Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Harry Potter franchise ends, video of series as told by cats | Mamamia
via mamamia.com.au
I don't really get it. I will leave it to my kids to work this one out.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Penis Shaped Passion Fruit
via globalpost.com
A vine producing penis-shaped passion fruit has been discovered by a gardener in the Brazilian city of San Jose de Ribamar, in the country’s north. Normally round, the fruit is native to South America and its tart pulp can be found flavoring everything from sweet desserts to caipirinhas, the Brazilian national cocktail.
Although none of the penis-shaped variety are ripe yet, the woman who grew them, Maria Rodrigues de Aguiar Farias, 53, told the news site G1 so many visitors want to see the plants that she’s started charging admission.
"I charge two reals to look, 15 for taking photographs, and 20 to shoot video," she said. (That's a little over $1 to see, $9 for a snapshot and $12 for video).
A local government plant expert has examined the fruit and pronounced it healthy, G1 reported.
Must have accessory for my kilt. Shock Jock
Thanks Wolfie
The walls have hearsay
via toptenz.net
When English as She Is Spoke was published in 1883 it raised controversy, but it was due to the funny content and didn’t involve serious issues. In the middle of the 19thcentury, a Portuguese author named Jose da Fonseca became notable for writing phrase books that were used to help travelers and people interesting in learning multiple languages. His most famous publication was a successful Portuguese-French phrase book, which was adapted by a man named Pedro Carolino. After the popularity of the initial book, Carolino decided to write his own Portuguese to English conversational guide. However, he placed the more popular Jose da Fonseca’s name as the author without his knowledge. Problems began to arise when it was realized that Pedro Carolino didn’t speak English.
The Controversy
English as She Is Spoke is regarded as one of the funniest books written in the 19th century and a classic source of unintentional humor, due to the fact that the given English translations in the book are generally completely incoherent and wrong. It is widely believed that Pedro Carolino used a French-English dictionary to translate the earlier Portuguese-French phrase book that was written by José da Fonseca. The attempt failed to produce coherent English speech. It seems that the dictionary-aided literal use of the words caused many expressions to be translated wildly inappropriately. For example, the Portuguese phrase chover a cântaros is translated as raining in jars, when the English translation should be “raining buckets.”
Here are some more notable examples of phrases used in the book. The walls have hearsay, should be “the walls have ears.” He go to four feet, should be “he is crawling.” Is sure the road, should be “is the road safe.” That pond it seems me many multiplied of fishes. Let us amuse rather to the fishing. The English translation should have been, “This pond seems like it’s full of fish. Let’s have some fun fishing.” Mark Twain said of English as She Is Spoke, “Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, and nobody can hope to produce its fellow. It is perfect.”
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
BBC News - Westerners 'programmed for fatty foods and alcohol'
via bbc.co.uk
Westerners could be genetically programmed to consume fatty foods and alcohol more than those from the east, researchers have claimed.
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen say a genetic switch - DNA which turns genes on or off within cells - regulates appetite and thirst.
The study suggests it is also linked to depression.
Dr Alasdair MacKenzie conceded it would not stop those moving to the west adapting to its lifestyle.
Obesity levels have risen sharply in many Western countries since the 1970s.
Dr MacKenzie, who lead the study team, told BBC Scotland they found Europeans were more inclined to consume fatty foods and alcohol - but that people from the East could end up with the same problems if adapting to a new culture.
Well everything makes so much sense now. Here I am in the pub, lunchtime Friday. A few beers, some greasy chips and feeling sad. Don't really need a study to explain this one.
Mike & The Mechanics - All I Need Is A Miracle - YouTube
via youtube.com
That and a whole lot more.
Om-Nom-Nomnivore - Classic, Cool Mojitos
The Cadillac of Cocktails. First had this in a Cuban Bar in Manila. Delicious and so smooth.
10-12 fresh mint leaves
1/2 fresh lime
3 tablespoons sugar (or to tastes)
3 oz. white rum
1 cup ginger ale/seltzer
CAROLE KING (Live) - I Feel The Earth Move - YouTube
via youtube.com
Brilliant musicality. Great song.
10 Things We Should Send Back to France The Yanqui Perspective.
via gawker.com
The Metric System: This started in France and they infested the rest of the world with it. Now we're the only country strong enough to hold out forever. While we stick to our inches and ounces, their centimeters and grams are always on our packages thumbing their noses at us. Face it, France, we're Americans and we're not backing down on this, so just leave us alone, already.
Ha Ha. The US, one of three countries in the world not to have the metric system.
The Middle East - Blood (HQ Video) - YouTube
via youtube.com
Aussie band from Townsville. This is lovely.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? / The Rolling Stones - YouTube
via youtube.com
Classic old footage of Mick and the boys.
'Pastafarian' wins religious freedom right to wear pasta strainer for driving licence - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
This one strains my credibility. I sometimes have to take off my Akubra in hotels.
Niko Alm announced the decision on his blog saying that after three years of struggle a psychologist had passed him fit drive and so he could wear the kitchen implement for the official picture.
