Friday, May 31, 2013

Uther Dhoul's possibility sword

Demonstrated by Miguel Cabrera.

Will Smith's name in After Earth is Cypher Raige

Wikipedia:
Their secret weapons are the Ursas, large predatory creatures that hunt by "sensing" fear. The Rangers struggle against the Ursas until Cypher learns how to completely suppress his fear, a technique called "ghosting".

...

Like Morgenstern, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times made note of the film's use of central themes in Scientology

"on rainy nights, it is the domain of giant, fluorescent pink slugs - up to 20 centimetres long - and carnivorous"

"Locals had long reported seeing bizarre pink slugs after rainfall in the area, but it was only very recently that taxonomists confirmed the slugs"

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A reason to subscribe to Groupon

Ken Jennings:
I subscribe to Groupon because it's good to know which nearby restaurants have mediocre food & will probably be out of business soon.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Swirling baseball diamond



My son drew an illustration for his grandfather. It reminded me of Saul Bass's poster for Vertigo:

Betsy Ross





Betsy Ross/Colonel Stars and Stripes' Ax Handle (Kick-Ass 2) will be one of NECA's SDCC exclusives.

Link roundup

1. "The Bizarre Scandal That Brought Down General David Petraeus":
The Kelley sisters spent years trying to infiltrate Tampa's military and social establishment—and ended up exposing the CIA Director's affair with Paula Broadwell.
2.  Michael Jackson wrote "Do the Bartman" from The Simpsons.

3.  New York's indoor smoking ban has led to an increase in lawsuits against bowling alleys--slip and fall claims by bowlers wearing their bowling shoes outside.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Bobbit Worm



Wikipedia:
these worms can grow to sizes of nearly 3 m (10 ft)

...


The name "Bobbit worm" was coined in the 1996 book Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, in reference to Lorena Bobbitt, who was then very much in the public consciousness. The name is inspired only by the scissor-like jaws of the worm; the common supposition from the name that female eunicids cut off the males' penises is baseless; in fact, the worms lack penises entirely

Friday, May 24, 2013

Link roundup

1.  Gawker:
Reporters and TV crews in Oakland are routinely robbed of all their equipment, so it's now common to assign security guards to the teams before they take on harrowing assignments such as a feature story at a local art gallery. But the guard was inside the art gallery protecting the crew, instead of protecting the van.
So the thieves broke into the news van and the security guard's car.

2.  Carl Zimmer:
Over the past year or so I’ve gotten to know some extraordinary people. They were born with a single mutation to a single gene that caused them to grow a second skeleton.
3.  Wikipedia's list of common misconceptions, including:
There is no evidence that iron maidens were invented in the Middle Ages or even used for torture. Instead they were pieced together in the 18th century from several artifacts found in museums in order to create spectacular objects intended for (commercial) exhibition.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Lego King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph



Lego King Candy in his final form from Wreck-It Ralph, made as a commission by Bruce Lowell.

*Buy Wreck-It Ralph toys at Amazon.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

"So America came within a hairbreadth of placing its entire national-security apparatus under the authority of a high-school dropout connected with organized crime, and today almost no Americans seem aware of that fact"

TAC:
take the strange case of Bernard Kerik, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s police commissioner during 9/11, later nominated by President Bush to be America’s first director of national intelligence, a newly established position intended to oversee all of our various national-security and intelligence agencies. His appointment seemed likely to sail through the Republican-controlled Senate until derailed by accusations he had employed an undocumented nanny. With his political rise having been blocked, the national media suddenly revealed his long history of association with organized-crime figures, an indictment quickly followed, and he is currently still serving his federal prison sentence for conspiracy and fraud.

G.I. Joe covers by Jim Rugg



G.I. Joe covers by Jim Rugg.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Stephen King's Joyland



The regular version, featuring a cover by Glen Orbik, is $7 at Amazon.  There's also signed and unsigned limited editions featuring a cover and interior illustrations by Robert McGinnins.

Keystone Design Union's chimera



Keystone Design Union's chimera.

Friday, May 17, 2013

"Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World"

NYP:
Passing around the rogue guide service’s phone number recently became a shameless ritual among Manhattan’s private-school set during spring break. The service asks who referred you before they even take your call.

Uncanny X-Force #10 cover



By Kris Anka.

Link roundup

1.  "The Army is investigating Sgt. 1st Class Gregory McQueen, a sexual abuse educator at Fort Hood, Texas, for running a small-time prostitution ring and for the sexual assault of another soldier, senior military officials have confirmed."

