(Feel free to post the inevitable Chuck Norris jokes in the comments.)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
"Chuck Norris" was Facebook master password
Aurochs: It's what's for dinner! (Maybe...)
The aurochs - a species of wild cattle a little less than the size of an elephant and the ancestor of modern breeding cattle - has been extinct since 1624.
And now a group of Italian scientists are planning to "breed back" the aurochs.
I wonder how well-done aurochs tastes with A1 Steak Sauce.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Senate election in Massachusetts cries out for 17th Amendment repeal
I don't live in Massachusetts so yesterday's special election that saw Scott Brown win the seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy didn't hold any interest for me. But I'd be deaf and blind not to know about the ridiculous amount of passion that's built up over this election in the past few weeks and months.
Some are saying that Brown won because "the independents are angry". Which in my mind begs the question: was Ted Kennedy only winning those unconscionably numerous terms of office because he benefited from straight-ticket voting: something that, to the best of my knowledge, wasn't an option in yesterday's election? Seems to me that's an insult to ol' Teddy's memory: as if openly admitting that he couldn't win election on his own merit but rather had to ride the coattails of the Democrat Party.
I've never been in favor of allowing straight-ticket voting anyway. If you're going to the polls to cast a ballot, you should be compelled to think long and hard about who exactly you're voting for. Voting is a right, but it's one bought with too much precious blood to be an overly convenient one.
Anyhoo, the real reason why I'm not really feelin' anything one way or the other about this election is because in the saner world of another time, this election wouldn't have happened and Ted Kennedy likely would never have gotten close to a Senate seat anyway. Because before the Seventeenth Amendment was passed, senators were elected by the state legislatures! The Founders meant for the House to represent the people and for the Senate to represent the states. It's the way it was until 1912 when the Seventeenth was ratified and senators were elected by popular vote.
Sure, there were problems with the previous method of electing senators. But you tell me: could it possibly have been any worse than the dirty, corrupt slugfest that modern Senate campaigns have become?
Consider this also: would something like "health care reform" stand even a remote chance of becoming an inssue in a Senate made up of members who were sent their by their respective states, rather than be installed (for lack of a better word) by political parties?
The Seventeenth Amendment has proven to be a failure more spectacular than Prohibition. It should be repealed and the election of senators returned to the individual state legislatures.
I wish Scott Brown all the best as he begins serving the people of Massachusetts in the United States Senate. But the fact of the matter remains: those of his caliber deserve a more dignified way of coming to the Senate.
And we the people deserve that as well.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Has the Poe Toaster gone "Nevermore"?
Very unusual and perplexing news coming out of Baltimore this morning: the Poe Toaster did NOT show up to make his/her annual tribute to Edgar Allan Poe! For the first time since the ritual has been recorded - at least since 1949 - it simply didn't happen.
Every year on Poe's birthday of January 19th, in the very early morning hours, a mysterious figure has come out of the darkness to visit the original burial site of Poe. The Poe Toaster leaves roses and a bottle of cognac, and then disappears just as quickly as he (or she) arrived? Nobody knows who this person is. And thankfullly the Poe Toaster has been left un-harassed during the course of the tradition: there should be some mystery still left in this world, yes?
But this year, for the first time ever, the Poe Toaster failed to come.
Jeff Jerome, the curator of the Edgar Allan Poe House, said this morning that he'll give the Poe Toaster two more years to come again before declaring that the tradition has apparently been concluded.
Here's hoping that the Poe Toaster, wherever he or she is, is well and that the commemoration of Edgar Allan Poe will continue for years still to come.
The latest of Dad's knife handiwork
Damascus steel blade for a commission job. And yes, Dad even made the sheath...
Lord willing, I'll wind up even half as good as Dad is at this craft :-)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Alternate ending for DOCTOR WHO "The End of Time"
Apparently, in case David Tennant had a last-moment change of mind and decided that he wanted to keep playing the Doctor on Doctor Who, Russell T Davies filmed another ending for "The End of Time".
Here it is!
Poor Wilfred :-P
(And thanks to Lee Shelton for passing this along!)
AVATAR tech could let Clint Eastwood play 70s-era Dirty Harry again
With Avatar still breaking box office records (it was #1 in theaters for the fifth straight weekend) and now starting to garner prizes (like at last night's Golden Globes) James Cameron is talking about the practical application of the technology that he and his team came up with for the movie...
But hey: a 1970s-era Dirty Harry movie with Clint Eastwood back as Harry Callahan and looking exactly as he did in his thirties/forties? Or... how about an Indiana Jones movie where Harrison Ford really does get to fight during the World War II years against the Nazis (bet Lucas and Spielberg are already thinking about it)? Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro can now have Ian Holm play a younger Bilbo Baggins for their upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit...
Sure, it's terrific for turning human actors into big blue alien Na'vis. But the photorealistic CGI technology James Cameron perfected for Avatar could easily be used for other, even more mind-blowing purposes—like, say, bringing Humphrey Bogart back to life, or making Clint Eastwood look 35 again. "How about another Dirty Harry movie where Clint looks the way he looked in 1975?" Cameron suggests. "Or a James Bond movie where Sean Connery looks the way he did in Doctor No? How cool would that be?"In the article at EW.com Cameron also talks about the ethical line that has to be respected in regards to this sort of thing, like how it can't be billed as the real Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart if they were put into a movie together with the advanced CGI.In a way, Cameron has already pulled off this trick: Sigourney Weaver appears to drop 20 years whenever she slips her consciousness into an alien body in Avatar. But Cameron's facial scanning process is so precise—zeroing in to the very pores of an actor's skin—that virtually any manipulation is possible. You may not be able to totally replace an actor—"There’s no way to scan what's underneath the surface to what the actor is feeling," the director notes—but it is now theoretically possible to extend careers by digitally keeping stars young pretty much forever.