A self-styled "pastafarian", Mr Alm said he belonged to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which lampooned religion. "Today I was able to get my new driving licence, and in it you can clearly see that I'm wearing a colander on my head to demonstrate my allegiance to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster," Mr Alm wrote in his blog.
"My headwear has now been recognised by the Republic of Austria."
The spaghetti church was founded in 2005 in opposition to pressure on the Kansas school board in the United States to teach the theory of intelligent design in biology class as an alternative to evolution, and since then it has engaged in a light-hearted campaign against religion.
Key to the beliefs of pastafarians is that the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but, owing to the monster being inebriated at the time of creation, it has a flawed design.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Meteorite did kill the dinosaurs, fossil shows - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
The 45cm-long fossilised browhorn belonged to a family of plant-eating dinosaurs that included the famous three-horned Triceratops.
It was found at a geological site known as the Hell Creek Formation in the bleak badlands of south-east Montana, US, where many other dinosaur fossils have been unearthed.
What made this one special was its location, just 13cm below the rock layer that marks the Cretaceous-Tertiary or "K-T" boundary – the point in the fossil record where the dinosaurs died.
This suggests dinosaurs were around right up to the time all traces of their existence vanished.
In other words, they disappeared suddenly, as the result of an abrupt global disaster rather than a slow extinction.
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'Meteor shower killed dinosaurs' 30 Aug 2010
A huge asteroid or comet smashing into the Earth off the coast of Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago is widely believed to have killed off the dinosaurs.
But some sceptics point to an absence of dinosaur fossils for three million years leading up to the impact as evidence that the creatures may have already gone when the meteor struck.
The "three million gap" has helped drive controversy over what happened to the dinosaurs, some of which evolved into birds.
However, the horn fossil appears to close the gap, according to scientists writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The team, led by Dr Tyler Lyson, from Yale University in New Haven, US, wrote: "The in situ specimen demonstrates that a gap devoid of non-avian (bird) dinosaur fossils does not exist and is inconsistent with the hypothesis that non-avian dinosaurs were extinct prior to the K-T boundary impact event."
The scientists pointed out that a 125cm section of rock strata laid down after the impact was completely devoid of fossils.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
News of the World final crossword has a message for 'catastrophe' Rebekah Brooks - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
Despite orders allegedly given from the top of News International to ensure to "ensure there were no libels or any hidden mocking messages of the chief executive", staff appear to have found a way of mocking Mrs Brooks one last time.
Among the clues in the paper's Quickie puzzle were: "Brook", "stink", "catastrope" and "digital protection".
The clues for the Cryptic Crossword seemed to cut even closer to the bone, with examples including: "criminal enterprise", "mix in prison", "string of recordings" and "will fear new security measure".
The clue for 24 Across - which reads "Woman stares wildly at calamity" - is thought to be a reference to a photograph of Mrs Brooks staring furiously from the window of a car as she left News International's Wapping headquarters following the announcement the News of the World was to be shut down.
The answer to the clue is not one she would appreciate: "disaster".
Just so British. Onya guys.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Why the Associated Press needs a copy editor « Charles Apple « copydesk.org
It might not be so bad if that were all. But that same story — with that same misspelled headline — has been pushed out to newspapers all over the country. Each of which slap AP stories onto their own web sites without so much as a human eyeball to check over them.
Hello Fairfax???
Pictures of sand: Close up photographs reveal its incredible beauty | Mail Online
via dailymail.co.uk
Viewed at a magnification of over 250 times real life, tiny grains of sand are shown to be delicate, colourful structures as unique as snowflakes.
When seen well beyond the limits of human eyesight, the miniature particles are exposed as fragments of crystals, spiral fragments of shells and crumbs of volcanic rock.
Professor Gary Greenberg who has a PhD in biomedical research from University College London said: 'It is incredible to think when you are walking on the beach you are standing on these tiny treasures.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Saturday, July 09, 2011
The Leader of Opposition and His Considered Position on the Issues of the Day
via youtube.com
I thought this had been edited cleverly, but clearly it is for real.
Woman Dies of Allergic Reaction to the Dog She Had Sex With
via gawker.com
From Ireland, the land of geniuses like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and Bono, comes this story of a 43-year-old woman who encountered a man in a bestiality chat room and then met him at his house in Limerick. She had sex with his Alsatian dog and then had a severe allergic reaction shortly afterwards, possibly from the dog's semen. She later died at the hospital. The incident apparently took place in 2008, but medical experts just confirmed the cause of death, probably because it took them this long to get over the shock of how she died. Now the dog owner, Sean McDonnell, is charged with "buggery" for ordering the dog to commit the act. Buggery is apparently still a crime on the books in Ireland, so thank God for that. McDonnell is thought to be the first person charged with it since it was enacted in 1861.
Scientists discover the point of sex - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
Experts at the University of Indiana may have provided the best evidence yet after engineering two types of worms, some which could only reproduce by mating with each other and some could only clone themselves.
After exposing them to a harmful bacteria, worms that reproduced through sex survived fairly well while those that were asexual died rapidly.
