Random Friday Linkage


Here are 10 items that piqued my interest this week:

1. Carly Rae Jepson’s first pitch at a baseball game. According to the commentary, this is NOT the worst first pitch of all-time, but what I really want to know is did the umpire call it a strike?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H1BPjZA1io

2. Remember the review I posted last week of Paul Bogard’s The End of Night? Here is Bogard talking about “Light Pollution and The End of Night” on NPR.

3. “The 5 Best Movie Car Chase Scenes of All Time,” with clips from each one. Bullitt at #1, of course.

4. “Top 10 Worst Humans of All Time,” which I saw through yahoo. Thought provoking, but I don’t think they’ve made good choices. Himmler instead of Hitler? Jim Jones and Jeffrey Dahmer? Scumbags, yes, but I wouldn’t think they’re in the all-time conversation. No Mao, Stalin, or Tojo? No leaders of the Mongol horde? No leaders of the Inquisition?

5. On the subject of bad human beings, I’ve been following the Bo Xilai events since the story broke. Here’s the latest BBC report on his trial: “Bo Xilai rejects “insane” wife Gu Kailai’s testimony.” Bo was once rumored to be under consideration for one of China’s Top 7 jobs. Until his wife poisoned a British businessman, that is.

6. “West Point casualties are high in post 9-11 era.” From The Army Times. Wasn’t my fate to serve in those wars, but not a day goes by that I don’t feel guilty about it.

7. Three quick fun ones: “Louisiana sinkhole swallows trees“; “Ta-Ta London. Hello, Awesome,” about coming home to the United States after 17 years of living in England; “60s surfing shots finally get proper showing,” some old-school photos of the San Francisco surfing scene in the days before wetsuits; and “Electoral College reform (50 states with equal population),” a redrawing of the US political landscape into states with equal population with some very strange names.

8. & 9. Two foreign commercials that made me laugh. Fair warning: both tread the line of “off-color.”

A Thai advert for push up bras:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hG3Awd7Xpo&feature=youtu.be

And a Russian Tampax commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGZpWOMGJCM

And lastly, and most importantly, the BBC reports on “Why Robert Plant won’t reform Led Zeppelin,” a stance I much admire.

Plant copy

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