How wonderful: the ACME catalog, a collection of every ACME product ever seen in the classic Warner Brothers cartoons! Me, I think I’m going for the Instant Girl. ;)
(via Cory Doctorow)
Links
Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.
Apology accepted
A little over a week ago, I posted about a new blog whose owner was essentially spamming comment threads with links to her site. Out of curiosity I just checked back to Laura’s site, and realized that she issued an apology on the 19th — just a case of a “newbie” getting a little over-excited. In the long run, not that big of a deal.
JetBlue class action lawsuit
Did you fly JetBlue between February 2000 and September 2002? You may be eligible for a class action lawsuit against JetBlue being investigated.
Carver
Oh, wow — I so want one of these!
Steer it like a car and the Carver will bank like a motorcycle. The fully automatic hydraulic-mechanical DVC system makes this exciting kind of driving possible, lending itself very well to a sporty driving style. Enjoy the steering and feel how responsive DVC balances the vehicle body for you, banking to the exact natural angle. Its low weight and aerodynamic design allows the modern 4 cylinder 65 bhp engine to take CARVER in 8.2 seconds to 100 km/hour and to a top speed of 180 km/hour.
This little vehicle looks perfect for me — small, great for in-city driving, lots of fun to drive around in, and very eye-catching. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s only available in Europe. Bleah. I can dream, though, can’t I?
(via Blue Stone)
French 'Engrish'
One of the ladies here at work just came back from a week in Paris, and she brought back an inflatable Eiffel Tower for us. The greatest part, of course, is the instruction sheet — apparently, ‘Engrish‘ is multilingual…
WARNING
HELLO, I AM YOUR NEW INFLATABLE FRIEND
FROM ALEXIS LAHELLEC.
IF YOU WANT ME TO STAY WITH YOU FOREVER,
PLEAST TREAT ME RIGHT.
DON’T POKE ME WITH SHARP THINGS,
AND ALTHOUGH I KNOW YOU LOVE ME
DON’T OVER BLOW ME.
DON’T EVEN THINK OF PUTTING ME ON OR NEAR HOT STAFF,
AND I DO NOT LIKE STRONG MACHO ELECTRIC PUMP EITHER.
Gay couple kept out of US
From the New York Times: Married Gay Canadian Couple Barred From U.S.
A married gay couple on their way from Canada to a human rights conference in Georgia were not allowed to enter the United States today because the two men insisted on filling out a single Customs clearance form declaring themselves a family.
Mr. Bourassa said he and his partner, Joe Varnell, first approached the United States immigration desk at Pearson Airport in Toronto and an officer stamped their forms. But when they went to a Customs agent for final clearance, the agent would not accept a joint declaration.
“He said same-sex marriage is not recognized by the United States of America and we would have to enter the country as single individuals,” Mr. Bourassa said. A supervisor agreed when Mr. Bourassa objected.
(via Tina)
Avast, ye dogs!
Aye, and here it be Talk Like a Pirate Day, me hearties!
Iff’n ye be of th’ landlubber sort, feast yer eyes on this filter, or if ye be a scurvy dog of another sort, here be a Gangsta to Pirate translator.
Graham, not Isabel
There’s a picture making the e-mail rounds right now that purports to be a shot of Hurricane Isabel over the ocean before it hit land. Apparently it’s been mislabeled — it’s actually Tropical Storm Graham — but it’s still one hell of a gorgeous picture.
(via Gothamist)
Driving sounds better all the time
In the midst of MeFi’s JetBlue discussion comes some more fun privacy information. This time, it’s about .
: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59652,00.html “Videocams Record Airline Flights”
Southeast Airlines said it plans to install digital video cameras throughout the cabins of its planes to record the faces and activities of its passengers at all times, as a precaution against terrorism and other safety threats. In addition, the charter airline, based in Largo, Florida, will store the digitized video for up to 10 years. And it may use face recognition software to match faces to names and personal records, the airline said.
(via thomcatspike)
Ogni homo me guarda come fosse una testa de cazi
(I don’t normally re-post entire articles, but this one was too good to pass up, and it only seemed to be on Yahoo! News, which deletes its pages after a week or two. Enjoy.)
Bawdy Phallic Plate Heads for Oxford
LONDON (Reuters) – A leading British museum has paid \$387,000 for a Renaissance plate which shows a male head made up entirely of phalluses.
The Italian plate is thought to have been made by ceramicist Francesco Urbini in the 16th century.
It shows a head made up of around 50 fleshy penises, wrapped round each other to form a dense, knotted whole.
The head is framed by a garland carrying the inscription: “Ogni homo me guarda come fosse una testa de cazi” (Every man looks at me as if I were a dickhead).
The phrase is still a common term of abuse in Italy and elsewhere.
Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, which has bought the plate, describes it as “one of the most extraordinary and fascinating pieces of Italian maiolica (a style of ceramic painting) in existence.”
It is a rare example of bawdy Renaissance art which survived the suppression of later, more prudish, generations, it said.
The Ashmolean said the inspiration for the plate remains obscure but it was painted “presumably with an individual in mind.”
(via Dad)