More pictures of Russia circa 100 years ago.

By now it's probably pretty clear that I love pictures like this.I was actually reading a book this morning that is very similar, but pictures of China from 1880-1912 and it's got much crazier shit than this (decapitation?). There should be more sites dedicated to the digital preservation of images like this, of typical daily life from 100+ years ago.
Daguerreotype preservation!
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend visiting the site these photos are tagged with at work (the url above is fine), since it's almost entirely Russian text and boobs.

Rally, October 4, 2008

About as passive as a rally can get. There was a dude smoking a joint right near us, though, which was odd.

Beijing, 1977

Yes, they just randomly practice kung fu in the streets.







awesome.

Kitty likes milk

and porkchops, apparently

It's weird that Always Sunny in Philadelphia mentions Poltergeist the same night I start seeing these shitty DirectTV commercials come on, pissing all over the name of one of my favorite movies ever.

....I wonder if Tobe Hooper or Spielberg gets money for that.

retraction

huh. So apparently Bosniaks = Muslim Bosnians.



whoooops.

In which I attempt to comment live on the debate

So, I'm trying to juggle the Phillies game, the Pitt game, and the debate on top of downing something eerily similar to a Flaming Homer, but I'll try to get some stuff down while I'm watching this.

Gwen Ifill's upcoming book about black politics has caused many to say she'll be biased in this debate. In other news, many people are idiots. Gwen's a pro, and don't think for a second that she'll throw this either way. I, however, totally will.

Palin just asked "Do you mind if I call you Joe?". Are Governors not afforded the same right as other senators to refer to those in the senate by their first names? Damn, politics is CONFUSING.

9:06 PM Slow down, Joe. Don't read this off a card. Take your time, be at ease. You're not a good rigid person.

(Pitt, Phils are still up).

9:07 PM It took Palin 18 seconds to mention attending a kid's soccer game. Wait...she has kids?

9:09 PM The polarization question. Biden's being cool now. He's falling into a rhythm. "I think it's fair to say I've got as many friends in the credit card industry as I do in the Democratic half of the house, and those guys are practically Republicans. Palin, meanwhile, just cites McCain's work. and if she says the wor- never mind. She just said maverick. Can people stop referring to themselves as mavericks? Can we put some sort of moratorium on that?

Gwen Ifill calls them both on their bullshit. I love it.

9:13 PM I appreciate the attempts at being civil, but stop praising each other's running mates.

9:14 PM Joey Danko of Wilmington, DE. You just made the news!

9:15 PM Joe Six-packs don't say "darn".

meanwhile, it appears someone on Flickr tried to make their own Flaming Moe:


9:16 PM "That charge is not true". THANK YOU JOE BIDEN.

9:17 PM Palin doesn't care what the question is, she's straight talkin'. Are they still on the straight talk express? Didn't they crash that somewhere? I'm not being facetious.

9:17 PM Joe, please stop laughing. It's not going to help. Think really sad stuff if you have to, but don't laugh on camera.

Does anyone think that we can possibly lower taxes anymore while fighting two wars in a recession/depression?

9:20 PM Middle Class Palin. huh.

9:21 PM Do it, Joe. Poinjt out that McCain has had government run healthcare for his entire adult life. PLEASE, JOE.

9:23 PM "Ultimate bridge to nowhere". eh. close enough.

CHAR-AC-TER-IZED

ugh, shit. Is this whole debate gonna be these two idiots correcting each other?

9:27 PM 5 Weeks!!!!!!!

(Pitt is up 10. Nice)

9:29 PM Has Palin just gotten to know McCain just through his campaign ads? Just wondering...
PS I'm getting really tired of the "main street" euphemism.

9:32 PM "We're not giving oil companies tax breaks" - Sarah Palin. Scanning the audiotorium for hellfire, brimstone.

9:33 PM Global warming topic. I can take this time to go to the bathroom. Let me know when she pulls out a polar bear steak to eat at the podium.
"other countries that don't care as much about the environment as we do". So, you pretty much mean China, right? oh, and the tire-burning third world. Eat it, Somalia.

9:35 PM "That's why the polar ice cap is melting". I can't hear this phrase without thinking of Waterworld. Yeah, I think of that movie a lot.

9:36 PM "Drill. Drill. Drill." Dude, you're stealing Sarah's line!!!!!

9:36 PM Sarah corrects him. Who chants this at a rally?
Wait... is she from an energy producing state?

KLEEN KOLE

9:38 PM I like that subtle shift from the environment to gay marriage.

I'm glad she'd like to keep her religious beliefs out of the office. I really hope we never have a chance to see firsthand.

