Shocking and totally unexpected... R.I.P. Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) [Filter27]

Hola! I just got my own Facebook vanity URL: http://www.facebook.com/sotek. Sweet! Don't forget to set your own ASAP!

Via Telegraph:

A schoolboy has survived a direct hit by a meteorite after it fell to earth at 30,000mph. Gerrit Blank, 14, was on his way to school when he saw "ball of light" heading straight towards him from the sky. A red hot, pea-sized piece of rock then hit his hand before bouncing off and causing a foot wide crater in the ground. The teenager survived the strike, the chances of which are just 1 in a million - but with a nasty three-inch long scar on his hand.

Damn! Lucky chap!

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) today announced the latest iPhone upgrade: iPhone 3G S. The new hardware offers larger storage options (16 and 32GB), a faster CPU (it now runs at 600MHz), HSDPA support and a better three megapixel camera all for the same price as the current set. The internal system memory has doubled to 256MB as well. The new model can also shoot video at 30 FPS with auto lighting and auto focus, which is something iPhone users have been asking for a long time. Battery life has improved as well: Apple claims the new model can now run 15% to 20% longer per charge. Unfortunately, the battery still isn’t user replaceable.

Engadget has the details and main differences between the old 3G model and the new 3G S. Here's the official Apple specs. Long story short: I won't be upgrading anytime soon. I'm more than happy with my "old" 3G.

Via Reuters:

North Korea found two U.S. journalists it has held since March guilty of illegal entry and sentenced them to 12 years hard labour, its official KCNA news agency said on Monday. The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of U.S. media outlet Current TV, were arrested while working on a story near the border between North Korea and China. Their trial opened on Thursday. [...] Experts say North Korean law dictated a sentence of 10 years or more of hard labour.

Are they kidding or what!? Come on people, this is just plain fucking retarded!

N.Korea sentences US journalists to 12 years [Reuters]
N. Korea Sentences 2 U.S. Journalists to 12 Years of Hard Labor [NYTimes]

I stumbled upon this novel while killing time at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square last week... and am so glad I did! What a cracker of a novel! I just couldn't put this book down.

Set in Los Angeles, the story follows the lives of several characters using four main narratives: Dylan & Maddie - a young Midwestern couple trying to escape the nonsense and cruelty of their families; Old Man Joe - a homeless man living in a public toilet in Venice attempting to do something meaningful and heroic by helping a struggling teenager; Esperanza - a housekeeper from low-class Mexican-American family struggling to find happiness and self-worth; Amberton Parker - happily married (and closeted) movie star with perfect public image, beautiful wife, kids and enormous wealth, willing to do almost anything in his power to get the man he secretly loves.

Loaded with dozens of short stories, minor characters and plenty of historical and political facts concerning the county of Los Angeles, Bright Shiny Morning could be the definitive novel of contemporary LA. Brilliant!

Bright Shiny Morning [Amazon]

The Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people. The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed as savior in an attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery.

I mean, please!

Faith does not protect you. Medicine and airbags... those are things that protect you. God does not protect you. Intelligence protects you. Enlightenment. Put your faith in something with tangible results. How long has it been since someone walked on water? Modern miracles belong to science... computers, vaccines, space stations... in a lab. Who needs God? No! Science is God.

Taken from Dan Brown's blockbuster novel Angels & Demons (chapter 45).

Photo by ADHocism, via Flickr.

Via AP/Yahoo! News:

CAIRO – An 8-year-old Saudi girl has divorced her middle-aged husband after her father forced her to marry him last year in exchange for about $13,000, her lawyer said Thursday. Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for permitting child marriages. The United States, a close ally of the conservative Muslim kingdom, has called child marriage a "clear and unacceptable" violation of human rights.

Unbelievable! Do you still remember this?

I'll be buying some fresh vinyl. You should too.

Reminder: Its a Record Store Day this weekend! [Filter27]

This site is now a part of my daily entertainment. Hilarious fail funny stories that you won't be able to resist once you start reading the site regularly. Genius and highly recommended!

Here's a couple of sample "stories" for ya:

Today, the girl I've had a crush on forever asked me why the pin on my Letterman jacket had two guys doing it. I told her it was for participating in a wrestling tournament. And she responded, "Oh I thought you were finally coming out of the closet!" FML

Today, I received my passport in the mail. They got my birthdate wrong. Then I picked up my birth certificate that I had sent in with the application. Turns out my parents have been celebrating my birthday on the wrong day for 16 years. FML

FMyLife: My life sucks but I don't give a f***

USA, 2008, 101 min., Directed by Kevin Smith. // Trailer

OMFG, this movie is hilarious! I can't help it but Elizabeth Banks is smokin' hot. Oh, and Justin Long's brief performance as a gay porn actor named Brandon is one of the funniest parts of the movie. Check it out!

I can't get over this photo of Gisele Bundchen in the February 2009 issue of Italian Elle magazine. I've been staring at it all day long, no idea why. Stunning shot!

Gisele Bundchen in Elle Magazine, February 2009 [RandomHot]

A new major report by the Center for an Urban Future concludes that New York’s longstanding legacy as a place that both sustained a large middle class and elevated people from poorer backgrounds into the middle class is now in serious jeopardy:

In recent years, however, major changes have greatly diminished the city’s ability to both retain and create a sizable middle class. Even as the inflow of new arrivals to New York has surged to levels not seen since the 1920s, the cost of living has spiraled beyond the reach of many middle class individuals and, particularly, families. Increasingly, only those at the upper end of the middle class, who are affluent enough to afford not only the sharply higher housing prices in every corner of the city but also the steep costs of child care and private schools, can afford to stay—and even among this group, many feel stretched to the limits of their resources.

Not surprisingly, the so-called middle class can no longer afford to live in New York and are relocating in large numbers to the suburbs or cities like Houston and others:

The "New York City premium" on goods and services from housing and groceries to utilities and transportation means that a $60,000 salary earned in Manhattan is the equivalent of making $26,092 in Atlanta; $31,124 in Miami; and $35,405 in Boston. In less-expensive Queens, that same $60,000 salary carries only as much purchasing power as $37,451 in Atlanta, $44,673 in Miami, or $50,819 in Boston.

Yup, the numbers are sobering...

City of Aspiration [PDF, via Center for an Urban Future, via Gothamist]

This year's Great Performers issue of the New York Times Magazine features stunning photographs by Paolo Pellegrin. My favorites are Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Penelope Cruz pictured above.

Great Performers: Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin [NYTimes]

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

—Bertrand Russell

Sad news from Gothamist:

The city lost one its quintessential characters Sunday when the enigmatic Joe Ades died after decades spent selling his $5 vegetable peelers at the Union Square Greenmarket, and other locations around town. Ades, born in Manchester, England, was an unavoidable and entertaining presence at Union Square, and eventually became something of a media darling for his loud, hypnotic patter; his distinctive suits; and his incongruous Park Avenue address.

I used to see Joe peeling carrots and potatoes with his "magic" peeler almost every other day. The Union Square Green Market will not be the same without him. What a man and a character! R.I.P.

Photo credit: killthebird, via Flickr.

"Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?"

—Friedrich Nietzsche