Link roundup

1. Penny Arcade's business manager participated in an interview at Reddit.

2. Deadspin's picks for the top 10 sports articles of the year.

3. Teddy Roosevelt once gave possibly the best start to a speech ever:

Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet - there is where the bullet went through - and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best.

He wasn't joking.

4. The Smithsonian's top 10 science blog posts.

Link roundup

1. T-Bob Hebert and Spiffy Evans - - two players on Grantland's 2011-12 College Football All-Name Team.

2. I enjoyed the copy of Lady with a Past: A Petulant French Sculptor, His Quest for Immortality, and the Real Story of the Statue of Liberty I was sent. Lots of interesting information about the building of the Statue of Liberty. For example, sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi devised the Statue of Liberty only after he tried and failed to convince "Ismail the Magnificent" of Egypt to build a rather different statue in Egypt:

His sculpture depicted a robed fellah, an Egyptian slave, holding a torch aloft in her stout hand.

The Kindle single is $2 at Amazon.

3. Comment and win an art book.

Link roundup

1. "One of the first American chefs to master French cooking was James Hemings, who just so happened to be Thomas Jefferson’s slave."

2. There has to be some crucial fact left out of this story by Business Week, right?

Fiat’s 22,000 factory workers in Italy assembled 650,000 cars in 2009, while the 6,100 employees at its plant in Tychy, Poland, built 600,000 vehicles.

3. Myke Amend's basically running his own kickstarter with prizes including high-res downloads of his airships, and holiday cards.

Illustration roundup

Doesn't really work as a t-shirt, but I like this illustration by Becky Cloonan for Threadless (one of the new comic book-inspired designs).



Relatedly, Shadows of the Colossus wallpaper. Via.



Paul Revere/Tron mashup by Jason Heuser on sale at Etsy.



Cover by Travis Coburn for Ian Fleming's Commandos.



Kali Ciesemier.



Jack Hughes.

*Buy James Bond posters at Amazon.

Art project dedicated to American history

A few of my favorites from the large and ongoing Momentus Project, dedicated to American history:


The Boston Massacre by Chris DeLorenzo.



The Declaration of Independence by Ellis Latham-Brown.



The Battle of Antietam by Glenn Thomas.



The Women's Suffrage Movement by Kristina Collantes.



The Watergate Scandal by Shed Labs.

*Buy propaganda posters at eBay.

Original plan for Mount Rushmore

Wikipedia says:

A model at the site depicting Mount Rushmore's intended final design. Insufficient funding forced the carving to end in October 1941.

Via.

Link roundup

1. Here's a slideshow showing off the Find the Future book I've mentioned a few times before.

2. "In the Battlestar Galactica TV series, religious rituals often repeated the phrase, 'All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.' It was apparently comforting to imagine being part of a grand cycle of time. It seems less comforting to say 'Similar conflicts happen out there now in distant galaxies.' Why?"

3. "The parts of the South [of the USA] that were generally the richest in 1860 are today its poorest."

Link roundup

1. Nick Denton's latest advice to Gawker staff on pulling in a big audience.

2. Terrible story about an Air Force general forced to retire and stripped of his rank for supposedly ordering unauthorized airstrikes against North Vietnamese military targets. He actually acted by order of President Nixon. Via.

3. How conservatives bury liberal stories on Digg. Via.

Top Secret America

"The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work."

The Washington Post has created stories, interactive maps, searchable databases, and more.

Batman with a gun (link roundup)

Batman with a gun by Fernando Lucas. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Jon Stewart points out Obama's broken civil liberties promises, and that the last eight presidents have promised to move America towards an energy-independent future.

2. Gawker's guide to Kombucha, "a miracle hippie drink that cures all ailments."

3. "The key to wealth is that it doesn't matter. Once you've had it, you don't think anything of it; you can wear cheap watches." Via.

*Previously: Umbrella Academy pocket watch.

*Buy Swatches at eBay.

Wedding photos (link roundup)

Great photos from a wedding.

And a few more links:

1. Now this is an interview:

Your mother committed suicide, in a pact with a lover, in 1973. Did she suffer from lifelong depression?
No. I think she was having a bad menopause, and she was losing her looks, which were pretty impressive.

Via.

2. "Between 1860 and 1900, seven men were elected President. And three of them were then shot to death."

3. Comment and win a t-shirt.

*Previously: Wedding invitation with a balloon.

*Buy US President bobbleheads at eBay.

Grand Theft Election

Grand Theft Election, Dance Dance Constitution, and Super Paranoid Bros. - - the least offensive entries in this Video games for Conservative players theme at Fark.

*Previously: Grand Theft Auto: Emerald City.

*Buy medals at eBay.

