Funny clips about Subprime

2 funny clips talking about the subprime housing market.




Subprime explained through stick figures

Diebold accidentally leaks 2008 election results

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Live VU set

Found this via pitchfork, and I haven't listened to it yet...

"It's the ONLY available live stuff from 1967 and has only become available in literally the last two days. Recorded just after the release of The Velvet Underground And Nico and featuring the debut performance of Sister Ray (19 mins long) and the *previously unheard* song I'm Not A Young Man Any More. That's right, A NEW VELVET UNDERGROUND SONG. And it's fucking good too. This version of Sister Ray absolutely shreds and is what the Velvet Underground are all about."


HERE

Central Asian Roach Reaction

"For the viewers of Turkmenistan's popular nightly news programme, Vatan, it was another routine bulletin. But as the newsreader began the 9pm broadcast, viewers across the central Asian country spotted something unusual crawling across the studio table: a large brown cockroach.

The cockroach managed to complete a whole lap of the desk, apparently undetected, before disappearing. The programme, complete with cockroach, was repeated at 11pm that night. ...

[T]he consequences of this particular cockroach's impromptu five minutes of fame were immediate and severe.

The country's president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, took news of the insect so badly that he responded by firing no fewer than 30 workers from the main state TV channel, the news website Kronika Turkmenistan reported yesterday.

[...] Those sacked in the cockroach debacle included journalists, directors, camera operators, and technical staff." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/22/television)

Hooray for Homeland Security!

Check out these awesome new toys!
Scan It®is an educational and creative play toy that helps children become acclimated with airport and public spaces security. The device is both a fun toy and an educational tool. It detects metal objects and simulates an X-ray scan via a functioning conveyor belt that glides articles over its metal detector path. When metallic items are present the unit beeps and lights up.

Playmobil airport security checkpoint playset! You think that guy has anything dangerous hidden under his blue scarf? Unfortunately, you can't take off his shoes - have toymakers learned nothing from Richard Reid?

(discovered through http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/)

Nader's Back

Nader's running again.

Rivieri, The Sequel

Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

It was on this day in 1956 that Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes met in London, beginning one of the most famous literary relationships in modern history. Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts (1932), and had studied at Smith College, but she was in England studying at Cambridge on a Fulbright Scholarship.

Sylvia Plath met Hughes at a party in a bar, and the next morning she wrote about the encounter in her journal. She spent most of the evening talking to someone else, whom she described as "some ugly, gat-toothed squat grinning guy named Meeson trying to be devastatingly clever." She said the party was "very bohemian, with boys in turtleneck sweaters and girls being blue-eye-lidded or elegant in black." Plath had been drinking a little, and she wrote, "The jazz was beginning to get under my skin, and I started dancing with Luke and knew I was very bad, having crossed the river and banged into the trees..."

Plath said, "Then the worst thing happened, that big, dark, hunky boy, the only one there huge enough for me, who had been hunching around over women, and whose name I had asked the minute I had come into the room, but no one told me, came over and was looking hard in my eyes and it was Ted Hughes."

Plath quoted one of his poems to him, and he guided her to a side room of the bar. She wrote of that moment, "And then he kissed me bang smash on the mouth and ripped my hairband off, my lovely red hairband scarf which had weathered the sun and much love, and whose like I shall never again find, and my favorite silver earrings: hah, I shall keep, he barked. And when he kissed my neck I bit him long and hard on the cheek, and when we came out of the room, blood was running down his face."

Plath composed a poem over the next few days after meeting Hughes. Called "Pursuit," it was a poem about a woman being hunted by a panther and was a response to a Hughes poem called "The Jaguar." Plath spent the night with Hughes and his friend in their London flat right before going on a spring vacation in Europe. When she returned, they spent even more time together, and after seeing so much of each other for a couple of months, they started thinking about marriage.

They got married on June 16th, four months after that first meeting, but it was a secret wedding because they didn't want to jeopardize Plath's fellowship or academic career. The ceremony was in the Church of Saint George the Martyr in London. Plath wore a pink suit, and Hughes gave her a pink rose to hold as she walked down the aisle.

Plath and Hughes spent the rest of that summer in Paris, Madrid, and the small town of Benidorm in Spain. They passed their days swimming, studying, and writing. Plath wrote the poems "Dream with Clam Diggers," Fiesta Melons," and "The Goring" as well as many others while on this honeymoon. Plath told a friend many years later that Hughes had gotten very angry with her during that trip and tried to choke her while they sat on a hill. She said she had resigned herself to die while it was happening, and she worried she had made the wrong decision in getting married so soon after meeting him.

