Link roundup

1. The River is terrible. Far from being scary or stylish, it's like watching an episode of Gilligan's Island.

2. An architect was charged with involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles after a firefighter died fighting a fire in a home the architect built.

3. RL Stine posted a pretty great short horror story at Twitter.

4. Recruiting scandal in the world of college chess. The coach's program is called the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (Spice).

Link roundup

1. Panasonic lost $10.2 billion for the year. Via.

2. How (and why) to set up Google Cloud Print.

3. A lawyer has the url rapesq.com. Via.

4. Bacon-flavored shake at Jack in the Box. Via.

Link roundup

1. Now here's a lawyer who knows how to specialize - - he's sued Allen Iverson three times.

2. How to keep a blog anonymous. Via.

3. "Everything You Need to Know About Using iTunes Match."

4. It's that time of year where USC and UCLA have to hide their school mascots - - "the Bruin Bear is enclosed by an approximately $5,000 box engineered like a jigsaw puzzle."

Link roundup

1. Vexin Classics: classic books like Huck Finn and Frankenstein, but with naked women on their covers? Via.

2. A look at The Pie Hole, a new restaurant in downtown LA.

3. A new law in Louisiana makes buying used goods with cash (at certain locations) illegal.

4. Brothers.

Link roundup

1. Lord of the Flies book cover design competition.

2. NY Times:

For some 15 years, Mr. Weston has been providing the New York Police Department with “fillers” — the five decoys who accompany the suspect in police lineups.

Detectives often find fillers on their own, combing homeless shelters and street corners for willing participants. In a pinch, police officers can shed their uniforms and fill in. But in the Bronx, detectives often pay Mr. Weston $10 to find fillers for them.

Via.

3. Frankenstein/Dracula/Mummy paper toys.

New law in Japan criminalizes paying blackmail to the Yakuza

A new law criminalizes paying blackmail to the Yakuza. You can read all about it here (and it's explained in the comic above).

Link roundup

1. Hooters is suing rival breastaurant Twin Peaks for theft of trade secrets.

2. Destructoid:

X-Men: Destiny is an ugly, boring, lazy little game. Even if it were free, it would be insulting to have one's time wasted in this way

3. Megan McArdle:

Gina Kolata's Rethinking Thin makes a pretty compelling case that almost everyone's weight fluctuates within a band of 20-30 pounds. Some peoples' band is higher than others, (and perhaps, slowly increasing over time). When you get nearer to the bottom of your body's weight tolerance, your hunger increases; drop below it, and your body reacts as if you're starving, slowing your metabolism and focusing more and more of your mental attention on food. I'm near the top of my weight band right now, and am nearly revolted by the idea of eating much besides vegetables and clear liquids. If Chris Christie was at a similar BMI, he'd probably be continually, distractingly ravenous.

Almost no one manages to stay outside of that band for very long, and those who do need to devote almost their entire energy to doing so, because the hunger is a biological signal on par with pain or the urge to drink. As Paul Campos notes in his excellent book, the idea that we can permanently reduce our weight through diet and/or exercise is one that has been experimentally tested about 500 million times over the last several decades, and fairly resoundingly refuted.

Video Games - Outlawed for kids?

It seems that the supreme court is going to decide something that could effect a huge industry in the United States: video games. They are going to decide whether or not it's legal for kids to play violent video games.

It's okay for them to watch violent movies, which are far more realistic, so why not video games? Well, maybe it's the interaction with the video games that changes everything; kids can decide whether or not to beat up an old woman - they could decide to attack people for no reason.

Here is a news story, telling about how the Supreme Court is split on the decision...


http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/03/business/la-fi-court-videos-20101103-6