Link roundup

1. The tap water in a Pennsylvania town is so polluted with methane that you can light it on fire. Via.

2. Today's new free games: City of Heroes and Glitch (haven't tried either yet as I've been spending my video game time enjoying Lego Clone Wars).

3. In light of the way Google has cancelled projects under Larry Page, it's reassuring that they keep rolling out new improvements for Blogger.

4. Cheating by the Redskins apparently caused those bad snaps in last night's Cowboys game.

Link roundup

1. Michael Lewis's latest, outstanding article on the financial apocalypse focuses on Germany. It's 17 pages but well worth your time. Here's a sample paragraph:

This preternatural love of rules, almost for their own sake, punctuates German finance as it does German life. As it happens, a story had just broken that a division of a German insurance company called Munich Re, back in June 2007, or just before the crash, had sponsored a party for its best producers that offered not just chicken dinners and nearest-to-the-pin golf competitions but a blowout with prostitutes in a public bath. In finance, high or low, this sort of thing is of course not unusual. What was striking was how organized the German event was. The company tied white and yellow and red armbands to the prostitutes to indicate which ones were available to which men. After each sexual encounter the prostitute received a stamp on her arm, to indicate how often she had been used. The Germans didn’t want just hookers: they wanted hookers with rules.

OK, here's one more:

This is what makes the German case so peculiar. If they had been merely the only big, developed nation with decent financial morals, they would present one sort of picture, of simple rectitude. But they had done something far more peculiar: during the boom German bankers had gone out of their way to get dirty. They lent money to American subprime borrowers, to Irish real-estate barons, to Icelandic banking tycoons to do things that no German would ever do. The German losses are still being toted up, but at last count they stand at $21 billion in the Icelandic banks, $100 billion in Irish banks, $60 billion in various U.S. subprime-backed bonds, and some yet-to-be-determined amount in Greek bonds. The only financial disaster in the last decade German bankers appear to have missed was investing with Bernie Madoff. (Perhaps the only advantage to the German financial system of having no Jews.) In their own country, however, these seemingly crazed bankers behaved with restraint. The German people did not allow them to behave otherwise. It was another case of clean on the outside, dirty on the inside. The German banks that wanted to get a little dirty needed to go abroad to do it.

2. Kristin Tercek's having an art sale.



3. NPR's top 100 science fiction and fantasy novels.



4. Grantland continues to better than I had hoped. Two great articles today: Whether the Blue Jays are cheating; Whether John Cena has it within him to become a WWE villain, and how that change would impact WWE's earnings. (I'd love to see a chart showing how much traffic ESPN has lost to Grantland. I never even visit ESPN.com anymore.)

Link roundup

1. In light of all the talk this week about the Jets strength coach trying to trip an opposing player, such tactics are apparently routine, and indeed people are now looking at this video of Bill Belichick possibly trying to trip a player.

2. Serious Eats is looking to hire bloggers.

3. Download this Chrome extension, and every tab you open will raise money for charity.

*Buy NFL bobbleheads at eBay.

Link roundup

1. In light of all the talk this week about the Jets strength coach trying to trip an opposing player, such tactics are apparently routine, and indeed people are now looking at this video of Bill Belichick possibly trying to trip a player.

2. Serious Eats is looking to hire bloggers.

3. Download this Chrome extension, and every tab you open will raise money for charity.

*Buy NFL bobbleheads at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Despite the huge negative press, Leno is tied with Letterman and his total audience is 44% higher than Conan's.

2. AMC kid's packs will now feature Matt Hawkins's art (but unfortunately won't also turn into paper toys).

3. "During a match for promotion to the top tier of Peruvian soccer, one team handed the other 'energy drinks.' How friendly. Four players collapsed, and the drinks turned out to contain tranquilizers." Video link.

*Buy soccer jerseys at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Long article about Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt and their divorce proceedings. Here's how Frank managed to buy the Dodgers:

In 2004, Frank used that Boston parking lot to buy the Dodgers from Murdoch's News Corp., which was losing an estimated $30 million to $60 million a year on the team and was desperate to sell. McCourt secured a staggering $421 million in loans to make the deal, including one for $200 million from News Corp. itself, using the parking lot, then worth $125 million, as collateral. When McCourt failed to fully repay the loan by 2006, News Corp. took the property and resold it for $203.7 million.

