Forgetting babies in cars

Over at the Washington Post: Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime?
It’s kind of a moot question since it might be hard to find a worse punishment than the guilty are already going through… This was one of the hardest articles to read in recent memory. I tried to relate to the parents in the story, but it’s just hard for me to believe that people can completely forget about their own babies in their cars.

3/13 link roundup

Monkey gets revenge on owner who forced him to climb trees for coconuts…
The punchline is in the second half of the title, which is why I cut it off.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
This comic strip, apparently known as the End of Calvin, made me really sad:
calvin_med.jpg
(click for full size)
This guy compiled all of the “grown up” Calvin & Hobbes strips he could find on the net: LINK
Don’t forget to look through the comments there, either, because that’s where I found the antidote for the above strip:
calvin_med-reply.jpg
(click for full size)
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
39 Future Magazine Covers
california-island.jpg
smithsonian-antarctica.jpg
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The best toilet design, ever

(made by the genius can coffee otaku squad at Georgia)

You say Dokdo, I say Takeshima (or the Liancourt Rocks)

The Big Picture captures the Dokdo/Takeshima (Takeshima/Dokdo) debate through big news shots: Dokdo or Takeshima
They should just take one island a piece and turn them into penal colonies, or breeding grounds for the next generation of Godzilla.
Actually, the best way to handle this situation is probably for the UN to evacuate the islands and then nuke them into oblivion. That way, neither side loses face, and that’s really what this is all about, right? A 500 year old Japanese-Korean pissing match about some rocks in the middle of nowhere… And yet, this issue even springs up in articles covering race relations at Little Tokyo senior care facilities.
When will we all learn?
– Koreans must embrace their kimchi funkiness
– Japanese must accept their well-deserved reputation for snootiness
(And of the two, I’m personally guilty of the former more often than the latter)

facebook conundrum

I have a lot of n00b friends on Facebook, and I fully contend that Facebook is for n00bs and sissies. However, if I want to see photos and happenings of said friends, this is apparently the only way.
So.
I guess I’ll join and rejoice in e-props and friending the crap out of virtual pet avatars.
////////////////////////
Why do I hate Facebook, hi-5, and all the other socnets with such a passion? Because of little gems like this:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

– From Facebook’s TOS
So will you friend me already, or what?
UPDATE: OMG! Of all people, my brother was already a member! What a frickin’ n00b!
ANOTHER UPDATE: It appears that the great majority of Facebook users are almost as annoying as Youtube commenters.
kthxbai!!
LAST(??) UPDATE: Oh for fuck’s sake. Lawyers to serve notices on Facebook, Australian court serves documents via Facebook. If a goddamn federal justice system is using it in an official capacity, you know it’s gotta be fucked.

Rico Suuu

Have you ever stayed at a 5-star resort?
I’ve done so on a couple of occasions, and Nam has done it a few times more than me, and we both agree on one thing: It’s disconcerting to find out how completely fucked up rich people are… If Lucifer’s Hammer fell tomorrow, rich people would be among the first to be eaten, for sure.
//////////////////////////////////////
These are the type of thoughts that go through my head after midnight on weekdays.
Say it with me: SLEEP. DEPRIVAzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Matthew Santos for President

Previously in this series: David Palmer for President

“For what those West Wing fans stunned by the similarity between the fictitious Matthew Santos and the real-life Barack Obama have not known is that the resemblance is no coincidence. When the West Wing scriptwriters first devised their fictitious presidential candidate in the late summer of 2004, they modelled him in part on a young Illinois politician – not yet even a US senator – by the name of Barack Obama.”

See the full article here: LINK
All I know is that John McCain ain’t no Arnie Vinick.

Upside down in the Third World…

…or is it the First World that’s fucked?
First check out this article:
The Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog: So Good It’s Illegal
////////////////////////////////////////////////
Now, which of the following do you think is harder for me to explain to a classroom full of average Thai kids?

  1. Why it’s illegal (and a jailable offense) to sell grilled hot dogs where I’m from
  2. Why street vendors where I’m from have to watch out for cops, health and safety officials and extortionate gangs
  3. Why any of the above parties can’t be universally placated with a free meal now and then

If they outlawed (and enforced) hot dog grilling in Bangkok alone, 20,000 people would have to change careers. Luckily, most of the changing would be done by just selling different stuff on the cart the next day, but still…