President Bush Names George Hotz Attorney General, Pays Youngster One Raptor Jet
…but what about the insurance?
Washington, D.C. — Sources inside the White House revealed a plan to replace departing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales with telecommunications kid-genius George Hotz — the information having been leaked in advance of a press conference scheduled later today. Hotz, the Glen Rock, NJ youth who blazed into international prominence thanks to his successful “cracking” of the Apple iPhone’s locked carrier code, had received a new Nissan 350Z sports car in exchange for those efforts and was rumored to be looking for new challenges.
the new boing boing
boing boing has just gone through a redesign and the new version is up. first impression, really well done.
Paint!
(Via The Denver Egotist)
Scientist Von Braun said to be at Roswell UFO crash sight
As a space flight pioneer at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, from 1958 to 1992, Clark McClelland reveals in a recent interview that German scientist Von Braun confirmed to him personally that he was at Roswell during the UFO crash some fifty years ago and saw both the remains of its “alien victims” and the craft itself. McClelland makes this astonishing claim in a fascinating article in The Canadian.
Medicines from “The Pit”
Modern copper mining left an open pit of toxic chemicals that has contaminated the ecological systems around it, but recently researchers have discovered that something useful is emerging from the “the pit” of toxic stew: medicines to fight cancer. “At Berkeley Pit, nature and humankind have collaborated in the creation of a unique toxic soup that shares one thing with other extreme environments: No one expects anything to live in such a hellhole, and common creatures rarely do. But something uncommon — and useful — almost always does.”
The Future of Alternative Fuels: Sunny
None-too-soon, the future of readily available alternative fuels appears to be “sunny.”
Have Some Fried Banana Pudding, Y’all
The entries in this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards could entice State Fair visitors back to the deep fryer for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
There are Deep Fried Lattes for a morning jump-start, plus fried chili pie, fried guacamole, and a range of crispy desserts including Fried Cookie Dough.
Gigi White invented Country Pride Peach Cobbler on a Stick, which is a peach cobbler with dumplings rolled in pastry dough and fried, and then covered in brown sugar and cinnamon and skewered. It’s this year’s only entry on a stick.
“I’m a food engineer,” White said. “You really got to work it.”
Miss South Carolina
Atheist Media Blog
The 3 week old Atheist Media Blog collects mostly YouTube videos highlighting non and anti-religious viewpoints.
cracked sidewalk
I study the sidewalk at the bus stop, as if it can map the rest of my day.
the dallas world aquarium
Diviner’s Sage
Diviner’s sage contains a powerful hallucinogen that may someday inspire a new class of depression, pain, and addiction medications. After using some of the “Mexican-mint” sage from a mail order catalog, a woman managed to rid herself of depression. Tests on animals have shown that the herb can control pain. However, no large pharmaceutical company would dare invest millions of dollars to win FDA approval for a drug that they can’t patent and sell exclusively. To add insult to injury, it could someday be classified as a narcotic.
Archive Exhibit Celebrates More Than Just Itself
There are times when it’s OK to be totally self-centered.
This is exactly that time for the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection. All year, the folks at the Carter G. Woodson branch of the Chicago Public Library — where the collection is housed — have been celebrating the collection’s 75th anniversary with an exhibit on itself.
Over the years, the library has hosted at least a couple of exhibits annually on African-African history and culture — such as the one on Chicago’s role in the birth of gospel music. But the library has never turned the spotlight on its own baby. I have to tell you, it’s no shrinking violet.
This collection of African-American history and literature, believed to be the largest in the Midwest, is amazing.
Owen Wilson Hospitalized
Owen Wilson was hospitalized Sunday after a possible suicide attempt at his Santa Monica Home, according to various reports.
Os Mutantes – 5 Commercials for Shell
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point is the website of Michael Cook, a Toronto writer, photographer and urban explorer. Cook favors the underground storm drains, combined sewers and water system tunnels.
At their root, most drains are just an abstract version of the watershed that existed before the city. It’s sort of this alternate dimension that you pass into, when you step from the aboveground creek, through the inlet, into the drain – especially once you walk out of the reach of daylight.
BLDGBLOG has a fantastic interview with him where they go into his interests beyond urban exploration for its own sake.
Cook’s interests extend beyond the field of urban exploration to include the ecological consequences of city drainage systems, the literal nature of public space, and the implications of industrial decay for future archaeology – among many other things we barely had time to discuss.
Helpful links to more underground worlds and urban exploration on BLDGBLOG: Urban Knot Theory, London Topological, Derinkuyu, or: the allure of the underground city, Beneath the Neon, Valvescape, Subterranean bunker-cities, and Tunnels, mines, and the “upwardly migrating void”)
Alberto Gonzales Resigns, Hit By Door On Way Out
Mr. Gonzales can really put away the scrapple
Crawford, TX – United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has offered his resignation to President Bush, according to reports over the weekend. The embattled head of the Justice Department joined his long-time friend for a good-bye breakfast at the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. Sources close to the Bush Administration’s dining room described a brief meeting between the two men — over a hearty meal of scrapple, goetta, fried Spam, peppered bacon, and huevos rancheros — as being “cordial” and that the President jokingly referred to the Attorney General as “the former Alberto Gonzales” and “Al who?”.
finally
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned, officials said Monday, ending a monthslong standoff with critics who questioned his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department.
Acontextual = funny
Astronomers don’t know why the hole is there.
Satellite Tracking
Satellite tracking is the hobby of some. Some of these hobbyists, like Ted Molczan, are particularly interested in the secret spy satellites launched by the likes of the NRO.
In his spare time, he likes to take binoculars and a stopwatch onto the balcony of his high-rise apartment and track clandestine US spy satellites. There are thousands of amateur satellite observers active today, but Molczan is a leader of an informal group of 20 or so who specialize in so-called black satellites, the orbits of which are not disclosed, and the existence of which is often classified. Molczan and his band of associates monitor some 140 classified US satellites, like the Lacrosse radar imaging satellites, which can see through cloud cover and darkness and produce photo-quality images of targets on Earth.
The satellite trackers hang out at heavens-above.com and NASA provides J-Track3D, a java applet that shows real time information about earth orbiting satellites, but not the classified ones.
Most Pixels Ever at IAC
Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run from shiffman and Vimeo.
Daniel Shiffman has been working on content for the Media Wall at the IAC building in Chelsea, NYC. Run Lola Run frame by frame.
Letters and Such
Last week my Facebook pal Erin Maureen, whose name Flockers and regulars may recognize from the Comments, asked me whether I’d read The Habit of Being, a published collection of Flannery O’Connor’s letters. (I have, and I recommend it.) “I like letters,” she added. “Don’t you?” And this set me to thinking about another recent exchange, this one with longtime friend and fellow Flocker Cooper Renner.
Comic Sans
Personally, I think this is awesome.
Cog
Party Pictures: Before and After
Crash’s 60th Birthday Party. Before le (la?) fete. Crash is a francophile, by virtue of several trips to Paris over the past several years. Our mutual friend, Crosby, designer of le (la?) table, was waylaid by sudden onset intestinal malady before she could see the realization of her design, and it laid her low enough so she couldn’t attend the party. Her husband, Gary, brought the goods, already ready already, and left them in my hands to set. I hope I did them enough justice.
See below the fold for the aftermath:
