WOTD: Rathskeller

Rathskeller
n.
a tavern below street level featuring beer; originally a German restaurant in the basement of city hall


[German Ratskeller, Rathskeller, restaurant in the city hall basement : German Rat, council, counsel (from Middle High German rt, from Old High German. See ar- in Indo-European Roots) + German Keller, cellar (from Middle High German, from Old High German kellri, from Latin cellrium. See cellar).]

I love that Germans have a word for where they go to get drunk in between bouts of governing.

Giant Bat-Eating Centipede

We've been running low on python submissions, so this should tide us over...

"It will take it an hour or so, but it will eat all the bat's flesh." -- David Attenborough

The Ultimate Own Goal

Own goal goodness + a face smash = viewer happiness.

All Too Easy

I know this is so five months ago, but whatevs.

Have You Heard...?

...of the Colombian that was shot dead by his countrymen for scoring an own goal at the World Cup? Well, I haven't found that video... yet. Of course, there's other sick shit that can happen to a Colombian playing the beautiful game.

Bear VS Bavarian Government

The brazen bear who captured the heart of the nation is no longer. Hunters shot Bruno dead in the early hours of Monday morning after efforts to capture the brown bear alive failed. He was the first wild bear to visit Bavaria in 170 years.

Bruno the wandering bear is dead. The notorious creature was shot by hunters at 4.50 a.m. on Monday morning, near the Bavarian town of Zell in southern Germany. "The shooting has happened, the bear is dead," said Manfred Wölfl, the Bavarian government's bear expert.

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The Bavarian government keeps a bear expert on the payroll and they don't even have wild bears? Also, haven't these hunters heard of traquilizers?

Thanks to Tim.

Sooo Worth A Rewatch

:,@

Okay, Croatia didn't make it. There was a crazy English ref that allowed an Australian goal when the player was off-sides. Then he did some crazy triple-yellow card shit. Croatia also didn't play well enough. What can I say? I wish I was dead.

If you're a masochist like me, read a few hundred comments about the Croatia-Australia draw.

Meanwhile, check out this chart of the teams that actually survived the group phase:
My predictions are: Germany, Argentina, Italy, Switzerland, England, Netherlands, Brazil, and Spain to advance to quarter finals.

If Australia keeps winning, I'll just pretend that's at least how far Croatia woulda gotten, 'cause I honestly believe they're better, somehow. (Australia plays Italy next. Croatia soundly beat Italy in the 2002 World Cup.)
Meanwhile, I'm rooting for Ecuador over England, Ukraine over Switzerland, and maybe Mexico over Argentina (I say maybe because a match between Argentina and Brazil would be pretty awesome). For all else I'm pretty much rooting for whom I think will win.

WOTD: Psychomachy

PSYCHOMACHY
Noun

1. A conflict of the soul with the body.

E.G. Aided by potables the body emerged from the psychomachy triumphant.

WOTD: Primifluous

Primifluous
adj
that which flows first
The primifluous wines of the evening were excellent, unlike the plonk served later.

Months Long "Hot Cop on Cop Action" Trifecta Completed

The FBI says the guard opened fire as investigators came to arrest him and five other guards this morning on corruption charges. An indictment alleges the guards brought unidentified contraband into the part of the prison where female inmates were held and sold it or exchanged it for sex with the prisoners or the inmates' silence.

Do you guys think that percentage of criminals in law enforcement is higher or lower than the percentage of criminals in the overall population?

Previously on DT:
Hot Cop on Cop Action!!!
More Hot Cop on Cop action

Some stuff

Remember the best post I ever posted? I'm gonna try it with a chicken over charcoal tomorrow.

I'm reading the new novel by this guy. Love him, but that link is funny because it's true.

Via Boing Boing: try this at home (requires 2 or more beers); also, a watch to indicate my birthday.

Word of the every couple of days

Afflatus
n.

A strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration.

Latin affltus, from past participle of afflre, to breathe on : ad-, ad- + flre, to blow; see bhl- in Indo-European Roots.

I think the romans recognized early on the benefit of thinking on the can.

Own Goal Montage

Behold The Predictive Power Of Mel Brooks' Space Balls

Japan’s burgeoning craze for all things stress-relieving has created a market for that most elemental commodity: air. The salary men and women of the capital may soon be hooked on pocket-sized containers of oxygen. The country’s largest retail chain, 7-Eleven Japan, has begun selling small canisters of “O2 Supli” at its 11,000-strong network of convenience stores. The chain is carrying particularly large stocks of the cans in its stores in Tokyo’s office districts, which are packed with the stressed and supposedly oxygen-starved.

