Light My Fire

I think this is from Ed Sullivan.

The Doors Live: Alabama Song and Backdoor Man

PVC encouraged me.

Easy Egg Peeling

Kidnapped Teen Escapes Using a Safety Pin

From CNN:

The key to his escape was a safety pin that was holding together a rip in Clay's jacket, Kelle said.

While his abductor was driving Clay away from the bus stop, the boy took the safety pin off his sleeve and nervously played with it, Kelle said.

When Clay was taken from the truck into the woods, he put the safety pin in his mouth, his stepfather said. Asked later by his parents why he did that, he said he "just thought it would be helpful," Kelle said.

The abductor tied Clay up with duct tape and gagged him with a sock, Kelle said.

When the boy was sure the man had left, he spit the sock -- and the safety pin -- onto the ground. With his hands still bound in front of him, Clay used a stick and his mouth to get the pin back.

"He used the safety pin to free himself by picking at [the duct tape] and more or less untying what was binding him," Kelle said. "And then he used that and his mouth once he was free to pull the duct tape off."

Clay estimated the process took as long as an hour, his stepfather said.

The boy then walked until he found a farm worker with a cell phone.

Sonny Bono Pot PSA

I think he was high.

John Edwards Second Life HQ Vandalized

Wait, politicians now have campaign headquarters in Second Life?

Shortly before midnight (CST) on Monday, February 26, a group of republican Second Life users, some sporting "Bush '08" tags, vandalized the John Edwards Second Life HQ. They plastered the area with Marxist/Lenninist posters and slogans, a feces spewing obsenity, and a photoshopped picture of John in blackface, all the while harrassing visitors with right-wing nonsense and obsenity-laden abuse of Democrats in general and John in particular.

(via Oliver Willis)

Beer Launching Fridge

From Geekologie:

For the ultimate in lazy, this is a mini-fridge that launches beers so you don't have to get up off the couch. I'm just glad there's somebody out there focusing their energies on the important stuff.

(Thanks Dave)

11 Die in Kite Festival

Flying a kite in Pakistan seems to be an extreme sport:

At least 11 people died in an annual two-day kite festival in Punjab Province. Officials said two died after their throats were cut by kite strings made of wire, used to damage rival kites. Five died after being hit by celebratory gunshots, and two people were electrocuted trying to untangle kites from overhead power cables. Two others fell from roofs. The police arrested more than 700 people for using sharpened kite strings or firing guns. The authorities had temporarily lifted a ban on kite-flying that was imposed after deaths at last year’s festival.

(Thanks Markus)

Blockbuster, CEO at odds over bonus; Wanted $7.6 Million and only got $2.3

Everybody altogether now.... Awwwwwwww:

Blockbuster Inc. says it is in discussions with its chief executive over his 2006 bonus, as it reported a 28 percent drop in its fourth-quarter profit, which took a hit on store closures.

Blockbuster's board said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it awarded CEO John Antioco a $2.28 million bonus in January, in addition to his 2006 salary and deferred compensation of $2.5 million. However, Antioco said that based on the company's 2006 senior bonus plan and performance goals, he is entitled to a $7.65 million bonus.

The company said it will reserve $4.5 million to deal with the discrepancy over the payout.

Unknown Soldier

Doors evening continues.

Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva Masterpiece

Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva Masterpiece

Illegal Downloading PSA

Via: VideoSift

People are Strange

The Monastery in the Mountains

Taktshang Taktshang is the most famous of monasteries in Bhutan. It hangs on a cliff at 3,120 metres (10,200 feet), some 700 meters (2,300 feet) above the bottom of Paro valley.

(via Reddit)

Bird

Printable Cold Sores

Nowhere in advertising is the gap between natural beauty and manufactured perfection more apparent than on subway posters. As we wait for transportation, we are unwillingly assaulted by larger-than-life representations of supposedly beautiful salespeople. The large scale of these ads and their extremely close proximity to the viewer offer up more than perceived intimacy, however... they give us the chance to see the mechanical flaws designed to correct their physical flaws.

Why don't we just see them for what they are? They are regular people just like us, they just have a team of retouchers waiting at the ready.

Printable cold sores allow us to take action! Bring these people back down to our level, and tell advertisers that you don't agree with their message. How can you help? It's easy...

(via J-Walk)

Top 11 Subways From Around The World

I'm shocked that Boston didn't make the list. I guess late trains, the perpetual smell of urine permeating throughout the tunnels and occasionally having riders getting out to push disabled trains has once again knocked Boston off the top eleven.

(via Kottke)

Martha Argerich plays the Rach 3

Tremendous!

1st Mov. Part 2
2nd Mov. Part 1
2nd Mov. Part 2
3rd Mov. Part 1
3rd Mov. Part 2

Related:

Wikipedia's page for Martha Argerich.
(via Metafilter)

Japanese Banquet of Cannibalism (Oh and I'm Back)

My first post back from my trip (We got in this morning.)

If that is not weird enough , Japan has just invented another way of eating, where a “body” is made from food and placed on an operating table, much as though in a hospital.

You can operate anyway and anywhere you want by cutting open the body and eating what you find inside. The body will actually bleed as you cut it and the intestines and organs inside are completely editable(sic). It’s a banquet of Cannibalism.

