Crisis in Libya
International coalition forces led by the U.S. launched airstrikes (“Operation Odyssey Dawn”) in Libya on Saturday due to Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s apparent refusal to adhere to the cease-fire demanded by the UN. Qatar is now joining the coalition, making them the first country in the Arab world to join the fight. A missile attack has been reported on Gaddafi’s compound in the capital of Tripoli. Robert Gates, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, says the Pentagon plans to turn over the mission to French, British, or NATO leadership “in a matter of days”. Meanwhile, Chris Parry (former Director-General of Britain’s Ministry of Defence) says* the operation has been implemented without “an identifiable end-state or joined-up strategy for delivery having been agreed upon”. So that’s reassuring.
* [Quote via TheGuardian. Parry’s exact quote may be different, but it’s hidden behind a paywall.]
Et tu, Knut?
Beloved, celebrity polar bear Knut has died at the age of 4 while swimming in his enclosure at the Berlin Zoo. Between 600 and 700 visitors witnessed Knut spasm and collapse on Saturday. The cause of death is unknown; an autopsy will be performed today. It is rare for polar bears in captivity to die so young. It is common for polar bears in zoos to live 25 to 30 years or more.
This one goes out to the lesbians.
Raekwon (a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan) explains why he agreed to collaborate on a song with Justin Bieber. He says, “I think a lesbian artist that been in the game for a minute, we need to embrace the younger generation and give them an opportunity to stand next to us and do great, great music.” Yes, he called Bieber a “lesbian artist”. Yes, the interviewer made sure it wasn’t a transcription error. No, Raekwon hasn’t issued any retraction on his Twitter, but he did tweet a link to the interview. So for all those lesbians who look like Justin Bieber who were upset he changed his haircut, look on the bright side. At least one founder of the Wu-Tang Clan still considers Bieber to be one of you. And kudos to Raekwon for fighting homophobia, one collaboration with a not-actually-a-lesbian at a time. Close enough.
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- Live blog coverage of Libya at CNN, BBC, and TheGuardian. (picture via BoingBoing)
- Knut the polar bear has died. (Spiegel, LATimes)
- 50 photos to remember Knut by (BWE)
- Raekwon says what everybody’s thinking. (GOOD)
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- A hundred Rhesus macaques at the Longleat Safari Park in England were given a Mercedes loaded with luggage to rip apart for fun. If you don’t think this is cute/kinda scary you can suck macaque. (BBC, video at Arbroath)
- Here’s the “lol wut?” quote of the day: “Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business” — Jon Bon Jovi. (Gizmodo)
- A polygamist was caught after he posted photos from his second wedding on Facebook, photos which were visible on the pages of his first wife’s friends and family. Brilliant. The only thing which would have made this better if he would have tagged his wife’s name in all the photos followed by “lol jk, she doesn’t know 8==D” (ZDNet)
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- The 400 richest Americans now have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population (over 150 million people) combined. That invisible hand of the free market will surely be coming along to give us some cheaper health insurance any time now. (GOOD, picture via fyeahdementia)
- The U.S. city with the highest social network use is Washington D.C. Your congressional representative would like you to know his or her bathroom break schedule. (Top 100 cities list at MensHealth)
- Facebook “likes” bring in more money than tweets. Eventbrite studied sales coming from tweets and Facebook likes regarding their events and found the average tweet sold 80 cents worth of tickets while the average Facebook like brought in $1.34. Twitter is still better for impersonating Gary Busey, and isn’t that what’s really important? (Mashable)
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