Move over Hedgehog, US Federal Appeals Court Judge Alex Kozinski is my new porno hero. Because of his personal web site, which includes a few “adult” images purportedly uploaded by his son, Kozinski has suspended the obscenity trial he was overseeing.

From my pal the BBC:

Mr Kozinski granted a joint prosecution and defence motion to suspend the trial after prosecutors asked for time to explore a potential conflict of interest.
It came after Mr Kozinski admitted in an interview published on the Los Angeles Times website that he had posted the material and shared some of it with friends.
Earlier, jurors had spent hours watching videos of bestiality and extreme fetishes that were evidence in the trial of Ira Isaacs, a Los Angeles businessman.
Everyone in the family stores stuff there, and I had no idea what some of the stuff is or was
Judge Alex Kozinski
Mr Kozinski told the newspaper that he thought most of the material on his website was “funny” but acknowledged some of it was inappropriate.

“More than 4,000 Chinese children are named Olympic Games.” No shit. That headline just kinda jumped out at me. Naming your child “Olympic Games” is the new. Jennifer? Charles? No, Olympic Games. Prince, the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known Prince, is way jealous.

From BBC:

More than 4,000 children in China have been given the name Aoyun, meaning Olympic Games, in the past 15 years.
The rise in popularity of the name is seen as a sign of support for the Games being staged in August in Beijing.
Officials in charge of identity cards say that more than 92% of the 4,104 registered Aoyuns are boys.
It is not uncommon for Chinese children to be given names of common events and popular slogans - such as Defend China, Build the Nation and Space Travel.
There are 290,798 registered Civilisations.
The first surge in Aoyuns came in 1992, when China applied to host to the 2000 Games. About 680 Aoyuns were registered at the time.
In 2002 another 553 Aoyuns were named, after China was chosen to host the 2008 Games.
The BBC’s Chinese service says that in recent weeks babies have also been given names such as Hope for Sichuan, to show solidarity with earthquake victims.

For those waiting in clench-jawed anticipation for another season of The Simpsons, there’s good news. With the announcement that the voice cast is getting raises, plans for the show’s 20th season are all but cemented. No doubt the cast does a great job voicing so many characters (was anyone else flabbergasted at The Simpsons Movie credits?), but one has to wonder if the raise could end up being the financial liability nail in the coffin.

With a healthy, yet declining viewership and continuous claims from long-time fans and critics that the show has been going downhill for years, at what point will it no longer make sense in terms of dollars and cents, to produce the longest running animated show on television? Most self-proclaimed Simpsons fans I know will attest that the show isn’t what it used to be. I can’t help but agree. Still, how much of the criticism can be traced back to the “I liked their old stuff better” phenomenon, where nostalgia mixes in with the memories, rendering any new work pale in comparison. I caught a newer episode the other night, and while it didn’t floor me it was at least decent, which is more than I can say for most stuff on the tube. I’ll take a mediocre Simpsons over 90% of the shows currently on the air. The people signing the checks at $400,000 an actor per episode must agree.

From BBC News:

The cast of The Simpson have signed a four-year deal that guarantees a 20th season of the popular TV show, according to trade paper Variety.
Production was delayed for several months while the voice actors and 20th Century Fox TV discussed an agreement.
Variety said the salaries of the stars - including Dan Castellaneta (Homer) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) - would rise to $400,000 (£200,000) an episode.
The Simpsons is the US’ longest-running prime-time entertainment series.
Because of the delay, 20 episodes of the new series will be made instead of the usual 22, Variety said.
It is not the first time production on The Simpsons has been delayed for salary negotiations.
In 2004, production was halted for a month after a pay dispute over contracts led the stars to stop work.
Each cast member was seeking about $360,000 per episode, Variety reported at the time. The actors were previously earning $125,000 (£70,000) a show.
In the past, the cast have argued that their wages are relatively low given the huge popularity and success of The Simpsons.
As part of the latest deal, Castellaneta has been named consulting producer on the series. He will serve as a writer in addition to his role as a voice performer.

Nepal, known best in the West as the place where heavily bundled sherpas help rich, white, dumb people climb Mt. Everest, is happy to announce that after 240 years of royal rule, they have voted the monarchy out. Former insurgent Maoist rebels (now just “Maoists”) came out the strongest party after last month’s elections and have ousted the widely-unpopular royals.

From BBC:

The approved proposal states that Nepal is “an independent, indivisible, sovereign, secular and an inclusive democratic republic nation”.
Only four members of the 601-seat assembly opposed the change.
Royal privileges “will automatically come to an end”, the declaration says.
It also states that the king’s main palace must be vacated within a fortnight, to be transformed into a museum.
Several thousand people began celebrating in the streets of Kathmandu ahead of the move. “This is the people’s victory,” former Maoist rebel Kamal Dahal, 22, told Reuters news agency.
“With today’s declaration of a republic we have achieved what we fought for.”

Now, whether or not Maoist rule will ultimately benefit Nepalis remains to be seen.

From the BBC:

“The Scotsman newspaper quoted Ms Power as saying: “She is a monster, too - that is off the record - she is stooping to anything.”

Obama Adviser Samantha Power Resigns, but it’s too early in the morning to process politics. Before my first cup of coffee, I thought in terms of spin:

Sam Power is a Pulitzer Prize winner - certainly she knows nothing is off the record — especially juicy quotes — and this episode of her resigning is a highly calculated move. It shows Obama taking the moral high ground and forcing anyone in his camp who slings mud to resign, showing him as the moral candidate and better choice as leader.
And me pointing this out as a strategic move not done for morals, but politics, would mean that I’m for Clinton. But since I’m actually for Obama, and that this whole post seems to actually vilify Obama for his duplicity, it’s real purpose is making more Obama fans rush to his aid and defend him. But really, I hope Obama is a little duplicitous because it’s a cut throat world and we need our leader to have some cunning.

See isn’t politics fun?

Now that I’m having my coffee and have had a moment to discuss this with one of the Synthesis office’s sages, I of course realize that I’m too dumb for politics, or maybe not dumb enough for politics, and that I should just drink my coffee and find out what cool bands from Norway will be playing SXSW in Austin next week.

Admittedly I was still half-asleep, but yesterday morning I swear I caught a news piece on the BBC claiming that animal husbandry specialists are showing zoo-confined pandas some videos of pandas humping. In other words, panda porn. Apparently these beasts only mate in a couple-day window per year, and pandas in captivity usually have no interest in getting down, prompting scientists to come up with, uh, marital aids. No proof that this works yet, but the scientists apparently like it.

Ah, here’s the article.

And in other Panda news, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww:

For more awesome Panda Cuteness, please consult the BBC Here.