More awesomeness

From Cuteoverload: More awesomeness from Japan, especially for the kids!

From Uglyoverload: also for the kids!!!

Another attempt to break Litcube's brain.

Stay to the end for best results.

Spray and Dry Anywhere!

I'm not sure if we're allowed to introduce toilet products on this blog, but this one is so revolutionary that I must! OK, so have you heard of or tried using the high-tech Japanese toilets that can spray and blow dry your bum? The TOTO Washlet? Well, TOTO now apparently makes a hand carry version. No joke. I found this on the Web site of the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. The author gushes:

"There are apparently some people who don't know about this yet. I'm
surprised. I've been using it for several years. I can't go on trips without it. Domestically, there are more an more Washlet toilets around, so I can get by even if I forget it. But I absolutely need it if I go abroad. If I forget it, I immediately call Japan and have one express mailed to me. I must have 6 or 7 of them at home after doing this so many times."

So...

Reactions?

WORD.

Taxes!

Republicans love to scare voters by making them think Democrats are going to tax the hell out of them. McCain wants us to elect him because he's going to keep Bush's tax cuts.

In case anyone is buying that McCain's approach will help the average guy (though I kind of doubt anyone here is buying that) check this out, courtesy of an exceptionally informative and engaging article on Obama's economic policy/philosophy/thinking. (Yes, I said engaging! Seriously.) [Btw, apologies to Mr. Pony for stealing your lego icon.]

The Tax Policy Center, a research group run by the Brookings
Institution and the Urban Institute, has done the most detailed analysis of
the Obama and McCain tax plans, and it has published a series of fascinating tables. For the bottom 80 percent of the population — those households making $118,000 or less — McCain’s various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama’s proposals would bring $900 a year in savings. So for most people, Obama is the tax cutter in this campaign. .....

He would then pay for the cuts, at least in part, by raising taxes on the
affluent to a point where they would eventually be slightly higher than they
were under Clinton. For these upper-income families, the Tax Policy Center’s
comparisons with McCain are even starker. McCain, by continuing the basic thrust of Bush’s tax policies and adding a few new wrinkles, would cut taxes for the top 0.1 percent of earners — those making an average of $9.1 million — by
another $190,000 a year, on top of the Bush reductions.

Obama:Biden!

Hello, Ladies!

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues."

Full story here!

Debate coach fired

Update:


Kansas university fires mooning debate coach
By ROXANA HEGEMAN

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Fort Hays State University has fired its debate coach for losing his temper at a tournament, engaging in a videotaped shouting match that included pulling down his shorts to expose his underwear.

....

Shanahan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Friday that while his reasoning might seem convoluted, he argued with the other coach because he respected her and her opinions.

Head tracking with the Wii remote

What I should have been doing in college instead of making "fine art"

Childhood: shat on

Since this weekend was evidently about destroying more of our childhood...

I think I was talking to someone here about the Orson Scott Card rant against gay marriage, which pretty much ruined every happy memory I had of reading his books as a kid. So here's some infuriating, head-exploding examples of his propaganda/fear mongering, "logic", and bigotry, in that order:

"Already in several states, there are textbooks for children in the earliest grades that show 'gay marriages' as normal. How long do you think it will be before such textbooks become mandatory -- and parents have no way to opt out of having their children taught from them?"

"If a court declared that from now on, 'blind' and 'sighted' would be synonyms, would that mean that it would be safe for blind people to drive cars?"

"With 'gay marriage,' the last shreds of meaning will be stripped away from marriage, with homosexuals finishing what faithless, selfish heterosexuals have begun."

My childhood hero is fucking dead to me.



On a happier note, I'm not even a parent and I found this to be an awesome alternative to the horribleness we watched on Sunday!

Both via GeekDad

If you're going to pray to someone...

...Pray to Him. Here is a thorough accounting of His miracles.

^_^ Those wacky debate coaches...

In this episode...

Butt Cancer

Here's one on science and religion. Or, you might say, religion ignoring science.

Audrey Toguchi of Aiea is miraculously cured of cancer after praying to Father Damien at Kalaupapa. The Vatican is now going to canonize Damien, making him a saint.