(via Bifurcated Rivets)

NYC Outdoor Pillowfight Draws Thousands

WTF? And nobody called the cops? Assembled by Newmindspace, who are a couple of wicked cool people.

The Glamour of Flight

Vintage Commercial Aviation Photos:Flight Attendants via Dark Roasted Blend

If Jesus Sounded Like Truman Capote

If you haven't got a sense of humour about Jesus, don't bother. I loved these.

Wax On, Wax Hoff!

This is a game of skill and precision. Click on the Hoff to play.

Web 2.0

Via Glacia.

Stranded

Looks like I'm in FL for an extra day. The good news is we are staying with relatives so there isn't much cost. The bad news is that we are staying with relatives.

Mrs. Cyn-C works for an airline which means we can fly for virtually nothing with the drawback being that we have to fly standby. This isn't a problem unless Jet Blue freaks out and starts canceling flights going into the Northeast because they are expected to get over a half inch of snow. They then start rolling their passengers over into other airlines which puts us at the bottom of the list. The only good thing about it is that we realized right away what was happening and aren't stuck at the airport for the entire day.

So it looks like I'll be in Miami for an extra day. I want to thank Radmila and PVC who are really doing a great job keeping Cynical-C running while I'm away. I've asked them to stay on as contributors so expect a wide range of topics when I get back.

Or if I get back.

No Way, Man!

The legendary reputation of the decade, and the continued playing of much of its popular music, created irresistible temptations to embroider in just over a third of those surveyed. A quarter of the total admitted that their flexibility with the truth was prompted by wanting "to appear cool to my children and gain the respect of friends and family". Chief exaggerations included supposed membership of the hippy movement - of the quarter who claimed to be hippies in the 60s, only 6% actually were - and meeting Beat Generation icons they had actually seen only on TV. A third have told their children that they shopped in London's Carnaby Street when only 5% actually did so.

Read the whole article here. Via Hainsworth.com

The Presidential Candidates on Iraq

The New York Times summarizes the "then and now" positions of announced US Presidential candidates on Iraq. Looks like it's Kucinich/Gravel for yours truly in '08.

Japanese Military Gets a Makeover

Samurai warriors are out - cute anime figures are in.

Perky cartoon character Prince Pickles -- with saucer eyes, big dimples and tiny, booted feet -- poses in front of tanks, rappels from helicopters and shakes hands with smiling Iraqis. The cutesy icon hardly calls to mind the Japanese military that conquered and pillaged its way across Asia in the first half of the 20th century, and that is just the way the country's leaders want it. As Japan sheds its postwar pacifism and gears up to take a higher military profile in the world, it is enlisting cadres of cute characters and adorable mascots to put a gentle, harmless sheen to its Self-Defense Forces deployments. "Prince Pickles is our image character because he's very endearing, which is what Japan's military stands for," said Defense Ministry official Shotaro Yanagi. "He's our mascot and appears in our pamphlets and stationery." Such characters have long been used in Japan to win hearts and minds and to soften the image of authority.

It's About Time....

Scorcese finally gets the award. A totally pointless aside observation: I imagine Al Gore can't sit down this morning from all the ass kissing he got last night. He's obviously stumbled onto a whole new career: "Green Guru".

Wally World kills Tweety Bird

Whatever. --- Edit --- Thankx all for the suggestions, but none of them seem to work for a non-admin poster on this version of WP.

The Oscars

This is a montage of the history of Oscar's Best Pictures. Click on image to view.

Rehabitual Britney

Click on image for video

Supersize My Wallet

A luxury hotel in Indonesia has cooked up an exotic million-rupiah ($110) hamburger, thought to be the world's most expensive, in a bid to marry Western food and Asian flavour. Vindex Tengker, the executive chef with the Four Seasons Hotel who created the dish, said 20 of the burgers had sold since going on the menu early last December. "The idea is not that we are selling the most expensive hamburger. It is our dream to marry the East and the West through food," he told AFP. The seven-ounce (200-gram) burger is made from finest Japanese Kobe beef with wasabi mayonnaise and Italian portobello mushrooms in a home-made onion-wheat bun. It is served with Asian pear and French foie gras plus, of course, French fries and is washed down with a glass of wine.

Sounds good though, doesn't it? Via: Alpha to OM3GA

Russian Police

Do you think there might be some hittin' of the bottle at work? Click on the image to watch two Russian Police Officers making asses of themselves.

Blondes to be Extinct in 200 Years

The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe. A study by experts in Germany suggests people with blonde hair are an endangered species and will become extinct by 2202.

I can see Clairol twisting their unnaturally blonde mustaches in anticipation. Read the whole article from BBC News here.

Please do not adjust your set...

If you were trying to access Cynical-C in the last few hours and were wondering if we got raided by the Feds, never fear. It was just one of those little technical thingies.

