Science off the Sphere: NASA Astronaut Plays With Yo-Yos in Space

In episode 14 of Science off the Sphere, watch as NASA Astronaut Don Pettit used his ‘off-duty time’ on a recent International Space Station expedition to play with yo-yos.

Astronaut and chemist Dr. Don Pettit does physics demos that are out of this world…Dr. Pettit presents fantastic physics that can only be demonstrated in micro-gravity.

via io9

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Both Campaigns Raised a Lot of Money This Weekend

The Romney campaign raised $3.5 million online in the 24 hours following the Paul Ryan announcement, according to spokeswoman Andrea Saul. Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Obama will appear at five fund-raisers; the events are expected to bring in a combined $6.4 million, making today one of the campaign's most lucrative.

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Coloso, An Electrical Tower Made to Look Like a Giant Robot by Doma

Buenos Aires-based art collective Doma has created COLOSO, a giant robot-shaped electrical tower. It was created for Tecnópolis 2012, a large-scale science, technology, industry and art exhibition in Villa Martelli, Argentina.

You may remember the clown-shaped electrical tower that was installed by MAVIR in Hungary.

images via Doma

via Wooster Collective

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Official Named in Department of Homeland Security Reverse Sexism Suit Admits to Making Pasta

Dora Schriro. (NYC.gov)

New York City corrections commissioner Dora Schriro's name became a bit more familiar on Friday, when she was named in a reverse sexism lawsuit filed against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Among the charges that Napolitano let her department operate as a "female-run frat house" was the allegation that, owing to her friendship with Napolitano and the Sisterhood Illuminati, Schriro was promoted to her current post over James Hayes, who filed the suit. Well, Schriro's in the paper again today, but the news is about gardening, not getting sued. By some strange coincidence, Schriro is the subject of this week's "Sunday Routine" piece in the New York Times, where she discusses the best pancakes on City Island, homemade pasta, and her love of The Good Wife (but not for Janet Napolitano, much to the Post's perverse dismay.)

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Tim Pawlenty ‘Didn’t Expect’ the Vice-Presidential Nomination, Anyway

As you are now very well aware, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is no longer a potential vice-president, because Mitt Romney decided to go with "not totally boring" when it came to his running mate. (The same thing happened back in 2008, when John McCain chose Sarah Palin over Pawlenty.) Anyway, the Vanilla Thrilla isn't bitta (though he does sound a little sad, or resigned to a life of relative obscurity, or something.) "I'm not disappointed," he said on ABC's This Week. "I didn't get something I didn't expect."

Also, because even the Paul Ryan announcement cannot completely overshadow the subject of tax returns, Pawlenty revealed that he'd submitted "a bunch" of them to the Romney campaign during the vetting process, though he claimed not to remember "the exact number of years."

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New York State Senator Proposes Crime-Reporting App

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 23: Actress Paige Price, Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, New York Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman Rory Lancman attend the "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" on Broadway Safety Issues Press Conference at the Foxwoods Theater on December 23, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Paige Price;Richard Gottfried;Eric Adams;Rory Lancman

From documenting unnecessary force during Occupy protests to allowing citizens to log their stop-and-frisk experiences, smart phones are emerging as a genuine tool for justice. According to the Daily News, New York State Senator Eric Adams is introducing an app that should be a nice addition to the "power to the people" genre: Called the "Brooklyn Quality of Life" app, it would enable people to report crimes anonymously through voice or visual recording, and "[a] team of retired law enforcement volunteers will share it with investigators through a private Facebook page." In other words, by removing the NYPD from the reporting process, this an app that allows to you to report crime without technically "snitching."

Of course, others in the state senate do see it as anti-911, but in neighborhoods where people already don't call 911, reporting of any kind seems like a positive step. If the "Brooklyn Quality of Life" app can remove some of the stigma of reporting, it might actually live up to its name.

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Police Shoot and Kill Knife-Wielding Man in Times Square

A long time ago, one could smoke pot (or do much worse) on the streets of Times Square without anyone paying attention, but in the present day, very few people would light up in front of the Hard Rock Cafe on a Saturday during high tourist season and expect to go unnoticed by the police. Yesterday, however, such an act was attempted by an unnamed 51-year-old man. Sadly, it ended in his death.

When the cops approached the man — who, according to the New York Times, was known around Times Square for asking for spare change while occasionally wearing a full ninja costume — he took out a large kitchen knife and ran, taunting the dozen officers who were chasing him and swinging at tourists along the way. He was shot after refusing multiple demands to drop the knife (and being pepper-sprayed six times), reports New York 1.

While it's not yet clear why the man resisted arrest, the sequence of events was well-documented — the commotion attracted a large crowd of onlookers, including passengers on the a double-decker sightseeing bus. "Some people were crouching near an office building," said one out-of-towner. "But others took out the cell phone cameras to try and capture it."

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Chris Christie’s Love for New Jersey Outweighed His Desire to Be Vice-President

A campaign source told the New York Post that Christie was "high" on the vice-presidential short list but was removed when he said he would not be willing to quit his job as governor of New Jersey to run alongside Romney. He is, however, available to do the RNC's keynote speech — and to wage his own presidential bid later.

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Critters Chase Lasers in the Music Video for Natural Thing by Nobody Beats The Drum

Cute critters and laser pointers are the stars of this fun video created for Natural Thing, a song by Dutch electronic dance band Nobody Beats The Drum. Natural Thing is available to purchase online.

Also, check out this video uploaded by leadpipeinch of Bernice the cat watching the original video.

via Obvious Winner

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Which TV News Personality Has The Most Movie Cameos?

Jodie Foster’s 1997 alien hunter pic Contact lists 80 people in its cast on IMDB. Nearly a quarter of them were CNN employees. Warner Bros. cast them to help pimp the network, a fellow Time Warner entity, and add some realism to a plot that included such fantastical elements as aliens and Matthew McConaughey in a shirt. The result, at CNN at least, was abject horror. The news network’s president Tom Johnson publicly declared his regret just four days after the movie came out. And in the San Francisco Chronicle Wolf Blitzer self-righteously said he but declined a part because he “just didn't think it was the right thing to do.”

Fifteen years later something has changed, because Blitzer makes his big screen debut in The Campaign. Still, the man with TV news’s most cinematic name has a long way to go to catch up with his colleagues, some of whom should probably join SAG. But which TV news personality has been most willing to pretend they’re one of the pretty people? Let’s find out.