...and I guess Johnny Depp really can get his chance to play Captain Jack Sparrow for the rest of his life :-)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Happy LeePoeKing Day Weekend from The Knight Shift!
This is the weekend here in the United States where we have an extra day off to commemorate the lives and contributions of three great Americans...
First, born on January 19th in 1807, there is Robert E. Lee: to this day one of the most revered and beloved generals in American history. And in this blogger's mind, also one of the greatest examples of Christian virtue and service. Eventually Lee had to make the hardest choice of his career: to lead the Union army or to throw his lot in with the Confederacy. As we all know Lee became the general of the Army of Northern Virginia. But what choice did he have? Lee was morally unable to take up arms against what he considered to be his countrymen. His role in the war and even his personal character have been debated for years... but in my mind there is no grounds for debate. Robert E. Lee simply sought out to do what God would have him do, as best he could understand Him. How many of us say the same about ourselves?
Born on the same day two years later was Edgar Allan Poe: the father of the detective story and the one most credited for developing what became the modern horror genre. Poe's influence is still considerable today, especially in literature and film. Unfortunately his later literary success did not reflect his life: Poe's years were wracked with personal tragedy, including the early death of his young wife. He died in Balimore, Maryland at the age of forty, leaving behind such works as "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Masque of the Red Death".
And on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia was born Martin Luther King, Jr.. Interesting historical note: King was originally born "Michael King Jr." until his family visited Germany in 1934. So inspired by the life of Martin Luther was the elder King that he legally changed both his name and that of his son. Martin Luther King Jr. was in the church choir that sang at the Atlanta premiere of Gone With The Wind in 1939. He entered college at the age of 15, became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church when he was 25, and earned his doctorate the following year. The rest of his life, of course, was devoted to the civil rights movement and the dream of a nation whose people "...will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
So wherever you are, and whoever you might be, HAPPY LEEPOEKING DAY!
Would YOU notice a clown on a unicycle?
"I was trying to think about what kind of distraction we could put out there, and I talked to this student who had a unicycle," said Ira E. Hyman Jr., a professor in the university's psychology department. "He said, 'What's more, I own a clown suit.' You don’t have a student who unicycles in a clown suit every day, so you have to take advantage of these things."That does it: I'm never taking my cellphone to the circus again! :-)The result is a fascinating study that suggests pedestrians who talk on cellphones are oblivious to the events around them.
In two studies, Dr. Hyman and his students monitored pedestrian traffic across a popular campus square. They tracked a total of 347 pedestrians, noting whether they were walking without distraction, listening to music, talking with a friend or talking on the phone. In the first study, they noticed that people talking on the cellphone walked more slowly, changed directions more frequently and were often weaving off course. They were also less likely to acknowledge other people with a head nod or a wave.
Now, enter the unicycling clown. The student, Dustin Randall, donned a purple-and-yellow clown costume with polka dot sleeves, red shoes and bulbous red nose. And then Mr. Randall hopped on a unicycle and began pedaling around the square for an hour.
After pedestrians crossed the square, the researchers stopped the walkers and asked, "Did you see anything unusual?"
Among pedestrians who were listening to music or walking alone, one in three mentioned that they had just seen a clown on a unicycle. Nearly 60 percent of people who were walking with a friend mentioned the clown. But among people who had been talking on the cellphone, only 8 percent spontaneously remembered the clown.
Then the researchers followed up with a second question: "Did you see the unicycling clown?" With prompting, 71 percent of the people walking with a friend remembered the clown. The numbers were also higher for people listening to music (61 percent) and those who were walking alone (51 percent).
But among those who had been talking on a cellphone, the ability to recall seeing the clown still was startlingly low. Only 25 percent of cellphone talkers remembered seeing a clown on a unicycle, according to the report in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology. (emphasis mine)
"It's a huge dropoff of awareness of the environment around them," Dr. Hyman said. "It shows that even during as simple a task as walking, performance drops off when talking on the cellphone. They're slower, less aware of their surroundings and weaving around more. It shows how much worse it would be if they were driving a car, which is a more complex task to manage."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Saturday evening theological rumination...
Sharing one's beliefs is fine. One sharing Christ is far better.
Some guy made a REAL working Star Trek phaser!
Jay Rob took an old-school Star Trek phaser gun toy, cannibalized the innards of a Blu-ray player to get at the laser diode, and pulled off one of the kewlest hardhacks I've ever seen. The result: a phaser that seriously works!
Okay, it doesn't actually disintegrate anything and there's no "stun" setting... but Jay's phaser is powerful enough to pop balloons from across the room.
Watch it in action...
And if you're of the tinkerin' sort, Jay has posted detailed instructions on how you can build your own "phaser".
Great job Jay! Now, can you get to work on constructing a real working lightsaber? :-)
Friday, January 15, 2010
Want to help those in Haiti? Consider giving to New Directions International
All two of this blog's regular readers know: I never endorse anything here unless I can sincerely trust a person or organization to the utmost. Well, in light of what's going on down in Haiti right now in the aftermath of this week's earthquake, many folks are wondering what they can do to help out the people of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.
So if your heart is leading you to make a contribution toward the relief efforts there but you may not have known where exactly to lend your resources to, I would like to recommend that you consider giving to New Directions International.
Based in Graham, North Carolina, New Directions is a Christian outreach ministry that, among many other things, sends food and supplies to South America, Africa and plenty of other regions around the world. They are also quite active in helping to construct buildings for local congregations in those same areas. Being familiar with a number of people involved at New Directions International, I can absolutely and completely vouch for their commitment, their integrity and their Christ-like love toward others.
