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Charlie Brooker in Tokyo: 'In Japan geeks are comfortably mainstream'

2012-02-01T13:19:00.000Z

Charlie Brooker in Tokyo: 'In Japan geeks are comfortably mainstream':

Video game aficionado Charlie Brooker makes a pilgrimage to Japan, a mecca for electronics, games and comics, and feels right at home among Tokyo's unfathomable futuristic madness
• Browse our Tokyo city guide
• See our immersive video experiment
• Play classic games in our arcade

People often cite admirably high-minded reasons for wanting to visit a specific foreign country. An interest in history or architecture, perhaps. A desire to walk in the footsteps of their favourite author or artist. Or maybe they want to make a musical pilgrimage to the spiritual birthplace of jazz.

Bully for them, but that's not me. I wanted to visit Japan because of a video game in which you had to jump over animated turds.

The game was called Kato-chan & Ken-chan – a cheerful platform game in the vein of Super Mario Land, except the lead characters urinated, farted and defecated throughout each level. Kato-chan & Ken-chan was one of many imported, inexplicable Japanese titles I encountered while working in a games shop in the early 90s. Mario and Sonic made sense to western players, but lurking just beyond these palatable mascots was a world of entertainment too strange to ever secure an official European release: fascinating, crazy games full of talking octopuses and jaunty tunes. American games were fun but bland. Japanese games oozed a demented spirit. Unfathomable, futuristic madness: that's what made me want to visit Japan.

Of course, it helps that Japan has, for years, been presented as a kind of Nerd Mecca. Not only is it the undisputed gadget capital of the world, it's a place where being a geek (or otaku) is comfortably mainstream. Former Prime Minister Taro Aso is an enthusiastic manga-collecting otaku, the TV ad breaks heave with glossy commercials for collectible card games, and multi-storey games arcades are commonplace. There's a gadget in every hand. Outside rush hour, the subway is eerily silent: thanks to a strong underground signal, everyone's staring at their smartphones, texting, playing games, or reading. Only after a fortnight did it strike me: not once did I hear a single person actually speaking into their phone on the Tokyo subway. Everyone – and I mean everyone – seemed to be perpetually tapping and swiping in silence. Unnerving to many: to a geek like me, it felt strangely comforting.

It's easy to find grand-scale geek spectacle in Tokyo: just hop on the monorail to Odaiba, a man-made island in the middle of Tokyo bay. There, nestled amongst a collection of Bizarro skyscrapers straight out of Starship Troopers, is Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Here you can watch celebrity robot Asimo go through his paces, or simply gawp in astonishment at the gigantic "geo-cosmos globe": an LCD-clad model of the Earth capable of depicting metrological data in real time. This is what Logan's Run would've looked like if they'd had more money and time. There are also a series of frankly baffling exhibits, including one which, apparently impossibly, projects a gigantic microbe-style creature around your feet as you enter. This virtual floor-dwelling entity then follows you around the room as you shuffle about, interacting with monitors with giant eyes on them, some of which offer to "turn you into a song". It's like a cheese dream on a mothership.

For a more down-to-earth nerd-out, Tokyo's Akihabara district is to geeks what San Francisco's Castro Street is to the LGBT community. It's an otaku paradise, an overwhelming whirl of shops selling electronics, games and comics. Any object you can conceive of having a USB attachment poking out of it is for sale, along with several hundred thousand that you can't.

I'd been looking forward to browsing the shelves for zany gadgets, but the reality was slightly disappointing. Smartphone apps have replaced many of the charmingly pointless Japanese gizmos that used to be pop up on late-90s travel shows. More significantly, the west has become overtly tech-obsessed too. At home, we're routinely battered over the head with so many miraculous widgets, a sort of amazement fatigue has set in. So while in Japan you can easily stumble across a remote-control tissue box or a battery-operated planetarium for your bathroom (by which I mean a waterproof Saturn-shaped orb that floats in the bath and projects the entire visible universe onto the ceiling), the sense of surrounding novelty has diminished. It's less "WTF", more "yeah, that figures". Touring the electronic shops is still an entertainment in itself: I was merely surprised to discover I didn't actually want to buy anything.

One of the few places I did want to spend money was in the arcades. In Britain, arcades have largely died out: we play at home, on Xboxes and PlayStations. Consoles are even more widespread in Japan, of course, but for many, finding the time and space to play in comfort is tricky. Home is often a cramped flat for all the family. Hence the evolving use of manga cafes (or mangakissa) for the nerd seeking a bit of peace and quiet. Originally these were internet cafes where otaku could gather to drink coffee and read comics: they've subsequently morphed into surrogate bedroom services. For an hourly fee you can hire a private cubicle containing a TV, a BluRay player, a computer, a games console, a stereo … everything you'd find in a techno-savvy twentysomething's home den, right down to the bed (increasing numbers of people sleep in these bedrooms-for-hire overnight: they're open 24 hours and are considerably cheaper than a capsule hotel).

Given this environment – herds of itinerant otaku wandering the streets – the continued survival of games arcades in Japan makes sense. But these are a far cry from the traditional British seaside arcade packed with flickery old Track and Field cabinets. These are bleeping, whirring, multistorey citadels filled with people doing things that scarcely make sense to an outsider. Let's run through a typical example, level-by-level …

On the ground floor: endless rows of what the Japanese call "UFO grabbers" – those familiar fairground games in which you make a doomed attempt to grab an underwhelming prize using a mechanised claw. They seem to love these things, despite the fact that to the best of my knowledge no human being has ever successfully extracted a prize from one. Failure booths, I call them.

Go up a floor and the crazy video-gaming begins. Given the competition from home consoles, arcade machines have to offer something different. Case in point: Cho Chabudai Gaeshi ("Flipping the Tea Table Game") which consists of an arcade cabinet with a small table attached to it. It's actually more of a stress reliever than a game: the aim is to vent your frustration by hammering furiously on the tabletop before tipping the whole thing over in a rage. Time it properly and you'll cause maximum on-screen chaos. My favourite level was set in an office, with the table doubling as a desk: upend your workstation at just the right moment and you'll send co-workers plummeting out of the window to their deaths.

Above that: a floor filled with super-advanced photo booths known as purikura – essentially digital dressing-up boxes. There are two main uses of a purikura: either jostle in with a bunch of friends to commemorate a night out, or, if you're a teenage girl and/or a psychopath, spend hours perfecting your costume before having your image digitally altered until you resemble a creepily infantilised manga cover girl.

Top floor: a roomful of sombre youths vying for individual supremacy using some form of networked arcade strategy game that uses collectible cards. Imagine witnessing a game of bridge being played in the Cabinet War Rooms in the year 2072 AD. Some of the games are based around recognisable sports (like football), others around ancient samurai conflicts – but whatever the theme, the nature of the action is absolutely impenetrable to the casual onlooker. The players may as well be communicating psychically. I had no idea what I was looking at: the one thing I did know was that this unfathomable futuristic madness was precisely the sort of thing I'd come to Japan to see. Somehow, I was home.

• Virgin Atlantic (0844 2092 770, virginatlantic.com) flies from London Heathrow to Tokyo from £846pp return. Mandarin Oriental Tokyo (00800 28 28 38 38, mandarinoriental.com/tokyo) offers rooms from £357 per night, B&B. Conrad Tokyo (+81 3 6388 8000conradhotels.com) has Bay View Rooms from ¥42,000 (around £350). The Peninsula Tokyo (+81 3 6270 2888, peninsula.com) costs from £374 B&B, excluding taxes, for a superior room.

Specialist operator Inside Japan (0117 370 9751, insidejapantours.com) offers small group tours, self-guided or fully tailor-made trips. Its 14-night Best of Japan self-guided holiday, which includes stays in the mountains of Hakone, on the island of Miyajima and in the craft town of Takayama as well as Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, costs £2,280pp, excluding flights and local transport. For more information go to the Japan National Tourism Organization website: seejapan.co.uk

Charlie Brooker

10 Most Common Failures of the Consoles of Yesteryear

2012-01-31T13:27:00.000Z

10 Most Common Failures of the Consoles of Yesteryear:

Game consoles. They are our life, our love, our best escape until someone finally gets around to inventing the Holodeck. Unfortunately, like anything mass-produced from the same source, they are certain to have a few... glitches (kind of like the Royal Family). Most present in people's minds is the Red Ring of Death, the blinking red indication that your Xbox 360 has up and died.

However, almost every single console since time immemorial (i.e., 1977) had had its own glaring problem, which frustrated nerds then just as much as the RRoD does today. Take an aggravating walk down down the Hall of Videogame Console Failures Past, won't you?

Continue reading "10 Most Common Failures of the Consoles of Yesteryear" >

Does Your Motorcycle Look Too Cool? Then Get The Boxx Bike!

2012-01-31T08:05:00.000Z

Does Your Motorcycle Look Too Cool? Then Get The Boxx Bike!:

It may not be a guaranteed in for the biker gang of your choice, but at least you don’t have to put gas in it! The BOXX electric bike is the new square way to get around town without negatively impacting the environment, although people may complain that it’s a bit of an eyesore.

It goes up to 35 mph, so you won’t really be hitting the highway on this bad boy, but maybe the light (120 lbs.) and short (36 inches long) body style is what you’re looking for, like when you need to pick it up and run away from that biker gang you tried to join.

Link

10 Secrets of the Vatican Exposed

2012-01-30T07:43:00.000Z

10 Secrets of the Vatican Exposed:

Vatican City may have fewer than 1,000 citizens and span only 110 acres, but it also has a multimillion-dollar budget and an unbelievably complex history. Understanding how it all works requires parsing through centuries of religious texts. Is the Vatican confusing and mysterious? Is the Pope Catholic? Here’s a look behind the scenes.

1. Regular Exorcise!

Baudelaire once said that “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.” But in modern-day Vatican City, the devil is considered alive and well. The former Pope John Paul II personally performed three exorcisms during his reign, and the current Pope Benedict XVI is expanding the ranks of Catholic-sponsored exorcists throughout the world. In fact, Father Gabriele Amorth, the Church’s chief exorcist, claims to expel more than 300 demons a year from the confines of his Vatican office, and there are more than 350 exorcists operating on behalf of the Catholic Church in Italy alone. Amorth also teaches bishops how to tell the difference between satanic possession and psychiatric illness, noting that those who suffer from the former seem to be particularly repulsed by the sight of holy water and the cross.

2. Where Thieves Go to Prey

With 1.5 crimes per citizen, Vatican City has the highest crime rate in the world. It’s not that the cardinals are donning masks and repeatedly robbing the bank, it’s just that the massive crowds of tourists make Vatican City a pickpocket’s paradise. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Vatican has no working prison and only one judge. So most criminals are simply marched across the border into Italy, as part of a pact between the two countries. (The Vatican’s legal code is based on Italy’s, with some modifications regarding abortion and divorce.) Crimes that the Vatican sees fit to try itself—mainly shoplifting in its duty-free stores—are usually punished by temporarily revoking the troublemaker’s access to those areas. But not every crime involves theft. In 2007, the Vatican issued its first drug conviction after an employee was found with a few ounces of cocaine in his desk.

3. The Worst Confessions

Some sins are simply too much for a local bishop to forgive. While priests can absolve a sin as serious as murder (according to the Church), there are five specific sins that require absolution from the Apostolic Penitentiary. This secretive tribunal has met off and on for the past 830 years, but in January of 2009, for the first time ever, its members held a press conference to discuss their work.

Three of the five sins they contemplate can only be committed by the clergy. If you’re a priest who breaks the seal of confession, a priest who offers confession to his own sexual partners, or a man who has directly participated in an abortion and wants to become a priest, then your case must go before the tribunal to receive absolution. The other two sins can be committed by anyone. The first, desecrating the Eucharist, is particularly bad because Catholics believe that the bread and wine transubstantiate into the body and blood of Christ. Messing with them is like messing with Jesus. And then, there’s the sin of attempting to assassinate the Pope. That one’s pretty self-explanatory.

The meetings of the Apostolic Penitentiary are kept confidential because they’re a different form of confession. The sinner is referred to by a pseudonym, and only the Major Penitentiary, Cardinal James Francis Stafford, decides how the sin shall be dealt with. Presumably, a bunch of Hail Marys doesn’t cut it.

4. Read the Pope’s Mail

The Vatican Library. (Image credit: Flickr user Francesco Costa)

The Vatican’s secret archives haven’t been truly secret since Pope Leo XIII first allowed scholars to visit in 1881. Today, it’s even more accessible. Outsiders are free to examine the correspondences of every pope for the past 1,000 years, although there is one catch: Guests have to know exactly what they’re looking for. With 52 miles of shelves in the archives, the librarians prohibit browsing.

The most famous letter there is probably Henry VIII’s request that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon be annulled, which Pope Clement VII denied. Henry divorced Catherine anyway and married Anne Boleyn (and four other women), leading to Rome’s break with the Church of England. The archives also contain an abundance of red ribbons, which were used to bind 85 petitions from English clergyman and aristocrats.

5. The Pope Likes to Text Message

Pope Benedict XVI routinely sends text messages of his homilies to mobile subscribers around the world, and in 2009, the Vatican opened up an official YouTube channel to show various Papal addresses and ceremonies. The Vatican even released an iPhone application that contains multilingual versions of the Breviary prayer book and the prayers of daily mass. But the Pope’s enthusiasm for technology isn’t limited to cell phones and the Internet. The Vatican has also added solar panels to the roof of the Pope Paul VI auditorium as part of its commitment to fight climate change.

6. They Have the Finest Swiss Bodyguards

(Image credit: Flickr user Robert Young)

Nowadays, the Swiss have a reputation for pacifism, but back in the 1500s, they were considered an unstoppable military force. Swiss armies were renowned for the their mastery of a weapon called the halberd, a deadly combination of a spear and an axe, and their ground troops were famous for routinely demolishing legions of enemies on horseback. After Pope Julius II witnessed their ferocity in battle 500 years ago, he recruited a few soldiers to become his personal bodyguards. Ever since, Swiss Guards have pledged fidelity to the Pope, sometimes dying for the cause. During the sacking of Rome in 1527, for instance, three quarters of them were killed while providing cover for Pope Clement VII to escape.

Today, the hundred or so members of the Swiss Guard spend most of their time bedecked in Renaissance garb, twirling their halberds in ceremonies or manning checkpoints around the Vatican. When the Guards are actually protecting the Pope, they wear plain clothes and carry distinctly modern weapons.

7. The Mafia Dipped into the Collection Plate

In The Godfather: Part III, a shady deal between the mafia and the Vatican leads to the murder of the Pope. Was this based on a true story? Possibly. On the morning of September 29, 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead, sitting up in his bed, after only 33 days in office. Although Vatican officials claimed the 65-year-old pope died of a heart attack, there was never an autopsy, and at the time, the Vatican definitely had ties to organized crime. Sure enough, in 1982, Vatican Bank president Father Paul Marcinkus resigned from his post after a series of scandals exposed the bank’s ties to the mafia. Eventually, the bank had to repay more than $200 million to its creditors. But Marcinkus was never indicted of a crime. And though he was suspected of being involved in several mysterious deaths, including Pope John Paul I’s, Marcinkus successfully claimed diplomatic immunity in the United States and retired to Arizona in 1990.

8. There’s No Vice-Pope

Once a cardinal becomes the Pope, he’s the designated leader of the Catholic Church and God’s representative on Earth for the rest of his life. As with Supreme Court justices, he can resign before his death, but that’s unlikely. (It’s been more than 500 years since the last papal resignation.) Further, as modern medicine improves, even seriously ill people tend to stick around longer, meaning that a Pope could be alive but unable to perform his duties for years, as was the case with John Paul II. What happens then? Well, no one is really sure. A cardinal can take over the Pope’s responsibilities as the Vatican’s head of state, but no one else is allowed to carry out his ceremonial duties. In the end, many masses and benedictions simply go unperformed until the Pope either passes away or recovers.

9. Faith-Based Economics

The Vatican needs several hundred million dollars per year to operate. Its many financial responsibilities include running international embassies, paying for the Pope’s travels around the world, maintaining ancient cathedrals, and donating considerable resources to schools, churches, and health care centers. So where does that money come from? Catholics pay tithes to their local parishes and donate about $100 million every year to the Vatican itself. But collection plates aren’t the Vatican’s only source of money. The city-state also gets cash from books, museums, stamps, and souvenir shops. (Get your limited-edition Vatican euros here!)

But that’s not always enough. By the end of 2007, the city-state was $13.5 million in the hole. Part of the problem was the weakened American dollar, which translated into less purchasing power. Another contributing factor was the lackluster performance of the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. To boost subscriptions, the Pope has asked the editor to spice up the layout with more photos and allowed him to cover world news stories in addition to the traditional religious fare.

10. Even the ATMs Are in Latin

(Image credit: Flickr user Seth Schoen)

The Vatican Bank is the only bank in the world that allows ATM users to select Latin to perform transactions. That’s just one symbol of the Holy See’s continued devotion to the language. Pope Benedict XVI has been particularly passionate about reviving the language and purportedly holds many informal conversations in Latin. (Pope John Paul II generally spoke Polish.)

The Vatican’s Latin Foundation tries to keep the language relevant by translating modern phrases into the ancient tongue. In 2003, they released an updated dictionary that included the terms “rush hour” (tempus maximae frequentiae) and “dishwasher” (escariorum lavatory). Interestingly, the translations can have serious consequences. A recent U.S. lawsuit was brought against the Vatican for conspiring to protect a child-molesting priest, and it was held up for months as the Church’s experts rejected the prosecuting team’s Latin translations of terms such as “conspiracy to commit fraud.”

(Title image credit: Flickr user David Paul Ohmer)

__________________________

The above article was written by David Goldenberg. It is reprinted with permission from the May/June 2009 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Don’t forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss‘ extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!

