Friday Links: December 11

I'm trying to find space for one of these. [link]

Old cast iron pans can be interesting. [link]

Healthcare costs of obese people is now greater than that of smokers. [link]

Cats domesticated themselves. [link]

There's a limit to how many of certain British coins shop owners are required to take. [link]
That is, if you try to pay your electric bill all in pennies they don't have to take it. 

Almost half of federal prisoners held for drug crimes. [link]

Apple products that never were. [link]

Wood maps. [link]

Les Miserables apparently holds the Guinness world record for longest musical about a minor parole violation. [link]
I still plan to see it. I just liked the review. 

Instructions for drawing for King of the Hill. [link]

Dr. Oz is a quack. [link]

Calories aren't measured the way we were told in school. [link]

10 strange things in the 'fiscal cliff' bill. [link]

12 speeches that were never heard. [link]

this and then this

The best pickpocket in the world. [link]

Doc Brown was a Time Lord!


Honest movie posters from last year. [link]

Australia so hot that new colors were needed for the weather map. [link]

The next Kindle?


Curiosity proves it's a bit OCD as it tries to sweep a planet. [link]

Pics from the Centralia, PA. The town above a coal mine fire. [link]

More on the upcoming Justice League movie. [link]

Ever noticed the messed up priorities of the newspaper in Back to the Future 2? [link]

The corporation as carpool passenger case now moves to the next level of courts. [link]

Peter Hollens sings "Far Over the Misty Mountains".


Giant sperm spy craft. [link]

The Razzies

Academy Award nominations are out. The radio made damn sure I knew about it. That and Obama's new cabinet nominee. But the Academy Awards are stupid. You can usually figure out who is going to win by looking for the most boring, whiny, emotional movie they can find. I'll agree that "2001: A Space Odyssey" was a piece of great cinema, but it's also a great cure for insomnia. And they usually run along those line. I'm not going to argue for "The Hobbit" winning, but there's no way they needed to wait three movies for "Lord of the Rings" to finally win.

I'm much more interested in "The Razzies". They're the awards for worst movies of the year.
Looking at this list you'll see something of a pattern. Whoever put the list together was not a fan of Twilight movies. Or Battleship. Or Tyler Perry. Or the movie "That's My Boy". But there's some other stuff mixed in.
I don't think the nomination of Kristen Stewart for "Snow White and the Huntsman" is due to her being that Twilight chick. She really was an anchor that drug down what was otherwise a good movie. I'd have tried putting her and either one of the male leads in the Worst Couple list.
"Battleship" was not a good movie, but I think it would have had a better draw if they'd changed the name. For a movie whose whole premise was "we want to cash in on a Hasbro property. We're hiring you two to come up with a script." it could have been much worse. Or maybe I was expecting something truly horrible and was surprised when my eyes didn't start to bleed.
I've never seen a Tyler Perry movie. I really doubt that I ever will. If he didn't put his name at the front of everything he does I'd probably have no idea who he is. Why aren't there more black people in Hollywood? Because the ones they let in turn in to Tyler Perry or a Wayans brother.
I've seen the first three or four "Resident Evil" movies. I didn't pay for any of them.
"That's My Boy" is an Adam Sandler movie. That's all you really needed to know about it. It's possible I just don't "get" him. But more and more I'm beginning to think that drunken frat boys have stopped getting him either.

And the nominees are...

Worst Picture
Battleship
Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
That's My Boy!
A Thousand Words
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Worst Actress
Katherine Heigl
One For The Money

Milla Jovovich
Resident Evil #5: Retribution

Tyler Perry (In Drag)
Madea's Witless Protection

Kristen Stewart
Snow White and The Huntsman & Twilight S.B.D. #2

Barbra Streisand
Guilt Trip

Worst Actor
Nicolas Cage
Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance & Seeking Justice

Eddie Murphy
A Thousand Words

Robert Pattinson
Twilight S.B.D. #2

Tyler Perry (Not in Drag)
Alex Cross & Tyler Perry's Good Deeds

Adam Sandler
That's My Boy!

Worst Supporting Actress
Jessica Biel
Playing For Keeps & Total Recall

Brooklyn Decker
Battleship & What To Expect When You're Expecting

Ashley Green
Twilight S.B.D. #2

Jennifer Lopez
What to Expect When You're Expecting

Rihanna
Battleship

Worst Supporting Actor
David Hasselhoff (as "Himself")
Pirannha 3-DD

Taylor Lautner
Twilight S.B.D. #2

Liam Neeson
Battleship & Wrath of the Titans

Nick Swardson
That's My Boy

Vanilla Ice (as "Himself")
That's My Boy

Worst Director
Sean Anders
That's My Boy

Peter Berg
Battleship

Bill Condon
Twilight S.B.D. #2

Tyler Perry
Good Deeds & Madea's Witless Protection

John Putch
ATLAS SHRUGGED: PART II

Worst Screen Couple
Any Combination of Two Cast Members from "Jersey Shore"
The Three Stooges

Mackenzie Foy (as "Little Renesmee") & Taylor Lautner
Twilight: S.B.D. #2

Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart
Twilight: S.B.D. #2

Tyler Perry & His Drag Get-Up
Tyler Perry's Madea's Witless Protection

Adam Sandler and either Leighton Meester, Andy Samberg or Susan Sarandon
That's My Boy

Worst Screenplay
Atlas Shrugged: Part II
Battleship
That's My Boy!
A Thousand Words
Twilight S.B.D. #2

Worst Screen Ensemble
The Entire Cast of Battleship
The Entire Cast of Oogieloves in The Big Balloon Adventure
The Entire Cast of That's My Boy
The Entire Cast of Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn, Part 2
The Entire Cast of Madea's Witless Protection

Stormtroopers vs Aliens

See the picture below? I'd see that movie. Scroll down below the picture to see how I think the movie would go. 

Used without permission from Robert Shane

It's a dark time for the Empire. Rebel Bothans having completed a desperate raid on an Empire controlled space station are evading pursuit. As the opening scroll ends the camera pans down to a small, smoking, carbon scored ship desperately trying to dodge shots from pursuing TIE Fighters. They're being forced down onto an unexplored planet. They make a controlled landing, but they'll never take off again without repairs. A strange alien craft is crashed nearby so they turn to it for shelter, parts, and a hiding place. Inside they find a field of organic pods that's strangely familiar to the viewing audience. Naturally, Stormtroopers are close behind. The Bothans are looking for a way off the planet and ignore the pods after a quick "huh, weird". The Stormtroopers report the discovery and receive orders to examine and retrieve samples. Droids take several pods back to a
shuttle. A few Stormtroopers guard the rest of the pods. We know what happens to them. Most continue pursuit. Several Stormtroopers and Bothans are either shot or ripped apart. Unable to get the systems of the alien ship running or find useful parts, a few Bothans sneak back on a shuttle in the chaos and hide. A few Stormtroopers make it back. Some with "indigestion". Some deliberately left behind to slow the alien creatures.

