Hands. They have hands.
CSIRO / youtube.com
CSIRO / youtube.com
GRABBIN' AT DAT POUCH.
CSIRO / Via youtube.com
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Showing posts with label 2014 at 07:22PM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014 at 07:22PM. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
14 Little Known Nuggets Of Australian History
r/australia took a break from politics to talk history. Gold was unearthed!
In the Thirties, Western Australia deployed soldiers to curb emus in a campaign dubbed The Emu War.
Major Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery commanded soldiers armed with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
“The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.” Ornithologist Dominic Serventy via Wikipedia.
Rum was once legal tender.
The history of currency in Australia began in 1800, when Governor King issued a proclamation setting the value of coins in New South Wales. However, because of the shortage of money, the real currency during the first twenty-five years of settlement was rum. Source: Wikipedia.
Melbourne used to be called Batmania.
Before being officially named, Melbourne had several interim names including Batmania, Bearbrass, Bareport, Bareheep and Barehurp. Source: Bill Wannan, Australian folklore: a dictionary of lore, legends and popular allusions.
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Fight Over Who Will Take Marriage Equality To The Supreme Court Breaks Out Into The Open
Legal advocacy groups and big-name lawyers all want to be the ones who bring their case to the Supreme Court in order to argue for nationwide marriage equality.
Spencer Geiger (center) stands with Roger Roman (right), both of Virginia Beach, Va., with those in support of marriage equality as a hearing in Norfolk Federal Court on the constitutionality of the Virginia law takes place Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Adrin Snider/Newport News Daily Press / MCT
WASHINGTON — The fight to win marriage equality across the nation has in recent months become nearly as much a fight about which lawyers and organizations will get to be the ones making the arguments before the Supreme Court — and taking credit for a win.
Now, that fight is breaking out into the open.
On Wednesday, Lambda Legal and the ACLU, along with Jenner & Block partner Paul Smith, asked the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to allow them to intervene in the ongoing appeal of the challenge to Virginia's ban on same-sex couples' marriages.
The case, which resulted in a win earlier this month for same-sex couples backed by the American Foundation for Equal Rights, and in which the couples are represented by Ted Olson and David Boies, is on appeal. Now, Lambda Legal, the ACLU and Smith want to join the appeal on behalf of the couples and class they represent in a second marriage challenge that is moving more slowly through a different federal trial court in Virginia.
As Lambda Legal and ACLU lawyers and Smith note in Wednesday's request to the 4th Circuit, “counsel for the [AFER-represented plaintiffs] indicated they do not consent” to their intervention.
Their request to intervene in the Bostic v. Schaefer case is just the latest in a series of tangles between the organizations and advocates who are fighting for marriage equality. BuzzFeed first described the behind-the-scenes fight in Virginia back in October 2013.
It's not only in Virginia, either. At the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Roberta Kaplan from law firm Paul Weiss — who had successfully represented Edith Windsor in her challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act — sought unsuccessfully to intervene in the ongoing appeal there. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, however, was successful in joining the existing legal team from Utah in representing the couples on appeal.
The change from advocates over the past five years is dramatic.
As recently as early 2009, organizations like Lambda Legal, the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights balked when Chad Griffin asked them about going to federal court to make broad constitutional claims to fight California's Proposition 8.
Instead, Griffin enlisted the help of Olson and Boies and started the American Foundation for Equal Rights so they could file their own lawsuit. Olson and Boies had none of the qualms the established LGBT legal groups did about the argument, and they made their case for marriage equality in a media barnstorm across the nation.
By the time the Proposition 8 case ended on a technical ruling that returned marriage equality to California but prevented a national ruling about same-sex couples' marriage rights, Griffin had been made the head of the Human Rights Campaign and marriage equality was looking like a much more likely proposal — especially with the Supreme Court's ruling striking down DOMA's ban on federal recognition of same-sex couples' marriages.
Since then, it has been a race back to the Supreme Court. Earlier Wednesday, a federal judge in Texas declared that state's marriage amendment unconstitutional — sending that case to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — while other appeals are pending in the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 10th Circuits as well.
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24 Important Lessons You Learned From “The Bachelor”
Because we’re all pandas trying to make it in a world full of brown bears.
ABC
ABC
Put some serious thought into picking out your first impression outfit.
