Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Nine

On the ninth day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me...

Nine Lists of Top 10 Things

Eight Wins Worth Noting
Seven Traits for Winning
Six Facts O'Ghoogling
Five Lasting Images
Four Things to Think About
Three catastrophe 'staches
The Finest Holiday Duet in History
And One Hell of a bloggy Par-ty

By definition, year-end top 10 lists are a subjective and incomplete way to catalog the events and achievements of an entire trip around the sun. Since we're nothing if not subjective and incomplete, here are are the 2012 Top 9 Lists of Top 10 Things We Found Semi-Randomly Googling Things We're At Least Moderately Interested In.

The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) at Arizona State University released its 5th annual list of Top 10 New Species. While we admit to feeling a tiny bit of terror at the idea that new species are popping up willy-nilly, we found the Sneezing Monkey of Myanmar (Rhinopithecus strykeri)  a welcome new planet-mate.

Fully 43% of GTB paid staff members live in New Jersey, so we're happy to highlight NewJersey.com's Top 10 Feel Good Moments of 2012. From Newark Mayor Cory Booker's early-year rescue of a constituent trapped by a fire to the story of Patrick the Pit Bull, who was nursed back to health after being dropped down a trash chute (may you meet a similar fate, asshole person who did that), the Garden State did manage to find some hope in a largely dismal year. The top story: former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand's signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yep.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same agency that time-transported President Obama to Mars as a teenager, also gave us a 28.3 mph robot cheetah as one of its Top 10 Most Popular DARPA Features of 2012. Robot Cheetah!



I'm not much of car guy - I drive a 2006 Toyota Camry, only because my dented 1999 Toyota Camry was deemed by my wife unbecoming a man of my prominence. But Zman, he loves things automotive. So for him, Car & Driver's Top 10 Best New Cars of 2012. Boxster? I hardly knowx her.

Time Magazine isn't typically known for its sense of humor, but we did enjoy one entry in its year-end list of lists. The Top 10 Ridiculously Obvious Study Findings included such gems as, 'Want to Limit Aggression? Practice Self Control!', and 'To "Think Outside the Box", Think Outside the Box'. The latter study had participants literally sit in and outside boxes and take tests that measured creativity. Our favorite, though, was a study that we've actively conducted for the better part of the last 25 years (give or take), 'Moderate Doses of Alcohol Increase Social Bonding in Groups'.

We've already spent a lot of time on sports this Gheorghemas, but this TVGol YouTube compilation of the world soccer Top 10 Goals of 2012 is sublime. For my money, it's Ibrahimovic, that danger man. And speaking of Dangerman, a shoutout to our friend Otis, proprietor of this eponymous tumblr.



Now that we've eased the Doofus Overlord into the world of multi-ingredient food (with @baconbaking's significant assistance), we'll move on to phase two. Bon Appetit's Top 10 Best Restaurants of 2012 includes an entry in DC, so we'll start there. (One in Minneapolis, too, for my traveling pleasure.)

What do Flo Rida, Gotye, Sean Paul, Laurenţiu Duţă, and Holograf have in common? They each hit the top 10 in the Romanian pop charts in 2012. Romanian music videos, racy!



Though I drop it quite frequently, I don't know very much about science. (That bastard Large Hadron Collider notwithstanding.) Perhaps that's why I'm so consistently amazed by stuff I find on the internet about it. The Guardian's Top 10 Science Videos of 2012 is a great way to kill an hour and learn some stuff. I particularly enjoyed this demonstration of Faraday's electromagnetic induction experiment:



Finally, we leave you on an upbeat note (and a bonus tenth list), with cheapflights.com's list of the Top Ten Happiest Countries in the World (which is based on an annual study by the Legatum Institute). Every Scandinavian country, as well as their Danish neighbor, make the list, as do our friends the Dutch. Stupid socialists and their dumb hippy drippy happiness.


Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a film to watch.

22 comments:

rob said...

working on a soul patch for this year's holiday facial hair project. frustrated by the fact that that specific part of my beard (and no other) comes in blonde, so it just looks like a dirty spot at the moment.

zman said...

I think you have a duplicate of your Romanian music video where Faraday is supposed to be.

Dave said...

moderate does of alcohol?

zman said...

I want nothing to do with the Wandering Leg Sausage. For the record.

rob said...

yeah, that would freak me the fuck out.

can you still not see faraday?

Clarence said...

If I recall from my Scandinavia class in Anthropology, Denmark is a Scandinavian country.

rob said...

ah, i meant their finnish neighbor. was distracted by moose meat and blowjobs.

Clarence said...

Congrats on the blowj. In many circles Finland and even Iceland are considered Scandinavian. Those are metric circles, though.

Mark said...

Somehow, I'm pretty much done with Day 10. Need to add a Spotify playlist to it to finish it off.

rob said...

do nba execs lack so much imagination that phil jackson is an actual candidate for the nets' job, or is he such an attention whore that he'll get himself attached to every opening until he dies?

rob said...

anyone ever seen alex kirk and the teej in the same room?

zman said...

I saw the Hobbit tonight. I did not realize that the one hobbit book would be three movies. Until the credits rolled in the middle of the story. These Tolkien tales are a license to print money.

Danimal said...

i made a small and kind wager on duke vs cinci yesterday, duke +9. saw the score this morning and thought "oh well, no biggie". and then i saw the highlights at the gym. that finish sums up my year in betting. fuck me runnin.

rob said...

this was scott van pelt's reaction on twitter last night, danimal:

@notthefakeSVP
Many years from now when people speak of bad beats, let them speak of the Belk Bowl first.

zman said...

I thought you were talking about a CBB game. That's what you get for betting on Duke football. Borderline degeneracy.

rob said...

borderline?

rob said...

z, mark - you guys know macklemore? i'm probably way behind on this, but i just got turned on to him this month by my peeps at the current in minneapolis. he's a revelation.

Mark said...

I have heard of him. Strong to quite strong. Day 10 is ready whenever y'all are.

rob said...

drop that shit

Mark said...

dropped.

amanda young said...

This is just mind blowing. The whole series. I'm amazed.Amanda Vanderpool

Unknown said...

What's up, well put together site you possess right now.
http://rxaustraliaonline.com/Cialis-ED-Tadalafil-Myth-and-Reality-in-Australia.html