9:42 PM The vote to withhold funding from the war comes up. This is what I've been the most concerned about all day.

9:43 PM Okay, someone better string together a rambling stream of nouns pretty soon, or this debate is going to get BORING.

ooooooh "white flag of surrender" I take that back!


9:46 PM "Obama voted to cut off funding"
9:46 PM "So did John McCain!"
9:46 PM "Barack did not support our troops"
9:46 PM "John McCain voted the exact same way on that bill!"
Clearly, this is gonna get solved tonight.

9:48 PM Pakistan.....

okay, they really should've shotgunned those beers before the debate. I just wanna go back on what I said earlier.

9:49 PM SHE SAYS NUCULAR TOO!!!!!

9:50 PM The Castro Brothers sounds like a comedy troupe. Someone get on that.

"Henry Kissinger's passion for diplomacy" and starving people. and burning them alive.

9:52 PM Biden again states "that's not true". This is long overdue.

(Pitt 17, USF 14)

9:53 PM Take that Spain, hahaha!

Israel.

9:55 PM Biden brings up that Palestine's elections never go the way we want them to. Palin is proud they both love Israel.

It's a damn shame that Olmert had to wait until he was forced to resign to state that Israel should withdraw back to the '67 borders. Thanks for that, man. Next time, try not to be so corrupt.

jeez, this is a lot of typing. I still gotta do my maths tonight.

9:58 PM There it is again, "nucular" it's almost cute.

10:05 PM I swear he just said "Bosniacs"

it would be AWESOME if Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) floated down from the rafters right now...

"It's so obvious that I'm a Washington outsider". See, if Biden said something this smarmy, people would jump down his fucking throat. I think "straight talk" should be taken away from the McCain campaign. Starting, like, a year ago.

10:08 PM this is like watching two people argue with two separate walls.
Biden's brain must be fighting SO hard to keep his eyes from rolling back into his skull.

you know how you can tell these answers are all pre-rehearsed? because they don't answer like ANY of the questions.

10:11 "Team of mavericks"? That's an oxymoron, right? RIGHT? It would've been awesome if Gwen Ifill just asked this question of Palin. "So, McCain don't look so good...."

10:12 PM Main Street, Wasilla
10:13 PM I wish Biden coulda said like Fred's Hardware and not Home Depot, but I guess Fred probably works at Home Depot there.

"Say it ain't so, Joe? Doggonit?" What the hell?
I would respect Palin more for just dropping an F bomb right about now.

"Your wife is a teacher, and god bless her for that, her reward is in heaven"
holy shit.

10:16 PM Wait, she wants MORE authority given to the VP?
10:17 PM Isn't Biden like the poorest member of the Senate? I think I red that somewhere.

10:21 PM oooooh, she just said kitchen table......

"you've been very kind, saying my only Achilles heel is my lack of discpline, others would point out my chronic drinking"
just kidding, Joe. You're all aces.

10:22 PM I'm thinking I have to go see Springsteen in Philly on Saturday, of only to see if he plays "Born in the U.S.A." Sorry, it just sorta came to me.

MAVERICK! How can both sides tout change so much? Is down gonna be up from now on? Are we finally gonna legislate Backwards Day? SWEEEEEEET

10:24 PM I wish the camera had just panned out to show Joe Lieberman out in the crowd, a single tear rolling down his cheek. Then, he'd mouth "I love you" to Sarah Palin.

10:25 PM Biden calls out this maverick bullshit. Is it perhaps that this maverick is perhaps.........................A GOOSE?
sorry, that'll be my only Top Gun-themed joke. ever. Really, that was bad.

LAST QUESTION: WHAT WOULD YOU GO BACK AND CHANGE?
Will Palin say charging victims for rape kits? Doubtful.

10:30 PM Biden just dropped a Helms Bomb!

10:31 PM Sarah keeps mentioning her wildly diverse family. Duuuude, I hope this might lead to a 2008 Billy Carter. Well, not really. But it'd be kinda fun.



10:33 PM losing statements
Someone run that "we'll fight for the middle class" thing by me again later.

Biden is humble, and sincere. But I don't know about charismatic. "..and selfishly, god bless our troops". The 'selfishly' might have been a little too much, Joe.

AAAAAAND IT'S OVER

so, in the end, it was exactly what I was expecting. Pointed, and with the occasional sharp jab thrown in there, but nobody broke down, nobody got arrogant. No clear winner. The wink was settling, and there were a few solid talking points, but nothing worth staring at this and typing for 2 hours for. or reading this nonsense that I just wrote. God, I hope someone read it as I did it, because otherwise, it's reaaaally stupid. Oh, hell, it's stupid anyway.

