gerberer

Like Tanya, but underwater

via VeryShortList

Last funny animal post of the day, I promise (but this is a good one)

Most Stylish Chameleon

EMBED-Coolest Chameleon Ever - Watch more free videos via Just Whatever

Palestine's Island Paradise

I love this map and I find the very idea of it to be really provocative. I've been to Israel many times and I've spoken with both Israelis and Palestinians as friends. But the actual land itself of the West Bank has always proved to be something more elusive to me than the Palestinian people themselves. The west bank, for me, has always been presented with the same caution and fear that many people approach the ocean.

Even though this map of L’archipel de Palestine orientale (‘The Archipelago of Eastern Palestine’) is set in the same area and uses a similar theme, the cartographer behind it refutes any allegation that it is meant to reflect the same Biblical dry = good, wet = bad analogy. “The map is not about ‘drowning’ or ‘flooding’ the Israeli population, nor dividing territories along ethnic lines, even less a suggestion of how to resolve the conflict,” gasps Julien Bousac, the Frenchman who created this map.

“Maybe posting the full map would help to take it for what it is, i.e. an illustration of the West Bank’s ongoing fragmentation based on the (originally temporary) A/B/C zoning which came out of the Oslo process, still valid until now. To make things clear, areas ‘under water’ strictly reflect C zones, plus the East Jerusalem area, i.e. areas that have officially remained under full Israeli control and occupation following the Agreements. These include all Israeli settlements and outposts as well as Palestinian populated areas.”

via Strange Maps

Facebook Groupthink - Part 2: A Letter from Mr. Manjoo

As per my earlier post about facebook and people believing any crazy old thing on there, I received a response today from Farhad Manjoo, Slate's technology writer about the issue. And, as it turns out, the culprit behind all of this is Farhad himself!

Hi Adam,

It's a good question. Maybe I'm responsible; I wrote a silly article once saying Facebook should start to charge (I was really saying lots of Web companies should start to charge). Maybe I should do a mea culpa. Facebook really wouldn't work if people were asked to pay for it, and anyone who might buy it would know that, as you note.

I think your second idea is right on -- low barrier to entry for online activism. People feel passionately about Facebook and they're quick to believe rumors about stuff they're passionate about.

Thanks for the note.

--FM

This is my second letter and response to a slate writer. My first was a submission to Emily Yoffe that made it as her top letter in her weekly advice column, Dear Prudence. Check it out.

What Kind of Fool am I?

April Fools Day is a special time of the year for me. It brings up all kinds of fun memories.

Like this one time, back in Davis, Daniel and I played an epic prank on our roommate, Jordan. She’s very much the progressive, vegan, anti-corporation type. On her bedroom door, she had all kinds of anti-McDonalds, anti-Coke, and anti-Starbucks paraphernalia. So, one day we decided to play with her a little.

Daniel and I drew up a fake letter from Starbucks “Outreach Office” telling Jordan that in honor of her accomplishments and achievements in advocating for a more just and equitable world for all, that she was being offered a special scholarship of $20,000. We completed the letter with a pretty legit looking letter head that we faked with a Starbucks logo we found online and signed the letter “Loren Evans”.

The result was amazing.

Jordan, understandably, freaked out with excitement over her new scholarship money. Only when we asked later, “Your not going to take that money, are you? That money was made unjustly off the backs of poor farmers!” did she enter the existential crisis we were seeking. It was great. Finally, we told her that we were behind the whole deal and that “Loren Evans” was Daniel’s and my middle names put together (my middle name being Loren and his being Evan).

We’ll Loren Evans has struck again. This time though, it was Evans striking against Loren.

I got to work this morning and within minutes, I started receiving phone call after phone call asking about my TV for sale on craigslist. Apparently, on a visit last night to visit their sick old friend Adam, Daniel and his compatriot Denise, took a sneak photo of my TV and posted this to craigslist.

the link wont last forever, but incase you cant read the image above, try checking it out here. I've received nearly 40 calls already and I've had to change my voicemail message to say that the tv is no longer available.

Well played, Loren Evans. Well played.

Southwest Rap

Watch Rapping Flight Attendant and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

via SlateV

Where have all the Cocks gone?

It appears that Cocks, Smellies, and Shufflebottoms have all become quite endangered in recent years.

