Stained Glass Artist

Sarah Hall is a stained glass artist who has been getting some big and important commissions. The above image is from a church she did in Toronto. Here is a gallery of more images.

Extreme Training and Recruiting Officers

The Swedes not have a gun culture. When classifying films they rate film violence more harshly than film sex. They are currently not at war. they haven't been at war for a long time. How then do the Swedish armed forces recruit troops and officers. These two ads highlight, which I doubt are part of their training highlight the need to solve difficult and mentally taxing problems or suffer injury or death. That sums up the role of the officers doesn't to solve questions quickly while under physical and emotional stress.

Charisma Not Postive in Leaders

A B-School prof, Igor Kotlyar at has done research to discover one the worst types of "leader" has a lot a charisma. They lead their teams, over a cliff as well. This should not be a complete surprise. We often read about how "leadership" is shown by convincing your followers to do something stupid, harmful, or both. One of the worst leaders in history, one of the most destructive, one of the most incompetent, one of the most rigid reveled in the title "leader", or in his language, Führer. The tyrant who did win WWII, Stalin, may got himself painted in heroic socialist realism paintings,however never seemed to believe his own propaganda. In the early 80's the Canadian Tories looking for "leadership" replaced Joe Clark with a "man" brimming over with charisma. Charisma gives the illusion of competence and other moral qualities.

Here is a precis for Falling Over Ourselves to Follow the Leader.
Here is a ROB article on the same study.

Most Pakistanis in Favor of Al Qaeda and Sharia Law

Here is the poll from World Public Opinion.

Here are some the highlights.

- between 60 and 76 percent of those polled seek the growth of Sharia throughout Pakistan;

- only 26 percent say Sharia should play the same role (15 percent) or a smaller role (11 percent) and 15 percent do not answer;

- only 44 percent favor the Pakistani Army pursuing Al Qaeda

- only 48 percent support the Pakistan Army acting against “Taliban insurgents who have crossed over from Afghanistan”;

- nearly 80 percent are against US pursuing Al Qaeda or Taliban in Pakistan;

Let us remember in our rush to eulogize Bhutto that Pakistan is mostly made up of our enemies.

Practicing Mendacity

"Lying is a skill like any other. And if you want to maintain a level of excellence, you have to practice constantly."

Garak

Its Not a Wonderful Bush

In the movie "its a Wonderful Life" George Bailey finds out that his absence would make the world a less pleasant place. This is not true with everyone.

Light Bulbs Spread Light

Oscar Peterson / Normwn McLaren Collaboration - Beyond Dull Care

This animation, Beyond Dull Care, is result of project between Oscar Peterson and Norman McLaren. I found this video at Cartoon Brew. Here and here are more articles about this film.

Living on Borrowed Time

In reaction to the murder of Benazir Bhutto there was this exchange on alternatehistory.com.

Musharraf is basically living on borrowed time.

Well--okay--he was already living on borrowed time but everyone's going to blame him for this now.

Damn--how likely will this tear the country apart?

Doctor what

Everyone to rule Pakistan since 1947 has been living on borrowed time, Doc...

Thande

But now there's nobody to lend the borrowed time.... Things are going to go south pretty soon.

AHF

No Football Truce

"We were thinking of challenging the Taliban to a game of football on Christmas Day, but I'm not sure they'd get the joke."

Sgt Walley of the Royal Military Police,
quote in Telegraph article,
UK troops prepare for Christmas in Afghanistan.
A reference to the Christmas truce of 1914.

From a link on Samizdata.net.

"Merry Christmas To all at least for tonight" - Batman

Twas was the night before Christmas as told with Batman.

Nice, the animation is not as smooth as on Robot Chicken but the (re)writing is amusing.

Death and Credit Card Repayments

It is an odd credit card ad that can include references to suicide, murder, vandalism, nudism and the need for personal financial self discipline.

Argentine Car Ad Also a dig at Brazil

A man buys a carnival float as his car. Very fun, not very practical.

Theme World

Theme Planet
Uploaded by firat

Who Did You Disarm Last Night (NSFW)

Nice morning after the night before nightmare.

Beer Commercial Includes Solitary Tipsy Individual

This is an usual ad. Most beer ads because of regulatory limits only focus on at the events leading up to getting beer. This ad has a person concentrating on walking in a straight line stopping and going with a drum beat.

Russian Novelist Optimistic View of American Politics

“It’s as if in the United States, for example, they said that everything has changed, that Roosevelt and Franklin are no longer the right political figures, everything they did was horrible and revolting, and we have a new ideology here now, let’s quickly get used to it,”

Sergei Minaev, Russian Yuppie Novelist, in profile
The Tortured Voice of Russia’s Lost Generation.

It is a nice analogy except that has always been members of the American Right who consider what FDR did in the New Deal was an unmitigated disaster. The New Deal may have saved American capitalism but it allowed in the eyes of its detractors too much share of the wealth for the non-rich. The current Bush era "prosperity" which concentrates the economic gains only in the top 1% is seen in some Republican circles as the rightful return to a pre-New Deal economy.

