SuperMegaMonkey: Ummm... Other?: June 2011 Archives

Ummm... Other?

Never mind the train. There are much more interesting things to talk about.

Four would be too few. Ten would be too many. Five or nine would presumably produce an unaesthetic, wonky effect.
So the smiling attendants on the test run of the Beijing to Shanghai high-speed rail link revealed precisely six to eight of their teeth to display their pleasure as the train pulled out of the capital. It had, admitted chief conductor Gao Dan, taken considerable practice; in some cases, with chopsticks jammed between their jaws.

If the Chinese hadn't spent generations perfecting their ability to be inscrutable, mebbe this would have been easier.

I'm extremely curious as to how exactly the use of chopsticks could possibly have aided in this endeavor. I might have to go home and try it for myself.

Beijing's ambassador to the UK suggested last week that Chinese firms could help build a high-speed line between London, the Midlands and the north, saying the country had "the knowledge, expertise and experience".
"Of course! There's no argument," Xu declared when asked whether Britain should buy Chinese.
"China should be the first choice."

Damn skippy!

By min | June 30, 2011, 2:51 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link

What'd the Dog Ever Do to Him?

Police in southern Brazil say a jealous husband hit his wife in the head with a pet poodle.
Inspector Thais Norah Sartori Postiglione says the man picked up the dog and swung it into his wife's head twice because he suspected she was having an affair. The 4-pound (2-kilogram) dog died. The inspector says Carla de Camargo Oliveira suffered only minor bruises.
Postiglione says she cannot release the name of the alleged assailaint because he was not arrested. Officers decided the attack was not highly dangerous to the woman and he was not caught in the act.
But Postiglione said Wednesday that police are urging prosecutors to charge him with assault and battery and cruelty to animals.

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Poor doggie.

By min | June 22, 2011, 3:22 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link

Soviet War Monument Makeover

There was Superman in red leather boots, Ronald McDonald clutching a bottle of beer, and Santa Claus about to look through a pair of binoculars.
A benign if motley bunch, you may think. But they were enough to provoke an international diplomatic rebuke, it emerged on Wednesday, after they featured in an impudent make-over of a Soviet war memorial. Members of Russia's government were said to be seething.
An unidentified street artist struck last weekend, daubing paint on a high-relief statue in Sofia, Bulgaria, to transform the monument's Red Army soldiers into a tableau of storybook characters. The artist's caption spray-painted on the statue read: "In step with the times."
...
Captain America and Batman's sidekick, Robin, also featured in the composition, which quickly became a tourist magnet.

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You know what this makes me think of? Those weird packs of figures they sell in Chinatown that consist of completely unrelated characters. You get something like Superman, Batman, Spider-man, and a Power Ranger.

By min | June 22, 2011, 3:19 PM | Comics & Ummm... Other? | Link

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