Power has been restored to the building and all servers are back up and running. There currently is an issue with a blade in one of the core routers and it is being replaced, so the servers are still unreachable until this issue is corrected. We are working to get service restored as soon as possible. Our apologies for the inconvenience. - UPDATE 04:51 PST - The supervisor in one of our core routers went kaput when the power went off. It was replaced shortly after the original posting. Further problems arose with corrupt configurations left over from the old supervisor. These have been restored and we have re-established connection to seven out of our eight uplinks. We are currently working on the eighth uplink and everything is coming back to normal operation now. We are close to being 100% and thank everyone for their patience. As always, check this space for updates.

Yay for Dreamhost!

Accents

Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

Hear this phrase in any accent you like at Speech Accent Archive.

Bridezillas

Unusual pictures of brides. Click here for more.

She's So Skinny

Earworm alert! NSFW. Click on image to view video.

Some Luck!

Here is what happened: the guy bought a property and in the property there were a huge barn. The barn doors were weld, so, when he first checked the state, he didn't looked inside the barn. After the buy, he went there to force open the barn, and he found a real treasure inside it. Actually, he found a car collection the properly repaired may worth more than the property itself!

Some people just have a horseshoe up their ass. Look at the rest of the pictures here.

There's a Rat in Mi Kitchen

NEW YORK -- The parent company of KFC and Taco Bell _ still smarting from last year's E. coli scare _ has been forced back into damage-control mode after television cameras caught rats scampering around a restaurant floor.

Here's the article from the Washington Post. Ok, I know that any big city's downtown core has rats, and mice. But, Holy Canolli! If you haven't already seen this video, click on the image. I'll never complain about having to cook, and stay home to eat again. To hear UB40's Rat in Mi Kitchen, click here.

Touching Ads About Cancer

Here are a couple of lovely, and touching ads about Cancer. Video #1 Video #2 Via: Houtlust

Tobias Wong

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Tobias Wong creates in New York. After studying art and architecture, he graduated in sculpture from The Cooper Union. Wong treats design as a medium rather than a discipline to show how it embraces the aesthetics traditionally relegated to the fine arts. He's coined the term “paraconceptual” to describe his dismantling of the hierarchies between “art” and “design.” In Wong’s hands, both have similar goals. Not merely conceptual, his work mocks its own consumption. Wong literalized this message with a Jenny Holzer tattoo on his right forearm: “PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT.”

Click on the Bible Gun to go to Tobias' site.

A Rare Opportunity

Yesterday I made a post about the teenagers that murdered the homeless guy and then blamed it on violent games. These kids have given the media their angle and just like all the other cases where games are mentioned no one will ever look any further. No one will ask what their family life was like, what their parents were like, what the kid was like before all this happened. Games did it and that’s the end of the story. In my post I took the absolute extreme opposite approach. I laid blame completely on the parents and that was intentional. Penny Arcade is a satire site and people come here to laugh or get angry and that’s what we try to provide. I will admit that deep down as the father of a two year old I also want to believe that I as a parent can shape my kid into a decent human being. If I don’t believe that then…well I just have to believe that right now.

Penny Arcade gets a response to his blaming of parents from the Stepmother of one of the charged teens. It's a crapshoot, this parenting thing. Sometimes the crappiest parents have the greatest kids, and some of the kindest people end up with demon spawn. Via: Funkaoshi

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

We interrupt this trip to Southern FL to bring you: Guest Friday Cat Blogging:



Sara writes:

Although I've cleared many places for this kitty to sleep, he really digs the bathroom floor.

From Robert:

Here's a photo of our two Swedish cats Pixie and Prosit, sitting in the bathtub enjoying an umbrella placed there to get dry.

From RR (I think)

dunno why this is so popular, but I figure I'll join in the fun. Here's my two cats, the pic describes their relationship pretty accurately. Nova was raised by circus acrobats and/or wolves, and Squeek is really just along for the ride. Neverending entertainment around here.

Jerry's cat, Kittypants.

here's a photo of my cat, kittypants on his trip to prague back in 2005...he fell in love with a czech kitty and unfortunately hasn't been the same since...for a few months, he drowned his sorrows in some danish catnip before setting out back on the road...maybe he'll send you a postcard...poor cat....

Deon sends in a Youtube vid of him and his cat Jack, who you can see if you have the ability to see through a guitar.

Video Catblogging!

This is a link to me and my cat Jack.
He's the one on the left.

And last but from the size of his cat, definitely not least, is Colin's Neelix.



Thanks everybody. Now I'm off for a cuban sandwich.

Souvenirs in Perspective

Souvenirs on the landscape. Click on the image to see the rest.

The Rules of Wife Beating

Click on image to play video. Can someone verify that this is actually what the guy is saying?

Hitler Rug

A visitor walks away from a framed paintings of swastika and a rug made from a pelt with a representation of Adolph Hitler from the Israeli artist Boaz Arad at the Nazi Hunter's Room, as part of his exhibit at the Tel Aviv Center for Contemporary Art Wednesday Feb. 21, 2007. The exhibit focuses on the disconnection felt by Israelis of eastern European descent. Arad said he hoped to show how the Holocaust has scarred Israel, but also been misused by it, in this case being turned into a wall decoration. The Hitler rug is a representation of what a Nazi hunter would do if he caught the ultimate prize, the Nazi leader, the artist said.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

link: Yahoo Italia

Uglyville

Cheatin' husband? Solution: A move to "Uglyville". Click on image for video.

