December 2011
28 posts
Facebook, Google, PayPal, Amazon and others may... →
I hope this happens, not just because the passage of SOPA would be unimaginably destructive to society on so many levels, but also because this would be interesting as hell. Like a temporary digital apocalypse…
Despite a number of warnings from social network and web hosting companies about its potential for governmental abuse, some say that H.R. 3261, commonly known as the Stop Online...
Click here and then select "I am under 21" for the... →
This has made me laugh so hard today. Making it must have been just as fun.
Via BRENT
This is the future of education: MITx
Building upon their OpenCourseWare program (which provides free public access to all of the schools’ undergraduate and graduate course materials), MIT has announced the upcoming 2012 launch of MITx, their new open-source, scalable learning program which will be free to anyone around the world with internet access. MITx will provide online teaching of MIT courses as well as certification for...
Quit castrating sheep with your teeth!
My favorite piece of advice from my Dad this Christmas was a dire warning: “Stop castrating your precious sheep with your precious teeth - it will give you diarrhea and maybe worse. Also, we paid a lot for your braces. Also, it’s disgusting. So just stop it, okay?”
Apparently this practice is common enough at ranches that the CDC figured they should remind people that it’s...
I hope you like that shit pie you baked for...
From the City Pages in my sweet hometown comes a satisfying smackdown on Senator Amy Koch. As Senate Majority Leader, she was a major force behind the bill to amend the MN Constitution to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman (which passed in May and will be voted on by the citizens in November 2012). Her conviction about the sanctity of marriage didn’t apply to herself of...
Sometimes good news is still sad news...
Via the NYTimes:
The National Institutes of Health on Thursday suspended all new grants for biomedical and behavioral research on chimpanzees and accepted the first uniform criteria for assessing the necessity of such research. Those guidelines require that the research be necessary for human health, and that there be no other way to accomplish it. […]
The report and the quick response by...
Vote Mike!
It’s your last chance to save this man from an excruciating meal at a bad Chinese restaurant. He’s a vegetarian and it would destroy his delicate stomach. Also, he’s awesome. VOTE NOW and absolve yourself of all your perverse holiday sins!
Because Louis CK is the most awesome comic out...
Louis CK took a big, calculated risk. In the spirit of experimentation and out of respect for his fans, he independently produced and distributed a stand-up special filmed at the Beacon Theater. The goal was to see if it was possible to make a profit by keeping prices reasonable for consumers and if consumers in turn would respect that effort and not pirate the work. The cost to produce the...
WatchMike Klasek gives a shit about ALL of us. Vote Mike!
cubebros:
Vote Mike!
Be careful when you recite a made-up phone number...
Because it might be a phone-sex hotline.
Via Chicago Tribune:
A lawyer for a former Penn State assistant football coach accused of molesting boys said Tuesday he didn’t mean to refer to a gay sex phone line when he said anyone who believes university officials thought his client raped a 10-year-old boy and did little about it should call 1-800-REALITY. The phrase is one attorney Joseph...
Fear of clustered things...
I had no idea this was a sort of normal thing! Ever since I was a kid I’ve been intensely grossed out by clusters of small, organic things. I remember walking past our crab apple tree in the front yard one winter afternoon, and becoming nauseated at the sight of all the tiny snow-holes full of withered crab apples. I always just figured it was triggering thoughts of maggots but apparently...
Details of Dolphin Language
This article is amazing. Fuck yeah Dolphins!!!
It has been suspected by some researchers that dolphins employ a sono-visual sense to ‘photograph’ (in sound) a predator approaching their family pod, in order to beam the picture to other members of their pod, alerting them of danger. In this scenario it is assumed that the picture of the predator will be perceived in the mind’s eye of the other...
A Banker Speaks With Regret →
Another great article by Nicholas Kristof; an interview with the RVP of Chase Home Finance in southern Florida. While none of his quotes provide new information (by now the predatory lending practices of these banks are well known) it’s still unusual to hear someone take some responsibility for it.
The best part of the article is Kristof’s brief breakdown of the recent disclosure of...
Check out this adorable rabbit... →