Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (2L) vehemently arguing w. VP Richard Nixon (2R) who is furiously objecting as an excited interpreter (C) translates their firey words re US ideas on home construction during “kitchen debate” at American Natl. Exhibit at Moscow Fair

The entire transcript is worth reading, but this is the best line:

Khrushchev: You’re a lawyer of Capitalism, I’m a lawyer for Communism. Let’s kiss.

Sounds like the title of a Panic! at the Disco song.

(Howard Sochurek, 1959)

OK, not quite, but check out this bizarre creature:

These stills are from video footage taken by a remotely operated vehicle operating at a depth of 7800 feet.

The Magnapinna squid was hanging out by Shell’s Perdido Spar, the deepest oil development project in the world. It’s located in the Gulf of Mexico, about 200 miles off the coast of Texas.

So glad there are none of these giant squid where I surf. That I know of, anyways.

Still amazed so many people believed all that Muslim/terrorist/socialist/fake birth certificate nonsense.

Remember that $1 billion aid package we promised Saakashvili after that little flare up in the Caucasus this past summer? The U.S. Government has just transferred the first $250 million to pay for the following:

The $250 million grant will fund Georgia’s budget expenditures to cover state pensions, state compensation and state academic stipends ($163.3 million), health care costs for people living below the poverty line ($26.1 million), allowances to individuals displaced by the conflict in Abkhazia ($6.1 million), financial support to schools through a voucher system on a per-student basis ($24.2 million), and compensation and salaries for government employees of all ministries excluding the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior ($30.3 million).

Meanwhile, back in America, local and state governments are laying off employees due to a lack of funds, students are dropping out of college because they can’t get a loan to pay their tuition, and 78 year olds are looking for jobs so they can make their rent and pay for their prescriptions. But please, U.S. Government, continue to send our tax dollars to Tbilisi.

I saw the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, on Friday night. I thought Casino Royale was better, as this plot was a little “meh”. Also, tried to paint the oil industry as evil, again. Not cool. Nevertheless, the movie is entertaining as it contained plenty of fighting, explosions, and Daniel Craig.

However, while discussing the movie over burgers at Urban Burger in Rockville (so good) the next day, I was shocked to discover that Olga does not think Daniel Craig is hot. WTF? I told her she was crazy, but I’m pretty sure she thinks the same of me. I really can’t trust her judgment, though, as I’m pretty sure she has some sort of crush on Sean Connery, who is, like, 78 years old.

Seriously. Hot.

(Michael Rougier, August 1957)

Tourists carrying backpacks sightseeing in Dubrovnik.

Young people traipsing about wearing jeans and gigantic backpacks with a flag pinned to them. Fifty years later, and not much has changed (except for the footwear. Flip-flops, please).

Dubrovnik is by far one of the most beautiful places on earth. If I win the lottery, I’m moving there, buying a flat in the Old City, and spending my days eating pizza and seafood, drinking beer, and listening to the 80 year old dudes at the bar tell stories about whatever.

Maybe:

Russian oil companies could soon begin searching for oil in deep Gulf of Mexico waters off Cuba, a top diplomat said just days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the island.

Russian oil companies have “concrete projects” for drilling in Cuba’s part of the gulf, said Mijail Kamynin, Russia’s ambassador to Cuba, to the state-run business magazine Opciones.

Kamynin also said Russian companies would like to help build storage tanks for crude oil and to modernize Cuban pipelines, as well as play a role in Venezuelan efforts to refurbish a Soviet-era refinery in the port city of Cienfuegos, according the article published this weekend.

[...]

Washington’s nearly 50-year-old trade embargo prohibits U.S. companies from investing on the island. But Cuba’s state-run oil concern has signed joint operating agreements with companies from several countries to explore waters that Cuban scientists claim could contain reserves of up to 20 billion barrels of oil.

Remind me again…this trade embargo is useful because? Oh, right…it’s not. We have just allowed our Cuba policy to be hijacked by some bitter old dudes in Miami. Meanwhile, U.S. companies can’t invest in lucrative opportunities there, and I can’t fly down and enjoy a mojito and frita. Dear Obama: Please get rid of this useless embargo.

Uh, wow:

The global financial crisis has grown so bad that Russians are cutting back on vodka.

Stockpiles of Russia’s national drink were six times higher at the start of the month than the same time a year ago because factories are producing vodka faster than they can sell it, an alcohol industry lobby and research group said on Monday.

“People are having to save money, including on drinks, and this is connected to the impact of the financial crisis on people’s disposable incomes,” Pavel Shapkin, president of the National Alcohol Association (NAA), told Reuters.

[...]

The alcohol industry body said 8.2 million decalitres of vodka — or more than half a litre for every one of Russia’s 141 million population — was stockpiled in shops and warehouses on November 1, a volume unprecedented in modern Russia.

In further evidence of the impact of the crisis, separate research by TsIFFRA, an industry analytics firm, showed alcohol production dropped 15 percent in October due to poor demand.

Fatalities related to alcohol poisoning had been in steady decline since 2006, when there was an outbreak of deaths from bootleg vodka. But in September they rose again for the first time, going up by 6 percent on the same period last year, according to the NAA’s research.

Post Gidget invasion, and Dora’s nightmare.

(Allan Grant, 1961)

Like this one:

So, I have a confession and a suggestion. The confession: I go into restaurants these days, look around at the tables often still crowded with young people, and I have this urge to go from table to table and say: “You don’t know me, but I have to tell you that you shouldn’t be here. You should be saving your money. You should be home eating tuna fish. This financial crisis is so far from over. We are just at the end of the beginning. Please, wrap up that steak in a doggy bag and go home.”

And then he gets owned by the commenters.

Tom, please STFU and go back to your palace in Bethesda.