Cigarette companies using child labor

Can their image get any lower?

Doesn't look like any of these "blood cigarettes" got into the US brands, as if smokers really care.

Ship found in remains of WTC site

NYT story. Clearly 9/11 was planned by a world-wide coalition of archeology buffs.

Amazing that a young country like the US can still find itself finding its past among its midst. Imagine cities such as Rome, London, or Istanbul. You can't swing a cat there without hitting something historical.

A racked workoutC

If you're like me (you know, perfect except for this little flab thing that suddenly arrived about ten years ago), then this workout is for you.

Cool prank

Jewel goes undercover at a karaoke bar to sing her own songs.

Pakistan is #1!

In sex related searches on Google.

The factory method of lawsuits

Debt collection law firms swamping the courts with software-generated lawsuits.

There really should be a better system against suing someone wrongfully than having the suit thrown out.

The limits of online dating

A very interesting video about the limits of online dating, by Dan Ariely. It points to the problem of trying to solve the problem of dating (or, at least how to maximize return) but the limits of online searching actually make the problem worse.

LeBron

I've avoided writing about LeBron--it isn't bitterness, but more a matter of trying to figure out why he made the decision he did. I suspect it is because he surrounded himself by his own "team" and, as anyone following politics these days can attest, an echo chamber is a piss poor way to make decisions.

Meanwhile, Nate Silver estimates LeBron will lose $150 million, in the end

If he doesn't win multiple championships in Miami, he's likely to lost a lot more than that.

Moka coffee

Giorgio Milos is getting coffee. Mmmm, coffee.

How do we know a work is art is by the artist attributed?

A National Gallery exhibit examines forgeries and other questions of attribution.

What to do if you win the lottery

Some good advice. Even though it is really for me.

120 beagles rescued from bankrupt lab in NJ

Cool video. Great dogs!

My wife and I have only had rescues here (sometimes we foster dogs as well), and we were early volunteers for Petfinder as well. Almost enough to break your heart to see that dog wagging his tail through the van window.

Are you a nerd? Looking to date?

Here's a handy guide.

What if the Earth stood still?

Assuming a gradual slowdown rather than a stomp-on-the-breaks, the result would be a megacontinent and polar oceans.

Boeing wins huge WTO case against Airbus

The wink-wink loans given to Airbus over the years by 4 European governments has just been ruled as being anti-competitive by the WTO.

The DLC has a good overview, and more links.

CA State employees now paid minimum wage

The result, IMO, with an out-of-control referenda system.

A bonus kick in the pants: Other employees who are not federally protected by minimum wage requirements, such as some of the state’s doctors and lawyers, will go without pay from California’s government for the month of July.

Remember Gallagher?

He still touring. As an old, bitter, asshole.

Hi, I'm Troy McClure

and you might know me from such films as...

Saw this on The Daily What a few days ago and it is still funny stuff.

BTW, anyone else notice that Andrew Sullivan appears to be seeding his blog with TDW selections, but typically sourced to the original places rather than TDW? I think if someone (like myself, or you, for that matter) reads The Daily What every other day or so, about half of Andrew Sullivan's posts become deja vu.

He's still got it...

Funny Steve Martin tour rider...

From the batshit crazy wing of the GOP....

Michelle Bachmann denounces the global economy.


I guess the common air we breathe will be the next socialist plot to be denounced...

Smoothing the square (pixels)

Originator of the square pixels trying to fix his 53-year-old mistake.

Cats

two on the same theme:

11 Most Profound Simpsons Quotes

Classics. And more in the comments.

Don't ask for help on a forum

How an internet meme starts...

Satelitte image of the day

Taken last Saturday:

Funniest police blotters

Pardon the tits across the top.

Getting a read on the "Tea Party.

The Two Faces of the Tea Party.

I cannot recommend this piece enough. This is spot-on in so many ways.

On best friends, and children

I had the exact same reaction when I read the New York Times piece, but (as usual) E. D. Kain puts it much better that I would have.

Manute Bol: Humanitarian and NBA star passes away.

Too young. And with too much work to do.

For those keeping score at home

The top 6 (so far!) Republican gaffes about the oil spill.

About the best I can spin this is that the GOP really, really is not good at politicizing this issue. One that begs to be spun, frankly.

Pictures of a supercool subway system in Sweden

The wonders of non-competitive bidding.

Keeping up with the Tuners

Obama autotunes his ass kicking

Meanwhile, (via TDW), some news of the day.

Norway's PC problem

Why do the most liberal countries have such a hard time with speech?

