Archive for the ‘ those that belong to the emperor’ Category

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys: There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
Note: allegedly they’re to play on the Irish American Democrats’ float during the inaugural parade this weekend. Maybe we’ll see them on the telly?

VIVA OBAMA: the norteƱo version (courtesy of Los Dorados del Norte), and the original mariachi version (Mariachi Aguilas de Mexico)
(Note: the reggaeton version is not actually a cover of the above and, like all reggaeton, something of an acquired taste; I haven’t been able to find out who performed it)

Paint the White House Black: George Clinton and his entourage.

nephrophobia

Monday, December 10th, 2007

kidney cells to power “biobatteries” (more detail here, but not much more)

kidney transplant, and what Medicare will cover, and what it won’t

This has been a day full of too many kidneys, and I am ready for it to be over now, thank you.

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

With an estimated 175 million copies distributed in 2006, the IKEA catalogue is thought to have surpassed the Bible as the most published print-work in the world.

In other Ikea-related news, they seem to be purging their catalogue of the more amusingly-named items. No more the Anja Rand, supporting your feet with Objectivism! No more the Jerker desk!

Finally, the child raised by affordable Swedish design

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Man, everything I post now is a video link. What am I doing, just watching TV all day? Anyway:

We are the cyclists; the intermediate stage between humans and pure energy. (via JORT)

How the Edwardians Spoke. Interesting BBC doc; German recordings of British POWs in WWI are virtually the only source of vernacular regional speech patterns from before the talkies. The Scottish accents don’t sound that different to me, but I was surprised at how distinct Oxfordshire was; apparently the Oxbridge crowd and the townies didn’t mix much.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

Wuthering Heights (orig. by Kate Bush)
The Good the Bad the Ugly (orig. by Ennio Morricone)
life on mars (orig. by David Bowie)

see also: (Mic Conway’s Whoopee Band performing God Save the Queen, featuring only one uke)

sophisticated rituals of like totally grownup nations

Monday, October 15th, 2007

flag rituals on the Pakistan/Indian border

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

I live in Israel now! The United States, relabeled by name of countries of comparable GDP. Canada, haha.

inventor of instant ramen dies, age 96

Saturday, January 6th, 2007

Momofuku Ando, RIP: 1910-2007

happy new year

Monday, January 1st, 2007

happy new year

Monday, December 18th, 2006

I thought the Kiwanis had won this one a while ago: despite the ease and low cost of salt iodization, over two billion people don’t receive enough iodine, causing mental retardation, goiters, and worse.

In a stunning triumph for democracy, one of the few poor countries with no iodine deficiency is autocratic Turkmenistan, where “President Saparmurat Niyazov…solved the problem by simply declaring plain salt illegal in 1996 and ordering shops to give each citizen 11 pounds of iodized salt a year at state expense.”

Thursday, November 23rd, 2006

the latter days of the super-heroes

Monday, November 20th, 2006

abolition of traffic signals to result in new age of peace, tranquillity, honking

Monday, November 20th, 2006

Victoria B.C. to receive swanky Bon-esque urinals (to deal with ordinary, nonswanky public urination problems)

drug revolt

Sunday, November 12th, 2006

There is a revolution brewing. Medical students refuse pharmaceutical company freebies.

At least one well-publicized pharmacy is morally opposed to manufacturer-recommended inflated prices (and they do mail order).

Sunday, November 12th, 2006

East German spymaster Markus Wolf dies at 83. He was convicted for treason when the German states reunited, but won on appeal since “he was acting for the previously independent East German state and therefore could not be tried for treason in a different country.” Sounds like a class act, as far as the Stasi goes.

Sunday, November 12th, 2006

library volunteers resent having to pee into a cup

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

peace for Nepal?

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

the good people of South Dakota have rejected the proposed abortion ban

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

wood-gas stoves

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006

Vote by mail more secure than “black box”? At least its verifiable.