Plath and Hughes decided to separate in 1962, right after they had moved back to England and had a second child. Plath discovered that Hughes was having an affair. She said in an interview that year, "I much prefer doctors, midwives, lawyers, anything but writers. I think writers and artists are the most narcissistic people... I'm fascinated by this mastery of the practical. As a poet, one lives a bit on air. I always like someone who can teach me something practical."

Plath committed suicide in 1963 by sticking her head in an oven. Hughes's mistress would also kill herself years later using the same method. Hughes was left in control of Plath's estate, and he edited her poems and controlled what of hers was published and what was not. He once was met on a trip to Australia by protestors holding signs that accused him of murdering Plath. Plath fans trying to chip away the word "Hughes" from her name on the tombstone have repeatedly vandalized her grave in Yorkshire, England.

I Am Officer Rivieri

Pickles

Lee Majors IS The Norseman

A Photo Finish!

Inappropriate

AvE site

Hey everyone. A work in progress:
http://artsvsentertainment.blogspot.com/

Not too much to see right now, but take a look around.

Another Goro!

I just watched an older episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent which featured this guy, Evan Parke, as an insane nightclub bouncer named Goro.

Countdown

Watch the Trailer on Yahoo! Movies

Michigan laser beam believed to set record for intensity

If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory.

http://www.physorg.com/news122298608.html

In Case You Missed it...

My favorite part is Magic Johnson helplessly trying to articulate the moment (and failing) "NBA entertainment at its best!"

Boom Boom

Royal Trux

Ray-O-Vac



This band has sort of a perpetually gross ambiance, but you can really get sucked into it. The sweet guitar helps.

Pregnancy Bombs

That's right. You heard it here first.

ichabod

Anybody see Ichabod lately?

Bears!

I stumbled upon this, I'm not sure what it's from or who did it but it's the funniest thing I've seen today.

Triumph in Quebec

Sweet Funky Earl

As NBA All-Star Weekend rolls around, I stumbled upon an awesome highlight reel of sweet Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. Playing in the NBA's silver age, (the 1970's)Earl personified the swanky-cool funk of a highly stylized and quickly growing sport which were seeing the likes of Dr. J, Bill Walton and Karem Abdul-Jabbar. Enjoy!

Roy Smeck

I just read about this guy today - greatest ukelele player ever? I don't know - seems like he could be.

Celeb Sighting!

Eric Bana at B&H Photo. He was shopping for a camera -- picked one up and looked through the viewfinder.

I am sorry to post twice in one day

But how could I not?

Wiener Poopie

Just watch.

This is just like the game Sim City!

3-By-4 Plot Of Green Space Rejuvenates Neighborhood

DETROIT—Since its installment last August, the towel-shaped plot of grass has turned what was once a run-down community into a thriving, picturesque oasis

My Station and Its Duties

This is what democracy has done to us, alas -- told us that genius is available to anyone, that we may all be princes and potentates, or saints and visionaries and holy martyrs of the heart and mind. And then when it turns out that we are no such thing, it permits us to think that we aren't much of anything at all. In contrast with this cozening trick of democracy, how pleasant seems the old, reactionary Anglican phrase that used to drive people of democratic leanings quite wild with rage -- "My station and its duties."

LOLcat bible

OMFG WARE TEH JESUS GO?!?!11!

1 K so tehn on Mondy Mary Magdaln an Mary hoo wuz Jamses mom taekd sum spisez to rub on teh Jesus husk soes it dont stank. 2 An dey getz to teh cavez rly erly in teh mornan, liek sunries. 3 An dey wuz wundrin hoo wuz gunna maekded teh srsly big rokk door opind. 4 An dey lookded an seen teh door alredy opind. 5 And wen dey goed in teh caev dey seen a d00d thar in wite robes, an dey got skeert. 6 Teh d00d sez 'O HAI THAR, don be skeert. U comed heer lookin fer teh Jesus u lef heer, rite? He camed bak frum teh deds an aint heer no moar. 7 Now GTFO an txt Hiz d00dz an Pete an tell em dat dey can haz meetz wit teh Jesus in Galalee liek He sed befoer He wuz ded. kthxbi' 8 An teh chikz GTFO rly kwik cuz dey was srsly skeert, an dey dint tawk teh hole way homed. 9 An teh frst persn teh Jesus shode up fer wuz Mary Magdaln. He wonse pwnd sevn demans taht wuz livin in her hoo-haa. 10 An she teld Hiz d00dz abowt her meetz an dey maed a cry. :*( 11 Wen dey thunkd abowt teh Jesus seein Mary an not dem, dey stard thunkin 'No wai. He stil dedz' 12 Den teh Jesus apeerd to 2 moar uv His d00dz wile dey out taekn a walk. 13 Dey told teh udder d00dz bowt it but dey sez 'No wai.'


