December 2008 Archives

Pinetop Perkins survived being hit by a train. Bukka White was a professional boxer, a Negro League pitcher, and hobo. Sunnyland Slim was a hustler. Johnny Shines toured with Robert Johnson, and Honeyboy Edwards saw Johnson poison himself. Skip James was a laborer and bootlegger. Son House started out as a preacher but went to prison for killing a man. R.L. Burnside also killed someone, but said "I didn't mean to kill nobody, I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head." Big Boy Crudup's songs were stolen by Elvis Presley. Mississippi Fred McDowell did not play no rock 'n roll. To get more recording contracts, John Lee Hooker also called himself John Lee Cooker, John Lee Booker, Texas Slim, Birmingham Sam & His Magic Guitar, Delta John and Sir John Lee Hooker. Big Joe Williams was King of the 9 String Guitar. Snooky Pryor began his musical career as an Army bugler. Mississippi John Hurt learned to play guitar in secret. Paul Pena wrote Jet Airliner, knew Tuvan, and could throat sing. After a severe case of polio, Cedell Davis learned to play guitar left-handed using a kitchen knife. Earl Hooker was so good he never had a day job. Hound Dog Taylor, who was born with six fingers on each hand but cut off one of the extras with a razor blade, said his epitaph should be "He couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good!"

A responsible traveler won't set foot in another country without knowing how to viciously insult the people in their native language. Odds are, you won't even make it out of the airport before a situation arises that requires obscenities.

But "obscenity" is an ever-moving target. It's an amalgamation of cultural taboos, the impact of current events and your mom. Accordingly, every country has developed a uniquely beautiful set of curses and insults that set it apart. While some insults are broadly accessible, like your mom, others will require a little background for the new student. Thus, we offer this helpful guide to the best and most vulgar (and very real) insults from around the world.

• #9 "Suck butter from my ass" (Chupe mantequilla de mi culo)
• #8 "A thousand dicks in your religion" (Elif air ab dinikh)
• #7 "He's as thick as a bull's walt" (that is, as dense as an erect bull penis)
• #6 "Let a hungry Carpathian long-haired she-wolf blow your dick, fuck" (Gladna Karpatska valchitza s dalag kosam minet da ti prai deeba)
• #5 "Fuck the 18 generations of your ancestors" (Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai)
• #4 "Grandfatherfucker" (Afatottari)
• #3 "I'll make sarma with your penis' skin" (Glirit mortin hed sarma shinem)
• #2 "May God give you to search for your children with a Geiger counter" (Da bog da trazio detzoo Gaygerovim broyachem)
• #1 "Stick your hand in my ass and jerk off with my shit" (Sa-mi bagi mana-n cur si sa-mi faci laba la cacat)

So you've decided that you're uneasy with Apple's virtual monopoly on digital music. So you picked Microsoft's Zune. Hell, maybe you even got a tattoo! You're bucking the trend, and you're satisfied with your purchase. It's not like Microsoft would make a faulty machine, would they? Well...Happy New Year!

Have you met the Yuki-onna? You might meet her in a snow storm, and recognize her by her pure white robe marked only with a splattering of blood and her lack of feet. She might kill you with icy breath, or lead you into the storm to die of exposure, or seduce you, only to steal your soul. She's the subject of one of Japan's better known ghost stories (the climax of which was depicted in Tanaka Tokuzo's 1968 film Kaidan Yuki Onna) and has also made an appearance in Akira Kurosawa's Dreams.

In case you're all wondering about bracket installation and air flow, here's another shining example of Russian air conditioner installations.

Ground Zero. This Google Maps mashup shows the thermal damage caused by various nuclear weapons or an asteroid on the city of your choice.

NAFTA treaty may face constitutional challenge in Canada.Premier Danny Williams Of Newfoundland and Labrador, already famous for his immensely successful ABC (Anything but Conservative) campaign during the 2008 federal election, is terminating the forestry tenure of AbitibiBowater and expropriating its assets. This move came as a response to AbitibiBowater's decision to close a newspaper mill.

This is about two things. First, it's about government actually enforcing resource contracts. Lumber mills and Aluminum smelters have been closing all over Canada not because they're no longer profitable but because it became much more profitable to close the mills and sell power from the hydro plants they were only allowed to build on an implied or contractual agreement that required them to run a mill or smelter. Even written contracts haven't been enforced. Newfoundland is finally doing something to put a stop to this trend that has made resource companies buckets of money and put thousands of Canadians out of work.

Secondly this is about the abuse Federal Law when it comes to international agreements. Provinces are constitutionally guarunteed the right to manage their own resources. Constitutionally, this decision cannot be interfered with by the federal government. This has been tested in the courts. But the federal government has the sole right to make international agreements. The question is, can it bind provinces to these agreements without their consent? Hypothetically it can't. But this has never been tested in the courts before.

