Jack Nicholson was ahead of the curve with his hydrogen-powered H2-4 Chevy Impala back in 1978.

Nicholson appeared on Canadian television show “Marketplace” to promote a hydrogen-fueled Chevrolet Celebrity, which he hoped would revolutionize the car industry.

Anticipating the green-car revolution (and Chevy’s Volt!) by nearly 30 years, Nicholson’s Celebrity was (per the video) “a standard Chev’, with a standard Chev’ motor,” but used a specially-designed carburetor which allowed the car to burn hydrogen gas instead of vaporized gasoline.

Nicholson brings his sardonic humor to the mix with this very funny line:

“If nothing else, this will revolutionize suicide. Instead of carbon-monoxide poisoning, you’ll just get a steam bath.”
 

 
Via Gas 2.0

 
How have I lived my life not knowing about the professional window cleaning service known as Men In Kilts? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen these dudes around LA or America cleaning peoples windows—I’m sure I’d remember! How does wearing a kilt improve one’s window cleaning skills? Doesn’t it get quite drafty “up there” in the winter? What is this window-washing peep-show all about anyways? 

Men In Kilts: Window & Exterior Cleaning

 

 
(via Everlasting Blort)

 
This piece on new wave and punk rock appeared on TV show 20/20 in 1979. It’s actually pretty level-headed and contains some nice vintage footage of Talking Heads, Blondie, The Clash and more.

The clip cuts off mid-way through a short piece on Klaus Nomi. You can see the rest after the jump.
 

 
Klaus continued after the jump…

 
Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert has long distinguished himself as one of the least intelligent GOP members of Congress (and that’s really, really saying something). Now he’s doubling down on the dumb... Via Think Progress:

Taking the GOP’s anti-tax ideology to its logical conclusion, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) introduced today his own “American Jobs Act” — giving his bill the same name as President Obama’s plan — which would completely eliminate corporate income taxes. Gohmert claims this will create jobs:

It is a very simple bill, which will eliminate the corporate tax which serves as a tariff that our American companies pay on goods they produce here in America. This bill will actually create jobs in America

The two-page bill changes the tax code to replace any mention of the current “35 percent” tax rate with “0 percent.” Corporations are already sitting on trillions in cash, so cutting their taxes would likely do very little to help the economy, but would balloon the deficit by depriving the government of about $300 billion in revenues annually. As the CBO found, cutting taxes on businesses “typically does not create an incentive for them to spend more on labor or to produce more, because production depends on the ability to sell output.”

But Gohmert’s plan is even more irksome considering that he’s spent the last few days attacking Obama’s jobs plan because it would prohibit employers from discriminating against people who have been unemployed. Gohmert appeared on various conservative media outlets to expose this “devilish detail,” saying on Sean Hannity’s radio show yesterday, via Political Correction:

GOHMERT: We have created in this bill a newly protected class, not on race, creed, color, sex — not even sexual orientation, this is a new one. It’s not religion, it’s a prohibition of discrimination in employment on the basis of an individual’s status as unemployed. By golly, if you apply for a job and you’re unemployed and you feel like you got discriminated against and not hired because you were unemployed, see a lawyer. You’ve got a claim under this bill.

So Gohmert wants to help unemployed Americans get jobs by eliminating taxes for corporations, but thinks helping those jobless directly is “devilish.” But at least his plan isn’t as half-baked as his colleagues’ plan to create jobs by curbing regulations on snakes.

Below, Gohmert makes an absolute ass of himself on Anderson Cooper 360:
 

 
Well, it did take until the 1980s for Hollywood to envision “RoboCop,” didn’t it?

Now back to the photo: Note that this mechanical cop sprays tear gas from his tiny pee-pee. One Redditor points out, “It’s so small we’ll cry tears of laughter.”

Click here to see larger version.

(via reddit)

 
This Saturday night in Los Angles, there’s going to be a special art show hosted by Neil Gaiman and actress Fairuza Balk and produced by Dangerous Minds pal Lenora Claire:

“Illuminate Parkinsons” is a benefit for Becky Hurd’s Illuminate charity fighting young onset Parkinson’s disease

The aim of Illuminate is to raise awareness of Young Onset Parkinsons while raising funds to support Parkinsons charities. The Illuminate Parkinsons International Photography Exhibition has been created by Becky’s best friend and celebrity photographer, Allan Amato. This amazing photographic journey into the world of Parkinsons spans two years beginning in September 17th at Pop tART Gallery. Subjects in the exhibit include Terry Gilliam, Neil Gaiman, Kevin Smith and an assortment of other fascinating people all of whom lent their support to the project.