The shuttles and fewer TIE fighters than in the start of the movie all return to the Death Star. Well, a smaller version. A prototype. Proof of concept. With the power to blow up a moon or a Star Destroyer. Droids are unloading pods. The Captain who led the pursuit of the Bothans on the planet wants to know what the higher ups want with the pods. He orders a Stormtrooper to take one of the pods to his quarters. With the ship unloaded the Bothans sneak out of the shuttle. They're looking for a transmitter so they can get their recovered plans to a waiting Ambassadorial Ship. The Stormtroopers with indigestion don't last long and release an alien in general barracks and mess. The Captain finds an open pod in his quarters, but no Stormtrooper. After a brief search and fight the facehugger gets him. When his chest bursts his alien is bigger and badder than those from mere clones. And he's loose on the command deck. The rest of the pods are sent off to Stormdoctors who plan to test a couple on prisoners.

Aliens are shot, acid eats through decks, Stormtroopers die. For some reason there's a cat.

Things keep getting worse, but the mess is working out pretty well for the Bothans. For the most part the station's personnel are distracted. But they do get captured. That's when acid eats through the bulkhead above and drips on top of his helmet. He dies horribly. But the Captain's alien sees the Bothans through the hole and targets them. We see him take off looking for a way to the lower deck. When he eventually finds them he kills all but one Bothan before Stormtroopers manage to open fire on it and actually hit it. The Bothan kills the gravity for that section so much of the acid blood remains as mist and floating globs. It ends badly for the Stormtroopers that charge into the mist in pursuit.

Alternate scenario: The Bothans were captured on the planet, brought back for interrogation, and thrown in the brig. The doctors intend to test the pods on the Bothans. They escape either due to acid eating through from an upper deck and destroying the door or some critical component. Or during a prisoner transfer acid drips on the Stormtrooper's helmet and ... well, what I wrote above.

The final fleeing Bothan finds a storage chamber full of alien webbing and several strung up Stormtroopers and staff. Some with holes in their chest plates. Some with holes pending. When he finally finds a room he can transmit from the Bothan finds a Stormdoctor also making a transmission. He's reporting what a great weapon these creatures would be against rebel planets. They fight. The doctor dies. The transmission of Death Star plans is made. He looks at another panel. It appears to be a motion sensor. Two large groups of dots collide. The scene cuts to a formation of Stormtroopers marching down a corridor. Suddenly... Aliens. On the motion sensor screen most of the dots wink out. That's the scene in the picture.

And the movie ends somehow. Very likely the Death Prototype blows up. Probably using a code recovered from the Captain's body and one good officer (or at least one who recognizes the threat) working together with the Bothan. They might fire on the planet, too, destroying the pods and aliens down there. So the Death Prototype explodes in a manner a physics professor would approve of while orbiting a planet with a sizable chunk of it glowing.

Then, for those who last saw Star Wars in 1977, in a rebel briefing room beside a hologram of the Death Star a woman in white sadly says "Many Bothans died bringing us these plans."

Audio book review: Ghost Story

Long time readers know I'm a fan of the Dresden Files books. Looks like I didn't do a review of the book "Changes". I probably listened to it, and I'm not good about reviewing the books I've listened to.

In "Changes" Dresden's girlfriend, Susan, from the early books showed back up. Readers had been waiting for her return ever since she got turned into a vampire and Dresden promised to find a cure. She came back with the announcement that she had a daughter, it was Dresden's, and she had been kidnapped. As the story progresses Harry's beat up old VW bug is destroyed beyond repair, his apartment blows up, Harry is forced to agree to be the new Knight for the Winter Court of Fairies, Harry manages to cause a spell the Red Court of Vampires is casting against him to backfire and wipe out every last one of them, and then he's shot by a sniper, falls into the lake, and is presumed dead.

The first thing you notice about "Ghost Story" is the change in narrator. Lionel Luthor from Smallville replaces Spike from Buffy/Angel. And he does a lovely job. But he's not Spike. It helps if you think of the different voice as a consequence of Dresden's new non-corporeal state. Like how when Frodo wears the one ring everything looks different.

"Ghost Story" opens in the afterlife. Or, rather, Between. Between what? You're better off not asking. Here it's explained that someone cheated. "The Opponent" did something to interfere and that skews whether Dresden's spirit should go up or down. So he must go back to Chicago to solve his own murder. He returns to Chicago 6 months after being shot. Without the Red Court of Vampires to keep folks in check, hundreds or thousands of supernatural baddies have popped up around the world and are causing problems. The Wardens can't keep up. Chicago has remained in relatively good shape because of the mob, Dresden's friends, and someone known as "The Ragged Lady".

This book is different from the rest of the series. I can't put it all on the change in narrator. Maybe it's because Dresden is now a being made up of memories that there's an absurd amount of flashbacks, and TV and movie references even for him. There's just something different about how it flows.

The next book is "Cold Days". Harry once again has a body and has Spike doing his voice.

I do recommend these books. If you don't want to start at the beginning then you do need to start at "Changes" since "Change", "Ghost Story", and "Cold Days" were clearly planned together.

They're innocent because they're athletes

In Steubenville, Ohio girl was drugged, peed on, paraded around, and raped. The rapists were on the football team so most of the rapists weren't even arrested. The prosecuting attorney's son is on the team so you know the two kids who were actually charged aren't going to have to fight much. But Anonymous is on the case. 

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/post/steubenville-covers-for-its-high-school-football-stars-rapists/

Friday Links: December 4

6 companies that rigged the game. [link]

To Low Earth Orbit AND BEYOND! [link]

Gunshot triangulating systems placed in some of the worst neighborhoods. [link]

NukaCola may not be bad for you. [link]

Swatch scarf. [link]

Christmas cards from brutally honest companies. [link]

Christmas light OKed to give neighbors the finger. [link]

How to play chess.


A tornado passing an Alabama Walgreens.


Both sides of the 2nd amendment argument in two paintings. [link]

Frost flower pictures. [link]

Some art that amuses me. [link]

It sucks to be a drone pilot. [link]
A tad worse, I'd say, to be a drone target.

Top 10 YouTube videos of last year. [link]
Where does Lindsey Stirling get these great settings for her videos?

Underwater Enterprise.


Tricorder 1.0? [link]

Sensors for Tricorder 2.0. [link]

TL;DR version of Wikipedia's longest entry - Timeline of the Far Future. [link]

Tiny spider makes decoy large spiders. [link]
So far they're found at face level and near trails. Is that because that's close to where their eyes would happen to be or have the spiders figured out how to keep people from walking through their webs?

Got my shopping for next Christmas done. [link]

Footage from an RC helicopter w/ camera flying around a Pakistan mountain. [link]
Clearly the Canadian government has drones now, too.

