Red Herrings
retrospectacle | October 14, 2006PC World reports on a new Ipod nano: a special red nano (no wussie pastels!), and $10 of the purchase price goes to the global fund to fight AIDS in Africa. So, if you were considering buying an Ipod, why not go with the red nano, and do some good?
This product is part of the "Product Red" campaign, which encourages manufacturers to join the charity drive and donate a percent of the products profits to combat AIDS. Check out more products here. Includes a red Razr, a red American Express card, and more.
retrospectacle | October 11, 2006Gone are the days of endlessly searching for that miraculous toast-burn in the shape of Jesus' bewhiskered visage or the Virgin Mary's devoutly lop-sided head! Glory be to the Zuse, the immaculate conception of a toaster and a printer, which burns black and toast-colored pictures onto (you guessed it!) toast. Might I suggest the most recent bird, Nobel prize winner, or cephalopod as toastly art?
Cult leaders can now print up-lifting messages on their toast to serve with cold, delicious Kool-Aid.
Got a favorite political candidate? Make them the "TOAST" of Washington, DC!
I think this might…
retrospectacle | October 6, 2006It wasn't long, or meaningful, or useful in any way to New College's publicity really, but the words "New College in Sarasota Florida" WERE indeed uttered.
New College is my alma mater, as at a whopping 630-student enrollment, they need all the shout-outs they can get.
The press release is here, and the gist of the mention is below:
The brief mention of New College on Comedy Central's hit show The Colbert Report took place on Thursday night as Colbert interviewed Goodman regarding her new book, Static.
While discussing the war in Iraq and what she sees as growing sentiment on the part of…
retrospectacle | September 15, 2006
This looks suspiciously like the pint of Sam Adams I had in the sleezy Detroit Airport lounge (waiting for my plane, delayed 2.5 hours.) But in fact, its a advertising campaign used by a British church!
"The message is subtle but simple -- where is God in all the boozing at Christmas?" said Goodwin, whose group is made up of Christians of all denominations working the British media and advertising.
"For many, Christmas is just drinking and partying and God is excluded, yet many young people are interested in finding deeper meaning and exploring faith."
The poster is a nod to the occasional…
retrospectacle | August 16, 2006I've always had a passing interest in the JonBenet Ramsey case. Mostly because I thought her parents were demonized by the media, driving then from their home in Colorado, and her mother to an early grave.
Now, it seems they have perhaps found the true killer years later, in Thailand.
A law enforcement source identified the suspect as 41-year-old John Mark Carr, a one-time school teacher.
Carr was arrested Wednesday morning and has confessed to certain elements of the crime that are unknown to the general public, KUSA reported.
JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, told 9NEWS in Denver, Colorado…
retrospectacle | August 8, 2006I just had to post this for PZ. This is a tattoo my friend Jenni has on her foot, and I love it! I know all those out there with a tentacle fetish will appreciate this.
retrospectacle | August 7, 2006Consider the case of Diet Coke. More fat people drink it than skinny people. That means that Diet Coke makes you fat, right?
Well of course not, but this is the same ridiculous backwards logic used in this report that teens who have iPod full of raunchy music have sex at an earlier age than teens with no obscene music. Its a CNN article describing a recent study published in Pediatrics.
Teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who…
retrospectacle | August 1, 2006In honor of His affinity to parrots, Flying Spaghetti Monsterists hold a festival each year to honor the pirate's best friend and prophetic vessel. It is widely believed that the Flying Spaghetti Monster prefers followers who accessorize with parrots because they allow Him to communicate with them more easily. During this festival, several hundred million parrots are gathered in one spot and set free. This symbolizes spreading across the land, granting His followers a great boon, and his enemies a head topped with bird guano. For 3 days prior to their release, Flying Spaghetti Monsterists…
retrospectacle | July 31, 2006Over at The Examining Room of Dr. Charles, he's got a fun little link you should try! You upload a picture of yourself, and a program analyzes your facial structure and then compares it to a database of celebrities.
So, after uploading a picture of myself, here's who the program said I resembled. The percentages refer to how similar our faces are:
Kate Hudson 71%
Sharon Stone 70%
Kim Catrell 70%
Avril Lavinge 66%
Naomi Watts 66%
Pretty cool!
retrospectacle | July 28, 2006Apparantly, the residents of Denmark are the happiest in the world, and the resident of Burundi Africa are the unhappiest. America's #23 in the world, Britian is in the 40s.
UPDATE: Check out how this correlates with the recent rankings of evolution acceptance here.
retrospectacle | July 26, 2006Someone call Sam Raimi!
Although not bound in human flesh and signed in blood, I'm pretty sure this recent "miraculous find" is the Necronomicon.
Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog. The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000.
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Directly after unearthing the book, the archaeologists' faces…
retrospectacle | July 23, 2006Apparently, China now really believes that Americans landed on the moon.
More anti-Ipod alarmist garbage. Just listen to it at a reasonable level and you'll be fine.
Our ability to spot snakes helped humans evolve?
Tina Fey is leaving SNL. (Too bad, she was like the only funny one left.)
Best to avoid the herb Longdan Xiegewan
Flaming dog meat, a bribe offered to other teachers by a man who sold the school's trees, set the school on fire..
And, cars that run on cooking oil. Come on Marty, we gotta go back to the future!
retrospectacle | July 20, 2006This little app shows you, in graphical form, the time periods when your name was the most popular. If your name is Poindexter, prepare to be disappointed.
(Hat tip to darkman).
retrospectacle | July 12, 2006Yah, we get a bad rap (and bad dental genes too, apparently). I have taken it as my personal mission in life to kick the dumb blonde rap (although I'll certainly use it to my benefit when needed, heh!).
Maybe this woman actually started the whole 'dumb blonde' thing back in the 70s.
retrospectacle | June 30, 2006This is the weirdest thing I've heard all week. A prisoner in Pakistan woke up last weekend and found a glass lightbulb in his anus, and a 1 and a half hour surgeyr was required to.....er....."unscrew" it.
"We had to take it out intact," said Dr. Farrukh Aftab at Nishtar Hospital. "Had it been broken inside, it would be a very very complicated situation."
Mohammad, who is serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn't know the bulb was there.
retrospectacle | June 29, 2006Stanley Kubrick is my favorite director. Now, you can download the movie that started it all: his seldom-seen 1951 debut "Day of the Fight."
Shot by the 21-year-old filmmaker in 1950, the 16-minute documentary traces a day in the life of boxer Walter Cartier, culminating in his fight with Bobby James. It explores how Cartier psyches himself into readiness for violent behavior. Obviously, this theme resonates throughout Kubrick's career, from Spartacus to Dr. Strangelove to Clockwork Orange to Full Metal Jacket.
This movie is more like a foreboding than a masterpiece, but it is 100% Kubrick…