Kicks just keep gettin’ harder to find

If you think diesels aren’t fast enough, try taking on the new Audi R10 race car. The engine itself is something of a marvel.
In Mexico there is a more…. relaxed attitude towards using people as circus freaks for humorous purpose. Hence, Mexican Midget Rodeo. Hence, one of the performers having a very, very bad day with a bull. At least he wasn’t also lit on fire.
mendel points me to Regret The Errors 2005 roundup of corrections, including a magnificent Error of the Year. I’m reminded of the time our local rag broke the iron rule: do not repeat the error in the caption. One morning a correction said: “In Tuesday’s issue, there was an incorrect photo caption. The caption that should have read “Mrs. Buffy Buffington III and her daughter, Tiffany, at the Babes in Toyland Gala for Pediatric AIDS at the Marriott.” Instead, it read “CRACK BABIES.”
Say hello to our new ~~Berlin~~ San Diego Wall, which will fuck the environment hard and not keep anyone out. As Ronald Reagan once said, Mr. President, tear down that wall.

Worst flashmob ever

The Null Device has an excellent summary of the Australian race riots, with some background information that the international media hasn’t touched.

Also, text messaging. Yow.

HOW TO MAKE A WATERMELON BASKET.
And that was the best birthday ever! (quicktime video)
Mouneer Al-Shaárani does beautiful, beautiful calligraphy.
DANCE OF THE DEAD!
Speak softly and carry a big… ..stick. (Courtesy trinnit)
I can buy an artificial retractable WHAT?
The LA Times interviews a guy who makes pornography for hipsters. Hilarious, especially his earnest philosophical comments about fake breasts. Yo, keep it real. We wouldn’t want porn to sell out.
I for one welcome our new spherical hopping robot swarm overlords.

Vegemite probably would be pretty good axle grease. (Ad)
I do not want my sandwich to sing.
Marie Antoinette movie. Okay, that’s sort of topical. But 1) Why Kirsten Dunst? and 2) What the fuck is up with the New Order music over a period piece? Just because it was your favorite song in high school doesn’t mean everyone else will find it appropriate, folks.
Pastors! You could win $1000 and a trip to London in a sermon contest! Just make sure to mention Disney’s new Narnia movie. A whole world of pastoral product placement is opening up before me… what’s that sulfurous smell?

Courtney sells some of Kurt’s songs to… wait for it… Oh don’t worry. It’s a good thing. edit:The paper is a tabloid, sometimes makes shit up. Story not yet found elsewhere. Great legend if it’s fake, though!
Movies come to life as giant jellyfish attack Japan. Wearing tights can be an effective defense. Students have succeed in turning them into tofu.
Today’s Woot deal is a really good bread machine for $75, shipped. Go now buy.
Tulane is hacking itself to pieces after Katrina. WSJ story here may require registration. Short version: They’re axing 22 programs of study and firing 53 professors and a third of their medical school faculty. Bye bye university.
The data on Tylenol just gets worse and worse. Now it seems that you can poison yourself with 20 pills a day. I bet a lot of neurotic people do that much Tylenol.

I missed this on Pro-Med, but Aetiology caught it: Starving Miskito natives in Nicaragua are getting an inexplicable psychosis called “Grisis Signis”. From my own point of view, being in a famine-stricken region due to a plague of rats would be enough reason to go nuts with a machete. Fascinating story, though.
The classic Tommy Seebach “Apache” video has at least two remixes
Oops. Just because he’s an environmental activist doesn’t mean he burned all the SUVs.
Shades of the hashishim: Guerillas in Iraq may be hopping themselves up with military hallucinogens. That sure would help if you were a suicide bomber. It’s easier to be an asshole when you’re high, too. Chris Hedges’ account of the Bosnia war shows that hardcore murderers about to commit genocide always got really drunk first.
tuliphead alerts us to important tips on how to be a rock star guitar god. genericus please take note.
trinnit points out your new IM buddy problem: lol its not a virus lol im ur pal lol ur scrood sux 2 be u.
Hey ranai, what do you think of this Celebrity Caricature Finder? Seems like it might piss off you guys by harvesting stuff, but it’s a fun toy.
San Francisco cheese mongers and other cheesy friends, beware of morons who think you have cocaine. (Thanks, vark!)
Let’s deconstruct Christmas music. It’s got to beat listening to the stuff.

YOW! It’s a live restaurant webcam from Germany. Your chance to find out if the Krauts have a “five second rule”.
No one goes to Burning Goat any more. It’s just for frat boys and drunk farmers from Gavle.
The bees, they know our faces.
The dogs, they are laughing at us.
No, actually this isn’t the kind of suit that “makes people hate lawyers”. It’s the kind where you hope he gets drained of money and then fired from a cannon. Don’t hype diet Phils, Dr. Pill.
Stranger still, Diane Yuenger was told by someone in the program to meet a man in an In-N-Out Burger parking lot. She did, paying $600 for a plastic bag full of what she was told were her mother’s remains. UC Irvine is finally paying up for their Burke & Hare days.
Teen magazines are kind of blah. Catholic religious magazines are very, very blah. I now present to you the Teen Girl Catholic Magazine. You’re welcome!

Defense Tech Blog links to Kathryn Cramer’s fascinating investigative piece about the security company who’s been hired by the “transitional government” of Somalia to “help with the pirate problem”. They’re a front company for some very unsavory mercenaries linked to Sandline and Executive Outcomes (love that name!), companies who provided killers to African civil wars in exchange for diamonds.
The Exploding Aardvark presents today’s best headline.
LOL podcasting! LOL Adam Curry is a lamer! He’s such the perfect example of failed media types trying to claw their way to the top by abusing the Internet.
Hmm. Maybe New Scientist actually has today’s best headline. Poor li’l monogamous voles.
Four words: RICK MORANIS COUNTRY ALBUM.

Where the PLUTONIUM AT?
Your tax dollars at work: Go shorty, it’s yo bat mitzvah. I would love to have been a roadie at this gig.
AdJab pointed to today’s weird weird use of licensed clip art. Maybe she’s worried Linus is going to cap her if she keeps stalking him?
Hummer + Fiat = COMEDY GOLD! This is like the Giorgio Moroder version of a hip-hop ride. What. The. HEY. Let’s all flashdance in my 8 ton neon femme-mobile!
This is interesting. A story on Feministing about discrimination against female firefighters draws first the typical Internet troll who bashes women firefighters, and then a full body slam on both this guy and the article from an actual woman firefighter who has a totally different backstory. Unsurprisingly, it turns out to be about money.
For the twee Japanese rocker girl in your life, or the Comic Book Guy who likes thinking about twee Japanese rocker girls, here’s the Hello Kitty Guitar. I think rumplestimpskin needs the Badtz Maru Bass, so I’ll have to steal one for her.
We joked about Gogurt and Vodka years ago. Now there’s uh… go vodka? Blerghk!