(Video Link)

When you watch this, you'll swear that it's a spoof--not a real ad televised by a licensed, practicing attorney.

You'll be wrong. Dan Muessig is a criminal defense attorney in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His ad shows a series of actors playing criminals that Muessig has sprung loose from the pokey. It's so preposterously over-the-top that some lawyers find it offensive. Elizabeth Daley writes for Reuters:

Tom Loftus, spokesman for the Allegheny County Bar Association, found the ad “insulting to Pittsburgh lawyers and lawyers across the country, who take great pride in their profession.”

He said he worried that the video could be misinterpreted: “There could be kids watching it, or people who don’t even understand what tongue-in-cheek means, and what they’ll see is: If you commit a crime, this attorney will get you off without any explanation.”

Muessig defends the commercial as a reflection on real problems in the criminal justice system:

“It’s a send-up of the cartoonishly amoral Jewish criminal-defense attorney,” he said. “The criminal justice system is broken, it creates a system where we are basically putting people on a conveyor belt to prison. If you want to get your ire up, get your ire up about that.”

-via Nag on the Lake

(Mandatory Roller Coaster/Aram J. French)

Tacos just make life better, as this pharmaceutical advertisement advises us. What was the original question? It doesn't matter. Now is always a good time for tacos.

-via Foodbeast

(Video Link)

Clint Eastwood wore the same pancho through all three Dollars Trilogy moview without washing it. Arnold Schwarzenneger was paid approximately $21,429 per word in Terminator 2. The run time of the movie Titanic is 3 hours, 14 minutes--the same amount of time that it look for the ship to sink after it struck an iceberg.

These are just 3 of 31 rapid-fire facts about famous movies rounded up in this BuzzFeedPop video. Enjoy.

-via Daily of the Day

Three years ago, we looked at trivia about the famous action television show Xena: Warrior Princess. That show was a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. It aired from 1995 to 1999. Here are some facts that you might not know about it.

1. Series creator Christian Williams looked at how Hercules had been presented in both the Greek myths and modern films, such as the 1958 Steve Reeves movie Hercules. He decided that the show should present Hercules with “a completely American persona.” His model for this character was Joe Montana (left), an American football star.

2. The franchise was conceived of as a series of televised movies, not a regular television show. The title role was offered to Dolph Lundgren (right), who was most famous for his portrayal of Rocky Balboa’s Russian opponent in Rocky IV.

3. The title role was given to Kevin Sorbo. He wasn’t the most muscular actor to audition for the role, but he conveyed the right personality for the character. Producer Dan Filie said that Sorbo’s Hercules seemed like “a guy you wanted to hang out with . . . a regular, good guy.”

4. The role of Zeus was offered to Charlton Heston. He passed. The producers then offered the role to Anthony Quinn, who accepted it.

5. Producer Eric Gruendemann searched for the right place to shoot the show. He wanted someplace in the southern hemisphere in order to get longer daylight outdoor shooting hours. He considered South Africa and Australia. But then another producer suggested New Zealand.

He and his colleagues explored New Zealand and found that it was an inexpensive place to film that offered great scenery. Gruendemann said, “Within two or three hours of Auckland, we can do so many different kinds of looks.”

6. Each pair of Hercules’s woven leather pants took multiple craftsmen 6-7 days to make.

The Scandinavian design company Kings of Sweden sells rugs made out of the brand labels of used jeans. That's a novel approach! They come in 2 sizes: 140 x 200 cm and 160 x 240 cm. They'd look great as office accent pieces.

-via Nerdcore

@KenJennings if you do get pulled over, please don't try to eat your stash.

— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) March 8, 2014

It was kind of the Seattle Police Department to prevent Jeopardy! star Ken Jennings from doing anything rash.

Just play it cool. Don't mention the pencils and they might not even notice.

But we librarians would like to have a talk with you. Please report to the reference desk.

-via Dan Lewis | Photo: Officer Phil

(Photo: 1987, Soviet Air Force Tu-95 escorted by US Navy F-14A)

In 1952, the Soviet Union flew its first Tu-95 "Bear"strategic bomber. This turboprop plane was designed to fly great distances (up to 10,000 miles) to drop nuclear weapons inside the United States. During the Cold War, these planes occasionally flew with their deadly payloads menacingly close to US airspace.

Now obviously you're thinking: "I've got to own one!" Well, it looks like the mysterious German seller has pulled it down from eBay. Hopefully this is only a temporary measure and it'll be back online soon.

Sean Gallagher of Ars Technica says that the plane is a Tu-95MS built in 1987. It's a variant designed to fire cruise missiles. It was owned by the Ukrainian Air Force and comes with only 454 flight hours on the odometer.

The bomber is a fixer-upper. The seller says that "It is necessary to make a technical service and prolongation of the data limit." But that's nothing that a good shade tree mechanic can't tackle.

-via Glenn Reynolds

In 1903, William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson built their first motorcycle--the first of what became a great American tradition. Their factory was a crude wooden workshop that measured just 10 x 15 feet. Though it may have seemed presumptuous to paint such a grand title on their shed, Harley and Davidson's later accomplishments would justify it.

-via Ka-ching!

We've seen a custom-built bacon alarm clock before. But this one comes with the all of the portability of a smartphone.

