Valentine's Day certainly left someone bitter. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus have decided to ban lace underwear beginning in July. Some Kazakh women, at least, are not going to take the decision lying down.

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Meep meep meep? Meep meep meep; meep meep, meep.

Deadspin 2013: The Year In Cursing | Jalopnik Watch This Woman Win A $157,000 Audi R8 On Price Is Right, Freak Out | Jezebel The Women Behind Russia's Pre-Olympic Terrorist Attacks | Kotaku So That's Why Superheroes Wear Their Underwear On The Outside | Kinja Popular Posts

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Grantland Live

The Food and Drug Administration reports that 12 percent of spices brought to the United States are contaminated with insect parts, whole insects, rodent hairs and “other things.” Seven percent of spice imports are also contaminated with salmonella. 100 percent of this information is gross.

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There are bad parking lot exits, and there are bad parking lot exits. And then there's whatever the hell is going on in this video.

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Newark Mayor Cory Booker is now Senator Cory Booker.

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The mouth that roared, Kathy Griffin has pissed off Barbara Walters, offended Jesus freaks, and said “f**king” on TV, but she keeps on tr**king, more abrasively funny than ever. Chatty Kathy will appear at Carnegie Hall on November 8 as part of the Caroline Hirsch-founded New York Comedy Festival. En route, I strapped her down for some brazenly bitchy banter.

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With Wes Anderson releasing a brand new full-length feature less than two years after Moonrise Kingdom, you might be understandably concerned that the mise-en-scène master could be phoning it in (or, in his case, telegraphing it to a calligraphist).

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I'm no marketing wizard, but if you try to trick your classmates into believing there is a violent criminal act occurring on campus, the stunt might just blow up in your face. The crew at Bevii is learning this the very hard way.

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Anthony Graves, who spent 18 years in prison–12 of them on death row–for murder before he was exonerated in 2010, wanted to use some of his $1.45 million settlement to repay Nicole Cásarez, the Houston attorney and journalism professor who spent eight years working for his freedom. But he knew it would be tough to convince her to take a gift from him.

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With Chris off on a beach somewhere enjoying a well-deserved vacation, the partners and I had to find someone to run creative in his absence. Luckily,...

She doesn’t understand the question, and she won’t respond to it.

Source: whitelaws.tumblr.com

Source: roymustache.tumblr.com

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Here's a neat map looking at how oil travels by sea around the globe — focusing on the key "choke points" where that oil supply is most vulnerable to attack:

That map comes from this recent reporting project on U.S. energy security by nine student journalists at the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative. The Web site is really worth a look — the reporters explored all aspects of energy security, from presidential rhetoric on the subject to the oil markets themselves to a breakdown of U.S. military operations to stabilize the oil supply. And the site has plenty of charts and graphs.

To accompany the map above, Dana Ballout has a piece looking in more detail at all the potential oil choke points — particularly the Strait of Hormuz, where 17 million barrels of oil pass through each day, or one-fifth of the world's supply. That includes this eye-opening figure:

Protecting oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage off the coast of Iran and the United Arab Emirates, is one of the critical missions of the Navy here. It is also expensive. By some estimates, the United States has spent as much as $8 trillion on maintaining such a menacing military presence in the region in recent decades, including aircraft carrier groups bristling with jet fighters, to make sure countries like Iran don't choke off the world's oil supply.

Roger Stern, a professor at the University of Tulsa National Energy Policy Institute, came up with the $8 trillion calculation in a 2010 study published in the Energy Policy Journal. He concluded that the U.S. has spent that sum on protecting oil resources in Persian Gulf since 1976, when it first began increasing its military presence in the region following the first Arab oil embargo.

Estimates of the actual cost vary. According to a 2009 study by the RAND Corporation, there is no official public U.S. accounting of the costs of protecting U.S. oil interests in the Persian Gulf or elsewhere. However, others like Stern have come up with numbers ranging from $13 billion to $143 billion per year.

Check out the whole reporting project here.

Nothing delights Americans more than when a taco goes too far.

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The first clip for the 4th season of “Arrested Development” has been released and it's insanely awesome.

Netflix has released the first clip of the highly anticipated return of Arrested Development. The description reads "Lucille finds a way to get around the building's strict no smoking policy and the fact that her ankle monitor prevents her from approaching the balcony."

The Emmy Award-winning series returns May 26th on Netflix.

You really shouldn't experience any of these more than twice a week. Please read sensibly.

CAUSE: 4-6 pints/glasses of wine
SYMPTOMS: mild nausea, mental and physical slowness

This garden-variety hangover is usually the result of a 'quick one after work' that went on a bit longer than you'd intended, without things actually getting 'silly'. Like the common cold, it's not debilitating, but it does make performing the simplest of tasks around 30% more difficult and annoying.

CAUSE: excessive consumption in the wrong environment
SYMPTOMS: paranoia, self-loathing

A hangover that means the first act of the day is usually chewing your own fist, this typically follows a work party, family do, or an encounter with an ex — any situation where you were supposed to meet a higher standard of behaviour than normal. You can't quite remember what it was you said or did that was wrong, but the wrongness of it is nethertheless wedged inside you, rotting you from the inside out.

CAUSE: spirits, particularly vodka
SYMPTOMS: complete memory loss

The great paradox of hangovers, a total blackout can be seen as a blessing or a curse. With zero recollection of your night, it could be that you've been spared the memory of lecturing a bouncer about feminism while throwing up in your own shoe. On the other hand it could be that you've spent a fortune having tons of fun and meaningful conversations with your friends that now might as well have never happened. And you'll never know which.

