The Bizarre

 

 

 

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Zombie Garden Sculpture Keeps Those Damn Kids Off Your Lawn, Might Eat Their Brains

 

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There are many reasons why cities are abandoned; some, like the ghost towns of the American West, have become tourist destinations while others have been condemned or simply forgotten. These 20 abandoned cities of the world share an eerie, haunted quality that is part of what makes them so fascinating. For more amazing abandoned places by region visit the WebUrbanist abandonments archive. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have enough money and you would like to have an ugly but unique car, buy some gold and cover your car with it. This way you will attract everyone’s attention.

 

 

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AeroGraf Exhibition 2008

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Immense physical strength, razor sharp claws and scissor like teeth are not the only weapons animals use. Thousands of animals use highly venomous or toxic poisons to attack prey or defend themselves. Some animals actually shoot poisons towards victims, others store toxins in their glands or skin. Following are the top eight most poisonous animals in the world.

 

8. Box Jellyfish

Prevalent in the ocean waters throughout Asia and Australia, this dangerous animal goes out of its way to avoid other creatures. Swimmers must definitely avoid the Box jellyfish. The stingers and tentacles on this animal are extremely powerful. Along with causing excruciating pain for weeks, the animal’s venom is capable of stopping the heart or paralyzing the lungs. To top it off, the venom will slowly eat away at the skin.

7. Marbled Cone Snail

Though very slow moving, this snail thrives in reefs throughout the world. The animal uses its strong, toxic venom to catch its prey. While within its shell, the snail shoots out a nose type advice called a proboscis. From the probiscis, a tooth like appendage attaches onto the victim. The venom within the animal is transmitted through the tooth into the victim. This leads to paralysis almost immediately. Humans that have experienced a bite are succumbed by weakness, numbness, nausea and death, when the lungs ultimately stop working.

 

6. Blue Ringed Octopus

The painless bite from a Blue Ringed Octopus may seem innocuous, however the deadly neurotoxins in the animals saliva immediately begin working. Within a few minutes, a human will experience muscular weakness, numbness, followed by a cessation and breathing and ultimately death.

 

5. Death Stalker Scorpion

Prevalent throughout North Africa and the Middle East, this arachnid lives up to its name. The stinger on this animal is not overly large or strong, however the sting administered is the most toxic from scorpions anywhere in the world. It causes an intense and unbearable pain, then fever, followed by coma, convulsions, paralysis and death.

 

4. Stonefish

Inhabiting the waters of the Pacific throughout the Australia coast, this complacent fish resembles a sea rock or coral. With its nearly invisible camouflaged assistance, it attacks many fish that swim nearby. A powerful toxin stored within its 13 spines can stop nearly every animal that it connects with. If contact comes with humans, the venom will cause intense pain, swelling of tissue, shock followed by death.

3. Sydney Funnel Web Spider

One of the most venomous creatures in the Australia outback, the Sydney Funnel Web Spider packs a powerful punch. This spider is large and very aggressive, consistently creating the most powerful venom of any spider. Protecting its burrow, the spider places a web across its entrance that passers by should not enter. From its fangs, the spider delivers a powerful neurotoxin that cause extreme pain and are capable of killing a person within 15 minutes. It’s venom does not affect most mammals but has a very powerful effect on humans.

2. Inland Taipan

This Australian snake is frequently considered the most poisonous snake on earth. One bite from this serpent contains enough potent toxin about 110 milligrams to kill about 100 people. It toxin can cause vomiting and will cease a persons breathing. Fortunately, the Taipan is a very gentle and shy reptile.

 

 

1. Poison Dart Frog

 While running through the rain forests of Central or South America, do not pick up the Poison dart frog. The frog’s skin contains a toxic chemcal that sickens or kills any animal that touches or eats it. Two micrograms of this deadly toxin (enough to fit on the head of a pin) will easily kill a human being or other large mammanl.

 

 

 The all-time hottest Disney babes:

 

 

 

#1: Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) - Is there any universe where she is NOT the hottest Disney babe? She shakes, she shimmies, she sings. Con: May possibly be TOO much woman for one guy to handle…

 

#2: Jane (Tarzan) - Ok, I’ll admit I haven’t seen a Disney movie since Aladdin. But Jane just screams hotness. Gotta love the tie and white gloves. Prim and proper. Cons: Um, can you say waistline?

 

#3: Pocahontas - Umm…you know this is an *official* Disney wallpaper? Maybe not historically accurate, but never before has buckskin looked so good. Obviously John Smith had more than colonizing on his mind.

 

#4: Jasmine - Beautiful locks, rock-hard abs and she’s crazy rich? Cons: Maybe her nose is a little big…

 

#5: Cinderella - Classic beauty. She cooks, she cleans, she sews. Cons: The in-laws. I hear her mother is a b-tch.

 

#6: Mulan - Good skin, lustrous black hair AND the voice of Lea Salonga? I’m in heaven. Cons: If she gets mad at you, look out, I hear she’s pretty good with a sword

 

 #7: Belle (Beauty & The Beast) - Beautiful and humble lass. Devoted to her family. Cons: Likes her men thick and wooly.

 

 

#8: Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) - She’s a firecracker with a social consciences. And boy can she dance! Cons: Um…what’s up with her and the goat?

