SNL on Obama

Sad, but too true:

Which is Real?

From Reuters:

Luigi Garlaschelli, a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia, reproduced the full-sized [Shroud of Turin] using materials and techniques that were available in the middle ages.

I wish Reuters said how he made it because I want to make one, too.

Edit@2:35

Found it:

They placed a linen sheet flat over a volunteer and then rubbed it with a pigment containing traces of acid. A mask was used for the face.

PIGMENT, BLOODSTAINS AND SCORCHES

The pigment was then artificially aged by heating the cloth in an oven and washing it, a process which removed it from the surface but left a fuzzy, half-tone image similar to that on the Shroud. He believes the pigment on the original Shroud faded naturally over the centuries.

They then added blood stains, burn holes, scorches and water stains to achieve the final effect.

World of WTF?!? Wedding Edition.

I've just recently discovered it. It is vast. It is full of awesome, creepy, and tacky, all with a healthy dose of WTF on top. The above photo? Oh, that's just the "tiny bride" photo trend. Observe this Hello Kitty wedding in Japan - you only need to watch the 1st minute. See the boutonniere on the groom and the bride's necklace?



Holy Sh*t.

"'That was its fate,' he explained."

From the blog of Paul Pope, where you'll find the rest of the page:

I wanted to try applying the lessons learned from the Wednesday Comics experience to a different subject ... I find that with the format of Wednesday Comics ..., one must condense the plot and action to the briefest yet most vivid bursts of information available ... The Wednesday Comics single page format forces the artist to create a story unit which may well be part of a larger storyline, however it still must be able to stand alone.

And no, I don't think there's going to be an awesome Dune comic written and drawn by Mr. Pope, although I wish there were.

Via Blog@Newsarama

It's the reason humans do anything.

Did Early Humans Start Walking for Sex?

The big news in the journal Science tomorrow is the discovery of the oldest human skeleton—a small-brained, 110-pound female of the species Ardipithecus ramidus, nicknamed “Ardi.” She lived in what is now Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago, which makes her over a million years older than the famous “Lucy” fossil, found in the same region thirty-five years ago.

Buried among the slew of papers about the new find is one about the creature’s sex life. It makes fascinating reading, especially if you like learning why human females don’t know when they are ovulating, and men lack the clacker-sized testicles and bristly penises sported by chimpanzees.

I'm Sorry.

Hey Ladies!

Dating Montage
by smithy00101

Wondermark by David Malki

wondermark.com Some sort of anachronistic web comic. Dare i say "Steampunk?" I did see a steam powered helicopter.

I found this while searching for "Styles of Beards". (yes)
That landed me here.

A "Natural"

Get that girl some belly dance lessons!

She has more body knowledge than I've ever seen in a child that age. It's hard for a mom like me to see the overtly sexual movements she's making and not be disturbed just a bit, but her grace and talent are evident.

Always Lookin' for a McRib

An experiment:

Which begs the question: just how far away can you get from our world of generic convenience? And how would you figure that out?

As I hurtled down the highway, a pair of golden arches crept over the horizon, and the proverbial lightbulb smacked me in the forehead. To gauge the creep of cookie-cutter commercialism, there’s no better barometer than McDonald’s – ubiquitous fast food chain and inaugural megacorporate colonizer of small towns nationwide.

So, I set out to determine the farthest point from a Micky Dee’s – in the lower 48 states, at least. This endeavor required information, and the nice folks at AggData were kind enough to provide it to me: a complete list of all 13,000-or-so U.S. restaurants, in CSV format, geolocated for maximum convenience. From there, a bit of software engineering gymnastics, and...

That map above of the contiguous US.

Via GeekDad where they also have this important bit:

Von Worley warned me when I emailed him that the map isn't perfect, however.

"In the interest of full disclosure, please note that the McFarthest Spot is measured as the crow flies, at 107 miles. Also ~145 miles by car, but it's entirely possible that there's another location that's closer as the crow flies, but farther travelling on the roads. Indeed, regarding the latter, there's places in the lower 48 that you can’t even drive to/from with a car - that is, by auto, infinitely distant from MickyDee's."