Link roundup

1. "Mexican marines searching a ranch in northern Mexico found the bodies of 72 people who may have been Central and South American migrants kidnapped by the Zetas drug gang."

2. Tips for creating better passwords.

3. The massive traffic jam in China "is a tale of deceit and criminality that speaks volumes about China's breakneck economic development. And behind the traffic chaos stands King Coal."

This is in no way an endorsement of illegal narcotics

Cocaine-loving bear via.

*Buy cocaine advertisements at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Fascinating story by ESPN about Purple Drank, a codeine and gummi bear-laced drink popular in the South. (Former Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell was arrested this week for possession of codeine.)

2. Nordstrom's initially denied and then admitted it "went too far" in photoshopping a model to make her look inhumanly thin. (Of course, the untouched photo makes the model look inhumanly thin.) Via.

3. Glen Greenwald on efforts to prevent reporters from reporting on the Gulf spill, the curious decisions the NY Times makes as to when to use the word torture, and Democrats calling Republicans unpatriotic for questioning strategy in Afghanistan.

*Buy political memorabilia collections at Amazon.

Angel Dust, Death Drug (video roundup)

Philip Michael Thomas hams it up in this warning about angel dust. Via these sites.

And a few more videos:


Video of a cat rubbing against and then climbing a police officer in the middle of writing a ticket.



Six-year-old kid devastates smaller kids playing football.



Transformers 3 teaser courtesy of Robot Chicken.




The Muppets sing Bohemian Rhapsody.

*Previously: Minimalist anti-drug ad.

*Buy Angel Dust at Amazon.

Star Wars Trench Run trailer (link roundup)

Trailer for Star Wars Trench Run for the iPhone.

And a few more links:

1. Not science fiction - - a laser cannon successfully shot down a robot plane. Via.

2. An article from 2000, Nick Tosches describes his search for an opium den. Via.

3.. Aside from Storm Shadow, who looks like some kind of weird s&m messiah, the new G.I. Joe action figures look pretty impressive. Via.

*Previously: Lamb with freaking laser beams for eyes.

*Buy Polish Star Wars posters at eBay.

Epic Mickey desktop wallpaper (link roundup)

Destructoid posted lots of concept art from the new Epic Mickey game. I took the liberty of creating a widescreen desktop wallpaper using Oswald and the creepy zombie/robo Donald. Also, Kotaku posted an interview with Warren Spector about the game.

And a few more links:

1. Longtime Los Angeles Times columnists Steve Lopez describes visiting a doctor to get a medical marijuana prescription. The doctor was a gynecologist. He prescribed the marijuana for Lopez's reported back pain. (He's also at least the third LA Times columnist to write about obtaining medical marijuana.)

2. Vercorin, Switzerland features an optical illusion created by Felice Varini, called "Cercle et suite d'éclats." When you view the town from the right spot, a bunch of circles appear. Via these sites.

3. The U.S. Military has a technology for catching bombplanters called Vader ("Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar").

*Previously: Vintage Oswald the Lucky Rabbit toy.

*Buy Oswald the Lucky Rabbit toys at eBay.

Pink Fluffy Things (link roundup)

Cute pink fluffballs by Elizabeth.

And a few more links:

1. An ARG, apparently. Via.

2. Destructoid received a check from the Dante's Inferno team.

3. Judge expresses concern that blogger Andrew Sullivan received preferential treatment from the feds after they dropped a marijuana charge against him to protect his immigration status.

*Previously: University of Illinois admissions gives preferential treatment to children of the wealthy and connected.

*Buy The Dore Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy at Amazon.

Cartoon Brawl t-shirt (link roundup)

Today's $9 Tee Fury t-shirt by Damian King features classic cartoon characters fighting.

And a few more links:

1. From Bill Simmons latest excellent mailbag:

maybe there should be a Real Men of Genius Hall of Fame. Our first draft class could include, the guy who came up with the idea for women to shave their legs; Danny Biasone (the guy who invented the 24-second shot clock in basketball); the guys who invented aspirin, Halloween, the snooze button, the remote control, pizza and gambling. That's a killer first class. And my friend Wildes thinks we should throw in the first guy who looked at a cow and said "F this, I'm drinking that milk" in a fit of thirsty bestiality. That's a strong first class.

More importantly ... couldn't you want to walk around a Hall of Fame like this for hours? Why doesn't it exist? Why hasn't Budweiser built a Real Men of Genius Hall of Fame in St. Louis? This wouldn't replace the Arch and Albert Pujols as the No. 1 attraction in that city?

2. And from the same mailbag, have you heard of the LeBomb James? Pour 3 packs of Splenda on your hands, drop a shot of Crown Royal into a glass of Red Bull, chug it down, then throw the Splenda up in the air like baby powder.

3. There's apparently a new, increasingly popular formula for making methamphetamine that involves simply shaking the chemicals in a bottle. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Darwin fans), it's just as combustible as the old way, and frequently leads to bottles exploding in people's hands. Via.

*Previously: 2 inmates brawl over Woody Allen.

*Buy NBA bobbleheads at eBay.

Lucha Libre Terror Lizard (link roundup)

Godzilla-type monster with luchador mask by Frank Mysterio, whose custom toys I regularly feature at Toycutter.

And a few more links:

1. "A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine." Via.

2. Andy Helms draws the Princess Bride characters.

3. Raisin box turned into a robot.

4. How to clean stuff tells you how to clean stuff. Via.

*Previously: Download lucha libre-style Star Wars masks.

*Buy Princess Bride toys at eBay.

Many-eyed monster papercraft (link roundup)

Download the many-eyed monster paper toy here.