It's smaller on the outside! [link]

A new type of matter and magnetism which I really don't understand at all. [link]

Bing uses Google results. [link]

I always enjoy reading about the largest manmade vortex ever. [link]

The same gun fired the first shot by an allied army in both world wars. [link]

10 uses for a Raspberry Pi. [link]

Another day another stupid class

Do you know why the US government uses so many contractors? Because the actual government employees are too busy taking mandatory classes that have nothing to do with their job to actually accomplish anything. I spent yesterday (ALL of yesterday) taking one of these classes.

It should have taken an hour and a half, maybe two hours. The class was taken online and involved a mix of answering questions and then reading sheets telling us what the answers should have been. Kind of backwards from your normal teaching methods, but the subject was obvious enough that it wasn't really a problem. At the end you're supposed to get a certificate that you can send in every time the government loses track of the one you did before and starts claiming you haven't taken the class yet. Then you take a quiz and get another certificate. That's two certificates for a single class.

Here's where things really went wrong. My government issued laptop runs Windows 7 and a bunch of software restricting what you can do. If you create or download a file that file will be gone the next time you turn on the computer. All settings go back to their defaults. So I have to turn on pop-ups in IE every time I turn on the computer so I can go out to this website to check my government required e-mail, because that website requires pop-ups. I can't open a file by double clicking on it. Some programs can't be run by me. Anything I download can't be run by me.

So, having completed the class, I have one chance and one chance only to print the certificate. But the laptop has no printer installed. I can see our printer, but the right driver isn't on this computer. I can download the driver from the Canon website, but can't run what I downloaded to install the driver. And even if I could, the driver would be gone next time I turned on the computer.

Can I print to a PDF?
No. That's not installed and I can't install it.

How about that "Print to File" box?
Yes, I can print to a file.
No, there's no suffix and we're not going to tell you what kind of file it is.

Can I open it in TextEdit or NotePad or Word to find out in the header what kind of file it is?
No. This is the one document in all of computer history that can't be opened like that.

Want to try printing again? Take the class all over again! Weeeeeee!

I e-mail the file to myself so I can work with it on a Mac but still get nowhere.

I try retaking the class on the Mac since there's no restrictions on who takes it. Safari and Firefox can't handle the forms on one part of the class so they both come to a stop. Chrome works clear through, but only prints a black box. Yeah, even if I print to a PDF.

What if I use a coworker's computer? Someone with their own printer installed.
Then their browser says the website is down. WHAT!? WHY!?
Because fuck you. That's why.

I finally figure out the suffix of the original certificate. There's a program on the laptop that should open it if I put the suffix on the file. Still, double clicking the file won't work. And for some reason I'm banned from opening the program so I can open the file that way.

But now that I have the right suffix on it, IE will display the certificate! I still can't print, however, because of reasons.

Can this type of file be opened on a Mac? Five forums say "no. You should install TinyPDF and make PDFs instead." This is true, but not at all helpful. I did finally find two programs for the Mac that will open the file created by "Print to File" and manage to print it. And then I went home.

I took that class seven times yesterday. I spent almost as much time trying to figure out how to either make a government laptop print against it's will or how to open the file created initially. It's a different version of the class I had to take to get my computer ID card. I have a couple dozen more classes to go and will have at least six new ones that need to be taken by the time I've finished with these. And if the government decides to be real dicks about it, I'll have to fly to Texas to take a few of them in person rather than just accept proof that I've take the exact same class already here in Maryland.

Today I'm not taking a class. Today I'm being productive.

Bleh

I can't stand to look at this thing right now. Not even up for telling you to "sod off". Tune in later. Maybe Friday.

Dougintology Commandment #1

I'll be out for the rest of the week.

Not dead yet!

THE DOCTOR DID! THE WORLD IS SAVED!

Friday Links: December 21

Send some love to this project. They're making cups that change colors in the presence of the date rape drug. [link]


Thanks to Der Muffinmann for letting me know this hadn't posted.



Film of the largest iceberg calving event ever recorded. [link]

Official Minecraft torch. [link]

DARPA has injectable foam to hold your guts in place in case of grevious wounds. [link]

Facebook has taken to liking stuff against people's will. [link]

"Hello alien monsters. Are you ready to start testing?"


The Muppet Show pitch.


Photo tour of the old LA subway system. [link]

Dogs learning to drive cars. [link]

A penguin falls down. It's the sounds that make it.


Professional soccer/football juggler.


The source of bordom. [link 1] [link]

This video about introducing a bengal kitten to some adult cats shows more about how to introduce any new cat into a home.


Drive a tank. [link]

For tomorrow we die

The Incans and dolphins know something bad happens tomorrow.

Sod Off Follow Up

Black Peter

I'd better cover Zwarte Piet/Black Peter. He got mentioned in conjunction with about every other St. Nick related creature.

Today he's a comically offensive character dressed in Renaissance page garb and blackface. His clothing comes from his depiction in a book around 1850 or so. Some try to claim that his dark skin comes from going down sooty chimneys, but that doesn't explain the frizzy hair or big lips. Or the fact that he's supposed to be a freed slave that now voluntarily serves St. Nick. Black Peter used to be a bit dim. Brains weren't expected from africans. But with an increase in immigration from colonies he became more respected and an assistant. Kind of how the elves are viewed in the US.

Not all stories follow that story. Some have him as yet another former demonic companion who has been mastered by St. Nick and now act as servant rather than equal. Having him as a slave doesn't really help the "it's not black face!" argument.

Efforts have been made by the Dutch to remove or revise Black Peter. There's lots of objections to the black face. But there are still greater protests about the break with tradition that bring him back shortly thereafter.

Krampus

I'm running out of month faster than I'm running out of monsters. So lets jump to one of the bigger names in Santa monsters - Krampus.

Alas, despite appearances dating back for 4000 years he doesn't have much of a story. Krampus has big curved horns, cloven hooves, a tail, a long tongue, and is covered in hair. Sometimes he's considered a pagan fertility figure.

Krampus is the bad cop to Santa's (or St Nick's) good cop. Be good and you get gifts. Be bad and the Krampus beats you with a switch, takes you away in a bag, or worse. Other punishments include ripping pigtails out, leading children off a cliff, sadistic ear-pulling, putting pre-teens in shackles, forcing children to beg for mercy, and throwing youngsters on a train to hell, or drowning children to death in ink and fishing out the corpse with a pitchfork.

Current rituals have them coming through town on December 5th. If you start to disbelieve a bunch of drunken guys in costumes may come to your house that night. They dance and yell and make horrible sounds outside your bedroom window. Then your parents invite them in for more drinking. The people in the costumes may have gone off into the woods some weeks earlier as part of a coming of age ritual. This is their return to town.

These days he's mellowed out a bit. While still playing the role of bad cop he's had to become tourist friendly. He's in cartoons, post cards, video games, and parades.

Sod Off Monday: December 17

I'm moving up Sod Off Day this week because... because.

The Westboro Baptist Church is either a group of religious wackaloons of such epic scale that AlQueda distances themselves from the group OR they're legal trolls who try to piss people off so much that they do something that the church can sue them for. They have announced plans to picket the funerals of the victims of the recent Connecticut shooting.