 

#9: Snow White - The fairest of them all. Cons: Those pesky little dwarves she’s cohabitating with.

 

 

#10: Arial (The Little Mermaid) - One word: shells. Cons: Some seriously big 80’s hair. May also be underage.

 

 

 

 

Nicholas Jones artwork consists of delicate book sculptures cut out from beautiful old books and Lucy from the ‘The Design Files’ managed to interview Nicholas in his studio. Most of the books are donated to him by Melbourne University library and some people might be confronted by the cutting up of books for art. His works had been shown at the Australian Art Resources, Perth Institute of Fine Art, The State Library of Victoria and many others.

 

 Check out 6 more pics of Nicholas Jones book sculptures and his studio after the jump.

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Mechanic arts is an obsolete and archaic term. In the 19th century, it referred to fields, some of which are now known as engineering. It was apparently an attempt to distinguish these fields from creative and artistic endeavors like the performing arts and the fine arts which were for the upper class of the time and the intelligentsia. It were also considered practical fields for those that did not come from good families. A related phrase, “useful arts,” probably encompassed the mechanic arts as well as craftsmanship in general.

The most famous usage of “mechanic arts” (and the one in which it is most commonly encountered today) is in the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.

In the medieval period, the Seven Mechanical Arts were intended as a complement to the Seven Liberal Arts, and consisted of weaving, blacksmithing, war, navigation, agriculture, hunting, medicine, and the ars theatrica.

You may be cool, but you will never be dual wielding AK-47s open zipper cool.

 Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this image.

 

Dad, did dinosaurs really exist?
Sure they did, son. The Bible says so. They didn’t call them “dinosaurs” back then, but instead they were known as “leviathans” or “behemoths”.
But, my science teacher says dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. Is that true?
Of course not, son.
Then how old are they?
Well, let’s see. The Bible tells us [from Adam and Eve's family tree] that the Universe is only a few thousand years old. So dinosaurs had to have lived within the past few thousand years. That’s simple logic, son.
Oh. So that means they were on Noah’s Ark?
Absolutely! The Bible says two of every animal were brought [by God] to the ark. Dinosaurs were animals. So, using your logic again son, dinosaurs had to be on the ark.
Huh. So how come scientists say they’re older than that? and died way before Jesus?
Well, son, they just make that up. Dinosaur bones don’t have labels on them to tell how old they are. In fact, there is no proof whatsoever that the world and its fossil layers are millions of years old. No scientist saw dinosaurs die-
Dad!
No I’m serious. Scientists only find the bones in the here and now, and because many of them are evolutionists, they try to fit the story of the dinosaurs into their view.
That’s sad. But I thought scientists were smart?
Sure, but they don’t know everything. So they have to make stuff up to fit their beliefs. While you and I, we have the facts, straight from the Bible.
I don’t want to be a scientist!
Ha! That’s ok, son. It’s better to be right, than smart. C’mon, wanna learn how to flip burgers like your Dad?
Yeah!

This 1844 Book chronicles the fatal consequences of some terrible disease.  What is it?  Why don’t you read the whole thing and find out for yourself lest you fall victim to this terrible malady.

 click on image to enlarge

The world of cartoons may be full of happy bunnies, singing clouds, and that sort of happy horseshit, but there’s always the cartoon characters who are dumped into those worlds just to mess everything up for everyone else.  Without them, there would be no real entertainment to cartoons at all and therefore, with this list, we salute the 20 greatest cartoon bastards of all time!

 

 

 20.  Pete

 

Pete (also known as Black Pete or Peg-Leg Pete) was the nemesis of Mickey Mouse from way back in the Steamboat Willy days and then later became the sworn enemy of Donald Duck. Pete was large and ever the bastard, picking on Mickey and his friends for no real reason other than to show that he was bigger and stronger than the whiney little runts. He usually played an authority figure as well making himself all that much more of a thorn in the sides of our heroes. A monstrous amalgamation of a dog and Long John Silver, Pete proved that he was an even bigger bastard than we thought when he actually befriended Goofy in A Goofy Movie and in the spin-off series Goof Troop… probably all in a perverted attempt to make things purposefully awkward for the three loveable Disney icons during get togethers.

Pete… AKA Black Pete, AKA Peg-Leg Pete… YOU are a bastard!

 

 

 

  19.  Cobra Commander

 

Retreat! Retreaaaaaaat!

Take the greatest dictators of all time, pair them with The Phantom of the Opera, and then throw in the intelligence of Jessica Simpson, and you’ve got the chief nemesis of America and GI Joe, Cobra Commander.

We never really learned why Cobra Commander wanted to take over the world and why the entire membership of C.O.B.R.A. thought that this raspy and cowardly Nancy boy was the best choice to rule it, but never the less you have to admire Cobra Commander for his tenacity. Even when his own people got sick and tired of his shit, replaced him with a bigger badass and then changed him into a snake, he still came back with this dipshit schemes and ultimatums.

Oh, and if you were one of his pals, he had no qualms about leaving your butt behind to save his own.

What a bastard.

