DON'T HATE WHEN GAS PER GALLON HITS EIGHT

Here are eight reasons why the increase in gas prices is a good thing, especially if the cost of gas per gallon hits the astronomical (comparative to what we are used to paying that is) $8 benchmark, which "would be a catalyst for economic, political and social change of profound national and global impact."

1. RIP for the internal-combustion engine They may contain computer chips, but the power source for today's cars is little different than that which drove the first Model T 100 years ago. That we're still harnessed to this antiquated technology is testament to Big Oil's influence in Washington and success in squelching advances in fuel efficiency and alternative energy.

Given our achievement in getting a giant mainframe's computing power into a handheld device in just a few decades, we should be able to do likewise with these dirty, little rolling power plants that served us well but are overdue for the scrap heap of history.

Amen.  Most of the reasons (mass transit development, reducing city sprawl, etc) are fairly obvious, but it never hurts to proselytize against oil.

Read more here.

WHAT IF

What if Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee, and that jerkoff Hitler were still alive?  Thanks to Photoshop this might be how they'd look today.  Disturbing.  Stuff of weird nightmares.

THE STORY OF THE '47 CHEVAL

The 1947 Château Cheval Blanc, "the most celebrated wine of the 20^th century," is considered by many to be the pinnacle of wines and widely coveted.  Last year at a Christie's auction "a case of the '47 sold for $147,000, or just over $12,000 per bottle."  How it came to be is even more remarkable considering it was produced during a particularly inhospitable year for wineries:

[The] weather that summer was almost Biblical in its extremity. July and August were blazing hot months, and the conditions turned downright tropical in September. By the time the harvest began, the grapes had more or less roasted on the vine, and the oppressive heat followed the fruit right into the cellar. Because wineries were not yet temperature-controlled, a number of producers experienced stuck fermentations—that is, the yeasts stopped converting the sugar in the grape juice into alcohol (yeasts, like humans, tend to wilt in excessive heat). A stuck fermentation can leave a wine with significant levels of both residual sugar and volatile acidity; enough of the latter can ruin a wine, and more than a few vats were lost to spoilage in '47.

And yet, it produced an elite of the elite wines. 

Read more to find out if the '47 Cheval lives up to its reputation.

EXPERIMENT: THE BACON DONUT

Inspired by this creation my friend and I decided to make our own with the cooperation of the lovely ladies at Dunkin Donuts. I went first.

"Okay. So this is kind of a strange request. I want that donut there."

"This one?"

"No, that one." I pointed at a chocolate glazed.

"Yea, that one."

"And I want a bacon."

"..."

"A bacon. Just the bacon. And the donut."

She remarked something in an unfamiliar language to her coworkers. Three or four of them huddled around the register and the donut. They looked at the donut as if it would reveal some truth. Then one of them possibly a manager said with decisive finality, "Bacon. One dollar extra."

"Fine." I said.

Then without further direction from me and on their own initiative, they sliced the donut the way you would a bagel, rested the two pieces of bacon in between, and then placed it on their toaster. I didn't want to have my chocolate glazed donut toasted necessarily, but asking them not to would be like suggesting that the proportions are incorrect to Picasso as he is painting. You just don't interrupt great art when it is taking place in front of you. So I watched my sliced bacon donut disappear inside the toaster at Dunkin Donuts.

Then Randy stepped up and requested the same off-menu item. Chocolate glazed donut sliced, bacon, and toasted.

The tandem bacon donut from Dunkin Donuts.

Notice the bacon.

Closer view of the bacon. Are you salivating? I'm not.

And the first bite.

Randy's first bite.

Verdict: This may not have been so obvious to you, but to me, it sounded good in theory. The combination of bacon, which I like, and donut, which I also like sounded like a good marriage in holy gluttony matrimony of two things I like to eat. It sounded good in theory. Or as Homer Simpson said, "In theory communism works. In theory." In actuality, it was quite terrible. Randy on the other hand if he could speak here would disagree. He quite thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So we have a split tie. Only YOU can decide this matter. Let me know what you think. Be strong. And have a palate cleansing liquid nearby when you consume this beast.

[Thanks to Randy for his camera work.]

LATEST IMPROV EVERYWHERE EVENT

I received the email for this event awhile but saw that it required a camera with a flash, which I lack.  The email invite never reveals what the "improv" will be until the actual event.  So seeing the final result, despite the rain, makes me so sad that I couldn't participate!  This one sent nearly 700 people on a pouring evening to the Brooklyn Bridge where they attempted to create a "wave" (like at sports games) with camera flashes.  The video doesn't really do justice it appears, but the images snapped by the photographers set to capture the event are amazing.  Although with our current hyper-asininely paranoid security apparatus I'm surprised this wasn't shut down the police.  I imagine the sight of 700 people holding "tech" devices (you know, IEDs) on the Brooklyn Bridge would freak some people out.  You know, NEVER FORGET!

More videos and images here.

THE TALE OF BEAR STEARNS' END

Reading like the latest thriller the WSJ examines the players (the egos...) and the frantic maneuvers involved in the nail-biting conclusion of the epic collapse of Bear Stearns:

Late Sunday night, as lawyers raced to finalize the merger agreement, executives of the New York Fed convened a call for Wall Street CEOs. So many people were dialing in that officials were repeatedly interrupted by the announcement of new participants... During the question-and-answer session, Citigroup Inc.'s new CEO, Vikram Pandit, spoke up.