Jesus pwns His d00dz fer bein n00bs

14 So den Jesus shode up to all his d00dz wile dey was NOM NOM teh cheezbergrs an yelt an pwnd dem fer not baleevin He wuznt ded no moar. 15 An He sez, 'GTFO an GBTW tellin all teh cats an kittehs on Urfs abowt meh. 16 Tell dem teh cats dat baleev r full of WIN, an teh wons dat dont r on teh FAILBOAT an gonna get pwnd in teh hell. 17 An teh peepz full of WIN getz mah lvl ups an gonna b abl to pwn demans an 5P3@I< l33t w0RdZ, 18 an jugl snayks, an drank poysin witowt gittin hert, an respawnd ppl. k, bai.' 19 An wen he wuz doen talkin wit dem he taekd a INVISIBLE EVEVATER to teh skai an sat at da rite paw of Ceiling Cat. 20 An dey went an telded all teh catz and kittehz wat happn, and Ceiling Cat halpded dem do amazn shit to proev it. Kthxbai.

link

For those of you with webcams

http://live.yahoo.com/

I think this is an interesting site. If you have a webcam or other
video source, you can sign up and broadcast live video to the web.

Whether there will be any interesting content depends on who ends
up using this.

MITT

This is awesome.

Donnie Darko reincarnated

a friend posted this on his blog. i like.

Mitt's Gone!

Romney's quitting and I have no sympathy for him whatsoever. The campaign season's certified #1 douchebag deserves a humiliating defeat. Promising to bring back all of Michigan's auto industry jobs just to eke out a few more votes in a state you left decades ago? Well, that's a grossly irresponsible thing to do. And impossible - would you invade Japan and blow up Toyota, Honda, and Nissan? Annex Ontario so we can absorb their factories? Mitt, you represent the worst of American politics. You have no discernible opinions of your own about anything, and obviously just say whatever your aides tell you to do. You look like a depressed suburban dad and your kids probably get really embarrassed every time you take the family to Applebee's and make awkward smalltalk with the waitstaff, thinking you're connecting with 'everyday folks.' Nobody likes you.

This conversation probably happened 43 minutes after Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses:
Advisor #1: Mr. Romney, we know this is upsetting, but we're sure we can get this campaign back on track.
Romney: It's hopeless. Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. How come they don't like me? I give up. Just shoot me now.
Advisor #2: No sir, we really think we've got a solution. Just a few quick fixes, and they'll all come around. They'll love you!
Romney: Really? Uh, are you sure?
Advisor#1: They'll adore you! New Hampshire will be yours. Dads will want to be your friend, moms will wish their husbands were more like you, and teenage girls will put up posters of you in their rooms!
Romney: Gee, that sounds great! What do I need to do?
Advisor #2: Well, we did some focus group surveys, and... Well, it's your clothes.
Romney: What!?!? But I thought I looked presidential! These suits are from Brooks Brothers! And red ties! What am I doing wrong! Oh god oh god oh god.
Advisor #1: Sir, I don't know how to say this tactfully, but... You just come off sort of creepy at times.
Romney: Weeps.
Advisor #2: Sir, it's alright. Just a few tips.
Advisor #1: You have to lose the suits. They're only for debates. Your everyday wardrobe is going to be drastically different.
Romney: Huh? Wipes tears from his face.
Advisor #2: Sweaters, khakis, and fleece.
Advisor #1: The least threatening apparel known to man. You'll come off as completely innocuous. See, look at this JC Penny catalog. That will be you!
Romney: Swell! I'll do it. This is going to be great. Look out America!
Advisor #2: And one foolproof policy proposal to guarantee a win in California. As president, you will pour 30 billion gallons of super glue into the San Andreas Fault so they'll never have earthquakes again!
Romney: Yay!

For the record, if we ever have a President named "Mitt" I WILL LEAVE THIS COUNTRY AND NEVER COME BACK. His real first name is Willard, which I find much less offensive.

better late than never

Merle Haggard - Silver Wings

Expedia advertises specifically to Canadians...

I thought that the sun setting at 4:12 pm joke would delight the east coasters and the snow is for the Michiganders.

Yoopers can be smart.

The past few evenings have been quite exciting, as I've been watching a Negaunee native become a 3-day Jeopardy champion. She lost last night, but she did represented her people valiantly, winning $80,000! For those of you who are a little shaky with your UP geography, Negaunee is the town in between Marquette, where I'm from, and Paul's native Ishpeming.

Read an article about her here.

Never Say Die, Brian