Recently in the culture section:

I skipped past this the last time I saw it, but I actually paid attention this time and couldn't help but giggle. A man in Britain built a mock-Tudor castle and hid it behind hay bales, but now the gov has found out and wants to tear it down because they broke the law by not going through the proper channels.

Problems began last April when Mr Fidler, thinking he had beaten the planning system, applied for a certificate of lawfulness which is given if a property is erected but nobody objects to it after four years.

But Reigate and Banstead Council says the four-year period after which the building would be allowed to stay is void – because nobody had been given a chance to see it.

Who would want to tear this down, though:

You should see the inside. It really is a beautiful home. I hope they can find some way of getting it checked out structurally and everything so it can be allowed to stand.

For the first time ever, a Beagle has won the best in show at Westminster:

Barking and baying up a storm, Uno lived up to his name Tuesday night by becoming the first beagle to win best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club.

The nation's new top dog was clearly the fan favorite and drew a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden when he was picked.

... The only dog consistently listed among America's most popular breeds for nearly 100 years, a beagle had never won in the 100 times Westminster picked a winner.

Look at that cute face!

My family has a pure-bred Beagle that we rescued from the pound, it's actually a rather interesting story:

My brother found her wondering around outside in the street with no tags, so my family took her in. Thinking she might be a lost dog, my family took her to the authorities, where they found out she was heavily infected with heart worms.

The vet also commented that she was pure-bred, no more than 2 years old, and had already had a littler of puppies.

This immediately led us to believe she had been part of a puppy mill operation and had escaped; you see, these puppy mill operations set up shops along the highway near my house, which would explain her wondering around nearby.

However, because we were not her registered owners, and because she was infected with heart worms, they would not release her to us, and told us she would be put down!

We promised to treat the heartworms, we showed them we were already dog owners (we also have a chocolate pure-bred lab) with a large house and yard, and still they refused because of her medical condition.

Obviously, we didn't want her put down, so eventually we found an organisation called Houston Beagle Rescue that was able to get the pound to release her to them, and Beagle Rescue then turned around and released her to us as her new owners.

Since then, she's become a wonderful (and cute!) member of the family. The only minus: as a side effect of the heartworm infection she had (she is now completely heartworm free), she now has a sinus topography that makes her the loudest snorer in the whole house. You can hear her in every room of my family's two story house!

Man reduces waste to nothing, cancels trash pick-up, and city sues. from Planetizen

The lawsuit, filed by San Carlos Deputy City Attorney Linda Noeske in San Mateo Superior Court on Jan. 22, seeks a permanent injunction forcing House to maintain garbage service. City officials are also seeking to recoup from House the costs of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims House broke the city’s municipal code requiring all residential, commercial and industrial properties to contract with Allied Waste for pickup at least once a week — a standard requirement in most cities, San Carlos Deputy City Manager Brian Moura said.

[...]

House recycles paper, metal and plastics, regularly hauling them in his pickup truck to a recycling center and collecting the refund, he said. What little backyard waste he generates is ground into powder by his wood chipper and food scraps are either pulverized by his garbage disposal or eaten by his dog. House’s larger items are either sold or given to people on Craigslist, he said.

“I don’t understand a city ordinance that requires you to fill up a can. That’s downright foolishness,” he said.

His neighbors raised a stink about him raising a stink by burning garbage, but whenever the fire department has come, he was burning firewood. House also says he thinks that the city is getting back at him for complaining about the next door apartment building that causes problems.

I can understand the ordinance for sanitation issues, but why pay for a service you don't use? And the city trying to get the legal costs back out of the man who lives alone with his dog: that's just wrong.

BBC's TIMEWATCH: Bloody Omaha recreated the D-Day scene from Saving Private Ryan using only 3 people, 4 days, and a shoe string budget. The results are amazing:

The whole program is supposed to be airing on the Smithsonian Channel here in the US.

Take note, Hollywood.