10 Secrets of the Vatican Exposed

2012-01-30T07:42:00.000Z

10 Secrets of the Vatican Exposed:

1. Regular Exorcise!

2. Where Thieves Go to Prey

3. The Worst Confessions

4. Read the Pope’s Mail

The Vatican Library. (Image credit: Flickr user Francesco Costa)

5. The Pope Likes to Text Message

6. They Have the Finest Swiss Bodyguards

(Image credit: Flickr user Robert Young)

7. The Mafia Dipped into the Collection Plate

8. There’s No Vice-Pope

9. Faith-Based Economics

10. Even the ATMs Are in Latin

(Image credit: Flickr user Seth Schoen)

(Title image credit: Flickr user David Paul Ohmer)

__________________________

The above article was written by David Goldenberg. It is reprinted with permission from the May/June 2009 issue of mental_floss magazine.

Don’t forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss‘ extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!

The facts of knife

2012-01-27T13:05:00.000Z

The facts of knife:

By Kurt Michael Friese

The only thing separating you from eating sustainably on the cheap might be a nice, sharp blade — and the knife skills to use it.

Cooking at home — from scratch — makes it possible for many of us to afford to eat local and organic foods. But the number one barrier people have to cooking at home is time. And, for amateur cooks, following recipes is much more time-consuming without strong knife skills.

The more capable you are in the kitchen, the more flexibility you have when it comes to buying and eating whole, less processed (often more affordable) foods. For instance, two people can get three meals out of one whole chicken for about the same price as buying two pre-cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts. (Of course, the vegetarian equivalent may not apply exactly, but you’ll eat more veggies for your dollar if you’re comfortable cutting and cooking them at home).

Not that everyone who cooked has knife skills. I cringe in fingernails-on-chalkboard agony when I watch home cooks – and yes, the occasional pro – try to steady a whole onion with a dull blade and their fingers fully extended. What should take about 30 seconds takes 5 minutes, and that’s without a trip to the first aid kit or the hospital. Then they move on to the chicken and I have to look away.

The single most important thing you need to improve your knife skills is a sharp edge. Nothing is more dangerous in the kitchen than a dull blade; it ruins the food and slows you down. If you have the means, there are spectacular knives to be had out there to suit virtually any taste or style, (Here’s a great guide to knives from chef and cooking instructor Samin Nosrat). The main advantage to the expensive knives, apart from the envy of your friends, is that they hold an edge longer, require less maintenance, and last longer. But the cheap-o blades will suffice if you have a good sharpener and run them across a honing steel before each use.

Let’s talk about the difference between sharpening and honing: sharpening repairs an edge, honing maintains it. You’ve probably seen the chefs in their stovepipe toques at the carving station during Sunday brunch, methodically rubbing their carving knives against what appears to be a steel rod on a handle. That rod is

electroplated with industrial diamond dust, and it removes the spurs, wire edge, and other minor flaws on an edge to keep it sharper longer. Not nearly as expensive as it may sound, the diamond dust is the same manufactured diamond that is in the needle of a good turntable. It will last forever, and all it needs for care is an occasional wash with warm soapy water.

Eventually however every knife needs to be taken to a sharpening stone. There are dozens of styles of stones but they all do approximately the same thing – they remove small amounts of metal to re-carve the v-shaped edge needed for effective cutting. The more effective your honing (and the better the quality your blade), the less you’ll need a sharpening stone.

Grip is also important element. Grasp the handle of the knife as if you were shaking hands with it, and wrap your index finger around the hilt for better control (not extended forward along the spine). Don’t hold it too firmly, this will only lead to accidents and make you tire sooner. Your guide hand (that’s the one holding the

food rather than the knife) should always have the fingers curled under, a little like a hermit crab. This way the guide hand’s knuckles act as a guide as they meet the flat side of the knife.

Cutting techniques vary widely according to the food’s shape. But it’s a good rule to always keep the largest, flattest side of the food face down on the cutting surface. This provides stability so it’s less likely to roll or slip away from you. One other great safety tip: always place a damp rag under your cutting board. This keeps it from slipping around and causing accidents.

Of course like any other useful skill, proper knife handling requires practice. The nice thing is that it’s practice that yields delicious results. All the details behind good knife skills could fill a book, and, in fact, it has. I highly recommend The Complete Book of Knife Skills by my friend Jeffrey Elliot with James P. DeWan (Robert Rose, New York, 2010). It’s full of step-by-step techniques and extremely accurate photography, as well as information about the proper care and handling, and the history of knives.

So get into your kitchen and start practicing. You’ll save money and time and start eating better. And you’ll learn to respect, rather than fear, the blade.

Filed under: Food

Surprise Dance on Finnair Flight to celebrate India’s Republic Day

2012-01-27T08:08:00.000Z

Surprise Dance on Finnair Flight to celebrate India’s Republic Day:

Check out this really cool surprise flashmob type dance routine done by the flight attendants on Finnair to the title track of Om Shanti Om. If all my flights were like this, I think I would travel a lot more. Hell, just this kind of entertainment alone would be worth walking through the X-Ray Cancer scanner or get molested by TSA. What a wonderful surprise for all the passengers. They did it to celebrate India’s Republic day but I think they should do this on all flights. I bet it could even fight terrorism.

The Origin of the Beatles Haircut

2012-01-27T07:55:00.000Z

The Origin of the Beatles Haircut:

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

New York Press Conference 1964

Reporter: Where you your haircuts come from?

George Harrison: Our scalps.

In their early years as a fledgling rock and roll band in the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, The Beatles each sported typical slicked-back, greased-up Tony Curtis/Elvis Presley type D.A. haircuts. In an early explanation as to the origin of the Beatles haircut, George was quoted as saying that he came out of the swimming baths one day, his hair had fallen down over his forehead, and he just left it that way.

The true derivation of the world famous coiffure is a bit more complex. In August of 1960, the newly-0named “Beatles” consisted of five members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, bassist Stu Sutcliffe, and a newly-hired drummer named Pete Best. The band was hired to play as series of gigs in August of 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. It was there that they met two people who were to have a profound effect on their future careers as icon and trendsetters: Astrid Kirchherr and Jürgen Vollmer.

Kirchherr was a very original and creative photographer. One night she saw The Beatles play at a local club in Hamburg called the Top Ten Club (she was talked into going by her boyfriend Klaus Voorman and fellow artist and friend Jürgen Vollmer). Astrid, Klaus, and Jürgen struck up an immediate and close friendship with the five young, talented, and slightly homesick young rock and rollers. Also, Astrid and bassist Stu Sutcliffe almost immediately fell in love.

Using Jean Cocteau’s 1950 film Orpheus as her main inspiration, one day Astrid gave her beloved Stu a new haircut (it was also a style she had seen on many German boys at her college). She washed the grease out of his scalp and combed the locks straight down, over his forehead. Astrid recalled that she originally used the long combed-over cut on her boyfriend Klaus Voorman, to cover up his bog, floppy ears.

(Image credit: Astrid Kirchherr)

Although the exact dates are nebulous, it is indisputable that Stu was the first Beatle to sport the Beatle haircut on stage. When Stu came onstage to perform that night, John and Paul laughed hysterically and ridiculed poor Stu. Stu was soon to leave the band in early 1961 (he died tragically in April of 1962 of a brain hemorrhage at the early age of 21).

George was actually the first of the later famous Beatles to wear the Beatle cut. Astrid recalled (after Stu), “then George came along and asked me to cut his hair that way.” She added that “John and Paul couldn’t decide whether to have the different haircut.” When George came on stage with his hair combed forward in front of an audience at the Top Ten Club “the rockers gave him funny looks” and he combed it back the next day. This was in the early months of 1961.

George Harrison, before and after.

In October of ’61, John and Paul decided to take a spur of the moment vacation to Paris (one of john’s aunts had given him the princely sun of £500 for his 21st birthday). In Paris, they encountered their old friend Jürgen and asked him to give their hair the combed over treatment. According to Paul, “He (Jürgen) had his hair mod style. We said, ‘Would you do our hair like yours? We’re on holiday, what the hell, we’re buying capes and pantaloons, throwing caution to the wind.’ He said ‘No, boys, I like you as rockers. You look great.’ But we begged him enough. So he said alright. We sat down in his hotel and we just got it. The Beatle cut.”

The new Beatle cut was not without its early drawbacks. Their road manager Neil Aspenall recalled, “The boys were an easy target for troublemakers who attended those early dates. Gangs would often make it a point of shouting insults at them. It was their childish way of looking for a fight or getting back at the Beatles because their girls thought so much of them.”

In August of 1962, drummer Ringo Starr was asked to join the band. Drummer Pete Best never joined John, Paul, and George in combing his hair in their new over-the-forehead look. His hair was too curly. When later asked why he never combed his hair into a Beatle cut, he replied, “They never asked me.” This bit of non-conformity, while not the entire reason, was probably one of the contributing factors when when the Beatles decided to give poor Pete the sack after two years of loyal drumming with them.

At the time, Ringo not only had a greasy swept-back haircut, he also sported a stylish beard. Ringo recalled John’s phone call to him, asking him to join the Beatles. “You can keep your sidies (sideburns), but lose the beard,” he was instructed. Early publicity photos, as well as Ringo’s picture on the Beatles’ first album Please Please Me, show Ringo clean-shaven, but still with a slightly swept-back coiffure.

By late 1962, the Beatle haircut was firmly established as an easily-recognizable part of the Beatles joint persona. In the early months of 1963, the band had already gotten used to being referred to as “the four moptops” by the British press. In September of 1963, The Beatles record “She Loves You” was played on Dick Clark’s popular dance show American Bandstand. According to Newsweek, when kids saw a photo of four long-haired kids, they just laughed. The record received a mediocre 73 rating in the “Rate A Record” segment of the show.

When they first came to America in February of 1964, TIME magazine referred to their hair as “mushroom haircuts.” Besides the obvious Beatles wigs, the Fab Four cottage industry also spawned Beatle hairbrushes, Beatle combs, and Beatle hairspray. Their then-controversial haircuts became fodder at every Beatle press conference.

John stated that he hadn’t visited an actual barber in years; George cut his hair when they were on tour and his wife Cynthia cut it when he was home. Ringo’s girlfriend Maureen Cox, a hairdresser by trade, cut his hair (the two married in February of 1965).

On the Beatles tour of Australia in mid-1964, two girls named Grace Ferrigno and Val Bahrens got to cut John, Paul, and Ringo’s hair in Melbourne (George was out at the time on a “scenic mountain drive.”) Later, the girls tried to sell the precious sheared locks of hair outside Festival Hall. They ended up making no sales. No one believed the hair was real.

Interestingly, when asked in an early interview about what his future goals were, Ringo stated, quite sincerely, that his dream was to own a string of hair salons. Although he led an incredibly successful life with huge accomplishments, this was one goal Ringo was never to achieve.

Unbelievable iPhone 4 Tech Support Call

2012-01-26T07:20:00.000Z

Unbelievable iPhone 4 Tech Support Call:

This is real, right?

Links for today!

For Everyone:

Download our new Android App

2011-07-22T12:56:00.000+01:00

Download our new Android App: "Check out our new Android App ShortlistCompetitions. Get it here http://www.appsgeyser.com/56100"

I’m trying to win an iPad 2 in the iSave, iWrite, iPad competition from PlayPennies

2011-05-19T19:22:00.003+01:00

What is the best way to save some money? Easy, get it for free. I use a website for getting tickets for free films. All the latest blockbusters. I obviously go by myself since "she who must be obeyed" constantly asks about whats happening in the film. This is annoying to me as I HAVE to listen to every word. Thats why I am the weird loner sitting there eating a baguette, packet of crisps and a can of rubicon mango ( Meal deal from local baguette shop...£1.75 for a spicey American baguette, cheese onion crips and can). Why buy from the cinema they charge through the sky!

On of my best freebies, a magnum whilst watching an anniversary edition of " The usual Suspects". Awesome.

I leave you with one other tip for saving money. Buy a basic cheese and onion pizza. Bring home. Cut up some onions, green chillies, anything else you fancy..throw on there and in the oven. Youve just saved the council on picking up rubbish costs...and saved petrol going to the local pizzarium.

Im doing all this because I’m trying to win an iPad 2 in the iSave, iWrite, iPad competition from PlayPennies.com!

Elisabeth Sladen, 1948-2011

2011-04-20T08:11:00.000+01:00

Elisabeth Sladen, 1948-2011: "

Elisabeth Sladen -- better known as Sarah Jane Smith of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures series -- has died today at the age of 63. There are few details concerning her passing, but the BBC is reporting she had had cancer for sometime. Obviously, Doctor Who fans old and young are in mourning for the woman who played the Doctor's most arguably popular companion and certainly one of the series' most popular characters for 38 years. (Via BBC News)

youtube Tuesday: Best illusion ever?

2011-04-20T08:08:00.000+01:00

youtube Tuesday: Best illusion ever?: "

I’ve seen a lot of ‘magic’ tricks in my time, but this one is mind blowing.

[Trooporz]

2010-12-26T12:19:00.000Z

[Trooporz]: "

So here's your "holiday" present world. I drew this comic almost two years ago, everything except the final panel. I just found it in my desk the other day and finished it! So there ya go. TROOPORZ!!1111

David Hasselhoff Is Hoff The Hook

2010-12-24T08:14:00.000Z

David Hasselhoff Is Hoff The Hook: "
I'd try and explain this photo by noting that David Hasselhoff is appearing in a production of Peter Pan in London, but really, there is no explaining this. (Link via The Superficial)

Previously on Popped Culture...

Throw Them At My Hoff Clone

Very Useful Celebrities

KITT vs. the General Lee

This is my ball!

2010-12-23T12:34:00.000Z

This is my ball!: "

Submitted by: ccc

Posted at: 2010-12-23 11:12:56

Blinky, Pinky, Inky And Clyde Go Undercover

2010-12-23T07:57:00.000Z

Blinky, Pinky, Inky And Clyde Go Undercover: "
They were great disguises — Pac-Man never saw it coming. 8bit Fuzz by Pauline Acalin. Not only does she have a great Tumblr site, but she's a great pop culture artist too.

Scammer- Take 2

2010-12-22T15:52:00.002Z

So my beloved Nigerian (may or maynot be Nigerian, but reputations persist) sent me this email. What else could i do but reach for my wallet? What? Have you no heart?

I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE!

Dear Sir/Madam,

How are you today, hope fine. Please this is an invitation for partnership.Can you in all sincerity partner with me?it is legal and 100% risk free.

In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of $10.6 million US Dolars. In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in a Car Bamb Blast in Irag.

Since his supposed next of kin died along side with him at the Bomb blast, there is nobody to claim the left over balance in the account. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in my department decided to seek your assistance and present you to the bank as his Next of kin.

If you accept I would give you the guide lines of how we can achieve this transfer of the balance (10.6Million Dollars) to your account, And we will share the money 50-50%.

I expect that you will give me your telephone and fax numbers for easy communication with you and for more details.

Best Regards
Mr Ahmed Bello.

Cover to the final issue of Batman: Streets of Gotham #21 by...

2010-12-22T08:01:00.000Z

Cover to the final issue of Batman: Streets of Gotham #21 by...: "

Green Lantern by Mike Legan

2010-12-21T08:01:00.000Z

Green Lantern by Mike Legan: "

Times are hard...A good paying off your debt story

2010-12-20T09:12:00.001Z

"It is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works."

How the Hulk Stole Christmas

2010-12-20T07:40:00.000Z

How the Hulk Stole Christmas: "

In Whoville they say that the Grinch's small biceps grew three sizes that day. (How the Hulk Stole Christmas by Michael DelMundo. Link via Herochan)

Elephant Man

2010-12-19T15:21:00.000Z

Elephant Man: "

Submitted by: ray3c

Posted at: 2010-12-19 17:34:45

See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/60234

Difference between citizens and parliamentarians

2010-12-19T12:31:00.000Z

Difference between citizens and parliamentarians: "

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, ‘ I cannot accept money

from you. I’m doing community service this week. ‘ The florist was pleased and left the shop.

When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a thank you ‘ card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door..

Later, a policeman comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, ‘ I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week. ‘ The policeman is happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a ‘ thank you ‘ card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Later that day, a college professor comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, ‘ I cannot accept

money from you. I’m doing community service this week. ‘ The professor is very happy and leaves the shop..

The next morning when the barber opens his shop, there is a ‘ thank you ‘ card and a dozen different books, such as ‘ How to Improve

Your Business ‘ and ‘ Becoming More Successful. ‘

Then, a Member of Parliament comes in for a haircut , and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies, ‘ I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week. ‘ The Member of Parliament is very happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen Members of Parliament lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the Members of Parliament.

The day Niagara Falls ran dry

2010-12-18T19:26:00.000Z

The day Niagara Falls ran dry: "

“In June 1969, U.S. engineers diverted the flow of the Niagara River away from the American side of the falls for several months.

“Their plan was to remove the large amount of loose rock from the base of the waterfall, an idea which they eventually abandoned due to expense in November of that year.

“During the interim, they studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the American Falls.

“The team, made up of U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, blew up their temporary dam in November 1969 and six million cubic feet of water once again thundered over the falls’ sides every minute.

“Russ Glasson recently stumbled across the pictures, which were taken by his in-laws, and had been left in an old shoebox in their garage for over four decades.

“Mr Glasson said: ‘My in-laws took these pictures during the six months through June to November that the Army was working to improve the health of the American Falls.’

“Two rockslides from the plate of the falls in 1931 and 1954 had caused a large amount of rock to be collected at the base.

In 1965, reporters at local newspaper Niagara Falls Gazette revealed that the America Falls would eventually cease to flow and stop altogether if the rocks were not removed.

“Four years later, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers were charged with de-watering the falls to clean the river bed and to remove any loose rock at the bottom of the falls.