Larry King: 18
Movies Appeared In: Swing Vote, Mr. 3000, The Stepford Wives, John Q, America's Sweethearts, The Kid, The Contender, Enemy of the State, Bulworth, Primary Colors, The Jackal, Contact, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Dave, Open Season, Crazy People, The Exorcist III, Ghostbusters
With almost 20 film appearances as himself, CNN’s grand poo-bah is the Samuel L. Jackson of cameo-making news folk—he’ll be in anything. And he’ll keep at it as long as scripts include characters that need to be interviewed on TV.

Chris Matthews: 7
Movies Appeared In: The Campaign, The Ides of March, Dave, State of Play, Man of the Year, Morning Glory, Swing Vote
Any regular Hardball viewer knows Matthews is a bigger ham than Porky the Pig. So if listening to a President Obama speech sends a thrill up his leg, imagine what shooting a movie does. Or maybe don’t.

Geraldo Rivera: 7
Movies Appeared In: All About Steve, Primary Colors, Contact, Grumpier Old Men, Cop Land, Meet Wally Sparks, Hard to Kill
In the 1995 movie Grumpier Old Men, the title referred to characters played by Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Geraldo just played himself, the sensationalist talk show host. But the guy is seriously grumpy.

James Carville: 6
Movies Appeared In: Man of the Year, The Muppets, The Adjustment Bureau, Swing Vote, Wedding Crashers, Old School
You’re thinking, “Wait, wasn’t Carville also in The Lord of the Rings?” He was not.

Bill Maher: 5
Movies Appeared In: The Campaign, Swing Vote, Primary Colors, Pauly Shore Is Dead, EDtv
He’s one of the only people alive who can play himself as a political pundit or a stand-up comic. Of course, Larry King is trying to change that.

Mary Hart: 5
Movies Appeared In: The Great Buck Howard, Swing Vote, I-See-You.com, Stuck on You, Love Affair
The female news personality who’s made the most cameos once insured her legs for a million dollars.

Leeza Gibbons: 4
Movies Appeared In: The Player, Last Action Hero, Soapdish, He Said, She Said
Another woman, another blonde Entertainment Tonight host. This reflects very poorly on you, Hollywood.

Howard Cosell: 4
Movies Appeared In: Broadway Danny Rose, Johnny Be Good, Bananas, Two-Minute Warning
His play-by-play call of Fielding Mellish’s honeymoon night will go down as one of the best episodes of Wild World of Sex ever.

John McLaughlin: 4
Movies Appeared In: Independence Day, Mission Impossible, Getting Away with Murder, Dave
It’s been 16 years since the 85-year-old McLaughlin was in a movie. It’s probably time for a new agent.

John Tesh: 3
Movies Appeared In: He Said, She Said, Soapdish, Love Affair
He’s gotten to play himself in three movies and host Entertainment Tonight for ten years, but John Tesh will never do anything as great as this.

Charlie Rose: 3
Movies Appeared In: The Ides of March, Primary Colors, The Door in the Floor
Unfortunately, when Rose appears in movies he plays the long-winded interviewer, not the notorious cad.

Bryant Gumbel: 3
Movies Appeared In: The Weather Man, Contact, The Hard Way
The lesser of the two Gumbels manages to have more film appearances than his chubbier, friendlier brother.

Bill O'Reilly: 3
Movies Appeared In: Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Iron Man 2, Keeping Up with the Steins
Know how to make one of the most maddening men on TV even worse? Let Michael Bay direct him.

Matt Lauer: 3
Movies Appeared In: Tower Heist, Land of the Lost, The Beaver
Expect The Today Show host to continue climbing this list as he becomes the go-to cameo for any script with a newsmaking character. We predict he will inherit the mantle from Larry King.

Christiane Amanpour (Iron Man 2, The Pink Panther 2), Dennis Miller (The Campaign, Thank You For Smoking), Mika Brezezinki (The Campaign, I Don't Know How She Does It), Lawrence O'Donnell (The Campaign, Swing Vote), Piers Morgan, Joe Scarborough, Wolf Blitzer (The Campaign).

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Paul Ryan Abandons Twitter Account for Shiny New VP Handle

Ryan.

The installation of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate meant the retirement (perhaps temporary) of Ryan's Twitter account, @RepPaulRyan, in favor of the one-day-old handle, @PaulRyanVP. Already Ryan's new account has 85,821 followers and it's quickly growing. His old platform has nearly 185,000 followers, with whom he shared thoughts and policy proposals on the tax code, the budget, and health-care: "With the right leadership, we will pass #FullRepeal & advance real health care solutions for the American people."

Interestingly, Ryan actually follows people on his VP account, 79 in total — 78 more than he does on the congressional handle. The only account he follows there is National Debt Tweets. Ryan's online makeover reflects a more social and less self-important self that subscribes to the 140-character musings of Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Andrea Saul, and several members of Mitt's digital team, probably the folks who set up the the new account. Here's a taste of Ryan Twitter 2.0, in which he basically says "What Mitt said":

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Wizard Of Meh by Pogo

Nick Bertke aka Pogo stars in the Wizard Of Meh, his latest remix video.

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Now You Can Hail a New York City Cab With Your Smartphone

Here's how it the app ZabKab works for passengers: "One tap of the hail button and taxicab drivers instantly see where you are so they can come straight to you." And then through the power of cell phone technology and a bit of magic, a wave of cabs will descend upon you — the almighty cab signal sender. CNBC reports that ZabKab was able to circumvent Taxi & Limousine Commission regulations against pre-arranging a ride with a medallion taxi because the application merely allows taxis to locate customers.

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Somebodies, Gotye Takes Fan-Made Covers & Makes a Mashup Video

Gotye (aka Wally De Backer) created Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra, a crowdsourced music video that features a bunch of fan-made covers and parodies of his hit song, Somebody That I Used to Know. The full list of every YouTube video he sourced in this meta-mashup video is available at his blog.

Reluctant as I am to add to the mountain of interpretations of Somebody That I Used To Know seemingly taking over their own area of the internet, I couldn’t resist the massive remixability that such a large, varied yet connected bundle of source material offered.

