History 25 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Unblogged Bits for Monday, 05 October 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

A Swift view of Andromeda – Whenever I see lovely pics of galaxies, the end titles music for the (original) Outer Limits always plays in my head.
HAPPY Days or, Should Pets Be Tax Deductible? – Everyone has sacred cows — and when you’re a Congresscritter, of whatever party, you get to vote in tax advantages to them. I have pets, but I’d just as soon not get a tax deduction for them.
Why American Credit Cards Suck [Travel Tips] – Yeah, we’re going to be the greatest country in the world right until we turn around one day and realize everyone else has left us behind.
Photographers – Toughest Shot | Outside Online – Okay, I’m now cured of wanting to be a professional photographer.
The Abuse Of American Exceptionalism – Amen, brother.
Tolkien’s Monsters: Tonight, on the History Channel – If I can just remember the DVR … since this will no doubt be the only thing on History Channel ever to never to be repeated.
Competitive Awesome: Yum…Camel Balls! – Extra sour!
You know the name, but just who were the Luddites? – A little bit of noteworthy history.
Happy 40th, Monty Python! (And Now, For Something Completely Different) – Certainly one of the great cultural influences of our time. At least in the subculture I inhabit.
Great billboards – Nice hourglass.
Product Ideas for Google Reader – Google Product Ideas – A great way to solicit (and vote on) feature ideas. Of the 2,000 ideas received, they’ve come up with responses (“Answered Ideas”) on a dozen … none of mine, alas.
Busted burglar – I guess if you’re going to be burgled, it’s good to have a burglar with a sense of humor.
Baked Ziti Recipe – Mmmmm … baked ziti …
See my baby? O – M – G . – TEH CUTE!
France Announces $2.2 Billion Electric Car Charging Network: Sarah Parsons
Sputnik at 52: Ed Darrell
Online Dating Advice: Exactly What To Say In A First Message – How to win friends and influence potential dates. Say “Howdy” and talk about zombies and atheism, not about how hot the other person’s picture looks. Ooookay.
Parishioners asked to pay criminal defense of Rev. Don Armstrong – The Pulpit : Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
Kristol Compares Obama’s Olympics Pitch To ‘George W. Bush-Like’ Bullying – “For them to be cheering America’s loss here on the right, I think is sort of disgusting.” Yup.

Unblogged Bits for Monday, 24 August 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

“World of Warcraft: Cataclysm” is literally a game changer. – Blizzard has the resources to do something like this — and, wisely, they are.
Penn & Teller cut a woman in half on “America’s Got Talent” – Nicely done.
Christmas Has Arrived In August At Costco [Christmas Creep] – Ugh.
Stop-motion Lego tribute to 8-bit video games – Sweet!
Utah’s Buttars: Gays Don’t Really Experience Discrimination – Sen. Buttars clearly lies through his teeth. It’s not that he doesn’t think gays are discriminated against, it’s that he thinks it’s a fine thing that they are.
Freedom Federation: Lying Right Out of the Gate – Is anyone actually surprised here?
Doctor Who Exit Interview: David Tennant + Russell T. Davies, with Richard Metzger (BB Video): Xeni Jardin
100 years ago: The Rheims Aviation Week Eugène Lefebvre in his… – A hundred years ago. What will we see in another hundred?
Betsy McCaughey, ‘Principled’ Conservative? Sounds Like More of a Windsock – Wow. What a … well, “opportunist” is the polite term.
Randall Terry Takes His Show On The Road – “These are adults acting like children” — from the mouths of babes.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Dishonesty – Steele, by nature of his position, a political hack. But I agree with the writer that we should be trying to “make the GOP defend their position for once.” Because, of course, they have no objective, rational, defensible position except to scream “No!” ever more loudly, like a four-year-old that, for some reason, we keep catering to.
Atmospheric homes of elves and sprites revealed – environment – 21 August 2008 – New Scientist – I’d love to have “Elf and Sprite Expert” on my business cards.
Star Trek Re-watch: Season 1 Wrap-Up – An interesting summary — most interesting for assessment of the writers (one of whom had never seen the show) of how fundamentally good TOS S.1 really was.
13 Fantastic and Fun Image Generators – Flagging for future reference.
27 Fotos!! – For your “I need to smile” moment today.
Battle of the Insanely Awful Twilight Merchandise – Um … let’s flag this one NSFW … and probably not Not Safe for SAN Checks.
Clark’s New Matrix Rip-Off Superman Suit Revealed – I keep being more and more glad that I never got into this series.