I think we can all agree that deserves a huge "sod off". Like, if that sod off were to hit the Earth it would wipe out 99% of all multicellular life. If that sod off were famous the President would have to return his calls. If that sod off were an asshole he'd have his own church in Kansas and protest the funerals of 5 year olds.

Anyway, Anonymous has hacked the computers of the Westboro Baptist Church and published the personal information about everyone in the church. [link]

We're all looking forward to the day when Fred Phelps dies and his huge collection of gay porn is revealed to the world.

p.s. A petition to have WBC declared a hate group. [link]

Friday Links: December 14

Links sucks this week due to my crappy to nonexistent internet.

A history of video games sampled in rap music. [link]

Bluetooth short range trackers. [link]
No more lost keys or remotes.

No post

Nothing today, sorry. Verizon's internet is doing it's impression of the Iraqi power grid.

12 - 12 - 12

Today is the last time this century you'll see repetitive numbers as a date.

Perchta

Perchta, Berchta, or Bertha is a rare female Santa equivalent. She serves as a year round guardian of the beasts and leader of the wild hunt. During the Twelve Days of Christmas, between Christmas and Epiphany, she oversees spinning and weaving.

She may appear either pale and beautiful and dressed all in white or elderly and haggard. No matter what her form, she always has one large foot that she can't get rid of. Sometimes it's a goose or swan foot. It may be that foot that works the treadle of the spinning wheel.

Perchta has her own feast day during which you're supposed to eat fish and gruel. If you forget her feast or eat the wrong things she will slit you open that night and stuff you with straw. Alas, I can't find when her feast is other than some time during the twelve days of Christmas.

Also during those twelve days she enters homes at night to judge the children and young servants. Those who work hard and behave might find a small silver coin in a pail or their shoe. Those who did not would be slit open, their stomach and guts removed, and straw and pebbles placed there instead. Of particular concern was whether the girls has spun their quota of flax or wool that year.

Perchta controls strange beasts known collectively as perchten. The perchten are long horned, hairy, demonic bipeds. Some people would dress up as evil spirits to drive the perchten away.

Belsnickel

Belsnickel is a German and Pennsylvania Dutch character. He shows up a week or two before Christmas looking dark, hairy, worn, torn, dirty, and haggard. He's come to beat the bad children. The children are supposed to escape unharmed, but scared enough to be good until Santa shows up on Christmas. He sometimes carries candy and nuts. Some traditions have him giving them as gifts so kids get a taste of what being good gets them. Others have him throw them on the ground so he can whip the kids scrambling for them.

Here he is in an episode of the Office.

Friday Links: December 7

The Geminid Meteor Shower will be Thursday night to Friday morning (13th-14th).

A good interview with director Brad Bird. [link]
It's a faster read than it looks.

The Amazing Randi with assistance from Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.


Water and ice found on Mercury. [link]

Cheating rifle. [link]

Staples to get 3D printers for hire. Just not sure when it'll happen in the US. [link]

Babylon 5 cast reunion at upcoming ComicCon. [link]
It's a shame that G'Kar is too dead to make it.

Robot run restaurant. [link]

A completely insane patent. [link]

If you haven't read "Ender's Game" then you probably should before next November. Here's Harrison Ford playing Colonel Graff. [link]

A rash of hay theft across the mid-west. Listen to the bit with Sheriff Whittington. [link]

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for astrophysicists. [link]

"Portal" for the Ti-83. [link]

YOU! WILL! CEL-E-BRATE! CEL! A! BRATE! [link]

Ridley Scott's "Star Wars".


Charlie Chaplain singing an autotune version his speech from "The Great Dictator".


Why, yes, North Korea. We ARE all convinced by your claim to have found an ancient unicorn lair.[link]

Totally convinced.


Another attempt at a Wonder Woman TV series. [link]
It may be good, but I don't think it should be considered Wonder Woman.

Yoko Ono is every bit the fashion designer that she is a singer. [link]

A crocheted Enterprise. [link]

Bill Murray on Gilda Radner. [link]
I dare you not to tear up a bit.

You should drink more coffee. It's good for you! [link]
I may have skimmed a bit.

Bread that stays fuzz free for 60 days. [link]

Who are you and what have you done with Pat Robertson? [link]

Repost: Dougmas

Tis once again the Dougmas Season and I thought I'd remind you of what Dougmas is all about.

Dougmas is the time of year when we Dougintologists celebrate the birth of the Prophet Doug. Granted, Doug was born in May, but so was Jesus. May or June. Certainly not December. We're just jumping on the bandwagon of religions that have tried to make the ancient solstice celebrations their own. I'm just trying to help convert the heathen Jesus worshipers to the one true religion.

As Dougmas is new we're still getting a few traditions off the ground.
Here's a short list.

1) Instead of putting up trees in the house, either real or artificial, you should plant a Douglas Fir. Considering that the ground is likely frozen and hard to dig it is acceptable to wait until May 25, Towel Day, to plant your tree. The world needs all the trees it can get.

2) Doug preaches against giving money to religious charities. Most of the time religious charities require attending their church services as a prerequisite to being giving. Starting December 1st, put an empty jar near your front door (or wherever you empty your pockets). Instead of dumping your spare change into a Salvation Army bucket take it home and put it in the jar. On January 1st give the money, or a check for the equivalent amount, to a non-denominational charity or non-profit organization.

Doug's preferred charities include:
* Solar Electric Light Fund (http://self.org)
* Trees for the Future (http://treesftf.org/)
* Wayne Foundation (http://waynefdn.org/)

For Douglas Adams I include:
* Dian Fossey Gorilla Foundation (http://www.dianfossey.org/home/)
* Save the Rhino (http://www.savetherhino.org/)

3) Dougmas is not tied to a particular day. It's more of a season that I alter from year to year until I can figure out a good fit. Last year I used December 20 through December 31. I still like those dates even though I'm saying the Dougmas Jar should go out on December 1st.
The reason I'm making it a season is because there are so many holidays with roots in the winter solstice (Dec. 22). There are many families of mixed faiths that will fight over which holiday they'll gather on. Many people have to try to rush to celebrations at the homes of multiple parents and grandparents or have to decide between relatives in different states.
The point of Dougmas is to spend time with family and friends. If your family is getting together for Christmas then be there for that. If your family gets together for Hanukkah then be there for that. Ditto for Kwanza, the Winter Solstice, New Years, Agnostica, or just Saturday night. Don't rush around in the cold and snow and try to choke down several big turkey dinners. Spend the time with the family.
Of course, if you can't stand your family you can still use the old excuses as an escape strategy.

4) Gift exchanges are so common with the other holidays that it can't be ignored. If you work somewhere that requires someone works on Christmas then go ahead and work that day and collect the extra holiday pay. Then celebrate Dougmas after the 25th so that you can pawn unwanted gifts on others or take advantage of the after Christmas sales. Thriftyness is next to Dougliness.