The ChiComs find better Investments Then US TBills

From an article in Saturday's NY Times come the alarming news that the ChiCom Regime has stopped buying US Bonds. They currently hold $400 billion. They let their portfolio shrink slightly. If the ChiComs ever divest themselves of their investment the US$ will fall.

Groo the Philosopher

I do not need anyone to tell me I am stupid. I already know it.

Groo the Wanderer in Groo the Wanderer
Marvel/Epic volume 2, number 66

Murder as a Hate Crime?

DI Sam Tyler: I think we need to explore that this attempted murder was a hate crime

DCI Gene Hunter: As opposed to one of those I really, really, really like you sort of murders.

Life On Mars S02E06

Full Metal Jacket - Santa Style

In the movie Full Metal Jacket a real USMC drill instructor (ret) was cast in the film as USMC drill instructor. He is turns out to be one the most scary pitiless monster in movie history. These ads from Sky play on the image of the DI and depict a boot camp for santas.

Execution Reporting

On The Media has a story, the Neverending Story, looking at death penalty on the wire service reporter who covers every execution in Texas. Listen to the story and then read Orwell reportage of A Hanging he was at as an Imperial policeman in Burma.

Political Truthiness

"Regardless of what the facts are we are telling the truth."

Blake Johnson, director of factcheck.org,
characterization of political campaigns spin when caught
with inaccurate statements. See "truthiness".

Dewey Cox Country Style Sausage

(from adfreak)

Funny and Dumb Jihadis

Liberation Army Against freedom has trouble making their fireworks work.

Forklift Driver Klaus

This begins as a training film and ends as blood soaked slapstick comedy.

(from adfreak)

New Level of Dreck = Mulroney

The word has not been coined to describe the new level of dreck that he has achieved. Thorough I'm leaning towards the word "Mulroney".

John Cleese putting down a talent show contestant,
Ben Mulroney and his corrupt father.
View it on Youtube.

Those Very Bad Bears

Teddy Bear Junction, the worst scum in the galaxy.

Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, Futurama S05E07

Love isn't Dignified

I also heard you walking the streets, moaning her name like something out of a Tennessee Williams play. It may be romantic, but it is not dignified.

Olive Snook, Pushing Daisies S01E09

Japanese Scientists Create Mice Unafraid of Cats

Japanese scientists have altered mice by taking away their sense of smell. Here is the odd video and the article from the Guardian. The article remarks that the cat used in video was the calmest of all the grad students' cats. Many cats when confronted by a mouse size moving object will bat at it.

My Robot Friend

Cool, very cool.

Here for more info on the band.

Robot Adventure Tourists

A bunch of robot tourists on a photo safari meet a local.

Amboy's List of Things that Offend Muslims

The List of Things That Offend Muslims is an ongoing list that includes such items as teddy bears and pool halls.

2 Too Rude Optician Ads (NSFW)

Hamster Dance

a different kind of Hamster Dance.

Philosophical Election Ad

One line not used, "what competence can you expect from a man named I Kant".

The Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One

You think this job's heroic, we clean out the gutters that what we do. It is thankless task.

DCI Gene Hunt

The Water of Life is Better Then Life

What kind of monster are you, that was single malt.

DCI Gene Hunt after seeing his captor pour out his flask.

Heroes, Who Needs the Bastards

Pity the country that needs heroes.

Bertolt Brecht

Do Movies Make Money

Well do they? Here is a discussion about how the movie industry doesn't really make money. For the record it is only the industry besides aerospace where the damnyanks have a positive balance of trade.

The Christmas Spirit as a Horrible Curse

This Cocaine ad is almost like the Monty Python skit where everyone starting turning into Scotsmen.

Cold Beer in a Cold Time

Removing Manmade Crap from the Seas

"Pork is the Meat of Kings"

This is a little bizarre. However this song is making hungry for bacon, "mmm...bacon".

Jesus Wants IPod or Wii or Some Other Cool Toy

The Idea Generator

I tried The Idea Generator and came up with Medieval destructive appliance.

mmm Sacreligious

Coffee Restores Reality

Horror Movie or Fetish Flick as Sneaker ad

I found this Converse Ad a little scary. But not as ominous as the disappearing skater.

Does Possessed Food Taste Better

Even Soulless Undead Killing Machines Cover Beatles Songs

And the publishing royalty goes to soulless undead Michael Jackson.

I am Hank Hill and I Approved this Ad

Here is an ad that Hank Hill, "propane and propane accessories", can support.

Magic Cancer Ad

Normally when bald kids are trotted out for a cancer ad things get maudlin. Speaking as a former bald sick kid I normally find such tactics insulting and embarrassing for all concerned. This ad however is set in the twilight reality of street corner magic and is able to give hope without sinking to pathos.

The Economy is Murder

Cost of treating wounded gunshot victim: $25,000
Cost of burying dead one: $18,750
Help the economy - shoot to kill.

Sig of The Sandman who says he is currently
"Locked in Combat with Zombie Castro".

