Most of you know by now that I don't post a lot on weekends, so I'll offer a couple of music videos of artists you might not be familiar with.
Here's Junior Brown, with a deep rich voice and a guit-steel of his very own design, playing My Wife Thinks You're Dead:
Here's the late Don Walser, the "Pavarotti of the Plains," singing John Deere Tractor. I'll send this one out to Frank James, hope that all of you read his blog.
Friday, July 31, 2009
A Prayer To The Obamessiah
Janis Sharp, mother of Gary MacKinnon, a computer hacker who hacked into US Government computers, prays to President Obama to spare her son:
She said: 'Stand by us and make this world a better place, a more compassionate place.
'Obama wouldn't have this. He doesn't want the first guy extradited for computer misuse to be a guy with Asperger's, a UFO guy. He wouldn't want this.
'I'm just praying, please hear us, Obama, because I know you would do the right thing.
'I know you would have the strength to stand up and not have this.'
These people really do believe he's God, don't they?
She said: 'Stand by us and make this world a better place, a more compassionate place.
'Obama wouldn't have this. He doesn't want the first guy extradited for computer misuse to be a guy with Asperger's, a UFO guy. He wouldn't want this.
'I'm just praying, please hear us, Obama, because I know you would do the right thing.
'I know you would have the strength to stand up and not have this.'
These people really do believe he's God, don't they?
Kid's Got Talent
A 6-year-old UK boy is painting some remarkable watercolors, and is even being exhibited in a gallery in Norfolk.
Here's a sample:
I think it's safe to say what this youngster's career will be.
Here's a sample:
I think it's safe to say what this youngster's career will be.
We Can Deal With Your Spinal Injury...
...but people will probably call you a "Smurf" after we do so.
Treating spinal injuries with a blue food dye could have the side-effect of leaving the patient dyed blue.
Hoodah thunkit?
Treating spinal injuries with a blue food dye could have the side-effect of leaving the patient dyed blue.
Hoodah thunkit?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
What's In The Water In Conway, South Carolina...
...that causes men to bugger horses and other men to commit robberies while wearing gorilla costumes?
Whatever it is, I hope that they contact the EPA and find the source of this pollution.
Whatever it is, I hope that they contact the EPA and find the source of this pollution.
Australia: Lost Dog Found 9 Years Later...
...and 1200 miles away from where she became lost.
View Larger Map
I'd have to guess that she hitched a ride with humans somewhere along the way, or she wouldn't have survived that journey.
View Larger Map
I'd have to guess that she hitched a ride with humans somewhere along the way, or she wouldn't have survived that journey.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Volcano Blog: Anak Krakatau, Indonesia
Stunning images of Anak Krakatau, the "child of Krakatoa," which blew its guts out in a colossal eruption in 1883 which claimed 36,000 lives from tsunamis triggered by the eruption.
That eruption didn't end the life of Krakatoa, it was just one in a cycle of eruptions during the geologic life of this volcano.
Here's one of the images:
That eruption didn't end the life of Krakatoa, it was just one in a cycle of eruptions during the geologic life of this volcano.
Here's one of the images:
Killer of Abortionist Pleads Not Guilty...
...says he was only performing a very late-term abortion.
Notice how the Telegraph has no qualms about referring to Tiller as an abortionist?
Notice how the Telegraph has no qualms about referring to Tiller as an abortionist?
Speaking of Two-Headed Babies...
...which we weren't, of course, but it's a good way to introduce this story found in the UK Telegraph. Click through to the story if you wish to read it and see the two-headed baby, but I think it would be more amusing to come up with the most bizarre two-headed human you can imagine, for example:
A human with a Rush Limbaugh head and a Bill Maher head;
Nancy Pelosi and George Bush heads on the same human;
Sarah Palin and Andrew Sullivan heads on the same human;
Rev. Al Sharpton and David Duke heads on the same human.
Come up with your own!