The European Court of Human Rights has overruled a French court and stated that adoption by single, gay individuals is legal in the European Union:

In a 10-7 vote, the Strasbourg-based court ruled Tuesday that a plaintiff identified only as Emmanuelle B. had been the victim of illegal discrimination when successive French authorities denied her request to adopt a child in 1998. The court faulted the French courts for citing "the lack of a paternal referent in the household", and said the woman's homosexuality had been "if not explicit, at least implicit" in France's rejection of her adoption request. The Court judged France had violated the European Convention on Human Rights — to which France and the other 46 Council of Europe members are signatories — by failing to assess adoption by a lesbian the same way it would a single heterosexual.

This decision means that it is no longer legal in the EU to discriminate between gay and straight individuals in regards to adoption applications; however, the decision does not apply to couples, so gay couples can still be denied adoption.

Baby steps.

Why do people think cars will save the world? In the past month, there has been news that the Smart car will be coming out locally, that India is planning to release a small $2.5k car, and that a presidential candidate has promised to revive the domestic automotive industry. Yeah, just what we need: more cars. It's good that the smart car and the new car in India will be more fuel efficient than a lot of the vehicles on the road, but really, how much of an effect will good fuel efficiency have when, in India's case, there are that many more cars on the road? I know that where I live, if people were willing to give up their SUVs and trucks--which at first glance while riding my bike (and avoiding getting hit) seem to make up at least 2/5ths of the vehicles on the road--then there would be a definitive impact on air quality. We're talking about a jump to 40mpg city up from -5--I kid, of course. The number of people who'd drive the Smart car over SUVs won't be that large, though, since they'd only be the people who can actually afford having two vehicles (though I'd be curious to know how many people who own SUVs have another vehicle) unless they trade in their current vehicles towards a Smart Car, and on top of that the cost is prohibitive ($28k was it?).

On the more socially and globally responsible note, Planetizen makes a good point about people like me commenting on developments in "developing" countries:

Of course there is deep hypocrisy in developed countries criticizing the driving habits of the developing world. Developed countries’ environmental critiques and campaigns need to start at home. Politicians, labor unions and environmental activists have a responsibility not to brandish global warming as a stick to bash workers and consumers in India or China. Instead the argument for progressive global warming policy must begin with the acknowledgment of the destructive policies of our home governments and corporations; this includes taking responsibility for developed countries majority contribution to the climate crisis.

*points finger at Texas*

Or you could go the route of AFS Trinity and get 150mpg (and potentially unlimited). According to the Salon article I heard about the company from, it does it with technology that's available to us now (and was available years ago):

Instead of waiting for a battery that can deliver both energy and power cheaply, it uses current lithium-ion batteries for energy, and then adds something called an ultracapacitor for rapid discharge during acceleration.

Ultracaps have 10 to 100 times the power density of typical batteries, but only one-tenth the energy density, so this is a marriage made in heaven, or at least Silicon Valley. The ultracap is the electrical equivalent of the shaken champagne bottle -- although even that analogy is flawed since ultracaps do not just discharge quickly, they also charge quickly. That's another benefit that ultracaps bring to hybrids.

Regular hybrids get much of their efficiency gains from their ability to capture the energy normally lost during braking and convert it to electricity. Current hybrid batteries take up only about half of this electricity, but fast-acting ultracaps can take up much more.

The Japanese have a traditional wrapping cloth called a 風呂敷 (Furoshiki) that has been used to carry items and clothes for centuries:

Although possibly dating back as far as the Nara period, the name, meaning "bath spread", derives from the Edo period practice of using them to bundle clothes while at the sentō (public baths). Before becoming associated with public baths, furoshiki was known as hiradzutsumi (平包), or flat folded bundle. Eventually, the furoshiki's usage extended to serve as a means for merchants to transport their wares or to protect and decorate a gift.

Usage of furoshiki dropped off after WWII, but has seen renewed interest in place of shopping bags for a greener alternative to carrying goods around. There's many different methods of folding furoshiki to carry different types of objects, and Dr. Vino brings us a video of using a furoshiki to carry wine bottles, which makes for a great presentation:

To see a bunch of different folding techniques for other types of objects, Furoshiki.com has a neat chart of folding techniques.

I stumbled upon Janet D. Stemwedel's (of ScienceBlogs) foray into building gingerbread houses using sustainable building design practices. The gingerbread house was for the Bake for a Change contest.

Unfortunately, the Flickr group only has one contestant's entries. I'm really excited to see other contestants' entries, though.