If the subject of religion comes up while visiting family just remember Dougintology bumpersticker number 1. "I'm wrong and so are you." This should help ensure merrier Dougmas.

Sod Off Wednesday: December 5

Maybe it's my old fashioned way of thinking, but shouldn't the "Cancel" button on the printer cancel the current print job? If not immediately then as soon as all the paper currently in the machine comes out? Granted, my life in tech support has shown that printers have almost always been the weak link in a computer system. Really, though, the problem should be getting it to start printing, not getting it to stop. A 300 page document that's cancelled on page 5 shouldn't stop around page 298.

Tomte

Tomte started as a house spirit in the countries north of the Baltic Sea. Possibly the soul of the person who first cleared the lot for the house. He protected the house and family of farmers. But they were also easily offended. Cursing, rudeness, peeing in the barn, abusing the animals, or just changing how things were done were all good ways to get on his bad side. Being on his bad side could mean getting your ears boxed, dead livestock, tying cows tails together, turning things upside down, smashing things, or his venomous bite. A good way to get on his good side is to leave out some porridge for him. With butter on top. Gotta have the butter. On top. One common story has the butter being put in the porridge, Tomte killing the cow, then finding the butter, and hunting the countryside for an identical cow to replace the dead one.

A Tomte (a.k.a. Nisse) stealing hay

Honestly, he sounds like an all purpose threat. Be a brat and the Tomte will get you. Pull a prank and the Tomte will get you. Don't do things the way I do it and my father did it and his father did is and the Tomte will get you. Something went wrong! You must have made the Tomte mad! Much like how someone might say "you'll make the baby Jesus cry" today.

The myth changed as Christianity moved in. Tomtes would put your soul at risk or non-Christian rites were performed to get the Tomte there. Then, in the 1840's he started becoming the bearer of gifts. A painting of him made him look like an dwarven Red Cap or a tiny Santa Claus. He lives in a forest nearby or some neighboring country. He comes through the front door and delivers gifts directly. He's not overweight. Sometimes he rides a non-flying sleigh pulled by reindeer or goat, but he used to just walk.

Père Fouettard

I need some new material for the Dougmas season. Let's talk about the unsavory sorts that follow Santa around.


Père Fouettard (French for The Whipping Father) is a companion of St. Nicholas known mostly in the east of France. He's sort of the love child of Norman Bates and Sweeny Todd. According to legend there were three rich children going to enroll in religious school who stayed in his inn. There he drugged them, slit their throats, cut them up, made them into a nice stew. Apparently, this is what the French refer to as a "robbery". St. Nick revived the children and took Pére Fouettard as a companion. Opinion is divided over whether this was punishment or Pére Fouettard repented.

Other stories have the three boys getting lost while searching the fields for food missed at harvest. They come to Pére for shelter where they get chopped up and thrown in a barrel of brine.

While St Nick goes around handing out gifts to the good children, Pére Fouettard gives out coal and floggings to the bad ones.

His appearance differs from place to place. Generally he wears dark robes, sports a long, messy beard, and carries a whip, stick, or bundle of switches. Sometimes he has a backpack to carry away bad children. Other times he's nearly identical to Santa, but with a black suit instead of red. You know, much the way you tell good Spiderman from bad. His ride tends to be a donkey, but is sometimes a white steed.

He made some appearances in America in the 30's as Father Flog or Spanky.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson quote

Book Review: A Kiss Before the Apocalypse

I'm a fan of the Nightside and Dresden Files books. Awhile back there was a book of short stories that featured stories by both authors and a few others. It was that book that introduced me to the Remy Chandler books. And when Borders closed I made sure to include some of them in my plundering. Leap ahead to now and I've finally read one.

"A Kiss Before the Apocalypse" is the first book in the series and, I'm hoping, the least impressive. This would not have been the book to sell me on the series. But I'd say the same thing about the first two Discworld book and I love that series.

There's just not much original about the book. I'll grant you that this is true about most books. I'm usually the first to argue that presentation is the most important thing. And the further I got in the book the better I liked it. But for the first 2/3 of the book I kept thinking about how many other times I'd read the same thing so many other times.

Main character Remy Chandler is a supernatural private detective. The difference is that he's a former angel. Not a fallen angel. Just sort of disillusioned with God. That's the element that makes this character unusual.

In this book Death has gone missing and people aren't dying.

Right? That old story, again.

He has followed Remy's lead and is trying to live as a human. He's got a girlfriend and has been living on Earth for about a year. But while Remy suppresses his angelic half, Death tried to keep both parts of himself and it's been driving him mad. Now he's run off and Remy has to find him.

Often in the Death-takes-a-holiday type stories Death finds someone he cares about who he doesn't want to die. Either that's why he's stopped taking lives or else he met them while taking a break and he knows they'll die if he goes back to work. This time it's Remy who has someone dying. His wife is elderly now. Everyone thinks they're son and mother. And she's in the nursing home waiting for the end. And Remy knows that if Death goes back to work his wife will die. But the alternative is the apocalypse. Did I not mention that? Yeah, the four horsemen are coming. Still, when someone you love is dying or has just died, Remy and Death both find out that it's tempting to just let the world end. Because "fuck them".

The detective part of the story is very familiar. Remy chose the last name Chandler after the Raymond Chandler detective novels. And this book reads much like Raymond Chandler does. Or, how I think it would from the movies and other works inspired by his books that I've seen. It's close enough that I'm wondering if the skeleton of a Chandler book was taken and a new book built around it. New characters in the same old roles. Or maybe the author was just really good at emulating Raymond Chandler.

I already have three more books in the series. And I'm going to read them. I'll let you know how they go.

Clarification

A point of clarification about a word selection I used yesterday.

Dammit, Robin

Said by friend: Holy Macarena-Dancing Orthodox Rabbis, Batman, that's incredible.

My response: You know, Robin, I put up with these idiotic sayings of yours for years because you were young and stupid and I was fairly sure you were gonna get shot. But you're in your 40s now and frankly you sound like a retard. While I'm at it, get a new uniform already. You've been
wearing that same outfit since you got here. It's worn so thin that you're flashing you goodies to half of Gotham. The police don't care about you being a vigilante, they want you for indecent exposure. For God's sake, you've creeped out the Teen Titans so much they have a restraining order on you.

Friday Links: November 23

Strange foot development in a Zimbabwe tribe. [link]

Downloaded, but not played: A Slower Speed of Light. Pick up the 100 objects. But as you play the speed of light will change and what you're able to see changes accurately. [link]

We have a broken stereo cabinet that I'm hoping to fix. Here's one option to repurpose it. [link]

How to make Kryptonite candy. [link]
You need to watch the video for proper instructions.

The song that became the James Bond Theme.