A human with a Rush Limbaugh head and a Bill Maher head;
Nancy Pelosi and George Bush heads on the same human;
Sarah Palin and Andrew Sullivan heads on the same human;
Rev. Al Sharpton and David Duke heads on the same human.
Come up with your own!
Oops!
The top 20 ways in which people in UK injure themselves:
1. Sleeping in the same position
2. Missing a step on a staircase
3. Falling off playground equipment
4. Falling out of bed
5. Slipping when stepping out of the shower
6. Walking into a lamp-post
7. Sneezing
8. Dropping a jar of food on toes
9. Working on the computer
10. Falling off a chair
11. Falling over a dog
12. Tripping over toys
13. Lifting a child
14. Walking into a glass door
15. Lifting a suitcase when going on holiday
16. Choking on a cup of tea
17. Sitting down when someone has removed the chair
18. Falling out of a tree
19. Brushing teeth
20. Falling into a pothole
Looks like you could narrow that down a bit by changing a couple of those categories to simply falling and lifting.
All of those taken together, of course, could make up an ideal episode of Mr. Bean.
1. Sleeping in the same position
2. Missing a step on a staircase
3. Falling off playground equipment
4. Falling out of bed
5. Slipping when stepping out of the shower
6. Walking into a lamp-post
7. Sneezing
8. Dropping a jar of food on toes
9. Working on the computer
10. Falling off a chair
11. Falling over a dog
12. Tripping over toys
13. Lifting a child
14. Walking into a glass door
15. Lifting a suitcase when going on holiday
16. Choking on a cup of tea
17. Sitting down when someone has removed the chair
18. Falling out of a tree
19. Brushing teeth
20. Falling into a pothole
Looks like you could narrow that down a bit by changing a couple of those categories to simply falling and lifting.
All of those taken together, of course, could make up an ideal episode of Mr. Bean.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tutoring The Privileged On Living In Prison
The role of the "prison consultant."
NEWARK, N.J. – Bernie Madoff once had the best that money could buy when it came to his many homes. For his latest accommodations, he sought out a different kind of broker: a type of prison consultant increasingly popular among white-collar wrongdoers.
From Martha Stewart to Michael Vick, prison consultants are often hired by celebrities, white-collar miscreants and disgraced politicians to lobby for good prison placement, mitigate sentence length and offer crash courses in prison culture.
Miller says his firm first assesses a client's "prison demeanor" and then tailors advice accordingly. Often, former powerbrokers are told they can no longer order others around and shy people are urged to learn to play cards or talk sports so they don't seem anti-social.
Clients are counseled, he said, to always stick with their own race — regardless of how open-minded they might be in the outside world — and are coached to never let anyone cut in front of them in the food line. They're warned that dorm environments are more volatile than single cellblocks and that most altercations take place in the TV room.
The next step? Opening prison boutiques, where you can buy such things as designer shanks and soap-on-a-rope.
NEWARK, N.J. – Bernie Madoff once had the best that money could buy when it came to his many homes. For his latest accommodations, he sought out a different kind of broker: a type of prison consultant increasingly popular among white-collar wrongdoers.
From Martha Stewart to Michael Vick, prison consultants are often hired by celebrities, white-collar miscreants and disgraced politicians to lobby for good prison placement, mitigate sentence length and offer crash courses in prison culture.
Miller says his firm first assesses a client's "prison demeanor" and then tailors advice accordingly. Often, former powerbrokers are told they can no longer order others around and shy people are urged to learn to play cards or talk sports so they don't seem anti-social.
Clients are counseled, he said, to always stick with their own race — regardless of how open-minded they might be in the outside world — and are coached to never let anyone cut in front of them in the food line. They're warned that dorm environments are more volatile than single cellblocks and that most altercations take place in the TV room.
The next step? Opening prison boutiques, where you can buy such things as designer shanks and soap-on-a-rope.
Don't Want No Homegrown Jihadis
Looks like the peckerwoods of North Carolina are trading in their Klan hoods for Jihadi head towels.