 

 

 

 18.  Mumm Ra

 

Why did this guy hate the Thundercats so much? Was it because he landed on a planet he considered his own? It never stopped him from going after the Amazons or those retarded Ro-Bear Berbils things. Mumm Ra picked on The Thundercats for no good reason, sort of like little kids pick on the new kids in school. Instead of stealing lunch money, Mumm Ra wanted to steal Lion-O’s sword.

Later on in the series, with the addition of Mumm Ra’s faithfull pooch Ma Mutt, we learn that Mumm Ra hated the Thundercats simply because he was a dog person.

Plus, did anyone find it more than a little odd and disturbing that Mumm Ra - while in his weaker mummified form - basically paraded around naked with only a cape and some well-placed bandages to hide his shriveled shame?

I’m not saying anything, but I had an uncle who paraded out on his back porch wearing the same thing and he’s not due for parole for another three years.

 

 

 

  17.  Daffy Duck

 

Yeah, I know.  He’s a beloved Looney Tunes character and I’m sure I’ll get tons of hate mail over this choice, but Daffy Duck the biggest bastard of the Looney Tunes bunch! Not even Yosemite Sam would stoop so low as to steal the spotlight from someone busting their ass to do a show or to steal a treasure from your best friend who accidentally stumbled upon it in a burrow.  How big of a bastard do you have to be to make it so that the audience actually wants Elmer Fudd to shoot you?

I mean, for God’s sake, to save himself from the possibility that he might actually get shot during hunting season, Daffy was willing to murder… murder Bugs Bunny, the closest thing he has to a friend!

You’re despicable, you bastard!

 

 

 

  16.  Bender

I love the guy, but his bastardliness knows no bounds. Now, you can argue that he is a machine and therefore immune to said accusations of bastarditude, but Bender’s bastardisity is apparent whether he is human, animal, or mineral thanks to his scheming, thievery, and overwhelming ego.

What kind of a bastard steals from his friends that much? Tries to kill his friend’s pets? Sells nude pictures of his friends on the internet?

Granted, there are times when Bender saves the day, but in my opinion that makes him a loveable bastard rather than a plain old everyday bastard… and that’s why we love the tin can.

He is the greatest Latino on television.

 

 

15.  Mr. Cogswell

I know what you’re saying, “What about Mr. Spacely?” True, Spacely was a bastard, but for the premiere bastard of the future, you don’t look at George Jetson’s diminutive boss, but rather to his competitor, Mr. Cogswell.

So what makes Cogswell a bigger bastard than Spacely?  Spacely may have been a foul-tempered tyrant who would fire George without a second thought, but Cogswell was a person of questionable morals who would probably molest Elroy without a second thought if he thought it might give him the smallest leg up on the competition.

Cogswell was well known for sending spies into Spacely Sprockets to steal all of Spacely’s greatest ideas. Why? Well, it’s obvious… Cogswell was one of those bastards who never got any great ideas on his own, so he had to steal them from other people. We’ve all run into these kinds of bastards before and they are infuriating, aren’t they? The fact that Cogswell revels in the idea of being an idea theif only makes him that much more insufferable.

 

 

 

  14.  Doctor Zin

Doctor Zin was a charismatic leader that somehow managed to recruit hundreds if not thousands of people to his side and what does he do with that power? He picks on a couple of kids and their dog. What a bastard! Later on, he even got his own daughter… his own daughter, mind you, to seduce Hadji so that he could screw with the Quests that much more. Not only is he a bastard, but he’s a lousy father as well and now poor little Hadji, still hung up on his love, can’t even fight Zin without popping a boner now.

Dr Zin has been a long-time enemy of the Quests. No one knows exactly who he is, where he comes from, or what his doctorate is in — but everyone knows that he wants to take over the world. (He’s not shy about telling everybody who’ll listen, and those who’d rather not.) Armed with a brilliant mind and seemingly bottomless pockets, Dr Zin is almost Dr Quest’s evil twin…. His bastardly twin.

 

 

  13.  Flintheart Glomgold

 

 

The biggest bastard of Duckberg, no doubt, was Flintheart Glomgold. True, Scrooge McDuck might have been a little greedy, but Flintheart made him look like the Salvation Army.

This was the classic case of keeping up with the Joneses. If Scrooge got an airplane, Flintheart wanted a bigger airplane made out of gold. If Scrooge made a million, Flintheart wanted to make a billion.

Now, a little ambition is fine, but this feathery bastard actually went out of his way to sabotage and steal from his rival, enlisting the help of lesser bastards like The Beagle Boys or Magica DeSpell and, if he was successful in knocking Scrooge down a peg or two, he would come over and gloat about it.

Bastard!

 

 

 

 12.  Dungeon Master

 

You want to talk about Bastards, I’ve got one of the more sadistic examples right here.

In the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon of the 80’s, four teens found themselves trapped in a mystical fantasy world guided only by the dwarfish Dungeon Master who they relied on to try and get home. Instead of telling them, “Go this way and get home,” this sawed-off little shit gave them riddles so convoluted that no one could solve them and continued to taunt them by saying he was going to send them home every week… only to watch in glee as their dreams shattered like glass.

Not to mention, he was the father of Venger, the villain of the entire story and was manipulating these kids to try and help redeem him. A sadistic and selfish little bastard who really didn’t give a rat’s crap if the kids who trusted their lives to him got home or not..

