I Hear Tidings: Chat Roulette, Saddam’s Private Pics and Semantics of Counter-Terrorism

I’m going to stay with the brand spanking new layout for a while, really ma, I will. But while I’m on the subject of re-designs, my daily round-up post Points of Interest has too boring a title. If I want to play in the big leagues, I need to write like I’m in the big leagues. The title’s got to be grandoise, sweeping, earth-rumbling. So I present to you…

I Hear Tidings

Yeaahhhh, you know you like it.

AVATAR: Jason Bourne or Donnie Darko see you. They could’ve, anyway. The LA Times reports that Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal turned down the role of Jake Sully for James Cameron’s obscure indie flick Avatar.

CHAT ROULETTE: I dream of a dick-less Chat Roulette. Pictures of these randomized camera encounters — some funny, some really not.

CURLING: I’m no longer alone in calling curling one of the sexiest sports at the Winter Olympics. Photographer and former member of the Andorran curling team Ana Arce shoots a NSFW calendar of female curlers.

SADDAM: A window into Saddam Hussein’s private life, among friends and associates in the Tikrit area where he grew up. Slate has a slide-show photo essay on how such images helped to the dictator’s capture.

TED: GOOD Magazine compiles the best talks from the TED 2010 Conference, which include neuroscientist Sam Harris on fact-based morality, 4Chan founder Christopher Poole on anonymity and sociologist Nicholas Christakis on how social networks affect our happiness.

TERRORISM: The man who crashed a plane in Austin, TX with the intent to destroy the local offices of the IRS was declared to have committed a “criminal act” and not a “terrorist” one. Is counter-terrorism really just counter-Islamic extremism? HuffPost international security blogger Jeff Schneider asks: When is violence considered as terrorism?