Mr. Pandit -- who did not initially identify himself -- asked a shrewd but technical question: How would the deal affect the risk to Bear Stearns's trading partners on certain long-term contracts?

The query irked Mr. Dimon. "Who is this?" he snapped. Mr. Pandit identified himself as "Vikram." Offended that Mr. Pandit was taking up time with what he considered granular inquiries, Mr. Dimon shot back, "Stop being such a jerk." He added that Citigroup "should thank us" for staving off further mayhem on Wall Street.

Read more here.

CONVERSATION

Rachael: I swear, macs might be virus-proof, but Dells seem to break less often. Me: Dells and PCs die a slow drawn out death.

Me: Macs flame out spectacularly.

GRAFFITI ARTIST BANKSY IN ISRAEL?

This image is from a New York Times' article about a joint Israeli-Palestinian web start up.  But the street art in the accompanying photo looks like something that came from the inspired and imaginative mind of Banksy.

IRON WOMAN DIES

I've been having a stressful month and then I read this and I realized my life in comparison is a-ok.

For almost 60 years, Dianne Odell lived inside a 7-foot-long metal tube, unable to breathe outside it but determined not to let it destroy her spirit.

From her 750-pound iron lung, she got a high school diploma, took college courses and wrote a children's book about a "wishing star" named Blinky.

Read more here.

[Thanks Nicole]

CONVERSATION

Brian: Wow. That [Typeracer] game is fun. Brian:  Strangely meditative in the most office-like way.

Me: Yea.  And it makes it sound like you're typing something important.

Brian: Seriously.  Crazy important.  Better: It makes me feel that I am too!

Me: Yes, especially when you get done typing a quote from a decent book.

Me: I'm cruising around 92 wpm.

Me: I'm not sure if I win or not.

Me: I think I lose.

Me: I think that's information I never tells girls.

Brian: It's confusing. Sometimes that's a good move.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF WEEZER'S INTERNET MEME AND YOUTUBE STAR MUSIC VIDEO

Wired takes a look backstage of the new Weezer music video which "has amassed an impressive 4 million views on YouTube -- and that was even before its televised debut on MTV." [Thanks Moye]

B1, B2, B52, NO ROCK LOBSTER

A rare sighting of three generations of bombers.  That said, I wish we used these planes more for things like this rather than this.

SPIKED WATERMELON ON TAP

Imagine going to a party and at the party there was a watermelon.  And the watermelon had a tap attached to it.  And coming out of the tap was refreshing spiked watermelon drink.  Would you ask then if you had died and had arrived in heaven?  Sweet delicious watermelon heaven?

Read more here (with instructions on how to make your own!).

BECKHAM TRIES TO BEND HIS EYES AROUND LAKERS CHEERLEADERS

Recently soccer star David Beckham was snapped by a photographer looking uhm, obliquely at a cheerleader at a Lakers game (see photo above). The problem is that when you're a huge international star you can't ever escape the camera lens.  This is exactly why Jack Nicholson wears sunglasses wherever he goes.

Well, after this incident when Beckham attended another Lakers game--this time with his wife Posh Bot (I can just picture the conversation: It's okay baby, I thought you were going to go shopping, 'sides the game's kinda for a fella's night out. No, I WANT you to come.  I just know you get bored at these things.) he did all he could to avoid ogling the cheerleaders.

Haha.

View more here.

INTRODUCING

My friend Lea started a blog, mainly so she can keep track of and document neat design-fashion-jewelry things that she likes.  So, check it out (nearanddear.wordpress.com) and tell her I said hello and that I started going to the bar Botanica long before she ever stepped foot inside that glorious establishment.

FAIL

Cruel and unusual punishment to this rat with wings.

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS ABOUT LOVE

Here are some responses given by young children when asked what "love" means to them:

Love is what makes you smile when you're tired. - Terri, 4

Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK. - Danny, 7

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." - Elaine, 5

Did you just finish throwing up? Me too. Will someone please tell Terri, Danny, Elaine, and Lauren that love is merely a subcortical chemical reaction at best and at worst, a fart of the heart?

Not sure why you'd want to, but read more dumb things stated by kids here.

QUOTE

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

WEEKEND UPDATE: MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

This is the most random collection of photos from the long three day weekend. A chair in the lobby of my friend's apartment.

Went to a dope place near my apartment for brunch on Saturday morning. Anyway, I wanted a side of eggs. I didn't realize a $3 would get me ONE egg. It was tasty, but still....

Walking through Union Square, which ALWAYS seems to have a farmers market taking place every day of the summer, I spotted a juxtaposition of McDonalds and uber-organic fruit and vegetables.

My friend's friend (forgot your name, sorry!) taking a nap at a rooftop BBQ.

Super fast motion beer drinking!

DOWNLOADING MUXTAPES

You would have thought that Muxtape (previously mentioned) would have included a "search" functionality, but I suppose the lack of this feature gave the site a certain charm or "authenticity" that reflected the linear nature of the original cassette mixtapes. On the other hand it's the 21st century and it's a real pain in the aural arse to not be able to directly find a particular artist or song.

Someone addressed this issue by creating Muxfind which allows you to search Muxtape for specific artists (no songs). Yay!

And I'm only the messenger here folks: But someone else created a Greasemonkey script that allows you to download, theoretically, as mp3s the songs that others have uploaded to Muxtape.