Link roundup

1. Why doesn't this woman get more press? "Hooters Waitress-Turned-Lawmaker Admits to Carving Initials Into Assembly Desk."

2. An estimate of how much it costs to attend Hogwarts.

3. Gizmodo's list of essential Spotify tools. (I've only played with it briefly, but so far I don't see why it's so much better than Last.fm.)

Link roundup

1. This baseball player is apparently having the worst ever defensive year and already owns the single season strike out record.

2. Piers Morgan's involvement in the voicemail hacking scandal.

3. Analysis of Iran's role in the uprising in Bahrain.

Link roundup

1. "Writer Laurann Dohner has inked a 75-book deal with erotic romance publisher Ellora’s Cave." (Links are probably NSFW.)

2. Interview with the actor who plays Neville Longbottom. Relatedly, this is a good overview of the series, with an emphasis on the fact that although Harry and friends might have started out as geeky outcasts, they ended up the popular kids.

3. A good summary of the Palin phenomenon: At a screening of a new Palin documentary, the only person attending was a reporter.

4. The BBTS has the Boba Fett Mail-Away figure available for preorder.

Link roundup

1. Bear beats tiger. Via.

2. Bees beat elephants.

3. Yiddish beats moron.

Link roundup

1. Lamborghini is apparently going to stop making manual transmissions.

2. Emily Shur talks about photographing Sarah Palin for Newsweek.

3. Recipe for Coffee Bean's Sunrise. Is there a recipe for their Black Forest?

Link roundup

1. Some useful commentary about the current federal budget negotiations. (I tend to discount any commentary that presumes that Obama and his aides are stupid.)

2. It's going to be so hot in Qatar during the World Cup that they might play three 30 minute periods instead of two 45 minute halves. That's right, the games were awarded to a country where playing the game by the established rules will likely be impossible.

3. There's no self service gas stations in New Jersey? All gas has to be pumped by an attendant? In Los Angeles you almost never see full service advertised.

Party in the CIA by Weird Al Yankovic

Video by Ghostbot for Weird Al's "Party in the CIA" (set to Miley Cyrus's song). Art Director Roman Laney posted some concept art for the project here.

Link roundup

1. Puzzles by Brendan Wenzel (and others) for McSweeney's The Goods.

2. Game of Thrones being played out in Iran right now.

3. It's a new season of True Blood, which means it's time for Gabe Delahaye to resume his hilarious recaps.

Link roundup

1. Independent bookstore owner refuses to carry books from Amazon's mystery imprint, explains in an email exchange with author.

2. Entertainment Weekly interviewed John Lasseter and he reminisced about all of Pixar's movies. About Toy Story 2, which was completed unusually quickly, he said:

It was our biggest dash, but we don't want to do that again to our people. About a third came down with repetitive strain injury, and a few people were really hurt. We threw out all the chairs and keyboards, and everybody got new stuff.

3. Be careful about trying to score partisan political points based on early reports, Wisconsin Supreme Court edition.

Link roundup

1. Shimon Peres on giving aid to poor countries: "Giving is problematic. We take money from poor people in rich countries and give it to rich people in poor countries. Aid sometimes creates corruption."

2. The US DOJ's study of sex abuse in prison apparently concluded that most of the crimes were committed by prison staff, not inmates.

3. Cute comic about Legend of Zelda.

4. Tyrion Lannister fan art by Phil Noto (NSFW).

Link roundup

1. I first mentioned this years ago, but The Edge lost a big vote in his efforts to build a big compound in Malibu.

2. Ann Althouse: "A middle-aged politician sitting at home masturbating because young women thought he was cool when he yelled at that guy that one time is not macho."

3. Member of Canada's national water polo team (and possible Olympian) identified as Vancouver rioter.