I’m close to unveiling another site I’ve been working in which Flashcube will be rolled into. Keep an eye out here.

Actor Robert Downey Jr has in the past been applauded for his edgy roles.

But his latest may be a step too far - as the actor dons make-up to play a rather convincing looking black man in a new Hollywood film starring comic actor Ben Stiller.

In a still from film Tropic Thunder, Downey Jnr is sandwiched between Ben Stiller, and a blonde Jack Black.

Puh-leez! I guess nobody’s seen “White Chicks” with Shawn and Marlon Wayans.

Prince is set to have a hip replacement.

The 49-years-old singer will reportedly undergo surgery to remove and replace his hip with a titanium joint.

A source told Britain’s News of the World newspaper, “For months Prince, who always puts on the most energetic shows, has been complaining of pain every time he moves.

“He is totally crushed because he knows he will never be the same again.”

A moment of silence please.

Reuters translated the Hebrew word ‘shoah’ as ‘holocaust’. But ‘shoah’ merely means disaster. In Hebrew, the word ‘shoah’ is never used to mean ‘holocaust’ or ‘genocide’ because of the acute historical resonance. The word ‘Hashoah’ alone means ‘the Holocaust’ and ‘retzach am’ means ‘genocide’. The well-known Hebrew construction used by Vilnai used merely means ‘bringing disaster on themselves’.

You Po-Ta-To, I say holocaust.

Pajamas Media: Gazas Culture of Self-Destruction

Palestinians in Gaza harm themselves more than they could ever hurt Israel, argues Yael Kaynan. What future is there when children are taught that there is no greater accomplishment than blowing themselves up?

Hate begets hate begets hate.

INTRODUCING THE ECHO PARK TIME TRAVEL MART
I could totally go for some canned mammoth chunks right now.

Internet idiocy: the latest pandemic

To be ignorant has always been easy: Simply sit back in your recliner and watch Fox News.

But to be genuinely misinformed has become exponentially easier with the rise of the Internet, as lies and half-truths gush forth through its twisted web of data-tubes.

In the pre-Web age, publishing something which was patently false required a fair bit of money or, at the very least, access to some dumb schmuck who was willing to publish your ideas for you, and giving legitimacy to ill-conceived or outright moronic views required hours and hours of cherry-picking quotes and struggling to find sources that agreed with you.

Also, Oswald killed Kennedy and the moon landing was real.

Saudi Arabia goes old school

Oh, Saudi Arabia. That magical land where women can’t drive and rape victims are punishable by lashing has decided to go old school in its latest example of misogyny: sentencing a women to execution … for witchcraft.

Yes, you heard that correctly. Thanks to a coerced confession and testimonies from neighbors who claim she “bewitched” them, a woman named Fawza Falih was sentenced to death in 2006. According to the Associated Press, she has tried to appeal this conviction, saying that she was forced to fingerprint a confession that she couldn’t even read (she’s illiterate).

What would Elizabeth Montgomery do?

You Are What You Spend - New York Times
WITH markets swinging widely, the Federal Reserve slashing interest rates and the word “recession” on everybody’s lips, renewed attention is being given to the gap between the haves and have-nots in America. Most of this debate, however, is focused on the wrong measurement of financial well-being.

It’s true that the share of national income going to the richest 20 percent of households rose from 43.6 percent in 1975 to 49.6 percent in 2006, the most recent year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has complete data. Meanwhile, families in the lowest fifth saw their piece of the pie fall from 4.3 percent to 3.3 percent.

For Valentine’s Day, this question: What is the future of love?Postglobal asks. I answer: robots.

Millions of children are being raised on prejudice and disinformation. Educated in schools that teach a skewed ideology, they are exposed to a dogma that runs counter to core beliefs shared by many other Western countries. They study from textbooks filled with a doctrine of dissent, which they learn to recite as they prepare to attend many of the better universities in the world. Extracting these children from the jaws of bias could mean the difference between world prosperity and menacing global rifts. And doing so will not be easy. But not because these children are found in the madrasas of Pakistan or the state-controlled schools of Saudi Arabia. They are not. Rather, they live in two of the world’s great democracies—France and Germany.

What a country teaches its young people reflects its bedrock national beliefs. Schools hand down a society’s historical narrative to the next generation. There has been a great deal of debate over the ways in which this historical ideology is passed on—over Japanese textbooks that downplay the Nanjing Massacre, Palestinian textbooks that feature maps without Israel, and new Russian guidelines that require teachers to portray Stalinism more favorably. Yet there has been almost no analysis of how countries teach economics, even though the subject is equally crucial in shaping the collective identity that drives foreign and domestic policies.