There actually was a Mexican Bus Company that advised its drivers to backup over accident victims. Wrongful death being cheaper than lifetime maintenance of a cripple.

Homeopathic Medicine - an Opinion

This is a pie house not an herbal crack den.

Olive Snook give her opinion of homeopathic medicine
to homeopathic medicine salesman
in Pushing Daisies S01E03

"Until Light Shines out of Your Ass"

The Negative Example - The Past

The TV series Madmen depicts a world before seatbelts and other safety features and practices. Here is and ad for WWF that highlights a number of bad behaviors that is no longer practiced today.

Pieman in the Hole

It's my guess that an attractive man who man makes pies for a living shouldn't even spend a short amount of time in prison.

Emerson Cod in Pushing Daisies S01E08

Live for a good Death Notice

I realize that I am living the first sentence of my obituary.

C. J. Craig in the wanning days of the Barlett administation.

The Reason to Read Frank Magazine

I come to Frank for dirt and disrespect.

M. V., near nameless Frank Reader

19th Century Iron Casting for 21th Century

Here is a NY Times story and photo essay about how cast iron manhole covers are being made in India for New York City. I am trying to remember the name of a book I had about a Canadian who was hired to run a casting plant, much like the one describe, in China.

Is This Why Mercs are Used in Iraq

Will we still be paying for Iraq in 2100?

This is a blog post at Foreign Policy Magazine about the long term cost of mass mobilization wars. The biggest cost of having a war is the pension cost. The article points to a study looking at the true cost of the Iraq mess. the blog post has this interesting quote and and comment.

Suppose a drummer boy, age 14, became a soldier in 1861 and was disabled in that war. Suppose also that he married, had children, his wife died, and he remarried late in late, at say age 60 in 1907. Suppose further that his second wife was 25 years old at marriage and that at age 30 she bore him a child who was mentally or physically incapable of supporting himself. That child would be 57 years old today [that is, in 1969] and still drawing benefits — more than a century after the war ended.

Sounds unlikely, right? Yet Clayton nonetheless found that 1,353 dependents of Civil War veterans were still getting government benefits as late as 1967.

The problem with this economizing is the most mercs in Iraq, not the godforsaken Islamically motivated murderers, are actually American military veterans. There is little long term pension saving.

Why Grifting is Better than Fencing

I'm a con artist. It is what I do. I've tried fencing for a while but you fall in with a bad bunch of people.

Con Artist in Highlander S01E06

Expenience versus Expenience

Just because you trained a Peakness jockey doesn't mean you know how to sit on a horse.

New Term for ChiComs Fans

Panda Huggers

New and Improved - Oxygen

I found this cartoon following a link at Boingboing. It is from a archive of cartoon mentions of the elements.

Recycling Using Packrats

" what is the best way to recycle old tech in the US?""

Give it to a pack rat. They'll pile it up with their other...treasures. Soon you'll read about the guy who couldn't get out of his house because the doors and windows were blocked.

Anonymous Coward in a slashdot discussion about computer recycling. For the record when I last moved I had 2 computers besides my current one and 4 monitors. The theory was the other monitors and computers were "backups".

The Daily Show Writers from the Picket Line. Bonus Colbertian Material

In the comments to this piece someone mentioned that this version of NOT the Daily Show lacks only Jon Stewart and flashy production values.



Here also is a Colbert writer channeling his inner asshole, or entertainment executive. The biggest sob story is that his son had to settle for a "non-endangered birthday tiger".


Here is a blog from the writers, United Hollywood. There is also a video of the Simpson writers making pointed comparisons between Mr Burns and Mr Murdoch. There is a claim that Simpson profits paid for Rupert Murdoch's "throne of bones" and his "lake of blood".

Find the Books in this "Library"

A baronial library and family room with barrel-vaulted ceiling and stained glass has windows on three sides overlooking the grounds.

In a recent Globe and Mail Real Estate section there was a story about an Eaton estate that has been the subject of legal wrangling between architect and client. Photos are included in a slide show including the image above of the "library". What surprises me is that there is no books in this room or any of the other photos. I know these are rooms of set decorated but you think that the "library" would have at least some "books".

LA for the Miserable Writer

But are you truly happy, slouching around that sick-souled city of grimy palms and gridlock?

Charles Isherwood in an article about how live theatre
might pay less than Hollywood but is easier on the soul.

The Priorities of the Political Junkie Time Traveler

I love that you that you went to a wife swapping party and it was Nixon that turned you on.

Katie Vasser on Journeyman S01E08

Rude Description of Rednecks

...inherited a troubled nation with the lowest per capita teeth in North America.

Mathew White in an Alternative History description
of the Confederacy in the 1960's.

Cult OSes and Cults

Alby is showing some business stuff to Roman on a schmancy PowerBook. This actually raises a good question: what is the preferred OS of polygamist cultists? I realize that the Mac does inspire cult-like behavior, and open source is its own religion, but I think there's something about the oppressive and incomprehensible nature of Windows XP that would make polygamist cultists feel right at home.

