disinfogreg
Pigeon Held in India on Suspicion of Spying
This one’s for the birds. via Google/AFP:
NEW DELHI — Indian police are holding a pigeon under armed guard after it was caught on an alleged spying mission for arch rivals and neighbours Pakistan, media reported on Friday.
The white-coloured bird was found by a local resident in India’s Punjab state, which borders Pakistan, and taken to a police station 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital Amritsar.
The pigeon had a ring around its foot and a Pakistani phone number and address stamped on its body in red ink.
Police officer Ramdas Jagjit Singh Chahal told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency that they suspected the pigeon may have landed on Indian soil from Pakistan with a message, although no trace of a note has been found.
Officials have directed that no-one should be allowed to visit the pigeon, which police say may have been on a “special mission of spying”.
The bird has been medically examined and was being kept in an air-conditioned room under police guard.
The Legendary Athens Greece Riot Dog
How long before Riot Dog starts appearing on t-shirts?
Illustration Giant Frank Frazetta (1928–2010)
A giant of 20th Century illustration has sadly passed. The Beat has more about the artist:
Frank Frazetta was born February 9, 1928. His early artistic career consisted of years of exquisitely drawn comics work, including contributions to the EC line of comics, assisting Al Capp on L’il Abner and later drawing several years of the strip, and working with Harvey Kurtzman on Little Annie Fanny.
In the ’60s Frazetta turned to cover paintings for the thriving pulp paperback industry and created one of the most recognizable illustration styles of all times.
His covers for Conan, Tarzan and other rough hewn heroes created a visceral, violent, erotic yet somehow still nuanced visual style that has been endlessly imitated but never surpassed — Frazetta’s imagery of brawny, relentless swordsmen, seductive, fleshy sirens and hellfire breathing monsters had a gut level impact because it came from the gut — his many followers were just tracing without the…
Gringo Masks for Mexican Arizonans
A little humor goes a long way to make a good point. Via animalnewyork:
Fight the pale-skin power. In response to Arizona’s new draconian SB 1070 immigration law, Zubi, an independent Hispanic advertising firm with offices in L.A., Dallas, Miami, and Detroit, has launched a microsite, Gringo Mask, to offer “support and dignity to the Hispanic community in the United States.”
Alan Moore Creates Supergroup
Super heros? Nope. Guitar heros. via pitchfork
Moore has teamed up with some big music names lately. He’s currently working with Gorillaz on an opera about the life of the English alchemist and magician John Dee. And on July 5 in the UK and July 6 in the U.S., Lex will release Unearthing, a box set centered around audio of Moore reading a story with a score by a crew of out-music all-stars.
The Unearthing score is credited to Crook&Flail, a duo comprised of Fog’s Andrew Broder and Adam Drucker, better known as abstract rapper Doseone. Others drop in to contribute: Mike Patton, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Jesu/Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick, and prolific drum-wrecker Zach Hill.
DeIicious Iconography: The Flying Spaghetti Monster
Feast your eyes on this, true believers. Via notetoself.net:
Image: AKA Dillweed (CC) via Flickr
On this, the first of May 2010, I am proud to release this piece of sacred art which I commissioned from Sarah Pierce. I welcome you to join me in silent reverence to His Savoriness, the Noodle in the Sky, our Saucy Master, The Flying Spaghetti Monster. May you be forever touched by His Noodly Appendage.
24 Hours Inside Walmart
If ants ever make it to the top of the food chain, it might look something like this. From Bernstein & Andriulli:
Stephen Wilkes took a photo every 10 seconds of the day for a time-lapse video inside Walmart for Fortune magazine. All in all, 8,640 frames were taken (1,800 that are actually used) and the entire 24 hours is compressed into two minutes. The shoot took place on April 6, 2010 in New Brunswick, New Jersey from 9:14 am [sic] to 9:14pm. Says Photo Editor Lauren Winfield, “The inspiration was to show that Walmart never sleeps… open 24 hours with no real daylight, you have no sense of what time of day it is. We wanted to see what the traffic flow of people coming in and out of the store looks like as a day in the life.”
La Revolución Will Be Twitterized
Love him or loathe him, you can now follow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Twitter: @chavezcandanga. (It might help if you habla the Español.)
Big Brother Birdhouse
This, I like. Via sleekidentity.com Designed by Dennis Nino Clasen
A sneeky jab at our culture’s obsession with security cams, this birdhouse looks like it’s watching your every move. Hang it near your house and your neighbors won’t dare steal your garden hose! Deter burglars while keeping Tweety birds well-fed and happy! It’s a great gift with a goofy sense of humor for the bird lover in your life. The model is called ‘Wolfgang S.’ a reference to the hawkish German Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schauble who likes spying on everyone in the name of security.
Smoke Bomb Egg Fight in Ukraine Parliament
Russia Today reports:
Ukraine’s parliament has ratified a new naval base agreement with Russia despite the opposition’s resistance. The vote was mired with a fistfight, smoke bombs and hooliganism. The document has been approved with 236 votes. It extends the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s stay at its base in Crimea until 2042 in exchange for a considerable gas price discount.
The opposition believes that the agreement undermines Ukraine’s national security and wanted the document to be denounced at any cost. At the session some deputies threw eggs at Speaker Vladimir Litvin, but he was saved from having his suit ruined by fellow MPs with umbrellas.
Ahead of the session the opposition faction of Yulia Timoshenko covered their seats with huge national flags and a banner saying “No treason of the motherland!”