Here’s the original music video:

via Nerdist

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On 60 Minutes, Romney and Ryan Showcase Cozy Relationship, Hazy Tax Plan

On Sunday night Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan sat down for their first joint TV interview with 60 Minutes and took the opportunity to highlight their newfound friendship. Romney praised Ryan's (questionable) knack for bipartisanship several times, and looked on with approval as his charismatic running mate attacked President Obama for his "fundamental lack of leadership." The duo are apparently so in step that they've started wearing matching outfits, and even share the same policy on disclosing financial information. When asked how many years of tax returns he released to the campaign, Ryan said it was "a very exhaustive vetting process," yet also a "confidential vetting process." Thus, he'll only be sharing two years of returns with the American people, just like his new boss.

The two were less clear on how a Romney-Ryan administration would affect Americans' taxes. Bob Schieffer didn't really ask any hard-hitting questions (and as Politico notes, that may be why Romney gave him another big exclusive), but he did have an interesting exchange with Romney about whether he believes in tax cuts for the rich:

As Jonathan Chait has discussed several times, a recent study by the Brookings Institution and the Tax Policy Center concluded that Romney's tax plan would require a tax increase for the middle class, while the richest Americans would pay lower rates and a lower share of the tax burden. At this point in the interview, Ryan jumped in to elaborate on Romney's plan:

If Ryan wants to take away Romney's tax shelters, maybe they aren't on the same page after all.

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Zombie Woman and Dog Maim Oklahoma Man

An Oklahoma zombie woman took a page from Mike Tyson's book in a domestic fight this weekend and bit off a large part of a grown man's outer ear. According to local KOTV, the arresting officer found 46-year-old Lecia Cooley's male victim with " a large portion of his right earlobe missing, bruising to his face consistent with a hard punch, and various lacerations from both the family dog and Ms. Cooley." No word on what kind of dog played sidekick in Cooley's attack, but whether it was a Yorkie or a Doberman, this man was clearly overmatched. Cooley, the "dominant aggressor," lost a part of her own body in the brawl as well: a portion of her right canine. Spoiler: There was no dog!

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Sarah Palin, Star of 2008's Republican National Convention, Won't Speak at This Year's

Sarah Barracuda.

"This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I’m excited to hear them," wrote Sarah Palin in a statement on Fox News host Greta Van Susteren's blog. Those other voices will include tea-party senate candidate Ted Cruz, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the person who helped deliver Palin from Alaska to the national stage at the Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008 — John McCain.

It's not entirely clear if she sought a speaking role, didn't like the time slot the RNC offered, or decided on her own that she'd be better off elsewhere than as a sideshow to Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney. A party official tells Buzzfeed that Palin was invited to speak. Said Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus, "Gov. Palin has been a force in our party and while I am disappointed she won't be in Tampa I know she will continue to be actively engaged in replacing Barack Obama."

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The First Leg of the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan Road Show Was Painfully Short

Ryan and Romney in North Carolina. (Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan did a mini-tour of North Carolina today, with the candidates making stops in the towns of High Point and Mooresville. Despite what was described as "oppressive" heat, the pair was greeted by large, enthusiastic hoards still jazzed up about yesterday's vice-presidential nominee reveal. Romney himself seemed uncharacteristically animated, as demonstrated by his introduction of his new sidekick to the crowd gathered in the parking lot of the NASCAR Technical Institute:

The moment was bittersweet: Today is expected to be the last time the pair will appear together in public for a few weeks, as campaign plans to "extend their bandwidth" by crafting separate itineraries for Romney and Ryan until the end of the month, when they will be reunited in Tampa for the RNC.

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George Soros to Marry for the Third Time

Billionaire, major liberal donor, and leader of the New World Order (at least according to Glenn Beck) George Soros celebrated his 82nd birthday by becoming engaged for the third time. His new fiancée, n">Tamiko Bolton, runs "a web-based yoga education business," a description which is almost as clear as how Mr. Soros made his fortune (it involves hedge funds or something.) Ms. Bolton is 40, which, despite making her less than half her future husband's age, is as old as most billionaire wives when they get traded in for a younger model, so kudos to the happy couple for breaking the mold. Mr. Soros met Bolton in 2008, and they celebrated their engagement at his summer manor in Southampton last night. They will be registered at nowhere.

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Donkey Kong Wall, The Classic Arcade Game as Functioning Shelves

Los Angeles-based designer Igor Chak used his early childhood memory of colorful steel beams and ladders found in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong to create his functioning and visually brilliant Donkey Kong Wall shelf design.

Igor explains his brilliant design in further detail:

Here is a Donkey Kong wall, strong, good looking but still has its character. The wall is made out of individual sections; each section is made out of durable but light carbon fiber, anodized aluminum pixels that are joined with strong stainless steel rods and toughened glass tops. The special mounts themselves are made out of steel and can support up to 60lbs.

So Mario… sit your Lady friend on that nice looking couch you have and enjoy the show!

via MahliBombing

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HoodiePillow Pillowcase, A Pillowcase with a Built-in Sweatshirt Hood

Pennsylvania-based parents of triplets, Chris and Dana Hindley, invented the HoodiePillow Pillowcase after bringing their girls home and trying to catch some dark, quiet winks in the times between constant bottle feedings. The pillowcases they designed have a built-in hood to block out light for (what they call) ‘Cocoonification’. They are made of soft fleece sweatshirt material, manufactured at Dallco Industries in York, Pennsylvania, fit standard bed pillows and are available to purchase online.

…We’ve officially changed the way you lounge and sleep forever. No word exists to fully explain the feeling the HoodiePillow® brand pillowcase provides so we went ahead and made one up: “Cocoonification™”. Think cocoons are just for caterpillars? Think again, my friend. Think again…

Only the HoodiePillow® can provide ultimate cocoonification™, helping you tuck away the stresses of your day. It supplies warmth, quiet, focus, and a healthy sleep environment. Whether you’re browsing the Interwebs, curling up with a good book, dozing on the couch, watching TV, gearing up for some concentrated study or simply looking to get some uninterrupted shut-eye, the HoodiePillow® pillowcase is the perfect accessory to enhance your lounging experience.

Submitted by Chris

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The Beauty Inside, A Social Film That Will Unfold on Facebook & Will Star Chosen Fans

The Beauty Inside is an ‘interactive social film’ with a story that will unfold on the film’s Facebook timeline and will star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Topher Grace and chosen Facebook fans that audition for a lead role. It will consist of “six filmed episodes, audience-created content and many online conversations over the course of 6 weeks.” The plot follows Alex, a gentleman who rolls out of bed every day looking like a different person (it’s how audience members can get a part). The twist is that he ends up falling in love and his ever-changing looks might be a problem for his new love interest.