This is wonderfully funny, but the explanation is complex. Ready? Peter Sellers, orating the lyrics to a Hard Day's Night by the Beatles, in the style of Laurence Olivier's "Now is the winter of our discontent" monologue from Shakespeare's Richard III on 1964's TV program entitled Music of Lennon and McCartney. Got it? No? Oh, just watch:

Holy crap that makes for a lot of tags on this post.

Via Kottke.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will be returning in January, sans writers if the strike isn't over by then, says Comedy Central:

'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' and 'The Colbert Report' will resume production on January 7 with both shows returning to air that night without their respective writing staffs. The January 7 return follows a scheduled two-week, end-of-year hiatus that was previously built into the shows' production calendars. We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert:

We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.

Well, it certainly won't be the same, but dear goodness at least we won't have to entertain thoughts of kidnapping Jon Stewart in order to get our fill of wry, witty campaign commentary.

Many of you out there are getting ready to fly for the holidays (or perhaps have already done so) so this list of "five ways to get an edge over other air travelers" might prove helpful.

I've used #3 myself:

3) Playing contract lawyer can be fun.

Though the rules that govern your ticket aren’t pre-printed on your boarding pass, you’re still bound by them. So bring a copy! Since I usually travel with a laptop, I keep a downloaded copy of the airline’s contract of carriage on the hard drive. The contract includes rules such as compensation for being bumped and the infamous “Rule 240″ that lives on in some contracts, governing the transferability of your itinerary to another airline in case of delay. (Knowing the real reason for delays is useful, too.) I also keep screenshots (or PDFs) of terms & conditions pages related to upgrades, frequent flyer mile redemption, etc., in case anyone gives me a hard time. Know your rights, and exert them. I’ve had to break out that legal mumbo jumbo with airline representatives (and their supervisors) on a few occasions, and with paperwork at the ready, I’ve always won.

A few tips I've found in my many years of air travel:

1. Be ready for the security gate: This means a few things. Wear shoes that are easy to take off and put back on. Try to avoid wearing a belt if possible. Skip the jewelry - you can do without it on one flight and it's annoying should it set off the detector. Move your change to a pocket in your carry on bags. Make sure that if you're travelling with a laptop or games console in your carry-ons (you should NEVER check these in, for fear of damage) that they're easily accessible - you'll have to take them out and put them in the x-ray machine separately. Have a photo ID easily accessible with your boarding pass.
2. Check your liquids: If you're taking or bringing back liquids like wine (or in my case, Japanese soy sauce from a grocery store near home) make sure you have a bag that you can check-in to put them in. Check all your carry-ons for liquids or gels, this includes hand creams, toothpaste, everything. If it's over 2.5 ounces, put them in the check-in bag. If they're less than 2.5 ounces, put them all into one small plastic zip up bag. Oh, and if you're putting liquids into your check-in bags, be sure to put them in a zip-up bag and surround them with soft padding (like clothes); opening your checked-in bags only to find a wine soaked mess could ruin any holiday.
3. Be nice to the clerks: You won't get anywhere if you're a jerk. Be nice to the clerks and security personnel. I always say "Hello," "Have a nice day," ask them how their day's been (and be attentive at the response and add to it so they know you listened to them) and sprinkle copious amounts of "Yes, Sir" and "Yes, Ma'am" into your responses (though that's the Texan in me, but it works.) You'll be amazed how much more headway you'll make with requests here and there if they see you as a nice person. Few people are nice to them that day, so they'll open up to you.
4. Dress to impress: I always fly dressed up as if I'm going somewhere important. I'm not talking black-tie here, I'm talking a nice dinner with friends dressed up. If you look like you're important and have somewhere to be, people are more likely to be nice. This is specially important if you're likely to be racially profiled like I am. I also like meeting people at the airport, specially the international terminals, so looking nice is a good way to get them to open up and talk.
5. Bring a copy of your ticket receipts: Many of us do e-tickets nowadays. Make sure to bring a copy of your confirmation e-mails and receipts. If you're environmentally conscious and don't want to kill trees for an e-ticket (like me), make sure you have copies of the documents on your laptop or iPhone (or other portable device.) I've had to pull out the receipt for a ticket dispute and it saved my spot on the flight.
6. Try not to check-in bags: Take a look at what you're packing. Do you really need it? Chances are you could pack a lot less. You generally only need one dress set of clothes and a couple of jeans and a 2-3 shirts/tops to carry you over the holidays. If you can find a way to slim down to just a carry-on suitcase and a backpack, do it. You'll thank yourself by avoiding the check-in lines and skipping the conveyor belt after your flight. I intentionally limit myself to carry-ons only unless I really need to cart around liquids (which have to be checked in), and that's the only excuse I give myself.
7. Keep your passport current: Even if you have no plans to travel outside the country, it's always a good idea to keep your passport current. You never know when a last minute opportunity to go on a cruise or trip comes up. It'd be a shame to miss it because you had to wait over a month to get your passport.
8. Know your Frequent Flyer Number: If you don't have one, get one anyways, even if you rarely fly. Frequent Flyer numbers help cut through a good bit of red tape if you have to call the airline and correct issues (I once had a flight cancelled on me, and as the plane emptied and everyone headed for the massive lines at the ticket counter to wait to change their tickets, I merely called the airline, gave them my frequent flyer number, asked for the next flight available and was done rebooking by the time people had finished lining up in the back of the line, allowing me to calmly walk past the crowd and sit down to relax with a book.) You'd also be surprised how your miles add up (though most airlines now require you to fly at least once every 18 months to keep your balance from expiring.)
9. Get your free meals: Speaking of cancelled flights, if your flight gets cancelled or rescheduled and you're stuck at the airport, don't be afraid to ask the agents at the counter for meal vouchers, or even hotel stay compensation. I've gotten a few free meals this way when I've had to reschedule my flight. These vouchers are usually valid at any food provider in the airport.
10. Keep your boarding pass: Once you get home, file away your boarding passes from the flight. This is the paranoid in me, but you can always use a record of where you've been, and flight boarding passes will aid you in that endeavour.

