PBS re-aired an awesome Nature special last night called "Christmas in Yosemite" and I was miraculously able to find my favorite segment, "Outfoxed", on YouTube. It is below.
Apparently he is hunting for mice under the snow, and he identifies their locations only by sound, without the benefit of sight. He's pretty good at it, too, as you can see at the end ("mmm mouse, munchmunchmunch" -fox). Awwwww... circle of life.
BTW, I already submitted it to CuteOverload, so don't even try it!
23 December 2008
17 December 2008
Brrrr it's cold out here...
...there must be a network of pipes containing coolant in the at-mos-phere!
Hmmmm, okay that one was a stretch. But seriously, you could be saying this exact phrase in the future if you find yourself massively wealthy and staying at the new Palazzo Versace in Dubai.
Versace, the renowned fashion house, is to create the world’s first refrigerated beach so that hotel guests can walk comfortably across the sand on scorching days.
The beach will be next to the the new Palazzo Versace hotel which is being built in Dubai where summer temperatures average 40C and can reach 50C.
The beach will have a network of pipes beneath the sand containing a coolant that will absorb heat from the surface.
The swimming pool will be refrigerated and there are also proposals to install giant blowers to waft a gentle breeze over the beach.
FINALLY rich people can control the weather directly, rather than just spritzing themselves with Evian from an aerosol can and relying on the unreliable cooling effects of evaporation. Although I have to admit this new revolution seems a bit poorly timed, what with the recent increase in focus on environmentalism and the recent decline in numbers of rich people (Madoff, I'm looking at you). Oh well, F it, pass me the tanning oil and a sweater, I'm off to the UAE! Thanks, Times Online!
Hmmmm, okay that one was a stretch. But seriously, you could be saying this exact phrase in the future if you find yourself massively wealthy and staying at the new Palazzo Versace in Dubai.
Versace, the renowned fashion house, is to create the world’s first refrigerated beach so that hotel guests can walk comfortably across the sand on scorching days.
The beach will be next to the the new Palazzo Versace hotel which is being built in Dubai where summer temperatures average 40C and can reach 50C.
The beach will have a network of pipes beneath the sand containing a coolant that will absorb heat from the surface.
The swimming pool will be refrigerated and there are also proposals to install giant blowers to waft a gentle breeze over the beach.
FINALLY rich people can control the weather directly, rather than just spritzing themselves with Evian from an aerosol can and relying on the unreliable cooling effects of evaporation. Although I have to admit this new revolution seems a bit poorly timed, what with the recent increase in focus on environmentalism and the recent decline in numbers of rich people (Madoff, I'm looking at you). Oh well, F it, pass me the tanning oil and a sweater, I'm off to the UAE! Thanks, Times Online!
16 December 2008
George Bush shoe-dodging video
I usually try not to post about things you've already seen a gabajillion times, but the George Bush shoe-throwing incident really warrants a comment. When I first read about this story on Monday, I cycled through a full range of emotions and opinions.
One: haha, awesome.
Two: hey actually, that's pretty disrespectful, bad move.
Three: okay perhaps it was disrespectful, but it was a non-violent way to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq and get the media to pay attention for once.
And finally, Four (after watching the actual video, posted below): holy shit, he throw that shoe hard! Non-violent, my ass! It would've broken Bush's nose if he hadn't ducked with the reflexes of a wack-a-mole! Haha, awesome.
One: haha, awesome.
Two: hey actually, that's pretty disrespectful, bad move.
Three: okay perhaps it was disrespectful, but it was a non-violent way to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq and get the media to pay attention for once.
And finally, Four (after watching the actual video, posted below): holy shit, he throw that shoe hard! Non-violent, my ass! It would've broken Bush's nose if he hadn't ducked with the reflexes of a wack-a-mole! Haha, awesome.
12 December 2008
New widget added
Fuck you, stock ticker. All you bring is bad news and shame. You are formally replaced as my top right-hand widget. Loyal blog-readers, I bring you: the Daily Puppy widget!!!
