LisaNova is a YouTube sensation. I just recently found out about her, but I've known her for a long time. I actually went to elementary school with her and then middle school and high school back in NY. Funny stuff. She kills it.

Approximately 4 ladder companies, 1 snorkel company, 1 SQRT company and loads of EMS crews were on hand to put out the blaze and help anyone in need. Above are firefighters opening up the roof of the building.

By 12.10p, most of the blaze was out after the roof was opened up, but additional water was poured in to cool everything off.

By 12.30p, the fire crews were packing up while the last of the water was poured onto the roof.

There was no word as to how much of the foundry was burned or if it would be reopened anytime soon.

Walking home to her Upper East Side apartment, she said, overwhelmed and confused, she stopped at a bar. As she sipped her bloody mary, she quietly listened to two men, neatly dressed in suits. For a second she thought they were going to compare that day’s horrifying attack to the Japanese bombing in 1941 that blew America into World War II:

"This is just like Pearl Harbor," one of the men said.

The other asked, "What is Pearl Harbor?"

That was when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War," the first man replied.

At that moment, Ms. Jacoby said, "I decided to write this book.

Watch an American idiot

Above is a video mentioned in the article. The description from the article:

A popular video on YouTube shows Kellie Pickler, the adorable platinum blonde from "American Idol," appearing on the Fox game show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" during celebrity week. Selected from a third-grade geography curriculum, the $25,000 question asked: "Budapest is the capital of what European country?"

Ms. Pickler threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. "I thought Europe was a country," she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. "Hungry?" she said, eyes widening in disbelief. "That’s a country? I've heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I've never heard of it."

In high school I had Mr. Maguire for European History (*note: Like Chris Rock, I didn't learn jack shit about Africa in school). On the first day of class (I think sophomore year?) he told us we'd have a test in 2 days. What of? Every single country, capital, river, mountain range, lake, sea, ocean in all of Europe. I think 90%, including me, of the class failed and one girl got a -9 (I'm not kidding). One kid got 100% – that kid, my across the street neighbor, later went on to get a 1600 on his PSAT and SAT, 800s on all of his achievement tests (I forget the exact name for them) 5s on every AP test, ace every single class, had nobody look over his college essay and get into Princeton with zero extracurricular activities. Growing up, I got a lot of "Why can't you be more like [my neighbor] Scott?" when I fucked up.

Back to my, uh, point… I was fortunate enough to have parents who could afford to put me in a very good school district and take me abroad. I've actually been to Istanbul, Turkey and Budapest, Hungary (both incredibly beautiful). I've never been to South America, Africa or the Middle East, but I know a good deal of the countries and their capital cities. This country has been waging war in the Middle East and Israel has been a point of foreign policy for quite some time. With that in mind, the article stated that only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map. Chroist. Here's a link to a blank map of the Middle East region with numbers in place for names of countries. See if you can identify Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel. For the answers, highlight the area below in between the asterisks:
*****


1. Saudi Arabia
2. Egypt
3. Israel
4. Lebanon
5. Jordan
6. Iraq
7. Syria
8. Turkey
9. Iran
10. Kuwait
11. Qatar
12. United Arab Emirates
13. Oman
14. Yemen
15. Sudan
*****
Bonus points if you can identify the non-numbered -stan countries on the right.

I wonder how well Dubya would've done on this test before his presidency. I wonder how well he'd do right now.

Photo: Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times 10.21.07
LAT Day 1 Photos

Photo: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times 10.22.07
LAT Day 2 Photos

Photo: Robert Durell/Los Angeles Times 10.23.07

Photo: Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times 10.23.07
LAT Day 3 Photos

Photo: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times 10.24.07
LAT Day 4 Photos

I'm gonna assume every single LAT staff photog is running around covered in soot or sweating it out with the folks in Qualcomm Stadium for at least half the day. Incredible photos.

The shot above accompanies this story from the NY Times of the California wildfires raging from LA to San Diego. It's absolutely incredible. It's gorgeous. It's balanced. It's shocking. It's descriptive. It's the beginning and the end. There are other photos, including these from NY Times, but they're not as good. I'm not saying there aren't other good photos of this horrific disaster, but this is the best I've seen so far. I just resized it and it's now my desktop. That chopper is coming out of the fires of hell. The fire is encroaching on the pristine blue that is SoCal and turning slowly it into charcoal.

I've heard that this is the largest migration of Americans since the Civil War with over 500k people fleeing the area. I've heard that the burned area is somewhere around 600 square miles. To put that into perspective, Philly is some 135 square miles. That's including the area curving up the Delaware River (you can be on 95 for 30 minutes, get off an exit and still be within city limits), all the way through Chestnut Hill, waaaay out west to Lower Merion and Southwest to Chester. Imagine Philly side by side by side by side and then some… Burned.

I don't understand the urge of living in California. The earth shakes. The wildfires. The mudslides. Something's wrong. One of those lucky someones in San Diego right now is Lady's sister. She's getting the hell out of Dodge now and to the East coast as her job has closed its doors for at least the rest of the week.

On another note, I went to the library and took out Shooting Under Fire: The World of the War Photographer by Peter Howe. It's incredible. The images are amazing. The stories behind them, told by the photographers in their own words, are astounding. You can check it out of the Independence Branch after I've renewed it a few times.

Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times | from Gov. Schwarzenegger's helicopter

As you can see in the above screenshot of an article I was reading, Angelina is all over the page. Now, this isn't out of the ordinary for the ads on NYT.com – when there's a big movie or a new ad campaign for a bank or what have you, they buy the same ads: the horizontal banner and the huge box at right. But to stick a huge pic of Angelina on there, I think that's just funny.

And locally represented was David Maialetti, USA, Philadelphia Daily News for this shot of The Philly Roller Girls which nabbed second prize for Sports Features stories. And Michael Wirtz, USA, The Philadelphia Inquirer for this shot of the Dalí exhibit at the PMA which nabbed third prize in Arts and Entertainment singles. Eggcellent.

via Sir Oolius.

I saw two of these on Broad St on the SE corner of Spruce St.

Tulin has a poll to vote on whether or not the Philadelphia Inquirer should have or should not have published the editorial cartoon of the prophet Mohammad. I think that here in the U.S., the press should be providing coverage of a news story. If that news story is on a drawing, we need to see that drawing.

If the drawing was of something blatantly offensive to Koreans, I'd want to see it. I'd make my own assessment of the drawing. But that's me and that hypothetical is not about religion, a highly volatile subject. Either way, I don't see rioting as a solution. I've never understood using religion as a starting point for violence.

Attytood points to an editorial by the Inquirer's Daily News' award-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson:

I’m guessing the Danish cartoonists were trying to do the same thing. The cartoons were criticizing violence and suicide bombing in the name of Islam. The cartoonists have the right to publish. And, in a free society, Muslims have a right to protest and publish their own cartoons in response. This is not a right granted to cartoonists or protesters in some Muslim countries.

It's a good read.

DuctapeFatwa has a good diary up on Booman Tribune about this.

In the MSM via NYT, BBC News, WaPo.

So who wants to discuss El Chino's jailterm and the possible consequences it will have on Argentina's Copa Mundial chances?

"I'm a little disappointed," said [Jim] Cashman, one of eight pro-intelligent design board members who were ousted in the November election. "He's trying to come to the center more, and that bothers me. He used to be more conservative."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. He used to be more conservative.

On a side note, the Democratic party used to have balls.