No Homegrown Jihadis, Thanks All The Same
Monday, July 27, 2009
Did You Know...
...that the German word for a man who sits down to urinate is sitzpinkler? And that they don't use it in a complimentary way? Neither did I.
h/t Amy Alkon at the Advice Goddess Blog.
I think I just found the perfect name for an EverQuest character...
*laughs uproariously*
h/t Amy Alkon at the Advice Goddess Blog.
I think I just found the perfect name for an EverQuest character...
*laughs uproariously*
Local Entrepeneur Makes Drudge
A kiosk merchant at Concord Mills Mall who offers conservative-themed merchandise for sale is in danger of losing his vending contract.
Here's a screen capture of the Drudge Report link (look in upper left corner):
And here is a link to the offending items, including a bumper sticker that says Impeach Obama.
Pretty obscene stuff, all right.
Here's a screen capture of the Drudge Report link (look in upper left corner):
And here is a link to the offending items, including a bumper sticker that says Impeach Obama.
Pretty obscene stuff, all right.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Weekend Snapshots
Spent most of the weekend on the road with Sara, visiting points west, south, and east. Sights seen included Lake Lure, NC, where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed long ago; Asheville, NC, although only briefly; and Badin Lake, NC, which is a reservoir lake of the Pee Dee River.
Much of the weekend my feet were here:
If you need stuff, the homegrown stuff is better:
It was a pretty day on Saturday to be up in the mountains, and we weren't the only people to think so; lots of tourists and daytrippers up at Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, and we kept seeing motorcycles on the winding mountain roads. Here's a shot of Lake Lure:
After arriving in Asheville we headed back east along I-40, then south into South Carolina on US 221. In Chesnee we passed a car show in the downtown area, lots of the locals were showing off their vehicles, but we didn't even think to take the cameras out while passing through. We stayed in SC until we reached Union, on the edge of the Sumter National Forest, before turning north for home along state road 49. Sara was checking gasoline prices as we travelled, the cheapest was in South Carolina in Chesnee, where we saw it for $2.12.
Sunday we didn't drive as long, heading east to the Pee Dee River area, Badin Lake and Lake Tillery, both lakes formed by dams on the Pee Dee. It was another beautiful day, although blistering hot in the 90's.
Here is a cove of Badin Lake, a public boat launch area:
By travelling along the roads around Badin Lake we eventually reached the public areas, part of the Uwharrie National Forest properties. Here is a public fishing pier, reached after a long drive down a narrow gravel road:
The fishing pier area was busy with swimmers and a man with a casting-net, so we didn't bother getting our fishing rods out of the trunk. We availed ourselves of the public restrooms, though, which proved to be of the composting variety, and pointed up the need for us to always carry toilet paper on these little excursions.
Here is a place where we didn't eat; somehow, I doubt that it mattered to the owners:
We ended up eating at the Ryan's Family Steakhouse in Albemarle, usually reasonable at $6.99 for lunch, but on Sundays a bit unreasonable at $10.99; I did my best to justify the price by eating two hamburgers and a huge piece of fish, but don't think that we ended up recouping the cost.
And so to home, with a stop at a produce stand for watermelons and peaches. Two seedless watermelons for $5, and one of them is in the refrigerator cooling at this very moment.
All in all, a good weekend, although expensive in terms of gasoline, since Sara had to refill the tank three times during the course of it.
Much of the weekend my feet were here:
If you need stuff, the homegrown stuff is better:
It was a pretty day on Saturday to be up in the mountains, and we weren't the only people to think so; lots of tourists and daytrippers up at Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, and we kept seeing motorcycles on the winding mountain roads. Here's a shot of Lake Lure:
After arriving in Asheville we headed back east along I-40, then south into South Carolina on US 221. In Chesnee we passed a car show in the downtown area, lots of the locals were showing off their vehicles, but we didn't even think to take the cameras out while passing through. We stayed in SC until we reached Union, on the edge of the Sumter National Forest, before turning north for home along state road 49. Sara was checking gasoline prices as we travelled, the cheapest was in South Carolina in Chesnee, where we saw it for $2.12.