Great article from Foreign Policy Magazine.

Math Trek: The Grammy in Mathematics, Science News Online, Feb. 9, 2008

Shortly after September 11, 2001, a small, heavy package wrapped in brown paper arrived in the mail at the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York City. Inside was a mess of wires.

Guthrie’s daughter Nora eventually figured out that the suspicious package wasn’t a bomb, but rather a recording of her father on a device that predated magnetic tape. After a year of searching, she managed to track down someone with the equipment to play it.

Corporate Knights :: Canada’s Most Sustainable Cities Ranking

Calgary came in last in the large city category. Boo! C’mon people!

The full article (PDF) is a good read.

Now I’m kind of curious if Edmonton had a good turnout for their Anonymous vs. Scientology thing. Had I been there I would watched on the sidelines.

The are few things worse than Scientology but these protesters are certainly up there. If you’re using a shitty Hollywood adaptation of a good comic book as your inspiration to protest then you make the Scientologists look good.

Yes, I know about Lisa McPherson. Yes, I know about Xenu and OT III and the whole bit. I say let the Scientologists be douchebags in peace. Besides, Tom Cruise is doing more to make them less credible than any Guy Fawkes mask wearing dummy can ever do.

Bottom Line for (Red) - New York Times

In its March 2007 issue, Advertising Age magazine reported that Red companies had collectively spent as much as $100 million in advertising and raised only $18 million. Officials of the campaign said then that the companies had spent $50 million on advertising and that the amount raised was $25 million. Advertising Age stood by its article.

But the iPods were cool.

Auto-Tune Abuse in Pop Music - 10 Examples - Hometracked

If you’re unfamiliar with Auto-tune, and especially if you listen to much pop and rock, you might not hear it initially. When overdone, the effect yields an unnatural yodel or warble in a singer’s voice. But the sound is so commonplace in modern mainstream music that your ears may have tuned out the auto-tune!

Make3D — convert your image into 3d

Make3D converts your single picture into a 3-D model. It takes a two-dimensional image and creates a three-dimensional “fly around” model, giving the viewers access to the scene’s depth and a range of points of view.

It uses powerful machine learning techniques to learn the relation between small image patches and their depth and orientation. This allows it to model 3-d structures such as slopes of mountains or branches of trees.

The eggheads at Stanford have created software that will take your 2D image and create a 3D model. Pretty neat if you ask me. If you sign up you can upload your own images and see it in action. I was going create a 3D model of my giant head but I’m sure they wouldn’t be too happy with it.

Microsoft Offers $44.6B for Yahoo: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Microsoft Corp. has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.’s dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets.

The surprise offer of $31 per share, made late Thursday and announced Friday, comes with Sunnyvale-based Yahoo in a vulnerable position.

In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will “carefully and promptly” study Microsoft’s bid.

With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo’s stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround but sees more turbulence through 2008.

Who knows if this will pan out or not but if it does I hope the Yahoo Technologies I use like YUI and Flickr are safe.

China ‘will stop the rain’ for Olympics | Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

CHINESE weather boffins say they have stopped the rain from falling in experiments aimed at guaranteeing a dry opening ceremony at August’s Olympic Games.

With no roof on the showpiece Bird’s Nest stadium, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has been charged with developing methods of preventing wet weather spoiling what promises to be a spectacular start to the Games on the evening of August 8.

“Our experiments with rain mitigation have been aimed at light rain,” said Zhang Qian, head of weather manipulation at the bureau.

The answer is of course China but I would have guessed John Fogerty. Read the article for more info.

Articles: How to Spot Arial

There is a difference between Helvetica and Arial. Take the test.

CTV.ca | Trustees approve Afrocentric school for Toronto

Trustees with the Toronto District School Board have voted to approve an “operational model” for an Afrocentric school, a controversial plan to help struggling black students in the city’s education system.

“The strategies developed by our staff following consultation with our communities, will hopefully more effectively address the needs of youth who have historically struggled in TDSB schools,” John Campbell, chair of the board, said in a press release late Tuesday night.

Didn’t we deal with segregation in schools like, I don’t know, over 40 years ago?

AfriGadget » Blog Archive » The BodaPhone in Uganda
Seriously cool portable payphone from Uganda.

Interestingly, his ordeal seems to gather support from both sides of the political spectrum despite the fact that under any other circumstance those on the Left would find him hard to stomach. However, keep in mind that freedom of speech does encompass the freedom to be a douche. That being said, draw your own conclusions. Here’s his opening statement.

