scientific consensus. For now, though, the immediate effect will be on women with unwanted pregnancies in South Dakota. They’re the only people in the United States who must, by law, be deceived by their doctors
Mitt Romney Walks Back London Olympics Criticism (UPDATE)
Mitt Romney, in his first trip abroad as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is trying to walk back comments he made questioning London's Olympics preparation -- comments that have drawn a sharp response from Prime Minister David Cameron.
The dustup began Wednesday, as Romney, who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City games, said there were "disconcerting" signs in the days before this year's games.
"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials -- that obviously is not something which is encouraging," he told NBC News.
The dustup began Wednesday, as Romney, who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City games, said there were "disconcerting" signs in the days before this year's games.
"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials -- that obviously is not something which is encouraging," he told NBC News.
a Romney trifecta...........
Oh, Mitt: those Romney gaffes in full
Boobs, blunders, clangers – whatever you call them, Romney likes to drop them. And he's really outdone himself in London
Mitt Romney. With added bunting. Photograph: Ray Tang/Rex Features
From criticising the biggest sporting event Britain has held in over 40 years, to "looking out of the backside of 10 Downing Street", Mitt Romney's first foreign trip of his presidential candidacy hasn't gone quite as well as he might have hoped. As the former Massachusetts governor continues to gaffe his way across London, here's a round-up of Romney's red-facers. So far.
Jul 26, 2012
2001: A Summer Blockbuster
Via Imaginary Foundation, this trailer for a new summer blockbuster called 2001: A Space Odyssey. In theaters June 4, 1968
Backyard shed/Tardis
Einstein19 built this home Tardis shed and matching dalek ten years ago, but only recently published it on Tardisbuilders*. It's a magnificent piece -- I only wish I could access the Tardisbuilder forum where it appears, as I'd love to see the interior!
Horse what horse? Olympics? What Olympics? Wife ? What wife? This guy is a phony as a preachers sigh.....
LONDON — Though Mitt Romney has said he is “very pleased” that the dressage horse his wife, Ann, co-owns will be making its Olympic debut in London games, his campaign has made sure that Mr. Romney will be long gone — and hundreds of miles away — before a single prancing hoof hits the ring.
Though Mr. Romney is proud of his wife’s success in the little-known sport of dressage — sometimes called “horse ballet” — the horse Rafalca has proved a controversial and pesky presence within the Romney campaign, a reminder that the Romneys are exceptionally wealthy and, as the Democrats argue, out-of-touch with average Americans.
Mr. Romney’s team has already found themselves walking a fine line between extolling the virtues of the riding Mrs. Romney took up as therapy for her multiple sclerosis, and preventing her dressage horses, which run in the six figures, from overshadowing their campaign message of fiscal responsibility. The London games, when Rafalca will compete for the gold, presents their most public challenge yet
Jul 25, 2012
London Double-Decker Bus Rigged With Giant Arms To Do Push-Ups
.
photo by Petr Josek for Reuters
photo by Petr Josek for Reuters
photo by Marika Kochiashvili for Reuters
i
Personal Cremation Urns That Look Like Disembodied Heads
Vermont based company Cremation Solutions makes personal cremation urns that look like the deceased person’s disembodied head (or any person really, like, as shown, President Obama). Each 3D polymere marble-based urn is custom built from merging two photographs of any person’s face. They come in two sizes: Full Sized, which holds all the ashes, or Keepsake Sized, which is smaller and just holds some of the ashes
William F. Buckley Jr is spinning in his grave
This Conspiracy-Toting Conservative Blogger Could Be Headed to Congress
Wes Riddle's campaign says President Obama gave seven islands to Russia, and he's written that slavery was a net positive for blacks. Could he make it to Washington?
In mid-May, Texas Republican congressional candidate Wes Riddle posted a new note on his Facebook page. It was written by his spokesman, Garrett Smith, and it was dire. "The reasoning for President Obama's impeachment," Smith wrote, "begins with the fact that the State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to Russia." According to the statement, Riddle—who has Rep. Ron Paul's endorsement and stands a good chance of winning in November if he can make it out of next Tuesday's runoff—believed that Obama's unprecedented giveaway included at least one island the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, "billions of barrels of oil" from offshore deposits, and unknown strategic advantages.
