Endeavor Launch From a Mother@#$%in' Plane!

A New Jersey woman captured these images while flying from New York to Florida. Here is the article.

Who you gonna call, ese?

There is a Mexican 1st year PhD student in the office across the hall from mine and this is the background on his computer.



He is teaching a class this summer and I am begging him to act as stereotypical as possible for the first 10 minutes or so on his first day.

Some Really Cool Communist Architecture I Lifted from Another Blog

Here is a link to some really amazing architecture from the former Yugoslavia. The structures are monuments honoring Yugoslavia's involvement in WWII. All of the monuments are in the process of decaying. I guess this is because Yugoslavia is no longer around and the countries that have come up in its place don't care to honor the old country's history. The structures were commissioned by Josip Broz Tito, the former dictator of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was a made up by many different ethnic groups and cultures, so the momuments don't honor one specific person or group. This is why many of them are difficult to interpret. My two favorites are 1 and 18. Honorable mention goes 11. It is one of the few that have a clear meaning to me (fists rising up). Check them out. Here is even more info and history on them. Hat Tip: Tyler Cowen.

Who Doesn't Want More Head?

Even if you weren't aware that this problem existed, you can still rest easy knowing that scientists are working on a solution. Hopefully it will make stout beer cheaper in future.

C'était un Rendezvous

This is one of the coolest short films I have ever seen. In the early hours of a pleasant Parisian morning, French filmaker Claude Lelouch attached a 35mm camera to the front bumper of his Mercedes-Benz 450SEL and took to the streets of Paris in a choreographed but dangerous and unauthorized high speed drive. As Lelouch drove his Mercedes past most of Paris's iconic landmarks, at speeds topping 85 mph, he drove over sidewalks, blew through red lights, drove the wrong way down many small one-way streets, and had a few near misses with other vehicles.

Production of this film landed Lelouch in jail and he faced significant moral outrage from the public. Over time, though, this film has cemented itself as a cult classic and is now widely considered the best high-speed automobile movie of all time. So, without further ado, I give you C'était un Rendezvous

Auburn University v. University of Iraiq Baghdad

Something is wrong with the location address. Here is the link. This guy is why eugenics still has some support.

The Hangout Blows Its...

According to this post on the Hangout Music Festival's website, the festival was planning on releasing the lineup today. However, due to an "amazing addition" to The Hangout, they have pushed the lineup announcement back to Tuesday. Hopefully, the festival has something that is actually worth delaying the announcement for five days. This could turn out to be a pretty good lineup.

Canoe

As part of my drive to get out and experience life a little more, I am thinking about getting a canoe. There are a few that I have looked at and researched on the internet. I wanted to get some opinions, since I know little to nothing about canoes. This is a picture of one of the canoes I am interested in. It is made by Old Town, which is one of the more respected canoe companies. This model is the Guide. It is one of the most popular models. I am also looking at another model called the Saranac. It is a little narrower (36" VS 38" for the Guide). The Guide will be a little more stable, but my understanding is that narrower caneos are a little faster. I'm not sure about the length yet. I've been looking at somewhere between 14' and 16'. Do any of you guys canoe or kayak? What are your opinions? Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Music Festival Season is Right Around the Corner...

And I am pumped! While most have not released their lineups, two major festivals have, and I will comment on both. Mr. O and I have talked about going to one this year. Feel free to add your thoughts about going. Speaking from my one experience at Bonnaroo with Mr. O and Billy, it is something you will always remember. It may seem hard to think about when snow it still on the ground in some places two weeks after it fell in Georgia, but soon enough, April will be here and bands will be putting on some of their best shows...EVER.

More after the jump...

Foreigners

People, after months of searching I have finally found it. One of the funniest pieces of satire ever written. I first found out about this writer from my intermediate microeconomics professor and quickly read everything he had ever written up to that point. Unfortunately, his writing took a serious dip in both quantity and quality around the turn of the millennium. It could be a result of his age but I think it is attributable to his decreased consumption of cocaine and gin. Be warned, though, that this is likely to be one of the most racist things you've ever laid eyes on. But it's satire so, like Quentin Tarrantino yelling the word "nigger" in Samuel L. Jackson's face, it is socially acceptable. So without further ado I give you P.J. O'Rourke's "Foreigners Around the World: A Brief Survey of the various Foreign Types, Their Chief Characteristics, Customs, and Manners."

If you like this and want to read some of his earlier stuff I highly recommend Parliament of Whores, Republican Party Reptile, and Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism. If you want a brief bio of the man he started life as a dirty hippie doing a bunch of dirty hippy drugs and writing for the National Lampoon. Around the 80's he became a Republican took to freelance writing and traded the weed and acid for cocaine, gin, and whiskey. For most of the last twenty years he's been a right-leaning libertarian writing for The Atlantic, publishing many books, and serving as a fellow for The Cato Institute. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

EDIT: NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

Free Monday Eye/Ear Food

Obviously, I'm not giving you something you aren't familar with but if you've never seen this White Stripes video you are missing out. Here is the link. For some reason the embedding code has been removed.

Skiing In Durango, CO

The UA Student rec center is sponsoring a 4-day ski trip to Durango Mountain Resort. The cost to non-Rec Center members, i.e., you guys, is $950. I'm not sure what all that includes but I'm assuming is is just lodging and lift tickets. I've sent them an email requesting more information but I have yet to get a reply. Round trip tickets to Durango are currently $450 for that time period so it would be around $1300 per person if we had to purchase the tickets ourselves. I can't remember how much our previous trips have been but I seem to remember the cost always being in that ball park. Anyway, it's something to think about.

"A Love Letter To Southern Football"

It's a few years old by now but Wright Thompson's "A Love Letter to Southern Football" still gives you chills. Enjoy.

Auburn vs. Mississippi State

Anyone up for a Thursday night trip to Starkville?