August, 2011

Enough with the earthquake nonsense. There’s real tragedy out there to deal with.

The Onion | Via

xkcd predicts today. | Via

Pillow fight.

AKSpartanKiller | Via

A 5.8 earthquake that started in Virginia was felt in the District and up through NYC. The Pentagon and the Capitol Building have been evacuated. Colorado was also hit with a 5.3 magnitude quake.

USGS | Photo: DC Earthquake Devastation

Related: The Best Twitter Responses To The Earthquake

Dave Rapoza completes the set with the addition of the cool (but crude) Raphael.

Via | Previously: The Foot, The Shredder

The guys responsible for this impressive fake video are back with some more solid editing work.

Via

Hanksy gives Banksy’s iconic “Flower Chucker” piece the Cast Away treatment on Rivington Street.

Wooster | Via

Part two of Honsco‘s tribute to characters saying the title of the movies they are currently in.

Honsco | Via | Previously: Part One

Cy&H

5 Physical Details That Reveal Highly Personal Information – [Cracked]

“Going To Federal Prison. Any Advice?” – [Ask Reddit]

11 Points Guide to Being an Amateur Wine Snob – [11 Points]

Charges Against Strauss-Kahn Dismissed – [NY Times]

Prosecutors in the office of Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, told Justice Michael J. Obus of State Supreme Court in Manhattan that they could not prove the casebeyond a reasonable doubt because of serious credibility issues with the hotel housekeeper who had accused Mr. Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her as she entered his suite to clean it.

Facebook’s Plan to Beat Google: Sweet Offices, More Startups – [The Atlantic Wire]

A $1.5 billion wad of cash from Goldman Sachs is burning a hole in Facebook’s pocket, and new details have emerged about how they want to spend it. In a plan to up the ante in their high-stakes poker game with Google, the social network is planning to open posh new offices and to acquire up to 20 new startups to fill them with fresh ideas. It’s a continuation of Facebook’s recent strategy to woo Silicon Valley’s top talent and treat them like royalty. “We’ve built a culture that supports entrepreneurs,” Facebook’s head of business development Vaughan Smith told Reuters. “And it’s working incredibly well.

Seoul’s Exam Village: The Intellectual Pressure Cooker – [LA Times]

He had become a prisoner of Exam Village, an area of Seoul where 20,000 people of all ages and backgrounds lead monkish lives — cramming nearly round the clock for law school entrance tests, civil service exams and other trials of knowledge and memorization, living on family loans, cafeteria meals and too little sleep.

In hyper-competitive South Korea, Exam Village is both an intellectual isolation chamber and an emotional pressure cooker, the center of a dizzying array of preparation courses and private study rooms, where the only thing that counts is a passing grade.

Qaddafi Losing Grip on Libya (Photos) – [In Focus]

Pic via