Matthijs Vlot has created “The Rip-Hoff,” a supercut remix of David Hasselhoff singing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. Matthijs pieced together this great video using clips from TV shows starring Mr. Hasselhoff.
Here is the original theme song for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:
videos via Matthijs Vlot and Frisbee Manitoba
Civet coffee, made from coffee beans that have been eaten and partially digested by the weasel-like civet, will no longer be served at several five star hotels in Hong Kong because of the cruel way the animals are treated. Wild civets, native to Indonesia and the Philippines, naturally eat ripe coffee berries, which pass through their digestive tract nearly whole. Their excrement is gathered in the wild, and then the beans are cleaned, roasted and sold for over $100 a pound.
Civet coffee, also known as kopi lewak and “cat poop coffee” (civets resemble cats but are not related), has become an international phenomenon in recent years, thanks to its exclusivity and a flavor that coffee gourmets describe as “smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste.” The coffee’s popularity and the high price it commands has spawned a micro-farming industry that makes previously-wild civets much like veal: The civets are caught and placed in solitary cages for years at a time and fed nothing but coffee berries, with their excrement harvested for kopi lewak.
Hong Kong’s Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Intercontinental Hotel and Langham Hotel have taken kopi lewak off their menus in response to a PETA campaign that started in October, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. The hotels did not immediately respond when asked whether the civet coffee ban would spread beyond Hong Kong.
The PETA campaign has found widespread support online. In the words of one Amazon reviewer, “This coffee comes from the poop of a tortured animal.”
Holy crap did you know porcupines sounded this cute? I didn’t!
ROFLMAO
ITS LIKE YOU CAN TELL EXACTLY HOW THEY’D SOUND IF THEY SPOKE OUR LANGUAGE
AAAAAAAAHAHA I’M DYING LAUGHINGporcupines sound like someone speaking through a kazoo and I tihnk that’s fantastic
A new task force formed by the Institute on Medicine as a Profession is charging that the Department of Defense and CIA directed doctors to violate medical ethics in their treatment of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere. The task force, which includes both doctors, former military officers and human rights activists, reports that doctors at US military detention centers were "designing, participating in, and enabling torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment," in clear violation of their ethical duty to avoid the infliction of harm. "We wanted to look at the role of health professionals in detainee abuse, and what that legacy is," said Leonard S. Rubenstein, a Johns Hopkins doctor who served on the task force. "What we found is a pretty disturbing legacy."
"Cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment."
Many of the practices described in the report have been in place since the military's post-9/11 shift, but the task force says that despite recent reforms like President Obama's ban on torture, the medical ethics issues are still unresolved. The report also coincides with an ongoing hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay, which has lasted for eight months and involved over 100 prisoners. 14 prisoners are still on feeding tubes as a result of the action, which Rubinstein found particularly troubling. "Force-feeding is ethically prohibited both in American medical practice and globally, and this is force-feeding of a particularly brutal kind."
firehosewelp, an international network of computing resources was nice while it lasted
great work USA, nice job
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Germany’s Der Spiegel has published a new manifesto by Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA). In it, Snowden says the demands for intelligence reform that have arisen from his leaks about NSA surveillance justify his whistle-blowing. Needless to say, US officials still consider him a law-breaker and are ignoring his request for clemency. But the Germans are listening.
The country’s citizens were more concerned about online privacy than Americans even before Snowden’s revelations. And they were especially piqued at the news that American intelligence targeted German chancellor Angela Merkel’s own phone.
Now, there is evidence that fears about the NSA’s wide net may disturb efforts to conclude the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact between the EU and the US, the world’s largest economies. Germany, which at the EU leaders’ summit a week ago had refrained from pushing for EU-wide data-protection rules, has reportedly changed its position (paywall). It is now pushing for privacy rules to be part of any new agreement with the US. This puts Germany at odds with European Community leaders in Brussels, who had hoped to avoid getting bogged down in controversy on their way to a deal.
The problem is that when the 28 countries of the EU approved a negotiating mandate for the trade deal, they didn’t include data protection in the framework. Inserting it at this point may require abandoning current talks and returning to square one, which could add significant delays to a deal its boosters hoped to conclude within a year. Even creating a parallel track for data talks could create additional sticking points for the negotiations.
Given the slow pace of intelligence reform in the US, the consequences of Snowden’s actions may have their first impact in an unexpected place: Not in Washington or Langley or Silicon Valley, but in Brussels.
Map of Turners Falls, Massachusets (1877)
O.H. Bailey's Turners Falls, Massachusetts from 1877. x Turners Falls, Massachusets Date: 1877 Author: O.H. Bailey Dwnld: Full Size (10.0mb) Print Availability: See our Prints Page for more details pff O.H. Bailey's birdseye map of Turners Falls, Massachusetts [gmap] in 1877. For more maps and images from this period in the region's history, visit the Massachusetts Historical Society.
the BIG Map Blog - Interesting maps, historical maps, BIG maps.
firehosehate the key caps, but happy to see this sort of design in a consumer-grade keyboard
If you don’t already own one of these, it’s worth considering.