Campaign for Real Beauty

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty is picking up speed. I'm actually starting to see the invisible generation (women over 40) in beauty ads. See more of this series of ads at TWENTY FOUR. Thanks Marina.

4GB of Memory is Optimal for Windows Vista

Need any more reasons to look at Linux or a Mac?

Microsoft's on-the-box minimum RAM requirement "really isn't realistic," according to David Short, an IBM consultant who works in its company's Global Services Divison. He says users should consider 4GB of RAM if they really want optimum Vista performance. With 512MB of RAM, Vista will deliver performance that's "sub-XP," he warned. Short has been beta testing Vista for two years and was at the IBM-oriented Share user group conference in Tampa, Fla., last week discussing some of Vista's performance requirements. His XP system has 2GB of RAM, which he calls the "sweet spot" for that operating system, but on Vista, 4GB of RAM may be closer to its "Nirvana," he said. That's due in part to Windows SuperFetch, which takes data from the hard drive, stores it in the available RAM and makes it readily accessible to the processor. SuperFetch depends a great deal on user predictability and takes snapshots of user activity. If SuperFetch determines that an application is launched at a particular time, it will have it loaded into the available RAM. With more RAM, there's more caching and better software response, said Short.

via Slashdot

500 lb Potato Battery

Who needs switchgrass? Maine is set to rock!

Each potato generates about 0.5 volts and 0.2 milliamperes. I connected groups of potatoes together in series to increase voltage and then connected these groups together in parallel to increase amperage. The entire 500 lb battery generated around 5 volts and 4 milliamperes. Don't eat potatoes after using them for a battery.

via Progressive Review

Fifty Most Loathsome New Yorkers

An annual tradition of The New York Press. Written at a level of savagery usually only found in the UK press. How they can cull the list down to a mere fifty is a mystery to me. See if you can guess who #1 is.

45. Max Boot Writer, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard Though a resident of leafy suburban Larchmont, NY, where manly intellectuals like him go to become child molesters, Max Boot arrives to the WSJ offices decked in leather bomber, riding crop and knee-high shit-kickers. We know this from his WSJ commentaries, including his now-infamous piece complaining that not enough American lives were lost in the invasion of Afghanistan. "President Bush promised that this would not be another bloodless, push-button war, but that is precisely what it has been," intoned the wonk whose idea of a battle is finding Saturday parking in downtown Greenwich. "Our bombing campaign…does not show that we have the determination to stick a bayonet in the guts of our enemy..." Writing more recently in the New York Times, the lunatic enthused on the American occupation of the Philippines that ended in the deaths of 200,000 Filipinos: "It was a long, hard, bloody slog." Curiously, we're told this also describes sex with Boot's wife.

Our Leader

Surrender to your new leader. Click on image for video.

Funky 16 Corners

Funky 16 Corners is a site that celebrates old school Blues, Motown, Soul and R&B. Plenty of individual downloads as well as compilations by the host.

Sugar Packets with Hitler’s Image and Anti-Semitic Jokes

JERUSALEM, ZAGREB, Feb. 19, 2007 — The Simon Wiesenthal Center has asked Croatia to stop the distribution of sugar packets featuring Hitler’s image. The Center has called on Croatian authorities to put an end to the production and distribution of sugar packets with Hitler’s image and printed anti-Semitic jokes. The Center has issued a statement signed by its director Ephraim Zuroff, expressing its “revulsion and disgust that such an item could be produced these days in a country in which the Holocaust not only took place, but was for the most part carried out by local Nazi collaborators.”

Get the whole article at Byzantine Sacred Art Blog

Lysol Ads from the 50's

"A man marries a woman because he loves her. so, instead of blaming him if married love begins to cool, she should question herself. Is she truly trying to keep her husband and herself eager, happily married lovers? One most effective way to safeguard her dainty feminine allure...."

IS TO DOUCHE WITH LYSOL! See the whole bloody thing at: Feastoffools' Flickr Account

Cool Packaging & Design

From an e-mail someone sent me. Forgive me for the self-love, but I couldn't find the complete set online. Click on the image to see the photos.

Outta Here

Ok cynics, I'm leaving the gentle tropical warmth of Boston to brave the frigid temperatures of the feared South Florida winter until Monday. Everyone have a good week and be nice to Radmila and PVC or I'll have them turn the plane right around to deal with you. That's if I'm not on the no fly list and I can actually get on the plane to begin with (I haven't been exactly complimentary in my blogging of this administration.) Have fun!

Influences

Phil Hansen is an artist. His website doesn't really have a lot on it, but his video is great! Click on the image of Rosa Parks by Phil Hansen to see the video

Image via: Philinthecircle.com

Culture Re-Mix

Here is a re-mix of Serbian Folklore music with hip hop dance. I got a kick out of it. Click on the image for the video

Via: Anna

African Kings

Here's a link to some photos of African Kings.

How to Wrap a Sari

How to wrap a Sari. Ironically, this was the only instructional I could find that wasn't a white woman doing it. I guess we'd be the only ones that would need an instructional.

