Oh well. Whatever. Nevermind.
Time for the musical interlude that is the Friday Random Ten. By the by Jill at Feminste (the inspiration for this) got her’s up first so here’s a link to her’s.
1. Counting Crows, Rain King
2. Coldplay, In My Place
3. The Fugees, Zealots
4. Bob Marley, Exodus
5. The Beatles, Nowhere Man
6. T.I., Goodlife
7. Bruce Springsteen, Waitin’ On A Sunny Day
8. The Cranberries, Zombie
9. Eminem, Who Knew
10. The Dogg Pound, New York, New York
Thats all I got. Peace out son.
UPDATE: Yup, its all fake. But what a great story.
This is possibly the greatest news story I have ever read. Seriously. And I say that with full knowledge that this is possibly all a lie but still, its so good/funny. To wit:
Thousands of people have been ‘fleeced’ into buying neatly coiffured lambs they thought were poodles.
Entire flocks of lambs were shipped over from the UK and Australia to Japan by an internet company and marketed as the latest ‘must have’ accessory.
But the scam was only spotted after a leading Japanese actress said her ‘poodle’ didn’t bark and refused to eat dog food.
snip
Maiko Kawakami, who starred in the Japanese thriller Violent Cop, showed photographs of her pet on a television talk show only to be told it wasn’t a dog - but was in fact a lamb.
The discovery prompted hundreds of women to contact the police with similar problems and the authorities believe as many as 2,000 people have been conned.
‘We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was selling sheep as poodles,’ a police spokesman told The Sun.
‘Sadly, we think there is more than one company operating in this way.
‘The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain and Australia.’
Poodles are famously used by the rich and glamourous on the continent but are extremely rare in Japan, with many people having little idea what they look like.
Words fail me. This is so great.
I have never, and imagine never will, really understood the obsession with Princess Diana. Yes, it was a tragedy that she died and the whole land mines thing was admirable, etc., etc.. Why on earth though are there 14 news books about her coming out this summer? And why are there over 180 books about her already published in the first place? Someone explain this to me. Can we at least agree that had she not died so young in an accident there wouldn’t be this level of interest?
Seriously Ben Graber? You really have that little of a sense of humor? I hope your just kidding. Mr. Graber is going to be challenging Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) in the Democratic primary and he plans on using statements made by Rep. Wexler on the Colbert Report in his campaign. Rep. Wexler had one of the greatest “Better Know A District” segments ever; the most famous part being where Stephen got the Representative to admit (jokingly) that he enjoyed cocaine and prostitutes because they are fun.
Yet somehow this Graber guy is taking it seriously (again, he could be operating on a whole other level of sarcasm/dry wit that I’m not catching; if so, hats off to him). Here’s what the Hill newspaper is reporting:
Graber, who is apparently not the kind of guy to let a gag go unpunished, suggested Wexler may not have been joking when, egged on by Colbert, he looked into the camera and said he enjoys cocaine and prostitutes “because it’s a fun thing to do.�
“There are many ways to look at it,� Graber said. “Maybe he was shocked and the truth came out.�
Of course, Colbert persuaded Wexler to make the outrageous statements because he was not being contested in the 2006 election, asking the lawmaker to “say a few things that would really lose the election for you if you were contested.�
Colbert then asked him to complete this sentence: “I enjoy cocaine because …â€? and history was made.
This whole thing fits in to a disturbing trend that involves people taking the Colbert Report way way to seriously (see here for more). After the jump, if I’ve done this correctly, you can see the aforementioned segment with Colbert and Wexler. It really is pretty great, even if this Graber character doesn’t get it.
My head tells me this video is fake, or at the very least heavily edited, but my heart tells me its all real. I’m glad I never faced him in college.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFZevw1AHZs[/youtube]
My real job pays me quite well and my side job is a nice little addition to my income; I’m able to live quite comfortably with few monetary concerns. Having said that, I really, really, really need to be the head of my own hedge fund. Thats where the money’s at people:
James Simons, a 69-year-old publicity shy former math professor, uses complex computer-driven mathematical models to make bets on stocks, bonds and commodities, among other things.
His earnings last year were $1.7 billion.
As one of the leading hedge fund managers, Mr. Simons makes a sum that dwarfs that of the top chiefs on Wall Street. The highest paid on the Street, Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, earned $54.3 million in salary, cash, restricted stock and stock options last year. (Unlike the total for Mr. Simons, Mr. Blankfein’s reported compensation does not include gains on investments.)
And Mr. Simons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies, is not the only member of the billion-dollars-a-year club.
Two other hedge fund managers, Kenneth C. Griffin and Edward S. Lampert, each took home more than $1 billion last year, with George Soros missing the hurdle by a hair, give or take $50 million, according to an annual ranking of the top 25 hedge fund earners by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, which comes out today.
Sweet baby Jesus. That Simons guy earned $1.7 billion last year? Billion with a B? Thats a nice sum of money, to be sure. In all honesty, its an absurd amount of money for one person to make in one year. Read the whole article for a clearer picture of how these hedge fund managers are rewarded. The numbers are mind-boggling.
The multimedia page on the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s website is entirely composed of Fox News videos. Come on now guys, at least pretend that Fox isn’t a wing of the Republican Party. (via TPM)
Which guy are you in Entourage? Turns out I’m Eric, which sounds about right. (via Ezra Klein)
Desktop Tower Defense. Have you heard of it? If you value your job or being productive you might want to stop reading this right now. I was turned on to DTD from the usual source, Jason Kottke. And like Jason, I can’t stop playing it. It is highly, highly addictive and its all I’ve done today really, playing it over and over. Via Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch (also an addict by the way) here’s a little video someone put together of their method.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QdAU4o7NZ4[/youtube]
By the by, if you give this game a shot (don’t say I didn’t warn you though) and would like to compare scores feel free to add yours to the little group I’ve put together, cleverly titled “jdiddys crew what what”. Current high score, on the medium setting, is 3258. Try and beat that son.
Here’s the background story for that hilarious Will Ferrell/Baby I posted earlier. That baby was only 2 years old!