December 2010
“There is nothing that “sounds mainstream” to mainstream listeners....”
– Chuck Klosterman, Eating the Dinosaur
Chinese Driving Test →
The exam questions are translated into English from the Chinese language exam, the translation is not 100% exact (we didn’t translate them!). Chinese people who are studying for the theory test have a book containing 1000 questions and answers - only 100 of these questions will be in the exam … Remember, to get your ...
Courtesy of the AFP:
Spanish police have detained a woman who faked her own kidnapping to test whether her husband would pay ransom, sending him a photograph of herself with bound hands and feet, police said Monday.
The man received the photo on his mobile phone from someone claiming to be one of the kidnappers along with a text message demanding a ransom of 20,000 euros (26,000 dollars)...
“The only resource that has been getting consistently more expensive is human...”
– John Tierney, on the myth of recycling
“Every zombie war is a war of attrition. It’s always a numbers game. And it’s...”
– Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman, live-tweeting Snowpocalypse 2010.
If I am allowed on this flight, I will become a better person. I will change. I will do whatever it takes. 6 hours ago
Nothing is off the table. 6 hours ago
I feel like I have entered a new level of desire. Things are clear now. I will give up everything for one thing. 4 hours ago
If you (a.) need a kidney and (b.) control runway traffic at JFK, I’m ready to negotiate. #NotAHighQualityKidneyToBeHonest 3 hours ago
How many people in this airport would kill a stranger with a hammer in exchange for air travel? #EveryoneExceptMaybeMyWife 3 hours ago
A woman in the terminal is trying to stretch her legs by goose-stepping. The guy next to me is talking about Douglas Adams like he’s alive. 3 hours ago
”My mother is optimistic about this flight,” says the goose-stepper. “That’s better than nothing.” #ActuallyIt’sTheSame 3 hours ago
Maybe I should start wearing a sweater around my shoulders. I’ve probably been living wrong. This is my fault. 2 hours ago
None of these people with sweaters around their shoulders seem upset. It’s like they understand the big picture, you know? They get it. 2 hours ago
FYI: They don’t sell SARS masks in Huson News. 2 hours ago
Whatever happened to SARS? That used to be so hot. 2 hours ago
”My brother went to Simon’s Rock,” says the redhead sitting across from me. “He said, ‘Never go there. It’s a fishbowl.’ That was his take.” 2 hours ago
Oh my God. The guy at the gate just got a phone call. Oh my God. What does this mean? What does this mean? Why isn’t he reacting? 2 hours ago
WHY IS HE NOT REACTING? This dude is the Robert Parrish of Delta employees. React! React! YOU ARE ALIVE, MAN. 1 hour ago
"He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not . . . " →
This research qualifies a social psychological truism: that people like others who like them (the reciprocity principle). College women viewed the Facebook profiles of four male students who had previously seen their profiles. They were told that the men (a) liked them a lot, (b) liked them only an average amount, or (c) liked them either a lot or an average amount (uncertain condition)....
Watch
“At the dawn of independent film, growing out of avant-garde culture, the movies...”
– Richard Rushfield
“Yet, even now, 40 years after my father’s death, I am, in my dreams...”
– James E. B. Breslin
Courtesy of USA Today:
New research published in the current issue of the journal Communication Quarterly identifies five types of flirting behavior, based on responses from more than 5,020 heterosexual adults.
[…]
Physical: These often develop relationships quickly, have more sexual chemistry and have a greater emotional connection to partners.
Traditional: These believe men should...
The Quaid Conspiracy →
They’re spending nights in their car, on the run from the same shadowy cabal - “the Hollywood Star Whackers” - who may have killed Heath Ledger, possibly sabotaged Jeremy Piven, and could now be targeting Lindsay Lohan. No, this is not the plot of Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Randy Quaid’s latest movie. It is what he and his wife, Evi, swear is really happening to them....
“For waxing, 12 years old is the ‘new normal.’”
– Melanie Engle
“Money had no value to my father. It was just his way to keep score, to prove how...”
– Pat Jordan, on his father, the grifter
“He brainwashed me. He got me to the point where I slightly started thinking in...”
– Samantha Spiegel, murder groupie
How To Get Paid To Do Nothing →
Arrive at work at different times. If your boss never knows when you’ll be in the office, she’ll avoid giving you assignments.
Work from home. Telecommuting can be one of the easiest ways to avoid work.
Spend lots of time away from your desk. When you’re in the office, take frequent bathroom and coffee breaks. Visit colleagues’ work stations. If your boss can’t...
Hemingway and the Cocktail →
Over the years Hemingway drank pretty much anything and everything, and so did the characters of his novels. In fact it would be easily possible to write an entire bar tending guide just from the descriptions in his novels. This severely attenuated list includes recipes, as best as I can determine them, for some of his more famous cocktails.