A study found the number of people with the name Cock shrank to 785 last year from 3,211 in 1881, those called Balls fell to 1,299 from 2,904 and the number of Deaths were reduced to 605 from 1,133.

People named Smellie decreased by 70 percent, Dafts by 51 percent, Gotobeds by 42 percent, Shufflebottoms by 40 percent, and Cockshotts by 34 percent, said Richard Webber, visiting professor of geography at King's College, London.

via Reuters

Bad Paintings of Barack Obama

some are worse than others

via subtraction

Facebook Groupthink

I just wrote a letter to Slate's tech and web writer Farhad Manjoo. Who knows if he'll write back, but my question probably hits what he's most interested in.

The issue is a certain facebook phenomenon and its constituent groups and events. Read my letter for more...

Farhad,

Love your columns. Big fan.

I know that you just wrote a great piece on the Facebook redesign but there's something else going on Facebook that I'm mystified by that you might find interesting too (if it hasn't already caught your attention).

There a number of groups out there called things like "If Facebook becomes a paysite - I'm gone!" and events called "Day without facebook." Basically, all of these are based on the idea since Zuckerberg has received offers to buy Facebook, he MAY sell it someday and one of the new owners MAY make it a pay site. This ignores the fact that facebook's success is based on the fact that its so free and open and that no savvy investor would try to change that.

Thats all fine and good. People believe silly things online all the time - ask my grandpa if its safe to microwave water. But there are two groups that I've found so far and they BOTH have over 3,000,000 members. Thats more than thegroups "1,000,000 Strong for Obama", "1,000,000 Strong for Colbert", and the group "Men" had at their heights!

Whats the story here. Why do so many people believe such silly things? Is it just that people are not that smart, or is it that online activism like that has such a low barrier to entry that people sign on for silly causes more often.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Thanks, Farhad.

Adam

Am I the only one who sees this as a crazy issue? Has the world gone mad?!

I've read 176% percent of these

Here's a list of the top 10 most lied-about-reading books of all time.

1. 1984 by George Orwell (42%)
2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (31%)
3. Ulysses by James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%)
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (15%)
7. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. In Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (6%)
10. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (6%)

via Kottke.org

interesting sandwich, genius blog

from scanwiches. thanks to DS

Last-Minute Changes - WSJ.com

Last-Minute Changes - WSJ.com.

The domestication of cattle for milk production also led to genetic change. Among people of northern European descent, lactose intolerance -- the inability to digest milk in adulthood -- is unusual today. But it was universal before a genetic mutation arose about 8,000 years ago that made lactose tolerance continue beyond childhood. Since you can get milk over and over from a cow, but can get meat from it only once, you can harvest a lot more calories over time for the same effort if you are lactose tolerant. Humans who had this attribute would have displaced those who didn't, all else being equal. (If your opponent has guns and you don't, drinking milk won't save you.)

Rule 21: Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet if necessary, because they may want to kill you.

Probably the greatest single blog posting i've ever read. That, or I'm just scared to tell the writer otherwise. Here are 28 Rules of Gun fighting:

1. Forget about knives, bats and fists. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Bring four times the ammunition you think you could ever need.
 
2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammunition is cheap - life is expensive. If you shoot inside, buckshot is your friend. A new wall is cheap - funerals are expensive
 
3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.
 
5. Move away from your attacker and go to cover. Distance is your friend. (Bulletproof cover and diagonal or lateral movement are preferred.)
 
6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a semi or full-automatic long gun and a friend with a long gun.
 
7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
 
8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running. Yell "Fire!" Why "Fire"? Cops will come with the Fire Department, sirens often scare off the bad guys, or at least cause then to lose concentration and will.... and who is going to summon help if you yell "Intruder," "Glock" or "Winchester?"
 
9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun.
 
10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
 
11. Stretch the rules.  Always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
 
12. Have a plan.
 
13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work. "No battle plan ever survives 10 seconds past first contact with an enemy."
 
14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible, but remember, sheetrock walls and the like stop nothing but your pulse when bullets tear through them.
 
15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
 
16. Don't drop your guard.
 
17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees. Practice reloading one-handed and off-hand shooting. That's how you live if hit in your "good" side.
 
18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. Smiles, frowns and other facial expressions don't (In God we trust. Everyone else keep your hands where I can see them.)
 
19. Decide NOW to always be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
 
20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
 
21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet if necessary, because they may want to kill you.
 
