January 15, 2008
A little bit of unsmoked pig jowl goes a long way...
Everyone knows how seriously Italians take their food. So a debate about the origins of a humble pasta dish isn't any real surprise, though an appetizing read. Made with (formerly hard to find, state-side) Guanciale, (cured, unsmoked pig jowl), at least one proper recipe exists if you can find some to try your hand at it with.
The Taxman Cometh
Wesley Snipes is in a lot of trouble. On trial for tax fraud, Snipes is apparently defending himself by employing the 861 argument, a longtime favorite of tax protesters, which advances the odd position that only foreign income is subject to federal income taxation. [more inside]
Nursery School Set Goes Gaga for Gogo
Jack Mulqueen presents Kiddie a-Go-Go. Check out the intro brought to you by Mickelberry's Plump & Juicy Franks and their fine variety of cold cuts. Hostess Pandora (played by Jack Mulqueen's wife Elaine) introduces the Stop and Go-Go dance, followed by a live performance from the New Colony Six in full Revolutionary War costumes. Unlike the Buddy Deane Show (which inspired the movie Hairspray), this later clip indicates that Kiddie A-Go-Go had racially integrated without incident. Other happenings inspired by the Kiddie A-Go-Go include a children's album, the public access TV show Chic-A-Go-Go, and San Francisco's Pip Squeak A-Go-Go (featuring go-go dance lessons from the Devil-Ettes).
While His Piano Gently Weeps
Free Bird on piano [YouTube]. The 14-year-old musician, who calls himself UnclassicalPiano on YouTube, currently has 16 other selections, including Stairway To Heaven, Behind Blue Eyes, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Message In A Bottle and Black Sabbath's Paranoid (his main interest is metal), all of which he says he learned to play by ear.
U.S. County Courthouses
In the United States, most counties conduct local legal business in a centrally-located courthouse, which tends to be located in the county seat. Here is a flickr photo set of nearly all the county courthouses in the United States. From the [oldest] to the [most densly populated] to the [most populous], from the [ugly] to the [ornate], county courthouses present a remarkable variety of architectural styles. In some ways, these buildings seem to be the equivalent of European cathedrals -- they often represent the local community's largest and most expensive building, and they're designed with that in mind. Given our remarkable capacity for observer list keeping, I wonder why more people aren't courthouse spotters.
BLADES OF GLORY? Are you F*****G kidding me?
The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich was well-received by the critics. Recently, amateur subtitle writers have used a poignant scene from the movie to showcase the Fuhrer's banning from iSketch and XBox Live (previously), as well as the downfall of HD-DVD.
Who's who in Nowata High School's classes of '79, '80, '81, and now welcoming the Class of '82.
And as she was a little girl, of course she was... pink
Proustite: decaying before memory
Richard Forty's Dry Store Room No. 1 describes the archives of the British Natural History Museum. Not on display, among other things, is Proustite, it is a compound of silver, arsenic and sulphur that forms as blood-red crystals that fade, poetically, when exposed to light.' Via Things Magazine.
Pasta Printer
The Fabaroni is a 3D printing machine that constructs 3D models with pasta dough. You've also got the 3D chocolate printer made out of lego. And Previously.
The "Sex-Box" Race for President
"Because of the digital chip age in which we live - "Mass Effect" can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes. With it's "over the net" capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away." [more inside]
Web 2.0 Introduces MyPopUpVideos
Overstream: Add Your Thoughts to Video Have you ever wanted to customize an online video by adding your own comments or subtitles in any language, or wanted to send a custom video postcard?
Eat me.
Why go with a simple cake topper? A Texan bride of Nigerian descent had a klassy cake made for her big day. The company who created the brilliant piece. One of the master sculptors talks about AND shows us how she did it. Other cakes they've made. Well worth the 5 grand. Does this contradict empath’s statement that 5’4” people aren’t diseased?
Dance music toys: Get your cheese on.
Tom Cruise Needs A Vacation
Nutjobfilter. Tom Cruise on Scientology. It's one link to a video, but it's one link to a video that you really should watch.
Death and Taxes 2008
Inside Iraq
As Iraqis See It. "About a year ago, McClatchy Newspapers set up a blog exclusively for contributions from its Iraqi staff. 'Inside Iraq,' it's called, and several times a week the Iraqi staff members post on it about their experiences and impressions. 'It's an opportunity for Iraqis to talk directly to an American audience,' says Leila Fadel, the current bureau chief. As such, the blog fills a major gap in the coverage." Previously discussed here. [Via disinformation.]
Oops
Million-dollar mistake at Dreamhost. A $7.5 million error this morning at the world's 15th largest hosting company has left most of it customers short by hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Discussion boards are reporting a litany of overdrafts, credit card overlimit fees, and bounced checks.
Ambitious but rubbish, or "the cutting edge of cocking about"
Top Gear is coming soon to America – unfortunately without the charms of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig. To produce a worthy rival program, the American version will have a lot to live up to: [more inside]
Rhapsody of Steel
The Battles of Blair Mountain
By September, President Warren Harding had sent in Federal troops and bombers under war hero Billy Mitchell to put down the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. Short video. Podcast. That was then. Now a second battle of Blair Mountain continues to preserve the history and the environment of the first. [more inside]
Blowhard vs. Bureaucrat? A Defense of Free Speech.
Blowhard vs. Bureaucrat? A Defense of Free Speech. During the controversy over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed (original Mefi thread), one of the few Canadian outlets to republish the offending images was the now-mostly-defunct Western Standard magazine run by controversial right-wing pundit and lawyer Ezra Levant. Now, Levant is facing a human rights complaint before the Alberta Human Rights Commission, and has posted his initial interview with the Commission online. Levant is frequently vitriolic, and his interlocutor mostly bored, but the issues raised are important ones. Levant's summary of the situation is here, and his opening statement to the Commission is here.
Brown is the New White
the alphabet never sounded more beautiful
Bloody Omaha
How many men does it take it recreate the massive 1944 allied assault on Omaha Beach? Three. [YouTube] [more inside]
The Lost Archive
Ancient manuscripts lost and found, Nazis, academic backstabbing, religious fundamentalism - something for everyone in this story. (And count on Spengler for some controversial thoughts on what it all means)
A new drug for a disease which might not exist
Is fibromyalgia a useful way of categorizing the illnesses experienced by several million Americans? The doctor who pioneered the study and characterization of the illness no longer thinks it exists as a distinct entity, and other experts agree. People who've been diagnosed with the disorder experience real pain, and are comforted by being able to put a name to their illness, but their doctors often think they'd have been better off without the diagnosis. [more inside]
Socially unacceptable addictions, government encouraged addictions.
When the working poor turn to addictive drugs to manage pain so they can keep working, that's "moral weakness, not a public health problem.":
Every morning before sunup, Trapp drives 120 miles.... "This methadone makes you feel like a human being again," Trapp says. With disability rates as high as 37 percent in coal-mining areas such as Buchanan County, the region has many people with long-term pain management needs. As is the case with lots of aging miners, Trapp's addiction to pills began in a doctor's office, not a back-alley drug deal.... The clinic's counseling staff members say that many patients need to be on some sort of drug to cope with severe, long-term pain and that methadone has made them functional. And for those who lack insurance or access to more personalized care, it is often the only affordable option.[more inside]
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