Calculate the destruction from a meteor impact. [link]

I still don't get what Graham's Number is supposed to be calculating, but this video is kind of interesting and the number they're describing is just crazy huge. [link]

I knew Hostess was having troubles. Apparently the Union didn't know. [link]

I haven't tried this. Let me know if you do. But this claims you can calculate pi by throwing phallic foods. [link]

Virginia Tech has a 3D printer available for general student use. [link]

An interesting idea for a ski slope. [link]

A bird that teaches it's chicks a passtone while they're in the egg. [link]

Sign a petition to allow Texas to withdraw from the United States. [link]
I think it's a fine plan. Of course, the United States gets to close all military bases and pull out all troops. Lets see how balanced the Texas economy is without the federal government funding Texas welfare and child health care. Texas is an anchor on the rest of the nation: politically, culturally, environmentally, intellectually, and economically. Cut it off. The only question I have is if we HAVE to send relief efforts as they descend into chaos. Really. 15 years from now will they be more like Somalia or Iran?

UPS joins Intel in cutting off support for the bigoted Boy Scouts. [link]

What happens to women who can't get abortions? [link]

Best. Pollsters. Evar. [link]

Gatorshark vs Zombie Cheerleaders. [link]

A gas giant has been found that's so big that it may actually be a small brown dwarf. [link]

A guy who planned to shoot up a Twilight showing, similar to the recent Batman shooting, was foiled when his mother turned him in. [link]

Dumb Ways to Die.


Doctor Who Christmas Special preview.


Great Battlemechs in History. (all 1 of them) [link]

Thanksgiving 2012

It's a holiday in the United States. We call it Thanksgiving, but you may as well call it the Harvest Festival or something. There's really no more food to bring in. Even the acorns have been gathered. And it's about to get really cold. So it's one last big community gathering to fatten us up before the long winter. After all, who knows how many of us will survive until spring. Or winter solstice. Whichever.

Officially, we're celebrating the new friendship with those dirty natives who bailed out the Pilgrim settlers who had no clue what they were getting into in the new world. In pictures the Pilgrims are shown all covered in buckles. Even on their hats. The truth is that they didn't look like that. Buckles were added to the Pilgrims and to Santa Claus by Victorian era artists because buckles were considered to be quaint and old-timey and were added to anything they wanted to look old.

Tomorrow you can put up Christmas decorations without me slapping you. You can play your Christmas music at your funeral after I beat you to death for playing Christmas music.

Just Wednesday: Thanksgiving Eve

Instead of telling someone to Sod Off, I'm going to take today to introduce a new Dougintology preferred charity. Comic book fans among you may have heard of The Wayne Foundation. It's the charity arm of Wayne Enterprises and is headed by Batman's alter ego. In the comics it's often used to do follow up work on someone Batman has saved besides it's day to day work of helping people out of bad situations and generous scholarships for promising inner city kids.

Turns out The Wayne Foundation is real [http://waynefdn.org/]. They use the funding to help out woman caught in domestic sex trafficking. There are other charities that do the same thing, but they don't have the geek cred this one does.

As far as I can tell, The Wayne Foundation has no formal connection to DC Comics or Warner Brothers.

National Pinball Museum

Q: Who has two thumbs and is running behind?
A: That guy, officer! The one who... with the... I got nothing.

If you're in the Baltimore area you'll want to check out the National Pinball Museum. We did!

It's down near the touristy waterfront area. The first floor has the museum part where you'll read about the struggle of pinball machines in an era where people insisted comics books, pinball machines, and Frank Sinatra were leading to a decadent youth. They show pinball machines dating back to France 400+ years ago when they used a pool cue instead of a spring loaded stick.

The second and third floors are full of playable pinball machines. For your $18 entry fee you'll get a card that allows you to play all you want for hours on end. Some are the sort of systems I grew up with where there were light up displays, mini-games within the game, and a heck of a show. Some are older where you can actually follow the action intelligently.

You can see into the repair room where they have some systems on a rack and boxes of replacement bumpers and flashers. I'm told you can take classes in pinball repair, but I'm not sure how.

We spent about three and a half hours there and played most of the working systems several times. I can totally see having a birthday party there. We'll probably go again and make sure it's a stop for friends visiting the area.

Stuff I wish I said

"Yes, but, with all due respect, I'm surprised you manage to get your pants on correctly each morning. The fact that you'd even make such a suggestion shows that you don't have even a rudimentary grasp of the concept. I'd just as soon take the advice of my pet dog. He's at least paid attention to what I do for awhile. You're just wandering about trying to provide the illusion of being a useful employee. I can't even credit you with making good coffee since the few times you actually make something after draining the pot you make this inedible sludge. Has anyone explained the concept of a filter to you? It keeps the grounds out of the pot and keeps your horrible stench out of our noses. [etc]"

"WOAH! I thought you said with 'all due respect'."

"Yep, and that's said with all the respect due to you."

Friday Links: November 16

The Lewis and Clarke expedition's path has been traced because of the mercury based laxatives they used. [link]

In Oregon 220 misdemeanor marijuana cases are being dropped following decriminalization of small amounts. [link]

Freedom Tower whistles in the wind. [link]

Damage map for if a place of your choosing got nuked. [link]

Pregnancy test detects testicular cancer. [link]

Rather than rethink his position, guy takes the results of the election as cause to cut off all contact with someone he thinks may have liberal leanings. [link]
I seriously doubt he has liberal friends to begin with.

Why doesn't MTV play music video anymore? The awesome answer!

20 year old questioner, I'm pretty sure you NEVER saw a video on MTV!

“Math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better”. [link]

The skill gap in America isn't just about computer skills. These people can't do basic math, or read and write. And, strangely enough, manufacturing is still a wanted skill. [link]
$12/hour and benefits? It's work, but nobody is going to put out their own money to get training for a job that pays that little.

I see lots of "new" bikes every month that look just like all of the other bikes. But I like this one. [link]

An app that could turn any surface into an iffy iPad keyboard. [link]

How much exercise is enough? [link]

A really great prosthetic arm. [link]

Circuits that apply to tissues. [link]

Apple just got a patent for rounded corners on electronic devices. But it's not the stupides patent awarded. [link]
Hey, Obama. Looking for a way to kill the next four years? Fix this!

$200 iPad was just a mirror with an Apple logo. [link]
Lesson: Don't buy iPads at gas stations.

Forecasts for the next 10 years. [link]

As time goes on we see the predictions of the gloomier climate change models proving more accurate than the optimistic ones. [link]

Shark tracker. [link]

Safeway is trying to ban cameras from their bakeries so their cakes won't show up on Cake Wrecks. [link]
Another article talks about how Safeway is trying to copyright their cakes so they can't end up on Cake Wrecks.

Throwable camera ball. [link]

1 Liter of urine gives you 6 hours of electricity. [link]

East and West view intelligence differently. [link]
I don't mean politically. There we see intelligence very, VERY differently.

A lesson into making proper coffee. [link]

Cat photos as error messages. [link]

The full soundtrack to the new Hobbit movie. [link]

A guess what "Far Over A Misty Mountain Cold" from The Hobbit will sound like.


