quote for the day

"Poor people have shitty lobbyists".

John Stewart

quote for the day

"Religion is a multi-billion-dollar business. This money pays for its propaganda. And this money is swindled out of the people. ... It delivers lies to the people, frightens them, and scares them of violence in this world and of punishment in the next. Just like the Mafia! Religion, as an institution, be it Christianity, Islam or Judaism is a huge social structure standing on its own before being a set of social beliefs. It taxes [the people]. It takes money and spends it on the survival of its rule. ... the sum is comparable with the wealth of the largest multi-national corporations. It is comparable with the military budget of dozens of countries put together. Religion should therefore be looked on as an industry, one that consciously tries to sell its product, own its markets, and make addicts out of consumers."

Mansoor Hekmat (interview, 15 Feb 2001)

via

sunday funny

Oh, man! If only.

saturday matinee

via

quote for the day

"One Month Battery Life: No battery anxiety - read for up to one month on a single charge with wireless off and a half hour of reading per day."

Amazon stretching the truth about as far as it can be stretched without breaking... or assuming that their readers dont actually read.
How hard is it to say "lasts up to 15 hours of reading between charges"?

recommendation

If you like non-conventional animated stuff, I have to suggest FLCL, also known as Fooly-Cooly. I cant describe it, really, other to say that it is an insane, wild ride that grabbed me and forced me to watch. If you have Netflix streaming, you can let it grab you here.

Addendum: After some thought, the best way that I can come up with to describe it is this: It's like the first time you hear a really great song, the kind of song that makes you go wow, they can do that?!

t shirt suggestion

more here

quote for the day

"If we destroy our planet, if we cannot undo the damage we have done, then as I’ve said before, perhaps we deserve to die out. That’s how natural selection’s supposed to work, after all."

Jason Thibeault


stolen from Rational Rant

quote for the day

"This widespread and growing movement against the twin corrupting influences of money on our politics and state patronage on big business is going on everywhere – on the streets, in these courthouses, in the homes of people refusing to move after foreclosure, even in the antitax movements and the campaigns against state pensions.

The only place we can be absolutely sure this battle will not be found is in any national presidential race between Barack Obama and someone like Mitt Romney."

Matt Taibbi

for the caucussunday funny

Late damnit, late late late.

saturday matinee

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Time-lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera by the crew of expedition 28 and 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October, 2011. (stolen whole cloth from Presurfer).

daveawayfromhome is a ...

Guy who let his Christmas banner stay up waaaaaaaayyyy too long.

for the election

Seriously, why are they fucking around with people like Perry, Gingrich and Santorum? They just need to quit pussy-footing around and go straight for the source.

ecard

now you know how it's done

Stephen Colbert Announces Presidential Run

saturday matinee

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared from This Is It on Vimeo.

um... dont show this to your kids

please.

via

cartoon for the campaign

More.

random

Came across this somewhere on Tumblr. This was what I found:

"This definition requires an understanding of additional jargon, namely what a measure and beat are."

From The Everything Drums Book, by Erik Starr

The second nearest book resulted in this:

"Topiltzin tried to end these bloody rituals, urging that the gods be rendered only offerings of bread, flowers, snakes, incense, or butterflies."

From Fire And Blood: A History Of Mexico, by T. R. Fehrenbach.

So, ... yeah.

sunday funny

gpoy

saturday matinee

Fuck Yeah, Elizabeth Warren!

via

Dave's 2011 Reading List

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."

George R. R. Martin

Once again, it's time for my annual list of all the books I read the previous year. I dont have much to say about them, really, 'cause I suck at book reviews. The linked ones are the best of the bunch, and you should read them, especially the non-fiction ones.