I think we'll be staying awhile. For your own protection, you understand.

Say goodbye to the US pulling out of Afghanistan anytime soon.

New (and in-depth) economic news from the Fed

Lots of information in the Beige Book to digest. 538 notes:

The overall conclusion of both these report is clear: the economy is expanding, albeit at a slower pace. Personal consumption expenditures are in an uptrend, business investment is increasing and real estate -- while not a hot bed of activity -- is not the drag it once was. However, there is still a long way to go. The unemployment rate is still incredibly high and initial unemployment claims need to start dropping soon.

There appears to be little discussion given to the fact that a flat housing market hinders mobility for workers, contributing to flat jobs numbers. Otherwise, we're about where we should be: Conservative purchasing by consumers (including paying down debt) and some green shoots in the economy in areas where we hope to see them.

It does appear that the worries of a double dip recession are behind us, but IMO the longer we are in a slow rebuilding phase the better it is for the economy long-term.

Adolescent humor of the day

Bart Simpson apparently is calling TV stations now:

Rember Gitmo?

Government continues to argue for the indefinite holding of Gitmo detainees. Because it doesn't know what else to do, it seems.

Get outta my lane

A sticker response to cars in bike lanes

Great Sex Advice

Not.

Funny stuff, though. Something tells me many of those writers have never had sex in a relationship before.

TV Land: Where the Print News Never Changes

Weird.

what if political scientists wrote the news?

Saw this on Slate a few days ago--should have posted it then. It really gets going about halfway through.

On Netanyahu and Obama

The relationship between Netanyahu and Obama is certainly prickly. But it doesn't really need to be presented as neo-con fiction.

Obama Administration on detentions: Same as it ever was

Besides doubling down on Afghanistan, Obama seems intent on holding onto Bush's legacy of deciding for himself the when, if, where, and how long of detaining people.

Jon Stewart pwns Beck, Part XX

Beck: No one else is showing you this clip!

ragheads

"I was just kidding when I called Obama and Nikki Haley ragheads."

What is with the stupid South?

Bill Cosby's quest to save the American black man

I've been reading and mulling over this amazing TNC column about Bill Cosby for some time now. I was aware of Cosby's work at getting the black community to take more responsibility (and his NAACP speech) but this really fleshes out his work.

A great piece. I'm not so certain that Du Bois can be pigeonholed in the way he is in the article (and I think TNC misses an opportunity to connect Du Bois and the NAACP, which Du Bois headed for some time as well as edited The Crisis for many decades). Du Bois advocated a wide range of solutions to the pervasive problem of racism in America, including Cosby's basic point of self-responsibility (as well as a rise of African-American intellectuals, as it were, acting as African American mentors). The integration Du Bois advocated wasn't really the kind of "stooging" as is presented here--it was more of a recognition of the goals of reaching toward societal mores, which were largely realized (and controlled by) whites.

Later, of course, Du Bois became more of a pan-africanist, communist, and began looking for models outside the United States upon which blacks could draw for self-determination. But by this time (early 60's) he was an embarrassment to many black leaders, who branded him an "integrationist" (code word for a Tom) for not being militant enough, a false charge that still carries some weight.

Two areas upon which Cosby and Du Bois would agree, however, is that self-determination (whether for an individual or a race) comes from within rather than outside. And racial progress for blacks is doomed without mentors (principally, men) helping others.

Your daily tear up...

Leave Me from Daros Films on Vimeo.

Net worth of US Presidents

From Washington to Obama.

Just keeping it in perspective...

In case you are feeling small. Here's why.

Excuse me, is that a...Oh My God It Is

My question: Was it a real penis casting a shadow, or a cutout?

Police using wiretapping laws against being taped themselves

A disturbing trend.

The article doesn't make clear that the problem isn't the taping in the first place, the the distribution of the taping. An important point, IMO, that is completely glossed over.

No No-No

I watched the last few innings of the Detroit/Cleveland game today (though it wasn't until the final inning that I realized that the Detroit pitcher, Armando Galarraga had a perfect game going instead of a no hitter.

Regardless, the first base umpire missed a call on Damon 's ground ball in the bottom of the 8th, keeping things alive for the Tigers to score two runs in the inning (making it 3-0 going into the 9th). The ump would return the favor with an awful call with 2 outs in the ninth, calling Jason Donald safe on a close play in which replays showed him to be out by a half-step (which, in baseball terms, might as well be a mile).

