Category: Missing Links

Jersey Girls Rule, Rep. Michele Bachmann Drools

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Cherry Hill, NJ, resident Amy Myers has openly challenged Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on the US Constitution, US History, and US Civics. The interesting part? Amy Myers is a sophomore in high school.

The story seems to come from a letter dated April 29, which was then uploaded to CNN’s iReport on May 6. After that, the rest is history, as the story was picked up by Nick Pinto of Minneapolis’ City Pages, Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent, and Richard Metzger of Dangerous Minds. And, yes, of course there’s a Facebook page for the cause.

Pictured: Ol’ Crazy Eyes

If Amy Myers of Cherry Hill New Jersey really exists, then I applaud her. If she’s a really real person who really made this challenge, then there are two very important things that could come out of such a debate. One, as Richard Metzger said, he “would pay good money to see [this debate].” He then made the point of how much money could be raised for a women’s charity from such a debate. It could be for a good cause, Michele…

Two, Amy Myers says to Rep. Bachmann in the letter that “The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.” Well, let me be the first to say that the statements Amy makes help to serve a justice to Jersey gals everywhere, who, by unfortunate proxy, often get a bad rap.

So big up yourself, Amy Myers. If you really exist, that is.

Oh man, I hope this is for real.

Missing Links – 4.22 – It’s Been Real Edition

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the thirteenth in a never-ending series. There was no Missing Links column last week because I was busy, dammit.

This will also be the last Missing Links column. I started Missing Links as a way to post more often, but it has been taking up all my time. From now on, if I see something that I think deserves mentioning, I’ll write a short post and link to it.

Winner! Pat Tillman’s brother was interviewed on Bill Maher and Dangerous Minds grabbed the video. No matter what your views on Bill Maher are, check out Tillman’s brother, Richard Tillman, who has no trouble speaking his mind, and who I believe he has every right to do. Also included is a link to their other post which has the videos for the true story behind Pat Tillman’s death and the Army’s attempt to cover it up.
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A Close Second: Does a church decorated with human skeletons sound like something from a horror story to you? Well, as they say, life imitates art because there are not one, but a couple of churches like this. Seriously creepy. Photos below and after the jump.
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Best in Show: Unsuck It, the site that translates business jargon phrases like “win-win,” “actionable,” and “reach out to” into what they really mean.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… the Republican candidates for president in 2012, who, believe it or not, all raised taxes while in office. Just my two cents, but raising and lowering taxes isn’t the answer. The answer is what you do with taxes. Do you pad the pockets of the rich? Or do you help the poor and disadvantaged? Do you piss it away? Or do you monitor the payoff?

A bone chandelier from the Sedlac Ossuary, a.k.a. the Eighth Level of Hell (courtesy asw909/flickr)

I didn’t know about this study when it came out, but healthcare costs were the number one source of bankruptcy in 2009. Does anyone really think America doesn’t need healthcare reform?
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In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the A.V. Club Philadelphia invented a drinking game with Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary that is sure to make you remember what all went down in those dark days – like, way better than those pesky books could ever do.
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Have you heard of the dispicable use of bear bile in traditional Chinese medicine? If you haven’t, here’s an article describing the horrifying business. The pracitice of extracting bile from living bears is worse than it sounds and worse than I can phrase here.
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The Anthology of Rap has been out for a couple of months now and is available on Amazon for under $25. The book is almost 900 pages of rap lyrics – no beats, just text. NPR sat down with a book reviewer to ask what he thought of the songs after he read the lyrics compared to after he heard the music. It’s very interesting and I want to pick up a copy, but there are too many errors in the transcriptions to warrant a purchase just yet. Waiting for the second edition…

A Language Link to Peeve You Off (Peeve? Does Anybody Say That?)

Johnson is peeved by people who insist that healthy can’t do double-duty. But guess what? It can and does. So do lots of other words, dummies.

Want another picture from the crazy bone churches? You got it, ace.

This is a goddam coat of arms made out of bones. Sweet dreams. (courtesy Irumiha/flickr)

The Missing Links – 4.8 – Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! Edition

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the eleventh in a never-ending series.