The Beauty Inside is presented by Intel and Toshiba (to promote the Ultrabook) and is directed by Drake Doremus. Auditions are being taken until September 13, 2012 and episode 1 (of 6) premieres on August 16, 2012 at 3 PM PST.

The Beauty inside is Hollywood’s first film that gives the audience a chance to play the lead role.

Here’s the film’s trailer:

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Second Employee Suing Janet Napolitano Over Charges of Reverse Sexism

Janet Napolitano.

Following yesterday's reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee James Hayes Jr.'s reserve-sexism lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the New York Post has learned that a second male employee, Jason Mount, filed a similar suit in July. Unlike Hayes, Mount makes no allegations of sexual harassment, but he does complain of gender discrimination at the department, where he claims he was refused an office and subject to "dozens of incidents in which he was allegedly passed over for promotions despite being fully qualified."

Like Hayes, who claims he was passed over for a promotion by Napolitano owing to his gender (in favor of Dora Schriro, with whom Napolitano “enjoyed a longstanding relationship"), Mr. Mount alleges that, despite receiving a perfect evaluation, his gender prevented him from acquiring a post with Homeland Security Investigations in Boston. Instead, the job went to Linda Hunt, though she had lower status on the federal civil-service pay scale and lacked some specific experience that the position requires. In order to escape what he considered a hostile work atmosphere, Mount felt he had to ask to be reassigned, voluntarily taking a demotion in pay and responsibility that he described as "career suicide." Mount is suing for around $300,000 — a tenth of the $3 million Hayes is seeking.

While Napolitano has remained silent and ICE won't comment on this latest case, a federal official did comment on the Hayes case, saying his allegations “do not align with the fact that Mr. Hayes has routinely held high-ranking assignments, including his current position as special agent in charge of ICE’s second-largest field office.”

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Facedeals, System Allows Automatic Facebook Check-ins With Facial Recognition

Facedeals is a system that uses facial recognition to enable automatic Facebook check-ins at businesses (video). Facedeal users are identified by a camera at the business and then can receive targeted offers from the business. Nashville- & Atlanta-based ad agency redpepper created the system and is currently testing it in the Nashville area.

Facebook check-ins are a powerful mechanism for businesses to deliver discounts to loyal customers, yet few businesses—and fewer customers—have realized it. A search for businesses with active deals in our area turned up a measly six offers. The odds we’ll ever be at one of those six spots are low (a strip club and photography studio among them), and the incentives for a check-in are not nearly enticing enough for us to take the time. So we set out to evolve the check-in and sweeten the deal, making both irresistible. We call it Facedeals.

Thanks Matt Reed!

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Big Cats Eating & Swatting Around Watermelons

The latest video by Tampa-based Big Cat Rescue shows how their big cats eat (and swat around) their summer enrichment treats, watermelons. They warn: ‘Watermelons were harmed during this video!’

Every summer we hand out watermelons to the cats that live at Big Cat Rescue as enrichment, they love to play with them and also some of the cats actually like to eat the watermelons!

This is grrr-eat entertainment for both the cats and our volunteers and of course it’s perfectly safe for the cats to enjoy their summer treats!

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Dead Artist Hoarded Socks, Warhols

More often than not, Hoarders is the anti–Antiques Roadshow; as any even semi-loyal viewer of can tell you, hoarders frequently insist that their hoard contains (or is made up entirely of) great treasures, and they will keep insisting that, even in the face of experts who tell them their gold is actually plastic — or dead cats. That's why it's so surprising that, according to today's New York Times, a clean-up specialist actually did find treasures in a hoard — albeit one amassed by reclusive artist Harry Shunk, whose body was found in his West Village apartment ten days after he died under an avalanche of his own junk. Shunk had no will or relatives, so investigators came in, removed whatever looked valuable, and sold it at auction for $2 million dollars.

After that, Darryl Kelly's clean-up crew was brought in to clear out the non-valuables (including Shunk's "boxes of meticulously rolled tube socks"), which they almost left in a Dumpster before impulsively grabbing "about 2,000" items and taking them home. Since Kelly and his brother-in-law, Gregory Marsh, had no idea if their findings were worth anything, they ended up being hoarded again — this time in Mr. Kelly's house — until his wife put her foot down and made them move the haul to a storage locker.

Two years later, after discovering Antiques Roadshow and noticing that people seemed to be willing to pay a lot of money for what looked like "ordinary stuff," Kelly finally decided to take Shunk's material possessions to an appraiser, who discovered Warhol lithographs and Christo sketches overlooked by investigators. They're auctioning off the collection in the fall. "What’s fascinating is that it all could have been lost, but for this accidental collector," said art adviser Jane Borthwick. "He was basically the caretaker of this collection for years." So, basically, the only thing separating a hoarder from a collector (or caretaker) is a little bit of very valuable fine art.

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Crumbs, A Last Resort Placeholder Website Page for Delinquent Clients

Here’s an example of what a Crumbs placeholder screen would look like

Crumbs is described as an “open-source holding page created to help get hard working web designers & developers the money they’re owed.” In short, if you hire a web developer or designer and neglect to pay your invoices on time, a Crumbs screen will replace your website until you do pay. That is, if they have installed the free Crumbs “WordPress theme and/or static placeholder” which they can activate or deactivate without detrimental effect to their client’s chosen theme.

Crumbs was developed by Stephen Fairbanks of Ghosthorses Website Design.

Crumbs is a temporary holding page to be used as a last resort for when a client has repeatedly ignored or refused to pay the invoices for their web services.

Thanks Shelby DeNike!

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It Wasn’t Arizona, Art of Bleeding’s Musical Recap of the Recent Predatory Puppeteer Coverage

In the “interest of puppet safety”, Rev. Al of The Art of Bleeding has mixed together It Wasn’t Arizona, a dark musical recap of the (super-creepy) Ronald Brown coverage. If you weren’t aware of the deeply disturbing news story surrounding Florida-based Brown, he’s the recently arrested ‘predatory puppeteer’ and TV kid show host who admitted to wanting to kill and eat children. Some of the footage used in the Art of Bleeding’s remix is from this clip from Brown’s Christian TV show called ‘Joy Junction’ where his puppet ‘Marty’ confesses to Brown that evil children are making him look at pornography. Yikes, keep your kids and puppets safe out there.

