Valerie Hansen has a new book just out: THE YEAR 1000: When Explorers Connected the World — and Globalization Began.  New York:  Scribner, 2020. A NYT review of Hansen's landmark volume is copied below, but let's first look at some interesting language notes concerning the background of the word for "slave" (Chapter 4 is on […]

Two years on, and still my favourite Chinese mistranslation…. pic.twitter.com/0EHeQjybeB — Antiokhos in the East (@AntiokhosE) May 6, 2020   How did it happen? There's no problem with "xiǎoxīn 小心"; it just means "be careful [of]; pay heed to". The problem comes with the second half of the warning, where luòshí 落石 ("falling rocks") is […]

This headline puzzled me: I interpreted it as Doctors are showing a buried CDC report to top White House officials And I wondered, what was that report? and why did the CDC bury it? And who are the doctors digging it up? What the headline actually meant, of course, was Documents show that top White […]

Something extraordinary happened on May 4, 2020.  Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger delivered an extremely impressive speech in virtually flawless Mandarin.  Here it is: Here's the transcript of Pottinger's speech (pdf), the formal English title of which is "Reflections on China's May Fourth Movement: an American Perspective — Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger to […]

You guys must give a lot of parties because you all have really good ideas!  I can hardly wait to see what Spec and Skeeter choose to do for the celebration party! Tra and Skeeter and I hung out on Friday with some of you.  It was so great to see everyone. I was expecting Spec would show up […]

I was coming home last night from a visit to Earth and as my spaceship slowed down to enter the atmosphere of Planet Sarillion I was horrified to see there was no planet!!!! There was just a big cloud and The Darkness.  I couldn’t believe it, where was my Mom and Dad, my friends, the […]

Hi all my friends, I was really looking forward to Olice Hush’s party today in the Palace.  I got all changed into my new fire dress and then the Darkness hit without any warning.  I couldn’t get out of my room, on my computer screen it said server failed and all sorts of other things happened to […]

Guy 1: Cleaning gutters with a leaf blower. Guy 2: Holding him up with JUMPER CABLES.

What's a kludge? Is it like a monkey wrench or something?

Introducing the world's least versatile camera. The slogan says it all: "we can't all be heroes."

It must be that time of year again!

The tail light cover used to be a plastic Folgers can. I know because the label is still on it.

From the submitter:

The Antennae snapped off of our radio at work. We fixed it at first by putting a metal scraper on top, but when we needed to use it, the music was gone. I put the fork in the hole. Now it works almost as good as before!

What is this music crap you kids are listening to?

Submitter Denene's mechanic took this photo.

Only in Arkansas... well, no. Maybe a few other places also. Mississippi anyone?

Whoever thought of this must've been really tipsy.

One of my favorite bands from the 90's is Powerman 5000. My favorite song of theirs is Drop The Bombshell, a really fast paced song that I thought would be a perfit fit to the Terminator movies

A lot of people didn't like this movie because of the religious overtones throughout the movie. I'm not one who's particularly religious but I thought this was a brillian movie and a welcome change to the post apocalyptic genre

Today I watched two movies The Last Exorcism and Case 39. Here are my thoughts and review of both movies.

So you’ve decided to make a bug out bag, you’ve picked all the items you know will be the most effective. But what about the bug out bag itself? Selecting the right pack is just as important as what you put inside it, after all this will probably be on your back for a good length of time. The last thing you want is a bag that either isn’t strong enough to hold the weight of your equipment, and doesn’t fit you properly causing pain and discomfort. Here are some things to look for when selecting the proper bug out bag for your emergency supplies. The first thing you want to do before you buy anything is know what your budget is. Check online and store flyers to see what brands they have for sale and compare prices. Other sources to investigate are websites such as Ebay, Craigslist, or Kijiji, to see if there’s some second hand bags that are in good shape. Also check with places like Amazon.com and U.S Calvary (U.S Calvary deals with military and police clothing and equipment) And of course look for local military surplus stores. Now you want to decide what type of bug out bag you want to use. All bags can be broken down into three categories.

