An Interview With Bono

Bono speaks about meeting politicians, and his relationship with his family. (via Robotwisdom)

When he died (in August 2001), I went on a short vacation, which turned into a euphemism for “drinks outing”. I don’t like to abuse alcohol — anything you abuse will abuse you back. But it’s fair to say I went to Bali for a drink. With my friend Simon (Carmody, screenwriter), we just headed off. I wanted to blow it out a bit, get the monkey off my back. But when I returned, funnily enough, it was still there.

And so just on Easter (2002), I went up to the church in a little village where we live in France, and I just felt this was the moment that I had to let it go. In this little church, on Easter morning, I just got down on my knees and I let go of whatever anger I had against my father. And I thanked God for him being my father, and for the gifts that I have been given through him. And I let go of that. I wept, and I felt rid of it.

Bush Speak

In a shocking turn of events President Bush spoke regarding the Newsweek-Koran-toilet scandal.

"I just want to say a few things today about the recent Newsweek-Koran-toilet scandal. I categorically deny that the events described in the article took place as described. American soldiers may have kicked and stomped the Koran, sodomized prisoners with glow sticks, rubbed what may, or may not, have been mentrual blood on detainees foreheads, beaten detainees, disappeared detainees, drowned detainees, detained people indefinitely without trial, mauled detainees with dogs, engaged in various forms of perverse sexual humiliation, BUT I'll be damned if anyone thinks we flushed a Koran down the toilet."

Mapping Pirates

Acts of Piracy in 2004. (via Robotwisdom)

Tap that Sea

The Caspian oil pipeline, opened this week after 10 years of coups, construction, bribes, and fraudulant elections. The pipeline goes through such US allies as Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.

Superduperultra Top Secret

Antiwar collects some of the pieces of the unfolding Larry Franklin AIPAC scandal.

The crime of the AIPAC spies involves stealing secrets so highly classified that to even describe what they did involves a major breach of our national security.

Harsh Reality Time

Flag infographics. (via Hork)

A WTF Moment

What follows is nearly a verbatim transcript of an encounter yesterday at 8pm the other night at an Arco gas station.

Random Guy: Hey, do you know how to spell LOOCHEE?
Me: Um, LOOCHEE, you mean as in a name? I dont know, maybe L-U-T-C-H-I? Howabout
L-O-U-C-H-Y.
Random guy: Oh ok. I see where your going. Do you think it could be L-doubleO-C-H-I-E.
Me[confused]: L-doubleO-C-H-I-E? Ya, actually forget what I said that makes more sense.
RG: Thanks.

RG proceeds to get in the passenger side of an old beat up white Firebird and him and his friends drive off into the night.

Sample Map

An visualization which shows albums sampled connected with albums containing those samples. (via BB)

Media-opoly

This never-aired TV Funhouse episode probably hit a little too close to home for the suits at NBC.

Bagelnomics

Paul F. runs a business that delivers bagels and donuts to office buildings in the Washington DC area. His bagels are sold on the honor system with a roughly 90% rate of payment. Data accumulated over the course of many years of bagel deliveries have taught him something about honesty and white collar crime. (via Robotwisdom)

After the doughnuts, Paul F. loaded two dozen money boxes, which he made himself out of plywood. A money slot is cut into the top. When he started out, he left behind an open basket for the cash, but too often the money vanished. Then he tried a coffee can with a slot in its plastic lid, which also proved too tempting. The wooden box has worked well. Each year he drops off about 7,000 boxes and loses, on average, just one to theft. This is an intriguing statistic: the same people who routinely steal more than 10 percent of his bagels almost never stoop to stealing his money box -- a tribute to the nuanced social calculus of theft. From Paul F.'s perspective, an office worker who eats a bagel without paying is committing a crime; the office worker apparently doesn't think so. This distinction probably has less to do with the admittedly small amount of money involved than with the context of the ''crime.'' (The same office worker who fails to pay for his bagel might also help himself to a long slurp of soda while he's filling a glass in a self-serve restaurant, but it is extremely unlikely that he will leave the restaurant without paying.)

Let's go over to Stewart's house and burn something

Prometheus, eat your heart out. There's an easier way to make fire and all you need is an aluminum can and some chocolate. (via BB)

Random Strangeness

Ok, this is strange. (via hork)