Now say it with me: "aaaawwwww!!!!!"
Now say it with me: "aaaawwwww!!!!!"
10 December 2008
WSJ now peddling schadenfreude
Not to overuse the term, which has gotten more than enough play in the past few months, but a new, front-page column in the WSJ is practically screaming schadenfreude.
It's called "The Fallen", and it's described by the paper as a series highlighting, "the declining fortunes of leading business figures." And in case you're more of a visual learner, it is accompanied by a little picture of a red arrow zig-zagging upwards before dropping precipitously to zero.
I mean, this is a paper that carries advertisements for 50-year old scotch and hundred-thousand dollar watches. Its target audience doesn't typically like to read about how many rich businessmen are failing these days. These people are those rich businessmen. Or should I say, were...
It's called "The Fallen", and it's described by the paper as a series highlighting, "the declining fortunes of leading business figures." And in case you're more of a visual learner, it is accompanied by a little picture of a red arrow zig-zagging upwards before dropping precipitously to zero.
I mean, this is a paper that carries advertisements for 50-year old scotch and hundred-thousand dollar watches. Its target audience doesn't typically like to read about how many rich businessmen are failing these days. These people are those rich businessmen. Or should I say, were...
09 December 2008
Treasury yields go negative
For years to come, municipal bond traders and other industry followers will tell their children and grandchildren the harrowing tale of The Day Treasury Yields Turned Negative.
Four-week notes traded at a yield of zero while three-month notes went for 99 cents on the dollar. For you non-finance types, that means that investors bought billions of dollars of bonds today that were guaranteed to lose them money. As the NYTimes puts it:
The news sends a sobering signal: in this environment, losing only a small amount of money on an investment is tantamount to coming out ahead.
Four-week notes traded at a yield of zero while three-month notes went for 99 cents on the dollar. For you non-finance types, that means that investors bought billions of dollars of bonds today that were guaranteed to lose them money. As the NYTimes puts it:
The news sends a sobering signal: in this environment, losing only a small amount of money on an investment is tantamount to coming out ahead.
Hello, Tuesday afternoon
Well I haven't posted in a while (four days, that's a long time for me). Basically it's because nothing interesting is happening. Please note that the below things do not interest me:
- Riots in Greece
- Illinois governor in corruption scandal
- Auto bailout approved
- 9/11 terrorists plead guilty
- Dow up above 9k
- Julian Schnabel on 60 Minutes (okay I did watch this, but I didn't feel the need to post about it since I assumed everyone already knew)
However! Today I discovered that some real news has in fact been happening, and it's been going on right under my nose (or, rather, under some really good lighting and ampere waists)! Oprah is fat again!
In the [January issue of "O"] magazine, out Tuesday, the talk-show queen says she now weighs 200 pounds and has fallen off the wagon when it comes to healthy living.
This weight gives Oprah a BMI of 31.8, making her technically obese. That's what you get for discontinuing "O at Home"!! Karma's a bitch, baby!!
- Riots in Greece
- Illinois governor in corruption scandal
- Auto bailout approved
- 9/11 terrorists plead guilty
- Dow up above 9k
- Julian Schnabel on 60 Minutes (okay I did watch this, but I didn't feel the need to post about it since I assumed everyone already knew)
However! Today I discovered that some real news has in fact been happening, and it's been going on right under my nose (or, rather, under some really good lighting and ampere waists)! Oprah is fat again!
In the [January issue of "O"] magazine, out Tuesday, the talk-show queen says she now weighs 200 pounds and has fallen off the wagon when it comes to healthy living.
This weight gives Oprah a BMI of 31.8, making her technically obese. That's what you get for discontinuing "O at Home"!! Karma's a bitch, baby!!
05 December 2008
Back to the future
Flashback alert! It's 1995 again and O.J.'s back, but this time with a twist:
A Las Vegas judge sentenced fallen gridiron great O.J. Simpson to at least 15 years in prison for leading an armed confrontation last year at a Las Vegas hotel room over sports memorabilia.