Donald couldn't believe it. Neither could anyone else. And while Galarraga did the professional thing and went back and got the last guy out, the way the Tigers went after the ump was terribly unprofessional.

Regardless, the umpire's Wikipedia page was repeatedly hacked after the game, including (at one point) started as:

"Ángel Hernández (born August 26, 1961 in Havana, Cuba) is a horrible umpire in Major League Baseball, and is the only MLB umpire to be legally blind."

Heh. Only in 2010...

Destiny?

Two born in the same hospital on the same day to wed.

16 items you'll only see in Chinese Wal-Marts

That is, not in Wal-Marts elsewhere. How they can call themselves a superstore and not stock these elsewhere I dunno.....

"You people, fix it. Now"

The Greatest Shakespeare Hoax

Almost pulled it off...

underground exploring

I'm a big fan of Cities of the Underworld, although I'm more of an armchair explorer. Living in NYC and taking the subway everyday got me thinking about all the abandoned tunnels under such a densely packed town, and the hook was in.

Here are some places to whet your palate as well.

Biggest book in the world

In Burma.

Like Afghanistan under the Taliban, it is a wonder that anything precious still exists in that country.

Sinkhole

I suppose this should make me feel better about my yard. but it really doesn't

Israel/Gaza primer

A New Yorker piece from last November.

Making a Palestinian ghetto isn't what g-d envisioned for his people, I'm guessing.

No health care program for 9/11 heros

GOP argues against health care program for 9/11 rescue workers, calling it an "entitlement program."

Sigh. Somebody check whether the GOP has been replaced by pod people who learned political behavior from bad Politico columns.

WB sued for pirating anti-pirating technology

Irony: Thy Name is Warner Bros.

Ozzy at the wax museum

funny stuff.

"8-month-old deaf toddler Jonathan reacts to the activation of his cochlear implant."

HT: The Daily What

Andy McCarthy gets taken down

Whenever I really despair over the Democrats, I remember that the Right thinks that people like Ann Coulter and Andrew McCarthy are heavyweight intellectuals. The latter gets taken down by Conor. Hard.

C'mon, do it. A real American would...

Could you pass the latest US citizenship test?

Missed two myself.

Meanwhile, on the economic front

Stimulus bill continues to anger conservatives by working as projected.

As the economy continues to slowly recover, it'll become less and less important for conservatives to talk about.

Sarah Palin invades neighbor's privacy to show how he will invade hers. Or something...

Want to know how to make Palin's paranoia go into overdrive? Be a journalist. And move next door.

Home inspection nightmares

amazing what the inspectors will find...

False decline of the US Navy

Dated a little (from 2007), but worth keeping in mind as the Tea Party members shriek about Obama killing the military.

The United States Navy currently operates eleven aircraft carriers. The oldest and least capable is faster, one third larger, and carries three times the aircraft of Admiral Kuznetsov, the largest carrier in the Russian Navy. Unlike China’s only aircraft carrier, the former Russian Varyag, American carriers have engines and are capable of self-propulsion. The only carrier in Indian service is fifty years old and a quarter the size of its American counterparts. No navy besides the United States' has more than one aircraft carrier capable of flying modern fixed wing aircraft. The United States enjoys similar dominance in surface combat vessels and submarines, operating twenty-two cruisers, fifty destroyers, fifty-five nuclear attack submarines, and ten amphibious assault ships (vessels roughly equivalent to most foreign aircraft carriers). In every category the U.S. Navy combines presumptive numerical superiority with a significant ship-to-ship advantage over any foreign navy.

The real question one should ask is: Does this help or hurt military readiness? Usually, however, we're faced with a cherry-picker who insists that Obama is letting the terrorists in the front door because he killed off this or that weapons program (which usually the military didn't want and was foisted on them by a Congressman looking to have it be put together in his home district. Military spending is billions of dollars of earmarks all given the green light by conservatives because it all goes toward "the military").

New Limbaugh book reviewed

It might seem ominous for an intellectual movement to be led by a man who does not think creatively, who does not respect the other side of the argument and who frequently says things that are not intended as truth. But neither Limbaugh nor Chafets is troubled...

NFL is denied broad anti-trust exemption

Good decision by SCOTUS, which allows other intellectual property users to compete.

Encore presentation

White chicks and gang signs

Got a Harry Potter itch?

Dive into the world of Chinese bootleg Harry Potter books

Because it is Saturday

Drunks can do yoga, too.

Rand Paul

Rand Paul: Sounding the alarm against the NAFTA Superhighway

Maybe he's backing out of his Meet the Press appearance to get the crazy out of his system.