2.  Gizmodo:
One year ago, a team of researchers traveled deep into the Honduran rainforest in search of Ciudad Blanca, the legendary lost city of treasures. Yesterday, they revealed images—uncovered by lasers—of structures that they believe to be the White City itself.

The legend of the White City has captured explorers' imaginations for centuries; Hernán Cortés detailed his interest in the purportedly gold-laden metropolis as far back as 1526. But the Mosquitia region where it was rumored to exist is densely packed with rainforest, and the conquistadors never penetrated deep enough to claim their prize.
3.  Two baseball gifs: pathetic slide by Ian Kinsler; Mariano Rivera shatters a bat.

The ink is alive



Becky Cloonan gets advice from Paul Pope.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Link roundup

1.  Living in the jungle and studying monkeys:
It took about 30 hours for the teeny tiny ants to discover my opened box of frosted flakes. I thought sealing up the bag with a hair tie would be an effective measure against their invasion, but I was wrong. I got back from the field and found they had fit their tiny bodies into the big Styrofoam box I keep my food in, and were busy invading the cereal. So I put off my hunger and went to work on getting rid of them because there is no way I'm throwing the cereal out, food is too precious here.
(Yes, she figures a way to separate the ants from the cereal.)

2.  Posterized.

3.  Now this is some wild speculation.  (Read the highlighted comment.)

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mermaid sculpture



Carved from a sperm whale's tooth by Martin Bässler.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Link roundup

So is the Tesla Model S the best car ever? We wrestled with that question long and hard. It comes close.
2.  "These 12 Videos Show the Proper Form for a 7-Minute Full Workout."

3.  Quincy, Massachusetts:
Every night for nearly the last two weeks, residents have spotted a low-flying aircraft doing loops over the city. WBZ has learned the FAA knows what’s going on, but the agency isn’t telling.
4.  Photo gallery:
A strange ghost town that spent a quarter century under water is coming up for air again in the Argentine farmlands southwest of Buenos Aires. 
Epecuen was once a bustling little lakeside resort, where 1,500 people served 20,000 tourists a season. During Argentina's golden age, the same trains that carried grain to the outside world brought visitors from the capital to relax in Epecuen's saltwater baths and spas.

Then a particularly heavy rainstorm followed a series of wet winters, and the lake overflowed its banks on Nov. 10, 1985. Water burst through a retaining wall and spilled into the lakeside streets. People fled with what they could, and within days their homes were submerged under nearly 33 feet of corrosive saltwater.

Now the water has mostly receded, exposing what looks like a scene from a movie about the end of the world.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

"Nancy Grace and Ashleigh Banfield Hold Split-Screen Interview in Same Parking Lot"

Atl:
In a bizarre television and spatial anomaly on CNN this morning, the blanket coverage of two true-crime stories led two news anchors to conduct an odd "satellite" interview from the very same parking lot, background traffic and all.

The two suspects are Ashleigh Banfield of CNN and Nancy Grace of Headline News, who were updating viewers on the latest from the ongoing and increasingly ugly Cleveland kidnapping story. (Grace being TV's leading expert on deviant crime.) At first it seems like a normal TV "remote," as Banfield interviews Grace from another location. Then the channel's graphics alert viewers: both anchors are in Phoenix. That's odd. Also: They're both outdoors, sitting in what looks to be a parking lot. And is that same building behind them?

Then things truly get bizarre. Watch the cars moving in the background of both shots

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

I'm not sure how Dean Ambrose's finisher doesn't cause paralysis



Dean Ambrose's devastating finisher.

Speaking of the WWE, Wikipedia has a lot of information on the many years it took to turn Curtis Hussey into Fandango.

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon: THE MOVIE



Almost three minutes of live action Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon lunacy.

*Buy Metal Storm posters at ebay.

Friday, May 3, 2013

"A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city"

ABC:
Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

"Looks Like Mickey Mantle Used To Cork His Bat"

"A game-used Mantle bat from 1964, which will go up for auction later this month, was x-rayed—and there's a little chunk of something illegal in the barrel."

Thursday, May 2, 2013

What it's like to be Jewish in prison and dependent on the Aryan Brotherhood

SPLC:
I am always the last person to eat. It's part of a compromise I worked out with the skinheads who run the western state prison complex where I am incarcerated. Under this compromise, I'm allowed to sit at the whites' tables, but only after the "heads," and then the "woods," and then the "lames" have eaten. I am lower on the totem pole than all of them, the untouchable. I should feel lucky I'm allowed to eat at the whites' tables at all.

Not that there's anywhere else I could eat. The prison yard is broken down into five distinct racial categories and segregation is strictly enforced.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013