Television Without Pity commentator on Big Love

Role Playing Items in Real Life

On a NPR show somebody mentioned "Dragonskin Armor" a new form of flak jacket. It is also listed as +5 Dragonskin Armor in some old D&D reference.

Harper Orders Mulroney Probe(d)

Harper orders Mulroney probe

I love this headline in today's Grab and Maul. It brings to all the "Mulroney probes" we as a nation suffered in the 80's as our "glorious leader" simultaneously screwed us over and sucked up to Anericans. It also says something about the ethical standards of newly renamed Deformed Party of Canada that they liked Mulroney and hated Clark.

Rude joke alert:
Q - What is long and red and hangs down between Ronald Reagan's legs?
A - Brian Mulroney's tie.

SciFi and the Law

There is a story out there that we are obstructing justice and another we are in a Ray Bradbury yarn.

Leo McGarry in West Wing S04E21

Hobo Slang

Side door Pullman = Boxcar

Mentioned in Krazy Kat book.

America's Bush League Economy

Whenever a has reaches and stays at a current account deficit of 5% its currency is devalued. According to latest figures and The Economist the US current account deficit is now 5.5.%. Dollar devaluation should eventually get the current account deficit below 5%.

I like this line in the cartoon:

"Please take us to Fifth Avenue so we can purchase some of your quaint native costumes."

Counter Strike in Lego

Warning: Graphic Lego Violence.

Another in the long series of Lego Mashups.

Cats as Trojans

New Flesh Merchants in LA have Problems

Feel like I'm trying to sell semen in a whorehouse.

Christian Troy on the problems of establishing
a plastic surgery practice in LA

Zombies Game

...satisfy your daytime zombie-killing needs.

In a review of the web game The Last Stand.

Howl Snippet # 9

I'm with you in Rockland where the faculties of the skull no longer admit the worms of the senses.

Allen Ginsberg

Howl Snippet # 8

the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!

Allen Ginsberg

Howl Snippet # 7

Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money!

Allen Ginsberg

Howl Snippet # 6

Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!

Allen Ginsberg

Howl Snippet # 5

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?

Allen Ginsberg

Howl Snippet # 4

who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Avenue amid blasts of leaden verse & the tanked-up clatter of the iron regiments of fashion & the nitroglycerin shrieks of the fairies of advertising & the mustard gas of sinister intelligent editors, or were run down by the drunken taxicabs of Absolute Reality,

Allen Ginsberg

Howl Snippet # 3

...walked all night with their shoes full of blood

Allen Ginsberg

More Newspeak in the News

Islam is Peace

Polygamy is Equality

Jizya is Tolerance

Lapidation is Mercy

Burqa is Liberation

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Strength

Mulroney not Popular with Canadians or Canadian Criminals. However the "Business" Community still likes him.

Nobody seems to like to the guy.

Karlheinz Schreiber talking about the low opinion that the inhabitants of the Toronto West Detention Centre have for Mulroney. Mulroney was a character witness at Lord Black's recent trial. Shouldn't the Chin have the same solicitous concern for all the other fellow cheats and thieves, for his people.

Listen here for the full interview with Karlheinz Schreiber.

Billionaires for Bush

According to this chart nearly all Americans pay more taxes so that can be tax cuts for the rich. The top 0.1% of Americans get about $10 mil on average. From a NY Times article based on the work of Saez.

Halloween Encourages Vagrancy - Colbert

Trick or treaters = Prehobos

Stephen Colbert

Howl Snippet #2

who howled on their knees in the subway and were dragged off the roof waving genitals and manuscripts,

Allen Ginsburg

Don't we all want to wave our written words and genitalia to the world.

Howl Snippet #1

who disappeared into the volcanoes of Mexico leaving behind nothing but the shadow of dungares and the lava and ash of poetry scattered in fire place Chicago.

Alllen Ginsburg

Political Scandal in Brief

It is the classic Washington scandal, we screwed up by telling the truth.

C J Craig, the West Wing

California Wildfires: Nature's way of Clearing Builtup Suburbs

The fires in California are more then the result of a "natural disaster". It is the result of the development of low-tax, low density suburbia. The low density means too much land is used for too few people. Low taxes mean that public services can't be provided. Little or no regulations means that suburbia mindlessly grows.

Southern California was the birth place of a type anti-reality "conservativism". The Reagan revolution believed in making the world safe for billionaires, millionaires and assorted retainers, with low taxes and lots of growth. In the same way some that parts of coastal Gulf of Mexico shouldn't be rebuilt in time for the next hurricane, the low density semi wild land suburbia of California probably shouldn't be rebuilt in time for the next wild fire.

Here is a an article about San Diego and its fires. It includes this description of a developer friendly civic regime.

Local politics also plays a role in this "natural" disaster. San Diegans have failed to learn the lessons from the terrible firestorms that ravaged the county in October 2003. At the time, San Diego had no unified county fire department. The city, the county, and outside agencies failed to work in concert. The city had a small fleet of antiquated fire engines, no firefighting helicopters, and not enough money for radios, batteries and emergency fire shelters for its firefighters. At the time, the city, arguably the most fire-prone major city in the United States, ranked 40th in the nation in firefighters per capita.