Nobody's asked me to make this post. I'm doing it because the local Fox affiliate this evening aired a story about New Directions and its operations in Haiti. The ministry had planned for two mission trips there in the coming weeks: missions that are obviously now hanging in limbo. Several Haitian colleagues of New Directions are being reported missing or dead. There's also a story in Burlington's Times-News about what's happening at the ministry following the earthquake.
New Directions is currently raising money for food and other aid to the victims of this week's earthquake. You can visit their website at www.newdirections.org. The phone number is 336-227-1273.
If you cannot donate funds, please keep the people at New Directions International in your thoughts and prayers. This blogger, for one, will be very thankful if you do.
YouTube called: I beat Comcast
Okay, YouTube didn't really call me, but you know...
Last month I reported that Comcast was giving me grief about how I posted a clip from E!'s show The Soup where they used MY commercial from the school board campaign in 2006... without asking me, but I was fine with that. I just expected the same courtesy from E! and its ownership that I have given them. That's not too much to ask, in my mind.
And of course, this whole thing is too much like that crazy situation with Viacom a little over two years ago. And just as I did with Viacom then I filed a counterclaim with YouTube, per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
A short while ago I received the following e-mail from YouTube:
Re: [#561937480] YouTube SupportSo for the third time now (first Viacom, then NBC which quickly acquiesced and retracted their claim against me for posting a clip of The Jay Leno Show that also used my commercial, and now with Comcast) my filing the DMCA counterclaim has been successful. And that's why I'm compelled again to discuss this. Because if an independent content producer like me can take on three multi-billion dollar corporations over DMCA abuse and win each time, then any small-time content producer can do likewise and come out on top.Copyright Service to me
Hi there,
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we've completed
processing your counter-notification regarding your video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51FpFrMVWOo
This content has been restored and your account will not be penalized.
Sincerely,
The YouTube Team
None of us are without some pretty potent weapons. We just have to know how to use them... and use them properly.
So here it is again: E! Television's The Soup featuring my school board campaign commercial :-)
Glad that this got resolved. And I hope that it never has to happen again!
Best idea I've read in a LONG time about reforming government
Good friend of this blog J.R. Hafer has posted some excellent thoughts on his own site this afternoon. The subject? The apathy of the American people about their government, and J.R. goes into a lot of what's causing it.
The entire thing is an excellent read, but I wanna focus y'all's attention on something that J.R. suggests in his essay. An idea that I've never thought of before but is instantly the very BEST suggestion that I've found in a long time and one of the greatest ever...
Politicians should be paid by their constituency and not the federal government. Their housing and benefits should be determined by the people they represent, and not the federal government.Not just yes but HELL YES to this!
My mind is literally at a loss to come up with all of the crap that this would put an end to. Can I get an "amen"? :-)
Danny Glover blames global warming for Haiti earthquake
This is an even dumber thing to say than Pat Robertson's sick statement two days ago.
Here's what Danny Glover has declared about the earthquake in Haiti...
"When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin'?"So Haiti got hit because the "climate change" conference in Copenhagen last month didn't go like Glover wanted it to?
Either Glover is horribly ignorant/uneducated about the subjects of climate and plate tectonics, or he's ascribing god-like sentience and powers to the Earth itself.
Once upon a time, actors were held in such ill repute that they weren't allowed burial in a town's cemetery: they were interred without Christian rite at a more remote site from civilization. Today, merely being a celebrity is grounds to celebrate one's grasp of science and philosophy, however misguided.
"And nothing of value was lost..." ... or gained
Feelin' extra cynical and disgusted about some things this morning...
So the Republican party thinks it can "win back" control of Congress from the Democrats in this year's election.
How does that matter? Really... how does that matter?
I have been observing politics for most of my life. I'll admit that once upon a time I did believe that there were fundamental differences between the Democrats and Republicans and that those were "the only" parties that seriously existed. So I was in the same mindset as the vast majority of Americans.
Then I grew out of it. Woke up. Came to my senses. Saw things for how they really are...
Saw too much of what's running this country as one big damned fabrication. Not a government of enlightened individuals but a glorified puppet show entertaining the masses with smoke and mirrors.
And now, now... it doesn't bother me one whit about which party is "in control" in Washington.
Because, let's get real folks: do things ever honestly change for the better depending on whether it's the Democrats or Republicans that are in power?
This country endured sixteen consecutive years of the worst Presidents in its 200-plus year history. One was a Democrat and the other was a Republican. Neither left this nation in a better state than how they found it (the Republican one was hands-down the most destructive "President" yet).
But still, too many people in this country are entranced by the projected allure of these mere mortals. They look for the quick fix of "someone else" and ignore the wisdom that God has not only given us, but expects us to use on our own.
I don't see how this country will prosper for much longer when most of us refuse to think for ourselves and instead let the Republicans, or the Democrats, or Barack Obama, or Sarah Palin, or Glenn Beck, or anyone else but God carry our hopes for something better.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A thought before signing off for the night...
Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet Him in person.
British government finally apologizes for Thalidomide
Thalidomide was a drug approved to combat the symptoms of morning sickness in pregnant women. And when I say "approved" I mean that the British government didn't perform proper tests on the drug to determine if it was, y'know, safe for both mothers and children. Thalidomide caused hundreds of birth defects throughout Great Britain because it hampered blood vessels from fully developing in the fetuses. Many children were born with vestigial limbs... or no limbs at all. A few had no eyes, among other severe problems.
