Friday, December 10, 2010

Friday Links: December 10

I'm not gonna do a special post denouncing the Salvation Army this year. I'll let this video do the job.

And this article about how The Salvation Army refuses to distribute donated toys related to Twilight, Harry Potter, and other "black magic" sources". Guns are still fine. [link]

Doctor Who fan service of the week. The unused opening to Craig Ferguson's Doctor Who episode.

I think all puppies hate those things.

It's a safe bet that this guy's name does not reflect his personality... says the guy with the last name "Wise". [link]

Duckies blowing in the wind.

The Louisiana School Board is looking to lose an election. Wanting to inject creationism into science classes they've used some advisory boards to review the science text. The advisory board accepted it so now the School Board is bringing in more biased advisers. I think the School Board needs a reminder. Kansas tried this and every single member who supported teaching creationism didn't make it past the primaries in the next election.  [link]

Google has opened their ebook store. Kindles are only supported because PDFs are available. [link]

Cartoon. [link]

A bill just got passed that will require TV stations to keep commercials at the same volume as the show they interrupt. [link]

Republicans block bill to feed poor school children. [link]

Steam powered record player.
How to make your own. [link]

Chocolate syrup and whipped cream delivered straight to your door. Or crashed into it. Either way. [link]

Dogs dressed as Star Wars characters. [link]

Pictures: Sulfur mine by an active volcano. [link]

Chemistry teacher vs 3 year old. [link]

Sick about hearing about the new Tron movie yet? Me, too. But this is still a great animation. [link]

"The Ship of Foolishness" - a 3 part story by Frederick Pohl about a cruise he was on to see the last of the moon missions take off. It was supposed to be a floating sci-fi convention, but they forgot to book any non-celebrity passengers. If nothing else, skip to part 3 and read his description of Apollo 17 taking off. [part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

An easter egg. Look at the rating. You do have to have seen the movie. [link]

We're not cashing your damn rocks! [link]

Furniture that amuses me. [link]

You know you want to visit this guy's apartment. [link]

How to tell if that house is a meth lab. [link]

The Unibomber's property is for sale. Cabin not included. [link]

Semi-secret unmanned space plane lands after 225 days in space. [link]

Guy gets a dirt mover for a pall bearer. [link]

Pictures from the LA Times archives. More interesting than it sounds. [link]

Woah! Rupert Murdock used to be pro-truth? An article by the WikiLeaks founder. [link]

Video of someone trying a hot sauce made from the hottest chili in the world. Action starts at 3:10.

This is the chili in question. [link]

Robot fishie!

Reminds me of this.
See, cause those fish are robots. Only it doesn't ... say so ... in... never mind.

Microsoft is trying to secretly fund an organization to get Google in legal trouble. [link]

Setting fires inside a balloon.

We used to use this to start fires in Scouts. A 9 volt sets it off nicely.

The Soviets planned to nuke China. [link]

This bird rocks. The song, less so.


Another kid that died of religious based medical neglect. [link]

Atheists were 1 of 100 groups in a Christmas parade. They played "Jingle Bells". Citizens are outraged. How can they teach their kids about loving and respecting other people if other people insist in being around? [link]

The president of Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church protested an invocation at the Hawaii State Senate. It was peaceful and brief. For that he was roughed up, thrown out, required a trip to the hospital, was arrested and prosecuted. People with cameras were also accosted. The judge quickly determined that Kahle was not guilty and that the prayer was unconstitutional. [article with video from the Senate prayer]

The results of an investigation into sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in Germany have been released. 13,200 available files implicated 159 priests, 15 deacons, 96 religion teachers and six pastoral employees. Only 26 priests were convicted. [link]

Art targeted by Hitler for destruction has been uncovered. If not for Hitler it probably would have all been forgotten by now. Instead it's immortalized. [link]

"...people of faith have no monopoly of virtue and that the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation depend on the contribution of individuals and groups of all faiths and none." - Queen Elizabeth [link]

Creationist insists that people once did live for hundreds of years but the flood made the world radioactive so we all die early now. [link]

Good reasons to use Comic Sans. [link]

Time lapse footage of the whole sky by some telescopes in Chile. You want to watch them full screen and high resolution.

Free Hubble Christmas cards. Just print them yourself. [link]

Remember a quote but not the movie it's from? Search for it here. [link]

2 comments:

wstachour said...

The Salvation Army stuff is rather new to me (amazed that the name alone didn't cause me to look into them sooner). But it's spreading like wildfire now. Good.

And poor duckies! I suppose they're none the worse for the wear...

Ibid said...

I'm not fond of any group that claims to be a charity, but really is an organization dedicated to bribing the poor and suffering to attend their services. But I really hate it when they exclude people from care based on idiotic prejudices. I hate it when money that I donate to provide food, shelter, and toys to the poor really gets used to lobby governments for exemptions to anti-discrimination laws. The fact that they tell their staff not to marry non-members or lose their job is just the icing on my multi-layered cake of disgust.