22. Be courteous to everyone, overly friendly to no one.
 
23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
 
24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than "4".
 
25. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. "All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket." At a practice session, throw you gun into the mud, then make sure it still works. You can clean it later.
 
26. Practice shooting in the dark, with someone shouting at you, when out of breath, etc.
 
27. Regardless of whether justified of not, you will feel sad about killing another human being. It is better to be sad than to be room temperature.
 
28. The only thing you EVER say afterwards is, "He said he was going to kill me. I believed him. I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm very upset now. I can't say anything more. Please speak with my attorney."

via Field & Stream Magazine

WGN News anchors Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange

NYMag: Going Deaf and Blind in a City of Noise and Lights

This summer, I got to experience something new and unforgettable. I staff college trips to Israel during the summer, but this past summer I was placed on a bus with a number of deaf and hard of hearing students. It was a interesting experience. I had never really interacted with the deaf community before and I ended up learning a lot about deaf politics and culture.

One of the students on the bus was a dancer and graduate student. She was attractive and funny and skeptical of the whole Israel thing – just the type of student I love engaging with. One night, after we took the bus to a dance club on a boat on Lake Kinneret, she explained to me that her hearing troubles are only half of the formula. She had been recently diagnosed with Usher’s Syndrome – a gradual loss of both hearing and eyesight.

I can’t describe what Usher’s is like and I can’t put into words what it felt like to learn about this. But luckily, a writer at New York Magazine, seems to have summed up the experience pretty impressively. I highly recommend this:

I begin to understand why everyone uses the adjectives amazing and awesome to describe her. I find that I adore her, too. Which makes it painful to imagine her slowly closing world. “It’s really the isolation,” says Swiller. “Most people wake up and the first thing they do is turn on the radio, and the last thing at night is turn off The Daily Show. We input all that noise to blast out thought. She doesn’t have that. She’s alone with her thoughts, in her own world, in a way.”

Whatever keeps her up at night is not something she talks about. “Well, we all have our shit,” she says. “One of the things that’s so unique and wonderful about this is that you’re forced to use other senses. It makes you creative. For example, I was meeting a friend at Houston’s on 53rd, and it’s really dark on the stairs. I wanted to put my name on the list, but I wasn’t gonna break an ankle over it. So I watched people exiting and counted how many times their bodies went up. Sixteen stairs, then turn, then five more.”

Fantasy HHS Sec: Sufficiently Bombastic Editionh

A friend and I like to take political shake-ups like this as a chance for us to do a little friendly gentlemen s wager. Usually, I lose these things. I didn't bet on John Roberts, Joseph Ratzinger, or Joe Biden, but hopefully I can regain the upper hand with these selections for Daschle's replacement nominee for HHS.

1) John Kitzhaber
2) Howard Dean
3) Jeanne Lambrew

each of these is sufficiently unrealistic. The only one with a high, Daschle-y profile is the out-of-favor Howard Dean, but he may be the least likely of all. To be honest, I had only vaguely heard of #1 before today and #3 not at all before today.

My rival in this edition of Fantasy HHS Secretary has chosen for his starting line-up...

1) Kathleen Sebelius
2) Dave Cutler
3) John Edwads

No comment needed on #3.

Tough Guy Challenge 2009

via The Big Picture

Here To There Dept.: Step On It: The Talk of the Town: The New Yorker

Here To There Dept.: Step On It: The Talk of the Town: The New Yorker.

After an hour and a half, Lear’s passengers arrived: General James L. Jones took shotgun; Lawrence Summers and two men she didn’t recognize got in back. No one spoke. “The ride there was so awkward,” Lear said. “I was racking my brain about some introduction I could make.” Finally, someone brought up the World Economic Forum, in Davos—General Jones said he guessed he was going; Summers said it sounded fun—and Lear was listening closely until she realized, “O.K., I need to focus on not crashing General Jones and Larry Summers and all these important people! I need to execute this task properly.” She concentrated on the driving....

The motorcade arrived at the Mexican Cultural Institute on Sixteenth Street. The passengers got out, and Lear tried to read her book. But mostly, she said, “I sat in the car for about two hours and texted everybody I know.” She asked for suggestions for ice-breakers to use with Jones. Her dad wrote, “How about ‘At ease, General!’?”

Brick H. Obama

this will be my last inauguration themed post, so I hope this tides you over till 2013...

via The Big Picture