CAUSE: any one drink in excess (particularly Guinness)
SYMPTOMS: headache, vomiting, diarrhea

If you wake up with a physical, it means either your stomach, your head, or your bowels are bearing the brunt of your self-abuse — or all three, which can make trips to the toilet a bit like a game of Russian roulette. Of all the hangovers, this is the only one that can make it literally impossible to leave the house. Not that your boss — or anyone else — will have any sympathy.

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We've all been there.

The Long Good-bye:

Via: nupinoop296.tumblr.com

The Recovery:

Via: hilariousgifs.com

The Very Rare Four-Way Failure:

Via: oddly-even.com

The Up and Down:

Via: fullpunch.com

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"'Resilience' made #6 on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Top 10 list of buzzwords for 2012 because it is quickly replacing 'sustainability.' The Chronicle article notes that with all the changes affecting nonprofits in the world, focusing on adaptability and bouncing back is a good idea." So Ted Wysocki introduces his review of the new book The Resilience Imperative: Cooperative Transitions to a Steady State Economy.  It's a pretty good summary of why something that might sound a little heady is directly relevant to the work that community developers do.  The fundamental question that The Resilience Imperative poses is one that the authors credit to ecological economist, Hazel Henderson: Growth for whom and for what? This question has been asked consistently throughout the history of community development here in the United States. Lewis and Conaty advocate an economic strategy that “values diversity, is decentralized, additionally broadens, localizes and democratizes ownership in the economy and in turn widens the distribution of benefits, including the extension of democratic control over the commons of land, the corporation and finance." (Read the full review.) But parts of the book might be particularly interesting—and challenging—for community bankers and CDFIs (and, well, everyone who uses them), since the authors, Michael Lewis and Pat Conaty, actually challenge the very idea of compounding interest as a basis for financing resilient communities. We asked them to tell us a little bit more about their reasons, and the alternatives, and here's what they said:

He really, really hated these films. But you're going to love his hilarious reviews.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Source: loadpaper.com

"A horrible experience of unbearable length."

"If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination."

"Those who think Transformers is a great or even a good film are, may I tactfully suggest, not sufficiently evolved."

Read it in full here.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

Source: media1.santabanta.com

"If for no other reason, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 deserves credit for providing the takeaway dialogue line of the year: 'Nessie? You named my baby after the Loch Ness Monster?'"

"I have now seen something like 10 hours about these vampires as they progress through immortality, and I'd rather see either version of Nosferatu that many times."

Read it in full.

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Young people wouldn’t be able to get medical treatment for pregnancy, venereal disease, substance abuse or mental illness without their parents’ or guardian’s written consent, under a bill filed this week.

SB675 adds those restrictions to the state law that already requires unemancipated minors receive that permission before they can have abortions.

You think you were tired this morning?! You ain't got nothing on these guys.

This hedgehog who really shouldn't have gone out last night.

Source: data.whicdn.com

This red panda who just wants to press the snooze button one. more. time.

Source: tehcute.com

This kitten who can't stop yawning.

Source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1gnipz6Tv1qed949o1_500.jpg

This narcoleptic polar bear.

Source: memearchive.net

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I'm Captain Pickles McPantaloons. Fits me well, I think.

Via Corgi Pals

They just…they just CAN'T right now.

This dog who just CANNOT handle this water right now.

Source: addelburgh.tumblr.com

This dog that cannot physically wait any longer for this piece of food.

OH GOD, THE TENSION.

Source: flyingscotsman.tumblr.com

This dog who just CAN'T handle LIFE right now because everything is happening so much.

Source: arbroath.blogspot.com

This dog who can't handle this new hat he just bought at the thrift shop.

Source: animalstalkinginallcaps.tumblr.com

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Alright, people, let's do this.

Source: petitions.whitehouse.gov

"We, the undersigned, would like the Obama administration to recognize the need for a new national anthem, one that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out the kitchen. America has changed since Francis Scott Key penned our current anthem in 1814. Since then, we have realized that after the show, it's the afterparty, and that after the party, it's the hotel lobby, and--perhaps most importantly--that 'round about four, you've got to clear the lobby, at which point it's strongly recommended that you take it to the room and freak somebody. President Obama: we ask you to recognize the evolution of this beautiful country and give us an anthem that better suits the glorious nation we have become."

Go over and throw on your signature!

Source: gifsoup.com

The petition only needs 99,152 signatures to make it to its total.

Source: rarerborealis.com

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Is the National Rifle Association a new state agency?

A reference sheet recently sent to all state Senate offices listing contact information for all state agency legislative lobbyists includes the gun lobby group.

The NRA lobbyists -- Anthony Roulettte and Christopher Cox -- are listed between the National Guard of North Carolina and the Board of Occupational Therapy on the alphabetical sheet that includes the legislative liaisons for the governor's office, state auditor and other major state agencies. The NRA is the only nongovernmental special interest group on the list.

Grantland's Chuck Klosterman talks with Survivor host Jeff Probst about the strategy behind winning, the show's cultural impact, and general gossip ab...

The Shining, Immersion Criticism, and what might be the documentary of the year.

Quentin Tarantino Body Count

As The N&O's Bruce Siceloff reports, in Gov. Pat McCrory's first State of the State speech Monday night, the governor mentioned both an early accomplishment and a new mission for his transportation secretary, Tony Tata.

He credited Tata with moving quickly to address the double billing of hundreds of drivers on the Triangle Expressway, and he asked Tata to improve highway lights in North Carolina: