Marvin Hamlisch RIP

Here's a performance of his work by Gilda Radner

In China, the rich hire body doubles to do their prison time

Police: "The photos of the man in the car and in the court look like different people, but it’s just the camera angle and lighting."

When 1,099 felons vote in race won by 312 ballots

Al Franken's Minnesota senatorial victory.

This is how sperm whales sleep

Yes, really.

UK Nanny state story du jour: Paper clips banned due to injuries

NHS Trust has reportedly banned metal paperclips due to staff injuries.

Devolution of useful things?  

Report: Cronyism, political donations likely behind Obama, Holder failure to charge any bankers after 2008 financial meltdown

The Obama administration’s decision to not appoint an independent counsel to investigate the MF Global scandal, despite more than 60 members of Congress demanding it, also reeks of cronyism.

Mark Steyn on the Olympics in London

I scrammed out of London a few days before the Olympics began, but after getting an earful on what the locals make of it. On the whole, the residents of that great city would rather the honor of hosting the world’s most disruptive sporting event had gone to some joint that needs the publicity more — Alma Ata, or Ouagadougou, or Oakland. In 21st-century London, traffic moves at fewer miles per hour than it did before the internal-combustion engine was invented without the added complication of fleets of Third World thug bureaucrats and the permanent floating crap game of transnationalist freeloaders being dumped on its medieval street plan.

Read the whole thing.

My younger daughter called me about this column, because of the Guys and Dolls reference - needless to say, this is totally stuck in my head.

Would Guns Work in Zero Gravity?

Science of a Total Recall gunfight, via Instapundit.

Slicing vegetables with thrown playing cards

This fellow hopes to break a world record throwing playing cards with vegetable-slicing speed and accuracy.

Slow motion flaming tennis ball

They took a tennis ball, soaked it in gasoline, and lit it on fire. Watch it served in slow-motion.  Some possibly NSFW language.

via Mental Floss.

Connecticut public beaches closed all day so Obama can fund-raise

Two of Connecticut’s popular public beaches -- maintained with taxpayer money -- will close all day Monday to accommodate President Obama’s fundraising excursion that ends with a $35,800-per-plate event.

Must see GIF ;-)

Trampoline double fail

The Obamalich Maneuver

Monday links

The history of toilet paper.

Patented method for exercising a cat.

Italy rules ‘no balls’ insult for men is a crime.

Luxury chickens.

Patrick Combs deposits a junk-mail cheque for $95,000 – for a joke. The bank cashes it.

The only existing video footage of Mark Twain, as filmed by Thomas Edison.

Americans view the government as a burden weighing down economy, nation

The Heavy Burden of Government.

Obama Fundraisers to Deny Thousands a Day at the Beach

“Could you imagine if a Republican ever did such a thing? They’d be screaming from every corner."

A popular Connecticut park and its 234 acres of wetlands, woodlands and beach on Long Island Sound will be shut down all day Monday so that President Obama can use the location as a base for fundraising nearby.

The Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, Connecticut will have to turn away thousands of bathers so that Obama can get to and from his events, including a $35,800 per head bash at the 9,000-square-foot, $8.3-million waterfront estate of movie mogul Harvey Wienstein.

15 Military groups oppose Obama campaign Ohio lawsuit

The National Guard Association of the United States and more than a dozen other fraternal military groups asked a U.S. judge for permission to intervene in and oppose a lawsuit filed by President Barack Obama’s campaign challenging the fairness of Ohio’s early voting rules.

via Gateway Pundit.

Researchers Turn Home Wi-Fi Router Into Spy Device

Details and links at Slashdot, via Instapundit.

How to watch the Curiosity rover land on Mars

BoingBoing has links and comments.

How wasps helped give us wine.

A yeast vital to fermentation the yeast can only survive the winter in the stomachs of wasps.

Iowahawk: Readings from the Book of Barack

“For I am the Lord Govt, creator of Eden! ³² I gave unto you the roads and bridges, and schools and cops, brought unto you of gentle showers of Tarp and Stimulus and rivers of Subsidy, I am the purifier of the waters, cleanser of the air, without which you and your profits would not exist. Thus all that thou have created is created by Us. Thus ye shall render unto Govt what is Govt's, and this is the Word of your Lord.”

Read the whole thing here.

Chart of the day: America’s missing 11 million workers

Employment-to-population ratio

Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

Thoughts while hanging out with grandkids:

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more, than I'll never know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Buy chicken offsets!

Enjoy Chick Fil-A and make it up to your liberal friends.