 

 

 

  11.  The Mooninites

 

 

What list of cartoondom’s biggest bastards would be complete without these two pricks? There is literally nothing that these two do that isn’t bastardly on one level or another and, let’s face it, when the Mooninites are involved… those are really big levels.

Usually, the Mooninites spend their time trying to corrupt the poor innocent Meatwad to their bastardly ways making them bigger bastards than they would be if they would just remain individual bastards.

I mean, they actually out-bastard Master Shake. Do you realize the amount of bastarditude it takes to pull that off?

 

 

 

  10.  Bluto

Tell me you people didn’t see this one coming.

Bluto (AKA Brutus) is the epitome of the bully, large, crude, and Neanderthal-like. Of course, merely being a bully doesn’t get you on this list… Bluto is the kind of guy who will go and try and steal your girlfriend every time even if she’s an ugly skinny chick with no rack at all. What’s worse, he loves to pick on the guy he’s stealing said bimbo from and, of course, in his mind when a woman says no, it means “take me, I’m yours.”

Thankfully, Bluto’s a bastard but not a bright one as he never once thought of eating spinach and beating the shit out of Popeye every now and again.

Stupid bastard.

 

 

  9.  Jerry

 

 

Jerry reminds me of a little brother. Yeah, the big brother may start the confrontation every now and again, but the little brother does nothing but fan the flames and makes things worse because he knows that his parents aren’t going to let the big brother kick the shit out of him even when he sorely deserves it.

Generally, Jerry wouldn’t be on this list except for the fact that there are plenty of times that Jerry starts fights with Tom for no good damn reason. Jerry steals Tom’s food, bed, or girlfriend (which is sick in of itself) and when Tom tries to stop him, Tom gets bashed in the head and then kicked out by that fat black woman who always takes Jerry’s side, leaving the little vermin to spread bubonic plague and drop mouse feces wherever he goes.

Little brothers are bastards and so is that fucking mouse.

 

 

 8.  Skeletor

Skeletor was not only a bastard, but he was a grade-A asshole as well. He was mean to his henchmen, abused his powers, and even though he had a whole flippin’ mountain to himself, he wanted to take the Sorceress’ castle too.

Let’s not forget, this is the same guy who made He-Man think that he killed an innocent person just to mindfuck him.

In many ways, Skeletor reminded me of this bastardly boss that I had once. Our office would make $30,000 one month and he’d throw a fit because it wasn’t $45,000. We’d work our asses off and make $45,000 the next month and he’d throw a fit because it wasn’t $65,000. Skeletor is that bastardly boss that wants more but isn’t grateful for what he has. If anything, the 2002 rebirth of He-Man only saw Skeletor become just that much more bastardly.

He’s got his own sorceress, he’s got a freakin’ Beast Man as a minion, and best of all, he doesn’t have Orko or anyone else retarded enough to call themselves Ram-Man!

But nooooooo, Skeletor has to continue to be a bastard and want more and more for himself. If that’s not enough, I think he was gay too. How could you have a hot piece of ass like Evil-Lynn sitting next to you all day and continually obsess about He-Man?

Supergay.

 

 

 

7.  David Xanatos

 

Xantos is the slick kind of bastard that I aspire to be one day. Rich, good-looking, and charismatic… he lived in an ancient castle he moved brick-by-brick to New York and then placed on top of the world’s tallest skyscraper just to get in with and screw over a bunch of Gargoyles.

Xanatos is another example of a bastard who wanted just a little bit more, but unlike Skeletor, Xanatos was slick about it only adding to his level of bastardliness. He knew what he wanted and it was immortality and he wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way. I mean, for God’s sake, he turned his faithful right-hand man’s right hand into stone just to test to see if one of his schemes worked or not. That, my friends, is bastardly behavior.

Xantos’ bastarditude fueled the show and, after his dramatic and slow change over to the side of good, Gargoyles turned into a pile of ostrich shit.

A testament to the true power of Xanatos’ bastardliness, or just something else this awesome bastard had planned from the beginning? You be the judge.

 

 

 6.  Mr. Burns

It pains me to put Burnsey on the list, because despite his bastardliness, I love the old fart. His presence brightened up even the lamest Simpsons episode and at his best, or should I say his worst, he makes the show worth watching.

I mean, what other 104 year-old would go out of his way to skin puppies to skin for a coat or steal the sun from an entire town? How would you feel if you worked for a boss for over 20 years and he couldn’t remember your name? (I know that most of you are going to be spared this humiliation because you’ll probably be destined to work a job with your named embroidered on a shirt, but let me tell you… the pain cuts deep!)

I love you, C. Montgomery Burns (not in a Smithers way), but you are a bastard… a magnificent bastard, but a bastard none the less.

 

 

 5.  Eric Cartman

 

Goodness, what a little bastard he is.

It’s not that Cartman is a spoiled only child of a mother who smothers him with attention and food, it’s not that he’s a greedy manipulative pig of a human being, it’s not that he’s a smartass and a foul-mouthed little brat. It’s not that Cartman is vindictive or shallow, it’s not that he’s a liar, a cheat, a smug winner, or a backstabber.

