My Life As A Zombie: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Lion Of Lucerne

The Lion Monument (German: Löwendenkmal), or the Lion of Lucerne, is a sculpture in Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. Mark Twain praised the sculpture of a mortally-wounded lion as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."

Mark Twain on the monument:
"The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff — for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies. Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion — and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is"

— Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880

Wiki on the Lion Monument

AC/DC has its own beer now, wants to get fans thunderdrunk

AC/DC, purveyor of fine rock 'n' roll since 1973 and modestly priced wine since 2011, is now launching its own brand of beer. So far, AC/DC Premium Lager is only available in Germany, but its maker has already been advertising the brew's straightforward consistency on a worldwide scale, bragging that every can of AC/DC lager that thirsty guzzlers crack open will be exactly the same. Angus Young agrees, saying, “We hope to give beer drinkers the same assurances we give our loyal listeners. They know what they’re gonna get every time. There are never any surprises!” Because, after all, a total lack of surprise is exactly what everyone looks for in beer and music.

Via: avclub.com

How To Catch A Cat

Related: Cat Traps

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

'Marijuana cannon' used to fire drugs over US border seized in Mexico

The 'marijuana cannon' seized in Mexicali on Tuesday, which uses an old car engine to generate compressed air. Photograph: AP

Police in the border city of Mexicali say they have recovered a powerful improvised cannon used to hurl packets of marijuana across a border fence into California.
Police told the Televisa network that the device was made up of a plastic pipe and a crude metal tank that used compressed air from the engine of an old car.
The apparatus fired cylinders packed with drugs that weighed as much as 13 kilos, police said. It was confiscated last week after US officers told Mexican police that they had been confiscating a large number of drug packages that appeared to have been fired over the border. Mexican police on the border have recovered a series of similar devices in recent years.