LIFT-OFF!

Video Highlights From SpaceX website

From CNet News:

Falcon 9 rockets into space in dramatic maiden flight

Powered by 10 engines and the vision of an Internet entrepreneur, an untried Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Friday and successfully boosted a dummy payload into orbit on a maiden voyage intended to help pave the way for commercial missions to the International Space Station.

In a major milestone for the commercial launch industry, the two-stage Falcon 9's nine first-stage Merlin engines, fueled by liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene rocket fuel, roared to life at 2:45 p.m. EDT.

Read more!

King of the World

Mock James Cameron's display of smug, self-importance if you will. When we're attacked by killer robots from the future, you won't be laughing!

From Reuters:

Director James Cameron says BP turned down help offer

Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference.

Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively with robot submarines and is considered an expert in undersea filming. He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to "those morons."

Read more!

The Power of Christ Compels Her

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confusingly expounds on the importance of the "word" in her life.



Pelosi never REALLY explains what she means by "word." Could THIS be it?


Read more!

Pot Meet Kettle

Andrew Sullivan called Peggy Noonan "unhinged" for her Wall Street Journal piece taking the Obama administration to task over their handling of the BP oil spill. Frankly anyone (like Sullivan) who is still spreading the rumor about Trig Palin being Sarah Palin's illegitimate grandchild shouldn't be calling anyone else "unhinged."

But, I digress...

After cherry picking one sentence out of Noonan's piece, Sullivan characterizes it way:

The premise of Noonan's moronic column is that the federal government, especially the president, should be capable of ending an oil-pipe rupture owned and operated by private companies, using technology that only deep-sea oil companies deploy or understand.

Bullshit. Sullivan is the one who sounds moronic by pushing his own "tangle of prejudices and feelings wrapped up in hyperbole." I read her column and Noonan's premise is clearly NOT what Sullivan describes.

Noonan says (bold added):

...I wonder if the president knows what a disaster this is not only for him but for his political assumptions. His philosophy is that it is appropriate for the federal government to occupy a more burly, significant and powerful place in America—confronting its problems of need, injustice, inequality. But in a way, and inevitably, this is always boiled down to a promise: "Trust us here in Washington, we will prove worthy of your trust." Then the oil spill came and government could not do the job, could not meet the need, in fact seemed faraway and incapable: "We pay so much for the government and it can't cap an undersea oil well!"

This is what happened with Katrina, and Katrina did at least two big things politically. The first was draw together everything people didn't like about the Bush administration, everything it didn't like about two wars and high spending and illegal immigration, and brought those strands into a heavy knot that just sat there, soggily, and came to symbolize Bushism. The second was illustrate that even though the federal government in our time has continually taken on new missions and responsibilities, the more it took on, the less it seemed capable of performing even its most essential jobs.

Her point, in other words, is that the federal government can't solve EVERY problem. And, after getting elected promising otherwise, Obama is being hoisted on his own petard. Reasonable people can disagree with Noonan's assessment. But, she's hardly over-the-top as Sullivan suggests.

FWIW, in response to an email he received criticizing Obama's slowness in organizing a clean-up, Sullivan says:

My reader has a point. Not being glued to cable, I wasn't thinking of the clean-up. But I need to look into it further before I concede the point.

He doesn't have an opinion because he's not "glued to cable?" Sounds more like Sullivan is the unhinged one.
Read more!

Step 1: Come Up With a Better Name for Plan

If this fails, BP is going to try using golf balls and scraps of rubber tires to clog the leak (I'm totally serious).

From USA Today:

BP starts 'top kill' plan

British energy giant BP said in a news release Wednesday that the "top kill" maneuver to try to stop the gushing oil from a rig in the Gulf has started, but the move has never been tried before, and company officials say it could be a couple of days before they know whether it is working.

Engineers will try to pump enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of the well and plan to follow up the mud with cement they hope will permanently seal the well.

Read more!

Shear Nonsense

The New Yorker's Cartoon Caption Contest (#240) left me feeling clipped.

I actually liked mine best:

"Norm, I left another message with the pharmacist about your Cialis dosage."

The winners, on the other hand, tried too hard (pun intended):

• "That's it. I'm returning those narciscissors today!" - ha ha, what a cut-up (NOT)
  


• "Keep going—it's starting to turn me on." - eh
  


• "I wish you’d go back to doing self-portraits." - isn't that what he is doing?

