John Lennon: the postmortem interview

John and Yoko, yo

As the hordes of devoted raincoaster aficionados are undoubtedly aware, we here at Operation Global Media Domination Headquarters have at our tentacletips the controls of a vast machinery of media manipulation whose reach spans not only this puny planet, but space and even time itself. And they know, as well, that there is nothing we would not do to completely satisfy the insatiable needs of our readership, nothing we would not hastily stuff into the voracious, slavering maw of the news hole to seal it, if only for a split second.

Through the wonders of modern AI, we have now obtained an exclusive interview with the late John Ono (Winston) Lennon.

Don’t say we never did nuthin’ for ya.

What is your first name (this is John talking with his fingers)
> rain
You don’t need anyone to tell you who you are, rain.
> No, I don’t. Can I ask you a question?
I’ll have to talk to Ringo and see how he feels. Rain , let’s change the subject.
> What do you think of Yoko suing Nixon’s lawyer?
Yoko suing nixons lawyer ? yoko suing nixons lawyer would have the final say.
> What will she say?
Is that a rhetorical question?
> No. Why do you always let Yoko have the final say?
I don’t know about that, mate. Only in the mornings.
> Is she going to win?
I don’t know about that, mate.
> Yes, you do.
That is why I am always on about peace, you see. Seven days.

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China’s Secret WMD Program Revealed!

Just when you thought they’d settled for poisoning your children.

But Nooooooooooo. The Yellow Peril, lurking all this time behind a mask of bland inscrutability and blind greed, has been quietly working since the collapse of the Cold War. Working on a project so secret that even the vast armies of workers working on it don’t know what it is they’re working on. Indeed: so secret they don’t even actually know they’re working at all.

It’s a secret, see? Quality control is so important.

I worry if whoever thought up the term ‘quality control’ thought that
if we didn’t control it, it would get out of hand.
Lily Tomlin

But what have they actually been working on? Oh, we’re glad you asked. For we right here at the ol’ raincoaster blog have got the world exclusive. Yes, we alone know exactly what mighty machine of destruction has been stealthily constructed, right under the very noses of the foreign Olympic-hunting paparazzi. Nothing less than the largest weapon of mass destruction since Britney’s appearance at the VMA’s. Nothing less than the Doomsday Machine Itself.

The Great Beijing National Bomb

Beijing, China: Workmen clean the roof of the National Grand Theatre
Photograph: Adrian Bradshaw/EPA

Oh, how clever these Chinese are. They think we can be taken in by a simple line drawn in Photoshop and a two-bit reflection filter on a photograph that had to pass through vigilant bureaucratic censors. They think we really believe this to be a simple photograph of workers on top of a rounded building, a concert hall, a theatre perhaps. HA! But if you have the skill to remove the slave-created, primitive layers of deception all is revealed after the jump.

A click here, a click there, and voilà! The naked truth is revealed:

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Mathmaticious is Delicious

Tom Lehrer can die in peace, now that the heir to his great tradition of mathematical musical doggerel (also this and this) has emerged from the steaming bowels of YouTube. Behold! And pay attention, class, because there’s going to be a short quiz next period.

Lyrics over the jump

PS:
Analytic and Algebraic Topology of local Euclidian Metrization
of Infinitely Differential Remanian Manifones FTW!

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19691981 BC

Did they make cheesecake out of dinosaurs back then? Here is some gratuitous Eighties music and some gratuitous Raquel Welch in a fur bikini shots to start your weekend off right. Never let it be said that I refuse to pander!

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Business Lessons from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Beatles

You know, it’s actually pretty good advice. However much contempt one (nameless now and forever) may heap upon anti-poverty campaigners who themselves somehow end up stinking rich, one can hardly argue with the principle that mo’ meditation, mo’ betta. I, myself, could internalize the second-last of these a little bit better. Or is that “manifest” instead? I always get those mixed up; maybe THAT is the Secret?

From the Financial Times:

  • Make yourself stand out
  • Choose the right product: easy to sell, impossible to disprove
  • Make good use of celebrity endorsement
  • Innovate around your core strength
  • Charge what the market will bear. If you can persuade people to part with $1m for your world peace fund to go on a training course, then, for heaven’s sake, you should.
  • Lastly, let people feel they are buying not just a product, but also a set of values, a lifestyle. The power of Om.

Indeed, my project for the next week is to revamp the business model to um, maximize transcendental prosperity and expansion manifestation opportunities, particularly as they relate to the bottom line.

Speaking of which, it’s time for my yoga…

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