quote out of context
Thus when the sex ratio is 20:20 the split is $50:$50 and when the sex ratio is 19:20 the split is more like to $99:$1 in favor of the men.
Energy. Tax. Lift American Spirits.
paper iPad
Tired of waiting?
dear clusterflock
Super Bowl.
The Karaoke Murders
From this morning’s NY Times:
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Brilliant offbeat journalism.
Yours for a freer New Albany
New Albany, Mississippi, birthplace of William Faulkner, will allow beer sales for the first time in over half a century. Faulkner himself pled for tolerance in 1950:
“Yours for a freer Oxford,” wrote Faulkner, who had a long history of drinking binges, “where publicans can be law-abiding publicans six days a week and ministers of God can be ministers of God all seven days in the week.”
Indeed.
We apologize for the background noise
ChatRoulette
It is what the title implies.
There was a man who wore a deer head and opened every conversation with “What up DOE!?” A guy from Sweden was reportedly speed-drawing strangers’ portraits. Someone with a guitar was improvising songs for anyone who’d give him a topic. One man popped up on people’s screens in the act of fornicating with a head of lettuce. Others dressed like ninjas, tried to persuade women to expose themselves, and played spontaneous transcontinental games of Connect Four. Occasionally, people even made nonvirtual connections: One punk-music blogger met a group of people from Michigan who ended up driving eleven hours to crash at his house for a concert in New York. And then, of course, fairly often, there was this kind of thing: “I saw some hot chicks then all of a sudden there was a man with a glass in his butthole.” I sing the body electronic.
(via marginal revolution)
Dear clusterflock
What will be your epitaph?
C-41 in Caffenol
Then peroxide and sun.
This woman in central Florida does the most mad and wonderful things with film, and I like to share things that I like.
Oh. And she’s really funny, and so are her friends. Her Flickr comment threads make for good reading.
Toyo Ito, White O
I wish I could find this picture of Toyo Ito’s White O house from the latest issue of Dwell online.
spam name
Wilma Quinones.
Shackleton’s Whisky
Five crates of whisky and brandy belonging to polar explorer Ernest Shackleton have been recovered after being buried for more than 100 years under the Antarctic ice, explorers said Friday.
The smell of whisky in the surrounding ice also indicated full bottles of spirits were inside, albeit that one or more might have broken.
photo out of context
Fun facts about special sauce
As John Hodgman would say, more information than you require:
Click to embiggen
from the comments
Phil Bebbington: Well, I am in Texas and spent my first night in Johnson City. I had Catfish served on a plastic plate whilst watching two drunks play pool – one swore he knew me and kissed me on the hand – this is only half the story, perhaps the material of a post, not sure.
They were barely able to walk when we were kicked out at 9 and yet almost managed to drive a straight line!
Monopoly: Revolution Edition
“Monopoly: Revolution Edition” is slick and round instead of dull and square, with debit cards and an ATM instead of paper money and a banker, clear plastic representations of the classic tokens (bye-bye, little boot!), and clips of popular songs (like Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” and Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”) that play after certain actions.
No paper money!
Changing cabin pressure
It’s all gold, especially starting at 1:55. That accent just gets me.
Pluto is changing color
See also: crash blossoms.
oh, the places you’ll go
I was also at Whataburger last night:
Dear clusterflock
Two questions, separated by your ability to answer each:
1. Do you have a beard? Why or why not?
2. Are beards sexually attractive? Why or why not?
52 Editions | This Week’s Edition: Phil Bebbington
Storage, Winterset, Iowa (2009). Phil Bebbington.
8.5″x11″ archival pigment print. Limited edition of 275.
Every week, 52 Editions features a different photograph for $45, published in a limited edition of 275. This week’s edition may be familiar to Flockers and regulars.
Phil’s Winterset photograph will be available at this terrific price for seven days, after which it will appear permanently in the 52 Editions catalog at a price that is still damn good.
There are other fine photographs over there as well, so take a look. And do it soon.
Steve Jobs on Monopolies
Apple had a monopoly on the graphical user interface for almost 10 years. That’s a long time. And how are monopolies lost? Think about it. Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren’t the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It’s the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business into Latin America or whatever. Because what’s the point of focusing on making the product even better when the only company you can take business from is yourself? So a different group of people start to move up. And who usually ends up running the show? The sales guy… Then one day, the monopoly expires for whatever reason. But by then the best product people have left, or they’re no longer listened to. And so the company goes through this tumultuous time, and it either survives or it doesn’t.
history lesson
From 1949 to 1970, there were 30 cloture votes. In 2009, there were 39.
anxiety of influence
Hemingway said journalism but what he really meant was Gertrude Stein.
