Coca-Cola Blāk:
"Coca-Cola Blāk is an invigorating and stimulating blend that has a perfect balance of the effervescent taste sensation of Coca-Cola and natural flavors, with real coffee. The lightly carbonated, mid-calorie beverage, which is designed to appeal to adult consumers, is yet another example how The Coca-Cola Company reaches out to new audiences and addresses new beverage occasions.
Coca-Cola Blāk is not just a flavor extension. It is a blend of unique Coke refreshment with the true essence of coffee and has a rich smooth texture and has a coffee-like froth when poured. We believe we have created a new category of soft drink – an adult product in a carbonated beverage – and a whole new drinking experience. This brand is ideal for any part of the day when people are looking for renewed energy or simply to take a break," said Marc Mathieu, vice president, Global Core Brands, The Coca-Cola Company.
The launch will be supported by television, print, outdoor and in-store communication. Advertising and creative for Coca-Cola Blāk will be developed locally and regionally.
Labels: redlegs
Corollary to Meatcoat's post:
Atheists identified as America's most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study"From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in 'sharing their vision of American society.' Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry."
-
UMN NewsLabels: religion
Just a quick update (as promised) on the
xtian youth dumbfest in SF last weekend. Although i was unable to score a press pass to the main event, i did turn out for the
tepid pre-game rally at City Hall. Not much to report, other than that angsty Frisco protest-junkies remain among the most reactionary tribes of bandicoots i've set eyes on; and that, all told, we have absolutely nothing to fear from snake-oil opportunists like Ron Luce. If
this is the future of christianity, we can just go ahead and make arrangements for the wake.
Labels: religion
Being a badass juggler is not an aquired skill, but a super human ability. Per the Cowboy's request, some examples:
First, the Impossible Trick:
From a segment on the Jack Benny show, Francis Brunn holds 2 large balls in his left hand, which do nothing except to demonstrate that his left hand is not used. He holds a large ball in his right hand, and kicks another large ball from his foot to his forehead. He spins the ball in his right hand on his finger, and then drops the ball on his forehead to the back of his neck as he bends forward. He then straightens up, dropping the ball on his neck down his back. Just before it reaches the ground, he kicks it with his heel, causing it to fly back up over his head in front of him. As it descends, he catches it perfectly, on top of the other ball, still spinning on his finger! Note that this is not done with editing, or by giving him many chances until he got it. This is one of the tricks Brunn performed in his act, in front of live audiences, every night. (
Juggling.org)
Next, my personal favorites are the really crazy three ball patterns people come up with. The sort of patterns you need to chart on paper just to figure out whether they're possible. Like
the Robot,
Mills Mess (one of the few I can do),
Rubenstein's Revenge or
Mangham's Mangle (all from
King's Cascade).
Here's
a really great routine (done to some bad techno) showing off an amazing assortment of badass 3-ball tricks. Also, here's a video of some
general badasses with some terrific three ball patterns.
It's funny, my immediate reaction to the Chris Bliss video was: "This guy is incredibly mediocre" (and not just because it's only 3 balls. As I said, there are plenty of amazing three ball patterns that are obviously beyond Bliss's reach with his five tired, repeated tricks). And in searching for videos just now, I found that this was, unsurprisingly, the
reaction of the juggling community at large. To wit, a guy called Jason Garfield took it upon himself to perform
his own act to the same soundtrack (The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers"). Five mother-fucking balls in one hand, bitch. His act doesn't have the production value that Bliss's did, but it is a technical kick to the crotch.
However, it should be said, I read a little something about Chris Bliss, and he's more of a comedian/general performer than a juggler. He admits that his juggling is just an added gimmick, and that he's nothing special.
If the Bubb Rubb video is a gold medal winner (which it is),
this might be a contender for silver or bronze.
so.... this guy can really play piano with his
balls.
Labels: blogs of glory
so... this guy can really throw some
balls
please feel free to continue fretting over dear Western's demise. in the meantime, someone pointed out to me that a new, hopefully irrelevant method of
further anally violating our remaining civil liberties is being field-tested down in good ol' you-know-where. thought i'd share.
oh yeah, and
this is real, too. i'll follow up this weekend.
