Nuclear Beef

Someone in comments asked for pics of Kari "with her natural colored hair" but I've yet to see an episode where she has natural looking hair. However, she does seem to have dyed her hair black sometime in the middle of the Vodka Myths/Car Pancake episode. For those of you who might not know who Kari is -- or actually read my blog for someone other than Kari Byron pics -- she's a builder on Mythbusters and also cute as hell.

Here's the unbelievably coy "before" pic, when Kari went to pick up the soon-to-be-pancaked car.

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And here's the "after" pic, with the black hair. Kari gives her opinion of two semi-trucks crashing into a compact car.

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Enjoy! Remember, no obscene comments. For really real!

(NOTE: If any of you legion of Kari Byron fans out there want to help me sort through the mountains of frames which my new capture technique produces, please mail nuclearbeef @AT@ gmail d0t com. You guys give me so many hits that I'd like to be able to streamline the process of posting the pics, but without diminishing the quality of the individual pics. Let me know, true believers!)

Posted by darwin at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

Flash Back To The Future War Audio Beef Today. Moxy Fruvous remind us that as far as Iraq is concerned, things are the same as they ever were.

What makes a person so poisonous righteous
That they'd think less of anyone
That just disagreed?
She's just a pacifist
He's just a patriot
If I said you were crazy, would you have to fight me?
...
Don't tell me I can't fight
Cause I'll punch out your lights!
And history seems to agree...
That I would fight you.. for me

(Shouts out to Scotto, who hooked me up with a non-corrupt MP3 of this song. Also props to his little homie coe, who just guest posted some great Bassnectar (aka DJ Lorin) tracks over at Comfort Radio)

Posted by darwin at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I know that at least half of my traffic is from deranged internet stalkers my fellow Kari Byron fans, so here's two more pics. These are from the same episode as the Gun Cotton, the "Chinese Invasion Alarm" episode.

Here's Kari, obviously very glad to have a loaded cannon!

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And this is just a classic Kari look...

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Enjoy! Remember, no obscene comments. Really!

Posted by darwin at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

Illegal Business Audio Beef Today. KRS-One and Moises Naim explore Illegal Business.

'Illegal Business'
by KRS-One from his 1988 album By All Means Necessary

As at least some of you know, I listen to Fresh Air on my drive home from work. I particularly enjoy the diversity of their selection of interview subjects and topic, and today was no exception. Terry's guest today was Moises Naim, who has written a book called 'Illicit' about the extralegal trade which accounts for a large percentage of all trade in much of the developing world.

Illegal business controls America
Ganja business controls America

As usual, Terry asks some good questions and some very NPR-naive ones. Moises comes off as very informed, though he seems to take the party line on media piracy. Regular readers of The Beef will know that, while I agree with and respect so-called intellectual property rights, I believe that they need to be balanced with the needs of the public. Mr. Naim seems to be more of a stickler for the corporate perspective on IP, but this is consistent with his background and the 'crime' theme of the book.

From the reviews, it seems that Naim believes that criminal trade is trade first and crime second. This matches my experience of various grey markets: they are markets first and grey second. In particular, I've always viewed copyright infringement as being about culture first and trade a very distant second. This Audio/Video blog is a testament to my belief that art is culture, and that our first obligation is to enrich each other with it. I consider for-profit bootleggers as criminal as I gather Moises Naim does, but I find it essential to differentiate between piracy for art and piracy for money.

Unfortunately, our law makers disagree, so I have a simple suggestion for all of you. If you value the commons, the joy and wisdom and illumination that art and music brings.. educate yourself about Fair Use and be an informed consumer. Don't support people who don't support you. That is all.

(Floating shouts out to c., for talking to me as I wrote this. Also, teh extra mega special shout out goes to the Friend of Beef who mailed me this t-shirt bundle of joy. It is TEH own.)

Posted by darwin at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Here's two Kari Byron pics, in response to a request in comments for screen shots from the recent Mythbusters episode where Adam and Jamie ask Kari to create Gun Cotton for their Civil War Cannon. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of good frames, because they cut to her very quickly and the camera is moving. These are the best of the bunch.

Here's Kari with a look of chagrin, immediately after being told she's going to make this dangerous stuff.

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And here she is with her characteristic can-do, half-bemused smile. This is the look that says 'Best. Job. Ever.'

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Enjoy! Remember, no obscene comments.

(As an aside, the larger images are now 640×480, instead of 800×600. This is because of my new (much easier) screenshot technique. Considering that 800×600 is only a blowup of this 640×480, I figure you'll live. If anyone has very strong opinions on pic sizes, leave them in comments.)

Posted by darwin at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)

Weird Euro Pop Audio Beef Today. Aqua and The Chixie Dicks prove that less English songwriting ability is more better.

by the Chixie Dicks, from their 2004 album Sluts Of The Industry

(First, I need to note that that there is no buy link for this album, and I can't even find mp3s of it. Yeah, I know. They're supposed to be on Tribe Records but that page is broken. The email address listed bounces. It's a mystery to me. I guess Tribe Records is a failed Norweigan record label. The closest thing I can find to a buy link is this, which is a link to this CD single at some Norweigan store. I can't speak Norwegian, but I think Bestillingsvare: sendes vanligvis innen 1 - 5 virkedager means that they can order it in 1-5 days. In other words, their database is obsolete. This thing doesn't exist on the web. Anyone with information can feel free to contact me at nuclearbeef AT gmail dot com)

Today's Audio Beef is a slice of weird Euro-Dance Pop Music. I think they're actually kinda serious about it, but it's hard to be sure from this one song. This page, though written in Norweigan, seems to indicate that the Chixie Dicks are Runar Lindin and PV Staff. It also, confusingly enough, says that this song is a cover of a song by Aqua of 'Barbie Girl' ... um.. fame. I haven't heard the original, but I'm pretty confident that it sounds not too much like this. I certainly hope it doesn't.

Oooh, straight or gay,
You swing it either way!
You've got to whip it up,
Into a frenzy!


Ooh! It's what you feel,
Yes, it's my shock for real!
Flash it, it's no big deal!

This song makes me Donna Martin Graduate crazy. That's good.. sorta.

(Shouts out to the Dixie Chicks, Chicks With Dicks, Chicks With Dicks That Would Put Mine To Shame Part 2, &c.)

Posted by darwin at 01:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)