The Onion: Facebook “Is Truly A Dream Come True For The CIA” (Video)

The Onion: Facebook “Is Truly A Dream Come True For The CIA” (Video): "

You did know that Facebook is a ‘massive online surveillance program run by the CIA,” right? And that Mark Zuckerberg is a CIA agent codenamed the Overlord? Just watch the Onion video above. It explains the whole thing.

I especially like the Congressional “testimony” from the deputy CIA director:

After years of secretly monitoring the public, we were astounded so many people would willingly publicize where they live, their religious and political views, an alphabetized list of all their friends, personal emails addresses, phone numbers, hundreds of photos of themselves, and even status updates about what they were doing moment to moment. It is truly a dream come true for the CIA.

Not only that, think how much money it saves the CIA. Unfortunately, other CIA programs like Twitter aren’t doing so welll: “400 billion Tweets, and not one useful bit of data was ever transmitted.”

Also note the chart showing the success of Operation Farmville, which “the CIA credits with pacifying as many as 85 million people after unemployment rates rose dramatically.” It plots time spent playing Farmville versus hours working.

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A Little Shack In Paradise Is All That You May Need

Maaaaaybe I don't need a huge futuristic house on a cliff. Maybe I just need a little shack on the beach, where you can eat fresh seafood and enjoy simple life. Like this little place built on a rock, in Zanzibar.



To get in or out of this house—which is actually a tiny restaurant—you will either have to swim or wait until the low tide, so you can walk in. Once you are inside, the owner—a local fisherman—will bring you the catch of the day from the grill to the table. Things don't get better than that. And that's exactly where I want to be right now.

from http://gizmodo.com

Arms & Armor exhibit shows you the Tibetans you don't want to mess with

We know the Tibetans as a peaceful, Buddhist peoples, which is why the title of this current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art caught me off-guard: "Tibetan Arms and Armor." What, they had weapons?






Armor and weapons are certainly not among the images usually called to mind when considering the art or culture of Tibet, which is closely identified with the pacifism and deep spirituality of the Dalai Lama and with the compassionate nature of Tibetan Buddhism. However, this seeming paradox resolves itself when seen in the context of Tibetan history, which includes regular and extended periods of intense military activity from the seventh to the mid-twentieth century.
For those who can't make it to the Met there's a slideshow of the exhibit here, and I have to say, some of this stuff looks pretty bad-ass.