2. Really negative review of Motorola's Droid X.

3. Read this story about a man who cheated to win on The Price Is Right and decide whether you believe his version of events. It's full of interesting trivia about the show such as:

The Price Is Right pays out of pocket for most of the prizes that it gives away, and the prize budget is fixed. If it's been giving away too many cars especially, it'll pull out some of the harder pricing games, Range Game or That's Too Much, to balance the books. They're not rigged, but they rely on the natural tendency of most contestants to guess somewhere in the middle. In the first instance, contestants almost always stop the game too early; in the second, they almost always stop it too late. The further the producers push the prices toward the extremes of possibility, the less likely someone will win.

*Buy baseball bobbleheads at eBay.

Banning cheaters with style (link roundup)

In Guild Wars, the Grim Reaper appears and slaughters cheaters. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Beautiful photo of a smart-grid demo center in Yangzhou.

2. The giant hole in Guatemala is a "piping feature," not a sink hole.

3. Anyone with young kids has probably figured this out for themselves, but an experiment confirmed that "self-control is an exhaustible resource." Via.

*Previously: Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Santa Claus, and the Grim Reaper star in ads for Meltin' Pot jeans.

*Buy vintage computers at eBay.

Oil-covered Little Mermaid (link roundup)

Oil-covered Princess Ariel on sale as a t-shirt here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Dunny, video game, and and comic book giveaway.

2. Useful photo editing tips, including making photos black and white and turning photos into pop art.

3. North Korea tried to sneak an extra forward onto their World Cup team.

*Previously: Annie Leibovitz photographs Julianne Moore as The Little Mermaid.

*Buy Dunnys at eBay.

CCTV Webcam Stickers (link roundup)

CCTV webcam stickers remind that someone could be spying on you right now. Via these sites.

And a few more links:

1. Detailed directions for turning a soda bottle label into an inconspicuous cheat sheet.

2. Apparently Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll posted links on Twitter supposedly suggesting who he wanted to draft - - the links were really ads for Bing.

3. Video of The Gorillaz performing on The Colbert Show (the real people, not avatars).

4. Commercial for a personal injury attorney, starring a talking squirrel.

*Previously: Geometry cheat sheet.

*Buy sticker books at Amazon.

The codpiece of Sauron (link roundup)

I don't know what this is, but it was found in an antique shop in New Zealand that features a Xena, Hercules and Cleopatra 2525 museum.

And a few more links:

1. Jane McGonigal describes her upcoming ARG Evoke (scroll down). And here's the video trailer.

2. Fun meme: Obama bows to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

3. Cheating in cricket fighting in Shanghai includes drugging bugs and inserting tiny metal spears into their jaws.

*Previously: Sauron-bot.

*Buy Xena collections at Amazon.

Cleopatra in Space (link roundup)

Mike Maihack has a new webcomic called Cleopatra in Space.

And a few more links:

1. Slick interface for reading a comic. Via.

2. Lovecraftian-themed ARG site for upcoming game The Secret World.

3. Huge percentage of runners in a recent marathon in China were caught cheating (hopping in cars, using stand ins to run for them). The winners had a better chance of getting into higher education. Via.

*Previously: Anthony and Cleopatra were ugly.

*Buy Cthulhu toys at eBay.

Sports Illustrated says A-Rod took steroids

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.

Read more.

They're all cheaters. And I feel terrible for every kid who's killed himself in the gym trying to achieve unobtainable results.

News anchor's tooth falls out during broadcast

This is pretty horrifying actually. A news anchor named Craig Cannon was in the middle of a news report when his tooth fell right out of his mouth:



Via.

Here's more random links:

1. When people are in an environment covered in graffiti and other signs of decay, they're more likely litter and steal. Via.


2. But I'm not sure if that study is compatible with the conclusion that people who wash their hands are more likely to act unethically. If you're a dirty boy, you'll feel bad about yourself and act more ethically. Via.


3. Athletes are using viagra hoping it'll help their performance on the field. Probably doesn't help, aside from the placebo effect, however.


4. The AP will resume using photographs provided by the US military since the Pentagon said it would stop providing (such easily detected) Photoshopped images.


