linksmanship, the lowest form of bloggery

1. HAVE YOU A WRONG WAY BRAIN?
   
   
2. They have van art in Ukraine, even though it's not on vans.
   
   
3. DRUNKEN SCOTSMEN TO BE GIVEN LOLLIPOPS
   
   
4. Someone thinks that a police state crackdown is an appropriate theme for a sexy fashion shoot. Someone is wrong. Note: may be triggering due to violence against women. May also be triggering due to total cluelessness.
   
   
5. hyniof presents The Bar Scene, as acted out by sirive's "Those Guys" characters.

Editor's note: I make posts with links a lot, in the style of memepool. If your viewing style does not show links as underlined or otherwise different you will not see them. I think many people mistakenly set their viewing style that way and miss my links and other people's, thereby making this whole "web" medium kind of pointless. Check it!

How the Tubes Work

The Exploding Aardvark pointed me to this handy guide for the perplexed about the Web Publishing Process on the Internet:



With a little help from the Industrial Art Gallery, I was able to "explode" a portion of this diagram for further detail. Below you can see some of the working parts of that mysterious "internet" lozenge above. This is for power users and hardcore geeks only; others shouldn't worry. You're welcome!

News update: Russians not so healthy

A Sickness of the Soul, from the Economist.

Quotes:

At less than 59, male life expectancy has collapsed in a way otherwise found only in sub-Saharan Africa. It is around five years lower than it was 40 years ago, and 13 years lower than that of Russian women—one of the biggest gaps in the world. Male life expectancy in Irkutsk (not the country's lowest) is just 53.

There is an obvious culprit: booze, especially the Russian taste for strong spirits, sometimes not fit for human consumption and often moonshine. Heart disease and violence, the two biggest factors in the mortality surge, are strongly alcohol-related. Alcohol poisoning itself killed 36,000 Russians last year; in America, it kills a few hundred.

Good bye Diedrich

Diedrich Coffee gives up fight
Local chain sells 47 retail outlets to Starbucks for $13.5 million to focus on wholesale bean business.


The Orange County Register

Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee, conceding defeat in the coffee shop duel with Starbucks, agreed to sell the 47 stores it owns to its Seattle rival for $13.5 million.

The local company will remain in business as a roaster and wholesaler of coffee beans. The sale includes all company-owned Diedrich and Coffee People locations. Franchise stores aren't included in the sale.

All "non-management employees in good standing" will be offered positions with Starbucks, and managers will be provided the opportunity to interview for positions, the company said.

Here's the company's statement:

( blabla )

(no subject)

Our Mission and Vision:

( cut for inline video )

I actually like Panera just fine...

...but whoever wrote this needs to be taken out to the shed and shot:

What is bread leadership?
With the single goal of making great bread broadly available to consumers across America, Panera Bread freshly bakes more bread each day than any bakery-cafe concept in the country.

From http://panera.textdriven.com/about/company/