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Footage of a Small Airplane Crashing, Shot From Inside the Cockpit

This past June, four men were flying in the mountains of Idaho and brought their GoPro cameras to capture the experience. Unexpectedly, the airplane ran into some trouble during the flight and crashed. Here’s their incredible video footage of that crash, which is shot from inside the cockpit (from two different views). Everyone (thankfully) survived, and the pilot, who sustained the most injuries, will make a full recovery. Los Angeles Times has more of the story.

…Miraculously, everyone survived. The pilot will make a full recovery and the rest of us escaped with superficial injuries and feel very lucky to be alive . This trip was much anticipated and due to our excitement we had our Gopro cameras filming at various times. After flying up into the mountains for a morning hike in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness we were planning on flying to a small mountain town for dinner. Due to warming temperatures there was an increase in density altitude and we had a hard time getting adequate lift. After taking off we hit an air pocket that made us rapidly loose altitude, pushing us down into the trees. The cameras were left on for a couple of hours during the aftermath.

via Richard Blakely

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A Big-Eyed Slow Loris Simply Eating Rice

In this video uploaded by strongstyleboy, watch a big-eyed slow loris eat rice. That’s it, just an adorable slow loris eating rice for 2 1/2 minutes.

For more cuteness from the world of slow loris, see our previous posts:

- Slow Loris With a Tiny Umbrella
- One Day in the Life of Sonya The Slow Loris
- Sonya the Slow Loris Loves Being Tickled

via 22 Words

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The Ryan Pick: Why Romney Changed to Obama’s Game

The only place you'll find happier people today is at the White House.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was making my way into the White House for an interview, I ran into David Axelrod trundling along on his way out. We chatted idly for a few minutes about the political topic du jour: Who was Mitt Romney going to pick as his running mate? I told Axelrod that I was still convinced, as I had been for months, that Rob Portman would be the guy (ahem), and sagely explained why it wouldn’t be Tim Pawlenty (phew) and just couldn’t be Paul Ryan (doh!). Axelrod studiously maintained a poker face throughout our discussion. But I couldn’t help but detect a gleeful flicker in his eyes when we talked about the fervor on the right for the congressman from Wisconsin.

With Mitt Romney’s announcement this morning that he had tapped Ryan, the very same flicker is enlivening the eyes of everyone residing at the Obama for America HQ in Chicago and in the warrens of the White House, coupled with grins wide enough to span the distance between the two. But as giddy as Democrats are about the pick, so are Republicans and in particular conservative stalwarts. The underlying cause of the joy on both sides is the same, and it also happens to be the reason why the country should love the selection too: It raises the stakes and starkly clarifies the choice that voters will face in November — in one fell and dramatic swoop transforming a campaign that was teetering on the edge of being about nothing (of substance, that is) into a contest about Very Big Things indeed.

That the right is thrilled comes as no surprise, of course, given the despondency sinking in among hard-core conservatives (and, really, most Republicans) over the state of the Romney campaign during this long hot summer. Themeless, timid, error-prone, and on the defensive over Bain, taxes, and the dreadful foreign trip, the Romney campaign has seen their guy’s position in the race steadily erode, with three new polls showing him behind by seven to nine points and Obama at or near 50 percent (CNN 52-45 percent, Fox 49-40 percent, Reuters/Ipsos 49-42 percent). While the GOP political class has loudly and justifiably lamented Team Romney's poor performance on defense against Team O’s attacks, conservatives have been more troubled by its abject failures of offense: its inability or unwillingness to lay out a bold and clear agenda to contrast with that of the president.

In choosing Ryan, Romney, in effect, both acknowledged and granted the validity of that latter set of criticisms. As my colleague Jonathan Chait and others have written, Ryan has become the de facto ideological and intellectual leader of the contemporary GOP. His agenda of turning Medicare into a voucher program, bloc-granting and taking the meat axe to Medicaid, drastically cutting spending on virtually every other government program (except defense, natch), and, yes, privatizing Social Security has been called many things, from courageous and bold (by countless conservatives) to “thinly veiled Social Darwinism” (by Obama) and “right-wing social engineering” (by Newt Gingrich). What you cannot call it is vague or vacuous or mealy-mouthed — all words that have been attached to the man at the top of the ticket.

So this was not a safe or conventional pick — not a pick motivated by winning a state (as Portman would have partly been regarding Ohio or Marco Rubio would have partly been regarding Florida). This was a pick about ideas, about policies, about core convictions. But it was also a pick driven by political weakness. All along, Team Romney’s bedrock strategy has been to make the 2012 election a clean referendum on Obama’s economic management and leadership, an election about unemployment, growth, and wages. In elevating Ryan, what Team Romney has done is execute a sharp U-turn, embracing the theory that 2012 will not be a pure referendum but a choice election, and one in which the two sides’ contrasting approaches to the deficit, debt, entitlements, and taxes will take center stage. And while this is surely not a Hail Mary pass on the order of John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin, it is almost as much, as some Romneyites admit, an attempt to (pardon the expression) change the game.

All of which helps explain why the Obamans are grinning madly. It’s not simply that they, too, see the pick as an admission by Team Romney that its strategy was failing. Or that Ryan doesn’t clearly pass the test of being (and, crucially, looking) ready to be president. Or that his utter lack of private-sector bona fides undercuts, however mildly, Romney’s attacks on Obama for lacking same. It’s that Chicago and the White House perceive this as a broader capitulation regarding the core dynamic of the race: an acceptance of the “choice election” framing, which is exactly the frame that the incumbent and his people have embraced and attempted to propagate from the start.