(holy hell!
it just keeps getting better! onward, christian animation torch-carriers!)
Labels: religion
My Comment to Read 'em & Weep (is too long to fit in the comments):It's a dangerous declaration, I realize, but I think Garland's report is very reasonable. I think Western was stagnating even when we were there. The faculty was obstinate and arrogant, the classes were stale, and just about everything Western was steeped in that odd hubris regarding its adversarial relationship with "main campus." And really, no part of the Western curriculum justified that hubris, in my opinion. The only thing Western ever had going for it was the type of student it somehow managed to attract. The "assholes" as Zach and the Funk family referred to them. The "risk-takers" as Garland says in this report.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very bummed that it's disappearing. But I think all those profs have just been idle and pompous for too long.
It's funny: as far as I understand it, Western did no active recruitment before my year (class of '01). The following year (class of '02), was the first year active recruitment was done, and I think you could already begin to see the difference in the type of student recruited from then on out. In fact, I argued many times while we were still there that Western was being turned into an honors program (ironically enough)--after all, how do you recruit assholes? Instead of assholes they started recruiting well-rounded smart kids--kids who showed signs of "diverse" ways of thinking (meaning kids who'd been "active" in HS, kids who'd filled out their resumes with all kinds of "activities").
I think if the Western faculty actually gave a shit about the program while we were there, and weren't just comfortable singing the same songs over and over, they could have pulled the place together, found a way to recruit more assholes, given us ways of being more political, structured a curriculum/environment that actually made the place interesting.
Maybe it just sounds bitter, I don't know, but I generally don't give credit to any of the Western faculty or staff (with the possible exception of Jeanne Brown Leonard, and that may just be that I liked her personally) for the amazing time I had in college. I attribute my great experience to synchronicity--to the happy coincidence that all you terrific fuckers happened upon that place at the same time I did.
Personally, I'm very bummed that the Western we knew and loved won't be there for other assholes to stumble into, but I think it was disappearing out of neglect, dispassion and hubris--with or without Garland's death sentence. It's too bad they couldn't figure out a way to fix the place, but as it says in the report (and I don't doubt it for a second): the Western faculty made the absurd and presumptuous suggestion that Western (which we can also all acknowledge was certainly "insular") should just become an "umbrella" for other interdisciplinary programs (see the top of page 8, where Western would incorporate Women's studies, American studies, etc.).
In other words, even in its dying throes, the Western faculty had the hubris to say, "Well, the rest of the university should change for us." And they didn't even fucking mention it to those other departments.
In some ways, if anything, I think Garland was being very ginger in this report. Given an outsider's perspective, this looks like a mercy killing.
Don't everybody start throwing punches at the same time. I'd really like to hear what everyone thinks, but I'm just not really that surprised right now.
FAREWELL #26Wily Mo Pena was traded for Bronson Arroyo and cash! Just when I thought I could trust the new Reds they turn around and do some shit like this... I love/hate them so much I just don't know what to do...
Also, V for Vendetta is an exceptionally fun movie. I give it 2 thumbs up.
Labels: redlegs
There were about 7,000 of us (according to police and local news) at Friday's anti-war march down Michigan Avenue. It was pretty rad. One of the best I've been to in fact. I think it was also the biggest in the country, from what I've read.
Three years ago, at least a half dozen of my friends were thrown in jail after the 10,000-person marched pushed its way onto Lake Shore Drive. This year, after months and months of battling with city hall, the organizers actually got a permit to take Michigan Ave. There was not a
single reported arrest. Pretty terrific. If that doesn't go to show who's really causing all the problems when people get thrown in jail for exercising their First Amendment rights without a "permit," I don't know what does.
It's also interesting to look at the way it was reported in the two major Chicago newspapers, the Sun-Times (traditionally Dem) and the Tribune (traditionally Rep), and which wire stories each chose to run.
From the Tribune:
Anti-war march prompts traffic changesThree years on, Iraq protests smaller (AP Story)
From the Sun-Times:
7,000 march against war on Mag MileWorldwide protests mark Iraq war's 3rd year (AP Story)
Each paper had a couple further, more generic stories about the demonstrations, but these were the big headlines (and also what appears on Google when you search for Chicago anti-war).