"The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy, not allowing the state of Alaska to participate in the negotiations, and…the public was not given any opportunity to comment," he wrote.There were a few problems with this indictment of Obama: The president hadn't given away any islands; the treaty in question had been signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991; none of the islands, which are well on the other side of the international boundary, had ever been officially claimed by the United States; and Alaska's two US senators at the time had publicly endorsed the measure. Smith's rant, much of which was copied word for word from a WorldNetDaily article, was based on a falsehood.
special kind of Idiot.....................
Mike Huckabee Calls For National 'Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day'
Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and Fox News host, has had enough of what he called the "vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry" aimed at Chick-fil-A.
On his Facebook page, Huckabee announced that Aug. 1 will be "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," a day on which he is encouraging people to patronize the fast food chain.
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE
The former presidential candidate is upset that the fast food chicken chain has been the target of criticism in the wake of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's saying last week that his company supports "the biblical definition of the family unit."
The National Organization for Marriage, a group organized to oppose same-sex marriage, called him a "corporate hero for marriage," while others were quick to condemn his comments.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino even went so far as to tell the Boston Herald that "Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston."
"You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population," he said, according to the Herald. "We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion."
And on Friday, the Jim Henson Company, the group behind "The Muppets" and "Fraggle Rock," released a statement saying it has "notified Chick-fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors." Jim Henson's "Creature Shop" toys are currently available in the company's kid's meals.
Huckabee further explained the purpose of his pro-Chick-fil-A campaign on his Facebook Page:
So far, more than 80,000 people have signed up to participate in the event.
UPDATE: 5:55 p.m. EST:
The Facebook event is no longer available, and Gov. Huckabee has written the following on his Facebook page:
On his Facebook page, Huckabee announced that Aug. 1 will be "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day," a day on which he is encouraging people to patronize the fast food chain.
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE
The former presidential candidate is upset that the fast food chicken chain has been the target of criticism in the wake of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's saying last week that his company supports "the biblical definition of the family unit."
The National Organization for Marriage, a group organized to oppose same-sex marriage, called him a "corporate hero for marriage," while others were quick to condemn his comments.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino even went so far as to tell the Boston Herald that "Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston."
"You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population," he said, according to the Herald. "We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion."
And on Friday, the Jim Henson Company, the group behind "The Muppets" and "Fraggle Rock," released a statement saying it has "notified Chick-fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors." Jim Henson's "Creature Shop" toys are currently available in the company's kid's meals.
Huckabee further explained the purpose of his pro-Chick-fil-A campaign on his Facebook Page:
The goal is simple: Let's affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1. Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we're considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant.State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Texas) and the group Concerned Women for America have promoted the event, which is not affiliated with Chick-fil-A.
So far, more than 80,000 people have signed up to participate in the event.
UPDATE: 5:55 p.m. EST:
The Facebook event is no longer available, and Gov. Huckabee has written the following on his Facebook page:
A number of you are asking questions about the Chick Fil-A event. The event disappeared from my page this morning and we have asked Facebook to look into this. I will update you as soon as I know more. The event is still on and the info should be back up soon.Huckabee's full statement about "Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day
Uninsured Aurora shooting victims face financial devastation
Uninsured Aurora shooting victims face financial devastation
Update: Katie, 21, just gave birth to their first child. Snip from Reuters update:
Katie Medley and her husband, Caleb, both wearing Batman apparel, were at a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in the Denver suburb of Aurora when a gunman clad in tactical body armor, helmet and gas mask opened fire during a midnight showing early on Friday. Twelve people, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed and 58 wounded.
Caleb is currently listed in critical condition at the University of Colorado Denver Hospital. He is showing some signs of progress. Like a number of people injured in the Aurora shooting, he is uninsured. His family has been told that the cost of his medical treatment may exceed $2 million.
There's a fundraising site here, where friends and family are gathering donations to help with his health care costs. America would be an even greater country if people didn't have to do stuff like this to get life-saving medical treatment
Jul 20, 2012
sad attempt at being relevant.......