Simpson could become eligible for parole in about nine years. Grimacing, Simpson was escorted from the courtroom in shackles.
Judge Jackie Glass gave Simpson a tongue-lashing before passing sentence.
"Earlier in this case, at a bail hearing, I said to Mr. Simpson I didn't know if he was arrogant, ignorant or both," Glass said. "During the trial and through this proceeding I got the answer, and it was both."
She stressed that the sentence was not "payback for anything else," apparently referring to Simpson's acquittal 13 years ago in the slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Snap, Judge Jackie Glass. He's already been convicted and sentenced to at leaset 15 years jail, but why don't you just rub it in a little? I've always thought it was funny how judges get to just dis on the defendant like that for no reason. If I ever wanted to become a judge, that would definitely be the reason why.
A Las Vegas judge sentenced fallen gridiron great O.J. Simpson to at least 15 years in prison for leading an armed confrontation last year at a Las Vegas hotel room over sports memorabilia.
Simpson could become eligible for parole in about nine years. Grimacing, Simpson was escorted from the courtroom in shackles.
Judge Jackie Glass gave Simpson a tongue-lashing before passing sentence.
"Earlier in this case, at a bail hearing, I said to Mr. Simpson I didn't know if he was arrogant, ignorant or both," Glass said. "During the trial and through this proceeding I got the answer, and it was both."
She stressed that the sentence was not "payback for anything else," apparently referring to Simpson's acquittal 13 years ago in the slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Snap, Judge Jackie Glass. He's already been convicted and sentenced to at leaset 15 years jail, but why don't you just rub it in a little? I've always thought it was funny how judges get to just dis on the defendant like that for no reason. If I ever wanted to become a judge, that would definitely be the reason why.
03 December 2008
Brace yourself for a great blog post!
CNN, you slay me. Where do you find this shit, seriously? Today we learn of high school teacher Tom Farber, who has begun selling ads on his calculus exams in an effort to raise extra cash for school expenses. An example:
You'd think Mr. Farber would get a lot of flack for diluting the purity of the educational process, bargaining his students' future for a buck, etc. etc., but parents and school officials have actually been very supportive. Personally, my ire lies not with Farber but with Stephen P. Henry D.M.D. "Brace yourself"? Could you be any lamer???
Detroit sucks so bad even Detroit thinks so
Yesterday the Big Three automakers returned to Congress to plead their cases once again for federal aid. In case you didn't already realize how much they suck:
GM said it needs an immediate injection of $4 billion to stay afloat until the end of the year, a fact it hadn't before disclosed. In total, the company said it needs $18 billion in loans -- $6 billion more than it said it would need just two weeks ago...
In a conference call with reporters, GM President Frederick "Fritz" Henderson said bankruptcy is not a viable option and the company is focusing solely on securing help from Washington. "There is not a Plan B," he said.
So, basically, the company needs $4 billion just to survive a single month. That must be some sort of record. And if for some crazy reason the government decides to put that money to better use, like say, by burning it, then GM's brilliant management team is out of ideas.
So what do regular ole Detroiters think of this plan? Apparently, they think it sucks, too:
John Raterink, a tool and machine maker who works at a small shop in Grand Rapids that supplies parts to the auto industry, opposes a bailout even though his livelihood is tethered to the car makers. Mr. Raterink, 46, points a finger at the Big Three for a lot of economic misery: "If I have to pull myself up by my own bootstraps, I hope G.M. faces that same reality."
In all fairness that dude is probably in the minority, but still. When even you think that you suck, it's time to move on.
GM said it needs an immediate injection of $4 billion to stay afloat until the end of the year, a fact it hadn't before disclosed. In total, the company said it needs $18 billion in loans -- $6 billion more than it said it would need just two weeks ago...
In a conference call with reporters, GM President Frederick "Fritz" Henderson said bankruptcy is not a viable option and the company is focusing solely on securing help from Washington. "There is not a Plan B," he said.