I'm watching Joe and Sarah shake hands right now and I'm not going to bother to read lips, but I'm sure it's friendly. and now the families are out. So I'm wondering, did Bristol drop out of school? Because she's been on the campaign trail, along with "her" baby. Of course, the campaign trail is a fantastic place to raise a baby.

Okay, I'm tired, and I am going to have another cough syrup and whiskey and then read some geometry and then watch Always Sunny and then go to bed. Good night, people. Go voting.

and now Pat Buchanan is talking about how attractive she is.

it should be pointed out while I was writing this, I found several wildly conservative blogs and commented RON PAUL '08 BABA BOOEY BABA BOOEY

Written live, during the VP debate, 10/2/08 with no post-editing.

I'm sure this is the burgeoning yup-rock bore in me, but I'm really enjoying this new Charlie Haden bluegrass album. I love the way his triplets can harmonize. (Have I become that boring?)

Except for the Jack Black song, which is a bit too much. Stick to the D, buddy.

Krazy Korrections

wow. Both of the corrections cited here are among the most mindblowing things I've read in weeks. and not in a good way...

The Drunk Vote

"It's time that normal Joe Six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency," the Republican vice presidential candidate told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.

Palin said if she and John McCain win, they will "put government back on the side of the people of Joe Six-pack like me."

Wait a second. Wasn't one of the major draws of the idiot we've had in there for the past 8 years that he's "the kinda guy you'd wanna have a beer with?" I mean, wasn't that considered to be a factor that got him elected over that ol' stuffed shirt, John Kerry? Who the hell is this appealing to? Do voters have that short a memory? or are people actually insistent that our Vice President be a Jo Six-pack? It must be that awful liberal media.
And what's with all the beer references? Are these veiled nods to the liquor lobby? Subtle jabs at those highfalutin', arugula-eating non-drinkers? Or do Americans on average vote with their bloated, barely functioning livers as stupid comments like this would have you believe? I don't know. But if the debate tonight opens with her and Biden shotgunning beers, things won't look good.

Speaking of the debate, I'm not sure what exactly is going to happen. I know that all Palin has to do is not give any of those rambling, incoherent teen beauty pageant answers that escaped her mouth in that Katie Couric interview. And all Biden really needs to do is not appear condescending or outright ask her if she's completely retarded. In either case, I'm willing to bet that it draws more viewers than the Presidential debate. Neither side should be predicting a bloodbath. I mean, they're both gonna say they won, anyway.
and in the end, at least there's gonna be a two-part Always Sunny in Philadelphia on afterwards to wash the awful taste out of your mouth.

oh, and while I'm somewhat afraid of whose vote Roger Ebert influences, he did bring up the whole common-etiquette-of-interpersonal-communications thing here. Weren't you always taught to look people in the eyes? My parents used to always question me on someone's eye color as soon as I shook hands with them to make sure I did. Apparently, McCain still isn't up to courtesy as of yesterday:

The political tension was clear as Senator Barack Obama walked to the Republican side of the aisle to greet Senator John McCain, who offered a chilly look and a brief return handshake.

-In other news, the New York Sun is dead. and while I hardly want to celebrate the demise of another American newspaper, I can't say I'll miss it.

-and lastly, Dusty Foggo, who was the third-highest ranking member of the CIA, was found guilty of fraud. Are you kidding me? When it's someone at the CIA, shouldn't it just be considered treason? Why is this guy getting a mac of 3 years in jail when he compromises one of the most important intelligence positions in our government? Attention future inmates of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo: see if you can rig it up to waterboard the shit out of this guy in prison. My prediction, sadly, is that he'll be out in 20 months and have a high paying job soon after. sigh.

my brain right now:
40% vocabulary words + 20% cold medicine + 15% geometrical equations + 10% considering the sludge that would ooze out of my brain after self-trepanation with a leftover chopstick. oh and 15% phlegm. Sorry.


This might be the delirium, but I'm nearly certain I just heard Bob Odenkirk doing the voiceover for an Outback commercial. Can't we give him better work than this, people?

and since I'm not watching enough TV right now* I have to say I'm super excited for this HBO series starring Danny McBride. I can do without a remake of Land of the Lost, though.

*I'm not really watching that much TV at all. I tried to watch Pushing Daisies tonight, but I got distracted and studied instead. I basically am stuck on Thursday and Sunday TV until Lost comes back in mid-2010.