The Oscar Meyer Institute for the Advancement of Bacon--wait, let's stop right there.

There's an Institute for the Advancement of Bacon. It exists. The mission of this esteemed organization is "creating a better bacon strip and forging a better bacon future." No matter what depressing news you may encounter from around the world or your own personal life, go to bed tonight secure in the knowledge that there is an Institute for the Advancement of Bacon. There are people out there making the world a better place for you and me.

Okay, back to the bacon alarm clock. It's a smartphone app and hardware peripheral that shoots out puffs of bacon-scented air at a time selected by you. For me, that would mean constantly. But presumably the device cannot be used as frequently as that without refills.

You can see the dramatic and hilarious promotional video below:

(Video Link)

-via Technabob

(Photo: Janet Galore)

In a fascinating article for Tablet, a Jewish magazine, Liel Leibovitz argues that playing Dungeons & Dragons is a good analogy for the Jewish religious experience:

The first thing you need to know about D&D is that it takes place entirely in your head. It’s not a computer game. There’s no board, no visuals, only a manual, a few chewed-up pencils, and stacks of papers on which to record your statistical progress. Everything you do, from attacks on monsters to attempts at magic spells, is determined by the aforementioned dice. It’s hopelessly procedural, deeply detailed, wonderfully abstract, and decidedly conducive to argumentation. It is, in other words, a wholly Jewish experience.

Leibovitz remembers one gaming session in which some players argued with the Dungeon Master over the legality of one of his decisions. They cited the rules at length and ultimately persuaded the Dungeon Master to reverse his ruling. This experience, Leibovitz asserts, is quintessentially Jewish:

It hardly occurred to us at the time—adolescents aren’t known for their facility with insight—but we were engaging in more than a mere pastime for the socially awkward and the romantically inept. In the best tradition of rabbinic Judaism, we were studying in a small group, with an authoritative but by no means infallible scholar as our guide. We were being told a story—all good Dungeon Masters craft compelling ones, often based on existing campaigns but sometimes largely innovative—and the only way for us to follow that story, to be a part of it, was by following the rules. Or not following them: In the proud Jewish tradition of questioning and defiance, D&D allowed for, even encouraged, players to query one another, to cast doubt, to demand satisfaction. It provided a codex but acknowledged that the game only got interesting when players sought to interpret, adapt, or reject the rules, not follow them blindly. It offered clearly prescribed campaigns but allowed both human ingenuity and blind luck, represented by all those funky dice, to meddle with and reshape destiny. You don’t have to be a rabbi to realize that these are precisely the things religion does; in Avi’s room, strewn with pizza crusts and thoughts of monsters, we got the finest theological education.

-via Jeremy Barker

Jane Labowitch, an artist in Chicago, makes permanent images on Etch A Sketches. Her niece found this unusual heart-shaped Etch A Sketch at a thrift store. Labowitch knew just what to do with it. Here's that romantic and tragic couple, Ellie and Carl Fredricksen, from the movie Up.

Labowitch works extensively from pop culture. You can view her DeviantART gallery for photos of more of her Etch A Sketches. She's taken inspiration from He-Man, Pokémon, My Little Pony, and Super Mario Bros. In an interview with Nintendo Feed, Labowitch described how she got started in this medium:

I started playing with an etch a sketch when I was about 4. Like most kids, I tinkered with it a lot, but I guess the main difference is that I pretty much never stopped tinkering with it. I started with the staircases and blocky houses like everyone else, but not being able to draw certain things never discouraged me.

I was bored a lot as a kid, so playing with my etch a sketch really helped to kill the time. I just practiced A LOT. I used to have an etch a sketch at my grandma's, and I'd visit her every other weekend. She had a TV, but wouldn't let my siblings and I watch it all that often. Thankfully I had an etch a sketch there because that is what I would usually do to keep myself occupied. Looking back, I'm really grateful that my grandma didn't let us watch television because I'm sure I wouldn't have played with my etch a sketch nearly as much.

(Photo: Emma-Jane Hetherington)

That was my first thought upon seeing this photo of a waterfront home remodeled by Dorrington Architects & Associates. It's located in Auckland, New Zealand. You can see more photos of this modern design at Arch Daily.

The wall-sized multi-pane looks like some works by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, especially Composition A.

-via Contemporist

Or is it Or Vincent LEGOF? The correct pronunciation of Vincent Van Gogh's name is not entirely clear.

We can, however, be reasonably confident about one thing: this minifig is missing an ear, as the 1889 self-portrait which inspired it was from that period of Van Gogh's life.

Like the original, this painting by Martin McNally is a work of oil on canvas.

-via Tor

Anke Klempner's teapot cozies make me want to squee! These cute friends belong in not just your garden, but your kitchen, too. You can find her pattern on sale and more photos here. Other people knitters have made variations, including some with frills and extra colors.

These snails remind me of the martians from Sesame Street.

-via Make

I do like the idea for the design. It would make any Browncoat proud. But being on the losing side of a war--and one that lasted only one season--may jinx a relationship. It will be a truly beautiful and memorable relationship. I'm just not sure it's going to last long.

Maybe Etsy seller Sarah Mineur has a friendly return policy.

At her shop, you find other pieces of silver jewelry, including works inspired by Doctor Who and The Legend of Zelda.

-via Fashionably Geek