Do Politicians Lie?

Great links.

clipped from online.wsj.com In recent weeks, Ron Paul overstated the U.S. death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rudy Giuliani overstated the impact on national crime rates of declining New York rates during his mayoral tenure, Barack Obama overstated the potential impact of an increase in voter turnout among black voters in the South, and John Edwards chose the higher of two government estimates of the number of Americans without bank accounts to emphasize a point. Those statistical stretches were identified and corrected by a pair of Web sites aiming to keep close tabs on the factual claims of the 2008 candidates. FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, monitored the last presidential race as well. It was joined two weeks ago by PolitiFact, a joint venture of the St. Petersburg Times and the Congressional Quarterly that rates candidates' claims on a so-called Truth-O-Meter, which has six settings ranging from "True" to "Pants on Fire."

Do Politicians Lie?

Gadgets You Can Probably Live Without

clipped from www.crestock.com iPod Toilet Roll Holder is for real and can be purchased for $199 The Beerbelly Beverage Bag For all those who despite lots of hard work (down the pub) just aren't able to build that coveted beer belly, here's quite literally a beer belly to sling across your neck! The key selling-point is that it'll enable you to smuggle beer and booze past the most vigilant bouncers at gigs, games etc. As long as you don't mind the weird looks you'll be getting once people nearby hears the splashing noises coming from your 'belly', that is. The Funtrak Paintball Tank $16000 custom built beast Toshiba 360 Gaming Helmet I always figured that sleek, 360 degree motion controlled goggles would be the next big thing in computer/television output, but then Toshiba pulls a stunt like this. Instead of a cool set of wrap-around goggles, they hit on the idea of strapping the freak brother of an old-fashioned CRT television onto some poor girl's head.

Gadgets You Can Probably Live Without

Homeless Creativity

Yeah, right.

clipped from www.pinkbike.com

Homeless Creativity

One-Liners

clipped from www.vegard.net "A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin "Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck." - Joss Whedon "Stupidity, if left untreated, is self-correcting." - Heinlein 7/5th of all people do not understand fractions. 99% of lawyers are giving the rest a bad name. A city is a large community where people are lonesome together. A drunk mans' words are a sober mans' thoughts. A man on a date wonders if he'll get lucky. The woman already knows. A smart man covers his ass, a wise man leaves his pants on. A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience. Friendly fire - isn't. God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. I still miss my ex. But my aim is getting better. If the opposite of pro is con, then what must be the opposite of progress? Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life. Never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

One-Liners

Absolutely Amazing: Limbaugh Chicken Hawk

Chicken Hawks: Limbaugh, Cheney

clipped from www.snopes.com There are similar stories [of avoiding service in Vietnam] about almost every other prominent rightwing Republican of recent vintage. Newt Gingrich, ex-Speaker of the House, went the Cheney route [of obtaining deferments]; Kenneth Starr, Clinton's legal nemesis, had psoriasis; Jack Kemp, Dole's running mate in 1996, was unfit because of a knee injury, though he heroically continued as a National Football League quarterback for another eight years; Pat Buchanan had arthritis in his knees, though he soon became an avid jogger. The best story concerns Rush Limbaugh, the ferociously bellicose radio personality, who allegedly had either "anal cysts" or an "ingrown hair follicle on his bottom". It is not my custom to mock others' ailments, but anyone who has listened to Limbaugh's programme can imagine the dripping scorn he would bring to the revelation that a prominent Democrat had skipped a war over something like that. Also, in his case, a pain in the arse is peculiarly appropriate.1

Absolutely Amazing: Limbaugh Chicken Hawk

Baby Boomer #1 Applies For Social Security

It was bound to happen.

clipped from www.cbsnews.com The nation's first baby boomer applied for Social Security benefits Monday, signaling the start of an expected avalanche of applications from the post World War II war generation. Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, a former teacher from New Jersey, applied for benefits over the Internet at an event attended by Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. Casey-Kirschling, who now lives in Maryland, was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, making her the first baby boomer, a generation of nearly 80 million born from 1946 to 1964, Astrue said. An estimated 10,000 people a day will become eligible for Social Security benefits over the next two decades, Astrue said.

