Chuck Klosterman on Breaking Bad. Ex-Playboy model joins Russian Parliament. MOSCOW, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A model who once graced the cover of the Russian version of Playboy has won a parliamentary seat with Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party. Maria Kozhevnikova, 27, who won a seat to represent Tomsk in the Russian Parliament, is a former actress and model who posed for Playboy in 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. "For me this is an absolutely big event in my life," Kozhevnikova said of winning her seat.
Kozhevnikova defended Putin amid protests over this month's disputed parliamentary elections and echoed his statements that the protests were funded by Western interests. "I've seen Putin close up several times and I want to say that this man has very strong vibes," she said. "I've watched how people have changed when they got close to Putin, not because they are afraid, but because they feel a calm and strong confidence. "A 'strong Russia' cannot be controlled. The Most Enjoyably Pointless Twitter Accounts. At this point, it's hard to say which twitter feeds are parodies since most of the more famous Twitter accounts have already become parodies of themselves (Donald Trump has to realize he's a punchline, right?).
But these admittedly fake twitter accounts are spewing some very hilarious nonsense -- some parody, others just pointlessness. They're a welcome antidote to the self-aggrandizement of most feeds. We'll take the tweets of a feral pigeon over the tweets of Chris Brown any day. (above: KimKierkgaardashian) @starvedafrican: Tweets that will make you throw away your computer in shame. Fab Jesus: Jesus Christ, Fashion Week Star Justin Buber: Rounding out the execrable celebrity plus revered philosopher mash-ups: Updated 6/13/12: @kevinneedsaride: Tweets of a man who could really use a ride to the airport. @ZooeySiri: The many annoying Siri queries of Zooey Deschanel.
@OldManSearch: The many disturbing Google searches of one confused old man. @OneTweetTony: This guy nails it! Anonymous donors pay off Kmart layaway accounts. OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children. He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter. "She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis.
"He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents. Before she left the store Tuesday evening, the Indianapolis woman in her mid-40s had paid the layaway orders for as many as 50 people. "It was like an angel fell out of the sky and appeared in our store," she said. Interesting Times: What’s So Good About “Mad Men”? “Mad Men” has a curious status in our household.
We came to it a couple of seasons late, as we do most things, after an even more belated binge on “The Wire” (five seasons squashed into five weeks, between last year’s political conventions and Obama’s big night). On the heels of that riveting panorama of corruption, cruelty, and struggle across classes and races in Baltimore, “Mad Men” seemed a little shallow by comparison: John O’Hara right after Dickens. It’s gorgeous to look at—I don’t remember the early sixties being so stylish, but for me those years were mostly about applesauce and toilet training—with every cigarette, cocktail, pillbox hat, necktie, and telephone not just a triumph of attention to period detail but a fetishization of the objects themselves. It’s not hard to understand why men might be drawn vicariously to the upside-down moral order of “Mad Men,” but what about the show’s legions of female viewers?
(Photograph: Carin Baer) Is The Internet Awake? - edlundart.com. The United States, Canada, Australia and Russia span several time zones. The most populous zones were used to represent these countries. Broadband use by country sourced from Wikipedia. If you don't see anything happening above, you may have better luck with a more HTML5-aware browser like recent versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. The circles above are sized according to the number of broadband subscribers in each country, as measured December 2009 - June 2011. China has around 117 million, the United States more than 83 million, and Romania at the bottom of this list has nearly 3 million subscribers. A single subscription may serve more than a single user.
The opposite is true for the right/night side. Top 50 Twitter Acronyms, Abbreviations and Initialisms. This past January, I wrote up the “Top 15 Twitter acronyms” for @pistachio‘s Touchbase blog. As readers rightly pointed out, many were abbreviations or initialisms — hence the title for this post. I followed that up with a “Top 10 NSFW Twitter Abbreviations.” This list combines the two and includes some key additions, like HT, RE and FML.
If you have others you think I missed, add ‘em in the comments. @Reply to [username] AFAIKAs Far as I Know b/cBecause BFNBye For now BRBest Regards BTWBy the Way DMDirect Message. d username sends one. EMEmail FBFacebook FF Usually #FF for Follow Friday. FFSFor F–k’s Sake FMLF–k My Life FTFFace To Face. FTLFor The Loss FTWFor The Win FWDForward FWIWFor What It’s Worth HTHat tip HTHHope That Helps IMHOIn My Humble Opinion IMOIn My Opinion JVJoint Venture J/KJust Kidding LILinkedIn LMAOLaughing My Ass Off LMKLet Me Know LOLLaughing Out Loud MTModified Tweet NSFWNot Safe For Work OHOverheard OMFGOh My F–king God OMGOh My God PRTPartial Retweet (at the start of a tweet). RRRe-Run. Google 'Do A Barrel Roll' Is One Of The Coolest Thing Google Has Ever Done.
Reformed skinhead endures agony to remove tattoos. Julie Widner was terrified — afraid her husband would do something reckless, even disfigure himself. "We had come so far," she says. "We had left the movement, had created a good family life. We had so much to live for. I just thought there has to be someone out there who will help us. " After getting married in 2006, the couple, former pillars of the white power movement (she as a member of the National Alliance, he a founder of the Vinlanders gang of skinheads) had worked hard to put their racist past behind them. They had settled down and had a baby; her younger children had embraced him as a father.
EDITOR'S NOTE — A reformed skinhead, Bryon Widner was desperate to rid himself of the racist tattoos that covered his face — so desperate that he turned to former enemies for help, and was willing to endure months of pain. Wherever he turned Widner was shunned — on job sites, in stores and restaurants. In desperation, Julie did something that once would have been unimaginable. Dr. How A 21-Year-Old Design Student's Sleeping-Bag Coat Could Break The Cycle Of Homelessness. As a design student in Detroit, Veronika Scott was keenly aware of the increasing numbers of homeless people suffering deeply during the relentless winters.
At the tender age of 21, she created The Detroit Empowerment Plan not to solve homelessness, but to provide much-needed warmth to the city's 20,000 street dwellers. From Scott's blog: This is my story about the humanitarian project called The Empowerment Plan. Meet the re-designed coat: Element S. We recently had the opportunity to interview Scott about her design-driven, sustainable, self-empowerment model for a segment of the population that needs it most. Jody Turner: What inspired you and how did you feel empowered to create such an amazing product and give back project? Veronika Scott: What inspired the empowerment plan was a school project. The College for Creative Studies. How has it changed and evolved from the original spark or inspiration? In the beginning the empowerment plan was just about the coat. How Major Tech Companies Got Their Names [Infographic] | Bostinnovation: Boston Innovation, Start-ups and Tech News.
Gabrielle Giffords shooting. Entertainment Crap. The Gabrielle Giffords Shooting. Hodgepodge.