Link roundup

1. Mark Cuban explains the strategic moves he made in his failed effort to buy the Texas Rangers.

2. The New York Times looks at Vice and how it creates a veneer of cool for brands such as Dell. Via.

3. How a Wired magazine article turned into a story about "brain eating vaccine" that topped the Google Trends chart. Via.

Charon (link roundup)

Charon by Joanna Kosinska.

And a few more links:

1. Stephen Totilo lists his 10 favorite gaming moments of 2009, including:

You're Welcome (Demon's Souls): It is an amazing and terrifying moment to be carefully playing through a dungeon of Demon's Souls only to have some other player invade your game and rush you for the kill. Even better and more magical is the experience of getting a surprise re-fill of your health bar as a result of someone, somewhere else on Earth, having found a message you wrote into the game world, having decided that message was helpful and giving it a thumbs up. You indirectly helped someone in a game and now, right when you needed it and had no idea it was coming, you get the "thank you" in the form of a health-bar refill.

2. A detailed theory that Kubrick faked the moon landing for the US. It's all somehow tied in to The Shining. For example:

Room 237: In King's novel, the haunted room is numbered 217. In the movie, it's 237. Why? "Because the average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 237,000 miles." It's actually 238,857 miles, but close enough, right? Weidner proposes that the haunted room represents the filming of the faked moon landing itself. "It's just like pictures in a book, Danny. It isn't real."

3. Not for the squeamish - - how to dissect and mount a mouse for study.

*Previously: Charon has downgraded his ride.

*Buy conspiracy collections at Amazon.

Plush monster (link roundup)

Cuddly plush monster by Marisa Girardi on sale at Etsy.

And a few more links:

1. Move over Truthers, here come the Birthers.

2. Vintage ghostbusters ad.

3. Ultraman soda. Who cares what it tastes like. The design is tremendous.

4. Jessica McBride wrote a 5,400-word profile of Milwaukee Police Chief Edward A. Flynn for Milwaukee Magazine, which included this description: "a compelling physical presence: tall, iron-haired, fit (he once rode a bicycle 233 miles) and energetic." Flynn, who is married, just acknowledged having an affair with McBride. Via.

*Previously: Giant cardboard Ultraman.

*Buy Ghostbusters toys at eBay.

Mouse Monster (link roundup)

ROUS by Alex Sennwald.

And a few more links:

1. Now here's a conspiracy I can get behind - - you don't really believe someone was dumb enough to have Air Force One freak out New York for that terrible photo do you? No, obviously, the government was up to something.

2. Rich Johnston posted a great image from "The Forgotten Oz Trilogy." (Scroll halfway down.)

3. Last Year's Model: Saving the planet through sheer laziness.

4. William Shatner dreams of revenge.

*Previously: ROM Space Knight by Sennwald.

*Buy Wizard of Oz posters at eBay.

Funny 9/11 Truther T-shirt