The initial aim of the Illuminate Parkinsons campaign was to raise £100,000 for Parkinsons charities. So far the campaign has generated over £51,000 since it began with the first Illuminate Ball in Birmingham in April 2010. Since the first ball Illuminate Parkinsons has gone from strength to strength with many new fundraising projects.

Illuminate Parkinsons by Allan Amato
Saturday, September 17th, 8-11pm Pop tART Gallery, 3023 W. 6th St., Los Angeles

 
Wednesday on MSNBC, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)  described the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty as “a horror show.”

The report found that 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty, the highest amount since the Census began recording the statistic 52 years ago.

“The middle class is collapsing and we have now by far the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth,” Sanders said.

“We need aggressive action on the part of the president and the Congress, and if the Republicans continue to say ‘no, no, no to jobs,’ the president has got to continue going around the country,” he added, “because I think the overwhelming majority of the people want a jobs program, they want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, they do not want to give any more tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations.”

 
Via Raw Story

 
Here’s something you don’t see everyday, mugshots of eight Amish guys.

Apparently these rebels without a car were arrested for refusing “to pay fines for failing to affix orange safety triangles to their horse-drawn buggies.”

Read the full story over at the The Smoking Gun.

(via reddit)

 
Full disclosure: I used to work in a four-story NYC nightclub called “Mars” in the early 90s. Moby worked there as a DJ, while I worked one flight up (Vin Diesel worked there, too, at the front door).

Anytime I happened to pass by Moby’s DJ booth going to the toilet, I always made the mental note that I hated whatever he was playing. When he got famous and started getting compared by the music press to Brian Eno and David Byrne for making music for yuppies even blander than Sade’s, I was both mystified and dismayed…

Now this. Via ONTD:

Moby wants to make a porn movie starring men with small penises.

The ‘Porcelain’ singer can’t understand why X-rated films feature men with larger-than-average manhoods and wants to create a flick which won’t make viewers feel inadequate.

Moby - who admits he has watched many adult movies in his lifetime - told Bizarre magazine: “I’ve never understood why porn made for men often stars studly guys with enormous you know?

“Surely that’s intimidating to most guys watching? My porn flick would exclusively feature men with normal-to-titchy-sized penises in order to make viewers feel better.”

The comment thread about this on Joe.My.God has some nice zingers courtesy of a wit named Clay…

 
Larry and Mary Grabills, a Christian couple living in Colorado, wanted to “prove” that Noah’s Ark was not a myth. They constructed a 50ft. boat from biblical information about the supposed vessel, weighing 11,000 lbs. They gave their home-made ark a trial run on the Pueblo Reservoir last week. From the KKTV website:

“Just something we felt like the Lord wanted us to do,” said Larry Grabill.

Larry and his wife Mary spent 15 months building the Biblical ark, taking basic dimensions directly from the Bible.

“Noah’s Ark was up to 500 feet long and 83 feet wide. Ours is a tenth scale of that, at 50 feet and 8.5 feet wide,” said Larry.

The couple says they want to call attention to the truth of the Bible and dispel the idea that Noah’s Ark was a myth.

Complete with two of each kind of animal, the couple hopes their ark will serve as a symbol of faith.

“We believe the Bible is true, every word of it, as was originally written, and we want to testify to that,” said Larry.

The couple spent $50,000 building the boat. Next, they want to actually build a full-size Noah’s Ark out of wood and sail it in the ocean; something that has never been done before. They believe by doing this they can vividly demonstrate that is was possible for Noah to build an Ark that size out of wood, and make it float.

Usually I like to poke fun at dumb people, but these folks seem too nice and um, innocent, to do that to, so all I’m going to say is “Nice boat!” which it is…

Still, I can’t help but repost this comment from the KKTV website:

“Proof” would be an “Ark” built as described in the book, a full sized version, floating in the ocean, with every creature mentioned. No communication from the outside world for the duration described in the book.”

Good point…
 

 
Via The J-Walk Blog