Co-author Curtis Lively said: "The Red Queen Hypothesis predicts that sex should allow hosts to evade infection from their parasites, whereas self-fertilisation may increase the risk of infection.
"The coevolutionary struggle between hosts and their parasites could explain the existence of males."
I, Michele Bachmann, Pledge to End Pornography Be Gone YouPorn
via slate.com
What a nutter. Where do Americans find these people and why are they taken seriously? Very disturbing.
The Daily Fly Tyer
via dailyflytyer.com
Beautiful fishing stuff. I hate fishing, but these are beautiful.
Friday, July 08, 2011
Steve Bell nails it again. #notw #hackforheroes on Twitpic
via twitpic.com
Sad to be in #Adelaide where all this ugly, nasty, revolting stuff started. What were you thinking Rupert. Your corporate culture is hard to comprehend. I hope the Australian and UK governments will do the right thing and deny your BSkyB and the feel good Australia TV Bid.
You and your family and employees supported a revolting and disgraceful policy. You need to be held to account.
Sick of your current life. You can change it here.
via forevergeek.com
The Time Machine
1960
One of the greatest time machines of all time was this sleigh-type vehicle that was used in the movie based on H.G. Wells’ classic novel. The science explaining how it worked was never provided, though we do know it was based on real science and not fantasy. The operator moved a lever forward or backward to progress through time, and in the movie, the main character went as far as 800,000 years into the future, where he learned that humans had evolved into two separate races that were at war with one another. Another film by the same name was released in 2002 and directed by Wells’ own great-grandson, Simon. It was billed as a remake, using a similar sleigh-type vehicle, though the director reportedly saw it as more of a sequel.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Monkey Steals Camera, Takes Self-Portraits (VIDEO)
UK-based wildlife photographer David Slater, 46, was following the endangered species for three days in a park north of the island of Sulawesi when one of the monkeys snatched his camera.
From The Guardian:
People Who Don't Blog...But Should: Not Wading But Drowning Rebekah Brookes Spills the Beans
This seems as good a place as any to draft that memo to my army of minions. Let's see...
You ungrateful bunch of treacherous shits,
Hmmm...too long.
You bastards,
Too honest.
Dear All,
When I wrote to you last week updating you on a number of business issues I did not anticipate having to do so again so soon, but some cunt has gone and let the cat out of the bag. I admit it's my own fault; I should have paid Inspector Knacker more handsomely to keep a lid on the whole hideous affair. I can only say thank fuck I've still got the dirt on Cameron safely locked up in Rupert's HQ.
And the dirt on Rupert locked up at no. 10. Hee!
We were all appalled and shocked when we heard about these allegations yesterday. And if I find out that any of you has grassed me up, just bear in mind that I can very quickly make your life a living hell. It would be no trouble at all to have the lot of you branded a bunch of paedophiles and produce the evidence to prove it. Witness statements, photos, it's amazing what you can "discover" when you're in charge of the biggest media machine on the planet.
Our first priority must be to shred establish the full facts behind these claims. I have written to Mr and Mrs Dowler this morning to assure them News International will vigorously pursue the truth and that they will be the first to be informed of the outcome of our investigation. In unmarked notes in a large brown envelope.
More on the link. LOL
Generations of Pork: How Greece's Political Elite Ruined the Country - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
via spiegel.de
Nearly all of Greece's 400 church districts have started distributing food to the poor, including at Omonoia Square. "The number of needy is increasing rapidly," says one helper there, "and we don't know whether the end is even in sight."
In fact, it probably isn't. Last Wednesday, the governing Socialists passed a massive austerity package in parliament by a slim majority, despite intense protests. The decision paves the way for the next round of emergency loans from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Without this €12 billion ($17 billion), Athens would default on its debt within two weeks.
George Provopoulos, governor of the Bank of Greece, believes torpedoing the austerity package, as the country's conservative opposition tried, would have been "suicide." Still, Provopoulos also believes Greece has "reached the limit" and that it would be impossible to squeeze any more out of the people.
In remarks to the conservative newspaper Kathimerini, he spoke about what he saw as the root cause of the crisis. "There is little doubt that the failings of (the existing social and political) system hindered the implementation of policies that would have averted the existing ills," he said. "We are paying the price of past mistakes."
The emergency financing will help Greece through the next months and it will buy the rest of the EU some time -- time in which the euro crisis may ease somewhat. But it's unlikely that it can save Greece. The last few decades have seen an elite, with the Papandreou, Karamanlis and Mitsotakis families at its core, establish a system of economic patronage. They threw around billions the government didn't actually have and showered friends and relatives with prosperity that was all based on credit. These leaders bloated their country's administration so that everyone could have a piece, and created a bureaucratic monster in the process.
The political parties' business dealings were always more about favors than policies. Anyone with access to public funds used them to buy friends and voters, who were then beholden to the party -- and to the family running it. The result for Greece has been a feudal democracy, where the generations come and go, but the names remain the same: Papandreou and Karamanlis and Karamanlis and Papandreou, with a Mitsotakis thrown in every now and then.
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