A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Tag Archives: wait what

Nov 25 2011
Mark Twain, probably

FBI arrests 7 in Amish haircut attacks in Ohio

FBI arrests 7 in Amish haircut attacks in Ohio

AP report:

The leader of a breakaway Amish group allowed the beatings of those who disobeyed him, made some members sleep in a chicken coop and had sexual relations with married women to “cleanse them,” federal authorities said Wednesday as they charged him and six others with hate crimes in hair-cutting attacks against other Amish.

…

Several members of the group carried out the attacks in September, October and November by forcibly cutting the beards and hair of Amish men and women and then taking photos of them, authorities said.

Cutting the hair is a highly offensive act to the Amish, who believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry. One victim told the FBI he would rather have been “beaten black and blue than to suffer the disfigurement and humiliation of having his hair removed,” according to court papers.

The whole story is actually kind of terrifying.

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Oct 25 2011
Mark Twain, probably

MegaBus driver arrested for driving drunk

MegaBus driver arrested for driving drunk

The title doesn’t do this justice — bizarre story. Glad no one was hurt.

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Oct 22 2011
Mark Twain, probably

World Scrabble Championships competitors asked to empty their pockets after a G goes missing

World Scrabble Championships competitors asked to empty their pockets after a G goes missing

The Associated Press with some Earth-shattering news out of Warsaw, Poland:

Brian Dede, the event coordinator, said a referee had to intervene when opponents Edward Martin from Britain and Chollapat Itthi-Aree from Thailand noticed a missing tile during the last draw of their match.

He said that led to a search on and under the table, and that both players “were asked to show the contents of their pockets.”

The missing letter was nowhere to be found, so the referee added another “G’’ to the letters to create a complete set.

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Oct 14 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Firing contest by boss leads employees to quit

Firing contest by boss leads employees to quit

Clark Kauffman, The Des Moines Register:

William Ernst, 57, the owner of a Bettendorf-based chain of convenience stores called QC Mart, sent all of his employees a memo in March, outlining a contest in which the workers were encouraged to participate. The memo read:

“New Contest – Guess The Next Cashier Who Will Be Fired!!!

“To win our game, write on a piece of paper the name of the next cashier you believe will be fired. Write their name [the person who will be fired], today’s date, today’s time, and your name. Seal it in an envelope and give it to the manager to put in my envelope.”

What, why. How.

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Oct 12 2011
Mark Twain, probably

“The Real Third Rail of American Politics: Barbecue”

“The Real Third Rail of American Politics: Barbecue”

Robert F. Moss for the Los Angeles Times on the role of delicious, delicious barbecue in American politics:

… Rufus Edmisten, who ran for governor of North Carolina in 1984. Late in the campaign, after eating barbecue at rallies three times a day for almost a year, he broke down at a public feed in Raleigh. “We haven’t had any of the damnable barbecue,” he proclaimed. “I’ve eaten enough barbecue. I am not going to eat any more!” The quote ran in local newspapers, and Edmisten lost by almost 200,000 votes.

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Oct 03 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Andy Rooney on a bunch of random crap he found in his kitchen drawers.

I want to stress that 60 Minutes is a show on prime time television. This was aired nationally.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Oct 01 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Wikipedia: Meego (TV series)

Wikipedia: Meego (TV series)

Here’s Wikipedia’s synopsis of CBS’s short-lived TV series Meego:

Meego ([Bronson] Pinchot) is a 9,000-year-old shape-shifting alien from the planet “Marmazon 4.0”. After Meego’s ship crashes, he is discovered by three children; Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg), Alex (Jonathan Lipnicki), and Trip Parker (Erik von Detten, later played by Will Estes). The children live with their single dad, Dr. Edward Parker (Ed Begley, Jr.) and pass Meego off as human (Meego does not want anyone to know that he is extraterrestrial, and tells people he is from Canada instead). Although Meego plans to leave Earth as soon as his space ship is repaired, he became attached to their children and decides to remain on Earth to care for the three Parker children. …

The show’s supporting cast also included some of the most recognizable child stars of the time period; Trachtenberg was the star of the film Harriet the Spy and Lipnicki had been seen in Jerry Maguire as well as several TV shows. (Von Detten would later go on to star in his own TGIF show, Odd Man Out, and have a supporting role in another, Complete Savages.) Despite this, the show was a complete failure: it ranked at #111 in the Nielsen ratings with 8 million viewers per episode. After six weeks, it was pulled from the schedule the following week in favor of a rerun of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and was formally canceled shortly thereafter.

Oh dear.

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Sep 30 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Economists say adult circumcision not best anti-HIV tactic

Economists say adult circumcision not best anti-HIV tactic

Oren Dorell, USA Today:

A group of top world economists said Wednesday that adult male circumcision, a global priority for preventing HIV infection, is not nearly as cost-effective as other methods of prevention.

A successful adult male circumcision effort would require “a large public campaign to get people into the clinic,” said Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a Danish think tank…

Wait, lemme stop quoting that for a second. Why are we listening to economists about this?

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Sep 26 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Overdone: Why are restaurant websites so horrifically bad?

Overdone: Why are restaurant websites so horrifically bad?

Farhad Manjoo for Slate:

The first thing that pops up when you visit the website of the San Francisco restaurant Fleur de Lys is a nearly full-screen animation of celebrity chef Hubert Keller’s autograph. That makes sense—when I’m choosing a restaurant, the first thing I want to know is, Can the chef sign his name?

He gives a few more examples of questionable site design too. Don’t miss Cavatore Italian Restaurant’s contact page.

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Sep 23 2011
Mark Twain, probably

This is page 3 of issue 1 of Johnny Turbo, an extremely misguided advertising “campaign” by NEC for their TurboDuo system. In it, implied superhero-esque person Johnny Turbo farts lightning and occasionally battles against the inhuman monsters of “Feka Corporation” and their devious plan to convince the world that the “Feka CD” was the world’s first CD-based game console.

Sardius has uploaded scans of all(?) three issues of Johnny Turbo, with commentary! It is marvelous.

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