I Have No Pants And I Must Scream

Thanksgiving is a tradition that dates back to before the formation of the United States of America but most people know less about its origins than they think. Did you know that, contrary to popular belief, the first Thanksgiving on our shores was celebrated with Indians but not with Pilgrims and took place in what is now West Texas not in Plymouth Mass? Or that, not only was President Abraham Lincoln responsible for freeing the slaves, he also revived a tradition of thanksgiving that had been dormant for 45 years. And I’ll bet you think Columbus discovered America? So after you’ve stuffed your face with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, you can use the facts & facts in our infographic to really talk turkey with the family.

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Some frequent questions about the H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine answered as clearly and as visually as I could manage. A few people asked for this so I thought I would oblige.

It was hell on earth to research. There’s a jungle of science around H1N1. Very hard to hack through. You can check all my sources here.

You can check all my sources here.

via http://www.soup.io/everyone

I don’t know about you, but I like a President who can throw a funny, geeky sci-fi reference once in a while. Clearly, el Comandante en Jefe has watched his Terminators and scary Big Dogs a few times.

Obama said those words while presenting his “Educate to Innovate” campaign, which aims to promote the development of new inventions by students all around the country.

In 2009, iPhone multitasking is a bit like apps were in the early jailbreak days. That is to say painfully, clearly possible, but simply not allowed. These jailbreak apps show how it could—and should—be done.

What you’re seeing here is really the combination of two apps, standby jailbreak justifier and essential iPhone app Backgrounder, which lets your designate any app to run in the background, and new task switcher interface called Multifl0w. (There are other, more basic task switchers already, the most widespread being Kirikae) The new combo feels like magic: It’s a little bit Android, a lotta bit Pre, and more importantly, an obvious improvement, at least on the speedier 3GS.

Granted, anyone who’s used background knows that for the sake of your battery, you have to be careful how many apps you open, and how many you leave running. Honestly though? Every other smartphone manufacturer trusts their users to mind their own damn processes, which seems to work out pretty well. So, uh, when will we get this by default? OS 4.0? 5.0? Shut up, blogger?

You can give it a try now in jailbreak app manager Rock, and Cydia’s on its way. Sadly, it’s only free on a trial basis, after which it’ll cost your five dollars. Backgrounder and Kirikae, though? They’re still free, in all sense of the word. [MultiFl0w--Thanks, William!]

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Federal Judge Says Corps of Engineers Liable For Katrina Damage

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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From The Karma Files: Texas Legislation To Ban Gay Marriage May Endanger ALL Marriages

Oops:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that “marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.” But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

“This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively “eliminates marriage in Texas,” including common-law marriages.

She calls it a “massive mistake” and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

Obviously, Abbott and supporters are saying that the intention is clear and that Radnofsky is just being “silly.” Personally, I think this is great opportunity to challenge the law on behalf of the gay partnerships being discriminated against. If the state of Texas does not want recognize any kind of legal standing between same sex couples to the point that they declare they will not recognize the legal standing of anything like marriage, let them experience the wrath of straight couples who will find insurance companies pouncing on this wording to deny benefits.

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The Return of Jai Alai

When I lived in Tijuana, Mexico, one of the things that caught my eye (besides all the dead dogs and cholos) was a huge, almost palatial building in the middle of downtown. It looked like it was transplanted from Morocco and was definitely out of place in the brown and dusty ugliness that is Tijuana. On the front of the building in big red letters it read: “Jai Alai.”

Unfamiliar with the meaning of those words, I asked the locals to give me the scoop on what the building was used for. They introduced me to the interesting and tradition-rich game of jai alai (pronounced Hi-Lie). Often called the “fastest sport in the world,” jai alai consists of men with weird basket hands whipping rock-hard balls against a granite wall, trying to make their opponent miss the return while avoiding being hit with the speeding bullet themselves. It’s a game that requires a combination of skill, speed, and acrobatics. If you’re not familiar with the sport, here’s your primer on the intense and manly world of jai alai.

History of Jai Alai

Jai alai originated as a handball game in the Basque area of Spain’s Pyrenees Mountains over four centuries ago. Games were played on Sundays and holidays in small villages at the local church, hence the name jai alai which means “merry festival” in Basque. Players would use the open-air church courtyard and the walls of the church as the fronton or arena. The tie between the church and the sport even earned the game a patron saint-Saint Ignatius Loyola, who took part in the sport when he wasn’t busy founding the Jesuit order.

The players started to put leather on their hands to protect them from the hard ball that they used in the games and moved to indoor frontons near the end of the 18^th century. Around the late 1800’s a Basque farmer got the idea that if they put a cesta, or basket, on their hands, they could hurl the ball a lot faster and a lot harder.

Vintage postcard Tijuana’s Jai Alai palace.

The game spread to and gained popularity in Spanish speaking countries like Mexico and Cuba, and even the Phillipines. Americans got their first taste of jai alai at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. After its initial introduction in the U.S., frontons started going up all over the country. Spectators flocked to jai alai arenas to watch the “ballet with bullets,” and it quic…