[Aberlour10]

Winstonm, on 2013-August-29, 13:51, said:

Only if the bacon sandwich is doused with Finnish ketsup.

NSA scanned Heikki Kekäläinen from Pieksämäki as the only person who knows the secret receipe of the world's best ketchup.

[Winstonm]

Aberlour10, on 2013-August-31, 14:37, said:

NSA scanned Heikki Kekäläinen from Pieksämäki as the only person who knows the secret receipe of the world's best ketchup.

I can't say I know anything about Finnish ketsup, but I can tell a real tomato when I see one.

[Fluffy]

This might be old news, but Sergio Ramos from Spannish national team and Real Madrid (the team Csaba used to support), recently congratulated spannish women waterpolo team for their win in the world championship through twitter, he did it just 24 days after the match, curiously after a rerun on TV.

Some might remember this guy was the same that let the Spannish cup slide off the celebration-bus to end up behind it where it was destroyed.

Also known for the great penalti on Champion's semi final 2 years ago:

[Cyberyeti]

Fluffy, on 2013-September-02, 08:08, said:

This might be old news, but Sergio Ramos from Spannish national team and Real Madrid (the team Csaba used to support), recently congratulated spannish women waterpolo team for their win in the world championship through twitter, he did it just 24 days after the match, curiously after a rerun on TV.

Some might remember this guy was the same that let the Spannish cup slide off the celebration-bus to end up behind it where it was destroyed.

Also known for the great penalti on Champion's semi final 2 years ago:

He's even an amateur at missing penalties:

http://www.theguardi...s-penalty-video

[PassedOut]

Small town fun



After decades of city life, I was surprised by how many interesting things we found to do in nearby small towns. Top-tier entertainment is rarely available in Upper Michigan, but there are compensations, like this one. And the only traffic jams happen when the bridge goes up to let a tall ship through...

[gwnn]

Can you tell which is the real paper and which one was generated randomly (from the title alone)? I scored 33/50, significantly better than a monkey but that's the only good thing I can say about my performance...

[jjbrr]

[blackshoe]

Awesome!

[gwnn]

[Aberlour10]

German political landscape after yesterday's Bundestag election.

[y66]

[Winstonm]

y66, on 2013-September-28, 06:44, said:

I believe I can fly.

[blackshoe]

So you can — but you'll have to deal with TSA first.

[y66]

Why Italians love Francis.

Excerpt:

Quote

“I look on the church as a field hospital after a battle,” he said in a recent interview. “There’s no point in asking a seriously injured man how high his blood sugar is! You tend his wounds.”

And there is much to tend. The new pope promises new takes on homosexuality, on couples who divorce and remarry, on relations with other religions and on the importance of conscience.

Francis has substituted a reluctance to accept papal office — a reluctance that led the cardinals to opt for Mr. Ratzinger, the German cardinal who became Benedict XVI, in 2005 — with ceaseless activity and disarming sincerity. “Heads of the church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy,” he told the 89-year-old journalist (and atheist) Eugenio Scalfari.

Nor has he stopped at words. A few days ago the Vatican Bank closed the accounts of some 900 organizations and embassies, some of them suspected of money laundering. The Italian-Argentine Francis worked as a bouncer in his Buenos Aires youth — it may have helped.

...

Italy’s parish priests are particularly happy with him. With attendance at Sunday Mass now below 30 percent of the population, parishes are quick to welcome a pope who thrills believers and inspires respect in nonbelievers.

Francis likes people at least as much as Benedict XVI liked books. The German pope gave Catholics an unremitting theology lesson. The Argentine gives them reassurance and understanding. All you need is love. Don’t be surprised if Francis starts quoting John Lennon.

This pope communicates. Not because he tweets; the powerful everywhere do. Not because he calls strangers on the phone. Not because he paid the bill at the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI, where he stayed in the days before the conclave. Francis’s ability to communicate derives from empathy, not individual actions. Only Bill Clinton and the early Barack Obama showed the same ability to get on other people’s wavelengths.

When Francis moves among crowds, he catches the gifts they throw to him and gives a thumbs up. He poses for photos with students. When he met with the Argentine soccer team and one of the players, Ezequiel Lavezzi, promptly sat on the papal throne, Francis chuckled, “That’s my people!” adding later, “Now do you see why I’m like this?”

[y66]

Rethinking Big Water (pdf) by Erica Gies.

Quote

October 21, 2013 — Las Vegas has long served as a stereotype of human excess: gambling, drinking, sex, all-you-can-eat buffets. But the latest chapter is playing out away from the Strip, in the part of the valley where two decades of booming development have swelled the population to 2 million residents who rely on a dwindling water supply.

Ninety percent of the southwestern U.S. city’s drinking water comes from the Colorado River, impounded behind Hoover Dam in Lake Mead. An extended drought has sucked the lake’s water levels down more than 100 feet since 2000, and the pipes that convey the lake’s water to the city may soon protrude into open air.

If Las Vegas’ excess in trying to support the water needs of millions in a sere valley marks an extreme, its proposed solution — boosting supply through megaprojects — is all too common. To ensure continued water delivery, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which manages Las Vegas’ water supply, has spent the past five years boring a lower feed pipe through rock at a cost of $817 million. And to diversify supply, the SNWA also plans to spend another $3 billion to $15 billion (depending upon who’s counting) to build a 263-mile-long pipeline to bring in groundwater from rural northeastern Nevada.

Other massive water supply projects are being planned elsewhere in the U.S. Seventeen desalination plants have been proposed in California alone, according to the Pacific Institute, a non-governmental organization that conducts research and policy analysis. And Dallas–Fort Worth water authorities recently proposed a series of supply-boosting infrastructure projects that could cost $21.5 billion by 2060, according to Sharlene Leurig, senior manager of the water program at Ceres, an NGO that advocates for sustainable business.

The irony is that all this expense and financial risk may not even be necessary. “It’s mythology that population growth means increase in water use.” says Leurig. She and other water analysts think the persistent impulse to boost supply is an anachronism. Many utilities’ water supply managers believe they need to build new water supply infrastructure because they are using demand forecasts based upon historic use or tied to population growth, or don’t forecast demand at all.

More

[Aberlour10]

This thread needs some traditional refreshing

[Winstonm]

How can we resist?

[y66]

New programming language (maybe) for educators: Pyret

[ggwhiz]

Letterman's top 10 from last night. They all have the same (sane?) answer.

10.Gosh you look great. What's your secret?
9. Why not become a vegetarian?
8. Did you smell anything right before the stroke?
7. Kevin who?
6. What was the top selling pork product in 1962?
5. Is there anything Democrats and Republicans can agree on?
4. What should I bait the trap with?
3. Cause of death?
2. Why hasn't Chris Christies lap band surgery worked?
1. Would you like anything with your bacon?

[blackshoe]

Heheh.