Someone was showing me a Lone Star bottle cap last night with an absolutely inscrutable little rebus puzzle in it. I got curious today if anyone had cataloged these tiny brain teasers, and thinking it unlikely, Googled it. Sure enough – every single one photographed and organized by series. Internet, you’re amazing.
My friend Nihar is posting some really interesting stuff about his recent backpacking trip across Iran. Check out part one here and part two here. Looking forward to the next installment, Nihar!
As seen on Metafilter:
An engineer, a chemist, and an economist are shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island. Luckily, several cases of catering-size cans of food have washed up on shore alongside them. Unluckily, they have no can opener. They decide to think on it for twenty-four hours, then present their solutions to the dilemma.
The engineer goes first and says “I’ve calculated the strength of the cans based on a rudimentary finite-element stress analysis, and I think if we drop a large rock onto them from 6 feet, they’ll burst open”.
The chemist goes next and says “I’ve estimated the rate at which seawater could rust through the tinplate, and I think a couple more days in the brine will do it – the cans will just fall apart”.
The economist goes last, and, looking pleased with himself, begins “Suppose we had a can opener …”
I’ve been dealing with fraudulent charges on my card for months now, and in the meantime I’ve had to make payments on this balance. I had a similar issue once with Discover and they corrected it immediately. With Citi, it’s been a months-long ordeal. Finally they sent me a letter showing a scribbled signature on a receipt (not mine of course), and told me they would not be refunding my charges. Here’s what I sent them:
I have emailed several times regarding the charges on my card ending xxxx. I am very unhappy with the customer service provided thus far. I have only received responses regarding the smaller of the two fraudulent charges on this card, and the response I received was that you deemed the charge valid. Allow me to explain the nature of this fraud:
1) I haven’t used this card since April 2009; in fact, it has been put away inside a box in a drawer since that time.
2) In May 2009 two charges appeared from some place in Spain that appears to be a furniture store, after some searching on the internet: $xxx.xx and $xx.xx; these were accompanied by a foreign transaction fee of $xx.xx and a finance charge of $x.xx.
3) I was not in Spain at the time; I was in Indiana. This can be corroborated by evidence of passport stamps, plane tickets and activity on my other Citi card which clearly shows charges on the date in question – 5/23/09 – in Indiana.
4) In a letter I received detailing your determination that the charges were indeed valid because there was a signature, said signature is a) not my signature, and b) as previously stated, I was not in Spain, and therefore it would be physically impossible to sign a receipt.
Given the clear and plain nature of this fraud, I am requesting an appeal of your decision and that you:
1) Immediately freeze this account and issue a new card in order to prevent further fraud (I was never given notice you would be doing this)
2) Refund all charges listed above, in addition to the subsequent payments I have made on this balance.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
What do you think? Strong enough? Too angry-sounding? Maybe it only sounds angry in my head, because I am actually pretty angry about this.
One of my first musical memories is hearing Vincent Price’s creepy intro to Thriller echoing through my grandmother’s dining room. I distinctly recall crawling under the table across the room to seek solace from the huge, dusty console radio. I guess it freaked me out a little.
I, like so many kids my age, was also obsessed with dancing like Michael. And like so many other lanky, awkward kids, I thought I could. Or at least, I knew I might be able to, if I could only convince my mom to buy me that rad red leather jacket with all the zippers.
So thanks, Mr. Jackson. I never got the sweet jacket, but I have always and will always enjoy your music. I hope you’re creeping out Vincent Price right now, wherever you are.
Compelling photos from the Boston Herald: 
A backer of Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009. (OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images)
via Iran’s Disputed Election – The Big Picture – Boston.com.
Interesting stuff happening over there. A disappointing result, perhaps on its face, with Ahmadinejad retaining power after the (almost certainly rigged) election. But it could be a blessing in disguise; it may be what was necessary to unite opposition to the current regime. Mousavi (the expected opposition party winner) has openly called the election a fraud. And the latest news is that Rafsanjani has resigned his post. I mean, these guys while being the ‘opposition’ are deeply entrenched in the Islamic Republic establishment, and for them to openly oppose the regime like this could be meaningful. Could they be seeing signs of coming change? Rats jumping off a sinking ship? I hope so… But it will take support for the people of Iran to make any kind of real change happen. My only fear is that it will be very bloody; the current leadership deals with dissent viciously.
I love that someone made this into a shirt. And if you don’t know, now you know.
I have to say, springtime in London is pretty awesome. The weather’s been pretty sunny up until today, the trees have been covered in flowers, tulips are blooming, and the city doesn’t look like a gray, sooty mess any more in daylight. I regret that I won’t get to enjoy the better weather here after I leave next month. Well, I’ll probably be back here and there, but it seems a shame that most of my time here was in the Autumn and Winter months. Plus, we don’t have swine flu over here… yet.
Here’s some shots from Tower Bridge of the London Marathon yesterday:
BRITISH scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, one-hour procedure that will be generally available in six or seven years’ time.
The treatment involves replacing a layer of degenerated cells with new ones created from embryonic stem cells. It was pioneered by scientists and surgeons from the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London and Moorfields eye hospital.
via Blind to be cured with stem cells – Times Online (thanks, Nick!).