I’m a huge fan of horror movies and movies about things that go bump in the night. The Wolfman is one of my favourites and one of the best werewolf movies to come out in a long time. For this video I was originally going to use the song Du Riechst So Gut (translated from German means you smell so good) by the band Rammstein.

If you’re trying to promote your website or blog one way to go about this is to use Twitter. In a very short time you can reach thousands of people quickly resulting in traffic back to your site. But just firing out tweets at random and hoping for the best isn’t enough if you’re serious about promoting your site. You need to know when to tweet, and that means knowing what the best times to tweet are.

It seems like every other day there’s some natural disaster being broadcast on the news. From tornados, to floods, and the recent earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan. These are constant reminders that even though humanity can achieve a lot Mother Nature is still the boss. This also means that everyone should have a good grasp of disaster survival tips to prepare for when the SHTF. For most disaster preparedness means making a bug out bag and having some plan on how to prepare their home for a disasteror emergency.

I recently received an email from Infolinks a contextual affiliate advertiser. It seems they want to expand their service and get more blogs and websites using their service. Now I have no problem with this and have found their services pretty good overall. However how they want to expand is by getting you to spam comments for them.

This is a Star Wars tribute video to the original movies using the song map of the problematique by Muse.

When it comes to bug out bags everyone who knows anything on the subject talks about the gear you need to have. And while having the right knife or backpack is essential, one element that’s often overlooked is what clothes to pack in a bug out bag. Here is a list of things to consider for your emergency survival clothing.

Let say you found a video you want to share with some friends. Or perhaps you want to post it to your website. The problem is that it’s long and the stuff you want people to see is in the last half of it.

Back in February the powers that be at Google released an update to Google Panda. What is Google Panda? It’s an algorithm designed to combat spam sites, link farms, scraped, content, and all the other junk floating around on the internet these days. Think of it as a second flush to get rid of those nasty bits of poop left in the toilet bowl if you will. It uses a very sensitive set of guidelines to separate and filter websites and blogs and helps quality sites get the rankings and traffic they deserve. This is nothing new as all the big search engines have some type of filter system, what is new is how sensitive or depending on the site how vicious it can be....... Right now it appears that Google Panda is only in the U.S, plans are being made to launch it globally but when it happens nobody seems to know, my guess is probably very soon. This also has an effect on sites based outside the United States that have a large percentage of its traffic from that country. If your not sure if your website has been “panda slapped” there’s a post I found on Wordtracker that goes into detail about how to find out through Google Analytics which you can check out.

It doesn’t matter what website you’re looking at, every site online has something that naturally catches your attention. It could be a picture, a graphic, a video, there will be something that naturally stands out and gets your attention. If you’re looking at turning your website into a source of revenue you want your ads or products displayed in such a way that they grab your visitor’s attention. There are two ways you can go about doing this, the wrong way which is to force your ads on people which will drive them away from your site. Or using heat maps to attract your visitors to them without forcing them..........

I like making videos on Youtube, its fun. And while I’m far from being a pro I learn new tricks with each new video. One of the things I’ve learned from trial and error is what songs work and what doesn’t. Sure it doesn’t really matter if your videos are only for a hobby or just to show something off. However if your looking to get your name out there, get your videos popular, and not have people leave after 10 seconds then understanding what songs work and don’t is important.........

Living Room Lifesavers brings lifesaving skills to the home during social isolation  Great Lakes Advocate

1. Players to air concerns to Premier League executives over restart  The Guardian
2. Every Premier League Goal 2002/03: Baros and Murphy make their mark  Liverpool FC
3. Project Restart Q&A: What next for Premier League after government announcement?  Sky Sports
4. Premier League must be very careful or the empire will come crashing down  The Guardian
5. Premier League considering new broadcast access - including inside changing rooms  Daily Star
6. View Full coverage on Google News