And just why have they done that? Because they knew full well that if the race were purely a referendum on Obama, they would likely lose — but if bright lines could be drawn on values and visions regarding fiscal choices, that was the kind of election they could win. This was why Chicago was planning to hang the Ryan budget around Romney’s neck regardless of whether the congressman was on the ticket or not. Obama’s data jockeys have been polling and focus-grouping on this for months, and they are over the moon about what they have found. And while that data is guarded by lock, key, and Uzi-toting thugs (kidding — sorta), anyone interested in the topic should take a look at the work that Stan Greenberg and his team at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner did recently on the Ryan agenda and its electoral implications for Democracy Corps. To put it mildly, their conclusion is fairly bracing:

The crucial question, to be sure, will be what the small sliver of undecided voters conclude when the dueling cases of each side are put to them. But however the chips fall and the cookies crumble in the coming Ryan-centric fracas on the hustings, at the conventions, and on the debate stages this fall — side note: Biden versus Ryan, holy moly, get your ringside tickets now! — it’s hard not to argue that Mitt Romney has done the country a major favor. No more hide-and-seek. No more guessing games. No more theorizing about what President Willard would do if he found himself behind the biggest desk of all. With Romney and Ryan now joined at the hip, the choice and the stakes of 2012 are as clear as day. As a man with no knack for memorable phrases once memorably said: Bring 'em on.

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A Birthday Cake That Looks Just Like an Amelanistic Burmese Python

Francesca Pitcher of United Kingdom cake shop, North Star Cakes, created a super-realistic Snake Cake for a birthday that looks just like a balled Amelanistic Burmese Python.

She notes:

****I DO NOT SELL SNAKES****. This photo is of a snake CAKE made to look like an Amelanistic Burmese Python for a birthday party. I would be delighted to quote for a snake cake like this or any other cake, please message me and I will reply asap….

via Foodiggity

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Mitt Romney Picks Slightly Boring But Handsome White Guy Paul Ryan

The addition of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to the Republican presidential ticket, "the sole locus of the conservative movement’s longings," as Jonathan Chait noted on Friday, is a lock. Mitt Romney will reveal Ryan as his vice-presidential pick in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia, this morning.

The pick will tilt the dynamic of a presidential race that has already developed contrary to expectations. The Obama campaign has succeeded thus far in knocking Romney off his focus on the economy with a series of attacks on Mitt's record at Bain Capital and his refusal to release more than two years of tax returns. The Ryan selection will now put his budget plan into the heart of the race, which includes full repeal of Obamacare, tax cuts, and huge reductions to government programs for the poor.

Earlier in the summer, before the steady onslaught from the Obama campaign began taking its toll on Romney's poll numbers, the consensus was that Republicans needed an "incredibly boring white guy" like Tim Pawlenty or Rob Portman, someone who wouldn't distract from the central message that the economic recovery was being mismanaged by Obama. Ryan, as Chait noted earlier this year, is anything but boring, depicted as "America’s neighborhood accountant, a man devoted to the task of restoring our fiscal health," while in fact "nobody has done more in recent years to prevent the passage of a bipartisan debt agreement."

Ryan's selection may actually provide some rare bipartisan joy, although for different reasons. Republicans have their ideological standard-bearer on the ticket, and a chance to shift the campaign back towards policy and away from Romney's vulnerable personal history. Democrats, meanwhile, get to highlight the Republican economic wish list, like cutting taxes for the rich and turning Medicare into a voucher program.

The Romney campaign's selection of Ryan and its desire to change the framing of the election was foreshadowed on Friday, when Romney called for "agreement between both campaigns that we were only going to talk about issues" instead of "attacks based upon business or family or taxes or things of that nature." Politico's Maggie Haberman noted that it's "surprising ... hearing a candidate say, essentially, 'stop hitting me.'"

The body blows from the Obama campaign are unlikely to ease up with Ryan on the ticket. But starting Saturday, Romney will have a new heavyweight in the fight.

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Connectify Dispatch, App That Combines All Your Internet Connections for More Speed

Connectify Dispatch is a PC app that increases the speed and reliability of your Internet connection by letting you use all your available Internet connections at the same time (video). For instance, a Dispatch user could combine their mobile hotspot with a café’s free wireless for a better connection. Philadelphia-based Connectify is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

Thanks Connectify!

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Seed Money, Paper Coins That You Can Plant by Leafcutter Designs

Leafcutter Designs‘ Lea Redmond, creator of the World’s Smallest Post Service, The Small Times mini newspaper and Punch Boxes, has a new and interesting project called Seed Money, which are paper coins she makes that you can plant. She recently started a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to help fund the Seed Money project.

Here’s the story from Lea:

Seed Money looks like the real thing – pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters – but is far more valuable. Use it to solicit surprise and smiles from friends and strangers alike, and then tuck these paper coins in soil to grow colorful flowers and delicious vegetables. It’s tender for tending!

Seed Money will be lovingly designed and made by Lea Redmond and her pals at Slide Sideways and Porridge Papers. This initial run of currency will include hand-illustrated pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, and will be letterpress printed in Nebraska on thick custom papers embedded with seeds. Available in rolls for sharing and spreading the wealth, these lightweight, whimsical – and practical! – coins will slide easily into a purse or pocket.

Each coin reads, ‘In Soil We Trust’.

Thanks Lea!

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Snogometer, Kiss Measuring Device Invented by a British Teen in 1965

The Snogometer was a kiss measuring device created by British tinkerer Malcolm Pickard in 1965 (he was 16 years old at the time). The device was a bit of a sensation in the UK when it debuted and was the subject of this British Pathé newsreel clip. In a 2010 interview with the BBC, Pickard says he created the device to combine his interest in electronics with his interest in kissing girls. He also noted that the device was probably dangerous and left a coppery taste in the mouths of its test subjects.

via Oh Have You Seen This?

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Mitt Romney Introduced Paul Ryan in Front of a Battleship for Some Reason

"Hello Mr. President, er, Paul."

Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was never shy about his desire to be Mitt Romney's running mate, so it was kind of sad, this morning, to see him forced up onstage to give the introduction at Paul Ryan's unveiling. Also, nobody watching or in attendance wanted to hear from Bob McDonnell in the least.

The setting was a stage situated directly in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin, a decommissioned battleship now serving out retirement as a museum in Norfolk, Virginia. Why do this in front of a battleship? Unclear. If there were ever a campaign less focused on war and foreign policy, it is the Romney-Ryan ticket in 2012. 

When McDonnell's tragic intro was complete, Romney emerged from the Wisconsin to some patriotic fanfare, which happened to be the soundtrack from Air Force One. Romney spent much of his short speech boasting of Ryan's character, sometimes in comically overwrought language. "Paul also combines firm principles with a practical concern for getting things done," Romney said at one point. "He has never been content to simply curse the darkness; he would rather light candles." I hope you dance, Paul Ryan.