Read more!

Get Outta There

They left out Kirk's famous "Let's get the hell out of here" from "The City on the Edge of Forever," but a pretty neat compilation nonetheless.

(H/T The Hot Blog)

Read more!

Cosa Nancy

I'm about a third of the way through 2006's "The Godfather's Revenge" -- Mark Winegardner's continuation of Mario Puzo's famous saga. The novel is set between the events depicted in "The Godfather II" and "III."

I'm not quite sold on it yet. There have already been two or three references to oranges and, frankly, the motif is getting tired.

But, Winegardner does throw in neat bits like a scene with the Johnny Fontane character and his daughter. While marching in a Columbus Day parade, the daughter complains about her feet hurting from the high-heel boots she's wearing. If Fontane is meant to be Frank Sinatra, then his daughter is Nancy Sinatra. Thus, it's not too far fetched to suggest that Winegardner is making a sly reference to her big hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." Only, in this case, they're not.
Read more!

Rut Roh!!!

I'll have the "Alan Shepard" with fries.

From The Telegraph (UK):

Dog on the menu for Chinese astronauts

China's first man in space has said that Chinese astronauts eat dog meat to keep their strength up as they orbit around the earth.

Yang Liwei, the 44-year-old military pilot who commanded the Shenzhou Five mission in 2003, revealed the menu on-board the spacecraft in his autobiography, The Nine Levels between Heaven and Earth.

...He listed a menu including braised chicken, steamed fish and dog meat from Huajiang county in Guangdong, which is famed for its nutritional benefits in China.

Read more!

Lost and Found and Lost

The most inspirational video on YouTube AND a spirited rebuttal both done as palindromes. Expect to see more and more of these as they replace the "bible code" and sudoku as the next BIG thing in word play fun.

Lost Generation:


Lost Generation Sucks:

Read more!

Inventive?

The New Yorkers 238th "Cartoon Caption Content" didn't light my fire.

While my entry may have been fair, it was culturally current:

"This would be much more exciting in 3-D."

The winners, as usual IMHO, weren't all that better:

• I told you the matinée wouldn't be crowded. - I have reservations about this one
  


• And I have him booked right through the Iron Age. - check please
  


• Before we got fire, we used to talk to each other. - doesn't do a thing for me...which means it will win

Read more!

Lest We Forget

Today is the 65th anniversary of the Allies victory in Europe.

Read more!

The Name Game

Since Mad Men and Breaking Bad debuted on AMC, I’ve been struck by the alliterative nature of their respective show titles.

Well, nothing succeeds like success. So, I’m pitching ideas for other ”original” series AMC could add to their programming portfolio that use similar two word alliterative titles. To make it REALLY challenging, I made a rule that the word ending in “ad” could have ONLY three letters.

Sigh. Try as I might, I could only come up with 17 out of 24. Feel free to help.

Anecdotally Aad: Set in Amsterdam, this show follows "legal" drug dealer Aad Derksen as he finds himself more involved with the lives of his clients than he wants to be. Aad narrates each episode.

CAD Con: CADTroics, a corrupt defense contractor specializing in a “computer aided design” based weapons prototyping system wheels and deals with elected officials, military officers, and lobbyists as they peddle their own high-tech version of the “$500 Pentagon hammer.”

Designated Dad: A deadbeat dad is tracked down thirty years after abandoning his wife and now adult daughter. In lieu of back child support and/or prison time, the mom and daughter convince a judge to sentence the man to be a foster father to a mom and daughter who are the same age now as when he went AWOL.


Read more!

Private Eyes, They're Watching You

Does anyone feel exploited?

From BBC News:

Facebook fixes embarrassing security flaw

Facebook has rushed to fix a security flaw that allowed users to eavesdrop on the live chats of their friends and see their pending friend requests.

The exploit used the site's privacy features - intended to protect a user - to expose the personal information.

...The exploit - originally reported by the blog TechCrunch - worked via an option in privacy settings that allows people to preview their profiles as it would appear to their friends.

...But it was never intended to show others what their friends were actually doing.

"For a limited period of time, a bug permitted some users' chat messages and pending friend requests to be made visible to their friends by manipulating the 'preview my profile' feature of Facebook privacy settings," Facebook said in a statement.

Read more!

