Boing Boing Submitterator » jackbird

Active-duty Army Ranger named world’s #3 pastry chef

jackbird — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:50:44 +0000

After 10 years out of practice while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, an active-duty army ranger placed #3 in a worldwide competitive pastry chef competition.

View Link [theatlanticwire.com]

Republican County Supervisors propose secession from California

jackbird — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 05:21:30 +0000

13 Southern California counties (conspicuously not including LA) are considering a proposal to secede from California to form the new, heavily-republican state of “South California.”

The governor’s spokesman Gil Duran responded thus: “If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there’s a place called Arizona.”

View Link [pe.com]

Floppy rubber sculptures of Levittown houses

jackbird — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:50:37 +0000

Brian Tolle, the artist responsible for lower Manhattan’s Irish Hunger Memorial, made these oddly fascinating sculptures of the cookie-cutter houses of Levittown, NY reimagined as characters in 1950s suburban life.

View Link [mysite.verizon.net]

An inside view of Japan’s disaster preparedness

jackbird — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:55:40 +0000

A western engineer living and working in Japan describes his experience with the obsessive disaster preparedness that kept the quake from being much, much worse. a choice excerpt:

Ogaki has approximately 150,000 people. The city’s disaster preparedness plan lists exactly how many come from English-speaking countries. It is less than two dozen. Why have a maintained list of English translators at the ready? Because Japanese does not have a word for excessive preparation.

View Link [kalzumeus.com]