In addition to the apology, the British government is allocating £20 million to help the hundreds of Thalidomide survivors living in the United Kingdom today.
By the way, although it's not used in cases of pregnancy, Thalidomide has begun to see renewed application in certain kinds of cancer.
(Thanks to Simon of Si-Napses for alerting readers on this side of the pond to this story.)
8-year old Cub Scout is on TSA's terrorist watch list
Mikey has been on the list since the age of 2, when he was first examined by TSA goons to see if he was carrying any explosives, guns or stabbing weapons. And Mikey doesn't appreciate his constant treatment by Homeland Security one bit: "I don't like being touched in certain spots. They go like, (pat down on the side), and go like that way."
Just more proof that our own federal government is a bigger menace than "the terrists" have ever been.
General Larry Platt sings "Pants on the Ground"
I've given up on American Idol, and not because this is Simon Cowell's final season (and if you ask me, Simon is among the most brilliant minds working in entertainment today). So I didn't see "Pants on the Ground", the original song performed on last night's show by 62-year old civil rights activist General Larry Platt of Atlanta.
But having seen it now... I can't get it out of my head!!
Here it is: "Pants on the Ground"!
If American Idol had allowed more stuff like this (and bumped up the age limit of contestants) a lot of people would probably still be watching it. Anyways, hat's off to Larry Platt for a great performance!
Obama sending $100 million to Haiti... and why he's very wrong to do so
Haiti is still reeling from a 7.3 earthquake two days ago that destroyed Port-au-Prince. A half-million people there or more might be dead in the rubble. The tiny island nation was already one of the world's poorest economies and even that has been shattered beyond belief.
This is very much one of the worst natural disasters of modern memory. Some are saying that the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami pales in comparison.
As I wrote here yesterday, our thoughts and prayers should be with the people of Haiti. I have certainly held them up in my own time with God.
Just wanted to make it clear that I do have sympathy for what the Haitian people are going through. I can't say that I have understanding though, 'cuz honestly I've never been through something on this vast a scale. But does my heart break for the people there? Absolutely.
And I can understand why a lot of folks are going to think that it's mighty good of President Barack Obama to pledge $100 million from the United States government to aid in the recovery of Haiti.
So I can hear it now: "Chris you're a heartless bastard!" when I write that Obama should not be using our tax money to help out Haiti.
Longtime readers of this blog might know where I'm coming from. I can't think of a better way to articulate it than the story of Horatio Bunce, as shared by Davey Crockett. But if you want a synopsis: Crockett and some other well-meaning members of the House of Representatives voted $20,000 (a huge sum in those days) for relief for victims of a fire in Georgetown. When Crockett went back to his district in Kentucky to campaign for re-election, a well-respected local sage named Horatio Bunce harshly reprimanded Crockett for his "act of charity". Using the money of the public treasury in such a fashion was a violation of the citizens' trust, Bunce told Crockett: it was "not yours to give"! And as a result, Bunce told Crockett that he could not vote for him again.
Davey Crockett realized that Bunce was correct, and he never again voted for funds from the taxpayers to be used for anything other than what is called for in the Constitution. As for Horatio Bunce: he was satisfied that Crockett had learned his lesson, and promised to throw Crockett a fine barbecue and fundraiser the following week.
If only more of our politicians today had the wisdom of Horatio Bunce... or the humility to acknowledge that they are in the wrong, as Davey Crockett had.
I've never been comfortable with our elected officials sending our money abroad in the name of "humanitarian aid". For one thing, it's not a power given them in the Constitution of the United States. For another and far more practical reason: there is no accounting of how the money is being spent. Does anyone seriously believe that $100 million of American taxpayers money is going to all be used for disaster relief down in Haiti? If past history is an indicator, most of it will be wasted sloppily at best, and no doubt much will be outright stolen. Money that we barely have, that isn't our government's to give to begin with.
Now if you want to really help out the folks in Haiti, there are many worthwhile organizations that you can contribute to, if you choose to. The Salvation Army is one that comes to mind. These are agencies that have a tremendous interest in being accountable to the public. That is something that can not be said of the federal government. Indeed, I would dare say that $10 million of privately raised funds by the Salvation Army would go much further to sincerely helping the people of Haiti than $100 million from the United States government.
It's astounding that the United States still leads the world in providing disaster relief, in spite of ourselves (or our government anyway).
Kinda makes you wonder: if politicians like Barack Obama would not waste the citizens' money on "charitable" but unlawful expenditures, how much more could this country's people be able to give aid to those who need it most?
Steve Ballmer celebrates 10 years as Microsoft CEO
Mash down here for the story at Slashdot.
In honor of the occasion, software developers around the world will be throwing chairs across the rooms of their workplaces.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
CIVIL WAR-style Leno/Conan banners!
Inspired by Marvel Comics' "Civil War" storyline from a few years ago, I made these banners that you can put on your own blog or website or whatever declaring whose side you are on!
Yes, it has come to this: the entire western world dividing up into Team Leno and Team Conan. There are natural disasters across the globe and corrupt politicians taking us for a ride... but thank God we have our priorities in order!
/sarcasm
Same chemical composition... but different structure
How the heck is the chemical notation for a formula like this thing gonna wind up?!
From the abstract at the Royal Society of Chemistry's website...