Okay, I'm off to bed now for real, because I feel like there should be a tranq dart sticking out of my neck right now as it is, but I just thought this picture was super awesome, and possibly reenacted from a thought bubble of Otto from the Simpsons. Anyway, it's pretty great. I should point out that the last few weeks of pictures have been great over at riotclitshave, but the front page has lots of wolf spiders and albinos on it, two of my biggest fears. Although, note the albino squirrel balls are pretty funny. Go little dude!

um....what?

Award winning Berlin based artist Natascha Stellmach has acquired the ashes of Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain, and has transformed the grunge icon’s remains into an installation investigating suicide and the power of desecration.
Stellmach’s work in which the ashes of Cobain are rolled into a joint to be smoked at the completion of the exhibition, now claims an ephemeral place in the life story of the Grunge star. “This final act”, Stellmach said, “will release Cobain from the media circus and into the ether.”

I was never the biggest Nirvana fan and I think time has only diminished the band's appeal for me (between the legal battles, Foo Fighters, and Cobain being labeled my generation's John Lennon, I sorta just walked away), but I can't dispute the impact they had on me as a youngster*. And while most of my wants to slap this artist for doing something stupid, I hardly feel like this is the most insulting thing that's been done to this man after death. So carry on.

*I just typed "youngster" and didn't even register it. It might be the soporific effects of the cold and cough medicine I've taken today (along with what seems like half the universe, I'm really sick right now), or it might be that I'm just getting old and ridiculous. Either way, I'm not letting it get to me. So hooray for that. Goodnight, all. Happy October.

Paul Newman

Once, when I was a no-good kid and I got caught doing something stupid with one of my no-good friends, his father screamed at us. For hours. I wish I could remember what he'd caught us doing, but considering my age at the time, it probably involved setting something on fire.
My friend and I really thought we were some badass kids. Smoking cigarettes and bottle rocket fights and sneaking out all the time. I think his dad was just finally sick of his 13 year old son being such a pain in the balls. He yelled at us until he was blue in the face and then he disappeared for a minute. He came back a few minutes later with a VHS tape in hand. "You boys think you're hard" he muttered, shoving the tape in the VCR, "watch this".
To this day I'm not sure what he was trying to teach us. I'm not sure how he hoped forcing us to watch "Cool Hand Luke" would impact us in a positive manner, but two hours later, we were completely enthralled. It was the first black and white movie I ever truly loved, and it remains a favorite. I haven't seen no-good friend in over a decade, but if I ever bump into his dad, I owe him a word of thanks.
Despite watching a lot of news this weekend, it somehow escaped me until just now that Paul Newman is dead. His health has been on the decline for about a year now, but this doesn't diminish anything for me, since he is one of my favorite people that has ever lived. Not just because I like most of his films. It's not just because he was a great philanderer, or that he got himself on Richard Nixon's enemies list. It's because the man was just a class act, all around.
He had senses of humor and modesty. He carried himself with dignity and grace, and when he spoke, it was usually worth listening to. If you ever get the chance, watch the episode of Iconoclasts that Redford made on him. Or hell, watch the man's movies. I, for one, will be watching Slap Shot, The Verdict, and The Young Philadelphians, to start with. Here's to a strong and lasting legacy.
Godspeed, Paul.

and check out some of the trivia: He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of superhero Green Lantern/Hal Jordan.

"I've Got a Pen"

Did he bring a prop to the debate?


Also, what's up with the bracelet-off? Who's gonna be the first to go balls out and wear 4,000 of those puppies?

also, WHO BRAGS ABOUT BEING FRIENDS WITH HENRY KISSINGER? Are you serious? Isn't the man not allowed in half of Europe because he is wanted for war crimes? Fuck man, somebody just confirm that he's a war criminal already.


With all the mention about Ole Miss and the James Meredith riots of 1962, they've had all sorts of Mississippi alum on the radio talking about how embarrassing it was to be attending such a racist institution at the time, and they stress the progress that has been made. and I'm sure it has. But you have to figure that a sizable portion -if not the majority- of the student body at the time was opposed to the admission of a black student. I wonder who those people are talking to. Probably their children. Sigh.

I know I said no more pictures today. I really meant it. But honestly, did you expect me to find something like this and not post it? Seriously, I'm halfway towards having it blown up and airbrushed on the hood of my car. (I wonder how that would look on toast...).
anyways, here is the HDF-exclusive of
"smoking woman offering booze to baby lion".
a/k/a the greatest photo I've ever laid eyes on.

I just thought this was amazing. Enough to steal outright from English Russia, anyway. That's enough pictures for one day.

Fountain in the Detroit Airport

via Oobject

"Slime molds" at English Russia.
These are pretty beautiful. How many have you eaten?

Scan Toaster

Yes, the greatest piece of cooking technology in the last century.