To achieve this the army had to build a 600ft dam across the Niagara River, which meant that 60,000 gallons of water that flowed ever second was diverted over the larger Horseshoe Falls which flow entirely on the Canadian side of the border.

“The dam itself consisted of 27,800 tons of rock, and on June 12, 1969, after flowing continuously for over 12,000 years, the American Falls stopped. Over the course of the next six months thousands of visitors flocked to the falls to witness the historic occasion.

“Once the engineers had removed the collected rocks from the falls base and made geological testing to make safe the rest, the falls were re-watered on November 25 in front of 2,650 onlookers.”

rex and whiskers: attorneys at awwwwww buy this

2010-12-18T17:49:00.000Z

rex and whiskers: attorneys at awwwwww
buy this: "

rex and whiskers: attorneys at awwwwww

Actually that girl from 'The Ring' hasn't changed all that much...

2010-12-17T22:05:00.000Z

Actually that girl from 'The Ring' hasn't changed all that much...: "

Submitted by: reddit

Posted at: 2010-12-17 11:11:34

What people are saying about iWWWrite?

2010-12-17T15:50:00.003Z

People have been visiting in droves under various guises and leaving comments:

Steve Mobs: Brillliant control and execution of a website. Every aspect of the website has been critically examined, re-examined and EXECUTED.

William Bates: This website needs more versions.

Gandhi: This website is such a peaceful place. I forgot to have my dinner, that's how much hooked to this website I was.

yobama: This website does not need anymore change.

Bony Flair: :)

Ken (Street Fighter): I was immediately hadukened! Good job.

Poptimus Orime: Theres nothing me and the autobots like more than to sit with a nice hot cup of engine oil and read this earth website.

......tbc

This Blog gets a haircut, shampoo, shave, wax, manicure, pedicure..oh and wiped its bum

2010-12-17T15:34:00.002Z

Dear iWWWrite readers

If your a long time reader then you know that i will change the look from time to time. I decided that you as a reader had had enough of looking at a white simple background and felt obliged to bring some colour in your life.

So how are you liking me.....?

Beardfolio by Matt Rainwaters

2010-12-17T15:15:00.000Z

Beardfolio by Matt Rainwaters: "

Beardfolio by Matt Rainwaters

Australia begins test of Wi-Fi via TV antenna

2010-12-17T15:05:00.000Z

Australia begins test of Wi-Fi via TV antenna: "The Ngara system transmits wireless broadband to households via TV antennas. The uplink test was a success, but getting data downloaded remains a work in progress."

Animated Short Created in Google Docs

2010-12-17T08:04:00.000Z

Animated Short Created in Google Docs: "

(Video Link)

This promotional video for Google Docs shows how the utility’s presentation options can be used to create a fairly sophisticated animated short. It took 3 animators 3 days to complete the 413 slides. You can view the file at the link.

via Urlesque

Why Do Siblings Have Such Different Personalities?

2010-12-17T08:02:00.000Z

Why Do Siblings Have Such Different Personalities?: "

Why do siblings – despite having much of the same genes and upbringing – grow up to be have such different personalities?

NPR’s Alix Spiegel explores:

Then in the 1980s, a researcher named Robert Plomin published a surprising paper in which he reviewed the three main ways psychologists had studied siblings: physical characteristics, intelligence and personality. According to Plomin, in two of these areas, siblings were really quite similar.
Physically, siblings tended to differ somewhat, but they were a lot more similar on average when compared to children picked at random from the population. That’s also true of cognitive abilities.
"The surprise," says Plomin, "is when you turn to personality."
Turns out that on tests that measure personality — stuff like how extroverted you are, how conscientious — siblings are practically like strangers.
"Children in the same family are more similar than children taken at random from the population," Plomin says, "but not much more."
In fact, in terms of personality, we are similar to our siblings only about 20 percent of the time. Given the fact that we share genes, homes, routines and parents, this makes no sense. What makes children in the same family so different?

Link – via Cliff Pickover’s Reality Carnival

Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman by Steffi Schütze

2010-12-17T07:41:00.000Z

Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman by Steffi Schütze: "

Thor Thursday by Jarreau Wimberly

2010-12-17T07:40:00.001Z

Thor Thursday by Jarreau Wimberly: "

Thor Thursday by Jarreau Wimberly

Revenge

2010-12-17T07:40:00.000Z

Revenge: "

Hello. Here’s a comic I made for your enjoyment purposes.

Oh, and I’ve gotten a ton of StumbleUpon traffic these past couple days, so a special greeting goes out to any new visitors, followers and subscribers!

You STILL Wouldn’t Want To Get Stuck In The Front Row

2010-12-16T22:10:00.000Z

You STILL Wouldn’t Want To Get Stuck In The Front Row: "

You don’t need it, but you know you want it:

This is a movie theater. A mobile movie theater. A mobile solar-powered movie theater that seats eight adults or twelve kids. It’s a conversion of an old trailer that an environmental media group in the U.K. had converted into the “Sol Cinema,” and it’s meant to encourage people to make environmental films.

Yeah, whatever. I want it because it’s just weirdly cool. Although it could use a concession stand and restrooms.

HT: BBC, GeekChicDaily, Treehugger; Pics: Sol Cinema

The Apprentice Week 11: Lord Thunderdome And The Swift Execution

2010-12-16T12:42:00.000Z

The Apprentice Week 11: Lord Thunderdome And The Swift Execution: "

When he finds himself in times of trouble, the Good Lord ain’t got no truck with that blaady Mother Mary type wailing away in his ear’ole. If he wants words of wisdom, he just sends the SugSignal into the Harlow night, and waits for his crack team of superhero interrogators to kapow the smiles from the faces of his candidates.

And who’s on this team? Blammo! Claude Littner, AKA Uncle Irritated, ruthless recruiter. Biff! Alan Watts, AKA Dr Teethy, litigation lawyer and character scourer. Spang! Bordan Tkachuk, AKA The Sour Elf, Lord Sugar’s tech guy and lead nitpicker. And kerboombamdzof! Back for one night only, rustling like the ancient papyri she is now permanently immersed in as if she were a hamster bedding down for the winter, it’s Mount Margaret Mountford Ford herself.

It’s The Interview Squad! And they will DESTROY YOU!

The candidates are summoned by the sexyladyvoice to Viglen, the penile dysfunction/spam email wing of the Good Lord’s empire. Joanna and a still somewhat broken Jamie muttered their apprehension over the sizzling ‘n’ roasting they were about to face. Stella and Chris were quietly and monotonously confident, in that order, and Stuart “I’ve got it in the” Baggs rolled over and snuggled up to his Lord Sugar teddy for another five minutes’ snoozy time.

Stella found herself being mother, trying to rouse the sleeping Brand. Peeking round his door, she asked “Are you decent?” This would later turn out to be an astoundingly astute and prophetic question. Joanna, meanwhile, found a moment to kick the prone body of Jamie while it was lying shuddering on the floor, telling him he was a big scruffball compared to almost-identically-suited Chris. That’s not very nice, whimpered Jamie in response, while Chris smirked and straightened his pocket hanky. If today was the day he went down, then he was going down dapper.

They swished through the brooding and apprehensive London skies in their rain-streaked cabs looking brooding and apprehensive. On arriving at Vitner, Vilger, Viglen, whatever, they stood on the Balcony of Doom and were told this week, there would be THREE firings. Baggs crumpled his face with the strain of calculation. That meant only two would survive. Baggs nodded in knowledgeable agreement.

Then, through the eerily empty offices of Vigbo, like the four horsemen of the passive-aggressive apocalypse, they came: the Interview Squad. And here, in no particular order as they adore saying on that other noisy show on the commoners’ channel, is how they mangled the Apprentices.

Chris was only 15 seconds into his first interview before his motionless features were blown micrometres out of position by Uncle Irritable’s truth bombs. It’s the easy way, no bullshit, or the hard way, veritably paved with bullshit, bullshit dripping off the walls which are themselves constructed of bullshit, Unc threatened. Which was it to be? Gulping, Chris chose the bullshit-free path and crashed headlong into Mount Margaret, who threw back in his face his statement that he was “revered as one of the best theology scholars in the country.” Revered, rumbled Mt Marg? Do you even know what that means? Chris claimed he was revered at school, which makes him the Fonz of theology, raising nun’s habits with the click of a finger and knowing the sweet spot to punch on the church organ to produce a really scintillating rendition of We Plow The Fields And Scatter. Mt Marg sent him on the way with accusations of being nothing but a big academic bragger.

Back for round two with the Unc, and Chris was taken to task for dropping out of a law degree and quitting his cushy investment banking job after just nine months. Quit-quit-quitter, barked Unc, leaving Chris to gasp and splutter that there were perfectly good reasons for all the quittings, and he had no intention of exiting the Good Lord’s Ride until it had come to a full and complete stop. So, you think you’re the strongest in this process, do you? snickered the Sour Elf, in the last interview. Chris pointed out his record-breaking PM-ship, his sales record, blah, blah, blah, but his monotone won out and the Sour Elf drifted happily off into a deep and disturbingly Santa-phillic dream.

Joanna was next up on the griddle, looking from the moment she set foot in the Vijazzle offices that she was a gentle poke away from utter mental breakdown and Alice In Wonderland-style tear-drowning. The Sour Elf starts off gently, with the “So, Lord Sugar. What the hell does he actually do, anyway?” question that wrongfoots someone every damn year. But Joanna was not au fait with the ways of the ‘Strad. Staring sadly into the longest awkward silence ever broadcast on television without the emergency tape kicking in, she admitted that she was unprofessional. Not so, quoth the Elf. Unprepared, more like.

Reeling, Joanna then had to face the furious irritability of the Unc, but he was clearly in his ten-minute avuncular phase. Although he got in a dig about her lack of aspirations after starting a self-confessed easy cleaning business and keeping it just ticking over to support herself, the Unc shook his great blubbering head in shame that she didn’t make more of herself and her business. The Good Lord can teach, he said, but not without getting anything in return. Joanna heaved a great sigh and confessed to the other candidates that the whole thing was mental torture. She should have turned on her foghorn voice to even the scores a little on that.

Now Jamie, who had passed through gloom into a kind of fixed-grin, giggling hysteria. First the Sour Elf unravelled a great deal of his CV purely by tugging at the word “solely” – Jamie was not “solely” responsibly for anything in his business life, it seems, apart from his own tittering downfall – and then Mt Margaret spotted an application quip. “What is interesting about you? That you have a third nipple. Then, two pages later, what’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told? That you have a third nipple. Is that supposed to make me laugh?” asked Mt Marg, appropriately stone-faced. “Nipple,” Jamie chuckled away to himself. Mt Marg was unimpressed and declared Jamie puerile, immature, and deserving of three weeks’ detention. Jamie hung his head like the cowed schoolboy he was.

But that was the least of his worries, as the Sour Elf was not done with him. Jamie, Cyprus estate agent extraordinaire, was perhaps not as extraordinary as he had claimed. A heart-rending tale was spun of an invisible partner who squirreled 50% of the profits from Jamie while doing 1% of the work, but the Sour Elf was sour and would not be moved by Jamie’s frantic blame-passing. Jamie was responsible for getting sales and sales there were none. Thus Jamie was a loser, and the Sour Elf was a winner. Jamie could do nothing but mutter single-syllable non-sequiturs and shake his head like he was trying to dislodge the cloak of low self-esteem shrouding his thought processes.

We are not at Baggs yet. We are nearly at Baggs.

First, we must suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Stella, who revealed that she built her current Japanese banking automoton from the base of a poor kid growing up on an estate with no GCSEs. A rare appearance from Dr Teethy labelled her standoffish, to which she replied standoffishly; The Unc tried to challenge her on her abrupt career change from corporate clone to Knees Up Mother Brown-screeching entrepreneurial wizard, but she smoothly batted away his criticisms. Clearly the most experienced of the Apprentices at this sort of thing, being the sole one who had actually had an interview before, even a low jab accusing her of being nowt but a trumped-up PA failed to rattle her unduly.

And now Baggs. A flying start from the delusional child, as he trilled “Margaret!” on greeting the awesome Mt Mountford. She was most displeased at his insolence, and even more displeased as he expounded upon one of his several million ideas from his Baggs-brain, for a tracking chip to be implanted upon a pet or, to take an example at random, a lone pony escaping from a field of its pony peers. A classic Mountford dramatic-lemur eye-reaction was Baggs’ prize for his assertion that he would work 24/7 for the Good Lord (“And give 110%, I expect?” she drawled drolly), which he accepted with no trace of irony. Dr Teethy went for the opening gambit “You’re not very nice, are you? No, let me finish…” and recounted the Baggs’ affinity for libelling his competitors in newspapers and trampling the opposition instead of promoting his own rapidly dwindling good qualities. Sweat started pouring profusely from the Baggs top lip as he entered the lair of Uncle Irritable and offered his hand to shake, and was left utterly hanging.

The Unc was in fine fettle, channelling the Apprentice viewership by asking what the hell he thought he was doing by labelling himself The Brand like a great bell-end. If you’re so bloody cool, roared Unc, why would you even need a job with Lord Sugar? “I am a big fish in a small pond,” cried Baggs. “You are not even a fish,” countered Unc, “unless there is a hiterto undiscovered fish constructed entirely of bell-ends,” added the viewership. Bellendius Brandus – delicious with chips and hasta la vista gravy.

And the Baggs-beating concluded with the Sour Elf, who’d been on the phone to his Isle Of Man spies, and discovered that Stuart’s claim to be a fully-licensed telecoms doohicky was a fabrication the size of the moon. He was, in fact, a sort-of-half-licensed telecoms doohicky, only having some kind of doohicky license that any man, woman or pony could buy off the internet for tuppence ha’penny. A McKeith telecoms doohicky, if you will. Stuart tried to deny his fibs, distracting the Sour Elf by randomly asking his name halfway through a sentence and attempting to bond with him over the minutae of telecoms technicalities, but the Elf had got out his big Blagger stamp and was stamping the Baggs dossier as fast as his sour, shrunken arms could manage.

Not that Stuart noticed, of course. It was all banter and good sport in the sprained mind of the Baggs. He was watching the hearts pop around him, for he had made a new friend. Telecoms friend!

And they were soon to be reunited – it was Boardroom time.

The Interview Squad were pleased as punch to be in the boardroom, especially Mt Margaret, who had lippyed her higher peaks up nicely for the occasion. There was a certain frission in the room, between the Sour Elf – whose opinions were much maligned along the way – and Karen “Baby Mount” Brady, who disagreed most of all in flirty fervour. Despite the deafening clatter of fumbling footsie under the table, the fab four were able to state their opinions. Joanna: a self-starter but too defensive and needs a business studies GCSE. Chris: a boring droning borehound with a brain the size of a planet, most likely to achieve tumescence when looking at his Record Of Achievement. Jamie: an “I’m-a-key-cog-wheel-cog-something-I don’t know” stammering fool, who blames everything on everyone else and has been destroyed by the Apprentice machinery. Stella: god, that girl can file and photocopy. And Stuart: we’re sorry, Lord Sugar. He lied to you. And he lied BIG.

The Good Lord steamed like a tea-kettle but played it cool. “So, Stuart, how was it?” he asked innocently, after the Apprentices had regrouped and all said the same old nonsense about how much they’ve learned and grown. “Pretty tough, darling,” cooed Baggs, still basking in the afterglow of the Good Lord’s previous praise. But the wrath, when it came, was uncontained. The Good Lord was apoplectic that he had been scammed for so long, and that the legendary Baggs-blag of last week had gotten Liz binned before her time. He fumed. He furied. “Goddammit, Baggs, I hate myself for ever loving you. You’re fired.”

The silence was stunning.

The dominoes fell pretty quickly after that – the tears finally arrived for Joanna as she was told she should leave with her head held high and come back when she’d learnt what accountancy was, and Jamie was angrily dispatched for still somehow being there. So, Stella and Chris. The robot and the statue. It’s the worst Aesops’ fable ever.

Why we will miss Stuart Baggs: “You’ve got to show you’ve got balls and minerals.” Don’t leave us for long, StuBaggs.

Next week: They’re all back. It all ends. And hecklerspray finally sleeps.

A Man’s Guide to Socks

2010-12-16T11:09:00.000Z

A Man’s Guide to Socks: "

This series is supported by Gillette. Learn more about Gillette and its products at Gillette.com. What’s this?

Why Socks?

Socks are an interesting piece of clothing; we pay so little attention to them and yet they’re central to our overall comfort in several ways: socks protect our feet from abrasion, wick away our perspiration, and keep our dew beaters snug in our shoes. They’re also a small detail that can either pull your outfit together or serve as an unwelcome distraction.

Today we’ll give this often overlooked piece of clothing a thorough look over, if for no other reason than to ensure that when you spend your hard earned dollars you are buying the best socks for your needs.

Common Rules Concerning Socks

1. Your socks should match one another and not have holes or visible stains

Now some of you are thinking this is incredibly obvious; however, I mention this rule for those of you who fail to see the problem here. Assuming you keep your shoes on and never expose your torn and mismatched socks, there very well may not be an issue. But for most of us, failing to heed this rule is going to lead to an embarrassing situation when we unexpectedly have to remove our shoes; instead of striking up a conversation with a potential business partner, we’ll be worried about concealing our protruding big toe.

Side Note – it was an embarrassing situation with torn socks at a Japanese Tea house that led entrepreneur Samy Liechti to form the company Black Socks. His genius idea? Provide men sockscriptions, where 3 pairs of black socks are delivered by mail every few months. Wish I would have thought of this!

2. Your socks should match your trousers

A man cannot go wrong following this advice, as it serves to create a streamlined look with no unnecessary color contrast until the eyes meet the shoes. Many men also like this rule as its rigidness leaves no room for interpretation and confusion.