Today represents something of a fresh start for Romney's struggling campaign, and he has every reason to be excited. However, he was perhaps a little too excited for his own good by the time he introduced Ryan. "Join me," Romney announced, "in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan!"

The music swelled again, the crowd cheered, and Ryan emerged onstage, joining Romney in a session of smiling and lazy, indiscriminate waving. Romney went to his seat, but upon being informed by Ann of his error, returned to the microphone just as Ryan was set to begin his speech. "Every now and then I’m known to make a mistake,” Romney said, sheepishly. “I did not make a mistake with this guy. But I can tell you this, he’s going to be the next Vice-President of the United States." If it makes him feel any better, Barack Obama, bizarrely, made the same mistake when introducing Joe Biden in 2008.

Not the most auspicious start, but Ryan went on to rile up the crowd with a solidly delivered speech about the need to "make difficult decisions," something Romney has studiously avoided in his campaign so far, but won't be able to now that his candidacy is tied, for better or worse, to the controversial Ryan budget plan.

Ryan ended his speech with a shout-out to the GOP ticket's new self-coined nickname. "I’m excited for what lies ahead and I’m thrilled to be a part of America’s Comeback Team." Will this be the start of a comeback for the Romney campaign as well? Stay tuned!

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Athlete Dies After Swimming 2.4 Miles of the Hudson River During Ironman Triathlon

An unidentified 43-year-old man competing in today's Ironman U.S. Championship was hospitalized and later died after "experiencing distress" following the event's swimming portion. The cause of death is not yet known, but this isn't the first time this has happened: Last summer, two Nautica New York City Triathlon competitors also died in the Hudson.

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Brian Regan on Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee

August 11, 2012 By Rusty Blazenhoff

August 11, 2012 By Rusty Blazenhoff

August 11, 2012 By Rusty Blazenhoff

August 11, 2012 By Rusty Blazenhoff

August 11, 2012 By Rusty Blazenhoff

August 11, 2012 By Scott Beale

August 11, 2012 By Rusty Blazenhoff

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PBS Arts: Off Book – The Art of Glitch

“The Art of Glitch” by PBS Arts: Off Book takes a look at the sometimes unintentional visual art and music that arise from technological glitches—from corrupted jpegs to broken video games.

Glitches are the frustrating byproduct of technology gone awry. Wildly scrambled images, frozen blue screens, and garbled sounds signify moments where we want to throw our expensive computer products out the window. Many artists and programmers, however, have embraced these crisis moments and discovered beauty in the glitch. By hacking familiar systems, they intentionally cause glitches, and manipulate them to create art.

via PBS Arts: Off Book

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Did Mitt Romney Finally Win Over Rupert Murdoch?

Conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch has never been super enthusiastic about Mitt Romney — a sentiment he has been very happy to express on Twitter, where he has pined for Rick Santorum and shared his doubts about the quality of Romney's staff. His feelings seemed to warm a bit last month, when he praised Romney for upping his campaign's personal attacks on President Obama. And today, in the wake of the announcement of Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate, Murdoch seemed genuinely pleased with the Republican candidate. "Thank God!" he tweeted. "Now we might have a real election on the great issues of the day. Paul Ryan almost perfect choice." Almost perfect. We're sure you'll get there one day, Mitt. 

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Lawsuit Accuses Janet Napolitano of Reverse Sexism

Janet Napolitano.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. alleges that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano allowed her department to operate as a "female-run frat house" (we guess "sorority" didn't sound menacing enough) where male employees were "routinely humiliated." A New York special agent in charge of immigration and customs enforcement, James Hayes, is seeking $335,000 in damages over claims that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief of staff Suzanne Barr sexually harassed him and his male colleagues.

The suit also accuses Napolitano of passing Hayes over for a promotion to head New York City’s Department of Corrections in favor of Dora Schriro, who, Hayes says, got the job because of her "long-standing" friendship with the secretary, despite being underqualified for the position.

It's worth noting that much of the coverage of this supposed case of reverse sexism is itself pretty sexist: The New York Daily News and Matt Drudge have charmingly referred to Barr and Schriro as Napolitano's "gal pals," while the New York Post could not help itself from mentioning that Napolitano has been repeatedly forced to answer questions about whether or not she is a lesbian. They noted: "The suit doesn’t detail the nature of [Napolitano and Schriro's] relationship."

Meanwhile, Napolitano herself has not responded to the claims. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released a statement reading, "ICE doesn’t comment on unfounded claims and will respond to Mr. Hayes’ allegations as appropriate through the judicial system."

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Jon Huntsman Sr. Claims He’s Not Harry Reid’s Source, But Since You Mention It, He Really Thinks Mitt Romney Should Release His Taxes

Jon Huntsman Sr. listens to secrets.

While the buzz right now is that Jon Huntsman Sr. might be the Republican Bain investor who ratted out Mitt Romney to Harry Reid, the man himself now insists that ... he's not. Huntsman told the Plum Line's Greg Sargent that he has "absolutely no knowledge of Bain or Mitt Romney’s tax returns." But while he's on the subject, Mitt Romney is a deceptive monster and he hates the American people:

We do not think Huntsman wishes Romney well.

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Jon Huntsman Is Speaking at the DNC, According to Report Nobody Believes

Earlier today, Politico reported that the Democratic National Convention will feature a number of aisle-crossing Republicans. But who? This afternoon, Breitbart‘s “very credible sources” came up with an answer: Jon Huntsman. We guess it’s possible — the man is clearly disillusioned with today’s GOP — but it does seem like a huge stretch. First he works for Obama, then he runs against him, then he endorses him, all in the span of about 16 months? What credibility would he even have at that point? For what it’s worth, Huntsman’s daughters say it’s not happening, and we are inclined to agree.

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Fareed Zakaria Sure Looks Like He Stole From The New Yorker [Updated]

Zakaria.

Gentlemen, start your engines and then drive to a bookstore and pick up some books authored by Fareed Zakaria and check them for plagiarism! Newsbusters has noticed that a passage from a recent Zakaria article on gun control in Time is very, very similar to a passage from an April New Yorker article by Jill Lepore. Here's Lepore's:

As you can see, Zakaria does not lift Lepore's passage word for word. He tweaks the language ever so slightly — enough, in his mind, perhaps, that crediting Lepore in any way was no longer required. It's shady. If you're going to rewrite an entire passage, with only the most imperceptible and inconsequential alterations, you might as well just quote the passage and source it to the person who wrote it. Otherwise, you are taking credit for work that isn't yours. This is generally frowned upon.

