Grief of the penguins

Mass mourning: Scores of Emperor penguins in an act of communal grief after the deaths of their chicks in Antarctica.

-Dailymail

In pictures: Angelheaded Hipsters

A new exhibition of photographs by Allen Ginsberg providing a personal view of the American writers and artists who became known as the Beat Generation has opened at the National Theatre in London.

-BBC

The Wave-Maker

Last winter, on the North Shore of Oahu, in Hawaii, the man who is believed to have ridden the biggest wave ever surfed, Ken Bradshaw, fell down the outside stairs of his self-built beach house while rushing to take the garbage out. The stairs do not have a handrail. The house does not seem to have been built to code. It looks like an assembly of beach shacks stacked three stories high. Bradshaw lives in parts of the second and third floors, and rents the rest out to other surfers, for income. He is 58, so no longer young, but he remains athletic and strong. This is obvious on first sight. He stands six feet tall and seems to be built of muscle and jaw. If you punched him hard enough you would break your hand. If you hit him with a bat you might break it too. History shows that he shrugs off greater punishment than that. It also suggests that having hit him you would be wise to step back. I don’t mean that Bradshaw is an especially vengeful or violent man. Actually, he is considerate, unpretentious, and polite. He does not drink. He does not eat meat. His neighbors like him a lot. But, after all, you’re the one who picked the fight. Your problem now is that Bradshaw has experience in these matters, because on the water there are rules he tries to apply.

The classic rule is the one-surfer-per-wave or, if that cannot be maintained, the no-coming-at-Bradshaw-from-the-side, the no-crowding-Bradshaw, or the no-cutting-off-Bradshaw-when-he’s-deep-into-a-ride. Afterward, he paddles up to the offender and warns him. If there is a need for a second warning he paddles up again and says, “O.K., that’s two. You will go in on the third one.” He means he’ll send the man to shore—usually by breaking the fins on his board. To me Bradshaw explained, “Sometimes then it gets ugly. They start into ‘Fuck you, asshole!’ If they say that to you, what are you going to do about it? A challenge like that. Are you going to back down, or go for it? I’ve sat on my board saying, ‘You get the first swing, dude. Swing away. But as soon as you hit me, I will take you down so hard you will not believe it.’ Some swing, some don’t.”

-Vanityfair

Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme (Miami Vice)

Amérindiens

Superbes photos d'Amérindiens

-Old-Picture.com

Le King fait son retour au soccer à New York !

Si la MLS, le championnat américain de soccer, s'est émue il y a quelques mois de l'arrivée d'une vedette européenne du ballon rond en la personne de Thierry Henry, elle vibre à présent en attendant The King Eric Cantona !

-Purepeople

Après les Portland Timbers et les Vancouver Whitecaps cette année, c’est l’Impact de Montréal qui intégrera la Major League Soccer en 2012 en tant que 19e équipe (en attendant probablement les Cosmos de New York l’année d’après). Le club québécois se veut ambitieux d’entrée. "C'est certain qu'on veut une équipe gagnante. On l'a dit, on veut une équipe qui, dès les débuts en 2012, sera compétitive et accédera aux séries éliminatoires (playoffs)", a expliqué Richard Legendre, le vice-président exécutif de la formation francophone, sur les ondes de CKAC Sports.

-MLS News

La Duff d’Homer Simpson arrive en France !

Quel fan d’Homer Simpson n’a jamais rêvé de s’ouvrir une bonne Duff, un jour devant sa télévision, au cours d’un “barbecu” entre voisins, ou d’en commander dans son bar préféré après une journée passée à obéir à son Monsieur Burns ?

-Le Monde

Iggymoticons

Maureen O'Connor at Gawker noticed that Iggy Pop's torso kinda looks like a face. I happen to agree, and to prove it, I headswapped it onto Sarah Palin, Sad Don Draper, and Iggy himself. Other LOLiggy possibilities included Joe Lieberman and Admiral Ackbar, both of whom have a striking resemblance to his torso. As a connoisseur of torsos that look like faces, I can say with absolute certainty that no torso-face lookalike has ever topped this NSFW Homer Simpson ladytorso lookalike.

-BoingBoing

The Successful Secret Service You Never Hear About

France is expanding its intelligence operations, with its main intel agency getting a budget boost while many government agencies are being cut. Recruiting has been increased, and the emphasis is getting people who can help maintain the French edge over the many Islamic terrorists who have settled down in France. This expansion will leave DGSE (the French CIA/MI6/Mossad/SVR equivalent) with about ten percent more personnel (and a total strength of a bit over 5,000.).

France has had to deal with some very active Algerian terrorist groups over the last decade. These groups were more effective in France because of the millions of Arabs living in the country. Many of these Arabs support Islamic radicalism, and have provided cover, and other assistance, to Islamic terrorists.

-Strategy Page

Moscow’s stray dogs

Russians can go nutty when it comes to dogs. It has 35,000 stray dogs that roam Russia’s capital – about 84 dogs per square mile. You see them everywhere. They lie around in the courtyards of apartment complexes, wander near markets and kiosks, and sleep inside metro stations and pedestrian passageways. You can hear them barking and howling at night. And the strays on Moscow’s streets do not look anything like the purebreds preferred by status-conscious Muscovites. They look like a breed apart.

-FT

Avant

Naguère, l'hiver était plus blanc. La mer était plus bleue. Et le vert n'était pas encore à la mode. En ce temps-là, les fleurs poussaient sur le papier peint des murs du salon. Et il y avait plus de plomb dans l'essence que dans la cervelle des automobilistes.

-Cyberpresse/Urbania

Spray baby, spray

Thank you Mr Parker

Avec "Bend It Like Beckham", les Nord-Coréens découvrent le cinéma occidental

Le film britannique de Gurinder Chadha, Joue-la comme Bekham, est rentré dans l’histoire, contre toute attente : il est le premier film occidental à avoir été diffusé à la télévision nord-coréenne.

-Les InRocks

THE DUBAI JOB

One year ago, an elite Mossad hit squad traveled to Dubai to kill a high-ranking member of Hamas. They completed the mission, but their covers were blown, and Israel was humiliated by the twenty-seven-minute video of their movements that was posted online for all the world to see. Ronen Bergman reveals the intricate, chilling details of the mission and investigates how Israel’s vaunted spy agency did things so spectacularly wrong.

-GQ