Hey! Here are two long overdue and highly deserved shout outs to the family spicy:

Ornithologist-brother-of-Spicy, Clay Graham, was recently featured on It’s Getting Hot in Here. He was speaking his piece about the implications of building a coal plant in southern Ohio and sounding very smart at the same time.  (Clay is the slightly vampire looking guy second in from the left).

Zac, of Lionel the Robot fame and friend of Spicy recently pointed me to the Black Moth Super Rainbow and Octopus Project collabo, The House of Apples and Eyeballs.  It’s not new, but I had never heard of it.  It’s definitely worth a look if you love yourself a bit of dreamy synth-pop.

Diabetik’s urban intervention in DC is just in time for my favorite holiday.  I think I’m going to be Count Chocula this year.  Or the hamburgler.  I can’t decide.

[via Wooster Collective]

A lot of gluttonous food posts are uninspired combinations of worn out equations.  Take [x] food and add bacon, then deep fry it, then stack, etc.  Every once in a while though, a true fatty (in size or in spirit) creates another ingenious edible.  The El Niño is one of them.  Pretty much puts all of the Mexican pizzas of my youth to shame.

[via This is why you're fat]

[image via Fishbowl NY]

I was absolutely devastated in 2007 when I found out that Weekly World News was closing up shop. Though it’s not quite the same, there is a bit of respite to be found in the fact that archives can now be found online.

Also, despite the fact that the periodical is no longer in publication, the WWN website is still maintained.  Here is a recent headline that made me cackle:

Bat Boy For Nobel Peace Prize: [...] “Many speculate that Bat Boy felt slighted by the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice of Obama for the prize as they overlooked the groundbreaking global work that Bat Boy has done to stem the tide of a viral pandemic that is wiping out bat species around the planet.” [...]

In other semi-related, but actually true Halloween news, it has been found “that there has never been a single substantiated incident of a kid being sickened, hurt or killed by doctored candy handed out during trick-or-treating in the history of America.”  Though I am overwhelmingly happy about this, I do wonder if they ignored the angst and psychological trauma caused by repeat raisin and pencil eraser distributors.

“Boarded Up” by James Reynolds.  Some of James’ other artwork was also recently featured on Spicy.

[via Wooster Collective]

This poster is part of a Swiss People’s Party (SVP) campaign to ban the building of minarets in Zurich. It would be one thing if they were arguing by contrasting minarets and traditional architecture, but the the foreboding shadows, burqa, and missile-like minarets clearly imply a connection between Islam and terrorism.  I am still waiting for the day when the two will stop being equated as one and the same.

[via BBC News]

When I found out about Miniatur Wunderland, the world’s largest model railroad, Hamburg, Germany immediately shot to the top of my places to visit list. My love of all things miniature (and all things huge) combined with my compulsion to push buttons makes Miniatur Wunderland a tourist trap paradise.

[via Make]

If only I was in Michigan to explore Grand Rapids for ArtPrize (above).  In its inaugural year, this contest will be granting the world’s largest prize for art.  It’s also reviving Grand Rapids and giving Michiganders something feel good about.  Booooom.

[video via PlainPaul]

I’m pretty sure I’m becoming numb to the advent of Orwellian predictions.  It seems like every time I blow through my RSS feeds I find at least one more scheme, device, or plot to add more little blinking lights to our growing surveillance society.  Today’s example: Internet Eyes.  Perfect for obsessive shut-ins and nosy neighbors everywhere, this “game” rewards users points for real-time surveillance and notification.  Score the most points per month and £1,000 is yours. Rent-a-cops, looks like you should enjoy those donuts while you’re still employed.

The excerpt from Internet Eyes’ FAQ below explains a few more details — my favorite part: they are already expecting users with multiple computer setups.  [Related Spicy post: Patriot Games]

From Internet Eyes’ FAQ:

How am I rewarded money?

Internet Eyes rewards the highest league table viewer £1,000 GBP every month. We are hoping to expand on this as we go rewarding more and more people reporting crimes. Each user is given points based on their report from the owner of the camera.

