Today's Links
Reporter George Weller snuck into Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city in August, 1945. He wrote a series of reports that were censored by the US military. A relative of Weller found the articles and they have recently been published in Mainichi News, a Japanese daily. The text of the articles can be found here. - it's a riveting read.
A great collection of photographs of rotting soviet buildings.
Cory Doctorow's new book, "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" has been released in bookstores, and is also available for free download here, under a Creative Commons license. Cory's on the bleeding edge of science fiction writing as well as new media and the copyfight. The book is already receiving rave reviews.
Le Petit Dejeuner, owned by my friends Johann Maes and his wife Tanya, has received another good notice in Toronto Life this month. This time it's for Eat Cheap 2005 - and they basically heap the praise on Johann's cooking:
Le Petit Dejeuner191 King St. E., 416-703-1560
Like Canadian Tire, this narrow boîte has outgrown its name. Sure, it’s still worth queuing for the weekend brunch, but lately chef-owner Johan Maes has also been serving dinner Thursdays through Saturdays—a far better canvas for his talents. Maes apprenticed at two- and three-star Michelin restaurants in France and his native Belgium; in Toronto, he rose to sous-chef at the Windsor Arms. Now in his modest little diner—decorated with sparkly green vinyl banquettes and other ’60s kitsch—those lessons season every dish. Whether it’s the three-course prix fixe for $25 or the more ambitious à la carte that costs barely more, the bistro classics (and Maes’s clever variations thereon) are home runs, every one.
A Wimbledon referee is attempting to crack down on the grunting noises made by female tennis players when they serve.. Seriously those stodgy Brits have to get a clue... first the restrictions on how the players can dress, now this? "One of the loudest of the modern grunters is defending women's champion Maria Sharapova, who, according to the paper, makes a 100-decibel grunt, roughly the same volume as small aircraft landing nearby." Now, I think Maria Sharapova is one of the best things to happen to the sport of tennis in a long time - she's a combination of Chris Everett and Anna Kournikova - she's got mad skillz and is stunningly attractive to boot. Not only that, there's something of a Lara Croft Tomb Raider aspect to the grunting... "In Soviet Russia, Beautiful Fembot Tennis Players Service YOU!"
Today's Ha-Ha goes to the Fort Dodge, Iowa Messenger - a small town newspaper that didn't pick up on the fact that the team names of the local "mud volleyball" league were a little off colour. And they printed it on page one, too:
"Mud bath breaks out at River Days--Dirty work all part of a day of festival fun
The Hatchet Wounds, Moose Knuckles, Mud Puppies, River Rats and Wet Warriors. Such interesting team names could only mean one thing — mud volleyball at the Lehigh River Days..." (continues, unfortunately)
...except that the first two team names are euphemisms for the female pudenda...