Usually, you'd expect two compounds with the same composition, atom-to-atom connectivity and symmetry to be chemically identical too. But scientists investigating metal-organic frameworks have discovered a surprising exception to this rule by identifying two isomers with the same symmetry and bonding but different gas storage properties.In layman's terms, by changing the environment the researchers also changed how the substances bonded to each other. It's not uniform symmetry, as generations of chemistry books have taught.A team led by Shengqian Ma at the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, US, investigated a rod-like tetracarboxylate molecule (ebdc) which can bind to a metal atom from any one of four binding points, one at each corner of a rectangle. When it was heated with a copper salt at 75 °C, a crystal phase formed (the alpha-phase) and at 65 °C a phase with different properties (the beta-phase) formed. So far, so normal. But when Ma carried out crystal analysis on these two compounds, he found that they had the same composition, the same atom-to-atom connectivity and the same symmetry. 'This type of symmetry-preserving isomerism has never been observed before in metal-organic frameworks,' says Ma.
So right there, before our eyes, a fundamental understanding of science has been drastically altered. And there ain't no telling yet what kind of neat-o applied technologies could eventually be developed from this.
Pat Robertson says Haiti suffered earthquake because its people "swore a pact with the devil"
Oh crap. That demented fool is again engaging his mouth before using his mind (or what little is left of it anyway). This time Pat Robertson of The 700 Club is blaming Haiti's earthquake on how that country's citizens "swore a pact with the devil" to get free from the French.
I've said this from darn nearly the very beginning of this blog, and I'll say it again: Pat Robertson is, according to the strictest biblical definition, a false prophet. And if Pat Robertson seriously wants America and any other country to "turn to God" in the way that he espouses, then Robertson must be stoned to death. Literally.
That said, I am once again aghast at how a fellow "Christian" will use the name of God to exploit - in however minor a fashion - such a horrific tragedy.
The trees of Mars
Not really trees, but an optical illusion captured by NASA's HiRISE camera in orbit around the red planet. What appears to be a scattering of pine trees is actually several trails of debris near Mars's north pole, left behind as the ice cap goes on its seasonal retreat.
Mash down here for more about the "trees" of Mars!
Freaky news: Human-faced lamb born in turkey
Click here if you want to see the photo of it. I'm too wigged-out by it to post here. Consider yourself duly warned.
The story also cites a human-faced goat that was born in Zimbabwe a few months ago. The goat lived for a few hours before frightened villagers killed it (and the governor of the province it was born in insists that it was the result of a human man having sex with a female goat).
Crazy stuff, no doubt. But it does make me consider that perhaps all those stories we've heard about in classic mythology, like the Minotaur etc., might have been inspired by real-life examples of mutation.
Please keep Haiti in your prayers y'all
Yesterday's 7.3 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is fast shaping up to be one of the worst natural disasters of recent memory. I'm hearing that this is the biggest tremblor in two centuries to hit the area.
Here's asking this blog's readers to please hold the Haitian people up in your thoughts and prayers in the days and weeks to come. Lord knows, they're gonna need it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Most disturbing SESAME STREET clip I've posted yet
The innuendo in this song is so horribly bad. I have to feel sorry for whoever it was that wrote it. What was Sesame Workshop thinking??
Here is Baby Elmo's dad serenading his son about "Potty Time"...
"So here is your new potty!You've got to wonder: How does Elmo - or any Muppet for that matter - use the potty when someone's hand is shoved hard up their intestinal tract?
When you have to pee or poo
It's where you sit to do whatcha gotta do-do!"
Clint Eastwood as Batman... in a movie version of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS?!
In case you've never treated yourself to it, The Dark Knight Returns depicts a 55-year old decrepit Bruce Wayne, ten years past his prime, taking up the cowl once again to fight crime in Gotham City.
And the Hughes Brothers' choice to play the older, "decrepit" Batman? It would have been Clint Eastwood.
I think everyone who's read The Dark Knight Returns has at one point or another envisioned Eastwood playing Batman. Especially with the latter part of the book when Batman and his retinue are on horseback, riding hard through the streets of Gotham: now sitting dark and helpless following the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear weapon knocking out all the electrical power.
And from the sound of it, we almost got it! Just... wow.
Personally, as much as I would enjoy seeing The Dark Knight Returns get the big screen treatment, I'd much more love to see somebody take up the challenge of adapting Kingdom Come (and I'm thinking animated particularly). That is hands-down my favorite version of Batman ever.
STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC dated for spring 2011
Some people are saying this is too long a time to wait for this game. But I remember the winter of 2000 when LucasArts told us that we'd be getting Star Wars Galaxies, and that didn't come until the summer of 2003. And we all know how that turned out to be (okay, to be fair it was a great game at first before Sony Online Entertainment messed it up with "New Game Enhancements"). But this is BioWare we're talking about: the company that gave us Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to begin with. If I have to wait a little longer to play this game, I can do that 'cuz I've got faith that it's just gonna make Star Wars: The Old Republic even better.
So be of good cheer y'all: soon we'll get to be play Jedi and Sith and smugglers (with - gasp - actual smuggling!) like never before :-)
Miep Gies, protector of Anne Frank's family, has passed away
The second bestselling nonfiction book of all time - surpassed only by the Bible - owes its publication to this fine lady...
Miep Gies and her husband Jan were the Dutch couple who hid Otto Frank and his family in an Amsterdam office building's secluded annex from 1942 to 1944. For more than two years, Miep and Jan Gies smuggled food and other provisions to the Franks and other Jews, protecting them as they could from the Nazi regime that was controlling the Netherlands.
In August of 1944 (not long after the invasion of Normandy) the Gestapo discovered the hiding place and captured everyone. Not long afterward Miep Gies was allowed to return and while there she gathered up numerous personal belongings in hopes of returning them. Scattered on the floor were pages of Anne Frank's diary. In 1947 it was published and became a worldwide sensation for all time.
For her heroism, Miep Gies was decorated by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and declared a "Righteous Gentile" by the Israeli government.