The Voice of Summer

In his 1974 autobiography, "Me and the Spitter," major league pitcher Gaylord Perry noted that when on the road, he would actually scout opposing batters (their strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, etc.) by listening to Ernie Harwell broadcasts. That speaks volumes.

Godspeed Ernie.


Read more!

Rifled Beer Neck

Miller Vortex: For beer drinkers who crave that "fresh from the toilet" taste.

From Brandweek.com:

MillerCoors execs met with wholesalers last week in Las Vegas to show off some of the new campaigns and products. Chief among the new innovations is something called Miller Vortex, a bottle with specially designed interior grooves that “create a vortex as you’re pouring the beer,” according to a rep, who explained that the brand’s goal is to “create buzz and excitement and give consumers another reason to choose Miller.”

Read more!

May Day Surprise

I just noticed this factoid from the Michigan.gov website regarding Michigan's Smoke Free Air Law:

"Smoking is not allowed in any indoor area as well as outdoor areas such as patios or rooftops where patrons are intended to receive service or consume food, beverages, or both."

Translation: I can't smoke a seegar OUTSIDE at my favorite coffee shop. Gov Granholm can kiss my ass (unless she bans that too).

Rant over.

Read more!

Say "Mommie"

I'm posting this classic ESPN "SportsCenter" ad featuring Gordie Howe as a display solidarity for the Detroit Red Wings who lost to the Sharks last night. I forgot that Keith Olbermann was Mr. Hockey's victim. BONUS!


Read more!

Not So Fab

In retrospect, I suppose my entry for the 236th New Yorker "Caption Contest" was too clever by half.



I was doing a take that old Beatles classic "I Am The Walrus" which doesn't seem all that funny now:

"Goo goo ga joob" my eye. You knew I was saving those eggs for the party tonight.

The winners were all better:

• “Dr. Ogden just called to say your mercury levels are on the high side.”
  


• “Did you put 3,250 pounds of 'fresh mackerel' on my credit card?” - my favorite
  


• “Those buckets of fish heads aren't going to take themselves out.”

Read more!

Ear Flaps Sold Separately

At first I thought this new "portable" internet device being touted on Mademan.com was a joke. But the ASUS EeeKeyboard seems a real soon-to-be-released product. But I think they need to go back to the drawing board as even the name sounds cumbersome. I like "eBoard" myself.

The Anti-iPad

It’s portable in so far as you can move around one room with it. Instead of no keyboard, it’s pretty much all keyboard. It runs windows, and it definitely can’t be used ostentatiously to look cool in an overpriced coffee shop. Why get it?

Because in this uncertain time of the melding of the medias at a time when you can access Break Media Network content on your phones, televisions, iPads, and even on city busses in Los Angeles, everybody is clambering to be the all-in-one media device. And, frankly, the iPad is close, but if you want something to simply run in your living room, the ASUS EeeKeyboard is the ticket. It is, as yet, unreleased, but will sell for $600.

Read more!

Duplicitous Behavior

I guess that's what you get for doing personal stuff at work.


Watch CBS News Videos Online
Read more!

Drinking and Texting Don't Mix

This is either the biggest R&D blunder since New Coke or the greatest public relations coup since New Coke (or both).

From ABC News:

Dude, Where's My Top Secret Next-Generation IPhone?

Apple Engineer Who Misplaced iPhone Prototype Was Distraught, Witnesses Say

...[Gary] Powell was celebrating his birthday at this German beer garden and left his phone at the bar.

MaryAnne Staudt, who co-owns the bar, said that Powell was upset when he returned and attempted to recover the phone and doesn't believe that it was a publicity stunt done by Apple. Staudt said she felt badly about the situation and for Powell.

His last Facebook update before he lost his phone read "I underestimated how good German beer is," which he typed from his secret iPhone, according to Gizmodo, who obtained it for $5,000 from a patron who found the device.

Read more!

The Unusual Suspects

This week I felt victimized by the 235th New Yorker "Cartoon Caption" contest.



My entry was:

"Number five please take off your cap."

I humbly submit that this captured the aburdity of the situation depicted in the cartoon better than ANY of the finalists listed below.

• "I'm six feet tall if I stand on my toes." - I don't think that any of the five are supposed to be talking. But even if I grant that the girl is the one speaking (I guess she could be), her comment is, at best, mediocre.
  
  
• "O.K., now we'd like to see No. 4 in the tutu." - why?
  