Newspaper Club logo (link roundup)

Logo for Newspaper Club, a service that lets you create your own newspaper. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Anti-Barack Obama propaganda collection.

2. You can save a lot of money on sunscreen simply by buying lotion with sunscreen included (unless you need it to be waterproof). Via.

3. Horrifying: "An off-duty Westminster police detective and a California corrections officer were arrested late Saturday in connection with the alleged kidnapping and rape of a 25-year-old woman in Ontario."

*Previously: The first rule of Felt Club is...

*Buy Obama toys at eBay.

Newspaper Club logo (link roundup)

Logo for Newspaper Club, a service that lets you create your own newspaper. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Anti-Barack Obama propaganda collection.

2. You can save a lot of money on sunscreen simply by buying lotion with sunscreen included (unless you need it to be waterproof). Via.

3. Horrifying: "An off-duty Westminster police detective and a California corrections officer were arrested late Saturday in connection with the alleged kidnapping and rape of a 25-year-old woman in Ontario."

*Previously: The first rule of Felt Club is...

*Buy Obama toys at eBay.

Imperial Snuggie (link roundup)

Imperial Guard Snuggie. Via these sites.

And a few more links:

1. Reminder: Big scoops on politicians commonly come to reporters from rival candidates. For example, Obama's team spread the word about Edwards' $400 haircuts. Via.

2. Moses was the founding fathers' hero, and Franklin and Jefferson wanted him to star on the seal of the United States.

3. Black and white and red photo of Japan. Via.

*Previously: Wookiee Fur Snuggie.

*Buy Moses toys at eBay.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone. Above are my two favorite images of American independence: Ben Franklin's "Join or Die" cartoon and the Gadsden "Don't Tread On Me" flag. You can download desktop wallpaper-sized versions of them at the link.

And speaking of American independence, my favorite book on the topic is Lane Smith's John, Paul, George & Ben



$12 at Amazon.

*Buy US President bobbleheads at eBay.

A Che Guevara shirt I might actually wear (link roundup)

Earnest or mocking? You'll probably like this Che Guevera/Obama Hope t-shirt no matter your politics. It's Alex Bogusky's effort to redefine America's image. You can see 14 more ideas here.

And a few more links:

1. Creepy face by Dave McKean.

2. If I understand this right, it's very cool - - an ARG for the Pleasant Valley High School Drama Department.

3. Papercraft whales - - I like the straw water spouts.

4. The presentation Pen Ward made to executives to convince them to take a chance on an Adventure Time series.

*Previously: Che exuding a rainbow glow.

*Buy Che Guevara toys at eBay.

A Che Guevara shirt I might actually wear (link roundup)

Earnest or mocking? You'll probably like this Che Guevera/Obama Hope t-shirt no matter your politics. It's Alex Bogusky's effort to redefine America's image. You can see 14 more ideas here.

And a few more links:

1. Creepy face by Dave McKean.

2. If I understand this right, it's very cool - - an ARG for the Pleasant Valley High School Drama Department.

3. Papercraft whales - - I like the straw water spouts.

4. The presentation Pen Ward made to executives to convince them to take a chance on an Adventure Time series.

*Previously: Che exuding a rainbow glow.

*Buy Che Guevara toys at eBay.

Hauser or is it Quaid? (link roundup)

An homage to Total Recall, one of my favorite movies, by Jeff Ramirez. The prints are on sale for $60 each at Gallery 1998.

And a few more links:

1. Washington Post editor Doug Feaver says anonymous comments should be allowed . . . because it's important for everyone to remember that there are lunatics out there. Via.

2. So what hurts the Los Angeles Times' credibility more, that they ran an ad on the front page that looked like a genuine news article, or that over 100 staffers signed a petition criticizing the move? Via.

3. President Obama is the first president to hold a Passover Seder. Here's the guest list. I'd like to see a version of Exodus drawn by Mike Mignola. Via.

4. Star Wars Easter Bunny.

*Previously: Moses vs. Egyptian zombies flash game.

*Buy Moses toys at eBay.

Hauser or is it Quaid? (link roundup)

An homage to Total Recall, one of my favorite movies, by Jeff Ramirez. The prints are on sale for $60 each at Gallery 1998.

And a few more links:

1. Washington Post editor Doug Feaver says anonymous comments should be allowed . . . because it's important for everyone to remember that there are lunatics out there. Via.

2. So what hurts the Los Angeles Times' credibility more, that they ran an ad on the front page that looked like a genuine news article, or that over 100 staffers signed a petition criticizing the move? Via.

3. President Obama is the first president to hold a Passover Seder. Here's the guest list. I'd like to see a version of Exodus drawn by Mike Mignola. Via.

4. Star Wars Easter Bunny.

*Previously: Moses vs. Egyptian zombies flash game.

*Buy Moses toys at eBay.