However once a man has a sense of his own personal style, he should feel free to break this rule. Doing so enables him to introduce into his wardrobe a wide range of patterned and perhaps even lively colored socks that conservative dressers would avoid. I’m a bigger fan of a man coordinating his choice of sock with his neckwear and shoes; although more difficult than the aforementioned rule of matching your trousers, the tradition of coordinating your shoes, socks, and neckwear has a 100 year history and can help liven up an otherwise dull outfit.

It would be hard to find trousers patterned like this!

3. Wear knee length vs. ankle length socks

This rule is based off the belief that a gentleman should not expose his bare leg unintentionally. A bit archaic, I know, but it still holds sway nonetheless as the flash of white hairy skin when wearing a dark suit can be distracting. And that’s not what we want.

(Left) Low-cut sport, (Middle) Ankle-dress, (Right) Knee-length

In practice, this rule is hard to abide by as most sock manufacturers do not make socks that rise anywhere close to the knee. The extra material increases the cost of the sock by 25% or more, and most manufacturers are competing on price. If you want knee length socks you’ll need to look to menswear stores vs. most department stores and be willing to pay a bit more.

4. Your socks should match the dress level of the rest of your ensemble

If you’re wearing black-tie, then choose a quality, lightweight, knee-high sock with a sheen appearance. If you’re wearing a sport jacket and grey flannel trousers, heavy wool argyle socks work perfectly. Jeans, a nice t-shirt, and leather casual footwear call for a dark sock that simply pulls the shoes and denim together. A trip to the gym? Here’s where you wear those white tube socks.

Sock Construction

Hosiery knitting machines first appeared around the year 1600, but didn’t start to have a large impact on the industry until 1800 when inexpensive cotton made mass manufacturing profitable. Today modern circular knitting machines and the automation of most of the manufacturing process enables large manufacturers to churn out socks in huge numbers. This has been great in the sense of making socks affordable for everyone; the negative effect is that most socks today are made to be disposable and fit only a small percentage of men well. If you’ve ever bought a pair of tube socks at Wal-Mart that range in size from 6 to 12 you know what I’m talking about – you may get 12 for 6 dollars, but good luck on fit and durability.

Higher quality socks, on the other hand, are manufactured using both better materials and the process for manufacturing them is often 50% longer. More time is spent on creating stronger seams, a higher percentage of hand guided sewing is required, and higher quality controls are enforced. Also, quality sock manufacturers make a wider range of sizes. Although this adds complexity to the line from a manufacturing perspective, from the consumer side it translates into a better fit. On the downside, quality socks can cost 5 to 20 times more than their less expensive brethren. If you’re searching for quality socks, look for ones made in the US or UK as they will typically be constructed with greater attention to detail.

Interested in seeing this process? Check out this video on how socks are knitted, sewn, dyed, and formed in a modern factory.

FYI, socks can also be handmade by knitting, crocheting, or sewing fabric together. You’ll need a lot of time, but a pair made in this fashion can outlast almost anything produced by a machine.

While garters are considered rather old fashioned, they can be quite useful if your socks keep falling down as they keep you from tugging them back up all day long.

Sock Fiber Selection

Wool – The earliest yarns used in sock production were spun from wool. Today wool socks are hard to find in most box stores and their price makes them a luxury for those accustomed to paying a dollar a pair. Often blended with synthetic fibers to increase desirable properties such as strength and abrasion resistance, wool socks are great for hikers as they absorb moisture from the skin and release it outside the sock. In addition, wool has unmatched insulating properties and keeps feet warm in cold weather and cool in hot temperatures.

Cotton – The most common sock material, cotton fiber is inexpensive and durable. When blended with lycra or other man-made fibers it can hold its shape and conform to the foot providing an excellent fit. Cotton socks can be washed roughly with any type of detergent, and although its absorption and insulation properties aren’t on par with wool, its ease in maintenance and overall acceptable performance make it the choice for most.

Cashmere & Silk – A luxury blend suited for dress socks, a blend such as this looks at home when paired with quality dress shoes and a fine worsted wool suit. Lighter than wool, they provide similar benefits with less bulk.

Other fibers that are commonly blended with the above include nylon, acrylic, olefins, spandex, linen, bamboo, cashmere, and mohair. The purpose of these blends is to achieve desired properties in feel, performance, durability, and elasticity.

Types of Socks

Athletic Performance Socks – Athletic socks are worn to enhance a man’s physical performance. From the simple sport cotton tube sock to low-cut running socks with strong sweat wicking properties to specialty designed skiing socks meant to wick moisture and trap in heat, these socks at the least increase comfort and can in an extreme case help a snow sport enthusiast avoid frostbite.

Ski Performance Sock - Photo from Blacksocks.com

Dress Socks – Meant to be worn with a man’s suit or casual clothing, they come in a wide range of materials and for the most part stick to darker colors such as black, charcoal grey, medium grey, bottle green, brown, and burgundy. Lighter shades such as tan work well with lighter clothing. As for patterns, the most traditional one is the classic argyle. More modern “attention grabbing” colors and shades have been becoming more popular and are available from online men’s specialty stores.

Protective Socks – As bulk is not a concern here, protective socks utilize heavier weaves and higher concentrations of insulating fibers. Although this may compromise on fit, performance when it comes to extremity protection is maximized. Socks of this type range from wet suit footwear meant to keep the feet warm despite being wet to Polartec Powerstretch fleece socks meant to worn in extreme cold conditions for a solid week straight when hunting.

Are Socks Optional?

For many men socks are optional. Agree or disagree? Check out this classic AOM article “Going Sockless in the Summer” and leave your two cents in the comments section.

A Man’s Guide to Socks – Conclusion

Socks aren’t the first item in our wardrobe we give thought to; however, they are an important part of a man’s clothing. Like a weak link in a chain, poor quality socks matched with a high quality suit and shoes risks weakening the strength of your entire presentation. And they can keep your feet nice and comfortable whether you’re walking into a boardroom or hiking up a mountain. Understand your needs, work within your budget, and be prepared for whatever life throws at your feet.

Rules on the Proper Wearing of Socks

A Man’s Guide to Summer Dress Part II

30 Days to a Better Man Day 2: Shine Your Shoes

A Man’s Guide to Sweaters

"Get a life": Lib Dem MP tells constituent

2010-12-16T09:24:00.000Z

"Get a life": Lib Dem MP tells constituent: "Bob Russell, the Lib Dem MP for Colchester, is a bit of a pillock but a highly effective one, especially when it comes to self-promotion. When I was growing up in Colchester, he was never out of the local press, first as a councillor, then as town mayor and then as leader of the council before becoming MP in 1997.

As a former local journalist, he knew how to grab attention. He would attend the opening of an envelope if it got him more publicity.

His political skills have not yet been recognised by his own party, let alone the coalition Government (it probably says something about the esteem in which he is held that his most lofty job has been as spokesman on sport for the Lib Dems), yet he is happy being one of those backbenchers whose job is to ask important questions, on subjects like morris dancing and darts, in order to get another page lead in the Essex County Standard.

Today, though, Bob Russell leapt in my estimation for his blunt reply, below, to a constituent who had complained, no doubt in a particularly mean-spirited whinging way, about the cost of the royal wedding next year (seen on Guido). There are some who will criticise Russell for being rude and there are some who will suggest, without seeing the original letter, that the constituent may have had a point, but I salute him.

Why should constituents be toadied to when they behave like arses? Hurrah for MPs who speak their minds! A bit more contempt for the electorate is in order. All this "servants of the people" stuff is rot. MPs are paid (pretty low wages) to represent us, not to lick up to us.

My only concern is that, knowing Russell, he probably leaked this letter to the press himself for the attention. I'm slightly distressed by the poor quality of his English as well.

WikiLeaks inspires feminine hygiene billboards in Pakistan

2010-12-16T07:52:00.000Z

WikiLeaks inspires feminine hygiene billboards in Pakistan: "

Kabobfest blog published the photograph of a billboard in Pakistan, above, and explains:

Pakistan's been a major player in the whole Cablegate fiasco. From the U.S being terrified of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremists to false leaks, heavily anti-Indian and conspiratorial, being spread throughout the country vis a vis some of the most respected newspapers in the region. Thus, it's only natural and appropriate that Pakistanis would try to have some fun with this.

What Wikileaks Failed to Absorb

(thanks, Bassam Tariq)

What happens when an alligator bites an electric eel?

2010-12-16T07:51:00.000Z

What happens when an alligator bites an electric eel?: "

If you enjoy getting angry, here's a video for you.

A YouTube commenter explains what's going on:

I speak a little portugese which is what he is speaking. He said that he was fishing and he caught an eel, he forgot his knife so he called out to his friend to get a knife, but an alligator arrives. He even says at the end of a video 'I have never seen anything like this, I didn't mean for this to happen.'

What happens when an alligator bites an electric eel?

Photo

2010-12-16T07:44:00.000Z

Photo: "

tunnel light

2010-12-16T07:42:00.000Z

tunnel light: ""

Video Game with a Urinal Peripheral

2010-12-15T20:32:00.000Z

Video Game with a Urinal Peripheral: "

(Video Link)

Sega is making a gaming interface called “Toirettsu” which the (presumably male) user controls by selectively peeing on different sensors:

This is a teched out version of those little targets found urinals. Not surprising that Toirettsu is intended for restaurants’ and retailers’ toilets in the hopes that pissing mini-games will result with more customer pee in the urinal and less on the floor. It is also possible for restaurants and retailers to include advertisements on the Toirettsu screen.

Link

TSA Attempts to be Friendly

2010-12-15T17:55:00.000Z

TSA Attempts to be Friendly: "

Bam more TSA comics!

Astronomers Find Evidence Of Other Universes In Cosmic Microwave Background

2010-12-15T15:13:00.000Z

Astronomers Find Evidence Of Other Universes In Cosmic Microwave Background: "

Signatures of bubble collisions in CMB

Stephen Feeney at University College London and colleagues say they’ve found tentative evidence of four collisions with other universes in the form of circular patterns in the cosmic microwave background.

In their model of the universe, called “eternal inflation,” the universe we see is merely a bubble in a much larger cosmos. This cosmos is filled with other bubbles, all of which are other universes where the laws of physics may be dramatically different from ours.

Ref.: http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1995: First Observational Tests of Eternal Inflation

Also see: Penrose claims to have glimpsed universe before Big Bang

Who Watches The Empire?

2010-12-15T07:43:00.000Z

Who Watches The Empire?: "
Missed this Watchman/Star Wars mashup the other day on TeeFury, but biotwist could always put it up for sale elsewhere.

Previously on Popped Culture...
And I'll Whisper, 'Would You Like Fries With That?'
Mr. Watchmen
Jon Stewart Is The Comedian

Birbal in Buner

2010-12-14T05:04:00.000Z

Birbal in Buner: "

Mast Qalandar

Most of us have read or heard the Birbal stories. In fact, we grew up reading those stories. Birbal, a courtier of Emperor Akbar, one of the nau rattan or the nine jewels of Akbar’s court, was known for his quick wit, wisdom and repartee. His stories were always amusing. In his exchanges with the king or other people, Birbal could always turn a point around, and manage to extricate himself honorably from a difficult and embarrassing situation. For example:

“Birbal was in Persia at the invitation of the Persian king. He was entertained and rich presents were heaped on him. On the eve of his departure for home, a nobleman asked him how he would compare the king of Persia to his own king? ‘Your king is a full moon,’ said Birbal, ‘whereas mine could be likened to the quarter moon.’ The Persians were very happy to hear that. But when Birbal got home he found Emperor Akbar furious with him. ‘How could you belittle your own king’ demanded Akbar. ‘You are a traitor!’ No, Your Majesty,’ replied Birbal. ‘I did not belittle you. The full moon diminishes and disappears whereas the quarter moon grows from strength to strength. What I, in fact, proclaimed to the world was that your power is growing from day to day whereas that of the king of Persia is about to go into decline.’ Akbar grunted in satisfaction and welcomed Birbal back with a warm embrace.”

However, all his wit and wisdom did not help when Birbal descended on Buner, as a commander at the head of an expedition against the local tribes.

Yes, Buner, which today is a district of Malakand Division, in Pakhtunkhwa, and was in the headline news for the Taliban insurgency and the subsequent army operation, in 2008 and 2009.

Many of us, even if we have heard or read about Birbal, probably didn’t know that Birbal was ever in Malakand and Buner or, for that matter, in the present-day Pakhtunkhwa.

At least I didn’t know it until, recently, I came across this book “Historical Battlefields of Pakistan”, written by Johny Torrence-Spence, a former British brigadier and military attaché in Islamabad from 2000 to 2004. (The book’s preface is written by General Jahangir Karamat, a former Chief of Pakistan Army and, later, ambassador to the US.)

The book describes the historical battles fought on the territory that, today, constitutes Pakistan. One such battle was the Battle of Malandari Pass, fought in Buner between the Mughal army, led by Birbal, and the local tribesmen, in 1586.

Here is the story, shorn of the military and other logistical details and paraphrased:

Akbar assumed the throne at Delhi in 1556 at the age of 14, and ruled India for nearly 50 years. By 1585, Akbar was at the peak of his power, and his rule extended even to Kabul, Afghanistan, where Akbar’s half-brother, Hakim, ruled as an autonomous governor.

When Hakim died suddenly in July 1585, Akbar, to preempt any incursion from across the Oxus (present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) immediately sent Mann Singh, a reliable general and one of Akbar’s “nine jewels” to take control of Kabul. Akbar also set about widening and improving the road from the Attock Fort to Kabul, through the Khyber Pass.

The area around the Khyber Pass was inhabited then, as now, by wild and fiercely independent tribes, whose main source of income was, and to a large extent still is, extortion from the travelers through the Khyber. (The quantum of extortion and the methods used these days have changed, though.) To police the road through the Khyber, Akbar spent a fortune raising levies from the local Khattak and Mohmand tribes. But the raids and plunder continued.

In 1586, the tribesmen overran the Khyber Pass and even attacked Peshawar, killing the governor.

Akbar thought enough was enough. He asked Man Singh, in Kabul now, to march through the pass and clear it, which Man Singh accomplished, albeit with some difficulty.

Second, to prevent any future attacks, Akbar decided to punish and subdue the tribes in the surrounding areas. To that end, he sent an expedition under the command of his foster-brother, Zain Khan to chastise the tribesmen.

Zain Khan was an illiterate person, but a brave soldier, a tough fighter and a good commander. He started from Attock with a column of soldiers, marching towards Nowshehra and then turning north towards Swat, following more or less the same route that leads to Swat today, he reached Chakdarra, the gateway to the Swat Valley and Bajaur. His march to Chakdarrah was not easy. In fact, he was harassed by the Yousafzai tribes all along the route. In Chakdarra, he started building a fort as a base from where he could lead forays into the adjoining areas.

At the same time, anticipating tough resistance from tribesmen, he asked Delhi to send reinforcements. Akbar agreed, but two contenders emerged for the honor of military command. Both were from among the “nine jewels” – and least qualified: One was Birbal and the other was Abul Fazal, a scholar and historian. Not wanting to displease any of the two, Akbar decided to cast lots. Birbal was chosen, who left for Malakand with a contingent of troops that also included elephants and, of course, horses and stores.

Soon, another contingent was also sent under the command of Abdul Fateh, another close friend of Akbar.

The three commanders – Zain, Birabal and Abdul Fateh – met at Chakdara where Zain was already camped. The three had different personalities and different war strategies. While Zain was a semi-literate person but a tough soldier and a good commander, the other two were educated and cultured individuals with very little fighting experience, if any. Zain wanted the fort built first and then launch the offensive against tribesmen. He thought moving the whole army in the narrow gorges, without a base, would be disastrous, Birbal and Abdul Fateh, on the other hand, wanted the whole army to move into Buner, to the East of Chakdarra, overwhelm the tribesmen, then move south to Swabi-Mardan, beating any resistance that came their way, and reach Attock Fort as quickly as possible. Zain yielded to the other two because of their higher pecking order in the royal court.

The Mughal army, now numbering 16,000, left Chakdarra on 12 February 1586, with Birbal in the lead and Zain bringing up the rear. It immediately ran into fierce resistance. The first hurdle they came across was the Karakar Pass — a steep climb. The pass was narrow for elephants to pass through easily, and the tribesmen continuously attacked the troops. After three or four days, they managed to the cross over the Karakar and descend into the Buner Valley. A war council was held once again. Zain Khan again proposed to build a base in the valley from where to attack the tribesmen, but Birbal and Abdul Fateh wanted to continue the march and fight their way back to Attock. And they prevailed.

But the valley was deceptive. To go south, they had to cross yet another obstacle, the Malandrai Pass. While the troops were camped in the valley, the tribesmen, using their age-old tactics, had already taken high positions on the hills on both sides of the track. The army entered the pass on February 24, 1586. The Yousafzais opened up with volleys of arrows and stones. In the ensuing melee, the route was blocked by elephants and horses. Birbal’s soldiers, panic-stricken and confused, fled into every direction into the maze of hills and ravines, to be slaughtered by tribesmen. Birbal was killed.

Only Zain Khan, in the rear and retaining any semblance of order, stubbornly pushed through the pass, picking up Abdul Fateh on the way, who was cowering under a bush. Having lost 8000 men, half of the army, the Mughal troops finally emerged from the Malandarai Pass into the Peshawar Valley and eventually made it to Attock.

When Akbar heard of the rout of his army, he was angry, and also devastated by Birbal’s death. It is said, he didn’t touch food or drink for two days.

The Yousafzais, meanwhile, flushed with victory, came down the hills and proceeded to attack Attock. Zaid Khan, however, using whatever troops he was left with, beat the tribesmen back. In the plains, the tribesmen were no match for a regular, disciplined army.

Zain Khan remained a reliable general and rose to the rank of “punj hazari” or commander of 5000, and governor of Kabul. He died in 1602 – of excessive drinking.

