Graphic > A short history of U.S. monopolies

Research by Scores.org

My pal, Truman, working his way to his 15th birthday (next month)

Truman > Oct 2010

Tankersly as Best Man > A bouvier rescue story

Past Joys > Sesame Street Season 1 (1969-1970)

Thank goodness for our middle east allies. The following two UAE rulings should give you even more confidence in this particular relationship. 

From Gawker

The United Arab Emirates' top religious authority has issued a fatwa against those annoying plastic horns everyone blows at the World Cup, citing possible hearing damage

The United Arab Emirates' Supreme Court ruled today that a man can beat his wife and kids—as long as he leaves no visible marks

A remarkable photo........well, not really.

This is an oil painting. Click here for more of Gregory Thielker's work. Click here for Max Read's interesting article on photorealistic-style artists. 

car-nage > If the entire U.S. shared New York’s traffic death rate, we would save more than 25,000 lives per year.

[...] sprawl has quietly been identified as a central cause behind a growing list of mounting national crises including foreign oil dependency, climate change, and the obesity epidemic. With economists, environmentalists, and epidemiologists all bemoaning suburbia, it is a good time to step back and remind ourselves what we're still up against. Read the entire article on suburbia by Jeff Speck by clicking here.

Church and 30th St. San Francisco MUNI Construction from Ken Murphy on Vimeo. Or, how to spend $3 million in just over 12 minutes (actually, about 3 1/2 days). 

This is a time-lapse video showing the replacement of the MUNI tracks in front of my house. Demolition began on the evening of Friday, October 8, and work continued around the clock until early in the morning of Tuesday, October 12. The MUNI folks were nice enough to distribute earplugs to those of us in the immediate vicinity.

This was shot using a Canon A590, with CHDK installed (a firmware replacement for Canon cameras that enables all sorts of additional features). An image was captured approximately every 15 seconds.

One Hundred Million Porcelain Sunflower Seeds Are Like Twitter

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei carpeted the Turbine Hall in Britain's prestigious Tate Gallery with a sunflower seeds [...] one hundred million painted porcelain replica sunflower seeds. It's like Twitter, Ai says. [...] The seeds were individually made and hand-painted by artisans in the city of Jingdezhen (some 1,600 people were involved) who were paid a living wage. Here are all 100,000,000 seeds.

Paladino for Presid.....er....Governor > It only gets better & better. You can't make this stuff up. That's the trouble w Hollywood.

From the Daily Beast

He Likens Himself to General Patton

Paladino often refers to his 10-year military career—he retired as a captain—on the campaign trail, even likening himself to General Patton. However, Paladino was no Patton: The politician trained troops at New Jersey’s Fort Dix in personal hygiene. 

Here's the rest of this phantasmagorical tale

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself & I can't decide whether to laugh or not.

Please assure me this wastrel is NOT accessorizing herself with a baby rabbit.

Here's an example of some right wing logic that scares the crap out of me. Am I paranoid or just plain crazy?

From the Associated Press:

LAS VEGAS — U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told a crowd of supporters that the country needs to address a "militant terrorist situation" that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities. [...]

In a recording of the rally provided to The Associated Press by the Mesquite Local News, a man is heard asking Angle : "I keep hearing about Muslims wanting to take over the United States ... on a TV program just last night, I saw that they are taking over a city in Michigan and the residents of the city, they want them out. They want them out. So, I want to hear your thoughts about that."

Angle responds that "we're talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe it isn't a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it." [...]

Angle, a Southern Baptist, has called herself a faith-based politician. Among her positions, she opposes abortion in all circumstances, including rape and incest and doesn't believe the Constitution requires the separation of church and state.

Read the entire article here.

My question: What's the difference between Sharia law & Sharron Angle's position on the separation of church & state?

A little humor never hurt anyone

Christine O'Donnell on religion & meatballs

Contest > Write the First Page of Snooki’s Novel So She Doesn’t Have To. Really !!

From GalleyCat [...] Jersey Shore star Nicole Polizzi (a.k.a. Snooki) scored a book deal to write a new novel.

Today, a piece of Snooki-related news broke. Gawker has sponsored a contest to write the first page of Snookie’s novel.

Read the full article & some samples that other people have written by clicking here & here.