As requested in his will, Jeremy Bentham’s body was preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet, termed his “Auto-icon”. Originally kept by his disciple Dr. Southwood Smith, it was acquired by University College London in 1850. The Auto-icon is kept on public display at the end of the South Cloisters in the main building of the College. For the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the college, the Auto-icon was brought to the meeting of the College Council, where he was listed as “present but not voting”. Tradition holds that if the council’s vote on any motion is tied, the auto-icon always breaks the tie by voting in favour of the motion.The Auto-icon has always had a wax head, as Bentham’s head was badly damaged in the preservation process. The real head was displayed in the same case for many years, but became the target of repeated student pranks including being stolen on more than one occasion. It is now locked away securely. (via wikipedia)
As requested in his will, Jeremy Bentham’s body was preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet, termed his “Auto-icon”. Originally kept by his disciple Dr. Southwood Smith, it was acquired by University College London in 1850. The Auto-icon is kept on public display at the end of the South Cloisters in the main building of the College. For the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the college, the Auto-icon was brought to the meeting of the College Council, where he was listed as “present but not voting”. Tradition holds that if the council’s vote on any motion is tied, the auto-icon always breaks the tie by voting in favour of the motion.

The Auto-icon has always had a wax head, as Bentham’s head was badly damaged in the preservation process. The real head was displayed in the same case for many years, but became the target of repeated student pranks including being stolen on more than one occasion. It is now locked away securely.
(via wikipedia)

America's Regional Hot Dog Styles (with pictures!) »

There’s some crazy-ass hot dogs out there.

Hot dog variations across the world »

This needs to be researched more thoroughly with photographs, charts and topographical data.

For me, there’s nothing like a hot dog with boiled sausage, sauerkraut and mustard. How do you prefer yours?

via www.reuters.com
via www.reuters.com
Long-time contributor to the Hellboy mythos Christopher Golden brings together a crew of luminaries including Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep) and China Miéville (King Rat), cross-genre sensation Barbara Hambly (The Windrose Chronicles), celebrated mystery writer Ken Bruen (The Dramatist), best-selling science fiction and fantasy novelist Tad Williams (Otherland), and a bevy of other skilled storytellers eager to spin a tale or two about the world’s greatest paranormal detective, as some of the biggest names in horror, mystery, and fantasy come together to pay homage to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy! This sounds like quite an awesome short story anthology. I wish they’d give the full table of contents but whatever, with folks like Lansdale, Miéville, Williams and Hellboy onboard, this is an automatic buy for me.
Long-time contributor to the Hellboy mythos Christopher Golden brings together a crew of luminaries including Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep) and China Miéville (King Rat), cross-genre sensation Barbara Hambly (The Windrose Chronicles), celebrated mystery writer Ken Bruen (The Dramatist), best-selling science fiction and fantasy novelist Tad Williams (Otherland), and a bevy of other skilled storytellers eager to spin a tale or two about the world’s greatest paranormal detective, as some of the biggest names in horror, mystery, and fantasy come together to pay homage to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy!
This sounds like quite an awesome short story anthology. I wish they’d give the full table of contents but whatever, with folks like Lansdale, Miéville, Williams and Hellboy onboard, this is an automatic buy for me.

“It’s an unfortunate feature of a certain strand of contemporary atheism that it doesn’t treat religious believers as fellow humans with whom we disagree, but as tards who function primarily as objects of ridicule. And ridicule has its place. But sometimes it’s gratuitous. Sure, there are stupid/crazy religious people; there are also stupid/crazy atheists, and black people, and white people, and gays, and straights, and Republicans, and Democrats, and Sixers fans, and Celtics fans, and so on. Focusing on the stupidest among those with whom you disagree is a sign of weakness, not of strength. It seems to me that the default stance of a proud secular humanist should be to respect other people as human beings, even if we definitively and unambiguously think they are wrong.”

—Sean Carroll via K. Tempest Bradford via David Moles

I couldn’t agree more. It’s because of this attitude, usually accompanied by an unhealthy dose of zealoutry, that I feel uncomfortable describing myself as an atheist, even though I’m not religious or spiritual. I guess I’m a non-practicing atheist.
Some of my favourite times as a reader are the moments inbetween books, when I’m trying to decide what to read next from all the great books out there. I guess it’s my grown-up version of being a kid in a candy store.

The Atlantic fiction issue 2008 »

That’s right, bitches, your beer belongs to us now!