  
• "These were winnowed down from a group of thirty-seven using DNA testing." - did the New Yorker judges REALLY laugh at this?

Read more!

Email Extractions Made Easy

I tried out this neat tool the other day: Digeus Jet Email Extractor. It lets me generate targeted email lists pulled from different news servers (which is next to impossible to do manually).


According to the Digeus website, Jet Email Extractor:

• Captures email addresses at very high speed. Multithreaded. Average speed is 100,000 emails per hour!


• Extracts not only user's email but also name for personalized emailings


• Automatically removes duplicate and incorrect email addresses


• Extraction is strongly targeted to specific audience (choose audience by selecting target-related news groups);


• Exports the results into text file (mailing list)

My inner geek was very impressed.

Read more!

He Couldn't Crack 80

Unless they grading on a curve at MSU, this guy only gets a "C."

From WXYZ.com:

Thong Thief Arrested at Michigan State

Michigan State University police say they have arrested a man who stole 79 pairs of women's underwear from the laundry rooms of the school's dorms.

Officers have been able to trace one of the thefts to the laundry room in West Akers Hall. It reportedly happened in mid-March.

In that case, officers say, the 19-year-old suspect stole 15 pairs of underwear from the laundry room. A witness reportedly saw him stealing the underwear and called police. Officers also used the dorm's surveillance cameras to identify the suspect.

Read more!

Pointless Wireless

I'm not ready for a "hotspot" in my bathroom.

From CNN:

Why games will take over our lives

If you think an electric toothbrush is high-tech, wait until you hear about the Internet-enabled version.

Jesse Schell, a game designer and Carnegie Mellon University professor, says toothbrushes will be hooked-up with Wi-Fi Internet connections within five years.

The point? If the entire Internet knows how often you brush your teeth and for how long, there's an incentive to brush more often.

Read more!

Bad Vibrations?

It's what I'd call a "feature."

From The Huffington Post:

Amanda Flowers Claims Wii Fit Injury Made Her A Sex Addict

Amanda Flowers, a 24-year-old from Manchester, claims that a Wii Fit injury has turned her into a sex addict.

After falling from her Wii Fit board, Flowers reports that even minor vibrations--such as from a food processor, she says-- "turns her on." She was told by a doctor that she had suffered a damaged nerve that has provoked "persistent sexual arousal syndrome."

Read more!

Time's Up!

In case anyone forgot:




Read more!

The Adventures of Buckaroo Leonardo Across the 3rd Dimension

Game over Reverend!


Read more!

Neo-Retro

Looks like I've found a use for old 33s.

Sleeveface
one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion.




(H/T Webdesignerdepot.com)

Read more!

Facebook the Nation

This piece over at Collegehumor.com nails it. While funny, it does strike a little too close to home for my inner troll. Let he or she who is without sin cast the first stone (dammit).

...more

Read more!

Jobbed Out

And you thought Bill Gates played rough.

From eHappened.com:

Apple Products Can't Run Flash

The comments have been posed by Adobe that Apple’s refusal to run Adobe Flash on
it’s various products could drastically hurt the company. These comments were brought about in an official quarterly review filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission on Friday, April 9, 2010. Adobe believes that with Apple’s refusal to run Adobe Flash, it makes it more difficult for Adobe products to perform and Adobe customers are then forced to try alternative technologies which they may not be familiar with.

It has been reported that Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, has described Adobe Flash as buggy and a memory blog. Almost three quarters of the videos on the worldwide web use Adobe Flash, so this statement doesn’t seem to be very accurate.

Read more!

iPlanned Obsolescence

Here's one way to burn through five hundred dollars in two minutes.


Read more!

Expendable Income

Guess which movie gets my 2010 action/adventure film dollar:

a. The "A-Team" remake
b. The Expendables" starring a real "A" team

(answer: b)


Read more!

Future Shock

This 1969 speculation on is prescient from a technological standpoint. But, it falls short in its social predictions.

Notice how upset the husband (played by Wink Martindale of all people) looks when he sees how much his wife is spending. Of course, in the real world, it's probably the wife who gets annoyed when she finds out how much her husband spends on Internet porn.


Read more!