5. Finally, don't click on this story unless you want to have nightmares. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video. Via.

*Previously: Scientists trying to save species accidentally stock lakes with wrong fish.

*Buy "How to Embarrass Teachers" at Amazon.

There was an all-women Soviet bomber regiment called the Night Witches

A Soviet all-woman bomber regiment was nicknamed the "Night Witches" (Nachthexen) by the Germans. The Night Witches flew 23,000 sorties and was the most highly-decorated unit in the Soviet Air Force. You can see a preview of Garth Ennis' new comic about them here. Via.

Here's a few more links:


This logo for Art Van Furniture has been found to violate Hershey's trademark. Via.




There's a new iTunes game called Tap Tap Revenge: Nine Inch Nails Edition that features music from the last two NIN albums. A high score could earn you merchandise and concert tickets. Via.


1. The blog started by former EGM editors Dan "Shoe" Hsu and Crispin Boyer has already managed to get itself banned from using Google AdSense.



2. Target (wrongfully) suspected a woman of trying to pass counterfeit bills and referred her name to the authorities, which led to Secret Service agents visiting her at work. She sued Target for defamation and just received a $3.1 million judgment. Target plans to appeal, but her attorney had a great line: "Where can we buy her back her good name? We've looked, and you can't buy it at Target." Via.



3. Per Rich Johnston, "Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes" had 16 pages of story, and a cover price of $3.99. It can't get much clearer. Marvel thinks anyone buying new comics at the store is a sucker.



4. "Bandit catchers" are volunteers who work marathons and make sure no one who sneaks onto the course gets to cross the finish line without running the full race. Via.



5. An octopus at an aquarium in Germany shortcircuited the power to the entire aquarium by squirting water at a particular light he didn't care for, has been seen juggling crabs, smashes the tank with rocks, and periodically rearranges the scenery. So, if you believe in reincarnation, is this guy ready to be human, or a recently devolved criminal?

*Previously: Giant octopus desktop wallpaper.

*Buy Kim Stanley Robinson's tale of reincarnation at Amazon.

Video: NBA stars compliment Vlade Divac on his excellent flopping

Via.

*Previously: Laker Girl hopefuls try to spell Laker Sasha Vujacic's name.

*Find vintage NBA merchandise at eBay.

Doping at the Paralympics and other news of the day

1. Ahmet Coskun, a German wheelchair basketball player, tested positive for a banned substance. He's the second athlete to test positive in the Paralympics this month. Coskun says he was just using the product to grow hair. Link. (Steroids do cause hair to grow...on your back, face and arms.) Via these sites.


2. Cattle and deer have a tendency to graze in a north-south direction that aligns with magnetic north. No guesses as to why in this article. Via.


3. Meet the Candiru, aka "toothpick fish." It's a tiny little thing native to the Amazon and hunts in a stunningly horrifying way. Seriously, you probably don't want to read this. Via. You can order a Candiru t-shirt here.

4. Here's footage of John McCain soon after his release from Vietnam. Age has not been kind to him:



Via.

*See previous news here.

*Buy Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures at Amazon.

Stormtrooper cheating on exam

"Stormcheaters" by Joshua Ellingson. Available at Etsy. Via.

*Find vintage Star Wars posters at MoviePoster.com.

11 of 17 head coaches name Rodney Harrison as NFL's dirtiest player

Most interesting is that Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward received a vote. I skimmed Youtube for an explanation. Check out this cheap shot on Ed Reed:

11 of 17 head coaches name Rodney Harrison as NFL's dirtiest player

Most interesting is that Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward received a vote. I skimmed Youtube for an explanation. Check out this cheap shot on Ed Reed:

Students expelled for cheating at Harvard-Westlake

A story my local readers will appreciate:

Six sophomores were expelled and more than a dozen other students faced suspensions Tuesday in a cheating scandal that has rocked Harvard-Westlake, a top-tier Los Angeles private school with a national reputation for its academics.

Administrators said students conspired to steal Spanish and history tests by distracting teachers in their classrooms. The tests were then shown to several other students before midterm exams last month, said Harvard-Westlake President Thomas Hudnut.

Tuition to Harvard-Westlake is approximately $30,000 a year.