Again!

A nice benefit

Universal health care in Massachusetts helped lower abortion rates.

SFW Porn Channel promos

American Apparel taken to task for its claim to be average

Great spoof photo series using a differently-abled model.

This statement in the story is just disingenuous, at best:

"Why does Jes's body have a shock value? Why is it that people's disabilities are so unseen that there's a shock value there? There shouldn't be."

Of course it has shock value. If it didn't, the whole purpose of the spoof would be gone. This is a good spoof without the need for pedestal-making.

Sestak surging

It looks like Sestak is really moving in the race against Specter. Good for him. I was impressed with him during the town hall debates on the health care bill, and Sestak has the resume and the rhetorical chops to be a very good US Senator.

Specter's biggest appeal all along is that he would give the Dems another seat (and that he would beat Toomey in the general election). More and more, however, voters aren't really buying it.

Ironically, Obama's election in 2008 (running on the case, essentially, that competence matters more than party) would short circuit Specter's main appeal to voters in this state.

New SCOTUS nominee

I'll leave it to be big boys to debate the minutia of whether Kagan is suitable for the Supreme Court. [IMO anyone who isn't a clearly stupid nominee should be ratified--about the only ones I didn't think should be were Miers, Thomas, and maybe Bork].

But to throw some cold water on some anticipated screeds, here is a comprehensive list of SCOTUS members without prior judicial experience.

The interesting factoid (to me, anyway): The four longest servicing Chief Justices all had no judicial experience prior to being ratified for SCOTUS: Marshall, Taney, Fuller and Rehnquist.

A poem to die for

This link doesn't make it clear, but it was the original poet who was killed, not the translator.

Unlike Rubin, in another NRO piece, I don't believe this is cause for us to become the Kurdish police. But it is an opportunity to wonder why we are so quick to back people who can be pretty nasty sometimes.

Bill Murray reads poems to construction workers

I was just down at Poets House a week or so ago--beautiful place right there near the river. And I came across this youtube by accident of Bill Murray reading the the guys putting it together. Good stuff:

GOP online ideas farm shut down

GOP shuts down web site which was intended to generate new GOP ideas.

write you own snark here.

Mysterious sailing stones of Death Valley

The crop circles of the desert?

A peek into the nighttime work at Disneyland

Hundreds toil each night so you don't notice their work.

Hey conservative media consumers--you are being misled!

Conor with an open letter.

Translate any web page into the Web page time machine!

Miss the dancing gifs of those of DIY Geocities pages? Sure you do--nothing like crazy off-the-shelf backgrounds and random gifs to slow down your old 1996 Netscape browser!

Plug in any web address and take a trip back, via the Geosizer!

A Teabagger Analysis of the new $100 bill

Funny stuff, here.

The Daily What

The Daily What

Tiny horse--cute warning.

TV House Plans

Funny, I was thinking about something like this a few days ago. And come to find out someone has already done it--and done it well.

AZ wants federal money to pay for training for cops to administer its new state law

Kind of puts the quiet into the question of "Why should you care if you are not from Arizona?"

Wal-Mart facing troubles?

Wal-Mart facing huge pay discrimination suit.

While the article points out that the court ruling was a "sharply divided" one (6-5), I take away from this:

-Wal-mart has lost on this issue three times already

-Their defense seems to rest on the fact that the problem is too big for them to defend.

It also seems to me, that if the 6 defendants are not representative enough to enjoy (or, in this case, initiate) class-action status, then that will make it that much harder for them to prove their point that Wal-mart has a pervasive and discriminatory policy with regard to the treatment of its female employees.

But there you go.

Can't let a thing like a law get in the way of raising funds...

RNC on anti-deceptive mailer law: "It doesn't apply to us."

The importance of continuing unemployment benefits

or, why Mitch McConnell is an ass.

Despite the always-there problem of dole dependency, the weak job numbers and chronic unemployment make this an easy call.

Apple squeezing developers--latest victim: Adobe

Adobe gives up on Flash for IPhone

The Accidental Sex Offender

This piece by Wendy Kaminer deserves much more than a passing mention in my blog. And I've thought about it quite a bit and cannot disagree with a word she says. My response, then: Ditto.

Yup, that's right

Via Andrew Sullivan:

Cincinnati pitcher "suspended" 50 games

50 game ban, BUT they let him serve it while he is rehabbing.

WTF! A SP pitcher only only has to sit out about 20% of the games anyway. What is the point of such a toothless penalty? This is like a school suspension that counts weekend days.