How does the feedback system work?

Owners of the camera you reported on will rate your alert:
Negative = you alerted maliciously   -1 points
Neutral = you acted in good faith but it wasn’t a crime = 1 point
Positive = You saw a crime being committed and helped the owner of the camera by notifying them.  = 3 points

How many cameras can I see?

Each viewer will see 4 cameras on their web page. Below each camera will be a report button. This is what you click if you see a crime.

How does the camera system/viewing work?

There are 4 cameras. The locations of the cameras are not disclosed. Every 20 minutes a new set of 4 cameras will be shown randomly, so If you have 2 computers setup you’ll probably be looking at 8 different cameras.

What if I see a crime?

Press your report button below the camera. This will alert the camera owner.

How long do I need to watch?

As much or as little as you want 24hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year.

Will this cost me any money?

Internet Eyes allocates 3 alerts per user per month. If you exceed that limit within that month you can purchase more at £1 each using your PayPal details.

How many times can I alert?

You can alert up to 3 times in a month, unless you have purchased more. As soon as you alert you’ll be re-directed to new cameras. We believe these control measures will allow responsible use of our system.

[via Regine]

Phantom City is a mobile application that allows users to view the architectural New York City that never came into existence.  Walk into the range of an unrealized structure and enabled phones will provide curated information detailing the face of an alternate Manhattan.

[via BLDGBLOG]

Apparently Ohio has some of the most backwards liquor laws in the country, but this one leaves me with a sort of chest-beating midwest pride:

“In Ohio, the state segments alcoholic beverage sales into what we citizens commonly think of as liquor and beer and wine. You can buy beer and wine in grocery stores, etc. Liquor can only be purchased from the state’s liquor agents. The state defines this distinction by a simple criteria: the percentage of alcohol by volume.  And that percentage is 20%.

Now, Kahlua wants to be sold in state liquor stores, next to the vodka, the rum, and most other liqueurs. But Ohio would classify Kahlua’s normal formulation as low alcohol, and refuse to carry it, sending it instead to the grocery stores and UDFs.

So Kahlua’s maker, Pernod Ricard, has to manufacture a completely separate product (separate production run, labeling, and distribution) to satisfy Ohio’s caprice. Kahlua is sold at a higher ABV amount in Ohio so that the state won’t treat this rum and coffee liqueur like a wine.”

[via The Pegu Blog]

[via Wooster Collective]

Having gone to school in Michigan only recently, this is, sadly, the only Detroit I have ever known. Irregardless, even in spite of its turbulence, Detroit is still a beautiful (in an often dystopic kind of way), fun place, if you know where to look.  Most importantly though, despite repeated news reports with cries and claims of collapse, corruption, and violence, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an American heartier or more resolutely hopeful than a Michigander.  There are many people, like my friend Paul (I’ve linked to his other site in the past on spicy), who simply will not give up on Detroit.

[via Time]

“Last Supper” by James Reynolds.

Hypothetically, I think my own would be a recreation of my family’s Good Friday feast: tuna salad, egg salad, eggplant parm, a cheese tray, elephant ears, and my grandma’s handmade “smashed” bread. Then again, a meal from Komi might just be the answer. Or Citronelle.  Or Wings Over East Lansing.  It’s clear that I’m not meant for this kind of finite decisiveness. Knock on wood, I’m hoping this won’t ever be a meal that needs planning.

(Addendum: New York Times recently published an archive of inmate’s last words.  Movie worthy highlight, “I am taking it like a man.”)

[via Josh Spear]

+ Egyptian soap operas vie for post-fast time slots during the month of Ramadan
+ For every 1000 CCTV Cameras one crime is solved
+ One in 18 Cairenes reside among the deceased within the City of the Dead [pictured]
+ Canada sends body bags to native communities as part of a swine flu kit
+ Egypt passes its first mental health legislation in 60 years:

“It is common to joke that someone acting in an eccentric fashion could be locked up in Abbasiya [asylum] and forgotten.  Unsurprisingly, most patients I meet there do not find the idea funny”

[image via Priscilla & Hans]