Print The Legend

Near the end of the 1970 bio-pic Patton, released in the U.S. 40 years ago today, the larger-than-life title character, Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., is shown having his likeness captured on canvas. The painting session is interrupted when the volatile old cavalryman has a heated phone call with a superior where he loudly declares that the large American troop presence in Germany should be used to take on their next military adversary, the Russians. Flabbergasted, the higher-ranking general on the other end of the line slams down the receiver exclaiming, “You’re mad!” Patton sends the artist away declaring that no one will be interested in a portrait of a madman.

I’ve often thought that the filmmakers staged this scene as a subtle commentary on their own approach in bringing Patton’s story to the big screen.

Full post at Edward Copeland on Film
Read more!

Thunderbill

It was only a matter of time. Hopefully, 007 can infiltrate and destroy his operation before things get out of hand.

From Yahoo News:

Bill Gates, Toshiba in early talks on nuclear reactor

A company backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Toshiba are in early talks to jointly develop a small nuclear reactor, the Japanese electronics giant said Tuesday.

The Nikkei business daily earlier reported that the two sides would team up to develop a compact next-generation reactor that can operate for up to 100 years without refueling to provide emission-free energy.

Read more!

For The Many Things She Gave Me

I posted this creepy 1968 American Airlines ad on Basket of Kisses. I think Mad Men's Don Draper would approve.


Read more!

Suffer The Children

I think the church is overreacting here. A more vanilla, upbeat Stations of the Cross depiction kinda misses the point. No?

From The Washington Post:

Texas church bans child's photograph of Passion

Some find Jackson Potts II's photograph of a nightstick-wielding policeman beating a fallen, bleeding child violent and offensive, conjuring images of police brutality and child
abuse.

But to Jackson, a talented 10-year-old Houston photographer, and a cadre of art lovers, the disturbing image has religious symbolism.

Jackson shot the photograph for an exhibit depicting the Stations of the Cross, but the show's organizers rejected it, sparking a controversy some say is overshadowing remembrance of Jesus' final hours during the season of Lent.

...Jackson was assigned to portray the seventh Station of the Cross, where Jesus fell for a second time while carrying the cross to the site of his crucifixion. The home-schooled fifth-grader, who is taking a class on religious symbols in art at a Catholic church, decided to do a modern depiction of Christ being beaten by a Roman soldier.

Read more!

Cold Cardigan

This was a particularly jarring image. My first thought was "OMIGOD! They've cryogenized Mr. Rogers!"



From MSNBC article:

Volunteer day would honor Mister Rogers

Brad Burmeister, left, and Michael Dubois move a figure of the late Fred Rogers, host of the PBS children's television program "Mister Rogers Neighborhood," at the Heinz History Center before it is placed on exhibit at the museum in Pittsburgh, on Friday, March 19.

Read more!

Reds

Yesterday, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, MSN published a list of "All Time Hottest Redheads" which I've copied below. As Raquel Welch was omitted to make room for the likes of Lindsey Lohan, Rupert Grint, and Conan O'Brien, I can't personally sanction it.

12. Lindsey Lohan
11. Emma Stone
10. Rupert Grint
9. Julianne Moore
8. Conan O'Brien
7. Ann-Margret
6. Isla Fisher
5. Nicole Kidman
4. Prince Harry
3. Rita Hayworth
2. Ewan McGregor
1. Christina Hendricks

Read more!

Periodic Confusion

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, someone throws me a curve.

(h/t The Daily Dish)

Read more!

Child's Play

• Pay waitress...check.
  
• Load gifts into car...check.
  
• Pack up left-over pizza and cake...check.

Forgotten anything? Hmmm...oh well, it must not be important. Let's roll!

From The Detroit News:

Warren parents leave boy, 3, at Caesarland birthday party

Charges possible in case; child now in foster care

In a case police call "outrageous and disturbing," the parents of a 3-year-old could face child abuse and abandonment charges today after reportedly leaving the toddler at Caesarland on Saturday following his birthday celebration.

Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said the parents, a 33-year-old woman and 41-year-old man, took the boy to the Chuck E. Cheese-style restaurant for a party. Around 9 p.m., the manager spotted the child and couldn't find anyone to claim him. Staffers contacted police, who handed him over to Child Protective Services, which placed the boy in foster care.

...Both said that up until Sunday, each thought the other had the child or that he could be with a grandmother, he added.

Read more!

Keeping It Rielle

Has it been 15 minutes yet?