From here onwards, the Mughals did not interfere with the Pakhtun tribes in the hills. They continued to live independently, as they had always done in the past – until the British arrived. But that is another story, for another day.

Lightning

2010-12-14T04:59:00.000Z

Lightning: "

Submitted by: mydollyaviana

Posted at: 2010-12-13 18:02:45

See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/58399

Fosters Ashes Advert

2010-12-14T04:58:00.000Z

Fosters Ashes Advert: "

Submitted by: YouTube

Photo

2010-12-14T04:50:00.000Z

Photo: "

Batman: Arkham City video game trailer

2010-12-13T19:07:00.000Z

Batman: Arkham City video game trailer: "

Batman: Arkham City video game trailer.

Gladdening Hearts

2010-12-13T19:02:00.000Z

Gladdening Hearts: "

Salaam and Greetings of Peace

It is related that in the late 1970s, there was a young man from Southern California who was seeking spiritual knowledge. He had lived in communes and sought, as the young in every generation do, the answers to life in ancient wisdom and eternal truths. Perhaps partly because of this, he was also estranged from his wealthy and conservative father.

The young man decided to go to India to seek enlightenment and find a teacher, and while traveling a roundabout way through Iran, found himself in Tehran. By fortune or fate, which is another way of saying by God’s will, one of the various people he met there was a darvish, who, upon learning of his desire for spiritual attainment, took him to the Nimatullahi Sufi khaniqh and introduced him to the Master, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh.

The young man had heard of Sufism, but of course had never met a Sufi Master, especially one of such a loving nature and humor and strength of personality. He spoke at length with the Master on several occasions, and after some consideration, became initiated. He afterwards spent some time in Tehran with Dr. Nurbakhsh, and happily considered that his spiritual quest for a teacher had been fulfilled. Eventually, he expressed his wish to go back to California, and the Master gave him permission, but also commanded that he reconcile with his father.

The young man, now on the Path of Love, knew that this was the right thing to do, and wanted to bring back a present for his parents. He decided on a Persian red and blue rug from city of Kerman (Kirman), because he had heard that their rugs were famous for their rich, blue color. It was said that the blue of the sky in Kerman was the truest, most beautiful cerulean blue, because of the quality of the light there. Dr. Nurbakhsh, who was himself born there, was delighted to hear of it, and personally contacted Nimatullahi dervishes in Kerman who dealt in rugs, and arranged for the young man to purchase a high quality Kermani rug at a fair price.

Some time passed, and the young man, once again living in his parents house, received word that Dr. Nurbakhsh was arriving in Los Angeles to visit the just purchased khaniqah there. The young man was very happy to hear it, and his parents, to thank the Master for bringing back their prodigal son, invited Dr. Nurbakhsh and the dervishes traveling with him to tea on their arrival.

The Master was jet-lagged and very tired, but he accepted the invitation, and they made the long drive to the parent’s large and palatial home.

The father answered the door in shorts and a Polo shirt, and shook hands with the Master. “Hi! Glad to meet you!” he said, looking somewhat suspiciously at the foreign-looking gentleman and his entourage. The Master shook his hand warmly, and through an interpreter, expressed his thanks for the kind invitation. The dervishes, however, were nonplussed that this American man treated their Master so casually, instead of with the awe and respect they were used to, but the Master thought nothing of it, and just smiled and put them all at ease.

As tea was being served, out of the picture window overlooking the back deck, they watched the sun setting over the Pacific ocean. The slanted light was particularly lovely on the blue of the Kermani rug at their feet. The young man sat with the dervishes, smiling at his parents, who wholeheartedly thanked the Master for all he had done to bring them back together.

Finally, as they said their goodbyes, and the Master got into the car for the long ride back to the new khaniqah, he looked very tired after the long day, having used the last reserves of his energy for the ride to pay his respects to the young man’s parents. Some of the dervishes could not help but wonder why he went through so much trouble.

As if in answer, he suddenly said, “Alhamdulillah! We have gladdened one heart today. That is all that we do. We gladden hearts.”

And so it is.

Ya Haqq!

Filed under: Books & writing, Commentary, Current Affairs, Islam, Islamic Artists, My writing, Religion, Spirituality & Religion, Sufi, Sufism, Uncategorized Tagged: Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, India, Kerman, khaniqah, Kirman, Nimatullahi Sufi Order, Persain blue rug, spiritual attainment, Sufi, Sufi master, Sufism "

A Generation of Men Raised by Women

2010-12-13T07:59:00.000Z

A Generation of Men Raised by Women: "

“We’re a generation of men raised by women. I’m wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.”

This comment, made by the Tyler Durden character in the movie Fight Club, is one of the most memorable lines of that film and has oft been repeated and discussed. It’s sticking power is surely due to the way it resonated with many men–how it so succinctly summed up their life’s experience. Products of divorced parents, single mothers, or fathers who spent more time at work than at home, these men lacked a vital example of manhood growing up. Oftentimes, not only was their dad not around, male mentors in other areas of their life were few and far between as well. They understand well Nathaniel Hawthorne’s lament in The Marble Faun:

“Between man and man there is always an insuperable gulf. They can never quite grasp each other’s hands; and therefore man never derives any intimate help, any heart sustenance, from his brother man, but from women-his mother, his sister, his wife.”

Without male mentors, many men of this generation have felt adrift, unsure of how to deal with an indescribable but acute lack in their lives.

How did we get to the point where it is possible, as Edward Abbey put it, “to proceed from infancy into senility without ever knowing manhood?”

There are three primary social institutions that have historically served to mold young boys into men: family, religion, and education. Yet the masculine influence of these institutions diminished over the last century. Let’s take a closer look at each.

The Family

During the pre-industrial period, a man’s home was also his workplace. For the farmer and the artisan, “bring your kid to work day” was every day. Father and son worked side by side from sunrise to sunset. Fathers taught by example, not only apprenticing their sons into the trade, but subtly imparting lessons on hard work and virtue.

This relationship was disrupted by the Industrial Revolution, as fathers were forced to abandon the land and the workshop for a place on the assembly line. A clear line was drawn between the home and the workplace. Dad left the tenement in the morning and did not return for 10-12 hours at a time. As we’ve discussed previously, the result of this economic shift was that the home became thought of as the women’s sphere, a feminine refuge from the rough and dirty professional and political realm, the “man’s world.” Children spent all their time with mom, who, as the repository of virtue and morality, was expected to turn her boys into little gentlemen.

The ideal (which was always more ideal than reality) of mom at home and dad at work would persist into the 1950s. This is still a romantic standard many would like to return to, ignoring the fact that such a set-up kept dad away from his children for the bulk of the day, depriving them of his mentoring and creating a culture where his parenting role was deemed subordinate to mom’s.

But at least in that situation dad was around. The divorce rate began to climb at the turn of the century and peaked around 1980 when many states legalized no-fault divorces. And the courts, as they still do today, typically favored the mother when issuing custody rights. Whereas boys once didn’t see their fathers while they were away at work, now they only saw dad on weekends or holidays. And of course, many dads voluntarily fled from the responsibility of their children; the percentage of single parent households (84% of which are headed by single mothers) has doubled since 1970.

Education

Until the mid-nineteenth century, the vast majority of teachers were men. Teaching was not considered a lifelong career but was rather undertaken by young men during the slow periods on the farm or while studying to become a lawyer or minister. Children were thought to be inherently sinful and therefore prone to unruly behavior; they thus needed a strong male presence to keep them in line. As some Christian denominations became more liberal, the emphasis on children’s sinfulness was replaced by a focus on their need to be gently nurtured into morality, a task believed to be better suited to the fairer sex. At the same time, women were marrying and having children at a later age, allowing them more time to teach before settling down. The result was a complete reversal in the gender make-up of the education profession.

In 1870, women made up 2/3 of teachers, 3/4 in 1900, 4/5 in 1910. As a result, boys were spending a significant portion of their day at school but passing the time without the influence and example of an adult male mentor.

Religion

The third institution that has historically socialized boys into men is religion. And during the past century, that religion for a majority of Americans was Christianity. But if the home had become a thoroughly feminized place, the church was hardly a refuge of masculinity.

Women are more likely to be religious than men-and this holds true across time, place, and faith. This means they have historically been more likely to attend religious services and be active in a congregation. And Christian ministers, whether consciously or not, naturally catered their style and programs to their core audience. The Jesus men encountered in the pews became a wan, gentle soul who glided through Jerusalem patting children’s heads, talking about flowers, and crying.

A push back against the perceived feminization of Christianity began around the turn of the 20^th century. Referred to as “Muscular Christianity,” its proponents linked a strong body with a strong faith and sought to inject the gospel with a vigorous virility.

The most visible and popular leader of this movement was the evangelical preacher, Billy Sunday. Sunday had been a professional baseball player before undergoing a conversion to Christianity and deciding to devote himself to spreading the faith. Sundays’ preaching style was charismatic and physical; peppering his sermons with baseball and sports references, he would run back and forth, dive to the stage like he was sliding into a base, and smash chairs to make his point.

Obviously struck by the difference in Sunday’s preaching versus the typical “effeminate” style of the day, a journalist described Sunday in action:

“He stands up like a man in the pulpit and out of it. He speaks like a man. He works like a man…He is manly with God and with everyone who comes to hear him. No matter how much you disagree with him, he treats you after a manly fashion. He is not an imitation, but a manly man giving all a square deal.”

Sunday presented Jesus as a virile, masculine Savior; he was “the greatest scrapper who ever lived.” Here was a strong Messiah, an artisan with the rough worn hands of a carpenter, a man who angrily chased money changers out of the temple and courageously endured a painful execution. Faith was not for the meek and sedentary. Sunday believed that a Christian man should not be “some sort of dishrag proposition, a wishy-washy, sissified sort of galoot, that lets everybody make a doormat out of him. Let me tell you, the manliest man is the man who will acknowledge Jesus Christ.” “Lord save us from the off-handed, flabby cheeked, brittle boned, weak-kneed, thin-skinned, pliable, plastic, spineless, effeminate, ossified, three karat Christianity,” he prayed.

Operating on the principle that “The manly gospel of Christ should be presented to men by men,” in 1911 Sunday started “The Men and Religion Forward Movement.” Week long revivals just for men were held to great success; male church attendance increased a whopping 800%.

Yet Sunday didn’t solve the problem of getting men into the church-going habit. With the advent of new sources of entertainment, Sunday’s popularity, and that of revivals generally, died out and the gender imbalance in religion remained thoroughly entrenched.

The Current State of Affairs

With fathers missing in action, schools staffed by female teachers, and churches struggling to connect with their male members, many of the current generation might rightly feel they were “raised by women.” Where does that leave them and the future of masculinity?

It’s truly a mixed bag. Many things remain less than ideal, but there is also room for justified optimism.

The gender imbalance for Christian churches has continued to increase. In 1952, the ratio of female to male active church goers was 53/47; now it is 61/39, and the complaint that the culture of Christianity is overly feminized remains. But churches continue to try to attract men into the fold, with attempts that range from the sincere and thoughtful (Men’s Fraternity), to the patently ridiculous (Football Sunday-wear your favorite team’s NFL jersey and do the wave!).

The numbers aren’t too rosy when it comes to education either. In the last 30 years the percentage of male teachers in elementary schools has fallen slightly, from 17% to 14-9% (depending on the source). The number is even lower for pre-k and kindergarten teachers; only 2% are male. While more male teachers can be found in secondary schools, there has been a decline there as well, from 50% in 1980 to around 40% today. With boys falling behind girls in academic performance, some education experts are actively trying to recruit men into the profession.

Despite continuing problems in the familial sphere and its attendant hand-wringing (1 in 3 American kids will grow up in a home where the parents are either divorced, separated, or never married), there are reasons to be optimistic about this vital institution and the man’s role in it as well.

While it is popularly thought that the divorce rate is increasing, it has in fact been falling for the last three decades and is currently at its lowest level in 30 years. Among those couples who are college-educated, the divorce rate is only 11%.

I’m also hopeful about the future because of the marvelous wonders of technology. I think our modern advancements will allow a greater and greater number of men to work, at least part of the time, from their homes. And I think this will usher in a new archetype of manliness: the Heroic Artisan 2.0.

While it’s easy to feel nostalgic for a time period like the 1950s, I’m happy to be a dad in the modern age. I don’t work 10 hours a day at a job I hate, come home, play with my kids for a few minutes and then crack open a beer in front of the tv. My father traveled a lot and never changed a diaper. He was a great dad, but I’m loving having a much more hands-on role with our new arrival. Say what you will about the feminism movement, but I’m happy to have been “liberated” from the Industrial Revolution ideal of being the absentee bread winner. If there’s one generational difference I notice between my parents’ generation and mine, is that my generation values time over money. And not because we’re lazy either, but because we’re not willing to trade time with the people we love most for a gold watch at retirement.

Me and the Gus

According to a recent survey, 76% of adults said their family was the most important element of their life, and 40% say their current family is closer than the family in which they grew up.

These statistics bear out the real reason for my optimism about manhood and the family, which is truthfully simply based on the gut feeling I get from engaging and talking with other men in my life. The guys I know who grew up feeling like they were “raised by women” are earnestly dedicated to doing better by their kids than their dads did by them. They want to be as much a part of their kids’ lives as possible. Although it’s not a very scientific sample, in the situations I know of where a family has broken up, it was the guy who wanted to keep the marriage together and wanted more custody of the children. Even when divorce couldn’t be avoided, these men do all they can to remain part of their children’s lives.

Perhaps the biggest reason for my optimism about the future of manliness is, well, the popularity of this website. I’ve been rather astounded and quite humbled by how quickly it has grown over the last 3 years. Some people say that it’s “sad” that men need to learn how to be men from a website. Such criticism seems to be born of an assumption that boys pop out of the womb with an innate sense of everything there is to know about being a man. Of course that’s not the case—we learn how to be a man from the mentors in our lives. And for many men, those men simply weren’t around growing up. Or even if they were–and in what is yet another reason I am optimistic about the future-they still desire to improve themselves, to learn as much as they can and utilize their potential to the utmost. Yes, ideally you should learn manliness from your father and other mentors, and the art of manliness should be passed down from generation to generation. But where there’s a link missing in that chain, we’re happy to stand in the gap–imparting information that you can pass down to your kids, a generation that will hopefully be raised by women and men.

There’s a lot to chew on here, and I’m really looking forward to a great discussion of the topic and hearing what you have to say. Share your thoughts in the comments!

Source:

Manhood in America by Michael Kimmel

probably the best costume ever

2010-12-13T07:48:00.000Z

probably the best costume ever: "

probably the best costume ever

Fairytale

2010-12-13T07:42:00.000Z

Fairytale: "

The Tallest Mountain In The Solar System

2010-12-11T14:19:00.000Z

The Tallest Mountain In The Solar System: "

Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet tall (~5.5 miles), is the tallest mountain on earth (excluding Hawaii's Mauna Kea, which is actually 33,465 feet tall -- only 13,796 of which are above sea level). But it's got nothing on the tallest mountain in the solar system. Nope, Mars's Olympic Mons (not to be confused with mons pubic, the female vagina bone), takes the award at a staggering 27 miles tall. Pfft, I could hike it. I mean I never would because I'm lazy and hate even taking the stairs, but I could.

Olympus Mons is said to have reached such staggering heights the same way volcanoes form here on Earth -- minus one critical difference. Mars doesn't have plate tectonics. So instead of shifting over time to create a mountain range, Olympus Mons probably sat over a volcano-forming 'hot spot' for a really long time.

Oh you think you're sooooo special just because you have the tallest mountain in the solar system, do you, Mars? Too bad it looks like a rotting zombie nip! BURN -- earth's tits are way prettier!

Image of the Day: tallest peak in our solar system [dvice]"

Im watching Rambo- Part 2

2010-12-10T23:09:00.004Z

Im flicking through the channels and finally I stop pressing the "channel up" when the words RAMBO-FIRST BLOOD Part II flash up on the EPG.

Ive seen this film a million times. Its a classic, no doubt. You agree too I know.

The film has just started. The good old Colonel visits an incarcerated Rambo breaking up some rocks with a hammer. He gets a call from a grunt that he has a visitor. He makes his way to the meeting point.

The colonel apologises and gives him a mission. The mission is to go back into Vietnam. What would you expect JR to say?

Ill spare you the pain. His comeback is this: " D0 we get to win this time?". The colonel quickly retorts. "This time its upto you."

So this leads me to put out the question.....Who stopped you from winning the first time? Ha.

Gotta love Hollywood!

Last Year’s Model

2010-12-10T18:24:00.000Z

Last Year’s Model: "

So, Best Buy in the U.S. is doing a promotion Friday: a new iPhone for free with a new two-year contract. It’s a one-day thing, and it’s sure to get a lot of people excited.

But…

It’s the 3GS.

Now, let’s put aside for a moment the controversy about the iPhone 4 and Antennagate and all that. And let’s also put aside the fanboy stuff; none of that “Android roolz” or AT&T-bashing here. Here’s my question:

Are you okay having last year’s technology?

Think about it, then join us after the jump:

iPhones are, of course, especially prone to replacement lust, since they come out with a new gotta-have-it model like clockwork every year. But other phones, and other devices, are the same. For some people, and I count myself as one of them, having a one-year-old phone model or last year’s MacBook Pro is cause for shame. Having a TWO-year-old model? Inconceivable.

Yet I’m not rich, and my phone is not only older than two years, it’s a big brick that runs Windows Mobile 6.1. A year-old iPhone would be a huge leap forward in many ways. But it’s not, you know, NEW. And my MacBook Pro is a 2008 model; the only thing protecting me from spending a couple of grand I don’t have on a new one is that the last couple of revisions don’t feature anything materially better than what I have for what I do. The old one works fine, so not having the new one isn’t quite as painful.