Chez Pim has some beautiful unfiltered photos taken with disposable cameras by local residents of Lesotho:

We sent a whole bunch of disposable cameras to Lesotho a few weeks ago, and asked the children, teachers, and farmers participating in the program to take photos of their daily lives. We wanted them to help us document their lives and their stories, to bridge the distance, physical or otherwise, between us. When we got the cameras back and developed the films, we were completely swept away by the power of those images. Unlike photographs filtered by the professional eye, these came from the perspective of the people there. They are showing us a bit of their world, from their own point of view.

The cameras were sent as part of awareness raising in conjunction with the Menu For Hope program:

Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising event in support of the UN World Food Programme. Five years ago, the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia inspired me to find a way to help, and the very first Menu for Hope was born. In 2006, Menu for Hope raised US$60,925.12 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.

Each year, food bloggers from all over the world join forces to host the Menu for Hope online raffle, offering an array of delectable culinary prizes. For every US$10, the donor receive a virtual raffle ticket toward a prize of their choice.

Reuters has released their slideshow of the 2007 "Pictures of the Year." It's always amazing to see how much can happen in one year.

WARNING: The link resizes your window. I really, really hate it when websites resize my window. It's incredibly bad interface design. Leave my window how I want it, damn it. You're not the only tab open in my window, so hands off!

The UK is banning Katanas after a series of murders, injuries and other crimes involving the Samurai swords. The penalties for posession or sale of Katanas (and presumably also Wakizashis and Tantos) will involve a minimum sentence of 6 months in jail and £5,000.

Authentic collectors item Katanas are exempt from the legislation.

The title sequence for the movie The Kingdom has a surprisingly good recap of the history of Saudi-US relations:

I agree with this YouTube commenter:

Yeah, this is a nice, quick Hollywood recap of some of the history...Can you imagine the impact of production quality like this on educational films? Kids would start loving history class.

Indeed.

Via Kottke.

AOL News has come up with a really funny commercial that shows us YouTube celebrities as they would appear in the real world:

Nice job, AOL.

AVClub has a list of 23 songs that should never be covered again, including perennials "Born to be Wild," "I Melt With You," "One," and "Imagine."