Winner! The Ramones, or the band that I have decided to listen listen to exclusively. For those of you not informed, The A.V. Club has a great introduction to the Ramones and their work. Gabba Gabba Hey.
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A Close Second: mental_floss has a really great article on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On
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Best in Show: Maps of War has a really cool 90-second video showing the kingdoms that have ruled the Middle East. Really cool. Now I want to read a book on Middle Eastern history. Any suggestions?
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… Cheesus

Are you in favor of old white women governing what goes on in your balls? Or old white men governing what goes on in your vag? What does your invisible man in the sky tell you? Here’s what the FSM has to say.
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Speaking of God and stuff, I bet you’re wondering if the Bible says you can stone that gay couple that just moved in down the street. Not for being gay, you can’t. If you see them picking up wood on Saturday, on the other hand…
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The New York Times has an interesting article on the mathematics of ancient Babylonia. And, yes, the history of math is interesting.
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Have you seen my stapler?

Language Js

The Hot Word on the history of the letter J
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English in the twentieth century, according to the OED.

The Missing Links – 4.1 – April Fools’ Day Edition

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This post was published yesterday, on Friday, just like all the other Missing Links posts. April Fools. Whah whah whah.

The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the tenth in a never-ending series.

Winner! Historically Hardcore, a series of Smithsonian ads created by Jenny Burrows and Matt Kepler, highlights how much more hardcore historical figures were than modern day rockers and rappers. The ads were not sanctioned by the Smithsonian, however. See why after the jump.
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A Close Second: Women asking for equal pay is the same as children demanding candy and mentally handicapped people lashing out violently. So says Major Douche Bag Scott Admas, who created the comic Dilbert. Warning: Do not investigate beyond this link. It’s just going to piss you off more.
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Best in Show: Thankfully, when the world ends on May 21, 2011, I will be at a wedding reception for two dear friends (Ramino forever!). But here’s a few people that, shall we say, miscalculated the end of days.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… Rick Santorum! Rick Santorum is still a piece of shit. And still worthy of his synonym.

One of the Historically Hardcore ads by Burrows and Kepler

Indi Cowie wants to be the best female soccer player and freestyler in the world. I think she’s well on her way to that end.
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Spam Recycling is a cool thing to do with your emails from that Nigerian prince.
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Love the Liberry is a great blog that offers insight into the bat shit crazy things that liberrians have to deal with everyday.
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A letter from Lois Lane to Warner Bros. In it, the real Lois Lane (the late Joanne Siegel, wife of Superman co-creator) describes the ways that WB CEO Jeffrey Bewkes and co. has tried to screw her and her family over. Truth, justice, and… fuck you.
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Willie Nelson has been offered the option of singing his way out of a marijuana charge. And there’s nothing I can do about it now.
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Introducing… Gmail Motion – the future of writing emails!

Political links that are sure to depress you

It seems almost pointless to do this, but here it is: the VP of Fox News admits to intentionally lying on air. I find it amazing that the lying part is not what surprises me. But then again, there’s a reason I don’t watch Fox News…

Language Links that couldn’t find their butts with both hands:

Here’s a few Texan sayings for you. One of my favorites: If I ordered a whole trainload of sons of bitches, and they only sent him, I’d accept the shipment.

The Missing Links – March 26, 2011

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the ninth in a never-ending series.

Winner! Dan Savage, who is awesome. There’s no two ways around it. We got some serious Savage love going on this week at …And Read All Over. If you don’t already do it, check out his weekly article here. Also, Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, were interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air this week. Check it. Finally, Savage and Miller are the founders of the It Gets Better Project. If you don’t know, now you know. Dan Savage = Hero.
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A Close Second: From PCWorld comes 10 ways Linux is making life better. Windows 7 is great and all, but I’m really ready to ditch it. Now if I could just convince my wife that we need another computer…
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Best in Show: Yo, Philly Phans! We get a bad rap, but that’s ok. We know you’re all just trying to hide the times you acted like asses. Besides, at least we enough cajones to boo the likes of Sarah Palin and Snookie. Do something.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… Michelle Bachmann. I know that’s sort of a cop out, so here’s Helen Staudinger, a 92-year-old woman who shot her neighbor when he refused to kiss her. Mug shot below.

Random Links

For New Yorkers and map nuts, this is pretty cool. It’s an interactive map that let’s you compare New York 1811 to New York 2011. Neato.
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I’ve never heard of this guy Charlie Booker, but I’m going to have to check him out. Seems like the British equivalent of a Daily Show, no? I’ll let you know if I find more awesome videos from him.
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The Office Space Bliss desktop background by Burt Gummer. Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

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Introducing… the Fixers’ Collective, a Brooklyn-based organization that fixes things just for the joy of it.
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In the not too distant future, some democracies will be without religion – because that’s what the cool kids want. Maybe. Who cares? I would read this short article just for a gander at Jackie’s comment. I love crazy interwebs people. Props to K-Dogg for the Vonnegut reference.
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Finally, after years of wrangling, Florida lawmakers are ready to make it illegal to rape goats. Finally.