I’ve had mine since they released them.
I don’t usually have spill problems, but I do tend to eat at my desk and cats get on my desk, so lots of hair and crumbs.
Cleaning is:
1) Unplug keyboard.
2) Take keyboard to kitchen.
3) Run water over it to rinse out debris.
4) Dry.
5) Plug keyboard back in.
6) Continue as normal.
If you spill something on it, same drill, only if you’re in the middle of doing things you can just wipe it off and continue until you have a chance to go rinse it off.
The only downside is that I found the USB cable a bit short, however, I have a standing desk and my computer sits on the floor. For a computer that’s actually on a desk top of a regular desk, the length is probably fine.
If not, USB extension cable.
Husband I need this.
Noting this…
firehosevia Tadeu
firehosevia Tadeu
fuck your money
Interlocked Coins Form Complex Geometric Sculptures
is that even fucking legal
WANT!
firehosevia Tadeu
"MASTER THE MOVES TO MASTER ME!"
Tuff E Nuff (Jaleco - SNES - 1995)
fighting game known in Japan as Dead Dance
from Wikipedia: ”Jaleco USA decided to use their own box art instead for the American release which is often considered to be one of the worst designs for a video game of all time.”
firehose"Two men charged with aggravated drunken driving who were seated next to each other on the prisoners’ bench Sunday morning found that their families knew each other."
'The defendant [arrested for a DUI; in the Hamptons for a wedding] asked Justice Cahill if he could talk to her about getting an attorney. “Talk to the bride. She has connections,” the justice said, as she set bail at $500.'
firehosebest
firehosevia Snorkmaiden
firehosevia Tertiarymatt: 'Fucking over the public just to make sure Obama doesn't "win"? I NEVER'
The Obama administration had grand plans for a national high-speed rail network, but they didn't stay grand very long. After the 2010 midterm elections, new Republican governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida spoiled hopes of such a system by rejecting federal money for routes through their states. At the time, the three governors cited fiscal responsibility as their official reasoning, but the situation always had the feel of political collusion.
A new report in the Tampa Tribune adds some spice to that notion. The paper details an interesting exchange between one of these governors, Rick Scott of Florida, and Paula Dockery, a (now former) political ally who favored the proposed high-speed route from Tampa to Orlando. Dockery tells the paper that Scott promised her in February 2011 that he'd accept $2.4 billion in federal money pledged for the project — in no uncertain terms:
Dockery said she warned Scott he would get intense pressure from fellow Republicans to reject it "because it looks like Obama wins" if the project succeeds.
"There were other Republican governors who were turning down rail money," she said in the interview. "That was kind of the national plan of the Republican governors."
"He said, 'Don't worry about it.' ... His mind already was made up," she added. "There was no misinterpretation."
Apparently his mind wasn't made up, because two weeks later Scott announced that he was declining the money. So what do we learn from this insider's revelation? Well, for one thing, it strongly suggests that the series of high-speed rail refusals had as much (if not more) to do with petty politics as with fiscal prudence. Beyond that, we're left to wonder if Scott himself received direct political pressure to change his position.
Florida's high-speed route was supposed to be the first piece of Obama's national network and the model for other cities and states around the country to follow. The line was far from ideal: it was far too short, at just 84 miles, which meant that it would compete with car travel instead of air travel. At the same time, the project was fully funded, could have been finished by 2015, and always kept the option of one day extending to Miami.
But these weren't the problems that Scott emphasized in his February 16, 2011, letter to then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood turning down the funding [PDF]. Instead, Scott focused on concerns that cost overruns would put Florida taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars. In fact, several companies had already agreed to cover any excess costs, and studies determined that ticket revenue would have covered the train's operating expenses — as is the case for most high-speed rail lines around the world.
Dockery's comments raise a lot of questions about the timeline of Scott's decision. The governor's concerns over a possible cost overrun were reportedly based on a Reason Foundation analysis opposing the project that was released in January 2011. If Scott still believed he would accept the money in early February, as Dockery claims, then one of several things must have occurred before his February 16 announcement:
Florida taxpayers (and the rest of us) have a right to know the true chain of events.
What's most upsetting about the Tribune report — though in a way also a little encouraging — is that it shows the death of Obama's high-speed rail plan was not inevitable. Many Republicans involved in the story clearly favored the idea: from LaHood to Dockery to former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who initially accepted the federal money for his state. This wasn't a widespread Republican refusal; it was a localized extreme Republican refusal. The distinction is important to recognize.
The coda to all this, as rail blogger Robert Cruickshank points out, is that Scott's decision to halt high-speed rail may soon bring his own time in office to an end. Crist, now a Democrat, has decided to run against Scott in the next election and currently leads polling by 12 points. He will no doubt be portrayed as a flip-flopper, going from one party to another, but now he can portray his opponent as the same.