Sunday we didn't drive as long, heading east to the Pee Dee River area, Badin Lake and Lake Tillery, both lakes formed by dams on the Pee Dee. It was another beautiful day, although blistering hot in the 90's.
Here is a cove of Badin Lake, a public boat launch area:
By travelling along the roads around Badin Lake we eventually reached the public areas, part of the Uwharrie National Forest properties. Here is a public fishing pier, reached after a long drive down a narrow gravel road:
The fishing pier area was busy with swimmers and a man with a casting-net, so we didn't bother getting our fishing rods out of the trunk. We availed ourselves of the public restrooms, though, which proved to be of the composting variety, and pointed up the need for us to always carry toilet paper on these little excursions.
Here is a place where we didn't eat; somehow, I doubt that it mattered to the owners:
We ended up eating at the Ryan's Family Steakhouse in Albemarle, usually reasonable at $6.99 for lunch, but on Sundays a bit unreasonable at $10.99; I did my best to justify the price by eating two hamburgers and a huge piece of fish, but don't think that we ended up recouping the cost.
And so to home, with a stop at a produce stand for watermelons and peaches. Two seedless watermelons for $5, and one of them is in the refrigerator cooling at this very moment.
All in all, a good weekend, although expensive in terms of gasoline, since Sara had to refill the tank three times during the course of it.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
A Bit of Road Humor
Sara and I traveled into the North Carolina mountains today, visiting Lake Lure and Asheville, then coming home via rural roads in South Carolina.
Riding on US 74 West, we noticed that certain overpasses have been named to commemorate fallen NC Highway Patrol troopers. Later in the afternoon, as we traveled south at a fairly fast clip, we noticed a State Trooper ahead on an exit ramp, his car moving fairly fast, but his progress blocked by a red traffic signal.
"If he blows that light and pulls out in front of us, they'll be naming a bridge after him," I said.
We both burst out into hysterical laughter. I very nearly blacked out, and both of us were so blinded by tears of laughter that we wondered for a brief few seconds if Sara, who was driving, would run off the road or otherwise wreck the car. Fortunately it didn't happen, and we eventually got ourselves under control, although only after five minutes or more of continuous laughter. Something usually can be found to strike us funny each weekend together, but nothing matched this particular episode for side-splitting hysterical belly laughter.
We got a few shots from Lake Lure and a particularly strange roadside sign. I'll post them on Sunday evening.
Riding on US 74 West, we noticed that certain overpasses have been named to commemorate fallen NC Highway Patrol troopers. Later in the afternoon, as we traveled south at a fairly fast clip, we noticed a State Trooper ahead on an exit ramp, his car moving fairly fast, but his progress blocked by a red traffic signal.
"If he blows that light and pulls out in front of us, they'll be naming a bridge after him," I said.
We both burst out into hysterical laughter. I very nearly blacked out, and both of us were so blinded by tears of laughter that we wondered for a brief few seconds if Sara, who was driving, would run off the road or otherwise wreck the car. Fortunately it didn't happen, and we eventually got ourselves under control, although only after five minutes or more of continuous laughter. Something usually can be found to strike us funny each weekend together, but nothing matched this particular episode for side-splitting hysterical belly laughter.
We got a few shots from Lake Lure and a particularly strange roadside sign. I'll post them on Sunday evening.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Travel To Ireland's Skellig Michael Island...
...via a fine Stars and Stripes article.
One of the things I loved most about reading The Stars and Stripes when I lived in Rota, Spain, was the fabulous travel articles. Here's a fine example, with great slideshow, of this inaccessible, inhospitable place where Irish monks eked out a difficult existence during the Dark Ages.
One of the things I loved most about reading The Stars and Stripes when I lived in Rota, Spain, was the fabulous travel articles. Here's a fine example, with great slideshow, of this inaccessible, inhospitable place where Irish monks eked out a difficult existence during the Dark Ages.
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