We rank the 20 best Australian TV characters of all time  Herald Sun

1. Researchers build the world's fastest 'soft' robot, THREE TIMES faster than the last record holder  Daily Mail
2. Soft robots can now run like cheetahs and swim like marlins  Engadget
3. Inspired by cheetahs, researchers build fastest soft robots yet  Tech Xplore
4. Meet the world's fastest soft Robot!  NEWS9 live
5. Fastest Soft Robots To-Date Developed by Researchers  Unite.AI
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Readers respond to the COVIDSafe app's launch  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Australian Gov releases source code for CovidSafe app as promised  techAU
3. Government's lack of honesty on virus app is a problem  The New Daily
4. What You Should Know About COVIDSafe's Issues And Bluetooth-Related Risks  Gizmodo Australia
5. Covidsafe app: how to download Australia’s coronavirus contact tracing app, how it works, what it does and problems  The Guardian
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Grimes, Elon Musk romance on the rocks before birth of their son, sources say  PerthNow
2. Elon Musk bought properties around him because people use to climb walls to break in  NEWS.com.au
3. Grimes and Elon Musk Have a Difference of X Æ A-12 Pronunciation Opinion  Vanity Fair
4. How to pronounce X Æ A-12? Elon Musk explains  Hindustan Times
5. Elon Musk and Grimes reveal how to pronounce their baby’s name ‘X Æ A-12’  7NEWS.com.au
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, China forces out foreign reporters  ABC News
2. China relations: ‘National security cowboys’ put nation’s interests at unnecessary risk  The Australian
3. Chinese buyers abandon Australian property, replaced by US investors: FIRB report  Domain News
4. Four Things to Know About China's Foreign-Investor Programs  Caixin Global
5. China to scrap foreign investment quotas in financial markets to lure more capital  The Star Online
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Dodging the flu shot doesn't make you an anti-vaxxer, says union  The Age
2. Shop owners in virus-free towns plead to reopen  The Age
3. UFC 249 preview - Ferguson v Gaethje, Cejudo v Cruz and…  BT Sport
4. Why the best team won't win in a year that will be mental as anything  Sydney Morning Herald
5. Wellbeing hit: modelling reveals huge cost of school closures  Sydney Morning Herald
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Coronavirus: China’s great wall of silence  The Australian
2. The Murdoch media’s China coronavirus conspiracy has one aim: get Trump re-elected  The Guardian
3. Coronavirus: What did China do about early outbreak?  BBC News
4. Part two: China’s great wall of silence: ‘You are the sinner’  The Australian
5. China, U.S. stand by trade deal as coronavirus crisis pushes relations to lowest level in decades  The Washington Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Unpacking the Wuhan connection to Victoria's biggest COVID-19 cluster  The AgeView Full coverage on Google News

1. The best secret spots to visit in Australia after coronavirus restrictions ease  Daily Mail
2. Coronavirus Australia: World reacts to Scott Morrison’s bold plan  NEWS.com.au
3. How travel will resume around Australia as coronavirus restrictions ease in each state and territory  ABC News
4. Scott Morrison opens the door for international students to return to Australia  SBS News
5. Coronavirus lessons Australia must learn as lockdown restrictions are lifted  NEWS.com.au
6. View Full coverage on Google News

'Think outside the box': How public transport will change as lockdowns are eased  Yahoo News Australia

1. Laid bare: How the Dean Laidley story reveals cultural change  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Dean Laidley police photo leak: Fourth officer suspended  NEWS.com.au
3. 'Gross stupidity': Fresh investigation into Dean Laidley photo leak  Yahoo Sport Australia
4. Vic watchdog to probe leaked Laidley pics  AFL
5. IBAC to investigate leaked Laidley photos  Yass Tribune
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Coronavirus Australia latest: at a glance  The Guardian
2. Coronavirus update: 'You have made Australia the envy of the world' | ABC News  ABC News (Australia)
3. Coronavirus Australia live coverage: The number that matters most  NEWS.com.au
4. 'All very good news': 16 new cases as COVIDSafe app downloads reach 5.4 million  SBS News
5. Coronavirus restrictions could be derailed if a widespread outbreak happens, Paul Kelly says  ABC News
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Belgian waffles may be about to become more environmentally friendly.