From CBS News:

Rielle Hunter Pictures in GQ are "Repulsive," Says John Edwards' Lover

Rielle Hunter may not regret breaking her silence, but the GQ photo shoot which shows her pantless is breaking her heart.

Hunter reportedly "cried for two hours" after she saw the pictures she deemed "repulsive" that accompanied the 10,000 word interview she did with GQ magazine, according to Barbara Walters.

Read more!

The Future Is Now

Paul meets Peter.

From MSNBC:

Social Security needs Uncle Sam's IOUs — now

Government expected to borrow more, especially abroad, to start payback

The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.

It's time to start cashing them in.

For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.

Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more.

Sounds like a good time to start tapping the nest egg. Too bad the federal government already spent that money over the years on other programs, preferring to borrow from Social Security rather than foreign creditors. In return, the Treasury Department issued a stack of IOUs — in the form of Treasury bonds — which are kept in a nondescript office building just down the street from Parkersburg's municipal offices.

Read more!

Close Shave

Phone call or bikini line? Make up your mind, I've got to adjust the car seat.

There's SOOO many unanswered questions in this story. Why was the ex in the car at all? Since she was driving, you'd think it was her car...right? Was he going to use it after dropping her off? Did she grab the razor at the last second while heading out the door OR does she keep it in the glove compartment? And how does the new guy feel about his girlfriend doing her grooming with the ex nearby?

From CBS 4, South Florida:

Driving On Razor's Edge: Shaving Behind The Wheel

You've heard of the dangers of texting while driving, and talking on the phone while behind the wheel of a car. But how many people actually debate the merits of doing a little, well, "landscaping" while on the road?

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a two-car crash on Cudjoe Key was caused by a 37-year-old woman who was shaving her bikini area while in the driver's seat. Her ex-husband was steering from the passenger seat.

Trooper Gary Dunick explained, "She said she was meeting her boyfriend in Key West and wanted to be ready for the visit."

Read more!

Cold Stones Are Cool

If the films nominated for Academy Awards in 2010 were Olympic sports, figure skating—full of sights, sounds, and lots of media attention—would be Avatar, the halfpipe—entertaining and edgy—Inglourious Basterds, and hockey—an unglamorous study in grinding perseverance—The Hurt Locker. For Americans, curling wouldn’t appear until “The Best Animated Short” category: "A Matter of Loaf and Death" starring Wallace and Gromit.

One of the noteworthy, albeit minor, stories coming out of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver was some unexpectedly positive murmuring about curling. The genuine curiosity exhibited about the sport could very well be a precursor for more mainstream American interest. U.S. team captain John Shuster expressed satisfaction that Vancouver had helped to put curling “on the map.” Of course, a lot of the attention curling received this year was due to things having nothing to do with the sport itself. Such as the tittering over the Norwegian team’s garishly patterned pants. So, it remains to be seen if curling has the potential to attain more than hacky sack-like fad status in the U.S.

I’ve never set foot on a curling surface myself but I’ve been a closet fan for years. Although, I didn’t realize I was in the closet or that such a closet even existed.

Read the Full Post at The House Next Door...
Read more!

Sounds Fishy

In case you missed it, when director Louie Psihoyos accepted his "best documentary" Oscar for “The Cove,” he held up a sign encouraging people to text the word "dolphin" to a certain number.

They cut away from him pretty fast. So, here it is.
Read more!

Newsweak

Here's a 1995 Newsweek piece by Clifford Stoll predicting the demise of the Internet. I think there's another article in the same issue discussing why Deep Blue Something, who had just released "Breakfast At Tiffanys," would be the most influential band of the 90's.

FWIW, Stoll recently joked about being wrong here.

The Internet? Bah!

Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn't, and will never be, nirvana

After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Read more!

Supportive Characters

This list is long overdue.

However, whoever assembled it, sorta breaks their own "Too well known in a particular role" rule with Kevin Tighe (who EVERYONE knows from Emergency) and Bill McKinney, the mean hick who Burt Reynolds kills with an arrow in Deliverance.

And why Sam Elliott is mentioned makes no sense at all!

"That Guy!"

Have you ever been watching TV or a movie and pointed to the screen and said, "Hey! It's That Guy!"? Well, here is where you'll find him. This page is dedicated to the character actors collectively known as "That Guy".

That Guy is easy to recognize and difficult to place. You can describe him but not name him.