Beware of Smokey the Bear

I am to only one who wonders who he mauled to get that hat?

Stephen Colbert

Living in an Alternate World

If We Were Living In An Eastern World, we would drive Korean cars, watch Japanese Anime, and wear clothes made in China.

Metallidude wondering if we aren't already
in the althistory discussed in the thread,
"If We Were Living In An Eastern World".

Coroner Philosophy from Pushing Daisies

Flies land on me, they pay rent.

The Coroner

Paying for The Bullets

The current Chinese Communist regime has habit of whacking lots of people. It is an old Maoist tradition. They charge the families of the condemned the cost of of the bullet through the brain. An Austrailian comedian in this video is asking the local Chinese communist consulate to pay part of the cost of whacking its dear leader.

Give us Back the RCAF and RCN

Here is a petition to restore the names RCN and RCAF to Canada's navy and airforce.

Bush in Clipart

from Ads of the World

What Else is New

Here is a review from the New Yorker of a new technology history, The Shock of Old.

It blew my mind.

Hunting for Vegetarians

So let's say... I'm a vegetarian and I like to strangle something recreationally.

-Bucky Katt defending
meateaters role in the cycle of nature
October 11, 2007

Another Promised Land

God: so to where do you want to lead your people

Moses:Ca caa caan

God:Canaan?

Moses; no! to CANADA!

Chrono's Fog redirecting
Moses in Jews Discover America on AH.com

An Insult to Ireland and New Ireland

In a thread on AH.com, All countries' populations switched with their "New" counterparts, there is thus Irish insult from Wesforce.

And "New Ireland" is a tiny, rural island full of cannibals.

No change there then

A Few Good Ad Men

You can't handle a bigger logo!!!

Identity Fraud Explained Away as the Cost of Living in an Interesting Country

Even if this was true who cares. This country was built and run run by men with worse stories than whatever you imagined.

-Bertram Cooper of Sterling and Cooper

Ah the Wonderful Accepting Right

I spent the night with every republican luminary save McCarthy and Jesus.

-Bertram Cooper of Sterling and Cooper on the ocasion
of the 1960 American Presidental election.

The Voices in Our Heads

On Jihad Watch in a thread about a Muslim's attempt to promote "world peace" by random killing.

reference to the Bicameral mind and the origins of conciousness

ala-sux

Funny how that voice in the heads of Muslims never seem to tell them to clean the parks, help the poor, look after the orphans, get off welfare, stop forcing your wife to wear the bedsheet in public, buy breath mints, stop blaming evrything on other people, speak up about the Jihad that smears Islams image of Peace, treat females like actual equal Humans .

BUT NO , Allah keeps telling them to Murder, steal, whine, sue, behead, attack, plot agianst(sic) people, use welfare to breed like flies for more Jihad-Johnny's, bomb Public Transit, kill children, kill little girls going to school, Kill Kill Kill Kill.

Can you see a pattern here folks?

The voice in my head tells to to lose weight, pay your bills, be polite, help neighbours, pick up trash, help the elderly, help tourists, help immigrants adapt, donate to charity, give away my old PC , fix PC's for free or almost nothing, pay fair price for Yardsale items, and don't act as if my SH*T don't smell like everyone elses does.

Buy hey, maybe Allah is so deep and loving that I just can't comprehend why murdering people to show you're a Peaceful God is the correct way to love someone.

duh_swami

There are many psychotic people who hear 'voices'. Some of them hear the 'voice of God'. When God says 'strike that man down, it is time to strike that man down. With psychotics , there is a lack of critical reasoning. It may be that 'God' told this individual to drop his pants in public, or throw his dinner plate. The psychotic never question why 'God' would tell them to do something so stupid, or meaningless.

At least in the Islam, when Allah says to 'drop your pants', you can understand why. The voice of Allah comming either as a hallucination, or through the Quran, another hallucination, makes the motivations clear. With the psychotic infidel, the motivations are not so clear. So what Islam really is, is a structure provided to hallucinating muslims, who desire to 'drop their pants' in a pure and holy way.

So for the sake of purity, it is important to follow Allahs insructions, killing people, or 'dropping your pants' in public, is acceptable as long as you have Allah on your mind when you do it...

Cool New Show: Pushing Daisies

This show Pushing Daisies combines the amusing tweeness of "the trouble with Harry with lots of other amusing tweeness. Here is a quote from the secound episode from a "villian".

"...a long subliminated interest in botany."

Art School , Why?

If I wanted to mingle with a bunch of geeks wearing leotards I would have stayed in art school.

- Chi McBride giving the reason why or why not enough
of us have gone or stayed in art school.

The Downside of Misplaced Optimism

When it doesn't work out you end up drunk in my apartment and yell at my roommate's cats.

Donna Moss giving the other side of plans oft gang awry.