It’s because he’s got a big fat ass and this, my bastard-watching friends, is what makes Eric Cartman the biggest bastard in South Park.

 

 

 4.  Lex Luthor

 

 

With the Lex of Superman the Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, there aren’t any pansy-ass schemes to take over the world by using a team made up of a monkey and a retard who leaves clues so that the good guys can catch him, there isn’t a fat pig-squealing sidekick or idiotic nephew, and there ain’t no high school rich-boy angst. Lex is a no-nonsense businessman, a power hungry egomaniac, and a bastard through and through.

Lex rhymes with sex and Lex is a sexy bastard. Women want him and men want to be him… or with him too.  I guess it just depends on the man.

The thing about Lex Luthor that makes him such a bastard is the fact that people love him. I mean, he could fire nuclear missile up Superman’s ass and have him crash into a orphanage for crippled war children and the public would still eat him up. I mean, for God’s sake, he went to prison, made a supervillan out of himself, and still almost won the presidency of the United States. I hear that Lex was originally scripted to win the election, but George W. Bush’s lawyers threatened to sue for copyright infringement.

Here’s to you, Lex, you magnificent chrome-domed bastard!

 

 

 

 

 

3.  The Grinch

Do you honestly need a more thorough explanation for this bastard? I mean, this little fuzzy green hunk of crap actually tried to steal Christmas! I don’t mean that figuratively, either kids, I mean this asshat actually rode into town, impersonated Santa Claus, and committed multiple acts of home invasion and burglary on Christmas Eve – stealing gifts, decorations, and food – simply because he found one day out of the entire year annoying.

I mean, even your grade-A bastards will tolerate a lot more than that before they start acting overly bastard-like, but not the Grinch, oh no! He doesn’t even do the normal bastardly things like filing noise complaints or trying to get city ordinances or court orders going like those annoying Aethists do every Christmas, this bastard decided to go in and physically take Christmas away from the Whos and throw all of their holiday spirit into a canyon!

Now, I know what you’re saying, “Duh, but didn’t he reform at the end?” Well, yeah… but it wasn’t permanent as we thought it was as he returned to torment the poor Cat in the Hat for no good damn reason and then terrorized Whoville yet again on Halloween. Some reform that was!

The Grinch is a bastard and once a bastard, always a bastard. What’s next, Grinch? Are you going to steal Arbor Day? You can take my sapling when you pry it out of my cold dead hands, you cheese-eating dick monkey!

 

 

 

2.  Stewie

 

 

Stewie is, perhaps, the most bastardly baby in the known universe. With his eyes set on global domination and with killing the woman who gave birth to him, one must shutter at the very real threat that this toddling asstard poses to the world.

The thing with Stewie is that this little bastard has cuteness on his side and that cuteness blinds many people to the level of bastardicity that he actually exudes. It’s sort of like the California election… everyone thinks it would be so cute to have a one-liner spewing movie star as governor, but the next thing we all know, the state is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, Junior is playing in art houses, and everyone is wandering around in a daze saying, “Why!? Why!? Why didn’t I vote for Gary Coleman!”

With his lust for power, penchant for murder, and his bastardly ability to get away with it all, Stewie will forever go down in the annals of cartoon history as one of the most vicious bastards of all time!

 

 

 

1.  Michael Eisner

 

 

Yeah, so he’s not a cartoon character. Fucker’s still a bastard, though.

Over the last ten years or so, I believe that Michael Eisner has single-handedly caused more damage to the animation world than any other man who has ever existed on the planet. There’s the obvious reason that he’s a bastard in that he was instrumental in killing classic 2-D animation at Disney when sub-par Disney films like Brother Bear and Home on the Range failed to make any money. Instead of blaming a shoddy product, Eisner felt that cell animation is just dead and moved accordingly to stamp it out.

With Disney stock falling and the theme parks getting fewer and fewer visitors thanks to his micromanaging, Eisner was called on to leave his position by Walt Disney’s nephew, but he continued to hang on like a tick sucking the life blood out of his company.  Finally, the bastard left and there were few tears.

The failure of Valiant and the other shitty CGI movies goes to prove that, like so many other things, Eisner was wrong about cell-animation being dead and I only hope that the next person to fill his shoes undoes the damage he’s done to the industry and to Disney in general.

Yeah, he may not be a cartoon, but Michael Eisner is cartoondom’s biggest bastard none the less.

The Door to Hell, as locals call it, is situated near the small town of Darvaz in Uzbekistan. Thirty-five years ago, geologists were drilling for gas when then encountered a very large cavern underground filled with a poisonous gas. They ignited the gas expecting it to burn off in a few hours. Thirty-five years later, the gas is still burning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoot Update From Hell…The Door To Hell Video… 

 

 

What Is a Clean City?
What’s the cleanest big city in America? How about the dirtiest? And what about the place where you live — did it make the list?

First, though, what is a clean city? Ideally, it’s a place where the air quality is good, the water is safe to drink, and factories aren’t dumping harmful chemical waste into the environment. It’s also a place where you look up and down streets that are free of garbage, and stroll through parks without wading through litter. To gauge these things, we used several databases as yardsticks for measuring cleanliness. That data pertained not just to the cities themselves, but to their Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), which include the surrounding suburbs and counties.

