Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Allison Stokke

So most of you know this cute 18 year old pole vaulter's photos hit the Internet and she has become a meme of sorts. Her parents are outraged (according to one report), although... I still don't really get why. No one much cared about pole vaulting before this, and all the attention can only be good for her career. If pole vaulters even have careers. Who the hell knows, it's pole vaulting for heaven's sake.

Here is the girl in question for the curious (click for full size):













But is she good? Apparently. In high school, she won a 2004 California state pole vaulting title, broke five national records and earned a scholarship to the University of California.

A quote from the washington post article about Stokke:

Three weeks later, Stokke has decided that control is essentially beyond her grasp. Instead, she said, she has learned a distressing lesson in the unruly momentum of the Internet.

Control WHAT exactly? Your photo flying around the Internet? Since when does that demand control? How exactly does that make the Internet unruly?

I wish her luck. But someone ought to advise her that this kind of publicity is good publicity. She should be thankful that it doesn't involve a stolen home video or some racy photos taken after a night of partying.

Now, get on with the endorsement deals, Stokke.

Monday, May 21, 2007

News Screwups

Here are some of the greatest news screwups of all time. Some of them you need to look closely to see what is going on -- those ones are usually the funniest.

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Not so much a screwup as accidental honesty.

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Well, that solves that pesky space travel problem.

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Hah, they wish.

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Look closely. Ok, you might not believe your eyes. You might think this is a photoshop. Nope. Watch this.

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If you laughed at that, you might be a racist.

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Me too.

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If you laughed at this one, you are definitely a racist.

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That was nice of them.

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I'm oddly curious...

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Experts agree that stromdotcom is either a blogger or not a blogger.

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Pimpin' ain't easy.

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That hurts just thinking about it.

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Fellow Americans, please don't let me down. Get this one please.

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They wish.

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We wish.

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Someone in the newsroom is definitely not from California.

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Math: not their strong suit.

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AAAAAGGGGGG

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The original is on the left, later replaced with the right. It's juvenile, of course, and that's why it's so funny.

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Nothing funny about this one. This was just tragic.

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WOOPS!

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Can anyone confirm this one?

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Yeah, I know it's played out. But still...

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Geography, folks.

Finally, a few videos:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Y_u8eDH8V8&mode=related&search=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5lkwRMa39NE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PHlVmF-CU-M
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EHTXh3R66hE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e77oXjFkIs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=z0sowJXmwCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riaMdfbIecc&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oCG55CL2tI

And the all time classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzqp3Ly5Reg

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Extreme Ironing?

Ever heard of Extreme Ironing? Me either. The website is in German, but according to natives.co.uk, it is "sport which combines the danger and the spirit of an extreme sport with boring housework you have to do. By Extreme Ironing the sportsman gets a great fitness and he is always looking smart."

Huh.

Well, here are some action shots. Click on any of them to view them full size:

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