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Printing an image on your latte is so 2008. Here’s what OnLatte decided to do with their Latte Art Printer: make images on a Guinness!
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
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Today’s shocking news that Kung Fu Panda had won 15 “Annie” Awards and shut out WALL-E led me to explore the DVD. The extras include a bonus video of Danny Yip, executive noodle chef at Mr. Chow making noodles by hand. I’ve never seen that done before, and it is magical.
*Previously: A pasta you can’t refuse.
There’s something delightfully fun about these semi-retro and slightly-sexist female merit badges created by Artist Mary Yeager.
My female merit badges illustrate female “rites of passage” as well as the myriad physical manipulations women undergo to achieve cultural ideals of beauty, such as weight watching, whether or not to shave or wear makeup, etc. I’ve created tiny replicas of female products, such as a birth control pill pack and a pregnancy test. The miniature scale and meticulous, hand-embroidered surfaces convey my impressions of growing up female in our culture.
Johanna Sigurdardottir, an Icelandic MP, was elected Prime Minister of Iceland this week. She is the first openly gay prime minister in world history.
The 66-year-old politician lives with her partner, Jonina Leosdottir, a journalist and playwright. The couple were joined in a civil ceremony in 2002. Don’t expect them to show up togetherfor photocalls, however – that’s not the Icelandic way. Though she is famous across the island, having been a top politician for years, her lesbian union was no big deal in this calmly progressive nation of only 300,000 people.
“Johanna is a very private person,” said an Icelandic government source. “A lot of people didn’t even know she was gay. When they learn about it people tend to shrug and say, ‘Oh’. That’s not to say they are not interested; they are interested in who she’s living with – but no more so than if she was a man living with a woman.”
So, the first month of 2009 is almost over and it seems that so far the new year has been nothing but bad economic news after bad economic news.
Last week, the folks at the US watched as big companies cut more than 100,000 jobs (with over 70,000 jobs lost on Monday alone), the stock market tumbled, and home prices continued its freefall. Congress played politics over the stimulus package (it passed the House strictly on party line votes) and – surprise – Wall Street continued giving billions in bonuses and perks ($87,784 for a rug, anyone?)
And you know the economy is bad when more people are searching Google for coupons than Britney Spears (via Bo Cowgill).
How’s 2009 been treating you? Did you lose your job? Have trouble making ends meet? What do you think needs to be done to fix the economy? Can the economy be fixed? I’d love to hear from you.
Most of the time, desert locusts live a solitary existence. But when they experience a sudden spike in serotonin, a neurotransmitter found in all animals, it’s time to swarm! Scientists at the University of Oxford recently found a close connection between the levels of serotonin in
the insects’ bodies and how
sociable they became.
"Locusts switch into swarm behavior based on two cues: when they see and
smell other locusts for an extended period or when their hind legs are
constantly jostled."
Just so you know: when locusts are green (above) they are feeling mellow, when dark-colored they are ready to party.
Photo by Tim Fayle
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
This dog must think that it’s a seal – here’s a YouTube clip of the dog skillfully juggling a basketball on its nose. (According to its owner, the dog was never taught to do this – it learned to juggle on its own)
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.
Writers may use words to weave a work of literary art, but Sarah King did something else with them: she shapes them into wonderful illustrations!
Don’t Panic Magazine has a nifty interview with Sarah:
Inspired by science, space, animals and myths, Sarah’s illustrations are intricately beautiful and bursting with words.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by JJA.
Think you know Minnesota? The Coen Brothers movie Fargo may make it seem that Minnesotans are yokels, but the truth is, Minnesota is far, far weirder.
Joshua Post Lee of The Black Table explains the things you should know about the Land of 10,000 Lakes – for example:
#1. Minnesota is Trannie Town.
Things seemed to going well that night at the bar. That tall, svelte gal flirting with you has just invited you home. Seems like it’s your night until calloused man hands caress you and that Adam’s apple suddenly just pops out. This happens a lot in our state.
It’s estimated that The Center for Sexual Health at the University of Minnesota (Go U!) does more than half the surgeries nationwide and plenty stick around our Twin Cities.
Minnesota is also home of the International Drag King Extravaganza, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in October 2003 and features many of proud transgender graduates parading around in all of their newfound glory.