What really caught my ears, however, is the really awesome cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by Devo that I like even more than The Rolling Stones' original version. It has this crazy monotone yet energetic feel to it that lends a completely new twist to the song:

One of the local blogs that discusses transit and planning issues for my city recently published a post about one thing they might like to see on our sea wall, since we have so many of them, downtown where the museum park would be: the Sea Organ in Zadar, Croatia

I think it would be absolutely beautiful to go out at dusk or when the tide comes in at night and sit and eat a medianoche and listen. Though usually the waves in Miami aren't that strong, I imagine engineers would be able to figure out a way to make it work.

If not that, then maybe they built a track into a stadium or something and have some racing events downtown

(hint, it's 6min30sec of double-decker bus racing)

SPOILER ALERT! For those that haven't seen Lost in Translation, or for those that prefer mysterious endings, this video is a spoiler. Otherwise, keep on reading.

In the final scene of the movie, Bob Harris whispers something to Charlotte as they embrace in a crowded Tokyo street. The whisper is meant to be so soft that your mind wonders and imagines what was said.

Due to the magic of digital audio manipulation, a YouTube user has revealed the final whisper's content:

Via: Kottke.

The 2007 Merriam-Webster "Word of the Year" is (drum roll please):

w00t.

That's right folks, a l337 speak word has made it into the Word of the Year list. For those that are technology or l337 deficient, I'll let CBS explain:

"W00t," a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness.

I never thought "w00t" could sound so sterile.

Guilty admission: I've been known to exclaim "w00t!" out loud in real life when happy. Yes, I know I'm a dork, thank you very much.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007 [Merriam-Webster]

Some really neat scans of a book written in 1867 regarding Japanese customs, with illustrations. It was written by a Royal Marine serving in Japan.

My favourite passage is the one dealing with rampant spying as a social check mechanism:

Via Boing Boing.

Instructables brings us an instructional video on a lightning-fast way to tie a tie:

I wish more guys knew how to tie a tie. I seem to always be the only one in my group that knows how to tie one, and end up having to either teach a whole group how to tie them, or get frustrated and just tie the ties myself. This video might save me some time in the latter case.

I just realised how weird it is to type "tie a tie."

Via: Lifehacker.

The New York Times has an op-ed article by Stephanie Coontz regarding the sorry state of marriage law today, in respect to gay unions:

As Nancy Polikoff, an American University law professor, argues, the marriage license no longer draws reasonable dividing lines regarding which adult obligations and rights merit state protection. A woman married to a man for just nine months gets Social Security survivor’s benefits when he dies. But a woman living for 19 years with a man to whom she isn’t married is left without government support, even if her presence helped him hold down a full-time job and pay Social Security taxes. A newly married wife or husband can take leave from work to care for a spouse, or sue for a partner’s wrongful death. But unmarried couples typically cannot, no matter how long they have pooled their resources and how faithfully they have kept their commitments.

From the land of the rising sun come Pokémon Christmas lights. Want.

Forbes posts a slideshow and profiles of the world's frugal billionaires, including Warren Buffett (shown in the picture) and Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA:

Ikea's pennywise founder is famous for being cheap. He flies coach, drives a 1993 Volvo and often dines at lower-tier restaurants. He also reportedly furnishes his home with Ikea's affordable merchandise. Kamprad was recently quoted as saying that the only luxuries he splurges on are the occasional upscale cravat and Swedish fish roe.

The Webby Awards runs down a list of the 12 most influential online videos, including perennials OK Go, All Your Base, and Star Wars Kid.

Phillip Torrone, the editor of MAKE magazine, took some neat pictures of Tokyo's 築地市場 [Tsukiji Fishmarket], the largest fish market in the world:

Another stop on the MAKE tour was the Tsukiji fish market, it's one of the largest in the world and it's pretty crazy. You need to arrive before 4am to get a really good experience. There are hundreds of old-style bicycle with roller type brakes, I'm not sure why but they were all the same - they carried out boxes of fish to other trucks and beyond the market. As you move around the market it gets a little dangerous dodging extremely fast fork lifts, the skill the drivers have is pretty incredible.

BoingBoing brings us pictures of an ancient Greek potty training device:

I was in Greece recently, and in the Agora in Athens there's a museum. There's an artifact in there that I just had to take a picture of! It's a potting training seat made from clay (partially reconstructed, from the looks of it). Who knew?

Click to enlarge: