Don’t miss The Big Picture’s “Year 2008 in Photographs” — parts one, two, and three.

But are we already forgetting this?

We don’t call it a security pact but an agreement to withdraw the troops…

Hmm…

VOTE.

A dramatic reading of a real Town Hall meeting in Wasilla, Alaska, from back in 1996, read by Chris Schneider.

From Dave Pell:

My guy is finally ahead.

…

And all it took was the collapse of the economy, a banking catastrophe, a stock market crash, a failed and expensive war, a dramatic drop in the world’s esteem for America, a sitting president with the lowest approval ratings ever measured (each time he spoke last week, the market plunged immediately), an over-stretched military, a housing crisis, a jump in joblessness, an overall sense that we are going in the wrong direction, an incredible low level of confidence in the notion that anyone in any position of leadership knows how to get us out of this or any mess, all combined with an opposing candidate who has been erratic, off-message, sluggish, poorly organized, unimpressive, unclear, angry, weird, old, badly handled, endlessly irritating to his own party, and who picked a lying, scandal-laden, and remarkably (hilariously if this were fiction) idiotic sidekick (I am a vegetarian animal-loving pacifist and frankly, the moose-killing is by far my favorite of her qualities). Just mix that with stadiums filled with idol-worshipping fans and the most money ever raised by anyone doing anything other than bailing out the world’s banks (in the next three weeks, my guy will be on the tube more than Regis) and you’ve got yourself a recipe for success.

Read the original post here.

David Sedaris on Undecided voters.

Very sweet video interview.

With the economy crumbling because of the collapse of the lending industry, more and more college students and families are taking out larger private loans in order to cover skyrocketing tuition and other college costs. Credit card companies on virtually every college campus are luring young people into debt that could spell financial ruin at a young age. The dangers of debt are more real than ever before.

…

We are seeking submissions of editorial cartoons that speak to the Dangers of Debt. Your cartoon can cover debt problems you’ve experienced, ones you know about from your family and friends, or the ones we are all reading about every day in the news.

Click here for more info.

What exactly did I mean by “pigheaded” in my last post?  Well, Oxford defines the word simply: “stupidly obstinate.”  Here’s an example of stupidly obstinate.

Before:

And after:

There you have it: stupid and obstinate.

A pro-Obama blogger films some McCain/Palin supporters as they ready themselves for a rally.  The fact that people can be so ignorant, misinformed, and blind to the facts—and so pigheaded about it, to boot—is truly frightening.  I’m ecstatic that Obama continues to climb in the polls day by day.  I’m elated that McCain and Palin are ridiculing themselves.  But I hope the majority of the nation is on the same page.  It cannot be overstated how much it worries me that there really will be many people like this voting.

Brought to attention thanks to The Huffington Post.  Speaking of which, check out their post, because they’ve added a second video.

On the etymology of the word “maverick.”

Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”

“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”

“He’s a Republican,” she said. “He’s branded.”

John Schwartz, New York Times

“Last Call, Bohemia”

It isn’t possible to quantify the extent to which society and culture are indebted to Bohemia. In every age in every successful country, it has been important that at least a small part of the cityscape is not dominated by bankers, developers, chain stores, generic restaurants, and railway terminals. This little quarter should instead be the preserve of—in no special order—insomniacs and restaurants and bars that never close; bibliophiles and the little stores and stalls that cater to them; alcoholics and addicts and deviants and the proprietors who understand them; aspirant painters and musicians and the modest studios that can accommodate them; ladies of easy virtue and the men who require them; misfits and poets from foreign shores and exiles from remote and cruel dictatorships. Though it should be no disadvantage to be young in such a quartier, the atmosphere should not by any means discourage the veteran.

Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair.

Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound, an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, musicians, animators and architects.

The first collection is a series of audio-reactive ‘video sound sculptures’.  Inspired by synasthesia, the rare, sensory experience of seeing sound or tasting colours, these videos are physical manifestations of sound, sculpted by volume, pitch or structure of the soundtrack.

Check it out.

Surely in our era of space exploration – where satellites take photos of our blue and clearly globular planet from space, and robots send back info about soil and water from Mars – no one can seriously still believe that the Earth is flat?

Wrong.

Really?

Great high-res pics of the LHC at The Big Picture.