July 12, 2004

Postponing Election Day?

U.S. officials are now discussing the possibility of postponing Election Day. Is anyone else completely freaked out by this development?

12 Jul 11:34 | Link | Category: Current Events, Politics

Current Playlist

Among the ideas I've taken from J. is a custom she has (others do it, too) of creating playlists to accompany a particular time - either songs that somehow fit the moment, or songs that bring up a memory of it (perhaps something you listened to at certain times). Here's my playlist for the past month.

Arrow links will take you to where you can listen / buy the song - iTunes if available (sorry, I hate DRM too), otherwise eMusic or Amazon.)

Richard Ashcroft - Crazy World >>
R.E.M. - Crush With Eyeliner >>
Bob Dylan - Honest With Me >>
R.E.M. - I Took Your Name >>
U2 - Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car >>
Luna - 1995 >>
R.E.M. - Low >>
John Lennon - Look at Me >>
Mojave 3 - My Life In Art >>

12 Jul 0:10 | Link | Category: Music

July 11, 2004

Mississippi Gary

A special thanks to Josh for pointing me to a page with sound clips from KITH including Mississippi Gary. (See the Chicken Guy entry from earlier today if you're confused.)

11 Jul 10:10 | Link | Category: Humor

Science and Politics

Several items from the "my country is so lost and confused" file:

According to more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel laureates, the Bush administration is still packing scientific advisory panels with ideologues and is imposing strict controls on researchers who want to share ideas with colleagues in other countries. Read the story. (While we're on the topic, check out some thoughts by Lawrence Lessig about how irrational politics are stamping out good science. I might also recommend Larry's excellent book Free Culture.)

For more fun, read about how the House bowed to a White House veto threat and stood by the USA Patriot Act.

It's also fun to observe the White House using the red herring of same-sex marriage to distract people from all the shit that's happening.

11 Jul 1:17 | Link | Category: Politics, Science

Chicken Guy

Apparently, a man in Fiji was locked in a chicken coop for several years of his childhood. Supposedly, he was originally found pecking at his food, crouching down as if roosting, scratching around in the dirt, and communicating by making a rapid clicking noise with his tongue.

If true, it's a strange and horrific story, and yet the whole time I was reading it, I just kept thinking of Mark McKinney's Chicken Lady from Kids In The Hall. Maybe she has a match now.

It got me thinking about Mark's other hilarious characters - Mr. Tyzik the Head Crusher, Mississippi Gary ("Smokin' on a night train, chewin' on a jelly roll..."), Leslie the gay vampire, the other stupid cop, Darill, and on and on. I can name just as many funny characters from the other members of the troupe, too. (Gavin, Cathy & Kathie, and about a million others.)

I have therefore added The Kids in the Hall: Complete Season 1 to my Amazon.com Wishlist. (As subsequent seasons become available, they will also be added.)

Consider purchasing it as a token of your love, a gesture of friendly kindness, or some such thing.

11 Jul 0:26 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits

July 9, 2004

nocircles.com

I found a cool flash game through memepool. Head over to nocircles.com to play it. (Play v1 because it has a much better soundtrack.)

Now I wasted time playing that stupid game... and I still have to do laundry because I'll have nothing clean to wear... and I have to be at work early in the morning. Life is so hard sometimes.   :)

09 Jul 0:33 | Link | Category: Interactive

July 8, 2004

Nick Winters sings "Star Wars"

One of Bill Murray's funniest SNL characters was the Nick the lounge singer. Here's an audio clip of Nick Winters performing a rendition of the Star Wars theme, courtesy of Information Junk. Sadly, I wasn't able to find any lounge singer video clips.

(But here's one of my favorite old SNL clips: Bill promoting Swill brand bottled water... note I'll be taking it off the server soon.)

08 Jul 23:58 | Link | Category: Humor

July 7, 2004

Logo Game

See if you can identify company / organizational logos based on small "clips" at LogoGame.com. I was best at automobiles and, sadly, cereal.

07 Jul 0:06 | Link | Category: Interactive

July 5, 2004

The World's Top 100 Wonders

HillmanWonders.com lists the top 100 wonders of the world. I'm very sorry to say I've only visited five of them (technically more, but these are the only ones I remember well). If I want to see all of them before I die, I need to get cracking. Right now the only ones I can cross of the list are:

(via Pale Blue Dot)

05 Jul 23:49 | Link | Category: Travel

Cassini-Huygens

I've always been a bit of a space geek, so naturally I've been glued to the Cassini-Huygens coverage since the photos of Phoebe arrived. Now there's much more to look at, including amazing photos of Saturn's rings and images of Titan. Learn all about the mission at JPL's Cassini-Huygens page. NASA also has a mission page and a flash feature.

05 Jul 23:40 | Link | Category: Science

July 4, 2004

Sneakiest primates have biggest brains

According to a recent study, primates who are good at deceiving their peers also have the biggest brains relative to their body size. Makes sense, but I'd like to read the actual journal article and don't have access at the moment...

04 Jul 21:59 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Science