Navy Numa Numa Song

"Cargo Cult Science" by Richard Feynman

Adapted from a Caltech commencement address given in 1974.

(via Reddit)

SciFi TV Show Openings

I'll update this throughout the day as I find more (or people send me in more)
Battlestar Galactica (1978)


Battlestar Galactica


Buck Rogers


Space 1999


Doctor Who


The Prisoner


Star Trek


The Twilight Zone


Lost in Space


The Avengers


Star Trek The Next Generation


Quantum Leap


Futurama


The Six Million Dollar Man


UFO (Thanks K)


The Jetsons


Red Dwarf (Thanks Evel)


The Wild Wild West

CND March on Aldermaston

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's annual Easter march from Trafalgar Square, London to the UK's Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston has occured annually from 1957 to the present. Bertrand Russell is shown in the above photograph from a 1961 demonstration.

In British politics, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been at the forefront of the peace movement in the United Kingdom and claims to be Europe's largest single-issue peace campaign. The organisation is lead by an elected Chair, currently Kate Hudson. As well as campaigning against military actions that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, they are also in favour of nuclear disarmament by all countries and tighter international regulation through treaties such as the NPT. They are also opposed to any new nuclear power stations being built in the United Kingdom. Their famous and long-standing annual march is held every Easter weekend from Trafalgar Square, London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, taking the whole four days to complete.

From Wikipedia Clarification: The above photograph is not one of an Aldermaston march, and when taken Lord Russell was no longer a member of the CND, but rather The Committee of One Hundred. Doesn't matter. I wanted one of Bertie doing an anti-nuke demo and that's what you get. So there.

UK Guardian Cartoonist Martin Rowson

UK leftie day continues. This chappie is truly vicious. And the Guardian's web site navigation blows.

The Trial of Tony Blair

Long but maliciously delicious. "Oh that's terrible...George is in rehab again."

Going to America

Reverse psychology doesn't always work. Click on image for video.

Welcoming Mussolini

From The New Shelton Wet/Dry:

A giant M installed to greet Mussolini’s arrival in a small Piemonte village (Italy, 1938).

(via Digg)

HUD For Your Windshield

From Devicepedia:

I was always a fan of those marine fighter jets that I saw in the movies, with lots of buttons, windscreen data, infrared and night view making me a very faithful viewer. I think it had a very big impact on me, because I am driving a Citroen C4 and it has great features like the centrally mounted controls which lie in the middle to have a big view of them. However, GlobalTop Technology, a company manufacturing and designing top-notch GPS systems, is launching a GPS & Bluetooth HUD Speed Meter system that would display valuable informations directly on your windscreen.

BB Gun vs. LCD Monitor

Why not?
(via Digg)

AZ Lawmaker Tries To Ban Naked Lady Mudflaps

If you criminalize naked lady mudflaps, only criminals will have naked lady mudflaps.

PHOENIX -- It's still going to be legal in Arizona for trucks to have splash guards with racist terms and silhouettes of naked women.

The state House on Thursday rejected a Democratic amendment that would have banned splash guards with images that are "obscene or hateful."

Tempe Democrat Ed Ableser sponsored the amendment. He said he'd seen a splash guard that used a derogatory term for black children and said he wanted to make sure that people with hateful motives didn't inflict them on others.

Democratic Rep. Theresa Ulmer of Yuma supported the amendment and said it fit with lawmakers' other efforts to crack down on pornography and sexual predators.

"I personally am tired of explaining to my 11-year-old son why they (women) are depicted on mudflaps , but not all women are 36Ds. He's very confused by that," Ulmer said. "But seriously, this is about family values -- what are we going to send out as a message to our children."

How to Burn Youtube Videos to DVD

Perhaps handy to some.

(via Monkeyfilter)

You're Going to Die

Good morning everyone.

(via Backwards City)

Eight Women Who Look Better Bald Than Britney

From Apropos of Something:

By now, I'm sure we’ve all seen the photos of Britney Spears with her newly shaven head. Amidst all the speculation about whether Britney is in the middle of a full-scale mental breakdown and if her career can recover from this latest tabloid bonanza, one thing is certain: Britney just doesn’t look that good bald. Her head isn’t all that pleasingly shaped, and her facial features lack the definition necessary to make the bald look really work for her. At best, Britney is a 2 out of 10 on the female Bald-o-meter.

That being said, here’s a quick guide to eight women who look better bald than Britney. Let me know in the comments if I left anybody out.

(via Boing Boing)

Know When Enough is Enough

Link: InsaneFlash

George Takei Answers Tim Hardaway

Mr. Sulu responds to Mr. Hardaway's homophobia. Click on the image for the video. via: Norge Thingy

Buy Britney's Hair

$1,000,000 might seem like a lot but you have to remember that they are chipping in the can of Red Bull she was drinking at the time.

This is it, the opportunity of a lifetime. You can be the proud owner of Britney Spears' hair, extensions, the Omega clipper used to cut it all off and even the can of Red Bull she was drinking at the time. You also get her blue Bic Lighter and this valuable domain and website to use for publicity purposes. This is the Ultimate Britney Spears Experience! It is a piece of history that can not be duplicated!