We also wanted to dig beneath the data to find out just what our highest-scoring cities were doing right. So we talked with policymakers, economists, activists and government workers in the top five cities. As you’ll see, these places have earned their rankings — and their success holds some lessons for the rest of us.

#5 San Francisco
(Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties)

click on image to enlarge

Background: Once a prominent shipping and manufacturing center, San Francisco now has booming financial and business sectors. Since 1980, the city’s population has increased by more than a third and its per capita income ranks among the nation’s highest. Few places have a citizenry that is more environmentally conscious.

Problems: Like nearly every traffic-clogged urban California area, San Francisco has struggled with high emissions of greenhouse gases and carbon monoxide. Its Hunter’s Point area is home to two polluting power plants and a highly contaminated Naval Shipyard, now defunct. In 2002, a national report found that while San Francisco’s source water was safe, its tap water contained high levels of a cancer-causing contaminant known as total trihalomethanes, or TTHM, a byproduct of chlorinating water.

Solutions: San Francisco has benefited from the state of California’s bold and controversial air-quality regulations. The city’s Environment Department — something many municipalities lack — is seeking to close the power plants at Hunter’s Point, and the federal EPA is overseeing a massive cleanup of the shipyard there. Meanwhile, San Francisco is in the forefront of efforts to promote the use of clean-air vehicles, with its public transit leading the way. The city’s bus fleet includes over 700 electric-drive vehicles, with plans to convert all the buses to this clean-air technology by 2020. As for concerns about its drinking water, San Francisco responded by modifying its water treatment process, which brought the TTHM levels back down into the safe zone. Finally, the local government is finding ways to push energy savings, including a program that encourages residents to exchange their old strings of holiday lights for a free set of more efficient LED bulbs, courtesy of the city and Pacific Gas and Electric.
#4 Columbus, Ohio
(Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties)

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Background: Ohio’s capital, according to the latest census, was the only major city in the state to grow in population. And Columbus’s geographical expansion continues. Its economy is light on industry — less than 12% of its job force works in the manufacturing sector. The big growth has been in financial and insurance businesses, as well as retail. Meanwhile, per capita income here is slightly below our 50-city average.

Problems: Columbus’s steady development has made it tough to keep the city’s watersheds clean. Also, an aging storm water and sewage system has caused overflows and backups in recent years. Litter has been a manageable problem, although Columbus has a recycling rate of just 4%, which Mayor Michael Coleman calls “pitiful.” And finally, the late 1990s were marked by a sudden increase in ugly graffiti on both public and private property.

Solutions: Mayor Coleman supports a moratorium on development of sensitive watershed land, but has also pushed for redevelopment of brownfields (contaminated land kept vacant until sites can be cleaned up). The mayor recently unveiled a new initiative, “Get Green Columbus,” which established an Office of Environmental Stewardship. Also underway is a program to update the sewage and storm water systems. To spruce up unsightly areas, Columbus has committed to removing graffiti within two days of its appearance. Through the city’s Neighborhood Pride program, a handful of communities each year get a solid week of concentrated cleanup, including tree trimming, hydrant painting, graffiti abatement, bulk trash pickup and litter removal.

#3 Buffalo, New York
(Erie and Niagara counties)

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Background: Long known as a Rust Belt city where steel was king, Buffalo was hit hard when that industry went into steep decline more than two decades ago. As steel plants shut down, Buffalo was forced to rebuild its economy from the ground up. But by leveraging its assets, including a low cost of living and cheap, clean hydroelectric energy generated by nearby Niagara Falls, Buffalo has begun luring new, nonmanufacturing businesses to the area.

Problems: After the shuttering of its steel plants and oil refineries, the region was left with the residue of its industrial past: A heavily polluted Buffalo River and acres of brownfields and Superfund sites, including the notorious Love Canal. By the 1990s, Buffalo’s dwindling population, shrinking tax base and fiscal problems meant drastic cuts in city services — including sanitation. As a result, huge trash piles often accumulated in front of homes, sometimes going uncollected for days on end. At the same time, Buffalo was struggling with a sizable rat infestation.

Solutions: With the help of environmental quality bonds and Superfund dollars, Buffalo has made great strides in containing and cleaning up brownfields and contaminated sites. Meanwhile, plans are underway to turn part of the former Bethlehem Steel site — an 1,100-acre brownfield on the shores of Lake Erie — into a wind farm that will generate clean power for businesses and residents. The state is also overseeing a Buffalo River cleanup, already successful enough to draw boaters and fishermen back to the waterway. As for the trash problems, Buffalo undertook an award-winning restructuring of its garbage collection system. A fleet of 13 high-tech street sweepers, deployed 24 hours a day during non-winter months, now helps keep the streets clear of debris. And the city has dramatically curbed the rat problem by distributing large, securely covered garbage bins to every residence in the city.

 

#2 San Jose, California
(San Benito and Santa Clara counties)

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Background: This area’s booming high-tech business during the 1980s and 1990s earned it the name Silicon Valley. Numerous semiconductor and computer chip manufacturers brought in huge numbers of highly educated workers, driving up house values and living costs. Then the dot-com bust hit, and San Jose suddenly lost 200,000 jobs. Now the city is seeking to reinvent itself as a center for innovation and research in such diverse fields as pharmaceuticals and automotives.