Miep Gies, last surviving protector of Anne Frank and her family, passed away yesterday at the age of 100.
If only more people had the courage of this woman, this would be a far better world.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Federal health care will violate First Amendment on religious grounds
Old Order Mennonites - more popularly known as the Amish - will be exempted from being required to have health insurance if the so-called "health care reform" going through the House and Senate passes. According to the above-linked story in the Watertown Daily Times out of New York state, there's a "religious conscience" clause that allows Amish and other religious groups to opt-out of the mandated insurance.
How does this not run afoul of the First Amendment, which clearly dictates that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"?!?
If one group of people is allowed to get out of federal health care because of sincere convictions against such a thing, then all people who object to federalized health care have the moral right to reject it.
I am a follower of Christ who belongs to no particular denomination. And I say from the bottom of my heart that federal government-run health care sucks donkeys balls to no end.
I'm gonna be exempt too. And if Obama and Hillary want to fine me for not playing with them, then I'll kindly tell them that they can go to hell.
Needed: Humble leaders, not confident ones
Michael Hyatt has written an intriguing essay on leadership over at his blog. As Hyatt puts it, we are wrong to seek leaders who are confident in their own abilities and knowledge, when instead we should find leaders who can and will admit that they don't have complete understanding and are far more humble because of it. Hyatt cites the example of Joseph Hooker during the American Civil War...
"Fighting Joe Hooker" was a major general in the Union army. He was exceedingly smart. He set up an elaborate spy network and knew more about the Confederate army than the Confederates did themselves.I have been thinking much the same for quite some time now. It seems that every aspect of our culture, from government to business to even the realm of religious worship, is plagued with people demanding that we give them extra heed because "we know better". And far more often than not, we take them at their word.Hooker found himself squared off against General Robert E. Lee in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Because of the detailed intelligence he was able to gather, he positioned his troops in such a way that he had Lee surrounded on three sides. In addition, his troops outnumbered Lee's two-to-one.
Hooker was absolutely confident that he would destroy Lee's army. Lee's only choice was to retreat to Richmond. The night before the battle, Hooker told his troops, "God Almighty could not prevent us from victory tomorrow." He was bold, audacious, and (as it turned out) overly confident.
According to Gladwell, more information does not guarantee better decisions. In fact, we tend to overestimate the value of additional information. He cited the work of Dr. Stuart Hopkins, who did extensive research on this topic. What he discovered is that when people are given more information, they grow more confident in their ability to solve the problem. However, their actual results are not better. Sometimes, they are worse.
Overconfidence is "the disease of experts." They think think they know more than they actually do know. In fact, they make mistakes precisely because they have knowledge. This is what happened on Wall Street. This is what also happened with Hooker.
When Lee realized he was surrounded on three sides, he began moving his troops south. Hooker assumed Lee was retreating to Richmond. His men relaxed. Some of them started celebrating. What they didn't realize was that Lee was flanking their position.
Hooker was arrogant and over-confident. He didn't prepare for this possibility. Even though Lee was surrounded on three sides and outnumbered two-to-one, he was able to defeat Hooker. It was a stunning and demoralizing defeat for the Union army.
The lesson is this: In times of crisis, we think we need leaders who are bold and confident. This is completely wrong-headed. What we really need are leaders who are humble and willing to listen.
All we get are "leaders" too proud to admit that they've made mistakes... and we keep giving them more power because we're too proud to admit that we were wrong to install them in leadership positions in the first place.
Woman declared dead by government must prove she's still alive
And just think: these are the same people who might soon be in charge of our health care!
"I'm not dead yet! I don't want to go on the cart!"
Terri Thompson of Maynardville, Tennessee has been classified as "dead" by the government, because she has successfully fought off a disease for most of her life in defiance of every prognosis by her physicians. Thompson had been told years ago that she wouldn't live to see age 25... and she's about to celebrate her 49th birthday.
According to the United States Government however, she should be dead...
An East Tennessee woman has spent her entire life fighting a disease, living more than 20 years longer than doctors told her she would.So... anyone else feeling confident about health care "reform" now?But on Christmas Eve, she found out the government classified her as dead, cutting off all her coverage.
Leaving Terri Thompson to face one of her toughest battles.
She calls herself a fighter, finding out at 6 year sold that she has a rare and incurable blood disease.
Terri says, "It's called Hypogammaglobulin Anemia." "It affects my immune system, when I don't have enough white blood cells." "It's caused many of my organs to stop on me."
"I've been a fighter, and a fighter, and I've had 6 doctors give up on me," says Terry.
Laying in her Union County apartment, hiding from the germ-ridden world, she leaves every 3 weeks for treatment.
But, on Christmas Eve, she needed to go by the bank to take out money for dinner with her son.
"When I showed that lady my license, she turned white as a ghost." Terry says the bank employee, "said, I got a note that you died, that you're dead. So, I sent your Social Security back to the Social Security office."
Then when she got home, she found a letter in her mailbox saying her medical coverage ended.
"That letter stated to my family my condolences, and sympathy at the death of Terri Thompson, and I'm reading that myself."
Tearfully, she called the Social Security Administration in Knoxville. "They really couldn't tell me nothing. They told me I've got to come into the office and talk with somebody, and that they didn't have an opening until the 14th."
That's 3 weeks from the date of the call, and in between, Terri has a treatment, and several bills, that she can no longer pay for.
"I can't understand how they can make a mistake like this," as Terri chokes back her emotions.
Now she faces two fights: one to keep her life, and the other to prove she is still alive.
"I'm taking a chance at losing my life over somebody else's mistake."