British film crew threatened by drunken settler in Hebron

"Tel Rumeida is a small Palestinian neighborhood deep in the West Bank city of Hebron. Palestinian families from whom these settlers occupied lands, live directly next to these settlers and are often virtual prisoners in their homes, subject to the settlers' violent attacks and destruction of property." See the video here Better keep the volume down, and just read the subtitles if you're at work. How'd you like drunken morons, who hate your guts for simply existing at all as neighbours?

Uncle Jay Explains the News

More Uncle Jay explaining the news here.

(via del.icio.us/wcitymike)

Washed Cats

Pictures of wet cats. (What? I don't have to post this on a Friday do I?)

US Imperial Overstretch?

The neocons call it 'spreading democracy.' I say it's dicing with history. Phooey.

Interestingly enough, the thirty-eight large and medium-sized American facilities spread around the globe in 2005 -- mostly air and naval bases for our bombers and fleets -- almost exactly equals Britain's thirty-six naval bases and army garrisons at its imperial zenith in 1898. The Roman Empire at its height in 117 AD required thirty-seven major bases to police its realm from Britannia to Egypt, from Hispania to Armenia. Perhaps the optimum number of major citadels and fortresses for an imperialist aspiring to dominate the world is somewhere between thirty-five and forty.

via alternet

The other other white meat

And I - pvc - am your other guest blogger while Chris (aka lucky bastard) wusses out and escapes the rigours of a New England February. People may know from my comments that I'm the wierd one. I make no apologies for it. In fact, I glory in it. Need I say that Chris has no responsibility for the content of my posts, will probably explicitly disavow any knowledge of my activities and will likely rue the day he extended me the privilege of posting here. Let the games begin!

Fondling of Teacher on Cell Phone Video Leads to Investigation

A high school teacher has become the focus of an investigation after a cell phone video surfaced of a number of underage male students fondling her during class. A lawyer for the teacher says she is the victim in the incident and that she had reported it to school authorities before the video surfaced. See the video here. What I want to know is why she didn't jump up and stop it immediately. I'm sorry, but if someone sticks their entire hand down the crack of your ass, I think you should at least flinch, no?

Prisoners of YouTube

I'm a big fan of YouTube, and on occasion, I've wondered about those people who became famous on the internet by accident. And worse, those who got that fame because of some boner move that was caught on video, like the DEA Agent who accidentally shoots himself: How do you live that down with the video available within seconds to watch over and over again? Here's an article from RADAR Magazine on some of the Prisoners of YouTube. P.S.:Apparently, the DEA Agent who is the star of this clip, is now suing the Government.

Strange Looking People

Hi, I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with me for a few days. Here's a link to The Top 8 Weird Looking People.

The Slammer (aka Penn Jillette's House)

The designers of Penn Jillette's "Slammer" explain what went into building it:

The primary residence for Penn Jillette in Las Vegas was a 2,500 square foot addition to an existing 1,500 square foot house. We joined our new architecture to the old using a cylindrical stair tower as a hinge point.

The residence which we completed for Penn Jillette in 1996 was, ultimately, a very successful design for the way he occupied the house. Rarely a week went by during the first two years that we didn't receive an email message from him praising one aspect of the design or another. His comedy and magic show toured the country and each time he returned home he discovered the charms of the house anew.

The general scheme of the building is a single layer of spaces wrapped around a courtyard (which is treated as a large outdoor room, rather than separated as an exterior space). The outside of the house is prison-like and the courtyard interior is defined by a series of brightly-colored stucco walls and, at night, neon-like lighting. The courtyard is a microcosm of the Strip. Mr. Jillette refers to the house with a prison name, and as the project was under way called it Prison and Paradise saying, "You don't want to knock on the door, but once you are inside you never want to leave."

Serial Killer Groupies

Crime Library has a great section dedicated to serial killers and the women who want to be with them.

While there, Bundy received a great deal of media attention, and with it, plenty of fan mail from adoring women. In The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule noted that some of these women were frightened of Bundy even as they viewed him in the most romantic light. A few, unable to match the person Bundy was to the kinds of crimes of which he was accused, firmly believed that he was innocent of the charges, and during his trial they crowded the front rows of the courtroom to show their support. Many of them even looked like his victim type — girls with long brown hair, parted in the middle. Among these women, Carol Ann Boone became a rather steady girlfriend. She moved from Washington�to Florida to be near Bundy, and was soon a media darling.

Boone believed in Bundy's innocence and took every opportunity to describe how he was being unfairly railroaded. Then after he was convicted, she maintained her stance and during the penalty phase of his 1980 trial, she testified on his behalf.

Then came a surprise.

Bundy took advantage of an old state law that allowed a declaration in court to constitute a legal marriage. He stood up and proposed. Boone gleefully accepted, and Bundy pronounced them married.

Somehow Boone got impregnated and had his child. Some sources say it was a daughter, others a son. Some say she managed to have conjugal relations with him, others that she smuggled his semen out of the prison and was artificially inseminated. However it happened, she was clearly a woman in denial of the facts. She even managed to ignore compelling evidence that Bundy's teeth marks had been left in one of the victims. This confessed killer of more than 30 women had completely blinded her with his charm.