Another Look What “Death” Is: Photos of ‘Sky Burials’ in Tibet
OK, this is some pretty rough stuff. But it really made me think about about how we deal with our deceased in Western countries. I suppose in some ways it’s appropriate for Earth Day. Or Halloween. Take your pick.
NOT FOR SENSITIVE SOULS!
Click through to mbvtravel to see the full set of photos. You have been warned.
The New U.S. $100 Bill
It’s both amusing and exasperating to see such great effort to bolster the authenticity of our currency. Especially knowing it holds no “real” value to begin with. Here’s what newmoney.gov has to say about it:
Officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board and the United States Secret Service today unveiled the new design for the $100 note. Complete with advanced technology to combat counterfeiting, the new design for the $100 note retains the traditional look of U.S. currency.
“As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we’re staying ahead of counterfeiters,” said Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner.
“When the new design $100 note is issued in TBD, the approximately 6.5 billion old design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender,” said Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben S. Bernanke. “U.S. currency users should know they will not have to…
Double Down by the Numbers:
Unhealthiest Sandwich Ever?
Congratulations Double Down, you are now the sandwich against which all others will be judged. Via fivethirtyeight:
KFC’s Double Down Sandwich, an in-your-face collection of bacon, cheese and something called Colonel’s Sauce betwixt two fried chicken “buns”, is making waves for its unapologetic gluttony, compelling reviews out of everyone from the New York Times’s Sam Sifton to the Onion’s Nathan Rabin.
But is it really the caloric monstrosity that it appears?
Let’s start with the Double Down’s calorie count: 540 calories for the crispy “Original Recipe” version and 460 for a grilled variant. Those seem like big numbers, but by fast food standards, they’re pretty mild: the Burger King Chicken Tendercrisp weighs in at 800 calories, for instance, and Jack-in-the-Box’s Ranch Chicken Club will set you back 700. Calorie counts for burgers are even higher: 1,320 for a Hardee’s Monster Thickburger, and 1,350 for a Wendy’s Triple Baconator. Even the humble Big Mac, a lightweight by modern standards, contains 540 calories, exactly the same number as the Double Down.
Nicolas Cage Builds Pyramid To Rest In Peace
I think this guy has finally gone ’round the bend. via death+taxes:
In a move not seen since the ostentatious days of Egyptian Pharoahs, sane actor Nicolas Cage has done what, to anyone else, appears unreasonable, nay, unthinkable. Despite recently being hit by the IRS, the star of the National Treasure series, among other cinematic treasures Raising Arizona and Leaving Las Vegas, purchased a plot within a historical New Orleans cemetery and constructed a 9-foot pyramid to hold his bodily remains. Many things remain uncertain at this time regarding the Great Pyramid of Louisiana, such as, will Cage be disemboweled and mummified?
The Great Atlantic Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not alone. We now have our very own on the East coast. Via AP:
Researchers are warning of a new blight on the ocean: a swirl of confetti-like plastic debris stretching over thousands of square miles (kilometers) in a remote expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.
The floating garbage — hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents — was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands.
“We found the great Atlantic garbage patch,” said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.
The debris is harmful for fish, sea mammals — and at the top of the food chain, potentially humans — even though much of the plastic has broken into such tiny pieces they are nearly invisible.
Bettie Page, FBI Consultant
via the smoking gun:
Though J. Edgar Hoover’s minions often probed the interstate transportation of obscene material featuring Bettie Page, the notorious pin-up model was nonetheless willing to help agents when it came to FBI inquiries about the production of certain “flagellation and bondage pictures,” according to bureau records.
When a 1957 police drug raid on a Harlem apartment turned up a cache of obscene magazines and photos, paddles, a riding crop, a whip, and lengths of chain, rawhide, and rope, FBI agents contacted Page for some expert guidance. Specifically, they wanted to know if the apartment was a photo studio where obscene material was produced. According to the below memo sent to Hoover, Page told investigators that she “had never heard of that type of photography being made in Harlem.” An agent reported that Page also advised that the “flagellation and bondage pictures that she had posed for” were shot “in photographic studios or photographers apartments.”
The seized porn, which included “two books and four pictures depicting Betty Page in various poses,” was shipped to Washington for “examination” by the FBI Laboratory, according to a second memo. At some point, agents planned to quiz the apartment’s inhabitants about “what the source of these items was, and to what use they were putting them to.”
Russian Military is Full of Hot Air
via mailonline
They wouldn’t be much good in a dogfight. In fact, they wouldn’t be much good in a stiff breeze.
But despite their somewhat comical appearance, these inflatable warplanes and tanks serve a vital role in the Russian military.
Seen from even a short distance, they are indistinguishable from the real thing – meaning they can be effectively used to confuse and distract an enemy.
These inflatables are made by the Russian manufacturer Rusbal.
The company was approached by the Russian defence ministry to supply full-scale decoys to protect the true capabilities of their strategic installations from being seen by surveillance satellites.
Weighing around 220lb (100kg), the decoys can easily be transported and installed by small teams of soldiers in minutes.
They imitate the heat signature of combat units, fooling enemy infra-red detectors. And they even stay intact after suffering minor damage from bullets or explosions.
Demand from other nations has been so strong that Rusbal is now offering imitations of Western military equipment as well as Russian.
It is not the first time armies have used decoys to fool their enemies. Such tactics were used during the Cold War and extensively in the Second World War.
