US hacker-FBI informant walks free (via AFP) A hacker who directed hundreds of cyber attacks on corporations and foreign governments before turning FBI informant walked free Tuesday after being handed a symbolic seven-month sentence. Hector Xavier Monsegur, better known by his screen name "Sabu… I am not sure if this falls into the category of suffering for your art, or proof the "foodie" craze has hit critical mass. Alexander Selvik Wengshoel, a Norwegian artist, had surgery four years ago to replace a deformed hip. He could have gotten the surgery earlier than that, but he had spent much of the year leading up to the surgery trying to convince the doctors to allow him to film the operation, because you know- art. After the surgery, he was allowed to take his original hip bone home with him. The bone and the filmed operation have gone on exhibition as part of Wengshoel's graduation from the Tromso Academy of Art. Okay, fine. Whatever. I'm not qualified to be an art critic. However you want to create something and call it art, knock yourself out. I am not going to argue the pros and cons of building a life-sized crucifix out of used tampons and calling it art, just whether or not the gallery has proper ventilation. Where Mr. Wengshoel's story starts taking the offramp to the weird side is when he admitted during an interview that he had eaten parts of the hip bone. Yep. Wengshoel boiled the meat off the hip bone, and then served the bone with a glass of wine and potato gratin. Puts a whole new spin on the concept of the starving artist, doesn't it? Not to mention, what school of art does self-cannabalism fall into? Wengshoel said he knew he was going to use the hip bone as part of a work, but the idea to try and make a dinner out of it happened on a "whim." Okay, sure. Most people have whims, they say fuck it and get a pizza for dinner instead of leftovers, but you boiled up your own hip bone and served it with a side dish. Wengshoel said he did all this while his girlfriend was at work. Something tells me that any updated versions of this story will include the phrase "ex-girlfriend." As odd as this story, originally reported in the New York Daily News, plays out, part of me has to admire the guy's frame of thought. He was curious as to what human flesh tasted like, but at least he showed enough restraint to wait until he had a chunk of himself to try first. He said it was a way to help "purge the pain," saying after the bone had been removed, "it turned into something else, something romantic." Yes, because we all know how cooking up a chunk of yourself and dining along is romantic. Art? Skeptical. Wise dining? Doubtful. Crazy as three kinds of crazy on a crazy boat. Absolutely, and sitting in First Class, to boot. Just wonder how long it's going to be before he tries to list this particular, ahem, work of art upon the eBay. That would be an interesting test of their policy about selling body parts. Just some food for thought. European Parliament set to usher in first neo-Nazis (via AFP) Though no stranger to controversy or diatribe, the European Parliament is set to usher in its first fully-fledged neo-Nazi members, from Germany and Greece. With around 300,000 votes at Sunday's European elections the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party… Washington Monument reopens after earthquake repairs (via AFP) Sightseers returned to the summit of the Washington Monument on Monday as the historic landmark in the heart of the US capital reopened after nearly three years of challenging earthquake repairs. The 555-foot (170-meter) marble obelisk, erected in stages… Amazon pressure tactics reported in Hachette contract talks (via AFP) Amazon is pressuring the Hachette Book Group, a subsidiary of French company Lagardere, by delaying deliveries of its books as the two renegotiate their contract, The New York Times reported Saturday. The Times said Amazon's secret campaign to discourage… Appeal court revives Oracle-Google copyright battle (via AFP) An appeals court has breathed new life into Oracle's big-money lawsuit against Google by ruling that software commands can be copyrighted just like classic books. The case stems from 2012 trial, in which Oracle claimed Google owed them billions in damages… 'Japan makes Bitcoin-linked drug arrest' (via AFP) A suspected drug importer who allegedly used Bitcoin to pay his Mexican suppliers has been arrested in Japan, police said Friday, in reportedly the country's first case of its kind. Police forces in Tokyo and the southwestern city of Fukuoka teamed… Sony to shutter Reader Store as eBook sales go the way of Vaio laptops (via The Inquirer) SONY ANNOUNCED on Wednesday that it plans to shut down its eBook Reader Store, just months after it closed its loss-making Vaio PC unit. Sony has been having a rough time of it lately. Just three months after it revealed plans to shut down its Vaio… So, now there's a chronic condition for making cups of coffee? Yeah, we here in the real world call it having to wake the hell up every morning. Just to make sure cutesy morning blogs and smartass blogs like mine have crap to write about, there had to be a nickname slapped on it. In this instance, the object of my disdain is called "barista wrist." There is also a "barista elbow." Of course. This is not to say i have a problem with repetitive strain injuries, or doubt their existence. I've been writing for 22 years now. To say sometimes my hands hurt after an all-day typing festival is an understatement. But pouring coffee? Come on. Come the fuck on. Sit down, get your mind right, and then come right the fuck on. This is where I have a problem with repetitive strain injuries, because if your brittle ass can't handle pouring coffee for a living, then maybe you should have sprung for better than a philosophy degree. A certified hand specialist told the New York Post they have seen "all kinds of barista injuries," which tend to be chronic in nature. Oh, what the fuck? What the hell kind of certified hand specialist did the Post speak to, a fluffer? Seriously, I bet I could call ten "certified hand specialists" and total up zero barista injuries not stemming from getting burned with hotter than absolute fuck coffee. "The motions involved in making and serving coffee are far more dangerous than the average person knows," the Post also writes, one of the more ludicrous things I have ever seen coming from a newspaper. Sure, you are dealing with hot liquid, and maybe even spoons, and are there even numbers available for the number of people who accidentally blind themselves with powdered creamer? I've been drinking coffee longer than I have been writing, and have I burned myself with coffee? Sure, two or three times. Am I putting my life in peril by making and/or serving coffee? No, not unless I'm doing it in the middle of a raging gun battle or a lightning storm. Neither of which I have done lately. In the final wind-up, what I would really like to know is what the hell the name for the repetitive strain injury is for drinking too much coffee. And whether or not you can get a medical card for it, cause that would be a great bit of information to pass on. You know, should you ever get the weirdest Trivial Pursuit card ever one night. British hate preacher managed London strip club (via AFP) British hate preacher Abu Hamza told his US terror trial Wednesday how he once jointly managed a London strip club in his quest to live a Western, movie-style life. Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, 56, better known in Britain as Abu Hamza al-Masri, has pleaded… |
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(Best Overall Writing), 2011 Blogger's Choice Awards Archives
July 2014
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