April 28, 2009
A faithful viewer I will always be, I ain't handin' you no jive.
Years from now, when people think about the quintessential creepy old man, they'll have one face in mind. None other than Ed Muscare, aka "Uncle Ed" aka horror host Edmus Scary who was on Channel 41 in Kansas City in the 70's through the mid 80's hosting All Night Live. He was on briefly in Phoenix around 1986 hosting Friday Night Frights prior to becoming a registered sex offender. He's served his time and has an offbeat youtube channel now.
I'd like to put my graviton particle beam in HER Jeffries tube...
Given all the attention the new Star Trek movie is generating, it's not surprising that the porn industry is attempting to cash in (SFW). What is surprising is that the production team clearly knows their Star Trek (SFW). Hustler's "This Ain't Star Trek XXX" appears to be a send-up of the classic Trek episode "Space Seed," (heh... space seed). In addition to the reasonable-for-porn casting of Kirk, Spock, and Bones (heh... bones), Hustler takes the effort to be faithful to even the minor characters and costumes (SFW).
Every day we get closer to an epidemic that cannot be stopped.
Don't follow the walking dude
100 Days of Obama: the Flickr Potustream
After one hundred days, the wait is over: Pete Souza's Gargantuan Presidential High-Definition Executive Flickrdump is here. Warning: If you put it on fullscreen you won't get anything else done for a while.
My Turn!
Swinging on BART (SFW)
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
Earlier this month, to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edmund Husserl (born April 8, 1859; yesterday marks the anniversary of his death in 1938), the Husserl Archives in Leuven, Belgium, hosted a conference (audio files of the keynotes are available: here's Robert Sokolowski on "Husserl on First Philosophy") in his honor. Husserl's influence on philosophy is difficult to overstate, and continues to this day: as the founder of phenomenology, his contributions to logic, philosophy of mathematics, psychology, philosophy of mind, epistemology, existentialism, and many other areas of thought, has been immense.
Armchair pediatrician
Do you have a rash? Is your knee deformed? Why does my tooth hurt? (and other fun medical flow charts) [more inside]
Gamma-Ray Burst
New burst vaporizes cosmic distance record. "NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than five percent of its present age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen."
Don't hug me, bro!
Police in Denmark target bike riders. SLYT Police in Denmark take drastic steps to change the habits of bike riders...
"In the dark of night, I could see that dark hull. ... I could hear our people screaming, 'No! No!' I just couldn't believe it,"
The Princess Taiping, a replica of an ancient Chinese sea-going Junk, was built to make a round trip across the Pacific from China to North America to show that Asian sailors might have reached North America before Columbus. [more inside]
God Created Man in His Own Image.
Last year saw the launch of the first 'Men on A Mission' calendar -- featuring 'beefcake' photos of young Mormon men recently returned from their two-year missions. Church elders were not pleased. As a result, calendar creator Chad Hardy was excommunicated from the Church of Latter Day Saints. The church also revoked his "BA degree in Communications Studies at Mormon-owned Brigham Young University." Hardy has just released the 2009 Men on a Mission Calendar. Again, the church ai'nt too happy. [Photos- 1, 2 click-through to Java-based slideshow]. [more inside]
Superman Returns to the NES
A few years ago an old NES game called Sunman was discovered. Developed by a company called Sunsoft, it was clearly a repurposed Superman game, with the Man of Steel seemingly having been replaced at some point during the games development by a generic new superhero. This was likely done to avoid expensive licensing costs for a game that was due to be released around the end of the active lifespan for the NES (and would probably not sell well as a result) but this was purely speculation. Until now. For now a build of the original Superman game by Sunsoft has been found and you can download it for free here. [more inside]
You shall be eager for your husband, And he shall be your master
Man fell from the garden of Eden, and he planted the Garden of Herbal Evil, to justify Brutal Myths against women. Fortunately women have the Blissful Garden of Herbal Good to bind the evil herbs.
(possibly NSFW, contains line drawings of genitals.) [more inside]
Did corporal punishment save a struggling school?