Danny Williams has unanimous popular support. If he wins this one he could probably run for Prime Minister and win by a landslide.

[14:27] Jenn Klem: i wonder when our welfare check will get here dammit
[14:28] Robert: uh
[14:28] Robert: welfare wtf?
[14:28] Jenn Klem: ya, our welfare check. would have been nice to have it before xmas
[14:28] Robert: o k
[14:29] Jenn Klem: what date do they come out?
[14:31] Robert: dude, wtf are you on?
[14:31] Jenn Klem: what?
[14:31] Robert: well, other then we're not on welfare
[14:31] Jenn Klem: we're not?
[14:31] Robert: so this means that either deedee's there and this is her
[14:31] Robert: or youre on drugs
[14:32] Jenn Klem: oh, my bad. I thought since you keep buying FUCKING WELFARE TOILET PAPER, we must be on welfare
[14:32] Jenn Klem: holy hell Rob. I'm sick and tired of wiping my ass with effen thin sandpaper
[14:33] Jenn Klem: fucking at least buy magesta. I mean, its no cottonelle, but hell, at least it's soft and a little thick

Historic, beautiful and interesting footage of Tibetan lamas and yogis teaching Buddhism, just 4 years after their escape from Tibet, when the Chinese invaded in 1959. "In 1963, for the first time, the Dalai Lama allowed a Westerner, Desjardins, to film the heart of the Tibetan tradition." Some meditation instruction taught by yogis: Tantra as practiced in Tibet, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Lerab's Youtube channel has all kinds of video gems for those interested in Buddhist and Hindu spiritual practice.

Buddhism and Tantrism: "two films were originally shown on French television in the 1960's and are a wonderful testimony, revealing some of Tibet's foremost masters as they were then. It includes footage of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the Sixteenth Karmapa, Dudjom Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Sakya Trizin, and the yogis Abo Rinpoche and Lopon Sonam Zangpo. The original sixties commentaries have been retained, even though it may sound a bit dated in places." "There are unusual scenes of yogis performing preparatory meditation exercises."

About Arnaud Desjardins, born 18 June 1925. Books he's written.

Also on Lerab's YouTube channel:

The Tibetan Book of the Dead #1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

From Lerab's blog:
"A Short History of Bön - Extracted from the pamphlet "Tibetan gYung-Drung Bön Monastery in India," published by the Yungdrung Bön Monastic Center, Solan, 1983. Translated by Tadeusz Skorupski."

Jalisco, Mexico- A Mexican company has developed a new fuel source derived from organic material of nearly any kind, which could decrease reliance on petroleum.

The fuel is is produced by using a specially developed technique to extract it. Proprietary Organic Osmosis Technology (POOT) gas can be compressed, stored and easily transported to where it is needed. While any organic matter can be used as feed stock, some materials are optimal for producing higher yields.

"We are very excited when we saw the results obtained from using certain legumes", noted one of the inventors of the process.

American officials are very excited about POOT gas.

"We plan on acquiring the technology to produce POOT gas in our next round of agreements with Mexican officials", said an administration source. "This could be another step along the way to our goal towards energy independence."

Red-light districts can be found worldwide. The best known one in De Wallen, Amsterdam has gone through a lot of changes recently. Other red-light districts in Europe are also in decline, with Sweden taking a completely different approach to law enforcement. [NSFW]
Soi Cowboy in Bangkok is also world famous. While Cambodia has some of the worst exploitation anywhere, Wan Chai in Hong Kong is being gentrified. Others in SE Asia include Geylang, Singapore, Angeles City, Philippines, and Chow Kit in Kuala Lumpur.

Over in India, there is Garstin bastion Road in New Delhi, Calcutta's Sonagachi, and Mumbai's Kamathipura. Some of you may remember the movie Born into Brothels, but you may not know that both a bank and a magazine were set up for India's sex workers. The problem is no better next door in Pakistan.

Moving East, Seoul, Korea has "Hooker Hill". Just across the Sea Of Japan, there's Tokyo's Kabukichō and Osaka's historic Tobita-Shinchi.

As an added bonus - Durban renamed a street in the red-light district after Mahatma Gandhi.

In the picture below, it's called Battlestar Galactica: The final supper. In the picture is a goblet by itself at the table. Is there some significant clue by this missing representation of a figure or the cornerstone to the answer? It is such a simple goblet or cup, yet by itself, being pondered heavily by Lee Adama.If you click on the number representing the goblet, they point out that Moore insinuates the missing Cylon is not at the table. Well, there go a a few theories.

(to see the whole picture, you have to scroll to the right by using the gray scroll bar at the bottom of the picture animation)


Who is the final five?

Don't forget you have to scroll the above picture animation (by using the dark horizontal lift) to see the whole Battlestar Galactica Last Supper:
(Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

If you did check the hints, and you know that the final five is NOT on the picture. Well that's what Ron Moore asserted.

So who's missing?