Obama endorses the Blockberry (link roundup)

Obama endorses the Blockberry, a device available in China. Via.

And a few more links:

1. "During the Cold War, civil servants used to rehearse the end of the world." They were made as realistic as possible to show the Soviets how prepared Britain was for nuclear war. But ministers were discouraged from participating because they yapped so much the rehearsals took forever. Via.

2. Armored pig car.

3. Creepy Santa photo.

4. Harold Ramis interviewed. His answer as to why he didn't work on Saturday Night Live:

Lorne [Michaels] offered me a job, but at that point I was the head writer on SCTV. SNL was completely fueled by cocaine; the show was being written literally overnight. I didn’t want to stay up all night writing. And the show had a veneer of New York sophistication—very snide and superior. I thought, It’s just not me. Besides, we were already working on Animal House.

*Previously: Obama and the Statue of Liberty are O-Force.

*Buy Obama toys at eBay.

Death Scene Klytus toy (link roundup)

I previously posted the regular Alex Ross Flash Gordon Klytus figure. Now you can preorder the Klytus Death Scene figure at Entertainment Earth.

And a few more links:

1. "The killing in 1967 of an unarmed demonstrator by a police officer in West Berlin set off a left-wing protest movement and put conservative West Germany on course to evolve into the progressive country it has become today." Guess what - - the shooter was actually an East German spy. Read on.

2. Endless Abbey Road animated gif.

3. Titanic Pizza Co in Scotland told KFC to suck it when KFC tried to claim the phrase "family feast" as a trademark. You really should check out the photo the pizza co used to illustrate the story. Via.

4. There was a recent case called United States v. Vampire Nation, 451 F.3d 189 (3d Cir. 2006). My eyes glazed over before I could figure out what it was about. Via.

*Previously: Gawker nominates Germany's Prince Marcus von Anhalt as the world's richest a$$hole.

*Buy Flash Gordon posters at eBay.

Weird animal costumes (link roundup)

Weird animal costumes spotted at Kid Acne's blog. which I was exploring because there's a set of blind box toys designed by Kid Acne going on sale at Kidrobot next month.

And a few more links:

1. Chinese citizen Shu Chun Teng studied fungus at Cornell in New York in 1923. He spent the next several years traveling through China collecting fungus specimens. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, he arranged for the specimens to be smuggled to Cornell, where they've been kept ever since. Cornell is now giving them back. Via.

2. If you'd like someone to boo during the baseball season, you won't do much better than Gary Sheffield.

3. Japanese navy used a super powerful "bullhorn" to scare off Somali pirates.

4. During the 70's, America learned that the Soviets were using an underwater cable to send communications. The cable was in an area that was full of listening devices and that was frequently patrolled by Soviet ships. Nevertheless, the US sent a submarine into the area, which deposited a diver. The diver planted a device that wrapped around the cable and recorded the transmissions. It was even designed to fall off if the cable was raised. But the device could not transmit. So every so often, a diver had to return to retrieve it. The mission went great. And then the Soviets found about it... Via.

*Previously: Submarine, airship, and a giant tentacled monster.

*Buy submarine toys at eBay.