Cats trying to figure out a humidifier.


(S)he's right behing me, isn't (s)he?


R2-D2 ring. [link]

Who has their camera running at a time like this?


A rom-zom-com coming in February.

Romantic-zombie-comedy, duh.

This is going to be expensive.


A Doctor Who/My Little Pony crossover. [link]
Doctor Hooves?

Oh, look. AT&T didn't need T-Mobile's resources after all. [link]

The Firefly cast got to pitch script ideas. Too bad the show didn't last. [link]

Star Wars: Episode VII will be written by the guy who wrote Toy Story: Episode III. [link]

Grand Theft Auto: Tron City. [link]
The down side to getting my games for Playstation instead of PC is that I don't get to use the mods.

Weird Al's "Bob" is full of good movie titles. [link]

TL;DR - Most corrupt politicians. [link]

Hmmmm... Gerrymandered much? [link]
I'm posting this for the last graphic.

Audio Book Review: Iron Druid Chronicles

"Hounded", "Hexed", and "Hammered" make up the first trilogy in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles. In them we follow Atticus O’Sullivan, the last druid, a 2000+ year old twenty-something living in Arizona. His faithful companion is a dog with a solid knowledge of pop culture references - particularly Star Wars. His lawyers are a vampire and a werewolf. His bartender has someone else living in her head. And everyone hates Thor

In the first book a Celtic god (sorta) comes to recover a sword that he insists that our hero stole from him in battle a few thousand years ago. He does this by sending monsters and turning the local police against Atticus. And who knows whose side those witches are on.

In "Hexed" there's a fallen angel who escaped from the first book who is eating people. And a pack of witches with demon fetuses who want to kill pretty much anyone in the area with magic.

And since Atticus (spoiler alert) kills a god in the first book there have been many other beings asking him to kill their own gods. He finds himself suckered into having to help some friends kill Thor.

These descriptions are simple, but I'm tired enough right now that I've already nodded off twice while writing this.

You want to listen to the books for the dog. He sounds like a dumb dog, but he has a respectable vocabulary that he uses to try to earn more snacks. He also watches too much TV and makes strange Star Wars references. The books are good without the dog, but he makes you love the book.

I will be looking for the next trilogy that starts with "Tricked" and "Trapped".

But now is sleepy ti.....................

Sod Off Wednesday: Papa John's

Papa John's announced that Obamacare will raise the price of pizza by 11-14 cents per large. Some reports said they'd be raising pizza by 50 cents to cover the 11 cent hike, but I've not been able to confirm that. There's be a lot of outcry about that. I have some issues with both side.

Papa John's is a business. The cost of food has to cover all the expenses plus some extra for profit. It's not just the cost of ingredients, but employees, utilities, rent, benefits, and all that. Sometimes the price of pizza goes up as other costs go up. Nobody freaks when the price of pizza reflects a change in property values or the cost of electricity.

On the other hand, Papa John's doesn't make announcements to their shareholders about changes in their water bill. The announcement is in protest of their candidate losing the election. It's in protest of having to make sure their staff has health insurance in case some pizza delivery goes horrible wrong. After all, emergency rooms exist for a reason!

Will I be boycotting Papa John's? No. I've already stopped eating there.

I used to eat from one within easy walking distance of my house. I stopped when the shopping center was knocked down to make way for a vacant lot. It was a shame. I much preferred their pizza to Pizza Hut, Pizza Boli's, Dominoes, etc.

I started again when I started visiting Yummy at her apartment in Baltimore. I stopped after ongoing horrible service from the delivery people and managers backing out on promises of free pizza to make up for the 3 hour delivery times.

Looking around online I found that horrible delivery service is standard for Papa John's. More than that, Papa John's is rather abusive of their staff, particularly the delivery people.

Horrible bosses that manage to run a company well is one thing. Papa John's is not that thing.

So I gave them up as being dicks a long time ago and wrote to them to tell them why. A boycott does no good if they don't know why they're losing business.

Still, for their many sins against employees and open hostility to the health of Americans as a whole, Papa John's can Sod Off.

Movie Review: Skyfall

This was not the James Bond movie I expected. Looking at the trailer I was expecting a movie like that first Mission Impossible movie. Where MI6 was destroyed or shut down or something and James Bond would be the last secret agent. Nobody in MI6 could be trusted. Bond and a secret new Q would meet in a museum to receive new toys because it wasn't safe to meet otherwise.

That's not what happened at all, but I don't want to tell too much. Think "Moby Dick". Think "Wrath of Kahn". This is a movie about obsession. One guy who thinks he was wronged. Not by James Bond. By M. And he's got a plan to bring her down by destroying things around her. But who it is remains a secret until late in the movie.

The movie also has a strong theme of new vs. old. Triggers vs buttons, young Bond vs older Bond, classic Bond vs current Bond, Cold War vs terrorist age, and on and on, etc., etc.

Of special note: I liked the camera work early in the movie when they were fighting on top of a train going through a tunnel. These fight scenes aren't rare, but often the camera is shooting from somewhere that would normally be on the other side of a wall. This time the camera remain (mostly) within the tunnel. This let to some strange shots and angles that let to a claustrophobic feeling to go with the action.

Of additional note: This movie is not the end of the original planned trilogy. The third script in the series that started with "Casino Royale" wasn't good enough and Daniel Craig said he wouldn't do it. Apparently, they came up with a new one instead of fixing the old. No complaints here. It means I don't have to get the second movie. I bought "Casino Royale" and I'll get this one, though. So now I'll own two Bond movies.

Friday Links: November 9

Game: Nuclear Plant - fend off the creatures long enough to work a lab and grow a plant in hopes of saving the Earth. [link]

George Lucas gets payback on obstructionist neighbors. [link]

100 "best" sci-fi movies of all time. [link]
I'll leave it to you to debate the order.

Given a tablet, teachers are unnecessary. [link]

Battle of the Bonds


HMS Bounty sunk by Sandy. [link]

The trippiest damn TV you've ever seen. [link]

The toughest bridge in the world.


Trees suck. Like a LOT!


Troll or idiot? Wait for the man-on-the-street interview. [link]

"Due to the substantial amounts of granite in their construction, many public buildings including Australia's Parliament House and New York Grand Central Station, would have some difficulty in getting a licence to operate if they were nuclear power stations." [link]

9 most anti-science candidates for office. [link]
#1 - Denny Rehberg - lost
#2 - Paul Broun - won, but there were 4,000 write in votes for Charles Darwin
#3 - Joe Manchin - won
#4 - Richard Mourdock - lost
#5 - Dean Heller - won
#6 - Tom Coburn - Can't find
#7 - Hank Johnson - won
#8 - Michele Bachman - won... barely
#9 - Todd Akin - lost

Why Pixar is worth more than LucasFilms. [link]

The average distance between stars is 4,150 light years. [link]
That's just not fair. You're putting the space between galaxies up against the space between stars within the galaxies.