Run, Sean. Run far away.
ABC / Via wetpaint.com
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21 Reasons Dating Yourself Is Better Than Actual Dating
You’re the best. And don’t you deserve the best?
You don't have to spend time getting to know yourself.
HBO / Via iwontfalldownyourtrapdoor.tumblr.com
You can be a cheap date or blow all your rent money on yourself.
It's your money, honey!
Twentieth Century Fox
You don't have to wonder if you'll be a fun date.
You're funny, intelligent, and hot. What's not to love?
Screen Gems / Via taabitah.tumblr.com
You don't have to pick a place to meet up because you're already with yourself.
Crazy, right?
VH1
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18 Hilarious Russian Translations Of Hollywood Movie Titles
Because My Boyfriend is a Psycho gets to the point much better than Silver Linings Playbook.
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
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11 Secrets Cats Don’t Want You To Know
Will you be able to look your cat in the eye after this?
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If “Dawson’s Creek” Had Used Suggested Hashtags
#Jawson and #Jacey and #Jougie, oh my.
Today's hit teen soap Pretty Little Liars may have mastered the art (or annoyance) of hashtags that pop up in the corners of your television screen, instructing you what to tweet as you watch — #RedCoat, #Spoby, #AliIsAlive, etc. — but in the late '90s and early '00s, a far less murderous or tech-savvy (but equally incestuous) series, Dawson's Creek, ruled the airwaves.
Though Twitter didn't exist at the time of the Dawson-Joey-Pacey love triangle or the complexities of life in Capeside, below, imagine a world in which The WB could've guided our 140-character thoughts with the mere press of a pound sign.
From Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot”
Sony / Via Netflix
Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot”
Sony / Via Netflix
From Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot”
Sony / Via Netflix
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Monday, 17 February 2014
How To Make Spaghetti With Sriracha Shrimp, Cilantro, And Lime
Yet another reason why Sriracha is the king of the condiments. Check out more easy spaghetti dinners here .
Graphic by Chris Ritter / Photos by Macey Foronda
Serves 4
Recipe by Rebekah Peppler
INGREDIENTS
1 lb spaghetti
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
3 tablespoons sriracha
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
PREPARATION
Cook 1 lb spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente. Drain through a colander, reserving about a cup of the pasta water.
In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat, and shrimp . Season with just a little bit of salt and pepper (there's lots of seasoning in the garlic-chili sauce, so be careful not to overdo it!). Cook until the shrimp are pink and start to curl, about 3 minutes, flipping halfway through.When shrimp are cooked, add sriracha and toss to coat the shrimp. Add the cooked spaghetti, 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water, chopped cilantro (reserving about a tablespoon for garnish), and the juice of 2 limes. Toss until combined.
Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro.
Macey Foronda
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Friday, 14 February 2014
Things Superheroes Do That’d Be Creepy If You Did Them
How To Make Spaghetti With Chicken, Kale, And White Beans
The “chicken noodle” minus the “soup.” Check out more easy spaghetti dinners here .
Graphic by Chris Ritter / Photos by Macey Foronda
Serves 4
Recipe by Rebekah Peppler
INGREDIENTS
1 lb spaghetti
1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
4 cups kale, coarsely chopped
1 15-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 rotisserie chicken, meat picked and skin removed
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
PREPARATION
Cook spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente. Drain through a colander.
In a large sauté pan with a lid, bring 1 cup chicken stock to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add kale, cover, and steam for about 2 minutes, until the kale is wilted and soft. Add shredded chicken and drained beans and continue to heat for about a minute, until chicken is warmed through. Stir in the cooked pasta, season with salt and pepper and serve.
Macey Foronda
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19 Times Mister Rogers Proved He Could Do Anything
The most interesting man in the neighborhood.
Mister Rogers taught us that you don't build a manly physique overnight.
This is what discipline looks like.
PBS / Via amazon.com
Look at that incredible underhand shot. Homie was a baller.
PBS / Via amazon.com
Ice-skating legend Peggy Fleming pales to Mr. Rogers' technical prowess in the ice rink.
PBS / Via youtube.com
Dude went snorkeling like he was Aquaman.
PBS / Via amazon.com
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What The Simpsons Sound Like In Other Countries
How do you say “d’oh” in Japanese?
