Writer, editor, photographer, foodie, rooftop groupie.
1000 SHARDS
Random shards of awesome from all over.
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Improv Everywhere strikes again with Manhattan "Tourist Lane"
It's no secret that New York is a tourist magnet, and as in many of the world's other tourist honeypots, Noo Yawk locals are often guilty of growing impatient with visitors to their frantic metropolis. (I remember attracting a salvo of artful cursing from a cyclist on the Brooklyn Bridge when I drifted into the bike lane to take photos of downtown Manhattan – this was the moment I decided that it wasn't the day I would propose to my wife.)
Playing on New Yorkers' famously brusque attitude towards tourists, a stealth comedy troupe recently painted a white dividing line down a stretch of Fifth Avenue sidewalk and policed the new lanes for a few hours, directing tourists to walk on one side of the line and locals to use the other side (the express lane).Of course, it was the work of Improv Everywhere, the public pranksters who've made quite a name for themselves over the past few years by filming their carefully co-ordinated real life street theatre. Life is certainly a more interesting dish with these these guys stirring the pot.[via Gawker]Improv Everywhere's past mischiefAn illustrated guide to calming an angry cat
Many people regard cats as, at best, enigmatic. My theory is that people who say they don't like cats are actually reacting against those traits in cats that they dislike in themselves, for the feline is an unabashedly self-interested animal while we humans often channel an extraordinary amount of energy into demonstrating that our narcissism is firmly bridled.
Here, Guardian illustrator Stephen Appleby reveals that cats are far less mysterious than commonly thought. Who knew it was a simple case of the tail wagging the cat?
[via guardian.co.uk]
Witty quip on Estonia's likely entry into the EU this year
Heard this on ABC News Radio this morning and it made me me smile.
Westpac's entertaining London-based economist James Shugg likened Estonia's imminent entry into the European Union to "arriving at the party when everyone has passed out and the police have arrived."
Orwell would have loved this
Perfect.
Funny quote: never surrender!
Great quote from this Guardian story about New Moore Island in the Sunderbans -- the focus of a decades-long maritime boundary demarcation dispute between India and Bangladesh -- which has now been completely submerged by rising sea levels.
Of the territorial dispute:
... the disappearance of the island does nothing to resolve it, said an official in India's foreign ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on international disputes.
Classy insults through history
I was just forwarded this by email, and thought it worthy of sharing.These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words. The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison."
He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
Brazilian pundit Batista faints on live TV
If this wasn't real, it would surely be considered a tragic piece of over-acting.
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Paul Ryan's Posterous
Writer, editor, photographer, foodie, rooftop groupie.
