Educate and excite, inform and infuriate.

When asked about marriage, or even when not, I typically say that it’s a hard thing to do well; that probably, apart from raising children, it’s the hardest thing anyone will ever attempt. And that, in marriage, communication is not only important, but that it is the blood plasma of your relationship, though, again, it is always a difficult thing to do correctly. And that you need to have an unbreakable agreement that your marriage is for life for it to even have a chance at working. And that, particularly as a person who aspires to Christianity, you need God in your relationship to make it work. And that…well, you get the idea.

These are hard-earned truths from over 15 years of betrothal to Zakiya, and, believe me, I’m learning more all the time, every day, or at least trying to do so.

But this guy says forget all that: Just don’t get married and, if you do, do not, under any circumstances, marry an American woman.

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Book agent John Brockman’s Edge site is like crack if you’re into reading some of the world’s smartest thinkers address compelling questions related to their own typically cutting-edge research, or larger issues about the role of science in human culture.

Reuben Hersh is one such Edge intellectual. He’s professor emeritus in the University of New Mexico’s department of mathematics and statistics and author of the 1999 book What Is Mathematics, Really?, right.

Hersh’s 1997 mind-blowing elaboration on numeracy, below, is proof perfect, not only of the maxim that the more one understands a subject, the more simple and elemental their questions become but, that those questions—the simplest ones—are always the hardest to answer.

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Though almost nothing is cooler than the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video that Samuel Bayer directed for Nirvana, if you can believe it, nearly two decades ago, in 1991—not Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody or Paul Anka’s big band-styled tribute—this $44.99, 18-inch figure of Kurt Cobain from the classic vid comes close. (Thanks to super-blogger and fellow New Zealand-phile Hanan Levin at Grow-A-Brain for the tip.)

It not only talks, nor solely comes in a 7-inch, $16.99 version but, revelation!, also makes obvious that Cobain’s competition model 1969 Fender Mustang was finished in “Lake Placid Blue.” Somehow, I’d never noticed this. Perhaps I was distracted by all the marbles in his mouth.

Like mazes? Think you’re good at them? Then try these downloadable goodies on for size, tough guy.

Not so cute, funny, and sexy now, is it?: Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff/alleged mistress Christine Beatty, above, after turning themselves in to the Wayne County Sherriff’s office for mug shots and fingerprinting on perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, and other charges, Monday. Both are scheduled to be arraigned today at 1 pm CT.

Totally wicked video for “DVNO” by the French dance duo, Justice, from their 2007 album †, usually referred to as Cross. (Plus, to accompany your inevitable sense of deja vu, an attempt to identify the logotypes.) Thanks to Bobby Sattler’s wonderful Whole Lot of BS blog for hipping me to this.

Overdue congratulations to The Queen, Angela Bassett, for receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this past Thursday.

Go ahead, Elastigirl: Look behind the door….

Here’s more proof, as if you needed it, that you can make anything look like anything else with a skilled-enough editor. On this trailer, a 22-year-old film student named Breanne (YouTube member name: forensicator8) decapitates director Brad Bird’s 2004 Oscar-winning masterpiece, The Incredibles, changing it from a high-spirited romp into a fever dream of dread.

Think of it as a meta-reversal on Rob Ryang’s 2005 Shining trailer, which reframed the terror of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, giving it back as a cheesy-but-tender father-son dramedy. Now, I’m just waiting to see if some Gandalf out there can turn Last Year at Marienbad into a high-speed action movie. Impress me.

I don’t typically use MEDIA ASSASSIN to share the “Odd But True” stories that often filter through the news, like the one about this dog, or this one on over-devoted soccer fans. I also avoid the far-too-frequent crime whose stench is so outrageous we can barely believe our nostrils.

But this story is unbelieveable, for what’s in it, but even more for what’s not.

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