Baby Boomer #1 Applies For Social Security

People Ferment the Darndest Things

Where I come from spitting in someone's beer would set off a right good brawl.

clipped from www.mentalfloss.com If you want to try traditional chicha, go to Peru or Bolivia, where women chew corn flour and then spit it into bowls. Enzymes in their saliva help break down the sugars in the corn. Manioc, also known as cassava and yucca, is a worldwide staple, especially in South America, where many cultures have developed beers from this tuber. You’d think it would be dangerous, because manioc contains cyanide, but local women know how to remove the poison through careful preparation. Tesquino, the yellow, harsh corn beer of the Tarahumara people of Mexico, is considered a highly spiritual drink. It’s supposed to scare out the “large souls” out of the body, leaving the “little souls,” which, they says, explains why drunk people act childish. Hard apple cider was a staple drink on the American frontier, consumed by adults and children alike. Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman was planting apple trees for cider, not for eating.

People Ferment the Darndest Things

Cannonball Run

Sit down. Shut up. Hold on.

clipped from www.wired.com And so the clock starts and the taillights flare, and they're off again, strapped down, fueled up, and bound on an outlaw enterprise with 2,795 miles of interstate and some 31,000 highway cops between them and the all-time speed record for crossing the American continent on four wheels. Roy is attempting to break a legendary cross-country driving record known to most people as the Cannonball Run. The time: 32 hours, 7 minutes, set in 1983 by David Diem and Doug Turner. Captain Roy's quest is definitely illegal and quite possibly impossible. He is one of the few drivers wealthy and geeky and foolish enough to try it anyway. So far he's tried and failed twice, but he's still convinced that his careful calculations will allow him to beat the record.

Cannonball Run

Peanut Butter Mixer

The mixer looks a lot less messy than my current method, but I wonder if it is sturdy enough to hold up to frequent use. Separated peanut butter can be mighty thick.

clipped from www.kk.org Kitchen Peanut Butter Mixer Stirs PB with less mess We like natural peanut butter, but hate the initial stirring mess. The minute you put a spatula in, the oil overflows and is everywhere. This stirrer seals the jar, and with a few quick turns the peanut butter is completely mixed and there is zero mess. Easy to use: you put the lid on, insert the stirrer and turn the knob. The gasket on the hole where you put the stirrer even cleans it off when you are done! My husband actually sneaks in a new jar of peanut butter so that he can mix it up before I get to. -- Sessalee Hensley Peanut Butter Mixer $9 Available from Lehman's Or $10 from Amazon Manufactured by Witmer Prodcuts, Inc. Posted on May 7, 2007 at 5:00 AM | +del.icio.us +digg +reddit

Peanut Butter Mixer

6 Tips for Controlling Depth of Field

clipped from blog.epicedits.com Depth of field (DOF) is one of the most important factors in determining the look and feel of a photograph. It’s also the most overlooked for photographers moving from a point-and-shoot camera to a digital SLR camera. The dSLR (and most of the ultra-zooms) offers huge amounts of control over depth of field, and you should know how to utilize that control. Depth of field refers to the distance (depth) from the focus point that a photo will be sharp, while the rest becomes blurry. A large, or wide, depth of field will result in much of the photo in focus. A small, or narrow, depth of field will result in much more of the photo out of focus. BIG APERTURE = SMALL F/NUMBER = SMALL DEPTH OF FIELD SMALL APERTURE = BIG F/NUMBER = BIG DEPTH OF FIELD

6 Tips for Controlling Depth of Field

Gorillapod

clipped from photojojo.com The Original Gorillapod has been a fave since it was first released -- the fun and pocketable tripod supports a Point & Shoot camera just like a mini version of a traditional tripod. But bend its tentacle-like arms it'll stand on uneven surfaces, wrap around poles, tree branches, or railings, and grab onto nearly any object in sight. Try that with your tripod! Suddenly, impossible angles, vacation photos with everyone in them, sharp-as-a-tack long exposures... all become possible.

Gorillapod