First trailer for THE A-TEAM
I gotta say something here: already I'm sold on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson playing B.A. Baracus for this movie. Judging by the trailer he's not trying to imitate Mr. T and that's a good thing! Mr. T is one of those unique people that, you just can't get away with trying to channel. I'm totally down with Jackson doing his own thing with the character.
With that noted, I'll also say that The A-Team is officially marked as my first "must-see" movie for 2010. Here's the first trailer for it...
The A-Team escapes to the big screen on June 11th.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Choices...
I'm considering right now whether to...
...do what is needed of me, or pursue an opportunity for my own happiness.
...be here for my family and friends, or be another place and possibly do something greater with the very best of what my family and friends have given me in my life.
...wait for God to show me what He needs of me, or take a leap of faith and let Him make of it what He will.
Is there a right way or a wrong way to choose at all? One of my very best friends once told me that we can't mess up with God: that His will is so complete and sovereign, that we can't possibly do anything to make His plans go screwy.
I just want to know that what I am considering doing, is what He desires for me. We are told in scripture that God knows "...the plans I have for you... plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
I won't deny it: the past year or so has been, in many ways, the worst of my life. It has also brought me closer to God than ever before... and I say that having to admit that I am nowhere close to being the Chris Knight that He desires me to be. I've failed many more times than I have succeeded in measuring up to what He wants me to be. That's where the grace of God comes in... and I've never been more thankful for that than I have been lately.
I just want whatever I choose to do, to be for His glory and not my own. That, and to do right by the people that I care about most in this world.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
I finally saw THE ROAD
It's playing in Greensboro at the Grande in Friendly Center. A few days ago fellow blogger Steven Glaspie and I caught it. He hasn't read the book. I read Cormac McArthy's novel twice this past summer and ever since have been dying to see the film adaptation starring Viggo Mortensen as the Man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the Boy.
What did I think?
Three days later and I'm still feeling haunted by this film. The Road stands out in my mind as the best movie that came out in 2009 (and the one most deserving all the Oscars it can possibly garner). As brutal and visceral and empathetic as the original book, The Road is ultimately a story about a father's unrelenting love for his child and having undying hope for tomorrow... even as one is in the midst of perishing. If you have read McArthy's No Country for Old Men or seen the movie of that book you will no doubt remember the theme of "carrying the fire". Well, in The Road McArthy expanded on that immensely and I'm pleased to note that it was also brought over into its own film.
I don't know whether to describe the cinematography in this movie as "beautiful" or "horrifying", but Javier Aguirresarobe and director John Hillcoat have certainly brought to stark life the post-apocalyptic wastes of The Road through America. Filmed in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oregon and Washington state, The Road is perhaps the most engaging and gripping glimpse of the day after yet committed to film. As in the book, we don't know what it was that caused the cataclysm. Was it man-made or natural disaster? It's not as much left to the viewer as it is that it simply isn't important to the story. The Man and his son are far too busy clinging to life and morality and their conservation of effort doesn't lend to exposition. I loved that about the book and I really appreciate that the filmmakers were well mindful of that.
I thought that The Road was one of the finest adaptations of a book that I've seen in much too long a time, and I'm looking forward to getting it on Blu-ray when it (probably) becomes available in a few months. But don't wait 'til then: check to see if The Road is playing in your area, and watch it during its theatrical run if you can.
Because a movie this good would have been well worth driving four hundred miles to see if I had to!
Friday, January 08, 2010
Scientists turn wood into bone
Mash down here for the rest of the story from the BBC.
Pornography by way of U.S. Government and two clicks of Photoshop
Need another reason to hate Transportation Security Administration (or as I call 'em "Thousands Slacking Around")? No thanks to the new "backscatter" virtual strip search machines that Janet Napolitano wants to put into more airports, the United States government will soon be the world's largest producer of pornographic images.
Here's a pic that's up on Drudge Report right now, showing a woman in one of the scanning machines...
And if you've got the nerve for it, here's what one dude was able to produce with three clicks of Adobe Photoshop.
(With the same image, I was able to produce an identical photo with two mouse clicks inside Photoshop, in less than 20 seconds.)
Our British friends are already noting that the machines violate child pornography laws over there. And there is some speculation that the electromagnetic waves used in the backscatter devices can destroy DNA and potentially cause cancer.
I say: let's see Janet Napolitano and everyone else associated with the Department of Homeland Security walk through these machines dozens of times on live television, as a good-faith demonstration that there's nothing for us to worry about. With all the resulting images being broadcast directly from the source in high-definition video.
What sayeth y'all?
Let's give a hearty welcome to Simon and his new blog SI-NAPSES!
Lookin' good Simon! I'll definitely be visiting yer site on a daily basis (and usually more than that :-)
Happy 75th Birthday to Elvis Presley!
Seventy-five years ago today, Elvis Presley was born in a tiny house in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Happy Birthday to "The King", wherever he may be...
I'd better return
Things are about to get crazy.
And I found what I went off looking for anyway. Well, kinda. It's gonna require a leap of faith in a manner of speaking. But one that I'm pretty sure that I'm ready to take :-)
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Review of DOCTOR WHO Christmas/New Years special "The End of Time"
"I don't want to go!"Good (Time) Lord... it's been ages since I've done a write-up about Doctor Who! The last time one appeared on this blog was when "The Next Doctor" Christmas special aired twelve months ago.
But no way was I gonna miss posting thoughts about the final adventure of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor...
Thankfully, BBC America aired "The End of Time" Part 1 last Saturday night: a day after its Christmas Day premiere for our Brittish brethren across the pond... meaning that for the first time ever I didn't have to download it off the Intertubes via BitTorrent. But I didn't want to share my thoughts on it until Part 2 aired stateside this evening. It just finished so here we go!