Still, as I look to replace my ancient, creaking phone, I can’t pull the trigger on any model, because I keep thinking that there’s a better one around the bend. If I buy one now and they come out with a great new dual-core AMOLED 4G version the day after the return period’s over, I’ll just… I’ll…

I’ll deal with it, because there’s ALWAYS a better, newer model ahead. But I won’t be happy about it.

Do you have New Model Lust? Or do you prefer to wait for the early adopters to deal with the bugs before you buy a device? Tell us in the comments:

Best Way to Stop Onion Tears? Put Bread In Your Mouth

2010-12-10T15:05:00.001Z

Best Way to Stop Onion Tears? Put Bread In Your Mouth: "

Do you know this tip? To stop stinging eyes and tears when cutting onions, put a piece of bread in your mouth and let it hang out while chopping. Have you tried this, and does it work for you?

Read Full Post

What if your Phone Could Have a Front-Facing Camera Without Actually Having One?

2010-12-10T15:05:00.000Z

What if your Phone Could Have a Front-Facing Camera Without Actually Having One?: "

Video-calling is becoming all the rage and will certainly be a huge selling point for all types of devices in 2011, but there are still some phones, notebooks, and tablets coming without front-facing cameras. While you can still video chat using these devices, it’d be quite the cumbersome and awkward experience (you either won’t be able to see the other person or you’ll have to be in front of a mirror.)

Someone took that mirror idea and actually conceptualized it for the Nexus One. It’s quite simple, really: a clip-on attachment – being called the OneMoreFace – goes onto the top of your phone and has two mirrors: one that grabs your face and sends it to the second mirror that’s pointed directly at the camera sensor.

The designer has plans to put these into production soon, and it’s a great alternative to buying a completely new device just to “SpaceTime” with your “MyFace” buddies. Did I get that right? [via Android Police]

Stan Lee and wolverine

2010-12-10T08:07:00.000Z

Stan Lee and wolverine: "

Stan Lee and wolverine

Neil Armstrong personally responds to an NPR correspondent's rhetorical moon-landing questions

2010-12-10T08:03:00.000Z

Neil Armstrong personally responds to an NPR correspondent's rhetorical moon-landing questions: "

Yesterday, NPR's Robert Krulwich wondered aloud why, after all the trouble it took to get to the moon, did astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stick within 100 yards of their lunar lander?

Today, Krulwich got an answer to his rhetorical question—from Armstrong, himself.

We were operating in a near perfect vacuum with the temperature well above 200 degrees Fahrenheit with the local gravity only one sixth that of Earth. That combination cannot be duplicated here on Earth, but we tried as best we could to test our equipment for those conditions. For example, because normal air conditioning is inadequate for lunar conditions, we were required to use cold water to cool the interior of our suits. We did not have any data to tell us how long the small water tank in our backpacks would suffice. NASA officials limited our surface working time to 2 and 3/4 hours on that first surface exploration to assure that we would not expire of hyperthermia.
There was great uncertainty about how well we would be able to walk in our cumbersome pressurized suit. My colleague demonstrated a variety of techniques in view of the television camera that I had installed in a position predetermined to be in the optimum spot for coverage of all of our activities. Preflight planners wanted us to stay in TV range so that they could learn from our results how they could best plan for future missions.

But, it seems, our boy Neil was not completely by-the-book...

I candidly admit that I knowingly and deliberately left the planned working area out of TV coverage to examine and photograph the interior crater walls for possible bedrock exposure or other useful information. I felt the potential gain was worth the risk.

On a scale of one-to-Buzz Aldrin punching that guy, this is worth at least two good uppercuts.

Read the entire letter at NPR's Krulwich Wonders blog

Image: Some rights reserved by jurvetson

Grown up puppy 6

2010-12-10T07:41:00.000Z

Grown up puppy 6: "

New Thor movie poster

2010-12-10T07:39:00.000Z

New Thor movie poster: "

Aden didn’t choose these labels - he has been forced to...

2010-12-10T07:34:00.000Z

Aden didn’t choose these labels - he has been forced to...: "

Aden didn’t choose these labels - he has been forced to pay the price of wearing labels that somebody else put upon him.

[Credit: ridzdesign

Farook: Fall from Zenith, Part I

2010-12-09T13:15:00.000Z

Farook: Fall from Zenith, Part I: "As I mentioned recently, I met Farook at the zenith of his career. I do not think of Farook as a great salesman: a great salesman can sell someone something they don't want, don't need, and can't afford.

In his prime, Farook was like the sausage millionaire in the very old movie, 'Palm Beach Story.' The sausage millionaire saw a sad young man and offered to help. The millionaire said he'd give the young man the answer to any question except where to buy sausage. Apparently, the sausage millionaire had found a supplier who sold sausages of better quality at lower prices than his competitors, so the sausage millionaire didn't need to be a great salesman, his sausages sold themselves.

Farook found flats renting for half of market rents, partly because of laid back landlords, and partly because there were informal rent controls. Then Farook would sublease the flats for 85% of market rates, then lease them for half of market rates (always in that order, so Farook wouldn't be risking any of his own money). It was a win-win-win situation, with the landlord, without doing any promotion or anything else, getting money for a formerly empty flat, the tenant getting a flat for 85% of market, and Farook getting 75% more from subleasing the flat than he'd paid to lease it, for quite a nice commission.

Then two things happened: the first was freehold. This hurt Farook, who blamed his father: 'My father tell me, if you must drive nail and you have big hammer and little hammer, always use big hammer and drive nail with one blow, no little hammer and must make many blows.'

So Farook hoped to find a freehold villa he could sell for $1.85 million and then buy for $1 million, making a quick $850,000, or about 8 ½ year's income from leasing. I tried, without success, to explain that the market, marketing, pricing, and everything else is completely different between leasing and selling. But he never listened. 'What you know? I selling for 15 years, you never work as salesman.' But he never sold a villa.

Farook tried to sell a school in Sharjah, but without success. The owner wanted $10 million; Farook was asking $4 million. I have no idea what he had in mind, since he tells me he never cheated anyone.

In Dubai, it was once common to find people who would lease a posh villa and a posh office and pay for three months, then sublease the villa from the office. These con-men would sublease the villa for 70% of the actual rental, but to 20 people, demanding a full year in advance in order to qualify for the 30% discount. Once they'd leased the villa twenty times, they'd leave Dubai, and the renters would be out their entire payment. Farook never did anything like that, so I'd say he was more than 75% honest.

Of course, had anyone given Farook $4 million to buy that $10 million school, he would have either explained that foreigners can't buy, the $4 million was just for a three year lease, or he would have sold the buyer a different, $2 million school. But no one bought, and Farook wasted a lot of time.

I tried to help: a lady from the UK said she represented some investors who wanted to buy a school, but she needed the contract, blueprints, and all the other stuff that goes with a $10 million property. 'You think Britania. This Dubai. Dubai not like Britania, here we no need paper. I take you to see school.'

I tried to tell Farook, 'Just give her the papers,' but he told me just what he told the British lady.

Farook had found tenants for his apartments, given them the details to sign, they'd taken the details home, then gone directly to the landlord and gotten the flat for what the owner was asking, cutting Farook out completely. So he stopped giving any documents to prospective tenants. But tenants are not like buyers. And Farook hadn't bothered to get copies of the paperwork, because he wanted someone to hand him $4 million in cash without anything in writing.

But no one ever did. The British lady eventually gave up on Farook and stopped answering his calls. And he never managed to sell a school.

So the freehold caused Farook to waste a lot of time trying to sell freehold, without having any idea about how to do it, since it is not at all like leasing. And his business began to decline.

And soon he had another problem.

TSA subjects India's US ambassador to public grope because of her sari

2010-12-09T11:17:00.000Z

TSA subjects India's US ambassador to public grope because of her sari: "The TSA is refusing to apologize to India's ambassador to the USA, who was flagged for an extended public grope because she was wearing a sari.

The Clarion-Ledger writes Ambassador Meera Shankar was in Jackson last weekend as a guest of Mississippi State University.
'While in town, Shankar met with Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, representatives from the Mississippi Development Authority and members of the Indian community in Jackson, and she spoke to more than 100 people at the Executive Lecture Forum of Jackson,' the paper writes.
Shankar apparently was selected for enhanced screening, even though she did not set of the airport's metal detectors. Witnesses tell the Clarion-Ledger security agents told Shankar she was singled out because she was wearing a sari, which the paper notes is as 'a traditional Indian robe that is draped across the body...'
The Clarion-Ledger writes 'witnesses said Shankar asked for a private screening, but she was led to a clear box where two officers searched her in clear view.'
'She is a very strong woman, but you could see in her face that she was humiliated,' Tan Tsai, a research associate at MSU's International Security Studies center who witnessed the screening, tells the paper. 'The Indian culture is very modest.'

It all goes to show you: security theater means never having to say 'your sari.'
India diplomat gets 'humiliating' pat-down at Mississippi airport

Open You're Suitcase Please

2010-12-09T11:15:00.000Z

Open You're Suitcase Please: "

Submitted by: mshabbat

Karachi’s Airship Hangar

2010-12-09T09:12:00.000Z

Karachi’s Airship Hangar: "

Owais Mughal

Most of our readers correctly guessed the title photo of this ATP Quiz. It was the hangar for airships located at present day Karachi airport.

If this generation doesn’t then I am sure a generation before ours definitely remembers this famous landmark of Pakistan which was called kala chapra (the black hangar).

This hangar was part of a 3-structure complex to house R101 and R102 type airships. The other two structures included a tall mooring mast to dock the airship and in the base of the mast was a hydrogen plant to refuel the airship.

The base of the mast contained buildings followed along the baseline in an octagonal shape. The hydrogen plant had enough gasometers to completely fill the R101 airship with 5.5 million cubic ft of gas.

The photo to the right shows the airship mooring mast at Karachi along with the octagonal base building which also housed the hydrogen plant for airships.

The construction on this hangar complex started in 1927 and complete in 1929. The size of this hangar was 859ft L x 200ft W x 170ft H. In 1920s Karachi airport area was nothing but a desolate desert. In contrast to that landscape this hangar appeared as such a visual magnanimity that for many years it was used as a visual marker for airplanes attempting VFR (visual) landing in Karachi. Due to the enormosity of this structure to its surroundings, local residents of Karachi started calling this hangar as kala chapra (black hangar) – The word ‘chapra’ (or ‘chappar’) has almost become archaic in Urdu used in Pakistan these days. It means a ‘shed’. Many current residents of the city who have seen this structure still recall it by its local name ‘kala chapra.’

The cost of building this hangar complex in 1928 came out to be 93000 British pounds.

Following photo is courtesy of PakistaniAviation.com. It is circa 1941 and credited to Brian Knight.

So why was this hangar and the adjoining mooring mast complex built in Karachi? It was part of a airship communication scheme of British Government in 1924 to connect far fetched areas of British Empire with a airship service. Big airplanes were not available then and those which were available were noisy, uncomfortable and not suited for long distance travel. The mode of transport which seemed to have best chance then were the airships. These offered quiet and comfortable journey for passengers and could lift heavy cargo too. The Imperial Airship Communications Scheme was thus developed to provide mail and passenger service from Canada at one end of British Empire to Cardington, Englad to Egypt in Africa to Karachi in then India. Another leg was proposed to connect India with Australia later on.

The home base of R101 airships was in Cardington, Bredfordshire England. The mooring mast at Karachi was exactly the same size and style as the one at Cardington (shown below) except for the octagonal building at the base of Karachi mast.

A 777ft long airship called R101 was developed for this service in 1927. The width of R101 airship was 131ft and height was 140ft. Airship mooring masts were erected at St Hubert in Canada, at Ismailia in Egypt and at Karachi which was selected as the terminus in then British India.

The length of the hangar in Karachi was kept 859ft so that it could fit the future R102 model of airships which was going to have a length of 822ft. The hangar however never got chance to host either R101 or R102 airships.

On October 4, 1930 the R101 flew from Cardington, England on its way to Karachi but on its maiden flight it crashed in France. This crash essentially put an end to R101 type airships and Imperial Airship Communication scheme of the British Government. Eventhough the airship program got cancelled, the hangar and mast complex survived for 30 more years.

Following is a colored photo from May 19, 1949. This photo is credited from here. It shows a portion of kala chapra and one can appreciate the size of this structure in this photo

In 1952, the Government of Pakistan decided to bring down the complex and sell the metal structure for scrap. The structure managed to survive till 1960 when it was finally brought down and steel was sold or used on Railway structures and bridges across Pakistan. This brought an end to the lifecycle of this unique piece of civil engineering in Pakistan.

Location of Black Hangar versus Isphahani Hangar?

One thing I am not sure myself yet is whether the present day wide-body Isphahani Hangar of PIA is located at exactly the same place where once this Black Hangar stood or is it in a different location. I know for sure the general vicinity of both hangars is Karachi Airport but don’t know if they shared the exact same spot. Our readers comments and citations are sought here. I’ll make the update once we confirm it either way.

Following image is a virtual depiction (credited here) of how the Karachi airship hangar complex should once have looked.

Trivia:

Karachi Airport has a railway station on Pakistan’s Main Railway track. The station today is simply called ‘Airport’. But for few years in the 1920s before Karachi airport was built, this railway station was called ‘Airship’.

Following photo of kala chapra is from the later days when Karachi Airport had been built and operational. Karachi airport’s runway is visibile in this photo. This photo too is courtesy of PakistaniAviation.com. It is circa 1941 and credited to Brian Knight.

SYNDICATED COLUMN: WikiLeaks: The Devils We Know

2010-12-09T08:52:00.000Z

SYNDICATED COLUMN: WikiLeaks: The Devils We Know: "

Cables Reveal Background of Pro-Dictator U.S. Policy

After the Soviet collapse in 1991 U.S. policy toward Central Asia was transparently cynical: support the dictators, screw the people.

As the U.S. stood by and watched, corrupt autocrats looted the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Dissidents were jailed, massacred—even boiled.

Well, actually, the U.S. was anything but passive. They negotiated deals for oil and gas pipelines. They rented airbases after 9/11. They poured in tens of millions of American tax dollars—all of which wound up in secret bank accounts belonging to the dictators and their families. Meanwhile, average citizens lived in abject poverty.

During trips to Central Asia the locals constantly ask me: “Why doesn’t America stop supporting [insert name of corrupt dictator here] so we can kill him and free ourselves?”

Poor, naïve people. They believe our rhetoric. They think we like democracy. Actually, we’re all about the looting. Dictators are easier to deal with than parliaments. One handshake and a kickback, that’s all you need with a dictator.

Central Asia only had one democratically elected president, Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan. George W. Bush ordered the CIA to depose him in a coup.

Americans who care about human rights have long wondered: Is the State Department stupid and/or naïve? Or did the diplomats in Tashkent and other capitals of unspeakable misery understand the brutal and vile nature of Central Asia’s authoritarian leaders?

An examination of the WikiLeaks data dump answers that question: Yes.

Hell yes.

Like those from concerning more prominent countries, the WikiLeaks cables on the Central Asian republics can be funny. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, a U.S. “ally in the war on terror” who seized power in a palace coup following the death of Saparmurat “Turkmenbashi” Niyazov, is described as “the ‘decider’ for the state of Turkmenistan.” This is true. Turkmenistan is an absolute dictatorship in which millions starve while Berdimuhamedov’s inner circle feasts on the profits from the world’s largest reserves of natural gas.

A December 2009 cable describes America’s pet autocrat as “vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative, a practiced liar, ‘a good actor,’ and vindictive.”

According to an unnamed source, the outwardly conservative dictator has a Russian mistress named Marina, with whom he has a 14-year-old daughter. Though Berdy’s power may be limitless, his intellect is not. “Berdimuhamedov does not like people who are smarter than he is,” says the cable. “Since he’s not a very bright guy, our source offered, he is suspicious of a lot of people.”

No one’s perfect. Least of all America’s allies in Central Asia.

On the other side of the steppe in Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev presides over the world’s largest oil reserves with an iron fist. Among his greatest hits: the convenient “suicides” of his top two political opponents a few months before a presidential “election.” The two men apparently shot themselves in the back of the head, then bound their own hands behind their backs and dropped into a ditch outside Almaty.

Needless to say, Nazarbayev is another valuable U.S. ally in the war on terror.

But that doesn’t stop American gossip. Nazarbayev’s defense minister, says an embassy staffer in Astana, “appears to enjoy loosening up in the tried and true ‘homo sovieticus’ style—i.e., drinking oneself into a stupor.” But alcoholism isn’t illegal. Graft is—and the president is public enemy number one.

“In 2007, President Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev, celebrated his 41st birthday in grand style,” explains an April 2008 cable. “At a small venue in Almaty, he hosted a private concert with some of Russia’s biggest pop stars. The headliner, however, was Elton John, to whom he reportedly paid one million pounds for this one-time appearance.” How did he come up with all that coin? “Timur Kulibayev is currently the favored presidential son-in-law, on the Forbes 500 list of billionaires (as is his wife separately), and the ultimate controller of 90% of the economy of Kazakhstan,” states a January 2010 missive.

Membership has its privileges. The U.S. has never spoken out against corruption or human rights abuses in Kazakhstan.

So it’s clear: American diplomats have no illusions about their brutal allies. Interestingly, Central Asia’s overlords have a dismally accurate view of corruption in the U.S. government.

“Listen, almost everyone at the top [of the Kazakh regime] is confused,” First Vice President Maksat Idenov told the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan early this year. “They’re confused by the corrupt excesses of capitalism. ‘If Goldman Sachs executives can make $50 million a year and then run America’s economy in Washington, what’s so different about what we do?’ they ask.”

No response was provided.

