“The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps . . . Fedele said she got the illustration in a number of chain e-mails and decided to reprint it for her members in the Trumpeter newsletter. . . “
(via Angie, via Susan)
“Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water . . . including bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.”
These Stella d’Oro cookies just look so damn good that I want them on my laptop.
[click on photo for downloadable wallpaper]
(chicken image by Rick from Holyoke, Wikimedia Commons)
Every time I order Chinese Food, the question arises:
“Who the hell is General Tso of General Tso’s Chicken?”
For those of you inexperienced in the ways of General Tso’s Chicken - it is a deep fried chicken dish, usually spicy with a sweet sauce, and a near universal of American Chinese Food restaurants.
General Tso is actually General Zuǒ Zōngtáng - a military general of Qing Dynasty China and a native of Hunan Province. In 1860, Zuǒ served as a military leader during the Taiping Rebellion and is accredited for driving the Taiping rebels from Hunan and Guangxi Provinces.
According to Wikipedia, General Tso’s Chicken does not exist in General Zuǒ’s hometown of Xiangyin, nor in the Hunan province capitol of Changsha. Also, descendants of Zuǒ still living in Xiangyin report that they have never heard of this dish.
This dish first appeared in the American Chinese restaurant pantheon sometime in the 1970’s and may be a creation of American restaurants.
In 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock as a way of representing humanity’s proximity to “catastrophic destruction.” Midnight represents the point of destruction and since 2007 — when the clock was moved ahead two minutes due to North Korean nuclear weapons testing — we’ve been at 11:55.
Five minutes to midnight.
As a means of measuring the surreal stupidity of our nation, we at Blogadilla have created the Clock of Stupid - if the clock strikes midnight, it’s official: we are a hopelessly stupid nation of open-mouthed breathers who will collapse under the weight of our own fat ignorance.
We are living in potentially great times and this clock will be a way to visually measure the changes that may come. Here’s the last few years of changes in the time of the Clock of Stupid:
2000 - plus 5 minutes (11:35) George W. Bush is elected president.
2002 - plus 1 minute (11:36) American Idol debuts and soon becomes America’s top television show.
2003 - plus 5 minutes (11:41) America’s response to the attack on the World Trade Towers: we invade Iraq.
2004 - plus 7 minutes (11:48) George W. Bush is re-elected as president.
2005 - plus 1 minute (11:49) Tyra Banks is given her own talkshow.
2005 - plus 3 minutes (11:52) The Kansas State Board of Education adopts new policies about teaching evolution and creationism in public schools.
2007 - minus 5 minutes (11:47) Senator Barack Obama announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
2008 - plus 3 minutes (11:50) Soccer mom and human publicity stunt Sarah Palin is announced as Republican vice presidential candidate.
2008 - plus 1 minute (11:51) David Zucker releases the jingoistic film An American Carol.
Jonah Hill and Sarah Silverman have the best damn lines in this PSA video:
Kodak’s Make Me Super! superhero video maker. Just add a photo, and voilà you are a superhero complete with your own theme song and everything.
I became “Super Tiffani.” Now I look as pretty as I feel.
Related Note: This can also be done with Kung Fu.
Sunday afternoon is a nice time for a mean political art project. The Shepard Fairey “HOPE” and “CHANGE” Obama posters are everywhere on the internet and I felt like Sarah Palin just hasn’t gotten enough attention these days, so I made her something nice.
OCTOBER - early NOVEMBER
Oct 5 - They Might Be Giants, 3:00PM, free show for kids, Columbia University, NY.
Oct 8 - Season 3 premier of The Sarah Silverman Program, on Comedy Central.
Oct 8 - Columbus Day Parade NYC, NY.
Oct 8-10 - Beck plays United Palace, Washington Bridge, NY.
Oct 10 - Premier of the movie Quarantine.
Oct 11 - M. Ward plays the OKOBOS music festival in Green Bay, WI.
Oct 12 - Columbus Day Parade, San Francisco, CA.
Oct 13 - A showing of Michael Moore’s “Slacker Uprising”, The Independent, San Francisco (Slacker Uprising film link).
Oct 14 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is available on DVD.
Oct 14 - The John Cusack film War, Inc. is available on DVD.
Oct 15 - Barack N’ Roll fundraiser, The Independent, San Francisco.
Oct 16 - Send Flowers to Your Ex- Day.
Oct 17 - Premier of the movie “W.”
Oct 21 - John Hodgman’s new book “More Information Than You Require” is available in stores.
Oct 25 - The Exotic Erotic Ball, San Francisco, CA.
Oct 25 - They Might Be Giants play le Poisson Rouge, NY.
Oct 26 - The Dia de los Muertos Festival, Oakland, CA.
Oct 31 - Premier of the film The Haunting of Molly Hartley.
Oct 31 - HALLOWEEN
Oct 31 - Nov 2 - DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
Nov 1 - She and Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) play the Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA.
Nov 4 - ELECTION DAY (U.S.)
Nov 9-10 - Beck plays Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA.
Nov 11 - Tenacious D plays the House of Blues in Las Vegas, NV.
Nov 17-18 - Tenacious D plays the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA.
Nov 20 - Tenacious D plays the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, CA.
(via MediaPost)
It is the year 2008.
Some of the best science fictions were written about these times (1984, 2001, etc.).
And I’m a little fed-up: we still don’t have flying cars, moving sidewalks, and video phone watches.
The closest we can get to the awesome Dick Tracy-esque “2-Way Wrist Radio” is this:
the Chinavision Mobile Phone Watch.
(via Random Good Stuff)
I fell in love with Stephen Barnwell’s work over a year ago - when I bought a set of his Antarctica “Dream Dollar” currency, which is now framed and hanging on my livingroom wall.
Barnwell has recently released some new lines of currency (which are rocking my world):
• The United States of Islam currency - complete with Betsy Ross and the Statue of Liberty donning burkhas.
• Conspiracy Nation currency - national conspiracy themed currency (think Freemasons).
• The Empire of America currency - “Washington crossing the Euphrates” is portrayed on the back.
Why John McClane?
“Why Not? John McClane is a Badass. He’s an American. He doesn’t take shit from terrorists. He smokes. He crawls through air conditioning ducts. He’s a lover AND a fighter. So, shouldn’t we, The United States of America, have someone like John McClane in office?”
I’m so getting a t-shirt.
Diaroogle - Finding a decent public toilet in New York, even from your mobile phone.
(via Angie)
[click to enlarge]
As American presidential elections are coming up, ponder this:
• A vote for president in Maine is worth more than two votes for president in California.
• A vote for president in North Dakota is worth more than three votes for president in California.
I made this lovely graphic to show the value of a presidential vote in each state, compared to California. For example, Louisiana is labeled +39%. That means voting for president in Louisiana has 39% more value than voting for president in California - five votes from Louisiana equals almost seven votes from California. I decided to use California as a basis of comparison because I live here and because we rock.
Why is this happening?
Because the Electoral College sucks.
For those of you who are new to this or who didn’t pay attention in highschool. . . (more…)
