Here’s a photo by Jeff Berkes titled “The Crossing,” taken in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Check out the rest of his work; he’s pretty good.
A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.
Romney, rivals court Southern support ahead of primaries
Romney, rivals court Southern support ahead of primaries
David Espo, AP:
In the Deep South, one of the most conservative regions of the country, Romney and his Republican rivals polished their credentials with attacks on President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy and the nation’s use of energy. “The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous carbon dioxide is,” said Rick Santorum.
Hahahahahahaha.
See, it’s funny because Rick Santorum has no idea what ecology or biology is.
The dangers of cyanide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous cyanide is.
Related story from The Onion: “Voters Slowly Realizing Santorum Believes Every Deranged Word That Comes Out Of His Mouth.”
After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses
Tagged news, unnecessary glibnessRebekah Brooks arrest: phone-hacking scandal isn’t going to fade
Rebekah Brooks arrest: phone-hacking scandal isn’t going to fade
Robert Marquand, Christian Science Monitor:
The re-arrest of Rebekah Brooks this morning suggests little official let-up in a British tabloid phone-hacking scandal that captured the world’s attention last July and threatens to drag Prime Minister David Cameron into questions about his ties to Ms. Brooks and other journalists.
Yes, that’s right. Re-arrest. Really good run-down of the whole case from the CSM. (Just too bad it’s on two pages.)
The Colbert Report (8/3/12): Don Fleming, Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris
The Colbert Report (8/3/12): Don Fleming, Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris
Don Fleming, Elvis Costello, and Emmylou Harris stopped by The Colbert Report last week to talk about Alan Lomax and American folk music. The three and Colbert also performed “Good Old Mountain Dew” and “Goodnight, Irene.” Highly recommended.
Facebook ‘friend’ offer exposes man’s other wife
Facebook ‘friend’ offer exposes man’s other wife
Manuel Valdes, AP:
Facebook’s automatic efforts to connect users through “friends” they may know recently led two Washington women to find out they were married to the same man, at the same time. That led to the man, corrections officer Alan L. O’Neill, being slapped with bigamy charges.
According to charging documents filed Thursday, O’Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O’Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the “People You May Know” feature.
“Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2’s page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The Associated Press.
Wife No. 1 then called the defendant’s mother.
There’s a lot more to the story, but I’m ending the quote at this point because this is how it ran in yesterday’s paper. I’m not sure why the editors chose to cut it off at that exact point, but it was a hilarious place to do so.
Debate intensifies over animal undercover filming
Debate intensifies over animal undercover filming
David Pitt, the AP:
Animal welfare groups reacted with outrage Wednesday after the Iowa Legislature made the state the first to approve a bill making it a crime to surreptitiously get into a farming operation to record video of animal abuse. … The Iowa measure would establish a new penalty for lying on a job application to get access to a farm facility, making it a serious misdemeanor. A second conviction would be an aggravated misdemeanor.
…
Sen. Joe Seng, a Davenport Democrat and veterinarian who sponsored the bill, said the measure strikes a balance by discouraging animal activists from sneaking into livestock facilities but not prohibiting someone who legitimately works there from reporting animal abuse. … He said the livestock industry has legitimate concerns about unauthorized people infiltrating their facilities because they could track in disease or let mice or other unwanted vermin into farm buildings.
These kinds of exposés are generally how we find out about instances of horrific animal abuse, but on the other hand, it really is trespassing. Theoretically it should be possible for legitimate employees to report this kind of stuff too, but we’ll see how it goes.
California Teacher on Leave Over Porn Video Allegation
California Teacher on Leave Over Porn Video Allegation
Jeff Wilson, AP:
Student claims that a junior high teacher was moonlighting as a porn star were initially dismissed after school officials said they couldn’t find any images of her on the Internet.
The investigation was quickly restarted, however, when other teachers showed them downloads from smartphones, and the officials realized the school computer system blocked access to sex sites.
Oh dear.
Harvard group seeks degrees for expelled gays
Harvard group seeks degrees for expelled gays
Denise Lavoie, Associated Press:
Students and faculty at Harvard University are calling on the school to award posthumous degrees to seven students expelled nearly a century ago for being gay or perceived as gay, and they’re timing a rally for their cause to coincide with a visit by Lady Gaga.
But Harvard says it doesn’t award posthumous degrees, except in rare cases where students complete academic requirements but die before degrees have been conferred.
The university apologized a decade ago, after a student reporter found a file marked “secret court” in the university archives and wrote about the expulsions.
Wait, Harvard did what?
The group wants Harvard to formally abolish the secret court, a tribunal of administrators that investigated charges of homosexual activity among students at the Ivy League school in 1920. The tribunal remained a secret for decades and only became public in 2002 after the report in the Harvard Crimson magazine.
Mother of fuck.