Analysis of Obama budget - debt at $25.4 trillion in 10 years

Breitbart.com: A new analysis of Mr. Obama’s budget reveals the president’s plan would add $10.6 trillion in debt accumulation over the next decade, bringing the U.S. federal debt to a jaw-dropping $25.4 trillion. 

Obama admin decision on a beetle in the path of Keystone pipeline

Will delay construction up to a year, assuming it (the pipeline) is ever approved.

Clint Eastwood Comes Out of Closet, Endorses Romney

It’s easier for Hollywood conservatives to declare themselves after three plus years of the Obama administration, not harder.

via Instapundit.

Ex-Limbaugh sponsor says dropping show during Fluke controversy hurt company

Turns out alienating Rush’s fans may have been more damaging than alienating his critics.

10 Firearms Which Changed the Course of History

#1 is the AK-47, of course.

Labor Dept. Waives 60-Day Notice To Help Obama Win

Mandatory 60 day warning of mass defense layoffs due to the end of federal contracts are due to go out 3 days before the election.  There are a lot of voters in Northern Virginia, a critical swing state, who work for defense contractors, and cuts caused by sequestration will affect them and the future of their families.

Nationwide, Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University's Center of Regional Analysis, estimates the across-the-board reduction could cost the country 2.14 million jobs and increase unemployment by as much as 1.5 percentage points.

Krispy Krème Brûlée

The Ultimate Dixie Dessert,  via Instapundit.

15 Holidays You Can Celebrate in August

Did you know that August 5 is both International Beer Day and National Underwear Day?

Farmer on Tractor Crushes 7 Police Vehicles

Deputies couldn't chase him down, as they had no vehicles left to pursue him with.

Elderly woman in China ties sex doll to tree to slow motorists

People driving down your street too fast?

Job numbers: of the 163,000 jobs "added", 429,000 was based on purely statistical fudging

Zero Hedge has comments and charts.

Teachers’ union threatens to sue private schools over voucher program

Union leaders have decided their future rests on denying a better one to Louisiana kids.

Cricket-filled power bars

"That's all it is: 100 percent cricket," Heylin said about the cricket flour, the key ingredient in the power bars that he has based his company, named, appropriately, Chirp.

What Would the Real Life Clue Mansion Cost?

It’s Not Cheap to Reside in the Murder-Plagued Mansion.

Tyler Cowen - Short videos on business cycle theory

Nice resource.

General Motors is Imploding — and Team Obama is Lying About It

Smoke and mirrors and lies.  Welcome to Campaign Obama 2012.

I built this business without gov't help. Obama can Kiss my ass.

Sign outside Georgia lumberyard.

'I'm going to give him an answer in Chicago language--something he's used to.'

Thursday links

1957: Five Men Agree To Stand Directly Under An Exploding Nuclear Bomb.

The Hardy Tree: An Early Work of a Great Novelist.

Sheep Sex Report Leads To Search For Elderly Swedish Man.

Flood-fearing millionaire finishes ark.

10 Incredible Sea Forts.

A young male decided to place a firework between the cheeks of his bottom and light it. What could go wrong?

Wild Bill Hickock died on this day in 1876

shot* while holding two pair - aces and eights, all black - ever since known to poker devotees as the "dead man's hand."

* He was shot in the back on this date during a poker game at the Number Ten Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota). Although it is hard to separate fact from fiction in his life, it appears that Hickok was born James Butler Hickok in Troy Grove, Illinois and fled to the west in 1855 as a fugitive from justice, working as a stagecoach driver, hired gun, scout, and lawman in the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Hickok fought in the Union Army during the Civil War, subsequently becoming well known as a gunfighter and professional gambler in the far west - a life style that eventually contributed to his unfortunate demise, murdered by one James McCall (later hanged for the offense), for motives that still remain obscure. At the moment of his death he was playing five-card draw.

If you're old enough, you might remember the eponymous TV show from the 50's: 

Andy Devine: "WILD ... BILL ... HICKOK!!!"
Narrator: "Starring Guy Madison as Wild Bill Hickok"
Andy Devine: "Hey, Wild Bill ... wait for me!"
Narrator: "And Andy Divine as his pal, Jingles" 

I don't remember them from that time, since I was too young to watch TV in the evening, and we had terrible reception where I grew up - 80 miles from the NYC signal.  I saw some of the episodes later, though.  Andy Devine as Jingles was definitely the most memorable character.

Speaking of Andy Devine, Pretty much the first TV I remember was Andy's Gang on Saturday mornings - plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!

Another slapdown of EPA overreach

US judge strikes down EPA water rules for mines

Gore Vidal 1925-2012

I guess I should say rest in peace, but good riddance is probably more appropriate.