October 2011
Beneful has launched a German-language ad directly targeting dogs, which is totally not a gimmick since dogs go to stores and buy their own food. Anyway, here it is - but be warned that after watching this, your dog is going to grab the car keys and $40 and head out the door.
…And this is how I feel about Usher.
If you’d like a Mets logo made of flowers at your funeral, it’ll run $500. Also: please don’t.
A morning bike ride in Turin, seen simultaneously in the first person and from the perspective of Google Maps.
Today in the-robots-will-destroy-us-all-soon news: Hey, look! Leveraging the infinite photo database that is internet, now computers can recognize everyone. So, that’s great. (Via Brainpicker.) Also: here’s the robot mule that will stomp you to death in like 2020 or so (after recognizing you, of course).
Since 2001, arrests of federal prison guards have increased by 90%. So we build more prisons and hire more unqualified guards who get arrested, meaning we need to build more prisons… Jobs plan.
September 2011
The wife of a member of the British Parliament has been busted for kitty-stealing.
No one ever went broke selling shorts to college guys.
A (creepy) set of photos documenting Japan’s “suicide forest”. For some reason, I’m now humming “Norwegian Wood”.* * This is probably pbump.net’s first Murakami joke.
I sense a little sarcasm in this memo from Jerry Brown.
How one week could be so absolutely full of garbage and yet still provide a glimmer of hope is beyond me. Scientists? This actually possible?
Has New York City gone from the home of the vibrant left to the reinforced bastion of the financial elite?
Twenty subway maps from around the world.
Harrison, New Jersey, thought a new arena would put it on the map. Instead, it’s brought the city to the brink of bankruptcy.
The New Orleans cop in charge of red light cameras is busted for altering his license plate to fool red light cameras. On a police-issued car.
Apparently the NYPD is worried that some left-leaning women might still like them.
Divorce, 2011: Ashton is no longer following Demi on Twitter.
Yellow dots are where grocery stores outnumber bars. Red dots are the opposite.
From 1937: how traffic lights work.
Seven longform articles about sensational trials.
Oh my God. A guy gives his dying dog one last Perfect Day. This is why I’m crying right now, folks. Eviscerating - and so, so sweet.
Amazon should really have a heat index on the front page so you’re not ordering big books on hot days and giving their warehouse workers heatstroke.
Paul Krugman notes that the “wisdom of the markets” is hailed primarily when it’s making money for the powerful. The example he cites: air pollution.
The evolution of Good Housekeeping from 1886 to 1934. Groundbreaking aspirationalism.
Ohio says it’s fine to bring your gun to the bar, you just can’t drink. Seems like that solves any concerns.
Occupy Wall Street isn’t a protest - it’s a “church of dissent,” a place for the unheard to speak. Interesting.
Funny, this guy doesn’t look like the sort who’d lose at a video game and then hunt down and choke the kid who beat him.
An organization in the UK is teaching kids a valuable, emerging skill: filtering truth and nonsense online.
In 1870, The Atlantic gave folks the down-low on Jewish people.
Two local papers on Long Island try to figure out who bought up an entire print run from dozens of 7-Elevens.
“The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces”: like Jane Jacobs meets David Attenborough.
The DC local news just spent about five minutes talking about whether or not working out will mess up your hair.
Here are maps of all of the various valuable minerals to be found in Afghanistan. Click an element; zoom in.
The severance packages of executives who’ve recently left jobs or been fired. Unconscionable.
A 29 year-old woman, born deaf, gets a cochlear implant and hears her own voice for the first time.
So much for ever eating a free sample at a grocery store again.
The Mystery of the Toppled Trashcan.
Here, a summary of the expected impacts of climate change between now and 2100. You’re welcome, grandchildren!
Wow. The Daily Caller editorial guidelines include this gem: The Daily Caller Corrections Policy may be suspended under the following circumstances: i) When an editor and reporter agree that a correction is unnecessary or a pain; ii) When a correction would discredit, undermine, or otherwise damage a core philosophical belief of the Daily Caller and its staff; Emphasis added. Translation: if we...
The New Yorker had a great piece about Tony Bennett recording “The Lady Is A Tramp” with Lady Gaga. So I checked out the song. And it’s really great. I’ve never been big on Gaga, but she really kills this. Super entertaining.
Coming up out of the subway today, I encountered a trio of men singing old R&B numbers. Not the best singers, but a pleasant post-commute scene. Turned the corner and passed a man walking toward the station, at the moment he saw the singers. He was probably late 60s, in a dark suit with a rumpled, open-collar white shirt, gray hair dyed that reddish auburn color that, for as little as it looks...
A nice gallery of alternate proposed designs for the Washington Monument.
How seriously should one take Pew’s “trust in media” survey? As seriously as dining advice from a McDonald’s connoisseur.
Fascinating underpinning to this article: how cell phone airtime is becoming a currency. High-tech barter, basically.
Who says what on Twitter, when. “Asshole” is said an awful lot at 3am on Mondays.
Deadspin split-screens the ends of the Sox and Rays’ games in real-time.
Note to Nippon Airways: maybe move the “unlock door” button away from the “nosedive and flip over” button.
Hard to improve on The Awl’s headline for this: Dog Climbs Tree.
A dating website for vegetarians is shut down for false advertising after daters are paired with meat eaters.
Smart: we’re finally making war robots that can recognize people’s faces and kill them. Would make a great movie!