Cate Blanchett To Star In The Hobbit Even Though Her Character Isn’t In The Stupid Book In The First Place

2010-12-09T08:46:00.000Z

Cate Blanchett To Star In The Hobbit Even Though Her Character Isn’t In The Stupid Book In The First Place: "

Lord of the Rings fans are some of the most peculiar people you’ll ever meet. hecklerspray was once faced with a nutter who had an exact copy of The Ring on his finger, as well as a backpack, identical to one sported by some hairy toed character from the book. He was sat in a pub and didn’t see anything wrong with dressing up like a pipe smoking tramp from the Shire.

Another fan informed us that they wrote out the first 200 pages of The Hobbit by hand, changing ‘Bilbo’ for their own name.

So it goes without saying that there’s a bunch of strange sorts out there who will be already swooning in anticipation at the prospect of the new Hobbit film… however, it isn’t exactly faithful to the text as Peter Jackson has decided to throw some eye-candy at it in the shape of Cate Blanchett.

Blanchett will be reprising the role of the ethereal elf Galadriel despite the fact the character doesn’t appear in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Hobbit.

Does someone need to set up some kind of helpline or are we all going to be fine with this?

It appears that Jackson might be trying to make a completely sexless book a bit more pleasing for the trouser shuffling nerds. There’s virtually no female characters in the book whatsoever, so maybe we’ll get to see a scene where Bilbo will accidentally wander into a disco forest full of gyrating lady trolls in bikinis made from pipe tobacco?

In other casting news, you’ll be getting Sylvester McCoy (who played the worst Doctor Who) who will star as the wizard Radagast the Brown. Any hope of sexing up The Hobbit died, just there.

There’s a bunch of other people you’ve never heard of who have been cast in the twoparter, but chances are, you already know the names of these people because you’ve been pressing refresh on some very serious Tolkien fan forum all night, every night, since the closing credits of the last Lord of the Rings film.

Sir Ian McKellan hasn’t officially been unveiled in the cast, but seeing as he’s already said that he’ll be reprising his role of Gandalf, it’s unlikely anyone is going to get the gig.

And boy, if Jackson gave someone else the role, you Lord of the Rings nutters would do something really wild and dangerous… like… leave nasty comments on a blog post or write something vitriolic about it on your Tumblr.

British politicians remain superfluously witty

2010-12-09T08:20:00.000Z

British politicians remain superfluously witty: "

Ariana Barouk as Silk Spectre II photographed by Jason Tablante

2010-12-09T08:14:00.000Z

Ariana Barouk as Silk Spectre II photographed by Jason Tablante: "

Holy Check Ins, Batman!

2010-12-09T08:11:00.000Z

Holy Check Ins, Batman!: "I have no doubt this is an actual problem. Now I'm off to check in at the Fortress of Solitude. (To the Batcave by Agent-X Comics via Nologinformynic)

Composite photos made from time-series - "Chrono-Cubism"

2010-12-08T11:24:00.000Z

Composite photos made from time-series - "Chrono-Cubism": "

Brazilian photographer Diego Kuffer sez, 'Photography only lets you capture instants (even long exposures are
only blurred instants).
So, I hacked the idea of photography, mixing together many photos of
the same scene into a single one, slicing and dicing the images and
putting them back together, chronologically.
I call the grammar behind it 'chrono cubism.''

Chrono-Cubism

Back To The Future: 29 Thrilling Concept Cars

2010-12-08T08:21:00.000Z

Back To The Future: 29 Thrilling Concept Cars: "[ By Marc in Architecture & Design, Green Technologies, Technology & Futurism. ]

Concept cars are some of the coolest and popular manifestations of futurism today. Much like the clothing in fashion shows, these designs are meant to be inspirational thought experiments of what features and designs might be just around the bend. Some are actually built, but most don’t make it off the computer screen.

(Images via funny-potato, inhabitat, rockstartemplate, modecodesign, garagecar)

Some of the most interesting concept cars have wheel setups that differ drastically from the norm. A three wheeled vehicle is immediately striking, and many designers like to make the wheels a highly aesthetic feature, as well as a functional one.

(Images via senorenrique, drive, hemmy, dvice)

While nearly everyone has seen some concept cars, few have seen concept trucks; behemoths that are just as creative, sleek, and futuristic as concept sports cars and personal vehicles. Typically extremely aerodynamic and electric powered, the main objective of these creations is to envision a future in which trucks are able to haul the same loads with minimal environmental impact.

(Images via carshint, carshint, autoblog)

Concept cars often open and close in interesting ways. Convertibles have unique advances in opening and closing, and doors can slide open in a myriad of ways.

(Images via dymee, fimho, ecofriend, ecofriend, narwilliams)

One of the most common ways to lessen the negative environmental impact of a vehicle is to make it smaller and more efficient. Electric power is more efficient when the vehicle is compact, so many urban concept cars are small pods that barely resemble the common streetcar.

(Images via izismile, jalopnik)

Concept pickup trucks are some of the most interesting examples of futurism because of their delicate balance between aesthetics and functionality. Pickup trucks are need to be tough and able to withstand a great deal of rough handling, and the challenge for concept designers is to keep this functionality in mind while adjusting the aesthetic to one that will be popular and timeless.

(Images via carsyouwilldrive, geekologie, thinkquest, inhabitat)

The most technologically advanced vehicle manifestations involve the driver being entirely encased within an opaque vehicle, requiring video technology to translate the outside world. Using cameras allows the driver to see from any angle without blind spots, the lack of poorly insulated windows makes maintaining a comfortable temperature more efficient, and an entirely opaque vehicle allows for increased privacy.

(Images via myyearbook, gatewaytothefuture, autos-showrooms, devicedaily)

The most outlandish concept cars push forward the boundaries of future transportation technology. Thinking outside of the box is what separates the best concept designers from the more mundane. If cars are going to evolve, it’s important for designers to continue coming up with novel ideas.

(Images via joeyinteractive, sfbkk, psipunk, pakvisions)

Not all efficient vehicles have to be boring, though required efficiency severely limits the size of any ecologically geared vehicle. We all love a good looking car, and aesthetics are a main focus of concept designers.

10 Of The Best Free Audiobooks From BooksShouldBeFree That You Should Listen To

2010-12-08T08:18:00.000Z

10 Of The Best Free Audiobooks From BooksShouldBeFree That You Should Listen To: "

So you’re a busy person. You work hard, look after a family and never seem to have time to read all those books you really want to read. What are you to do? Listen to free audiobooks while you commute, that’s what. The internet is full of free audiobooks – all you need to do is find them.

Audiobooks are great for people who find themselves with moments where they’re awake, but have other things they need to do with their hands. Driving, cooking, nursing or knitting are all things people can normally do at the same time as listening to something. Listening to audiobooks is a great way to multitask during those times of day and add a little culture.

Thanks to public domain archives like Project Gutenberg and LibriVox, there’s plenty of great audiobooks available free to download. I’m personally a big fan of browsing for free audiobooks using BooksShouldBeFree because I like the interface, extra links, genre search, top 100 list and related book suggestions.

A quick look at the main page will show you all the obvious popular classics like Beowulf, The Iliad, Alice in Wonderland, Doctor Dolittle, Grimm’s Fairytales, King Lear and works by authors such as Tolstoy, Jane Austen and Jules Verne. This is a good start.

Are you not sure which free audiobooks to listen to? Well that’s where this list comes in. Here’s a selection of not-so-obvious audiobooks which are widely regarded as great books and are available free via BooksShouldBeFree.

1. War Of The Worlds – H.G. Wells

There’s a good reason this classic science fiction work was worked into music, film and popular culture — because it’s great! Get back to roots by listening to the original, unaltered 1890′s story. Also see the Invisible Man.

2. Night And Day – Virginia Woolf

Slip into the start of the 20th century with Night and Day. This is a book for Jane Austen lovers who need a little twist. Covering many similar themes to Austen, Woolf provides social commentary with a little humour.

3. Walden, or Life In The Woods – Henry David Thoreau

Ostensibly, this is a book about survival, adventure and self-reliance. Ultimately though, Walden is also about finding your own path and breaking free from expectations. Great listening for the commuter with big dreams!

4. Something Fresh: A Blandings Story – P.G. Wodehouse

Wodehouse is a comic genius who was loved by Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and many more. “Something Fresh” is one of Wodehouse’s most popular texts, so it is likely to be appreciated by all comedy lovers.

5. The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

If you’re getting into the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series, now is the time to re-visit the original. Get a feel for the original Sherlock Holmes character in order to fully appreciate the re-make.

6. Erewhon – Samuel Butler

Here’s a taste of Victorian fantasy with a touch of dystopia. The book uses this front to showcase hypocrisy in Victorian ideals.

7. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

The character of Emma Bovary will resonate well with all the house-bound parents, people living in rural areas, travel-hungry nomads and people who run up a little too much credit at times. Live vicariously through her mistakes instead of making your own.

8. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude To A Philosophy of the Future – Friedrich Nietzsche

Get stuck into some classic philosophy with Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzsche used this novel to enlighten readers about their moral complacency and to guide them away from the herd mentality. This could be just the book to read for someone stuck in the rat race. If you’re into philosophy, see also Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Pascal’s Pensées.

9. Candide – Voltaire

Voltaire’s Candide is the perfect book for people sick of cheery optimism. Voltaire wanted to get rid of the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds: sometimes life is pretty bleak. The message is delivered amidst a story of human resilience and dark humour.

10. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer’s story is a joy to all who love the little things in life and want to live every moment to the fullest. Mark Twain wrote about kids in an attempt to capture that spirit and remind adults of those times and adventures. Also see Huckleberry Finn.

Report: Wikileaks cables show Texas company "helped pimp little boys to stoned Afghan cops"

2010-12-08T08:07:00.000Z

Report: Wikileaks cables show Texas company "helped pimp little boys to stoned Afghan cops": "In the Houston Press, an extensive blog post untangling an alarming story from the state department cables: 'another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp, the private security contractor tasked with training the Afghan police,' and apparent proof that the company procured male children for bacha bazi ('boy-play') parties.

The story boils down to this: this company, headquartered in DC with Texas offices, helped pimp out little boys as sex slaves to stoned cops in Afghanistan:

For Pashtuns in the South of Afghanistan, there is no shame in having a little boy lover; on the contrary, it is a matter of pride. Those who can afford the most attractive boy are the players in their world, the OG's of places like Kandahar and Khost. On the Frontline video, ridiculously macho warrior guys brag about their young boyfriends utterly without shame.

So perhaps in the evil world of Realpolitik, in which there is apparently no moral compass US private contractors won't smash to smithereens, it made sense for DynCorp to drug up some Pashtun police recruits and turn them loose on a bunch of little boys. But according to the leaked document, Atmar, the Afghani interior minister, was terrified this story would catch a reporter's ear.

He urged the US State Department to shut down a reporter he heard was snooping around, and was horrified that a rumored videotape of the party might surface. He predicted that any story about the party would 'endanger lives.' He said that his government had arrested two Afghan police and nine Afghan civilians on charges of 'purchasing a service from a child' in connection with the party, but that he was worried about the image of their 'foreign mentors,' by which he apparently meant DynCorp. American diplomats told him to chill. They apparently had a better handle on our media than Atmar, because when a report of the party finally did emerge, it was neutered to the point of near-falsehood.

Read the whole post.

Frontline covered the phenomenon earlier this year—I watched the documentary when it first aired in the US. It was hard to watch. The notion that an American company enabled the sexual and physical abuse of kids like this is nauseating. Video embedded below, may be geo-blocked for folks outside the USA.

(via Dave Winer)

How To: Move a rock without touching it

2010-12-08T08:05:00.000Z

How To: Move a rock without touching it: "

Racetrack Playa in Death Valley is famous for it's "living stones"—photographed here by BoingBoing reader Rajesh Vijayarajan. In this patch of desert, rocks, ranging in size from pebbles to boulders, have left trails in the dry clay, as if they moved across the mostly flat Playa by themselves.

Based on analysis of the trails, scientists assume the rocks do move, but they still don't know exactly how. To date, nobody's ever seen the process in action. But there is a good theory. It starts with the fact that Racetrack Playa is also, occasionally, a very shallow lake.

Researchers noticed that although some trails change direction, most trend in a generally southwest to northeast direction. This is consistent with the direction of the prevailing winds. ... After analyzing their rock trail map, researchers found that the longest, straightest trails are concentrated in the southeastern part of Racetrack Playa. In this area, wind is channelled through a low point in the mountains, forming a natural wind tunnel ...

The evidence suggests that strong gusts of wind and swirling dust devils, in combination with a slick playa surface may set even the heaviest the rocks in motion. Off they go, scooting along downwind until friction slows them down and they come to rest.

That's currently the accepted professional explanation.

But, based on what he observed on a trip to the Play, blogger Brian Dunning thinks the scientists are missing two key factors: Ice, and a lake that moves.

In the early spring of 2002, I made one of my many trips to Racetrack Playa with two friends, Dan Bocek and John Countryman. The surrounding mountains were still covered with snow, and the playa itself was firm but had a large lake covering about a fifth of its surface, perhaps an inch or two deep at its edges, concentrated at the playa's south end where it's lowest. We ventured out, armed with cameras, shortly before sunrise. The temperature was just above freezing. The wind, from the south, was quite stiff and very cold. When we reached the lake, we found to our great surprise that the entire lake was moving with the wind, at a speed we estimated at about one half of a mile per hour.

The sun was on the lake by now and we could see a few very thin ice sheets that were now dissolving back into water. This whole procession was washing past many of the famous rocks. It's easy to imagine that if it were only few degrees colder when we were there -- as it probably had been a couple of hours earlier -- the whole surface would be great sheets of thin ice. Solid ice, moving with the surface of the lake and with the inertia of a whole surrounding ice sheet, would have no trouble pushing a rock along the slick muddy floor. Certainly a lot more horsepower than wind alone, as has been proposed. The wind was gusty and moved around some, and since the surface is not perfectly flat and with rocks and various obstructions, the water didn't flow straight; rather it swapped around as it moved generally forward. Ice sheets driven by the water would move in the same way, accounting for the turns and curves found in many of the rock trails.

I didn't totally follow the description the first time I read it, but about half way through this video, you can see the phenomenon he's talking about. It's pretty fascinating.

Scientists have thought about the role ice might play in moving the stones, and they've mostly ruled it out. Why? Because fresh trails have been spotted during periods when the Playa was too warm for ice to form. (Check out Chapter 7 of this 1998 dissertation. It also gets into more detail about what makes the surface of the Playa slick enough that rocks could move over it when it was wet.)

That paper doesn't mention the action of the lake, itself, moving across the valley, though. And I haven't found any other scientific references that do. I wonder if this is something researchers haven't observed? Or if it's just interesting, but not necessary to the movement of the rocks.

Image used with permission. Found on the BoingBoing Flickr Pool.

(title unknown)

2010-12-08T07:57:00.000Z

(title unknown): "

Layers

2010-12-08T07:56:00.000Z

Layers: "

Nigerian Scammer is now an American Army Major!

2010-12-07T09:01:00.004Z

The old Nigerian Scam has taken an interesting twist. My In box which normally gets full with promise or rigamortis dysfunction, fake Taghuer watches or mobile phones which have a lighter built in them ( because those are all the things i want..obviously) i received this email today. Kudos to their inventiveness!

It starts :

" Dear Associate,

How are you doing my friend, great I guess Now I know this mail will definitely Come to you as a huge surprise, but please kindly take your time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will probably go a long way to determine my future and continued existence.First,let me introduce myself. I am Capt. Henry Seely an assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, western Anbar Province in Iraq. I am desperately in need of assistance and I have summoned up courage to contact you.

I am presently in Iraq and I found your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of $10,570,000 (Ten million Five Hundred and Seventy Thousand USD) to the States or any safe country, as far as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until I complete my service here. This is no stolen money and there are no dangers involved. SOURCE OF MONEY: Some money in various currencies was discovered and concealed in barrels with piles of weapons and ammunition at a location near one of Saddam Hussein's old Presidential Palaces during a rescue operation and it was agreed by all party present that the money Be shared amongst us.

This might appear as an illegal thing to do but I tell you what? No compensation can make up for the risks we have taken with our lives in this hellhole. The above figure was given to me as my share and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so with the help of a German contact working with the UN here (his office enjoys some immunity) I was able to get the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real contents of the package as he believes that it belongs to an American who died in an air raid, before giving up trusted me to hand over the package to his close relative. I have now found a secured way of getting the package out !of Iraq for you to pick up.I do not know for how long I will remain here, as I have been lucky to survive two suicide bomb attacks by Pure Divine intervention. This and other reasons put into consideration have prompted me to reach out for help.

If it might be of interest to you then Endeavor to contact me and we would work out the necessary formalities, but I pray that you are discreet about this mutually benefiting relationship.

For more details please contact me via my private box: email;henry.seely@yahoo.com
Respectfully,
Capt. Henry Seely
United States Marine Corps. IRAQ."

Need I say I'm tempted to help this friend out. Is anyone else?

World leaders finally unite!!!

2010-12-07T08:36:00.000Z

World leaders finally unite!!!: "

Submitted by: reddit

Posted at: 2010-12-07 10:23:11

See full post and comment: http://9gag.com/gag/55745

Darth Vader vs. Aliens

2010-12-07T08:03:00.000Z

Darth Vader vs. Aliens: "

Catman

2010-12-07T08:02:00.000Z

Catman: "

Someone at Google got a little artistic in the Gingerbread SDK

2010-12-07T07:59:00.000Z

Someone at Google got a little artistic in the Gingerbread SDK: "

Ask us to define art, and we'll tell you this: We know it when we see it. And tucked deep inside the Android 2.3 Gingerbread SDK is this little ... gem. Can't decide if we're going to have nightmares, or chuckle ourselves to sleep at its awesomeness. It's buried way down at platforms/android-9/data/res/drawable-nodpi/platlogo.jpg in the Gingerbread SDK, and woe is the person who has it pop up on their phone. But to whomever at Google sneaked it in there, we say this: You, sir or madam, are awesome. Thanks, Chris!