Austin, Jane - Sense And Sensibility
Bauer, Cat - Harley's Ninth
Bayse, Dale E. - Heck, Where The Bad Kids Go
Bear, Greg - Blood Music
Bernstein, William J. - A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped The World  - NF
Cherryh, C. J. - Regenesis
Cook, Claire - Must Love Dogs
DeAngelis, Camille - Petty Magic
Egan, Greg - The Clockwork Rocket
Elliot, Kate - (the 4 Jaran novels)
Flaming, Matthew - The Kingdom of Ohio
Friedman, Machael Jan - Stargazer: Oblivion
Gayle, Mike - Turning Thirty
Gibbons, Stella - Cold Comfort Farm
Gibson, William - Zero History
Gifford, Thomas - The Assassini
Gonzales, Tony - EVE: The Empyrean Age
Gore, Ariel - The Traveling Death And Resurrection Show
Grange, Amanda - Colonel Brandon's Diary
Grange, Amanda - Mr. Darcy's Diary
Gravel, Geary - The Pathfinders
Green, Simon R. - A Hard Day's Night
Green, Simon R. - The Good, The Bad, And The Uncanny
Harris, Charlene - Dead Reckoning
Harris, Charlene - A Touch of Dead
Hodgell, P. C. - (all of the Kencyr books)
Holden, Wendy - The Wives Of Bath
Holt, Tom - Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Sausages
Home, A. M. - Jack
Howard, Jonathan L. - Johannes Caball: Necromancer
Isenberg, Lynn - My Life Uncovered
Jenkins, Emily - Mr. Posterior And The Genius Child
Jenkins, Emyl - Stealing With Style
Keats, Jonathan - The Book Of The Unknown: Tales of the 36
Kibuishi, Kazu - Amulet
Kindrey, Richard - Kill The Dead
Kou Yaginuma - Twin Spica
Kurlansky, Mark - Salt: A World History - NF
Lipman, Elenor - Then She Found Me
Lockhart, E. - The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Mack, David - Daredevil: Parts of a Hole, vol. 2
Martin, Ann M. - Here Today
Martin, George R. R. - A Dance With Dragons
Marx, Patricia - Starting From Happy
McCaffery, Anne - Dragonriders of Pern (omnibus)
McCaffery, Anne - Dragonsong and Dragonsinger
McDevitt, Jack - Ancient Shores
McDevitt, Jack - Cauldron
McDevitt, Jack - Odyssey
McClarty, Ron - Art In America
Modesitt, L. E. - Timegod's World
Moon, Elizabeth - Trading In Danger
Moore, Christopher - A Dirty Job
Moore, Christopher - The Stupidest Angel
Newark, Elizabeth - The Darcys Give A Ball
O'Malley, Bryan - Lost At Sea
Pedersen, Laura - Last Call
Pierson, C. Allyn - Mr. Darcy's Little Sister
Pratchett, Terry - Snuff
Rardin, Jennifer - Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Reeve, Philip - Fever Crumb
Russo, Richard - Nobody's Fool
Russo, Richard - Straight Man
Shevdon, Mike - The Road To Bedlam
Simonsen, Mary Lydon - The Perfect Bride For Mr. Darcy
Standage, Tom - An Edible History Of Humanity - NF
Stasheff, Christopher - Saint Vidicon To The Rescue
Stross, Charles - Singularity Sky
Townshend, Kathleen Kennedy - Failing America's Faithful - NF
Valente, Catherynne M. - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Boat Of Her Own Making
Vinge, Vernor - Marooned In Realtime
Wallace, William - Michelangelo: The Artist, The Man, and His Time - NF
Walsh, Marissa - A Field Guide To High School
Watt-Evans, Lawrence - Dragon Weather
Westerfield, Scott - Evolution's Darling
Young-Stone, Michele - The Handbook For Lightning Strike Survivors
Zielen, Lara - Donut Days

Incidentally, apparently 42% of people who graduate from college never read another book. How sad is that?

Previous Lists: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.

quote for the New Year

"Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols."

Thomas Mann

new year linkage

- A gay day in the life.

- You may not know it, but you've got a bit of Brutalist Architecture around somewhere.

- Collectors Weekly.

- Know Your Meme.

- via Gerry Canavan, "Turns out the optimal marginal tax rate is… 76%".

- Daniel Ellsberg on the Limits of Knowledge. (A Tale of Security) (via)

- David Brin goes Galt on Ayn Rand. (Yeah, I know the phrase doesnt really work, but I couldnt resist).

- Leonardo daVinci's To Do list. (via)

- a Barbie makeover tip.