Be (un)Kind to Animals

"I've done unspeakable things to animals I've never intended to eat.

Stephen Colbert promoting anti-vegetarianism

Beware the Wrath of the Barefoot

"...you'd have your throat cut within five minutes."

"Because I'm a northerner?"

"Because you're wearing shoes."

An exchange on the danger of drinking
around shoe-hating rednecks in
Bernard Cornwell's Rebel.

Forest Factories

"It was not until November that I found my brother, printed on the back pages of a magazine..."

Roman Discipline

Legionaire Titus Pullo is a hero of the XIII legion, but look at him now. Justice knows everyman's number. He has committed a terrible sacrilege, he will pay for with his life. As will any man here who breaks the law. Brawlers and drunkards will be flogged, thieves will be strangled, deserters will be cruified.

- Senior Centurion Lucius Vorenus laying down the Law

Hitler as a Game Character/Player

Xbox Hitler is not as scary as Nintendo Hitler.

He can find Jews hiding behind walls simply by head butting the wall!

- Anonymous comment on a chart on Indexed that
shows an inverse relation between
calmness and the hero population.

New opportunities

When god closes a door he opens a dress.

Roger Sterling of Sterling and Cooper

Film Voyuerism and Real Life

Ads for film festivals often emphasize the way the Cinema reality is often out of step with our own reality. When you go to the movies you often exposed to situations that would cause reaction in your real life. People had to learn to only watch movies.

Here are some more ads also for the Vancouver Film Festival; interrogation, possessed child and freak show.

Working Hours and Ompimal Efficiancy, One slashdotter's view.

In the comments of an article on slashdot about the tendency of many to fall asleep at work, syntaxglitch has this comment on death marches and Karōshi in the business.

In France, we often do work less than 40 hours a week.Less work also means better productivity. There surely is a "balancing point", but if it exist, it is different for every person, and is not constant with the time.

Believe it or not, there is actual research done on this--not that anyone ever pays attention to the results. If I recall correctly, it boils down to something like this:

- Productivity is low for the first 1-3 hours of a day as people get into the swing of things
- Daily productivity mostly goes up, but drops toward the end of the day (possibly because people are consciously "winding down")
- Productivity per worker hour peaks somewhere around a 30-hour week.
- Total sustainable productivity per week peaks at around a 45-hour week.
- Around 50 hours and up, fatigue builds up over time until burnout kicks in. Sustained work weeks of 50 hours are likely to be getting less TOTAL WORK done than sustained 35-hour weeks.
- Work weeks of around 80 hours are sustainable for maybe a week or so before catastrophic loss of total productivity occurs
- Anything much more than 80 hours likely results in immediately LOWER productivity, as fatigued workers make mistakes that take more time to fix than the extra hours provide.

From this, one can conclude that European schedules are more likely to maximize individual productivity (more work per hour), while American schedules are more likely to maximize organizational productivity (more work per person). One can also conclude that any manager who demands sustained work weeks of 50 hours or more is incompetent and a fool; the management equivalent of the kind of programmer who creates so many bugs he provides a net negative productivity to the team.

In practice, actual work hours are lower than they appear; most salaried workers are prone to finding numerous ways to not work while at work, largely because in many office environments physical presence is seen as more important than actual productivity.

I suspect the best balancing point would be something like four 9-hour workdays per week. Longer days to minimize the productivity drain of mornings, but a shorter total work week to allow occasional bursts of extra effort without creating long-term burnout.

Heroism and Reality

Being a hero never filled anyone's sack with salt and saffron.

Takezo Kensei, Actually some English bandit in medieval Japan.

The City as a Marble Maze

It does seems a little egotistical to turn the entire city into your own toy.

The Globe Mistakes "Modesty" for the Fear of Being Whacked by the Clan

In the Globe and Mail story, Concern for reputation leads Muslim woman to clarify sex assault, confuses a concern for ones reputation with the reasonable fear of being murdered by one's own family. A Muslim student has come forward to say the she was not raped. There is this context given for sexual politics in moslem countries.

Ottawa's Muslim community yesterday supported the woman's decision to clear her name.

"Who are we to judge somebody else, especially if a person is innocent?" asked Mumtaz Akhtar, president of the Ottawa Muslim Association.

He acknowledged that in some Muslim countries, especially in smaller villages, people do hold the belief "that victims of rape are unclean."

"They despise the person who has been a victim of rape, even if it is their own daughter. But it is not like that here. People are more educated."

He said she shouldn't worry about that connotation, adding that people are likely to be more sympathetic because it was not her fault.

Where honor killings are most common women who have been raped by members of their own families are then murdered to protect the good name of the same family of rapists. I am more impressed by societies where people clear their names through their own deaths rather killing a scapegoat.

Jungle ATM

Here is an ad of a Japanese tourist using an ATM that seems to be made out of Flintstone technology.

Hair Styling by Gum

Having little or no experience with hair saloons or barbers this seems quite reasonable. I expect that usually gum and hair don't go well together.

