Links o’ Interest

Dear Dr. Ruth…

That’s going to be a great Halloween costume

Dad, why can’t we be Jedis this year?

Bankers vs. the President

How to pick your religion

Arnold wouldn’t sign this bill. And he added a bonus, read the first letter in each line. (Yes, this is true.)

Baby language development

Hey Jude flowchart (can you find the error?)

Woman survives 10,000 volt shock. (Skip to about 1:00 in this video.)

The Edmonton girls’ hockey team is from 1916 and predates the Nazi party. (There were three Canadian hockey teams called the swastikas.)

What not to serve at your daughter’s birthday party

It took 18 months, but he’s finally cleared of kicking his neighbor’s bucket. Really.

A great stick

Assume the role of a Chinese immigrant in 1870…

This is a fishing show that might not put me to sleep.

Bird diets of human food

Bronson Pinchot interview. Nice honesty.

Retirement community tries to evict six-year old. Nice ethics.

A history of internet memes

Posting photos to MySpace

Prophecy Fail

The Evolution of Superstition

25 defaced bills

Bob Dylan’s huge influence

Pepsi loses 1.26 billion dollar court case because they didn’t know about it.

Eisenhower’s letter on discovering the first concentration camp.” George Patton would not even enter. He said he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to “propaganda.””

I read this NYT story about the yelling-at-children-epidemic and had the same reaction as this author.

And as always, Tom the Dancing Bug is fantastic.
polanski

Poker Update

I was bubble boy. At 3-handed, I had A-4. I raised preflop and got an Ace on the flop. But the other guy had A-Q. Oh well.

WSOP: How about Ivey completely missing the flush? Right now my money is on Shulman to take it all, even though I am 3-degrees removed from Eric Buchman (his cousin married a high-school buddy of mine).

Basketball is on

This is my favorite time of year. Professional football and basketball are my favorite sports and they will both be on for a few months.

On opening night the Celtics beat the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers were 39-2 at home last year, that’s a heck of a win. I would rather have Rasheed Wallace than Shaq any day. I suspect that the 2009 Shaq is not only not very good, he’s a liability. We’ll see.

Pro-rated record for the 2009 Celtics (after 2 games): 82-0!
Pro-rated record for the 2009 Cavaliers (after 2 games): 0-82!

Here are excerpts from the book the NBA doesn’t want you to read. Read it. I believe every word.

Just Kill the Guy Already

This is offensive.

An Ohio death row inmate won a stay of execution on Monday, three days before he was to have been put to death for killing a Cleveland-area woman in 1994, because the state was unable to carry out the execution of another prisoner three weeks ago.

Ridiculous. The doctors couldn’t find a vein for Rommel Brown after two hours of trying. The governor granted a stay of execution. Now Ohio has delayed three more.

This is insane. These are convicted murderers. Or worse, this latest one is a convicted rapist and torturer and murderer.

This is not a case of innocent people getting a last reprieve. This has nothing to do with legal issues. These are cases where the worst people in the world, those who inflicted incalculable pain on other, are allowed to live because we can’t find a way to kill them without hurting them a little.

I’m sure two hours of poking around for a vein is awful, but tough sh*t. It’s not summer camp, it’s the death penalty. The care given to the convict’s precious feeling is absurdly disproportionate to the crime they committed. It’s okay if they feel a little pain. It’s okay if they feel a lot of pain. They are lucky people. Biros has been alive and well-fed in the 18 years since he did the murder. “Death row inmates in the U.S. typically spend over a decade awaiting execution. Some prisoners have been on death row for well over 20 years.” These convicts are extremely lucky this society cares so much about how they go out. One of these or these methods could have been used. We take extensive measures to make sure they feel no pain. I wish we didn’t.

electric chair

Just kill them already.

Links o’ Interest

Don’t annoy a nerd

Fat kid stuck in skate bowl. It’s the new “stuck in a well”.

Extremely slow motion videos of bullets. Fascinating.

Type anything and have it sung back to you. Oddly entertaining.

Superheros in war photos

Another addictive internet game

Scientists create the most annoying song ever

Pacman explained

Close call for this pedestrian

OnStar to the rescue


21 guest shots
that stretched the meaning of “as themselves”

Nice farewell note

Maybe John Mayer is cool after all.

Neat cardboard animation. Gets better as it goes along.

Train runs over a six-month old baby, who comes out unharmed. With video.

The illiterate minority

10 Things you didn’t know about sexual biology, male and female.

Gorilla in a catscan

Thinking of opening a restaurant? Maybe not. “I had somebody approach me who had a very good job with a major company and an MBA from a prestigious university. I looked at him and asked, “Is your career in danger?” He said, “No, but I’ve always loved food. I love to cook. I love to have parties.” I told him to invite 20 friends over, throw a great dinner party, and then take a stack of $100 bills and burn them one by one. It will be fun—and cheaper than opening a restaurant.”

A World War II veteran speaks out about gay marriage. Very touching. (About 3 minutes.)

Patriots Win, 59-0

I could not take much joy in this game. Sure it was great at first. The hook up to Moss. Lawrence Maroney on fire. The Patriots understanding how to play in snow and ice and rain against a fair-weather team. The flea flicker was fantastic.

But after that it was no fun. It was like watching a particularly awkward episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Office. Part of you enjoys it but a lot of you just wants it to be over. You finish watching out of a sense of duty not because it’s actually enjoyable.

I wonder what the Titans locker room was like at half time. I think they just sat there staring at the wall. What could you say? They are some of the best athletes on the planet, but in this game they just plain sucked.