Links on Language:

Babel’s Dawn has an interesting post that interprets John Shea’s new paper, Homo sapiens Is as Homo sapiens Was, in terms of what it means for the origins of language.
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Google’s Book Settlement has been rejected. I can sympathize with both sides of the case here, but I really hope they figure out a way to solve this issue. E-books are the future. But didn’t we already know that?
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Anybody play Call of Duty? Apparently in all their “research,” they forgot to study whether or not the street signs in Pakistan are in Arabic (they’re not). Gamers jumped all over this pretty quickly. Here’s Kumail Nanjiani, who is from Karachi, talking about the whole mess.
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OMG in the OED.

The Missing Links – March 18, 2011

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the eighth in a never-ending series.

Winner! The story behind the picture of the great Johnny Cash flipping the bird.
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A Close Second: Anthropologists have updated their views on how humans moved away from apes. See? I knew natural selection was a bunch of hooey. Never believe someone who marries their cousin.
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Best in Show: You may know about the Grandfather Paradox, where a person travels back in time and kills their grandfather, therefore negating their own existence, but have you heard of the Grandfather Paradox by Proxy? This is when a person merely tells someone in the past to kill their grandfather. What am I getting at here? A bunch of really cool theoretical physics involving the Large Hadron Collider.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… Minnesota Republicans, who have introduced legislation that would make it illegal for people on public assistance to have more than $20 cash in their pocket. What. The. Fuck. Here is House File 171 straight from the horse’s mouth.

Language Links

This is probably going to piss off my ancestors, but loyalty does not behoove those on the quest for knowledge. Here is an article claiming that the existence of “No Irish Need Apply” signs is a myth or, at least, a drastic exaggeration. Happy St. Patrick’s Day Hangover.
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Speaking o’ the Irish, here’s a short lesson on the history of spelling in Irish (Gaelic).
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The latest editions to the OED: Skype and coat.

This Week in Depressing/Infuriating News

Harper Collins has started enforcing restrictions on the e-books that it sells to libraries, claiming that the e-books are only allowed to be lent out 26 times before they expire and the library must buy the book again. This is only the most recent example of publishing companies shooting themselves in the foot by trying to resist change. Learn from the record companies, dummies.
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Another case of Apple being a bunch of douches. The hardware giant is being accused of deliberately slowing down apps that aren’t distributed through their app store.

Random Cool Links

Image Courtesy of PopSci

Transmissions, cooling systems, and power trains could be made obsolete by this shockwave generator, which was designed by Norbert Müller and colleagues at Michigan State University. I hope, hope, hope the car companies jump on this quicker than they jumped on the hybrid engine technology. Hope.
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Wanna know more about hydrogen fuel cells? You got it.
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This is what happens when you let a nine-month-old pick your March Madness bracket. Cute, but we all know that octopi are the real savants in sports tournaments.
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I assume you’re already filled out your basketball March Madness bracket, but what about your Worst Company in America bracket? Or your Muppet March Madness bracket? Mental_floss brings you 12 Non-Basketball March Madness Brackets.
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Also from mental_floss comes three strange California politicians. Tony Clifton lives! (Maybe.)

Have a great weekend!

The Missing Links – March 11, 2011

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the seventh in a never-ending series.

Winner! Mental_floss has a short article (with video) of Mr. Rogers’ Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech. I loved me some Mr. Rogers growing up. Hell, I still Mr. Rogers. Here’s a few reasons why.
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A Close Second: In this TED Talk, Dr. Anthony Atala prints a human kidney.
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Best in Show: Stephen King on taxes and unions and the Tea Party. It’s no secret that King is punk rock.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… the woman with a monkey in her bra. Not really much more to say about this one.


Random Links – About species that get diseases (humans) and species that do not (sharks)

Independent experts have found that the drug companies did not influence the WHO’s handling of the H1N1 pandemic. In lighter news, the WHO’s ineptitude means that if H1N1 had been bad, millions of people would have died.
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After all these years (ok, I’m still quite young), sharks are still fascinating to me. Here’s the mystery of Helicprion, the whorl-toothed shark.
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Here’s an interactive map of the well-being of the U.S. See how your county matches up (but don’t get too bummed if all your neighbors are depressed, ok?)

Language – The Official American Language and Where She’s From

Johnson at the Economist explains what grammar really is and why National Grammar Day means power to the people!
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Here’s a guest post on Schott’s Vocab by Robert Lane Greene about THE DECLINE OF ENGLISH and y itz a lode of craps, y’all.
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Stan Carey explains where she is from.
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The Hot Word on the hardest words to translate into English? I know from experience that Finns will tell you sisu is the hardest Finnish word to translate, but I think it’s just a matter of context. In my opinion, tsemppi is the toughest one.
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The U.S. finally has an official language. Rejoice!

The Missing Links – March 4, 2011

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the sixth in a never-ending series.
Winner! Caught Dead in That is a blog started by Jacob Sager Weinstein, who says, “I’ve always thought your last words should be the greatest thing you ever say, because you’ve had longer to think about them than anything else.” The blog is updated with pictures of the gravestones of people both famous and non. For example, here’s Rodney Dangerfield’s. And I couldn’t resist linking to a Dangerfield routine.
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A Close Second: The Salty Droid follows the James Arthur Ray trial. Learn why you shouldn’t pay sickos like Ray money to kill you. If you really want a sauna (and, trust me, you do because they’re awesome) go get your own.
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Best in Show: The 100 Best Protest Signs from the Wisconsin rallies. Some of these are pretty clever.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… Spiders! In your car! Mazda is recalling over 20,000 cars because of the Yellow Sac spider, which likes to weave a web that may cause fuel spillage.

FactCheck.org has put together a nice quiz on health care, the federal budget, and bailouts. There are only three questions, but if you get one wrong, the quiz makes sure you learn the correct answer by making you go back and changing it. Pretty neat.
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Em has an interesting take on the state of Wisconsin in terms of the world at large, while Robert de Neufville channels NYC Mayor Bloomberg and explains why we need unions.
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What you thought of as the French language has been nothing but an elaborate hoax. Lies! Lies, I tell you!
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Kill kill kill kill kill the poor! Governor Tom Corbett does his best to make sure that the people who can least afford health care don’t even have the option to health care at all. Why? Cause he’s a dick.
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Corporal Frank Buckles, the last American World War I veteran, has died peacefully at the age of 110. He also “endured 38 months of cruel deprivation as a civilian prisoner during World War II before being freed in a daring military raid.” A life lived.
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This article in Discovery adds new meaning to the term Cat Lady. Apparently, “the relationships between cats and their human owners mirror human bonds.” The research suggests that the relationships that develop between cats and their owners are much stronger than you might think.
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In sadder news, a poor woman and her children fall victim to a racist landlord… and the fucked up laws of Pennsylvania (and probably most of the country – am I right, readers?)
Language:
There is new research out that claims there might be something to the idea that the predictability of words corresponds to their meaning. It doesn’t, but oh well.
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Hip hop has been the soundtrack to the protests in North Africa.

Missing Links – February 25, 2011

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the fifth in a never-ending series. Sorry for the delay this week. I was committed elsewhere today.
Winner! Behold… The Map of Metal!
A Close Second: Patrick Rodgers forecloses on Wells Fargo bank. This guy is my hero. Here’s the story of how he won.
Best in Show: The 50 Worst Band Photos Ever. Manower makes the list, but so does, shall we say, the world’s lesser known bands.
And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to (you guessed it)… Charlie Sheen, who out crazypantsed such a heavyweight as Alex Jones right in front of Jones himself. As if that wasn’t enough, he went on to, well, continue his crazy streak.

History:
The Washington Post has set up a site for ongoing special coverage of the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War. There are recommendations on which Lincoln books to read, a blog about the Civil War, and even a link to the Civil War Twitter feed, as told by the people who were there. It’s really great and I’ll try to remember to repost it closer to April 15th.
The World: 
Muammar Gaddafi says that the world looks up to Libya, but that he brought glory to Libya. I don’t mean to portray a terrible situation in humorous terms, but going full-on crazypants might just be what makes Gaddafi lose any respect and/or support he may have left (and therefore help the Libyans move past him).