Lab Monkeys from the 50's Improving the Internet Today

This is actually an ad for Lycos, a web search company that has been forgotten in the present historical stage of Pax Googlia. Using monkeys as test subjects can lead to side effects, see drunk monkeys. I actually saw the original video, it was from a behavioral study to manipulate monkeys with aversion therapy.

The Hero and Reality

Being a hero never filled anyone's sack with salt and saffron.

Takezo Kensei, actually some English bandit in medieval Japan.

Scottish Cuisine Leads to Obesity, Really

Here is a BBC story about how the Scots have become secound fattest country, after the yanks. Grimm Reaper on AH.com is surpprised.

I would have thought haggis would be a major deterrant to...well, eating.

Recent Movie Mashups

Stranger Than Fiction and Harry Potter


Boogie Nights in Star Wars


Pulp Fiction done with Muppets


Here is creators of Pulp Muppets being interviewed on CNN with Wolf Blitzer/Animal.

Doing Time - a Prosiac Prison Memoir

Doing Time is memoir of a Manga artist's period in jail. This memoir was also made in to film. The mnga artist Kazuichi Hanawa was originally arrested on a bullshit gun possesion charge, there is nothing wrong with people having guns only the wrong people having guns, people who kill can use lots of other methods beside guns. Hanawa memoir of prison life has none of the violence or oppression we can expect from worksd from The Gulag Archipelago and other politaical- sociological works. Instead prison is depicted as living with your parents, forever with petty ante and contradictory rules. Both Clockwork Orange and The Blues Brother has a scene where our hero, degenerate con, has to sign an form while keeping his feet a prescribe distance away. The harsh rule based system is what to gives inprisionment its sting.

Doing Time is an enlightening tour through the Japanese system, well worth the read.

The Human Flip Book

A Midwest sandwich chain has created a human flip book using t-shirts as the drawing surface. Although there has only been less than 5000 viewings of this ad it has been listed in 2 different blogs that I follow, Ads of the World and Cartoon Brew, and animation and an advertising blog. Here is the making of video below.

High Praise for New Mexico from Californian

In the commenting on an hokey western themed election ad that Bill Richardson made for his reelection campaign one viewer, starman2006, has this high praise for New Mexico.

This is a great ad, makes me want to vote for him, but I live in California, I've heard good things about New Mexico, like there the Rent is very cheap and the Single Women have Low Standards.

The Travails of Old Time Computing

And uphills! Both ways, to and from work, too! And we didn't have those fancy things called shoes, today you wouldn't go into a server room without your boots, we went in there barefooted. And did it harm us? When we wanted to know if a computer is on, we had to touch its wire, no fancy flashing lights and all the other goodies you have today! When the modem died, I had to sit there for hours and whistle in 300 baud what was on the screen! Yes, 300 baud, and we were GLAD we had that kinda speed! And no fancy debuggers either, we just watched the code fly by and we knew EXACTLY what it did. Wasn't that hard when your whole code has to fit into less than what you got as cache on your CPU today. Oh, and there was only ONE program running at a time, and you had to wait for yours to run. What do you mean "on my machine"? You didn't have one, there was ONE machine for the company, and it was in the basement. Rather, it WAS the basement! When it was cold, and it was often cold because we couldn't afford heating EITHER, that was just after the war, remember, we had NOTHING (ok, except kickass expensive computers)... where was I? Right, when it was cold, we'd huddle together between the tubes (no, Timmy, not the Tubes of the Senator, that Senator didn't exist... ok, he did, but at least he kept his yap shut back then) to stay warm.

Hey. HEY! Where d'ya think you're going? (muttermutter) Spoiled brat...

Opportunist on slashdot discussion about old DOS upgrade video.

Cardinal Wosey's Political Advice

If you want to keep the love of a prince this is what you must do, be prepared to give him the thing you most care for in all the world.

Cardinal Wolsey in The Tudors

The Difference Between The Russian and Swiss Armies Illustrated

from Dark Roasted Life

A History of Editorial Cartoons by an Editorial Cartoonist

Choose The Lower Road

Your eminence, don't be eagle, they soar too high. Be a pigeon and shit on everything.

Logistical Troubleshooting

In the 1st book of the Raj Whitehall Chronicals there is this "recommendation" for straightening out transport difficulties.

"We gots a bit a of problem, like. The other civvie stuff, its moves aside, but this bastard won't." The sargeant brightened, and dropped a hand to his sabre. " kill hem sor?"

The guards stirred, and the dogs of the two parties exchanged tail down snarls. The civilian opened his mouth to protest, looked up at the sargeant and suddenly realized there was real hope behind the request.

Studying Evil

He who studies evil is studied by evil.

Old Bajorian Saying

The Riot Act

After reading latest chapter from one of my favorite authors I looked up the full text of the original "riot act". Here are words that must spoken to use the riot act. Say it next time someone gets out of control.

Our sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God save the King.

Wikipedia Reality

What I love about Wikipedia is that it lets democracy determine reality.