::: the future of ideas :::

Lawrence Lessig is offering his book “The Future of Ideas” as a free download. I should have waited a year as I bought it off Amazon.

While you’re at it, have a listen to his lecture on corruption.

It’s also available on iTunes as a podcast if you want to listen to it on the go. Good stuff.

Balloon for each Kassam on UN doorstep | Jerusalem Post

As the United Nations Security Council debated a response to the situation in the Gaza Strip and Sderot, Israel’s New York Consulate held a protest in front of UN headquarters on Thursday, in which they placed 4,200 red balloons on the UN’s doorstep. The number of balloons signified the 4,200 Kassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since the 2005 disengagement from the Strip.

The display was meant to raise world awareness to the fact that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip are part of an effort to end the rocket attacks, the consulate said in a statement.

I doubt that it’s nearly as catchy as “99 Luft Balloons” by Nena.

500 XL Super Duper Big Earbud Speakers

Sometimes bigger IS really better, especially when it comes to sound. That’s why we took a puny pair of earbuds, put them in Fred’s highly technical Way Big machine, and created 500XL - it’s 500 times the size of the original! How great will these look on your desktop alongside your mp3 player or PC? 500XL includes a built-in amp and 3-way power - it runs on batteries; you can connect it to your PC’s USB port with the supplied cord; or plug it into the wall with a generic power supply (not included). The stand-up, peggable clamshell packaging really makes a statement.

OK, seriously. Someone please get me these.

Mother sacrificed her life by refusing cancer treatment so her premature baby would live | the Daily Mail

Four months into her pregnancy, Lorraine Allard was devastated to learn she was in the advanced stages of cancer.

Doctors advised her to have an abortion and start chemotherapy straight away.

Instead, with steadfast courage, she insisted on waiting long enough to give her unborn son a chance to survive, telling her husband Martyn: “If I am going to die, my baby is going to live.”

Wow.

Israel wants to cut Gaza links after border breach | International | Reuters

Israel wants to cut its links with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory’s border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade, Israel’s deputy defence minister said on Thursday.

Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, pulled troops and settlers out in 2005 but still controls its northern and eastern borders, airspace and coastal waters, and has imposed a blockade it says is meant to counter militant rocket fire.

I’m sure this can all be solved by three rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors between Egypt and Israel.

Woman With Tattoo From Homemade Gun Got Sick - Kansas City News Story - KMBC Kansas City

Some women in Springfield are regretting their decision last week to get a tattoo from a door-to-door tattoo salesman. At least one person had to be hospitalized and the others face serious health risks.

Friday night, a man knocked on doors holding a tattoo gun and offering his services. Tamra Eason described the tool as homemade, but still agreed to pay for a tattoo. So did two other women in her apartment complex.

I’m sure the price was good.

globeandmail.com: Blame it on Hamas

Israel agreed Monday to allow diesel fuel and medicine into Gaza on a one-time basis, easing the blockade it imposed because of rocket attacks on Israel’s southern towns. This concession will not be enough to placate critics who had jumped all over the country earlier in the day, accusing it of exacting, in the words of European Union external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a “collective punishment of the people of Gaza.” Nor will the gesture in any way encourage Hamas to order its thugs to rein in their attacks on civilian targets in Israel. Never ones to let a good turn go unpunished, one of the terrorist group’s leaders, Mahmud Zahar, made as much clear yesterday, promising “to continue on the path of jihad and resistance, whatever the sacrifices and suffering, until victory or martyrdom.” The villains in the tawdry drama being played out at the expense of the impoverished and downtrodden Gazans should be obvious. But in case it’s not, here’s a hint: It’s not Israel.

I was thinking more of the lines of Milli Vanilli and was going to blame it on the rain but the Globe thinks otherwise.

reportonbusiness.com: Quebecor World seeks bankruptcy protection
Quebecor World Inc. filed Monday for creditor protection, telling a court hearing it will run out of cash within days, after failed attempts over the weekend to strike a compromise deal with its bankers.

The struggling commercial printing giants application for protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act was being heard in Quebec Superior Court.

“We are days from a total liquidity collapse,” Derrick Tay, a lawyer for Quebecor World told the court. If the company doesnt get the emergency debt financing it is seeking, it will run out of cash by Thursday, he said.

There goes the neighborhood. Seriously though, who would have thought this a few years ago?

Mr. Deity is easily the funniest video podcast I’ve ever watched.