Problems: In the early 1980s, a leaking underground storage tank filled with trichloroethane, a solvent suspected of causing reproductive and developmental problems, was found to be contaminating the drinking water of 65,000 people near a semiconductor plant. Over the next few years Silicon Valley became dotted with Superfund sites; at one time, Santa Clara County had more such sites than any other county in the country. Besides the high-tech contamination, the Valley’s rapid growth resulted in extensive sprawl, which means traffic, and air pollution — trapped by surrounding mountains.

Solutions: The widespread pollution gave rise to a strong grass-roots environmental movement that pressured industry to clean up its mess. Industry responded by going the extra mile, setting higher standards for itself than required. The EPA, meanwhile, is overseeing the containment and cleanup of the Superfund sites. Because so much groundwater had been contaminated, the Santa Clara Valley Water District became a national leader in testing and protecting drinking water. As for its traffic woes, San Jose can thank the state of California for stricter regulations that have helped reduce the carbon monoxide and diesel particulates in the air. The bottom line for San Jose: It’s a city now known nationwide for its clean streets, fresh air, and healthy lifestyle.

#1 Portland, Oregon
(Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties, Oregon; Clark and Skamania counties, Washington)

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Background: Portland, long an important port and shipbuilding center, now also has a burgeoning high-tech sector, and a robust manufacturing base in paper, metal products and sportswear. Nonetheless, the per capita income is below the average for the 50 cities in our analysis.

Problems: A six-to-nine-mile stretch of the Willamette River’s Portland Harbor was declared a Superfund site in 2000. The sewer system is ancient and poorly designed, combining storm water runoff with sewage in the same piping system. Industries in Multnomah County, Portland’s home, continue to spew an estimated 1.85 million pounds of toxics into the air, water and land.

Solutions: Portland belongs to the country’s only elected regional government, which means the city coordinates its planning and growth decisions with its neighbors. This arrangement has allowed Portland to make far-ranging decisions, such as the establishment of a growth boundary around its urban center. Land inside this invisible circle is fair game for development; outside the circle there’s only open space and farmland. The result is not only a well-preserved agricultural region just outside the city, but also a vibrant, livable urban area where public transportation rules. To attract even more riders, the bus and light rail system has turned a section of downtown into a fare-free zone. The city did another smart thing when it was looking into a green building ordinance: It met with 200 developers to find out exactly what regulatory or financial hurdles were preventing them from using “sustainable” principles, and then laid out a plan. To resolve the sewage problem, Portland has invested over a billion dollars in the “Big Pipe Project,” which will lay massive pipes alongside the Willamette to carry waste to a treatment plant. In 1974, the city removed an entire freeway running alongside the Willamette’s banks and converted the space into parkland.

 

 

Never let it be said that you won’t learn anything here at The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century. Whether you’re entering a freestyle rap battle in Compton or just trying to “keep it real” in your suburb, be sure you know these gang signs!

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I asked myself “Why should gangstas have all the fun?” The end result: the “Geek Signs” chart, pictured below. Enjoy!

 

Grand Theft Auto Police Chase in Reallity

95% of you reading this will think to yourself, “I have thought about that before… It is kind of weird.” Not saying we think about these things often, but they sometimes DO cross our mind!

1.
What do people think of me?
You know you sometimes wonder what people think about you.. Does my hair look good today? How about my clothes? Does my breath smell good? Face it, no matter how much you say you don’t care about what people think of you, you know you care. Even if it is just a little bit…
2.
Why is the word “abbreviation” so flippin’ long?
You’d think a word that means to shorten something… would be short, right? Wrong. The genius that um.. I guess, made this word? Well, he wanted to make things hard for everyone. I think about this everyday, it gets under my skin.
3.
Why do they put round pizza in square boxes?
I’ve pondered this ever since I was a little kid. Really, I don’t understand. If someone has an answer to this, please let me know. Circular boxes would be pretty damn cool if you ask me.
4.
If the whole, “i after e, except before c” really applied to the English language, wouldn’t “science” be spelled wrong?
I always went by that rule in grammar school. One day I had a spelling test and spelled the word “science” like “sceince”. When I got my test back and saw it was incorrect I was all like, “YOU CAN’T SPELL. I’M RIGHT” and went on a rampage. I asked my teacher why it was wrong and how come the rule didn’t apply to that word… She had no answer for me. The English language is so confusing.
5.
Why do men have nipples?
I never understood this. We all know the purpose of the nipples on a female, but what about a male? They’re just kind of hanging out there.. no purpose in life. They’re probably really depressed.
6.
If you ate pasta and antipasti, would you still be hungry?
Hahaha. Someone asked me this a while ago and I’ve thought about it ever since. It’s a silly thing to think about, but it actually had me thinking. I get bored, can you tell? Oh well.
7.
Why do people count sheep when they can’t sleep?
What’s so special about sheep? Why can’t we count dogs? Why not cats? How about dinosaurs? Or aardvarks… The world will never know.
8.
Why do banks charge you a “non-sufficient funds fee”?
If you have no money… Why do they charge you for the money that you don’t even have? I think it sucks that you have to have 5 dollars, or whatever the amount is, in your bank account at all times. Dumbest rule ever. Banks suck.
9.
What happens when we die?
Is it just like sleeping? Except we don’t wake up.. Is there an afterlife? Does your soul live on? Does your life really flash before your eyes like it’s said to? It’s something everyone wonders about but doesn’t really want to find out. No one will ever really know for sure, but it’s fun to wonder about it, I guess.
10.
What is the average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Classic. If you don’t know what that means, you need to go watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail because you definitely missed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This will creep you the hell out. Stewie Griffin from Family Guy untooned.