So, basically, the company needs $4 billion just to survive a single month. That must be some sort of record. And if for some crazy reason the government decides to put that money to better use, like say, by burning it, then GM's brilliant management team is out of ideas.
So what do regular ole Detroiters think of this plan? Apparently, they think it sucks, too:
John Raterink, a tool and machine maker who works at a small shop in Grand Rapids that supplies parts to the auto industry, opposes a bailout even though his livelihood is tethered to the car makers. Mr. Raterink, 46, points a finger at the Big Three for a lot of economic misery: "If I have to pull myself up by my own bootstraps, I hope G.M. faces that same reality."
In all fairness that dude is probably in the minority, but still. When even you think that you suck, it's time to move on.
02 December 2008
Tina Fey in Vanity Fair
I don't get Vanity Fair, because I don't pay for stuff, but I do read blogs that occassionally give me snippets of its content. Tina Fey is the subject of this month's cover story, which includes an interview with her husband and an explanation of that scar on her left cheek:
[A] stranger slashed Fey's face when she was 5 years old...the incident occurred in the front yard of her house.
She said it felt like someone marking her face with a pen. That's one tough-ass five-year-old, I tell you what.
[A] stranger slashed Fey's face when she was 5 years old...the incident occurred in the front yard of her house.
She said it felt like someone marking her face with a pen. That's one tough-ass five-year-old, I tell you what.
01 December 2008
Save Venice
Venice is totally fucked. Sorry, guys, but look at it:
That is the Piazza San Marco, a tourist- and pigeon-favorite, covered in knee-high (disgusting) seawater. The tide peaked at 61 inches (over 5 feet!), the fourth highest on record. They couldn't even put out those little walkways because the water was so high they would have floated away. Well, Venetians, you better start praying that all this global warming is followed by another Ice Age. Free skating, woooo!!!
That is the Piazza San Marco, a tourist- and pigeon-favorite, covered in knee-high (disgusting) seawater. The tide peaked at 61 inches (over 5 feet!), the fourth highest on record. They couldn't even put out those little walkways because the water was so high they would have floated away. Well, Venetians, you better start praying that all this global warming is followed by another Ice Age. Free skating, woooo!!!
Success!
Woohoo! Hillary has accepted the Secretary of State offer! So all my research into the voodoo practices of the African diaspora wasn't in vain!
He shoots... he scores!!
I love when I first read a story in the NYTimes, and I'm like, "okay, whatever," but then I read the same story in the NYPost and it suddenly takes on a whole new dimension. Example: while it was the NYTimes that officially informed me of Giants star Plaxico Burress' arrest, it was the NYPost that gave me the juicy (and hilarious) details:
- The incident occurred at midtown club Latin Quarter, "where workers allowed Burress inside with the gun, let him leave without calling authorities, and even had an employee place the gun in the glove compartment of Pierce's Cadillac Escalade"
- Burress was treated at "New York-Cornell Hospital, where he gave his name as Harris Smith, saying he'd been shot at an Applebee's restaurant. Nonetheless, hospital workers recognized him as Plaxico Burress, sources said, and the gunshot was not reported, as required by law."
- Burress "will be slapped with a felony gun charge and plead not guilty"
How do you plead not guilty to gun possession after you shoot yourself?!?! Is he going to use an existential defense??? "I didn't possess the gun, I was possessed by it." Oooooh. Deep.
- The incident occurred at midtown club Latin Quarter, "where workers allowed Burress inside with the gun, let him leave without calling authorities, and even had an employee place the gun in the glove compartment of Pierce's Cadillac Escalade"
- Burress was treated at "New York-Cornell Hospital, where he gave his name as Harris Smith, saying he'd been shot at an Applebee's restaurant. Nonetheless, hospital workers recognized him as Plaxico Burress, sources said, and the gunshot was not reported, as required by law."
- Burress "will be slapped with a felony gun charge and plead not guilty"
How do you plead not guilty to gun possession after you shoot yourself?!?! Is he going to use an existential defense??? "I didn't possess the gun, I was possessed by it." Oooooh. Deep.
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