To the ranks of Japanese workers who believe in the health benefits of oxygen, the 35 measured snorts of 95% pure oxygen in each spray-can are the answer to their prayers. Advertisements for the cans claim that “modern stress-fighters” can finally have oxygen at their fingertips. Overwork, long hours in a stuffy office, lethargy or a scolding from a boss will all melt away after a two-second blast of invigorating grapefruit- or peppermint-scented oxygen. Some doctors are more sceptical, advising consumers to save themselves the cost of a $5 can of oxygen and achieve a similar effect by breathing regularly and occasionally having a good, old-fashioned yawn.

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Sounds like these stressed-out Japanese need less oxygen and more whiskey. Or was it hyper-baric oxygen chambers that allowed Japan to tie Croatia on Sunday?

David Cross Does Stephen Hawking

I saw him in Decibel on Tuesday. He had a full beard and was entertaining a lady-friend.

WOTD: Crapulence

exempla gratia:
My crapulent behaviour of last night caused me to have a great crap this morning.

Daily Dose Of Schadenfreude

Argentina: 6, Serbia: 0

Drinktank word of the day

OK guys. I am going to try to have a word of the day from now on. I don't know how long I'll last, but here goes.

addendum today's word is actually an acronym. If you have a problem with that you can go count sand. Luv ODB

UFIA Unsolicited Finger in the Anus

Best Cat Video Ever

Bear VS Hammock

Ya Can't Mess With These Fans

..they celebrate good losses. Just wait till Sunday, when they spill Asiaman blood on the field. Everyone's welcome to join me at Savalas for a big projected screen and cheap beer.

Croatia's fans lit flares and celebrated at the end of their 1-0 defeat to Brazil in their opening World Cup match at the Olympiastadion on Tuesday to show just how proud they were of their team.

Croatia coach Zlatko Kranjcar said afterwards that they always knew that this would be a game they would probably lose -- but that wins over Japan and Australia in their remaining two Group F fixtures should be enough to see them through.

"We always thought we might well find ourselves in this position after the first game so it's no surprise and no real disappointment," he said. "We were perhaps unlucky not to get a point but we know what we have to do to qualify now."

Victory in the next two matches cannot be taken for granted of course, but if Croatia play as well against Japan and Australia as they did against Brazil, the odds are probably on them taking all six points.

Croatia had far the better of play for about 20 minutes at the start of the second half and only some outstanding saves by Brazilian goalkeeper Dida stopped them reaping reward for inventive midfield play and direct attacking.

They probably could have even afforded to be rather more adventurous against Brazil and if Dado Prso had played in a more central role in the Croatia attack rather than trying to cut in from the wings, he might have ended the game with a goal or two.

Croatia are desperate to do well in these finals after flopping out at the first-round stage in 2002 following their semi-final appearance on their debut in 1998.

Kranjcar's team is well organised and proved against the world champions they could not be intimidated. One brilliant tackle in the second half by Robert Kovac summed up their speed of thought and their commitment.

Kranjcar's son Niko had a fine game in his usual attacking midfield role and went close with a header late in the game when Croatia looked as though they were easily capable of securing a draw.

Captain Niko Kovac, who failed to finish the game after picking up a rib injury following a heavy challenge from Brazil's Ze Roberto towards the end of the first half, agreed with his coach on what their priorities were now.

"We have to win both of the other games. We knew that before but now it's reality," he said. "Now we all need to concentrate on that."

He said he would know after training later on Wednesday whether he would be fit in time for the next game against Japan on Sunday in Nuremberg.

__________________________________

If you want a bunch of international blog commentary on the Brazil game, check this out.

Brazil VS Croatia

Size: 8,511,965 sq km VS 56,542 sq km

Population: 188,078,227 VS 4,494,749

GDP Per Capita, PPP: $8,400 (2005 est.) VS $11,600 (2005 est.)