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BERLIN—A young man bridges the wall between East and West Berlin, 1989. © Raymond Depardon

 

Slate magazine has a collection of Magnum photos which changed the world. Mostly doused in black and white gradients, these pictures feature significant historical incidents. Some of them, like the picture of the girl who grew up in a concentration camp are remarkably powerful reflections on our actions.

 

CERRO MURIANO, Spain—Federico Borrell Garcia, Spanish loyalist militiaman, collapses into death, 1936.

 

This is a classic photo and I like it because the Spanish soldier looks totally peaceful and dare I say it, graceful even when falling to his death. Some have said it was faked but I don’t care. It’s beautiful.

 

POLAND—Teresa, a child in a residence for disturbed children, grew up in a concentration camp. She has drawn a picture of “home” on the blackboard, 1948. © David Seymour

 

This picture is just mind blowing. The kid is out of whack and severely traumatized by growing up in a concentration camp. Chalk lines that go nowhere and stay nowhere.

 

NORTH CAROLINA—A black man drinks at segregated water fountains, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt

 

White’s man burden. The difference is stark and very direct. It just hits you right in the face. White Americans even believed that they deserved better drinking fountains. Absurd.

 

 SHARPEVILLE, South Africa—Police open fire on a crowd, killing more than 70 and injuring hundreds of others during what came to be known as the Sharpeville massacre, 1960. © Ian Berry

 

I love the shot of the clouds in the picture. Ominous. Apocalyptic. Bearing weight upon everyone beneath it.

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the climax of his “I Have A Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. raises his arm on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and calls out for deliverance with the electrifying words of an old Negro spiritual hymn, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”, 1963. © Bob Adelman

 

Walking in the shadow of the valley of death, King does his thing and the audio for this speech is electrifying.

 

ARLINGTON, Va.—Jan Rose Kasmir confronts the National Guard outside the Pentagon during the 1967 anti-Vietnam War march, 1967. © Marc Riboud

 

This is a very iconic picture for many reasons as it totally symbolized the hippy creed of love overcoming all adversity and conflict.

 

The key to the appeal of Riboud’s seminal image may be Kasmir’s empathy for her adversary. “All of a sudden, I realized ‘them’ was that soldier in front of me—a human being I could just as easily have been going out on a date with,” Kasmir says. “It wasn’t a war machine, it was just a bunch of guys with orders. Right then, it went from being a fun, hip trip to a painful reality.”

 

SAIGON, Vietnam—The Saigon fire department, which has the job of collecting the dead from city streets, has just placed a girl, killed by U.S. helicopter fire, in the back of their truck, where her brother finds her, 1968. © Philip Jones Griffiths

 

Grief has been a main subject for many photographers and the little boy’s despair is heartbreaking.

 

PARIS—Students hurl projectiles during the May 1968 student protest. © Bruno Barbey

 

The student protest in Paris was no Tiananmen but was a remarkably fun period for many students because of the massive energy on the streets. Protests, films, arts, secret meetings, marches, songs.. .the id unleashed in full glory. Barbey’s picture makes them look like they were dancing.

 

MEXICO—Mexicans are arrested while trying to cross the U.S. border, 1979. © Alex Webb

 

I love the color in this one. The maroon and browns of the shirts with the yellow daffodils. The helicopter becomes a misplaced contraption within the natural environment.

 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—An Afghan girl at Nasir Bagh refugee camp, 1984. © Steve McCurry

 

No worthy collection of seminal photography would ignore this iconic picture by McCurry. National Geographic made it big and this is really just a beautiful picture. Her eyes are incredible.

 

NEW BRIGHTON, United Kingdom—1985. © Martin Parr

 

I would love to know the context of this slightly surrealistic picture. Is he sunbathing or protesting with his body? The placement of the body just in front of the demolishing tractor just makes it so ambiguous. Love the little kid in pink.

 

TEHRAN, Iran—Veiled women learn how to shoot in the outskirts of the city, 1986. © Jean Gaumy

 

Powerful picture. Women in Iran are generally treated like crap and heavily controlled by many fundamentalist rules. This picture is empowering and shows the strength of Iranian women.

 

 

BEIJING, China— © Stuart Franklin

 

I can see why this picture was such a big hit when it was published. One person can make a change. Just one is usually enough to derail a movement or at least force it to reflect upon itself.

 

Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel, is the nickname of an anonymous man who became internationally famous when he was videotaped and photographed during the Tiananmen Square protests on 5 June 1989. Several photographs were taken of the man, who stood in front of a column of Chinese Type 59 tanks, preventing their advance.

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