In August 2003, a court case, Hare v. State of Minnesota, ruled that gender reassignment surgery is covered under the U Care Minnesota health plan.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by uncleputts.
These days, TV, music and book spin-offs are a pretty slick business – but it wasn’t always like that!
Here’s a list of some pretty badly thought out spin-offs from the mists of time:
So Neil Simon writes a successful play, that then becomes an even more successful movie, and then becomes a long-running sitcom spin-off with Jack “Quincy” Klugman and Tony “proto-Niles” Randall. Surely that’s enough juice to be going on with. A couple more squeezes? You got it.
Exhibit A – The Odd Couple Sings, an endeavour that could most generously be described as misjudged, particularly as Klugman’s pipes aren’t exactly what you call fit for purpose. You can download the full horror at the link above, particularly the awesome version of You’re So Vain.
The indignities don’t stop there for ol’ Felix and Oscar. Oh no, after 114 hit episodes, the concept was later revived in 1982 as The New Old Couple. New, I hear you say? So, new scripts right? Not exactly. The same scripts, in fact. Then how is it new? Well, er Felix and Oscar, well, they’re er, now they’re black. So why don’t we call it The Black Odd Couple? Dude, that’s not cool.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ochmonek.
Senator Claire McCaskill is angry at the Wall Street "idiots" who are giving out $18 billion in bonuses in 2008. So angry that she has just introduced a bill to cap their pay:
An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday to cap compensation for employees of any company that accepts federal bailout money.
Under the terms of a bill introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, no employee would be allowed to make more than the president of the United States. Obama’s current annual salary is $400,000.
"We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer," an enraged McCaskill said on the floor of the Senate. "They don’t get it. These people are idiots. You can’t use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses."
McCaskill’s proposed compensation limit would cover salaries, bonuses and stock options.
Who thinks it’s a darned good idea?
Forget the Year of the Ox, according to Bruce Sterling of Seed Magazine, 2009 is the Year of the Panic. He lists 7 reasons why; for example, let’s take look at insurance:
4. Insurance and building codes. Every year, insurance rates soar from mounting "natural" catastrophes, obscuring the fact that the planet’s coasts are increasingly uninsurable.
Insurance underlies the building and construction trades. If those rates skyrocket, that system must keel over. Once people lose faith in the institution of insurance?—?because insurance can’t be made to pay in climate-crisis conditions?—?we’ll find ourselves living in a Planet of Slums.
Most people in this world have no insurance and ignore building codes. They live in "informal architecture," i.e., slum structures. Barrios. Favelas. Squats. Overcrowded districts of this world that look like a post-Katrina situation all the time. When people are thrown out of their too-expensive, too-coded homes, this is where they will go.
Unless they’re American, in which case they’ll live in their cars.
But how can dispossessed Americans pay for their car insurance when they have no fixed address? Besides, car companies are coming apart with the sudden savage ease of Enron’s collapse. Indeed, the year 2009 is shaping up as a planetary Enron. Enron was always the Banquo’s ghost at the banquet of Bushonomics. The moguls of Enron really were the princes of contemporary business innovation, and the harbingers of the present day.
A police officer in Brisbane, Australia, got into hot water for trying to claim … free donuts from a local Krispy Kreme:
A Brisbane police officer got into a holey row with Krispy Kreme staff, demanding to be served free doughnuts.
Shocked customers looked on as the officer argued with staff for several minutes in a bid to get his freebies, before finally storming off – empty handed and non-cinnamon-fingered. [...]
As the icing on the cake, Krispy Kreme has now decided to stop supplying Brisbane police with leftover doughnuts.
Turns out, it was a simple misunderstanding:
Before the incident, officers had been regularly popping in to collect free boxes of leftover doughnuts at the store in nearby Albert St at the end of the day. Staff were unable to sell the doughnuts and were only too happy to oblige.
A police source said the officer had become confused and thought the free doughnut arrangement applied at all times. "Everyone’s a bit annoyed because they were a nice treat at the end of the day with a coffee," he said.
Just watch this video to get an idea of how my husband’s mind works. Here it is:Jonathan’s video with Mrs. Bobbie.
– via thetowells
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Lori T.
What’s up with Google? Has anyone else seen this? Every single search I do on Google now returns "This site may harm your computer," even when I search for … Google!
Update: Seems like this bug was fixed already! Phew!