Climate: mostly tropical, but temperate in south VS Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast

Resources: bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber VS oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower

Environmental Issues: deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys the habitat and endangers a multitude of plant and animal species indigenous to the area; there is a lucrative illegal wildlife trade; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and several other large cities; land degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities; wetland degradation; severe oil spills VS air pollution (from metallurgical plants) and resulting acid rain is damaging the forests; coastal pollution from industrial and domestic waste; landmine removal and reconstruction of infrastructure consequent to 1992-95 civil strife

Ethnic Makeup: white 53.7%, mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2000 census) VS Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, other 5.9% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Roma) (2001 census)

HIV/AIDS - Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.7% VS less than 0.1%

HIV/AIDS - People Living With HIV/AIDS: 660,000 VS 200

International Disputes: unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations; uncontested dispute with Uruguay over certain islands in the Quarai/Cuareim and Invernada boundary streams and the resulting tripoint with Argentina; in 2004 Brazil submitted its claims to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to extend its maritime continental margin VS discussions continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small disputed sections of the boundary related to maritime access that hinders ratification of the 1999 border agreement; the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime boundary agreement, which would have ceded most of Pirin Bay and maritime access to Slovenia and several villages to Croatia, remains un-ratified and in dispute; as a European Union peripheral state, neighboring Slovenia must conform to the strict Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through southeastern Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with Croatia

Airports: 4,223 (2005) VS 68 (2005)

Heliports: 417 (2005) VS 1 (2005)
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Overview Brazil:

Brazil is the only country to have qualified for every World Cup. They are taking part for the 18th time. They have lifted the cup a record five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002.

Brazil have won their last seven World Cup matches, all in 2002. If they beat Croatia, they will improve the record for most consecutive wins in the finals. That record was set by Italy between 1934 and 1950 and equalled by Brazil in the 2002 World Cup final. Brazil have kept a clean sheet in their last two World Cup matches, and have won their last six opening fixtures at World Cups.

Overview Croatia:

Croatia have qualified for the third time. In 1998 they finished third on their debut, in 2002 they failed to negotiate the group phase.

Croatia have not suffered a defeat in their last 10 competitive matches, and have not been beaten since Euro 2004 where they lost their final group match against England (2-4).

Player facts : Brazil

Ronaldo, the 2002 top scorer with eight goals, needs two more goals to equal Gerd Muller's leading World Cup total of 14. He's currently tied in third place with Pele. Both players needed 14 matches to reach that total. Ronaldo scored 10 goals in 15 qualifying matches to become the CONMEBOL section top scorer.

Over the years, nine Brazilians have been red carded at the World Cup, a record they share with Argentina. Ronaldinho was their last player to be shown a red card during a World Cup match. He received his marching orders against England in 2002.

Player facts : Croatia

Goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa can play his 50th international match for Croatia.

AC Milan defender Dario Simic returns to the World Cup for the third time following appearances in 1998 and 2002. Forward Ivica Olic is the only player in Croatia's squad who has previously scored at a World Cup. He scored once against Italy in 2002. Brothers Niko and Robert Kovac also played together in the 2002 finals.

Miscellaneous Info

Brazil will try to repeat their feat of 1962 when they successfully defended their World Cup title. Italy (1938) is the only other country to have retained the accolade of world champions.

More Slow Motion Bullet Ballet

Here's an even better one: paint-ball edition.

Drink Tank's Prayers Answered: A World Cup Where Hurling Ten-Pound Chunks Of Feces Is Encouraged

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, June 8, 2006 (AFP) - Eight elephants in northern Thailand have kicked off their own World Cup, painting their faces in team colors and staging their own tournament with a jumbo-sized ball.
Four teams with two elephants each are representing Brazil, Germany, Italy and Spain at the Mae Sa elephant camp outside the city of Chiang Mai.
The elephants can use either their front or rear feet to kick the ball into a goal guarded by another elephant.
"We had elephant football matches during the previous World Cup four years ago, and we found tourists really like it," the camp's director Anchalee Kalmapichit said.
Like the real World Cup in Germany, the elephants' matches will run for the next month, he said.

Relive The Angst Of A Croatia VS Yugoslavia Soccer Game, 1999

Economist: Olympics VS World Cup

SEVENTY years after Jesse Owens sprinted to victory in the 1936 Olympic Games, the Berlin Olympic stadium is once again at the centre of the sporting world. Football's World Cup, which starts this week, will come to a climax with a final in the refurbished Olympic stadium in Berlin next month.