Top image: Oleksiy Mark /Shutterstock.com
    
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firehosevia Albener Pessoa
Dear fellow children of the '80s — remember how we all turned into Satanists? If only we had listened to author Phil Phillips and Pastor Gary Greenwald back then, two men who realized the demonic agenda in everything from He-Man to the Smurfs. Someone assembled this video of their greatest hits, and it is mesmerizing.
Kevin Love dominated the Knicks on Sunday night, and got the ultimate validation for his performance. After draining a ridiculously tough bank shot to increase the Timberwolves' lead, Love reached his hand out and got dapped by none other than the most recognizable Knicks fan around, Spike Lee.
firehosecan't make a FYB joke here, this is nice
firehose'China Central Television (CCTV) recently broadcast a 22-minute “special investigation” into why a medium latte at Starbucks in Beijing costs Rmb27 (US$4.43), one-third more than in Chicago. The investigation linked high prices to the company’s “fierce” profit margins in Asia and to Chinese customers “blind faith” in foreign brands at any price. It also cited an old Chinese phrase to describe the relationship: “one is willing to hit, the other to be hurt”, in reference to an episode from the historical epic tale "The Three Kingdoms", in which one character is publicly flogged by his ally to fool enemies into believing his subsequent feigned defection.'
firehosevia Mintie
CREDIT: Flickr user Steve Rhodes
Asian-Americans have been moving steadily toward the Democrats and away from the GOP. In 2012, Asians supported Obama by a staggering 73-26, compared to 62-35 in 2008. This is a remarkable trajectory for a group that, back in 1992, supported George H.W. Bush over Bill Clinton by a strong 54-30 margin. In every election since then, Asians have increased their support for the Democratic candidate, including elections like 2004 where most other groups, even progressive ones, were going in the opposite direction:
Why is this? One reason is the GOP’s dreadful record on immigration, an issue of considerable importance to the Asian-American community. Another is that Asian-Americans are a strongly pro-government constituency. In a massive Pew study of Asians, released last year, Asians endorsed a bigger government providing more services over a smaller government providing fewer services by 55-36. That’s a sharp contrast with the public as a whole, who endorsed smaller over larger government by 52-39.
A new poll from CAP and PolicyLink provides another reason why this group would find today’s GOP unpalatable: Asians are the most enthusiastic and unafraid supporters of America’s rising diversity.
In the poll, respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with 16 statements about rising diversity in America, evenly divided between “diversity concerns” and “diversity opportunities.” The level of agreement with each statement was recorded on a 10-point scale, with maximum agreement being 10 and maximum disagreement being zero.
From these statements, we created a 160-point index measuring openness to diversity, with zero being the least open to diversity and 160 being the most open to diversity. The overall public received a mean score of 86.5 on our composite openness measure. By comparison, Asians scored 97, followed by African Americans with 93, Latinos with 90 and whites with just 84. And white conservatives, about all that’s left in the GOP these days, scored a mere 71.
The poll also found that openness to diversity varied by age and education, generally going down with age and up with education. Reflecting these patterns, Asian Millennial generation college graduates received a stunningly high 108 score on the openness to diversity index. On some of the diversity opportunity statements in the index, this group came close to unanimous agreement (scores 6-10). For example, 97 percent of Asian Millennial college graduates agreed that “diverse workplaces and schools will help make American businesses more innovative and competitive.”
As can be seen from the table below, Asians generally scored quite high on most of the diversity opportunity statements. On the top four opportunity statements, they averaged an impressive 79 percent agreement:
But it was on the diversity concerns statements that Asians really distinguished themselves. On almost every question, Asians registered lower levels of fear about the negative consequences of growing American diversity than every other ethnic group studied. For example, only 31 percent worried that there will be no common American culture and a low 34 percent believed there will be more inequality:
Only one item, too many demands on government services, generated majority agreement and even here, Asians were barely above the 50 percent mark, 9 points below the population as a whole.
So just as Republican base voters are freaking out about being forced to speak immigrants’ languages, Asian-Americans are proving themselves to be remarkably unafraid of our multiethnic future.
Unsurprisingly, then, Asians also broke with Republicans in their support for a new equity agenda to address racial and ethnic inequality. More than 8 in 10 Asians — 83 percent — supported “new steps to reduce racial and ethnic inequality in America through investments in areas like education, job training, and infrastructure improvement,” compared to the just 13 percent who were opposed. In addition, 68 percent of Asians said such steps would help the economy overall, compared to the 10 percent who think they would hurt the economy. Finally, 68 percent of Asians said they would be willing to invest “significantly more public funds to help close [the] gap in college graduation rates” between black and Latino students and white students, compared to 27 percent who said they were not willing to make such investments.
So it should be obvious why Asians voters are such a poor fit for today’s GOP — and why it’s likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
The post Why Asians Are Deserting The GOP appeared first on ThinkProgress.