Jon Lovitz Attacks Obama's Nobel Prize: 'You Didn't Earn That.
Jon Lovitz is continuing a new phase of his career: A vocal critic of President Obama. In his latest attack, Lovitz tweeted a picture apparently meant as a criticism of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.
In the tweet, Lovitz posted a picture of Obama holding the prize, which was awarded to him in 2010 amid criticism that he had not yet done enough to deserve the prestigious award. Lovitz's caption reads, "Nobel Peace Prize? You didn't earn that. Somebody else made that happen."
I didn't build my business, either. pic.twitter.com/I8w9BLks
The text is a takeoff of a recent quote from Obama that has been widely slammed by his Republican opponents. In a speech, Obama emphasized his belief that the government is instrumental in helping people achieve success, saying in part, "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen." Some have taken the statement as proof that Obama believes the government is responsible for any individual's personal triumphs.
Lovitz's tweet, however, seems to hint that Obama has claimed that he was fully responsible for his Nobel Prize, which he has never publicly done. In fact, the President has frequently given credit to the institutions and people that have helped him throughout his life.The former "SNL" actor and sometime film star has made headlines in recent months for his full-throated digs at President Obama. Although he votes Democrat, he called Obama a "f***ing a**hole" on his podcast a few months ago, and further embellished the claim when later asked, refusing to apologize since Obama is "not a king."
Exploding a Watermelon With Rubber Bands in Slow Motion
You might remember that awesome video we recently posted of a watermelon exploding from the force of over 500
Jul 19, 2012
list of satan's hobbies........
The following subjects are considered "doorways to demonic possession": Illuminati, Scientology, Remote viewing, Cyberpunk culture, Vegetarianism, Lord of the Rings, Lycanthropy, Postmodernism, Alt "comix", Marihuana & Pot parties, LSD/shrooms, Video games, Harry Potter, Dungeons & Dragons, Halloween, Fornication, Skull & Bones, Rock Music, Burning Man, Twilight films, and Goth culture, among other happy mutant interests.
Jul 18, 2012
Attention Tolkien fans: There might be a third Hobbit movie (maybe)
Don't get too excited yet, but Peter Jackson is talking about possibly turning the two Hobbit movies he just completed filming -- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again -- into a trilogy. Why? Because 1. Warner Bros. has the rights to the additional notes from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has all this groovy stuff in it that relates to The Hobbit, and 2. Jackson has all this extra footage lying around, just waiting to be seen. He spoke with Collider, warning that all of this is only in the earliest of stages: Well, it’s very, very premature. We have got incredible source material with the appendices. There’s the novel, but then we also have the rights to use the 125 pages of additional notes where Tolkien expanded the world of The Hobbit. We’ve used some of that so far, and just in the last few weeks, as we’ve been wrapping up the shooting and thinking about the shape of the story, Philippa [Boyens], Fran [Walsh] and I have been talking to the studio about other things that we haven’t been able to shoot and seeing if we could possibly persuade them to do a few more weeks of shooting. We’d probably need more than a few weeks, actually, next year. The discussions are pretty early, so there isn’t anything to report, but there are other parts of the story that we’d like to tell, that we haven’t had the chance to tell yet. We’re just trying to have those conversations with the studio, at the moment
I'm a super fan of Breaking Bad and Boingboing as well.... is there something to the shared alliteration? I thought you might like this stencil I found in Vancouver a few months ago. Someone did a whole series of Mr White. They were fantastic.
Boing Boing reader Peter Schwagly sends in the photo of Breaking Bad street art above and below, and says,
Jul 13, 2012
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humankind's ability to prevent a killer asteroid from killing us all? (NO.....)
In his book, The Beginning of Infinity, Oxford physicist David Deutsch writes:
If a one kilometer asteroid had approached the Earth on a collision course at any time in human history before the early twenty-first century, it would have killed at least a substantial proportion of all humans. In that respect, as in many others, we live in an era of unprecedented safety: the twenty-first century is the first ever moment when we have known how to defend ourselves from such impacts, which occur once every 250,000 years or so.Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris wants to know what you think of Deutsch’s claim, and has set out a brief survey on his blog at the New York Times. Morris told me, "It may seem like another innocuous Internet quiz, but take my word for it—it isn't one." He also said, "There is a hidden question, which I’m not at liberty to reveal, that I think will interest you." and on his blog, he writes "When the results are announced, there will be a surprise."
I'm intrigued! I love surprises, even when they involve killer asteroids
Furious religious establishment figures decry Life of Brian and John Cleese, who parries them masterfully
In this BBC 4 video, apparently contemporaneous with the 1979 release of Monty Python's classic The Life of Brian, a collection of robed clerics from the Church of England (and possibly others?) tell John Cleese that he's been very, very naughty for helping to make the movie, while Cleese and other Pythons parry them. It's quite a ride.
Jul 12, 2012
Somebody get this b****h a hankie please,,,,,,,,,
John Boehner Tears Up At Congressional Gold medal ceremony....
John Boehner wears his emotions on his sleeve.
Here's a close-up.
At a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday, the House Speaker got a bit emotional. He teared up at the event where the honor was given posthumously to Constantino Brumidi.
Brumidi was an Italian artist who came to the United States in the 1850s. The Los Angeles Times reports:
Brumidi crammed the corridors and rooms of the Capitol with scenes from American history. His greatest projects were "The Apotheosis of George Washington" in the Capitol Rotunda, which shows the first president ascending to heaven flanked by women representing the colonies, and the frieze below it depicting American history from the arrival of Columbus.
"The art here doesn't sit idle on display every day," Boehner said. "It summons the building to life and replenishes the soul of the Congress."
Below, two images images of Boehner on Wednesday via Getty.Here's a close-up.
Shouty MP is shouty (our legislators funtion at a 10th grade level)
Shouty MP is shouty
Here's a clip from yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions in the Mother of All Parliaments, the final PMQs in this session of Parliament. The house is crowded and overheated and noisy, and when MP Anne Marie Morris stands up to ask a question about education, the noise level rises, and she begins to shout, and the noise rises, and she shouts louder, and soon she's gesticulating with both arms -- including the one that's in a sling. It's pretty totally insane.
Jul 10, 2012
Jul 6, 2012
interesting.........
Blinky, Short Film About A Young Boy and His Robot Best Friend
The 2011 short film Blinky, written and directed by Ruairi Robinson, is a visually stunning piece that has a few twists and turns that keep you hungry for more
BBQ Pulled Pork Cupcake
Serious Eats recently featured this BBQ Pulled Pork Cupcake found on the menu of Bourbon Steak Lounge in Washington, D.C. This savory cupcake is made with cheddar scallion biscuit batter & barbequed smoked pork shoulder and is said to be worth its 20 minute preparation wait.
photos by
worst job ever?
Sewer hunters of Victorian London
In 1851, Henry Mayhew published the four volume London Labour and the London Poor, an influential work of sociology/journalism that documented the life of working class Victorians. He wrote of "bone grubbers," basically dumpster divers seeking food and bits of household detritus, individuals who spent their days seeking cigar-ends for reselling, and scores of others with strange, sad, dirty, and curious jobs. One of the most interesting groups were the "toshers," sewer hunters who traveled the tunnels and sieved the waste for bones, metal, coins, cutlery, or other valuable goods, all the while avoiding the supernatural "Queen Rat" and "race of wild hogs" (predating NYC's alligators!) that roamed the shafts, according to other historians. Apparently, toshers could earn as much as six shillings (approximately $50 today) for their work. Drawing from Mayhew's work and others, Smithsonian offers a fascinating description of what they call "quite likely the worst job ever":Even after the tunnels deteriorated and they became increasingly dangerous, though, what a tosher feared more than anything else was not death by suffocation or explosion, but attacks by rats. The bite of a sewer rat was a serious business, as another of Mayhew's informants, Jack Black - the "Rat and Mole Destroyer to Her Majesty" - explained.
"When the bite is a bad one," Black said, "it festers and forms a hard core in the ulcer, which throbs very much indeed. This core is as big as a boiled fish's eye, and as hard as stone. I generally cuts the bite out clean with a lancet and squeezes… I've been bitten nearly everywhere, even where I can't name to you, sir
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