If someone asks, "Do you know the old grubby guy with a big belly and wild white hair that always wears a beat up brown derby and plays a drunk in westerns?" You'll know exactly who they mean, but you'll have no idea that his name is Dub Taylor.

Read more!

Sharkonomics

The mayor of Amity would disagree.

From MyFox New York:

Shark Attacks Drop in US During Economic Downturn

Human beings weren't the only ones cutting back on their consumption during the economic downturn: Sharks lost their appetites too, according to research released Monday.

The number of shark attacks in the U.S. declined to 28 in 2009 from 41 in 2008, building on a drop from 2007's 50 incidents, University of Florida researchers said.

George Burress, director of the International Shark Atttack File at UF, blamed a familiar culprit.

"The economy could have had an effect on how many times people can afford to put gas in their cars and go to the beach," Burress said in a statement.

Read more!

The Man In Black's Birthday

Today is Johnny Cash's birthday. My favorite Cash tune is "The Man Comes Around." Like a lot of his later work, I didn't warm to it right away. But after letting it settle in, I count it as among his best efforts.


Read more!

Taran-Tribute

Ibraheem Youssef, a Toronto based Designer/Art Director, has created some some neat prints as part of his Quentin Tarantino graphic movie poster series (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2, DeathProof, and Inglourious Basterds).

He crafts an insightful commentary on the whole film in one simple image. For instance, the various culture clashes displayed throughout Inglorious Basterds are neatly summed up through contrasting methods of ordering a round drinks. Or, the last five steps taken by Bill in Kill Bill Vol 2. My favorite one are the colored crayons used for Reservoir Dogs.




Read more!

I Don't Do Windows

For once I don't have any real complaints with The New Yorker. As usual, the winners in their 227th "Cartoon Caption Contest" were a mixed lot. But, to be perfectly clear, my entry wasn't all that special either.

I submitted:

"So he says 'If you think you can do better, then be my guest.' And the rest is history."

Here are the finalists:

• “The revolution has begun!” - comsi comsa
  
  
• “I finally got that desk job I’ve been looking at.” - you're fired
  
  
• “I am telling you this guy is a micromanager.” - I actually like this one

Read more!

CILF

Wow. I wonder where I could get a Cheryl Bernard calendar?

From MSN:

Curlers: The new Olympic sex symbols

Are curlers the new sexy beasts?

There was a time when you didn't hear the words curler and fit in the same sentence. But looking at the field at the 2010 Winter Olympics — led by fitness poster boy John Morris of Ottawa and buff fitness freak Cheryl Bernard of Calgary — the sport seems to have been given a sexy makeover.

Read more!

Warped

Fail. The medals for the 2010 Olympics look like old vinyl records that have been left out in the sun too long.

From Trendhunter Magazine:

Vancouver Releases Unique Medal Designs for 2010

Athletes competing in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games can look forward to wearing one of these uniquely designed Olympic medals around their neck. The Vancouver Organizing Committeerevealed the new designs today which, for the first time in Olympic history, are not flat.

...The dramatic form of the Vancouver 2010 medals is inspired by the ocean waves, drifting snow and mountainous landscape found in the Games region and throughout Canada.

Read more!

The Man Doth Protest Too Much (Methinks)

On his website, Nick Waters sets out to explore the "chick flick" genre in order to better "understand the opposite sex."

Two things occurred to me as I scanned his site.

First, why did he categorize Couples Retreat and Atonement as chick flicks? Instead of just fielding random suggestions from friends and family, he really should have established some sort of clear definition.

Second, while I probably don't understand women, I do get men. I think Waters is just trying to get laid.

From 30 Chick Flicks in 30 Days:

How far would you go to understand the opposite sex?

That question has helped to fuel the idea behind this site, “30 Chick Flicks in 30 Days: One Guy’s Exploration of Romance Through Movies Loved by Women”.

First, you should know that I’m that “guy” exploring these films. Second, my name is Nick. I’m a husband, and have been for seven years. Third, no one put me up to this.
And fourth, I’m not some professional film critic. I live in a small town in southern Oklahoma. I work in communications.

This little experiment will begin Friday, Jan. 15, 2010, and conclude on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010—the day before Valentine’s Day. That’s 30-straight days; 30-straight chick flicks.

Read more!

With Arms Wide Open

The Snuggie plus Avatar equals: Hug E Gram.


Read more!