• There are two Simpsons spanish voice casts, one for Spain and one for Mexico. There are a lot of debates over which is better, with some even preferring them to the original cast.
• There are also two French casts – one for France and one for the Canadian province of Quebec. Only the French version is featured in this video, sorry about that!
• When there's a celebrity guest in Spain or Mexico, they get the actor who usually dubs that celebrity. For instance, in Spain Sideshow Bob is voiced by the same actor who dubbed Kelsey Grammer on Frasier.
• They made the monorail song rhyme in every language!
• On the German DVDs, the second half of the monorail song is in English. I checked on several German DVD players, and can not figure out why.
• Sometimes references are updated for the local audience. For instance, a joke about Newt Gingrich was updated for the French-Canadian audience to poke fun at Ontario Premiere Mike Harris instead.
• According to Matt Groening, “d'oh” is “t'oh” in France because the actor misread the line once and it stuck.
• America's had the same Simpsons cast for over 25 seasons, but there's more turnover in other countries. The Spanish and Italian Homers have both passed on and been replaced. There's also been some union issues – the entire Mexican cast was replaced after season 16.
• The Simpsons is so good that it's still funny when you don't understand the words.
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Saturday, 8 February 2014
10 Pictures That Prove Bruno Mars Is Actually Powerline From “A Goofy Movie”
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Abuse, Including Rape, Is Standard In Iraq’s Prisons, Report Says
Iraqi authorities arbitrarily detain women and torture them into confessing to crimes, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. “Do you want them to pamper you?”
“They say they will do the same to your daughter.”
“Fatima” talks to Human Rights Watch about the abuse she endured in an Iraqi prison.
The worst thing about being in an Iraqi prison is not actually the beating, or the electrocution. It’s not having cigarettes extinguished all over the body, or hanging upside down while men beat your feet with lead pipes.
The worst part is the rape.
A 43-year-old journalist whom Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls Fatima Hussein told the organization that she was beaten, tied to a metal pole, electrocuted. They tied her feet to a wooden board and beat her soles with electrically charged cables, then released her and told her to run.
But it was the threat of sexual violence by her captors that provoked Fatima's darkest fears. When she refused to sign and fingerprint a blank “confession,” she was dragged “to another room, where I saw a mattress, a bed, a fridge, and a lock with uniforms. Then I got scared,” she told the New York-based human rights group. “I realized that they intended to do something sexual to me.”
There's no shortage of horror in “No One is Safe,” the report HRW released Thursday. And the horror knows no gender: Though the report focused on the treatment of women in prison, the organization believes men are similarly subject to torture and sexual abuse.
The report details evidence of abuse in federal Iraqi prisons and by Iraq's security forces, which pull from the ranks of the local police, federal police, the Iraqi military and special counterterrorism authorities. HRW researcher Erin Evers, who wrote the report, said in an interview that she suspects the abuse stretches beyond federal prisons into local jails and detention facilities run by the military and by security forces that answer directly to Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
One of the prisoners HRW talked to had been handed over to Iraqis by American troops a few hours after U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces stormed her cousin's home in January 2010. But Evers said there is otherwise no direct link between the abuse documented in the report and the former presence of U.S. troops — whose own abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison a decade ago badly tarnished the American war effort and the global reputation of the United States.
Once detained, prisoners can languish. Iraq's criminal code allows for 15 days of detention, renewable indefinitely, during a criminal investigation. Even people cleared by an investigative judge, or acquitted by a trial judge, can get stuck in prison waiting for a formal judicial release. “[I]f your file is at the bottom of the pile, you pay money and it gets placed on top,” one judge told Human Rights Watch. “[I]f you don't have money and you don't pay, your file keeps moving toward the bottom. Just because you have a judicial release order doesn't mean you'll get out.”
But unlike their male counterparts, the 1,100 or so Iraqi women (there are no exact figures) sitting in prison can't necessarily go back to their normal lives after release.
“Every other Iraqi male you speak to has been in prison at some point or another. It's not a stigma,” said Evers. “Women, once they've been in prison, are ruined, essentially. They are often rejected, if not outright threatened, by their families. There's a presumption that they've been sexually assaulted in prison, which is seen as something dishonorable — which is something, actually, you can be killed for.”