The Atlantic Wire has been "told" that Zakaria "will be releasing an apology shortly," while a Time statement says it "takes any accusation of plagiarism by any of our journalists very seriously, and we will carefully examine the facts before saying anything else on the matter." We've asked Lepore for her reaction and have yet to hear back.

The best-case explanation is that Zakaria's transgression was the result of sloppiness, as opposed to intentional deceptiveness. But this isn't even the first time that Zakaria has been accused of taking ownership of another writer's work. We hope those are the only examples and that there's no larger pattern of plagiarism here. But, if there is, the Internet will find it, eventually, once it has a reason to look. Ask Jonah Lehrer.

Update: Zakaria's apology, via Atlantic Wire:

Update II: Zakaria has been suspended. The full statement from Time, via Dylan Byers:

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Mitt Romney’s Foreign-Policy Etiquette Still Needs Some Work

While not exactly an Olympic-sized gaffe, Mitt Romney managed to lay the groundwork for some potential issues with another major United States ally. During his speech at a Thursday fund-raiser, the Republican candidate remarked, "We are not Japan. We are not going to be a nation that suffers in decline and distress for a decade or a century."

As Foreign Policy's The Cable points out, the line could be interpreted as "needlessly insulting the face-conscious Japanese," particularly since Japan analysts (Japanalysts?) say the assertion that the country has been in decline for a century "isn't a fair characterization," considering the immense economic strides the country made following World War II. A former spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry explained that, while the Japanese are somewhat used to being cited as a cautionary tale, Romney would be better off if he didn't seem to think "decade" and "century" were interchangeable.

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Chris Christie Responds to Being Called an ‘Islamist’ for Having Relationships With Muslims

During a sixteen-minute speech he gave at a dinner held at the New Jersey governor's mansion two weeks ago, Chris Christie spoke about being "called an Islamist" by fellow Republicans who have taken issue with his nomination of a Muslim attorney as a superior court judge, as well as his willingness to work with a local imam to reach out to his state's Muslim community. As he correctly pointed out to the crowd, those critics — who have a particularly robust presence on conservative websites — are "bigots," and their opinions are troubling:

"I'll tell you that there is a gaze of intolerance that is going around our country that is disturbing to me," Christie said. "This is something that as a political leader you can think you understand as an objective observer, but you don't really understand until you become part of the story."

Obviously, this display of reason isn't likely to endear him to the nuttier elements of his party — and it's actually pretty nice to see that he doesn't seem to care. Chris Christie: a sometimes reasonable guy.

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Here Is David Berkowitz’s Unnecessary Contribution to the Gun-Control Debate

Berkowitz.

Today's most disturbing gun-control debate contributor: David Berkowitz, a.k.a. Son of Sam, the serial killer who shot six people to death (and wounded seven) in New York in the late seventies. In a jail cell interview with the New York Daily News, Berkowitz — who is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences — said, "Society has to take the glory out of guns." He seemed less focused on the crimes that pushed the topic of firearms back into the news recently — the shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin — and more interested in the "gangbanging teens and wanna-bes" he's encountered during his time in prison. "My hope is just that young people would understand just how terrible this violence is. When they use a gun against someone else, they ruin their lives too," he said. "It’s not worth it." Neither, perhaps, is speaking to David Berkowitz about guns, but there you have it.

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Rise of the Mega-Listings: $50 Million-Plus Apartments Abound in NYC

Psst, want to buy a mega-mansion? Here in New York, we've got plenty, and more all the time. There are at least eleven properties now on the market for $50 million or more, according to Streeteasy.com's Sofia Song — the highest number ever. From April to June of this year, there were twelve priced at $50 million or more. In the same period in 2011, there were four; way back in the second quarter of 2008, before the market began its downward spiral, there were only three.

Even $50 million seems almost passé now amid recent arrivals near the nine-digit mark. There’s the $100 million penthouse at 150 West 56th Street  that debuted last weekend and the $95 million five-bedroom at the Ritz-Carlton that turned up on Thursday. Another $95 million combo listing, half of which once housed A-Rod, is now available at 15 Central Park West. (Check out the floor plan: The master bedroom has a sitting room and a dressing room and another area, presumably for sleeping, that could fit two taxis, easy.)

Within the last two weeks, eight listings asking at least $20 million went on sale in the middle of the summer, when the market traditionally languishes in torpor, like a proper New Yorker escaping the city’s smothering heat.

So, what’s going on? Jonathan Miller of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel calls this "the 'cluster effect.'" "We have a track record of eight-digit sales, which is bringing out the listings that haven't been available until now and are trying to participate in the high-end circus," he said.

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Obama Administration Approached Arnold Schwarzenegger About Cabinet Position

According to the Wall Street Journal, this took place around January 2011, as Schwarzenegger was leaving office as governor. It's not clear why the plan was terminated, but that May, Schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a child with his nanny. Bullet: dodged.

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Eric Holder Calls Sikh Temple Shooting a Hate Crime at Memorial

Holder speaking at today's memorial.

At a large memorial service for the victims of the Sikh temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Attorney General Eric Holder described the attack, which was carried out by white supremacist Wade Michael Page, as "an act of terrorism, an act of hatred, a hate crime." Calling the incident "the very worst of human kind," he went on to say that, "In the recent past, too many Sikhs have been targeted, victimized simply because of how they looked and what they believed." All that aside, Holder, who said he was appearing on behalf of President Obama, stopped short of making a substantive statement on gun control, instead focusing on the more nebulous — and difficult, if not impossible — project of "changing the hearts" of those motivated to commit senseless crimes. 

Governor Scott Walker also addressed the crowd — gathered in a high school gym where the coffins of the six people killed were displayed alongside their photos — praising the Sikh community for "[showing] us the best way to respond is with love" — and Jesse Jackson led a closing prayer. Jackson also made a Thursday visit to the temple, after which he said, "It's easy to be polite to say 'We're so sorry this happened' and give the same speech at the next killing a month from now." He added that it was time to move from "politeness to a change in policy."

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