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• Marriage Reports

  Since, as of yesterday, gay couples can marry in California (or, more exactly,can't not get married in California, which is slightly less revolutionary sounding, but whatever works), we'd love to know from any of you how this actually affecting the gay people on the ground, as it were? Are spontaneous weddings happening all over the place? Are cities equipped to deal with this? For instance, in Cambridge, MA, at midnight the night before the new law went to effect, Cambridge City hall issues marriage licenses to any number of gay couples. Is this happening in California. Let us know, the only report from the ground we can find is this disheartening one.
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  • Date: May 16 2008
  • Posted by Morgan Clendaniel

• Here Comes The Apocalypse

  Those four stylish horses should be ushering in the apocalypse any moment now. They'll be coming courtesy of the California Supreme Court, who over-turned a ban on gay marriage by a 4-3 vote today.
  
  Ironic image credit.
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  • Date: May 15 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Earthquake In China

  Over at the New York Times, news about Monday's catastrophic earthquake in China is pushing down news about the catastrophic cyclone in Burma. This interactive graphic shows the range of the quake's damage in Sichuan province.
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  • Date: May 13 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Cold Cut War

  Hey, remember the Cold War? It's back...in sandwich form.
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  • Date: May 09 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Me And You And Everyone We Know

  We're big fans of data and transparency, so we couldn't pass up mentioning that the 300-page Census Atlas of the United States is now available online. It's no Harry Potter, but if you're nerdy for demographic statistics, this is the mother lode.
  
  Via VSL.
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  • Date: May 08 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• The First Billion-Dollar Home

  The world's first billion-dollar home, commissioned for a petrochemical tycoon (surprise!) from India, will be a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai. Forbes mentions that hanging hydroponic gardens that "lower the energy footprint" of the house by absorbing heat and sunlight will dot the exterior of the first six floors. All of which, incidentally, are devoted to parking.
  
  There's a slideshow here and an article here.
  
  Via Archinect.
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  • Date: May 02 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• The Survivor Mitzvah

  Tomorrow, the 27th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's a sombre day, to say the least; but this year, it's also a day of giving.
  
  The Hollywood director Zane Buzby (Golden Girls, Newhart, Married...with Children) has established The Survivor Mitzvah, which aims to raise $6 million (in honor of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust) and distribute all of it to elderly survivors. The project's mission statement reminds us that "for many of these elderly and forgotten people, the war never really ended," but with our help, "they may live out their last years with some measure of comfort, support, and dignity."
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  • Date: May 01 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Intermission

  John Cleese visits a "laughing club" in India. Enjoy! It's impossible not to. Via Boing Boing.
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  • Date: Apr 29 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Solipsism 2.0

  Warning: Now is the time of day when we rush to judgment about a new form of online social networking—likening a trend to the ever-increasing tears and fray of our culture's moral fabric. Appraise me, appraise me! Evaluate me! Look at me! Please, please, please, someone, anyone, just look at me!!! That's our take on the appeal of FaceStat, a somewhat updated version of, wait for it, HotOrNot. Remember HotOrNot? Were you hot? Congratulations. We were not. Here's how FaceStat works: You send the site a photo of yourself. Then, the Mechanical Turk aggregates interpretations of the photo—people guess your age, your income, your ethnicity, your attractiveness, your trustworthiness, and a few other traits, based on the image your photo conveys. Here, for example, is what people thought of someone named Jake. It's a fabulous convergence of democracy and voyeurism that screams Il n'y a pas d'hors-texte in the language of digital connectivity. Thanks, Avery.
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  • Date: Apr 28 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Beware The Penis Sorcerers

  And you think things are bad here. In Congo, people are getting lynched in the capital. And for what? For magically shrinking men's penises. Yup. Men with gold rings in communal taxis will shrink your penis and not think twice, and the best solution appears to lynch those men before they can get to your penis. We'd avoid Kinshasa for the time being if you either like your penis the size it is, or are a sorcerer who gleefully minimizes penises but who can't cast any sort of anti-lynching spell.
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  • Date: Apr 24 2008
  • Posted by Morgan Clendaniel