4.28.2008
How the Black Death Changed the World
Seven thousand people died per day in Cairo. Three-quarters of Florence's residents were buried in makeshift graves in just one macabre year. One third of China evaporated before the rest of the world knew what was coming.
By the time the tornado-like destruction of the 14th-century bubonic plague finally dissipated, nearly half the people in each of the regions it touched had succumbed to a gruesome, painful death.
Seven Reasons Why I’m Becoming a Polygamist’s Wife
By: Shyla Batliwalla
I want to become the wife of a polygamist. After the high-profile raid in Texas cast a disapproving light on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), everybody’s got a bone to pick with the polygamists. I, on the other hand, am jealous of their rustic and charming lifestyle. I yearn to live au naturale clad in a strapping turquoise dress with a hand-braided up-do. It’s official—I’m going to join the commune and live a life that’s back to the basics.
Link"Note to the humourless - this article is written tongue-in-cheek."
How much your groceries will cost in 10 years
However much you hope that the food crisis will go away, it's difficult to ignore this week's headlines warning us that the era of cheap food is over. But which of the staples in our shopping basket will be worst hit?
The general picture is that most items will go up, some more significantly than others. With oil at $117 a barrel and rising, so are the costs rising of the three Fs of farming: feed, fuel and fertiliser. “We're in a unique situation in which numerous problems are coming together,” says Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University. We're not just facing rising oil prices and water shortages, but the changing dietary habits of the developing world as it becomes richer, combined with land being used to provide crops for fuel rather than food, and climate change bringing drought to countries such as Australia.
There's no doubt that we're going to have to spend more on food. And yet, compared to other parts of the world, we're lucky.Link
"Sigh - higher gas prices, higher taxes, higher natural gas and electricity costs and now groeceries - one wonders how much you have to earn a year to be simply sufficient and not 'poor'?"
The Untold Story of How the Canadian Government Sabotaged Barack Obama
This is the largely untold story of how the Harper government, with the help of a television reporter, sought to sabotage the candidacy of Barack Obama. Many of the facts of this story are on the record, in pieces, from disparate sources. What is untold is how those pieces fit together into a coherent narrative. And it is only with this narrative that the severity, and maliciousness of this incident is revealed.
Ian Brodie was probably exhausted. "Budget day" was winding down and prime minister Stephen Harper's chief staffer had spent weeks negotiating a deal that would stave off an election challenge from the Liberal opposition. Now he was standing around chatting with reporters from CTV who were enjoying a rare bit of face time with the normally inaccessible Mr. Brodie. These were the circumstances in which an off the cuff remark would create an international crisis.
Link
"This doesn't look good..and the fact I've only read about it here lends some credence that the gov't may wish to hide it....or perhaps it's making a mountain out of a molehill? Still, we shouldn't interfere with American politics in the election year - not our business."
4.27.2008
The $300,000 Watch That Doesn't Tell Time
A $300,000 watch? Luxury. A $300,000 watch that doesn’t tell time — and that sells out? Pure genius. wiss watchmaker Romain Jerome just launched the “Day&Night” watch. The watch won’t tell you what time it is. That’s so yesterday. But it does tell you whether it’s day or night — helpful, I guess, for billionaire types who can’t afford windows.
As the company’s Web site boasts: “With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds, the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night.”
Link
(And now, a new way to waste your money for those who got tired of $250 H2o Bling water)
4.25.2008
Why New York City's Iconic Pizza Is So Tough to Replicate
It costs $482.79 to get a decent pizza in San Francisco — $17 for the pie, $85 for cab fare, and $378.80 for the flight to New York. Throw in $1.99 for tinfoil.
Pizza may have been invented in Italy, but it was perfected in New York City.
"New York has a grand tradition of pizza making and holds it dear," Batali says. Which means institutions like Arturo's have been using the same equipment for decades. "An oven captures the gestalt of beautifully cooked pizza. And it imparts that."
Link
"I'd love to try an authentic NYC pizza - I think the closest in Edmonton would be Tony's Pizza - we need to go back there one of these days...."
4.24.2008
What’s So Wrong About Porn?
By: Kat Wilder
I will state this right from the start: I am a fan of porn.
I like watching it. I don’t think it’s degrading to women or men or animals or inanimate objects. I believe adults have the right to watch it or not, and I don’t want anyone telling me that I can’t or shouldn’t or that I’m sick or perverted for liking it or watching it. I don’t mind if my lover watches it; I’ll watch it with him.
I know I’m not alone in this—!—but I am getting the feeling (well, I’m reading lots of comments on blogs) that porn is the root of all that’s wrong in relationships. And they are getting validation from people like Dr. Phil, whose Web site states:
It is not OK behavior. It is a perverse and ridiculous intrusion into your relationship. It is an insult, it is disloyal and it is cheating.
Clearly something is ridiculous and perverse, but it’s not porn.
4.19.2008
Graffiti found in one of the nuclear bunkers
"I'm glad to see they're keeping their sense of humour."
4.18.2008
4.17.2008
The Ultimate Chick Repeller Tattoo
I love posting pictures of bad tattoos and I have found some real doozies in the past but this one might take the cake. It is wrong on so many levels. This person either really enjoys fisting or they really enjoy punching ladies in the va-jay-jay. I am guessing it is the first option due to what appears to be blood(?) around the fist. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. Why are there two femurs in the tattoo? What the fuck do those signify? Did they cunt punch someone to death? The story is a little incomplete without seeing the person that is rocking this but I am going to go ahead and guess it is the butchest fucking chick you have ever seen.
Mom and Dad must just beam with pride when they see this thing.
4.16.2008
Zero Punctuation : Condemned 2 Bloodshot
"The all-time best game reviewer ever - I laugh until I get tears with just about every review."
4.14.2008
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