Fortunately, the political overtones that made the Berlin Olympics such a sinister event are completely absent. This is not just because Germany is now a democratic country. It is also because the World Cup, unlike the Olympics, is wonderfully difficult to manipulate for political purposes. Over its long history, success at the Olympics has usually been a fairly accurate measure of global political power. Although the world now remembers the snub that Jesse Owens delivered to Nazi theories of racial superiority, the Germans came top of the Olympic medal table in 1936, reflecting the Nazi regime's growing power. During the cold war, the United States and the Soviet Union repeatedly struggled to gain a symbolic victory, by winning the most medals at the Olympics. Already a similar, politically charged battle for supremacy between America and China looks likely in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

By contrast, the World Cup has its own hierarchy, which is pleasingly divorced from the global pecking order. There is a sole superpower—Brazil. The Italians and French, apparently doomed to gentle decline in the real world, remain formidable competitors on the football field. And then there are the rising powers—which are more likely to hail from Africa than Asia. America will field a serious team at the World Cup, but nobody expects it to win. The Chinese, who have discovered a passion for football, failed to qualify for the tournament.

Football's power structure reflects a satisfying characteristic of the global game. Despite the undoubted prestige to be had by becoming champions of the world, it is extremely hard—if not impossible—for a determined and well-resourced government to create a World Cup-winning team. Arguably, the Italians managed it in the 1930s; and Argentina's World Cup winners in 1978 received plenty of backing from the ruling military junta. But a modern-day dictator who ordered his minions to create a team that could beat Brazil—or even play in their style—would be swiftly disappointed.

Again, the comparison with the Olympics is striking. Think of all those robotic East German sprinters, Romanian gymnasts and Chinese swimmers churned out by state-backed programmes. By contrast, a winning football team needs not just athleticism but also a spark of creativity and style that cannot be manufactured by sport's central planners. Even taking drugs does not appear to be much help for footballers.

As a result, every World Cup seems to throw up a team that suddenly clicks at the right time and beats a much-fancied opponent. Think of North Korea vanquishing Italy in 1966 or Senegal turning over France, the reigning champions, in 2002. It is this capacity to surprise that helps make the World Cup such a gripping event. And it is why in the endless competition between the Olympics and the World Cup for the title of “the world's greatest sporting event” we vote for the World Cup.

______________
Yeah, fuck a lotta Olympics.

doghumppuke

Thas it n thas all.
Woo woooooo

Robot Murder Has Already Occured

IN 1981 Kenji Urada, a 37-year-old Japanese factory worker, climbed over a safety fence at a Kawasaki plant to carry out some maintenance work on a robot. In his haste, he failed to switch the robot off properly. Unable to sense him, the robot's powerful hydraulic arm kept on working and accidentally pushed the engineer into a grinding machine. His death made Urada the first recorded victim to die at the hands of a robot...

Thanks again Ivan.

Useful Robots

Thanks Ivan.

I'll be watching Clint on Alcatraz

You NY guys might check this:

The "Netflix Rolling Roadshow" is a coast-to-coast promotional tour beginning Aug. 2 at Coney Island in New York, where the 1979 gang film "The Warriors" will be shown. Dates for the various screenings range throughout the month.

Phantom Dead

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant who led an insurgent campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and hostage beheadings, died in an air strike north of Baghdad, Iraq's prime minister said.

Cartographical Interlude: The 32 Qualifying Countries

Did you know FIFA has 207 members (sorry, former FIFA affiliates), while the UN only has 191?

An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you.

- Dylan Thomas

Not much of a post, but apt for this weekend.

Nazi Of The Week: Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun

Standing in front of the Saturn V main engine.

Dr. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. The German scientist who led Germany's rocket development program before and during World War II, entered the United States at the end of the war through the then-secret Operation Paperclip. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen and worked on the American ICBMNASA, where he served as Director. He is generally regarded as the father of the United States space program...

Apollo program director Sam Phillips was quoted as saying that he did not think that America would have reached the moon as quickly as it did without von Braun's help. Later, after discussing it with colleagues, he amended this to say that he did not believe America would have reached the moon at all.

Great read.

Hooked On A Feeling

Пошли эту страницу тем, кого ты называешь друзьями!!!!!!

From Trevor.

I ♥ China

SHANGHAI, June 2 — It began with an impassioned, 5,000-word letter on one of the country's most popular Internet bulletin boards from a husband denouncing a college student he suspected of having an affair with his wife. Immediately, hundreds joined in the attack.

"Let's use our keyboard and mouse in our hands as weapons," one person wrote, "to chop off the heads of these adulterers, to pay for the sacrifice of the husband."

Within days, the hundreds had grown to thousands, and then tens of thousands, with total strangers forming teams that hunted down the student, hounded him out of his university and caused his family to barricade themselves inside their home.

It was just the latest example of a growing phenomenon the Chinese call Internet hunting, in which morality lessons are administered by online throngs and where anonymous Web users come together to investigate others and mete out punishment for offenses real and imagined...