Smugglers screw up. [link]

Get a text when the ISS passes over you. [link,]

Skeleton of messenger pigeon from WWII found with message still attached. [link]

The Obama Conspiracy Theories. [link]

Sweet radios. [link]

It's pretty common to survive plane crashes. [link]

Walmart continues to be a dick. [link]

People found the debates funnier than popular sitcoms. [link]

Amazon vs everyone. [link]

Brits have invaded 9 out of 10 countries. [link]

Facts about Presidents... that I didn't actually finish. [link]

Evolution of type. [link]

Analysis of the dragon skeleton in Skyrim. [link]

Sesame Street to do a hurricane episode where Big Bird's nest gets destroyed. [link]

David Tennant: cybernetic Jedi trainer.


Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are both up for another Star Wars movie. [link]

Porsche headlights great for growing pot. Thieves have noticed. [link]

Rules for writing detective novels. [link]

A pretty good video of costumes at London Comic Con.


What happens when wizards drink too many potions?


Device for testing the strength of gunpowder. [link]

How MST3K picked what movies to mock. (they watched a LOT of movies) [link]

The most indebted man in the world. [link]

MIT Gangnam Style.


Leaf blower based kitten rescue.


Windows 95 was written by Cthulhu. Just check the error messages. [link]

Found in new house

I'm busy. So here's a picture of something I found in the basement of my new house. Isn't it pretty? Ooooh. Aaaah.

Sod Off Wednesday: Election Day Aftermath

Kinda hard to be grumpy today.

Florida is trying to work out their own election, but nobody cares because Obama has a 97 electoral college vote lead. Sorry Supreme Court. If it makes you feel any better, by overturning the 2000 election and throwing us into 8 years of utter crap you made sure that a black and a woman could be taken seriously as candidates in 2008. So, in a way, you helped determine this election, too.

Two states, Maryland and Maine, have legalized gay marriage by popular vote instead of judicial decree or legislation. A third, Minnesota, tossed out a law that would have banned gay marriage there. I'm hearing that there's so many gay marriage bills out to help drive Democrats to the polls where they'll also vote Obama. Interestingly enough, that's why there were so many gay marriage bills up for vote in 2004. Only back then they were trying to push the Republican base to the polls. And it worked then, too.

Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for taxation. I didn't even know these bills were being discussed, let alone voted on. It's still illegal at the federal level so we should have some interesting years coming up on that front. I'm more of a fan of industrial marijuana, but I see this as progress on that front as well.

In Virginia they passed a constitutional amendment to make it harder for the government to practice eminent domain. This is the first time since Bush decided not to veto the Do-Not-Call Act that Republicans and I have agreed on something.

Congress is still split. That's unfortunate. But Democrats have a better hold on the Senate now.

So let me grumble about the pundits on the radio. Everyone was talking about what the Republicans did wrong. Maybe it was demonizing the hispanics. Maybe Americans don't agree with their economic policies. Maybe it was... Personally, I think that a whole lot of people recognize that the recovery is being hindered by a unified Republican party that not only fights Obama's recovery plans, but refuses to put out any of their own in case Obama gets credit for it. I think it's due to the GOP showing that they're happy to watch the whole country burn rather than risk something positive happening under Obama's watch. Or maybe I'm not the only one who remembers how things were 4 years ago. Maybe there's some other people that remember that Republican policies mean walling off Mexico while leaving the ports largely unsecured. Maybe they remember scrubbing oil from beaches because Republicans think oil wells should be inspected by the people running them. Maybe it's because Republicans like having to pretend to be Canadian when traveling overseas. Maybe it's the Tea Party actually voting for the guy who promises to raise taxes and balance the budget instead of the guy who promises to cut taxes for the rich and increase spending for the military.

OK, I'm stopping now.

Mitt Romney! The GOP didn't particularly like you, but you were the least insane. The Democrats didn't like you. And now most of America joins me in bidding your a heartfelt sod off.

The city of Wise

Sign found on the way home from St Louis last May.
Interesting only because my last name is Wise.

Remember

Remember:
Yesterday you were supposed to set your clocks back an hour.
Tomorrow you're not supposed to set the country back 50 years.

Friday Links: November 2

Clouds Over Cuba - an internet based short(ish) documentary about the buildup and passing of the Cuban Missile Crisis with plenty of optional material. [link]

Turn your copy of Doom 3 into a close knockoff of Thief. [link]

Tommy Lee Jones in a series of Japanese commercials for an energy drink.


Washington DC is trying to develop an internet voting system. They made it available for hacking to test vulnerabilities. This article talks about what one group of hackers did. [link]

"Obama walked into a horrendous economic situation and has begun to turn it around." - Colin Powell [link]

It's next to impossible to fire a cop. [link]

Functional(ish) anatomic models made of glass. [link]

Homemade Myst style linking book. [link]

A squid with human style teeth. [link]

Ballmer Peak is real. A specific level of alcohol does improve your mental performance. [link]

The Elmer's Glue cow is married to Elsie, the Borden Dairy cow. [link]

Don't tape your windows before a storm. [link]

Parallel parked cars can be towed.


The heat from this style of solar plant in the Mojave could fry birds and flip planes. [link]
I saw one of these in Fallout: New Vegas. In fact, it may have been this one.

Dark spots on Mars appear to be made of glass. [link]

Read the bit about the 11 midgets. [link]

HTTP error #418 [link]

Six kids raised by animals. [link]

Frosting based street art. [link]

How H.P. Lovecraft fans deal with telemarketers. [link]

At what point do you think it might be a good idea to run?


Fun (for limited definitions of fun) with paradoxes. [link]

A mean trick to play on an elevator.


Top entries for Wildlife Photographer of the Year. [link]

Is it legal to kill a zombie? [link]

"A Republican is somebody’s who’s been mugged (by a negro); a Democrat is someone who has had the largest hurricane in the history of humanity fuck up his state beyond measure at which point he learns that “private enterprise” and “government so small you could drown it in a bathtub” are not the best way to deliver life-saving services to an entire third of the country." [link]

Luxury goods repo-men. [link]

That time humans almost went extinct. [link]

There's a Darth Vader head on the National Cathedral! [link]
Now I gotta go back!

Lookit d' baybe squerrle!

This is Rocky. He was found at the bottom of the my stairs a bit before dawn a week or two back. Just before he was found there was a thud and a sound like some kind of siren that would normally precede a major city vanishing in a cloud. I had no idea squirrels could make sounds like that.

The mother was heard running around of the roof franticly looking for Rocky. I knew they sounded like that.

He was really very sweet and snuggly. Of course, he was concussed after falling from a nest and onto my kitchen floor. He became more active later, but never clawed or bit. He tried to climb me a few times. He was always eager to go back into his towel. That's all he really wanted.


The rescue place said Rocky was 5 weeks old, very fat, and will be fine. Yummy called to check. He's fine.