Elvis - Suspicious Minds

Elvis - Unchained Melody

I am probably wrong about this but I think this was his last performance.
(Thanks Gaby)

Headed South

I'm off to Miami on Wednesday and will be coming back on Monday so I am handing the keys to Cynical-C over to Radmila from My2SecondShelfLife and PVC who is a friend/ex-coworker/sometimes-blogger.

They have carte blanche to post whatever they desire (and yes, that makes me very nervous) as long as they feed Cynikitty and change his litter.

Dolphin Olympics

Strangely addictive.

List of British words not widely used in the United States

Another gem from Wikipedia.

Mike Tyson Interviews

Probably not a good idea to play this one too loud at work.

(via Radmila)

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

Michelle and Emma sent in this picture of their cats hugging:

Hi ! My daughter and I enjoy your blog !
Here are our cats. The black one is older and tortures the younger one !

So are you saying what looks like a hug is actually the black cat strangling the other?

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

Amy sends in pictures of her cat Granite:

Please consider my cat Granite! :-) I'm a university student and when my roomies are away at night class, she keeps me company by watching me work by creepily hiding in the corner. She sleeps with me every night, likes Chef Boyardee beefaroni and likes to chase invisible things at night. She also has her own website hosted at my university.....no joke!

Wait, your school lets you keep a cat? I wasn't even allowed to have a hot plate.

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

Alex writes:

Here's a classic picture of my brother's cat Moxie, she is not amused.

If that cat had opposable thumbs, she would have strangled you.

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

Deb kidnaps Cynikitty and says:

OK, here's my babies for the Friday Cat Blog!

Princess is the Cynikitty clone, and of course the other is my Duchess...

Hey Deb, give me back my goddamned cat!

Guest Friday Cat Blogging

Mantus writes:

Here's my awesome cat Kisus, hope ya make him famous! =D

Friday Cat Blogging

Friday cat blogging.... Now with 72% more tail.

Science is Satan Spelled Backwards T-Shirt

Love it.

(via Pharyngula)

Video of Booster Rocket Falling To Earth

Nasa released a compilation of footage from various cameras attatched to both solid rocket boosters. Nasa TV showed all views from accention to decention. But this compilation shows the most dramatic and interesting views captured. It is still primarily a single shot from low earth orbit down to earths oceans surface.

Death Certificates For Aborted Fetuses

I guess the next step would be to have birth certificates issued after "dinner and a movie".

Legislation introduced in Tennessee would require death certificates for aborted fetuses, which likely would create public records identifying women who have abortions.

Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Republican, said his bill would provide a way to track how many abortions are performed. He predicted it would pass in the Republican-controlled Senate but would have a hard time making it through the Democratic House.

"All these people who say they are pro-life — at least we would see how many lives are being ended out there by abortions," said Campfield.

The number of abortions reported to the state Office of Vital Records is already publicly available. The office collects records — but not death certificates — on abortions and the deaths of fetuses after 22 weeks gestation or weighing about 1 pound.

The identities of the women who have abortions are not included in those records, but death certificates include identifying information such as Social Security numbers.

Campfield's bill, introduced Monday, would give abortion providers 10 days following an "induced termination of a pregnancy" to file a death certificate.

(Thanks Markus)

Jesus Makes Appearance in a Tree

Q. Where's Jesus today?
A. Up a tree in TX.

An ordinary tree on an ordinary street in Crystal City has now become a gathering point for believers and the curious.

The tree has no fruit. It has no flowers. It has no leaves. It has, however, grown its tangled limbs into an image, that some say, looks like Jesus Christ outstretched on the cross.

"I think He's here for a reason," said Betty Jo Hernandez. The tree is on her property.

"I think it may be a sign," said Janie Gutierrez, Hernandez's neighbor.

"I think there are believers," said Adriana Gutierrez, Janie's daughter.

Hernandez has lived on the property on D Street for 20 years.

"[It looks like] Christ. We just looked up and, I don't know, to me it was something so beautiful, I wasn't going to just keep it to myself," Hernandez said.

"It looks like God when He was on the cross, to me," Adriana said.

"It's already been making quite a commotion here," Janie said.

The word spread fast and now believers are coming to admire, take picture and pray.

Religious Freaks has video of the news report.

1424

24 set in the middle ages. This is really well done.

24 goes medieval. 1424 is a parody of the 24 tv series, which sees Jack and the Los Angeles setting moved to medieval England in the 1400s. As big fans this is our tribute to the show and thought we would try something a little different. It was made for a college project with a few mates (you'll see quite a few similar dying goons!), and had to be shot quickly and cheaply, but was great fun to make. It has been split into 3 parts to keep small. Hope you enjoy it and look forward to the feedback.

Part 2 is here.

Part 3 is here.

(via The Best of YouTube)

19 Action News

I love how pissed the weatherman gets at practically-naked-guy for ruining his interview with man-with-a-shovel.

(via Bog Brush)

Fox's Version of The Daily Show (Minus the Funny)

Two things hit me immediately after watching this.

