Month: January 2008

A photographic look at the food confiscated in a 48 hour period from travelers entering the US through JFK airport.

Two more:

Is John Edwards completely aware
that his rhetoric really does scare
most sensible voters
and General Motors.
And how’d we forget ’bout the hair?!

There once were two houses, Bush-Clinton
20 years in power they were sittin’
Though democracy in name
They’ve re-shaped our game
Co-monarchy would be much more fittin’

After that stunning Afghanistan shot, a reader sends in some pictures taken by his son-in-law, who was a major and a Blackhawk pilot for the Army’s Special Forces in the Middle East:

More pics after the jump.

Another reader writes:

Regarding the picture of the helicopter rescue. I cannot confirm what was going on there other than to say it would look very routine to anyone who spent much time in the Marine Corps infantry. I don’t mean a high-speed Ricky Recon type either but your average, everyday line company grunt attached to your average, everyday helicopter squadron.

During the Desert Storm era I fast-roped, repelled or jumped out of the back of CH-53s onto the top of a building or a moving ship more times than I can count.  I don’t say this as as a braggart but rather to assure you that while you are right to be astonished, you should be even more so to realize that the boys in that picture are, much like me, average as grits.

The pilot, on the other hand, is probably an ego-maniacal jackass.

It’s one of the ugliest buildings on the planet. Mercifully, there are pans to humanize it.

A good reason to set your phone to vibrate.

Over a hundred entries so far:

There once was a man named Romney,
Whose hair was an election anomaly:
His opponents were balding,
His attack ads were scalding,
And he spoke with robotic autonomy.

They searched for the next Reagan in vain.
The support for hizzoner did wane,
Fred’s attempt didn’t take,
And Mitt is so fake,
They shrugged and said, "Maybe McCain?"

More here, here, and here. The limerick that started it all is here.

John Cloud writes with sometimes painful candor about the break-up of his seven-year relationship and explores the still-largely-unknown world of comparative studies of gay and straight marriages. There is so much we still don’t know, and without the support of civil marriage, we’re not dealing with apples and apples. But even now, there are some interesting findings:

Gottman, Levenson and their colleagues found that gays and lesbians who exhibit more tension during disagreements are more satisfied with their relationships than those who remain unruffled. For straight people, higher heart rates during squabbles were associated with lower relationship satisfaction. For gays and lesbians, it was just the opposite. Gays conduct their relationships as though they are acting out some cheesy pop song: You have to make my heart beat faster for me to love you. For gays, it is apathy that murders relationships, not tension. Straight people more often prefer a lento placidity.

Father Juan Manuel Villar touches the nose of a Carlino dog with an aspergillum while he blesses the dog during the feast of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, at the San Anton church on January 17, 2008 in the center of Madrid, Spain. San Anton is honored by many Catholic churches in Spain where thousands of animal lovers flock to their nearest place of worship to have their animals blessed. By Jasper Juinen/Getty Images.