Neoplatonist Philosopher Stephen Colbert,
August 21 2007

Differerent Religious Extremists

"Christian warriors" - no drinking on Sunday.
"Jewish warriors" - Just leave us alone dammit
"Muslim warriors" - insert latest violent mass murder here, daily

obscured by clouds in Little Green Footballs
thread CNN Moral Equivalence Marathon.

Pro Booze, Anti Torture Motto from Tom Waits

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal labotamy"

Tom Waits on Fernwood 2Nite
after playing The Piano Has Been Drinking.

Headache Ad from Horror Fan

President, a Title for Thieves and Murders, Mostly

Harper should be insulted at being titled "president". As I argrued earlier, "president" is mainly used for the head gangster in cruel despotic regimes, like President Saddam Hussain (whacked) and President Robert Mugabe (at large).

Bad Weddings

HA HA. From The Guardian.

How to make the best of your best man's speech

Tim Dowling
Wednesday August 15, 2007

Guardian
No wedding is complete without a best man - although we might perhaps extend this sentiment to "no wedding is completely ruined without a best man", courtesy of a case currently being heard by a jury at Preston crown court. According to the prosecution, the trouble started when the best man at a wedding reception in Yorkshire misjudged the mood of his audience, and decided to expose himself in the name of entertainment. He then allegedly went on to batter a guest who upbraided him for this behaviour.

There are no doubt weddings where this sort of thing is positively encouraged, but herein lies the dilemma for any best man: it is impossible to gauge the mood of a group made up of two different sets of friends and family.

Best man speeches come in three basic varieties: pompous and lawyerly; shambolically ribald; and inoffensively boring. There are "good" best man's speeches - well judged, amusing, moving and brief - but they don't appear in sufficient quantity to constitute a separate category.

At the diabolical end, you have best men who employ PowerPoint and the odd one who thinks it's a good idea to recount the bride's sexual history in song while accompanying himself on the guitar. If you spot him at the rehearsal dinner scrawling on a napkin and asking people for words that rhyme with "venereal", replace him with a second cousin immediately.

Never, under any circumstances, have two best men (as happened at the Yorkshire wedding). If there's one thing worse than a loudmouth who can't wait to tell the family of the bride what a drunken, sexually incontinent no-mark her future husband is, it's two loudmouths trying to outdo each other.

And if you should ever be asked to be a best man, just remember that your main obligation is to thank the bridesmaids, and that anything else you say is liable to offend somebody. And when in doubt, don't get your penis out.

Acton's Dictum Updated

Power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely.

JeanBaptiste in a slashdot discussion about Karl Rove.

The Gourmet Anarchist

I like the French though, they make champagne and they burn McDonalds.

Shimbo in a Alternate History discussion
about redoing Verdun 300 style.

Don't Be a Good Dog

Being a great employee is like being a great dog; at the end of the day, they'll still euthanize your ass when you're no longer of use.

SatanicPuppy in a slashdot thread
about hiring programmers.

When Gamers Breed

(From TechEBlog)

Safety Adage for Subway Riding

Man who go through turnstile sideways, is going to Bangkok.

UbuntuDupe in slashdot discussion
about harnessing energy from crowds.

300 Movie Mashups

These are all mashups from the trailer to the movie 300.

The 300 trailer staged in Counter Strike.


Lego 300


Simpson 300


PG 300


And Its Raining 300 Men

Ultra Nerdy Movie Poster

A Cold Hearted View of Human Life

Cost of treating wounded gunshot victim: $25,000

Cost of burying dead one: $18,750

Help the economy - shoot to kill.

The Sandman,
Signature of a poster on
AlternateHistory.com

Odd Life Affirming Animation

Wild Police Chase

Fashion is Evil

Nazis really knew how to dress - proof positive that fashion is evil.

Sam Handelman in a
slashdot thread about
Games Workshop mistreatment of fans.

Behind A Coke Ad, Inside The Happiness Factory

This is follow up documentry to Coke ad from the SuperBowl, The Happiness Factory. In the original ad the inside of a Coke machine was represented as some magical world. (Adfreak where I got this link noted that the documentry was still silent on the issue of Snowman murder.) In the followup documentry different characters explain their part in whole production. These parts are voiced by actual Coke employees. The effect is something like Nick Park's Creature Comforts. On a related note here is assembly of quotes about the Iraq War set to Creature Comforts.

Stupid Ciminals and the Reasons they agree to be on Camera

Transformarama

Transformers the movie is coming out in a week so now is a good time to look at some and nerdy ways people have reinterpreted and re imagined the whole concept of robots transforming out of of other things. For me Transformers didn't do anything for me, besides a line from the theme song, Transformers - robots in disguise.

Transformer costumes


Transformer as used car


Working robot transformer

Reasons for Suicide Bombing

Rick McFee of the
Augusta Chronicle,
Found on Cagle

Exciting New Game Enviroment

Frank Varvel of
The Indianapolis Star-News
found on Cagle.

Missing Masterpiece

This was part of campaign by an architectural preservation group in Chicago.

Open Pit Sandbox

From Ads of the World