I've mixed feelings about "The End of Time" but in general, I found it to be a rollickin' and satisfying finale not just for the David Tennant era, but also for Russell T Davies' turn as first showrunner of the revived series. The two things that I didn't like so much were how the Master (who's been brought back to life and again portrayed by John Simm) was handled. I mean, The Master is the Doctor's equal and nemesis... and he's been reduced to cannibalizing homeless people?! Neither did I find his gimmick about turning all of humanity into "the Master race" all that becoming the character.
The other thing that bugged me is that "The End of Time" seemed too much a monument to Davies' turn as Doctor Who's head producer. I can understand a little "patting on the back" but the problem is that Davies is obviously focused more on "his" Doctor Who and ignoring the rest of the forty-some years of the show's mythology.
In spite of those two quibbles, "The End of Time" is a hell of a fun ride. It was wonderful to see Bernard Cribbins return as Wilfred Mott (I'd pay good money just to see a spinoff devoted to him) and I liked that Donna (again terrifically played by Catherine Tate) got to have a happy ending after all.
And I also loved it that Davies finally plays out all the cards that he's been hinting at since 2005. We finally learn about the true horror of the Time War as the Time Lords return at last, led by none other than Timothy Dalton in a brilliant bit of casting...
For all the wrapping-up of the Russell T Davies era in "The End of Time", I couldn't help but think that there were an awful lot of seeds for future stories sown. The mysterious woman (played by Claire Bloom) that only Wilfred seems capable of seeing has been said to be (POSSIBLY HUGE SPOILER, highlight with mouse to read) the Doctor's mother. And there's also the little matter of Timothy Dalton's character being none other than (SPOILER AGAIN so highlight once more) Rassilon, the very founder of the Time Lord society. Just two guns, among many, hanging on the walls waiting to be fired.
But more than anything else, this was David Tennant's swan song as the Doctor. Tennant has done a remarkable job with the role in the past four years, and "The End of Time" gives him perhaps the most bittersweet sendoff for a Doctor since Tom Baker's tenure came to a close. The final several minutes unspool in a series of vignettes as the Doctor visits most of the companions that he's traveled with during the past several years, before going back into the TARDIS for his most explosive - literally - regeneration scene ever.
"The End of Time" gets 4 and 1/2 Sonic Screwdrivers out of five from this reviewer!
And here's the trailer for the next season of Doctor Who...
What sayeth this blogger of Matt Smith as the Doctor?
Based on the few seconds that we see of him at "The End of Time", this is gonna be a helluva great ride! Let the word go forth boldly: the Eleventh Doctor has come, with none other than Steven Moffat (scribe behind "The Girl in the Fireplace", "Blink" and the stunning "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" two-part story) at the helm as new Doctor Who showrunner!
This song has ended. But the story never will...
Wanted fugitive found hiding inside WORLD OF WARCRAFT
Hightower didn't leave World of Warcraft however. And that's where a Howard County, Indiana deputy sheriff was able to find him and with assistance from the game's producer Blizzard, wound up tracking him down and having Hightower extradited back to the United States.
Click here for the tale of Alfred Hightower and how one can't escape justice inside an MMO.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Matthew Federico attempts "The Year of the 365 Movies"
(Personally, I would have started 2010 off with 1984's 2010, even though it's horribly dated now... and where the heck are our flights to Jupiter and pet dolphins?!)
Matthew says the probability of his finishing this project is "low". But I think he can do it :-)
Less than an hour left to smoke in restaurants in North Carolina
Our "enlightened" Governor Bev Perdue and state legislators in Raleigh have decreed that as of midnight tonight, smoking will be banned in all restaurants and other places of dining in North Carolina.
This new "law" sucks donkeys balls to no end.
(Longtime readers will recognize that as my personal "worst possible epithet" for something.)
I'm not a smoker. It's one of the nastiest, filthiest things that a person can do to himself or herself. And believe you me, I've seen firsthand the damage that cigarette smoking can do to someone.
Hell, I've worked on computers before that were owned by smokers. More than a few had corrosion on the motherboard and other components, from where the tar and nicotine had eaten away at the material. If stuff like circuit boards can have holes melted through them by cigarette smoking, think about what that same crap will do to a person.
But as much as I'm against smoking, I'm even more against government trying to micromanage our lives more and more.
The owners of bars and restaurants in this state should be free to choose for themselves whether their establishments are smoke-free or not. It's very simple: if a restaurant allows smoking, and you don't like smoking, then you can decide for yourself whether you want to eat there.
If I owned a restaurant, I'd bloody well defy this law. Hell, I'd put a sign outside my place of business proclaiming that "SMOKING ALLOWED HERE!" And then just sit back and watch the money roll in. It would be capitalism in fine form.
We all know what this really is. Perdue and her ilk are only doing this because they are too intoxicated with the thrill of the power. Like too damned many other politicians in this country. They don't give a flying rat's butt about serving their constituents, but they'll do everything they can get away with to lord their supposed "authority" over us.
They neglect to remember that their authority comes from we the people, not from government for its own sake.
I hope that enough of the citizenry will remember that when Perdue and her cronies come up for re-election.
A trailer for a STAR BLAZERS movie?! You read that right...
2010 is getting started with a bang already at the movies. Here's the first trailer for the Japanese-produced Space Battleship Yamato... or as it's better known stateside, Star Blazers!
That looks AWESOME!! Heck it's exactly like the cartoon! Right down to a perfect-looking Captain Avatar and that mechanism on the Wave Motion Gun.
It comes out sometime this year. Hopefully there'll be an English-dubbed version soon afterward :-)