Someone at Google got a little artistic in the Gingerbread SDK posted originally by Android Central

Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

Super-Tiny Chameleon Photographed in Madagascar

2010-12-07T07:58:00.000Z

Super-Tiny Chameleon Photographed in Madagascar: " Photo: Will Burrard-Lucas

In nature, some of the most incredible species come in the tinniest packages. While traveling in Madagascar recently, wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas happened upon this teensy-weensy Brookesia...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Crammed-full page of useless gadgetry and pranks

2010-12-06T14:14:00.000Z

Crammed-full page of useless gadgetry and pranks: "

This 1919 Johnson, Smith and Company catalog page (thumbnail above, click below for the whole glory) represents a kind of nirvana composed of equal measures of high-tech conveniences, ridiculous prank gadgets, and dust-magnet tchotchkes, all crammed together so tight they leave no space for reflection or sober second thought. On days when Boing Boing really works, this is what it approaches.

Toss Your Cookies! The World’s 10 Biggest Food Fights

2010-12-06T08:08:00.000Z

Toss Your Cookies! The World’s 10 Biggest Food Fights: "[ By Steve in History & Factoids, Travel & Places, Urban Images. ]

Sometimes it seems like the world’s one big Animal House, with tens of thousands of Bluto’s just itching to pop. Wasteful? Possibly. Mean-spirited? Not in the least! These 10 famous festival food fights are all about respecting tradition and blowing off steam… so let he who is without stain throw the first rotten tomato!

The Battle of the Oranges, Ivrea, Italy

(images via: Europe Euphoria)

The Battle of the Oranges (Battaglia delle Arance), which takes place annually in the Italian city of Ivrea, is certainly the largest and quite possibly the oldest organized food fight in Italy. The event’s origins go back to the 12th century and commemorate the victory of Ivrea’s townspeople over an oppressive tyrant. Here’s a video showing scenes of the battle in all its juicy glory:

Carnevale d ivrea – credendari, via Ledcatalin

(image via: The Ugly Truth)

Oranges haven’t always been the weapon of choice in the annual battle – at first beans were thrown, then apples. By the 19th century oranges took over as the preferred missiles and by 1994 an estimated 580,000 lbs (265,000 kilograms) of oranges – mainly unmarketable leftovers from southern Italy’s winter crop – were being imported into town for the start of the Carnevale d’Ivrea in February. On an explanatory note, Italy is a member of the EEC (the European Economic Community) and typically exceeds its agreed production quota of oranges. In a classic twist of Euro-logic, the excess must be destroyed in order to maintain the retail price.

La Merengada (Meringue War), Vilanova i La Geltrú, Catalonia

(images via: Frommers, Vilanova Digital and Wirdheim In Vilanova)

Also known as the Batalla de Caramelos (Candy Fight), this sweet celebration begins each year on Fat Thursday… of course. Residents and guests in this small Catalonian town first enjoy a traditional Lenten meal of cod fish with red pepper sauce and salad; then work off the calories by going outside and throwing their meringue dessert at anything that moves. Once they run out of meringue, out comes the candy, which (if you’re under 12) is just dandy. Hey, that’s one VERY happy kid there!

(image via: Daniel Bartoll)

The Meringue War is just one part of the Carnival at Vilanova i La Geltrú, as on the Saturday before Shrove Tuesday, revelers of all ages endeavor to catch tons of sweets and candies which are launched into the crowd. Needless to say, the ground underfoot is quickly coated with a sticky, sugary topping thick enough to give every scavenging squirrel in the county a serious case of diabetes.

La Tomatina en Reno, Reno, NV, USA

(images via: Suite 101)

Who loves a tomato fight? Everyone loves a tomato fight! They must – or else we wouldn’t have not one, not two, but THREE massive ‘mato massacres making our Top 10 Food Fights list. We’ll lead off with La Tomatina en Reno, by far the sloppiest event in the “Biggest Little City in the World”. Inspired by the original Tomatina food fight in Buñol, Spain, Reno’s version matches 5,000 participants with 100,000 pounds of tomatoes – and everyone’s a winner!

Here’s La Tomatina en Reno up close and personal… maybe a little TOO personal:

Tomato-throwing Festival, via Itnsource

(images via: Travel + Leisure)

The event takes place the last weekend of August and only overripe, inedible Roma tomatoes are tossed… which is better than simply tossing them in the trash. La Tomatina organizer Club Cal Neva charges a $10 per participant fee and if you’d like to chuck produce at the Mayors of Reno and/or nearby Sparks (and really, who wouldn’t?), you’ll have to “fork” over $50. All profits from the event go to a good cause: the American Cancer Society.

La Raima Grape Throwing Festival, Pobla del Duc, Spain/

(images via: MSN Travel and FestivalPig)

Welcome to Spain, we hope you’ve brought a change of clothing! This advisory is especially important if you’re considering a visit to the town of Pobla del Duc, less then an hour from Valencia, around the last Friday in August. Should you find yourself there, note the steady procession of trucks loaded with grapes – they’re not bound for any warehouse or processing plant. Between 40 and 90 tons of locally grown Garnacha Tintorera grapes are off-loaded in the town square and as for what happens next… remember the classic grape-throwing scene from I Love Lucy? Multiply it by about a thousand.

(image via: Somewhere In The World Today)

The La Raima Grape Throwing Festival is an yearly ritual dating back to the 1930s that signals the end of the annual grape harvest. The food fight originated when grape farmers blew off steam at the end of the grape harvest by flinging surplus grapes at each other. Sweet!

World Custard Pie Championship, Coxheath, UK

(images via: Emma Wood Photos)

Fans of the Marx Brothers and Blazing Saddles can live out their pie in the sky fantasies by attending the World Custard Pie Championship in Coxheath, UK. No, this is not a bake-off, nor is it an athletic competition judged by distance and accuracy. Imagine a huge, open-air paintball game using giant, edible paintballs… and to those who object, say let ‘em eat cake!

(images via: Anorak, Free Republic and Falmouth Packet)

The World Custard Pie Championship got its start in 1967 by Mike Fitzgerald, a city councillor from Coxheath, envisioned a festive event inspired by his favorite Charlie Chaplin films. It’s said that the custard that goes into the pies (and onto the pie-tossers) employs a secret recipe designed to hold together through flinging, hurling, and of course – landing. Fair-goers are advised that they enter the area at their own risk, and those who disregard the warning end up getting their just desserts.

La Tomatina, Sutamarchan, Colombia

(image via: Oddity Central)

When in Sutamarchan, do as the Sutamarchanians do… and that’s put on Colombia’s biggest, messiest and tomatoiest food fight EVAR. The event, held on June 14 this year, featured hundreds of locals and tourists who gathered on an old football (soccer) field and proceeded to launch 15 tons of tomatoes into the sky. Of course, what goes up must come down. Like La Tomatina en Reno, La Tomatina in Sutamarchan was inspired by the famous Tomatina of Buñol, Spain. The Colombian version adds a few variations, however, such as adding a tomato-eating contest and a competition for the largest tomato – one assumes the former follows the latter.

(images via: Oddity Central and Telegraph UK)

While it may be significantly smaller, the Colombian version of La Tomatina is no less messy. It’s also more family-friendly with children doing cannonballs into pools of tomatoes – yeah, Mom’s gonna love that. Only rejected or otherwise inedible tomatoes are used in the food fight, which comes at the climax of a three-day Tomato Festival celebrating the importance of the region’s tomato crop.

Els Enfarinats, Ibi, Spain

(images via: Ipernity and Before It’s News)

Food fight aficionados should be sure not to miss the annual Els Enfarinats festival in Ibi, Alicante, Spain, and they should be especially sure to arrive BEFORE the main event and not after… if you thought rotten tomatoes smelled bad, just imagine the aftermath of a huge flour & egg battle. The place must reek for weeks, and that’s no yolk.

(image via: Ipernity)

The egg-citing main event has been staged for nearly two centuries and takes the form of a mock coup d’etat. A top-hatted, rebel army known as “Els Enfarinats” invades the town of Ibi every December 28th, collecting taxes and “shelling” flour and eggs onto the residents who naturally respond in kind – one bitter batter battle, to be sure! After the dust settles, all taxes collected are donated to a designated charity. In 2010, San Joaquin’s retirement home in Ibi was the beneficiary. Maybe they would’ve just preferred omelets.

Great Fruitcake Toss, Manitou Springs, CO, USA

(images via: Colorado-for-Free and Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins)

“At last, the answer to that age-old question: How do I get rid of this *${body}amp;*@#! fruitcake?” While re-gifting fruitcake is an age-old tradition, sooner or later you’re gonna get that petrified pastry back. At that point, there’s nothing left to do but dump it in the trunk and head on out to Manitou Springs. Once there, fruitcake flingers can opt for disposal via catapult, giant slingshot, or spud gun. Hiking in the area is not recommended – between the flying fruitcakes and some seriously annoyed bears, taking a trek through the woods would be nuttier than a… you know.

(image via: Blue Skies Inn)

While not a food fight per se, the Great Fruitcake Toss embodies some elements common to more traditional comestible wars. For instance, the tossed food is generally regarded as being inedible, participants wear funny hats, and a local charity receives donations of cash and food – anything but fruitcake! The 16th Annual Great Fruitcake Toss takes place on January 8th, 2011 beginning with a with a 15 gun salute. Hopefully the fruitcake will be blindfolded beforehand.

Batalla del Vino (Wine Throwing Fight), Haro, La Rioja, Spain

(images via: Most Interesting Destinations)

What began as a 13th century land dispute has evolved into the annual Batalla del Vino (Wine Throwing Fight), because who in their right mind would dispute some land for 700-odd years unless they were properly plastered on the local plonk? Leave it the fun-loving residents of Haro in La Rioja, Spain, to come up with this “full-bodied” festival that, by its end, sees everyone involved being involuntarily inducted into the Purple Gang.

Here’s a video that shows the burgundy bacchanalia in full swig, er, swing:

Batalla del vino 2010 (sexta), via Xonxoc

(image via: Crazy Spain Festivals)

Thousands of participants descend on Haro each year, armed with wine-filled wineskins, water pistols, crop sprayers and – if all else fails – plain old buckets. Prospective wine-battlers are given but a single directive: wear white. By the end of the violence, all will be violet.

La Tomatina, Buñol, Spain

(images via: FestivalPig and Allpics4u)

When it comes to food fights, all must bow down to the grand-daddy of them all, La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain. Each year on xx, the town is swamped with a tsunami of tomatoes as the air rapidly turns rosy red in hue and redolent with the heady scent of sauce. As the poster child for massive outdoor food fights, La Tomatina is widely reported on by world media and has become as well-known as the Running Of The Bulls in Pamplona – also Spanish, but much less tasty.

(image via: Valencia Trader)

La Tomatina may be huge in scale but it has a surprisingly short history that can be traced back to the mid-1940s. As it is not a religious festival, La Tomatina was banned during the Spanish State era of the Franco dictatorship but was revived upon the dictator’s death in 1975. Over the past 35 years La Tomatina has grown to be a week-long festival ending with the tomato fight on the last Wednesday of every August.

(images via: Allpics4u)

By the start of the fight, the number of participants in attendance reaches around 20,000 – matching the population of Buñol in other, non-tomato-y months. Approximately 150,000 tomatoes (over 90,000 pounds!) sourced from the four corners of the country are then “released” from a fleet of trucks by official instigators and the battle is on! Surprisingly, considering the big buildup, the actual battle only lasts about a half hour but the visual carnage is exceptional. Overly marinated tomato tossers repair to the riverside afterward where a row of portable public showers await.

(image via: Pikturz)

The mere concept of mass food fights strikes many as deplorably wasteful, a shameful indulgence that mocks millions of the world’s poorest and hungriest people. Lighten up, Francis! The towns and regions that hold food fighting festivals have, in many cases, done so for centuries and their agricultural infrastructure is geared to provide revelers with all the organic ammunition they need. Besides, can you imagine what 30 truckloads of tomatoes will look like after sitting on store shelves in a small Spanish town for 30 days, or after a week-long voyage to a sweltering African port? Exactly… and so, with that said, there’s only one thing left to do: Food Fight!!"

Irate Cash4Gold letter to a lewd prankster

2010-12-06T08:02:00.000Z

Irate Cash4Gold letter to a lewd prankster: "

This Internet finding is an irate letter from the thin-skinned litigation enthusiasts at Cash4Gold to a 'Mr Haberny' who apparently made a habit of sending gold-painted rocks to the firm, along with colorful missives describing the circumstances through which he came to posses them, which included a Tibetan pilgrimage with a legless hooker from Singapore. Mr Haberny sought many interesting forms of compensation for his 'gold,' including a birthday party at McDonald's, and an unspecified activity in the company of Ed McMahon.

(via JWZ)

WikiLeaks Outs The Dark Knight

2010-12-06T07:56:00.000Z

WikiLeaks Outs The Dark Knight: "

Not Batman! Are there no sacred cows that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won't destroy? You bastard! (WikiLeaks Strikes Again

Snorkeler

2010-12-05T22:50:00.000Z

Snorkeler: "

The Photo of the Day at National Geographic is a snorkeler in Thailand -or is it a reverse mermaid? The photograph was submitted to My Shot by Nick Kelly. Link -

Electric Touring Bike

2010-12-04T14:29:00.000Z

Electric Touring Bike: "

It looks so Bavarian I had to put on my Lederhosen …. it looks pretty cool. I mean the bike!

Assembled from the finest components available, this is the German-engineered bicycle designed for distance touring. Made in Munich, the 48-volt Lithium-Ion battery integrates with the 250-watt motor for a maximum speed of 17 mph, providing a 125-mile range on a single charge that enables round-trips between Nordlingen and Dinkelsbuhl on the Romantic Road. The battery can recharge 80% of its capacity in 30 minutes–plenty of time to enjoy a Radler during a rest stop. Handlebar control manages the 5-speed hub gear system to handle climbing as easily as flat cruising. The unique aluminum and carbon-fiber frame’s design is taken from a 1930s BMW R61 motorcycle, bearing riders up to 330 lbs. For long rides in complete comfort, its leather spring saddle is handmade by a Dutch concern renowned for 113 years as the world’s premier saddle maker.

More info: The Bavarian Electric Touring Bicycle

- Beautiful Beaufort

Ducks in the Wind

2010-12-04T13:42:00.000Z

Ducks in the Wind: "

(YouTube link)

A mother duck and twelve ducklings deal with a strong wind. This will have you on the edge of your seat, so be sure to watch through to the end. If you think this video would be better with music, there’s always this. Or this. -via Metafilter

Dead Spam! HA!

2010-12-04T13:32:00.002Z

Its amazing that so much spam hits a tiny site like this! That one guy sending out spam from Russia is really good.

Ive taken the time to delete all of the spam from this website. No longer will you be offered male enhancements, type writining monkeys or stressed princesses offering waste quantities of money,

Unless thats your sort of thing of course.....

Bubble Wrap Tie from MicroWorks

2010-12-02T07:51:00.000Z

Bubble Wrap Tie from MicroWorks: "

Bubble Wrap Tie from MicroWorks

22 Awesome WTF! Posters

2010-12-01T14:56:00.000Z

22 Awesome WTF! Posters: "

WTF is a term used throughout the world when something just doesn’t make sense. These posters depict the situations accurately and accordingly. These posters were designed by Minga and I’m sure everyone will find these posters as funny as I did. Check them out below.

Check them out on Behance

Projecting Ideologies on Maps

2010-12-01T08:54:00.000Z

Projecting Ideologies on Maps: "

I received a map of this kind for the first time some two years ago and continue to receive variations of this kind every now and then. The text might have been MS-Painte-ed by somebody else initially but the idea was the same.

: Pakistan : The Way it was meant to be

The forwarded email that this map was attached with was the usual Khilafa enthusiast (of the hyper-nationalist rather than Hizb-ut-Tehrir strand). The ideological insecurity and bankruptcy of ideas of the creators of such maps need not be commented on since I assume that it’s very much easy to understand why names of Prophets aligning with shape of the country’s political boundaries, that too rather poorly, is meaningless. Religious symbolism carving shape of political boundaries is definitely a new thing for me however.

My observations at that time were the same as they are today:-

Pakistan ka Matlab kia, La ilaha Illa Allah

Pakistan is the Fort of Islam

Kashmir ban ke rahay ga Pakistan

Bengal, later East Pakistan was therefore never meant to be part of this divinely gifted land. Or maybe, it would read Ya Allah the way two “Ya Allah” and ”Ya Muhammad” plates adorn the Masjid walls (Blaspehmous!). Nevermind, to hell with those bhooka traitor Bengalis of Hindu descent.

Where are poor Jungadh and Manavadar that the Government of Pakistan still includes on maps printed by the Survey of Pakistan? (they are included mostly with the “Political Map” on front page and excluded from later maps if you’re unaware of this stupidity).

Yesterday, this new, rather brilliant map landed in my mail. It carried the caption “In Response to the Jamati. You can write anything inside a map”.

: Hey, where are my provinces?

So the guy who made this map took Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan from us and declared that the land of the Prophet and the poor ones living in Sindh and Punjab (and Islamabad, since that’s 10 miles from Pakistan) to be citizens of the land of Ranjeet Singh. Why Ranjeet Singh, I ask the creator of this map? Why not Porus? Anyways, Greater Afghanistan, Greater Pakistan, Greater India, so many greater nations.

Whilst I certainly do not agree with the Pashtun nationalists of the Pashtunistan type, the map is funny and rubs the religious card in the face of the hyper-nationalist religious types. I think I shall start my own Rawalpindi nationalist movement with religious symbolism too by fitting the Prophet’s name in the map of the boundaries of the Holy Rawalpindi district. I cannot think of anything religious that can mimic the shape of Sargodha district (you know who you are).

Credit and copyrights to the original creators of these maps.