I'm fascinated this may prompt throngs of pilgrims to visit Hawaii in hopes of having their cancer cured. And that the Hawaii, Maui, and Molokai visitor bureaus are all gearing up to exploit this.

But aside from that, it's amazing how the Vatican sends a team to study this woman's medical files and then concludes, yes, Damien helped cure this lady because there is no other explanation! The Vatican folks just have a different way of using the brain.

(As promised, I titled this "Butt Cancer," but technically she had liposarcoma, a tumor in deep fat tissue. The tumor happened to be in her butt but presumably it could have shown up in deep fat tissue elsewhere.)

Let's go here!!!

If we're going to dress up for cosplay, I think we should go here.

Finding Paths through the World’s Photos (...FPTTWP?)

Initially they did photosynth, now they've gone and done this:

what I hate/love about cosplay.

<---What I hate about these is that the person gives up at some critical point and thus makes the entire ensemble look lazy. This is like especially a double fail for the steampunk guys. A top hat awith a watch on it?? FUCK YOU! The GIR isn't bad, it's the two douches next to it I hate.
<---My love for these is that the cosplayer is either very brave or very thorough about their costume choices. You can tell they really love what they are doing. Of course, then there's the TIE fighter guys who in a weird way address the whole ship/environment as character issue we had a few weeks back. Yay! I love tie-ins! It's like going to a dungeons & dragons con dressed as a dungeon.

ComiCon Costumes 2008

No really, we should consider going next year. More pics here.

Superboy

From the now-classic, now-with-all-sorts-of-content, now-with-talking-ads site Superman is a Dick.

Secret Origin, Part 1

Han Solo at the State Fair of Texas

As an official endorsement of Strange Comic Scans week here at p.o.t., I'd like to present a few panels from a 1977 Marvel Star Wars comic depicting Jabba as a Nimbanel, rather than a Hutt.


Jabba the What the—!?

If I might add one

Um

X-Men

Superman

Batman

At the risk of sounding like an asshole...

Trends suck. I didn't realize how bad the steampunk thing was beginning to suck(ok, so I did realize) until I saw the article in Makezine for people tired of steampunk. They feature a new, hip, trend for which to rebuild your laptops and vespas. Yes, you guessed it, Cocopunk. Fuck me. Gilliganism? Are you fucking trying to bring me down? More? This isn't right at all.

It's like when our highschool outfits started appearing in a sort of cartoon form at chain stores in the mall, only it's still in that infant stage where the "smart" assholes in neighborhoods that are being put up on the block for gentrification(read art students) are nurturing it into some sort of stupid latenight mythbusters sidetrack episode that drags the whole sci-fi genre down a notch YET AGAIN.

Not only that, It fucks with the Tiki weather system thing even more, bringing cargo culture back into the mix, and making those who love Hawaiiana sad because some fucking asshole in a fez is trying to buy bamboo to laminate their Prius with. I can smell the lounge music from here, only this time, it's all covers of covers!

Please, people. Don't ruin sci-fi anymore than its namesake channel has already. I know it can take a beating. It has for decades. Don't bring Gilligan into the 'fi. Please. I had too much elective lobotimization when I watched the entire Gilligan's Island series, along with the hour long rescue episode, along with Gilligan's Planet.

Let Bob Denver rest in peace, (And yes I realize he did to the beat generation what Gedde did with Long Duk Dong, but cut the man some slack, he had to eat.) Do not trendify it, please. My ass can't take it. I know, I know. It's too late.

Ô_Ô

DAMN YOU, CURRY.

I figure I don't really need to know about diagnosing cervicitis, so instead: Episode 12 of Dennou Coil.  I'm relatively new to series anime and I don't know if this is par for the course or not, but I gotta say, the production value is slick! It's got some great editing, the design is great, the characters aren't one-sided, the running storyline is complex, and they even put a lot of depth and consistency into the technology they created. This makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

PLUS, I'm super impressed with the subtitles. Not only do they make sense and stick to a modern vernacular, but they even bother to translate signs and pan with the camera. And I love the added educational bites! 

 I should do all my learning this way. ^_^

You want structured light and computers?

Radiohead >> House of Cards

Made with lasers, “Structured Light” and computers? I rike. More here.