The West's condescending-yet-privileged view of Islam

Dennis Prager hits the nail on the head (and, as usual, Christopher Hitchens goes a little too far.) Why should Islam be singled out among faiths? Why can't we talk about certain issues in Islam without being labeled bigots? Aren't Muslims offended that we treat them with such condescending care and concern that is not afforded other religious groups and essentially infantilizes them? Aren't non-Arab Muslims (read: the majority of Muslims) bothered by the ignorant racial connotation of "Islamophobia?" Do Western Muslims realize that the reason we don't criticize Islam in public is because we're afraid of being blown up? Isn't that more offensive to them? Ugh. This is how Western culture is cannibalizing itself...

The death of tabloids...

Although Weekly World News is closing down shop, the Muslim world will still provide us with plenty of fodder.

I officially hate the Internet

It makes us all dumber.

Micro-planets and racism

Again, two completely unrelated things: fisheye pictures of micro-planets, and racism from Intel.

Two things I found

This is pretty disconnected information, but I thought they were interesting: the last World War I veteran (as Mark Kurlansky wrote "Warfare produces peace activists. A group of veterans is a likely place to find peace activists.") And where Americans think we go when we die (not 100% for some reason...)

Finding the gaps

This is pretty amazing... find correlations between various demographics. (Requires Flash)

A collection of stupid pictures

Every now and again, dumb pictures accumulate on my desktop. Here are a few (two with a sort of attribution!):

Be Prepared for a Mind Explosion

There's a warning about mature content, but this is entirely family-friendly, as were all of the pictures that I saw on the page... (Video: 56kers, do it!)

Drums without vision

I have no idea how someone could be such a talented drummer with four senses. (Video: 56kers, it's worth it.)

Cashing in on the superhero movie craze

GOOD GIRL: How many times have you called?



SENSITIVE BOY: (Sheepishly.) Today? Only five times.



GOOD GIRL: Only five times? But it's almost noon!

Tattoos and Iraqi death culture

"In such a society, dominated by the culture of blood and death, rehabilitation is almost impossible in the near future as at least one generation has become part of this culture [of violence]."

The challenge!

1. Part one: Draw 200 bad comics (uh-oh, some are funny!) - Taken by IUPUI's own Nedroid. (Warning: random violence and adultery, but generally work-safe.)


2. Part two: Visit all 171 Starbucks in Manhatten. In a day. And make a purchase at each. And not die. (Video: 56kers, get a book.)

How not to go on a date

I'm not exactly an expert, but I know better than paying and then issuing a summons for restitution.

How walkable is your neighborhood?

For all us eco-conscious, car-less losers, this is handy.

The future of pop music

Anonymous cooing and shameful repetition.

The Real Inconvenient Truth

The human cost of global warming

The Top 11 Recordings

Funny, scary, historic, awful, etc.

Life in North Korea

Terrible. Sorry for the depressing news, but his story needs to be told.

I am furious (yellow)

Printers are tracking you now. Printers?

Here's what you can do with a Sharpie and a dream

Astounding

Sidewalk art

It must be sad when it rains.

PRC? NIMBY!

One woman goes a year without buying anything from the People's Republic of China

Slow Dancing

Not the junior high type of slow dancing. (Just the video.)

How to become both rich and happy quickly (by Bill Watterson)

Okay, maybe not quickly, or rich... but happy.

I read this in Junior High (probably when I was supposed to be reading something else for class) and haven't looked back since. It's not that he's really saying anything original, but he is saying it from experience and conviction.

Happy Independence Day!

An oldie but a goodie from the Onion. (Sorry to all my neoconservative friends.)

RIAA are you listening?

The future of music: NES cartridges. This blurb implies that NES cartridges are a way to get around bootleggers. Now, it is certainly true that ripping a CD is pretty easy, but it's not exactly impossible to make a ROM of an NES cartridge. From there, record the music through your sound card, encode to the format you prefer, and voilà.

I hate "education"

Here is a funny essay on how awful college politics is. And, as someone who has gone to college for far too long and has a degree in political science, this guy could not be more right. (Note: language a bit strong; not for the faint of heart.)

Another reason to hate/love the Interwebs

The owner of http://iphone.com/ is now a millionaire.

My ambivalence toward the Internet

Man buys his own baby book on eBay. Should I be happy, outraged, annoyed?