1. You would think they would have hired a comedy writer for a comedy show.

2. The "newscaster" looks familiar. Wait a minute. That's Kurt Long! I worked with him at a grocery store when we were both in college before he went off to Hollywood to chase his dream of being an unfunny John Stewart impersonator for a right wing "comedy" show. Here's some trivia for long time Cyn-C readers, I think he was dating at that time the born-again christian who told me I was going to burn in hell for eternity because I refused to accept christ as my savior in the post I did titled People I'm Going to Hell With.

Comic Fight!

Joe Rogan VS Carlos Mencia onstage


From Joe Rogan's myspace page:

So here's how it all went down… I had a set at the comedy store Saturday night, and after I closed, I was bringing on the next comedian, a guy named Kirk Fox that works for Carlos Mencia. I introduce him saying that he's a funny guy, and that he opens on the road for Carlos "Menstealia." That's the name we call him at the comedy store, and of course Carlos doesn't like it one bit. Carlos was apparently in the room when I said this, and the perfect combination of ego and timing made him decide that this was the night to put his foot down. As I got off stage and headed towards the back of the room, he grabbed the mike away from Kirk, and said that I was too much of a pussy to say that shit to his face. Which to me is something akin to the hottest girl in the world daring you to fuck her while you're standing there in her bedroom naked with a boner. Of course I had to disagree with him, and I decided to get onstage with him and have this "meeting of the minds" as it were. On video.

(via Metafilter)

Glorifying Terrorism

Breaking the law by writing fiction.

Welcome to Rackstraw Press, created in response to the Terrorism Act of 2006 - the controversial ban on the glorification of terrorism in the UK.

This Act is opposed by people from many political parties as an attack on free speech. Government protests that it will only be used if someone directly incites terrorism have been regarded as implausible by lawyers who point to the many other laws which currently cover this action.

Science fiction is a political genre. There are many science fiction writers who have already written novels and stories which could be considered in contravention of the law.

In February 2007 Rackstraw Press published Glorifying Terrorism, an anthology of sf short stories written in protest of the Terrorism Act.

(via Boing Boing)

The War on Valentine's Day

More religious extremists forcing their views on others.

SRINAGAR, India -- A Muslim women's group in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir group burned greeting cards and beat young couples to stop people celebrating Valentine's Day, witnesses said Tuesday.

The separatist Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Nation) raided restaurants and showered blows on some couples and then burned cards during a rally in the summer capital's center, a witness said.

The group, along with an Islamic association called the Forum Against Social Evils, regularly wage morality campaigns against movies and other emblems of popular Western culture that they deem un-Islamic.

"We will not allow Western culture to take roots in Muslim Majority Kashmir," chanted several dozen marchers led by Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Aasiya Andrabi.

(via Religious Freaks)

I Am Spartacus

I don't read too many political blogs these days but I'm a huge fan of Shakespeare's Sister which I always find to be funny and insightful. Melissa, who runs Shakespeare's Sis, has resigned her post in the John Edwards campaign as a part time technical advisor due to the negative attention being brought onto the campaign from Bill Donohue and the Catholic League.

What did Melissa write on Shakespeare's Sister that put a crucifix up Billy boy's ass?

"…it's difficult to imagine a time in which Christianity wholly submits to the prevailing view of science and ends its reign of persecution against the LGBT community. This time, they are not going after one man, but millions of people, and some of Christianity's most prominent leaders -- including the Pope -- regularly speak out against gay tolerance. In America, many Christian leaders actively pursue discriminatory legislation, seeking to limit the rights of the LGBT community throughout society. Should they eventually embrace the scientific view this time, they will have a lot more for which to answer -- which certainly means their reluctance to admit their error is much greater."

There are a few other posts they had issues with which are listed here and that they are now using to label Melissa as an "anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigot". (Wait a minute, what's wrong with being a vulgar trash-talker?) It's ridiculous that a self-appointed blowhard like Bill Donohue (Catholics already have a leader billy, he's called the pope) gets so much attention from the media.

Looking back over my archives, I hereby pre-emptively resign any positions that I have not yet been appointed to in any political campaign. Go visit Shakes today to give her your support.

Mexican Drug Gangs Slug It Out on YouTube

From The Register:

A bloody war between rival Mexican drug gangs has spilled onto YouTube where two competing cartels "taunt each other with blood-soaked slideshows and films of their murder victims", Reuters reports.

The war between north eastern Mexico's "Gulf Cartel" - with its private army "Los Zetas", led by Osiel Cardenas, and "traffickers based in the western state of Sinaloa" headed by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman - last year claimed more than 2,000 victims.

Mexican president Felipe Calderon responded by dispatching troops to several states to restore order, although the killing appears to continue unabated, if the video evidence is anything to go by.

Indeed, Reuters notes that on YouTube "one popular video shows a man being shot in the head" while a "stomach-churning series of photos shows another execution victim, his missing face a mangled mess of flesh".

According to the news agency, in one YouTube post, a user "offers about $4,500 to anyone who can show proof of having killed members of The Zetas, 'via photo, video or presenting the body'."

Wheel of Food

Just in time for lunch. Enter your zipcode and you will be presented with a wheel of fortune style locator for restaurants in your area. This looks great for days when you can't decide on what you are in the mood to eat.
(via del.icio.us/mathowie)