Unblogged Bits for Friday, 10 April 2009

Links that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries …

Massively webcomic: Grinders – Limitless Creativity – Hmmmm … definitely need to look into doing this in the new City of Heroes Mission Architect.
Internet Micro-Fame Is A Drug – Okay, this needs to be sent to every artist, athlete, writer, actor, politician, and anyone else who achieves fame for their accomplishments. Bloggers could use it, too.
Get That Man A Straitjacket, Stat – Yikes. Glenn Beck keeps getting nuttier. Unless that’s his way to differentiate himself from Limbaugh and Hannity (who are nutty in their own way, but without the weepiness).
To hell with the Simpsons – Ah, frivolous use of copyright law and DMCA take-downs. Is there no geeky joy you cannot turn to hatred?
Weed Cures Cancer! [Dude] – Is marijuana a miracle cure? No, but it’s no more ridiculous to say that it has no medical value, as Congress declared by fiat. Alas, the “War on Drugs” continues to claim its victims via zero tolerance, even among those who never take a toke.
Review: A fantasy hero embraces his inner Mel Brooks in Krod Mandoon – I will have to watch at least one ep of this, just to be sure, but the ads for it have left me with absolutely no desire to do so — indeed, with an aversion toward same.
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Pharaohs Can’t Celebrate Passover: Rabbi Michael Lerner
Bye-bye, Dubai – There’s something very epic and extreme about Dubai — sort of the ultimate expression of wealth and capitalism. That makes its current collapse all the more intriguing, tragic, gratifying, and fascinating.
Summed up – If you promise to blog about the secret once discovered, Doyce, I’ll be ever-so-grateful.
194 years since the great Tambora eruption [Eruptions] – But let’s be sure that we don’t frivolously waste money on that so-called “volcano monitoring.”
Rove Attacks Obama For Praising Turkey’s ‘Secular Movement,’ Even Though Bush Made Similar Statements – So is he a Crypto-Islamicist or a Crypto-Secularist? I keep getting confused by the competing narratives. Oh, wait, I get it — the specifics don’t matter. He’s just EVIL!
Op-Ed Contributor – Iowa’s Family Values – NYTimes.com – Family values can, indeed, be important. But they’re not what has always been touted by pundits as same.
PETA to Pet Shop Boys: Rescue Shelter Boys, perhaps? – CNN.com – Wow. That’s pretty darned goofy.
Will Fox Air Dollhouse’s Final Episode or Not? – E! Online – Wow. More Fox zaniness. Okay, I guess this makes sense. Bottom line: Ep 13 will be on the DVD but not on TV, but the show isn’t cancelled. Yet. Clear as mud.

So many anniversaries, so little time

Things that happened on 17 July in years past. Makes you wonder which had the biggest impact on our present time: The cession of Florida from Spain to the US (1821)…

Things that happened on 17 July in years past. Makes you wonder which had the biggest impact on our present time:

The cession of Florida from Spain to the US (1821)
The end of the Spanish-American War (1898)
The opening of the Potsdam Conference (1945)
The opening of Disneyland (1955)
The first Apollo-Soyuz link-up (1975)

The most interesting anniversary? The date in 1917 when the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha renamed itself, amidst anti-German war sentiment, to the House of Windsor.