Labels: iraq
dudes in chicagoland:
i got into university of chicago's public policy program and will be visiting thursday april 6th through sunday april 9th.
i demand a trip to sidekicks karaoke bar.
that is all.
Yo-yo?Okay, I know amazing videos from youtube or google video could potentially be posted ad infinitum, but I honestly think
this might be the single most remarkable thing I've ever seen.
The question is, do you think that guy gets laid for this?
(Very work safe.)
why does this not surprise me AT ALL
It all gets a little less surprising when you learn Matisyahu's back story. Turns out, he's a Baal Teshuvah, or penitent, a secular Jew who "returned" to the Orthodox fold—before he was Matisyahu, he was Matthew Miller, White Plains, N.Y., native and student at the New School University in Greenwich Village. Most tellingly, he was a dreadlocked Phish fanatic, from which we may infer that prior to discovering "Torah food," he had a rather different attitude toward sensimilla. His religious awakening occurred in college, after meeting a young Lubavitcher rabbi in Washington Square Park, where many impressionable young men have experienced spiritual epiphanies. Lubavitcher Hasidim are famous for their aggressive efforts to proselytize to non-Orthodox Jews, and Miller soon traded in jam-band fandom for 21st-century shtetl life in the Lubavitcher enclave of Crown Heights, Brooklynadd this to the list of reasons why this guy sucks like vanilla ice.
Labels: religion
google mars is the best -- true dat! DOUBLE TRUE!
DC people: I'm flying into Reagan tomorrow morning to lobby on Great Lakes restoration and amendments to the Senate's Budget Reconciliation bill. I'm meeting some people at the Hawk and Dove around 8pm for a drink. If you are interested, stop by and join us.
(c) 614-395-1149
-Micah
Labels: congress
Columbus is becoming a mini melting pot...
"There are three things that are important in life: building economic, social and political development. If you have these, you can fight poverty and ignorance."
Labels: ohio
So, where is Sergeant Slaughter these days? I'll tell you. He's hanging out at
The Forge, Jamaica's pro-wrestling academy. The site hasn't been updated in a couple years, but...
Labels: wrestling
rock n' roll russ
calls for censure.
poops, whats the word on the hill about this?
Labels: congress
War looms at the border. I'm considering
enlisting because this is a cause worth dying for. I hope to see you all at the Northern Front.
Diamond Update
Edwin Encarnacion is hitting .500 (8-for-16) with four homers, seven extra-base hits and 10 RBI during spring training. There is hope! There is hope! Also, kudos to the team for locking down on Dunn before the season. I'm shocked and surprised, as I thought they would give him the Baltimore-Dick-Around a la Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora.
"
I'm drinking their youth."
COLUMBUS, Ohio-- A disturbing case was discovered Tuesday about a Central Ohio man who allegedly told police he likes to drink the urine of adolescent boys.
...proving once again that Ohio is the weirdest state in the Union (and it's precisely
because the weirdos don't wear it on their sleeves). Sorry, California, you've fallen to about 17 in the rankings these days.
Labels: ohio
interesting
article in the times.
Tard Baller Blockin:
http://www.break.com/index/autisticbball.html
This autistic kid throws down. He must get so much tang in the special olympics.
Another (admittedly unsurprising) zinger from George "kneW it all along" Bush:
Video Shows Bush Warned Before Katrina Hit-
The TimesHow many instances are required before something can be labeled a pattern? And what about the label: compulsive liar?
Cowboy: honestly, when are the democrats going to grow dicks and impeach this motherfucker? Are they just waiting to get majorities in either house? This dude has
admitted and/or been called out on
at least a couple impeachable offenses (most notably spying without warrants).
Dude, I'm gonna shotgun so many goddamned beers when he's kicked out of office. Party in my bathtub. Watch where you're drippin' that shit, man. Keep it together.
Ever wonder what ostrich sex was like? Well....
here ya go.
Required: Quicktime and a lil' patience
p.s. I wish I could attribute that question to someone on the science faculty at WCP.
Labels: science
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny b/c nothing else has made me smile today.
making an attempt at blogging again. take a look if you want to. comments appreciated.