Three years ago, David Nixon took over the principalship at John C. Calhoun Elementary School. "Thirty minutes into his first day of school at John C, a father walked into Nixon's office and said, 'I want to give you the authority to whip my son's butt.' Nixon was surprised, but after he thought it over, he decided to give every parent the same option." Did corporal punishment save a struggling school? [more inside]
Jesus registered my hotrod
"Jesus is to be mass-produced, imprinted on metal, given a reflective coat and sold for money." The Florida Senate is considering a bill to put Jesus Christ on a license plate. Governor Charlie ("No H.") Crist has come out in support of the bill (or at least in support of not vetoing it). [video]
"This Place Matters"
National Trust Releases 2009 List of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple. Additional detail and sites from past years here.
Women in Photography
Women in Photography — WIPNYC presents a solo exhibition of work from select photographers every couple weeks so viewers can discover and enjoy the work of female artists. [some nsfw images]
Home of the Double-Headed Eagle
Home of the Double-Headed Eagle is a short film by Ali Colleen Neff and Brian Graves, featuring the kaleidoscopic work of visionary architecture created by Reverend H. D. Dennis and his wife, Margaret Dennis.
When I switch you switch we switch
The last time any party had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate was 1977-1979. With Arlen Specter's announcement that he is switching parties and Al Franken's recent court victory all but guaranteeing his victory in Minnesota, the Democrats will have a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate. Eight years ago, Jim Jeffords switched parties to change control of the Senate from a 50-50 tie (resolved by VP Cheney in favor of the GOP) to Democratic control. [more inside]
Variable Quality?
James Wallace Harris on Variable Star, Spider Robinson's posthumous collaboration with Robert A Heinlein, the elements that make up a Heinlein juvenile and what the equivalent might be today.
Mostly Bloody Awful?
On the role of MBA-based management culture in the current credit-crisis. Downloadable audio and transcript of a radio show that presents some strong opinions on MBA oriented management culture. [more inside]
The sins of the fathers
Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre has seen hunger strikes and rioting. Now the British government has issued a report finding that its children "are being denied urgent medical treatment, handled violently and left at risk of serious harm". The Border and Immigration Minister replies, "If people refuse to go home then detention becomes a necessity." [more inside]
The dot and dash that adorn his hat constitute the Morse code symbol for the letter "A"
Just what is the deal with Jughead's weird crown cap? I'm learning to share investigates a forgotten history of haberdashery.
Craig Murray Attends the Formal Evidence Session on UK Complicity in Torture
Craig Murray (Previously: 1 2)
Attends the Formal Evidence Session on UK Complicity in Torture on Tuesday 28 April 1.45pm UK time.
You can (hopefully) watch it on Parliament TV.
If you want to have a good look at UK / US complicity in torture, this might be a good place to start...
Please note he has said "There is absolutely no way I am going to kill myself. Just thought it might be wise to get that out in public!". Hopefully statements like that won't be necessary.
"Give the vote to those who wish to be an agent of change for the Lord."
Some weeks back, the venerable Singaporean women's organization AWARE got caught with their bloomers down - over a hundred new members signed up just weeks prior to the 2009 officer's elections, and these new members promptly voted themselves into office.
The whole thing was apparently orchestrated by members of Church of Our Savior, which is home to Singapore's largest ex-gay ministry, and whose members have been particularly outspoken against gay issues in the past. The leader of the insurgents, now president, Thio Su Mien, had complained in the past that AWARE was "promoting a homosexual agenda" in schools, which the Singaporean Ministry of Education denies. Thio's emails orchestrating the takeover have recently come to light.
A new take on URL modification
Getting into a lather wondering which of the new wave of URL modifiers - tinyurl, bitly, trim, etc - to use? Why not give gianturl a whirl?
Demographics & Depression
I have heard many explanations of the housing crisis, but First Things, A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life had one that I had never heard: America’s housing market collapsed because conservatives lost the culture wars even back while they were prevailing in electoral politics. A number of observers have pointed to household formation as a key driver in the current and future housing markets, but no one else I have run across writes things like "the world is poorer now because the present generation did not bother to rear a new generation".
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