The 20 smartest companies to start now. Or alternatively, what businesses VC's think they can find a 3 year exit strategy for.

Here ya go brain trust at Memestreams...

This weekend I had a hole drilled through my skull. I read that this increased one’s consciousness permanently. I read about the supposed de-conditioning properties. I read about more parts of the brain working simultaneously as there would be more blood up there to help this happen. The arguments for it all seemed to be quite lengthy, quite detailed, thought out and researched, and very intelligent. The arguments against it were based solely on the opinion that it is ‘crazy’ and talk like, "What’s more conscious than conscious?". I heard from an acquaintance on telephone that she was glad she had done it, felt more mental energy, and had days of brilliance. I came to believe that the key to a permanent consciousness increase was a hole in the skull, to restore the full brain pulsation of infancy. After several months of research, discussion, speculation, watching surgical videos and trepanation documentaries, and even an actual viewing of a trepanation, I decided I certainly did want to be trepanned, and sought a way to do it.

I'm reminded of the great line from Ghostbusters:
Vinkman: "Remember that time you tried to drill a hole in your head?"
Egon: "That would've worked had you not stopped me."

Trepanation

In An Engine, Not a Camera, Donald MacKenzie argues that the emergence of modern economic theories of finance affected financial markets in fundamental ways. These new, Nobel Prize-winning theories, based on elegant mathematical models of markets, were not simply external analyses but intrinsic parts of economic processes.

Paraphrasing Milton Friedman, MacKenzie says that economic models are an engine of inquiry rather than a camera to reproduce empirical facts. More than that, the emergence of an authoritative theory of financial markets altered those markets fundamentally. For example, in 1970, there was almost no trading in financial derivatives such as "futures." By June of 2004, derivatives contracts totaling $273 trillion were outstanding worldwide. MacKenzie suggests that this growth could never have happened without the development of theories that gave derivatives legitimacy and explained their complexities.

MacKenzie examines the role played by finance theory in the two most serious crises to hit the world’s financial markets in recent years: the stock market crash of 1987 and the market turmoil that engulfed the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. He also looks at finance theory that is somewhat beyond the mainstream--chaos theorist Benoit Mandelbrot’s model of “wild” randomness. MacKenzie’s pioneering work in the social studies of finance will interest anyone who wants to understand how America’s financial markets have grown into their current form.

An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets

pics from Washington Post
Punks in China
global culture
they would feel at home in my local pub and certainly not look out of place

China's Punk's Look to Rock - Washington Post

Women's unwillingness to take their bosom by the reins could stem from an unwillingness to celebrate one's sexuality, at least as it is defined by the D cup stereotype — does anyone over 30 want to be the Hooters girl, as it were? It could be that we're slightly afraid of our boobs— after all, over time they do seem to develop a mind of their own — or it could be we don't like what larger-than-average (though not that much larger than average) breasts invite: attention, whistles, shade.

Ha! "Shade"! :-)

For girls because [alas!] no pictures for the boys: A quick, funny read about the latest Oprah-catalyzed brain hemorrhage.

-janelane, Hooters girl

TIME.com: If Your Bra Doesn't Fit, Go Shopping

Toynbee tiles (also called Toynbee plaques) are messages of mysterious origin found embedded in asphalt in several major cities in the United States, and in three South American capitals as well. As of 2006, there are approximately 130 tiles, which are generally about the size of an American license plate but are sometimes considerably larger. They all contain some variation on the following inscription:

TOyNBEE IDEA
IN KUbricK's 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPiTER.

Right up your alley. I'll assume you have no involvement, since I don't think you've been traveling to South America.

Toynbee tiles

Behind the scenes at the Unpimp commercials.

VW Behind the Scenes

The decision to demolish and cull Detroit for scrap was approved last month by a 6-3 City Council vote after a cost-benefit analysis revealed that, as a functioning urban area, it held a negative cash value.

Onion breaks ranks - Reports truth for first time.

Scientists find evidence of a perpetual evolutionary battle in the mind. The process, they suspect, is the key to individuality.

Great article!

Brain's Darwin Machine - Los Angeles Times

After a year in the making... researching, number crunching, layouts, stock gathering, and lots of procrastinating, i am proud to say it is finally done.

the SUPERDEVIATION, or "spot" as it was known to some, comes now with the final title.

Death and Taxes: A visual look at where your tax dollars go.

deviantART: Death and Taxes: ... by ~mibi