Daily Oddities, July 23rd, 2009

We’ve got lots to talk about today, so lets get right down to the real serious stuff.
Globe: Things still really suck for EU little cousins Bulgaria and Romania, where infighting, corruption and graft are making it difficult to get anything done. Vote-buying, which we’ve mentioned before, is easy when your political power is less valuable [...]

Life’s a Beach!

Even though it’s anything-but-beach weather in the Sunset, I’ve decided we’re taking a slight detour through some beach related news today, so hang onto your Lotto visers boys and girls, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
It’s been a big week for Coney Island. As the beachfront neighborhood wears down it’s third last summer in [...]

Your Intifada was Made in China: Commodity Fetishism Killing Palestine

A version of this is up at Mother Jones, but this one is too hard for the homepage.

Oh the keffiyeh. How long have I waited, in vain, for you to die? Before it was the emblem of the hipster generation, the keffiyeh (spelled many ways but worn only one) was the preferred and only headdress for PLO leader [...]

Daily Oddities: Monday World Edition

There’s a lot to talk about in the World today, so lets jump right into it. You know about Tehran and you know about Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech, so we’re skipping that and getting straight down into the stuff you didn’t hear.

GLOBE:
More than a billion people go hungry, says the World  Food Program. That’s about as [...]

The Absolute Cheapest Fro-Yo there IS

Every bit better than Pinkberry/Red Mango/KiwiBerri/Papamingo/TuttiMelon (notice how YogurtLand wasn’t in that list? That’s because YogurtLand is still better), Quickly’s new take on Korean Fro-Yo is so cheap, you’ll do a double take. And again. Whaaa?

What makes Quickly (globally ubiquitous purveyor of Boba) ahead of the game here is 80/20 pricing to quality. While they [...]

Daily Oddities, June 9th/10th

We’re starting this round of Daily Oddities with something everybody wants–a job! Today’s odd job listings include counting bees in New York City and catelouging controlled substances for the NYPD. Awesome much?
Now that you’re gainfully employed, lets take a quick gander around the globe.
GLOBE: Things are getting ridiculous in Russia, where the racing collapse of [...]

NYC Keeping it Real: Marriage Equality All About the Benjamins

Subhead: Civil Rights Fail

Well, it’s official folks: the California Supreme Court upheld voters’ ban on same  sex marriage in the Golden State, though it ruled to recognize those marriages performed before the ban took effect in November. A dumb but expected move, leading all my gay friends to simultaneously update their facebook status to [...]

There’s Something About Top Ramen

Tweet, Google or Facebook Top Ramen and a portrait of the recession unfolds

FINALLY—Scientific PROOF that McDonald’s makes kids fat

I’m not really sure whether to be proud or mortified right now. It took a joint team of top-flight economists from my two alma-maters, UC Berkeley and Columbia University and a comprehensive study taken from 1,000 California high schools and examining a diverse swath of the state’s 3 million 9th graders to determine that McDonalds [...]

Why Online matters, aka Kalashnikov toting coroners in the City of Angels

Are you ready?

Coroners with guns. Yes, you heard correctly, the people we pay to pick up dead bodies, packing heat. The Times reports that investigators from the LA county coroner’s office are seeking the right to carry weapons into the ghettos and gangwar where they do 99% of their thing, because, no fucking duh, it’s dangerous there!