After a relatively uneventful weekend, here’s today’s Link Dump. My right ankle is bunged up from soccer/football on Sunday. Hurt it in the worst way, took a clearance off the tip of my foot and jammed it… but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t continue on, but it’s pretty sore right now. Work won’t ever come to a stand-still but at least the holiday season should provide a slower pace. If it’s similar to Thanksgiving in the US, I’ll be a happy man.

-Eugene

*If you’re always on the go, I’m a huge advocate for Instapaper. Basically you can bookmark links to read on your mobile device later and it can strip away all the unnecessary imagery to load more quickly.
**If you encounter a login page for a NY Times article (yes there are quite a few of them…), I highly suggest signing up for a free account or else use this dummy one I set up.

Login: tempaccountNYT
Password: tempaccountNYT

A-Bomb: Challenge #2
Ever wonder what’s going through the mind of a competitive eater? This dude gives you his play-by-play as he attempts to consume the B3 6 lbs burrito at the Sands Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.

Diddy is Not Lacking Cocksureness
As seen in a recent interview, Diddy’s own take on himself:

“If I’m not inspiring you at this point, you’re a lost hope. I’m one of the baddest motherfuckers to ever do this shit, and I’m not saying that in an arrogant way. That’s a fact, in black and white. I dare you to write down all my achievements. It will be overwhelming. Break it down and then say who’s number one in hip-hop. Who else has conquered television? Who else has conquered fashion? I don’t want to hear you have a fashion line. Do you have a Council of Fashion Designers of America award? I need to know. Have you run a marathon? If you all still want to fuck with me after I ran the marathon, I don’t know what else to do.”

Best in Class For Built to Last: Chippewa Boots
The whole “Made in America” moniker has been a huge selling point the last few years, but rarely do these operations go on the record and provide insights into their brands. But can you blame them, I don’t think they care so much about the current Internet-driven landscape. A nice short interview with some interesting insights into the brand, especially the part about it’s popularity and presence in Japan.

A Device to De-Stress Your Workout
The mouth-guard seems to be the “Breath-Right” nose-strip of the past and the latest innovation in improving athletic performance. However, what I wonder is whether the performance comes mostly from opening the air passages rather than actually relaxing the jaw. Your body works together as a system, if you clinch your teeth and generally contract your body throughout, you’ll notice increased stability and strength. Don’t believe me? Try it the next time you squat… or read this article.

For Madden, at 73, the Game’s Still On
Not in the broadcast booth, but still very much in the game. John Madden knows what’s up.

Riding India’s plastic highway
This is the shit I’m talking about! Incorporating plastic waste into India’s roads for increased durability and longevity. India’s got a shit-load of plastic waste to spare anyways.

The End of Hand Crafted Content
The world of media looks to enter a tumultuous time as low-quality content will reign and push out quality stuff. However, it’s all cyclical, people will soon grow tired of low-quality shit and come to their senses… I hope.

Nuclear Power Expansion in China Stirs Concerns
China wants to start reducing their carbon footprint via nuclear energy. However, the #1 problem is not unlike something that plagues other Chinese industries, it’s not cutting costs and taking the high-road in terms of safety.

Muslims Say F.B.I. Tactics Sow Anger and Fear
The F.B.I. seem to be on the wrong path with various Islamic organizations that they rely on for help. It’s a difficult relationship in my eyes, I think the F.B.I. approaches this continually with their guard up, and rightfully so as protectors of the best interests of the USA. When much of this drama is religion-based and a religion you don’t understand, working with mosques is not the easiest of tasks.

At Japanese Cliffs, a Campaign to Combat Suicide
Two interesting quotes first:

“In Japan, we say the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.”

“Americans raise awareness with grass-roots action, but Japanese just wait for the government to take care of them.”

This article which talks about how Japanese culture approaches some of the more unpleasant things in life such as suicide. Yukio Shige has taken it upon himself to help people on the brink of suicide, ready to take the 70-foot leap of death in Tojimbo. Yet for many, they see this as a fruitless act, instead rather passing the buck onto somebody else. I think it’s a good showcase of how reliant the Japanese is on structure (such as the government) to help them through adversity. Meaning if the government doesn’t come through, things are going to go solution-less.

Modellers claim wars are predictable
Insurgent/terrorist attacks are not as random as you think according to this study. With drawing media attention as the focus, the frequency can be predicted with a power law “in which the frequency of attacks decreases with increasing attack size to the power of 2.5. That means that for any insurgent war, an attack with 10 casualties is 316 times more likely to occur than one with 100 casualties (316 is 10 to the power of 2.5).”

UNDERCOVER INTERVIEW- I’M A CARD COUNTER
An all-around interesting and talented guy who’s made some huge contributions in design over a Nike Sportswear, Jarrett Reynolds presents his latest “UNDERCOVER INTERVIEW” series. What I find interesting about these is that, for the most part, the people he interviews are well-known fabrics of our society such as snipers, strippers and now card counters. Yet despite the fact these trades are so familiar, nobody really knows their background or story which this series does a good job of uncovering.

In Signing Nick Johnson, Yankees Turn Johnny Damon Away
Much like American football, I don’t follow baseball but I still love to find out how it works and the off-field strategy. Don’t get it twisted, professional sports has more than ever become a business and it won’t ever change.

Toys ‘R’ Us Trims Losses by Making a Hamster Hot
To really dumb things down, success comes down to both tangible and intangible resources. Toys ‘R’ Us looks to leverage their skills in market prediction to help compete against huge retailers like your Wal-Marts by hyping and getting behind toys before they get big. Effectively making it hard for somebody like Wal-Mart to compete cause they don’t have adequate stocks of the toy.

Google Said to Be Near a Yelp Deal
This has the potential to be a really sick partnership. Imagine Yelp x Google Maps/GPS where you can search for the best _______ food within a X mile/kilometer radius and it’ll be complete with ratings and comments.

Stealth Startups, Get Over Yourselves: Nobody Cares About Your Secrets
This article addresses the wrong mentality of some people looking to start something new. Often keeping to themselves, launching something in a fully operational, final state isn’t the best way to go about things cause you’re basing all flaws/interests on one person, yourself. If you’re going to end up marketing and selling to the masses, it’s a poor approach.

Saturated Fat and Coronary Heart Disease, Part IV: The Smell Test
Another interesting health article that aims to disconnect the institutionalized believe that saturated fat = coronary heart disease. Quick notes… 41% of human breast milk is saturated fat… why would your own momma be feeding you that?

Not All Drugs Are the Same After All
So I guess there is some credibility in the fact that brand-name drugs are more suitable for those than their generic counterparts. Although the FDA states drugs have to be pretty much identical, absorption rates seem to be key which I figure lies in the quality of the ingredients. Seems like a touchy/messy thing to have to deal with.

Chargers Elevate Their Passing Game
This shit is pretty cool, as I mentioned in the Nick Johnson/Johnny Damon/NY Yankees blurb, I don’t follow any sports really aside from football/soccer, but this looks to be an interesting trend and a total change in tactics. A short comment from @dmai21 on my Twitter said that “those hybrid “tall” receivers are the latest trend in the nfl”.