And a few more links:

1. Law firm's web page features a Star Wars-like information scroll. Also, a lawyer named "gator." Via.

2. Former D.A.R.E. instructor facing felony drug charges. Via.

3. Meet Thylacoleo carnifex, the marsupial "lion."

4. Respectful yo mama jokes by Lucas Klauss. For example, "Yo mama is so healthy her BMI is probably exactly within the ideal range for a woman her age."

*Previously: Four kangaroo attack videos.

*Buy thylacines at eBay.

Alex Pardee paints the Scooby Doo villains and explains why the show stopped him from using drugs

Alex Pardee painted the classic Scooby Doo villains for the Gag Me With a Toon show opening May 5 at Meltdown in Los Angeles:



He also offered explained how Scooby Doo is just like Fight Club:

And after I noticed a few things about Shaggy, I caught on quick and realized what Scooby Doo really was. The only REAL thing in the entire Scooby universe was Shaggy. The dude was just an aging hipster that was a little kooky and schitzophrenic and took mad LSD. Everything else in the entire cartoon, from the talking dog, the "ideal" friends who would never be his friends in reality, the ghosts, the castles, etc, they were all just figments of Shaggy's consistently bad trips. When they would encounter other characters, ever notice how EVERY other character that the gang interacted with looked confused?? Thats cuz some Fight Club shit was going on and Shaggy was just talking in like 3 different voices and characters to these dudes.

Keep reading to see how it kept him off drugs and to see a list of the rest of the artists participating in the show. And there's various prints and t-shirts on sale in his webstore.

*Previously: Lego Mystery Machine.

*Buy Scooby Doo toys at eBay.

Fake names that made it on TV (link roundup)

A roundup of fake names that made it on TV. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Clever art tip - - the frame and mat can easily be the most expensive part of the project, so try to find a well-priced one before you start your project. For example, this frame screams Sith Lord sketch.

2. A vintage speech by Bill Gates as a commando in Doom - - it's promoting Windows 95 as a game platform. (I'm not clear on why he's wearing a trench coat.) By the way, the video is at Rene Walter's Nerdcore. I consider Rene to be my blogging doppelganger because most days I could happily repost everything he finds.

3. Supposedly, Joseph Biden's daughter was caught on film snorting cocaine and she was set up by a friend who is shopping the video. I've never done drugs and I hardly drink, but come on, it's time to legalize the stuff.

4. 1Up is hosting a Brutal Legend minisite.

*Previously: Bono's real name is...

*Buy the Doom board game at eBay.

Darth Vader, after a trip to the dentist (link roundup)

Video of Darth Vader, after some oral surgery (and drugs) at the dentist. Probably funny even if you haven't seen the inspiring video David after the dentist.

And a few more links:

1. Video of Gwyneth Paltrow telling Oprah she doesn't watch what she eat.

2. How to protect your privacy on Facebook. Via.

3. Disturbingly large army of tiny snowmen.

4. A judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by three women whose photos appeared in the book "Hot Chicks with Douchebags," concluding the images were permissibly "used for humorous social commentary." Possibly one of the best sentences in an opinion ever:

how can a person reasonably believe that in 1981 archaeologist Renee Emile Bellaqua uncovered in a cave in Gali Israel a highly controversial Third Century religious scroll suggesting that the "douchey/hotty" coupling was a troublesome facet in early social religious structures?

Link. Via.

*Previously: Snowman preservation suit.

*Buy "Hot Chicks with Douchebags" at Amazon.

Wizard of Oz reggae style

Wizard of Oz reggae concert poster by Joshua Agerstrand.

*Previously: Flying monkey by Agerstrand.

*Buy Wizard of Oz toys at eBay.

Gallery of pulp covers

"The Four False Weapons"


"H is for Heroin"

There's a large gallery of pulp covers here.

*Previously: Jack Kirby cover gallery.

*Buy pulp cover collections at Amazon.

Funny series of anti-drug commercials

In this video, "Patsy" demonstrates how to subtly pat your kid down to make sure she's not carrying drugs



Here, Patsy takes off all the labels on the prescription meds to deter her kids from taking them



And in this one, "Uncle Ron" shows the dangers of drugs



Via.

*Previously: Latawnya, the Naughty Horse, Learns to Say "No" to Drugs.

*Buy Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs at Amazon.

Marijuana growers believe Ganesha is their patron saint

The New Yorker has a long, fascinating article about the entrepreneurs who grow medical marijuana in California. This detail stood out:

While Blue napped, I wandered around his apartment, and counted nearly a dozen images and carvings of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha. The proliferation of Ganesha dates back to a well-publicized federal bust in January, 2007, when the D.E.A. seized the medicine and cash of eleven pot dispensaries in Los Angeles. The only major dispensary that wasn’t busted had a Ganesha in its window. Now it is hard to find a karmically inclined ganja dealer in Los Angeles who doesn’t own a herd of lucky figurines.

Read the whole article by David Samuels here.

(Marble Ganesha idol found at Flickr.)

*Previously: Ganesha plush.

*Find Ganesha statues at eBay.

Whoever's writing the anti-cigarette commercials must be doing drugs

Singing, dancing unicorns?



Via.

Count Gottfried von Bismarck died after injecting cocaine every hour for a day

The body of the great-great-grandson of imperial Prussia's "Iron Chancellor", Otto Von Bismarck, was found in his near-empty £5m flat in Chelsea, southwest London, in July this year, up to three days after he died from a massive overdose of cocaine and morphine he had injected during a 24-hour drink and drugs binge.

Link. Via Gawker.