Of the 14 women whose stories make up the bulk of HRW's report, 13 haven't been released. (Fatima, whose story appears in the video below, was released as a direct result of HRW inquiring about her case.) One was executed; one is missing; one sits on death row. Most were arrested without charges and later presented with “confession” papers, sometimes blank, to sign.
All but two of the 27 women the group interviewed had been held on allegations of “covering up” crimes or associations of male family members. That pattern, Evers said, amounts to collective punishment.
“You'll have women detained in place of men or in order to humiliate men or intimidate them, sometimes the entire — literally 12 members of a family,” Evers said.
Generally women end up in state custody because of a tip from anonymous secret informants, who Evers said are civil servants looking to pick up extra cash “on the gray-market government payroll.”
They end up stuck in prison thanks, in part, to corruption. One woman told HRW that a police officer asked her to buy her and her daughter's release. “I have nothing against you or your family. Just bring me 11 daftar ($110,000) and I'll set you free. If you can't pay, I'll charge you with terrorism…and you'll get death sentences,” he told her, according to the report.
Once they're in custody, it seems all but certain that women will experience sexual assault at some point in their detention. One employee at a women's prison told HRW, “[W]e expect that they've been raped by police on the way to the prison.”
A 25-year-old woman said she told a judge about the rape and torture she'd experienced in detention.
The judge responded: “What? Do you want them to pamper you?”
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Tuesday, 4 February 2014
What It’s Like Being Single On Valentine’s Day
Because you may or may not have “On My Own” from the Les Mis soundtrack on repeat.
February 14th is rapidly approaching.
Walt Disney Pictures / Via giphy.com
All of your friends in relationships couldn't be happier.
Disney Channel / Via havealittle-fun.tumblr.com
Which makes all the single people, especially you, feel extremely bitter.
MGM / Via giphy.com
So you have to deal with all the couples being cute.
Fox / Via pandawhale.com
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Thursday, 30 January 2014
22 Times Lana Del Rey Fell Asleep While Singing
Kindle
She may sing the title track for “Maleficent,” but she’s really a sleeping beauty.
This is Lana Del Rey. She's a really talented singer.
Lana Del Rey / Via youtube.com
She also dozes off a lot.
Lana Del Rey / Via youtube.com
You know when you sit down and then you pass out RIGHT AWAY?
Lana Del Rey / Via youtube.com
Lana even looks patriotic when she sleeps.
Lana Del Rey / Via youtube.com
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Kindle
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Sunday, 19 January 2014
Why Weren’t There Any Black Musicians At The Top Of The Singles Chart Last Year?
Kindle
It was a big year for Beyoncé, Drake, and others, but none of them topped the Billboard chart in 2013. Album sales, however, tell a more complicated story.
The Associated Press
2013 was the first year since Billboard began its pop singles chart in 1958 in which no black artists hit the No. 1 position. It’s particularly notable since this situation is the exact opposite of the same chart a decade ago, when every No. 1 single in 2004 came from a black artist. It's easy to look at this and interpret it as an alarming sign that mainstream music fans have turned against black artists, or that the charts are being whitewashed. But the reality of this is a lot more complicated and ambiguous.
The intent of the Billboard charts is more about reflecting a record's success than its popularity and cultural impact, which can be sort of nebulous things. Billboard is a trade magazine, and the editors' decision last year to factor digital sales and streaming audio and video into determining the Hot 100 was driven mainly by those things becoming key to the industry's revenue streams as consumer behavior has changed in the recent past. It's where the money is now, plain and simple. But since only 11 songs hit No. 1 in 2013, it isn't enough of a sample size to indicate a trend just yet.
There's not that much information to analyze just yet.
The Associated Press
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Kindle
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HIV-Positive Student Allegedly Filmed Secret Sex Tapes With More Than 30 Unknowing Partners
Kindle
Police say former college student Michael Johnson, known as Tiger Mandingo online, may have found some of his partners through one of his six social media accounts.
Johnson was originally arrested on Oct. 10 after a man told police he was diagnosed with HIV and gonorrhea about a month after having sex with Johnson in his dorm room.
Court records show Johnson failed to wear a condom and didn’t tell his partners he is HIV positive. When two asked if he had any diseases, he said no.
The arrest was the culmination of a five-month investigation on the Lindenwood wrestler, who was a state champion in high school.
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Kindle
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