Technology:

Have you ever blamed your lack of productivity on dead batteries? Do you worry about the heat and energy wasted by your laptop when it’s plugged in? Well, companies like Transphorm may make those bulky and wasteful laptop charging bricks a thing of the past, while Thinkpad and HP are coming out with laptops that have 30+ hours of battery life.
Helsinki, Finland has become the eco friendly underground wonderland. An efficient system of pipes cools their computers and heats their homes. Check it out. Just don’t go looking for any morlocks in the video.
How much would it cost to turn the world into a green economy? Not that much actually. Just 2% of the world’s GDP or $1.3 Trillion per year. Pocket change.
You wouldn’t steal a car, would you? Then don’t steal a movie. Because the movie industry doesn’t want you to know that profits from movies are up.
Babies:
There are only three countries in the world that do not offer a legal guarantee of paid maternity leave. Can you guess one of them? Here’s a hint: Judging by my site stats, a large percent of you are visiting me from that country right now.
Language:
Here’s a short article from mental_floss on National Geographic’s Enduring Voices project, which estimates that the world loses a language every 14 days.
Popular Linguistics, Issue 2 – including such hot topics as exactly how many words Eskimo-speak has for snow (the answer: don’t worry about it) and why the n-word is so controversial
Oscars:
It’s Oscar time! Ok, I’m not that excited. But I do like me some Jackie Harvey and his predictions. See you on the outside!

The Missing Links – February 18, 2011

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The Missing Links is just what it sounds like – a collection of links to interesting things I found on the interwebs this week. I hope you enjoy them. This is the fourth in a never-ending series.
Winner! Strange Maps is a blog from Big Think and it’s really cool. The most recent post is a London Underground themed map of the Mississippi river and its tributaries. The other posts have historical maps, linguistic maps, and other great stuff in map form. Look for other blogs from Big Think appearing in Missing Links, as soon as I get around to checking them out.
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A Close Second: The Salty Droid has launched an SEO campaign against boiler room buddy Mark Shurtleff because Mark Shurtleff is a scumbag (and also the Attorney General of Utah). The best part is that everybody can play along! The worst part is that Mark Shurtleff isn’t the only scumbag involved and that children were abused. Bleep bloop indeed, my salty friend.
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Best in Show: The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator is spot on and hilarious. Read my scathing review of Galdwell’s idiocy here.
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And this week’s Crazypants Award goes to… Carole Lieberman, the self-described “media psychiatrist” who believes that video games have led to an increase in rapes. But guess what? She’s full of shit.
Arts and Entertainment:
Gabrielle Diani and Etta Devine are planning to replace every n-word in The Adventures of Huck Finn with “robot” to point out how stupid it is to go changing classics. Don’t worry, it’s not going to be one of those Jane Austen Vampire things. Just Huck and Robot Jim.
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Slinkachu is a London-based street artist who has been “abandoning little people on the street since 2006.” Don’t worry, it’s not what you think. The “little people” are tiny model train set characters and they are set up performing everyday tasks. It’s really interesting. (first link is to his blog, second to the official Slinkachu site.)
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Muppet correspondence! Here’s a few letters to and from the people behind the scenes (and one letter written by the Swedish Chef himself).
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Jonathan Koshi has designed Calaveras, also called sugar skulls and made popular by Dia de los Muertos. He based the designs on Alien, Kermit the Frog, a Lego man, and others. They are really cool and available for purchase.
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Who said geniuses aren’t fashionable? Check out Einstein in some tres chic sandals.
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Lois Lane has died. The story of the creation of Superman – from the first ideas to the sale of the rights to Joe Shuster’s S&M artwork to the court battles – is fascinating.
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Famous tombstone typos or 10 reasons you should go have your tombstone made right now. Unless you’re thinking of living forever, but do you really want to live forever? Forever ever?
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Chris Piascik made a picture of the over 300 companies that refuse to advertise on Glenn Beck’s show.
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mental_floss’s Miss Cellania’s File has an awesome collection of plush toys. I want to get these for my kids – their future sanity be damned!
Robbin’ and Stealin’ (and cryin’ and killin’):
Wired article about someone who found a way to game the lottery. Why the lottery doesn’t care is anyone’s guess. There’s also an accompanying podcast which delves into the psychology behind code cracking and the disturbing possibilities of this discovery. (Both links from Wired)
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Borders has filed for bankruptcy. Here’s a sortable list of store closings. I love bookstores, but I refuse to pay more than $7 for a book, which is why I’ll be circling my local Borders with a tear in my eye.
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15,000 years ago, Britons ate and drank out of human skulls. How fuckedupbuttotallynails is that?
Language:
Hockey and linguistics! These are a few of my favorite things.
Introducing the father of our future Computer Overlords, Watson!
Here’s an article from mental_floss about Watson, that Jeopardy-playing, human destroying computer. Even though Watson won, humans made him, so don’t we still win? And for those of you worried about the coming of the T-1000, never fear, all the computers in the world = only one human brain.