i12bent: Richard Brautigan’s books always had cool covers with a story in the picture, caroming off from the stories inside the book…
This could be one of them:
“My God, ma’am, you’re so pretty I’d walk ten miles barefooted on a freezing morning to stand in your shit.” ― Richard Brautigan, The Abortion
— From SF.
![thedailywhat:
Stereotype-Challenging Study of the Day: A British study billed as “the most comprehensive ever conducted on gender driving differences” has concluded that women are better at parking cars than men.
The study, which relied on surveillence camera footage of over 2,500 drivers across 700 parking garages, was devised by professional driving instructor Neil Beeson, and produced by car park firm NCP.
Among its findings: Women are better than men at tracking down spaces, lining up with the parking space, and reversing into spots “by the book.” Meanwhile, men are better at entering spaces while driving forward, and exhibit more confidence than their female counterparts, leading to quicker parking decisions.
“The results also appear to dispel the myth that men have better spatial awareness than women,” said Beeson. “It shows that us men need to give our partners more respect when it comes to parking. The facts don’t lie.”
[telegraph / photo: corbis.]
Awwwwwww shiiiit!
— From SF.](http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/whileyouweresleeping/16770398779/1/tumblr_lyml27oEMY1qzpwi0)
Stereotype-Challenging Study of the Day: A British study billed as “the most comprehensive ever conducted on gender driving differences” has concluded that women are better at parking cars than men.
The study, which relied on surveillence camera footage of over 2,500 drivers across 700 parking garages, was devised by professional driving instructor Neil Beeson, and produced by car park firm NCP.
Among its findings: Women are better than men at tracking down spaces, lining up with the parking space, and reversing into spots “by the book.” Meanwhile, men are better at entering spaces while driving forward, and exhibit more confidence than their female counterparts, leading to quicker parking decisions.
“The results also appear to dispel the myth that men have better spatial awareness than women,” said Beeson. “It shows that us men need to give our partners more respect when it comes to parking. The facts don’t lie.”
Awwwwwww shiiiit!
— From SF.
(via theatlantic)
—
Newt Gingrich harried Bill Clinton for having sex with an intern 27 years his junior when he was having sex with a staffer 23 years younger than himself. His arrogance, meanwhile, verges on monomania. He once wrote of himself as the “definer of the forces of civilisation”. (via theeconomist)
Which is why I implore you, dear Republicans: please nominate him as your candidate.
— From SF.
(via theeconomist)
If 2012’s Oscar-nominated movie posters told the truth
My thoughts exactly.
Click through for more truthiness.
— Via Kottke, from SF.
| Interviewer: | You’ve long argued for the decriminalization of marijuana. Do you smoke weed? |
| Barney Frank: | No. |
| Interviewer: | Why not? |
| Barney Frank: | Why do you ask a question, then act surprised when I give an answer? Do you think I lie to people? |
| Interviewer: | I thought you might explain why you support decriminalizing it but don’t smoke it. |
| Barney Frank: | Do you think I’ve ever had an abortion? |
—
Alan Davies as Roland White in Whites.
— From SF.
—
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, seems to be saying that privacy and economic growth are incompatible.
This is, of course, the exact response you’d expect from someone who’s personally made millions (billions?) of dollars exploiting people’s privacy. Facebook is sure to be wary of some strict new privacy regulations that the EU is recommending.
I loathe Sandberg’s line of reasoning here, that somehow protecting consumer rights is an anathema to making money. Protecting consumers, to my mind, is one of the purposes of government, particularly in a world where corporations have increasing power over our everyday lives, are ever more resistant to self-policing and are bigger, richer and more global than has ever been known in history.
It strikes me that this may be one of the greatest differences between the theories of government in Europe and the United States. I’m becoming more and more wary of a government that insists on protecting the powerful on the backs of the powerless.
(via jimray)
Agreed, most enthusiastically. Reading this, I am torn between shock and amusement. I can’t fathom how the bright, talented Ms Sandberg can keep a straight face whilst equating privacy protection to anti-capitalism before a European audience. I can only conclude that this doesn’t stem from a strong belief in market freedom, but either profound cynicism or a complete misunderstanding of how Europe works. Or both.
Luckily, and unlike here, lobbying only goes so far in the EU. Fingers crossed it’ll stay that way.
— From SF.
(via jimray)
Michael Caine & Natalie Wood.
So sexy it makes me want to cry.
— From SF.
(Source: aconversationoncool)
Fantastic short tells you everything you need to know about graphene. It was made by Aussies, part of the Cyberscreen competition at Science Online 2012. And, deservedly, it won the Grand Prize.
It’s 3’42”, watch it, learn something.
— From Raleigh, NC.
Comedian Ruby Wax tells of being a Beatles fan during grad school:
“I used to call the operator in Liverpool from Chicago so that I could hear the accent and all my girlfriends would be crowded around the phone and when she, you know, would say ‘Livapoool’ we’d scream. We’d scream and then we’d hang up.”
(From BBC radio 4 Saturday Live)
— From London.
—
Speaking of racism, this has got to be my favorite anti-French smackdown, courtesy of friend Jameson’s American grandfather, a World War II veteran.
— From SF.
Image: Vache raciste? by jasonpermenter.
Double racist, actually, the first one (which would be la vache espangol) is a French derogatory term for the Spanish.
Actually, thispaperlife, the first one in this image is “vache mexicaine.” You will never see a traditional Mexican outfit in Spain, and to think otherwise is likely to offend both Spaniards and Mexicans.
But to clarify, the words “vache espagnole” are part of a longer phrase, “parler anglais comme une vache espagnole.” Literally translated, “to speak English like a Spanish cow,” which means to speak English really badly.
The phrase is not derogatory to cows, nor Spanish people. We don’t call the Spaniards “Spanish cows.” In fact, I don’t believe we even have a derogatory word for Spaniards the way you Americans do for people of Hispanic descent (although we do for Italians–”rital“–and Germans–”boche”). The worst term I’ve ever heard to designate Spaniards is “espingouin,” a combination of “espagnol” (Spanish) and “pingouin” (penguin). It 1/ doesn’t mean anything, because there aren’t many penguins in Spain and 2/ is more of a sweet, funny-sounding term of endearment.
You see, we do that in Europe, because with so many different cultures in such a small space, we have no problem poking fun at each other and ourselves. The Portuguese mock the Spaniards for being vain and proud, the Spaniards mock the French for the same reason, everyone mocks the Germans for following the rules, everyone mocks the English for being insane, the English mock the French for being pompous, self-important, and irrelevant, and the feeling is very much mutual. And did I mention what everyone thinks of Italians? We’re a big, loud family, and we like to shout at each other, the better to make up later on. We started enough wars amongst ourselves to know that we’re all different, we won’t agree on everything, and the best we can do is share the space that’s been allotted to us peacefully (hence the EU). We’re not afraid of stereotypes, because we don’t mind applying them to ourselves.
The phrase itself is often used self-deprecatingly. I speak English like a Spanish cow, which means not at all: cows don’t speak, so imagine a Spanish cow trying to speak English.
— From SF.
jasonpermenter: BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
Translation: “I know I’m not the first one to say it, but seriously, American football is so fucking homoerotic. Look at all these boys clad in tight capri pants, piling up on top of each other, rubbing each other’s muscly asses. Even that makeup they put under their eyes has something seductive about it. I mean, as a woman, I feel as if I’m intruding on a private moment, and I must look away, let them have their fun on the field, with all the older guys watching from the sidelines, getting off on it. It’s all very ancient Greece.”
True story.
— From SF.
